Kinshasa denies Kigali’s claim calling the incident a ‘deliberate act of aggression that amounts to an act of war’. Relations between the two countries have been strained by attacks by M23 rebels ( © Eduard Korniyenko | Reuters) Rwandan forces have fired at a fighter jet from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that it said violated its airspace, prompting the Congolese government to accuse it of an act of war. “A Sukhoi-25 fighter jet from the Democratic Republic of Congo violated for the third time Rwandan airspace,” over Rubavu district, near North Kivu capital Goma, Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo said in a statement on Tuesday. “Defensive measures were taken,” she said, adding, “Rwanda asks the DRC to stop this aggression.” In December, Rwanda said another fighter jet from the DRC had briefly violated its airspace. An unarmed Congolese warplane also briefly landed at a Rwandan airport in November while on a reconnaissance mission near the border, in what the DRC said was an accident. The DRC denied Rwanda’s accusation that the jet had been in Rwandan airspace – the latest dispute between the two countries whose relationship has been strained by rebel violence. The Rwandan shots were directed towards a Congolese aircraft flying within Congolese territory,” Kinshasa said in a statement, confirming the plane had landed in Goma without suffering significant damage. It described Rwanda’s move as a “deliberate act of aggression that amounts to an act of war” aimed at undermining a peace agreement to end an offensive by the M23 rebel group. A video shared widely on Congolese social media showed a projectile shooting towards an airborne military plane, before exploding near the plane, which continued to fly. The video could not be immediately verified. The DRC, United Nations experts and Western powers have accused Rwanda of backing the M23, which seized several towns and villages in the DRC in renewed fighting last year. Rwanda has denied any involvement. Regional leaders brokered an agreement in November under which the Tutsi-led group was meant to withdraw from recently seized positions by January 15 as part of efforts to end the fighting that has displaced at least 450,000 people. Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi said last week that the rebels had not fully withdrawn from those areas. Meanwhile, new fighting erupted on Tuesday morning between Congolese government forces and M23 rebels in Masisi and Rutshuru near the town of Kitshanga, some 70km (43 miles) from Goma. © 2023 Al Jazeera Media Network

Ouattara announced in August he will seek another term following the sudden death of his handpicked successor. Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara is seeking re-election [Sia Kambou/AFP] Thousands of opposition supporters have rallied in Abidjan to protest against Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara’s plan to seek a third term, as tensions rise in the lead-up to the country’s high-stakes election. Three weeks before the October 31 vote, some 20,000 people made their way into a stadium in Ivory Coast’s commercial capital by early afternoon on Saturday, with some holding banners reading: “The people say no to an illegal third term.” Ouattara, 78, announced in August he will seek another term after the sudden death of his handpicked successor the previous month created a leadership vacuum at the governing RDHP party. The president’s decision infuriated the opposition who says Ouattara is violating the constitution by seeking another term. Ouattara, in power for a decade, says a 2016 constitutional change means his two-term limit has been reset. The constitutional council has cleared him and three other candidates to run, including 86-year-old former President Henri Konan Bedie. Those barred include Ouattara’s predecessor Laurent Gbagbo and former rebel leader and Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, both of whom played key roles in a crisis that claimed more than 3,000 lives after disputed elections a decade ago. Both men are living outside the country but retain powerful support at home. More than a dozen people have been killed in violent protests in recent weeks, sparking memories of the 2010-2011 civil war that broke out when Gbagbo refused to stand down after the electoral commission declared Ouattara the winner. Opposition figures have called for a civil disobedience campaign and for the election to be postponed, but have stopped short of saying they will boycott the poll, while the RDHP has said the election will take place regardless of whether they participate. Protester Bohui Armel said the people taking part in Saturday’s rally wanted “to simply to say no to Ouattara’s third term”. “This is not a political party story. It is not a story of sympathisers but it is a story of the people of Ivory Coast who want to claim their freedom.” “My advice to President Ouattara is that Ivorians should sit down to discuss. We want peace. We don’t want war,” Eve Botti, a supporter of the FPI opposition party, told the Reuters news agency. The polls are seen as the biggest test yet of the tenuous stability achieved in the world’s top cocoa producer since the post-election violence that engulfed the country a decade ago. “This is an extremely big test for Ivory Coast,” Jessica Moody, a researcher in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, told Al Jazeera last month. “There is a high risk that the election will be contentious and will send the country back to war.” Amid the rising tensions, envoys from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regional bloc, the African Union and the United Nations headed earlier this week to Abidjan where they met officials, the opposition and members of the civil society. “The joint mission expressed deep concern over the lack of trust among Ivorian political actors,” according to a joint statement from the delegation led by Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Ghana’s foreign minister and current chair of the ECOWAS council of ministers. The delegation “strongly condemned the acts of violence and hate speech with ethnic overtones, which have unfortunately entered the field of political competition and are likely to have a negative impact on the progress made so far in the country”. it said. This week’s mission was the second by the UN’s special envoy for West Africa, Mohamed Ibn Chamba, who last month called for a “peaceful, inclusive, transparent and credible presidential election” after meeting with President Ouattara. The International Crisis Group last week called for the election to be postponed and for ballot preparations to be overhauled. “The chances of this election spawning a serious crisis are high,” the independent think-tank said. This article was published by Al Jazeera on October 10, 2020. © 2020 Al Jazeera Media Network.

The United Nations has issued a statement expressing “concern” after Guatemala announced it would investigate a former anti-corruption investigator assigned to the country. Iván Velásquez, a Colombian who led the UN’s anti-corruption efforts in Guatemala from 2013 to 2019, is under investigation for “illegal, arbitrary and abusive acts”, according to prosecutors in Guatemala. But critics have warned the probe is the latest effort from Guatemala’s government to backtrack on anti-corruption efforts. UN Secretary-General António Guterres “expresses his concern at the numerous reports suggesting that criminal prosecution is being exercised against those who sought to shed light on cases of corruption and worked to strengthen the justice system in Guatemala”, a spokesperson said on Wednesday. The UN also underscored that “justice operators and officials” from its former anti-corruption campaign continue to “enjoy privileges and immunities” even after their positions have come to a close. The campaign started in 2006 when the UN and Guatemala agreed to launch the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). The aim of the commission was to root out “criminal groups believed to have infiltrated state institutions” in the wake of Guatemala’s decades-long civil war. In 2007, at the time when the commission was ratified, Guatemala was in the grip of a police scandal, with reports of extrajudicial killings, and there were fears corruption could erode the country’s democratic gains. Velásquez, a Colombian who formerly served as an auxiliary magistrate to his country’s Supreme Court, was appointed to head the CICIG on August 31, 2013. Under his leadership, the commission pursued investigations into some of Guatemala’s highest authorities, including the administration of then-President Otto Perez Molina. Both Molina and his vice president ultimately resigned amid accusations they participated in a corruption scheme known as “La Linea”, which allegedly used customs officials to solicit bribes in exchange for evading import duties. Molina was sentenced last month to 16 years on fraud and conspiracy charges. He has denied any wrongdoing. The UN commission’s investigations are estimated to have led to the sentencing of more than 400 people, as well as the disruption of at least 60 criminal networks. But the CICIG’s work came to a sudden halt in 2019, when Guatemala announced it would withdraw from the 2006 agreement with the UN. The government had previously tried to declare Velásquez a “persona non grata” and deny him entry to the country. The move prompted fears that 12 years’ worth of government reform would be reversed. “The old actors that have manipulated the judicial system are empowered and will look to debilitate the system again,” a constitutional lawyer from Guatemala told Al Jazeera at the time. But proponents of the move said the CICIG had become a tool of political persecution. In the years since, the Guatemalan government has faced criticism that it has retaliated against former members of the CICIG, as well as other anti-corruption figures. The Associated Press estimates that about 30 judges, magistrates and prosecutors have been forced into exile from Guatemala under its current administration. One of the most high-profile cases was that of Juan Francisco Sandoval. Formerly the head of the Guatemalan Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity, he was sacked and fled the country in 2021. And just this past February, another prominent anti-corruption prosecutor in Guatemala, Virginia Laparra, was arrested. Charged with abuse of authority, she was given a four-year sentence in December. “The targeted prosecution of justice and media actors undermines Guatemalan rule of law, democracy and prosperity,” the US State Department’s spokesperson Ned Price said in response to Laparra’s sentencing. Guatemala is now investigating Velásquez, the former CICIG head, in connection to a cooperation agreement with the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht, a company previously involved in an international bribery scandal. The case is being led by Guatemalan prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche Cacul, whom the US State Department has previously accused of “disrupting high-profile corruption cases against government officials and raising apparently spurious claims”. He succeeded the exiled Sandoval as leader of the Guatemalan Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity. The investigation has sparked tensions between Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei and his Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro, who appointed Velásquez as defence minister. Speaking from the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Petro said he would not accept an arrest warrant for the defence minister. Giammattei, meanwhile, told the Spanish news agency EFE that Velásquez is facing an investigation and not a criminal prosecution at this time. “It would be nice if someone enlightened Mr Petro on the difference,” Giammattei said. Both presidents have summoned their ambassadors to each other’s country to discuss the diplomatic incident. Velásquez, meanwhile, took to Twitter on Tuesday to thank Petro for his support. “I am deeply grateful to the president [Gustavo Petro] for his expressions of solidarity and trust,” Velásquez wrote. Referring to corruption as a monster, Velásquez emphasised that he and Petro shared a common goal: “We know the monster, we have seen it up close and, from different trenches, we have fought it. We know how it transforms and the methods it uses, but it doesn’t scare us.” SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES 19 Jan 2023

ADHRB says ‘invisible wounds’ are preventing political prisoners from resuming a normal life after arrest. The government’s large-scale crackdown has intensified since the peaceful 2011 pro-democracy and anti-government uprising [File: Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters] Political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Bahrain are suffering from the long-term effects of torture and other alleged violations experienced during their arrest, interrogation and imprisonment, according to a new report. The non-profit Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) said on Monday it had found through interviews and medical reports that many victims were unable to resume a normal life due to “invisible wounds” that persist years after the alleged mistreatment. Its report (PDF) quoted one of the victims as saying that he was arrested while taking a shower and dragged naked on the street, where he was beaten. He developed anger and irritability and a deep-seated fear of being rearrested or of something happening to his family members. Fear of reprisal due to threats from security forces later prevented him from attending therapy. A second victim told the organization she was forced to strip naked during an interrogation and sexually assaulted, whipped, insulted, and threatened with rape and the murder of her children. After the event, she developed difficulties in focusing or making decisions, slept long hours, experienced self-hatred and contemplated suicide. According to ADHRB, mental health services are unavailable in prison, where Bahraini authorities practise “extreme forms of medical negligence”, denying prisoners their basic rights. The mistreatment is not acknowledged by authorities, even when a detainee is taken to a psychiatric hospital, the report said. The psychological effect of torture inevitably spills into the social life of the victims as the way they interact with their surroundings is largely defined by their mental health. Men were less likely to seek support out of a desire to appear “strong” and “tough”, ADHRB said, while female survivors of sexual assault and rape struggled to resume social and intimate relationships. The organisation has called for greater transparency and for an impartial investigation into the allegations of torture. It also argued Bahrain should pay reparations for victims of torture “as well as psychological support programs for the families of victims in order to raise awareness and empower them to create a safe environment for the victims”. Human Rights Watch (HRW), among other international organisations, has criticised Bahrain, a majority Shia country ruled by a Sunni monarchy, for spending the past decade “cracking down on peaceful opposition”. Last year, HRW said the government was using “political isolation laws” and a series of other tactics to keep the opposition out of public office and other aspects of public life. The government’s large-scale crackdown has intensified since the peaceful 2011 pro-democracy and anti-government uprising. Since 2017, Bahraini authorities have banned independent media organisations in the country and dissolved all significant opposition groups. There was no immediate comment by the Bahraini government on the ADHRB report. It has previously rejected allegations of human rights violations and denied discriminating against its Shia citizens. © 2023 Al Jazeera Media Network

Boys in class at a school run by the ethnic Chin community in Kuala Lumpur [Kate Mayberry/Al Jazeera] Ethnic Chin people were told last year it was safe to return but experts say situation in Myanmar is too volatile. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Inside a Kuala Lumpur learning centre, a group of boys and girls is hunched over their notebooks, studiously copying the Burmese words their volunteer teacher has written on the board. As children of ethnic Chin people who fled Myanmar years ago, most of them have grown accustomed to the insecurity of life as an asylum seeker or refugee. But now, they are facing a new test - moving to a homeland they have never known. "These children are born in Malaysia," said headteacher Mang Pi, who fled Myanmar as a teenager in 2010 to escape being forced to work for the military. "Their documentation is not there and it won't be easy for them to get citizenship. They will end up in limbo - not going back, not going forward." About 39,000 Chin people live in Malaysia, according to community groups. They are unable to work or send their children to school. They are also at risk of police detention because Malaysia is not a signatory to the United Nations' 1951 Convention on Refugees. Recognition in the form of a card from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) provides some security and cheaper healthcare, but in May last year, the refugee agency told them that the situation in Myanmar's Chin State was "stable and secure" and the community was no longer in need of its protection. The decision, known as "cessation", means the UNHCR believes it safe for Chin to start returning to their homeland. Broadly, it gives Chin who are registered with the UN agency three options when their card expires: return to Myanmar; extend the card's validity until the end of 2019 and lose refugee protection from 2020; or go through the refugee verification process to prove their status again. That option carries the risk of rejection and losing existing protection. "Only those individuals UNHCR confirms are still in need of international protection will remain registered and benefit from international protection," the agency told the community. The move sparked protests by Chin refugees in Malaysia fearing for their safety amid continuing reports of violence in Myanmar's western Rakhine State, on the southern border of Chin State. "The UN has to review if they are really concerned about the lives of human beings and the rights of refugees," James Bawi Thang Bik, the coordinator at the Alliance of Chin Refugees in Kuala Lumpur, told Al Jazeera. 'Intimidating presence' The largely Christian Chin are one of at least 135 ethnic groups in Myanmar and number no more than 1.5 million people. During decades of highly-centralised military rule, they struggled to assert their identity. Abused by the army and the target of political and religious discrimination, many fled the country. Some went to India, others to Malaysia. In both countries, they found peace, if not security. The estimated 4,000 Chin in India are also facing cessation. In 2017, the Myanmar military's brutal military crackdown on the Rohingya in Rakhine, which sent hundreds of thousands of people into Bangladesh, triggered alarm among Chin refugees. Now, outbreaks of violence between the armed forces and the Arakan Army, a rebel Buddhist group, are spilling over into Chin State, a rural, mountainous region that borders India. "It was only in August 2017 you had an exodus of 700,000 Rohingya fleeing the country amid claims of genocide," said Evan Jones, the Bangkok-based programme coordinator for Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network. "The fact remains that this is a government that cannot provide safety for its citizens. What's the rush?" Edith Mirante, who has worked on Chin issues since the 1980s and has visited the area a number of times, says the Arakan Army has used the southern part of the state as a training ground. "They drew the Tatmadaw (the Myanmar army) in and that sent Chin people fleeing across the border in late 2017," she told Al Jazeera. "The Tatmadaw presence is quite high throughout the state. Every town has a garrison of troops. It's certainly a very intimidating presence for the Chin. "The Chin Human Rights Organisation (CHRO), which monitors the situation on the ground, says there were at least four occasions in 2017 when people were forced into India as a result of fighting between the Arakan Army and the Myanmar military. Salai Sang Hnin Lian, at CHRO's office in the state capital of Hakha, says its monitors continue to report "recurrent" outbreaks of violence, particularly around Paletwa on the southern border. The government has also imposed measures that restrict Chin's ability to practise their religion, he said. "Chin State itself is not the way that it is claimed," he told Al Jazeera, referring to the UNHCR's decision. 'Always responsive' The cessation process began in August and is due to be completed by the end of December this year. The UNHCR, however, says its decision is not set in stone. "We understand the concerns," UNHCR spokeswoman Caroline Gluck told Al Jazeera on the phone from Thailand's capital, Bangkok. "We are constantly reviewing [the situation]. We are cognisant of the fact that things can change, and can change very quickly." She stressed the agency was "always responsive" to changing conditions or new developments. The UN's own guidelines on cessation require "substantial and enduring changes" across a refugee's country of origin, said Kirsten McConnachie, a University of East Anglia academic. The standard is set high because of the potential consequences." What's unusual with this decision is that there isn't that kind of substantial and enduring change," McConnachie told Al Jazeera. "There are so many things going in in Myanmar that suggest that's not the case. 'Closing of files' Figures in Malaysia show the number of Chin registered as refugees and asylum seekers has already dropped sharply. At the end of December, the UNHCR in Malaysia said it had 26,180 Chin refugees and asylum seekers on its books. Before the decision was announced, there were 31,150. The agency told Al Jazeera the decline reflected the "routine closing of files", including for those whose application for refugee status had been rejected or refugees who had not come forward to renew their cards or were uncontactable. Chin also made up the "vast majority" of the 2,400 people who were resettled from Malaysia last year, it said. Back at the learning centre, Mang Pi says enrolment has fallen slightly since last year because parents who no longer have refugee cards worry about letting their children out in case they are stopped by the police. In the kitchen at the back, a vat of soup is bubbling on the stove and the cook is getting ready to fry a pile of chicken nuggets for the children's lunch. Some of the older students took part in the demonstrations against the cessation announcement. "Everyone knows cessation is not fair," Bawi said. "If they [the UNHCR] do not review, we will have more protests." © 2019 Al Jazeera Media Network

In rare move, India and Pakistan agree to 'strict observance' of ceasefire along the de facto border in disputed Kashmir. Indian army soldiers patrol along the border fence at India-Pakistan Line of Control (LoC) on the forward post of Poonch district [File: Jaipal Singh/EPA] Al Jazeera By Asad Hashim and Rifat Fareed 25 Feb 2021 Pakistan and India’s militaries have agreed to strictly observe a ceasefire at the de facto border between the two countries in the disputed region of Kashmir, and other agreements, according to a Pakistani military statement – a rare thaw in relations between the South Asian neighbours. The directors-general of military operations (DGMO) of the Indian and Pakistani militaries held discussions over a hotline between their offices on Thursday morning, a Pakistani military statement said. “Both sides agreed for strict observance of all agreements, understandings and cease firing along the [Line of Control] and all other sectors, with effect from midnight [on Friday],” said the statement. The statement said talks were held “in a free, frank and cordial atmosphere” between the armies of the two nuclear-armed countries. A ceasefire has been in place at the Line of Control (LoC), which divides Indian-administered and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, since 2003, but it is frequently violated by both sides, resulting in civilian and military casualties. Last year, Indian small arms, and mortar fire and artillery shells killed at least 28 civilians and wounded 257 more in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, according to Pakistan’s foreign office. Since January 1, Pakistan says Indian forces have violated the ceasefire at least 175 times, wounding eight civilians. In 2020, Pakistan violated the ceasefire along the LoC at least 5,133 times, resulting in 22 civilians and 24 soldiers being killed, as well as 197 injuries, according to India’s home affairs ministry. Mehbooba Mufti, former chief minister Indian-administered Kashmir region, welcomed the ceasefire announcement, saying “the two countries should also initiate a political dialogue and reconciliation to bring peace in Kashmir”. “The ceasefire violations create a lot of destruction. We see people getting killed everyday, be it police, army men, rebels or civilians. There is a need to end this bloodshed,” she told Al Jazeera. But the residents in the Himalayan region are skeptical. Jibran Ahmad, 29-year-old research scholar in the main city of Srinagar, told Al Jazeera the two countries should ” take steps to bring peace in a real sense”. “We have seen these farce statements before as well,” Ahmad said. “The point is the two countries do not care about the lives of common people in Kashmir. They take a step only when it suits them but we have not seen any real peace so far.” Security expert Parvin Sawhney told Al Jazeera “political will is the problem on both sides”. “[The] issue is we have done this before, we have structured hotline talks before, we have done confidence-building measures and all these things are as good as the political will that backs them,” he said. “Everything is about trust, and for that, you have to start talking at the highest level.” Indian Border Security Force (BSF) soldiers perform during the Beating the Retreat ceremony at the India-Pakistan Wagah border post [File: Narinder Nanu/AFP] India and Pakistan have fought three full-scale wars and several smaller conflicts since they gained independence from the British in 1947. Two of those three wars were over the region of Kashmir, which both claim in full but administer separate portions of. Relations have come to a standstill since February 2019, when India accused a Pakistan-based armed group of carrying out an attack that killed more than 30 Indian security personnel in the Indian-administered Kashmir town of Pulwama. India carried out an air raid on Pakistani soil days later, resulting in retaliatory attacks by Pakistan and an aerial dogfight that saw at least one Indian fighter jet shot down by Pakistan. Hostilities cooled after Pakistan returned the pilot of that aircraft, but relations have remained frozen. India accuses Pakistan of supporting armed groups that target Indian security forces in Kashmir and elsewhere, while Pakistan has made the same allegation against India’s intelligence service regarding attacks by armed groups on Pakistani soil. Late last year, Pakistan upped the temperature of the rhetoric, saying it had “credible evidence” that India was preparing for a repeat of the 2019 air raids, a month after it shared intelligence information that it said linked India to attacks in Pakistan. India’s foreign ministry said Pakistan’s accusations “enjoy no credibility, are fabricated and represent figments of imagination”. In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera in January, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the “onus” of restarting talks was on India, demanding that security and constitutional measures that New Delhi had taken in Kashmir be reversed. Asad Hashim is Al Jazeera’s digital correspondent in Pakistan. He tweets @AsadHashim. Rifat Fareed contributed to this report from Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir. See article here. © 2021 Al Jazeera

Saudi air defences intercept missile fired at Riyadh, videos published on social media purportedly show. The Houthis said they targeted southern areas of Saudi Arabia with Qasif-1 drones [File: Reuters] Yemen's Houthi rebels fired a ballistic missile at Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh, saying the projectile traveled more than 800km into the kingdom on Wednesday. Al Masirah, a TV network run by the Houthis, claimed responsibility for the attack on Twitter, saying the rebels fired a Burkan 2-H, a Scud-type missile, towards the Saudi defence ministry. Videos published on social media showed clouds of smoke in the sky above the capital. Sharaf Lokman, a spokesman for the Houthis, said the attack came after Saleh al-Samad - president of the Supreme Political Council that runs Yemen's capital, Sanaa, and other rebel-held areas - declared the start of "a year of ballistic missiles". Al Masirah also reported the Houthis fired missiles at oil storage facilities belonging to Saudi oil giant Aramco in the provinces of Najran and Jizan. Meanwhile, the Saudi coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen said its air defences shot down two unmanned drones in the south of the country. The Houthis said they targeted southern areas of Saudi Arabia with Qasif-1 drones. The kingdom accuses Iran of supplying missile parts and expertise to the Houthis. Tehran and the Houthis have repeatedly denied the allegations. According to Conflict Armament Research (CAR), the Qasif-1 drone is said to resemble Iran's Ababil-2 drone and is the latest in a line of weapons Tehran has allegedly sent the Houthis. Despite its relatively simple technology, the Qasif-1 carries a 30kg warhead and has allowed the Houthis to target vessels in the strategic Bab Al Mandeb Strait. The war in Yemen, the region's poorest country, started in 2014 after Houthi rebels seized control of the capital and began pushing south towards the country's third-biggest city Aden. Concerned by the rise of the Houthi rebels, Saudi Arabia and a coalition of Arab states launched a military intervention in 2015 in the form of a massive air campaign aimed at reinstalling the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Since then, more than 10,000 people have been killed and at least 40,000 wounded, mostly from Saudi-led air strikes. In retaliation, the Houthis have launched dozens of missiles at the kingdom. Saudi authorities say over the past three years 90 ballistic missiles were fired by the rebels. (C) 2018 Al Jeezera

The Yemeni central bank has announced it is closing because it has run out of money. The National Saudi Arabia had promised a large deposit to shore up Yemen's currency - but that money never arrived, and now the bank is closing due to lack of funds. This comes after the resignation of two Yemeni ministers in opposition to the kingdom's meddling. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is still in the US, on a visit to showcase his social and economic reforms. But he has received negative media coverage for Riyadh's role in the war in Yemen. (c) 2018 Al Jeezera

Clashes took place in Salamat province where farmers were attacked when they encountered a roadblock. Published by Al Jazeera on February 17, 2021. Farmers find a shelter on the road between Adre and Farchana in the region of Ouaddai [File: Amaury Hauchard/AFP] Thirty-five people have been killed in fighting between semi-nomadic herders and farmers in southeastern Chad in recent days, according to a senior official. The deaths occurred in Salamat province where farmers were attacked when they encountered a roadblock, provincial secretary-general Mara Maad told AFP news agency on Wednesday. The farmer blamed local cattle herders and launched an attack on them on Monday, prompting authorities to send in troops who restored order the same day, Maad added. The “inter-community clashes have caused 35 deaths, including a soldier”, Maad said. Herders and sedentary farmers have a long and troubled history in southern Chad, where weapons exist in large numbers and violence often flares after cattle destroy crops. Previous deadly incidents In November last year, 22 people were killed in herder-farmer clashes in Kabbia, which is also in the south, while nearly 50 were killed in ethnic conflicts across Chad in the following two months. In a speech on December 31, Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno said he was “distressed” and “dismayed” by deadly clashes that had occurred in recent months. Political scientist Evariste Ngarlem Tolde told AFP news agency such clashes had taken on “worrying proportions” in recent years. “Local authorities have a flagrant bias since they keep herds, which doesn’t help amicable settlement of these inter-community conflicts,” he said. © 2021 Al Jazeera Media Network.

A Colombian woman cries in front her house, which was destroyed during an attack in the village of La Caucana, Antioquia province [Source: Reuters] Colombia has recorded at least 42 massacres since the start of 2020, the highest number since the 2016 signing of a peace agreement with the former FARC fighters, the United Nations has said. The UN, which is responsible for verifying application of the agreement, said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was concerned about the surge in mass killings in various regions of the South American country in recent months. The UN defines a massacre as the killing of three or more people at one time. It said 13 other incidents were being verified. The UN peace mission in Colombia recorded 36 massacres in 2019, 29 in 2018 and 11 in 2017. “These crimes take place mainly in areas of poverty where the state has little presence, where the illegal economy reigns and there are disputes between illegal armed groups and criminal organisations,” said the report published on Thursday. Colombia is experiencing a surge in violence due to armed groups that finance themselves through drug trafficking, according to the Colombian government. The UN also noted the “relentless violence” against former FARC fighters, with 50 of them killed since the start of the year. In total since the signing of the agreement, 224 former fighters have been killed and 20 have disappeared. The UN also noted an increase in violence against human rights activists and civil society leaders, with 48 killings, including nine people from ethnic minorities and five women, this year. © Al Jazeera 2021

YPG fighters pledge to shift to guerrilla tactics, as Turkish forces clear Afrin's city centre of explosive devices. Kurdish fighters in the northwestern Syrian region of Afrin have vowed to continue fighting Turkey's forces and Turkey-backed rebel groups, by shifting from direct confrontation to guerrilla tactics. Meanwhile, the Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels and Turkish forces, who gained complete control of the city of Afrin on Sunday, continued their activities to secure the city, with troops searching for landmines and other explosive devices in the area. "Our forces are present all over Afrin's geography. These forces will strike the positions of the Turkish enemy and its mercenaries at every opportunity," Othman Sheikh Issa, a representative of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), said in a televised statement on Sunday evening. "Our forces all over Afrin will become a constant nightmare for them," he added. "Many of the terrorists had turned tail and run away already," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech in western Turkey on Sunday after he announced that Afrin's city centre was captured at 8:30am local time (05:00 GMT) on the same day. He said 3,603 "terrorists had been neutralised" in Afrin since the launch of the cross-border operation on January 20. Erdogan said the Turkish flag and the flag of the Syrian opposition fighters were raised in the city, previously controlled by the YPG. Later on Sunday, limited fighting was reported in some pockets in Afrin. "Our special forces and members of the Free Syrian Army are cleaning the remains and the traps they left behind," Erdogan said. "In the centre of Afrin, symbols of trust and stability are waving instead of rags of terrorists." Turkey - together with the FSA - launched in January the military operation into Afrin in the northwest of Syria to vanquish the US-backed YPG fighters near its border. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, previously said at least 150,000 civilians fled the city since last Wednesday. Turkey's government spokesman Bekir Bozdag said the military campaign would continue to secure areas around Afrin and make sure food and medicine were available. "We have more to do. But the project of building a terrorism corridor and building a terrorist state is over," he said. Turkey considers the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria and its armed wing YPG to be "terrorist groups" with ties to the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The PKK has waged a decades-long armed fight against the Turkish state that has killed tens of thousands of people. The YPG had come to control large swaths of northern Syria, including Afrin, in the course of the eight-year Syrian war, particularly through fighting against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group in an US-backed umbrella organisation named Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The US support for the Kurdish-dominated SDF has infuriated Turkey and created the ongoing diplomatic crisis between the two NATO allies. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/03/kurdish-fighters-vow-fight-turkey-army-afrin-withdrawal-180319083323670.html (c) 2018 Al Jeezera

At least 27 killed in an attack on Saturday in the Diffa region, while many others are wounded or reported missing. The Boko Haram armed group has claimed responsibility for the weekend attack on a village in Niger that left at least 27 dead. More people were wounded and some reported missing in the assault on Saturday evening on Toumour in the Diffa region, said a senior local official on Monday. Witnesses and other officials confirmed the attack, which came hours before municipal and regional elections were held across Niger on Sunday. “We hereby inform the world that we are responsible for the attack in the town of Diffa in Niger Republic yesterday [Saturday],” said a three-minute video sent to AFP news agency. The footage showed a fighter in military camouflage and his face swathed in a turban, speaking in Hausa, which is widely spoken in the region. “We carried out the attack with the power of Allah and His help,” it said. The group, led by elusive leader Abubakar Shekau, said more Christians could be attacked ahead of Christmas. Local officials said some of the victims in Diffa were shot and others burned to death inside their homes. Between 800 and 1,000 houses, the central market and numerous vehicles were also destroyed in the fire set by the attackers, they said. Dozens of attackers arrived at Toumour on foot in the evening, having swum across Lake Chad, said one official. The attack lasted three hours. “They first attacked the residence of the traditional chief, who only just managed to escape,” the official said. “It was an attack of unprecedented savagery,” said an elected local official who asked not to be named. “Nearly 60 percent of the village has been destroyed.” Attacks by Boko Haram began in 2009 in northeastern Nigeria before spreading to neighbouring Niger, Cameroon and Chad. Since then, more than 36,000 people have been killed in Nigeria and two million forced to flee their homes, sparking a humanitarian crisis in the region. A regional military coalition has been formed to fight the group. © Al Jazeera 2020