‘Don’t Kill My Child. Kill Me Instead.’ The New York Times Sept. 28, 2024 By  Nicholas Kristof Opinion Columnist, reporting from the Chad-Sudan border Naima with her son, Nazir, outside their hut.Credit ...Nicholas Kristof/The New York Times Side by side with the worst of humanity, you regularly encounter the best. And so it was that while covering murder, rape and starvation in Sudan, I was awed by a heroic refugee, Naima Adam. I’m on the Chad-Sudan border reporting on atrocities against Black African ethnic groups in Sudan, wrenchingly similar to the Darfur genocide here two decades ago. To report here is to appreciate that “evil” is not just an archaic Hebrew Bible term, but a force still powerful in the 21st century. And yet: When civilization collapses and we humans are tested, some people reveal themselves as sociopaths, but a remarkable number turn out to be saints like Naima. Naima, 48, is a member of one of the Black ethnic groups that have been targeted by destructive extremists in Sudan’s Arab leadership. Four times in the last 20 years Arab marauders have burned her home in their efforts at genocide and forced deportation of non-Arab groups, and the Janjaweed Arab militia murdered her husband nine years ago. After two military factions started a civil war in 2023, one of them — a descendant of the Janjaweed called the Rapid Support Forces, armed and supported by the United Arab Emirates — tried once again to drive Black Africans from Darfur. Naima recounted the same pattern I heard from so many people: The militia surrounded her village, lined up men and boys, then shot them one by one. “We’re going to get rid of this Black trash,” she quoted the Arab gunmen saying. Then the gunmen went house to house to kill, plunder and rape. Mostly, those they raped were girls and women, she said, but they also raped at least one man. Two men took one of Naima’s daughters into a room and closed the door; she suspects they raped the girl, but sexual violence is such a taboo that she never asked her daughter what happened. Rape survivors bear the trauma on their own, and while a civil society group has formed a women’s center on the border to help, it is a struggle to find funding.   Newly arrived refugees in Adré, Chad, waiting to be processed.Credit ...Dan Kitwood/Getty With the militia killing even young boys, Naima was terrified the gunmen would murder her 10-year-old son, Nazir. So she put Nazir on her back, the way Sudanese moms carry young children, to make him seem smaller. A gunman saw through the ruse and demanded that she hand Nazir over. “He’s a boy,” the man shouted. “Kill him!” “Don’t kill my child,” Naima pleaded. “Kill me instead.” One man clubbed Naima with the butt of his rifle to try to grab the boy. Another raised his gun and shot Naima twice, through the breast and in the leg; she showed me the scars. Both were flesh wounds, and even as she bled she fought and would not surrender her son. Some men in the militia think it is bad luck to shoot a woman, and perhaps for that reason the attackers retreated and went on to attack the next house. Naima and her children were able to escape and find refuge in another village. But the Rapid Support Forces then attacked this new location, she said, and this time they grabbed Naima’s 14-year-old niece to rape. Naima blocked them and told them to rape her instead. So two of the gunmen men stripped Naima naked and held her down, she said, while one of the attackers pulled down his pants and prepared to rape her. This was hard for her to talk about, but eventually she explained how she stopped the assault: She grabbed the man’s penis and yanked. “I bent it like this,” she said, demonstrating a furious shaking movement. “I tried to break it.” The man clubbed her with his gun and was ready to shoot her, but his partner was rattled and told him to leave her alone, she said. They left without raping her or her niece. Naima may single-handedly have done more to disincentivize rape in Sudan than all the world leaders put together. [Genocide Watch comment: Will world leaders send a UN/AU force to stop this genocide? The Alliance Against Genocide/IRF Roundtable sent the UN Security Council a Resolution to do that. Will they adopt it?] Naima’s mother was murdered, and her father and one of her sons are missing and may be dead. She led the surviving members of her family to the safety of a refugee camp across the border in Adré, Chad, where one of her adult sons remains hospitalized after brutal torture in Sudan. He suffered a mental breakdown and can’t talk about what he endured. Nazir has nightmares but is recovering. He is devoted to his mother and told me gravely that he understands that she was shot for saving his life. As for Naima, she has recovered from the bullet wounds but is impoverished. I asked if she was sending Nazir to school in the camp. She laughed at the idea that she could afford school fees. “I was embarrassed that I couldn’t make tea for you,” she said. “I have nothing.” Yet she still supports orphans in the refugee camp. Helping those in danger is a priority for her. I asked her whether she wanted revenge against the Sudanese Arabs who had caused her so much tragedy. Would she favor attacking Arab villages, killing the men and raping the women? She looked shocked at the question. “We are human beings,” she told me firmly. “We are Muslims. We have principles. We don’t want this to happen to the Arabs.” In a refugee camp, Um Salama Umar trains a young trauma survivor to make beaded purses to sell.Credit ...Nicholas Kristof/The New York Times In one sense, Naima is exceptional; in another, she reflects the magnificent response of so many ordinary Sudanese and Chadians to the recent atrocities. Sudan has been largely abandoned by the world, including by President Biden and other leaders. But Sudanese  civil society  has been as heroic as the country’s military leadership has been deplorable. Sudanese doctors work without pay, local groups set up soup kitchens and refugee volunteers train child victims of trauma to make handicrafts that they can sell to earn money. I spoke to one of these trainers, Um Salama Umar, who said that the Rapid Support Forces had murdered two of her sons and three of her sisters; now she tries to heal by helping traumatized children rebuild their lives. Anybody who wants to help might consider grass-roots groups in the Mutual Aid Sudan coalition,  MutualAidSudan.org . So, yes, Sudan reveals the human capacity for evil, but it’s also a reminder of an equally powerful human capacity for strength, resilience and courage. It’s thus possible to return from a land aching from famine, massacres and rape and feel honored to be part of the same gallant species as those Sudanese like Naima who emerge from an ultimate test as moral exemplars for us all.   More by Nicholas Kristof on Darfur Opinion | Nicholas Kristof I Just Went to Darfur. Here Is What Shattered Me. Sept. 18, 2024 Opinion | Nicholas Kristof When Gunmen Impose a Policy of Rape Sept. 21, 2024 Opinion | Nicholas Kristof What We Can Learn From an Orphan in Sudan Sept. 25, 2024   Nicholas Kristof became a columnist for The Times Opinion desk in 2001 and has won two Pulitzer Prizes. His new memoir is “ Chasing Hope: A Reporter's Life .”  @NickKristof A version of this article appears in print on Sept. 29, 2024, Section SR, Page 3 of the New York edition with the headline: ‘Don’t Kill My Child. Kill Me Instead.’ Copyright 2024 The New York Times Company

Russian authorities are using torture “with a sense of impunity” in the ongoing war in Ukraine, the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva heard on Monday. UN Photo/Jean Marc Ferré Erik Møse, Chairperson of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine (file). In an oral update to members, Erik Møse, chair of the Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, said it has documented new cases of torture committed by Russian authorities against civilians and prisoners of war in occupied areas of Ukraine and in the Russian Federation. “We gathered evidence of sexual violence used as torture, mainly against male victims in detention, and of rapes targeting women in villages under Russian control,” he said. “The wide geographic spread of locations where torture was committed and the prevalence of shared patterns demonstrate that torture has been used as a common and acceptable practice by Russian authorities, with a sense of impunity,” he added. Consistency and coordination The three-member Commission was established roughly a week after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. It has previously highlighted how torture committed by Russian authorities has been both widespread and systematic. Mr. Møse said recent investigations show that Russian authorities have committed torture in Ukrainian regions under Russian control, thus reinforcing the finding that torture has been widespread, while additional common elements uphold that it has been systematic.  “One element is the consistency of practices in detention centres where detainees from Ukraine have been held in the Russian Federation, and the replication of these practices in several large penitentiary centres in occupied areas of Ukraine,” he said. “Another common element emerging from the evidence points towards a coordinated use of personnel from specific services of the Russian Federation who are involved in torture in all the detention facilities investigated by the Commission. A further common feature is the recurrent use of sexual violence as a form of torture in almost all these detention centres.” Brutal treatment tolerated The Commission also cited the testimonies of former detainees who said prison staff in the Russian Federation referred to orders to inflict brutal treatment. Furthermore, in some facilities higher ranking authorities ordered, tolerated or took no action towards stopping it. “For instance, in a detention centre in occupied territories of Ukraine, a witness described the arrival of a penitentiary official from the Russian Federation who introduced himself to the detainees, stating, ‘I broke everyone and will do the same to you’”, said Mr. Møse. He noted that “a disturbing factor” reported in many detention facilities was the lack of adequate medical assistance. “In one facility, even penitentiary doctors participated in the torture,” he added. Olenivka prison blast Mr. Møse said one egregious illustration was provided through compelling testimonies of former detainees at the Volnovakha Correctional Colony in Ukraine, known as Olenivka, where a blast on 29 July 2022 led to the death of many Ukrainian prisoners of war. “According to them, no immediate medical support was provided to dozens of others who suffered life-threatening injuries. Ukrainian military doctors, detained in the colony, were the only ones attempting to deliver first aid during that night,” he said. “They recounted assisting fellow soldiers, in the dark and without vital medical equipment, using the small amount of supplies remaining in their own first-aid kits and bed sheets for bandages. They saw many die that night, while the leadership of the Olenivka colony stood by and watched.” Victims call for justice Mr. Møse said these violations have left many victims with grave or irreparable physical harm and trauma, with deep psychological impacts for both them and their families. “Many victims expressed a vital need for justice to be done,” he said. “The Commission reiterates the importance of continuing investigations, identification of perpetrators, and accountability, as well as comprehensive support for victims.” Attacks on hospitals, supermarkets The Commission also continued documenting attacks with explosive weapons affecting civilian objects in populated areas, with devastating consequences. It investigated attacks that struck medical institutions, cultural objects, residential buildings, and supermarkets in territories under Ukrainian Government control. He said Russia’s repeated waves of large-scale attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have resulted in power outages sometimes affecting millions, with older people and persons with difficulties particularly affected. The power outages have also led to disruptions of online education, resulting in greater losses for displaced children and children with disabilities, who are more likely to enroll in remote education.   Commission of Inquiry The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine was established on 4 March 2022 to investigate all alleged violations and abuses of human rights, violations of international humanitarian law and related crimes in the context of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. The Commission receives its mandate from the Human Rights Council and its members are not UN staff and do not receive payment for their work. Copyright © United Nations

Killing comes a week after an officer fatally wounded another suspect held on accusations of blasphemy Local police chief Niaz Khoso said Nawaz was ‘killed by chance’ and it was only later that officers learned the doctor was being sought by them for the alleged blasphemy. Photograph: Shahzaib Akber/EPA Police in southern Pakistan have shot dead a blasphemy suspect during an alleged shootout with armed men, in the second such killing in a week. Police identified the man as Shah Nawaz, a doctor in the Umerkot district in the southern Sindh province, who had gone into hiding two days ago after being accused of insulting Islam’s prophet Muhammad and sharing blasphemous content on social media. The local police chief, Niaz Khoso, said Nawaz was “killed just by chance” on Wednesday night when officers signaled two men riding on a motorcycle to stop in Mirpur Khas, a city in Sindh. Khoso said that instead of stopping, the two men opened fire and tried to flee, prompting police to return fire. One of the suspects fled on the motorcycle, while the other was killed, he said. Khoso claimed that it was only after the shootout that officers learned that the killed man was the doctor being sought by them for the alleged blasphemy. Videos circulating on social media showed local clerics throwing rose petals at police and praising officers for killing the blasphemy suspect. There was no immediate clarification from the Sindh government about the circumstances in which the suspect was killed. The killing of Nawaz drew strong condemnation from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), which said it was “gravely concerned by the alleged extrajudicial killing of two people accused of blasphemy.” “This pattern of violence in cases of blasphemy, in which law enforcement personnel are allegedly involved, is an alarming trend,” it said in a statement. HRCP asked the government to conduct an independent inquiry to ascertain who was responsible for Nawaz’s death and ensure those responsible for it were punished. The killing of Nawaz came a day after Islamists in a nearby city, Umerkot, staged a protest demanding his arrest and burned his clinic. The latest killing comes a week after an officer opened fire inside a police station in the south-western city of Quetta, fatally wounding another suspect held on accusations of blasphemy. The man had been arrested last Wednesday after officers rescued him from an enraged mob that claimed he had insulted Muhammad. He was killed by a police officer, who was then arrested. However, the tribe and the family of the killed man said they forgave the officer and that the man had hurt the sentiments of Muslims by insulting Muhammad. Though killings of blasphemy suspects by mobs are common, such killings by police are rare in Pakistan, where accusations of blasphemy – sometimes even just rumours – often spark rioting and rampage by mobs that can escalate into killings. Under Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws , anyone found guilty of insulting Islam or Islamic religious figures can be sentenced to death – though authorities have yet to carry out a death sentence for blasphemy. Pakistan has witnessed a surge in attacks on blasphemy suspects in recent years. In June, a mob broke into a police station in the north-western town of Madyan, snatched a detainee who was a tourist, and then killed him over allegations that he had desecrated Islam’s holy book. Last year, a mob in Punjab province attacked churches and homes of Christians after claiming they saw a local Christian and his friend desecrating pages from a Qur’an. The attack in the district of Jaranwala drew nationwide condemnation, but Christians say the men linked to the violence are yet to be put on trial. © 2024 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. (dcr)

Three years after America’s withdrawal, the situation is grim Last month the Taliban published a new consolidated code of religious laws. It has left Afghan women reeling, with many now searching for ways to leave. It also has implications for the Taliban’s quest for legitimacy and relations with the world. Three years after America’s withdrawal from the country, the situation in Afghanistan looks worse than ever. Even before the announcement in late August, women were banned from attending secondary schools, universities, parks and female-only spaces such as beauty salons. They were not allowed to work in most professions. Now they are banned from raising their voices or reciting the Koran in public. They are prohibited from looking at any man other than their relatives, and have to cover their faces fully. Nasiba (not her real name), a 28-year-old midwife in Badghis, in the north-west of the country, says that after three years under the Taliban she feels “a sense of hopelessness, loneliness”. When she leaves the house, she does so “with fear, shaking, that someone might say something to me or stop me”. Some women have reacted to the latest announcement by reducing how much they go out; others ensure they are never alone outside. Amina, a widow in Kabul, the capital, locks her daughter and son inside. Her children eat once a day, if at all: “If there’s food they eat, if not they wait.” The new religious code is a “pivotal moment”, says Richard Bennett, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, who is barred from the country by the Taliban. He wants “gender apartheid” to be considered a crime against humanity. Activists want the Taliban to be tried at the International Criminal Court (Afghanistan has signed up to the Rome statute). That seems unlikely. Outrage in the West has been muted, not least as many are distracted by the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban’s choice to be permanent representative to the United Nations, says the new code was introduced to “limit” the powers of the morality police, who have become more present in the country. Mr Shaheen insists that the law banning women from speaking outside had been “misinterpreted”. He says that the Taliban has issued thousands of licences for women interpreters. The ban applied to women singing at large gatherings of men, he claims. He adds that women can study midwifery or go to a religious school. That is of little comfort to many women. Nasiba says that she has started to think about leaving the country, mostly for the sake of her ten-year-old daughter but also of her five-year-old son, who admires the Taliban. “He sees [the Taliban] at the shopping centre, he sees their rangers and wants to take a photo...maybe he’ll become a Talib,” she says, with a grim laugh. “When there’s no education...no computer classes, or English, just religious education, what else is he going to become?” Copyright © The Economist Newspaper Limited 2024. All rights reserved.

Afghanistan International Television (AITV) - one of the most prominent anti-establishment voices in the country has been forced to shut down broadcasts for over a week due to the orbital jammers blocking its satellite stations A Taliban security personnel stands guard Photograph:(AFP) According to reports, the Taliban sent disruptive signals from a ground station to the satellite, interfering with the channels broadcast. Between September 5 and 13, viewers saw a blank screen on their TV sets before the channel shifted to a different satellite frequency. “I had received information in August from inside Kabul that the Taliban had purchased an extremely expensive jammer with the intention of using it against us,” AITV's executive editor Harun Najafizada told  The Independent .  “This act of orbital jamming not only attacks press freedom but also violates international standards and highlights the Taliban’s increasing efforts to dismantle free expression and restrict Afghan citizens’ access to truthful information,” added Najafizada.  The publication stated that the Taliban obtained the Iranian orbital jammers earlier this year in May, with the rather expensive purchase confirmed by sources inside Kabul’s General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI), the intelligence agency of the Taliban.  “This interference and shutdown via orbital jammers will not be limited to just AITV but other international news channels which the Taliban doesn’t find fit under their interpretation of Sharia law, they want to implement their own state radio and television broadcast which praise the Supreme leader and his Talib ministers,” a source was quoted as saying. Notably, after the death of 22-year-old Mahasa Amini in Iran last year and the subsequent protests, Tehran also jammed AITV's sister channel Iran International.  Copyright © 2024 India Dot Com Private Limited. All rights reserved.

Researchers say more bodies of Herero and Nama people from early 20th century German concentration camp could be in waters around port The campsite at Shark Island, where thousands of Herero and Nama people were killed.Photograph: Guy Oliver/Alamy The Namibian authorities are being urged to halt plans to extend a port on the Shark Island peninsula after the discovery of unmarked graves and artefacts relating to the Herero and Nama genocide by Germany. Forensic Architecture , a non-profit research agency, said it had located sites of executions, forced labour, imprisonment and sexual violence that occurred when the island was used by the German empire as a concentration camp between 1905 and 1907. More than 65,000 Herero people and 10,000 Nama were killed by German troops between 1904 and 1908 in what is widely acknowledged as the first genocide of the 20th century. The attack was in retaliation for a revolt against colonial rule led by paramount chief Samuel Maharero. Many were killed in the camp on the island, which is now a peninsula. Researchers said there was a “credible” risk that human remains could be found in the waters around the peninsula’s port, which the authorities want to expand to support green hydrogen production along the country’s south coast. Historical accounts suggested people who died in the camp were “thrown to the sharks”, said Forensic Architecture. Researchers have called for a moratorium on all development projects in the area and for wider investigations into potential underwater graves. “Any prospective construction needs to be stopped until these sites are fully protected, and thorough studies of the remains on the camp have been done,” said Agata Nguyen Chuong , a Forensic Architecture researcher. “[The] constructions will further desecrate and compromise Shark Island as a site of archaeological, historical and cultural heritage.” Forensic Architecture worked with traditional leaders to identify the locations of the genocide through historical accounts cross-referenced against archival photos, documents and satellite imagery. Ground radar was used to detect anomalies in the soil to identify mass graves. The discoveries , published in April, have sparked renewed calls from traditional leaders for the peninsula to be designated a historic site. The government recognised the area as a national heritage site in 2019, but communities said it had made little difference to how the area was viewed. The peninsula is now a tourist site, with camping facilities and beachside resorts, as well as a busy port. “Shark Island is a sacred place,” said Paul Samuel Herero, Samuel Maharero’s great-great-grandson. “For us, it should be a monument. We want our people to be able to come and understand the pain and suffering of our forefathers, who died a very painful death. Yet 34 years after independence, my forefathers are still yearning, pleading and begging for recognition with the new Namibia.” Sima Luipert, a genocide activist and representative of the Nama Traditional Leaders Association (NTLA), said: “The way the landscape has been changed over the years is starting to remove any traces of what happened there. “The Namibian government is downplaying the severity and lasting impacts of the genocide, which is what we want to prevent.” Prominent memorials commemorating German colonial soldiers have been erected along the peninsula, while graves of communities killed in the genocide remain largely unmarked. Earlier this month, communities re-erected a collapsed temporary tombstone honouring the victims of the genocide. Johannes Ortmann from the NTLA said: “Up to now … there has been no significant commemoration put up [at Shark Island] for people to be aware of what happened there.” Construction at the port is set to begin early next year. Namport, the Namibian port authority, said it had commissioned archaeological studies and was consulting with affected groups and the Namibia Heritage Council. Environmental impact assessments were also being conducted. The Namibia Wildlife Resorts, which manages tourism on the island, told the Guardian it had erected a noticeboard requesting tourists “offer the island the necessary dignity and respect as a sacred site”. While it remained open to consultations with communities on the management of the island, it said tourism brought important economic benefits for the country and there were no “immediate plans” to reduce it. Forensic Architecture’s findings are part of a body of digital restitutive evidence it is gathering in support of the Herero and Nama people’s calls for direct reparations for the genocide. Germany formally acknowledged the genocide in 2021, when the government pledged approximately £1bn to Namibia in development aid projects over the next 30 years, targeted at descendent communities. However, the communities rejected Germany’s offer and have challenged the Namibian government in court for agreeing the deal without their approval. They say they were sidelined in talks and that their demands for direct reparations and the return of their land – taken during colonial rule – were sidestepped. “[Development aid] does not address the issue of genocide committed by Germany against the Nama and Herero people,” said Luipert. “If Germany is really serious about reconciliation, it still needs to deal with the reality of reparations.” © 2024 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies.

Their churches no longer feel safe. Now Nicaraguans are taking their worship home María Therea Hernández, 25 Sep 2024 FILE-Anti-government demonstrators hold a banner featuring a group of Catholic cardinals including Nicaraguan Leopoldo Brenes, center right, and a quote from John Paul II that reads in Spanish, "The Church is the first to want peace!", during a march supporting the Catholic Church, in Managua, Nicaragua, July 28, 2018 (AP, Photo/Alfredo Zuniga, File). When their church no longer felt safe, deacon Francisco Alvicio and his congregation made a plan. Cautiously, discreetly, they took their worship to their homes. “If I’m pursued at the church, I still have my Bible,” the 63-year-old Nicaraguan said. Praying in hiding became his last resort before fleeing his country in 2023. Like him, several evangelical pastors, Catholic priests and human rights organizations have denounced the surveillance, harassment and the imprisonment of Nicaraguan faith leaders in recent years. “Arriving with a weapon is not kind-hearted,” Alvicio said from Costa Rica, where he currently lives. “If someone goes into a church wearing a uniform, speaking loudly, it’s to intimidate.” The relationship between Nicaraguan religious communities and the government has been strained since President Daniel Ortega’s crackdown on massive street protests in 2018. Ortega asked the Catholic Church to play a role as a mediator when political tensions arose, but the dialogue didn’t last long . After priests sheltered demonstrators inside their parishes and expressed concern about excessive use of force, Ortega targeted them as “terrorists” who backed opposition efforts to overthrow him. Among evangelicals, relatively few pastors have openly supported the president. Most congregations have refrained from any political participation, though this has not prevented leaders from being imprisoned and hundreds of organizations from being closed. In northern Nicaragua, where Alvicio was born, most of the Indigenous Miskito people are evangelicals. The Moravian Church — to which the deacon belonged — was established in Nicaragua in 1894. Until its closure alongside more than 1,600 nongovernmental organizations last August, it had about 350,000 members in the country. For decades, Alvicio said, the Miskitos could profess their faith freely. Services took place every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Elders and children alike gathered at the church, where clergy read the Bible and ceremonies ended by singing a Miskito hymn. Things started shifting when the government imposed new rules on the congregation. First came a tax that its members had never paid. Then, an order to replace their logo. “We did not accept,” Alvicio said. “We can’t change something just because the government wants to. The only path we follow is the one of God.” Before long, black-clad strangers started showing up at his church. Those too afraid to attend a public service decided to pray at home. Some read their Bibles in solitude. Others with spare chairs turned their tiny houses into makeshift churches, calling in a few neighbors and leaders like Alvicio. By changing venues every day, lowering their voices and gathering as early as 4 a.m. to avoid detection, they kept worshipping. How evangelicals have been affected by Ortega’s government According to CSW , a British-based organization that advocates for religious freedom, violations against the faith practice of Nicaraguan Protestants have been less visible than those against the Catholic Church. Anna Lee Stangl, CSW’s head of advocacy, noted in a recent publication that the Catholic Church is a single religious organization whose structure spreads geographically and has a clear, public hierarchy. “The Protestant Church is made up of many different denominations and independent churches, some of which may be dominant in one part of the country and absent in another, and which do not necessarily work together or even communicate,” she said. In both Catholic and Protestant communities, violations reported by organizations and faith leaders are similar: restrictions on the length, location and frequency of services; prohibition of processions; invasion of masked men into churches; theft or destruction of religious objects and infiltration of informants. “The situation has seriously worsened,” said Martha Patricia Molina, a Nicaraguan lawyer who keeps a record of religious freedom violations. According to her latest report, 870 violations were committed against the Catholic Church between 2018 and 2024, and 100 against Protestants in the same period. Additionally, said human rights organization Nicaragua Nunca Más, more than 256 evangelical churches have been closed by the government in the past four years, while 43 Catholic groups have been targeted since 2022. At least 200 religious leaders have fled Nicaragua, the organization said. More than 20 were stripped from their citizenship and 65 have been indicted for conspiracy and other charges. The Nicaraguan government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. An American pastor’s tale Pastor Jon Britton Hancock didn’t see it coming. How could he suspect that 11 pastors from his evangelical church could be arrested if Ortega’s government had greenlighted their operations for years? He and his wife, both Americans and founders of Mountain Gateway , started working in Nicaragua in 2013. Two years later, they sent their first missionaries and began collaborating with local pastors. For the next decade, they developed fair-trade coffee practices, offered disaster relief to families affected by hurricanes and organized mass evangelism campaigns. But then, it all suddenly changed. In December 2023, 11 of his church’s pastors and two lawyers were arrested; their families didn’t hear from them for months. It wasn’t until Sept. 5 that they were released on humanitarian grounds. Hancock wondered why this happened. Though he never engaged in political discourse, he had preached in Congress and to the national police. He had met with officials. Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, had sent notes congratulating him on his church’s work. “I think the real reason is the Gospel is a threat to totalitarian ideas,” Hancock said. “Our perspective is about personal relationship with God and it’s based on love. And love doesn’t thrive if there’s control or coercion.” With Ortega’s measures against faith communities, he said, not only freedom is lost. Confiscations by the government have been a blow to church investments. And, in many cases, pastors imprisoned or forced into exile are the providers for their homes. Mountain Gateways’ local leader, Walder Blandon, was arrested with his wife, so they were both separated from their 2-month-old baby. He and his brother, who is two years older, had to be taken in by their grandmother, who had health issues, until their parents were released in September. “So, whether or not the Nicaraguan government intends for people to be fearful, I can promise you that there is much fear and people are responding,” Hancock said. He, too, has heard of multiple people holding house meetings to pray. Parishioners’ modest sound systems are no longer an option, he said, because a guitar or a piano could attract police asking for a registration, so congregations have gone underground. “It’s not very known what’s happening with evangelicals in Nicaragua,” he said. “Evangelical pastors don’t take their stands in the same way that Catholic priests do, so it’s kind of gone under the radar, but it’s certainly there.” There’s nothing left but leaving One pastor had already gotten used to police watching his sermons and strangers listening to his conversations, but when someone told him “they’re after your head,” he decided he should flee. “The government wants to control everything,” said the evangelical leader, who agreed to an interview on the condition his name and new home base be withheld for safety reasons. “They fear that if one speaks against the government, the people will rise.” In his hometown, he said, he was targeted by informants who would seek to make his acquaintance, then surreptitiously use their phones to record sounds or video that the government might find of interest. Now, with him gone, his family no longer goes to church. They worship at home and he joins them from a distance, praying for his people and the government, for justice and peace. Alvicio, too, has kept his faith strong. His church might be gone and he yearns to return to his country, but through his prayers, he remains tied to his land. “We, the Moravians, believe that wherever we are, we can pray to God,” he said. “So I can walk and speak and think bearing that power, knowing that, even if I’m alone, he’ll be with me.” Copyright 2024 The Associated Press.

Crackdown following Nicolas Maduro’s contested re-election in July has left 25 dead and 2,400 in jail. Al Jazeera, 17 Sep 2024 Demonstrators show posters of people arrested for protesting against the government of President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas, Venezuela, September 11 [Juan Barreto/AFP]. Venezuela’s government has unleashed an unprecedented wave of repression following the contested re-election of Nicolas Maduro in July’s presidential election, a United Nations fact-finding mission has reported. Maduro’s victory in the disputed vote saw authorities crack down on the opposition and protesters, the mission said in its report released on Tuesday. The response of the authorities has thrown the country into one of its most “acute human rights crises in recent history” the report by the UN Human Rights Council (OHCHR) warned. Amid weeks of unrest on Venezuela’s streets, 25 protesters were killed and at least 2,400 arrested, the report said. “We are witnessing an intensification of the state’s repressive machinery in response to what it perceives as critical views, opposition or dissent,” said Marta Valinas, chair of the fact-finding mission. Twenty-four out of the 25 deaths were caused by gunshot wounds, mostly to the neck, the mission reported. Many of those arrested, including more than 100 children, “were accused of terrorism and incitement to hatred”, it noted. “These arrests involved and were followed by serious violations of due process, reaching unprecedented levels in the country,” the report read. The repressive response to the protests marked “a new milestone in the deterioration of the rule of law”, it added. Venezuela’s electoral authorities and the top court said Maduro won the July poll, but they did not show all the voting tallies. Supporters of opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez were quick to accuse the governing party of electoral fraud. The opposition said its count showed a victory for Gonzalez, who earlier this month requested political asylum in Spain after a warrant was issued for his arrest. Earlier this month, the US imposed new sanctions on Venezuelan judicial and election officials, accusing them of helping Maduro certify his victory. Maduro’s government has blamed the opposition for the deaths during the demonstrations, branding the protesters “extremists” and “fascists”. Allegations of unobserved “forced disappearances” in Venezuela have increased since 2019, as have reports of cruel treatment and torture, the fact-finding mission said. The OHCHR established its fact-finding mission on Venezuela in 2019, which had its mandate extended until this September. The government in Caracas has refused to cooperate with the mission. © 2024 Al Jazeera Media Network.

Donald Trump credit: Google images     Trump's Big Lie By Dr. Gregory Stanton September 24, 2024   Genocide Watch was founded in 1999 to predict and prevent genocide. We use a model of how genocide develops to warn about processes that make genocide possible. The Ten Stages of Genocide include: •       Classification:  "us" versus "them," exclusion from citizenship •       Symbolization:  IDs, names, color, language, dress, yellow stars •       Discrimination:  exclusion from voting, jobs, housing, transport, parks, civil rights •       Dehumanization:  calling people criminals, terrorists, vermin, cockroaches •       Organization:  hate groups, armed militias, mobs •       Polarization:  hate radio and TV, social media hate campaigns •       Preparation:  planning, violent attacks, coups d'état •       Persecution:  ghettos, starvation, untreated epidemics, trial massacres, mass deportations •       Extermination:  concentration camps, mass killing, genocide •       Denial:  Big Lies denying or justifying crimes The processes are not linear. They often occur simultaneously. Together they lead to genocide. The Nazis claimed that Jews "stabbed Germany in the back" and made Germany lose World War I. Victory for Germany was "stolen." The Nazis used this Big Lie to rise to power. Nazis failed to win an outright majority in the elections of 1932, but as leader of the largest party, Hitler became Chancellor.On February 27, 1933, Nazis burned the Reichstag (German parliament.) Hitler dissolved parliament and declared emergency powers. Parliament never met again. The Ten Stages of the Nazi Holocaust   •       Classification:  The Nazis re-classified Jews, stripping them of German citizenship. •       Symbolization: Jews had to carry IDs marked "Jude" and wear symbolic yellow stars. •       Discrimination:  Jews were excluded from government and academic jobs. Jewish businesses were boycotted, destroyed, and confiscated. Jewish homes, art, and possessions were stolen by the Nazis. •       Dehumanization:  Jews were dehumanized as "vermin," and as vampires who drank the blood of Christian children. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion portrayed Jews as monsters bent on controlling the world. •       Organization:  The Nazi Party seized power, and the SS was organized to kill Jews. •       Polarization: Nazi media spewed hate propaganda. Opponents were the "lying press." •       Preparation: On  Kristallnacht  (Night of Broken Glass) November 9-10, 1938, Nazi stormtroopers and mobs burned 1000 synagogues, looted 7,500 Jewish businesses, and sent 30,000 Jewish men to concentration camps. Nazi prisoners built the death camps. Nazi leaders planned "The Final Solution" and tested methods of extermination. •       Persecution: Jews were deported into ghettos where they starved and perished.  •       Extermination: Nazi troops invaded Eastern Europe, where Einsatzgruppen and Police Units murdered 1.3 million Jews. During the Holocaust, the Nazis transported and murdered over six million Jews, Roma, LGBTQ, and disabled people, and other minorities. •       Denial:  The Nazis denied their crimes from start to finish. Holocaust deniers still deny the Nazi crimes. Holocaust denial is still dominant among neo-Nazis in Europe and America, in Iran, and in much of the Middle East. Trump promotes all these processes, but another American genocide has not begun. The American Constitution enforced by courageous officials has checked the process at Polarization, Preparation, and Persecution. So far. But Trump has not stopped. Now he is promising “the biggest deportations in history.” The parallels of Donald Trump’s ideology and proposals with Hitler’s Nazism are ominous.    The Ten Stages of Genocide in Trump’s America   ·       Classification:  Under Trump’s racist policies, ICE held asylum seekers in detention camps and separated children from their parents. Ten million immigrants in the US are still denied citizenship. ·       Symbolization : Without documents, these ten million long-term residents cannot register to vote. ·       Discrimination : One in six Black American men cannot vote. Native Americans are on reservations. Visitors from Muslim countries were barred from the US, a policy Trump says he will reimpose. Trump’s plan to deport millions of migrants is based on racist xenophobia that appeals to white supremacist fears that whites are being “replaced.” ·       Dehumanization : Trump calls immigrants at the southern border “invaders”, "murderers", “criminals”, "rapists", “fentanyl smugglers”, “gang members”, “mentally ill”, "Illegal aliens", ”vermin” who pollute American “blood”.  Trump insists without any evidence that black Haitians eat pets. ·       Organization : The Proud Boys and other white supremacists parade openly, brandishing automatic weapons. Trump says racists carrying swastikas are “good people.” He incited the mob that invaded the Capitol. ·       Polarization : FOX news, right-wing radio, and over 130 members of Congress and the Senate amplify Trump's Big Lie that he won the election and that his followers should "Stop the Steal." He denounces reports of his election defeat as "Fake News." Over half of Republican voters believe Trump’s Big Lie. ·       Preparation : White supremacists post hate speech on Facebook, Twitter, Gab, Signal, and Telegram. They planned the takeover of the US Capitol. They are planning more violence if Harris is inaugurated. ·       Persecution : Black and Native Americans died from Covid-19 at a mortality rate per capita over twice as high as for whites. White police still shoot Black people with impunity. Trump promises his enemies will be imprisoned. ·       Extermination : The mob that took over the Capitol was led by terrorists, intent on murdering the Speaker of the House and the Vice President. They tried to enable a coup d'état to keep Trump in power. ·       Denial : Trump's Big Lie is that he won the 2020 election "by a landslide," and it was a "Stolen Election." His followers believe "the steal" justified the invasion of the Capitol to prevent certification of the election.   Some rioters who seized the Capitol on January 6 wore 6MNE T-shirts ("Six Million is Not Enough"). Others wore Auschwitz sweatshirts. Many believed the QAnon neo-Nazi cult’s conspiracy theory that Jewish, Democrat, and Hollywood pedophiles kidnap children to drink their blood. QAnon revived the Nazi Blood Libel that Jews kidnap and murder Christian children, then mix their blood in matzos at Passover. There are now even QAnon cultists in Congress.   The parallels of Trump’s ideology to Nazism should make your blood run cold. He is supported by neo-Nazis and Congressmen and Senators too cowardly to oppose him.   It isn’t the first time that supporters of Nazism in Congress have tried to take over America. Rachel Maddow’s Prequel shows how Nazi Congressmen and Senators paid by Hitler’s Germany tried to keep America out of World War II.   Trump himself suffers from the same Narcissistic Personality Disorder that deranged Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Saddam Hussein and other tyrants. He is most at home with murderous dictators like Kim Jong-un, Putin, Xi Jinping, Erdoğan, and Mohammed bin Salman.   Like all narcissists, Trump can never admit he is wrong or that he has lost. Trump's worst fear is that he will be branded a "Loser." That is why Trump's Big Lie that he did not lose the 2020 election is vital to his narcissistic self-image. He is trying to inflict that Big Lie on America.   Make no mistake about it. The January 6th invasion of the Capitol was a Trump attempted coup d'état. By a 232 to197 vote to impeach supported by only ten Republican Congresspersons, Trump was stopped. For now.   It can happen here. If Trump wins again, it will happen here.   Dr. Gregory Stanton is the Founding President of Genocide Watch. He was Research Professor in Genocide Studies at George Mason University, and the James Farmer Professor of Human Rights at the University of Mary Washington. He was President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars. Copyright 2024 Gregory H Stanton. This article is published under a Creative Commons (CC BY 4.0) license. It may be freely republished in full with attribution to the author, Gregory H Stanton.

TRIPOLI, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Delegates from divided Libya's east and west have agreed on procedures, criteria and timelines for appointing a governor, deputy governor and board of directors for the country's central bank, the United Nations Libya mission (UNSMIL) said on Wednesday in a statement. The agreement could help defuse a crisis over control of the central bank and oil revenue that has slashed Libya's oil output and exports. Libya has been divided since 2014 into rival authorities in the west and east that emerged from the widespread chaos following the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011. The recent central bank crisis began when the head of the Presidential Council based in Tripoli, Mohammed al-Menfi, moved to replace veteran central bank Governor Sadiq al-Kabir last month. That led Libya's eastern factions to order a halt of oil flows across the country's oil fields in protest. Libya's National Oil Corporation said on Aug. 28 that oil production had dropped by more than half from typical levels. It has not made public any new production figures since then. The UN Libya Mission said delegates from the House of Representatives, based in Benghazi in the east, and the High State Council based in Tripoli in the west had reached a compromise on appointing a new leadership for the bank, but it did not give any names. It added that it will host on Thursday a signing ceremony with the attendance of the international community. © 2024 Reuters. All rights reserved

Safaa, right, with her sister Maqa in their hut.Credit ...Nicholas Kristof/The New York Times What We Can Learn From an Orphan in Sudan New York Times Sept. 25, 2024 By  Nicholas Kristof Opinion Columnist, reporting from the Chad-Sudan border My heart bleeds on this reporting trip as I see skeletal Sudanese children and interview survivors of  massacres  and  mass rape  targeting Black African ethnic groups. I keep thinking: It can’t get worse than this. Then I realize: Oh, yes, it can. The most brutal militia in Sudan (a high bar) is the Rapid Support Forces, which is now bombarding the city of El Fasher and  gaining   ground .  El Fasher  and the nearby Zamzam camp  could fall at any time , with more than a million civilians vulnerable to the kind of atrocities that the militiamen have committed many times before. President Biden this week met the leader of the United Arab Emirates, the prime backer of the Rapid Support Forces as they commit atrocities. Biden praised the United Arab Emirates as a nation “always looking to the future” without offering a peep of public reproach for enabling a  well-documented  ethnic cleansing that at least one watchdog group has  called  a genocide. The passivity of world leaders, even as they gather at the United Nations to celebrate their commitment to peace and justice, contrasts with the deep sense of moral responsibility of a Sudanese refugee child whom I met on the Chad-Sudan border. So let me share that girl’s story. This girl, Safaa Khatir, was orphaned like so  many others  by the Sudanese civil war that began last year between the Rapid Support Forces and another odious military group, the Sudanese Armed Forces. The Rapid Support Forces burned down her village, including her home, she said, and killed the men and boys. Safaa at the tea shop where she works.Credit ...Nicholas Kristof/The New York Times “Boys who were just 10, 11 or 12 — they killed them all in front of me,” Safaa told me. “I saw them die.” The militiamen, who are Arabs, were shouting racist epithets against Black people like her, she said. “Black people stink,” she quoted them as saying, adding that the gunmen said: “You’re slaves. We will kill you.” The militia then rounded up the beautiful young girls, Safaa said. “They said they would rape them and make them their wives,” she added. Several older women rescued Safaa: They gave her an abaya shawl to cover herself and helped her lift her younger sister onto her back so it would seem as if Safaa was a mother. It worked: The gunmen ignored her and instead seized a group of teenage girls and left. Now homeless and penniless, the 16-year-old Safaa — whose father was murdered by the militia and whose mother had died earlier — was in charge of the family. Safaa knew her only hope was to escape to Chad, but she didn’t have the $25 she would need to pay for a ride. So she did the only thing she could: She took a job in the city of Geneina, near her village, as a server in a tea shop, surrounded by the men who had murdered and raped her friends, scrimping on food for herself and saving every penny she could. After a month, she had saved enough. She then led her sister and brother on the perilous journey to Chad and set up a hut in a refugee camp there. Biden has backed peace talks in Sudan, which offer a ray of hope for the best outcome: a deal that would end the civil war and restore civilian government. That’s important but a long shot. We may instead be twiddling our thumbs on a path toward a fragmented, failed state suffering one of  the worst famines  of modern times. So why is Biden unwilling to criticize the United Arab Emirates or apply leverage? Is it that he thinks the United Arab Emirates is too important in the Middle East? Is it that he believes quiet pressure is most effective? I’m not sure, but his approach has failed, and the upshot has been atrocities and worsening famine. The rap star Macklemore recently  canceled  a show in Dubai over the Emirates’ role in Sudan. It’s striking when a rap musician provides greater geopolitical and moral leadership than the president of the United States. While Safaa is still a child, she does take her responsibilities very seriously. To earn money to buy food for the family, she leaves at 4:30 each morning to work in a teahouse in her Chad refugee camp, returning at about 9 each evening, seven days a week. She earns the equivalent of about 50 cents a day. Refugee camp in Chad Credit...Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Her 10-year-old brother, Musaab, works as well, taking whatever odd jobs he can find, and her 12-year-old sister, Maqa, fetches water, washes clothes, cooks and organizes the home. It’s lonely and overwhelming: Maqa cried for a time as we spoke, and at another time in our conversation tears tricked down Safaa’s cheek. But the girls consoled each other and never broke down at the same time. Safaa tries to play the role of substitute mother, guiding and disciplining Maqa when she misbehaves. “Sometimes I beat her, and sometimes I advise her that this was wrong and you shouldn’t do it,” she explained. “Mostly, I advise.” She is a child raising children, struggling to do her best. When Maqa has nightmares or cries in frustration or grief at lost parents or friends, Safaa comforts her. “I hug her,” she said. “And I explain, ‘This is life. Don’t cry.’” But this doesn’t have to be her life. It’s not inevitable that Sudanese endure massacres, mass rape and famine. May this exhausted teenager, hugging her sister and telling her not to cry, remind global leaders that they too can show some responsibility. More on Darfur Opinion | Nicholas Kristof When Gunmen Impose a Policy of Rape Sept. 21, 2024   Opinion | Nicholas Kristof I Just Went to Darfur. Here Is What Shattered Me. Sept. 18, 2024 Opinion | Lydia Polgreen Death and Displacement Return to Darfur June 25, 2023   Nicholas Kristof became a columnist for The Times Opinion desk in 2001 and has won two Pulitzer Prizes. His new memoir is “ Chasing Hope: A Reporter's Life .”  @NickKristof A version of this article appears in print on Sept. 26, 2024, Section A, Page 25 of the New York edition with the headline: What We Can Learn From an Orphan in Sudan. Copyright 2024 The New York Times Company

Niger Country Report 2024    By Brooklyn Quallen     Niger remains one of the poorest countries in the world.    Poverty has led to internal insecurity, including armed banditry. Jihadists gained a foothold by providing some anti-bandit protection. But Fulani jihadist terrorism against the Djerma has included numerous genocidal massacres.     Since obtaining independence from France in 1960, Niger has had five coups d'état and four military juntas. Niger’s seventh constitution in 2010 established a multiparty system. President Mohamed Bazoum of the Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism was deposed by another  military coup  on July 23, 2023.        The military junta alleges that Bazoum committed “ high treason, ” It has detained him in the presidential palace,  The junta shut down parliament and restricted civil liberties. General Abdourahamane Tchian, who led the coup, says Niger will return to democracy in three years .  [Military regimes never give up power except by military coup or popular uprisings.]     The main jihadist organization in Niger is the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), a branch of ISIS that dominates the Tillabéri region in the west. Its Islamist ideology does not attract rural villagers, but the ISGS provides some protection from bandits. However, ISGS’s use of zakat , a forced taxation practice, causes resentment in Nigerien villagers against ISGS forces. Attempts to collect zakat is the justification ISGS always gives for its massacres of civilian villages.    Languages of Niger Copyright 2014 Jacques Leclerc    On January 2 , 2021, at least 100 civilians were killed in attacks on two villages. On March 15 , 2021, 58 were killed. On March 21 , the deadliest attack on civilians in Niger’s history claimed the lives of 137 citizens. Since 2021, jihadist attacks have occurred almost monthly in the south and west. They have killed hundreds of civilians and Nigerien troops.     ISGS recruits its fighters from close to the Malian border, so they mostly come from the Fulani ethnic group  that lives there. The Djerma occupy the Tillabéri region, where they have a long history of conflicts with the Fulani over resources and land. ISGS has conducted many ethnic massacres against Djerma civilians. Among Djerma, there is a perception  that all Fulani are terrorists. In retaliation, Djerma have organized ethnic militias that target Fulani.   Ethnic map of Niger. source: Wikipedia    Niger’s responses to both the terrorist attacks and the ethnic tensions that underpin them have been ineffective. The state does not have the capacity to maintain control of the Tillabéri region, so ISGS has been able to grow almost unchecked. Where counterterrorism operations have taken place, the Nigerien military has been accused of grave human rights abuses , including extrajudicial killings of Djerma civilians.  Efforts to promote multi-ethnic harmony have been ineffective.       The 2023 coup has destabilized the security situation even further. On August 16, 2023 , insurgents attacked the Nigerien army in the Tillabéri region, killing 17 soldiers and wounding 24.     The Bazoum government invited French, US, and German forces to help fight terrorism. The military junta has now forced US,  French, and German soldiers to leave Niger. The resulting  security vacuum  has been filled by Russian mercenaries.      Due to the genocidal massacres of the Djerma by Fulani jihadists, Genocide Watch recognizes Niger as being at Stage 6: Polarization  and Stage 8: Persecution .      Genocide Watch recommends:    The Nigerien junta must immediately release President Bazoum and restore democracy and constitutional order.    With AU and international assistance, Niger must reestablish its control in its Tillabéri region.    Niger should expel Russian mercenaries and allow NATO to reestablish its anti-terrorist base in Agadez.   Niger must stop banditry and ISGS forced taxation. Niger’s army needs help to defeat ISGS and Fulani jihadism.    Niger must implement initiatives to promote ethnic cooperation, economic development, and the rule of law.