In January 2017—as the Obama administration was cynically, if provisionally, lifting longstanding U.S. economic sanctions against the National Islamic Front/National Congress Party regime in Khartoum—Amnesty International was reporting on the increasingly frequent and brutal human rights abuses endured by Darfuri students in Sudanese universities, particularly in Khartoum and Omdurman: “UNINVESTIGATED, UNPUNISHED” | HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AGAINST DARFURI STUDENTS IN SUDAN | Amnesty International, January 2017 | https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/AFR5448482017ENGLISH.pdf (Excerpt from the Executive Summary below) Radio Dabanga has recently reported on two significant incidents that given heightened relevance to the findings of Amnesty’s report. None of this, however, seems to register with the current U.S. Charge d’Affaires in Khartoum, Steven Koutsis,whose chief recent tasks have been to utter soothing words to the Khartoum regime about the inevitability of a permanent lifting of U.S. economic and financial sanctions by the Trump administration come October. Koutsis seems either profoundly ignorant of the reasons the sanctions were originally imposed or simply mendacious. His comments about the origin of sanctions was first reported by Agence France-Presse (El Daien, East Darfur | June 24, 2017), but subsequently by many other news organizations. Referring to those expressing grave concern about Khartoum’s increasing repression and continuing violent suppression of political dissent, religious intolerance, its abysmal human rights record, and its continuing deployment of brutal militia forces in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan, Koutsis declared: “None of these other issues were the point of sanctions, and none of these other issues, therefore, should be linked to the lifting of sanctions.” Here Koutsis is so egregiously in error that we must question his basic diplomatic competence in dealing with the Khartoum regime. U.S. economic sanctions imposed by President Clinton in 1997 are explicit about why they were being imposed; in the Preface of his Executive Order, Clinton declared: The language here could hardly be clearer Steven Koutsis represents the Trump administration in Khartoum as senior U.S. Charge d’Affaires; he is either extraordinarily ignorant or a liar That the most serious human rights abuses continue to be common practices by the NIF/NCP regime throughout Sudan has been thoroughly documented by the world’s most distinguished human rights groups for over 28 years. Although for years Khartoum has allowed no independent human rights reporting in Sudan, Amnesty International and Human Rights have proved intrepid in securing interviews with witnesses inside Sudan and from those who have escaped. In addition to the January 2017 report on Human Rights Abuses Against Darfuri Students, we have as well: • “Mass Rape in Darfur: Sudanese Army Attacks Against Civilians in Tabit” | Human Rights Watch, February 11, 2015 | http://www.hrw.org/news/2015/02/11/sudan-mass-rape-army-darfur • “Men With No Mercy”: Rapid Support Forces Attacks Against Civilians in Darfur, Sudan,” Human Rights Watch | September 9, 2015 | https://www.hrw.org/report/2015/09/09/men-no-mercy/rapid-support-forces-attacks-against-civilians-darfur-sudan • “Scorched Earth, Poisoned Air: Sudanese Government Forces Ravage Jebel Marra, Darfur,” Amnesty International | 109 pages; released September 29, 2016 | http://www.amnestyusa.org/research/reports/scorched-earth-poisoned-air-sudanese-government-forces-ravage-jebel-marra-darfur Beyond this, we have the distinguished and relentless reporting by Sudan Tribune (Paris) and Radio Dabanga (Hilversum, The Netherlands). Recent dispatches from Radio Dabanga in particular give clear evidence of how telling the Amnesty report of January 2017 remains—and how despicable is the impending decision to lift sanctions on a regime that wages constant war on its own people and that is guilty of the worst human rights abuses, including serial genocide: • Two students die from wounds, third stabbed to death in Omdurman | Radio Dabanga | September 1, 2017 | OMDURMAN | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/student-stabbed-to-death-in-omdurman-dormitory (UPDATE 18:30) Ashraf El Hadi and Mohamed Ali Abdallah succumbed to their injuries they sustained during a clash in the dormitory of the Omdurman Islamic University on Thursday morning. This means the incident, which is being investigated, has caused the death of three students. One of the doctors who supervised Mohamed Ali in the Aliya hospital in Omdurman said this in an audio recording. Abdallah’s brain stopped working, according to the doctor. El Hadi died in the private military hospital in Omdurman. Stabbing Jaafar Mohamed Abdelbagi, nicknamed Jifara, was stabbed to death with a knife in his student dormitory in Omdurman on Thursday morning. Abdallah and El Hadi were the two other students who sustained injuries during the incident. The incident occurred in El Shigla dormitory of the Omdurman Islamic University, where the police arrived to force the students out with tear gas and beating them with batons. The man, also a student, suspected of the murder surrendered himself to the police. Investigations into the incident are ongoing. Abdelbagi was from South Darfur and studied at the Faculty of Commerce of El Nilein University. Yesterday two reports were circulated about the incident. The first report stated that the incident was caused by students supportive of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) who attacked Darfuri students in their rooms. Another report stated that it was a criminal incident resulting from personal differences. Yesterday, students told Radio Dabanga that at least two of the injured were Darfuri students who are receiving treatment in the hospital. • Mass demonstrations follow Sudanese student guilty verdict | Radio Dabanga | August 30, 2017 | KHARTOUM | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/mass-demos-after-sudanese-student-verdict Sudanese students took to the streets in the national capital of Khartoum yesterday in protest against a court verdict condemning Asim Omar, a student at Khartoum University who was on trial on capital charges for allegedly killing a policeman. The court has postponed the verdict several times, and opposition voices have called for Omar’s release. Answering a call by opposition forces, mass demonstrations broke out after the court ruled Omar guilty, which means he faced the death penalty. The demonstrations swept across El Soug El Arabi, with protestors carrying a picture of Omar and shouting slogans rejecting the court’s ruling (see videos and pictures below). The head of Omar’s defence team, Mohamed El Hafiz, said that the court postponed the final verdict to September 24 at the request of the defence and with the consent of the relatives of the deceased. El Hafiz described the ruling as “surprising and contrary to the estimates of the defence which expected an acquittal of the accused.” He said that the ruling was “full of flaws and mistakes and that the defence is studying and addressing it through the four litigation stages including review and then challenging the ruling before the Appeal and Constitutional Courts.” He asserts that “the defence has sufficient reasons to challenge the ruling.” He said aid that the testimony of the witnesses contradicted the investigation and trial, which is sufficient grounds for acquitting the accused. “The question of criminal intent contained in the ruling was not available, explaining that the defence considered that the person in question is not Omar and that the indictment has not provided technical proof or reports.” Amnesty and pardon El Hafiz said that the defence managed to talk with the relatives of the dead policeman who agreed to sit-down to discuss the possibility of amnesty and pardon. Hundreds of students demonstrated at the University of Khartoum in protest against the ruling against Omar amid unprecedented police and security crowds in front of the university. Student anger A student leader at the University of Khartoum told Radio Dabanga that a state of anger and indignation prevailed among the students because of the judge’s sentence of student Asim Omar for murder, which they considered as a clear targeting of students. He explained that a number of speeches were organised at the headquarters of the main university rejecting the ruling against Omar and calling for escalation of the protests. Yesterday the security authorities arrested journalist Omar El Farouq and other activists during their coverage of Omar’s ruling in Khartoum and the protests that followed the verdict. The police came to the headquarters of the court where hundreds gathered and dispersed them by force at El Hurriya Street. Arrest Asim Omar was held in May last year, against the backdrop of student protests at his university. “Omar did not know the reasons for his arrest and was not informed of the charges against him. He was promised to be released on bail, which later turned out to be misleading,” one of his lawyers told Radio Dabanga at the time. Later he was told that he was charged with killing a police officer during the protests. He was detained for more than 14 months in detention centres of Sudan’s security apparatus and Kober Prison in Khartoum North, before he was brought to trial. • Sudan’s opposition calls for mass protest against trial of Darfuri student | Radio Dabanga | August 28, 2017 | KHARTOUM | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/sudan-s-opposition-calls-for-mass-protest-against-trial-of-darfuri-student The Sudanese opposition has called for a mass rally in front of the North Khartoum Criminal court on Tuesday afternoon, when the judge will will deliver his verdict in the case of Asim Omar, a student at Khartoum University, who is facing capital charges for allegedly killing a policeman. The opposition forces allied by the Sudan Call [Sudan Appeal] held a press conference at the premises of the National Umma Party (NUP) in Omdurman on Sunday, in which they called on “all Sudanese” to protest the trial against Omar. Asim Omar was held in May last year, against the backdrop of student protests at his university. “Asim did not know the reasons for his arrest and was not informed of the charges against him. He was promised to be released on bail, which later turned out to be misleading,” one of his lawyers told Radio Dabanga at the time. Later he was told that he was charged with killing a police officer during the protests. He was detained for more than 14 months in detention centres of Sudan’s security apparatus and Kober Prison in Khartoum North, before he was brought to trial. According to Sarah Nugdallah, NUP Secretary-general and spokeswoman, the case of Omar is a not a criminal issue but a political one. “The Sudanese justice system is selective and used only to settle cases against political opponents, in an ugly exploitation of the laws and its enforcement bodies,” she said, and warned against “targeting Darfuri students with fabricated charges”. She described Omar as “a symbol for the Sudanese students and universities targeted by the regime since 1989.” Gallows Ayoub Hamdan, spokesman for the Sudanese student movements, said that “the students’ options are open if Asim Omar is convicted in this political, fabricated case”. “If case he gets the death sentence, we will organise various protests. We will all take to the streets in peaceful demonstrations, resign collectively from the universities, and make use of many other peaceful means to show our discontent. “We are ready to provide a million students for the gallows,” he said. Dr Ali El Hajj, Secretary-General of the Popular Congress Party, stated that the heads of all 40 public universities in the country are members of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP). Their deputies mostly come from the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS). El Hajj called on the NCP “to lift its hand from all universities, and stop forging student elections, and attack protesting students.” ********************************** “UNINVESTIGATED, UNPUNISHED” | HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AGAINST DARFURI STUDENTS IN SUDAN | Amnesty International, January 2017 https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/AFR5448482017ENGLISH.pdf From the Executive Summary: The armed conflict in Sudan, particularly the protracted conflict in Darfur that began in 2003, has long been associated with human rights violations. Students from Darfur also experience violations of their human rights throughout Sudan. Over the last few years, Amnesty International has been documenting the targeting by Sudanese security agents of student political activists from Darfur, perceived to be armed group supporters. Thus, the armed conflict has become both an excuse and a mask for human rights violations not only in Darfur, but also in the rest of the country. The rights being violated include freedom of association, peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, as well as freedom from arbitrary arrest, torture and other ill-treatment, or punishment in detention and unlawful killings. Since the conflict started in Darfur in 2003, the police and the security services have arbitrarily arrested and detained at least 10,000 students from Darfur. In 2015 alone, the police and the security services arbitrarily arrested and detained at least 200 students from Darfur. During the same period, Amnesty International documented at least 13 students from Darfur killed in various universities across Sudan, possibly by police officers, National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) agents, and/or ruling party affiliated students. Most of these violations were committed by Sudanese security forces, who repeatedly used excessive force to break up assemblies of Darfuri students, violating their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly. Security agents demonstrated bias in their policing of student protests, appearing to target only Darfuri students for arrests, while ruling party affiliated students were not held to account. Ruling party affiliated students also perpetrated abuses against Darfuri students and university professors, including through beatings and threats. Although these are criminal offenses, the state failed to prosecute the ruling party affiliated students who committed these abuses. This report focuses on human rights violations experienced by students from Darfur since 2014. Amnesty International, between October 2015 and October 2016, conducted 84 interviews, 52 of which were with students from Darfur studying at 14 universities across Sudan. The remaining interviews were conducted with lawyers, human rights defenders, other student activists, political activists, journalists and academics from Sudan. Amnesty International wrote to the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, the Ministry of Justice and eight universities to solicit their inputs to the report, including on university policies on fee waivers, student activism and the violations of these students’ rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Amnesty International had received no response from these ministries and universities by the time of publication. ____________________________________________________________-_____________________________ (c) 2017 SUDAN Research, Analysis, and Advocacy

Up to 400 people have been killed after an army and vigilante counteroffensive against Muslim insurgents in the troubled Rakhine state Two dozen corpses believed to be the bodies of Rohingya women and children have washed up on a Bangladesh riverbank as fears grow of atrocities committed by Myanmar forces against the Muslim minority across the border. In the deadliest violence in decades, nearly 400 people have been killed in a week of fighting in Myanmar’s north-west Rakhine state after Rohingya insurgents attacked security forces and the military responded with a huge counter-offensive. Close to 38,000 Rohingya have fled their villages and attempted to cross into Bangladesh, according to United Nations estimates. World powers have warned Aung San Suu Kyi’s government to avoid killing innocent civilians. The latest outpouring of refugees comes amid reports of ethnic violence from an activist group with a presence in the conflict area, accusing Myanmar security forces and Buddhist vigilantes of killing 130 Rohingya in the village of Chut Pyin. “We were told that the army encircled the village and attacked people when they fled,” said Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, an advocacy group set up to work with the Rohingya. “According to our information from the ground, at least 130 were killed, most of them died from gunshot wounds,” she said of the incident which occurred on Sunday. “The figure is collected from a list of people who have been buried.” People gather around the dead bodies of Rohingya children who had died after their boat capsized off Teknaf, Bangladesh. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Myanmar has blocked access to the region for journalists, and the Guardian was unable to immediately confirm the report. Video footage passed to the Guardian showed villages on fire and Rohingya with injuries that resembled gunshot wounds. A government spokesperson was unreachable on Friday. Authorities said Rohingya were burning their own villages and the armed forces were protecting civilians against “terrorist extremists”. Lewa said security forces had “burned village after village. It is systematic”. However, she added that some Rohingya arsonists had set fire to the Buddhist village of Pyu Ma. New York-based Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday that satellite images showed burning across at least ten areas of the northern parts of Rakhine state, the region that borders Bangladesh. From the Bangladesh side, plumes of smoke rose from a forest in Myanmar, and UN sources said around 20,000 Rohingya were stranded in no man’s land between the two countries. The military said on Thursday that about 370 “terrorists”, 13 security forces, two government officials and 14 civilians had been killed in a week of clashes. Rohingya refugees at Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhiya near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border. Photograph: STR/AFP/Getty Images The latest bout of violence began after Rohingya militants called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) attacked police last Friday, resulting in fierce fighting that killed at least 104 people, including 12 members of the security forces. Security forces have responded this week with clearance operations which they say are to weed out the militants but that members of the Rohingya diaspora allege amount to ethnic cleansing. The office of the de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has blamed civilian killings and village burnings on Arsa. Myanmar has evacuated thousands of Buddhists from Rakhine, an area that has seen episodes of bloody sectarian violence between Buddhists and Muslims for years. The bodies of 11 Rohingya children and 9 women washed up on the Bangladesh side of the Naf river after their boat overturned, according to Bangladesh border guard commander Ariful Islam. He said the bodies of two women and two children were also recovered after Myanmar’s border guard police fired on their boat. At the United Nations, the US ambassador Nikki Haley condemned Arsa but added: “As Burmese security forces act to prevent further violence, they have a responsibility to adhere to international humanitarian law, which includes refraining from attacking innocent civilians and humanitarian workers.” Aung San Suu Kyi’s office has accused foreign aid workers of helping “terrorists”, a claim that has prompted fears for their safety and was condemned as dangerously irresponsible. Yanghee Lee, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, said the humanitarian situation was deteriorating rapidly. “Many thousands of people are increasingly at risk of grave violations of their human rights,” she said in a statement. “The worsening cycle of violence ... must be broken urgently.” A burned-out house in Maungdaw, Myanmar. Photograph: Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters In the Bangladeshi border district of Cox’s Bazar, makeshift camps for the tens of thousands of displaced were set up last October when another insurgent attack on border guards resulted in a huge counteroffensive that was internationally condemned as disproportionate. One arrival, Mohammed Rashid, 45, wore a surgical dressing under his eye, saying bullet splinters injured him after the Myanmar army opened fire on a group of Rohingya. He said about 100 people made their way to the border together, and he saw explosions and people dying. “We hid in the forest for two days and then we were stopped at the border, but we got through. We heard that the houses in our village have burned down,” Rashid said. Communal hatred has simmered in the region for years, with an estimated 1.1 million Rohingya suffering persecution in a country that refuses to grant them citizenship. In 2012, clashes with Buddhists in Rakhine caused 140,000 Rohingya to flee their homes. Thousands more have died at the hands of people smugglers and traffickers. The continuing violence against Rohingya has been the most high profile issue for Aung San Suu Kyi, a former political prisoner whose landslide election in 2015 was celebrated internationally as a victory against oppressive military rule. Bangladesh, where more than 400,000 Rohingya who fled Myanmar since the early 1990s still live, is also growing increasingly hostile to refugees and has turned some back. The UN high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, said while he condemned the violent attacks by militants, “decades of persistent and systematic human rights violations” against Rohingya “have almost certainly contributed to the nurturing of violent extremism, with everyone ultimately losing.” He added: “This turn of events is deplorable. It was predicted and could have been prevented.” ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 The Guardian

Myanmar's military says almost 400 people have died in recent violence in the western state of Rakhine triggered by attacks on security forces by insurgents from the Rohingya ethnic minority. The numbers, posted Friday on the Facebook page of the country's military commander, are a sharp increase over the previously reported toll of just over 100. The statement said all but 29 of the 399 dead were insurgents, whom it described as terrorists. The statement said there had been 90 armed clashes including an initial 30 attacks by insurgents on Aug. 25, making the combat more extensive than previously announced. Advocates for the Rohingya, an oppressed Muslim minority in overwhelmingly Buddhist Myanmar, say hundreds of Rohingya civilians have been killed by security forces. Tens of thousands have fled into neighboring Bangladesh, an exodus that continued Friday. Bangladeshi border guards have tried to keep them out, but thousands could be seen Friday making their way across muddy rice fields. Young people helped carry the elderly, some on makeshift stretchers, and children carried newborns. Some, carrying bundles of clothes, cooking utensils and small solar panels, said they had walked at least three days to get to the border. Sham Shu Hoque, 34, crossed the border with 17 family members. He said he left his village of Ngan Chaung on Aug. 25 after it was attacked by Myanmar security forces who shot at the villagers. He said troops also used rocket-propelled grenades, and helicopters fired some sort of incendiary device. Five people were killed in front of his house, he said. His family survived the attack but was told by the soldiers to leave. They took a week to reach Bangladesh, hiding in villages along the way, he said. Most of Myanmar's estimated 1 million Rohingya live in northern Rakhine state. They face severe persecution, with the government refusing to recognize them as a legitimate native ethnic minority, leaving them without citizenship and basic rights. Longstanding tension between the Rohingya Muslims and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists erupted in bloody rioting in 2012. The insurgent group that claimed responsibility for last week's attacks, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, said it acted to protect Rohingya communities. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Reuters

Myanmar state security forces should immediately end attacks on civilians and ensure the protection of those fleeing violence, Fortify Rights said today. Myanmar state security forces and local armed-residents committed mass killings of Rohingya Muslim men, women, and children in Chut Pyin village, Rathedaung Township, on August 27. State security forces and local armed-residents killed Rohingya and burned down numerous villages throughout northern Rakhine State during the last week, displacing tens of thousands of mostly ethnic Rohingya as well as ethnic Rakhine civilians in response to the killing of 12 officials by Rohingya militants on August 25. “The situation is dire,” said Matthew Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Fortify Rights. “Mass atrocity crimes are continuing. The civilian government and military need to do everything in their power to immediately prevent more attacks.” This is the second major attack on Rohingya civilians in northern Rakhine State by Myanmar state security forces since October 2016, when the military attacked dozens of villages, killing an untold number, and displacing more than 80,000 people. Fortify Rights interviewed 24 survivors and eyewitnesses of attacks in the last week from 17 villages in the three townships of northern Rakhine State—Maungdaw, Buthidaung, and Rathedaung. Survivors and eyewitnesses described mass killings and arson attacks by the Myanmar Army, Myanmar Police Force, Lon Tein (“security guards”) riot police, and local armed-civilians. “Sultan Ahmed,” a 27-year-old survivor from Chut Pyin village, witnessed armed residents from a nearby village working in concert with the Myanmar Army, killing Rohingya civilians. He told Fortify Rights: “Some people were beheaded, and many were cut. We were in the house hiding when [armed residents from a neighboring village] were beheading people. When we saw that, we just ran out the back of the house.” Myanmar Army soldiers and non-Rohingya armed-residents from a nearby village entered Chut Pyin village around 2 p.m. on August 27. Survivors described how soldiers shot and killed several residents, while people from a neighboring village armed with swords and knives hacked and, in some cases, beheaded Rohingya residents, including children. Soldiers reportedly arrested a large group of Rohingya men, marched them into a nearby bamboo hut, and set it on fire, burning them to death. “Abdul Rahman,” a 41-year-old survivor of the attacks on Chut Pyin village told Fortify Rights: "My brother was killed—[Myanmar Army soldiers] burned him with the group. We found [my other family members] in the fields. They had marks on their bodies from bullets and some had cuts. My two nephews, their heads were off. One was six-years old and the other was nine-years old. My sister-in-law was shot with a gun.” Survivors and eyewitnesses from Chut Pyin told Fortify Rights that soldiers and armed residents burned every house in the village. They explained that they had accounted for the whereabouts and well-being of 596 survivors from the village that had an estimated population of 1,400. After the Myanmar authorities and local armed-residents left the village, Rohingya survivors returned to the village to assess damage, at great personal risk, and to count the dead. Survivors estimated the death toll to be more than 200. The killing spree lasted for approximately five hours—from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Survivors from Kyet Yoe Pyin and Ba Da Kha Ywa Thit villages—both in Maungdaw Township—also described beheadings and throats being slit. Residents from many other villages described arson attacks and soldiers opening fire on fleeing civilians, including children. The violence in northern Rakhine State is continuing daily and requires urgent international attention, Fortify Rights said. The United Nations said more than 20,000 Rohingya arrived in Bangladesh since August 25. Fortify Rights believes a “massive influx” of tens of thousands of other Rohingya are likely to arrive at the Bangladesh border in the next several days. Soldiers with the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) have turned away thousands of Rohingya refugees in recent days, though most were subsequently allowed to enter the country the following day or, in some cases, hours after being initially denied entry. New arrivals in Bangladesh are sheltering on roadsides and in makeshift shelters in formal and informal refugee camps, stretching already thin resources in the camps. Fortify Rights said international and local aid groups are poised and ready to work with the authorities to respond to this crisis. “Bangladesh should open the border to refugees and coordinate with humanitarian organizations to prepare for a large influx,” said Matthew Smith. "It’s imperative that Bangladesh allows refugees across the border to avoid a further loss of life.” Fortify Rights also documented how Rohingya militants with the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) or Al Yaquin, as it is known locally, are also accused of killing civilians—suspected government “informants”—in recent days and months as well as preventing men and boys from fleeing Maungdaw Township. “Some militants won’t let the men go, they only let the women pass,” a Rohingya man in central Maungdaw Township told Fortify Rights by telephone. “They threaten people and say that if they try to cross the border, they will kill them.” Another Rohingya man from Kha Maung Seik village in northern Maungdaw Township told Fortify Rights that Rohingya militants stopped him and a large group of displaced civilians for two hours. He told Fortify Rights: “They didn’t beat us but they beat our guide who was showing us the way. They said we all had to go back and fight against the government.” Survivors and refugees described the Rohingya militants as small groups of young men—local residents—wearing civilian clothing or all-black “uniforms”—black pants and black short-sleeve and long-sleeve shirts—and armed with sticks, small knives, and, in some cases, swords and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). They reportedly received sticks, knives, and small sums of money in exchange for joining the group. Members of ARSA must respect the rights of the civilian population, including the right to freedom of movement, Fortify Rights said. The Myanmar authorities have blocked access to affected areas in Maungdaw, Buthidaung, and Rathedaung townships, including humanitarian deliveries. “We can’t stress enough the urgency of the situation. The Myanmar authorities are failing to protect civilians and save lives,” said Matthew Smith. “International pressure is critically needed.” For more information, please contact: Matthew Smith, Chief Executive Officer, Fortify Rights, +66 (0)85.028.0044, matthew.smith@fortifyrights.org; Twitter: @matthewfsmith, @FortifyRights Amy Smith, Executive Director, Fortify Rights, +66 (0)87.795.5454, Amy.smith@fortifyrights.org; Twitter: @AmyAlexSmith,@FortifyRights ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Fortify Rights International

As the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army—dubbed a terrorist organization by the Myanmar government—attacked security forces and civilians in northern Rakhine, the 15-member UN Security Council (UNSC) met in New York. Myanmar leaders do not need to sweat. They have a powerful friend: China. As in the past, China maintained its unwavering support for its southern neighbor, regardless of whether the country is ruled by men in uniform or an elected civilian government. UNSC members condemned the Rakhine violence, but, according to British Ambassador to the UN Matthew Rycroft, the council still supports State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The UK requested the meeting on Myanmar days after the violence broke out: “A lot of us are hugely supportive allies of hers who have followed her progress with admiration from afar,” the ambassador told reporters. But news emerged that China resisted stronger involvement by the UN council in addressing Myanmar’s crisis. In March, China, together with Russia, blocked a brief UNSC statement when the 15-member body met to discuss the situation in Rakhine state. In February, the UN’s human rights office accused the military of mass killings and rape of Muslims in Rakhine and burning villages following attacks on police outposts in the region in October last year. The UN went as far as to accuse the military of crimes against humanity and possibly ethnic cleansing. Both the government and military denied these charges and refused to cooperate with a UN fact-finding mission. China made sure to back up the Myanmar government. Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, later issued a statement chastising Myanmar’s security forces on Thursday. “As Burmese security forces act to prevent further violence, they have a responsibility to adhere to international humanitarian law, which includes refraining from attacking innocent civilians and humanitarian workers and ensuring assistance reaches those in need,” Haley said. Senior military officials denied attacking villagers and said troops were deployed to protect police securing the area. According to them, the deployment of troops was thin. A Key Ally China continues to provide diplomatic protection to Myanmar as some Western nations press the government and military on the Rakhine issue. More than ever, China has remained a key ally to the government and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi—who’s support in the West is now lukewarm at best. China’s motives in backing Myanmar are said to include a desire to expand its foothold in Myanmar and acting to limit Western influence spreading among its neighbors. As a major investor in Myanmar, China is looking for a seaport in Kyaukphyu, Rakhine State, on the Bay of Bengal—the country clearly has strategic interest in the Indian Ocean. In May, Reuters reported China was looking to take a stake of up to 85 percent in the strategically important seaport in Myanmar as part of its “One Belt, One Road” initiative. Beijing has been pushing for preferential access to the deep seaport of Kyaukphyu part of its ambitious infrastructure investment plan to deepen its links with economies throughout Asia and beyond, Reuters reported. In April, during his official visit to Beijing, Myanmar President U Htin Kyaw signed an agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping on a partially completed crude oil pipeline between western Myanmar’s Kyaukphyu and southern China’s Kunming. The pipeline is part of the US$10 billion Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone and there are also plans for a railway linking Yunnan Province and Myanmar, though it is thought to be suspended or under review. As China expands its geo-political influence and opens up an economic corridor to its southern neighbors it needs stability in Rakhine State. Beijing officials also recently invited ethnic Arakanese politicians to China. One of them was Dr. Aye Maung, chairman of the Arakan National Party and often referred to as a firebrand ethno-nationalist. Dr. Aye Maung was elected as a lawmaker in May’s by-election. His party recently requested that army leaders send troops to northern Rakhine State and asked the government to declare a state of emergency in the region. In April, Chinese special envoy for Asian affairs Sun Guoxiang visited Bangladesh and offered to tackle a diplomatic row between Bangladesh and Myanmar over the flight of the persecuted Rohingya. As another major trade partner, Bangladesh also received assistance from China to improve infrastructure as part of the One Belt, One Road mega project. Bangladesh and China signed deals on nearly 30 projects worth US$25 billion during President Xi Jinping’s visit to Dhaka. It is important to note that until recently, China refrained from direct involvement in issues involving the Rohingya, as such actions could have been interpreted by Myanmar leaders and Arakanese politicians as “interference.” But the rise in violence in an area of strategic importance to China will no doubt set alarm bells ringing in Beijing. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Irrawaddy

What is happening in Guatemala? A remarkable and hopeful two-year interlude in one of Central America’s most corrupt countries may now be ending. The key reversal came on Friday 25 August 2017, at a meeting requested by Guatemala’s President Jimmy Morales with UN Secretary-General António Guterres in New York. Morales signalled his intent to eject the head of the UN-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), Iván Velásquez. Morales protested that Velásquez had interfered in Guatemalan politics by calling for constitutional reforms and by exploiting media coverage in legal proceedings. After returning to Guatemala he declared Velásquez persona non grata and ordered his expulsion from the country. This represents a setback to the progress made toward rooting corruption out of Guatemala’s political system between 2015 and 2017, thanks to a combination of popular protests, a new president, a brave external judge and a groundswell of support for change in the growing educated middle class. Guatemalans are still not ready to go back to the old ways. Two days later, on 27 August, the Constitutional Court – Guatemala’s highest court on constitutional issues – temporarily suspended President Morales’ order. Some members of the government resigned to protest Morales’ move, notably the minister of foreign affairs, the minister of health and most of their vice ministers. Demonstrators in support of Velásquez poured into squares in Guatemala City, while other sets of demonstrators voiced their support for Morales’ move against CICIG’s Commissioner. On 29 August, the Constitutional Court overturned the expulsion order. Exactly what will happen next is unclear. In a social media posting on Monday 28 August, Guatemala’s president said that he will respect resolutions from judicial bodies. While the fact that he has adopted this position is welcome, it does not mean he will halt his efforts to ensure Velásquez departs the country and to curb CICIG’s influence. Why has President Morales moved against CICIG? CICIG – proposed by Guatemalan civil society, in operation since 2007, and acting through the attorney general’s office – has been steadfast in its fight against corruption in Guatemala. Central to CICIG’s recent success has been Velásquez, a courageous former judge with considerable experience dealing with political corruption in his native Colombia. Velásquez has moved CICIG away from a more general mission of fighting impunity toward a tightly-focused mandate of combating illegal money-producing schemes. It has spearheaded probes into political funding and corruption, resulting in almost two hundred defendants facing investigation and trial this year alone. Most are currently jailed on remand, including former President Otto Pérez Molina and his Vice President Roxana Baldetti. Corrupt traditional actors who have profited in the past from Guatemala’s rigged political system have campaigned relentlessly against CICIG. Morales was swept into office after the country experienced a wave of disgust at revelations of the depth and breadth of a high-level corruption scandal in 2015 that forced the previous incumbent, Pérez Molina, to resign. Since then he has come under considerable pressure from elements of Guatemala’s political and business elite to revise his initially supportive attitude toward CICIG’s agenda of reform and to oppose the anti-corruption campaign. Morales had some success in treading a balanced line, but events last week altered his political calculus. On 25 August, the same day that Morales flew to New York, CICIG and the attorney general’s office formally presented a request to the Supreme Court to lift Morales’ presidential immunity, a necessary step before a final decision is made by Congress. They claimed there are sufficient grounds to investigate Morales for illicit financing of his 2015 presidential campaign, specifically $900,000 USD in unreported contributions. It was the first time in Morales’ presidency that CICIG had targeted the president himself, making clear to Morales that his political survival could be at risk. Rather than abiding by his previously balanced line, the president heeded the counsel from elements of the business and political elites and set out to defend his own endangered mandate by seeking Velásquez’s expulsion. Why does the attempted expulsion of the head of CICIG matter? The future of Guatemala’s corruption-fighting commission is closely tied to the country’s development as a democratic state. Since the 2015 corruption scandal, CICIG has capitalised on the political fallout from the previous government’s collapse. It has sought to bring about lasting change by backing proposals to reform the constitution and bolster the justice system’s independence. But Guatemala has been ensnared in an ongoing political crisis between two camps. On one hand, there are social, political and business actors supporting CICIG’s efforts to strengthen Guatemala’s justice institutions. On the other hand, there is a traditional, conservative group of actors who seek to maintain their privileged position. They control ports and customs offices, have links to organised crime and are involved in illicit activities such as people smuggling and drug trafficking. They have wielded significant power and influence over various government institutions for many years. CICIG’s work also has kindled discord in Guatemala’s foremost business elite group, the Coordinating Commission of Agricultural Commercial Industrial and Financial Associations (CACIF). Within the organisation, which traditionally has presented a united public face and has been a powerful actor in Guatemala, younger industrialists and tradesmen who support CICIG’s anti-corruption agenda are pitted against others who seek to reduce the risk of their own prosecution. President Morales’ recent move to weaken the anti-corruption agenda will make it more difficult for the business organisation to maintain its unified position. CICIG’s support to the justice system through technical advice and direct collaboration designed to reveal large corruption schemes has catalysed previously unthinkable modifications to Guatemala’s legal order. The expulsion of its head would have represented a significant setback to the anti-corruption fight, validating claims that CICIG has exceeded its mandate when in reality it is robustly enforcing it. It might even have served as a stepping stone toward a “conservative restoration” – a return to the more corrupt mores of the past – in the country’s political system and damage the country’s favourable image in Latin America as a relative success story. Such an outcome would have reassured other regional leaders that they could continue to act with impunity and could fight back any effort to establish a CICIG-like entity in their country. Finally, it would have meant that even the most innovative tool of international cooperation to strengthen the rule of law in the form of CICIG is not strong enough to break a well-established corrupt system. What are the next steps and potential risks? The Constitutional Court’s provisional decision to block Velásquez’s expulsion is now definitive. The court’s final ruling found that the order violated the constitution because it was only signed by the president and not by all of his ministers. While some observers speculate that this merely was a temporary, face-saving measure approved by the UN and Morales to avoid a direct conflict, and that Velásquez will still eventually be removed, for now the president has had to back down. This is good news. Although there is a risk that Morales might seek to assume more power in light of this crisis, this seems limited given the potential for judicial action against him and significant public opposition to his recent actions. Nor does Guatemala appear likely to experience a resumption of the state-sponsored violence that plagued it in the past. Both the minister of defence, General Williams Mancilla and government Spokesman Heinz Heimann have ruled out the imposition of a state of siege or punitive measures against those who had protested President Morales’ decision to expel Velásquez. That the minister of the interior, Francisco Rivas, a trusted former attorney, has remained in place suggests that heavy-handed methods can be avoided. The army, too, has been weakened in recent years and no longer is a decisive political actor. That said, protests could well grow. For now, widespread turnout remains significantly short of the unprecedented level of mobilisation that was witnessed during the 2015 corruption scandal. However, should there be a future attempt to remove Velásquez or curb CICIG, this could trigger wider anger. Most importantly perhaps, it remains to be seen what Morales will now do to resist CICIG’s requests to lift his immunity from prosecution for illicit campaign financing. What can the international community do? The U.S. has important interests in Guatemala, frequently referred to by high-level U.S. officials as a significant national security concern. The European Union (EU) also has an interest in Guatemala. It has provided as much financial support to CICIG as the U.S. Both the EU and U.S. have made clear their opposition to Morales’ action, the EU through communiqués opposing Morales’ decision, the U.S. through the voice of its ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, as well as through various members of Congress. They, along with others, should continue to support Velásquez’s position but without a heavy-handed approach that would smack of interference. Facing such pressure, Morales may already have realised that he has committed a political error, and will need to devise less provocative strategies to avoid the threat of prosecution and a premature end to his presidency. He also will want to avoid overly alienating the U.S., given the risk of counter-measures from Washington, in particular a halt to its financial aid to the Northern Triangle area. For the international community, CICIG is a unique case study in international support for the justice sector in a weak democracy. It remains to be seen if CICIG will be strong enough to stand up to the power of a national corrupt system under threat. Whatever happens, measures to clean up Guatemala’s system should emanate from Guatemalan institutions, not from obvious direct impositions by outside powers, and the international community should demonstrate its confidence in them and in the country’s citizens. Over the past decade, the CICIG has shown the capacity to act effectively, even if it is now threatened by those who stand to lose money and influence or who seek to justify the defence of their interests by denouncing foreign intervention in a sovereign state. That is an indicator in itself of CICIG’s success, which can and should be replicated in other Latin American countries. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 International Crisis Group

Over the weekend, Pope Francis spoke about the persecution of the Rohingya Muslims in Burma (also known as Myanmar). Pope Francis is also planning a visit to Burma later this year. His speech was followed by statements from the United Nations and state officials about recent developments in Burma and the worsening situation of the Rohingya Muslims. The question is: what is happening to Rohingya Muslims in Burma? This August 29, 2017, photo shows an elderly Rohingya refugee holding her sleeping grandson in her lap at Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhiya after crossing the border from Myanmar into Bangladesh. (Photo credit: EMRUL KAMAL/AFP/Getty Images) Rohingyas are the people indigenous to the western Rakhine State of Burma. They are predominately Muslims. Despite their indigenous status, the Burmese government refuses to recognise their identity as Rohingyas, labelling them as illegal immigrantsfrom Bangladesh. The effect on their rights within Burma has been profound. The lives of the Rohingya Muslims in Burma have never been without challenges, their immigration status especially so. Their situation deteriorated rapidly after the events on October 9, 2016, when nine Burmese police officers were killed by an armed militia. It is a given that any armed insurgency or terror activities have to be adequately addressed by the state to ensure the safety of the people. However, the response to the killings of the Burmese police officers was reportedly violent, leading to widespread and systematic indiscriminate attacks against Rohingya Muslim civilians. The events of October 2016 put Burma firmly onto the United Nations' radar. On February 3, 2017, the OHCHR Mission to Bangladeshreleased a report based on interviews with Rohingyas who fled Burma since the events of October 9, 2016. The report was commissioned as a result of reports that over 66,000 Rohingyas had fled Burma to Bangladesh since October 9, 2016. The OHCHR Mission to Bangladesh interviewed 240 people who informed the preparation of the report, including 204 in-depth interviews. The OHCHR Mission to Bangladesh summarised that the interviewed Rohingyas reported the following atrocities: Extrajudicial executions or other killings, including by random shooting; enforced disappearance and arbitrary detention; rape, including gang rape, and other forms of sexual violence; physical assault including beatings; torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; looting and occupation of property; destruction of property; and ethnic and religious discrimination and persecution. The OHCHR Mission to Bangladesh raised its concerns that the atrocities perpetrated against the Rohingya Muslims amounted to ‘persecution against a particular ethnic and religious group.’ The report further indicated that as of January 20, 2017, over 22,000 Rohingyas remained internally displaced in Burma. The report suggested that crimes against humanity or even ethnic cleansing were taking place. Rohingyas who escaped from unrest brush their teeth at a temporary shelter in Sittwe, Rakhine State on August 31, 2017. (Photo credit: STR/AFP/Getty Images) In March 2017, as a result of the deteriorating situation, and in response to the report of the OHCHR Mission to Bangladesh, the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution establishing an independent international fact-finding mission to collect information about the alleged human rights violations in Burma, and focusing mainly on the Rakhine State. The resolution condemned the violence in Burma and called for peaceful resolutions. The ethno-religious character of the conflict in Burma was also recognised in the March 2017 resolution of the Human Rights Council when it: Strongly encourage[d] the Government of Myanmar to take the measures necessary to address discrimination and prejudice against women, children and members of ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities across the country, and to take further action to publicly condemn and speak out against any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence, and to adopt measures to criminalize incitement to imminent violence based on nationality, race or religion or belief… Following the passage of the March 2017 resolution, the UN Human Rights Council appointed two of the members of the fact finding mission in May 2017, namely, Ms Radhika Coomaraswamy and Mr Christopher Dominic Sidoti. The Chair of the fact finding mission, Mr Marzuki Darusman, was announced in July 2017. Despite the fact that the fact finding mission is ready to fulfil its obligations to explore the human rights violations in Burma, the Burmese government refused to cooperate and allow the fact finding mission into the country. Hence, despite the establishment of the fact-finding mission, it is prevented from conducting its work from the field and clarifying the situation in Burma. Instead, it is forced to continue its work remotely and will present an update on the situation in Burma during the upcoming session of the UN Human Rights Council. In August 2017, the Burmese government released a report into the alleged crimes against humanity and the Rohingya Muslims. The report concluded that no such crimes had taken place. Despite Burma’s increased scrutiny by the United Nations, the plight of the Rohingya Muslims has deteriorated further over the past few days sparking international condemnation and criticism. Media reports confirm that hundreds of people were slaughtered in clashes between Burmese forces and Rohingya insurgents. The fatalities reportedly included civilians. Many buildings were destroyed in the fighting and thousands of Rohingya Muslims were forced to flee to Bangladesh. The Burmese government blames Rohingya insurgents for the killings and property destruction. However, some reportssuggested that it was the Burmese army that was burning down villages and shooting civilians. In response to the ever growing crisis in Burma, on August 29, 2017, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein made a statement condemning the dire situation of Rohingya Muslims in Burma. He noted that since the recent clashes, over 8,700 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh. He called for peaceful resolution of the conflict. Crimes against humanity or genocide? The atrocities perpetrated against Rohingya Muslims have also been flagged as possible crimes against humanity and 'the precursor of other egregious international crimes' by UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng. Despite the fact that the word 'genocide' in relation to the persecution of the Rohingya Muslims in Burma has not been used by any international institutions yet, not surprisingly considering the re-occurring reluctance to do so, it must be examined whether the atrocities have met the threshold of genocide. For mass atrocities to be classified as genocide, all particulars of Article II of the UN Convention on Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide have to be fulfilled. Genocide occurs when the Article II litany of offences is perpetrated against one of the protected groups (either national, ethnic, religious or racial) with the specific intent to destroy the group in whole or in part. It was made very clear from the report of the OHCHR Mission to Bangladesh, the conflict has an ethno-religious character. Rohingya Muslims, as a religious and also an ethnic minority in Burma, are a protected group under Article II. The atrocities allegedly perpetrated against the Rohingya Muslims, which still require an adequate investigation, fall within the listed in Article II methods to bring about genocide. The question is then whether it is possible to establish the specific intent to destroy the group in whole or in part. This is what differentiates genocide from other mass atrocities. The specific intent does not have to be explicit as in the case of Daesh who made numerous statements expressing its aims of destroying religious pluralism in Syria and Iraq, targeting Christians, Yazidis, and other religious minorities. This specific intent may be inferred from the atrocities themselves, as was confirmed in one of the cases of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, ICTR v Akayesu. In the absence of any clear expression of any such specific intent, the patterns of the mass atrocities and their impact on the Rohingya Muslim population in Burma must be considered in favour of establishing such an intent. Lastly, this genocide, if in fact, it is genocide, does not have to materialise fully before the international community responds. Indeed the notion of an attempted genocide is rarely used. However, to make the best of the mechanisms to prevent genocide, an attempt of the ‘crime of offences’ must be recognised accordingly. The situation of Rohingya Muslims requires an urgent and comprehensive response: to stop the ongoing violence and to help the victims with all their needs before the ethnoreligious remnant disappears from Burma. The response must include an adequate investigation of the alleged crimes against Rohingya Muslims. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Forbes

The Myanmar government’s Information Committee reported that packets of biscuits provided by the UN’s World Food Program were found at suspected terrorist camp The US Ambassador to Myanmar Scot Marciel on Thursday rejected suggestions by the Myanmar government that international aid agencies—including the US Agency for International Development (USAID)—are supporting the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) in northern Rakhine State. “Any suggestion that USAID, or any other US government agency is providing support to ARSA, an organization we have condemned, is absurd,” Marciel told The Irrawaddy on Thursday. “Everything that we have been doing, and that we continue to do, is in support of the Myanmar people and their effort to build democracy, peace, and prosperity,” he said, adding that embassy staff had spoken to the government regarding the allegations. The Myanmar government reported the discovery of aid items in suspected militant camps in a number of official statements, as it has launched large security operations in northern Rakhine State after ARSA attacked police and military posts last Friday. The attacks and continuing violence have left more than 100 confirmed dead—including 12 security personnel—and displaced thousands, with the International Organization for Migration estimating on Wednesday that some 18,000 Rohingya had fled to Bangladesh. On Wednesday, the government’s Information Committee reported that packets of high-energy biscuits provided by the UN’s World Food Program (WFP) and packets of USAID-branded rice were found at suspected terrorist camps near Kyeekyun in Maungdaw Township on Monday. At a press conference held by National Security Advisor U Thaung Tun on Tuesday, police Brig-Gen Win Tun said militants had made land mines from aid groups’ construction materials such as ammonia nitrate fertilizer and metal pipes, though he did not specify which aid groups and how militants accessed the materials. WFP said it was aware of photographs circulating of WFP-branded food and had asked Myanmar authorities for more details in order to track the supply batch and investigate the matter further in a statement released Thursday. “WFP takes any allegations of food diversions very seriously and considers any manipulation of food assistance destined for needy families as theft,” the statement said. A US Embassy spokesperson said because the situation is fluid, and access to reliable information is limited, it cannot verify the discovery of the bags of rice or investigate how they might have been diverted. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein also expressed concern about claims by the government that international aid workers were complicit in or supporting the attacks. “Such statements are irresponsible and only serve to increase fears and the potential for further violence,” he said in a statement on Tuesday. “I am extremely concerned that the unsupported allegations against international aid organizations place their staff in danger and may make it impossible for them to deliver essential aid.” There were 77 aid agencies active in Rakhine State in March 2017, including 28 international NGOs, according to the Myanmar Information Management Unit. Reuters reported this week that the UN and other aid groups had evacuated non-critical staff from northern Rakhine in response to the violence. Anti-NGO sentiment has developed in Rakhine State since conflict in 2012, with ethnic Arakanese protesting what they feel is unfair favorable treatment of the Rohingya. Marciel echoed sentiments of the UN and other embassies in condemning Friday’s vicious attacks and said he welcomed government comments that security forces would restore law and order with restraint. He also urged unfettered access for monitors, aid groups, and journalists. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Irrawaddy

Attacks by insurgents. A brutal military crackdown. Thousands of villagers running for their lives. History is repeating itself in Myanmar less than a year after the emergence of a new Rohingya Muslim insurgency first threatened fragile efforts to bring peace to the country’s volatile western Rakhine state. “In the west of my direction I am seeing smoke,” a Rohingya man in his twenties, who asked not to be named for his safety, told TIME by phone Wednesday from Maungdaw town near the border with Bangladesh. “The villages are burning down.” Markets in the town had been closed, he said, and villagers were afraid of going outside for fear of soldiers. Food was running out. “I can hear my neighbors' children crying,” he said. Militants from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which first surfaced with deadly attacks on security forces in October 2016, stormed more than 25 police posts in the early hours of Friday, using guns, knives and improvised explosives to kill 12 people. Ensuing clashes between the group and government troops swept Rakhine state's northern Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung townships, a Muslim-majority region where authorities say the group has been trying to carve out an “Islamic state." On Twitter, the ARSA claimed the attacks were a “legitimate step” to restoring the rights of Rohingya, a stateless minority who are denied citizenship in Myanmar, confined to displacement camps and barred from moving freely. At least 110 people were killed during the attacks, most of them insurgents, according to government figures. During ensuing clearance operations by security forces, Rohingya villagers say their homes were set on fire by soldiers, police and Buddhist mobs, and that civilians were shot at as they fled. The government has denied the allegations. Smoke rises from what is believed to be a burning village near Maungdaw in Myanmar's Rakhine state on Aug. 30, 2017. STR/AFP/Getty Images The violence came hours after members of civil society gathered in the commercial capital Yangon to hear the final report of the Rakhine commission, an advisory body appointed by state counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and led by former United Nations chief Kofi Annan. Tasked with finding solutions to entrenched tensions between Muslims and Buddhists, the commission recommended, among other points, amending laws governing citizenship that currently exclude Rohingya. The next day the government officially dubbed the ARSA “extremist Bengali terrorists” and published warnings in state media against ignoring the sanctioned term. 'Bengali' is a derogatory term used to imply that the Rohingya are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. After an outcry, the official name was changed to “ARSA extremist terrorists." A Facebook page belonging to the state counselor’s information committee posted allegations that aid workers had colluded with the attackers, saying World Food Program biscuits were found at an alleged training camp. In a statement on Tuesday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’an Al Hussein called the attacks “deplorable” and “preventable." He said he was “extremely concerned” by the accusations against aid workers. “Such statements are irresponsible and only serve to increase fears and the potential for further violence,” he said. At a meeting with diplomats, national security adviser Thaung Tun doubled down on the allegations, saying ammonia and tubes used by development workers for construction had been fashioned into explosives. In a statement, the World Food Program said it had asked Myanmar to supply details about the food so the batch could be traced but they had not been given. “WFP is currently unable to access its usual operational sites and warehouses with food stocks in the northern part of Rakhine state and has not been able to distribute food and cash assistance in the area since mid-July,” the statement said. By Wednesday, most aid organizations had pulled their staff out of northern Rakhine amid worsening security fears. “On the way out of Maungdaw to Buthidaung, and even on the boat, we saw villages burning and military helicopters flying around,” said one Western aid worker who was not authorized to speak to media. “The aid agencies are providing life-saving services for people who are in desperate need. It’s a huge shame,” he said. Fearing reprisals from Myanmar security forces, some 27,000 Rohingya — the majority women and children — have fled across the Naf River that demarcates the border with Bangladesh. Dozens of men have been admitted to hospital in Bangladesh with gunshot wounds and burns, with some dying, said a U.N. official who was not authorized to speak openly. About 20,000 more people are stranded on the border, where some have been for days, as Bangladesh security forces block their entry. A Red Cross volunteer carries a child who was displaced together with a Rakhine ethnic woman from Maungdaw at the Sittwe port, Rakhine State, Myanmar, 30 Aug. 2017. Nyunt Win—EFE/EPA Many of Rakhine's Buddhists have also fled, seeking shelter in monasteries and schools. The government has helpedsome 4,000 non-Muslims escape the conflict area. On Friday, Tin Maung, a Buddhist villager from Tha Ye Kon Baung, close to where some of the attacks occurred, was preparing to flee east. “People are afraid in our village,” he told TIME by phone, adding that he saw soldiers going in. On Tuesday, he said he heard the village had been burned down by "Bengalis."Farther south in Rakhine state's Rathedaung, scores of Rohingya are believed to have fled into the mountains, afraid to return to villages that they say have been burned down by soldiers, border guard police and local Buddhists.Satellite images obtained by Human Rights Watch, showedfires burning in more than 10 locations, across a 100-kilometer stretch of land in Rakhine state. “The reality is that the number of fires is just so high and the distance over which they are occurring is so great that it makes it very troubling and extremely alarming,” said Richard Weir, a fellow from HRW’s Asia Division.On Tuesday, Molvi Khairul Amin, a Rohingya man who had been living in Chin Kali, a displacement camp that was allegedly burned, told TIME he was sheltering with others from his village in the mountains. “We are living now without food,” he said in an SMS. The 20-year-old Rohingya man in Maungdaw said he had a friend also with that group. “They are eating the leaves of the plants," he said.The government insists their clearance operations are legal and that the houses were burned by the militant group. Talking to TIME, Win Myat Aye, Myanmar's social welfare minister said, without providing evidence: “They burned their own houses and ran. We saw burning. That’s what we know.”In Maungdaw town, there were fears the violence would spread. “If our house is burned down we will have nowhere to move,” said the Rohingya resident. “For now I can say it’s safe. But no idea. I feel like the same thing can happen tomorrow. We are just in fear and worry.” ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Time

The Trump administration—staffed by fools and arrogant blowhards, and without a functioning Africa Bureau at the State Department, or even an Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs—gives clear evidence of preparing the way for a permanent lifting of U.S. economic sanctions on the genocidal regime in Khartoum, even as that regime continues to deny in highly consequential ways humanitarian assistance to more than two million people in Sudan. This figure includes refugees from Darfur in eastern Chad), South Kordofan (primarily in South Sudan, and Blue Nile (primarily in Ethiopia); the number is much larger if we include Eastern Sudan, where the regime has proved relentless in expelling or excluding international humanitarian organizations—see Appendix A). The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs indicates that well over two million Sudanese suffer from “Acute Malnutrition”; figures from UNICEF for children under five suggest a malnutrition crisis much, much larger (see | “An Internal UNICEF Malnutrition Report on Sudan and Darfur: Why have these data been withheld?” | September 5, 2014 | http://wp.me/p45rOG-1pL/). The latest evidence of a determination to lift sanctions comes in the form of an August 28, 2017 statement from Khartoum by Mark Green, Administrator for the US Agency for International Development (USAID): In particular, we are hoping to see progress on humanitarian access right here in North Darfur. We are at a critical point in Sudan. There is still a need for life-saving humanitarian assistance, and we hope to see a successful resolution to the conflicts in Darfur and the Two Areas. Today, I will be also visiting internally displaced people, people to whom USAID and its partners are giving critical assistance. I want to underscore—America will not walk away from our commitment to humanitarian assistance, and we will always stand with people everywhere when a disaster or humanitarian crisis strikes, for that is who we are as Americans. Pious, unctuous words in defending the indefensible decision that is now impending. Some of those from whom the U.S. is indeed “walking away from our commitment to humanitarian assistance” What was not said by Administrator Green: Green made no mention of the vast cholera epidemic sweeping Sudan, now for over a year. Indeed, his USAID cannot bring itself to use the word “cholera,” but rather follows fecklessly the UN’s World Health Organization and Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs—referring to the cholera pandemic as cases of “acute watery diarrhea—this in deference to Khartoum’s insistence that Sudan not be stigmatized by the presence of cholera. No matter that cholera rages in neighboring Yemen and South Sudan and all evidence to date points clearly to a cholera epidemic: the U.S. is content to defer to this brutal regime’s sensibilities. Failure by the UN and USAID to speak honestly about cholera in Sudan (#Cholera_In_Sudan) makes impossible an adequate international response, including massive supplies of re-hydration equipment; physicians who specialize in infectious diseases, particularly cholera; specialists in cholera epidemiology; and a broad public education program. More than 3 million people in Darfur who are in urgent need of humanitarian aid; yet according to one highly knowledgeable person from the humanitarian community working in Darfur, with a great deal of experience on the ground, as many as 1 million of these people are still denied humanitarian access by the National Islamic Front/National Congress Party regime. This is why we see constant reports such as the following: The cholera infection rates are rapidly increasing in East Jebel Marra in South Darfur. Last week, more than 300 new patients were recorded in the locality. Dozens of them died. “The situation definitely requires intervention by the World Health Organisation (WHO), and other humanitarian organisations,” he said. “Since the outbreak of cholera in the locality on August 22, the number of infections reached 316. Dozens of them died.” Abusharati said that there are no humanitarian organisations or doctors operating in the area. “There are health assistants providing first aid in the areas of Sabi, Rokona, Deribat, Lebei, and Duwa only.” (Radio Dabanga, August 28, 2017 | EAST JEBEL MARRA / KASS / NIERTETI / KALMA) We may be sure that in his tightly controlled visit and extremely brief visit to North Darfur, Green saw none of this. Green, during his Military Intelligence-overseen trip to Darfur, saw Zamzam camp in North Darfur, the largest in the state. One wonders whether he has read the various statements by the Khartoum regime about its plans to dismantle such camps, with extraordinarily threatening and destructive consequences. Second Vice-President Hassabo Mohamed Abdelrahman in December 2015—a little over a year and a half ago—gave voice to the regime’s views: In a speech delivered before the representatives of former rebel groups and IDPs in El-Fasher, North Darfur on Monday, [Second Vice-President Hassabo Mohamed Abdelrahman] said Darfur has “completely recovered from the war and is now looking forward to achieve a full peace, stability and development.” “IDP camps represent a significant and unfortunate loss of dignity and rights of citizens in their country” he said and called on the displaced “to choose within no more than a month between resettlement or return to their original areas.” He further reiterated his government’s commitment to take all the measures and do the needful to achieve this goal, stressing that “the year 2016 will see the end of displacement in Darfur.” Abdel Rahman told the meeting that he has just ended a visit to Karnoi and Tina areas in North Darfur, adding the two areas which were affected by the conflict have totally recovered. He said his visit with a big delegation to the two areas “is a message sceptics in the fact that security and stability are back in Darfur”… (Sudan Tribune, December 28, 2015 | El Fasher, North Darfur) When UNAMID is finished with its current round of deployments, and the U.S. under the callous and ignorant Trump administration has permanently lifted sanctions, we may be sure that Hassabo’s plans will be put into action—often violently. [ See Assaults on Camps for the Displaced in Darfur: History Makes Clear They Will Increase, August 27, 2017 | http://wp.me/p45rOG-25W/ ] L Life in the camps is already one of deprivation, suffering, and danger; closing them, as Khartoum plans to do, will put these innocent civilians at extraordinary risk, from many causes Again, Green’s exceedingly brief “show the flag” mission was to make the decision to lift economic sanctions on the Khartoum regime somehow more palatable—and to second the words of the ignorant and duplicitous U.S. Charge d’Affaires in Khartoum, Steven Koutsis. [ See | “U.S. Charge d’Affaires in Khartoum Steven Koutsis: Dishonest, Tendentious, Misleading” | Sudan Tribune | June 28, 2017 | http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article62859/ ]. It will, of course, do nothing to alleviate the suffering of those who continue to suffer under the Khartoum-imposed humanitarian embargo on areas in South Kordofan and Blue Nile controlled by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-North, where people—especially children—are dying from starvation. The following email from Dr. Tom Catena of the Mother of Mercy Hospital near Kauda in the Nuba Mountains came to me on August 18, 2017: The food shortages here are very severe. We’re now in the usual “hunger gap” period which goes from late June through end of August every year. We usually gauge the level of food shortages by when the village women show up at the hospital gates asking to work in exchange for food. Normally the women start coming in June and are gone by the end of August. This year, we’re had large numbers of women lining up at the hospital gates starting in February and there are still large numbers there every day. Our hospital matron has been working hard trying to find work for them in exchange for a couple malwas of sorghum. Even our staff have run out of food and buying enough in the market is not feasible given the high cost of the food there. We are doing our best to take care of as many as possible. We arranged to buy a quantity of sorghum from a market several hours from here in order to help our staff who were out of food. The number of malnutrition cases on our pediatric ward is way up this year. We normally have 8 to 10 malnourished children at any one time whereas now we have 25 or so on the wards. God knows how many are in the villages and not coming for evaluation… Children are starving in the Nuba Mountains because Khartoum refuses to allow food deliveries by international humanitarian organizations; this is a crime against humanity (see http://wp.me/p45rOG-I6/) Khartoum refuses to negotiate in good faith the delivery of food to these people and has refused for over six years. Green’s statement declares vaguely that “we hope to see a successful resolution to the conflicts in Darfur and the Two Areas.” But it is clear that there is no will to confront Khartoum over its continuation of a humanitarian embargo used as a weapon of war against the SPLM/A-North, no matter how many civilians die as a consequence. That this clear and fundamental fact is glossed over by Green should remind us of the closing days of the Obama administration, when then UN Ambassador Samantha Power declared—falsely—that there had been a “sea change” of improvement of humanitarian access in Sudan. The Realities of Humanitarian Access in Sudan To argue as the Obama and Trump administrations have in working to defend a lifting of U.S. economic sanctions on Sudan entails ignoring not only the ghastly realities created by the six-year humanitarian embargo directed against the people of South Kordofanand Blue Nile states, but the all-too regular reports from Darfur on humanitarian shortcomings that are typically a result of restrictions of one sort or another imposed by Khartoum: • Malnutrition cases increasing among Darfur IDPs: official | Sudan Tribune | July 14, 2017 (NYALA)http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article62990 A growing number of children and elderly are malnourished at Darfur camps for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) due to the reduction of food rations provided by the World Food Programme (WFP), said IDPs official. In its weekly bulletin on 24 June, the U.N Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said a recent survey conducted by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) found critical levels of acute malnutrition in Jebel Marra… Suffering from cholera • Cholera update: Displaced people in Darfur especially vulnerable | Radio Dabanga | July 13, 2017 | DARFUR / SOUTH KORDOFAN / EL GENEINA / TOKAR | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/cholera-update-displaced-people-in-darfur-especially-vulnerable On Monday six people died at Kabkabiya hospital in North Darfur of cholera, while on Tuesday the isolation centre reported 18 new cases of the disease, bringing the total number of hospitalised cases to 28. More deaths and infections have been reported from across Sudan. The Coordinator of Kabkabiya camps told Radio Dabanga that four of the dead were displaced persons residing at El Salam, Midan El Kheil and Hay El Salam camps, while the other two were residing in the western and northern areas of Kabkabiya. He pointed out that there is only one medical assistant for all infection cases in the hospital. He said the local authorities have not responded to their repeated demands to spray the camp and specify the health centre for cases of cholera. • Woman dies giving birth, care lacking in Jebel Marra | Radio Dabanga | July 14, 2017 | DERIBAT | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/woman-dies-giving-birth-care-lacking-in-jebel-marra A woman died in labour in a village near Deribat in East Jebel Marra on Wednesday. There was no adequate medical care or an ambulance available. The woman died in Talba, north of Deribat, in the most mountainous area of Darfur. One of her relatives told Radio Dabanga that there was no adequate medical care, or an ambulance to transport her to El Fasher. “There has been a lack of health facilities in Jebel Marra recently. This causes an increase in the mortality rates of pregnant women and women in labour in this area,” he said. Medical sources reported that health services are “entirely absent” in large parts of East Jebel Marra, while the government of South Darfur continues to deny medics access to the area. In 2015, the federal Ministry of Health in South Darfur reported it has the highest maternal mortality rate in Sudan, without the government being able to reduce the figures. • Darfur’s East Jebel Marra devoid of health services, 30 die of cholera | Radio Dabanga | July 10, 2017 | DARFUR / NORTH KORDOFAN / EASTERN SUDAN | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/darfur-s-east-jebel-marra-devoid-of-health-services-30-die-of-cholera Medical sources in South Darfur reported that more than 30 people died of cholera and at least 50 others have been infected in East Jebel Marra locality during the first week of July. The disease has spread to Liba, Jasu, Fugouli, Rakona, Dolda, Sawani, Duwo, and Fina, they said. The sources confirmed that health services are “entirely absent” in large parts of East Jebel Marra, while the government of South Darfur continues to deny medics access to the area. They called on the federal health authorities, the international community, especially the World Health Organisation, to act to allow health actors access to the locality to save the lives of people. The cholera baterium (Vibrio cholerae) is readily identified in a laboratory; the UN’s WHO refuses to do so with fecal samples from Sudan • Cholera update: Nine die in West Darfur camp | Radio Dabanga | July 7, 2017 | MURNEI / SHEARIA / KABKABIYA / SENNAR | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/cholera-update-nine-people-die-in-west-darfur-camp East Darfur One person died of cholera and four others were infected at Khazan Jadeed area in Shearia, East Darfur, on Wednesday. Omda Jaafar told Radio Dabanga that the medical isolation centre has seen eight patients die from cholera since the disease broke out in the area on 6 June. He said that so far there had been 102 cases of cholera. 88 people recovered from the disease. Fourteen are still being treated. “I am concerned about the increase in the number of cases because of the residents’ dependence on drinking water, which is unsafe.” [Sanitation and provision of clean water have been critical tasks on the part of international humanitarian organizations—when they have access—ER] #Cholera_In_Sudan: An important dispatch from Radio Dabanga gives some sense of what is now exploding in Darfur | August 22, 2017 | http://wp.me/p45rOG-25S/] Rewarding Policies that Starve Children in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan | Sudan Tribune | August 22, 2017 | http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article6328 The U.S. intelligence community, and its lust for whatever “counter-terrorism” intelligence the Khartoum regime is putatively able to provide, defines U.S. Sudan policy under the Trump administration, as it did for the entirety of the Obama administration and most of the administration of George W. Bush. And the U.S. intelligence community—largely but not entirely invisibly—simply doesn’t care about children starving to death in the Nuba Mountains, or the continuing rape of girls and women in Darfur, or the costs of allowing the deadly silence concerning cholera to continue. It does not care that the Khartoum regime is a vast kleptocracy, forcing on the people of Sudan policies that have put the economy in an irreversible spiral downward. This economic decline is of little matter to the men in power, so long as they control the national budget, in which over half of national resources are devoted to the military and security services. In the eyes of the U.S. intelligence community—and European countries desperate to stem the flow of African migrants to the European continent—the Khartoum regime will remain in power for the foreseeable future. That this calculation may be wrong—that economic distress has brought the Sudanese people to the point of insurrection—doesn’t concern the U.S. intelligence community: it is collectively confident that some modus vivendi can be fashioned with whatever political arrangement succeeds the NIF/NCP. Perhaps it will be costly, but the costs can be absorbed by the huge budget now commanded by the intelligence community, directly and indirectly. Very few in the Congress have had the courage and insight displayed years ago by then Senator Russ Feingold, as he saw U.S. Sudan policy from his position as chair of the Africa subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a member of the Intelligence Committee. In the intervening years, Feingold’s words have proved continually accurate and prescient: “I take serious issue with the way the report [on international terrorism by the U.S. State Department] overstates the level of cooperation in our counterterrorism relationship with Sudan, a nation which the U.S. classifies as a state sponsor of terrorism. A more accurate assessment is important not only for effectively countering terrorism in the region, but as part of a review of our overall policy toward Sudan, including U.S. pressure to address the ongoing crisis in Darfur and maintain the fragile peace between the North and the South.” (emphasis added) (Statement by Senator Russell Feingold, Chair of the Africa Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations, May 1, 2009) No Senate contest in the November 2016 elections was more dispiriting or consequential for Sudan than the defeat of Feingold in his bid to reclaim his Senate seat from Wisconsin. Former Senator Russ Feingold Reporting on humanitarian conditions in Eastern Sudan is almost non-existent, aside from reporting by Sudan Tribune and Radio Dabanga about water shortages and the spread of cholera. There is an explanation. In May of 2012 the regime expelled, without meaningful explanation, seven international humanitarian organizations working in eastern Sudan, one of the poorest and most severely marginalized of all the regions in Sudan. Sudan Tribune reported at the time: Sudan’s Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) [Suleiman Abdel Rahman] has ordered seven foreign aid groups to suspend their humanitarian activities in eastern Sudan following the findings of an assessment study reporting infractions they allegedly committed. [The decision ended] the humanitarian activities of the seven aid groups in the three states of Eastern Sudan region: Kassala; Red Sea and Gadaref states. [The seven organizations are] Accord, Goal, Triangle, Save the Children, Plan Sudan, Malo, a British demining group, and a Japanese aid group. [The charge was that] the groups exceeded their license and roles. We were able to get a chilling sense of Khartoum’s attitude toward foreign humanitarian assistance from words of Nafie Ali Nafieearlier that month, also from Sudan Tribune: Earlier in May [2014], addressing a rally organised in Port Sudan to provide support to the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) Sudanese presidential assistant Nafie Ali Nafie denounced calls for the return of NGOs to South Kordofan and described them [as] “trumpeters of conspiracy.” “Those who covet that foreign aid groups [secure] a foothold in the East (Sudan) … should know there is no place for them,” he further said. This absurd propaganda—part of a long-term campaign to demonize international aid organizations as fronts for spies, Zionist infiltrators, and self-enriching opportunists—was designed to cover the regime’s real motives, which include a primary desire that there be as few foreign eyes on the ground in Sudan as possible bearing witness to gross negligence and the most egregious violations of international law. There was also a desire to punish and weaken the people of eastern Sudan for their support of the South during the long civil war. This is what lay behind the subsequent and further suspension of humanitarian activities in eastern Sudan, in this case a UN jobs and assistance project (“UN aid programmes suspended in east Sudan,” Agence France-Presse [Khartoum], March 26, 2014): The programme’s beneficiaries are among 6.1 million people—18% of the population—needing humanitarian assistance in Sudan. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 SUDAN Research, Analysis, and Advocacy

Syrian forces in tanks escorted Islamic State fighters on Monday to the militant group’s territory in eastern Syria. CreditLouai Beshara/ Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Lebanon began transporting an estimated 400 armed Islamic State fighters and family members from its northern border to the militants’ stronghold in eastern Syria on Monday, according to official sources in Lebanon and Syria. The militants were transferred as part of a deal between the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, and its Syrian and Lebanese enemies. Under the agreement, the bodies of eight people believed to be Lebanese soldiers were to be returned, while Islamic State militants were to receive 17 air-conditioned buses, 11 ambulances and a free pass through territory held by the Syrian government. Hezbollah, the Shiite-dominated group whose militia was among the parties to the deal, announced through its War Media Center that the transfer of the Islamic State fighters had begun on Monday morning. First to go were 25 wounded fighters in ambulances, followed by busloads of fighters and others. The Syrian state news agency, SANA, also confirmed that the transfer of fighters was underway. Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, the Lebanese intelligence chief who was the government’s chief negotiator in trying to win the return of Lebanon’s captured soldiers, defended the arrangement. “The return of Daesh militants in air-conditioned cars to their countries is permissible because Lebanon adheres to the philosophy of a state that does not exact revenge,” he said in a radio interview, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State, according to the Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star. Former President Michel Sleiman was among the Lebanese leaders who declared the deal a win for the government. “Military victory must be supplemented by chasing down those who executed the soldiers and prosecuting them before international and Arabic tribunals,” Mr. Sleiman said on Twitter. Nine Lebanese soldiers were taken prisoner during fighting in the Arsal area of northeastern Lebanon in 2014. Since then, there had been little information on their fate, even though relatives have staged numerous protests in Beirut, the capital. Just over a week ago, the Lebanese Army launched an offensive in the border area to pressure Islamic State militants into negotiating the soldiers’ release. Simultaneously, Hezbollah and their allies in the Syrian government began an offensive in the same area, from the Syrian side of the border. That the operations coincided was unplanned, they said. Both sides declared a cease-fire with the Islamic State on Sunday to allow for the recovery of the service members. General Ibrahim said it appeared that the eight bodies handed over were those of the missing soldiers, although DNA identification is pending. No information about the ninth missing soldier was provided, but there have been reports that one may have joined the Islamic State militants during his captivity. SANA reported: “Following the victories made by Syrian armed forces in cooperation with the Lebanese national resistance Hezbollah in the western Qalamoun area, and to prevent shedding of blood of the armed forces supporting forces and civilians, a deal reached between Hezbollah and ISIS terrorist organization on the withdrawal of the remaining ISIS terrorists from western Qalamoun toward the eastern region of Syria was agreed on.” Qalamoun is the name of the mountain range on the Syrian side of the border, opposite the Arsal area of Lebanon. There was no immediate statement from the Islamic State on the deal. It is the first time the group is known to have negotiated a settlement to stop fighting involving a large number of militants and to give up territory. The agreement calls for Islamic State fighters and their families to be escorted to Boukamal, an area in Deir al-Zour Province, large parts of which are dominated by the militants. The Lebanese government referred to the deal as a “surrender” by the extremist group that would remove the last of Islamic State fighters from its border region with Syria. However, the militants were simply being relocated from the northern Lebanese border, where they were surrounded by hostile, pro-Syrian government forces, to an area in eastern Syria where they are largely engaged in fighting other Syrian opposition groups or the Western-backed Syrian Democratic Front. Lebanese Army soldiers in Ras Baalbek, near the scene of the Islamic State forces in Lebanon, said the group’s fighters had been permitted to keep light weapons when they were relocated. The official Syrian news media said the militants had destroyed their fortifications and equipment before the transfers took place. There was no suggestion that they would be prevented from returning to combat. Robert Ford, the former United States ambassador to Syria and now a teaching fellow at Yale as well as a fellow at the Middle East Institute, said this was just the latest in a series of accommodations the Syrian government had made with rebel groups around the country as it consolidates its control. “It’s not at all unprecedented,” Mr. Ford said. “There was a similar deal to the north of Raqqa; the Syrian government has cut deals like this many times with rebel groups it is fighting.” Much more important than the return of the bodies, militarily, was the removal of the Islamic State from the Lebanese frontier. “The Syrian government and the Lebanese government get what they want, which is better control over that border, so that there aren’t any more Sunni refugees and their supporters coming into Lebanon,” Mr. Ford said. Hezbollah, while a Lebanese party, has been supporting the Syrian government in the civil war. It is a staunch ally of President Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria and of Iran. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 The New York Times

Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the United Nations human rights chief, said the president risked inciting violence.CreditDenis Balibouse/Reuters The United Nations human rights chief said on Wednesday that President Trump’s repeated denunciations of some media outlets as “fake news” could amount to incitement to violence and had potentially dangerous consequences outside the United States. The rebuke by Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the high commissioner for human rights, at a news conference in Geneva was an unusually forceful criticism of a head of state by a United Nations official. Mr. al-Hussein was reacting to Mr. Trump’s recent comments at a rally in Phoenix during which he spoke of “crooked media deceptions” in reports of the violent clashes at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., that resulted in the death of a counterprotester. In Phoenix, the president’s words also appeared to whip up audience hostility toward journalists. “It’s really quite amazing when you think that freedom of the press, not only a cornerstone of the Constitution but very much something the United States defended over the years, is now itself under attack from the president himself,” Mr. al-Hussein said. “It’s a stunning turnaround.” Asked for comment, the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said in an emailed statement, “We believe in free press and think it is an important part of our democracy, but the press also has a big responsibility to the American people to be truthful. Their job is to report the news, not create it. “Is it not ‘dangerous’ for the media,” she continued, “to create false narratives and overzealous attacks against the president that the American people chose to be their leader? The president is focused on growing our economy, creating jobs, securing our border and protecting Americans. Since those are also the priorities of most Americans, hopefully the media will make covering them theirs.” In an attempt to deflect criticism that he had stoked racial divisions by failing to unequivocally condemn the actions of neo-Nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville as racist, Mr. Trump had accused the news media of giving a platform to hate groups. He singled out by name The New York Times, CNN and The Washington Post. Mr. al-Hussein said that the violence in Charlottesville was “an abomination.” The Nazi salutes, the display of swastikas and the anti-Semitic chants had no place in the United States or anywhere else, he said. “To call these news organizations fake does tremendous damage,” Mr. al-Hussein added. “I believe it could amount to incitement. At an enormous rally, referring to journalists as very, very bad people — you don’t have to stretch the imagination to see then what could happen to journalists.” Mr. Trump’s relationship with the news media has veered from lobbing labels like “dishonest” and “enemy of the people” at certain companies to agreeing to cordial sit-downs with those very outlets, like a wide-ranging interview with Times reporters in July. President Trump speaking in Phoenix last week. CreditTom Brenner/The New York Times He was criticized for retweeting a short video meme showing him wrestling with and punching a figure whose head had been replaced by the logo of CNN, a network he has called “garbage journalism.” But the president has shown a strong preference for programs on the Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox network, like Sean Hannity’s program and “Fox & Friends.” Before the presidential election, Mr. al-Hussein had warned that Mr. Trump could be a danger to international stability, but on Wednesday, at a news conference to discuss Venezuela, the human rights chief focused mainly on more recent domestic events. Mr. al-Hussein said the president’s demonization of the news media was “poisonous because it has consequences elsewhere.” If a journalist were to be harmed, he asked, “does the president not bear responsibility for this, for having fanned this?” Countries that did not recognize the essential role of the news media could be inspired if journalists in the United States were attacked, he said. He noted that Cambodia’s government, for example, had withdrawn licenses from the news media and it had cited Mr. Trump as an inspiration for doing so. Mr. al-Hussein also condemned the president’s comments regarding Muslims, minorities and transgender people as “grossly irresponsible.” “It emboldens those who think similarly to sharpen their assaults on these communities,” he said. The number of anti-Semitic attacks in the United States in the first three months of this year was 86 percent higher than in the same period last year, he said, citing figures from the Anti-Defamation League. Mr. al-Hussein compared Mr. Trump to a bus driver “careening down a mountain path.” From a human rights perspective, he said, “it seems to be reckless driving.” ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________(c) 2017 The New York Times