By Aaron Ross The increasingly brutal nature of fighting in central Congo between the army and local militia is on vivid display in the village of Tshienke, where the bodies of rebel fighters were dumped into a mass grave last month following intense clashes. A visit to this site this month was the first time that journalists including Reuters have been able to see the toll that the Congolese military has exacted on fighters of the Kamuina Nsapu militia, whose insurgency poses the most serious threat to the rule of President Joseph Kabila. Reuters was unable to determine the exact number of bodies in eight mass graves dug in January and February in Congo's Kasai-Central province. The graves were also confirmed by nine local witnesses. The United Nations said it suspects that Congolese forces killed 84 militia members close to the town of Tshimbulu between Feb. 9-13. The government denies its soldiers used disproportionate force and says they have recovered automatic weapons from militia fighters after clashes. Government spokesman Lambert Mende told Reuters that the bodies in the mass graves were those of Kamuina Nsapu fighters and it was the group who had buried them, not the army. "I don't see why the soldiers would hide the fact, that after clashing with the terrorists, the terrorists died," he said, confirming that the army killed militia fighters in the clashes. Leaders of Kamuina Nsapu could not be reached for comment. BONE SHARDS At one grave site at Tshimbulu, a human femur poked out of the dirt and shards of bone dotted the perimeter. "We saw arms and legs. There were ... people who were entirely exposed because they hadn't been buried well," said one man who found the mass grave last month with fellow farmers. He, like about a dozen witnesses Reuters interviewed, spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals from the army. Two km (1 mile) away in Tshienke, another farmer pointed out two more mass graves she said contained bodies dumped by an army truck between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. on the night of Feb. 12, following intense clashes on Feb. 9 and 10. A red headband of the kind worn by members of the Kamuina Nsapu militia was wedged in the grass near the graves. In a statement to Reuters, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo said it informed the government earlier this month of three alleged mass grave sites in Tshimbulu and, in December, of seven more in the village of Nkoto, about 150 km (90 miles) northwest. The government says the graves were dug by the militia. Kabila's decision not to step down when his presidential mandate expired in December was followed by a wave of killings and lawlessness across the vast central African nation. Kabila has said he is committed to respecting the constitution but an election to choose his successor cannot take place until a lengthy voter registration process is completed. However, the rebellion that began in Kasai-Central has spread to five of Congo's 26 provinces and resulted in hundreds of deaths. VIOLENCE Kabila's opponents have used violence to exploit the uncertainty caused by his decision to stay on. Last August, a local chief known as Kamuina Nsapu after his native village, was killed in a clash with soldiers. He had rejected the authority of the central government in Kasai-Central and demanded that government forces leave. Since then, Kamuina Nsapu militants do not appear to have a leader and some of the latest violence appears to be ethnic score-settling. But they have also demanded that the government move to implement a deal signed on Dec. 31 requiring Kabila to step down after an election this year. "It has taken on a political dimension because the aim is now to see Kabila no longer at the head of the country," said Alphonse Mukendi, a human rights activist in the provincial capital Kananga. More than 60 local leaders connected to the militia, including Kamuina Nsapu's brother, began arriving in Kananga on Sunday for negotiations with the government, provincial vice governor Justin Milonga told Reuters. The government hopes that conciliatory gestures, including suggestions it is prepared to return Kamuina Nsapu's body to his family, can ease tensions, though Milonga cautioned that many in the decentralized rebellion hope to see it continue. Kamuina Nsapu's tactics have alienated many, according to local residents, who say it uses child soldiers, some as young as 10. It has attacked schools and churches, institutions it sees as oppressive, and executed police officers, soldiers and rival chiefs. Mende, the government spokesman, said Congolese forces also suffered casualties at the hands of the group, including about 30 police officers killed last August. But in battles with the military, the militia has faced machine gun fire while its fighters are armed with machetes, batons and home-made rifles. After a video appearing to show soldiers massacring militia members was posted on social media, the United Nations called on Congo's government to end "human rights violations, including apparent summary executions, by the ... armed forces". The military's top prosecutor, Major General Joseph Ponde, announced on Saturday that seven soldiers had been charged in connection with the video, including for the war crimes of murder and mutilation. Ponde also said investigators plan to exhume two graves discovered near where the video was shot in neighboring Kasai-Oriental province. (Editing by Tim Cocks and Giles Elgood) (C) 2017 The Reuters

Scott Chacon from Dublin, CA, USA - Ntrama Church Altar, CCBY 2.0. www.wikipedia.org MUHANGA, Rwanda (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - It would be ridiculous to ask 48-year-old Assoumpta who infected her with the AIDS virus. In the 100 days that spanned Rwanda’s genocide in 1994, she doesn’t know the number of times she was raped, let alone which men raped her. “I only remember the first. He was my neighbor. Someone we knew and trusted. That’s why I remember it,” she said in the stone-walled compound of her village home in Muhanga district, about 50 km (30 miles) southwest of Rwanda’s capital Kigali. “He came to the camp where we were sheltering and picked me out - pointing at me with his machete. The other perpetrators? I didn’t know them. There were many men. Different ones at different times.” Rwanda is this week commemorating the 25th anniversary of a dark chapter of human history: a time when extremist ethnic Hutus slaughtered more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus - one tenth of the population - over three months. As people across this small, mountainous, east African nation honor the dead by laying wreaths at memorials, thousands of survivors like Assoumpta - victims of a brutal systematic campaign of mass rape - are still living with the aftermath. According to government officials, about 250,000 mostly Tutsi women were raped by Hutu government soldiers and allied extremist militia. And as a result, about one in four victims contracted the HIV/AIDS virus. Many women died, unable to get treatment in time. Others have survived to lead healthy lives a quarter of a century on - largely due to Rwanda’s speedy response in recognizing high prevalence rates, and acting quickly to curb the spread of the virus. “Before the genocide, there was little awareness about AIDS other than it was deadly. They called it ‘slimming disease’ but there was no real treatment available other than to keep patients in isolation wards,” said Sabin Nsanzimana, HIV/AIDS Division Manager at the Ministry of Health. “But we learned quickly because of it. Rwanda was the first country in the world to achieve universal access to antiretrovirals in 2008.” Mortality rates for people with HIV/AIDs have dropped below 5 percent today, compared to 60 percent at the end of the genocide, he added. ‘COME AND TRANSMIT YOUR DISEASE’ The genocide began on the night of April 6, 1994, when a plane carrying then-Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and his counterpart Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi - both Hutus - was shot down. The attack sparked a rampage by Hutu government soldiers and allied extremist militia, with the aim of exterminating the Tutsi minority whom they blamed for killing Habyarimana. In the lush, hilly communities across the densely populated country, neighbor turned on neighbor as people were hacked to death, burned alive, clubbed and shot. Sexual violence was used as a weapon of war - and Hutu leaders took AIDS patients from hospitals, jobless youth and petty criminals to form “rape squads” and infect Tutsi women. “Many were drug users hanging out on the streets, frequenting sex workers who were infected,” said Nsanzimana, who co-wrote a research paper on HIV/AIDS transmission in genocide. “The militia leaders would order those they knew were infected and say ‘Come and transmit your disease to these Tutsi women.’ They knew this was a death sentence.” There are also reports that Hutu militia leaders would instruct nurses to inject infected blood into victims, he added. The fighting ended in July 1994, when the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a Tutsi-led rebel movement that swept in from Uganda, marched on Kigali and seized control of the country. But it left hundreds of thousands of women traumatized by the horrors of their ordeal, many of them pregnant with children born from their rape - and infected with the HIV/AIDS virus. HEALTHCARE DECIMATED Transmission of the virus spread with millions of people fleeing for refuge in and out of Rwanda in the years that followed the genocide - making it difficult for authorities to detect and control the spread of new infections. The genocide decimated healthcare infrastructure such as hospitals, clinics and laboratories and generated a mass exodus of skilled medical personnel. Erratic power supply compromised blood safety, data management and drug storage. Academics estimate that by the end of the genocide, nearly 80 percent of physicians had either been killed or had fled the country. Those who remained were so traumatized, they were in no position to care for others. While immediate health priorities were focused on providing food, clean water, and treating sicknesses such as diarrhea and malaria, President Paul Kagame in 2000 recognized that curbing the spread of the virus was a national priority. Supported by donor funding, screening and treatment centers were established across the country, providing free access to anti-retroviral drugs to all patients. “They also provide transportation costs for them to get to the clinics to get their medication,” said Nishimwe Marthe from Sevota, a charity which supports female survivors. According to UNAIDS, new HIV infections in Rwanda dropped by 20 percent between 2010 and 2017 from 9,300 to 7,400. AIDS-related deaths almost halved in the same period, from 6,000 to 3,100, largely due to the provision of medication. Assoumpta, who discovered she was HIV-positive six years after the genocide, had believed she was destined to die. “I am thankful to be alive and be able to help others,” said Assoumpta, who is now married with three children and gives counseling to other women as a community worker for Sevota. “They raped and killed other women during the genocide. I survived that. And I will survive AIDS.” Reporting by Nita Bhalla @nitabhalla, Editing by Lyndsay Griffiths. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit news.trust.org © 2019 Reuters. All Rights Reserved.

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria’s president criticised his heads of security on Thursday for their handling of attacks across the north of the country and said more needs to be done to resolve the problem, the national security adviser said. The comments attributed to Muhammadu Buhari are some of his sharpest criticisms of his security chiefs as the conflict in the north has steadily worsened through most of his five years as president. Security forces in Nigeria, which plays a key role in maintaining stability in West Africa, have in recent months contended with deadly attacks by gunmen in the northwest and a spike in Islamist militants’ strikes in the northeast. “Mr. President has expressed great concern over the declining security situation in the country,” the national security adviser, Babagana Monguno, told reporters after Buhari’s meeting with the security chiefs. “He is extremely unhappy about what is happening,” said Monguno, adding: “He feels that, even though the security agencies are doing their best, their best is not good enough for him and wants an immediate reversal of the current trend.” Jihadist group Boko Haram had been pushed off most of the land it controlled early in 2015, months before Buhari took office. But the group continued to mount attacks in the northeast, as well as neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger. A splinter faction that pledged allegiance to Islamic State in 2016 has become the dominant force in the region. Suspected Islamist militants killed at least 60 people on Sunday in the northeast’s Borno state, days after 69 others were killed in the northeast. Residents in northwestern states have been attacked by gunmen who loot towns over the last two years. In May the United Nations said the violence forced 23,000 people to flee to neighbouring Niger within a few weeks. Reporting by Felix Onuah,; Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise © 2020 Reuters. All Rights Reserved.

Inocente Orlando Montano accused of planning atrocity aimed at stopping peace talks. A former Salvadoran army colonel who served as a government security minister will appear in court in Madrid on Monday to face trial over the murders of six Jesuit priests, a woman and her teenage daughter in 1989. The attack, at the Central American University (UCA) in San Salvador, was planned and authorized by senior military commanders and was an attempt to derail peace talks aimed at ending the country’s civil war. But the atrocity backfired spectacularly, provoking international outrage and contributing to the US’s decision to pull its support for El Salvador’s military regime. Five of the murdered priests were Spaniards, and the trial is taking place in Madrid under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows human rights crimes committed in one country to be investigated and tried in another. The principal defendant, Inocente Orlando Montano, was extradited to Spain from the US, where he had lived for 16 years. Two officers served short sentences in El Salvador but Montano and other high-level officials accused of planning the murders were never charged by authorities in the Central American country. Although Montano has denied involvement in the killings, a federal judge in North Carolina ruled that evidence “showed” he took part in the plot and approved his extradition to Spain in November 2017. Spanish prosecutors allege that he and another defendant, former soldier Yusshy René Mendoza, took part in “the decision, design and execution” of the murders. The trial, which will be held in two sessions – two days this month and then from 8 to 16 July – will be live-streamed to allow people in El Salvador to follow the proceedings. It will look into the events of 16 November 1989, when soldiers from an elite, US-trained counter-insurgency battalion entered the priests’ lodgings and carried out an attack on the pretext of searching the campus for FMLN rebels. An AK-47 rifle taken from the guerrillas was used in the murders in an apparent effort to pin the blame on the FMLN and so scupper peace talks. The UCA’s 59-year-old rector, Father Ignacio Ellacuría – originally from Bilbao and a key player in the peace negotiations – was shot dead, as were Ignacio Martín-Baró, 47, and Segundo Montes, 56, both from Valladolid; Juan Ramón Moreno, 56, from Navarra, and Amando López, 53, from Burgos. The soldiers killed a Salvadoran Jesuit, Joaquin López y López, 71, in his room before murdering Julia Elba Ramos, 42, and her daughter, Celina, 15. Ramos was the housekeeper for another group of Jesuits, but lived on the university campus with her husband and daughter. El Salvador’s truth commission, which looked into the country’s 12-year civil war, found that Montano was present at two meetings at which the massacre was planned. According to the commission, Col René Ponce, the head of the joint chiefs of staff, ordered the troops to kill Ellacuría and leave no witnesses. Ponce died in 2011. Almudena Bernabéu, a Spanish human rights lawyer who helped build the case against Montano and get him extradited, said the murders had marked a turning point in El Salvador’s civil war. “The people of El Salvador, who are extraordinarily strong and resilient, see this crime as the ultimate proof of what was done to them as a people,” she told the Guardian. “Some of the victims were sophisticated, white, upper-middle-class Spaniards, but they’d earned the trust of the people – they were their hope and voices around the world. Ellacuría had really engaged in peace negotiations and he was lobbying the US to find some common sense and stop financially supporting the military and to put an end to the war.” Bernabéu, a member of the prosecution team and co-founder of the Guernica Group, said El Salvador’s postwar amnesty law had allowed some of those behind the atrocity to escape justice and to reinvent themselves as rich businessmen and aspiring politicians. “It’s not just a crime that happened 30 years ago, it’s about what impunity really means,” she said. • This article was amended on 8 June 2020 to clarify that Ramos was not the cook for the priests who were killed as an earlier version said but was the housekeeper for a different group of Jesuits.

By Sarah Kane Genocide Watch is issuing a Genocide Emergency Alert for Yemen. Yemen’s civil war continues to ravage the country with no end in sight. The Southern Transitional Council has now become an additional party in the conflict. It has further splintered Yemen’s political structures and complicated the path to peace. The Armed Conflict Location & Data Project (ACLED) reports that more than 100,000 Yemenis have died since the beginning of the conflict in 2015. More than 12,000 of those were killed by directly targeted attacks, including 7,500 children. Many Yemeni cities are bombed out ruins. While the conflict is commonly referred to as a civil war, the involvement of a Saudi Arabian-led coalition to bolster the Yemeni government makes this an international conflict. Iran supports the Houthi rebels, which now control Sanaa and much of central Yemen after driving out the Saudi-backed Yemeni government in 2014. A 2019 UN Panel found that both the Iranian-backed Houthis and the Saudi-backed government have committed war crimes, including arbitrary killings, rape, torture, and the recruitment of child soldiers. France, the United Kingdom, and the United States provide intelligence and logistical support to the Saudi-led coalition. They are aiding and abetting war crimes. A report from Mwatana, a leading Yemeni humanitarian organization, revealed 1,605 cases of arbitrary detention, 770 cases of enforced disappearance, and 344 cases of torture carried out by Houthis, the Yemeni government, and UAE forces and affiliated armed groups from May 2016 – April 2020. Both government and Houthi forces have violently attacked, raped, and tortured migrant workers and asylum seekers from the Horn of Africa. Both government and Houthi leaders falsely blame African migrants for the severe cholera epidemic that has ravaged Yemen and for the spread of COVID-19. Twenty million Yemenis have insufficient food, with ten million on the brink of starvation. Young children are dying by the thousands, and over two million are in need of treatment for severe acute malnutrition. Yemen is experiencing the world’s largest cholera epidemic. Children under the age of five make up 23% of total cases. As of July 2020, Yemen had over 1,500 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 440 deaths. The actual number of cases is probably much higher. The Houthis have refused to disclose the number of confirmed cases and deaths in the territories they control. Yemen has one of the lowest testing capacities in the world at 31 tests per million citizens. Yemeni citizens have one of the lowest immunity levels in the world due to famine, making them extremely vulnerable to COVID-19. Yemen’s healthcare system is nearly destroyed. Hospitals turn patients away for lack of basic supplies. The Yemeni population is dying. Houthi rebels, the Yemeni government, the Saudi-led coalition, and UAE-backed forces are all committing war crimes. They have deliberately targeted civilians and caused what the UN calls “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.” The U.S. corporation Raytheon sells the Saudis laser guided bombs used by Saudi bombers to kill Yemeni civilians, despite an arms embargo imposed by Congress that was overridden by a waiver from the White House. Eighty percent of Yemenis rely on humanitarian assistance. Yet the UN and humanitarian organizations have consistently had trouble delivering aid due to a Saudi blockade and Houthi interference. Only $1.3 billion has been pledged toward the UN’s $2.4 billion fundraising goal. Without more funding, three-quarters of UN aid programs may be scaled back or shut down. The U.S. should stop its support for Saudi war crimes. It should send aid to the starving people of Yemen. Genocide Watch considers Yemen to be at Stage 9: Extermination. Download Alert

Genocide Watch Newsletter Staff Updates Check out our new staff page where you can get to know our wonderful summer cohort and management team! Genocide Watch's debut podcast, "Conversations on Genocide," is here! Throughout the series, Alexandra Sharp and Naveen Bhatia will be interviewing genocide survivors, discussing ongoing crises, and speaking with lawyers, scholars, and experts who work on genocide and mass atrocity prevention and punishment. Our first episode is an interview with Genocide Watch's founder and president, Dr. Gregory H. Stanton. You can find the episode here on Soundcloud and here on Spotify. New Alerts Linda Zheng wrote a country report for Bosnia-Herzegovina, noting the ethnic tensions that remain between Serbs, Bosniaks, and Croats in the post-conflict era. July 11th marked the 25th anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide, a genocide that Republika Srpska and the Serbian government continues to deny. According to the report, Bosnia-Herzegovina is at Stage 6: Polarization and Stage 10: Denial. Tom Shacklock authored a genocide alert for the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the Banyamulenge, Hema, and other ethnic groups are at grave risk of genocide. Militias have targeted these groups, with little to no state security to defend against them. According to the alert, the Democratic Republic of Congo is at Stage 9: Extermination. New Timestream Click here to view a new Timestream on India’s Muslims in Assam, which tracks the growth of anti-Muslim sentiment in India. Narendra Modi’s ascension to power with the Bharatiya Jaranta Party (BJP) in 2014 has resulted in an increase in anti-Muslim attacks and has put India’s Assam Muslims in danger of becoming victims of a full-blown genocide. Upcoming Events Linda Zheng is organizing a webinar entitled “Genocide Watch: Impacts of COVID-19 on Ongoing Genocides” to discuss the effects of the global pandemic on groups at risk of genocide in countries such as China, Bangladesh, India, Nigeria, and Syria. She is currently seeking proposals and speakers from members of the Alliance Against Genocide. Keep an eye out for more information on this event! Dr. Gregory Stanton's Work On June 25th, Dr. Stanton spoke at a press conference on the genocide of Christians in Nigeria organized by In Defense of Christians, an Alliance Against Genocide member organization. Also contributing to the panel were Archbishop Ben Kwashi, Bishop Matthew H. Kukah, Congressman Frank Wolf, and Rev. Johnnie Moore. Click here to watch. In the News Burkina Faso 'Guardians of the bush': brutal vigilantes police Burkina Faso [Read More] Over 180 Bodies Found Dumped in Burkina Faso Town, Report Says [Read More] China Uighur Exiles Push for Court Case Accusing China of Genocide [Read More] China cuts Uighur births with IUDs, abortion, sterilization [Read More] Democratic Republic of Congo Armed group's attacks in DRC killed almost 800 in 18 months: UN [Read More] DRC Violence Displaced More than One Million in Six Months [Read More] Mali Villagers killed in central Mali as mediators seek to restore stability [Read More] ICC Opens Trial Against Mali National Over Timbuktu Destruction [Read More] Sudan UN condemns deadly violence in Sudan's North Darfur [Read More] Sudan declares emergency in North Darfur state after violence [Read More] Download Newsletter

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called on Wednesday for a credible investigation into reports of human rights abuses against Rohingya Muslims committed by Myanmar’s security forces after a meeting with its civilian and military leaders. More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since late August, driven out by a military counter-insurgency clearance operation in Buddhist-majority Myanmar’s Rakhine State. A top U.N. official has described the military’s actions as a textbook case of “ethnic cleansing”. “We’re deeply concerned by credible reports of widespread atrocities committed by Myanmar’s security forces and by vigilantes who were unrestrained by the security forces during the recent violence in Rakhine State,” Tillerson told a joint news conference with Aung San Suu Kyi, the head of a civilian administration that is less than two years old and shares power with the military. Tillerson had earlier held separate talks with Myanmar’s military chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, whose forces have been accused of atrocities. A senior U.N. official on Sunday leveled allegations of mass rape, killings and torture against the Myanmar military, known as the Tatmadaw, after a tour of refugee camps in the Cox’s Bazar region of neighboring Bangladesh. Tillerson called for the Myanmar government to lead a credible and impartial investigation and said those who committed abuses should be held responsible. “The recent serious allegations of abuses in Rakhine state demand a credible and impartial investigation and those who commit human rights abuses or violations must be held accountable,” he said. “In all my meetings, I have called on the Myanmar civilian government to lead a full and effective independent investigation and for the military to facilitate full access and cooperation.” He also said it was the duty of the military to help the government to meet commitments to ensure the safety and security of all people in Rakhine state. A posting on Min Aung Hlaing’s Facebook page said Myanmar’s military supremo had explained to Tillerson the “true situation in Rakhine”, the reasons why Muslims fled, how the military was working with the government to deliver aid and the progress made for a repatriation process to be agreed with Bangladesh. The military launched its clearance operation after an army base and 30 police posts were attacked on Aug. 25 by Rohingya militants, killing about a dozen members of the security forces. CONSEQUENSES Tillerson condemned the militant attacks, but said any response by the security forces needed to avoid to the “maximum extent possible harming innocent civilians”. Myanmar's State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson attend a press conference at Naypyitaw, Myanmar November 15, 2015. REUTERS/Aye Win Myint An internal investigation by the military into the allegations of atrocities that was released this week was branded a “whitewash” by human rights groups. Back in Washington, U.S. senators are pressing for economic sanctions and travel restrictions targeting the Myanmar military and its business interests. Tillerson said he would advise against any broad-based sanctions against Myanmar, as the United States wanted to see it succeed. But he said if there was credible and reliable information on abuses by individuals they could be targeted by sanctions. Tillerson said the United States would work with partners so that those responsible for any atrocities would face consequences, “using all available mechanisms, including those available under U.S. law”. Myanmar is undergoing a transition to democracy after decades of rule by the military, but the generals retain extensive powers over security and a veto over reform of a constitution that has barred Suu Kyi from the presidency. “Myanmar’s response to this crisis is critical to determining the success of its transition to a more democratic society,” Tillerson said. ”It’s a responsibility of the government and its security forces to protect and respect the human rights of all persons within its borders and to hold accountable those who fail to do so.” He said the United States would provide an additional $47 million in humanitarian assistance for refugees bringing the total to $87 million since the crisis erupted in August. “The humanitarian scale of this crisis is staggering,” Tillerson said. But he said he was encouraged by talks between Myanmar and Bangladesh to agree on a refugee repatriation process. During the news conference, Suu Kyi was asked to explain why she had not spoken out more strongly over the plight of the Rohingya, as the Nobel peace prize winner’s perceived failure to speak up has damaged her international reputation as a stateswoman. “What I say is not supposed to be exciting,” Suu Kyi said, adding that she had aimed to keep the public informed without setting different ethnic, religious communities against each other. “It’s important to bring peace and stability to this country and that can only be done on the basis of rule of law and everybody should understand that the role of theirs is to protect peace and stability, not to punish people.” _______________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Reuters

By Sarah Kane Syria's ten-year civil war has killed more than 400,000 people, including over 116,000 civilians. Six million Syrians are internally displaced. Five million more fled Syria and became refugees. Military interventions by Russia, the U.S., and Turkey have prolonged the war. The Assad regime tortures and murders its opponents. Syrian prisons killed up to 13,000 prisoners in just four years according to Amnesty International.  The systematic persecution continues. From 2013 – 2019, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), also called Rojava, successfully created a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society led by Kurds. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), allied with the U.S., conquered the last ISIS stronghold in Baghouz in 2019, a victory for Kurds, Yazidis, Christians, Shi’a and other groups that were targets of ISIS genocide. Turkish and Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (TFSA) troops drove over 100,000 Yazidis and Kurds out of Afrin in 2018.  At least eighteen sacred Yazidi sites were destroyed and Yazidi cemeteries were desecrated.  Turkey has repopulated Afrin with Syrian Arab refugees. Following President Trump’s abrupt withdrawal of 2,000 U.S. troops in October 2019, Turkish forces invaded Syria and took over a 75-mile-long, 18-mile-wide strip along the Turkish border.  TFSA troops committed war crimes and crimes against humanity by destroying Kurdish, Christian, and Yazidi communities in Northern Syria. Turkey is resettling Syrian Arab refugees into the strip it conquered, replacing Kurds and Christians. Forced population transfers are crimes against humanity under Article 7 of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) Rome Statute and war crimes under Article 8 of the Statute. Turkey and Syria are not states-party to the ICC Statute. In 2020, the Assad regime and Russia intensified bombing and ground attacks in Idlib province, the last rebel-held area. Daily airstrikes in the province from early December 2019 to late February 2020 forced another one million civilians to flee their homes. The Syrian and Russian air forces have targeted Idlib hospitals and civilian centers, committing war crimes. The U.N. Security Council has been powerless to end the Syrian civil war because of Russian vetoes.  It passed a single resolution that allows only one humanitarian aid flow through Northwestern Syria. Syria, Turkey, TFSA, Russia, and Al Qaeda terrorists commit genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against ethnic and religious minorities, including Kurds, Christians, Druze, Shi’a Muslims, Alawites, and Yazidis.  Assad’s armed forces, with assistance from the Russian air force, is bombing civilian centers and hospitals, committing crimes against humanity and war crimes. Genocide Watch considers Syria to be at Stage 9: Extermination. Genocide Watch recommends: Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) representatives must be included in all peace talks between the Syrian government and opposition. The U.N., Russia, U.S. and European Union must give more humanitarian aid to Syrian IDP’s and refugees. Turkey must withdraw its troops from Syria and end its forcible resettlement of Syrian refugees. Turkey, Syria, and Russia must maintain the ceasefire they agreed upon in March 2020 until a peace agreement can be reached at upcoming Geneva negotiations. [endif]The U.N. General Assembly should create a special criminal court to try war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide committed in Syria and Iraq.

Nearly 1,800 refugees sent to isolated Bhasan Char island despite calls by human rights groups to halt the process. Officials said a fourth batch would be sent to the island on Saturday [File: Mahmud Hossain Opu/Al Jazeera] Authorities in Bangladesh have sent a third group of Rohingya refugees to a newly developed island in the Bay of Bengal despite calls by human rights groups for a halt to the process. On Friday morning, 1,778 refugees started their journey to the island of Bhasan Char in four navy vessels from the southeastern port city of Chattogram, after they were brought from crammed camps in Cox’s Bazar district, said M Mozammel Haque, a commander of the Bangladesh navy. He said a fourth batch would be sent to the island, located 34km (21 miles) from the mainland, on Saturday. “Around 4,000 refugees have already been sent to the island since December, but we have the capacity of accommodating 100,000. The process will continue until we fulfil it,” he told reporters. The government insists the relocation plan is meant to offer better living conditions while attempts to repatriate more than one million refugees to Myanmar would continue. Haque said the refugees were being treated well on the island and they would have the option of generating income by rearing cattle or poultry and could also engage in making handicrafts. He said they wanted them to contribute to the economy, but their repatriation to Myanmar is the ultimate goal. “They will be checked by our doctors when they arrive today. They will be given food and accommodation properly,” he said. A navy vessel in the Bay of Bengal, carrying Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char island [File: Mahmud Hossain Opu/Al Jazeera] Several human rights and activist groups say some refugees have been forced to go to the island. But the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has repeatedly said the refugees were moving voluntarily. The island surfaced only 20 years ago and was not previously inhabited. It was regularly submerged by monsoon rains but now has flood protection embankments, houses, hospitals and mosques built at a cost of more than $112m by the Bangladesh navy. The island’s facilities are designed to accommodate 100,000 people, just a fraction of a million Rohingya who fled waves of violent persecution in their native Myanmar and are currently living in crowded, squalid refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar. Authorities say the refugees were selected for relocation based on their willingness, and that no pressure was applied. But international aid agencies have opposed the relocation since it was first proposed in 2015, expressing fear that a big storm could overwhelm the island and endanger thousands of lives. The United Nations voiced concern that refugees are allowed to make a “free and informed decision” about whether to relocate. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have also urged the government to cancel the plan. But the government said the human rights groups and the UN should understand its good intentions. © 2021 Al Jazeera Media Network

By Rahim Faiez An injured man is transported to a hospital after a bombing in Mazar-e-Sharif, northern Afghanistan, Wednesday, May 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Masih Paeiz) A series of explosions shook Afghanistan on Wednesday, the Taliban said, including a blast inside a mosque in the capital of Kabul that killed at least five worshippers and three bombings of minivans in the country’s north that killed nine passengers. The Islamic State group’s local affiliate claimed responsibility for the minivan bombings. The Kabul Emergency Hospital said it received 22 victims of the mosque bombing, including five dead. There were no further details on the blast that struck the Hazrat Zakaria Mosque in the city’s central Police District 4, according to Khalid Zadran, a Taliban police spokesman in Kabul. “The blast took place while people were inside the mosque for the evening prayers,” Zadran said, adding that they were waiting for an update. The minivans were targeted in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif after explosive devices were placed inside the vehicles, according to Mohammad Asif Waziri, a Taliban-appointed spokesman in Balkh province. He said the explosions killed nine and wounded 15. All the victims in Mazar-e-Sharif were from the country’s minority Shiite Muslims, according to a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to give details to the media. The IS claim of responsibility was posted on the Sunni militant group’s Aamaq news agency. The statement said IS targeted three buses with improvised explosive devices. There was no claim of responsibility for the Kabul mosque explosion but it also bore the hallmarks of the regional affiliate of the Islamic State group, known as Islamic State in Khorasan Province, or IS-K. The IS affiliate, which has been operating in Afghanistan since 2014, is seen as the greatest security challenge facing the country’s new Taliban rulers. Following their takeover when they seized power in Kabul and elsewhere in the country last August, the Taliban have launched a sweeping crackdown against the IS headquarters in eastern Afghanistan. © Associated Press

Rohingya refugees wait for sacks of rice to be distributed on September 10, 2017 in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) Since renewed tensions broke out in Myanmar’s Rakhine state on August 25, some 313,000 Rohingya have sought refuge in neighboring Bangladesh -- that's over one-third of this stateless and persecuted Muslim population in the span of two weeks. Last year, an estimated 87,000 Rohingyasfled to Bangladesh amid violence. Taken together, more than 40% of the Rohingya population has been uprooted from their homes in less than a year. The focal point for this humanitarian crisis and the appalling suffering experienced by many hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children is now Bangladesh as much as it is Myanmar. Bangladesh indecisive It is true that despite calls from the international community, Bangladesh did not willingly open its borders to the Rohingya influx. But it would be unfair to say that Dhaka remained a spectator as Myanmar’s armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw, continued to force the Rohingya to flee. After all, if it was not for Bangladesh -- a reluctant player that has taken in an estimated 400,000 registered and unregistered refugees in the past decades -- many more Rohingya people would have died, having nowhere to flee from the ongoing violence. Yet Bangladesh could -- and still can -- do more to help the Rohingya. The government recently allocated 2,000 acres of land for the Rohingya refugees. But when it comes to how best to use it, Dhaka seems clueless. Bangladesh fears that if it appears soft on the Rohingya, a greater number of them will attempt to cross the border -- something it is ill-equipped to cope with. Therefore, the Bangladeshi authorities have not been particularly invested in the Rohingya issue. Rohingya refugees next to makeshift shelters at Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh on September 9, 2017. (Munir Uz Zaman/AFP/Getty Images) Dhaka faces several difficult questions: How best then to support an increasingly desperate Rohingya population without pushing its limited resources to a breaking point? What if a prolonged and increasing Rohingya presence stirs unrest among the local population on the border? And what threat do Rohingya militants, known as Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army or ARSA, pose to it? The answers are elusive. Worse, these questions haven't properly been raised because Bangladesh thinks the growing global outcry will compel Myanmar to change its course of action. But that doesn't seem likely anytime soon. No pressure on Myanmar's military Buddhist nationalists with the aid of Myanmar’s army are systematically driving the Rohingya out of the country. A combination of eased sanctions on Myanmar and the inability of the international community to rein in what humanitarian groups have described as the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya that started around 2012, means the Tatmadaw feels no real pressure to change. A member of the security forces walks past burned Rohingya houses in northern Rakhine state in western Myanmar on September 6, 2017. (AP Photo) Therefore, Bangladesh must ramp up its political efforts to tackle the Rohingya crisis for its own sake. One viable option is to take a leading role in moving global opinion against Myanmar’s brutality against the Rohingya. Bangladesh has sent out letters to foreign missions and organizations, but this is not enough. Dhaka must act proactively, not reactively. Perhaps, the country can take a page out of its own history book. During the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, celebrities including Beatles star George Harrison and legendary sitar player Ravi Shankar organized the "Concert for Bangladesh" in New York to help raise funds and global awareness about its fight for independence against the Pakistani army. Similarly, Bangladesh could dispatch envoys and luminaries to important capitals to bring more attention to the Rohingya issue. This would be a major step given that the crisis has received a lackadaisical response from major world powers. Accurate picture of crisis It's also essential for Dhaka to have a clearer picture of exactly what it's dealing with on its border -- the daily numbers, their origin, and the number of especially vulnerable people -- children, women and elderly -- who need protection. Based on this, Bangladesh can better determine the level of aid needed and where to prioritize it, while seeking financial and material support from the international community. It can then set in motion the establishment of a multinational committee to oversee how the fund is expended. An exhausted Rohingya helps an elderly family member and a child as they arrive at the Kutupalong refugee camp after fleeing from Myanmar on September 5, 2017. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) That said, we must not forget that the Rohingya crisis is a humanitarian disaster. Bangladesh can not be expected to have all the answers; the global community must step up immediately and take unequivocal, firm and concerted action to save the Rohingya. There are solid policy recommendations put forward by the Kofi Annan-led U.N. advisory commission on the issue. The commission is on point saying that “apartheid-like restrictions drive communities apart rather than together.” However, there is still no indication that the Myanmar government took the recommendations to heart, as evidenced by its continuous deflection of international concern. Therefore, the international community’s primary task would be to leave no room for dithering for Myanmar such that they should not keep sanctions out of the equation. The United Nations General Assembly convenes this month, giving major world powers an opportunity to work closely on the Rohingya issue. While the United States is often expected to lead in such moments of crisis, it would not be wise to count on a Trump administration that has not yet issued a strongly worded statement. The United Nations must take charge instead. The U.N. Secretary General António Guterres has already written a public letter to the Security Council, which has remained conspicuously silent on the Rohingya issue, urging for collective efforts to safeguard the Rohingyas. When it comes to the Rohingya crisis, the end goal should be "stop it now." ___________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Forbes

June 11th, 2022 This image from Maxar Technologies shows a nursing home in the eastern region of Luhansk, Ukraine, on Oct. 13, 2021. A United Nations report says Ukraine’s armed forces bear a large share of the blame for a deadly assault on a care home for the elderly and disabled. Ukrainian fighters occupied the facility in March and then battled Kremlin-backed rebels while dozens of patients and staff were trapped inside. (Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies via AP) WASHINGTON (AP) — Two weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Russian forces assaulted a nursing home in the eastern region of Luhansk. Dozens of elderly and disabled patients, many of them bedridden, were trapped inside without water or electricity. The March 11 assault set off a fire that spread throughout the facility, suffocating people who couldn’t move. A small number of patients and staff escaped and fled into a nearby forest, finally getting assistance after walking for 5 kilometers (3 miles). In a war awash in atrocities, the attack on the nursing home near the village of Stara Krasnyanka stood out for its cruelty. And Ukrainian authorities placed the fault squarely on Russian forces, accusing them of killing more than 50 vulnerable civilians in a brutal and unprovoked attack. But a new U.N. report has found that Ukraine’s armed forces bear a large, and perhaps equal, share of the blame for what happened in Stara Krasnyanka, which is about 580 kilometers (360 miles) southeast of Kyiv. A few days before the attack, Ukrainian soldiers took up positions inside the nursing home, effectively making the building a target. At least 22 of the 71 patients survived the assault, but the exact number of people killed remains unknown, according to the United Nations. The report by the U.N.’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights doesn’t conclude the Ukrainian soldiers or the Russian troops committed a war crime. But it said the battle at the Stara Krasnyanka nursing home is emblematic of the human rights office’s concerns over the potential use of “human shields” to prevent military operations in certain areas. The aftermath of the attack on the Stara Krasnyanka home also provides a window into how both Russia and Ukraine move quickly to set the narrative for how events are unfolding on the ground — even when those events may still be shrouded by the fog of war. For Ukraine, maintaining the upper hand in the fight for hearts and minds helps to ensure the continued flow of billions of dollars in Western military and humanitarian aid. Russia’s frequently indiscriminate shelling of apartment buildings, hospitals, schools and theaters has been the primary cause of the war’s thousands of civilian casualties. Ukraine and its allies, including the United States, have rebuked Moscow for the deaths and injuries and called for those responsible to be brought to justice. But Ukraine also must abide by the international rules of the battlefield. David Crane, a former Defense Department official and a veteran of numerous international war crime investigations, said the Ukrainian forces may have violated the laws of armed conflict by not evacuating the nursing home’s residents and staff. “The bottom-line rule is that civilians cannot intentionally be targeted. Period. For whatever reason,” Crane said. “The Ukrainians placed those people in a situation which was a killing zone. And you can’t do that.” The Associated Press and the PBS series “Frontline,” drawing from a variety of sources, have independently documented hundreds of attacks across Ukraine that likely constitute war crimes. The vast majority appear to have been committed by Russia. But a handful, including the destruction of the Stara Krasnyanka care home, indicate Ukrainian fighters are also to blame. The first reports in the media about the Stara Krasnyanka nursing home largely reflected statements issued by Ukrainian officials more than a week after the fighting ended. Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Luhansk, declared in a March 20 post to his Telegram account that 56 people had been killed “cynically and deliberately” by “Russian occupiers” who “shot at close range from a tank.” The office of Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, said in a statement issued the same day that 56 elderly people died due to the “treacherous actions” of the Russian forces and their allies. Neither statement mentioned whether Ukrainian soldiers had entered the home before the fighting began. The Luhansk regional administration, which Haidai leads, did not respond to requests for comment. The Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office told the AP on Friday that its Luhansk division continues to investigate Russia’s “indiscriminate shelling and forced transfer of persons” from the nursing home. About 50 patients were killed in the attack, the office said, fewer than it stated in March. The prosecutor general’s office did not directly respond to the U.N. report, but said it also is looking into whether Ukrainian troops had been in the home. Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces for eight years in the mostly Russian-speaking eastern industrial heartland, the Donbas, which includes the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. They have declared two independent “people’s” republics, which were recognized by Russia just before the war began. After the invasion, these separatist fighters came under Russian command. Viktoria Serdyukova, the human rights commissioner for the Luhansk separatist government, said in a March 23 statement that the Ukrainian troops were responsible for casualties at the nursing home. The residents had been taken hostage by Ukrainian “militants” and many of them were “burned alive” in a fire started by the Ukrainians as they were retreating, she said. The U.N. report examined violations of international human rights law that have occurred in Ukraine since Russia invaded on Feb. 24. The Stara Krasnyanka attack totals just two paragraphs in the 38-page report. Although brief, this short section is the most detailed and independent examination of the incident that’s been made public. The Stara Krasnyanka section is based on eyewitness accounts from staff who survived the attack and information provided by relatives of residents, according to a U.N. official who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is still working to fully document the case, the official said. Among the remaining questions are how many people were killed and who they were. At the beginning of March, according to the U.N. report, “when active hostilities drew nearer to the care house,” its management requested repeatedly that local authorities evacuate the residents. But an evacuation wasn’t possible because Ukrainian forces were believed to have mined the surrounding area and blocked roads, the report said. The home is built on a hill and is near a key highway, which made the location strategically important. On March 7, Ukrainian soldiers entered the nursing home, according to the U.N. Two days later, they “engaged in an exchange of fire” with the Moscow-backed separatists, “although it remains unclear which side opened fire first,” the report said. No staff or residents were injured in this first exchange. On March 11, 71 residents and 15 staff remained in the home with no access to water or electricity. That morning, the Luhansk separatist forces, which the U.N. referred to as “Russian-affiliated armed groups,” attacked with heavy weapons, the report said. “A fire started and spread across the care house, while the fighting was ongoing,” according to the U.N. An unspecified number of patients and staff fled the home and ran into a nearby forest and were eventually met by the separatist fighters, who gave them assistance, according to the U.N. A correspondent for the state-owned Russia-1 news channel gained access to the war-ravaged home after the battle and posted a video to his Telegram account in April that accused the Ukrainian soldiers of using “helpless old people” as human shields. The correspondent, Nikolai Dolgachev, was accompanied into the building by a man identified in the video as a Luhansk separatist soldier who goes by the call sign “Wolf.” The extensive damage to the building, both inside and out, is visible in the video. A body is laying on the floor. The AP verified that the location in the video posted by Dolgachev is the care home by comparing it to other videos and photos of the building. Dolgachev said the Ukrainian troops set up a “machine gun nest” and an anti-tank weapon in the home. In the video, he stops amid the rubble inside the building to rest his hand on the anti-tank weapon, which he incorrectly called a Tor. The Tor is a Russian-made surface-to-air missile. Ian Williams, a military expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, reviewed the video and said the weapon is an RK-3 Corsar, a Ukrainian-built portable anti-tank guided missile. While the opposing sides blame each other for the Stara Krasnyanka tragedy, the grim reality is that much of the war in Ukraine is being fought in populated areas, increasing the potential for civilian casualties. Those deaths and injuries become almost inevitable when the civilians are caught in the line of fire. “The Russians are the bad guys (in this conflict). That’s pretty clear,” Crane said. “But everybody is accountable to the law and the laws of armed conflict.” All contents © copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.