International
The Morung Express
Monday 20 January 2014
South Sudan peace talks may be too late to stop war Nairobi, JaNuary 19 (aFP): As East African mediators attempt to push South Sudan’s government and rebels into signing a truce, analysts and diplomats fear it may already be too late to halt the war. Regional nations are trying to broker a ceasefire but have already been drawn into the brutal five-week-old conflict, with Ugandan troops battling alongside government forces loyal to President Salva Kiir. The longer it continues, the more “those who have remained on the sidelines are increasingly pulled into the conflict,” US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield warned in a statement this week. “Each day that the conflict continues, the risk of all-out civil war grows as ethnic tensions rise,” she added. Many say it already is a civil war, pitting a conventional army against a loose alliance of mutinied army units and ethnic militia. Each side has been deploying heavy weapons, fighting has been fierce and protracted, and key towns have been changing hands each week. South Sudanese government forces backed by Ugandan troops on Saturday recaptured the strategic town of Bor, defeating an army of thousands of rebels, officials said. A day earlier the United
A young displaced child flies a kite made from plastic bags as a United Nations World Food Program (WFP) helicopter arrives in a village in Awerial, which has received tens of thousands of displaced people who crossed the Nile river by boat to flee the recent fighting between government and rebel forces in the town of Bor, in South Sudan Friday, January 17. The U.N.’s top human rights official Ivan Simonovic said Friday that the conflict in South Sudan has turned into a horrifying human rights disaster with mass atrocities committed by both sides including reports of mass killings, sexual violence, and the use of children in the conflict. (AP Photo)
Nations’ top human rights envoy Ivan Simonovic, who has gathered reports of mass killings, sexual violence and widespread destruction, said South Sudan was now in a state of “internal armed conflict” and that the laws of war were applicable. Talks in neighbouring Ethiopia are being mediated by the East
African regional bloc IGAD, even though Uganda is a key member and the rebels have expressed concern about its neutrality. Rebel chief Riek Machar has accused Ugandan fighter jets of targeting him, and is also deeply critical of suggestions that Sudan, another IGAD member, could deploy troops to help Juba
protect oil fields from the rebels. Kenya, which sent in troops to evacuate citizens, also warned in a confidential briefing document this week of the “internationalisation” of the conflict. Rebels from Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region, nervous of a pact between their old allies in Juba and their enemy in Khartoum, are also
reportedly operating in oilrich border zones. The crisis on the ground, therefore, seems to be moving faster than the peace talks and out of the control of the politicians who sparked it. “We are heartbroken to see what was purely a political problem... quickly slide into an ethnic one on a rapid and frightening scale,”
read a statement from the South Sudan Council of Churches, an influential coalition of religious leaders. Many appear deeply pessimistic that even if a political deal is struck, the conflict pitting members of Kiir’s Dinka people -- the country’s largest group -- against Machar’s Nuer has reached a point of no return. “Handshakes, smiles and a mere political settlement between the two parties will not set South Sudan on a path towards truth, sustainable peace, democracy and the rule of law,” wrote David Deng from the South Sudan Law Society, a civil society organisation, and human rights lawyer Elizabeth Deng. “The two parties should be compelled to submit themselves and their supporters to an independent investigation into the crimes committed,” they wrote in a joint commentary on the crisis. And Princeton Lyman, a former US special envoy to the country, said in a report for the United States Institute of Peace think tank that the talks “cannot simply return the country to the previous status quo.” “For lasting peace, the negotiating parties and mediators will need to reach beyond national political elites and those bearing arms and invite active involvement of the international community,” he wrote.
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US intelligence to remain ‘interested’ in foreign govts: Obama
berliN, JaNuary 19 (PTi): The US will continue to spy on foreign governments, President Barack Obama has said even as he assured German Chancellor Angela Merkel that he would not allow the surveillance mechanism to harm their bilateral relations. Seen as the first step to win back trust of its allies, Obama defended the controversial spying programme as necessary to safeguard the security of America and its allies, including Germany. “Our intelligence agencies, like German intelligence agencies, and every intelligence agency out there, will continue to be interested in the government intentions of countries around the world. That’s not going to change,” Obama said. “There is no point in having intelligence agencies if you are restricted to the things which you can read in the New York Times or in the Spiegel,” he said in an interview to the German network ZDF. Seeking damage control in the wake of global public outrage over the widespread snooping revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden, Obama announced on Friday restrictions on NSA’s intelligence gathering capabilities to put an end to the surveillance of “foreign leaders of friendly nations” but ruled out scrapping the controversial programme altogether. In that major policy speech, Obama had asked to balance between civil liberties of Americans and people across the globe and meeting the US security and intelligence needs. The speech aimed at allaying global public outrage over the widespread eavesdropping revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden, which showed that US collected massive amounts of electronic data from communications of private individuals around the world, and has spied on foreign leaders including Merkel. The US President, however said he would not allow the surveillance to harm his relationship of “friendship and trust” with Merkel. “As long as I am the president of the US, the chancellor and Germany will not have to worry about this,” Obama said. However, Obama in a presidential decree has ordered that telephone and Internet surveillance will be carried out abroad only if US security threats are involved and to extend US rules on privacy protection to foreign citizens. He had also ordered restrictions on the use of the metadata - information on the telephone numbers, time and duration of calls-- collected by the intelligence services.
Syrian opposition to attend Geneva II peace conference 7 seriously hurt in Bangkok blast; military urges end to crisis
isTaNbul, JaNuary 19 (iaNs): Syria’s main opposition bloc announced here it would attend the Geneva II peace conference after it held a secret vote on its participation Saturday. The Syrian National Coalition (SNC) said that 58 out of the 75 members voted in favour of the bloc’s presence at the peace talks, 14 voted against it, two abstained and one cast a blank ballot, Xinhua reported. “This was the toughest decision. The absolute majority voted in favour of going to Geneva and being part of the sides on the ne-
gotiating table,” Louay Safi, a SNC spokesperson said during a press conference. Three rebel groups fighting inside Syria, Ajnad Al- Sham, the army of Al-Mujahedeen, and the front of Syria’s revolutionaries, agreed to go to the Geneva II conference and gave their full support to the Syrian opposition, he said. “We are very glad to hear about their support. They will definitely be part of the negotiations and they all appreciate a political solution,” Safi said. SNC President Ahmad Al-Jar-
ba said: “Today we enter another phase of the revolution...” He said the coalition decided to go to Geneva to achieve the demands of the Syrian people. “We go to Geneva very comfortably because the Syrian people support us. We want our voices to be heard.” The UN-backed peace conference, slated to start Jan 22 in Switzerland, will bring together representatives from both the government and the Western-backed political opposition for the first time since their conflict began almost three years ago.
UK: Indian-origin mother arrested for son’s death
loNdoN, JaNuary 19 (HT): Rosdeep Kular, the 33-year-old Indian-origin mother of Mikaeel Kular whose body was found in Fife, Scotland, on Friday evening, has been arrested and charged with the death of 3-year-old Mikaeel. The body was discovered after one of the largest day-night searches conducted by the police and large number of people in Scotland. Mikaeel was reported to be be missing from Edinburgh on Thursday last. Rosdeep is to appear at the Edinburgh sheriff court on Monday. Reported to be a beauty therapist, Rosdeep is the daughter of Gurbux, an immigrant from India, who died aged 43 when she was in her teens, and
Harjinder, 60. Mikaeel’s body was discovered behind a property in Kirkcaldy, Fife, and taken away by ambulance. A house in the road was searched, along with an area of woodland to the rear and side of the property. Rosdeep was previously said to be in a relationship with a Nigerian student, with whom she had three children. Mikaeel and Ashika were twins born to Rosdeep and a man of Pakistani origin, reports from Scotland said. Assistant chief constable of police Scotland Malcolm Graham said: “Following formal identification, I can now confirm that a 33-year-woman who was detained late on Friday evening has been arrested and charged in connection with the death of Mikaeel”.
baNGkok, JaNuary 19 (reuTers): Twenty-eight people were wounded, seven seriously, in explosions on Sunday at a camp of anti-government protesters in Bangkok, the latest violence in a prolonged political crisis dividing the country and threatening the Thai economy. The explosion comes a day after the military urged both sides to settle their differences in the more than twomonth long dispute, in which protesters are trying to bring down the elected government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. “There were 28 people injured from the blast at the Victory Monument,” Suphan Srithamma, director general of the Bangkok Emergency Medical Centre, told reporters. “Among these 7 people were seriously injured.” Witnesses said they heard two explosions. “The first blast I heard was from behind the stage,” said Teerawut Utakaprechanun, who told Reuters Television he had been turning out for the protests every day. “People were looking around. I saw the security guards running after a suspect. After one minute I heard another bomb blast.” On Friday night, one man was killed and 35 protesters were wounded in a
Bomb kills 20 troops in NW Pakistan
baNNu, PakisTaN, JaNuary 19 (aP): A bomb planted by the Taliban ripped through a vehicle carrying security forces inside a Pakistani army compound in the country’s volatile northwestern region Sunday, killing 20 troops, officials and the militants said. The blast was a heavy blow for the Pakistani military which has been fighting a stubborn insurgency in the country’s northwest. Bombs and shootings have killed thousands of security forces and left thousands more wounded and maimed. The vehicle was hired by the paramilitary Frontier Corps, said police official Inyat Ali Khan from the Bannu region where the explosion occurred. It was part of a convoy that was about to leave the military base in the town of Bannu and drive west to the North Waziristan tribal area, he said. The convoy was part of a regular Sunday morning troop rotation going into North Waziristan, said a military source. He said the bulk of the casualties were from the Frontier Corps because the bomb was planted in a vehicle hired by the paramilitary force to transport their personnel. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The explosion killed 20 security personnel and wounded another 30, the Pakistani military said in a statement. A spokesman for the Pakistani
Pakistani Taliban offer peace talks
islamabad, JaNuary 19 (iaNs): Pakistani Taliban Sunday gave their nod for peace talks with the government shortly after their suicide bomber killed 22 soldiers and injured 30 others in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said in a statement that a bomber used an explosives-laden vehicle to target the security forces in Bannu’s army area and killed dozens of soldiers. Pakistani soldiers later shelled suspected hideouts of the militants and killed several people in Mir Ali area in North Waziristan, Xinhua reported. The Taliban spokesman said they carried out the attack to take revenge for the killing of their leaders. “Our stance about the dialogue is very clear. If the government proves its powers and sincerity, we are ready for meaningful talks despite our great losses,” said the TTP spokesman. He claimed that Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud and his deputy Wali-ur-Rehman Mehsud were killed “under the pretext of the dialogue”. Both the leaders were killed in US drone strikes in North Waziristan but the Taliban had announced revenge against the Pakistani forces. We are of the view that the government has no powers and sincerity in the talks, otherwise our senior leaders would not have been killed after the peace dialogue offer,” the Taliban spokesman added.
Taliban, Shahidullah Shahid, said in a telephone call to The Associated Press that the attack had been carried out to avenge the death of the group’s former number 2, Waliur Rehman. He was killed last year in an American drone strike. “We will avenge the killing of every one of our fellows through such attacks,” the spokesman warned. The explosion was heard and felt across the town of Bannu. On resident who lives close to the military cantonment said he heard a deafening explosion, and his house shook.
“I rushed out of my home and saw black thick smoke billowing out of the cantonment’s Razmak gate area,” said Sajjad Khan. He said troops quickly cordoned off the area and ordered residents to go back inside their homes. North Waziristan is considered a safe haven for al-Qaida linked militants. Pakistani troop convoys often are hit by roadside bombs. Last December, four Pakistani troops were killed when a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into a checkpoint outside an army camp in North Waziristan. But blasts inside a
compound are rare. Pakistani defense analyst Zahid Hussain said while the army has its own transport vehicles, the paramilitary forces often hire vehicles when they need to move troops in large numbers like Sunday’s convoy. Neither the Pakistani army nor the paramilitary troops have armored vehicles for troop transports, Hussain said. It’s not clear how or when the explosive was planted on the vehicle, but Hussain said the use of private vehicles would make it much easier to plant such a device. The Pakistani military has been fighting for years against militants in the tribal areas who want to overthrow the government and establish a hard-line Islamic state across Pakistan. The militants view the army and other military forces as carrying out an American agenda in the tribal areas, which border Afghanistan and are also seen as a refuge for insurgents in that country. But many Pakistanis resent fighting fellow Muslims and have tired of the long war. Many see it as having been foisted upon them by the U.S. after the Sept. 11 attacks and the invasion of Afghanistan. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was elected last May in part by promising to end the fighting through a negotiated settlement instead of through military operations. But so far the Pakistani Taliban has shown little desire to negotiate with the government.
grenade explosion in the capital. That takes to nine the death toll since the protests started in November. They form the latest episode in an eight-year conflict pitting Bangkok’s middle class and royalist establishment against poorer, mainly rural supporters of Yingluck and her brother, the self-exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. The protesters accuse Thaksin of nepotism and corruption, and aim to eradicate the political influence of his family by altering electoral arrangements, though in ways they have not spelt out, along with other political reforms. A ceremony for the dead man was being held at a Buddhist temple in Bangkok on Sunday, where hundreds of people had gathered. It is expected to be attended by the firebrand leader of the government protests, Suthep Thaugsuban. Earlier in the day, Suthep led thousands in a march through Bangkok demanding that Yingluck resign, and collecting bundles of cash from supporters in the streets in what has become a trademark of his public appearances. However, there are signs the protests against the government could be running out of steam. The government
has allowed protesters to take over key buildings without confrontation and, crucially, the military has so far remained neutral. “Now all of us need to help each other in taking care of our own nation,” supreme armed forces commander Thanasak Patimapakorn told reporters after Saturday’s Army Day parade. “The relationship between the government and the army is normal ... We need to respect law and order. I myself respect the law and I respect all sides and I request that all sides should come together and talk to find a solution,” he said. Separately, the Bangkok Post daily quoted Thanasak as saying he had no interest in becoming prime minister and acting as mediator. Speculation has been rife that the military might step in to end the impasse, which is beginning to take its toll on Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy. The army has staged or attempted 18 coups in 81 years of on-off democracy, but has kept out of the fray this time. “Please, my fellow countrymen, please rise up and do our job, which is to stop this wicked government from functioning,” Suthep said late on Saturday, urging protesters to target government buildings across the country and prevent civil servants from working.