Lawyers for former Bosnian Serb commander Dragomir Milosevic, sentenced to 29 years for terrorizing civilians in Sarajevo, have again submitted a request for his early release. Lamija Grebo, June 10, 2025 Archive photo of Bosnian Serb wartime general Dragomir Milosevic in the courtroom at the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Tuesday, December 2004. Photo: EPA/JUAN VRIJDAG The defence for former Bosnian Serb Sarajevo-Romanija Corps Commander Dragomir Milosevic has asked the President of the Residual Mechanism to allow his early release on the grounds that all conditions for early release have been met. One reason cited in the request is Milosevic’s age – he is 83 and in poor health. It is also stated that he has been deprived of personal contact with his family for years, among other things, due to distance. The defence stated that Serbia had previously been ready to issue guarantees for early release, and that Milosevic believes that, acting on a request from the President of the Mechanism, it would renew its guarantees. “The applicant is ready to comply with any special or additional conditions for early release, if any,” the request states. The Mechanism previously rejected a request for his early release, as BIRN reported, citing the gravity of the crimes for which he was convicted and his failure to show sufficient signs of contrition. Judge Graciela Gatti Santana, President of the Mechanism, stated at the time that Milosevic had confirmed that he was fully aware of the nature of the crimes for which he was convicted and that they were committed against the civilian population of Sarajevo, as determined by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY. He had accepted his responsibility for them and had expressed regret for innocent victims. But she also said his “selective interpretation of his role, shallow reflections and expression of remorse undermine his credibility in the rehabilitation process,” adding that these factors suggested that his statements might be insincere or incomplete. The ICTY sentenced the former Bosnian Serb political and military leaders, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, and a former commander of the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps of the Bosnian Serb Army, Stanislav Galic, to life imprisonment for a campaign of terror against civilians with sniper and artillery attacks. During the 44-month siege of Sarajevo , from 1992 to 1995, more than 11,000 residents of Sarajevo were killed, including around 1,600 children. More than 30 years after the end of the war, no indictments have been filed against those responsible for the shelling of the city and sniping at citizens. Copyright BIRN 2015

Photograph released by the Israeli army on 18 July 2024 showing Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip (AFP) Senior Israeli officials have rejected a report on Channel 14 that claimed Israel's military advocate general prevented an air strike on a building where four soldiers later died Israeli military officials have said there are no restrictions on bombing homes in Gaza, days after a prominent right-wing TV channel claimed that the country's military advocate general prevented an air strike on a building - where four soldiers later died - due to the risk of killing Palestinian civilians. On 6 June, four Israeli soldiers died after the building they entered in Khan Younis collapsed due to an explosive device. The Israeli army is still probing the cause of the blast and has yet to determine whether the device was a booby-trap set up by Hamas or if it was unexploded Israeli ordinance. But within hours of the deaths, Israel's Channel 14, a right-wing network favoured by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, claimed that Israel's military advocate general bore responsibility for the deaths. The channel, which has repeatedly portrayed Palestinians in Gaza as "animals" who must be "exterminated", reported that the army had sent the soldiers into the building rather than target it with an air strike because Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi had changed army protocol to prohibit striking the structure. In its televised report, Channel 14's Noam Amir spoke with a senior Israeli officer who claimed that the building had been designated as a Hamas compound but Tomer-Yerushalmi prevented the country's air force from bombing the structure due to the risk of "collateral damage". The Israeli army tends to use the term "collateral damage" when referring to Palestinian civilians who are killed by Israeli forces for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. "We knew the infrastructure, we knew who was there, and we didn't strike, each time for a different reason - high collateral damage," the officer said. 'They [Israeli soldiers] are blowing up Gaza, house by house, compound by compound, without any interference'-  Ben Caspit, senior Israeli journalist Following the report, the Israeli army's chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, launched a scathing attack on Channel 14, saying he rejected the "false, repeated, and baseless attacks regarding the conduct of the military advocate general." "There was no directive from the military advocate general not to strike the building that collapsed and led to the deaths of four soldiers in Khan Younis on Friday," he said. "The claims made in this context are false, malicious, and entirely unfounded." He added that Israeli forces operating in Gaza have complete "operational freedom to remove threats". Ben Caspit, a senior Israeli journalist who has repeatedly clashed with Netanyahu, also slammed the report, suggesting it was a blood libel. "This despicable report, which titles itself with pride as an 'expose', is bloodshed, libel at the highest level, a crazy fable that has nothing to do with reality," Caspit wrote on X. Citing military sources, Caspit said that there were "no orders" being issued by Tomer-Yerushalmi, and that Israeli soldiers were freely "blowing up" homes in the war-battered enclave. "They [Israeli soldiers] are blowing up Gaza, house by house, compound by compound, without any interference by any Chief Military Advocate," Caspit added. 'They won't come back for years' Since declaring its war on Gaza in October 2023, Israel has obliterated most of the Gaza Strip, reducing entire neighbourhoods, including schools, businessess and medical facilities, to rubble. Israeli soldiers and combat engineers have laid explosives and triggered controlled demolitions inside countless homes, while armoured bulldozers have systematically levelled building after building. Last week, a senior army commander operating in Khan Younis said that Israeli forces were instructed to decimate the city, reducing the likelihood that Palestinians would remain in the Strip once the war ends. "Part of the operation is to go in thoroughly and deeply, which may seem slow, but it protects our forces, and unlike before, it literally destroys the zone," the officer told the Israeli news outlet Ynet. "After we finish here, they won't be able to come back here for years," added the officer about Khan Younis, which was one of the largest cities in the Gaza Strip before the war. In the wake of the criticism, Channel 14's Amir fumed that a "reckless" Zamir had had failed to "substantively" address the claims laid out in the report. "When the war began, the [Israeli army] acted even when there were non-combatants in the area. There were no legal guidelines at all," Amir wrote. "Only at a later stage did the chief military advocate arrive, formulated the procedures, and determined when it is permissible to attack and when it's not," he added. Meanwhile, several members from Netanyahu's coalition  requested a meeting with the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee regarding guidelines on when air strikes can and can't be carried out. Since reneging on a ceasefire deal with Hamas, Israeli forces have killed at least 4,600 Palestinians in attacks targeting tents, hospitals and school-turned-shelters. According to the Gaza health ministry, at least 54,981 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since October 2023, including more than 28,000 women and girls. The figure also includes at least 1,400 health sector professionals, 280 UN aid workers - the highest staff death toll in UN history - and 227 journalists, the highest number of media workers killed in conflict since the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) began recording data in 1992. Copyright © 2014 - 2025 .  Middle East Eye. All rights reserved. Only England and Wales jurisdiction apply in all legal matters.

© WFP/Mohamed Galal The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has been increasing the delivery of food aid to conflict-affected communities in Sudan. “Over the past six months, WFP scaled up assistance and we are now reaching nearly one million Sudanese in Khartoum with food and nutrition support,” said Laurent Bukera, WFP Country Director in Sudan.  “This momentum must continue; several areas in the south are at risk of famine.” In an update from Port Sudan, Mr. Bukera reported that a mission to Khartoum had found many neighbourhoods abandoned, heavily damaged and akin to a “ghost city”. Pressure on overstretched resources will only intensify, he insisted. Fragile frontline communities And as conflict still rages between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, sparked by a breakdown in transition to civilian rule in 2023, the veteran aid worker also explained that communities on the frontlines were at “breaking point” and unable to support displaced families any longer. Despite many generous contributions to the UN agency's work in Sudan, it faces a $500 million shortfall to support emergency food and cash assistance for the coming six months. “ The international community must act now by stepping up funding to stop famine in the hardest hit area, and to invest in Sudan's recovery ,” Mr. Bukera insisted.” We must also demand respect for the safety and the protection of the Sudanese people and aid workers.” No food, water More than two years of fighting have smashed infrastructure and left communities without basic services, such as clean water. This – and weeks of heavy rains – have contributed to a deadly cholera outbreak and reports of corpses rotting in the Nile in Omdurman, one of the capital’s three cities. In an update last week, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA , said that war-related displacement and the spread of cholera have continued to add to needs across Sudan. “We are deeply concerned and meeting the basic needs, especially food, will be critical and is urgent,” said WFP’s Mr. Bukera. “Urgent action is needed to restore basic services and accelerate recovery through coordinated efforts with local authorities, national NGOs, UN agencies and humanitarian partners.” This vital work has been prevented by a lack of international support, forcing WFP to reduce the amount and range of relief it can distribute. “Funding shortfalls are already disrupting some of the assistance we are providing in Khartoum, Blue Nile, Al Jazeera and Sennar states,” the WFP senior official continued. “Our rations and the oil and the pulses in the food basket had to be removed due to lack of resources.” Rations cuts In Khartoum, lifesaving nutritional supplements for young children and pregnant and nursing mothers are already “out of reach” because of a lack of resources, he said. Despite the many challenges, the UN agency now reaches four million people a month across Sudan. This is nearly four times more than at the start of 2024 as access has expanded, including in previously unreachable areas like Khartoum. Communities are also supported in the longer-term via cash assistance to support local markets and support for bakeries and small businesses planning to reopen. “ We have rapidly scaled up our operation to meet increasing needs ,” Mr. Bukera said. “We are aiming to reach seven people on a monthly basis, prioritizing those facing famine or other areas at extreme risk”, such as Darfur, Kordofan and Al Jazeera. Copyright © 2025 United Nations

A Grim Poll Showed Most Israelis Support Expelling Gazans. Haaretz.com Dahlia Scheindlin Jun 3, 2025 Right wing demonstrators in Jerusalem in February calling for the expulsion of Palestinians and building Jewish settlements in Gaza. The placards read: "Occupation, expulsion, settlement!" and "Only transfer will bring peace."Credit: Olivier Fitoussi In 2014, when Jewish Israelis kidnapped and immolated Mohammed Abu Khdeir, a Palestinian teenager from East Jerusalem, many Israelis were shocked and ashamed. The next year, Jewish Israelis torched a home in the Palestinian village of Duma, burning a father, mother and baby to death in their sleep; a surviving child was horribly burned. By then, few were surprised. Every so often something forces Israelis to confront the terrible things their society has done. This can happen anywhere. The Israeli historian Elazar Barkan wrote a whole comparative study about how countries acknowledge their historic guilt. But it's ironic that in the midst of the most brutal action Israel has ever perpetrated, it was a public opinion survey that sparked such a reckoning. The survey conducted by Professor Tamir Sorek of Pennsylvania State University, published here in Haaretz together with Professor Shay Hazkani , examined what the authors called "eliminatory" attitudes among Jewish Israelis and their theological roots. Within days I began receiving anguished inquiries about the results. Friends, colleagues, peace activists, journalists and strangers wrote in from Australia to Uruguay to down the block, asking if it could possibly be true that 82 percent of Israeli Jews support "the transfer (expulsion) of residents of the Gaza Strip to other countries?" No less than 54 percent of Jewish respondents were "very" supportive. Other findings were grim: A majority of 56 percent of Jews supported the "transfer (forced expulsion) of Arab citizens of Israel to other countries." And when asked directly whether they agreed with the position that the IDF, "when conquering an enemy city, should act in a manner similar to the way the Israelites acted when they conquered Jericho under the leadership of Joshua , namely, to kill all its inhabitants?" nearly half, 47 percent, agreed. The survey found a strong correlation between various indicators of religious identity and observance, and militant attitudes – a classic pattern in Israeli Jewish public opinion. But there was strikingly high support from secular Israelis for the expulsion questions too. People wrote in asking whether the survey's methodology was credible, or whether the findings sounded remotely reasonable, in my long experience testing conflict-related attitudes. The blunt answer is yes and yes. But the survey does raise questions about the contribution of polls like these to the quality of our public debate – and that's a hard one to answer. Methodology: no refuge To assess the poll's credibility, I contacted Sorek, whom I've never met. He generously shared all the raw data, showing the sample distribution, full questions and all responses, and patiently answered all my questions about his methodological decisions regarding the sample design and analysis. Having seen the numbers, it's just as faithful a representation of Israeli Jewish society as most other public surveys from media and think tanks, with a relatively large sample of over 1,000 respondents and standard "weighting" methodology to ensure that the critical demographics, like age and levels of religious observance, match what we know about Jewish Israelis from the Central Bureau of Statistics, along with relatively close representation of political groups based on how people reported voting in the last elections. The data was collected by Geocartography, a veteran polling agency whose reputation depends on providing quality data; the weighting process helps correct for groups that are regularly under-represented in internet samples (groups that often lean right-wing, like the ultra-Orthodox). But even if you make somewhat different sampling or weighting choices, generating small shifts, say five or even ten points, in the data – a finding of 82 percent support for expulsion is so decisive that the big insight remains. No sample can claim perfection, but there is nothing strikingly wrong here, and the findings can't be dismissed on technical grounds. Context and comparison Are the findings really such an anomaly? What do other surveys tell us? Ron Gerlitz, the Executive Director of aChord, an institute affiliated with Hebrew University of Jerusalem which has conducted regular tracking surveys both before and after the war, wrote a public response in a Facebook post showing that aChord's findings and several other surveys found lower rates of support on questions testing similar themes of expelling Palestinians from Gaza. But he too noted that a majority of Jewish Israelis agreed with aChord's related question about the Trump plan for Gaza , involving "forced emigration, transfer or expulsion by force." Gerlitz pointed out that 60 percent who agreed was far lower than Sorek's 82 percent; but this is in large part because aChord offered a "neutral" option, and 26 percent of Jews took it. By contrast, Sorek used what is known as a "forced choice," meaning there was no neutral option, and people had to make a choice. Forcing a choice is a legitimate method for getting at people's inclinations , even if some respondents aren't sure. Those uncertain respondents could have drifted to the opposition side if they'd wanted to; instead, it looks like most of aChord's "neutral" respondents gravitated to the "support" side in Sorek's study (though, of course, these aren't the same respondents). Other studies showed similar overall trends. In a poll for Channel 13 in early February , almost immediately after U.S. President Donald Trump announced his plan for Gaza, 72 percent of Israelis supported the plan "to exile Palestinians" – the wording used in the announcer's description of the poll. That's a national average; among Jews, it would be close to Sorek's 82 percent (since very low support from Arab citizens on all related questions drives down the total average). A Channel 12 survey found 69 percent supported the plan, with similar wording about removing Gazans . Once again, although not published, the Jewish portion of those samples would likely have been around the 80 percent mark. The Peace Index survey from Tel Aviv University from March found that 62 percent of Israeli Jews supported "evacuating Palestinians from Gaza, even by force and military means." Nine percent of Jewish respondents said "don't know," but 70 percent of Jews said that if Gazans leave, Israel should not allow their return at all. Going further back to 2016, Pew Research, one of the world's most prestigious polling institutes, asked whether Israeli Jews agree or disagree that "Arabs should be expelled or transferred from Israel." Nearly half, 48 percent, agreed and the poll made headlines at the time. As noted, a similar question in Sorek's current study found 56 percent support among Jews – an eight-point rise. Given the spirit of anti-Arab incitement in Israel over the last nine years and the war itself, such a rise makes sense and boosts the contextual credibility of Sorek's poll. And remember that by contrast to Arab citizens in Israel , Israelis have come to view Palestinians in Gaza as synonymous with Hamas, Hamas as synonymous with October 7, and both of them synonymous with Nazis . Finally, it's worth noting some greater nuance than the big headline in Sorek's own survey. For example, when asked how the IDF should behave in cities that it conquers, only a minority (18 percent) said there should be "no moral constraints," and a majority of 55 percent said the IDF should act according to the two most moderate opinions offered: Nearly 30 percent said the IDF should make every effort to protect civilians, and another 26 percent said that civilian harm should be kept to the minimum needed to ensure security. The remainder, about 25 percent, said Israel should use "a tough hand" to ensure security in those situations. On the worst question of all – "Do you support or oppose the claim that the IDF, when conquering an enemy city, should act similarly to the sons of Israel when they conquered Jericho, by killing all the residents?" – the data cited in Haaretz shows that an unconscionable majority of observant Jews support it. And to my mind, any is too many – but the total of 47 percent shows that supporters, still represent a minority. Again, it's far too many to be complacent. First, do no harm The grave findings prompt the question of whether releasing such findings into an atmosphere already filled with toxic warmongering is helpful or damaging. A responsible public opinion researcher should question whether data can catalyze constructive change, or if it just fans flames. Both are possible. Salacious data findings that have little public relevance and don't reflect serious policy options can be more damaging (or self-serving, for headlines) than helpful. But that's not the case here. Hardly a day goes by without an Israeli official advocating openly, forcefully and hatefully to expel Palestinians from Gaza . Linguistic hogwash such as "emigration by choice" is pointless; we all know what they mean, and public support for policies is often positively correlated with people's belief that such plans are likely or possible. The poll is a messenger, not a provocateur; the findings are an emergency wake-up call that things can still get much worse. A population subject to years of anti-Palestinian incitement felt that Hamas' attack on October 7 proved the worst and justifies everything Israel has done since – another over-80 percent finding among Jews in the joint Israeli-Palestinian survey from July 2024 , mirrored on the Palestinian side. Rapacious, corrupt leaders capitalized on Israeli suffering instead of seeking to contain the rage. It was this kind of leadership-driven extremist nationalist fervor stoking existing nationalist racism within the Serbian public during the breakup of Yugoslavia that degenerated into genocidal acts against Bosnian Muslims . But when wars end, when criminal leaders are jettisoned from power, new leaders can drive change. The worst regimes and the worst wars in recent history – be grateful that I'm not naming names – have transformed into some of the most peaceful, thriving, cooperative and productive countries in the world. The time for leadership by brave people of vision and values is now. The candidates displaying such qualities are pitifully few. © 2025 Haaretz

Members of the LGBTQ+ community and their supporters take part in the Pride Parade in Bucharest, Romania, June 7, 2025. REUTERS/Andreea Campeanu BUCHAREST, June 7 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Romanians joined an LGBTQ Pride march in Bucharest on Saturday, demanding civil union partnership legislation and equal rights after a highly-contested presidential election last month buoyed the far right. The European Union state has so far ignored a 2023 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, which found Romania had failed to enforce the rights of same-sex couples by refusing to recognise their relationships. Socially conservative Romania decriminalised homosexuality in 2001, decades later than other parts of the EU, but still bars marriage and civil partnerships for same-sex couples. "We want legal protection for same-sex couples, an easy legal procedure for transitioning, protection against hate speech and prejudice-based crimes," said Teodora Roseti, president of Romanian LGBTQ rights organisation ACCEPT and Pride's organiser. In Bucharest, marchers danced and carried the rainbow flag 20 years after the first Pride parade was held, carrying banners such as "Love is the worst feeling you could hate", "Equality in love, equality in inheritance. Civil partnership for all". Roughly 30,000 people attended the parade, ACCEPT estimated. The march comes at a fraught moment in Central and Eastern Europe, where far right parties have gained ground. Poles held a similar parade on Saturday. Hours before the Romanian march, a smaller anti-Pride protest took place, with participants demanding an Orthodox Christian nation and waving flags carrying the Celtic cross, a known far-right symbol. In Romania, centrist Bucharest mayor Nicusor Dan ultimately won the presidential election against hard-right opposition leader George Simion, a strong opponent of LGBTQ rights. ACCEPT and LGBTQ rights group Mozaiq warned of a rise in hate speech against the community during the election campaign, and their headquarters were defaced. In neighbouring Hungary, parliament passed legislation earlier this year that de facto bans holding Pride marches . Reporting by Luiza Ilie. Additional reporting by Endre Hermann. Editing by Mark Potter © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved

Report from Human Rights Watch criticises Museveni regime for arbitrary arrests and detentions, violence and extortion since draconian new law enacted The Guardian By Samuel Okiror A gay Ugandan couple pose for a photograph during protests at the passing of the new anti-LGBTQ legislation in March 2023. Photograph: AP The Ugandan authorities have “ unleashed abuse ” , perpetrating widespread discrimination and violence against LGBTQ+ people in the two years since the world’s harshest anti-gay laws were enacted, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW). The government’s policies in Uganda had encouraged attacks and harassment against people and organisations seen as being supportive of gay rights, said researchers from the rights group. Public figures in the east African nation have engaged in virulent homophobic rhetoric and human rights’ violations before and since the controversial law was enacted in May 2023. “Authorities have raided and suspended nongovernmental organisations, conducted arbitrary arrests and detentions, engaged in entrapment via social media and dating apps, and extorted money from LGBT people in exchange for releasing them from police custody,” said the authors of They’re Putting Our Lives at Risk: How Uganda’s Anti-LGBT Climate Unleashes Abuse , which was released on Monday. It said the state had created an environment allowing “impunity for attacks” and “for sexual and other forms of violence against LGBT people”. Uganda’s autocratic president, Yoweri Museveni, signed the bill into law in May 2023 amid widespread international outrage. It prescribes the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality”, drawing strong condemnation from human right campaigners. The UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, called the legislation “shocking and discriminatory” . Researchers interviewed 59 people, including families, rights organisations, activists, journalists and parliamentarians between August 2022 and April 2025. The organisation wrote to several government offices and officials to request information, but none responded. Oryem Nyeko, a senior HRW researcher, said: “For the last two years, LGBT Ugandans have suffered a range of abuses because of the government’s wilful decision to legislate hate against them. “The Ugandan authorities need to urgently improve this environment, which enables a wide range of human rights violations and puts countless Ugandans at serious risk of abuse,” he said. The Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF) reported last July that 667 of the cases handled by its legal aid network in the previous 14 months involved human rights violations affecting 850 LGBTQ+ people. These included evictions, violence and arrests. Clare Byarugaba, a LGBTQ+ rights activist in the capital, Kampala, said: “The human cost of the draconian anti-homosexuality law is very high, and this new report by HRW provides further evidence of the consequences of Uganda’s state sponsored homophobia and transphobia. “Continued enforcement legitimises discrimination, exclusion and violence. We need protection, not criminalisation,” she said, adding that the bill was unconstitutional and did not reflect the values of a democratic nation. “We want to live in Uganda as productive citizens without the threat of criminalisation and violence at every waking moment,” she said. “Our human rights are inherent and have never been up for debate.” Uganda’s human rights record continues to deteriorate under Museveni’s four-decade-long rule. HRW is calling on the authorities to stop their clampdown and put an end to hate speech. In April last year, Uganda’s constitutional court rejected a petition to overturn the bill , upholding its most radical and abusive provisions. Nyeko said: “The state-sanctioned bigotry and discrimination that has only become more entrenched in Uganda over the past two years has no place in a society that upholds human rights and the rule of law. “Uganda should end its assault on LGBT people and choose a future of dignity, equality and freedom for all those who live there,” he said. © 2025 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies.

Bishop Emmanuel Ande of UMC Credit Facebook of Bishop Ande . At least Fifty Christians Gunned Down by Fulani Militias. Dozens Killed in Coordinated Attacks in Taraba Farming Villages. Truth Nigeria June 6, 2025 By Mike Odeh James (Jalingo)  At  least 50 civilians—many of them Christians—have been confirmed dead and hundreds displaced after heavily armed militias, identified by witnesses as ethnic Fulani, l aunched coordinated attacks on Munga Lelau and Munga Dasso, two farming communities in Karim-Lamido County, Taraba State, between May 24 and 25, 2025. At least 23 of the deceased have been identified as members of a local United Methodist Church , TruthNigeria has learned. Bishop Ande Emmanuel, Resident Bishop of the United Methodist Church (UMC) Nigeria Episcopal Area, confirmed at least 30 Christian deaths, including 24 UMC members, between May 23 and 25. “Over 62 homes were burned. Churches in Munga Lelau, Magami, Dosso, Bunkabu, Bunkachi, and Ngurore Jabu were reduced to rubble. We mourn and call for urgent help,” the Bishop stated in a report. He appealed for both national and international intervention, demanding stronger protections for vulnerable rural populations. Sectarian Assaults or Land-Dispute Clashes? Described by survivors as a planned, ethnically motivated military-style operation, the assaults mirror a troubling pattern of violence across Nigeria’s Middle Belt, where disputes over land, religion, and ethnic identity often erupt into mass killings. Map of Taraba State. Credit Researchgate. “They Came in Droves” Emmanuel Habila, a Christian farmer and father of three from Munga Lelau, told TruthNigeria: “I was planting far from the village when I heard gunfire—first distant, then close. I saw dozens of motorcycles, each with three armed men, shouting in Fulfulde and shooting as they rode in. Hours later, my house was gone. We counted at least 15 bodies—children, neighbors. More are missing.” In nearby Munga Dasso, Zachary Kefas (52) described a pre-dawn assault: “They arrived around 2 a.m. on more than 30 motorcycles. They had AK-49s and machetes and screamed, ‘Kill the infidels! Allahu Akbar! We will take over this land!’ They broke into homes, slaughtered women, children, and the elderly. It lasted two hours before security forces arrived—too late.” Targeted Christian Communities Munga Lelau and Munga Dasso are predominantly Christian agrarian villages, home to indigenous Jenjo, Wurkum, Bikwin, and Kona ethnic groups. Faith life revolves around churches including the United Methodist Church (UMC), ECWA, Baptist, and Catholic parishes. Residents depend on subsistence farming, fishing, and trade supported by the Benue River. The attacks not only have killed and injured civilians but also destroyed farms, churches, and homes—further destabilizing these already vulnerable communities. Casualties, Displacement, and the Government’s Response The Taraba State Police Command confirmed approximately 50 deaths and reported the deployment of reinforcements to the affected areas. “We have launched a full investigation and deployed reinforcements,” said a police spokesperson. “The public is urged to remain calm as we pursue the perpetrators.” How the Violence Began: Land, Livestock, and Revenge Conflict analyst Friday Agbo, Director of Abuja-based Alterconsult Think-Tank, traced the escalation to May 9, when Buhari Malamby, a young farmer in Munga Dasso, was killed during a confrontation with Fulani herders whose cattle had invaded his farm. “After Malamby’s death, local youths retaliated by killing several cattle. That triggered a cycle of revenge attacks,” Agbo said. A temporary ceasefire brokered on May 15–16 by state officials collapsed after another farmer was ambushed and killed near a Fulani settlement. Shortly afterward, witnesses reported nearly 50 motorcycles, each carrying three armed men, mobilized for a full-scale assault. Anatomy of Rural Massacres According to Agbo, the Karim-Lamido attacks follow a now-familiar pattern: 1.   A land or crop-related conflict sparks violence. 2.   Retaliations escalate into cross-community killings. 3.   External militia groups mobilize for coordinated assaults. 4.   Security forces respond late—after maximum damage is done. “This pattern repeats in Plateau, Benue, Nasarawa, and now Taraba. Without justice, security, and reconciliation, the killings will continue,” he warned. Systematic Land–Grabs Driving Conflict The International Human Rights Commission (IHRC) has described recent violence in Taraba as part of “systematic land grabbing” by Fulani militias. David Onyilokwu Idah, IHRC Director in Abuja, said the violence follows a grim sequence: “Brutal attacks, mass displacement, and the quiet occupation of farmland. It’s a consistent playbook.” He said similar displacements had occurred in Lau, Takum, Wukari, and Ardo-Kola counties, often involving foreign Fulani herdsmen from Niger, Chad, and Cameroon. “These are not random raids—they’re strategic occupations aimed at seizing indigenous land.” Weak Government Response and Ongoing Insecurity Idah criticized both state and federal authorities for failing to reclaim occupied areas or maintain a security presence. Despite a 2024 military raid on a Fulani militia camp in Gashaka, much of the territory remains under militia control. With fresh attacks reported in Lau and Ardo-Kola in June 2025, Idah warned that the Karim-Lamido killings are just one chapter in a broader campaign of forced displacement and demographic engineering. Conclusion: A Region Abandoned? As of this report, over 5,000 people have been displaced, with dozens dead, multiple churches destroyed, and farmlands lost. The government’s sluggish response and weak enforcement mechanisms leave rural populations at the mercy of violent militias. “If this continues,” said one displaced resident, “we will lose our land, our homes, and our future.” Mike Odeh James is a conflict reporter based in Kaduna and writes for TruthNigeria. Donations Save Lives! If you enjoy or benefit from Truth Nigeria's reporting, then consider giving to keep our work possible! Copyright 2025 TruthNigeria

Nongovernmental Organizations Face Threat of Deregistration, Criminal Prosecution By Human Rights Watch Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa delivers his State of the Nation address to parliament, in Harare, October 3, 2023. © 2023 AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi (Johannesburg) – On April 11, 2025, Zimbabwe ’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa signed a law on nongovernmental organizations that sharply curtails the rights to freedom of association and expression, Human Rights Watch said today. The Private Voluntary Organisations Amendment Act empowers the government to deregister and seize the assets of nongovernmental groups deemed to be acting in a “politically partisan manner.” The law will severely restrict civic space for groups that are fighting political repression in the country. “Zimbabwean authorities have long used domestic law as an instrument of repression, and this new law will allow them to target civil groups,” said Idriss Ali Nassah , senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Nongovernmental organizations cannot freely exercise their rights to free expression and other democratic liberties when their very existence is under threat.” The new law allows the government to cancel the registration of organizations with little or no recourse to judicial review. Violations of the law could result in criminal prosecution, with penalties ranging from heavy fines to imprisonment .  Officials also have extensive authority to monitor and control the operations of nongovernmental organizations, including scrutinizing their ownership structures, funding sources, and affiliations. The government claimed that the law was needed to curb groups from financing terrorism and money laundering, and to comply with the recommendations of Zimbabwe’s Financial Action Taskforce. Before signing the bill, President Mnangagwa said the law was needed to protect and defend the country’s sovereignty from destabilizing foreign interests and to stop “the turning of a small section of mercenaries in our midst into the proverbial Trojan Horse for attacking our sovereignty, our values and our politics.” Domestic and international human rights and civil society organizations, including Human Rights Watch, urged Mnangagwa not to sign the bill because of its expected adverse effects on organizations involved in promoting democracy and the defense of human rights in Zimbabwe. United Nations experts similarly urged Mnangagwa to reject the bill, saying that the law’s restrictions “will have a chilling effect on civil society organizations, particularly dissenting voices.” When the senate passed the bill in October 2024, the nonprofit organization Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said the law “completely and wantonly disregards the provisions on association enunciated in the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights’ Guidelines on Freedom of Association and Assembly in Africa.” Mnangagwa has on several occasions threatened to expel groups that do not follow his government’s policies or that intervene in the country’s politics. The Zimbabwean government has already sought to curtail the work of nongovernmental organizations in the country. On January 22, 2023, the authorities  announced that they had revoked the registration of 291 nongovernmental and civil society organizations. The labor and social welfare minister  said that registration was withdrawn because the groups allegedly failed to submit audited accounts for money raised from donors, for ostensible national security reasons, or for allegedly acting outside of their mandate. Zimbabwe is party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights , which uphold the rights to freedom of association and expression. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights Guidelines on Freedom of Association and Assembly provide that “[t]he oversight powers of the authorities shall be carefully delimited, so as not to infringe on the right to freedom of association.” Furthermore, “[i]n no cases shall inspections be utilized in order to harass or intimidate associations of which political authorities disapprove.” Following the adoption of the law, the European Union announced that it had suspended its 2025 funding for the government’s good governance initiatives under the “structured dialogue framework,” because Zimbabwe had “not upheld its own commitments under this process, particularly regarding the expansion of civic space.” Zimbabwe has over US$21 billion in debt and arrears with bilateral and multilateral creditors, and the EU has been assisting the country in its debt resolution process. The process, which involves the United States and the African Development Bank, identified judicial independence, freedom of association and assembly, and civil society space as some of the areas that Zimbabwe needed to address to make progress in its debt resolution. “The civil society law will further threaten the already compromised rights to freedom of association and expression in Zimbabwe,” Nassah said. “Civil society groups shouldn’t have to operate with the fear that they may be shut down and their staff criminally charged for simply doing their jobs.” © 2025 Human Rights Watch

The killing of civilians is part of a disturbing pattern. The Economist May 29, 2025 Photograph: Getty Images Two months ago, in the early afternoon of March 31st, gunfire erupted in Birakat, a town in the Amhara region of northern Ethiopia (see map). Panicked residents ran for cover as the Ethiopian army battled local militias. Five hours later the guns fell silent, briefly. But after the army had taken control of the town, according to three eyewitnesses, a massacre began. In teams of four to six men, the soldiers combed through the town, dragging people from their homes and rounding them up in the streets. One man saw four women made to kneel outside the bus station, with their hands behind their heads. Four soldiers then shot them from behind. The same man later watched a different group of soldiers kill a priest outside his church. Another witness, returning to Birakat the following morning, saw piles of corpses in the streets. He counted 56 bodies, his brother among them. The Ethiopian army did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story. Map credit: ACLED The events in Birakat add to mounting evidence that what is unfolding in Amhara resembles the abuses committed by the army and other armed groups during the war in Tigray, the region next door, where hundreds of thousands of people were probably killed between 2020 and 2022. They also shed light on the increasingly reckless approach to security taken by Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia’s prime minister since 2018. Since 2023 Ethiopia’s government has been in conflict with the Fano, a loose coalition of rebel groups that claim to be fighting for the interests of the Amhara, Ethiopia’s second-largest ethnic group. The government has trained and equipped local militias to help its soldiers fight them. Yet the anti-Fano fighters are also Amhara, and there is little trust between them and the regular army. Asres Mare Damte, a Fano commander, claims plenty have defected to join the Fano. The forces with which the government clashed in Birakat on the day of the massacre were anti-Fano militias, some of whom, Mr Asres claims, have since joined the rebels. It is plausible that Ethiopian soldiers, suspecting local militias of collaborating with their enemies, sought revenge by killing anyone they could find. That fits a disturbing pattern of reprisal attacks against civilians. In January 2024 government troops summarily executed dozens of civilians in the town of Merawi, some 20km west of Birakat, according to an investigation by Human Rights Watch (HRW), an international monitor. Those killings followed an attack by the Fano on government forces. During the war in Tigray the Ethiopian army killed at least 70 civilian men and boys in the town of Bora, according to a un investigation, after an attack on their camp by Tigrayan rebels in December 2020. The following month Ethiopian troops frogmarched dozens of unarmed Tigrayan men to the edge of a cliff near the town of Mahbere Dego, where they filmed themselves shooting their captives and flinging their corpses over the precipice. On May 14th of this year the African Union’s human-rights body held a hearing in a case accusing the army of extrajudicial killings, torture and sexual violence in Tigray. Mr Abiy’s spokesperson declined to comment on this story. The government has previously denied that its soldiers committed atrocities in Tigray and promised to investigate individual instances of alleged abuses. It says it is preparing to launch a transitional-justice programme to prosecute all war crimes committed in Ethiopia since 1995. But independent observers say the process is a charade. “Ethiopia has stalled and hampered any hope that those most responsible will be held to account,” says Laetitia Bader, HRW's Horn of Africa director. In part, civilians are suffering the consequences of Mr Abiy’s approach to holding the country together. Since 2019 his army has been bogged down fighting various ethnic insurgencies. Some of his generals have publicly complained that their troops are exhausted. Mr Abiy has repeatedly tried to solve the problem by drafting in poorly trained militias. This has tended to backfire. The Fano, for instance, were Mr Abiy’s allies during the war in Tigray before becoming his enemies. In Oromia, which borders Amhara, Mr. Abiy's government relies on a dizzying array of Oromo militias to fight the Oromo Liberation Army, another ethno-nationalist rebel group. Rebels and militiamen have been known to swap sides. Many are bandits more than fighters. Murder, theft and kidnapping are rampant. The anarchy allows Mr Abiy to divide and discredit his enemies, which arguably strengthens his hand. But it also erodes the authority of the Ethiopian state, potentially threatening his grip on power. Mr Abiy may see method in the madness. Ethiopians are paying the price. © The Economist Newspaper Limited 2025

Indigenous protesters in Jujuy, Argentina. credit: Amnesty International Amnesty International Report Two years after the constitutional debate and waves of social protests that gripped the province of Jujuy, there have been almost no concrete steps toward accountability for the repression and criminalization that characterized the state response to the massive grassroots mobilization in Jujuy in 2023, as Amnesty International describes in the report Silence is not an option: repression and impunity in Jujuy . “Sadly, the two-year anniversary of the constitutional reform process has been marked by impunity, reflecting the state’s strategy of silencing those who dare to stand up for their rights. In all these months, the Province of Jujuy has given no answers about the tactics it used with the clear aim of violating the right to freedom of peaceful assembly in the province. These methods included excessive use of force, arbitrary detentions, or investigations to criminalize protesters”, said Ana Piquer, Americas Director at Amnesty International. In the span of less than a month in May and June 2023, the province debated and approved a constitutional reform that set back human rights, especially for Indigenous peoples. This process unfolded hastily, behind closed doors, in the Jujuy Legislature, leading thousands of people to take to the streets to reject the proposed text and decry the lack of participation and consultation. Amnesty International’s report exposes how the State of Jujuy not only persistently turned its back on legitimate demands for participation, but also perpetrated violence and sowed fear and intimidation among those who spoke out. “The Amnesty International report also reveals how Indigenous peoples were completely excluded from the reform debate, against a backdrop of land dispossessions and structural discrimination in the province with the highest proportion of Indigenous people in the country. They were marginalized first through the approval of the new constitution without their free, prior and informed consent – a requirement under international human rights law – and then through the banning and violent dispersal of road blockades, which disproportionately restricted their legitimate exercise of the right to protest”, said Mariela Belski, executive director of Amnesty International Argentina. In researching the report, the organization interviewed 111 people, 90% of whom are Indigenous and at least 91 of whom participated directly in the protests. The delegation also met with authorities and submitted multiple requests for access to public information to entities in the province. Additionally, the organization’s digital verification team compiled over 50 video and photographic records to analyse the events and police officers’ use of force. The repression left hundreds of people injured, some severely and permanently In its new report, Amnesty International found that the provincial police used force in an illegitimate, arbitrary and excessive manner with the clear aim of dispersing the protests. In particular, the organization documented the illegitimate use of tear gas and rubber bullets, including the firing of multiple kinetic impact projectiles, a tactic that should be prohibited entirely under human rights standards. Amnesty International also recorded the use of unregulated weapons, such as slingshots, stones, and whips. The repression left at least 170 people injured, at least ten of whom were hit in the face with a rubber bullet or tear gas canister. Three lost vision in one eye. Arbitrary arrests, criminalization and ill-treatment The repressive response to the demonstrations in the province of Jujuy was complemented by a strategy of criminalization. Amnesty International’s report reveals at least 99 arrests during demonstrations in Jujuy, including arbitrary arrests, especially during the protests on 17 June in Purmamarca and 20 June in San Salvador de Jujuy. It also found that the police used unlawful force in arresting people, including children and adolescents, and subjected protesters to beatings and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. At least 86 people were charged with crimes and are still under investigation for legally ambiguous offenses that are often used to criminalize protest, such as “resisting law enforcement”, “impeding traffic” and “sedition”. Amnesty International also found widespread use of the Provincial Misdemeanour Code to intimidate and excessively punish protesters. The organization documented at least 82 proceedings for offenses under this code, many of which were against people also accused in criminal proceedings, which could violate their right to not be tried twice for the same act. The case of Joel Paredes, who lost sight in one eye for supporting protests in Jujuy Joel Paredes is one of the people that Amnesty International documented as having lost vision in one eye. Concerned for his children’s future, the 29-year-old ceramicist joined a protest in the Plaza de Humahuaca on the afternoon of 30 June 2023. Along with hundreds of peaceful demonstrators, he played the bass drum with his band while the Humahuaca Deliberative Council debated the reform in a nearby building. In the early morning, police arrived in the square and began firing rubber bullets indiscriminately into the crowd, hitting Joel in the right eye. The injury required surgery, but the medical staff could not save his eyesight, and now Joel is permanently blind in his right eye and suffers debilitating nerve pain that affects his daily life. No one has been held accountable for what happened to Joel. In 2024, Joel Paredes was one of ten cases highlighted in the global Write for Rights campaign , which Amnesty International launches every year in support of people who have been unfairly harassed, threatened or imprisoned. Amnesty International presents its findings in Jujuy The organization shared these findings with the authorities of the Province of Jujuy but received no response. On 28 and 29 May, a delegation from Amnesty International visited the province of Jujuy to present the new report; meet with authorities; demand justice, reparation and a guarantee of non-repetition for the victims of state violence; and deliver to Joel Paredes the thousands of letters he received from members and activists around the world, in solidarity for the human rights violations he suffered at the hands of the Jujuy police. “No one has been punished for the human rights violations committed during the repression, and the victims are still awaiting justice. Cases like Joel’s should never be forgotten because they remind the authorities of all the answers they still owe to Jujuy society, especially the province’s Indigenous peoples, who continue to fight to have their human rights recognized and safeguarded”, said Ana Piquer. © 2025 Amnesty International

Veronika, 4, stands near a sign that reads "Danger of Mines". Chistovodivka, Kharkiv region, Ukraine (file, May 2025) © UNICEF/Olena Hrom 5 June 2025 I Peace and Security   In Ukraine, overnight attacks continued into Thursday morning, resulting in 45 casualties and significant damage to civilian infrastructure, the UN has reported. These are the results of the ammunition from last nights’ attacks, or at least from the munitions which exploded. At a briefing in New York, Paul Heslop, the UN Mine Action Service ( UNMAS ) advisor in Ukraine, described the impact of the unexploded ordnances which have contaminated large swaths of land in the country. “Contaminated land is not just dangerous. It is lost hope, recovery and livelihood,” he said. Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, this contamination has spread throughout the territory, making it impossible for residents to return home and farmers to cultivate crops. Children are often among the most vulnerable to unexploded ordnances. UNMAS and its partners on the ground are working diligently to comb over this land and declare it safe for returning residents and agricultural cultivation. Massive contamination, ‘real and perceived’ Millions of mines and unexploded ordnances are currently scattered throughout Ukraine. This makes it the most heavily contaminated country since the end of the Second World War, said Mr. Heslop. UNMAS estimates that over 20 per cent of land — or 139,000 square kilometres — in Ukraine is contaminated by mines or unexploded ordnances. Over six million people live in or around contaminated areas and over 800 casualties due to unexploded ordnances have been documented. This is the real contamination. But Mr. Heslop noted that for every one square kilometre which is actually contaminated, there are 100 which are not. However, that does not mean that residents feel they can safely return to the land. This is the “perceived contamination” of unexploded ordnances. UNMAS is working to identify which of the 139,000 square kilometres of potentially contaminated land is safe. An Explosive Ordnance Disposal Specialist works in Ukraine to clear land of contamination from the war. © UNDP Ukraine/Giles Duley 35,000 square kilometres declared safe Two years ago, UNMAS estimated that 174,000 square kilometres in Ukraine were contaminated. Since then, 35,000 square kilometres have been declared safe, enabling residents to go back to their communities. The process of demining contaminated land — either by removing unexploded ordnances or by scanning an area to declare it safe — is especially important for families reliant upon agriculture. Since the start of the war, Ukraine’s agricultural sector has suffered  $83.9 billion in losses, due in part to large swaths of agricultural land being contaminated with unexploded ordnances. The Food and Agriculture Organization ( FAO ) has supported over 250,000 families through various programmes, including vouchers and seed distribution. They have also worked closely with UNMAS to clear agricultural land and return it to use. ‘Real progress’ UNMAS and its partners also have worked, over the last few years, to develop a system for demining which maximizes efficiency. “Demining is an inherently inefficient process,” Mr. Helsop said. After all, the most thorough option for demining is also the most time-consuming and expensive — having a person walk the land with a detector.  UNMAS alongside two dozen Ukrainian Government entities, have been working to implement satellite and artificial intelligence technology to make demining more time and cost effective.  “What we need to do is make sure the investment that is being made today …continues to deliver results and [is] enhanced moving forward,” he said. The problem as an ‘elephant’ Mr. Helsop compared demining in Ukraine to an elephant, calling upon humanitarian agencies and donors to think about this large problem comprehensively. He said that demining efforts are still being hampered by a lack of cohesion among groups on the ground, and by funding and personnel shortages. Donors have already committed $1 billion to fund demining efforts in Ukraine, but he said that the entire project would cost many billions. He also reiterated the necessity of doing it, not only for the people in Ukraine whose livelihoods have been disrupted by contaminated land, but also for the world which has witnessed increased food and energy costs as a result of decreased agricultural production in the country. “We know how to do it… but we need the resources to do it and it’s going to be a slow and potentially dangerous process,” he said.  “But if we get it right, we will bring down global food and energy prices.”  © 2025 United Nations

Court jails Aleksandar Vlajic for five years for conducting espionage on behalf of Serbia's intelligence agency, the BIA. Krenare Ferati, June 5, 2025 Aleksandar Vlajic in court, June 5, 2025. Photo: BIRN. The Pristina Basic Court on Thursday sentenced Kosovo Serb Aleksandar Vlajic to five years’ imprisonment for espionage as an agent and collaborator with Serbia’s Security Information Agency, BIA. He was also given a 1,000-euro fine for illegal possession of weapons.  “If the defendant does not want to, or cannot, pay the fine, I can replace the fine with a prison sentence, with one day of imprisonment considered a 20-euro fine,” judge Ngadhnjim Arrni said. Kosovo Police found a Crvena Zastava 4.5-mm-caliber weapon in Vlajic’s possession. On May 22, Vlajic reached a guilty plea with the special prosecution on charges of intentionally collecting, recording and transmitting data and materials that violate Kosovo’s constitutional order and security. According to the indictment, he transmitted this information by phone and in physical meetings to a senior BIA official, and secretly filmed and recorded movements of the Kosovo Police and the international community in the Serb-majority north of Kosovo. The indictment said Vlajic collected information about Kosovo Serbs who allegedly collaborate with Kosovo security structures and disclosed the identity of a Kosovo Intelligence Agency, KIA, official who he had learned was an active member of the Kosovo Police. He also created a network of informants within international organisations in Kosovo of local staff from the Serb community from whom he sought information on political and security issues in the country, and then communicated the information to the BIA official.  Vlajic is also an accused in a separate case over an alleged attack on election commission offices in North Mitrovica in 2022, together with Milun Millenkovic, known as “Llune”, and former Kosovo police officers Dejan Pantic and Miomir Vakic. Pantic’s arrest sparked road blockades by Kosovo Serbs, which continued for almost three weeks . Vlajic has been in detention since June 26, 2024, time which will be counted towards his sentence. Copyright BIRN 2007