By Felipe Vilamor President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines said in a speech on Friday that he would be “happy to slaughter” millions of drug addicts in his country. Mr. Duterte likened himself to Hitler. By REUTERS on Publish DateSeptember 30, 2016. Photo by Manman Dejeto/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images. MANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte said Friday that he would like to kill millions of drug addicts in the Philippines, defying international criticism of his country’s bloody war on narcotics and escalating his brutal rhetoric with a reference to the Holocaust. “Hitler massacred three million Jews,” Mr. Duterte said after returning to the Philippines from a trip to Vietnam, understating the toll cited by historians, which is six million. “Now there is three million, there’s three million drug addicts. There are. I’d be happy to slaughter them.” Killing that number of drug users would “finish the problem of my country and save the next generation from perdition,” he said. Since Mr. Duterte took office in June promising a grisly campaign against crime and drugs, the Philippines has seen a surge in killings of drug suspects. President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines has a reputation for frank speechmaking that often angers the international community. Philippine officials have counted about 3,000 deaths during the crackdown, about a third at the hands of the police. The police spokesman Dionardo Carlos said on Friday that the police had been overstating the number killed by the police. He said that the correct number was 1,120, not about 1,500, which the police had given earlier. He did not explain why the number had been revised. The police have also said that 1,500 nonpolice killings are under investigation and that hundreds of these also are believed to be drug-related. Responding to expressions of alarm about the killings from the European Union and other international bodies, Mr. Duterte said Friday that the European Union’s advisers on the issue were “pea-brained.” He criticized European officials for finding fault with his government while not doing enough to help migrants fleeing war-torn Middle Eastern countries. “You allow them to rot, and then you’re worried about the death of about 1,000, 2,000, 3,000?” he said. Mr. Duterte complained that his foreign critics had depicted him as “a cousin of Hitler” and said that they were wrong to criticize him now that he was the country’s president. Doing so put all Filipinos “to shame,” he said. The president’s latest provocative remarks came days after he cast doubt on the Philippines’ longstanding military ties with the United States, announcing in Vietnam that the countries’ coming joint military exercises would be their last. Officials in his government later said that all military agreements with the United States were still in effect and that they were awaiting “clarification and guidance” from Mr. Duterte. While in Vietnam, Mr. Duterte also said he had received information that “the C.I.A. is planning to kill me.” Officials in his government and at the United States Embassy in Manila declined to comment on that statement. A spokeswoman for the embassy, Molly Koscina, said Friday that the United States would continue to work with the Philippines to “uphold our shared democratic values.” She said the relationship was built on “shared sacrifices for democracy and human rights, and strong people-to-people and societal ties, and obviously we’d like to see that continue.” © The New York Times 2016 A version of this article appears in print on October 1, 2016, on page A4 of the New York edition with the headline: ‘I’d Be Happy to Slaughter’ 3 Million Addicts, Philippine Leader Says.

By Geeta Anand An effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India was burned during a protest rally in Karachi, Pakistan, on Oct. 7. CreditShakil Adil/Associated Press NEW DELHI — As an opposition leader, Narendra Modi was a vocal critic of India’s government for not responding more forcefully to cross-border attacks from militants based in Pakistan. As prime minister, Mr. Modi has not shied away from openly retaliating in Pakistani-controlled Kashmiragainst the militants — and stirring up nationalist passions. Now, with his tough stance, there are growing concerns that Mr. Modi may have narrowed his options, raising the risks of war with India’s nuclear-armed rival, Pakistan. Experts are worrying about what India will do when Pakistan-based militants carry out another attack in India, as is almost certain. And how will Pakistan respond? “We’re not at the point of no return, but we are in very dangerous waters,” said Bruce Riedel, a fellow at the Brookings Institution who served in the Central Intelligence Agency, where he advised several American presidents on South Asia. “When we get to the next terror attack, which is probably only a matter of time, the prime minister has boxed himself in, and he can’t take the route his predecessors did and choose to use solely diplomatic alternatives without some loss of face,” Mr. Riedel said. After Pakistan-based militants attacked an army base in Kashmir in September, Mr. Modi publicly declared retaliatory strikes in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, the disputed Himalayan region. Previous governments had made similar forays but only in covert operations. Mr. Modi followed the strikes with a campaign to isolate Pakistan diplomatically — he denounced the country as “a mother ship of terrorism” at a summit meeting last week — and they have unleashed a nationalist fury within India that may be hard to contain. That frenzy, stoked by the Indian news media, “is in danger of pushing India into conflict,” said Myra MacDonald, the author of “Defeat Is an Orphan: How Pakistan Lost the Great South Asian War.” Pakistani did not retaliate after India’s strikes last month, and instead tried to play them down. To acknowledge them would have forced Pakistan to retaliate, experts say, and Pakistan is not eager to plunge into a war. But the Pakistani Army cannot realistically deny anything took place after each incident, said Ajai Shukla, a retired Indian Army colonel who writes about defense for the Business Standard newspaper in New Delhi. “The Pakistani military would be forced to retaliate in the event of a more prominent strike,” in part to guard its image as the ever-vigilant protector of Pakistan, he said. And there is no predicting where such a conflict could lead, the experts say. “The big danger here is once you get started up the escalation ladder, how do you cool it off?” Mr. Riedel said. “I’m scared,” Mr. Shukla said. “We’re not Israel bullying Gaza, or the U.S. with Haiti. We’re the fourth-biggest army confronting the 11th-biggest army.” Still, many praise Mr. Modi for deftly handling the diplomacy around the September military strikes so Pakistan did not feel compelled to retaliate, and the United States and other nations were supportive. “Modi walked a very fine line that worked for him this time,” Mr. Shukla said. Relatives mourned a member of India’s border security forces who was killed, reportedly by gunfire from the Pakistani side of the border. CreditJaipal Singh/European Pressphoto Agency He said he believed Mr. Modi was confident that he could find a way to respond to the next militant attack without allowing the situation to spiral out of control. The latest strikes were too small to deter militant activity but might be strategically helpful by making Mr. Modi seem unpredictable and irrational to a Pakistan accustomed to a more muted response from India, Mr. Shukla said. The nuclear-armed neighbors have been facing off ever since gaining independence from Britain in 1947. They have fought three wars and routinely shoot each other’s soldiers in border disputes. In January, several militants infiltrated an Indian Air Force base and engaged in a daylong battle before they were killed. India said they were members of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammad group, and Pakistan arrested several members in response. Then in September, militants attacked an army base near the line of control separating Indian-controlled Kashmir from the Pakistani side, killing 19 soldiers. India said items found on the slain militants bore Pakistani markings, but Pakistan denied involvement. Mr. Modi’s more aggressive public response has resonated with a public that has grown increasingly frustrated by the inability of successive governments to stop militant attacks that India believes — and in some cases has proved — emanate from Pakistan. Since 2001, militants have struck the Indian Parliament, Mumbai’s top hotels and the city’s main train station, in addition to military targets, among others. Mr. Modi’s predecessors were more risk averse by nature, Mr. Shukla said. “Modi is better at brinkmanship than they were in these actions where there’s an element of risk,” Mr. Shukla said. “Manmohan Singh would not take that risk and would place India’s economic development ahead of it,” he said, referring to the previous prime minister. That willingness to take risk derives in part from Mr. Modi’s ambition. Where his predecessors looked at Pakistan as a problem to be managed, the Modi administration seems to believe it can solve the Indian-Pakistani conflict, Ms. MacDonald said.“That’s dangerous, because I don’t think they can solve it,” she said. In his swearing-in ceremony in 2014, Mr. Modi invited Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan to India, signaling an interest in making peace. He later visited Lahore for an impromptu visit with Mr. Sharif. But despite Mr. Modi’s overtures, the militant attacks have continued. Harsh V. Pant, a professor of international relations at King’s College in London, said he believed Mr. Modi viewed as a personal affront the fact that “his overtures to Pakistan have gone in vain.” In reality, Mr. Sharif does not have full control over militant groups in his country, Mr. Riedel said. In Pakistan, power is divided between the democratically elected government and the military, whose powerful intelligence wing, experts say, is tied to some militant groups that carry out attacks in India. The leaders of the groups roam freely in Pakistan, some seen as local heroes. “Prime Minister Sharif knows better than most that there are limits to how far he can push the army without the army pushing him out the door,” Mr. Riedel said. In the nationalist fervor that has gripped India, a leading Bollywood film producers group voted to ban employing Pakistanis, and a major cinema organization said it would not screen films with Pakistani actors. The mainstream news media has jumped into the fray, with a popular television talk show host, Arnab Goswami, berating the Indian superstar Salman Khan for not supporting the ban on Pakistani actors. Nationalist sentiment has spiraled so high that even Mr. Modi may be powerless to contain it, Mr. Shukla said. “He’s gotten onto the tiger, and now he can’t get off,” he said. With elections coming up in Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state, Mr. Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party will be motivated to keep nationalist sentiment high because it has quickly subsumed economic development as the party’s main election platform there, Mr. Shukla said. But as useful as Mr. Modi might believe that frenzy is in winning votes, it is confirming fears in Pakistan that India is the aggressor and is not interested in peace, Ms. MacDonald said. “The message that the Indian government wants to give to Pakistan is we do want peace but we want you to get rid of” the militant groups, she said. In Pakistan, she said, “what’s coming across now is the opposite, and that’s created an atmosphere where a lot of people are rallying behind the army.” That pressures the Pakistani government against exercising restraint in the future. And in the “media frenzy,” there is little room for either side to initiate dialogue, “on the fringes of a meeting, to pick up the threads and talk,” Ms. MacDonald said. “It’s a very dangerous situation,” Mr. Riedel said, “one big terrorist attack from disaster.” © The New York Times 2016 A version of this article appears in print on October 24, 2016, on page A7 of the New York edition with the headline: Tough Stand on Militants Raises Risks With Pakistan.

By Gardiner Harris MIAMI — Leaders from two Central American nations on Thursday asked Vice President Mike Pence to ensure that their citizens could remain in the United States as part of a work program that temporarily authorizes their residency. Neither the vice president nor Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, who was also asked, committed to doing so. The concerns voiced by the Honduran president, Juan Orlando Hernández, and the El Salvadoran vice president, Óscar Ortiz, were prompted by increased deportations under the Trump administration. A forced flood of Central American workers returning to their countries would abruptly curtail the wages they have been sending back home, which are a significant part of the region’s economy. “These people are working and paying their taxes,” said Mr. Hernández, who said he raised the issue of the temporary program with Mr. Pence. “We’re going to keep defending them because we know these people are not only Hondurans but they’re human beings,” Mr. Hernández added. Mr. Pence and Mr. Tillerson were in Miami to attend a conference of leaders from North and Central America. In remarks, they implored regional officials to prevent Central Americans from setting out on the dangerous trek to enter the United States illegally. For the Central American leaders, however, a top concern was making sure that citizens who had already made that trek could remain. People from both El Salvador and Honduras benefit from a program called Temporary Protected Status that allows them to get work authorization in the United States. Guatemala has applied to be part of the program. Mr. Tillerson said the country designations that allow migrants entering illegally to stay in the United States temporarily are made by John F. Kelly, the homeland security secretary. Mr. Kelly is due to participate in the conference on Friday. Mr. Ortiz said the Central American leaders had received no assurances from the Americans, but he promised to continue to raise the issue “because these hard-working people have been making great contributions to the United states, and we hope they continue to have that opportunity.” The Conference on Prosperity and Security in Central America, held on Thursday, was co-hosted by the United States and Mexican governments to create shared goals for improving economic and security conditions in Central America. It is hoped that doing so will help reduce illegal migration to the United States and the impact of drug cartels in the region. “We think it’s time to start dealing with a lot of these challenges in a more regional integrated fashion instead of just trying to solve it one country at a time,” Mr. Tillerson said. ©, 2017, The New York Times

By Gardiner Harris Rohingya refugees arriving in Bangladesh after fleeing Myanmar in September. A State Department report estimates that 688,000 Rohingya have made the journey. Credit: Tomas Munita for The New York Times WASHINGTON — Myanmar’s military campaign to kill or drive away its ethnic minorities is worsening despite a growing international outcry, according to a State Department religious freedom report that was released on Tuesday. Violence against the Rohingya, nearly all of whom are Muslim, in the country’s Rakhine state has been likened to ethnic cleansing and has tarnished the reputation of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel laureate whose party now controls Myanmar. The new report found that an unknown number of Rohingya are displaced throughout Myanmar, formerly Burma, and an estimated 688,000 have fled to neighboring Bangladesh. Additionally, the State Department said authorities in Myanmar were “doubling down” against ethnic minorities with a new campaign against the largely Christian minority in Kachin state. Fighting between the government and rebels in Kachin has flared for decades but restarted in earnest in 2011, according to the report. The United Nations estimates that 100,000 civilians remain displaced in both Kachin and Shan states as a result of that fighting, the report said. Religion and ethnicity in Myanmar are closely linked. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued the annual report on Tuesday with Ambassador Sam Brownback, the former governor of Kansas who now serves as the State Department envoy for international religious freedom. Mr. Pompeo also said he would hold an international symposium on religious freedoms in late July in Washington. “The ministerial will also be my first to host as the secretary of state, and that’s very intentional,” Mr. Pompeo told reporters. “Religious freedom is, indeed, a universal human right that I will fight for.” The Trump administration has tended to de-emphasize human rights as a foreign policy priority. Former Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson often said that life-or-death issues, such as terrorism, were far more important than those of individuals’ rights. But the administration’s evangelical supporters see the issue of religious freedom, particularly that of Christian minorities in places like the Middle East, as deeply important. The continuing detention and trial in Turkey of Andrew Brunson, a Christian pastor, has caused serious strains in relations between Ankara and Washington, with some on Capitol Hill proposing to apply sanctions on Turkey in response. “International religious freedom deserves to be a front-burner issue, and Ambassador Brownback and I, with him leading the way, will ensure that it continues to be so,” Mr. Pompeo said. Rob Berschinski, the senior vice president for policy at Human Rights First, said the administration did not practice what it preached. “Right now the Trump administration is blocking the entry into the United States of refugees fleeing religious persecution, having decreased the number of refugees admitted into the United States to an all-time low,” Mr. Berschinski said. “This policy has negatively impacted tens of thousands of Muslims and Christians alike.” Among the other findings in the State Department report is that North Korea is holding 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners — including some for religious reasons. Additionally, only five religions are sanctioned by China’s government, but restrictions against even those can be severe, the report said. It said that China had forcibly sent hundreds of thousands of Uighur Muslims to re-education centers, and that dozens of Falun Gong members had died in detention last year. (c) 2018 The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/world/asia/state-department-religious-freedom-myanmar.html

The Gambia submits a case against Myanmar for the Rohingya genocide. (BANGKOK, October 23, 2020)—The Government of Myanmar should immediately comply with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) orders to prevent ongoing acts of genocide and preserve evidence of genocide against Rohingya Muslims, said Fortify Rights today. The Gambia today filed a more than 500-page Memorial, which also includes more than 5000 pages of supporting material, in its lawsuit against Myanmar at the ICJ in The Hague, making its case for how the Government of Myanmar is responsible for genocide against Rohingya. “Today is another step towards justice for Rohingya,”  said Matthew Smith, Chief Executive Officer at Fortify Rights.  “International accountability mechanisms, like the ICJ, are crucial, especially given that mass atrocity crimes continue against Rohingya and others in Myanmar.”  In November 2019, The Gambia opened a case at the ICJ, also known as the World Court, against Myanmar for failing to prevent or punish genocide against Rohingya Muslims. Following today’s filing by The Gambia, the Government of Myanmar will file a Counter-Memorial at the ICJ on July 23, 2021, in response to The Gambia’s genocide allegations. The Memorial and Counter-Memorial will not be made public for the duration of the trial, which is expected to last several years. Today, Fortify Rights released an animated explainer on international accountability in  English  and  Rohingya  languages, describing the justice mechanisms under the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the ICJ. An estimated 600,000 Rohingya remain in Rakhine State where they face ongoing genocide. On January 23, 2020, the ICJ unanimously  indicated legally binding provisional measures , requiring the Government of Myanmar to take all steps within its power to prevent the commission of all acts of genocide, such as killing, causing serious mental or bodily harm, and other acts listed in the Genocide Convention. It also requires the government to preserve evidence of genocide and to report to the court every six months on its progress implementing the order, among other measures. Since the court’s issuance of provisional measures, authorities in Myanmar continue to commit human rights violations against the Rohingya. The government continues to confine more than 125,000 Rohingya to more than 20 internment camps. Hundreds of thousands of other Rohingya are confined to villages in Rakhine State. The authorities systematically deny Rohingya the right to freedom of movement and other fundamental freedoms. On September 22, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Thomas Andrews, presented satellite photographs of a Rohingya village–Khan Da Para, also known as Kan Kya, in Rakhine State—before and after it was attacked and destroyed in military-led “clearance operations” in August 2017. The satellite photographs dated this year showed a military installation where homes once stood, raising questions about the destruction of evidence. “Where is justice for those stranded in refugee camps in Bangladesh while facilities are constructed on their homeland for the same military that stands accused at the International Court of Justice for committing genocide against them?” said Thomas Andrews.  The provisional measures ordered by the court are binding. Should the court find that Myanmar has failed to comply, the ICJ can issue additional measures and the U.N. Security Council can take up the matter. The Gambia is represented by the international law firm Foley Hoag LLP.  In July 2020, Fortify Rights obtained  two videos  showing two Myanmar Army deserters—Private Myo Win Tun, 33, and Private Zaw Naing Tun, 30—confessing to mass killings of Rohingya and other crimes and explaining the chain-of-command with regard to orders to “exterminate all” Rohingya. The men traveled to Bangladesh in mid-August, and on September 8, they were transferred to the ICC in The Hague, where they remain. Prior to their transfer to The Hague, the Government of Bangladesh collected statements from the two men, which The Gambia’s legal team will reportedly make use of in the trial at the ICJ.  “Justice is possible for Rohingya, and when it comes, it will be because of Rohingya human rights defenders and members of the community who stood up and provided evidence, ” said Matthew Smith. “ Rohingya people are at the center of the accountability process.” See the full article here . Fortify Rights © 2020

By Feisal Omar and Abdi Sheik MOGADISHU (Reuters) - At least 10 people were killed on Saturday when a suicide bomber struck makeshift kiosks in the Somali capital, hitting hours after al Shabaab Islamist militants attacked two National Army bases outside the city, the government said. “A suicide bomber blew up himself under trees where poor mothers sold tea, milk and (narcotic leaf) khat,” Information Ministry spokesman Ismail Mukhtar Omar told Reuters, adding that more people were wounded in the attack. There was no immediate comment from the al Shabaab, which had earlier claimed responsibility for the attacks on the Bariire and Awdhigle army bases. The army said earlier that there had been casualties on both sides in those attacks, but it was now in control. The bases, located about 100 km (60 miles) southwest of Mogadishu, were struck by two explosions, witnesses said. A third explosion targeted a convoy of troops rushing to the bases from the capital after the attack, they added. Militants from al Shabaab, which is linked to al-Qaeda, have waged years of attacks and levied tolls on trade in a campaign to introduce strict religious law. Saturday’s attacks come amid heightened fears that the group could seek to exploit vulnerabilities created by failure to hold a parliamentary and presidential election, which was due in February. Hussein Nur, a military officer, said the army lost “several” soldiers in the attack on the bases, without giving a precise number. The army sent in reinforcements from other stations, who killed an unidentified number of attackers in the ensuing fight, he told Reuters. The army had taken control of both bases and the surrounding area and “We are pursuing the militants in the surrounding jungle”, he said. Al Shabaab said it had launched a vehicle-borne suicide bomb attack on the Bariire base while simultaneously attacking the nearby Awdhigle base with a car bomb and fighters, to prevent troops stationed there from reinforcing Bariire. “We overran Bariire base, burnt three military vehicles and took two vehicles,” Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab’s spokesman for military operations, told Reuters, referring to a brief occupation of Bariire. A third vehicle-borne explosive device hit a convoy of government troops racing from Mogadishu with reinforcements, he said. He also said there had been casualties on both sides in the attacks. Reporting by Feisal Omar and Abdi Sheikh; Writing by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Frances Kerry © Reuters 2021

Mines laid by Boko Haram and other groups leave millions at risk, particularly in Borno state where insurgency most acute By Emmanuel Akinwotu More than 100 people were killed or injured by landmines across north-east Nigeria in the first three months of this year, according to a new report. Mines laid during the conflict between Boko Haram , other armed groups and the Nigerian army left 408 people dead and 644 injured between January 2016 and August this year, says the Mines Advisory Group (MAG), a landmine clearance charity. Since March 2018, the country has recorded an average of five landmine casualties a week. Actual numbers are thought to be higher due to underreporting. The first 15 weeks of this year saw one casualty a day. Landmine casualty rates in Nigeria are now the fifth highest in the world. Most of the casualties occurred in Borno state, where the impact of Boko Haram’s 11-year jihadist insurgency has been most acutely felt. Locally manufactured landmines, unexploded bombs and improvised explosive devices are now scattered across the largely rural north-east. The mines pose a particular risk to millions of internally displaced people struggling to survive, searching for fuel or tilling their farmlands. “Many displaced Nigerians are in unfamiliar territory and are unaware of the risks,” said MAG’s Zainab Waziri. “They go out to forage or search for firewood or scrap metal in landmine-contaminated areas with devastating consequences.” The devices pose a particularly lethal threat to children, who often mistake them for household items or toys while playing outside, she said. “Last November, five girls between eight and 17 found a metal ring on the ground. Two were young daughters of my sister. They thought it might be jewellery. One picked it up but it was linked to a bomb. They all died.” In another incident, Mustapha, nine, and his 14-year-old relative, Bakura, found a metal object near their refugee camp in Borno. Both had fled Boko Haram attacks with their families. The boys thought the metal object could be sold for scrap, but it detonated, killing Mustapha and severely injuring Bakura and a neighbour. Mines are often laid in remote areas and around army bases. Nigeria’s military tries to clear them, but does not reveal data on its work, even to clearance groups in the region. Last year Nigeria committed to becoming mine-free by 2025, and announced it would re-establish a national action group, but is yet to do so. The lack of an agency to coordinate the work was hindering efforts to save lives, the report said. “Displaced families must be assured that their homes and lands are safe before being encouraged to return home. Mine action must therefore be incorporated in the government’s plans for return,” it added. Awareness among the population also remains a challenge. Only 22% of people in conflict-affected communities can identify a landmine or unexploded ordnance, MAG found. Continued attacks by Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province, which split from the group in 2016, appear to be worsening. At least 110 farmers were killed as they tended to their rice fields in Borno state last month. Residents told local media that the jihadists were a significant presence in the town, often asking people to help them carry goods to their hideouts. Reports have grown of jihadists forcing people in remote areas to pay taxes and provide food. The government has made repeated claims to have defeated the groups, playing down attacks on civilians and the military, and urging millions of refugees to return to their towns. But a strategy to fortify urban areas has seen the countryside and transit routes become vulnerable to attack. More than 10 million people across Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states – more than half of the region’s population – are in need of humanitarian assistance , with one in four under the age of five. © The Guardian 2020

By Emidio Jozine PEMBA (Reuters) - Luisa Jose, a 52-year-old mother of five, says she came face-to-face with Islamic State-linked insurgents when they attacked the gas hub town of Palma in northern Mozambique 10 days ago. “I was running to save my life ... they were coming from every street,” she told Reuters from a stadium in the port city of Pemba housing some of the thousands who fled the violence. “I saw them with bazookas. They wore uniforms with red scarves ... tied to their heads.” Jose said the militants quickly overran her hometown of Palma, next to huge gas projects worth $60 billion. Aid workers believe tens of thousands of people fled the assault, which began on March 24. However, just 9,900 of those displaced had been registered in Pemba and other parts of Cabo Delgado province, according to the U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA. Many could still be hiding in the surrounding forest, said the international aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres, and those who emerged have recounted seeing bodies of others who died of hunger or dehydration along the way. Some were also killed by crocodiles or perished in deep mud, according to a contractor whose employee witnessed both. LEFT BEHIND Most communications to Palma were cut when the attack began, and Reuters has not been able to independently verify witnesses’ accounts. A spokesman for Mozambique’s defence and security forces declined to comment on Saturday, while calls to the national police went unanswered. The province of Cabo Delgado, where Palma is located, has been home since 2017 to a simmering Islamist insurgency now linked to Islamic State. Clashes between the militants and government forces around Palma continued as recently as Friday, security sources told Reuters. South Africa said on Saturday that Mozambique’s neighbours would meet next week to discuss the insurgency. Mozambique’s government has said dozens were killed in the attack on Palma but the full scale of the casualties and displacement remains unclear. Fato Abdula Ali, 29, said she was separated from her husband and three children in the chaos. Nine-months pregnant, she couldn’t keep up with other residents as they made their escape and delivered her baby son alone in the bush. She cut the infant’s umbilical cord with a tree branch, she said. The next day, she said, she stripped herself of her blood-soaked clothes and found another group of people who took turns carrying her to safety. “My whole body aches,” she told Reuters at a hotel in Pemba. Luisa Jose said she spent almost five days in the bush, eating bitter cassava tubers and drinking from cloudy pools of water before making it to Quitunda, a village for people relocated by the mega gas projects led by major oil companies, including France’s Total. From there, she says, she was evacuated by Total but had to leave behind more than six family members, including her husband and a daughter, because there was no room on the boat. Total on Friday pulled all of its remaining workforce from its project site near Palma, two sources with direct knowledge of site operations told Reuters, leaving it in the hands of the military. Total declined to comment. Jose has had no news of her family members since she left them behind. They are among thousands believed to be stranded in Quitunda, according to aid workers and diplomats. “Are they safe? Do they have shelter? Will they come back? I don’t know,” she said. Reporting by Emidio Jozine in Pemba; Additional reporting and writing by Emma Rumney; Editing by Alexandra Zavis and Ros Russell © Reuters 2021

Armed gangs control much of Caribbean country’s capital with reports of 40 rape victims a day in areas, UN reports Luke Taylor | Fri 2 Aug 2024 A Kenyan policeman in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, which has been gripped by violence since President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in 2021. Photograph: Jean Feguens Regala/Reuters The UN has called for the deployment of international security forces in Haiti to be accelerated after a report that at least 1,379 people were killed or wounded in gang warfare and 428 people kidnapped in the country between April and June this year. “Service providers report receiving an average of 40 rape victims a day in some areas of the capital,” warns the new report from the UN’s office in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. While the number of casualties from the warring factions had fallen in recent months, the number of children being recruited into gangs and the rates of sexual violence were rising, the quarterly review said. Armed gangs have controlled most of the Haitian capital since the former president Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in July 2021. They forced his successor, Ariel Henry, to resign in April this year by paralysing the Caribbean nation with a wave of unprecedented violence. To quell the anarchy and facilitate free elections next year, the first detachment of an international taskforce overseen by the UN was deployed to Port-au-Prince on 25 June. The Haitian prime minister, Garry Conille, a former gynaecologist who took office on 3 June, has pledged to use the 400 Kenyan police officers to retake control of the country “house by house” . The new figures suggest the chaos that swept the nation in April seems to have calmed a little after Henry’s exit, with killings falling 45% in the three months since the president resigned. But street shootouts and human rights violations are still commonplace and in some cases are rising, particularly in Port-au-Prince, where fighting is concentrated and where 88% of death and woundings were documented. Armed gangs have besieged neighbourhoods and killed civilians suspected of collaborating with the police or civilian defence groups. In one period of 11 days , 128 people – including 13 children – were killed or wounded in Solino, a middle-class district where the most powerful gang coalition, Viv Ansanm (Live Together), vied with a self-defence group for control. “While most of the victims were hit by stray bullets, others were targeted in the streets for their alleged support of the ‘self-defence’ group,” the report said. In the notorious slums of Cité Soleil, the Viv Ansanm gang killed at least 28 people for offences deemed to challenge their authority, such as petty theft or leaving the neighbourhood. The sexual abuse of women and girls has become alarmingly commonplace, with gangs using rape as a weapon to stamp their authority on communities before shooting them dead and burning their corpses or dumping them in rubbish, the report said. There are reports of children as young as three being raped in homes and refugee camps. The number of women and girls forced into prostitution and sexual relationships with gang members is also on the rise, the report says. UN Women warned last month of the extreme vulnerability and “alarming living conditions and lack of security” faced by the 300,000 Haitian women and girls displaced by the violence without basic safety and health services. Rape in refugee camps was often “to control women’s access to the scarce humanitarian assistance available” and, of the women surveyed, 88% had no source of income and one in 10 had resorted to or considered sex work as a result, the UN Women statement said. Growing violence against children was “particularly worrying”, the new report added. Forty-nine boys and girls were killed or wounded between April and June, with some dying after being recruited as fighters. Diego Da Rin, a Haiti specialist from the International Crisis Group, said the arrival of Kenyan forces in Haiti had led to some early “minor victories” against armed groups and showed they could help to turn the tide. Bolstered by new officers and armoured vehicles, the police have begun patrolling areas that Haiti’s national forces had previously abandoned, including gang territory. Beating back the gangs and liberating the millions of Haitians under their control will require thousands more officers, however. The Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Chad and Jamaica have also offered to send forces to Haiti but the initiative has been held up by domestic political opposition and a lack of funds. The UN has raised $21m with Kenya’s officials estimating its own mission’s cost will cost up to $600m (£470m). Da Rin said: “There is a worrying lack of resources to continue the deployment of personnel from Kenya and other countries that have expressed a willingness to join the mission.” Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland , or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland . In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html © 2024 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

By Omar Faruk | August 3, 2024 Lido beach, Mogadishu, Somalia August 3, 2024 [Feisal Omar/Reuters] MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Police in Somalia said Saturday that 32 people died and 63 others were wounded in an attack on a beach hotel in the capital, Mogadishu, the previous evening. Al-Qaida’s East Africa affiliate, al-Shabab, said through its radio station that its fighters carried out the attack. Police spokesperson Maj. Abdifatah Adan Hassan told journalists that one soldier was killed and another wounded, while the rest of the dead were civilians. Witnesses reported an explosion followed by gunfire. Lido Beach, a popular area in Mogadishu, is bustling on Friday nights as Somalis enjoy their weekend. A witness, Mohamud Moalim, told The Associated Press that he saw an attacker wearing an explosive vest moments before the man “blew himself up next to the beach-view hotel.” Moalim said some of his friends who were with him at the hotel were killed and others were wounded. Another witness, Abdisalam Adam, told the AP that he “saw many people lying on the ground” and had helped take some wounded people to the hospital. The Lido Beach area has in the past been targeted by militants allied to al-Shabab. The most recent attack last year killed nine people. In a separate attack on Saturday, state media reported that seven people died after a passenger vehicle hit a roadside bomb some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the capital. Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud last year declared a “total war” on the militants as the country started taking charge of its own security. Al-Shabab still controls parts of southern and central Somalia and continues to carry out attacks in Mogadishu and other areas while extorting millions of dollars a year from residents and businesses in its quest to impose an Islamic state. Friday’s attack came a month after Somalia started the third phase of the drawdown of peacekeeping troops under the African Union Transition Mission. The U.N Secretary-General’s Acting Special Representative for Somalia, James Swan, on Saturday expressed support and solidarity for Somalia “in its efforts to ensure peace, security, and stability.” He said Lido Beach is frequented by families and that “targeting this location is an abhorrent act that warrants the firmest condemnation.” Copyright 2024 The Associated Press.

Infighting within the vice president’s party is undermining an already shaky ruling alliance that was formed after a five-year civil war killed 400,000 people. By Abdi Latif Dahir President Salva Kiir of South Sudan, center, giving a news conference with Vice President Riek Machar, right, after meeting in Juba, in February, 2020. Peter Louis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images NAIROBI, Kenya — A decade after South Sudan gained independence amid much hope and fanfare, the country’s path to lasting stability remains fragile as infighting tears at the shaky coalition governing the world’s youngest nation. Over the weekend, clashes within one faction in the national unity government may have left dozens dead, according to officials. The flare-up of violence exposed long-simmering divisions and frustration over the slow implementation of political reforms, and raised concerns about the future of the tenuous peace agreement signed three years ago. The clashes pose a challenge to a nation already facing a dire humanitarian crisis, growing internal power struggles and the coronavirus pandemic. They demonstrate how violence and armed splinter groups are derailing efforts to chart a path toward a better future and indicate that leaders will face even more difficult challenges as the country’s problems mount. The fighting erupted early Saturday between rival forces within the military wing of Vice President Riek Machar’s party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition. The clashes came just days after Mr. Machar’s rivals said they had deposed him as leader of the party and its military forces, part of the fragile alliance that rules the country, and appointed First Lt. Gen. Simon Gatwech Dual as interim leader. Forces loyal to Mr. Machar “repulsed the aggressors,” who support Mr. Dual, during the fighting in the Upper Nile region in the country’s northeast, according to Col. Lam Paul Gabriel, the military spokesman for Mr. Machar’s party. Each side claimed they killed more than two dozen fighters from the rival faction, but there was no independent verification of either side’s claims. On Monday, concerned about the violent confrontations, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, a regional security and trade bloc that includes Ethiopia, Sudan and Kenya, called for an extraordinary meeting to discuss the escalating situation. The clashes come a decade after the landlocked nation gained independence from neighboring Sudan — a moment that many hoped would end decades of bloody conflict. But in 2013, barely two years after the jubilant independence celebrations, tensions between President Salva Kiir, who belongs to the majority Dinka ethnic group, and Mr. Machar, a member of the Nuer ethnic group, blew up into a civil war that claimed the lives of some 400,000 people and displaced nearly four million people. South Sudanese people celebrating as the country marks the 10th anniversary of independence, in Juba, South Sudan on July 9. Samir Bol/Reuters After almost five years of civil war, the country’s feuding leaders reached an agreement in 2018 and last year, they agreed to form a unity government. Mr. Machar, who had fled the country, was sworn in again as vice president and he and Mr. Kiir promised to build a government that would uphold peace and deal with the country’s major challenges. But the uneasy alliance has yet to alleviate the country’s biggest economic and political problems. About 8.3 million people across South Sudan are in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations, with the lack of infrastructure and violence against humanitarian personnel derailing aid delivery. Early seasonal flooding has also displaced at least 90,000 people in at least two counties in Jonglei state this month, according to the United Nations. Intercommunal violence is rampant with efforts at disarmament leading to clashes with authorities and dozens of deaths a year ago. Corruption permeates the economy, and officials have been accused of pocketing earnings from oil, the primary source of the government’s wealth. The coronavirus pandemic has also battered people’s meager incomes and the country has vaccinated barely one percent of its 11 million people. “The inevitable conclusion is that South Sudan’s post-independence leaders failed to live up to their commitments and the expectations of South Sudanese citizens,” ​​Luka Biong Deng Kuol, an academic and a former South Sudanese minister, recently wrote in an analysis for the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. Mr. Machar’s camp has insisted in recent days that he is still very much in charge and that three generals who were involved in calling for the vice president’s dismissal were fired. Yet the latest events point to how both President Kiir and Mr. Machar face challenges within their own ranks. While Mr. Machar’s camp has tried to replace him in the past, the president has also faced calls to step down. These tensions threaten to pose a serious hurdle as elections loom in the next year or two — authorities postponed the 2022 elections but are yet to commit to a new timeline — and could lead to renewed violence. To avert a crisis, there has been a growing call for the drafting and passing of a new constitution that would more equally distribute power and ensuring that justice is delivered for the victims of the civil war. But facing a leadership crisis now, those aspirations remain distant for Africa’s youngest nation, said Alan Boswell, a senior analyst for South Sudan at the International Crisis Group. “There is still no sign of a broader reset in South Sudanese politics,” Mr. Boswell said. “Instead, the divisions just keep mounting.” © 2021 The New York Times Company

Holy Mother of God Church, Voskepar, Tavush Province, Armenia credit: Soghomon Matevosyan Genocide Warning: Azerbaijan Threatens New Aggression Against Armenia by Aline Keledjian, Ani Tonoyan, and Genocide Watch Team On March 19, 2024, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan gave a speech in Voskepar, Tavush Province, Armenia in which he declared Armenia’s intention to cede four villages in Tavush Province to Azerbaijan. Pashinyan is often criticized for “giving Artsakh away.” In this case, he is surrendering these villages to prevent another war. Azerbaijan’s demands and Aliyev’s inflammatory rhetoric pushed the Armenian government into accepting any terms necessary to reach a peace agreement. While critics denounce Pashinyan for ceding the villages, it is the U.S., France, and Russia that have failed to defend Armenia. In his speech, Pashinyan expressed hope for NATO support in the peace process. But NATO — under U.S. direction — is unlikely to challenge Russia’s sphere of influence. Russian aggression in Ukraine and Georgia is considered by some experts to be a result of those nations’ overtures to join NATO. During a tour of the South Caucasus, NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg indicated his hope for increased cooperation with NATO in both Armenia and Azerbaijan. Following Stoltenberg’s visit, Pashinyan announced he would freeze Armenian membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) the post-Soviet military alliance of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyztan, Tajikistan, and Russia. Russia has denounced Armenia’s alliance freeze. When Azerbaijan invaded Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), so-called Russian “peacekeepers” refused to stop Azerbaijan. Instead, Russia ensured a speedy surrender, causing a mass exodus of Artsakh’s Armenians from their homeland. France and the US have pledged military aid for Armenia. But they have refused to sanction Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan buys 70% of its weapons from Israel, which receives its military technology from the US. Western Europe buys large quantities of Azerbaijani oil and gas/ Prime Minister Pashinyan’s surrender of Armenian border villages will not lead to lasting peace as appeasing diplomats may hope. Azerbaijan has openly announced that it may conquer the Syunik province of Armenia to build an oil pipeline connecting Azerbaijan to Turkey. US Secretary of State Blinken has already warned Azerbaijan not to invade Armenia. Azerbaijan is acting out an old pan-Turanian dream of an empire of Turkic peoples from Anatolia to Xinjiang, China. Militarizing that origin myth, Turkey and Azerbaijan have committed genocides against all Christians in their territories, including Armenians, Circassians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Pontic Greeks. In Azerbaijan, Armenophobia has become the ideology of the ruling elite. It denies all claims of other nationalities and cultures to their ancient homelands. It denies historical fact. Azerbaijani academia and media even claim Yerevan — Armenia’s capital — as an Azerbaijani city. Pashinyan’s ceding of four Tavush Province villages to Azerbaijan will not satisfy Aliyev’s goal of dissolving the state of Armenia. To legitimize Azerbaijani encroachment on Armenia’s borders will only encourage Aliyev’s aggression into Armenia. Aliyev will not stop until he takes Yerevan. To the U.S. and Europe, transfer of land from one state to another may seem to be a small price to pay for peace. But to Armenians, who today have a nation that is only a fraction of the size of their historic homeland, such peace will come at a mortal cost. Azerbaijan will amputate one limb of the Armenian body after another until Armenia is beheaded. Armenians will never be safe under Azerbaijani rule. Peace for Armenians will only come when they can live freely in their own homeland. Instead of praising Pashinyan’s concessions as steps toward peace, the U.S. and NATO should demand that Azerbaijan stop its invasions of Armenian homelands. The U.S. and E.U. should terminate economic relations with Azerbaijan if it invades Armenia.