The Darfur Genocide Demands International Action and Accountability Just Security May 9, 2024 by  Mutasim Ali  and  Yonah Diamond Wallenberg Center for Human Rights As the deadly war in Sudan enters its second year, it is nearly impossible to overstate the global indifference and inaction in the face of ongoing devastating mass atrocities in Sudan. The international community’s virtual silence continues despite the  imminent risk  of genocide and crimes against humanity in El Fasher as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group, besieges Darfur’s largest city, where essential supplies are running out. Seventy-five years ago, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide – and with it, made the solemn promise to prevent the worst horrors of the 20th century from ever happening again. Twenty years ago, a massive movement  emerged  in the United States rallying behind the populations at risk of genocide in Darfur. However, the absence of a significant transitional justice period led to the same cycles of genocidal violence today – the same perpetrators committing the same crimes of destruction against the same victim groups with impunity. As this genocide in Darfur unfolds before our eyes, it’s clear that the international community’s promise of “Never Again” is not even a rhetorical commitment, despite the clear legal obligations imposed on all States to act under the Genocide Convention. Since April 2023, tens of thousands of civilians have been killed, nearly nine million people ( the largest number globally ) forcibly  displaced  from their homes, including more than 4 million children, and an untold number affected by violence and deadly diseases within a decimated health care system, where 70-80 percent of hospitals and other health care facilities are no longer functional. The war is creating “the world’s largest hunger crisis,” warned the Executive Director of the U.N.  World Food Programme . The looming famine  threatens  to drive 7 million people into catastrophic levels of food insecurity (IPC Level 5) by June, during the lean season. More than half the population is in need of humanitarian aid and food assistance. According to  Doctors Without Borders /Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), in Zamzam displaced persons’ camp near El Fasher, about 30 percent of the children have been found to be suffering from acute malnutrition. Earlier in February, MSF  reported  at least one child dies every two hours in the camp. The war has led to genocidal attacks, displacement, disease, and famine, culminating in one of the gravest humanitarian crises of our time. Yet, amidst the harrowing cries for help echoing from this embattled region, the international community remains disturbingly silent. While conflicts elsewhere capture headlines, the plight of the Sudanese people often goes unnoticed, relegated to the side-lines. And while the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ 2024 plan for Sudan identified that at least $2.7 billion was needed, only 10.3 percent of that minimum had been funded as of Apr. 25. This lack of attention not only prolongs human suffering and serves as a stain on the international community’s collective consciousness, but also sends a chilling message: that some lives are deemed more expendable than others. A Repeat Genocide, and a Repeat Failure Last year, following the rising level of incitement and ethnically targeted killing against members of non-Arab groups in El Geneina and other parts of Darfur, the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (where we work) and leading experts on genocide and Sudan  sounded  the alarm on the serious risk of genocide and urged the international community to act immediately to prevent genocide, and hold the perpetrators and their enablers accountable. In mid-April, a year since the outbreak of the devastating war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF, we  released  the first independent legal analysis into breaches of the Genocide Convention in Darfur. We served as the primary authors of the report, with contributions and endorsements from dozens of world-leading jurists and scholars in the field, including founding prosecutors of the international criminal tribunals, former supreme court justices, and presidents of the International Association of Genocide Scholars. Independent Inquiry Conclusions The inquiry applies a State and entity accountability legal framework, rather than individual criminal liability – and identifies the perpetrators and enablers responsible for breaches of the Genocide Convention. Accordingly, the report applies standards used by U.N. investigative teams, including clear and convincing evidence and reasonable grounds. The report’s evidence (available in the nearly 400 footnotes) is largely drawn from open-source information, including pertinent U.N. reports between April 2023 and April 2024. The analysis is geographically limited to Darfur due to the ethnically motivated nature and severity of the attacks against non-Arab groups there. Based on this analysis, we reached the following conclusions, the evidentiary bases of which are explained in detail in  the full report . First, based on clear and convincing evidence, the RSF has committed and is committing genocide against the non-Arab Masalit group in West Darfur. Despite the early signs, the international community failed to prevent the genocide in West Darfur. Second, based on the first conclusion, and as established by the ICJ in  Bosnia v. Serbia , all 153 State parties to the Genocide Convention are under the obligation to halt and prevent the genocide and a corresponding duty act. The international community has long avoided responding adequately to the Darfur genocide. As the U.N. Coordinator for Sudan at the time of the first genocide (and author of the report’s preface), made  abundantly  clear, “Darfur in 2003 was a highly preventable genocide.” Information was made available in real time during the early 2000s and is available now. We all knew then. We all know now. The failure to enforce the Genocide Convention is a matter of choice. Third, based on clear and convincing evidence, the RSF and its allied militia are responsible for direct and public incitement to genocide against the Masalit in West Darfur. The report extensively details the direct incitement expressed often as explicit intent to destroy non-Arab groups preceding genocidal acts. The RSF militias make blanket calls to “kill Masalit” or “shoot the boys,” use language such as “we must destroy them now,” and repeatedly refer to members of non-Arab groups as “slaves,” “dogs,” or “dirt.” This pattern of open dehumanization and incitement results in the most brutal forms of identity-based atrocities. Fourth, based on clear and convincing evidence, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (bearing greatest responsibility), Chad, the Central African Republic, Russia via the Wagner Group, and Sudan are complicit in the genocide. Each of these States is complicit by providing the RSF with political, geographic, financial, and military support directly fuelling the genocide. Fifth and finally, there are reasonable grounds to believe that the RSF and its allied Arab militia are committing genocide against non-Arab populations other than the Masalit, mainly the Fur and Zaghawa. Subsequent Developments Show the International Community Must Act Now Since we released the report in April, shocking levels of violence continue to unfold. The RSF has  razed villages  on its way to attacking El Fasher, signaling the imminent and catastrophic risk of genocide there. The early signs we are witnessing in and around El Fasher are similar to what we have seen in El Geneina. These include deliberate incitement campaigns against the non-Arab Zaghawa and Fur populations. Recently, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield  sounded the alarm , saying El Fasher “is on the precipice of a large-scale massacre.” The calamity in El Fasher will affect even more people than the massacres and systematic sexual violence committed in El Geneina against the Masalit.  According to the U.N. , El Fasher is now home to more than 1.5 million people, including over 800,000 displaced persons, many of whom have recently fled RSF atrocities in other States. While El Geneina is at least within walking distance of Adré, Chad, El Fasher is out of reach of safe destinations for the impending waves of fleeing communities. Without a robust prevention and protection plan, these vulnerable civilians will be left for death. Further, the dry season in Sudan, coupled with desert lands in North Darfur, will undoubtedly exacerbate the already catastrophic situation. Immediate Responses to Prevent Genocide Placing Darfur’s crisis as a top priority on the global agenda is critical. Now that the international community is aware of the risks in El Fasher, all States are under the obligation to decisively act to protect populations in El Fasher and live up to their commitment under the Genocide Convention and international law. First, the international community must be prepared for the worst to come. If the U.N. Security Council is unable to authorize a peacekeeping force to protect civilians, the international community should create safe areas and passage for civilians at risk of genocide. At a minimum, the U.N. Security Council should host an emergency meeting to raise the profile and shine a protective spotlight on the populations at risk. The urgency of the situation in El Fasher demands immediate action and cannot wait for the complex bureaucratic process of deploying troops. Second, the African Union member States should take the lead and uphold their promise and  commitment  to prevent genocide through all reasonable means. Moreover, African States cannot become safe havens for the genocidaires and their enablers. Instead, such actors must be held accountable and made international pariahs. Third, States should impose immediate costs on the outside actors fueling this conflict and genocide, in open defiance of the U.N. arms embargo and  sanctions measures  of Resolution 1591, including, most prominently, the UAE.  The U.N. Panel of Experts on Sudan already  identified  some of the financing and arms supply networks in its findings, which should now be targeted with concrete sanctions. The U.N. Security Council can further add the implicated entities to its consolidated sanctions  list . Fourth, the International Criminal Court must issue arrest warrants against all perpetrators involved in atrocity crimes in Darfur. Arrest warrants will put the world on notice and at least disqualify the RSF leaders from international diplomacy and engagement. Fifth, the international community must call out the specific individuals behind the genocide and other atrocities as well as their enablers. In particular, the RSF’s commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (a.k.a Hemedti) must be directly held accountable for his command responsibility over the RSF. Finally, the international community must urgently and timely deploy the recent pledges made by donors at the Paris conference for Sudan — the only way to start adequately addressing the needs of 18 million Sudanese  facing  acute levels of food insecurity. In a climate of apathy and cynicism around an impartial and effective system of international law, these are the bare minimum common-sense steps that States should take today to stop the genocide in Darfur and support the communities most impacted and at risk. Newly arrived Sudanese refugees sit outside their makeshift shelters at twilight close to a relocation camp on April 24, 2024 near Adre, Chad. Since the beginning of the recent conflict between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces, (SAF), which began in March 2023, over 600,000 new refugees have crossed the border from Darfur in Sudan into Chad. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)   About the Author(s) Mutasim Ali Mutasim A. Ali ( @mutasimali3 ) is a legal advisor at the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights specializing in targeted human rights sanctions. Yonah Diamond Yonah Diamond ( @yonahdiamond ) is an international human rights lawyer at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights specializing in atrocity prevention and accountability.

An agreement two years ago halted a bloody conflict in Ethiopia but sowed the seeds of new ones The soldier squints through his binoculars. “They can see us,” he warns, pointing to a silhouette of two figures on a hill in the distance. The men in his line of sight are soldiers from Eritrea. But the hill is in Tigray, a semi-autonomous region in northern Ethiopia. Eritrean troops control a significant chunk of Ethiopian territory on the border, in places reaching as far as 10km inside it. At night they creep even further south, spying on military positions and kidnapping civilians. “Let them not start a war and we shall not go to war,” says Tsadkan Gebretensae, the interim vice-president of Tigray and a veteran military commander. “But we are very much aware that things could get out of control.” The tense situation around the hill, near the town of Fatsi, is a hangover from a war that has technically been over for two years. In late 2020 Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia’s prime minister, launched what he promised would be a swift, clean military operation to oust Tigray’s ruling party, the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (tplf). What followed instead was one of this century’s most horrific conflicts. To bring the recalcitrant region to heel, Mr Abiy enlisted tens of thousands of fighters from Amhara, a region next door. He also invited troops from Eritrea, which had been part of Ethiopia until seceding in 1993. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed, by bombs, bullets or government-induced famine and disease. Many of the dead were civilians. More than 100,000 women are thought to have been raped. A peace agreement signed by Ethiopia’s government and the tplf on November 2nd 2022, stopped the fighting in Tigray. But it did not settle the conflicts between Tigray and the war’s two other main parties, Eritrea and the militias from Amhara. Two years on, that omission helps explain why Mr Abiy faces fresh insurgencies at home and a potential war with Eritrea. These new pressures threaten to further destabilise the Horn of Africa , which is riven by tensions between several states or would-be states and is facing fallout from a catastrophic civil war in Sudan. The most dramatic consequence of the deal has been a quarrel between Mr Abiy and his erstwhile allies from Amhara, militias known as the Fano. During the course of the Tigray conflict the Amhara militias seized—and ethnically cleansed—large parts of western and southern Tigray. According to the peace deal, the status of these “contested areas” was to be resolved “in accordance with the constitution”. In reality “the can was simply kicked down the road,” admits an American diplomat involved in the negotiations. In 2023 the federal government moved to disarm the Fano, which raised fears among their supporters that they would lose control of the disputed territories they occupied. Those fears sparked an open revolt, to which Mr Abiy’s government responded with indiscriminate brutality. Once again the Ethiopian army has murdered civilians, shelled hospitals and raped women. In Fogota, an Amhara town currently controlled by the Fano, a young man reports that federal forces arrived in his village in mid-October. When six of his neighbours tried to flee, the soldiers gunned them down. A teacher in the same town says that so many classrooms have been hit by government drone strikes that parents are afraid to send their children to school. Much of the countryside in Amhara is now under the control of local Fano groups. “We believe we are months away from removing [the national government] from power,” says Asres Mare Damte, a Fano leader in Amhara’s Gojam district. Most analysts consider that improbable: Fano forces are decentralised, and so far have proven unable to capture and hold a single major city. But they can easily make Amhara ungovernable. Extortion, kidnapping and theft are already rampant. Perhaps more worrying for the wider Horn of Africa is the breakdown in relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Soon after coming to power in 2018 Mr Abiy engineered a Nobel-prizewinning rapprochement with Isaias Afwerki, Eritrea’s ageing dictator, who fought a bloody war with Ethiopia in the late 1990s. Much of the fighting back then had been along Tigray’s border, leading to enmity between Eritreans and the tplf. When war broke out again in Tigray in 2020, Mr Abiy and Mr Isaias joined forces to crush their common foe. Eritrean forces proceeded to commit some of the conflict’s worst atrocities. But the formerly close allies are now bitter enemies. Mr Isaias, like the Fano, considered Mr Abiy’s 2022 agreement a terrible betrayal. He refused to withdraw his troops from Tigray. This month he struck a defence pact with Egypt and Somalia, Ethiopia’s most hostile regional adversaries. Mr Abiy, for his part, has ratcheted up the tension with bellicose pronouncements about Ethiopia’s “natural right” to a port on the Red Sea. Eritrea has two of those, Assab and Massawa, to which Ethiopia lost access with the start of the border war in 1998. Many fear that Mr Abiy plans to take them back by force, despite the controversial agreement he recently struck for Ethiopia to establish a harbour on the coast of Somaliland (an unrecognised breakaway state of Somalia). Assuming both leaders remain in power, “they will definitely fight”, eventually, reckons a Tigrayan intelligence officer. A war between Ethiopia and Eritrea would almost certainly involve Tigray, which is sandwiched between them. According to an adviser to the regional government, Mr Abiy has recently made overtures to the Tigrayans, his former enemies, about a possible military alliance against Eritrea. Tigrayan officials say they have no interest in yet another conflict on their soil. “We will not be involved in any military adventure, except to defend ourselves,” the adviser insists. But the Tigrayan leadership is divided, and although some of its members want to maintain ties with Ethiopia’s federal government, others are said to have approached Eritrea about joining forces to overthrow Mr Abiy. “In this region there is never resolution of conflict,” says Daniel Berhane, a prominent Tigrayan intellectual. “There are only realignments of forces.” One flashpoint might be the disputed territories in western Tigray. For nearly four years hundreds of thousands of Tigrayans who were forced from their homes there have been stuck in limbo in other parts of the region. Many still live in makeshift camps where hunger and disease are rife. Mr Tsadkan, Tigray’s vice-president, says the displaced must return home, and that his government can brook “no compromise” on the matter. But there would be enormous resistance in Amhara if they tried. The peace deal two years ago was supposed to ensure that Ethiopia’s warring parties could mend such rifts through further negotiations rather than violence. But no such talks have materialised. The agreement has failed to evolve into a proper peace deal, says the American diplomat. For now, it is no more than a ceasefire—and one that could easily collapse. Copyright © The Economist Newspaper Limited 2024. All rights reserved.

How the U.N. Can Prevent Genocide in Sudan Foreign Policy October 25, 2024 A peacekeeping mission might not be politically feasible, but there are other ways to protect civilians. By  Roméo Dallaire , the founder of the Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security. He served as force commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda during the 1994 genocide, and  Shelly Whitman , the executive director of the Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security. Displaced Sudanese who have returned from Ethiopia gather in a camp run by the United Nations Refugee Agency in Sudan's border town of Gallabat on Sept. 11. Ebrahmin Hamid/AFP/Getty Images Next week, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres will deliver recommendations to the Security Council on protecting civilians in Sudan. Few moments could be more important during this vicious conflict. We fear it is on the road to becoming a repeat of the 1994 Rwanda genocide. The war in Sudan is a cruel struggle across the vast expanses of the country between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a collection of paramilitaries, mercenaries, and allied militias, and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), Sudan’s official military. The RSF was once known as the  janjaweed , the notorious devils on horseback responsible for the worst atrocities of the 2003-2005 Darfur genocide, and for the past five months, the RSF and its allies have been laying siege to El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. We know that the creation of a full-fledged, multidimensional peacekeeping mission isn’t politically feasible at this moment. But the gravity of the situation calls for the consideration of innovative ideas, many of which have been suggested by  Sudanese voices ,  human rights experts , and  peacekeeping specialists . A nimble multinational or African Union-led protection force with troops provided by willing countries could be mounted with a mandate to protect civilians. The recent deployment of a Kenya-led multinational force in Haiti demonstrates that missions with specialized mandates can be established. With 2.8 million people in and around El Fasher trapped with  no option  to escape or receive assistance, and with the possibility of ethnically targeted killing on the horizon, the U.N. must act now. We both have  spent years grappling with the Rwandan tragedy. One of us was the force commander who led the U.N. Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) leading up to and during the 1994 genocide and authored a book called  Shake Hands with the Devil . The other was a researcher for the investigative  report  into the genocide by the African Union (then known as the Organization of African Unity) and a member of the Inter-Congolese Dialogue negotiation team in 2000-2002. Bitter experience has taught us that mass atrocities are only a surprise to those who aren’t paying attention. ‘‘Each case of modern genocide has taken the world by surprise,” the African Union report into the Rwanda Genocide concluded. “Even when, in retrospect, it is clear that unmistakable warning signs and statements of intent were there in advance for all to see.” We must heed the warning signs. RSF forces have  burned  dozens of villages of the ethnic Zaghawa, Fur, and Masalit people. Famine has been declared in parts of North Darfur. Local militias and armed groups allied with the SAF have so far been able to hold off capture of the city by the RSF. But both the RSF and the SAF have routinely  engaged  in attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure. No one is safe. If El Fasher falls, the RSF would be free to conduct a wave of ethnically targeted killing that could be much larger and more lethal than anything it has done before during the 18-month war in Sudan. “The world cannot afford to stand idly by as El Fasher descends into chaos,’’  said  Alice Wairimu Nderitu, U.N. special advisor on the prevention of genocide. ‘‘We act now to prevent a disaster of unimaginable proportions.’’   Sudanese refugees and South Sudanese returnees who have fled from the war in Sudan carry their belongings while arriving at a Transit Centre for refugees in Renk, on Feb. 14. To End Sudan’s War, Pressure the UAE  Abu Dhabi is prolonging the war by arming the brutal rebels of the Rapid Support Forces. The international community must stop giving it a pass.   U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres speaks at a press conference in New York. A harrowing new  report  from the U.N. Independent International Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) on Sudan accuses both sides of ‘‘large-scale violations’’ of human rights and international humanitarian law. ‘‘Many of these violations amount to international crimes,’’ the report stated. The report is explicit that ‘‘children are paying a very heavy toll in the conflict.’’ Both the SAF and the RSF are accused of killing and maiming children, as well as attacking schools and hospitals. The RSF has recruited and used children in hostilities and committed rape and other forms of sexual violence against them. The report cited ‘‘multiple credible reports’’ that the SAF ‘‘has played a role in the training and arming of children who have joined the popular mobilization.’’ In Darfur, the RSF has conducted a wave of ethnically motivated violence against non-Arab groups that some have concluded amounts to genocide. In an April  report , the Raoul Wallenberg Centre argued that ‘‘clear and convincing evidence’’ revealed that the RSF and its allied militias ‘‘have committed and are committing genocide against the Masalit’’ people. In June, the U.N. Security Council  adopted  Resolution 2736, which cited ‘‘credible reports of ethnically motivated violence’’ committed by the RSF in El Fasher and the West Darfur capital of El Geneina, between April 24, 2023, and June 19, 2023. The El Geneina killings provide a preview of what the RSF has planned for El Fasher in North Darfur. During the El Geneina campaign, the RSF committed ‘‘killings, torture, and other forms of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, including rape and other forms of sexual violence, as well as looting, pillage, and destruction of objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population,’’ according to the FFM report. One  estimate  put the number of deaths in El Geneina between 10,000 and 15,000. In her address before the Security Council in August, Sudanese expert Kholood Khair  called  for a ‘‘mission to protect civilians,’’ noting the ‘‘vast majority of Sudanese people entirely exposed during the ongoing conflict, and vulnerable to atrocities committed by the RSF, SAF, and allied militias.’’ Citing a ‘‘total absence of protection for women and girls,’’ more than 250 Sudanese and African women  signed  an open letter calling for international and regional actors to ‘‘close the protection gap.’’ In his report  providing civilian protection recommendations, which he will deliver on Monday, it is imperative that Guterres pushes for the establishment of an independent and impartial force with a strong mandate even in the absence of a cease-fire. The multinational force we are proposing in Sudan could, initially, have targeted responsibilities to establish safe ‘‘green zones’’ or safe corridors for civilians to facilitate the delivery of lifesaving aid. It could support local self-protection efforts and establish boundaries to safeguard agricultural activities. Only fully vetted personnel subject to civilian oversight should be deployed. Over time, the force could expand to encompass other responsibilities. It could monitor violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, as well as address the war’s systematic use of rape as a weapon  and  grave violations against children . It could collaborate with the local responders who are doing heroic work to aid Sudanese people in distress, notably the mutual aid networks (and Nobel Peace Prize nominees) known as emergency response rooms. It could engage in data gathering, creating monitoring and early warning systems, and offer support for civilian and civil society documentation of war crimes and human rights violations. In the long run, the force could partner with and support a broad peace process, assist in the reimposition of civilian governance, and contribute to the creation of accountability mechanisms. The challenges facing Sudan are many. But we know that a durable peace will come only when the men with guns are supplanted by Sudanese civilians, including women, youth, and other underrepresented groups, who are free to build a society of equity and inclusion. Guterres has the opportunity to make a bold choice on Sudan. He should call upon the Security Council to take swift action to protect a desperate population ravaged by war. The U.N. made a tragic mistake in waiting too long to respond to the genocide in Rwanda. It must not do so again. Roméo Dallaire  is the founder of the Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security. He served as force commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda during the 1994 genocide. Shelly Whitman  is the executive director of the Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security. Read More On  Sudan  |  U.N. Peacekeeping   View Comments (2)   Copyright 2024 Foreign Policy

NEWS WIRES 25/10/2024 - 11:40 Five people were killed and 22 injured in the attack on the state-run Turkish Aerospace Industries building in Ankara on Wednesday. Turkey responded by dropping bombs on PKK targets in Iraq and Syria. Family members and relatives mourn next to a coffin during funerals for people killed in a bomb attack to the state-run Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) building, in Ankara on October 24, 2024. © Adem Altan, AFP Outlawed Kurdish PKK militants on Friday claimed the attack on a Turkish defence firm that killed five, with officials saying the perpetrators infiltrated from Syria and carried out a shooting and suicide attack. The Turkish government said it had proof the PKK was behind Wednesday's attack at a top defence firm near Ankara and hours later its warplanes bombed militant targets in Iraq and Syria. The attack on state-run Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) "was carried out by a team from the (PKK's) Immortals Battalion," the group said on Telegram. It said the attack by a two PKK militants, a man and a woman, had been "planned for a long time", denying any link to recent developments -- a reference to the Turkish authorities apparent softening towards a negotiated solution to the decades-long conflict. The PKK, which has waged an on-off insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, is designated as a terror group by Turkey and its Western allies. In 2011 President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave his blessing to several backchannel peace efforts in a bid to resolve the so-called Kurdish problem but the fragile truce collapsed in 2015 in a fresh round of violence. Since then, Erdogan's AKP government along with its junior partner, the far-right MHP, has kept up military pressure on the Kurdish rebels. On Tuesday, MHP's leader sparked shockwaves by offering an olive branch to jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, suggesting he come to parliament to renounce terror and dissolve his movement. A day later, Ocalan -- who has been held in solitary confinement on a Turkish prison island since 1999 -- received his first family visit since 2020. His nephew, Omer Ocalan, a lawmaker for the main pro-Kurdish DEM party, confirmed the visit on X, saying the family had last seen him "on March 3, 2020". And DEM party officials reportedly suggest Ocalan may tell the PKK to lay down its arms, as he did in a letter in 2013. But the visit had only just ended when the Ankara attack began. 'Heavy price' Erdogan vowed there would be no let-up in the fight against the PKK, saying the overnight bombing campaign had made "the terrorists pay a very heavy price", in comments quoted by state-run TRT television and other media. He said the attackers came "through an infiltration from Syria", and that one of them "blew herself up", his remarks confirming media reports that what began as a shooting attack also included a suicide bombing. A Syria war monitor said Friday that Turkish drone strikes had killed 27 civilians in Syria in a 24-hour military escalation following the deadly attack. Turkish forces had "dramatically escalated their aerial and ground attacks in north and east Syria", said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It said it documented 45 drone strikes and four by fighter jets targeting infrastructure including water and power networks and gas stations. The Turkish army rejects claims it hits civilian targets. Erdogan chaired a security meeting in Istanbul on Thursday soon after he landed from Russia where he joined the BRICS summit of major emerging economy nations. (AFP) © 2024 Copyright France 24

Deputy Minister of Justice Iryna Mudra submitted Ukraine’s ratification instrument for the Rome Statute to the UN Secretariat on Friday, marking the country’s full participation in the International Criminal Court (ICC). © 2015-2024 Ukrinform. All rights reserved. According to Ukrinform’s correspondent in New York, the ratification handover ceremony took place at the UN Headquarters. "This is a historic moment," Mudra told Ukrinform. "Today, we concluded the long-awaited ratification of the Rome Statute and have finally become a full participant in the ICC. For Ukraine, the Rome Statute will take effect on January 1, 2025." She explained that the ratification instrument was handed over for safekeeping to the UN Secretariat, which serves as the depositary for international treaties. According to the Deputy Minister, Ukraine will begin participating in the work of this key international justice body at the start of the year, gaining the ability to “influence the prioritization of our issues within the ICC.” Mudra noted that, to date, the ICC has issued six arrest warrants for Russian criminals, including Russian leader Vladimir Putin and military officials such as Sergey Shoigu, Valery Gerasimov, and other generals. "Our involvement in the ICC will expedite the review of current cases and the initiation of new ones, thus enabling justice for all Russian perpetrators," she added. As reported by Ukrinform, on August 21, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada passed the law on ratification of the Rome Statute and its amendments, initiated by President Volodymyr Zelensky. Ratification of this document is a requirement for Ukraine’s further European integration. Ukraine originally signed the treaty on January 20, 2000. Following ratification of the Rome Statute, Ukraine becomes a member of the International Criminal Court, making crimes committed by its citizens or on its territory subject to prosecution by the Hague-based court. © 2015-2024 Ukrinform. All rights reserved.

A total of 361 people were killed in Colombia since 2018, a new report by the PARES foundation said Wednesday, linking some killings to armed groups fighting for territories coveted for illegal mining and coca production. Rebels of the National Liberation Army (ELN) patrol near the Baudo river in Choco province on October 26, 2023. © Daniel Munoz, AFP More than 350 environmental activists have been killed since 2018 in Colombia, an NGO report said Wednesday, as the country played host to the world's biggest nature protection conference. The PARES foundation reported a total of 361 killings over the period in the South American nation, with 81 murders making 2023 the deadliest year. Colombia has been struggling to extricate itself from six decades of armed conflict between leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries, drug cartels and the government. Armed groups often come into conflict with local communities and activists as they engage in illegal mining and land clearance for growing coca -- the main ingredient of cocaine, of which Colombia is the world's biggest producer and exporter. "The dispute between armed actors over territorial control of areas of interest to them has become one of the main risk factors for environmental defenders," PARES said in a report issued in the city of Cali, host of the COP16 UN summit on biodiversity. Cali has been placed under the protection of more than 10,000 police and soldiers after threats against the summit from the EMC guerrilla group. Two-thirds of activist murders reported since 2018 have gone unpunished, according to the PARES report. More than half occurred in only three of Colombia's 32 departments. Two of them -- Cauca and Narino -- are strongholds of EMC and other dissidents who rejected a peace deal that saw the FARC guerrilla army disband in 2017. The report said that in cases where the perpetrators were known, FARC dissidents were responsible for more than half of the murders, the ELN rival guerrilla group for about 20 percent, and the Gulf Clan drug cartel for another 16 percent. Fifty-seven percent of environmentalists killed in Cauca and Narino were leaders of Indigenous groups, according to PARES, which lamented "poor coordination of state institutions" to deal with the problem. The international watchdog Global Witness has said Colombia is the deadliest country in the world for environmental activists. Activists who opposed legal projects such as mines and hydroelectric installations were also among the victims, said PARES. (AFP) © 2024 Copyright France 24 - All rights reserved.

Local media reported explosion and gunfire at a state-run company near the country’s capital. 23 Oct 2024 Ambulances line up at the entrance of the headquarters of Turkey's aviation company TUSAS [Reuters] At least four people have been killed and 14 others wounded in an attack on the headquarters of Turkey’s aerospace and defence company Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAS) near the capital Ankara, Turkey’s president has said. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was holding talks in Russia with Vladimir Putin at the time of the attack on Wednesday, confirmed the toll, and condemned what he said was a “heinous terrorist attack”. “Two terrorists were neutralised” in the incident at the headquarters of the state-run firm, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote on X. Footage from the scene broadcast by local media showed huge clouds of smoke and a large fire raging at the site in Kahramankazan, a small town some 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Ankara. According to local media reports, there was a loud explosion at the site and subsequent gunfire. Security camera images from the attack, aired by broadcasters, showed a man in plainclothes carrying a backpack and holding an assault rifle. The images also appeared to show that at least one woman, carrying an assault rifle, was among the assailants. “Having looked at the images and spoken with sources, we’re talking about three attackers,” said Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Ankara. “There are claims that attackers who infiltrated took some of the workers as hostage, but we don’t have further details,” she said, adding that 15,000 people work at the company’s campus in Kahramankazan. “Apparently, the attackers had information about the building, about the entrances,” Koseoglu continued, explaining that the attackers approached the employees’ entrance. “Many of the experts now suggest that this was a strategically planned terrorist attack.” There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Emergency services were dispatched to the site, state-owned Anadolu Agency reported. “Deeply concerning reports of dead and wounded in Ankara,” said NATO head Mark Rutte in a post on X. “NATO stands with our ally Turkey. We strongly condemn terrorism in all its forms and are monitoring developments closely,” he added. TUSAS is one of Turkey’s most important defence and aviation companies. It produces KAAN, the country’s first national combat aircraft, among other projects. The attack occurred as a major trade fair for the defence and aerospace industries was taking place in Istanbul, which was visited this week by Ukraine’s top diplomat. Turkey’s defence sector, which is widely known for its Bayraktar drones, accounts for nearly 80 percent of the nation’s export revenues with revenues expected to top $10.2bn in 2023. Source: Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera and news agencies © 2024 Al Jazeera Media Network

A person displaced by armed gang attacks rests at the Antoinette Dessalines National, a makeshift shelter, in Saint-Marc, Haiti, Sunday, Oct 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph) SAINT-MARC, Haiti (AP) — Nearly 6,300 people have fled their homes in the aftermath of an attack in central Haiti by heavily armed gang members that killed at least 70 people, according to the U.N.’s migration agency. Nearly 90% of the displaced are staying with relatives in host families, while 12% have found refuge in other sites including a school, the International Organization for Migration said in a report last week. The attack in Pont-Sondé happened in the early hours of Thursday morning, and many left in the middle of the night. Gang members “came in shooting and breaking into the houses to steal and burn. I just had time to grab my children and run in the dark,” said 60-year-old Sonise Mirano on Sunday, who was camping with hundreds of people in a park in the nearby coastal city of Saint-Marc. Bodies lay strewn on the streets of Pont-Sondé following the attack in the Artibonite region, many of them killed by a shot to the head, Bertide Harace, spokeswoman for the Commission for Dialogue, Reconciliation and Awareness to Save the Artibonite, told Magik 9 radio station on Friday. Initial estimates put the number of those killed at 20 people , but activists and government officials discovered more bodies as they accessed areas of the town. Among the victims was a young mother, her newborn baby and a midwife, Herace said. Prime Minister Garry Conille vowed that the perpetrators would face the full force of the law in comments in Saint-Marc on Friday. “It is necessary to arrest them, bring them to justice, and put them in prison. They need to pay for what they have done, and the victims need to receive restitution,” he said. Tcharlit Charles, wounded by a bullet during armed gang attacks, sits on a bed at Saint Nicolas hospital in Saint-Marc, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph) The U.N. Human Rights Office of the Commissioner said in a statement that it was “horrified by Thursday’s gang attacks.” The European Union also condemned the violence in a statement on Friday, which it said marked “yet another escalation in the extreme violence these criminal groups are inflicting on the Haitian people.” Haiti’s government deployed an elite police unit based in the capital of Port-au-Prince to Pont-Sondé following the attack and sent medical supplies to help the area’s lone, and overwhelmed, hospital. Police will remain in the area for as long as it takes to guarantee safety, Conille said, adding that he didn’t know whether it would take a day or a month. He also appealed to the population, saying “the police cannot do it alone.” Gang violence across Artibonite, which produces much of Haiti’s food, has increased in recent years . Since that uptick, Thursday’s attack is one of the biggest massacres. Similar ones have taken place in the capital of Port-au-Prince , 80% of which is controlled by gangs, and they typically are linked to turf wars, with gang members targeting civilians in areas controlled by rivals. Many neighborhoods are not safe, and people affected by the violence have not been able to return home, even if their houses have not been destroyed. People displaced by armed attacks receive food from a nongovernmental organization in Saint-Marc, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph) More than 700,000 people — more than half of whom are children — are now internally displaced across Haiti, according to the International Organization for Migration in an Oct. 2 statement. That was an increase of 22% since June. Port-au-Prince hosts a quarter of the country’s displaced, often residing in overcrowded sites, with little to no access to basic services, the agency said. Those forced to flee their homes are mostly being accommodated by families, who have reported significant difficulties, including food shortages , overwhelmed healthcare facilities, and a lack of essential supplies on local markets, according to the agency. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

Dominican Republic President Luis Rodolfo Abinader Corona addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Wednesday Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The president of the Dominican Republic warned Wednesday that his administration would take “drastic measures” to protect the country if a U.N.-backed mission in neighboring Haiti targeting gang violence fails. Luis Abinader did not provide details of what action he might take during his speech at the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Gangs in Haiti control 80% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and they have grown more powerful since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. More than 3,600 people have been reported killed during the first half of this year, a more than 70% increase compared with the same period last year. The violence also has left nearly 700,000 Haitians homeless in recent years and thousands have fled Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. Abinader thanked Kenya, which is leading the mission in Haiti with nearly 400 police officers from the East African country recently joined by nearly two dozen police and soldiers from Jamaica and two senior military officers from Belize. Another 300 police from Kenya are expected to deploy within a month. The personnel, however, falls significantly short of the 2,500 pledged by various countries for the mission, which the U.S. government warns is lacking resources as it considers a possible U.N. peacekeeping mission . Abinader said the current mission needs to be fully established so that free and transparent elections can be held. Haiti has not held elections since 2016, and a transitional presidential council was ordered to do so by February 2026. “Practically one year from the holding of elections, the conditions are still not in place to do so,” Abinader said as he expressed concern over the future of the mission. “We cannot allow the effort made to date to fail. If that were to happen, Haiti’s collapse would be imminent.” arlier this year, gangs launched coordinated attacks targeting critical government infrastructure. They raided more than two dozen police stations, opened fire on the main international airport, forcing it to close for nearly three months , and stormed Haiti’s two biggest prisons, releasing roughly 4,000 inmates. The attacks led to the resignation of former Prime Minister Ariel Henry and the creation of a transitional presidential council . “More than three years of instability in our neighboring country has put significant pressure on our own security,” Abinader said. “The Dominican state has shouldered a high responsibility in the Haitian crisis, far more than should be expected of it.” Abinader said that last year, 10% of medical appointments involved Haitians and that 147,000 of 200,000 foreign minors in the Dominican education system are Haitian in origin. “The crisis in Haiti warrants particular attention,” he said. “We can’t do it alone.” Under Abinader, Dominican officials last year deported more than 170,000 people believed to be Haitians, according to government data. But the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration has estimated the number is closer to more than 224,000. Activists have long criticized Abinader and his administration for what they say is the ongoing violation of the human rights of Haitians and those born in the Dominican Republic to parents of Haitian descent. Abinader has rejected the accusations, reiterating Wednesday that “the Dominican government is profoundly committed to protecting human rights.” In his speech, he noted that the Dominican Republic’s 19% poverty rate is the lowest in the country’s history, and the murder rate has dropped to 10 killings for every 100,000 inhabitants, compared with 13 in 2022. The president of Haiti’s transitional presidential council, Edgard Leblanc Fils, is scheduled to speak Thursday at the U.N. General Assembly. He and other government officials did not respond to messages for comment following Abinader’s speech. Also on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who recently traveled to Haiti , met with other officials at the U.N. to discuss the mission. They talked about the status of contributions, the timeline of other deployments and the possibility of a U.N. peacekeeping mission as one option to secure funds and personnel. A senior U.S. State Department official said the most urgent priority is to renew the mission’s mandate, which expires Oct. 2. The official said the U.S. and some of its partners would like to make changes to the mandate to lay out a path “to become a more traditional peacekeeping operation,” but the Russians and Chinese, who supported the initial mandate, have expressed concerns about doing that. The main benefit of modifying the mandate would be securing a more stable funding stream for the mission: “We’re optimistic that the renewal will happen in some form,” the official said. Prime Minister Garry Conille said during the meeting that while Haiti’s situation has improved a bit, “we’re nowhere near winning this.” He said about 25% of Haiti’s police officers have left the country, and of those still working, about two are wounded and one killed every week. “The police force right now is underequipped to be able to handle this and will need further support and help and accompaniment if we’re to be successful,” Conille said. He said he expects Haiti to hold elections by November “even though we know we will not have the highest level of security.” During the meeting, Blinken announced an additional $160 million to help Haitians and U.S. Treasury Department sanctions against former Haitian lawmaker Prophane Victor, accused of supporting and arming gangs. Also sanctioned was gang leader Luckson Elan, accused of human rights abuses. Neither could be reached for comment. In a message delivered to officials who met to talk about the mission, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said the first deployments were a positive step but warned gangs are still committing “egregious human rights abuses” and that funding for the mission “remains totally inadequate.” “Improving security is crucial to creating the conditions necessary for these elections,” he said as he described the situation in Haiti as “one of the most disastrous humanitarian situations in the world.” Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

(Photo by Daniela RODRIGUEZ / AFP) Relatives of prisoners detained during the anti-gang “war” declared in 2022 in El Salvador by President Nayib Bukele, began a campaign on Tuesday to secure prison visits, where there are more than 80,000 alleged gang members. About 200 people, including housewife Luisa Hernández, gathered at the central Liberty Square in San Salvador, the capital, where lawyers from the Movement of Victims of the Regime (Movir) were receiving documents to process the release of “innocents.” This 48-year-old housewife said she hasn’t been able to see her 24-year-old daughter Adriana for 20 months, who was detained as part of Bukele’s anti-gang “war.” “I’m not saying my daughter is innocent just because I gave birth to her, it’s because I have documents to prove her innocence,” Hernández said. The anti-gang “war,” which has so far accumulated 82,000 detainees, has drastically reduced homicides in El Salvador, but human rights groups denounce the arrest of thousands of innocents and abuses in prisons, where family visits have not been allowed for two and a half years. Bukele’s crusade is supported by a state of exception that allows arrests without a judicial order. Let him do the minimum Hernández related that every month she would bring her daughter a package of food, clothes, and toilet paper to Apanteos prison in Santa Ana, about 65 km west of San Salvador, but this month she hasn’t been able to do so due to lack of money. “What we ask of the State from out here is to do the minimum and lift the restrictions on family visits as requested by the IACHR (Inter-American Commission on Human Rights),” said Hernández. “We are poor people, we are people of low resources who are paying for the crimes that criminals committed, just for living in a low-quality neighborhood” that was controlled by a gang, she added. Samuel Ramírez, from Movir’s board, said that released prisoners report that there is “a humanitarian crisis” in the prisons. Moreover, “families don’t know what conditions they’re in: if they’re dead, alive, sick, or in what state of health.” I haven’t seen him again While queuing in the square to be attended by Movir’s lawyers, Elizabeth Cañas showed documents that she says support the innocence of her son Josué Alfaro Cañas, 27, captured on July 3, 2022. “It’s been more than two years that I’ve been struggling day by day for them to give me an answer and grant freedom to my son. My son is unjustly in prison,” the 44-year-old woman said. “To date, I haven’t seen him again, I don’t know anything, and I have many documents that prove my son was a working man,” she added. In addition to a certificate declaring her son clean of criminal records, Cañas shows AFP some study diplomas, pension fund contribution status, and a record from the company where he worked. One by one, the relatives of the prisoners arrived at the tables set up under the shade of trees in the square, where a team of lawyers attended to them. “We are in the disposition to collaborate with them and help them fill out (a form) of important documentation,” 29-year-old lawyer Jaqueline Martínez explained. She indicated that the documents will be delivered to the presidential commissioner for Human Rights, Andrés Guzmán. According to humanitarian organizations, 30% of those detained in the anti-gang “war” are innocent. © 2024 The Tico Times

Escalation was to ‘defend US forces and personnel’, says Lloyd Austin, as Houthi official says US ‘will pay the price’ Thu 17 Oct 2024 13.32 BST Smoke rises after strikes earlier this month in Sana'a. Local television in Houthi-run areas reported on Thursday that 15 strikes hit sites near the capital and in Saada. Photograph: Yahya Arhab/EPA The US has carried out B-2 stealth bomber strikes on Houthi underground weapons facilities in Yemen for the first time, in an escalation that appears in part to be a warning to the movement’s backers in Tehran. Local television in Houthi-run areas of the country reported 15 strikes hit five sites near the capital, Sana’a, and in the northern governorate Saada, the traditional Houthi homeland, on Thursday around dawn. The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said in a statement: “US forces targeted several of the Houthis’ underground facilities housing various weapons components of types that the Houthis have used to target civilian and military vessels throughout the region.” The strikes were aimed at degrading the Houthis’ military capabilities to “defend US forces and personnel in one of the world’s most critical waterways,” he said. In what was widely viewed as a message to Iran amid fears of a regional conflagration, Austin added that use of the long-range stealth bomber demonstrated “US global strike capabilities to take action against these targets when necessary, anytime, anywhere”. There were no immediate reports of casualties. “America will pay the price for its aggression on Yemen, and as we have said before, its aggression will not deter Yemen from its stance in support of Gaza,” Nasruddin Amer, the deputy head of the media office for the Houthis, said on X. The Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah, is a fundamentalist Shia group allied with Iran and forms part of Tehran’s region-wide “axis of resistance” against Israel and the US. The region is still on high alert for Israeli retaliation to an Iranian barrage of 180 ballistic missiles fired towards the Jewish state earlier this month. For nearly a year, the group has targeted ships travelling through the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea that it says are linked to Israel, in what it has described as a show of solidarity with Palestinians in the war in Gaza. However, the group has also attacked ships with no connection to Israel. It has also fired missiles and armed drones at Israel. The Red Sea shipping channel, which leads to the Suez canal, is a vital route carrying 12% of global trade. The attacks have caused serious disruption, leading the US and the UK to begin airstrikes on the Houthis in January. In July, Israel also attacked northern Yemen directly in response to a drone attack on Tel Aviv. Dozens of civilians have been killed in the attacks, according to the Yemen Data Project, a non-profit collating the impact of airstrikes on the country. The Houthis seized control of north Yemen, where most of the population lives, in 2014. The group has since imposed draconian measures on the people under its rule. A Saudi and UAE-led coalition has failed to dislodge the Houthis despite intensive bombing campaigns and imposing a years-long siege that has led to widespread hunger and disease. In a separate regional development on Thursday, an Israeli airstrike hit the Syrian city of Latakia, wounding two civilians, according to Syrian state media. The Israeli military has intensified its raids on Syria in parallel with its escalation in Lebanon, where for more than three weeks it has heavily bombarded Hezbollah bastions. Israel accuses the Lebanese group, which like the Houthis is backed by Iran, of transferring weapons through Syria. © 2024 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. (dcr)

October 16, 2024 / 12:19 PM EDT / CBS/AFP Bandar Algaloud/Saudi Royal Court/Reuters Dubai  — A Saudi artist has been sentenced to more than two decades in prison over political cartoons that allegedly insulted the Gulf kingdom's leadership, his sister and a rights group said this week. The case against Mohammed al-Hazza, 48, adds to concerns about freedom of expression under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as Saudi Arabia — the world's largest crude oil exporter — seeks to open up to tourists and investors after years of isolation. The father of five was arrested in February 2018 in Saudi Arabia during "a violent raid" in which security forces entered his home and ransacked his studio, the London-based Sanad Human Rights Organization said in a statement. A court document seen by AFP says the charges against him concern "offensive cartoons" he produced for the Qatari newspaper Lusail as well as social media posts that were allegedly "hostile" to Saudi Arabia and supportive of Qatar. Hazza's arrest came less than a year after Saudi Arabia and several allies cut ties with Qatar , claiming it supported extremists and was too close to Iran — allegations that Doha denied. The countries mended ties in January 2021. Saudi Arabia's secretive Specialized Criminal Court , set up in 2008 to deal with terrorism-related cases, initially sentenced Hazza to six years in prison. But this year, as Hazza was preparing to be released, the case was re-opened and he was sentenced to 23 years, his sister Asrar al-Hazza told AFP by phone from the United States. "He was almost there... He almost left the prison. But then out of nowhere it was opened again and it was 23 years," she said. Saudi authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the case on Wednesday. Sanad said in its statement that Hazza worked for Lusail mostly before the 2017 boycott "and only briefly afterward" and that most of his cartoons concerned domestic Qatari issues. The group said prosecutors failed to provide evidence of cartoons that were offensive to Saudi Arabia or social media posts that backed Qatar during the boycott. Under Crown Prince bin Salman, Saudi Arabia has been criticized for what activists describe as a fierce crackdown on even vaguely critical online speech and on any form of dissent. Pushed by CBS News' Norah O'Donnell over the jailing of a prominent women's rights activist in a 2019 interview for 60 Minutes , bin Salman said, "there are laws in Saudi Arabia that must be respected, whether or not we agree with them, whether I personally agree with them or not." Over the past two years the Saudi judiciary has " convicted and handed down lengthy prison terms on dozens of individuals for their expression on social media," human rights groups Amnesty International and ALQST said in April. Saudi officials say the accused cartoonist committed terrorism-related offenses. "The case of Mohammed al-Hazza is one example of the suppression of freedom of expression in Saudi Arabia, which has not spared anyone, including artists," Sanad operations manager Samer Alshumrani told AFP. "This is supported by the politicized, non-independent judiciary in Saudi Arabia." Copyright ©2024 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.