Democracy activists are invoking a controversial international norm to demand outside intervention. democracy demonstrations in Myanmar continue in the wake of the February 1 coup, many protesters within the country are taking to the streets and directly calling for the implementation of Responsibility to Protect, a United Nations norm that they believe could shield them from the violence of the military. Responsibility to Protect, known colloquially as R2P, is a U.N. principle that is used when the government of a country fails to protect its own citizens from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing or crimes against humanity—in many cases the government itself is the perpetrator of those crimes. In these situations, the U.N. can take collective action through the Security Council on a case-by-case basis to protect civilians, even if the government does not consent and the action violates the country’s sovereignty. The norm was developed after the international community failed to prevent genocides in the Balkans, Kosovo and Rwanda in the 1990s. In 2000, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan published the report “ We the Peoples ,” writing, “[S]urely no legal principle—not even sovereignty—can ever shield crimes against humanity. Where such crimes occur and peaceful attempts to halt them have been exhausted, the Security Council has a moral duty to act on behalf of the international community.” Four years later, at the U.N.’s 2005 World Summit, R2P was unanimously adopted. Since then, it has been referenced in 92 Security Council resolutions and has been invoked in decisions ranging from an arms embargo in the Central African Republic to enforcing a no-fly zone followed by NATO airstrikes in Libya. In the days after the coup in Myanmar, discussions about R2P began to circulate online, as protesters launched demonstrations against the military (known as the Tatmadaw). The calls for action increased when Dr. Sasa, the U.N. envoy for the democratically elected Burmese government in exile, (like many Burmese, he goes by a single name) wrote to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres on March 4, asking the Security Council to uphold R2P. Across Myanmar, protesters adopted this demand, writing “R2P” on their signs and banners and marching through the streets. Experts say the citizens’ requests for R2P on this scale are unprecedented. This raises the question of what exactly invoking R2P would mean in this case. Methods of enacting R2P are varied, and international diplomatic figures who are proponents of the principle being invoked in Myanmar are quick to emphasize it doesn’t necessarily consist of military intervention. Gareth Evans, a former Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs who was integral in first formulating R2P, wrote in an April 8 op-ed that, “military intervention is simply not a realistic option” in Myanmar, but went on to say it’s “just one element in the R2P reaction toolbox.” However, protesters in Myanmar are clear that when they ask for R2P, they’re asking specifically for boots on the ground. “R2P is coming with armies that can protect the civilians,” said Ko Sa, who is from Myanmar and is currently studying for his master’s degree in the U.S. (For safety concerns, he is not using his full name.) “That is my understanding of R2P. Troops will go there and protect the people from the military shooting them.” Miemie Winn Byrd, an Asia-Pacific security analyst and former army colonel, said that while R2P is not synonymous with military intervention, those calling for it often view it that way. “From the very first time, the U.S. military was involved,” said Byrd. “They think that R2P means military coming in and supporting. But R2P is a broad range.” R2P has been discussed with reference to Myanmar before. When Cyclone Nargis struck the country in 2008, killing over 130,000 and causing widespread devastation, Byrd, then serving in the Army, was on an aircraft carrier off the coast of Myanmar, and ready to deliver aid, which the Tatmadaw rejected. At the time, the French advocated for R2P, arguing that the international community should deliver aid whether the government agreed or not, but critics argued that the norm was limited to—as written in the 2005 World Summit Outcome —“genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity” and not disaster relief. The U.N. never invoked the principle. In 2017, when the Tatmadaw committed genocide on the Rohingya people in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, some international advocates again called for R2P. The Security Council met to discuss the situation, but China and Russia blocked the release of a statement after the meeting was held. In the end, the only official response from the Security Council was a Presidential Statement emphasizing that it was the “primary responsibility of the Myanmar government to protect its population.” In the past decade, skepticism has grown about R2P, particularly since the 2011 intervention in Libya which left a power vacuum that ultimately destabilized the country. But in the case of Myanmar, the skepticism that R2P may give way to harmful foreign intervention is largely depleted due to the fact that the Burmese people themselves are asking for the norm. If the Security Council does intend to invoke R2P in Myanmar, it is moving at a glacial pace to do so, despite pressure from the exiled National Unity Government, various NGOs and even other elements within the U.N. On March 28, the U.N. Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Alice Waimiru Nderitu and the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, released a joint statement , saying that the “international community has a responsibility to protect the people of Myanmar from atrocity crimes.” Like with the Rohginya genocide, the real obstacles R2P faces now are China and Russia, two of the five veto-wielding countries on the U.N. Security Council. China, which is Myanmar’s top trading partner and has billions of dollars invested in the country, likely wants to tread lightly and avoid further economic instability in the country. Russia has openly supported the military, sending Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin in March to meet with the Tatmadaw’s Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and attend the Armed Forces Day military parade on the same day 114 protesters were killed. This feeds into the broader struggle between these two countries and the West that plays out in the Security Council and the wariness that China and Russia have about invoking R2P after Libya. R2P remains in limbo more than ever as international and regional organizations play a kind of intervention hot potato. On April 24, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), held an emergency meeting on the situation in Myanmar, reaching a “ five-point consensus ” agreeing upon an “immediate cessation of violence.” Two days later, the junta released a press statement declaring it would consider this when “the situation returns to stability in the country since priorities at the moment were to maintain law and order and to restore community peace and tranquility.” Of course, there are other options to pressure Myanmar that bypass the Security Council entirely. Countries can impose their own restrictions, and many have already, from the United States’ targeted sanctions to New Zealand not recognizing the junta and implementing a travel ban on military leaders. But none of these individual actions would be as impactful as a resolution from the U.N. On May 17, the U.N. held a plenary meeting on the topic of R2P. Myanmar’s envoy, Kyaw Moe Tun, who supports the opposition, gave a statement , saying, “I understand that today’s debate is of thematic nature, not about a country specific one. However, I find it extremely hard not to relate relevance of the topic to what has been happening in my country.” He urged the international community to adhere to the principle of R2P in Myanmar, and also appealed to the U.N. member states and Security Council to enact further measures punishing the Tatmadaw, give humanitarian assistance, and recognize the National Unity Government. The following day, the U.N. General Assembly was set to consider an arms embargo on the junta, but the vote was postponed indefinitely to gain more support and have more time to negotiate with ASEAN, according to the AFP . Resolutions from the General Assembly are not legally binding but do hold political heft. In Myanmar, protesters grow skeptical of the international community’s willingness to help. “You do not see them holding U.N. or R2P posters anymore,” said Theo, who has been sharing information online and following the situation. He requested to be identified by his nickname due to safety reasons. Now, he says, instead of the R2P messages, protesters have been holding signs in support of the newly formed National Unity Government and flags representing the Ethnic Armed Organizations in the country. In the beginning, Ko Sa, the graduate student, knew it would be difficult to get R2P, but he was hopeful it would happen as he observed people protecting themselves from the military by using their knives, slingshots and hunting weapons. Now, he’s skeptical as well. “If we hope too much, we will be hurt,” he said. © 2021 The Slate Group LLC. [edited for brevity]

6 June 2022 | By Shannon Mullen Photo illustration. | Shutterstock At least 50 people were killed and others injured Sunday when gunmen attacked worshippers at a Catholic church in southwestern Nigeria, according to media reports. A doctor at a hospital in Owo, a town in the Nigerian state of Ondo, told Reuters that no fewer than 50 bodies had been moved to the Federal Medical Center in Owo and to St. Louis Catholic Hospital. The attack took place during a Pentecost Sunday service at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Owo, according to Ondo's governor, Arakunrin Akeredolu. A video posted on Twitter showed graphic scenes of bodies and blood inside the church. Akeredolu said many children were among the dead. "I am deeply saddened by the unprovoked attack and killing of innocent people of Owo, worshiping at the St. Francis Catholic Church, Today," the governor said in a tweet. "The vile & satanic attack is a calculated assault on the peace-loving people of Owo Kingdom who have enjoyed relative peace over the years." A state lawmaker, Ogunmolasuyi Oluwole, told the Associated Press the attackers also detonated explosives. The Vatican released a statement Sunday after Pope Francis learned of the attack. “The pope learned of the attack on the church in Ondo, Nigeria, and the death of dozens of faithful, many children, during the celebration of Pentecost," the statement read. "While the details of the incident are being clarified, Pope Francis prays for the victims and for the country, painfully affected in a moment of celebration, and entrusts both to the Lord, to send his Spirit to comfort them.” Nina Shea, a human rights lawyer and expert in religious freedom at the Hudson Institute, a think tank and research center in Washington, D.C., told CNA Sunday that "war-like" attacks against Catholics and other Christians are escalating in Nigeria. Yet most of this violence, until now, has centered in northern Nigeria, while the southwestern part of the country where Sunday's attack took place has remained relatively peaceful. "This massacre in a church while filled with Sunday worshippers is an atrocity that we’ve repeatedly seen in northern Nigeria over the years. Those were the work of Islamist extremists," Shea said. "While the facts are still emerging about today’s massacre, it is clear that large-scale, war-like attacks on Catholics and other Christians are spreading in a system of impunity," she continued. "The Buhari government has allowed this continue unabated and fails to protect Nigeria's churches. This governmental passivity is being seen as a green light for extremists to target Christians." Shea also criticized the Biden administration and Secretary of State Antony Blinken for being "passive" in response to the increasing attacks targeting Christian villages in the north. "Kidnappings and murders of priests and pastors, enslavement of Christian girls, and mob lynchings for alleged blasphemy against Islam" have intensified since the Biden administration removed Nigeria from the United States' "Country of Concern" (CPC) list of countries where egregious religious persecution is taking place, Shea said. "(Blinken) needs to address this crisis, stop making excuses for it based on a climate change narrative and designate Nigeria as a CPC. Anything less is unconscionable," she said. "Innocent, defenseless religious people are being slaughtered en masse in an aggressive, onslaught even in areas like today's attack where peaceful conditions formerly prevailed," Shea added. © 2022 CNA | All rights reserved.

23 June 2022 | By Douglas Burton and Beloved John A photo of Deborah Emmanuel's photo on her Facebook page. Emmanuel, a Christian student in Nigeria, was killed by an Islamic mob on her college campus on May 12, 2022. | CNA Deborah Emmanuel, the Nigerian Christian student who was murdered by a Muslim mob last month, spent her final hours with a close friend who has shared exclusive details of the brutal killing with CNA. CNA is using the pseudonym “Mary” for the woman’s protection. A Christian herself, she nearly was killed by the same mob. Significantly, Mary’s account contradicts the claim of authorities that they attempted to rescue Emmanuel from the mob but were “overwhelmed.” On the contrary, the police “could have stopped the murder if they had really tried,” Mary told CNA. Emmanuel’s so-called “blasphemy murder” took place on May 12 on the campus of Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto, Sokoto State, a major city located in the northwest corner of Nigeria. The city is home to the Muslim Sultan who serves as the top religious authority for Nigeria’s 100 million Muslim believers. Prior to the attack, Emmanuel, a home economics major who attended Evangelical Church Winning All, was bullied by fanatical Muslim students at the teacher’s college for audio statements she made on WhatsApp, a messaging platform. She credited Jesus Christ for her success on a recent exam, and when threatened and told to apologize she refused, invoking the Holy Spirit, saying “Holy Ghost fire! Nothing will happen to me,” according to WhatsApp messages reviewed by CNA. In the aftermath of these heated exchanges, a Muslim mob attacked Emmanuel on the college’s campus. After an hours' long siege, the mob beat and stoned her to death, then set her body on fire with burning tires, according to graphic video footage posted online. Rioters later that week rampaged in a Catholic Church compound in Sokoto and attacked other Christian-owned properties. A relative of Emmanuel’s, who said he was standing approximately 60 feet from the mob, also told CNA he believes the police could have saved her. He, too, asked that his identity be withheld for his safety. Unarmed campus security personnel made a futile attempt to rescue Emmanuel, according to a campus security report shared with CNA. But Emmanuel’s relative said there were dozens of armed police officers on the scene who didn’t fire their weapons. The commissioner of police in the state also said officers did not fire their weapons. However, he maintained that only 15 of his officers were at the scene, according to a report in The Epoch Times. Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Diocese of Sokoto has strongly condemned the attack and called on Emmanuel's killers to be brought to justice. "This matter must be treated as a criminal act," he said. You can read his full statement here. A plea for help On the day of Emmanuel’s death, Mary received a frantic phone call from her around 9 a.m, asking for help. By that time, women who lived in her dormitory had begun slapping Emmanuel, Mary told CNA. Mary arrived at the campus to see her friend surrounded by a mob and being led by a campus staffer to a gatehouse building for her protection. The Muslim students had bloodied her face and head with blows from rods and were joined by male students who believed their duty was to execute a blasphemer on the spot, Mary said. “Allahu Akbar!” meaning “God is Great” was bellowed for hours, she said. Mary initially stayed outside the building and tried to intercede for her friend, but she said it wasn’t long before the mob turned on her, too. Within moments Mary was trying to ward off punches and blows from sticks as she backed away from the gatehouse and toward the gate of the college 40 feet away. Mary said a college lecturer rescued her and brought her to join Emmanuel inside the gatehouse by 10 a.m. At 10:25 a.m., the relative said, six officers of the Department of State Security (DSS) — the equivalent to the FBI in the U.S. — arrived, firing their rifles in the air but with no effect. Five minutes later, he said, a group of Sokoto police came on the scene and fired tear gas, temporarily scattering the mob. The above map is based on eyewitness accounts of the murder of Nigerian Christian student Deborah Emmanuel on her college's campus on May 12, 2022. Graphic by Alexander Hunter. For about 10 minutes police had an opportunity to disperse the mob and force their way to the gatehouse to extract Mary and Emmanuel, Emmanuel’s relative believes. But that did not happen. By 11 a.m., the mob had returned to the building, holding cloths against their faces to ward off the tear gas. The mob tried hurling stones at Mary through the windows of the locked gatehouse, but Mary barricaded herself behind a table. The mob then threw gasoline on the women through the front windows and attempted to burn them alive, Mary said. “Deborah was soaked with gasoline, but when lighted plastic was pitched in through the windows, I quickly stamped the flames out,” Mary said. No escape All of this transpired as police and DSS officers watched from a safe distance, according to Emmanuel’s relative. The traumatized women said little to each other, but Emmanuel was still hoping to do her examination that day, Mary said. At one point, she recalled, Emmanuel asked, “What time is it? I have an examination at noon.” Mary said she looked at her cell phone and told her it was 1 p.m. After another excruciating hour of siege, the mob pushed down a single Sokoto policeman guarding the door, broke the padlock on the door, and rushed in to find Mary and Emmanuel hiding behind furniture, Mary and the relative related. Two rioters placed a chain around Mary’s neck and pulled it hard, trying to strangle her, she recounted. “Let this girl go! She is not an offender,” Mary recalled one of the rioters shouting. But as they released her, a young man in the mob grabbed Emmanuel and took her to the front steps of the gatehouse. There she was bludgeoned with steel pipes and wooden rods and stoned, the relative said. Two DSS officers attempted to rescue Emmanuel but were hit by stones and pushed aside, the relative said. The police officers remained in position and did not come to her aid, he alleged. Mary collapsed inside the gatehouse gasping from the strangulation. Approximately 40 minutes later, she said, she was roused by one of the mob to leave the building, which was on fire. As she walked through the smoke, Mary saw the gatehouse burning and Emmanuel’s lifeless body in flames. The face of Christian persecution In the aftermath of Emmanuel's murder, human rights advocates and others have leveled sharp criticism at Nigeria's government leaders for not doing enough to stem the rising tide of violence directed at Christians and other non-Muslims. Relatives of Deborah Emmanuel at her burial in Niger State, Nigeria. Courtesy of the Emmanuel family Anti-Christian hatred was evident in days of rioting in Sokoto following the arrest of two suspects in Emmanuel’s murder. The rioters reportedly were incensed that there were any arrests at all. "Deborah Emmanuel, like kidnapping victim Leah Sharibu (who was enslaved by Boko Haram insurgents in 2019), has become the face of Christian persecution in Nigeria,” said Kyle Abts, executive director of the International Committee on Nigeria (ICON). “There has not been an official report from the security forces on the lynching of Ms. Emmanuel. Her killing and subsequent riots show clear government complicity and coverup.” Tina Ramirez, founder of the international nonprofit Hardwired Global, also believes the Nigerian government has been unwilling to take a strong stand against blasphemy killings. “The recent attacks on students are reminiscent of the attacks at Nigerian colleges two decades ago that were the precursor to the growth of extremist groups across Nigeria’s North and Middle Belt,” Ramirez wrote in a text to CNA. © 2022 CNA | All rights reserved.

Hundreds protest rising crime rates in South Africa credit: Anadolu Ajansi A searing debate of soaring crime as a celebrated murderer walks free Looming release of Olympic star Pistorius spurs South African clash on violence The Washington Times December 6, 2023 by Geoff Hill JOHANNESBURG — The impending release of South Africa’s most celebrated convicted killer is fueling a national debate about why the country ranks among the world’s most dangerous places when it comes to murder. The chatter on radio talk shows here has been dominated by the scheduled January 5 release of Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius, set to go free after serving 10 years of a 13-year sentence for the shooting of his girlfriend. Some are praising the early parole decision while others say Pistorius should remain behind bars for much longer. What’s not in dispute is that the Pistorius case is part of a much larger, much bloodier phenomenon, and that many here are ready to consider harsher means to reverse it. By one ranking South Africa has the world’s third-highest murder rate, behind only Jamaica and Honduras and six times the U.S. average, with no other African nation even close. Polls show public support for life imprisonment and even for the restoration of the death penalty — scrapped in 1995 — to try to curb the mayhem. Pistorius, dubbed the “Blade Runner,” lost his legs as a child and in 2012 became the first amputee to compete in the Olympic Games. With prosthetic limbs strapped on at the knee, he had already dominated the Paralympics, and toured the world giving lectures on the challenge of overcoming disability. On the night of Valentine’s Day 2012, he shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at their home in Johannesburg. Pistorius claimed he thought an intruder was in the house, but after several hearings the court returned a verdict of murder. Even now, the runner maintains the fatal shot was an accident, but his notorious legal ordeal and now early release point to a larger controversy: Survivors of criminal injury say homicides and violent attacks have become too commonplace, and the only crimes that get attention involve someone who is either famous or has links to the ruling African National Congress (ANC). David Mpande, 48, lives in the black dormitory township of Tembisa north of Johannesburg. The shacks there are crowded together, made mostly of wood and iron, often with a single kitchen and bathroom serving several homes. “My house has been robbed twice this year,” he said, “and I called the police but they did nothing. Murders are common and it’s rare for anyone to be caught. But if a government minister has a cellphone stolen, police will catch the thieves by sunset.” He said he admired the courage of Pistorius in overcoming his handicap, “but if he was not famous, I wonder if anyone would have cared about the murder of his girlfriend.” Statistics bear out Mr. Mpande’s claims. Fewer than one in 10 of the more than 23,000 murders committed annually across the country results in an arrest and conviction. Late November, President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed an Africa-wide conference on violence, and called for men to do more to halt the murder of women, known here as “femicide.” Billboard campaigns and NGO programs are dominated by the issue of women and children falling victim to attack, but government statistics tell a different story: In the latest figures, women made up just 14 % of murder victims and children accounted for 5%. But it is men, 81%, who mostly lose their lives to killers. It can’t be caught in the statistics, but the brutality of many of the attacks have only amplified the debate over what to do. In July, an elderly white couple, Theo and Marlinda Bekker, had their farmhouse invaded 60 miles south east of Johannesburg. The assailants bludgeoned Bekker with an iron bar then slit his throat. He bled to death on the floor while they tried to suffocate his wife with a plastic bag over her head. Marlinda Bekker survived and later identified four teenagers who had stolen the family car and were apprehended by police. Attacks on white-owned farms happen almost daily — more than 300 in 2022 with 50 farmers killed — and can be equally grisly. Rape is common and bodies are sometimes left dismembered. In July, Elon Musk, the Pretoria-born billionaire and global entrepreneur, went on his own X social media site to post his concern about a “genocide of white people” in his home country. Black victims But despite the outcry, the numbers show that the murder crisis is even more acute for the country’s black majority, where homicides are more frequent but attract far less media coverage. In Pretoria, the government has been slow to release crime figures by race even though every docket includes the victim’s ethnic group. What research that has been done shows that while white South Africans make up around 8% of the population, they account for less than 2% of murder victims. “These are opportunistic crimes,” said human rights lawyer Gregory Stanton, founder of the Washington-based Genocide Watch. “Farmers are often vulnerable, living on isolated properties far from neighbors or the police.” He said a review of the cases over many years showed they were occasionally carried out by workers who had not been paid or had some other grievance, and often the attackers were high on drugs and alcohol which could account for the violence. But overwhelmingly, the assailants, almost always armed with guns, “are out to rob the farmhouse and won’t hesitate to kill if they are challenged.” The soaring murder rates have economic repercussions as well. Tourism is a key part of the South African economy and the U.S. dominates among long-haul travelers coming on safari. The industry has stressed that visitors to the country are rarely touched by crime. The famous Kruger National Park stretches across 8,000 square miles of wilderness with remote lodges far from the nearest settlement while in the cities, hotels, resorts and shopping malls have round the clock security. South Africa is among the world’s top surfing destinations and on the crowded beaches, bathers leave their belongings on a towel in the sand while they swim and it’s rare for anything to be stolen. Surveys show that most tourists finish their holidays and depart unaware that a problem with crime even exists. In Pretoria, U.S. Ambassador to South Africa Reuben E. Brigety told The Washington Times that tourism was “a symbol of the enduring and growing ties” between the two countries, representing “a critical component of our shared economic prosperity.” But Mr. Brigety also stressed that the State Department “has no higher priority abroad than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas,” and he encouraged anyone planning a trip to visit the department’s website, check the page devoted to South Africa, watch for “alerts” that may have been posted, and register with the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program. Political fallout The murder debate is spilling over into the political arena as well. With an election due by May 2024 and the ANC polling below 45%, focus groups have found crime and unemployment high on the list of concerns, especially among the black majority. In some cases, communities mete out their own justice. On the night of December 1, police say a vigilante group at the Diepsloot township near Johannesburg tied up seven men alleged to be running a crime gang and used gasoline to burn them alive. In the wealthy suburbs, often within view of the townships, residents have six-foot-high concrete walls topped with razor-wire or an electric fence. By 9 p.m, it is rare to see pedestrians on the street. Private security vehicles move constantly around the suburbs, waiting for a client to press a panic button if an intruder enters the property. But the majority of murder victims are young black men killed by other young black men. With millions unemployed and little in the way of welfare, breaches of the law have become so common that assaults and even murders often fail to make the news. One of the country’s best-known activists on crime is journalist and broadcaster Yusuf Abramjee, who said overcoming the problem was vital to South Africa’s future. “Blood, bodies and bullets have become a way of life,” he said, “and gang warfare, especially in the Cape Town area, is on the increase. Poverty and unemployment are an issue, but we also have a lot of organized crime, and these people are motivated by greed. They drive luxury vehicles and live in upmarket homes.” Mr. Abramjee said it was the poor who often bore the brunt of South Africa’s violent crime problem. In recent years there have been attacks on migrants from the rest of the continent, vast numbers of whom have entered illegally over South Africa’s 2,900-mile land border that stretches from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. They come from neighboring countries like Zimbabwe and Mozambique but also Nigeria, Malawi, Sudan, and increasingly Pakistan and Bangladesh. At Genocide Watch, Mr. Gregory Stanton said this posed a far greater risk for mass violence than the farm attacks. “In any country, one death is too many and we must not ignore the plight of white farmers. Many are hate crimes. But there is no evidence of a plan to murder whites. Hate crimes without a plan do not constitute genocide. There are also worrying reports about xenophobia against black migrants,” he said. He added that the authorities had done little to control movement across the borders. “Mass unemployment has resulted in a level of misery for young, black South Africans that is hard for people in America to comprehend. This, in turn, has unleashed the resentment against foreigners.” But Mr. Abramjee insists that giving up is not an option. “It requires a combined approach, involving government, the police and communities,” he said. “It’s a war we have to win. And there must be the political will to fight crime. “Most of all,” he said, “our citizens need to rise up and say, ‘Enough is enough!’” Copyright © 2023 The Washington Times,

‘We Will Shoot You.’ War in Darfur Raises New Fears of Genocide. Victims recount another round of atrocities two decades after mass killings in Sudan drew worldwide attention The Wall Street Journal March 21, 2024 Taiba Hassan Adam’s 10-year-old son, Mohamed, in Adré, Chad. By  Gabriele Steinhauser Photographs by Diana Zeyneb Alhindawi for The Wall Street Journal   Her chest tightening in panic, Taiba Hassan Adam watched as a group of men splashed gasoline on the small brick and grass house. Their comrades kept their rifles trained at her. Hassan Adam’s three youngest children—10-year-old Mohamed, 8-year-old Awadia and 7-year-old Faiz—were stuck inside. Moments earlier, the gunmen had moved chairs to block the building’s one metal door. Then they dropped matches into the shimmering liquid. Hassan Adam had hoped the house would shelter her family from a wave of attacks in Sudan’s Darfur region. Now it was on fire, and all she could do was pray that her children would somehow find a way out. “We will shoot you if you try to go in,” she says the men shouted at her and the other adults they held in the house’s yard. As the screams of her children broke through the flames, the men, Hassan Adam says, started to cackle.  “They were just laughing,” says Hassan Adam, still stunned into grief in a sprawling refugee camp in Chad, across the border from her Sudanese homeland. “They knew there were children inside.” About 50,000 refugees from Darfur live in the Ourang camp in eastern Chad. Hassan Adam’s story is just one in a grim pattern of atrocities perpetrated by mostly Arab fighters against Darfur’s Black indigenous communities over the past 11 months. Officials say these acts are a continuation of the mass killings two decades ago that prompted worldwide protests and high-visibility outrage from celebrities like George Clooney and Don Cheadle. They’re being revived amid a broader war for control over Sudan—Africa’s third-largest country—between the country’s two most powerful generals. This time, they’re drawing less attention. Diplomatic efforts by the U.S. and other global powers to end the fighting and protect civilians have fallen behind bigger foreign-policy priorities like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza, former officials and analysts say. Through interviews with more than four dozen refugees in makeshift camps near the Chad-Sudan border, as well as aid workers, diplomats and international experts monitoring the violence in Darfur—a mineral-rich region roughly the size of Spain—The Wall Street Journal has documented abuses against civilians on an industrial scale.  Salima Ibrahim Fadul, 27, was shot as she fled an ambush of snipers, her 1-year-old daughter strapped to her back and two other children clutching her hands. Naima Gammar Abdelkareem, 22, says gunmen beat her with sticks as she held her newborn baby. Sharif Adam, a 33-year-old car mechanic, watched the summary executions of 12 of his friends, their hands tied to their backs. Other survivors say they were raped by multiple men, their homes set on fire or smashed by artillery. Several say their attackers pelted them with racially charged insults, calling them “slaves” or “dogs” and telling them that their land no longer belonged to them. Many of the attacks have targeted communities that had already been displaced by earlier bouts of violence in Darfur. These acts, United Nations officials and international monitors say, have led to the deaths of tens of thousands of Darfuris and the forced displacement of around 3 million, more than a fourth of the territory’s estimated population. Aid agencies have struggled to raise funds to support those in and around Darfur. Many are now sitting on the edge of famine. A new report by U.N. investigators estimates that fighting between Arab militias and poorly armed self-defense forces from the Black Masalit community in the West Darfur city of El Geneina killed as many as 15,000 people between mid-April and June last year. A massacre in a camp of internally displaced Darfuris in November claimed as many as 2,000 lives, the report says.  No one has counted the victims of other atrocities, like the one in the final days of June when gunmen set alight the house that sheltered Hassan Adam’s children.  Sudanese refugees in Adré board trucks that will relocate them to a refugee camp four hours away. Sharif Adam says he crouched behind a cupboard when gunmen entered his home in Ardamata, Sudan. ‘They told me to get my money. I said I don’t have any. They asked again,’ he says. ‘And then they just shot me.’ He says he later watched members of an Arab militia shoot and kill 12 of his friends. Uneasy partnership Hassan Adam’s family had settled on the outskirts of the small agricultural town of Murnei after fleeing another Darfur village during the massacres of the early 2000s.  Some 300,000 Darfuris lost their lives between 2003 and 2008 in what the U.S. and others have labeled the first genocide of the 21st century. Many of them died as a result of the collapse of local agriculture and healthcare amid the killings, as well as the deliberate deprivation of humanitarian aid by Sudanese authorities at the time.  In the years since, Hassan Adam, who is 38, made a modest living growing sorghum and other crops. Her children attended school and at home she would often find Mohamed and his younger siblings trading stories and giggling.  “We had a good life,” she says.  That ended in April last year, when an uneasy partnership between Sudan’s top two generals—Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country’s de facto president, and his second-in-command, Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo—collapsed into open warfare, with gun battles and aerial bombings shattering the streets of the capital, Khartoum.  Both men’s careers were tied closely to Darfur’s earlier bloodshed. Dagalo, commonly known by his nickname, Hemedti, was one of the leaders of the infamous Janjaweed, the horse-mounted, mostly Arab militia behind many of the killings in the early 2000s. Sudan’s longtime dictator, Omar al-Bashir, had charged the Janjaweed with quelling an uprising of Darfur’s non-Arab communities.  Burhan, Sudan’s current leader, had been a regional commander in Darfur for the Sudanese Armed Forces, which at the time backed up the Janjaweed with airstrikes and other military operations.  Over the past two decades, Hemedti has built the Janjaweed into a more formidable paramilitary group, now called the Rapid Support Forces. Its estimated 100,000 fighters stood ready for Bashir to deploy to put down opponents and support allies at home and abroad. Hemedti also built lucrative alliances with the United Arab Emirates, which for several years hired RSF troops to fight in Yemen, and the Russian Wagner Group, to exploit Darfur’s gold mines. Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), leader of Rapid Support Forces, formerly Janjaweed Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country’s de facto president Amid large-scale protests against Bashir’s 30-year rule in 2019, Hemedti and Burhan teamed up to oust him in a coup. The generals initially pledged a gradual transition to democracy and, in September 2020, Sudan’s short-lived civilian government signed a peace agreement with many of the country’s armed groups.  In Darfur, the deal handed more power to the region’s Black communities, including the Masalit, who traditionally were farmers. That rankled traditionally nomadic Arabs, whose animals often relied on the same land for grazing. Crucially, it also granted displaced Darfuris the right to return to land that, in many cases, was now settled by Arab communities or used to mine gold and other minerals.  At the end of that year, the U.N. and the African Union began withdrawing a 10,000-troop peacekeeping force that had protected Darfuri civilians since 2007. In Khartoum, tensions grew between Burhan and Hemedti over integrating the RSF into the Sudanese Armed Forces and who of the two would ultimately be in control. Within days of the war breaking out in April last year, the violence spread to Darfur. The RSF found easy allies in the region’s Arab leaders, who felt threatened by the ascent of the Masalit and other Black communities.  “They saw the war as an opportunity to finish the job,” says Nathaniel Raymond, executive director at the Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale University, which tracks the violence in Sudan in part through satellite imagery and online photos and videos. Naima Gammar Abdelkareem says groups of Arab militia and gunmen wearing RSF uniforms raided her home three times. The last time, the men beat her while she held her newborn son and then burned her house. ‘I tried to protect the baby,’ she says. ‘They wanted to hit him.’ Nurses prepare to wrap Salima Ibrahim Fadul’s leg after her fourth surgery to repair it in Adré. Fadul says a sniper bullet shattered her shinbone as she and her children fled El Geneina. Terrified, her children ran to their grandmother, who later returned with a donkey cart to pick up Ibrahim Fadul. No time to run As news circulated in late June of attacks and looting of Masalit settlements, Hassan Adam moved her children—Mohamed, Faiz, Awadia and their 15-year-old sister, Safia—to the home of her eldest daughter, Karima. The adults stayed up through the nights, listening to the sound of gunshots. They prepared to flee at a moment’s notice.  But when a group of fighters on motorcycles and horses stormed the small homestead one day around 10 a.m., there was no time to run. Some of the men were dressed in the RSF’s camouflage uniforms, and others in civilian clothing, Hassan Adam says. Inside the burning house, Mohamed cowered in a corner of a smoke-filled room. He saw his younger siblings sprint for the one remaining exit: a small annex thatched from grass that immediately went up in flames. From outside, Hassan Adam watched the structure collapse on top of Awadia, who didn’t get up again. Faiz emerged, burned badly on his head, legs, arms and abdomen. He was soon followed by a choking Mohamed, draped in a blanket that seared into his hands, arms, neck and shoulders. At this point, the gunmen had moved on to neighboring houses, including one where, according to Hassan Adam and her daughter Safia, three other children died in the flames. Based on images captured on June 28 by a global fire monitoring system run by the U.S. National Space Agency, researchers at the Yale lab estimated that the fires set in Murnei affected an area equal to around 280 football fields. The adults covered Awadia’s body with a plastic tarp. Faiz was alive, but unconscious. Mohamed wailed in pain, Hassan Adam says.  “Don’t leave us,” he pleaded with his mother and sisters. “Please take us.” Taking turns to carry the badly burned boys on their backs, Hassan Adam and her older daughters moved to a neighborhood east of the town that had been spared by the violence. Faiz died that same night.  Three days later, Hassan Adam’s brother returned to the family’s charred homestead to bury Awadia’s body. Desperate to save Mohamed’s life, the family then left Sudan altogether.  A 22-year-old woman says she was trying to flee an attack in El Geneina when two gunman dragged her into a building then beat and raped her. She lay there until her aunt found her. ‘Many women were raped, including on our way to Adré,’ she says. Stolen phones In response to the Darfur massacres of the early 2000s, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for six men it said were responsible. Among them were then-President Bashir, the first sitting head of state indicted by The Hague, Netherlands-based court and the first person it charged with the crime of genocide.  Bashir, who has been in detention in Sudan since his 2019 ouster, has denied the charges. The international fallout of those earlier killings, experts monitoring the conflict say, has informed the commanders behind the current atrocities. Raymond of the Yale research lab says that on several occasions, the RSF and its allies seem to have taken advantage of cloud cover before they attacked civilian areas, possibly to avoid their actions being captured on satellite images. Nearly all survivors interviewed by the Journal reported having their phones stolen by the RSF and its allies as they fled El Geneina and other towns in Western Darfur. Experts investigating the violence believe that was part of a strategy aimed at preventing footage of atrocities and their perpetrators from reaching the outside world.  Destruction in El Geneina   U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in December that the RSF and allied militias were responsible for crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing in Darfur—and that the RSF and Sudan’s military had committed war crimes. The ICC’s current prosecutor, Karim Khan, told the U.N. Security Council in January that both the RSF and the Sudanese authorities were obstructing his efforts to investigate abuses in Darfur that could fall under the court’s jurisdiction. The recent U.N. report found that the Sudanese Armed Forces failed to protect civilians in Darfur from attacks by the RSF and its allies, and used airstrikes to target RSF-controlled cities, including densely populated civilian neighborhoods. Hemedti has denied that RSF fighters deliberately targeted civilians in Darfur and blamed the massacres on “tribal violence” unrelated to his campaign. [Genocide Watch comment: the ethnic "Civil War" tactic of denial] In an August news conference posted on Facebook, a group of Arab leaders in West Darfur denied committing atrocities and blamed the Masalit for starting the violence. [Genocide Watch comment: the Blame the Victims tactic of denial] The Sudanese military has denied committing war crimes and says it is investigating reports of individual infractions by its troops. [Genocide Watch comment: the rogue troops tactic of denial] Sudanese refugees at a camp in Adré receiving food aid. Refugees in Chad lined up to receive food aid. Dwindling food aid The U.N. and other aid groups say both parties in the war have stopped them from reaching many of the 25 million Sudanese—more than half of the country’s total population—who now depend on humanitarian assistance. Medical charity Doctors Without Borders estimated last month that in just one camp for displaced people in North Darfur, 13 children are dying from the effects of malnutrition and unsafe drinking water every day.  In areas that can be accessed, including in neighboring Chad and South Sudan, aid groups say they don’t have funding to support refugees streaming into countries that are among the poorest on earth. Makeshift camps—some built into the sand of the Sahel desert—lack sufficient water, tents and latrines to sustain more than a million people, most of them women and children.  Refugees driven out of their homes in Sudan by RSF waiting for food in Chad The World Food Program has already cut rations for Sudanese refugees in South Sudan and warned last week that without extra financing, it will have to suspend food aid for refugees in Chad in April. Of the nearly 560,000 Darfuris who have fled to Chad since the start of the war, roughly half arrived in Adré, a dusty town whose population increased nearly fivefold within a matter of months.  In a tented field hospital run by Doctors Without Borders, Hassan Adam has spent the past seven months sleeping on the floor next to Mohamed’s bed. In two surgeries, doctors have sought to graft skin from his thigh to his scarred hands and arms. Every day, a physiotherapist carefully bends his fingers, trying to restore their mobility.  “His pain is better,” Hassan Adam says. “In the past we had to feed him, now he can feed himself.” But Mohamed, the 10-year-old boy who loved to run and joke, remains haunted by the memories of the fire that killed his siblings, Hassan Adam says. So does she. “I will hear them screaming in my head until the day I die,” she says. Taiba Hassan Adam sits with Mohamed in the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Adré on Jan. 31. Write to Gabriele Steinhauser at  Gabriele.Steinhauser@wsj.com Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8 Appeared in the March 22, 2024, print edition as 'In Darfur, Genocide Fears Rise Again'. https://www.wsj.com/world/africa/darfur-sudan-genocide-war-05f5ead8

‘Displaced people today find themselves in a situation similar to the one they initially fled.’ Fidèle Kitsa A man walks through the Bulengo displacement camp on the outskirts of Goma. Aid groups and displaced people say the camps are overcrowded and lack basic services. Arlette Bashizi/TNH. GOMA, Democratic Republic of the Congo Residents of displacement sites in Goma, the largest city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo say they are living in constant fear after deadly artillery strikes hit their homes last month, and because of sexual violence and robberies occuring in the camps. Thirty-five civilians were killed on 3 May when shelling hit two camps sheltering people displaced by the two-year conflict between the M23 rebel group – which is supported by neighbouring Rwanda – and DRC’s army, which is backed by local militias, Burundian soldiers, and southern African troops. The M23 and the Rwandan army were blamed for the strike, yet residents said the Congolese military is also responsible because it is operating heavy weapons from positions around the camps, many of which are on the outskirts of town and are close to M23 positions in the surrounding hills. “In wanting to destroy [the] heavy weapons, the rebels shoot at populations displaced by war,” said Éric Chiza, a displaced person from the 8th CEPAC camp, which is in the grounds of a local church and is one of the two sites hit last month.  Chiza said his brother was badly wounded, several of his friends were killed, and his house was destroyed by the artillery strike. He said residents have asked authorities to move their weapons and positions away from the population. The M23 is led by Congolese Tutsis who say they are fighting because the government broke a 2013 peace accord with the group, and because local Tutsis are at risk from local militias. Yet Rwanda is widely thought to be pulling the strings, using the group to assert influence in eastern DRC.  Some 1.5 million people have been displaced by the still-escalating conflict, including 700,000 who have taken shelter in Goma, either with host families or in camps, which The New Humanitarian has reported on extensively during the conflict. Goma residents have set up numerous humanitarian and cultural initiatives to aid people in the camps – and support is also being provided by international relief organisations – yet the sites remain overcrowded and lack basic facilities. The camps and the city itself have also become increasingly militarised, as pro-government forces – including the army, private security contractors, and local militias known as Wazalendo (‘patriots’ in Swahili) – try to halt the M23 advance. Chiara Maugeri, field coordinator in Goma for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), said the presence of armed men around and inside the camps has exposed residents to a “very high level of violence”, including sexual violence . “Displaced people today find themselves in a situation similar to the one they initially fled,” Maugeri told The New Humanitarian. “They are still in total insecurity and have no escape.” ‘The fear is still permanent’ Rashidi Myanitse, who also lives in the 8th CEPAC camp, said his family was struggling even before last month’s deadly shelling. He said finding food was a “headache” and that sleeping in tents was “very complicated”, especially when it rains. Since the shelling, Myanitse, who escaped his village of Kimoka in February, said he could not put into words how he felt on a daily basis. He said the artillery strike severely wounded his older sister and killed three of her children. “At home I lived well and ate well, but since I fled the war to come and live in this camp I have suffered with my family,” Myanitse said, adding: “This is not the first nor the last time [there have been attacks]. These rebels continue to drop bombs to this day.” Kanari Osse, another resident of the 8th CEPAC camp, said he lost his brother in the shelling. He said he survived only because he was out working as a day labourer in town. “The displaced are still the target, and this danger has not yet been ruled out.” “Since that day, I have lived with fear,” said Osse, who also arrived at the camp in February. “I spend my time worrying because I know that at any moment another bomb could explode.” Christophe Muissa, a human rights defender and activist from Filimbi, a citizen movement that advocates for the promotion and protection of human rights, said his group has made recommendations to authorities that they should move the camps or the army positions, but the proposals have not been acted on. Muissa said he even wonders if the Congolese army is deliberately exposing the population as part of a “military strategy” to make the M23 look bad and the state seem empowered in the eyes of the international community. “The fear is still permanent because there is no measure to spare this population [and remove] the order to maintain these positions around the camps,” Muissa said. “The displaced are still the target, and this danger has not yet been ruled out.” Maugeri of MSF said it is “really important” that the warring parties respect international humanitarian law and “ensure the protection of civilians in urban areas and displaced persons camps”. “It is clear that if the fighting and clashes near the sites do not stop, the civilian population and the displaced could be affected again by these attacks, by these bombings,” she said. Robberies, extortion, and sexual violence Displaced people said armed men affiliated either to the Congolese army or the Wazalendo are also causing major problems in the camps, from assaults on women and girls to robberies and extortion. Given the risks posed by both sides of the conflict, Osse, who lost his brother in the May shelling, said displaced people are currently “doubly threatened”. “In this camp, we have patriots and armed people, [and] there are some among them who take advantage, making this camp insecure, even extorting goods from certain displaced people,” he said. Their protection should not be left to armed soldiers, whose presence “arouses a certain fear” among residents. Residents of the nearby Lushagala displacement camp, which was also hit by an artillery strike last month but did not record any fatalities, are facing similar insecurity, according to camp president François Batege Ndayambaje. Ndayambaje said the Lushagala camp has been erected close to the main road from Goma to Sake, which is on the front line of the conflict. He said the military and its allies regularly take the road when heading to the battlefront. Ndayambaje said camp residents have asked for the government to deploy well-trained police officers to secure the camp. He said their protection should not be left to armed soldiers, whose presence “arouses a certain fear” among residents. MSF’s Maugeri said displaced people in the camps are often afraid to move around for fear of being attacked or raped. She said aid groups, including MSF, have also been impacted by the insecurity, and have had to sometimes suspend activities. Maugeri said MSF works in eight camps around Goma, and described humanitarian conditions at the sites as “deplorable”. She said displaced people lack access to sanitation infrastructure, drinking water, food, and shelter. Who is taking responsibility? Muissa, the human rights defender and activist from Filimbi, called on the state to take “responsibility” for the security of people in the camps, and for providing for their basic needs. “There have still not been serious measures to secure the displaced people who are victims and represent no threat in this war,” he said. “They are neither protagonists nor belligerents in the war. They are just innocents in search of peace and security.” Ndayambaje, the president of the Lushagala camp, said he is trying to encourage the population not to despair and to remain perseverant, though he acknowledged how difficult this would be given the conditions and the regular shelling. “This fear cannot disappear so easily,” he told The New Humanitarian. “The fear will disappear when we have peace and when we are asked to return to our homes where we were before.” Edited by Philip Kleinfeld. © All rights reserved 2024 The New Humanitarian

Nigerian Army Assists Occupation by Terrorists and Attacks Survivors in Plateau State Truth Nigeria January 7, 2024 By Douglas Burton in Washington, DC & Masara Kim in Jos, Nigeria Attack sites of Christmas Massacres in three counties of Plateau State. Courtesy of Stefanos Foundation. Use only with permission. Muslim Terrorists rush into Plateau State to Take Over Mining (Bokkos)  Following the seven-day killing spree that took more than 295 lives in Plateau State, Nigerian army soldiers are standing as watchmen for Fulani terrorists who have moved into some of the conquered villages, TruthNigeria has learned.  The terrorist invaders will prevent the return of the 10,000 displaced residents, the majority of whom are Christians, according to victims and humanitarian aid givers. Fulani men have stepped into abandoned mining camps in Barkin Ladi County and are actively mining tin, according to Rev. Mark Lipdo, the founder of Stefanos Foundation. The tin pits are among the storied wealth underneath the surface of battered Plateau State. They are scattered in several counties, including Jos South, Barkin Ladi, Riyom, Mangu and Bokkos. Artisanal Mining Field Taken Over Victims include the family of Mr. Fuki Daniel, a photojournalist who grew up in Bokkos. Daniel reported that soldiers broke into his house and arrested six of his family members including those displaced by the attacks. “More than 300 of our people were killed, houses destroyed, farmlands destroyed, properties worth billions of naira destroyed without any intervention by the soldiers,” said Daniel to TruthNigeria. “Soldiers arrived the attacked villages only after our people had been killed, and now they have turned around to victimize us,” he said. As of the time of the arrests, several villages were still under the control of Fulani militants while soldiers and policemen were active patrolling the county seat, which faces fewer threats,” said a tribal youth leader, Mabas Ayuba. “As I speak to you, there are villages that are still under the siege of the Fulani,” said Ayuba. “No one goes there and comes out except the Fulani,” he said. “Occupied villages include Bodel, Ngyong, Ndun, Mutfet, and Yelwa Nono. The Fulani are there terrorizing anyone visiting. The soldiers have refused to go after them but are here arresting our people [the civilian guards]. Ayuba said to a group of citizens. “We are tired of this injustice, and we are saying enough is enough,” he said to the cheering of the concurring crowd. TruthNigeria visited occupied villages to verify the claims. Civilian watchers guarding abandoned houses in Bokkos County, 40 miles south of Jos, after devastating attacks by Fulani terrorists. Credit: Masara Kim.   Accompanied by community leaders, volunteer civilian watchers, and six hired soldiers for protection, TruthNigeria embarked on a challenging journey along a rough dirt road for over four hours, traversing four villages—Mutfet, Ndun, Mbong, and Yelwa Nono, all west of Bokkos town. Only the remnants of burned houses, churches, cars, and food barns were seen. In Mbong, TruthNigeria filmed a chilling murder scene where six family members were brutally burned alive in a room. Only the stains from their body fats and a few charred bone fragments were left on the ground. Throughout the large farm area, no Christian residents were sighted. However, cattle herds, apparently owned by Fulani herders, were observed grazing in the distant bushes surrounding the village. Police and army authorities in Jos have yet to respond to queries from TruthNigeria. However, during a casual chat with community leaders, Lt. Col. Isaac Indiorhwer, the Commander for the special task force Sector 5 in Bokkos, assured them that he was actively addressing the concerns raised by the protesters. The response followed an appeal by Prof. Stephen Mallo, the leader of a local tribal elders forum. “If you could please listen to the concerns of the women and release the detainees if any and help to talk to your colleague in charge of the Police, we will appreciate,” said Prof. Mallo who also made a case for the deployment of soldiers to the attacked villages to enable the displaced residents to return to their homes. “Despite my appeal for the deployment of policemen to the attacked communities during the IGP’s visit few days ago, of all the villages we’ve visited today, there is no security presence,” said Mallo at the premises of the Sector 5 STF headquarters in Bokkos. Rev. Dr. Gideon Paramalam, who was in the team, agrees. “What happened today is a reflection of anger. And it’s because many young people have been arrested after close to 200 people were killed. It is important to note that not only the Christian natives have been arrested. Fulani youths have also been arrested. We commend the military for doing their job, but we want to appeal to them to do their job in a way that does not create more social disharmony,” said Paramalam who delivered food and household supplies to church leaders for the displaced villagers. As a flood of criticism has washed against the government of Bola Tinubu from human rights watchers in the West, the federal government has called upon all broadcast media to stop covering the ongoing story of bloody pogroms in Nigeria’s Middle Belt. The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), has directed broadcast stations in Nigeria to  stop reporting the details of attacks by fulani herdsmen,  bandits and insurgents   According to a letter  from NBC director of broadcast monitoring Francisca Aiyetan to broadcast station managers:  “The commission, therefore, enjoins broadcasters to collaborate with the government in dealing with the security challenges. “Not giving details of either the security issues or victims of these security challenges so as not to jeopardize the efforts of the Nigerian soldiers and other security agents.” The NBC called upon broadcast stations to be guided by provisions of sections 5.4.1(f) and 5.4.3 of the NBC Code which states that “the broadcaster shall not transmit divisive materials that may threaten or compromise the divisibility and indissolubility of Nigeria as a sovereign state. Douglas Burton is an award-winning reporter on terrorism in Nigeria and managing editor of  TruthNigeria.com . Masara Kim is an award-winning conflict reporter in Jos and senior editor of  TruthNigeria.com . Copyright 2023 TruthNigeria

Massacres of Nigerian Christians Spark U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee to Call for Probe of Nigerian Government Lack of Response Truth Nigeria February 8, 2024 By Douglas Burton The fight to bring the glare of world attention onto Nigeria’s shameful record  on human rights took a giant step forward on Tuesday (Feb. 6) with an action by the influential  House Foreign Affairs Committee. Under GOP leadership, the committee passed House Resolution 82, instructing the U.S. State Department to restore the  label on  Nigeria of “Country of Particular Concern” for human rights. That may sound like an innocuous abstraction, but measuring how tempers flared during committee debate, it was anything but.  Left, Bishop Wilfred Anagbe, head of Nigeria’s Diocese of Makurdi, Rep Chris Smith, and Rev. Akila Yusuf, Senior Branch Pastor, House on the Rock in Jos.   “Nigeria has become a massive killing field,” Rep. Chris Smith, New Jersey Republican and the resolution sponsor told the committee, referring to the estimated 50,000 lives lost in radicalized Muslim massacres since 2009. Smith pointed out that during the Christmas break, “approximately 300 Christians died in Plateau State, and no one was held to account.”  “And we’re not outraged? I am!” Smith said loudly.  On the Democratic side, Rep. Gerry Connolly, Virginia Democrat, rose in opposition to the resolution, explaining that he could not support a measure that protected only Christian citizens. “Does my colleague’s outrage extend to violence against gays and lesbians?” Connelly asked. The debate lasted for hours but the final voting late in the afternoon was along party lines, 26 Republicans in favor of the resolution, 21 Democrats against. [Genocide Watch comment: It is unconscionable that Rep. Connolly and House Democrats opposed this resolution because it didn't include concern about discrimination against other groups in Nigeria. It's like opposing a resolution expressing concern about the persecution of Armenian Christians in Azerbaijan because it doesn't mention other persecuted groups. This is genocide denial following the State Department's continuing denial of genocide against Nigerian Christians. The US Ambassador to Nigeria continues to deny this genocide of Christians, as did the genocide-denying, incompetent former US Ambassador Mary Beth Leonard.] Money Politics “It’s all about the money,” said Stephen Enada, president of the International Committee on Nigeria (ICON) to TruthNigeria afterwards. “The US Government vision for aid to West Africa emphasizes  reproductive health, full protection of gender minorities and abatement of climate change,” according to Enada. “Much of the $1.2 billion in US annual aid monies to Nigeria are steered to US-based contractors who assist the U.S. Agency for International Development [USAID] implement these services in Nigeria and all over Africa. It’s a fact that many of these aid contractors are donors to the Democrat Party,” Enada said. The next step is to get the Congress to pass the resolution into law, which could take until the end of this year. Language calling for a Special Envoy was stripped out of the  resolution before passage.  “The CPC label is the first part. The second part is sanctioning of 18 different action items, including penalties,” Rep. Chris Smith said. “Follow-up actions  include conditioning of aid tied to better law enforcement, and closer U.S. government scrutiny of aid flows to Nigeria from its contractors–which the Nigerian government finds galling,” Enada said to TruthNigeria. There is no assurance that CPC will pass before end of this year, since GOP control of House is razor thin and Nigerian Government lobbyists will do their best to suppress passage. “Rep. Smith is committed to bringing the Resolution to a full House vote in the coming months, and I’m confident that the votes are there, and  that this resolution will pass when it is brought to the House floor,” wrote Nina Shea, a Religious Freedom Scholar at Hudson Institute in a text to TruthNigeria.   “Abuja is now on notice that the powerful Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives is alert to the failure of the Nigerian government to protect all its people, irrespective of their religious beliefs and identities,” Shea wrote. “I’ve observed that victims of grave injustices always seek public acknowledgment of what they’ve suffered. Acknowledgment – in the form of this Resolution and its endorsement of “Country of Particular Concern” designation is itself a form of much needed justice in Nigeria,” Shea added. “This is an unmitigated victory for the persecuted, who just by being acknowledged as existing will now ‘live’ for many months as the U.S. political process advances, said Marcella Szymanski, Head of International advocacy for Aid to the Church in Need to TruthNigeria. Enada says ICON will put its energies into energizing the Nigerian diaspora to vote in November to support lawmakers who are the forces behind this new stance of  the United States toward Nigeria. Left Bishop Wilfred Anagbe And Ms Dede Laugesen, executive director of Save the Persecuted Christians. Photo by Douglas Burton. Urgent need to stop Nigerian violence against Christians “The need for world attention on Nigeria is urgent,” said Dede Laugesen, executive director of Save the Persecuted Christians told Truth Nigeria. “In truth, what happened in Israel on October 7 is happening every day in Nigeria’s Middle Belt. Militant Islamists attack sleeping farming communities. The farmers are killed and their families, if they survive, are forced off their lands. “Over 5,000 were killed last year in attacks such as these. Many are taken captive—no one cries for their release. Between 4-6 million are internally displaced. I’ve been there. I’ve seen them. I’ve held the babies with distended bellies starved and thirsty,” said Laugesen. Douglas Burton is a conflict reporter based in Washington and serves as  managing editor of TruthNigeria. Copyright 2024 TruthNigeria

By Fred Harter Nearly two years after a cease-fire ended one of the most devastating wars of recent times, a fragile peace prevails in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region. But while there has been no major fighting in Tigray since negotiators inked the deal in Pretoria, South Africa, in November 2022, the aftershocks of the conflict continue to be felt. Beginning in November 2020, the war between the federal military and rebels led by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF, killed an estimated 600,000 people and at one point threatened to bring down the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa. It also drew in troops from Eritrea and Ethiopia’s Amhara region, south of Tigray, both fighting on the side of the government. A panel of United Nations experts found that all sides committed potential war crimes. The Eritreans, the investigators said , waged a campaign of sexual slavery in Tigray, while the Ethiopian government used “starvation as a method of warfare” by blocking sorely needed aid. The Tigray side was accused of abuses, too. Although aid can now reach much of Tigray, the humanitarian situation remains dire. Plentiful rain fell during this summer’s rainy season, but parts of the region are still reeling from a historic drought. In some areas, farmers have not been able to harvest for years. Many others lost their agricultural equipment to rampant looting during the war. A nine-month aid suspension by the U.N. and the U.S. over widespread corruption in 2023 deepened the impact of the drought. With their coping mechanisms already exhausted by the war, many farming communities are resorting to eating wild berries and roots to survive. At the beginning of this year, regional officials were warning of famine unless aid was urgently scaled up. The federal government in Addis Ababa accused them of politicizing the crisis, although its own ombudsman said in January it had verified the starvation deaths of 351 people in Tigray. The same agency reported another 44 hunger deaths in the neighboring Amhara region. Thanks to the recent rains, the situation should improve once farmers can bring in the harvest, starting this month. And emergency grain is now reaching remote villages since aid deliveries were resumed in the first months of 2024. Yet the humanitarian response is plagued by funding shortfalls . So far, the U.N. has received just 21 percent of the $3.2 billion it needs to feed hungry people in Ethiopia in 2024. Moreover, the western part of Tigray remains under the control of Amhara forces and is still cut off from aid deliveries. This area is known for producing sesame, a valuable cash crop, as well as for its deposits of gold. When the war broke out in November 2020, Amhara militia seized the region, claiming it was rightfully theirs. They forcibly evicted hundreds of thousands of Tigrayans in a brutal campaign characterized by massacres, sexual violence, torture and arbitrary detention, drawing condemnations of “ethnic cleansing” from the U.S. State Department. The future status of western Tigray and southern Tigray, another disputed area, remains unsettled. Abiy has promised to hold a referendum to determine their fate. But this idea is unpopular among the Amhara, who are now fighting their own regional rebellion against the federal government. Although they fought alongside Ethiopia’s military against Tigray, they were not party to the Pretoria cease-fire and view the deal as a stab in the back. The lack of a discernible peace dividend is fueling disillusionment among young Tigrayans, especially those who fought in the war. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people evicted from western Tigray still languish in improvised camps. Cut off from their farms and businesses, they were the hardest hit by the aid pause. On May 31, the Tigrayan authorities unveiled a plan to return 690,000 displaced people to their homes in southern and western Tigray. Little progress has been made, however. Some 3,700 displaced people were returned in June and July, but even this small-scale initiative was held up by wrangling over the status of returning Tigrayan militia members. It is not clear whether Abiy’s referendum will be held after all the displaced people go home. If it is not resolved soon, this dispute could derail the Pretoria agreement. This was underscored earlier this year, when clashes between Tigrayan and Amhara fighters erupted in several districts of southern Tigray. Making matters even worse, Eritrean forces still occupy several border regions of Tigray, where they continue to kidnap civilians and loot their properties. Their presence is hindering the demobilization of Tigray’s roughly 275,000-strong rebel fighting force. Under an implementation accord struck by military leaders shortly after the Pretoria cease-fire, disarmament was to be carried out “concurrently with the withdrawal of foreign and [non-governmental] forces from the region.” With Amhara militiamen still in western and southern Tigray, and Eritrean troops still inside the border, this condition has not been met. Tigray’s leaders are reluctant to disband their fighting force in case fresh conflict erupts. Like aid deliveries, the demobilization process is also hamstrung by a lack of funds. The U.N. says it will cost $849 million over a four- to five-year period, a huge sum that would make the demobilization program the largest in the world. Ethiopia’s government plans to foot around 15 percent of the bill, with donors expected to come up with the rest. A comprehensive plan for sending the fighters home has been drawn up with help from the U.N.’s Development Programme, but recent small-scale pledges by Canada, Japan and the European Union fall far short of what is needed. The same is true for Tigray’s industry and its health and education systems. Factories, schools and other infrastructure have not been repaired, with the total value of infrastructure destroyed in the war estimated at $22.7 billion . Instead, Abiy is pouring billions into beautifying the capital, Addis Ababa, in a bid to revamp the economy by attracting foreign investors and tourists. With Ethiopia experiencing its worst economic crisis in decades—it secured a $3.4 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund in July—citizens are questioning if this is the best use of public funds. Another thorny issue is transitional justice. Throughout the conflict, Abiy’s government flatly denied accusations that its troops and allies were committing human rights violations. It imposed a severe communications blackout on Tigray to prevent news from seeping out to the world, cutting off the region’s mobile phone network and internet. From the beginning, it has also sought to control the transitional justice process and has denied international investigators permission to visit Tigray. In October 2023, Ethiopia successfully lobbied to end the U.N. probe into human rights abuses committed during the conflict. It is developing its own national transitional justice process, which should be finalized in the coming months. Based on the government’s previous track record of denying war crimes, human rights monitors have raised questions about its commitment to true accountability. In particular, there is little prospect that Eritrean troops will face justice for their crimes in Tigray, since Ethiopia’s national courts will have no jurisdiction over them. The lack of a discernible peace dividend is fueling disillusionment among young Tigrayans, especially those who fought in the war. Meanwhile, Tigray is gripped by a political crisis, with rival TPLF factions no longer united by a common enemy and jostling for power. At its annual conference last month, the party voted to suspend the membership of Tigray’s interim regional president, Getachew Reda, with members particularly unhappy over the lack of progress in holding a new regional election, a key provision of the Pretoria deal. For Tigray, all of this makes for an ominous picture. The bloodshed is over, but the region still lies in ruins. With its leaders embroiled in political squabbles, some observers fear the drums of war may soon be beating again. © 2024, World Politics Review LLC. All rights reserved.

Entrenched impunity for deaths in custody and other serious human rights abuses by armed groups operating under the command of the self-proclaimed Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF) has enabled the Internal Security Agency (ISA) to intensify its crackdown on critics and political opponents in recent months, including politicians, activists, poets and bloggers, Amnesty International said today. Since January 2024, heavily armed ISA agents have arrested without a warrant dozens of people, including women and men in their 70s, from their homes, streets or other public places in areas of eastern and southern Libya under LAAF control. Those arrested were then transferred to ISA-controlled facilities, where they remained arbitrarily detained for months without being allowed to contact their families or lawyers; some were subjected to enforced disappearances for periods reaching 10 months. None were brought before civilian judicial authorities, allowed to challenge the legality of their detention, or were formally charged with any offences. Two people died in custody in suspicious circumstances in April and July while in ISA-controlled detention centres in Benghazi and Ajdabiya. No independent and impartial criminal investigations have been carried out into their deaths and no one has been held accountable. “The spike in arbitrary detentions and deaths in custody in recent months highlights how the existing culture of impunity has empowered armed groups to violate detainees’ right to life without fearing any consequences. These deaths in custody add to the catalogue of horrors committed by the ISA against those who dare to express views critical of LAAF,” said Bassam Al Kantar, Amnesty International’s Libya Researcher. “The Tripoli-based Government of National Unity as well as LAAF, as the de facto authorities in eastern and southern Libya, must ensure the immediate release of all those arbitrarily detained solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression. The LAAF must also suspend from positions of power ISA commanders and members reasonably suspected of crimes under international law and serious human rights violations, pending independent and impartial criminal investigations, including into the causes and circumstances of the deaths in custody, and, where sufficient evidence exists, prosecute them in fair proceedings in front of civilian courts.” Amnesty International interviewed one former detainee, the families of seven detainees, including the two men who died in custody, as well as lawyers, human rights defenders and political activists. Our Son Was Brought Back to us a Corpse On 13 July 2024, Ahmed Abdel Moneim Al-Zawi, 44, died while detained at an ISA detention centre in Ajdabiya in northeastern Libya. He was arbitrarily arrested on 10 July while visiting the detention centre to see his brother Abdrabo Abdel Moneim Al-Zawi, who had been detained due to his criticism of the ISA. According to informed sources, the ISA claimed that Ahmed Abdel Moneim al-Zawi hung himself, but witnesses reported seeing a bruise on the back of his head which appeared to be due to a strong blow. Sheikh Al-Sanussi Al-Haliq Al-Zawi, Vice President of the Supreme Council of Notables and Tribes of Libya and the head of the victim’s tribe, appeared in a video  on 16 July lamenting: “Our son (Ahmed) entered on his two feet and was brought back to us as a corpse.” Less than 24 hours later, he appeared in another video praising the ISA and noting that a committee had been established to investigate Ahmed Abdel Moneim Al-Zawi’s death. Amnesty International suspects that Sheikh Al-Sanussi Al-Haliq Al-Zawi was pressured to publicly exonerate the ISA in line with a previously documented pattern of the ISA threatening survivors and victims’ families if they dare speak out against them. The spike in arbitrary detentions and deaths in custody in recent months highlights how the existing culture of impunity has empowered armed groups to violate detainees’ right to life without fearing any consequences. -Bassan Al Kantar, Amnesty International According to informed sources, a prosecutor in Benghazi closed the case without any investigations, and the forensic report omitted any mention of injuries to the head.  Siraj Dughman, a Libyan political analyst, also died while in ISA custody on 19 April 2024. The LAAF never responded to calls by members of the international community and Libyan civil society to launch an investigation into the circumstances of his death. The ISA claimed on 20 April that Siraj Dughman fell during an escape attempt. They did not allow the family to see his body and no autopsy report was shared. Amnesty International learned that his death certificate indicated that the cause of death was “a fall from an elevated place”. Arbitrary Arrests Over Bogus Charges On 1 October 2023, the ISA arrested Siraj Dughman along with Fathi al-Baaja, the General Secretary of the Libya for All Party and a former member of the 2011 National Transitional Council, as well as another political activist, accusing them of planning to overthrow the LAAF. These arrests took place after the Libyan Centre for Strategic and Future Studies headed by Siraj Dughman had an internal meeting to discuss the deadly collapse of the Derna dam . Later that month, the ISA arrested two other political activists who theyclaimed belonged to the same group as Siraj Dughman and were planning to overthrow the LAAF. The four survivors were released on 25 August, after over 10 months of arbitrary detention without charge or trial. Arbitrary detained activist and blogger Maryam Mansour Al-Warfalli , known as “ Nakhla Fezzan ,” was arrested on 13 January 2024 by the ISA in Sabha, after she criticized the LAAF’s supervision of the distribution of cooking gas in southern Libya. Maryam Mansour Al-Warfalli has been a vocal critic of mismanagement in southern Libya for years. According to a family member, since her detention at the ISA headquarters in Benghazi, Maryam Mansour Al-Warfalli has been denied any family visits. She was seen by a psychiatrist, who requested that she be admitted to Benghazi Hospital on 2 May, but she only stayed there for a few days before being returned to prison. ISA agents also arbitrarily arrested Sheikh Ali Msbah Abusbeha, 77, head of the Supreme Council of Tribes and Cities of Fezzan and a political figure critical of LAAF, on 19 April in Sabha and denied him access to his family or lawyers. He told Amnesty International that he is still receiving medical care following his release on 20 June and that he fled his home three days after his release due to threats by LAAF.  Armed groups allied to LAAF have also subjected 78-year-old Sufi Sheikh Muftah Al-Amin Al-Biju to enforced disappearance since 4 February after some 20 armed men arrested him from his home in Benghazi. According to a family member, he was solely targeted for exercising his right to freedom of religion and belief, amid the ISA’s targeting of Sufis not espousing the Madkhali Salafi ideology to which ISA adheres. The family member heard from unofficial sources that his health in Qarnada prison, where ISA controls a wing, has been deteriorating as he has diabetes and a frail immunity system being a cancer survivor. His relatives have been unable to visit him or obtain confirmation from any LAAF affiliated armed groups about his place of detention.  Background The ISA armed group operates under the de facto authority of the LAAF and is led by Ousama Al-Dressi. Members of the ISA, have committed harrowing human rights abuses to silence critics and opponents.  The budget  of LYD 179 billion (USD 36.8 billion) approved by Libya’s parliament in July 2024 for the eastern-based “Libyan Government,” allied to the LAAF, earmarks funds for armed groups with histories of abuse , including the ISA . The LAAF controls and carries out government-like functions in Benghazi, the second-largest city in Libya, and large swathes of eastern and southern Libya. Where de facto authorities, such as the LAAF, are in control of territory and exercising government-like functions, they are also bound by international human rights law. A separate entity, also named ISA , operates in western Libya and is led by Lotfi al-Harar i, nominally under the authority of the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU). © 2024 Amnesty International

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader have met behind closed doors to discuss human rights, economic prosperity and regional security U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, and Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader hold a joint news conference at the National Palace in Santo Domingo, Sept. 6, 2024. (Roberto Schmidt/Pool photo via AP) By Associated Press September 6, 2024 at 5:07 p.m. EDT SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — The U.S. secretary of state and the leader of the Dominican Republic held private talks Friday on a range of issues, from human rights, economic prosperity and regional security. However, the crisis in violence-wrecked Haiti dominated the discussions. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in the Dominican Republic for a one-day visit after landing in neighboring Haiti on Thursday to support a U.N.-backed mission led by Kenya to fight rampaging gangs there. Blinken said he spoke with Dominican President Luis Abinader about the latter’s concerns regarding Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. Abinader told reporters that his administration is concerned over the apparent lack of resources for the mission and the thousands of inmates who escaped after gangs raided Haiti’s two biggest prisons earlier this year as part of a coordinated attack . Haiti’s crisis has caused a surge in migrants trying to enter the Dominican Republic, Abinader said, adding that they’re overwhelming schools and hospitals. Abinader’s administration has been criticized in recent years for its treatment of Haitian migrants and those born in the Dominican Republic to Haitian parents. The government has largely closed the airspace to Haiti and is building a wall along the border between the two countries. Blinken said the United States has seen some improvement in Haiti after the arrival of nearly 400 Kenyan police in recent months to crack down on gangs that control 80% of the capital of Port-au-Prince. “The foundation for progress in Haiti has to be security,” Blinken said. “This has to be something that the authorities, the state and ultimately the Haitian people control, not the gangs.” Both Blinken and Abinader said they are pushing to normalize relations between the Dominican Republic and its neighbor. “We have a strong interest in trying to help Haiti succeed,” Blinken said. Blinken noted that the Dominican Republic has the largest economy in the Caribbean and one of the fastest growing in Latin America. In a boost to that growth, Blinken announced the first phase of a $3 million supply-chain investment via USAID to improve workforce training and build industrial parks in the Caribbean country. On Thursday, Blinken announced an additional $45 million in humanitarian assistance for Haiti and said he supported creating a U.N. peacekeeping operation as a way to secure funding and resources for fighting the gangs and restoring security to Haiti. Blinken is expected to return to the U.S. late Friday. washingtonpost.com © 1996-2024 The Washington Post

By Laetitia Bader Last week, the Ethiopian government finally released seven long-detained senior members of the Oromo Liberation Front, an opposition political party. Abdi Regassa, Dawit Abdeta, Lammi Begna, Michael Boran, Kenessa Ayana, Gaada Oljira, and Gaada Gebissa should never have been arrested, let alone jailed. They spent four years in detention without charge while the government ignored multiple court orders for their release. The authorities repeatedly violated their rights, as Human Rights Watch’s research found. For months at a time, they were forcibly disappeared or held incommunicado, leaving their lawyers and families with no knowledge of their whereabouts. Authorities frequently moved the men between makeshift and official detention sites, including a police training camp and a poultry farm where they were kept in a storage room with no light or water supply. Kenessa Ayana and Gaada Gebissa suffered serious health conditions in detention. Their family members and supporters have welcomed their release, but the circumstances that resulted in their arbitrary arrest and prolonged detention remain, putting all politicians at risk. The government should provide prompt and adequate redress. The Ethiopian government needs to address the broader issue of ensuring that those engaged in peaceful political activity need not worry about putting their lives and liberty at risk. In April, Batte Urgessa, a colleague of the detained men who had campaigned tirelessly for their release, was brutally  murdered shortly after being released from detention.  Ethiopia’s partners, including the United States, have  welcomed the release of the opposition figures, but they should go further. They should underscore the illegality of the detentions and press Ethiopian authorities to end the practice of arbitrary arrest and detention without charge as well as the enforced disappearances of government critics, both of which remain common in Ethiopia today. © 2024 Human Rights Watch