By Amnesty International ©AP Photo   Ahead of the 10-year anniversary of the enforced disappearance of Zimbabwean journalist and pro-democracy activist Itai Peace Dzamara, Amnesty International calls on authorities to urgently establish an independent, impartial and transparent investigation into his whereabouts.  On the morning of 9 March 2015, five men abducted Dzamara from a barber shop in the capital Harare’s Glen View suburb. The men accused him of stealing cattle before handcuffing him and driving off with him in a white truck with concealed number plates. All attempts by relatives and human rights lawyers to establish his whereabouts have been unsuccessful. “Itai Dzamara’s family and loved ones have endured ten years without answers. The authorities have ignored calls for information and investigation, including from his wife Sheffra Dzamara,” said Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa. “Zimbabwean authorities must urgently carry out an effective investigation into what happened to Itai Dzamara and end their official silence on his case.”  Dzamara was a leader of the Occupy Africa Unity Square, a pro-democracy protest group. Two days before his enforced disappearance, Dzamara addressed an opposition rally where he called for mass action against Zimbabwe’s deteriorating economic conditions.  “Itai Dzamara’s family and loved ones have endured ten years without answers. The authorities have ignored calls for information and investigation, including from his wife Sheffra Dzamara,” - Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International Regional Director for East and Southern Africa Immediately after Dzamara’s abduction, his wife filed a missing person report at Glen Norah Police Station in Harare. The next day, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights approached the High Court to try to force the state to expend all available resources to investigate and locate Dzamara.  The High Court of Zimbabwe ordered police and state security agents to search for Dzamara and report on their progress every two weeks. However, according to his lawyer, none of the security services have fully complied with the order. Police have reportedly not given any substantial information on the details of their supposed investigation when they submitted reports to the court, and have stopped submitting reports.  “Authorities have yet to conduct any credible inquiry into Itai Dzamara’s fate or whereabouts,” said Tigere Chagutah. “It is time for the authorities to stop pretending and get serious about finding Itai Dzamara and holding accountable whoever is suspected of responsibility for his enforced disappearance.”  A pattern of brutal repression Dzamara’s enforced disappearance followed months of persecution after he submitted a petition calling on Zimbabwe’s then-President, Robert Mugabe, to resign and pave the way for elections.  In November 2014, anti-riot police beat Dzamara until he lost consciousness while he was engaging in a peaceful protest in Harare. In hospital, Dzamara collapsed and had to be resuscitated and treated in the intensive care unit.  It is time for the authorities to stop pretending and get serious about finding Itai Dzamara. - Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International Regional Director for East and Southern Africa One month later, unknown men abducted Dzamara and two other activists, allegedly took them to an office of the ruling ZANU-PF party and severely beat them with metal rods before bringing them to a police station. The police let the abductors go free without charge. Dzamara and the two activists required hospitalization for injuries inflicted during the abduction.  “Itai Dzamara’s enforced disappearance was the culmination of a pattern of brutal repression of his peaceful activism,” said Tigere Chagutah.  Complete impunity Since Dzamara’s enforced disappearance, many other activists and human rights defenders in Zimbabwe have suffered harassment, intimidation or torture. In the last two years alone, at least ten opposition activists have been abducted.  Six people were abducted after disputed elections in 2023, including opposition activist and church leader Tapfumaneyi Masaya whose body was later found dumped on a farm. Others were allegedly tortured, some reported being injected with an unknown substance.  With the perpetrators of Itai Dzamara’s enforced disappearance enjoying complete impunity, it should be no surprise that similar human rights violations continue in Zimbabwe. - Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International Regional Director for East and Southern Africa Last year, amid a massive crackdown on dissent before a regional summit held in Harare, security agents pulled four activists off a plane and reportedly tortured them for up to eight hours.  Authorities have not conducted investigations into any of these cases.  “With the perpetrators of Itai Dzamara’s enforced disappearance enjoying complete impunity, it should be no surprise that similar human rights violations continue in Zimbabwe,” said Tigere Chagutah. “Zimbabwe’s government must protect human rights defenders, activists and opposition political parties to ensure they are able to do their work.” © 2025 Amnesty International

A file photograph of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. © IAEA/Fredrik Dahl 5 July 2025 I Peace and Security The UN Secretary-General on Saturday strongly condemned Russia’s latest wave of drone and missile attacks in Ukraine – reportedly the largest in over three years of war – warning that the strikes again jeopardised nuclear safety at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP).      In a statement  issued by his spokesperson, António Guterres expressed alarm over the dangerous escalation and the rising toll on civilians. He reiterated that attacks against civilians and critical infrastructure are prohibited under international law and called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire. “These strikes disrupted the power supply to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, once again underlining the ongoing risks to nuclear safety,” UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said. “The Secretary-General reiterates his call for a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine as a first step towards a just, comprehensive and sustainable peace, in line with the UN Charter , international law and relevant UN resolutions.” Fragile situation The airstrikes on Friday severed the nuclear plant’s last external power connection, forcing the ZNPP to rely on emergency diesel generators for more than three hours, according  to the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ). Power was eventually restored, but the incident marked the ninth time the plant has lost all off-site electricity since the full-scale invasion began in 2022. Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the nuclear watchdog, warned that the situation remains extremely fragile. “What was once virtually unimaginable – that a major nuclear power plant would repeatedly lose all of its external power connections – has unfortunately become a common occurrence,” he said. Nuclear safety deterioration Located in southern Ukraine, the Zaporizhzhia plant is the largest nuclear power facility in Europe. Although its six reactors have been in cold shutdown since 2024, they still require electricity to cool reactor cores and spent fuel pools to prevent overheating and potential radioactive release. During the blackout, 18 diesel generators were activated to maintain critical cooling functions. The plant has enough diesel on site for at least ten days, with contingency plans in place to secure further supplies if needed, IAEA reported. The ZNPP has become dramatically more vulnerable since the war began. Prior to the conflict, it had access to ten external power lines; it now relies on just one. IAEA teams remain based at the site and continue to monitor the situation closely. © 2025 United Nations

by United Nations Human Rights Council © AFP GENEVA – Laws curbing political participation recently adopted in Mali risk silencing dissenting voices in the country and could further deepen wider human rights concerns, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said today. The Transitional President on 13 May issued a decree dissolving all political parties and “organisations of a political nature” and signed into law a repeal of previous laws that governed political parties and provided protections to them. “The Transitional President should repeal this draconian decree,” said Türk. “Any restrictions of political participation must be consistent with Mali’s international human rights law obligations.” At least three members of the opposition were arrested following protests sparked by the planned dissolution of political parties, and their whereabouts are currently unknown, the latest victims in a pattern of enforced disappearances that dates back to at least 2021. “I urge the transitional authorities to release those who have been arrested on politically motivated grounds and to fully restore political rights in the country,” Türk said. “They must protect civic space and ensure an environment in which all people can enjoy all their rights, including the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.” The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights also urged the Malian transitional authorities, in power since 2020, to refrain from extending the transitional period again, and to publish an election timetable without delay, in order to enable Malians’ full enjoyment of their political rights, guaranteed in international human rights law. He also recalled the Transitional President’s instruction to the Cabinet in November 2024 to “create the conditions necessary for the organising of transparent and peaceful elections which should put an end to the transition period”. The recent human rights setbacks take place against a background of persistent insecurity affecting people across Mali, especially since the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) withdrew from the country on 31 December 2023. According to credible sources, the number of documented human rights violations and abuses increased by almost 120% between 2023 and 2024. Armed groups such as the Jamāʿat nuṣrat al-islām wal-muslimīn ( JNIM), “Islamic State – Sahel Province” (formerly “Islamic State in the Greater Sahara”) and other similar groups, as well as unidentified armed individuals, continue to carry out attacks on civilians, including killings and abductions, and to subject women and girls to sexual and gender-based violence, including rape and forced marriage. Reports indicate members of the Mali Armed Forces, allegedly accompanied by foreign military personnel commonly referred to either as “Wagner” or as “Africa Corps”, also killed dozens of people last month. The victims were reportedly summarily executed following their arrest in Sebagougou, in the southwestern Kayes region. “The multiple investigations announced by the Malian authorities into these attacks and killings must be conducted in a timely manner, and those found responsible must be brought to justice, in trials that meet Mali’s international human rights obligations, with a view to ensuring victims’ rights to truth, justice and reparations,” said Türk. © 2025 United Nations Human Rights Council

Inquiry finds British committed genocide on Indigenous Australians July 2 2025 By Lana Lam The report included 100 recommendations to "redress" harm caused by "invasion and occupation" / Getty Images British colonists committed genocide against Australia's Indigenous population in Victoria, a landmark Aboriginal-led inquiry has found. The Yoorrook Justice Commission found violence and disease reduced the local Indigenous population by three quarters in the 20 years after the state was colonised, in the early 1830s. Its report included 100 recommendations to "redress" harm caused by "invasion and occupation" - though several of the authors disagreed with unspecified "key findings". The Commission was set up in 2021 as Australia's first formal "truth-telling" inquiry, and tasked with examining past and ongoing "systemic injustices" suffered by the Indigenous people in the state. It is part of a wider national push for Australia to engage in a reconciliation process with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, which community leaders say should include inquiries into the nation's history, treaty-making, and granting First Nations people greater political say. Held over four years, The Yoorrook Justice Commission gave Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people the opportunity to formally share their stories and experiences. The commission's brief covered a wide gamut of issues including land and water rights, cultural violations, killing and genocide, health, education and housing. The inquiry found Victoria's Indigenous population dropped dramatically after colonisation / EPA The report found that from 1834, "mass killings, disease, sexual violence, exclusion, linguicide, cultural erasure, environmental degradation, child removal" as well as assimilation contributed to the "near-complete physical destruction" of Victoria's Indigenous community. The population dropped from 60,000 to 15,000 by 1851. "This was genocide," the report said. The report, which drew from more than two months of public hearings and over 1,300 submissions, called for "redress" to acknowledge a range of human rights violations, which could include reparations. Among its other recommendations were a significant overhaul of the education system to include greater input from Indigenous people, and a government apology for Aboriginal soldiers who served during the world wars and were excluded from a scheme gifting diggers land when they returned from the battlefields. On the state's health system, the report found that racism was "endemic" and called for more funding for Indigenous health services and policies to get more Aboriginal staff in the system. Three of the five commissioners - Sue-Anne Hunter, Maggie Walter and Anthony North - "did not approve of the inclusion of the key findings in the final report", however no further detail was provided. In response to the report, Victoria's Labor government said it would "carefully consider" the findings, with Premier Jacinta Allan saying they "shine a light on hard truths". Jill Gallagher, head of Victoria's peak body for Aboriginal health and wellbeing, said the genocide finding was "indisputable". "We don't blame anyone alive today for these atrocities," she told the ABC, "but it is the responsibility of those of us alive today to accept that truth - and all Victorians today must accept, recognise and reconcile with these factual findings." The commission's report is the first of its kind in Australia, though similar inquiries are happening in other states and territories with varying degrees of progress, depending on which party is in government. For example, in Queensland, a truth-telling inquiry was cancelled after the Labor government was replaced by a new Liberal-National government. In recent years, the national dialogue on how to recognise the traditional owners of Australia at all levels of governments has prompted heated debate. Australians voted against a historic referendum in October 2023, rejecting a change to the constitution that would have created an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, a national body for Indigenous people to give advice on laws. ©  2025 BBC. All rights reserved.

Photo by Jorge Servín On 24 March, it was formally agreed that Itaipú Binacional should finance the purchase of 3,000 hectares of land in Brazil to restore part of the Avá Guaraní Paranaense territory that had been dispossessed and flooded for the construction and operation of the Itaipú hydroelectric dam. The dam, one of the largest in the world, was built in the 1970s and 1980s as a joint project by the Paraguayan and Brazilian governments. Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International, declared that “The commitment to purchase 3,000 hectares of land in Brazil with resources from Itaipú Binacional is a result of the resistance of the Avá Guaraní Paranaense People. It does not, however, discharge the responsibility of the company and the governments of Brazil and Paraguay to provide full reparation to a people who have struggled for more than 40 years to recover their land”. A week ago, Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court endorsed a settlement agreement in a lawsuit brought by the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic of Brazil, representing the interests of the Avá Guaraní Paranaense Indigenous communities, against Brazilian state agencies and Itaipú Binacional. This legal procedure, supported by the Guaraní Yvyrupa Commission and other organizations, seeks redress for human rights violations suffered by the communities of Tekoha Guasu Ocoy Jacutinga and Tekoha Guassu Guavira in Brazil. The agreement includes the publication of an apology acknowledging the company’s responsibility for the violations and “damages” suffered by these Indigenous peoples during construction of the dam, and financing the purchase of 3,000 hectares of land for the communities, which comprise more than 5,000 members in the municipalities of São Miguel do Iguaçu, Itaipulândia, Santa Helena, Terra Roxa and Guaíra in the state of Paraná. In their own statement , the communities accepted this restitution as an immediate remedy, but declared that it does not in any way cover the true extent of the damage caused to the Avá Guaraní Paranaense territory. In particular, the communities in Brazil insist that this restitution does not cover all of the land they are claiming , and that the 3,000 hectares to be acquired are not enough to avoid a situation of overpopulation that would prevent them from recovering their traditional livelihoods linked to cultivation, hunting, fishing and forest management. “The dam that Brazil, Paraguay and Itaipú Binacional present internationally as a model project for the production of supposedly clean energy is in fact built on the pain of the Avá Guaraní Paranaense People. Without their territory and the livelihoods it provides, the very cultural identity of these Indigenous peoples is at risk.”, said Jurema Werneck, executive director of Amnesty International Brazil. The Avá Guaraní Paranaense communities on the Paraguayan side of the border shared with Amnesty International their joy at the steps taken in Brazil and their disappointment at the lack of equivalent progress in Paraguay. For more than a decade, Amnesty International has denounced the continued violation of the human rights of the Avá Guaraní Paranaense People in Paraguay, in particular through lack of reparation, the precariousness that affects many of those displaced, and the violence directed against communities who, after years of waiting, have decided to reoccupy parts of their ancestral territory that have not been flooded. Rosalía Vega, executive director of Amnesty International Paraguay, said that “the Avá Guaraní Paranaense communities are a single people who share an open wound inflicted by the Itaipú hydroelectric dam. It is therefore incomprehensible that acknowledgement of responsibility and steps towards reparation are not happening simultaneously. Both the Paraguayan and Brazilian governments and Itaipú Binacional must be held accountable and address the claims of the Avá Guaraní Paranaense communities on both sides of the border”. For these reasons, Amnesty International submitted an access to information request to Itaipú Binacional on both sides of the border, asking the company about the integrity of the measures taken to respect the right of the Avá Guaraní Paranaense People to free, prior and informed consultation and to redress the human rights violations committed during the construction of the dam. The request also addresses the company’s responsibility of due diligence to ensure that human rights are upheld at all times in its operations. Amnesty International recognizes the resistance of the Avá Guaraní Paranaense People and reaffirms its commitment to accompany their struggle until justice and effective reparation for the human rights violations committed against them on both sides of the Paraná River are achieved. For further information or to request an interview, please contact  press@amnesty.org © 2025 Amnesty International

The migrant detention facility, located in the Florida wetlands, was built in eight days and will include 3,000 beds. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speak in Ochopee, Florida, on July 1 [Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters] United States President Donald Trump has travelled to the southern tip of Florida to inaugurate a new immigration detention facility, nicknamed Alligator Alcatraz. On Tuesday, Trump joined Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at the remote facility, located in a vast wetland region known as the Everglades. “This is what you need,” Trump said. “A lot of bodyguards and a lot of cops in the form of alligators.” The president then quipped about the dangers: “I wouldn’t want to run through the Everglades for long.” The facility, built on the site of the former Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in Ochopee, is designed to help address the need for more beds and more space to carry out Trump’s campaign for mass deportation. State Attorney General James Uthmeier first announced Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” two weeks ago, sharing a video on social media that featured bellowing alligators and pulsing rock music to underscore the forbidding nature of the facility. “This 30-square-mile [78sq-km] area is completely surrounded by the Everglades. It presents an efficient, low-cost opportunity to build a temporary detention facility because you don’t need to invest that much in the perimeter,” Uthmeier said. “If people get out, there’s not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons. Nowhere to go. Nowhere to hide.” Its nickname draws from the lore surrounding the Alcatraz federal prison, an isolated, maximum-security detention centre built on a rocky island in the middle of the San Francisco Bay in California. That facility, closed since 1963, gained a reputation for being unescapable — though there were, indeed, five escapees whose fates remain unknown. “It might be as good as the real Alcatraz site,” Trump said of the Florida site on Tuesday. “That’s a spooky one too, isn’t it? That’s a tough site.” Alcatraz has long been a source of fascination for Trump, who mused earlier this year about reopening the San Francisco facility, despite cost and feasibility concerns. Similarly, the Alligator Alcatraz facility has spurred criticism for its human rights implications, its location in an environmentally sensitive landscape and its proximity to communities of Miccosukee and Seminole Indigenous peoples. But the Trump administration has embraced its location as a selling point, as it seeks to take a hard-knuckled stance on immigration. “There is only one road leading in, and the only way out is a one-way flight. It is isolated and surrounded by dangerous wildlife in unforgiving terrain,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday. “ This is an efficient and low-cost way to help carry out the largest mass deportation campaign in American history.” The Florida government has set up temporary, modular units in Ochopee, Florida, for the new detention facility [WSVN via AP] Dressed in a baseball cap that read, “Gulf of America: Yet another Trump development”, Trump flew to Ochopee to inspect the Alligator Alcatraz facility on its opening day. Florida officials have celebrated the fact that it took only eight days to set up the detention centre, which appears to use temporary structures on the pavement of the former airport. Governor DeSantis, who ran against Trump in 2024 for the Republican presidential nomination, said that Alligator Alcatraz would take advantage of the adjacent airstrip to facilitate expedited deportations for migrants. “Say they already are been ordered to be deported,” DeSantis told reporters on Tuesday. “You drive them 2,000 feet [667 metres] to the runway. And then they’re gone. It’s a one-stop shop, and this airport that’s been here for a long time is the perfectly secure location.” The head of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, Kevin Guthrie, added that the facility will be equipped to hold up to 3,000 migrants — up from an initial estimate of 1,000 — with the potential for expanding the premises. A further 2,000 people will be held at Camp Blanding, a National Guard base on the other side of the state, in northern Florida. A poster on display at Trump’s news conference in Ochopee also advertised 1,000 staff members on site, more than 200 security cameras and 28,000 feet — or 8,500 metres — of barbed wire. Protesters line the roadway leading to the site known as Alligator Alcatraz on June 28 [Marco Bello/Reuters] Still, human rights advocates and environmental groups gathered on the highway leading to Alligator Alcatraz on Tuesday to show their opposition to Trump and his deportation plans. Protesters chanted through megaphones, “Hey hey, ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go.” Some picket signs read, “Communities not cages” and “We say no to Alligator Alcatraz!” The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida released a statement prior to the facility’s opening, denouncing the Trump administration for conflating immigration with criminality. The creation of Alligator Alcatraz, it said, was an extension of that mentality. “The name ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ reflects an intent to treat people fleeing hardship and trying to build a better life for themselves and their families as dangerous criminals, which is both unnecessary and abusive,” the ACLU branch said. Meanwhile, the Friends of the Everglades, an environmental group, called upon its supporters to contact Governor DeSantis to oppose the “massive detention center”. It noted that the construction of the airport itself had raised similar environmental concerns nearly 50 years earlier. “Surrounded by Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve, this land is part of one of the most fragile ecosystems in the country,” the group said in a statement. “The message is clear: No airports. No rock mines. No prisons. Only Everglades. Let’s not repeat the mistakes of the past. This land deserves lasting protection.” Trump, however, argued in Tuesday’s news conference that the construction mostly built upon the existing airport. “ I don’t think you’ve done anything to the Everglades,” he said, turning to Governor DeSantis. “I think you’re just enhancing it.” DeSantis himself brushed aside the environmental criticisms as attempts to derail the president’s deportation initiative. “ I don’t think those are valid and even good faith criticisms because it’s not going to impact the Everglades at all,” the governor said, promising no seepage into the surrounding ecosystem. Trump hinted that the Alligator Alcatraz site could be the first of many similar, state-led immigration detention facilities. “ I think we’d like to see them in many states — really, many states,” he said. “At some point, they might morph into a system where you’re gonna keep it for a long time.” © 2025 Al Jazeera Media Network

by Committee to Protect Journalists Zimbabwe Independent editor Faith Zaba, center, with her lawyer, Chris Mhike, left, speak to an officer at Zaba’s appearance at the Harare Magistrate's Court earlier today. (Photo: Lovejoy Mutongwiza) New York July 2, 2025 — The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Zimbabwean authorities to release newspaper editor Faith Zaba, who was arrested on July 1. She is facing charges of “undermining or insulting the authority of the president” in connection with a satirical column. “This case sends the message that Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his administration are so fragile that they are easily threatened by a critical column,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Muthoki Mumo. “It’s also a reminder of this government’s willingness to waste public resources by throwing journalists behind bars. Authorities in Zimbabwe must release Faith Zaba unconditionally and without delay.” Police summoned Zaba to appear at the central police station in the capital, Harare, on July 1, where they charged her over the June 27  satirical column  about Mnangagwa’s government published in her newspaper, the business weekly Zimbabwe Independent , according to her lawyer, Chris Mhike. Mhike told CPJ that Zaba has been unwell and was “severely ill” at the time of her arrest. On July 2, Zaba appeared at the magistrates’ court in Harare, where her bail hearing was deferred to July 3 after the state requested more time to verify her medical history, according to  multiple  local  news  reports . The  “Muckracker” column  linked to Zaba’s arrest said that Zimbabwe was a “mafia state,” citing the administration’s alleged interference in the politics of neighboring countries, and said that the current government was “obsessed with keeping itself in power.” Under Zimbabwe’s   Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act , Zaba could face a $300  fine or imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both, if convicted. CPJ has documented an ongoing  crackdown on dissent  in Zimbabwe, amid political tension. In February, authorities arrested  Blessed Mhlanga , a journalist with Alpha Media Holdings, and  held him  for over 10 weeks on baseless charges of incitement in connection with his coverage of war veterans who demanded Mnangagwa’s resignation. The Zimbabwe Independent is a subsidiary of Alpha Media Holdings. A spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Republic Police, Paul Nyathi, did not answer CPJ’s calls and a query sent via messaging app requesting comment. © 2025 Committee to Protect Journalists

In an unprecedented legal move in Aotearoa New Zealand, a national Palestine solidarity advocacy group has filed a referral against the prime minister, three other ministers in the coalition government and two business leaders, alleging complicity with Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza. Asia Pacific Report July 3, 2025 By APR editor PSNA co-chairs John Minto and Maher Nazzal say the referral “carefully outlines a case that six NZ individuals should be investigated” by the ICC Office of the Prosecutor for their knowing contribution to Israel’s crimes in Gaza. Image: ICC The Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) has accused the six individuals of complicity in war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide by “assisting Israel’s mass killing and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza”. The PSNA movement has led 90 consecutive weeks of protest at multiple locations across New Zealand in the country’s biggest human rights campaign since the war began in October 2023. In a statement, PSNA co-chairs John Minto and Maher Nazzal said the referral “carefully outlines a case that these six individuals should be investigated” by the Office of the Prosecutor for their knowing contribution to Israel’s crimes in Gaza. “The 103-page referral document was prepared by a legal team which has been working on the case for many months,” said Minto and Nazzal. “It is legally robust and will provide the prosecutor of the ICC more than sufficient documentation to begin their investigation.” The six people named in the referral documentation are Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters, Minister for Defence and Space Judith Collins, Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour, and businessmen Rocket Lab chief executive Sir Peter Beck and Rakon Limited chief executive Dr Sinan Altug. Spy satellites According to PSNA, Rocket Lab launches spy satellites from Māhia, which PSNA claims Israel uses go target civilians in Gaza, while Rakon exports military-grade crystal oscillators to the US “to be put in missiles which Israel can deploy in Gaza and elsewhere”. “This is a grave step which we have not taken lightly,” Minto and Nazzal said. “The government’s ongoing and meaningful support for Israel, despite its horrendous war crimes, is not only egregious to most New Zealanders, but is also criminal conduct under international law.” The PSNA referral follows an open letter by one of the country’s largest environmental organisations two days ago that called on the government to impose sanctions on Israel amid mounting criticism in New Zealand over war crimes allegations against the state over its 20-month war. Greenpeace Aotearoa’s executive director Dr Russel Norman, a former Green Party co-leader, said in an open letter addressed to Prime Minister Luxon and Foreign Minister Peters that he was expressing grave concerns about the “ongoing genocide in Gaza being carried out by Israeli forces, and the ongoing failure of the New Zealand government to impose meaningful sanctions on Israel.” Greenpeace’s sanctions open letter to NZ Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. Image: Greenpeace screeshot APR Norman cited a statement by the UN Human Rights Office last week that “at least 410 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military while trying to fetch from controversial new aid hubs in Gaza”. The office said this was “a likely war crime”. ‘Killing field’ He also cited Ha’aretz , a respected Israeli newspaper, quoting an Israeli soldier describing the Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHC) aid hubs as a “killing field”. In March last year, Sydney law firm Birchgrove Legal referred a case to ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan consisting of 92 pages of documented evidence, alleging that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and several other high level local politicians were complicit in the Gaza genocide. The case was lodged under article 15 of the Rome Statute and although Albanese claimed it had “no credibility” , two months later the ICC announced that it had agreed to investigate Albanese as part of its ongoing “Situation in the State of Palestine” investigation. In January 2015, the Palestinian government lodged a claim with the ICC regarding war crimes committed in the occupied Palestinian territories since 13 June 2014. Amnesty International , Human Rights Watch , leading international scholars and the UN Special Committee to investigate Israel’s practices have all condemned Israel’s actions as genocide. In November 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for the war crimes of starvation as a weapon and crimes against humanity. ‘Letter of demand’ The New Zealand referral to the ICC followed a “letter of demand” issued to the government last year actions that a “reasonable government” would take to prevent and punish the crime of genocide, and the actions a government should take to avoid criminal complicity with Israel. “For 20 months these political and business leaders have supported Israel to commit crimes which have shocked the human conscience,” Minto and Nazzal said. “This has brought shame on the whole country.” It is understood that this is the first time that New Zealand political or business leaders have been referred to the ICC for investigation. There were no immediate responses. However, a growing number of such cases are being filed around the world. In July 2024, the UN’s highest global court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an advisory opinion declaring that Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Gaza and East Jerusalem, was illegal. It called on Israel to halt all settlements and withdraw settlers from the territory. The court is also investigating Israel over a case brought by South Africa alleging genocide. © Site Copyright 2021 - AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Emirati vice president is best known as the owner of Manchester City, a top English soccer team. Behind the scenes, he has been described as the “handler” guiding his country’s secret foreign wars. By Declan Walsh and Tariq Panja Declan Walsh reported from Nairobi, Kenya and Port Sudan, and Tariq Panja from London. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates arriving at Doha International Airport in Qatar in October, in a photograph released by his country’s presidential court. Credit Eissa Al Hammadi/UAE Presidential Court Weeks before Sudan flamed into a calamitous civil war, one of the richest men in the Middle East, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, welcomed an architect of the chaos to his sumptuous Persian Gulf palace. The sheikh, a younger brother to the powerful ruler of the United Arab Emirates, is recognized in the West as a collector of superyachts and racehorses, and is perhaps best known as the owner of Manchester City, the hugely successful English soccer team. Last year, his team in New York won approval to build a $780 million soccer stadium in Queens, the first in the city. Yet there he was, in February 2023, openly entertaining a notorious commander from the deserts of western Sudan — someone who had seized power in a coup, built a fortune on illicit gold and was accused of widespread atrocities. The two men knew each other well. Sheikh Mansour had hosted the Sudanese commander, Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan, two years earlier at an arms fair in the Emirates, where they toured exhibits of rockets and drones. Source: Abu Dhabi Media (Emirate state media) By The New York TImes And when Sudan’s conflict exploded, in April 2023, Sheikh Mansour helped the general wage war. Charities controlled by Sheikh Mansour set up a hospital, saying they were treating civilians. But that humanitarian effort was also a cover for the secret Emirati effort to smuggle drones and other powerful weapons to General Hamdan’s group , the Rapid Support Forces, or R.S.F., according to American and U.N. officials. A flood of evidence has emerged of massacres, mass rape and genocide by General Hamdan’s forces. The Emiratis deny arming any side in the war, but the United States has intercepted regular phone calls between General Hamdan and the leaders of the Emirates, including Sheikh Mansour. The intelligence helped American officials conclude that the unassuming Emirati royal has played a central role in the effort to arm General Hamdan’s forces, inflaming a devastating conflict that has led to famine and the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis . Sheikh Mansour, General Hamdan and the Emirati Foreign Ministry did not respond to detailed questions about their ties and roles in the war. Despite owning one of the world’s most famous soccer teams, Sheikh Mansour, 54, has remained an enigma, often showing a chameleon-like ability to disappear into the background, overshadowed by his more prominent or powerful siblings. Yet in interviews with more than a dozen American, African and Arab officials, he is described as being at the sharp end of his country’s aggressive push to expand its influence across Africa and the Middle East. In places like Libya and Sudan, they say, Sheikh Mansour has coddled warlords and autocrats as part of a sweeping Emirati drive to acquire ports and strategic minerals, counter Islamist movements and establish the Gulf nation as a heavyweight regional power. Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan, the leader of the Rapid Support Forces paramilitaries, in Sudan’s military headquarters in 2019. The United States has intercepted regular phone calls between Sheikh Mansour and General Hamdan. Declan Walsh/The New York Times A photograph released by Emirati state media purporting to show delivery of aid in Amdjarass, Chad, in 2023. Emirates News Agency Sheikh Mansour with his brother Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, the ruler of the United Arab Emirates, at the Dubai Air Show in 2023. Jon Gambrell/Associated Press While his brother, the hawkish ruler of the Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, undoubtedly steers that policy, Sheikh Mansour has quietly carved out a powerful backing role — bolstering the nation’s soft power through soccer while also fostering ties with armed leaders in some of the world’s most fragile countries, the officials say. “He’s the fixer, the handler, the one sent to places without much glamour or publicity, but which are important to the Emiratis,” said Andrew P. Miller , a former senior U.S. diplomat. “That seems to be his niche.” At least a half-dozen other officials described Sheikh Mansour the same way. In the West, Sheikh Mansour has largely remained under the radar. He rarely meets Western diplomats, does not speak to reporters and has hardly ever attended games of Manchester City, the celebrated team he owns. When his ventures have become embroiled in international charges of corruption or breaching international arms embargoes, he has avoided censure. Now, though, that sense of gilded immunity is starting to crack. Last year, the British government passed a law that, in effect, prevented Sheikh Mansour from acquiring a venerable newspaper, fearing it could affect press freedom. Trials in the United States and Malaysia have uncovered accusations that Sheikh Mansour profited from the 1MDB scandal , one of the world’s biggest financial frauds. The worsening war in Sudan, a sprawling conflict that has caused over 150,000 deaths and displaced over 12 million people , has led to accusations that the Emirates is bankrolling a genocide. Democratic lawmakers have called for a block on U.S. weapons sales to the Emirates. And now, Sheikh Mansour’s sporting jewel is under siege. A British panel is considering sweeping accusations that Manchester City has cheated on a grand scale. His team has been accused by its own league of manipulating its finances to fund the purchase of star players who assured the club’s stunning run of victories, transforming it from a group of stumbling has-beens into an international sporting phenomenon. Manchester City denies the accusations, but if found guilty, the team could be fined, expelled or stripped of its many titles. It is also a moment of reckoning for Sheikh Mansour, whose dealings are now under the kind of spotlight he has long sought to avoid. Manchester City did not respond to a request for comment. Whatever the ruling, the case raises the prospect that the extraordinary secrecy he has enjoyed, fueled by a seemingly inexhaustible spigot of money, may be coming to an end. This is the story of the sheikh who preferred to stay hidden. The Sheikh of Soccer In his grandparents’ generation, most inhabitants of what is now the Emirates were date farmers, camel herders and pearl fishermen. The discovery of oil in the 1960s set off a breathtaking transformation that first focused on the city state of Dubai. Mirrored buildings sprung from the desert, and ski runs now twist through shopping malls, turning the city into an archetype of petrostate bling. The more conservative capital, Abu Dhabi, has turned into a finance hot spot and aspiring artificial intelligence superpower. The city has become such a global investment hub that it bills itself as the “ capital of capital .” At Dubai Mall, one of the biggest malls in the world. The United Arab Emirates has become an archetype of the blingy Gulf petrostate. Katarina Premfors for The New York Times The Marina district in Dubai. Andrea DiCenzo for The New York Times People walking outside the Louvre Abu Dhabi, near the new Guggenheim museum being built. The U.A.E. has tried to expand its global influence through sports, culture and foreign conflict. Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times One family sits at the top. The al-Nahyans of Abu Dhabi are the world’s second-richest family, after the Waltons of the United States, by some estimates . They have ruled the Emirates since independence in 1971, and their power is concentrated in a group known as the “Bani Fatima” — six sons of the favored wife of the country’s founding father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan. Three of the sons dominate. The eldest brother, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, 64, known as M.B.Z. , has been the de facto ruler for more than two decades. Under him is Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, 56, often referred to as the “spy sheikh” — a sunglasses-wearing national security adviser and fitness enthusiast who likes to play chess on his superyacht and has bonded with Mark Zuckerberg, the Meta founder, over jujitsu. The third-most powerful brother, Sheikh Mansour, keeps a much lower profile. Sheikh Tahnoon, who likes to play chess on his superyacht, with his brother Sheikh Mansour. Their family has ruled the Emirates since 1971. Mohammed Al-Hammadi/UAE Presidential Court As deputy prime minister and vice president, he controls key institutions, including the Emirati central bank, the national oil company and the Abu Dhabi criminal authority. He chairs Mubadala, a fast-growing $330 billion sovereign wealth fund with investments in artificial intelligence, semiconductors and space tourism. He is a key figure in his country’s efforts to acquire global sway through soft power, including trying to build a media empire. He has partnered with British Sky Broadcasting and CNN for television stations and websites in Arabic, and handed a $1 billion war chest to Jeff Zucker, a former president of CNN, to acquire media outlets around the world. In public, Sheikh Mansour tends to linger on the sidelines. He is often seen sponsoring traditional Emirati activities like camel races and date festivals. His statements are mostly notable for how bland they are. But in the world of soccer, he has become a veritable giant, helping the royals rebrand themselves after a devastating setback. In 2006, two years before Sheikh Mansour bought Manchester City, the Emirates suffered a very public rejection. Its attempt to buy six seaports in the United States was blocked amid a fierce political backlash , even though the Emirates had allied closely with Washington after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It was a seminal moment, causing Emirati leaders to set about reshaping their international image, by investing in culture , academia and sport. Sheikh Mansour led the charge on soccer. Only hours after buying Manchester City for $330 million, he forked out a record sum for a new player — the first in a string of expensive acquisitions, costing at least $3.5 billion, that transformed the team into a soccer behemoth. Manchester City soon picked up its first championship in decades. Since then, it has won the Premier League another seven times, as well as the biggest prize in club soccer, the Champions League. In 2023, it raked in $100 million in profits from almost $1 billion in revenues, ranking it among the most lucrative sports teams in the world. “Sheikh Mansour, Manchester Thanks You,” reads a banner that hangs permanently at its home stadium, which is named after Etihad Airways, a national carrier of the Emirates. Sheikh Mansour during the English Premier League soccer match against Liverpool in Manchester in 2010. Andrew Yates/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Bayern Munich fans protesting the takeover of soccer teams by wealthy owners during a match against Manchester City at Etihad Stadium in Manchester in 2023. Molly Darlington/Reuters Image Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed putting a Manchester City scarf on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, while Sheikh Mansour looks on, in a photograph released by the Turkish presidential office. The team won the Champions League final in Istanbul in 2023. Turkish Presidential Press Office As the trophies piled up, Sheikh Mansour bought a dozen other teams, including in Melbourne, Mumbai and Yokohama. The new stadium for his soccer team in New York — New York City F.C. — will have a name similar to the one in Manchester: Etihad Park . Rival Gulf nations have followed suit, snapping up their own British or European teams . Manchester City has also served political purposes. Team officials invited journalists to briefings in 2014 by consultants working for the Emirates. Rather than discussing soccer, the briefings sought to link Qatar, a rival of the Emirates, to international terrorism, according to a journalist present and a briefing dossier seen by The New York Times. Sheikh Mansour’s personal passion for soccer, however, is unclear. Since buying Manchester City 17 years ago, he has seen the team play just twice in competition, and only once at the Etihad Stadium. But in that period, Emirati priorities have shifted to hard power as well — and so have Sheikh Mansour’s. The Handler The Arab Spring in 2011 was a turning point for the al-Nahyans. As autocrats toppled across the Middle East, the family worried that it might be next . The Emirati ruler, Sheikh Mohammed, told Western officials that he feared the surging strength of Islamist political groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and vowed to stop them in their tracks. The Emirates intervened forcefully in countries like Egypt, Libya and Yemen. But that often involved backing military takeovers, arming rebels or forging alliances with unreformed warlords. To manage some of those relationships, a delicate hand was needed. Enter Sheikh Mansour. On orders from his brother, the Emirati ruler, Sheikh Mansour assumed the role of managing “unseemly and unsightly yet important strongmen” in various places, as one former senior U.S. official put it. In Libya, the favored strongman was Khalifa Hifter, a onetime C.I.A. asset who promised to fill the chaotic vacuum left by the death of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, Libya’s leader. Just as importantly, Mr. Hifter was opposed to Islamist groups. From about 2015, American officials noticed that Sheikh Mansour was regularly speaking with Mr. Hifter, and quietly “handling” the relationship, several U.S. officials said. “That’s when we realized the Emiratis were putting their money” on Mr. Hifter, one official recalled. The alliance caused some friction with Washington. Emirati weapons poured into Libya, in breach of an international arms embargo . Even some American weapons that had been sold to the Emirates showed up in Libya, a senior official said. In 2020, the Pentagon said the Emirates had most likely paid for mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group to fight alongside Mr. Hifter as he attacked the Libyan capital. But there was little public blowback for the Emirates, which by then had turned its attention to another strategically valuable country: Sudan. There, the longtime ruler, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, was allied with Iran, a fierce competitor with many Arab states for influence in the region. Sheikh Mansour was tasked with wooing him to the Emirati side, Sudanese and American officials said. A series of back-channel meetings culminated in 2017 with a high-profile visit by Mr. al-Bashir to Abu Dhabi. Omar al-Bashir, then the president of Sudan, right, at the opening of an arms fair in Abu Dhabi in 2017, with leaders of the United Arab Emirates. Karim Sahib/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Forces under the command of Khalifa Hifter, believed to be Sheikh Mansour’s favored strongman in Libya, at a military training camp in 2020. Ivor Prickett for The New York Times Troops from Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces fighting under the command of the United Arab Emirates in southern Yemen in 2018. Tyler Hicks/The New York Times Soon, billions in Emirati aid was flowing into Sudan, according to Emirati state media. Many American officials were appalled. Mr. al-Bashir was wanted by the International Criminal Court at The Hague for his role in the genocide in Darfur a decade earlier. For the Emirates, though, it was a fruitful alliance: Mr. al-Bashir deployed troops to Yemen to fight alongside the Emirates and Saudi Arabia in their war against the Iran-backed Houthis. That was also the start of a new relationship. Many of the troops sent to Yemen belonged to the R.S.F. , which was then a recently formed paramilitary group led by General Hamdan. The general quickly became a close ally of Sheikh Mansour. “We always understood that, behind the scenes on Sudan, lay Mansour,” said Jeffrey Feltman, the U.S. envoy to the Horn of Africa from 2021 to 2022. ‘Gatsbys’ of the Gulf When he is not dealing with warlords or soccer teams, Sheikh Mansour is known to indulge in luxuries that only the ultra rich can afford. By many accounts, he has owned several of the world’s biggest superyachts — floating palaces with opulent interiors. His latest, according to yachting industry reports , is the $600 million Blue. Some argue that it is named after the Manchester City colors and, at 525 feet, the vessel is far longer than any field the team has ever played on. A decade ago, Sheikh Mansour’s taste in boats attracted the attention of American prosecutors, who said he funded another yacht, the Topaz, with the proceeds of the infamous 1MDB scandal. At least $4.5 billion of Malaysian public money was embezzled through an elaborate financial scheme, the U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in 2016. She called it “ the largest kleptocracy case ” the United States had ever seen. A slew of criminal prosecutions led to the conviction and imprisonment of Malaysia’s prime minister, Najib Razak, as well as two senior Wall Street executives, one of whom was sentenced in May . Media attention in the case initially focused on the splashy habits of Jho Low , the fugitive financier accused of orchestrating the scheme — celebrity parties in Las Vegas, real estate in Beverly Hills and paintings by Picasso and Monet. But it also led to investigations in about a dozen countries, which eventually surfaced serious accusations against senior Emirati officials, including Sheikh Mansour. At one trial in New York in 2022, American prosecutors presented evidence that the Emirati ambassador to Washington, Yousef al-Otaiba, had received $40 million in bribes. Nearly half a billion dollars went to Khadem al-Qubaisi, the chief executive of one of Sheikh Mansour’s companies, the prosecutors said. Although prosecutors did not say how much Sheikh Mansour may have received, they listed him as a “co-conspirator” in the fraud and, citing Mr. Low, placed him at the top of a “hierarchy of bribes ” in the case. They also presented evidence showing that $161 million of 1MDB funds were used to repay a loan for Sheikh Mansour’s $688 million yacht, the Topaz. In 2013, Sheikh Mansour vacationed on the yacht with Mr. Razak, the Malaysian leader, in the south of France, a Malaysian anti-corruption official told a court in January . A year later, the actor Leonardo DiCaprio used the yacht during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The Emirati ambassador to Washington, Yousef al-Otaiba, during a business forum attended by President Trump in Abu Dhabi in May. Brendan Smialowski/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Known as a collector of racehorses, Sheikh Mansour owns a stud farm in Normandy, France. Lou Benoist/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Image Sheikh Mansour has owned several of the world’s biggest superyachts, including the Topaz, shown in Mugla, Turkey, in 2017. Sabri Kesen/Anadolu Agency, via Getty Images Sheikh Mansour has never faced charges related to 1MDB, although in 2023, two of his companies agreed to repay $1.8 billion to Malaysia , which accused them of facilitating the fraud. Mr. al-Otaiba, who remains the Emirati ambassador to Washington, enjoys diplomatic immunity from prosecution, officials said. Mr. al-Qubaisi, the former chief executive of one of Sheikh Mansour’s companies, was convicted of fraud in the Emirates and is serving a 15-year prison sentence. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal in 2019, he said he had been made a “scapegoat” by Sheikh Mansour. Sheikh Mansour, Mr. al-Otaiba and Mr. DiCaprio declined to answer questions about 1MDB. Several American officials involved in the case, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss legally privileged discussions, expressed frustration that Sheikh Mansour and the Emirates did not cooperate with their investigation. “There’s enough that points to Mansour,” said Clare Rewcastle Brown, an author of two books on the 1MDB scandal. “But it’s clear that nobody wants to touch him.” Critics said the episode was typical of the privilege enjoyed by Emirati leaders, whose immense wealth has often shielded them. Stephanie Williams, a veteran U.S. diplomat who led the U.N. mission to Libya, compared them with the fictional protagonists of “The Great Gatsby.” “They come and wreak havoc with their money and carelessness,” Ms. Williams said, paraphrasing a line from the classic American novel. “And then they leave other people to clean up their mess.” The Khartoum Connection When General Hamdan helped seize power in a coup in Sudan in 2021, American officials were furious. They had been assured that civilians, not the military, would govern the country. But the Emirates approved of the takeover, and soon gave General Hamdan a warm official welcome in Abu Dhabi. The Emirates was on its way to surpassing even China as the biggest foreign deal maker in Africa. Companies led by the al-Nahyan family have poured billions into African mines, data centers and carbon credits as the Gulf country seeks to wean its economy off oil. Yet for a handful of strategically located nations, the Emirates has also acted as an arms-supplying kingmaker. In 2021, Sheikh Mohammed rescued the beleaguered prime minister of Ethiopia , Abiy Ahmed, by supplying drones that helped to turn the tide of a brutal civil war in his favor. And when Sudan collapsed into civil war in 2023, the Emirates sided firmly with Sheikh Mansour’s ally, General Hamdan. The Emirates denies backing either side in Sudan’s war. But from the earliest days of the conflict, the United States learned that the Emirates was sheltering General Hamdan in Abu Dhabi and arming his fighters in the field, U.S. officials said. First, General Hamdan flew to the Emirates, where he was given sanctuary in a protected residence and recorded videotaped speeches to supporters in Sudan, American officials said. Soon after, the Emirates mounted a covert scheme to arm General Hamdan’s group , the R.S.F., from a desert air base in eastern Chad. The day after the area had been captured by the Sudanese Army in March, a soldier looked through documents found in the bedroom of the Rapid Support Forces commander, General Hamdan. Abu Dhabi has sided firmly with General Hamdan in Sudan’s civil war. Ivor Prickett for The New York Times A Sudanese soldier on the bloodstained steps of the presidential palace in Khartoum in March, where an R.S.F. drone killed four state TV workers and two military officers. Ivor Prickett for The New York Times Sudanese military forces beside an Emirati armored fighting vehicle that had been captured from the Rapid Support Forces, a militia group, after the military had cleared areas of central Khartoum in March. Ivor Prickett for The New York Times The general’s appeal to the Emirates was threefold, U.S. officials said. He was loyal because he had fought for the Emiratis in Yemen. He was cooperative because his businesses were based in the Emirates, where he sold gold and bought weapons. And he was a self-proclaimed enemy of Islamist groups. Using phone intercepts, American intelligence agencies determined that General Hamdan enjoyed a direct line to two leaders of the Emirates — Sheikh Mohammed and Sheikh Mansour, officials said. They also identified an Emirati official who coordinated a network of shell companies that helped to fund and arm the general’s forces. Once the war began, Sheikh Mansour appeared to cut public ties with General Hamdan, but a connection remained. The Emirates sent weapons to the general’s forces via an air base in Chad, where they were ostensibly running a field hospital funded by two charities , both controlled or overseen by Sheikh Mansour. Neither charity responded to questions for this story, but Emirati officials said it was “reckless and harmful” to suggest that the hospital was being used for anything other than humanitarian work. The Emirates is not the only foreign power fueling the war , and some have sided with General Hamdan’s enemy, Sudan’s military, which has also been accused of war crimes . Hoping to blunt the foreign meddling, the U.S. envoy to Sudan, Tom Perriello, confronted Sheikh Mansour personally in 2024 about his support for General Hamdan during a meeting in the Emirates, one U.S. official said. Sheikh Mansour deflected the charge, saying the onus for peace lay with his enemies. ‘Trial of the Century’ In late 2023, in a major boost to the Emirates’ ambitions in global media, Sheikh Mansour struck a $600 million deal to buy the Daily Telegraph newspaper, a bastion of the British conservative establishment. But less than six months later, the British government blocked the deal with a new law restricting foreign ownership of newspapers. One lawmaker said publicly that it was impossible “to separate sheikh and state.” The culture secretary, Lucy Frazer, raised concerns about “free expression and accurate presentation of news.” Sheikh Mansour has encountered other setbacks since then. In September, Manchester City began to defend itself at a hearing in London that cast doubt on its blistering run of victories. The Premier League accuses Manchester City of breaking its rules 130 times, including by funneling hundreds of millions of dollars from Emirati companies into the team’s coffers and disguising those payments as sponsorship deals. The proceedings have been described as the “trial of the century” by British sports media. The Premier League is arguably Britain’s largest cultural export, making the dispute with Sheikh Mansour’s team hugely costly and potentially damaging. Manchester City players celebrating their fourth consecutive Premier League title in 2024. The Premier League accuses Manchester City of breaking its rules 130 times, and the issue has strained relations between Britain and the Emirates. Oli Scarff/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Secretary of State Marco Rubio leaving Abu Dhabi in February. Mr. Rubio criticized the Emirates at his confirmation hearing in January, and disquiet over the Emirati role in Sudan’s war has become a bipartisan issue in Congress. Pool photo by Evelyn Hockstein A welcome ceremony for Mr. Trump at the presidential palace in Abu Dhabi in May. Mr. Trump reveled in the extravagant reception he received. Waleed Zein/Anadolu, via Getty Images The stakes extend beyond sport. Emirati officials raised the inquiry during talks with the British foreign secretary, David Lammy, during a visit to the Emirates last year, according to people with knowledge of the meeting. The issue has become a “running sore” between the two countries, said Eddie Lister, a former British envoy to the Gulf. In Washington, growing disquiet over the Emirati role in Sudan’s war has become a bipartisan issue in Congress. At his confirmation hearing in January, Marco Rubio, now the U.S. secretary of state, criticized the Emirates, accusing the country of supporting a “genocide” led by General Hamdan. Prominent Democrats have pressed for a ban on U.S. weapons sales to the Emirates until it stops arming General Hamdan’s Rapid Support Forces. Those calls increased in May after the R.S.F. bombed fuel depots, power plants and Sudan’s last international airport, using powerful drones that two former U.S. officials said had been provided by the Emirates. But some of the criticism was drowned out days after, when President Trump visited the Emirates. At the sweeping, marble presidential palace in Abu Dhabi, Mr. Trump reveled in the extravagant reception as he signed a $200 billion artificial intelligence deal with the country, adding to earlier Emirati pledges to invest $1.4 trillion in the United States. “You are a magnificent man, and it’s an honor to be with you,” Mr. Trump said to Sheikh Mohammed . Seated next to them was Sheikh Mansour, whose Mubadala wealth fund had said it would use a Trump family crypto venture to make a $2 billion transaction that stands to generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the president’s family. Days later, the Trump administration bypassed Congress and approved another $1 billion in weapons for the Emirates. Mr. Trump with Sheikh Mohammed and Sheikh Mansour in Abu Dhabi in May. During the visit, Mr. Trump signed a $200 billion artificial intelligence deal with the U.A.E. Doug Mills/The New York Times Declan Walsh is the chief Africa correspondent for The Times based in Nairobi, Kenya. He previously reported from Cairo, covering the Middle East, and Islamabad, Pakistan. Tariq Panja is a global sports correspondent, focusing on stories where money, geopolitics and crime intersect with the sports world. © 2025 The New York Times Company

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Six ix individuals accused of practising witchcraft were killed in Burundi after being attacked by members of a youth group affiliated with the ruling party, according to a local official via APF. The gruesome incident took place on Monday in Gasarara Hill, approximately 10 kilometres east of the economic capital, Bujumbura. Witnesses and a local authority, all of whom requested anonymity, said the assailants were members of the Imbonerakure — a youth movement widely regarded as a militia by both the United Nations and human rights groups. According to the official, a group of young Imbonerakure stormed the homes of around ten individuals who had been accused of engaging in witchcraft. “Six people were killed, including two who were burned alive,” the official reported. “The others were beaten to death with clubs or stoned with heavy rocks. It was an act of shocking and indescribable brutality.” Three additional individuals were also attacked but survived after police intervened and rescued them, the source added. Footage of the assault began circulating on social media on Tuesday. While many of the videos remain unverified, two witnesses confirmed to AFP that some of the content was genuine and identified the perpetrators as members of the Imbonerakure. The group has long faced serious allegations of human rights abuses. Organisations like Human Rights Watch have accused it of torture and extrajudicial killings, particularly during the repressive era of former President Pierre Nkurunziza, who led the country from 2005 until his death in 2020. Desire Nsengiyumva, the provincial governor of Bujumbura, confirmed on Tuesday that 12 individuals had been arrested in connection with the killings. He condemned what he described as “unacceptable mob justice”, stating that locals had falsely attributed a spate of unexplained deaths to witchcraft. In Burundi, a predominantly Christian nation, traditional beliefs remain strong. Witchcraft is frequently blamed for mysterious deaths, despite the lack of evidence. Only last year, the country’s Supreme Court sentenced a former prime minister to life in prison for allegedly using witchcraft in a plot to threaten the president’s life, along with other charges such as destabilising the economy and illicit enrichment. © 2025 Newscentral Television

Six killed and hundreds injured in weeks of unrest, as supporters demand former president be allowed to run. An Aymara woman uses bicarbonate on her face to protect herself against the effects of teargas as supporters of Evo Morales protest in support of his candidacy in La Paz last month. Photograph: Claudia Morales/Reuters Fatal clashes between police and supporters of former president Evo Morales have deepened Bolivia’s political and economic crisis, heightening tensions in the Andean country just two months before the presidential election. Six people have been killed and more than 300 injured in weeks of unrest. The dead include four police officers, one of whom was reportedly killed by dynamite which had been strapped to his body . Demonstrators have blockaded roads across the country since 2 June in response to rulings by the constitutional and electoral courts that barred Morales, 65, from seeking a fourth term in the 17 August election. On Sunday the protesters announced a “humanitarian pause” at the blockades, but some remained in place , prolonging a two-week-long disruption in delivering food, medicine, and fuel. In response to the protests he called, Morales has himself become the target of a new “terrorism” investigation , announced by the government of current president Luis Arce, 61 – who served as finance minister under the former president and is now his main rival. Morales has been entrenched since October in the coca-growing region of Chapare, where hundreds of coca farmers are preventing police and military forces from executing an arrest warrant over allegations that Morales fathered a child with a 15-year-old girl during his presidency in 2016. “Democracy in our country is at risk,” said President Arce following the killing of the four police officers. Three officers were shot dead by protesters last Wednesday in the mining town of Llallagua, where a 17-year-old student also died, reportedly beaten to death by protesters who accused him of being a police informant . The fourth officer was in a village in the Cochabamba department when, according to the government, he was “kidnapped by a mob” and killed with dynamite strapped to his chest. In the same village, a civilian was shot dead by what the government claims was gunfire from protesters. “[The officers] were Bolivians who gave their lives at a time when the country is under siege, facing the risk that elections might not be able to take place,” said Arce . The UN human rights office has called for an “impartial and thorough” investigation into the deaths. Morales, who had defended “mobilisation and blockades” as “legitimate expressions of resistance,” later said he is an “enemy of protests” and claimed that “what happened in Llallagua was well staged” to incriminate his supporters. “It’s crazy for him to say that, because he is the ‘father’ of the blockades: he built his entire political career blocking roads,” said economic analyst Gonzalo Chávez Alvarez, a professor at the Universidad Católica Boliviana. Morales is barred from running by a constitutional court ruling that reaffirmed the constitution’s two-term presidential limit and by the electoral court, which argued that his party is not officially registered. Bolivia’s longest-serving leader governed from 2006 to 2019. After about a decade of prosperity driven by a natural gas boom, reserves had dwindled, and an economic crisis began. In 2019, he sought a fourth term ; there was a blackout during the vote count, and when it resumed, it showed him as the winner. The country erupted in violent protests , and Morales fled to Mexico and later to Argentina. After his protégé Arce won the presidency in 2020, Morales returned, but the two soon fell out . Under Arce, the economy has deteriorated, and the country is now facing its worst economic crisis since the hyperinflation of 1985, with inflation and a shortage of US dollars and fuel . Deeply unpopular, the president reversed his decision to seek re-election and now backs his former interior minister, 36-year-old lawyer Eduardo del Castillo. Even within the left, he will face competition from the equally young senate president, 36-year-old Andrónico Rodríguez, once seen as Morales’s natural heir due to his Indigenous roots and leadership in the coca growers’ union, but now treated as a traitor by the former president. On the right, businessman Samuel Doria Medina, 66, and former president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga, 65, are polling well, and will try to oust the Movimiento al Socialismo (Mas) party after nearly two decades in power. Meanwhile, police and military forces have so far failed to execute the arrest warrant against Morales over the allegation of statutory rape. Last week, all other presidential candidates except him met in the capital, La Paz. At the end of the meeting, the head of the electoral court, Óscar Hassenteufel, pledged that elections would go ahead “without fail” on 17 August . “Morales wants to enter the elections at all costs, and he won’t succeed,” said economist Alvarez. “So there’s uncertainty over whether the elections will really happen because it’s hard to say whether Morales will have enough strength to stop them.” © 2025 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. (dcr)