World Tuesday, December 24, 2013
www.guardianonline.co.nz
■ UNITED STATES
13
In brief
Obama raises tone on Sudan The United States - a key backer of South Sudan’s independence in 2011 - is increasing diplomatic pressure as conflict there worsens, but will not intervene militarily, experts say. Analysts do not expect a significant US campaign, despite President Barack Obama’s decision to send nearly 100 troops to the country to help protect US citizens, personnel and property. Obama has warned South Sudan that it is on the “precipice” of civil war and that any military coup would halt diplomatic and economic support from Washington and its allies. Secretary of State John Kerry also told President Salva Kiir over the weekend that the violence endangers the independence of the world’s youngest nation, born in July 2011 after a five-decade struggle for independence from Sudan. Fighting has gripped South Sudan since December 15, after Kiir accused his former deputy, Riek Machar, of attempting a coup. Machar denied the claim and accused Kiir of a purge against his rivals. Washington supported the southern rebels in their battle for independence from the predominantly Islamic north. Post-independence, the United States became Juba’s biggest source of political and economic aid, recalled Richard Downie, Africa assistant director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Now the US is looking at the situation, and it is driven by this desire not to let all the hard work get away,” the analyst said. Washington’s engagement in South Sudan has been “driven by humanitarian concerns”, he said. Also lobbying for sustained US involvement were South
Ashburton Guardian
Pussy Rioter freed One of the jailed members of punk band Pussy Riot, Maria Alyokhina, has walked out of prison after receiving amnesty, her lawyer has told Russian media. “Maria Alyokhina walked out to freedom,” lawyer Pyotr Zaikin told the RIA Novosti news agency on Monday. “All of the documents had been completed and signed.” Alyokhina and bandmate Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, whose two-year sentences for a protest performance in a Moscow church would have run out in early March, were granted amnesty last week. - AFP
Scumbags, evil-doers The owners of six miniature show horses slaughtered in their stables say the killers are “scumbags” and “evil doers”. Julie and Mel Jackson, who run a breeding and show stud at Clayton Bay, 70km south of Adelaide, believe the attackers deliberately targeted their horses but don’t know why. They have appealed for any other horse owners or breeders who have received threats to contact police. “The perpetrators are facing a jail term of up to 10 years for this crime, maybe more if the court is convinced that others have received violent threats from the same scumbags.” - AAP
Protests in Bangkok
President Barack Obama: Not expected to get significantly involved militarily in South Sudan. ap photo
Sudanese living in the United States, many of whom are Christians supported by the US evangelical movement. And the fate of South Sudan has long interested Hollywood - with actors George Clooney and Mia Farrow in particular taking up the cause. Washington was one of the forces behind the January 2005 peace agreement in Naivasha, Kenya, that ended the civil war, offering six years of autonomy for the South and a referendum in January 2011 to decide on independence. The South Sudanese over-
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whelmingly voted to break away from Khartoum. “When the referendum was being held on independence, the US got engaged diplomatically again, and putting resources in to make sure that referendum happened and South Sudan achieved its independence,” Downie said. But France’s former ambassador to Khartoum, Michel Raimbaud, said he “doubts that democracy and human rights guide the interests of the United States in South Sudan”. “The secession, in which Washington played a very im-
portant role, was motivated by oil and strategic considerations, to break up Sudan - the biggest Arab country in Africa,” he said. Downie, however, said Americans are “not involved in the oil industry there very much at all,” and “there is a very thin strategic interest in South Sudan.” He doesn’t expect US military action. “It would require a big leap for the US to get involved significantly on the military level,” he said. “Look across Africa, the US military is very, very wary of getting the boots on the ground.” - AFP
■ FINLAND
Finns cashing in on Santa As a brand, Santa Claus has a serious flaw: he is really valuable only for a few weeks of the year. In Finland, they’re trying to do something about this. Petri Paarnio, director of Santa Claus Licensing, which holds the rights to market the Santa Claus name in Finland, wants him to earn money all year round and all around the world, starting with China. “Santa Claus is an icon,” he said. Santa Claus Licensing and Finnish tourist authori-
ties want to cash in on the brand via computer games, international events, theme parks and merchandising. As it is, many tourists visit the Arctic city of Rovaniemi, the capital of Finland’s northernmost Lapland region, over Christmas in search of the “authentic” Santa experience. The area claims Santa as its own, and wants to exploit that claim beyond the Christmas season. “Father Christmas is Finland’s best-known brand,
but we’ve not made the most of his image as Finnish,” Parnio said. “Maybe because Christmas just takes place over a short period.” The Finnish parliament has just approved 300,000 euros ($A463,392.03) in funding to promote Finnish Santa Claus in China. “In Europe, Christmas is traditionally seen as a short period. But in Asia Father Christmas could be promoted as a completely separate character,” Paarnio said. - AFP
Thousands of anti-government protesters have surrounded a Bangkok electoral office to block political parties from registering for the February 2 national polls, but failed to stop 35 parties from being declared eligible. Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban had urged tens of thousands of his followers to march on a sports complex in northern Bangkok to disrupt the registration process. But the demonstrators did not reach the site early enough yesterday to prevent nine parties, including the ruling Pheu Thai Party of caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, according to Election Commission deputy secretary general Somsak Suriyamongkol. - DPA
Aussies spend up large Australians have been spending more than a billion dollars a day in the final shopping rush before Christmas. Retailers have recorded a pick up in spending on electronics, furniture, homewares and books. As the big day nears, the focus is now switching from presents to celebrations on the day with more money expected to be spent on food and alcohol over the last two days. “We’re certainly in the space of Australians, overall, spending well over a billion dollars a day over the weekend,” National Retailers Association chief executive Trevor Evans said. - AAP
Further sex charges Australian entertainer Rolf Harris is facing three additional sex assault charges involving two new alleged victims, one aged “seven or eight” at the time. The additional counts mean Harris, 83, is now accused of assaulting four victims dating back to the late 1960s. He’s facing 16 separate charges in total. “Rolf Harris is to be prosecuted over a further three allegations of indecent assault,” the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said yesterday.- AAP