Colombia's army commander General Mario Montoya speaks to the media in Bogota, November 4, 2008. REUTERS/Jose Miguel Gomez/File Photo BOGOTA, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Colombia's attorney general's office will charge former army commander General Mario Montoya for responsibility of 104 extrajudicial executions, as part of the "false positives" scandal, it said on Sunday. The false positives took place between 2002 and 2008, during the term of ex-President Alvaro Uribe, when soldiers murdered civilians and registered them as guerrilla fighters killed in combat to receive benefits. The country's transitional justice court (JEP) says at least 6,402 people were killed this way, but some victims' groups allege the numbers could be higher. The accusations against Montoya, who is retired, relate to killings that took place from November 2007 and November 2008, including the deaths of five minors. Despite orders from the defense ministry and military command to prioritize captures, Montoya, 72, did not pass them on and continued to incentivize combat deaths, for which he will be charged with multiple counts of aggravated homicide, the attorney general's office said. "He continued to evaluate commanders by number of reported combat deaths," said an attorney general's office document seen by Reuters. "General Montoya continued to exert pressure on all the country's commanders to comply with his policy of operational results, in which combat deaths were the only criteria for evaluating the campaign," the document added. Montoya has previously denied committing the crimes he is accused of, while his lawyer, Andres Garzon, told local press the case is being investigated by the JEP and is therefore outside the attorney general's jurisdiction. Montoya, who remains free, was commander of Colombia's army between 2006 and 2008. He submitted himself to the JEP in 2018. Dozens of army officials have been arrested and convicted of involvement in the killings, with some appearing before the JEP to testify and receive lighter sentences than they would under the ordinary justice system. The JEP was created under a 2016 peace deal to prosecute former members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels and military leaders for alleged war crimes. Under the ordinary justice system Montoya could be sentenced to up to 50 years in prison, but under the JEP he could receive a sentence of between five and eight years, which would not be served in prison. Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Lisa Shumkaer © Copyright 2021 Reuters

By AFP Farmers find a shelter on the road between Adre and Farchana in the region of Ouaddai [File: Amaury Hauchard/AFP] Fighting between farmers and herders has left 22 dead in central Chad, authorities said on Sunday. “The conflict was sparked by a land dispute between the two communities, with one side wanting to move in and the other wanting to stop them,” Amina Kodjiana, governor of Hadjer-Lamis province, told AFP. She said that the fighting, which broke out on Saturday, pitted sedentary Boulala people against Arab nomads in the village of Zohana, 200 kilometres (120 miles) east of the capital N’Djamena. Another 18 people were wounded, she said. Government spokesman Abdramane Koulamallah said troops were deployed to “maintain order”. Intercommunal violence is common in central and southern Chad, where many inhabitants have weapons. Tensions between indigenous settled farmers and nomadic Arab herders in the arid Sahel have simmered for years, occasionally erupting into deadly clashes. Most of the violence follows a similar script: herders, sometimes crossing the border from Sudan, drive their stock on to farmers’ fields, damaging crops and sparking a confrontation between the communities. “We have prevailed upon the traditional chiefs of the two communities to bring a definitive end to this recurrent conflict,” Kodjiana said. Koulamallah said the authorities moved to “totally disarm the civilians”, adding that the “belligerents have reconciled their differences and calm has fully returned to the area.” © 2021 Dhaka Tribune. 2A Media Limited.

Image Source In 1915, the Ottoman Empire under the ruling Committee of Union and Progress embarked on a systematic campaign of genocide against the Assyrian and Chaldean Christians living in eastern Anatolia, northern Iraq, and western Persia. 200,000 are believed to have been killed with thousands more displaced. August 7th marks the commemoration of the Assyrian Genocide, as well as the continued persecution of the Assyrian communities to this day. Genocide Watch recognizes the Ottoman Empire's genocidal campaign against the Assyrian, Chaldean, and Aramaic communities and condemns Turkey's continued denial of the genocide to this day. For more information on the Assyrian Genocide please see Genocide Watch's information handout on the Assyrian Genocide.

A residence burned in Jebbu-Miango, Plateau State, Nigeria the night of July 31, 2021. (Masara Kim) Joint Terror Attacks Kill Scores in Nigeria Amid Charges Authorities Stood Down By Lawrence Zongo The gunmen came after dark and killed residents with impunity for hours, according to Aya Bitrus, who narrowly escaped death from the Muslim terrorists. “They entered our villages after dark shouting “Allahu Akbar” [Allah is great]. I heard and saw more than 200 Fulani with guns and machetes. They were speaking Fulani and Hausa language,” Bitrus said. “My friend was killed, he couldn’t escape, he couldn’t run, he is a cripple. I can’t say how I escaped, it was God that saved my life,” Bitrus said. Armed terrorists in Nigeria’s Plateau State killed 45 defenseless farmers, burned more than a dozen villages, and displaced 27,000 even as military and police stood by, eyewitnesses said. “The attack was carried out for several hours without any form of intervention from men of Operation Safe Haven in Jos to curtail it,” said Malison Davidson, National Publicity Secretary of Irigwe Development Association in a press statement after the night attack West of Miango town, 12 miles West of Jos. The armed killers, armed with AK 47 rifles, were 500 strong and stayed for hours the evening of July 31 from 7 p.m. to after midnight without military intervention, said Malison. The same mass of terrorists likely struck again early Monday morning in a set of villages 25 miles west of Jos, according to witnesses reached by cell phone. “We loudly call on the authorities to stop these acts of terrorism being inflicted on the Irigwe Nation. We want to reiterate that it is nothing less than genocide on the Irigwe people. This cannot be ignored. We will end it by all legal means,” said Davidson. Davidson confirmed that raiders of villages near Miango killed 7, wounded 9, and burned down 275 houses, leaving 7,000 people homeless. A follow-up attack on 9 villages in the neighboring district of Kwall, lasted 6 hours and took the lives of 38 more people, according to survivors. The center of the Kwall District Monday afternoon filled up with terrified displaced people numbering 20,000, chiefly women and children. Initial unconfirmed reports from Kwall indicate that a Nigerian soldier was killed there Monday. “They were after my life because I am no longer a Muslim,” said Pastor Adamu Musa, a convert from Islam who was wounded by bullets to his arm, hand, and hip. “I forgive them, but I want them to accept Christ,” Musa said in a hospital bed at Enos Hospital in Miango.” “Christians should unite and defend themselves, but pray for each other more. I am happy that I am alive to preach the gospel of Jesus,” he said. Pastor Adamu Musa, shot during a terrorist attack in Jebbu Miango, Plateau State, Nigeria. (Lawrence Zongo) Detailed warnings of the attacks were shared widely two days in advance. “Information is right now indicating different locations where Fulani militias are gathering for massive attacks on the Plateau particularly on Miango, Kwall, and Fobur and its neighboring villages. They have mobilized from neighboring states. Some are camped at the bushes of Lere, Damakasuwa, Fadan Chawai, and Zagun areas” according to an alert sent to the Religious Freedom Coalition in Virginia, which operates an orphanage in Miango. Reactions from human rights specialists in Washington and Nigeria were swift. “These Fulani jihadist attacks are classic examples of both forced displacement and genocide,” wrote Gregory Stanton, the founding president of Genocide Watch. “The Fulani jihadists are taking over large swathes of Nigeria to make the areas Fulani. That is forced displacement. The massacres intentionally target substantial parts of other ethnic and religious groups. That is genocide. “The fact that these attacks happened over two days after explicit warnings to the Nigerian Army’s Third Division, and were within three miles of its large Army base in Jos, is proof that the Nigerian government and Nigerian Army are complicit in this Fulani jihad. “Meanwhile, the American Embassy in Nigeria has made no protest and issued no comment. The American Ambassador, Mary Beth Leonard, regularly has tea with Fulani leaders. Leonard is in full denial about this genocide. Mary Beth Leonard is the April Glaspie of Nigeria,” Stanton said. (Ambassador April Glaspie came under fire for reportedly telling Saddam Hussein that the United States was unlikely to intervene if Saddam sent Iraqi forces into Kuwait.) “I am deeply saddened by the killings and atrocities that have taken place in Miango land over the past two weeks,” said Dr. Obadiah Mailafia, former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.” “There is a rhyme and pattern to the atrocities. They aim to kill, maim and demoralize. They aim to drive the indigenous people out of their ancestral homeland, with the intent to take over and dispossess them of their ancestral lands,” Mailafia wrote. “The silence of the federal authorities on this crisis is so loud that it is becoming deafening. The silence can only mean one thing—approval and acquiescence to evil,” he wrote. Displaced persons walking out of Jebbu Miango, Plateau State, Nigeria, on the morning of Aug. 1, 2021. (Lawrence Zongo) The Plateau state police commissioner, Mr. Edward Egbuka, arrived at the community around 9:45 am with more than 50 Police officers in 11 vans. His men were taking pictures of burnt houses. But he could not say the actual number of people killed and burnt houses published in a TVC News report. “The report from Nigeria Army and Nigeria military is false and fake,” said a clergyman from Miango District who declined to give his name for fear of retaliation. “The Military has been compromising with the Fulani jihadists for a long [time]." "Despite the presence of mobile police officers, 7 people were killed, and houses were burnt, including houses of my kinsmen,” he said. “The Federal Government should remove Maj. Gen. I.S. Ali, commander of the 3rd Armored Division of the Nigeria Army and Commander of Operation Safe Haven. He is the blood brother of the commander of the Fulani militias.” Commissioner Egbuka left calls and text messages unanswered. However, the public relations officer for the police said Monday that the police were on top of the situation. “Officer Ubah Ogaba, the Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Plateau command, confirmed the incident to newsmen, and said that the command had since deployed its personnel to the area to ensure law and order,” according to a media report. “The Police are on top of the situation. More personnel have been deployed to the area. An investigation is also ongoing to bring the perpetrators to book,” he reportedly said. [Genocide Watch comment: Despite credible warnings days before Fulani jihadist attacks, the Nigerian Army and Police always seem to arrive only after Fulani genocidal massacres are over.] Published by courtesy of Douglas Burton

A conversation with Helen Jarvis, a genocide scholar and tribunal stalwart. Helen Jarvis Credit ...Luke Hunt The Khmer Rouge tribunal is expected to hold its last public hearings starting from August 16, when the former head of state, Khieu Samphan – the last of Pol Pot’s living henchmen – is slated to appear and deliver an oral defense of the crimes committed between 1975 and 1979. A bench of Cambodian and international judges will then deliberate on the 90-year-old’s appeal against his convictions for genocide and crimes against humanity. Nine days have been reserved for the hearings, following which the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) will start finalizing more than 15 years of legal work. The Diplomat’s Luke Hunt spoke with Helen Jarvis at her home on the banks of the Mekong River, north of Phnom Penh, about the “Herculean” efforts required to establish the tribunal, its successes, and other issues. Jarvis served as chief of the Public Affairs Section from the ECCC’s inception until June 2009 and then as head of the Victims Support Section until her retirement a year later. She has since worked as a genocide scholar and says the U.N.-backed court has achieved its aims of putting senior Khmer Rouge leaders on trial for the deaths of up to 2.3 million people and of putting their crimes on the international record to be recognized by future generations. The ECCC has also secured convictions against the former commandant of the S21 torture and extermination center Kaing Guek Eav – commonly known as Duch – and former “brother number two” Nuon Chea. Both died behind bars. Others, including Pol Pot’s former foreign minister Ieng Sary, Sary’s wife Ieng Thirith, and the former military chief Ta Mok, died before justice could be rendered. Outstanding cases are also expected to be dealt with, including former commanders Meas Muth and Yim Tith, which remain in a legal limbo with Cambodian and international prosecutors divided over whether to proceed. Jarvis was recently the recipient of the 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Association of Genocide Scholars, for her “deep commitment and myriad intellectual and political accomplishments, including a principal role in the formation of the ECCC.” She also co-authored the book “Getting Away with Genocide,” written with journalist Tom Fawthrop. Luke Hunt is a Southeast Asia correspondent for The Diplomat and has worked in journalism for more than 25 years. Follow him on Patreon and on Twitter @lukeanthonyhunt.

…ten million uprooted in the North, six million forced to flee, four million displaced, 29,000 Muslims killed and 2000 Christian schools lost Intersociety, Nigeria: Wednesday, 4th August 2021: The total number of ‘direct’ Christian deaths since 2009 or from July 2009 to July 2021; a period of twelve years, is independently put at no fewer than 43,000. The figure arises from the total jihadist killing of not less than 72,000 defenseless citizens. The killings emanated from the propagation of radical Islamism in Nigeria. The total number of moderate Muslims killed by the Jihadists since the same July 2009 is independently put at 29,000. Of the no fewer than 43,000 Christian deaths, 20% or over 8,600 deaths are members of the Church of Brethren in Nigeria or EYN. The 43,000 Christian deaths occurred following systematic and coordinated attacks majorly targeted at Christians by radical Islamists or Islamic Jihadists and their collaborators (‘esprit de jihad’) in the Nigerian security forces. The Nigerian Jihadists also target moderate Muslims as punishments for those collaborating with the ‘unbelievers’ or in revenge for state actor attacks against their targets, or for purpose of enforcement of Islamic Sharia law or code. Islamic Jihadists in the Nigerian security forces have been responsible for at least 18,500 Christian deaths arising from enforced disappearances, or those abducted and most unlikely to return alive. The 18,500 jihadist captivity slain Christians are out of an estimated total of 26,000 of such deaths since 2009, put by a UN Agency in 2019 at “22,500”. The total number of Nigerians abducted by the Jihadists since 2009 is put at 36,000, out of which 18,500 are Christians who are most unlikely to return alive. While most of the Muslims abducted by Jihadists in Nigeria are later released unconditionally to their families, most of their Christian counterparts are killed in captivity or forcefully converted to Islam. A typical case in point was the abduction of 276 Chibok Girls by Boko Haram on 14-15 April 2014. 217 of them belonging to the Church of Brethren in Nigeria (EYN) are still held and have been forcefully converted to Islam and married off by the Jihadists. The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law is a leading research and investigative rights group since 2008 and has monitored, investigated, documented and exposed religious persecution and other forms of religious violence by state and non-state actors across Nigeria and beyond since 2010. Intersociety is also a strong exponent of international religious freedom or belief and has globally provided researched, investigated and reliable data on the situation of Christians in Nigeria and beyond. We have also risen severally in a strong defence and spoken out in favour of the persecuted minority Muslims especially the Shiites or Islamic Movement in Nigeria or IMN. Our data are gathered through verified information from the victims, eyewitnesses, interviews, media tracking and analysis, independent evidence including credible local and international reports, closed or state actor sources, etc. This latest updated report of ours is derived from our previous reports and local and international reports exposing violence against Christians in Nigeria and included are fresh findings from verified media reports and survivors and eyewitnesses. We had also on 18th July 2021 issued a special report stating that ‘in first 200 days of 2021 or 1st Jan to 18th July 2021, no fewer than 3,462 Christians were hacked to death by Islamic Jihadists and their collaborators in the Nigerian security forces and that ‘3000 Christians were also abducted, 300 churches attacked and ten priests abducted or killed. It is our updated finding that in the last 13 days of July and the first four days of August 2021, Jihadists especially the Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen have killed 150-200 Christians in Plateau, Benue, Southern Kaduna and the Enugu States. The link to our special report of 18th July 2021 is here: https://intersociety-ng.org/an-international-report-3462-christians-hacked-to-death-by-nigerian-jihadists-in-200-days-3000-abducted-300-churches-and-ten-priests-attacked/ Atrocities Of The Jihadists Against Nigerian Christians: The atrocities of the Jihadists directed at Christians and their properties including homes, worship and learning centers; ancestral lands, farmlands, forests and bushes include: massacres, killings, mutilations, slitting of throats and wombs, beheadings, torture, maiming, abductions, hostage-taking, rape, girl-child defilements, forced marriages, disappearances, extortions, forceful conversions and destruction or burning of homes and sacred worship and learning centers as well as the forceful occupation of farmlands, destruction and forceful harvesting of farm crops and other internationally prohibited acts. 10 Million Christians Uprooted In The North, Six Million Fled & Four Million IDPs Generated: In the same past twelve years, it was also independently found that no fewer than 30 million Christians especially in Northern Nigeria were threatened and ten million of them have been uprooted, six million forced to flee their homes or geopolitical locations to avoid being hacked to death and over four million displaced and became IDPs; and out of the four million Christian IDPs, over one million are found in Benue State and 1.3m in the ‘BAY’ States of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, excluding Taraba. Tens of thousands of Christians especially the educated and the rich from Northern Nigeria have become ‘urban refugees’, asylum seekers and refugees at international borders and foreign countries, so as to escape being hacked to death or decapitated by the Jihadists. ‘Indirect’ deaths arising from the jihadist attacks in the country since July 2009 are in hundreds of thousands and Christians are the most affected including being the most brutally targeted and attacked. The ‘indirect’ jihadist fatalities arose from the outlawed military and jihadist groups’ bombings and killings arising from torture and custodial killings and enforced disappearances as well as other deaths caused by starvation, lack of adequate medical facilities and treatments, etc. 17,500 Churches And 2000 Christian Schools Attacked: In the past twelve years or July 2009 to July 2021, at least 17,500 churches and 2000 Christian schools and other learning centers have been attacked by the Jihadists and destroyed in part or in whole, or burned or razed down. In the past seven months of 2021, for instance, the number of churches threatened or attacked and destroyed or burned down has risen to over 300 and from July 2009 to July 2021, no fewer than 17,500 churches and 2000 Christian schools have been affected. The number of Mosques and Islamic learning centers attacked by the Jihadists is minutely insignificant and acutely disproportionate when compared with the number of churches or Christian schools attacked. While attacks on symbols of worship by Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen and Jihadist Fulani Bandits are 100 percent targeted at churches and Christian schools, those perpetrated by BH, ISWAP, Ansaru and others are mostly directed at churches and Christian schools with an insignificant percent directed at Mosques and Islamic learning centers. Corroborative Open Doors (USA) Report: 2015: According to Ms. Anna Mulder of the US-based Open Doors, “between July 2009 and Dec 2014, a period of five years, BH killed 11,000-11,500 Christians in Northern Nigeria, forced 1.6m to flee their homes to avoid being hacked to death by the Jihadists who also burnt or destroyed 13,500 churches and 1,500 Christian schools”. It has been further found, independently, that between Jan 2015 and July 2021, a period of six years and seven months, over 4000 more churches and 500 Christian schools have been attacked and destroyed or burnt in part or in whole by the Jihadists. While BH attacks on churches and Christian schools, from 2009 to 2014 were majorly launched and carried out in Plateau, Kano, Kaduna, FCT, Taraba, Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Gombe and the Bauchi States; the recent attacks especially by Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen have been targeted on Christian areas in Plateau, Benue, Southern Kaduna, Taraba, Adamawa, Niger and the Kastina States. Over 500 Christian Communities Uprooted Since 2009: No fewer than 500 Christian communities have uprooted and seized or taken over, renamed and Islamized by the Jihadists since 2009. BH, ISWAP and Ansaru and Jihadist Fulani Bandits have forced Christians out of their ancestral homes and communities in Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, Gombe, Bauchi, Taraba, Kastina, Sokoto and the Niger States, Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen have sacked hundreds of Christian communities in Plateau, Southern Kaduna, Benue, Taraba and the Adamawa States. Over 100 communities have been affected in Southern Kaduna alone and in Benue, Plateau and Taraba States, Christian homes, churches and settlements have been destroyed or burnt beyond recognition and replaced or replacing them with Mosques and Muslim settlements. In all these, Borno, Taraba, Adamawa, Plateau, Southern Kaduna and the Benue States are the worst hit. For instance, indigenous Christians used to be dominant in Southern Borno, Southern Kebbi, Northern Adamawa, and parts of Gpmbe, 40% in the entire Kaduna and over 80% in Southern part of the State, 80% in Plateau, over 90% in Benue and 60% in Taraba. They are also found in their large numbers in at least five Local Government Areas of Niger State including Shiroro, Munya and Rafi. But since 2009 till this date, those Christians and their settlements have faced threats of annihilation in the hands of the Nigerian Government and its security forces protected Jihadists. Over 80% of fertile farmlands ancestrally owned by indigenous Christians across the country have also been brutally attacked or occupied, leading to country-wide chronic food shortages and galloping increases in their prices. In the ancestral Igbo Lands of Benue, Kogi, Delta, Edo, Rivers, Anambra, Imo, Ebonyi, Enugu and the Abia States, Intersociety’s recent research had found that no fewer than 700 forests, bushes and farmlands have been threatened, or attacked, or occupied by the Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen since 2016. Killing Of 43,000 Christians In 12 Years: Yearly Breakdown: Out of independently estimated total ‘direct deaths’ of over 72,000 defenceless Nigerian citizens in the hands of Islamic Jihadists and their ‘esprit de jihad’ in the country’s security forces since 2009, 43,000 Christians have died involving: Boko Haram (BH), ISWAP and Ansaru 18,000-18,500 Christian deaths, Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen 18,500-19,000 Christian deaths and others 5,500-6000 Christian deaths. Of the 5,500 Christian deaths by security forces and Jihadist Fulani Bandits, Nigerian security forces accounted for 2000-2,500 Christian deaths while Jihadist Fulani Bandits (formed in Zamfara State in 2011) took responsibility for 3,500 Christian deaths. In other words, from July 2009 to Dec 2014, BH killed 11,500 Christians and from Jan 2015 to July 2021, the Jihadist Terror Group, joined by ISWAP and Ansaru killed additional 7000 Christians. Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen, on their part, killed 6500 Christians from Jan 2010 to June 2015 (a period of five and half years) including 1,229 Christians killed in 2014 and 1,300 Christians killed in 2015; and from June 2015 to July 2021, a period of six years, the Government protected jihadist cattle herders had attacked and massacred 12,5000 Christians. Further Analysis: Further breakdown, going by our previous reports and investigated others indicated that Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen attacked and killed 650 Christians June-Dec 2015; 1,700 Christians in 2016; 2000 Christians in 2017; 2,400 Christians in 2018; about 1200 Christians in 2019; more than 2,400-2500, out of 3,530 total Christian deaths in 2020; and 2100 Christians from Jan to 4th August 2021-totaling 12,500 Christians killed by Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen alone since the inception of the present Central Government. The above statistical breakdown and analysis also indicated that Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen's killings doubled from Jan 2010 to June 2015, a period of five and half years with 6,500 Christian deaths; to 12,500 Christian deaths from June 2015 to July/4th August 2021, a period of six years. Boko Haram Jihadists, on their part, killed more Christians (11,500 Christian deaths) from July 2009 to June 2015, a period of six years, than they (including ISWAP, Ansaru and others) have killed (7,000 Christians) from July 2015 to July/4th August 2021, a period of six years. Signed: For: International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Nigeria) Researched & Compiled By: Emeka UmeagbalasI Criminologist & Graduate of Security Studies M.Sc., Peace Studies & Conflict Resolution Board Chair @ Intersociety (Nigeria) Assisted By: Ndidiamaka Catherine Bernard, Esq., LLB, BL, LLM (ICT Law) Head, Int’l Justice & Human Rights @ Intersociety Chidimma Evangeline Udegbunam, Esq., LLB, BL Head, Campaign & Publicity @ Intersociety Comrade Samuel Kamanyaoku Head, Field Data Collection & Documentation @ Intersociety Japheth Phoebe Atsukwei Yaji (Ms) Research Assistant @ Intersociety, Bali, Taraba State Copyright © 2021 InterSociety

Chadian soldiers were attacked while patrolling the volatile Lake Chad region. Both Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) are active in the area. Chadian soldiers have previously helped fight against Boko Haram in neighboring Nigeria. AFP | Getty Images At least 26 Chadian soldiers were killed after they were reportedly ambushed by jihadis while on patrol in the volatile Lake Chad region, the Chadian military said Thursday. "Twenty-six members of the Chadian army fell on the field of honor, 14 others have been wounded, including eight seriously," army spokesperson General Azem Bermandoa Agouna said. "Several terrorists were neutralized and cleanup operations continue." The attack reportedly took place on Wednesday at the Lake Chad island of Tchoukou Telia. Which group could be behind the attack? The military blames Islamic fundamentalist group Boko Haram for the attack, but the region is also home to a rival splinter group called the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). Lake Chad borders: Chad, Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon. Boko Haram began its insurgency in 2009 in northeastern Nigeria and gained a notorious reputation for its mass kidnapping of schoolgirls. The group later expanded its operations to neighboring countries. ISWAP has fought Boko Haram over territory in the region. After Boko Haram leader Abubaker Shekau died in May, a video showed Boko Haram members switching their allegiance to ISWAP. According to the UN, some 30,000 people have died since the beginning of Boko Haram's 12-year insurgency. The fighting has displaced millions of people. Former Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno ordered an extensive military offensive in April 2020 against Boko Haram after around 100 Chadian soldiers were killed in the region. Chadian troops pursued the militants in Nigeria and Niger as part of the "Wrath of Bomo" operation, killing roughly 1,000 Boko Haram militants. Idriss Deby died in April while fighting against antigovernment militants, with his son, Mahamat Deby, becoming the country's de facto interim president. Mahamat Deby has vowed payback for Wednesday's attack. © 2021 Deutsche Welle

Burned out home in Bishara, Kaduna State, Nigeria KADUNA – Having mowed down large swaths of ripe crops in the predawn on Tuesday morning, armed assailants stormed into four villages in Southern Kaduna State, Central Nigeria, killing 22 and burning down 134 houses, according to Kaduna State Police. Kaduna State shares a border with Plateau State to its east. The area is in the Chawai Chiefdom and is approximately 140 miles east of Kaduna, the capital city of Kaduna state. "These attacks are likely a spillover of the violence from neighboring Bassa LGA of Plateau state," Kaduna State Police Command Spokesman, (ASP) Mohammed Jalige told our reporter in Kaduna Tuesday afternoon. "This is sad. I have asked my counterpart in Plateau state to furnish me with what happened in Bassa LGA to help us reach an understanding of what happened in Chawai, in this part of Kaduna state. But our men are on the ground and the situation is now under control," he said. “These attacks in both Kaduna and Plateau State are not random, nor are they fresh targets of Fulani militants,” according to Kyle Abts, co-founder of the International Committee on Nigeria (ICON). “Each village has been attacked in recent weeks, months and years. The security forces and government have to know that this is a systematic onslaught by these marauders who are endeavoring to destroy not only homes, communities and farmlands, but most importantly lives,” wrote Abts. The Irigwe of Miango District, Bassa LGA of Plateau state, which shares a hilly border with Chawai Chiefdom, suffered a series of deadly attacks in the past three days after several hectares of their farmlands were destroyed by armed Fulani herdsmen, as widely reported in Nigeria media. The President of Southern Kaduna People's Union (SOKAPU), Hon. Jonathan Asake - a former member of Nigeria's House of Representatives who leads the umbrella body of the 67 ethnic nationalities of Southern Kaduna, said that 27 persons were killed, hundreds of homes were burnt, and scores of farms bearing different types of grains and root crops were destroyed by the attackers last night. "SOKAPU has continuously insisted that there is an ongoing genocide in Southern Kaduna targeted at indigenous Christians. The aim is to force us to abandon our faith and to intimidate us into leaving our ancestral lands for occupation by the armed Fulani herdsmen," he said. "Some of the attacked villages, like Kigam and Unguwan Magaji have been attacked at least three times in the past six years, with mass graves where scores were buried as proof of what we are saying. Not a single church or school is left standing. Not a single herdsman has been apprehended all these years," he said. "The Kaduna State government and the Federal Government are blind to these attacks. The larger world, especially the western media, do not believe that these mass murders are worth reporting," he lamented. A survivor, Markus Joseph, from Unguwan Magaji, spoke from his hospital bed and asked that his location should not be mentioned. He said that he missed being killed only by luck. "We had been informed that they were on their way to Chawai Chiefdom after fleeing from the Rikwe in Bassa LGA of Plateau state," he said. "We have no weapons other than our locally fabricated shotguns loaded with lead balls or shrapnel, and machetes, spears and stones," he said. "We laid an ambush for them and waited all through the night," he said. "Then by around 3 am, their cattle were the first to arrive; large numbers of them,'' he said. "It was dark, and we could not make out if they were hiding among their cows, but we waited to be sure," he said. "Then we heard gunshots from ahead of the cows. That means that some of them were hiding among the cattle. They reached our village without being spotted," he said. "As we were retreating back to the village, some of them started to fire at us from the rear end of the herd of cattle," he said. "I fired back and started loading the shotgun again. Then I was hit twice on my right thigh and one bullet broke my bones," he said. 'I ran for a short distance, then I crawled into the bush, and I was bleeding very badly," he said. "The last thing I saw was fire from the village and I heard women and children screaming. Then I passed out," he said. He woke up to sharp pain and discovered that he was being carried into an open-back truck. It was morning. "I was told that nothing was standing in my family compound and that three of my relatives were among those that were killed," he said. According to the SOKAPU President, Jonathan Asake, in Ungwan Magaji, where Joseph comes from, five people were killed. Timothy Auta was still missing Tuesday afternoon. 76 houses were burnt. He said that about 20 hectares of maize, rice, millet, and other crops were destroyed by the rampaging herds of cattle or were chopped down with machetes in the village. "At Kikoba-Sama village, six people were killed, and 45 houses burnt, and 16 hectares of farms left wasted," he said, adding that another five persons were left dead by the invaders at Kigam village. At Kishisho village six were killed and 23 hectares of farmlands were ravaged by the invaders. "At least 90 houses were burnt in Kishoho village," he said. A Fulani leader spoke on grounds of anonymity. He said that the Fulani herdsmen were carrying out reprisal attacks on all the Christian villages of southern Kaduna state who had chased them away from living among them because of attacks by Fulani militias. "They forgot that we are supposed to live as brothers and sisters. Most of us were born and raised among them. "They have burned our huts and stolen our cattle and chased us away since 2012," he said. "Now if we don't return, they, too, won't have a place to live." This report is published courtesy of Douglas Burton.

Rights Groups Urge AU to Deliver on Commitments for Accountability Civilians fleeing Kajo Keji county, toward the southern border with Uganda, April 2017. © 2017 Jason Patinkin (Nairobi) – The African Union Commission’s failure to advance justice for the countless victims of atrocities in South Sudan raises concerns about the regional body’s commitment to accountability, 34 South Sudanese, regional, and international rights organizations said in a letter to the AU Commission released today. The South Sudanese government, after years of delay, announced on January 29, 2021 that it had approved the establishment of the Hybrid Court for South Sudan, along with truth telling and compensation mechanisms, provided for under the 2018 Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan, which ended the country’s brutal civil war. The AU Commission chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat, welcomed the statement and promised to work with the government to create the court. But six months on, the rights groups said they have found no evidence of any concrete action taken, and the AU has not responded to their June 14 letter. The people of South Sudan “entrusted the AU to ensure that justice is delivered and contributes to ending the culture of impunity,” the groups said in the letter. “The AU’s apparent inaction raises serious questions about the AU’s credibility not only in atrocity prevention in South Sudan, but across the African continent where many are looking to you for justice.” The AU’s 2014 Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan recommended the creation of “an Africa-led, Africa-owned, Africa-resourced legal mechanism under the aegis of the African Union,” which would include South Sudanese judges and lawyers, to bring justice for international crimes committed during South Sudan’s conflict. The AU also released a Transitional Justice Policy in 2019 that provides for justice and accountability for international crimes alongside other non-criminal measures to help rebuild societies that have suffered widespread violence, such as South Sudan. In 2015, the US government committed US$5 million to the AU to help set up the Hybrid Court for South Sudan. After several years, during which the AU did not use the majority of the funds, the US State Department confirmed in July that an unused allocation of US$3.65 million would not be renewed. “The current paralysis undermines the notion of African solutions to African problems, and risks signaling that the AU is unable and unwilling to exert leadership where it matters most for the people whom the AU represents,” the groups said in the letter. “The adoption of the AU Transitional Justice Policy will be meaningless if the AU does not act when it has taken on a lead role in advancing accountability, as it did in South Sudan.” Human rights organizations have previously said that the AU Commission should work with the South Sudanese authorities on the court’s formation, but should also move ahead to establish the court if South Sudan’s authorities lag on needed steps, such as adoption of the court’s statute. This is consistent with the 2018 peace agreement, and the earlier 2015 peace agreement, which provides for the AU Commission to establish the court. The AU should confirm publicly that it remains committed to creating the hybrid court and providing a credible roadmap and timeline. South Sudanese, African, and international organizations “reiterate that it is incumbent on the AU Commission … to take immediate action to show that it remains committed to the inherent right of the people of South Sudan to have justice,” the groups said in the letter. © 2021 Human Rights Watch

GENEVA / BANGUI (4 August 2021) -- A UN report published today details the dire and worsening human rights situation over the past year in the Central African Republic (CAR), where armed groups carried out a violent bid to disrupt elections. In response, the country's defence and security forces launched military operations to retake territory from them. In this January 5, 2021 file photo, a patrol of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) secures a roundabout in Bangui. © Florent Vergnes, AFP The joint report by the UN Human Rights Office and MINUSCA, the UN Mission in CAR, covers the period from July 2020 to June 2021 in the context of the presidential poll, held in December 2020, and legislative elections, which took place in December 2020, and March and May 2021*. The Human Rights Division of MINUSCA documented 526 incidents of abuses and violations of human rights and international humanitarian law across the country during this period. These violations affected at least 1,221 victims, including 144 civilians or those hors de combat who were killed by the parties to the conflict. Among the documented abuses and violations are extrajudicial and summary killings, torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary arrests and detentions, unnecessary and disproportionate use of force, conflict-related sexual violence and serious violations against children, including their recruitment by parties to the conflict. In addition, the report notes that attacks and threats of attacks forced thousands of civilians to flee their homes. A coalition of armed groups, known as the CPC (Coalition des Patriotes pour le Changement), was responsible for over half of the documented incidents (54 per cent). The CPC killed and abducted civilians, attacked UN peacekeepers, looted the premises of humanitarian organisations, threatening their staff, and burned down polling stations. In one incident on 19 March, an armed group affiliated with the CPC killed three traders in Ouaka prefecture, after tying them up and torturing them. Their bodies were subsequently found with their voting cards tied around their necks. The Central African Armed Forces (FACA), Internal Security Forces (FSI) and other security personnel - including Russian military instructors deployed under an agreement between the Governments of CAR and the Russian Federation, and private military contractors operating in the country - were responsible for 46 per cent of the confirmed incidents. Credible evidence gathered by the MINUSCA Human Rights Division indicated that these other security personnel were involved in military training and actively participated in military operations, including arresting suspects, and inflicting inhumane treatment and torture on some of them. On a number of occasions and in different locations, they were also reportedly involved in extrajudicial killings. The Human Rights Division also confirmed an increase in attacks on members of the Muslim community by the FACA, FSI and other security personnel between February and June 2021. Further reports indicate that the deliberate targeting of Muslims over their alleged affiliation with armed groups was continuing. "All parties to the conflict are continuing to commit atrocities, amid a deteriorating security situation, particularly in the provinces. A political solution to this crisis and the full respect at all times of international humanitarian and human rights law by all parties to the conflict are the only viable path to a durable peace and sustainable development in CAR," said Mankeur Ndiaye, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of MINUSCA. The CAR Government has recently taken steps to promote and protect human rights, including the establishment of a special commission of inquiry on 4 May to investigate violations of international humanitarian and international human rights law linked to the elections. This, the report says, "represents a positive step toward accountability and in the fight against impunity". "Addressing past and current human rights violations in a manner meaningful to victims is essential to break the long and agonising cycle of violence in the Central African Republic," said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet. "To that end, there must be thorough, impartial and effective investigations into all alleged violations and abuses and those responsible must be held to account." In its recommendations, the report calls on armed groups to cease all attacks on the civilian population, including sexual violence and recruitment of children, and to re-engage in the peace process. The report further urges the Government to take appropriate measures to hold those responsible for human rights violations and abuses accountable and to create a protective environment for civilians and humanitarian workers. It also calls on the Government to ensure the FACA, FSI and other security personnel leave all civilian buildings, including schools and hospitals, which they have illegally occupied. The report also urges the international community to support the Government's efforts to tackle the long-standing culture of impunity in CAR and to provide the necessary support for the professionalization of the FACA and FSI to enable them to fulfil their primary role of protecting civilians and promoting and protecting their human rights at all times. Read the full report (in French) here © 2021 Relief Web all rights reserved.

Kyaw Moe Tun, who has defied regime attempts to sack him, tells UN it must take action over killings in remote Sagaing area. A protest in the Sagaing region this year against the military coup in Myanmar. It is alleged that troops tortured and killed dozens villagers in the region. Photograph: Facebook/AFP/Getty Images Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations, who has refused to leave his post despite being fired by the junta after the February coup, has alerted the world body to a “reported massacre” by the military. Kyaw Moe Tun sent a letter to the UN secretary general, António Guterres, on Tuesday saying 40 bodies had been found in July in the Sagaing area of north-western Myanmar. The junta has denied the massacre in the township of Kani, while news agencies have not been able to independently verify the reports due to mobile networks being cut in the remote region. The representative wrote that soldiers tortured and killed 16 men in a village in the township around 9-10 July, after which 10,000 residents fled the area. He said a further 13 bodies were discovered in the days after clashes between local fighters and security forces on 26 July. Kyaw Moe Tun added that another 11 men, including a 14-year-old boy, were killed and set on fire in a separate village on 28 July. In the letter, the ambassador repeated his call for an arms embargo on the ruling junta and “urgent humanitarian intervention” from the international community. “We cannot let the military keep on doing this kind of atrocity in Myanmar,” Kyaw Moe Tun said. “It is time for the UN, especially the UN security council, to take action.” It came as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) on Wednesday appointed an envoy to Myanmar after a months-long delay in diplomatic efforts to resolve the coup crisis. Asean’s foreign ministers said in a joint statement, delayed by internal wrangling, that they welcomed the appointment of Brunei second foreign minister, Erywan Yusof, as the bloc’s special envoy. Asean, which operates on a premise of consensus and non-interference, has been under global pressure to help resolve the crisis. The appointment of an envoy is expected to clear the way for Aseasn to send emergency aid to help authorities cope with a severe Covid-19 outbreak. Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army ousted the civilian leadership on 1 February, launching a crackdown on dissent that has killed hundreds of people. Kyaw Moe Tun has passionately rejected the coup and brushed aside the junta’s claims that he no longer represents Myanmar. The United Nations still considers him as the rightful envoy. The representative was sacked by the junta in February a day after he gave a three-finger salute at the UN general assembly following an impassioned speech calling for the return to civilian rule. The “Hunger Games” gesture was widely used by pro-democracy demonstrators. Kyaw Moe Tun, who has repeatedly called for international intervention to help end unrest in Myanmar, said on Wednesday that US authorities had boosted his security after an apparent threat was made against him. “There was a reported threat against me,” he said. “The police and the security authorities here in New York are working on it,” he added, without giving details about the nature of the threat. Myanmar’s junta chief said on Sunday elections would be held and a state of emergency lifted by August 2023, extending the military’s initial one-year timeline announced days after the coup. © 2021 Guardian News & Media Limited

Police open murder investigation after activist discovered in park after failing to return from a run By: Andrew Roth and Jon Henley Vitaly Shishov, the head of Belarusian House in Ukraine (BDU), which helps fleeing Belarusians, was found dead in Kyiv. Photograph: Instagram The head of a Kyiv-based non-profit organisation that helps Belarusians fleeing persecution has been found dead in a park in the Ukrainian capital, police have said, raising suspicion that he may have been murdered. Vitaly Shishov, the head of Belarusian House in Ukraine (BDU), was reported missing by his partner on Monday after he failed to return from a run and could not be reached on his mobile phone. “Belarusian citizen Vitaly Shishov, who had gone missing in Kyiv yesterday, was today found hanged in one of the Kyiv parks, not far from where he lived,” police said in a statement, adding that they had opened a murder investigation and would pursue all leads, including a possible “murder disguised as a suicide”. Friends and colleagues suspect Shishov was targeted for his opposition to the government of Alexander Lukashenko, which has launched a broad crackdown on the opposition in Belarus and begun a campaign to hunt down its members abroad. “There is no doubt that this was a planned operation by the [security services] to liquidate a Belarusian dangerous to the regime,” wrote his organisation BDU in a statement. “We will continue to seek the truth in Vitaly’s death!” BDU has called on supporters to rally outside the Belarusian embassy on Tuesday evening. Shishov had recently complained about being followed by strangers while jogging, the human rights organisation Viasna said on Telegram. “Vitaly was being followed,” BDU wrote, adding it had been warned that its members could be kidnapped or murdered. Shishov fled Belarus last year after protests erupted against Lukashenko over disputed presidential elections. Lukashenko’s main rivals have been imprisoned or have fled, while thousands of protesters have been arrested. Many said they have been tortured by their guards in jail. In Kyiv, Shishov helped fleeing Belarusians, who would often move to the Ukrainian capital or continue to other safe havens for dissidents in Poland or Lithuania. Shishkov also organised protests against Lukashenko’s regime, including one last week to mark the 31st anniversary of Belarus’s independence from the Soviet Union. According to his recent Facebook posts, he had collected money to restore a statue to Belarusians who had died during the 2014 Euromaidan revolution and fighting against Russian-backed forces in eastern Ukraine. “Devastated by the news of the death of the Belarusian activist,” wrote Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the opposition leader now in exile. She met the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, on Tuesday as she called for tougher international sanctions on Belarus. “It is worrying that those who flee Belarus still can’t be safe. I’m thankful to authorities for launching an investigation into this case.” Belarusian authorities have characterised anti-government protesters as criminals or violent revolutionaries backed by the west, describing the actions of law enforcement agencies as adequate and necessary. If Shishov’s death is declared a murder, it will raise further concerns about Belarus’s targeting of dissidents abroad despite the threat of sanctions from the west. Lukashenko drew international outrage in May by grounding a Ryanair jet in order to arrest a dissident journalist on board, prompting western countries to sanction dozens of Belarusian officials and sectors of the Belarusian economy. But that appears to have done little to prevent Lukashenko’s crackdown on dissent at home and abroad. This week a Belarusian athlete, Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, said she was forced to withdraw from the Tokyo Olympics and threatened with forced repatriation for criticising her coaches and the athletics federation on social media. Tsimanouskaya, who has received a humanitarian visa to Poland, has said she fears being jailed if she returns home. And opposition Belarusians in Russia have said they have been targeted for rendition, in some cases under suspicious circumstances that more closely resemble kidnappings than legal proceedings. In Kyiv, one dissident Belarusian media manager said he had warned his employees in the capital to stay in groups and avoid walking the streets alone at night. “In Poland, Lithuania and other countries, the Belarusian security services can’t really [act freely], but in Ukraine, they’re definitely there,” he said. Shishov’s death came as Tsimanouskaya’s husband, Arseniy Zdanevich, told several news outlets that he had fled from Belarus and had arrived in Kyiv shortly before Shishov’s disappearance was announced. Zdanevich said he and his wife were planning to reunite soon. © Guardian News