Fears grow fighting between Ethiopia’s federal army and Tigray forces could draw in outside involvement. Immediately after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced in the early hours of Wednesday the beginning of military operations against the northern Tigray state, fears emerged that a prolonged conflict could reverberate across the wider region and draw in outside forces. At the heart of these concerns is Eritrea – Ethiopia’s northern neighbor bordering the Tigray region. Addis Ababa’s military move came after months of feuding between the federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the party that dominated Ethiopia’s politics for nearly three decades until Abiy came to power in 2018. Having accused the prime minister of trying to “sideline … and even criminisalise” the TPLF, the Tigray leaders in September held elections in defiance of a decision by the federal government to postpone all polls due to the coronavirus pandemic. With tension building up and each side trading barbs, TPLF leaders in recent months also accused their sworn enemy, Eritrea, of meddling in Ethiopia’s domestic affairs in an attempt to corner Tigray. The mutual animosity between Eritrea’s longtime ruler Isaias Afwerki and the TPLF goes back decades – but it was not always like this. From the mid-1970s to the early 1990s, the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF), which Isaias co-founded, and the TPLF were brothers-in-arms in the long struggle against Ethiopia’s military government led by Mengistu Haile Mariam. Mengistu was overthrown in May 1991, and two years later Eritrea gained independence in a referendum. The TPLF, meanwhile, went on to become the leading force in the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) governing coalition, with late Tigray leader Meles Zenawi becoming the country’s prime minister. In 1998, Eritrea and Ethiopia, however, went to war over a complex territorial, economic and political dispute that left tens of thousands of people dead. Despite the Algiers peace agreement in December 2000 ending the neighbours’ border conflict, Ethiopia and Eritrea remained in a state of an armed standoff for nearly 18 years. This “cold war” seemingly ended after Abiy’s rapprochement with Isaias after assuming office in April 2018, replacing Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn in the face of months of anti-government demonstrations. After weeks of secretive negotiations within the EPRDF, Abiy is believed to have overcome opposition from the formerly dominant TPLF to win the chair of the multi-ethnic, four-party coalition, a position that made him by default Ethiopia’s prime minister. In July 2018, a series of secretive and fast-paced diplomatic exchanges between Addis Ababa and Eritrea resulted in a breakthrough, with the longtime foes re-establishing diplomatic ties. Martin Plaut, a longtime observer of politics in the Horn of Africa, says the opaque nature of the Ethiopia-Eritrea diplomatic thaw gradually fed into Ethiopia’s bitter domestic political divide. “It is impossible to be certain of Eritrea’s role in Ethiopia’s domestic conflict. Since the first visits to each other’s capitals by the two leaders in July 2018 there has never been a press conference at which journalists could ask either Prime Minister Abiy or President Isaias what they hoped to achieve,” said Plaut, a former BBC Africa editor. “Communiques have been bland and uninformative. However, it is clear that relations are today so close that it is inconceivable that the Ethiopian leader would have undertaken such a major operation, on Eritrea’s border, without clearing it with his opposite number,” he added. While the administration of Isaias has publicly reiterated its deep-seated animosity to TPLF, Eritrea’s involvement – if any – in the current conflict is still unclear for now. Meanwhile, a telephone and internet communications blackout in Tigray has made it difficult to verify the situation in the state and the border areas, leading to speculation. “There have been reports of intense conscription of young Eritreans and of troops’ movements inside Eritrea, close to the border with Tigray. Some commentators anticipated a coordinated operation against Tigray with Ethiopians attacking from the south and Eritreans from the north. So far this does not appear to have taken place,” Martin said. “An Eritrean offensive may yet go ahead, but the Tigrayans are well armed and President Isaias may be biding his time to see whether Prime Minister Abiy’s forces make progress before committing his own troops.” Tsedale Lemma, editor-in-chief of the Addis Standard, an Ethiopian English-language publication that reports on domestic and foreign current affairs, said the opaqueness of the 2018 peace deal has fed into suspicions Tigrayan officials about the intentions of Abiy and Isaias. She also cited “the lapse in judgement” from Abiy “to sideline TPLF from being a genuine part of the peace deal between Ethiopia and Eritrea from the get-go”. “It should have been known to PM Abiy that for all his political differences with TPLF, peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea is practically impossible without the involvement and meaningful say of TPLF,” Tsedale said. See the full article and access the videos here. Al Jazeera © 2020

Farmers harvesting crops in Borno state attacked by armed men on motorcycles, in the ‘most violent direct’ assault against civilians this year, UN says. A “gruesome” massacre against farmers in northeastern Nigeria killed “tens of people”, the United Nations said late on Sunday, amending an earlier statement putting the death toll at 110. The killings took place in the early afternoon of Saturday in the village of Koshobe and other rural communities in the Jere local government area near Maiduguri, the capital of the conflict-hit Borno state. “Armed men on motorcycles led a brutal attack on civilian men and women who were harvesting their fields,” Edward Kallon, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, said in the statement. “Tens of civilians were ruthlessly killed and many others were wounded in this attack,” he added. “The incident is the most violent direct attack against innocent civilians this year. I call for the perpetrators of this heinous and senseless act to be brought to justice,” Kallon said. There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack, but the armed group Boko Haram and its splinter faction, the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), have carried out a series of deadly assaults in the area in recent years. Both groups are active in the region, where fighters have killed more than 30,000 people in the past decade during an armed campaign that has displaced some two million and has spread to neighboring countries including Niger, Chad, and Cameroon. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who took office in 2015 promising to fix the security crisis, denounced the latest massacre. “I condemn the killing of our hard-working farmers by terrorists in Borno state. The entire country is hurt by these senseless killings,” the president said via his spokesman. But security analyst Sulaiman Aledeh said many in the country are growing frustrated with the authorities’ inability to contain the conflict. “If you’ve seen [what happened to] Niger, President Mahamadou Issoufou had to sack his security chiefs when 89 soldiers were killed. So Nigerians are asking why are you keeping these people,” he told Al Jazeera from Lagos. “The problem here has to do with the government of the day seems to be rewarding loyalty over professionalism. They [Nigerians] think by now the government should’ve tried a few good other men to get them out of this mess.” ‘So much suffering’ Earlier on Sunday, Borno Governor Babaganan Umara Zulum told journalists that at least 70 farmers were killed. He was speaking in Zabarmari village after attending the burial of 43 people whose bodies were recovered on Saturday. Zulum urged the federal government to recruit more soldiers, Civilian Joint Task Force members, and civil defense fighters to protect farmers in the region. He described people facing desperate choices. “On one side, they stay at home they may be killed by hunger and starvation; on the other, they go out to their farmlands and risk getting killed by the insurgents,” he said. Bulama Bukarti, an analyst at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, said the failure to control Boko Haram has devastated lives and the economy. “The security forces are obviously losing this war,” he told Al Jazeera, describing 2019 as “the deadliest year” for Nigerian security forces since Boko Haram’s armed campaign started in 2009. “About 800 security forces were killed, mostly in the first half of last year, and the Nigerian military responded by changing its strategy introducing what they called the ‘super camp strategy’ by which they withdrew soldiers from remote communities and rural areas and consolidated them in what they call ‘super camps’ in order to reduce military fatalities,” Bukarti said. “The strategy succeeded in reducing military fatalities but the side-effect of that is that the Nigerian military has effectively surrendered control of rural Nigeria to Boko Haram fighters. “You have Boko Haram ruling northeastern Nigeria and criminal gangs ruling the rural communities of northwestern Nigeria; this has a devastating effect on Nigeria’s economy and the future of the country entirely.” Speaking to Al Jazeera from Maiduguri, Vincent Lelei, the UN’s deputy humanitarian coordinator for Nigeria, said people in the region “live in extreme fear” amid the prolonged crisis “which has led to so much suffering, so much displacement and destruction of livelihoods”. “Borno state is a state with very good soil, there is a lot of water on the ground, and a lot of crops grow very quickly,” he said. “Given the opportunity, the livelihoods of the people could recover so quickly – but this insecurity, this problem of violence against unarmed civilians is reducing those opportunities.” Access the videos and the full story here. Al Jazeera © 2020

Tens of thousands of civilians have been forced from their homes in northeastern DRC since the violence resumed in December 2017. Published by Al Jazeera on September 28, 2020. CODECO is made up of fighters from the Lendu ethnic group [File: [Alexis Huguet/AFP] “The future is dark,” sighs Joachim Lobo, a teacher who longs “to pick up the chalk” and be reunited with his pupils if ever peace is restored to northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). “I lost my job because of all this nonsense,” Lobo says of communal violence in the gold-rich Ituri province, where he taught French and philosophy. “We thought we would have a responsible government, yet we don’t know when we can return to our land.” In 2019, the 60-year-old father of nine fled Sombuso, his natal village in Djugu, and now lives in a camp for displaced people 20km (12 miles) away in Loda, close to a base for foreign troops serving in the United Nations mission in the DRC, MONUSCO. Conditions there are dire, he says. “No latrines, no food, no drinking water, no medical care.” Lobo, who belongs to the Hema community, traditionally stockbreeders and traders, left Sombuso to escape the brutality of a wing of the Congo Development Cooperative (CODECO) group created by Lendu people. Experts say CODECO is made up of fighters from the Lendu ethnic group who claim to defend the property rights of Lendu farming communities in Djugu. Lendu militias are held responsible for the killing of several hundred Hema civilians. 'We don't know when we can return' This is not the first time “Papa Joachim” flees violence in Ituri. In 1999, he abandoned his home after the outbreak of the Second Congo War (1998-2003), which saw the armies of more than half a dozen African countries enter the vast DRC. The violence cost tens of thousands of lives in Ituri. At the time, the Lendu and the Hema were killing each other in militia attacks, which were stopped in 2003 by Operation Artemis, a military intervention by a European Union Force (EUFOR) backed by the United Nations. Tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced in Ituri since violence resumed in December 2017 in the Djugu and Mahagi areas, but this time it was different from the wartime clashes. The Hema have not reconstituted their militias and Lendu public figures condemn the raids committed in their name by CODECO forces. President Felix Tshisekedi, who took took office in January 2019, denounced “attempted genocide” and a “plot” during a rare visit to the provincial capital Bunia in July that year, at the height of an outbreak of violence. He announced a “large-scale” military operation dubbed “Ituri Tempest” against the attackers, which led to the killing of a CODECO chief. 'A rebel like you' A year later, Tshisekedi dispatched a delegation of former militia chiefs from the time of the Second Congo War to negotiate the surrender of pro-Lendu fighters. The team was led by Floribert Ndjabu, a man who served 15 years in preventive detention on suspicion of the murder of nine UN peacekeepers in 2005. “I told them: ‘I was a rebel like you – you have nothing to teach me,'” Ndjabu said to AFP news agency. The outcome of the talks has been a noticeable decline in the number of deadly raids, according to witnesses. Key roads that had been blockaded, such as the RN27 linking the DRC and Uganda, are once again open to traffic but the vehicles are escorted by the military, AFP saw. Part of the population remains sceptical about any peace process. “We need military pressure, with means sufficient to allow the army to secure the population and enforce peace, while justice should take care of the criminals,” said Agathe Gipatho, a 60-year-old woman, during an exchange with members of the Alur community in Nioka. “People are tending to return to their villages,” said Dieudonne Kpadyu Mnyoro. “But their key concern is safety, an end to the violence.” © 2020 Al Jazeera Media Network.

Parliament appoints new head of Tigray region, PM Abiy Ahmed announces as Amnesty says many civilians have been killed in fighting. Ethiopia’s parliament has appointed a new head of Tigray region, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said as a prominent rights group reported a “massacre” of scores of civilians in the conflict. “Dr. Mulu Nega has been appointed as the Chief Executive of the Tigray Regional State,” Abiy posted on Twitter on Friday. The announcement came as federal forces pressed a military offensive against leaders of the northern region whom the government accuses of treason and terrorism. On Thursday, Ethiopian parliament stripped Tigray president Debretsion Gebremichael – who was elected in September and chairs the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) – of immunity from prosecution. State media later reported that arrest warrants had been issued against Debretsion and other TPLF leaders “for endangering the country’s existence” and “for trying to erode the constitution”, adding that dozens of other officials were also stripped of immunity. Long-running tensions between Abiy and the TPLF hit a new low in September when Tigray pressed ahead with its own elections, insisting Abiy was an illegitimate leader after national polls were postponed due to the coronavirus. ‘Hundreds stabbed or hacked to death’ Meanwhile, Amnesty International said scores of civilians were killed in a “massacre” in Tigray that witnesses blamed on forces backing the local ruling party in its fight against the federal government. It was the first reported incident of large-scale civilian fatalities in a week-old conflict between the TPLF and the federal government led by Abiy, winner of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize. “Amnesty International can today confirm … that scores, and likely hundreds, of people, were stabbed or hacked to death in Mai-Kadra [May Cadera] town in the southwest Zone of Ethiopia’s Tigray Region on the night of 9 November,” the rights group said in a report. Amnesty said it had “digitally verified gruesome photographs and videos of bodies strewn across the town or being carried away on stretchers”. The dead “had gaping wounds that appear to have been inflicted by sharp weapons such as knives and machetes,” Amnesty said, citing witness accounts. “The victims appear to have been civilians … laborers who are in no way involved in the ongoing military offensive in the region,” Amnesty’s Sam Dubberley told Al Jazeera. Witnesses said the attack was carried out by TPLF-aligned forces after a defeat at the hands of the Ethiopian military, though Amnesty said it “has not been able to confirm who was responsible for the killings”. There was no immediate reaction from the TPLF, which dominated national politics for nearly three decades before Abiy took office in 2018. Abiy claims gains in western Tigray The Amnesty report came the same day Abiy said government forces had made gains in western Tigray as thousands of Ethiopians continued to flee across the border into neighboring Sudan, stoking fears of a humanitarian crisis. Abiy ordered military operations in Tigray on November 4, saying they were prompted by a TPLF attack on federal military camps – a claim the party denies. The region has since been under a communications blackout in most areas. Officials say hundreds have been killed and analysts are warning of a bloody, protracted civil war in Africa’s second-most populous country. In a Facebook post on Thursday, Abiy said government forces had “liberated” the western zone of Tigray – made up of six zones, including the capital and surrounding areas. Abiy also accused TPLF-aligned fighters of “cruelty”, saying that when the army took control of the town of Sheraro, they “found bodies of executed defense force personnel whose hands and feet were tied”. Regional state media in Tigray countered that pro-TPLF forces had retaken territory earlier seized by federal forces. The report also said TPLF forces had “captured” 10,000 soldiers. The conflict has seen multiple rounds of airstrikes targeting arms and fuel depots along with heavy fighting in western Tigray. Ethiopians seek refuge in Sudan Meanwhile, the UN says some 11,000 Ethiopians have sought refuge in neighboring Sudan, which says it will house the influx in a camp for victims of a 1980s famine. Exhausted refugees, mostly women, youths, and children, arrived in Sudan’s eastern Kassala state on foot or by bicycle and motorized rickshaw, according to AFP news agency. Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan, reporting from Gadrif in neighboring Sudan, said tens of thousands of refugees had been arriving not just in Kassala state, but also in the nearby Gadarif state. Sudan’s interior minister said the situation appeared to be “quite dire”, Morgan said. “At least 11,000 have crossed into Sudan in the past 48 hours – but they’re saying there’s an estimated 20,000 waiting at the border to cross,” she said. Once they arrive in Sudan, Morgan said, refugees, are screened for both health and security reasons because Sudanese authorities suspect “former combatants who are putting down their weapons and escaping the fighting in the Tigray region” may also flee to Sudan. “Refugees were saying that the humanitarian situation was bleak, they say that there was a shortage of food and a shortage of clean water,” Morgan said. As concerns over the influx of refugees grew, Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok on Thursday called for a “stop to the fighting as soon as possible” and a return to the negotiating table. The African Union has also called for an immediate stop to fighting and dialogue. The United Nations on Thursday called for Ethiopia to provide full humanitarian access to Tigray and enable civilians to flee safely, after warning the day before that otherwise “food, health, and other emergency supplies have no way to make it into the region”. Spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Ethiopia humanitarian coordinator Catherine Sozi was discussing “immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access” with the government. “We are also calling for the safe passage for civilians in search of safety and assistance and to guarantee the security for all aid workers.” See the full article and access the video here. Al Jazeera © 2020

Age of victims of attack in Metekel zone in Benishangul-Gumuz region ranged between two and 45, says Ethiopian Human Rights Commission. More than 80 civilians, including children as young as two years old, have been killed in the latest attack to afflict western Ethiopia, the country’s national human rights commission said on Wednesday. Aaron Maasho, spokesman and senior adviser for the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC), told Al Jazeera the massacre took place on Tuesday between 5am and 7am in the region of Benishangul-Gumuz, which borders Sudan and South Sudan. “We received information that over 80 people died whose ages range from 2 to 45 years old,” he said from the capital, Addis Ababa. There was no claim of responsibility and no immediate information about the identity of the attackers. “We can confirm that the perpetrators of the attack have not been apprehended by the authorities yet,” Maasho said. The attack took place in an area called Daletti, in the Metekel zone of Benishangul-Gumuz, which has been plagued by recurring violence in recent months that has left hundreds of people dead. Some 207 people were killed in one attack on December 23 alone. Maasho said “thousands of people” have been displaced due to the continuing violence in Metekel. “We call on the federal and regional authorities to strengthen the coordination and measures, including at the district level, to prevent similar attacks against civilians,” added the spokesman of the EHRC, a government-affiliated but independent body. 'They Burned My House' Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has struggled to impose order in Metekel or explain what is driving the violence, despite visiting the area in December and empowering a command post to take charge of security there. Opposition politicians have described the violence in Metekel as ethnically motivated, alleging a targeted campaign by ethnic Gumuz armed groups against members of other ethnic groups in the area, including the Amhara, Ethiopia’s second-largest group. One survivor of the latest attack, Ahmed Yimam, told AFP news agency on Wednesday that he had counted 82 bodies and said 22 people were wounded. “The attack was carried out mostly using knives although arrows and firearms were also used,” he said. Worke Ahmed, 60, told Reuters news agency by telephone that men involved in Tuesday’s attack were armed and that he saw more than 100 of them. Some wore uniforms that he could not identify, he said. “They burned my house and my brother’s house, with 200 cattle and 11 goats inside,” he said. Africa’s second-most populous nation has been grappling with regular outbreaks of deadly violence since Abiy was appointed in 2018 and accelerated democratic reforms that loosened the state’s iron grip on regional rivalries. Elections due this year have further inflamed simmering tensions over land, power and resources. In a separate part of the country, Ethiopia’s military has been fighting rebels in the northern Tigray region for more than two months, in a conflict that has displaced some one million people. The Ethiopian government said on Wednesday that three officials with Tigray’s former ruling party, including ex Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin were killed after they refused to surrender to the military. The deployment of federal troops in Tigray has raised fears of a security vacuum in other restive regions. Ethiopia is also experiencing unrest in the Oromia region and faces long-running security threats from Somali fighters along its porous eastern border. SOURCE : AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

Fearing the government will collapse and country may descend again into civil war, Hazaras start to prepare for the worst. The choice was straightforward for Hamidullah Asadi, a member of Afghanistan’s minority Hazara community – wait for the next deadly attack or join a growing militia. After spending months recovering from grave injuries after an ISIL (ISIS) suicide attack, he was ready to fight. “We were forced to take up arms,” said Asadi, now a spokesman for the Resistance for Justice Movement – a band of Hazara fighters based in the war-torn country’s rugged, snow-capped central highlands. “Our expectations of those who were supposed to defend us were not met.” Afghan security forces are struggling to hold off an increasingly powerful Taliban as international troops withdraw from the county, with peace talks between the warring sides moving slowly. Fearing the government will collapse and the country may descend again into civil war, Hazaras are starting to prepare for the worst. Comprising roughly 10-20 percent of Afghanistan’s 38-million population, Hazaras have long been persecuted for their largely Shia faith in a country racked by deep ethnic divisions. Asadi was a student at Kabul University in 2016 when he narrowly survived twin suicide blasts at a rally that killed more than 80 people and marked the beginning of a new wave of violence targeting the Hazaras, including assaults claimed by the ISIL armed group. He says he is now one of the thousands of armed fighters ready to be mobilised by a single call from their commander, Abdul Ghani Alipur, a popular Hazara figure with a Robin Hood-like reputation. The militia boasts of patrolling roads and launching brazen raids on Taliban areas to abduct the relatives of fighters, later to be used as bargaining chips to release Hazara hostages. The growth of the militia and similar armed outfits are increasingly problematic for the Afghan government, which is wary of allowing independent fighting forces to build up, but also fears a crackdown would ignite a confrontation with the communities that support them. The Hazaras have had few allies in Afghanistan over the generations. During the country’s vicious civil war in the 1990s, they were mercilessly shelled in factional fighting and later massacred in the thousands amid the Taliban’s ruthless conquest of the country. Few groups, however, have taken as much advantage of the new order established after the overthrow of Taliban rule. The Hazaras flocked to enrol their children in schools – including their daughters – and entered the political arena in unprecedented numbers. But those achievements remain fragile. The group has increasingly taken the brunt of rising violence as ISIL suicide bombers attacked their mosques, schools, rallies and hospitals in western Kabul’s Hazara enclave of Dasht-e-Barchi, killing hundreds. The Taliban has also kidnapped and killed Hazaras travelling on the country’s perilous roads with near impunity. “Even with the presence of the US troops or NATO troops in Afghanistan, they were already vulnerable,” said Sima Samar, a leading activist and former head of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission. Some Hazaras have fled the capital for the provinces, including Bamiyan – the Hazara homeland long considered one of Afghanistan’s safest enclaves. Murad Ali Haidari hoped the move would shield his family from the violence; instead, his son was killed in one of two bombings in the region in November. Now Bamiyan is dotted with checkpoints, with security forces frequently searching cars and questioning passengers. “We moved from Kabul to Bamiyan to have better security and live in a peaceful place,” said Haidari. “Now when we leave home, it is difficult to imagine returning alive.” Even leaving the country does not guarantee their safety. A group of Hazara miners – many of whom were Afghan nationals – were brutally massacred in an attack claimed by ISIL in Pakistan last month. And to the west, thousands of Hazaras who crossed the border to Iran ended up being trained and deployed with Shia fighters in Syria over the past 10 years. The Iranian foreign minister last month called the fighters the “best forces with a military background” that could be used against ISIL in Afghanistan. Still, others are hesitant about taking up arms – for now at least. When Hamidullah Rafi’s sister, Rahila, was killed by a suicide bomber at an education centre in Kabul in 2018, he built a new one in her memory. “It’s a kind of war against ignorance, against the people who kill students, the people who are against education and the empowerment of the youth,” said Rafi. Like many in Dasht-e-Barchi, he pays several private guards out of his own pocket, citing the government’s inability to secure the area. But Rafi fears when the US pulls out of Afghanistan, his hand may be forced. “Will I be forced to take a gun to kill those people who are against me?” he asked. “Maybe.” Hazara fighter Shawali Nizampoor is more certain and says the community needs to be prepared to defend itself. “Throughout history, Hazaras have been mistreated in Afghanistan,” said Nizampoor, who joined Alipur’s militia after leaving the country’s official security forces. “We have to be ready.” SOURCE : AFP © Al Jazeera 2021

At least 21 Lumad students were taken from a Catholic university shelter in an operation described by police as a ‘rescue’ mission. According to Save Our Schools at least 176 Lumad schools in Mindanao have been shut by the government, depriving Indigenous children of education [File: Francis R Malasig/EPA] 16 Feb 2021 Rights groups, activists and academic institutions have condemned Philippine authorities following a raid targeting Indigenous Lumad students who sought shelter at a Catholic university after being forced from their homes because of fighting between the military and communist rebels. Monday’s roundup, which the government insisted was a “rescue operation”, is seen as part of President Rodrigo Duterte’s new war against the communists, who have been waging an armed rebellion for half a century. The Duterte administration recently declared the communists a “terrorist” organisation, after talks with the group collapsed. Since then, it has also accused mainstream left-leaning political parties, workers groups and even academics of acting as “fronts” for the communist rebels – a government campaign that has become known as “red-tagging”. Critics accuse the president of using “communism” as an excuse to crack down on any groups who oppose his administration’s policies. During the raid on Monday, at least 21 Lumad students, 19 of them minors, were taken by police from the University of San Carlos in Cebu City, while seven others, including teachers and Lumad elders, were arrested without warrant and accused of kidnapping. Among those who were detained was Chad Booc, a University of the Philippines graduate and volunteer teacher. Booc, who Al Jazeera previously interviewed for his advocacy for Indigenous students, also campaigned against the anti-terror law, which was passed in 2020 and allowed for longer detention without charge as well as extended surveillance. Images posted on social media showed the students and teachers screaming as police and social workers dragged them from the university grounds. The Catholic university has provided shelter and makeshift education facilities to the Lumad students since March last year after they fled their homes in the southern island of Mindanao due to armed conflict. According to the Save Our Schools Network, which advocates for the education of the Lumad children, at least 176 of their schools in Mindanao have been shut down by the government, depriving at least 5,500 Indigenous children of education. ‘Leftist activities’ The government has long claimed that the educational facilities for Indigenous students are being used as recruitment grounds for the rebels. In a press conference on Monday, Police Brigadier General Ronnie Montejo said that the children were reportedly being trained for “militant” and “leftist” activities. He said the police carried out the operation after at least six Lumad parents made a complaint, saying that their children had been taken by their teachers without their consent. Montejo added that the seven individuals who were arrested face charges ranging from kidnapping and illegal detention to human trafficking and child abuse. The Society of the Divine Word (SVD), which runs the 238-year-old Catholic university, said it considered the incident with “serious concern”. The organisation also denied the police allegations of kidnapping and human trafficking, saying that “no rescue” was needed, as it only provided temporary shelter and education to the displaced students, whose stay in Cebu had been prolonged as a result of the coronavirus lockdown. “All throughout, they were nurtured, cared for, and treated with their best interest in mind,” it said. Fr Narciso Cellan Jr, University of San Carlos president, told an online press conference on Monday evening that the police provided no warning of the planned operation. Carlos Conde of Human Rights Watch in the Philippines said that the incident was the latest in the “targeting of Indigenous peoples”. “For as long as anyone can remember, these Indigenous communities suffer from so-called ‘development aggression,’ where companies, often foreign-owned, build mining or plantation operations, displacing the Lumads. This has created intense anti-govt animosities among tribes,” he wrote on social media. The Lumads, who have defended their lands from incursions, have long accused the government of neglecting their rights in favour of big business. A 2020 Global Witness report said that at least 43 Philippine land-rights advocates, many of them from Lumad communities, were killed in 2019. Indigenous people protested in Manila on December 10 to oppose plans to extend martial law in Mindanao. [Bullit Marquez/AP Photo] The Save Our Schools Network condemned the incident as “pure harassment”. “It has been through the Save Our Schools Network that the Lumad continue their education and the protection of their ancestral lands,” the group said. Congressman Carlos Zarate, who was also recently accused by the Duterte administration of being a communist sympathiser, has called for an inquiry into the incident. “This is truly outrageous and condemnable,” Zarate said in a statement. “The Lumad students are there because the military destroyed their schools in Mindanao and now even in their evacuation school, they are being harassed and abducted.” See article here. © 2021 Al Jazeera News Agency

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his country has a ‘legitimate reason’ to intervene in northern Syria with Kurdish fighters in the border area. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened on Wednesday to launch a new military operation in northern Syria if Kurdish armed groups are not cleared from areas along its border with Syria. In an address to his ruling party’s legislators in parliament, the Turkish leader also said a Russian airstrike that targeted Turkey-backed Syrian rebels in northwest Idlib province earlier this week was an indication that Moscow was not looking for lasting peace in the region. “If all of the terrorists aren’t removed … as it has been promised to us, I repeat once again that we have a legitimate reason to intervene at any moment. We feel the need to,” Erdogan said. His comments came days after a suspected Kurdish fighter – who officials said infiltrated Turkey from Syria – blew himself up in a town in the border province of Hatay, following a police chase. Security officials killed a second fighter. In his first remarks on Monday’s airstrike that killed dozens of fighters, Erdogan said: “Russia’s attack targeting the Syrian National Army forces training center is a sign that a lasting peace and calm is not wanted in the region.” The attack in the Jabal al-Dweila area, which targeted a military training camp for Failaq al-Sham, one of the largest Turkey-backed armed groups in the area, killed at least 35 people. It was the deadliest in Idlib, the last rebel-held enclave in Syria since a Turkish-Russian-brokered truce there came into effect in March. It occurred as relations between Russia and Turkey show increasing signs of strain over Ankara’s military involvement in Syria, the Caucasus, and Libya, where Moscow also has interests. In Syria, Russia is the main supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government, while Turkey backs a handful of opposition factions. The Turkish-backed National Liberation Front alliance includes 11 Free Syrian Army factions all supported by Ankara. But it excludes Hay’et Tahrir al-Sham, a former al-Qaeda affiliate that currently controls large swaths of the northwestern Syrian province. Turkey has carried out three major forays into northeastern Syria since 2016 to drive away Kurdish fighters or the armed group ISIL (ISIS) from the border area. Last year it sent troops to expel Syrian Kurdish fighters it considers “terrorists” from the area and to create a “safe zone” where it hoped to resettle refugees. Turkey halted the offensive following separate deals with the United States and Russia that promised the withdrawal of the Kurdish militia. See the full article and videos here. Al Jazeera 2020 ©

Veteran politician was picked up by heavily armed police in a raid at his home on the outskirts of Pristina. Jakup Krasniqi, a veteran Kosovo politician and former spokesman for the Kosovo Liberation Army, has been arrested and transferred to The Hague, the Kosovo war crimes tribunal said in a statement. Krasniqi, the former speaker of parliament, will face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the Kosovo Specialist Chamber added. It did not give details about the indictment against him. The arrest came after heavily armed police from the European Union Rule-of-Law Mission (EULEX) in Kosovo raided Krasniqi’s home on the outskirts of the capital, Pristina. The Specialist Chamber was set up in The Hague in 2015 to handle cases of alleged crimes by Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) guerrillas during the war between 1998 and 1999 that eventually led to Kosovo’s independence from Serbia 10 years later. The Hague-based court is governed by Kosovo law but is staffed by international judges and prosecutors. In late June, Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaci was among nine people indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the tribunal. He was questioned over his role in the 1990s conflict by prosecutors in The Hague for the first time a month later. The war, which came to an end after NATO-led air raids, left more than 10,000 dead and 1,641 people remain unaccounted for. Serbia does not recognize Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence. Serbia and Kosovo have been engaged in negotiations brokered with the European Union since 2011 in an attempt to normalize relations and open the door for EU membership. See the full article and access the video here. Al Jazeera 2020 ©

National Assembly legislators sign off on draft law which critics say will unfairly target France’s Muslim population. French MPs have approved a controversial bill the government says will strengthen the country’s secular principles, but critics argue could harm civil rights, especially those of the 5.7-million-strong Muslim community. The vote on Tuesday on the so-called “anti-separatism” bill, brought forward by President Emmanuel Macron paves the way for it to be passed into law within months. Legislators in the lower house National Assembly, which is dominated by Macron’s centrist La République En Marche! (LREM) party, voted 347 to 151 in favor of the bill with 65 abstaining. The legislation will now be passed up to France’s upper house, the conservative-led Senate. The Senate has the power to amend the bill but is expected to greenlight it. “It’s an extremely strong secular offensive,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told RTL radio ahead of the vote Tuesday. “It’s a tough text … but necessary for the republic.” Among the more than 70 separate articles, the law expands the ability of the state to close places of worship and religious schools, as well as to ban preachers it considers “extremist”. Amid concerns about the foreign funding of mosques, it requires religious groups to declare large foreign donations and have their accounts certified. It comes with presidential elections looming next year and with decades-long divisions about the integration of France’s large Muslim population. ‘Counter-society’ Macron and Darmanin in particular have been accused of pandering to far-right voters by exaggerating the danger of groups it brands “Islamist” in the often-marginalized immigrant communities found in French suburbs. The government counters that the threat is real, pointing to repeated attacks and what Macron called the development of a “counter-society” that rejects secularism, equality, and other French values and laws. With campaigning ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections already heating up, the right-wing opposition Republicans (LR) party and the far-right National Rally have both said the bill does not go far enough. They have called for restrictions on the wearing of the veil known as the hijab, which they both view as a manifestation of Islamism, rather than an expression of cultural identity or religious piety. The government has rejected calls for a wider headscarf ban, but the law will expand the demand for “religious neutrality” in clothing to people working for private companies carrying out public services. Critics say Macron is seeking to harden his record on hardline Islam and security ahead of a likely re-match with far-right leader Marine Le Pen in next year’s election. He pushed an initiative recently to ask eight federations representing Muslims in France to sign a 10-point “charter of principles”, which three refused. The 43-year-old head of state is also accused of doing too little to counter discrimination and racism, though a new law and funding have been promised to help marginalized communities. About 200 people demonstrated in Paris on Sunday against the bill, accusing it of “reinforcing discrimination against Muslims”. In January, a group of academics and campaigners wrote in the newspaper Liberation that the law was “an unprecedented blow” to religious freedom and the freedom to form associations. Al Jazeera © 2021 Access the full article and the video here.

Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed says he is not ignoring international warnings over the escalating conflict in the Tigray region. The Ethiopian military has seized the airport in the town of Humera amid a nearly week-old conflict in the northern Tigray region. “The Ethiopian National Defense Force has fully captured Humera Airport amid [a] continuation of [the] government’s military response against TPLF rebel group,” state-affiliated Fana TV reported on Tuesday, referring to the organization that leads the government in the Tigray region. Humera is located in the far northwest of the country near Ethiopia’s borders with Sudan and Eritrea. A telephone and internet communications blackout in Tigray has made it difficult to verify the situation on the ground. The report came as Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office said he is not ignoring international calls for calm over the escalating conflict that many fear is sliding towards civil war. The violence in the northern area bordering Eritrea and Sudan threatens to destabilize Africa’s second-most populous country. Ethnic conflict in the region has simmered since Abiy took over in 2018. “There is no rebuffing of anyone by the prime minister. He had acknowledged and given gratitude for the concerns shown,” Abiy’s spokeswoman Billene Seyoum said in response to a request for comment on a diplomat’s assertion that Abiy was “not listening to anyone”. “Nevertheless, Ethiopia is a sovereign nation and its government will ultimately make decisions in the long-term interest of the country and its people.” The United Nations wants Abiy – a former soldier who once fought alongside Tigrayans against Eritrea – to start the dialogue. Hundreds killed Abiy, the continent’s youngest leader at 44, won a Nobel Peace Prize last year for democratic reforms and for making peace with Eritrea. But last week, the prime minister, who is from Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group the Oromo, launched a campaign against forces loyal to ethnic Tigrayan leaders in the northern region. He accused them of attacking a military base. Hundreds of people have been killed in the latest conflict, sources on the government’s side said on Monday. But Abiy said fears of chaos were unfounded. Leaders of Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region said on Monday the federal government led by Abiy had launched more than 10 air raids against them in recent days. Meanwhile, the newly appointed Ethiopian army chief, Berhanu Jula, said federal forces had captured four towns in western Tigray where much of the fighting has reportedly been concentrated. Ethiopian TV broadcast images of what it said were Ethiopian government forces entering the border town of Dansha in Tigray. Footage showed residents celebrating and cheering the arrival of government soldiers. The public broadcaster also showed images of what it alleged were Tigrayan militia who surrendered. Ethiopia’s air force is “pounding targets with precision”, a military official said Monday. Neighbouring Sudan has reportedly sent more than 6,000 troops to the border. Up to 250,000 fighters Tigrayans account for just 6 percent of Ethiopians but had, before Abiy’s rule, dominated politics for nearly 30 years. They are battle-hardened from the 1999-2000 war with neighboring Eritrea and from the struggle to topple Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991. They and allies number up to 250,000 fighters and possess significant stocks of military hardware, according to the International Crisis Group think-tank. Tigrayans say Abiy’s government has unfairly targeted them as part of a crackdown on past rights abuses and corruption. All-out war would damage Ethiopia’s economy after years of steady growth. Abiy has pledged sweeping reforms to open lucrative sectors such as telecommunications to foreign investment. See the full article and access the videos here. Al Jazeera © 2020

Sources say clandestine discussions have been going on for two months in neighbouring Oman, news agency says. The UN estimates 22.2 million Yemenis are in desperate need of assistance [Yahya Arhab/EPA-EFE] Saudi officials and Houthi rebels have held months of secret talks on ending Yemen's devastating three-year war, according to a news report. The warring parties discussed ways to halt the conflict that has left 22 million Yemenis in dire need of humanitarian assistance, diplomats and Yemeni officials told Reuters news agency on Thursday. The war has killed an estimated 10,000 people, left millions facing famine, and initiated a major outbreak of disease. The sources - speaking on condition of anonymity - said Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdul-Salam had met Saudi officials in neighbouring Oman. "There are consultations between the Houthis and the Saudis, without a representative of the internationally recognised government, and it is clear that there is a desire of the Houthis and the coalition to go toward a comprehensive agreement," a diplomat was quoted as saying. Wrap it up The resolution of the conflict would begin with a truce that would halt fighting and allow the negotiation of a definitive peace deal that accounts for the interests of both sides, sources said. The diplomats told Reuters the talks have been going on for two months. The negotiations follow previous mediation efforts between the Yemeni government and the Houthis that were held in Kuwait in 2016. Both sides have yet to comment on the news report. Saudi Arabia, which is leading a military coalition against the rebels, launched its intervention in Yemen to reinstate the internationally recognised government of President Abu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Coalition air attacks have failed to bring about any real change on the battleground where Houthis continue to control the capital, Sanaa, and most of northern Yemen. Thousands of Saudi-led air attacks have killed hundreds of Yemeni civilians. Coalition forces have made modest territorial gains, but appear far from seizing back the capital from seasoned fighters. With no victory in sight, and as the war pushes the country towards famine, Saudi officials - including the powerful Crown Prince and Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman - have expressed a desire to wrap up the conflict. 'Devastating' conditions The UN Security Council said on Thursday that 22.2 million people - of a 27.5 million Yemenis - are in need of humanitarian assistance, a 3.4 million jump compared with last year. The council expressed concern over indiscriminate attacks on densely populated areas that have led to high civilian casualties and significant damage to civilian infrastructure. "The Security Council expresses its grave concern at the continued deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Yemen, and the devastating humanitarian impact of the conflict on civilians," it said in a statement. The UNSC called on all parties to "respect and protect schools, medical facilities, and personnel". It also denounced the use of schools by rebels as arms depots and condemned "in the strongest possible terms" ballistic missile attacks by the Houthis on Riyadh in November and December 2017. (c) 2018 Al Jeezera