At least 24 people killed and scores more injured in series of attacks in rebel-held areas of country By Bethan McKernan The scene of the bombing in Azaz on Sunday. Photograph: INA Photo Agency/Rex/Shutterstock At least 24 people have been killed and scores wounded across parts of rebel-held Syria after a weekend of violence that included several car bomb attacks. Eleven people died and 30 more were injured in the town of Azaz, when a car bomb detonated on Sunday near a building used by Turkish-backed fighters as an administrative headquarters. Pictures from the scene showed black smoke rising from the mangled remains of the car, damaged buildings and a street covered in debris from the explosion. Also on Sunday, another car bomb went off at a checkpoint near the town of Beza’a, killing five fighters from the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) umbrella group and injuring another four, military sources said. Ahmad Ali, 33, was passing by when the Azaz car bomb detonated about 100 metres away. “It sounded like thunder, the doors and glass of the buildings around me shook and broke. As a first reaction I was on the floor and I was temporarily deaf from the tremendous sound,” he said. “It happened in such a busy place, near the market and the building where people come to register births and marriages …. I saw the burnt car and rescuers trying to help, and the dead bodies. It was a horrifying day.” After a decade of war, Syria is now roughly divided into three zones of control. Around 3 million civilians, the majority of whom are afraid to return to their homes in regime-held areas, as well as the remains of the Syrian opposition, Turkish-backed Syrian forces and Islamist groups, are now crammed into the north-west corner of the country. The oil and wheat producing north-east is controlled by Kurdish-led, US-backed forces, but most of Syria is now once again ruled again by Bashar al-Assad, who has clawed back all of the country’s major cities from the opposition with the help of Russia and Iran. Sunday’s attacks added to an already violent weekend across parts of Syria outside regime control: on Saturday, the de-facto Turkish controlled town of Afrin was rocked by a car bomb which killed eight people, including four children. On Sunday in Hasekeh, a town controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Kurdish security forces opened fire on pro-Syrian government demonstrators, killing one and injuring four. The explosions in Azaz and Afrin were not claimed by any group, but the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK), which has links to the SDF, is believed to be responsible for what Syrian Civil Defence statistics show is a growing number of IED, motorcycle and car bomb attacks in both cities. Afrin was emptied of its majority Kurdish population after a 2018 offensive on the town by Turkey, while Azaz serves as the Turkish-backed forces’ administrative headquarters. Islamic State sleeper cells have also been linked to bombings in the area. The Syrian Civil Defence, a volunteer rescue group operating in rebel-held parts of Syria also known as the White Helmets, says it has already responded to 13 explosions in the country’s north-west since the beginning of the year. The surge in violence so far in 2021 adds to north-west Syria’s already severe wintertime problems: an increase in coronavirus cases is stretching an already broken healthcare system to breaking point, and heavy rains and flooding have affected 67,600 people living in displacement camps. © 2021 Guardian News & Media Limited

By Bethan McKernan, Jamie Macwhirter, Meital Miselevich, Nikhita Chulani, and Katie Lamborn More than six years after Houthi rebels seized Yemen's capital and forced its government into exile, a bloody civil war still rages across the country. Despite a Saudi-led bombing campaign that has destroyed Yemeni infrastructure and crippled its economy, the Houthis remain in control of most of the country's population centres. The Guardian's Middle East correspondent, Bethan McKernan, explains why a new Houthi offensive could heap more misery on the millions of civilians caught in the crossfire.

In this Jan. 9, 2020 file photo, Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, center right, and The Sudan Liberation Movement-North leader, Abdel-Aziz al-Hilu, hold up hands during a visit organized by The World Food Program, in the conflict-affected remote town of Kauda, Nuba Mountains, Sudan. On Wednesday, May 26, 2021, Sudan’s transitional government and the main rebel group kicked off a new round of peace talks officials said, the latest effort to end the country’s decades-long civil wars. South Sudan’s president is hosting the talks in Juba, between the Sudanese government and the Sudan Popular Liberation Movement – North, led by al-Hilu. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty, File) CAIRO (AP) — Sudan’s transitional government and the main rebel group kicked off a new round of peace talks Wednesday, officials said, the latest effort to end a decades-long conflict in the East African country. South Sudan President Salva Kiir is hosting the talks between the Sudanese government and the Sudan Popular Liberation Movement – North, led by Abdel-Aziz al-Hilu. Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the ruling sovereign council, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and al-Hilu were attending a ceremonial meeting. Afterward, delegations from the government and the rebel group were to continue their closed deliberations in Juba, South Sudan’s capital, according to the prime minister’s office. The talks come less than two months after the government and the al-Hilu movement signed a declaration of principles detailing a roadmap for the talks. Al-Hilu’s movement is Sudan’s single largest rebel group and is active in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan provinces, where it controls significant chunks of territory. Sudan’s transitional government has been engaging in peace talks with rebel groups over the past two years. It’s looking to stabilize the country and help its fragile path to democracy survive following the military’s overthrow of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir in April 2019. In 2020, Sudan’s transitional authorities and another rebel alliance signed a peace deal. Al-Hilu’s group participated in negotiations leading up to that agreement but did not sign the final deal. It called for a secular state with no role for religion in lawmaking, the disbanding of all of al-Bashir’s militias and the re-vamping of the country’s military. Al-Hilu’s group says if its demands aren’t met, it will call for self-determination in areas it controls. Another major rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement-Army, led by Abdel-Wahid Nour, rejects the transitional government and has not taken part in talks. Sudanese rebels for years fought al-Bashir’s loyalists in Darfur but also in the southern provinces of Blue Nile and South Kordofan. The fighting has often fallen along religious and ethnic lines. © Copyright 2021 Associated Press

BY SAMY MAGDY FILE- In this Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019 file image the International Criminal Court, or ICC, is seen in The Hague, Netherlands. The International Criminal Court Prosecutor opened a hearing Monday, May 24, 2021 of evidence against an alleged leader of a notorious militia blamed for atrocities in Darfur, calling him a “willing and energetic” perpetrator of crimes in the conflict-torn region of Sudan in 2003-2004. Fatou Bensouda was addressing judges at the start of the first presentation at the global court of evidence against a suspect charged with involvement in crimes by the Janjaweed militia in Darfur. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File) CAIRO (AP) — The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor on Sunday urged Sudan’s transitional government to hand over suspects wanted for war crimes and genocide in the Darfur conflict, the Sudanese official news agency reported. ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda arrived in Sudan’s western Darfur region on Saturday to meet with authorities and affected communities in the region, the court said. Bensouda said she was inspired by “the resilience and courage” of the Darfur people. Among those wanted by the international court is former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who has been in jail in Khartoum since his ouster in April 2019 and is facing several trials in Sudanese courts related to his three decades of authoritarian rule. The conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region broke out when rebels from the territory’s ethnic central and sub-Saharan African community launched an insurgency in 2003, complaining of oppression by the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum. Al-Bashir’s government responded with a campaign of aerial bombings and raids by militias known as Janjaweed, who stand accused of mass killings and rapes. Up to 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million were driven from their homes. The ICC charged al-Bashir with war crimes and genocide for allegedly masterminding the campaign of attacks in Darfur. Sudanese prosecutors started last year their own investigation into the Darfur conflict. Also indicted by the court are two other senior figures from al-Bashir’s rule: Abdel-Rahim Muhammad Hussein, interior and defense minister during much of the conflict, and Ahmed Haroun, a senior security chief at the time and later the leader of al-Bashir’s ruling party. Both Hussein and Haroun have been under arrest in Khartoum since the Sudanese military, under pressure from protesters, ousted al-Bashir in April 2019. The court also indicted rebel leader Abdulla Banda, whose whereabouts are unknown, and Janjaweed leader Ali Kushayb, who was charged last week with crimes against humanity and war crimes. Bensouda and her team met Saturday with Darfur’s Gov. Mini Arko Minawi, who said the prosecutor’s main concern is to hand over those wanted by the court as soon as possible, and speed up the transfer of Harun since his case is related to that of Kushayb. In a Sunday meeting with officials in North Darfur province, the ICC prosecutor said they would continue demanding the government to hand over all those wanted by the court, SUNA reported. Sudan’s transitional government, which has promised democratic reforms and is led by a mix of civilian and military leaders, has previously said that war crime suspects including al-Bashir would be tried before the ICC, but the trial venue is a matter for negotiations with The Hague-based court. © Copyright 2021 Associated Press

File--In this April 14, 2014 photo, Hamamatou Harouna, 10, crawls to the restroom on the grounds of the Catholic Church where she and hundreds of others found refuge in Carnot, Central African Republic. Human Rights Watch says people with disabilities in Central African Republic are at high risk during attacks and forced displacement, facing neglect in an ongoing humanitarian crisis. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Simplice Lenguy told his wife to leave him behind as people fled when fighting broke out in Central African Republic's capital. "I said, 'Take the children. You go to the camp. I am handicapped. I can't flee like the others. If something happens to me, at least my family will be safe,'" Lenguy, who is disabled from polio, recounted in an interview with The Associated Press. His wife refused and forced him to come with her, even when he lost consciousness because of the pain. For years Central African Republic has seen widespread violence that has displaced more than 500,000 people. This week at least 100 people were killed in fighting in the town of Bria. Those with disabilities are a "forgotten people within a forgotten crisis" at high risk during attacks and forced displacement, facing neglect in an ongoing humanitarian crisis, according to Lewis Mudge, a researcher with Human Rights Watch, which released a report this week on their challenges. The country has faced deadly violence since 2013, when predominantly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in the capital, Bangui. Mostly Christian anti-Balaka militias fought back, resulting in thousands of people killed and hundreds of thousands displaced. It is not known how many of the displaced are people with disabilities, but Human Rights Watch said conditions at camps are not conducive for them. Some have trouble getting food during distributions, while others have challenges using showers and toilets that lack ramps. The new report said one man with a physical disability was killed in November 2014 while trying to crawl away from attacking Seleka fighters in the town of Bolo. And when anti-Balaka forces attacked the village of Ngbima the same month, they killed 28 civilians, including a 25-year-old woman with a bad foot who could not move quickly. She was burned alive inside her home, said the report. With half of Central Africa Republic's population in need of humanitarian assistance, Mudge said people with disabilities do not get the "protection and assistance they desperately need." Human Rights Watch called on the U.N. peacekeeping mission and other U.N. agencies to monitor and report abuses against people with disabilities and commit resources to improving humanitarian aid. In 2015, the U.N. Security Council's mandate for the peacekeeping mission expressed "serious concern about the dire situation of persons with disabilities in the CAR including abandonment, violence and lack of access to basic services." However, when the mandate was renewed by the U.N. Security Council in 2016, no language on people with disabilities was included. The human rights chief for the U.N. peacekeeping mission had "no statement" on why the language wasn't included. However, Musa Yerro Gassama said the U.N. continues to work on the issue with aid groups. Central African Republic's government doesn't have the capacity to support people with disabilities, Mudge said. And U.N. officials say humanitarian funding for the country is only at 28 percent. Once Lenguy recovered from his journey to the camp for those displaced in Bangui, he started organizing others with disabilities into a group to demand more aid. They seek support to replace lost canes and tricycles, rebuild homes and provide vocational assistance. Despite the challenges, the 40-year-old Lenguy said he's "very optimistic." He said he wants people with disabilities to have a role in the government and play a role in their country's future. "We, people with disabilities, are ready to help the country to develop," he said. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Associated Press

By MANUEL RUEDA People hold a silent march to support the unblocking of the city's main entrance and exit roads that have been blocked by anti-government protests in Cali, Colombia, Tuesday, May 25, 2021. Colombians have taken to the streets for weeks across the country after the government proposed tax increases on public services, fuel, wages, and pensions. (AP Photo/Andres Gonzalez) BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Two protesters were killed early Tuesday in the Colombian city of Cali as they guarded one of several roadblocks set up by demonstrators to show their discontent with growing poverty and inequality during the pandemic. The deaths come as Colombia’s federal government sends hundreds of troops to restore order in the southwestern city, where clashes between protesters and civilians who oppose antigovernment demonstrations and roadblocks resulted in at least five deaths last week. Municipal officials in Cali said the two men murdered early Tuesday morning were shot at by a gunman who fled on a motorcycle and still haven’t been captured. Meanwhile officials are meeting with youth who have been staging roadblocks around the city for the past month. “We reject painful actions like these which come as we are about to start negotiations,” said Danis Renteria, the city’s secretary for peace and tolerance. “We will continue working for dialogue, peace and reconciliation in Cali.” Cali’s mayor last week said that 13 people were killed on Friday amid protests that included the looting of an office building, and clashes in which civilians with firearms shot at protestors who were trying to take over a police station in a wealthy neighborhood. Videos published on social media showed police officers standing by the shooters doing nothing to stop them from firing at crowds. The situation prompted President Iván Duque to visit the city of 2 million, and send 1,100 troops over the weekend to restore order and guard roads leading into Cali that have been blocked by protesters recently. On Sunday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, called for those who committed crimes on Friday to be held accountable. “These events are all the more concerning given the progress that had been made to resolve, through dialogue, the social unrest that erupted a month ago following the start of a nationwide strike against several social and economic policies,” Bachelet said. According to Colombia’s Human Rights Ombudsman, at least 42 people have been killed in the protests which started on April 28 over a tax plan the government has since removed. In Cali, where much of the violence has taken place, protests were marked at first by cases of police abuse, but have also been affected recently by clashes between civilians who favor and oppose the protests. In the capital of Bogota protest leaders have met with government officials to discuss conditions under which both sides could start to negotiate changes to social and economic policies. But negotiations have been hampered by discussions over the rights of demonstrators. Protest leaders are asking the government to repeal its decision to send troops to Cali and 12 other cities where protests have been violent. The government meanwhile has asked protest leaders to reject roadblocks and call on their followers to dismantle them, before negotiations can get underway. © Copyright 2021 Associated Press

By Jim Gomez Published 1 June 2021 In this photo released by the Malacanang Presidential Photographers Division, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte talks with members of the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Emerging Infectious Diseases at the Malacanang Presidential Palace in Manila, Philippines, Monday, May 31, 2021. The Philippine president has rejected full public disclosure of details of his administration's deadly anti-drug crackdown, citing national security. (Richard Madelo/ Malacanang Presidential Photographers Division via AP) MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine president has rejected full public disclosure of details of his administration’s deadly anti-drug crackdown, citing national security. President Rodrigo Duterte said in televised remarks Monday night that divulging confidential information like intelligence about suspects used by law enforcers for drug raids could undermine his administration’s campaign against criminality. Duterte has long faced demands from human rights groups to open up police records about the drug killings for scrutiny and for him to agree to an international investigation, a call he has steadfastly rejected. Duterte compared the anti-drug crackdown to the government’s war against communist New People’s Army guerrillas. “This is a national security issue like the NPA,” he said. Duterte said people could inquire about general details of how drug raids were carried out and could even observe them from a safe distance. “But if you ask what prompted the police and the military to go into this kind of operation based on their reports and collated dossiers, you cannot intrude into that,” he said, adding that he himself has limited knowledge of the drug operations. More than 6,000 mostly petty drug suspects have been killed and 289,000 others arrested since Duterte launched his massive campaign against illegal drugs after taking office in mid-2016, according to official statistics, which human rights groups suspect are vastly understated. The large number of killings has alarmed Western governments and human rights watchdogs and sparked an International Criminal Court examination of complaints of potential crimes against humanity. Last week, the Department of Justice said it has been given access to a few dozen police investigations of police officers involved in anti-drug raids that turned deadly. Duterte’s officials have argued that the country’s justice system could address complaints of extrajudicial killings by law enforcers and that there is no need for international criminal inquiries. “There are public documents that can be shown to the public at large,” Duterte said, adding that confidential papers would be kept from the public. The Supreme Court said in a 2018 resolution that details surrounding police operations against illegal drugs do not normally “involve state secrets affecting national security” like those dealing with “rebellion, invasion, terrorism, espionage, infringement of our sovereignty or sovereign rights by foreign powers.” The court said it has a mandate to safeguard the people’s constitutional right to information on pressing issues. “The undeniable fact that thousands of ordinary citizens have been killed, and continue to be killed, during police drug operations certainly is a matter of grave public concern,” the court said. Duterte acknowledged that the anti-drug crackdown has left many dead and warned that “many more will die.” But he repeated that there was no government policy condoning extrajudicial killings and added that some of the killings of drug dealers were carried out by syndicates to eliminate potential government informants. “My policemen and my army are trained to kill,” he said, but added, “they are not allowed to kill a man kneeling down or with his back turned.” The tough-talking leader repeated his death threats to drug lords preying on young Filipinos. “If I am there, I will really kill you. I don’t care if there’s TV around. I will really kill you,” he said. Rights groups have warned that such remarks by the president have fostered a culture of impunity in the police force, which Duterte once called “corrupt to the core,” and have emboldened law enforcers to commit abuses. © copyright 2021 The Associated Press

ILE - In this March 17, 2017 file photo, Shirley Palencia weeps during the burial service for 17-year-old sister Kimberly Palencia Ortiz, who died in the Virgen de la Asunción Safe Home fire, at the cemetery in Guatemala City. Authorities said the fire that swept through parts of the institution when mattresses were set ablaze during a protest by girls protesting conditions at the overcrowded youth shelter. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo, File) (The Associated Press) GUATEMALA CITY – When firefighters entered the home for troubled youth, they discovered more than two dozen girls on the floor of a locked room, most of them dead. A moan rose from one of the bodies, piled on top of each other. When firefighter Danial Perpuac turned the girl over, flames came out of her mouth — she was burning up inside. "That is something you cannot forget," Perpuac said helplessly. "I know I will have the smell of grilled meat and hair in my nose and throat for life." The fire on March 8 that killed 40 girls at the Virgen de la Asunción Safe Home started when ringleaders took a match to a foam mattress to protest the abuse they had suffered there. Their hell at the government-run shelter began long before the inferno, as documented in several warnings from four different agencies. At least two orders for closure were ignored. The Virgen de la Asunción home is on a hill 14 miles east of Guatemala City. The shelter, protected by high walls and barbed wire, is surrounded by an idyllic pine forest covered with mist every morning. The forest and ravines have offered hiding places for more than 100 children who have escaped what they consider a jail. About 700 children — nobody knew exactly how many — lived in a home with a maximum capacity for 500. Some dormitories housed more than twice the number of children authorized for the space. The majority had committed no crime. They were youths sent there by the courts for various reasons — they had run away from home, they were left in the streets, they were abused, they were young migrants. Most came from families so poor they could not afford the $50 in lawyers' fees to get their children out. Once inside, the children lost out on schooling. Because of a lack of funds, their education was limited to six hours per week in classrooms with up to 80 students. The abuse at Virgen de la Asunción was no secret, and the courts had intervened before. Teacher Edgar Rolando Diéguez Ispache has been in prison since 2013 and is on trial for alleged rape. Another employee, mason José Roberto Arias Pérez, has been in prison since 2014 for raping a mentally disabled girl. He was sentenced to eight years. Several reports criticizing the shelter were put out by the country's attorney general and the National Adoption System in 2015 and 2016. One recommended the gradual closure of the facility, and another its immediate closure. Despite the complaints and the reports, the abuse continued. The story of one girl who escaped the shelter on Oct. 30, after six weeks inside, was told in a case file seen by The Associated Press. The girl, 16, is not named because she is an alleged victim of rape. She fled from her own house in August to escape the extortion demands by a gang that had been threatening her with rape for a year. On Aug. 13, she told her mother she had had found a job and would be home late. Instead, she ran away to protect herself and her family. "She hugged me tight that day, tighter than normal," her mother said. The mother reported her missing daughter to police. On Aug. 22, they located the girl, and a youth court sent her to Virgen de la Asunción. Officials separated mother and daughter as they cried. "Mama, get me out of here," the girl begged, according to her mother. The shelter did not have a procedure for visits, and they did not see each other for a month. By the time of a hearing on Sept. 13, the girl had been beaten, forced to get a tattoo with the name of a female staffer, and repeatedly raped, her mother said. The first time, the female staff called her in for a physical exam and sedated her. She woke up and her whole body hurt, and she realized what they had done, according to the case file. Several days later, they took her to the same place. This time, she was awake and tied to a gurney. The young man who raped her had his face covered. The third time, it was several men, she said. They raped her and beat her. A little more than two months after she was sent to the shelter, the daughter escaped along with three others. The girl was afraid to return home because that could mean being sent back to the shelter, but she contacted her brother. The family contacted their lawyer, who filed a motion for habeas corpus. The lawyer managed to return the girl to her mother, but she didn't reveal all that had happened to her until after the fire. At that point, she said she wanted to testify against her abusers. On Nov. 11, the state attorney requested that the center be closed. He asked that areas known as "the cage" and "the chicken coop" be closed within 48 hours. Both facilities looked like punishment cells, with metal doors and no windows. Also in November, a state human rights prosecutor filed a complaint with the Inter American Human Rights Commission charging rampant abuses. The accusations included charges as serious as "forced recruitment for human trafficking for the purpose of prostitution." There were complaints about sexual abuse by male residents against female residents, including some under 13. One girl was killed in 2013, hanged with a scarf by two other girls. On Dec. 12, the Sixth Court of Children and Adolescents of the Metropolitan Area condemned the state of Guatemala for violations committed against the rights of minors guarded in the home. It also gave 48 hours to clarify the legal situation of a number of minors inside the home. Nothing happened. The secretary of social welfare, Carlos Rodas, who was responsible for the home, appealed the judicial decision. Rodas, who has since been arrested, has denied negligence and refused to resign. He blamed the girls' mutiny on them not liking the food, and said they had sharp weapons hidden in their hair. "The problem is that judges mix children who have committed crimes with children abandoned by their families," he said. "We ask the Public Prosecutor's Office to investigate but we do not directly blame anyone." On March 7, about 60 girls escaped from the shelter, as some had done on several occasions before. They rebelled because shelter staff had tried to beat them, said a 14-year-old survivor who had been there three months. The girl, whose family did not want her name used out of fear for her safety, said she was not raped but officials took away her food. The girls also were made to wake up at 3 a.m. to bathe in cold water, she said. So the girls jumped from the roof of the facility to the wall, and from there into the trees. Riot police caught them and returned them to the shelter by force. The police sprayed pepper gas in their mouths and eyes, hit them with batons and kicked them, the 14-year-old told the AP. Police did not comment on the case because of a judicial order that prohibits discussion. The angry teens waited outside the shelter for hours. They started throwing things at the police. Girls complained that they were abused, attacked and beaten. The escapees eventually were brought in and locked in a 500-square-foot classroom as punishment. It is as yet unclear who locked them in and who held the key. By 7:30 the next morning, they had been held for about six hours. They were not let out even to use the bathroom, the girl said. Four girls who were ringleaders at the home had managed to get matches to smoke cigarettes during their brief escape. In an attempt to protest the lockup and force somebody to open the doors, they set fire to a mattress propped against a window. The foam stuffing was already coming out of the mattresses because girls used it to fashion pads for menstruation when they didn't have anything else. The burning mattress fell onto other mattresses, and the flames quickly spread. Locked into the room, the girls shouted, "Help me! Help me!" the 14-year-old said. Nobody did. "I saw how they burned, how they screamed, how they died," she said. She fainted. When she came to, somebody had finally opened the door. She ran out, and the staff doused the girls with water until ambulances arrived. The girl suffered burns on both arms, a shoulder and part of her face. For many, it was too late. By 9 a.m., 19 of the girls were dead, burned and asphyxiated. Twenty-one more between the ages of 13 and 17 would die at local hospitals over the next few days. Kimberly Palencia Ortiz was one of the dead. The 17-year-old had been a ward of the state for nearly a year. Her father was in prison, her mother had disappeared, and her grandmother did not have the means to take care of her. "It is an injustice," Valeria Yojero said tearfully at her granddaughter's burial. "Nobody should die for being poor." (c) Associated Press 2017

Darfur village attacked by Sudanese government supported terrorists Source: Darfur Women Action Group June 4, 2021 By EDITH M. LEDERER UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council on Thursday urged Sudan’s government to swiftly form a Transitional Legislative Council and implement security measures and other provisions in October’s peace agreement. It said that is needed so the Sudanese people can have “a peaceful, stable, democratic and prosperous future.” A resolution adopted unanimously by the council also urged signatories to the peace deal to address the root causes of conflict in the vast western Darfur region and two other areas, Blue Nile and South Kordofan. It called on rebel groups in Darfur that have forces in neighboring countries to continue to withdraw them. The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when ethnic Africans rebelled, accusing the Arab-dominated Sudanese government of discrimination. The government in Khartoum was accused of retaliating by arming local nomadic Arab tribes and unleashing them on civilian populations — a charge it denies. A joint U.N.-African Union force in Darfur was established in 2007 but terminated by the Security Council on Dec. 31. The force was replaced with a much smaller and solely political mission, whose mandate was extended by the resolution approved Thursday until June 3, 2022. Sudan’s military ousted autocratic President Omar al-Bashir in April 2019 following mass pro-democracy protests, and a transitional military-civilian government has ruled the African nations since then. The country is now on a fragile path to democracy, and on Feb. 10 a new Cabinet was sworn in that includes rebel ministers as part of the power-sharing deal the transitional authorities and a rebel alliance struck in Juba on Oct. 3. The Security Council welcomed the March 28 signing by the government and Sudan’s largest single rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement-North, of a declaration of principles detailing a roadmap for talks. It urged both sides “to engage constructively to swiftly finalize a comprehensive and inclusive peace agreement.” A new round of talks began May 26. The Security Council urged armed groups that haven’t engaged in peace negotiations “to do so immediately, constructively and without pre-condition.” One major rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement-Army in the restive Darfur region rejects the transitional government and has refused to take part in talks. The council recognized improvements in security conditions in some areas of Darfur but expressed concern that the security situation in other areas “has deteriorated as a result of increased intercommunal violence.” It underscored the need “to intensify peacebuilding efforts in Darfur, avoid a relapse into conflict” and mitigate risks to civilians posed by intercommunal violence, misuse of small arms, and violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. The resolution stressed the need for the government to ensure accountability for those violations including conflict-related sexual violence and “grave violations against children.” It called on the government to accelerate establishment of the Transitional Legislative Council and to meet the 40% quota for women’s participation. It welcomed the April 24 adoption of bills approving a Peace Commission and a Transitional Justice Commission and called on the government to swiftly establish them so they can start operating. The Security Council ordered the U.N. mission over the next year to give priority to supporting cease-fire monitoring in Darfur and implementation of the government’s civilian protection plan that includes preventing local conflicts, reconciliation efforts, disarmament and reducing intercommunal violence. It said the mission should also prioritize support to negotiations between the government and armed groups, drafting a new constitution, judicial reforms, and implementing the peace agreement’s power-sharing provisions, including facilitating the participation of civil society, women, youth, displaced people, refugees and members of marginalized communities. © Copyright 2021 Associated Press

By Edith M. Lederer Published 3 June 2021 FILE - In this April 2, 2019, file photo, Fernando Arias, Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) speaks during talks in Moscow, Russia. The head of the international chemical weapons watchdog told the U.N. Security Council that its experts have investigated 77 allegations against Syria, and concluded that in 17 cases chemical weapons were likely or definitely used. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File) UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The head of the international chemical weapons watchdog told the U.N. Security Council that its experts have investigated 77 allegations against Syria, and concluded that in 17 cases chemical weapons were likely or definitely used. Fernando Arias called it “a disturbing reality” that eight years after Syria joined the Chemical Weapons Convention, which bans the production or use of such weapons, many questions remain about its initial declaration of its weapons, stockpiles and precursors and its ongoing program. He said Thursday that the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons will be taking up a new issue at its next consultations with Syria -- “the presence of a new chemical weapons agent found in samples collected in large storage containers in September 2020.” Arias said he sent a letter informing the Syrian government that he intended to send an OPCW team to look into this issue from May 18 to June 1, and requested visas but never got a response. He said he informed Damascus he was postponing the arrival to May 28. With no reply from Syria by May 26, he said, “I decided to postpone the mission until further notice.” Syria was pressed to join the Chemical Weapons Convention in September 2013 by its close ally Russia after a deadly chemical weapons attack that the West blamed on Damascus. By August 2014, President Bashar Assad’s government declared that the destruction of its chemical weapons was completed. But Syria’s initial declaration to the OPCW has remained in dispute. In April 2020, OPCW investigators blamed three chemical attacks in 2017 on the Syrian government. The OPCW Executive Council responded by demanding that Syria provide details. When it didn’t, France submitted a draft measure on behalf of 46 countries in November to suspend Syria’s “rights and privileges” in the global watchdog. In an unprecedented vote on April 21, the OPCW suspended Syria’s rights until all outstanding issues are resolved. Russia has sharply criticized the OPCW and its investigators, accusing them of factual and technical errors and acting under pressure from Western nations. Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia kept up the attack on Thursday, accusing the chemical weapons watchdog of using information “from biased sources opposed to the Syrian government,” of collecting evidence remotely and relying on “pseudo witnesses.” He said the purpose of the council meeting was not to “interrogate” Arias by asking “uncomfortable” questions, as some council members said, but “to work collectively to improve the deplorable situation that has evolved in the OPCW.” “We need to talk frankly with the OPCW leadership in order to preclude further erosion of its authority and prevent recurrence of the miserable situation that happened in April,” when it voted “to incapacitate ... a sovereign state that faithfully complies” with the Chemical Weapons Convention, Nebenzia said. “We are concerned over increasing politicization of its work, initiated by our Western colleagues.” The Russian ambassador said he was surprised that Arias expressed surprise that Syria was not cooperating with the OPCW investigation team charged with determining responsibility for chemical attacks. “It is not surprising that Syria never recognized the legitimacy of the group, neither did we,” Nebenzia said. “The group was established illegitimately. You cannot expect that Syria will be cooperating with it.” Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward countered that “the facts of this case are clear.” “There are 20 unresolved issues in Syria’s initial chemical weapons declaration, which is deeply concerning,” she said. “The UN and the OPCW have attributed eight chemical weapons attacks to the Syrian regime. It’s clear that the regime retains a chemical weapons capability and the willingness to use it.” Woodward said the Security Council will continue to insist on Syria’s full cooperation with the OPCW, “and the full and verifiable destruction of Syria’s chemical program.” U.S. Deputy Ambassador Richard Mills said “no amount of disinformation – espoused by Syria and its very small number of supporters – can negate or diminish the credibility of the evidence that has been presented to us by the OPCW.” “The Assad regime – supported by Russia – continues to ignore calls from the international community to fully disclose and verifiably destroy its chemical weapons program,” Mills said. “Without accountability for the atrocities committed against the Syrian people, lasting peace in Syria will remain out of reach. The United States, once again, calls for justice and accountability as critical components to help move Syria towards a political resolution to the conflict.” © 2021 The Associated Press

The "Food Flotilla for Myanmar" arrived following a sweeping counterinsurgency campaign in Rakhine state, where most of the estimated 1 million Rohingya live. Last week, U.N. human rights investigators said it was "very likely" that Myanmar forces were guilty of crimes against humanity in the crackdown. Organizers of the aid shipment say they trust the Myanmar government to deliver the supplies as promised despite its record of discrimination. "We have to respect Myanmar's sovereignty," said Razali Ramli, from the 1Putera Club Malaysia, which helped organize the shipment along with a coalition of non-government organizations. "We hand over the aid in good faith." The Rohingya have long faced official and social persecution in Myanmar, a majority-Buddhist country. Most do not have citizenship and are regarded as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, even when their families have lived in Myanmar's Rakhine state for generations. The conflict has been simmering for years but there are worrying signs that it is escalating into an armed insurgency, according to a recent report by the International Crisis Group. The army launched its most recent crackdown in October following attacks on guard posts near the Bangladesh border that killed nine police officers. According to ICG, the border attacks were coordinated by a new insurgent group calling itself Harakah al-Yaqin, or the Faith Movement. Organized by a network of Rohingya in Saudi Arabia and bankrolled by wealthy donors, the militant group is drawing Muslims disillusioned and desperate from years of disenfranchisement by the Myanmar government, the report said. The government has denied abuses and has blocked independent journalists and aid workers from visiting the military's operation zone in Rakhine. On Wednesday, the country's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, said a government-appointed commission on Rakhine will investigate some of the recent accusations of abuse. "Where there is clear evidence of abuses and violations, the government will take necessary measures," she said in a statement carried by the country's state-run newspaper. When Malaysia first proposed the flotilla in December, Myanmar officials said they would turn it away. In January they said they'd permit the vessel, but that it had to dock in Yangon instead of Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine. Malaysia, which has a Muslim majority, is an outspoken critic of Myanmar's treatment of the Rohingya. Last month, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak slammed Myanmar for letting the abuses continue. On Thursday, dozens of Buddhist monks protested outside the port where the aid ship arrived, denying that the ethnic group Rohingya even exists. Many in Myanmar refer to the Rohingya as Bengalis, suggesting they belong in Bangladesh. "We can accept if the ship is coming to help the Bengalis and we are not trying to stop the donation," said Win Ko Ko Lat, the leader of Myanmar Buddhist Nationalists Network. "But we want them to know that there is no Rohingya in Myanmar. This is our campaign." A detailed report released last week by the U.N.'s human rights agency alleging widespread killing and rape by Myanmar government security forces has intensified international concern about the Rohingyas' plight. On Wednesday, Pope Francis appealed for prayers for the Rohingya ethnic minority. "These are good people, peaceful people," Francis said. "They're not Christians, but they're good, our brothers and sisters. And they have been suffering for years. They've been tortured and killed, simply because they are continuing their traditions, their Muslim faith. Let us pray for them," he said. __ AP writer Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, contributed to this report.

By Azam Ahmed MEXICO CITY — Faced with a wave of deadly attacks against journalists, the president of Mexico has vowed to take concrete steps to ensure the safety of journalists in his country, including removing the lead prosecutor responsible for investigating crimes against the freedom of expression. Last year, 11 Mexican journalists were killed, the most in more than a decade, and several more murders have already been recorded in 2017. And yet there is near total impunity for the attackers, in part because the special office responsible for prosecuting cases involving the freedom of expression rarely brings anyone to justice for the crimes. Since its creation in 2010, the office has examined more than 800 cases of serious crimes but has won only two convictions. Ricardo Nájera, the lead prosecutor, has repeatedly failed to take on cases, including homicides, in which evidence exists that the victim’s reporting and writing had provoked the wrath of attackers. President Enrique Peña Nieto’s pledge to replace Mr. Nájera and ensure funding for a federal protection program for threatened journalists follows several critical reports accusing the government of complicity in attacks on the news media and of an inability — or unwillingness — to investigate cases. ©, 2017, The New York Times