A6 RED DEER ADVOCATE Monday, March 10, 2014
Ukrainian-Canadians pressure world powers TO GET RUSSIA OUT OF UKRAINE OTTAWA — Ukrainian-Canadians marched in Ottawa Sunday in an attempt to convince some of the world’s bigger powers to force Russia to remove its grip on Ukraine’s Crimea region. Only France’s ambassador, Philippe Zeller, personally spoke with the dozens of protesters as they waved flags and placards outside the French embassy. The demonstrations began in front of the Chinese embassy before snaking through the capital to buildings housing diplomats from France, the United States and the UK. Chanting anti-Russia slogans and waving placards, they urged the signators of a 1994 nuclear disarmament agreement with Ukraine to live up to the accord. “We are now turning to the guarantors of the Budapest agreement, the countries that promised Ukraine to do everything in their capacity to prevent it from economic warfare and to protect its territorial integrity,” said protest organizer Lada Roslycky. “At this time, they are grossly failing Ukraine’s needs.” The Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances was originally signed by Russia, the U.S. and the United Kingdom, giving Ukraine assurances of protection in exchange for giving up its nuclear weapons. China and France later gave assurances that they would also live up to the accord’s provisions. “We just want to say that we stand in solidarity with Ukraine and its people,” Zeller told protesters outside the French embassy. But an advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday suggested the Budapest accord could actually be used by Russia as justification for
UKRAINE: NOT GIVING UP ONE CM. A10 sending troops into Ukraine to protect people in the Crimean peninsula. Sergey Glazyev accused the United States of interfering in Ukraine’s internal affairs, saying Russia then had no choice but to intervene. Canada has made clear it supports the interim government in Kyiv, which Russia says was formed as the result a “coup.” Last week, the Harper government imposed a travel ban on individuals it deemed as a threat to Ukraine. As well, nine Russian soldiers participating in military exercises were ordered to leave Canada by the end of the day Friday. Canada has sent two military observers, part of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, to monitor the Russian military situation in Ukraine. But the OSCE has so far been unsuccessful in getting the observers into Crimea. They tried three times last week only to be turned back. Warning shots were fired during their last attempt to enter the region. They did not make another attempt on Sunday and it was unclear whether they would try again any time soon. Germany’s Angela Merkel joined Harper and other G7 leaders Sunday in telling Putin that a planned referendum on whether Crimea should join Russia was illegal and violated Ukraine’s constitution. But Putin has only tightened Russia’s grip further on Crimea, by seizing another border post. As well, heavily-armed soldiers wearing military uniforms with no country markings reportedly sealed off a military airport in Crimea. The White House said U.S. President Barack Obama would meet Wednesday with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk in Washington in an attempt to peacefully end the crisis.
STORY FROM PAGE A1
PLANE: Two Canadians were aboard The state-run Thanh Nien newspaper cited Lt. Gen. Vo Van Tuan, deputy chief of staff of Vietnam’s army, as saying searchers in a lowflying plane had spotted an object suspected of being a door from the missing jet. It was found in waters about 90 kilometres (56 miles) south of Tho Chu island, in the same area where oil slicks were spotted Saturday. “From this object, hopefully (we) will find the missing plane,” Tuan said. Thanh Nien said two ships from the maritime police were heading to the site. The missing plane apparently fell from the sky at cruising altitude in fine weather, and the pilots were either unable or had no time to send a distress signal — unusual circumstances under which a modern jetliner operated by a professional airline would crash. Malaysia’s air force chief, Rodzali Daud, said radar indicated that the plane may have turned back, but did not give further details on which direction it went or how far it veered off course. “We are trying to make sense of this,” Daud said at a news conference. “The military radar indicated that the aircraft may have made a turn back, and in some parts this was corroborated by civilian radar.” Malaysia Airlines Chief Executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said pilots are supposed to inform the airline and traffic control authorities if the plane does a U-turn. “From what we have, there was no such distress signal or distress call per se, so we are equally puzzled,” he said. Authorities were checking on the identities of the two passengers who boarded the plane with stolen passports. On Saturday, the foreign ministries in Italy and Austria said the names of two citizens listed on the flight’s manifest matched the names on two passports reported stolen in Thailand. “I can confirm that we have the visuals of these two people on CCTV,” Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said at a news conference late Sunday, adding that the footage was being examined. “We have intelligence agencies, both local and international, on board.” Hishammuddin declined to give further details, saying it may jeop-
ardize the investigation. “Our focus now is to find the aircraft,” he said, adding that finding the plane would make it easier for authorities to investigate any possible foul play. Interpol confirmed that at least two stolen passports used by passengers on the plane were registered in its databases. It said no one had checked the databases, but added that most airlines and countries do not usually check for stolen passports. In addition to the plane’s sudden disappearance, which experts say is consistent with a possible onboard explosion, the stolen passports have strengthened concerns about terrorism as a possible cause. Al-Qaida militants have used similar tactics to try and disguise their identities. Still, other possible causes would seem just as likely at this stage, including a catastrophic failure of the plane’s engines, extreme turbulence, or pilot error or even suicide. Establishing what happened with any certainty will need data from flight recorders and a detailed examination of any debris, something that will take months if not years. European authorities on Saturday confirmed the names and nationalities of the two stolen passports: One was an Italian-issued document bearing the name Luigi Maraldi, the other Austrian under the name Christian Kozel. Police in Thailand said Maraldi’s passport was stolen on the island of Phuket last July. Meanwhile, the multinational search for the
Canadian photographer killed BY THE CANADIAN PRESS TORONTO — The sister of a Toronto photojournalist killed in a Syrian air strike says he worked tirelessly to document for the world the “tragedies” carried out in the volatile region. A Syrian activist says Ali Moustafa, 29, was killed alongside seven other people Sunday after Syrian government aircraft dropped two explosive-laden containers in the rebel-held Hadariyeh area of Aleppo. Moustafa’s sister, Justina Botelho, says the freelance photographer had been in Turkey in recent weeks but made his way into Syria to record the unrest in that country’s ongoing civil war. Botelho confirmed her brother’s death after activists sent her a photograph of his corpse. She says her brother called Toronto his home but would head time and time again to the Middle East to record injustices carried out against people there. Botelho says he left for Egypt last September and was in Turkey for the final stretch of his trip when he suddenly decided to enter Syria to record the conflict alongside a group there. She says his family wasn’t aware Moustafa was in Syria and that he was due back in Toronto within weeks, with the images of suffering he saw through his lens taking a toll on him. “He suffered a lot. He saw a lot of tragedy and he was having a really tough time. He just wanted a break,” Botelho said in an interview, adding she was “very much in shock.” “He was a humanitarian. He cared about people.” Botelho said that on his return to Toronto her brother would sell his photos in an art gallery, and send the money back to struggling people in the places he had visited. She says Moustafa was born in the city and used it as his home base, but never settled down as he was always leaving for crisis spots with camera in tow. “He was a really giving person. All he wanted is to relate to the rest of the world the tragedies that were happening. That was his focus,” she said. “That’s all he really cared about — just helping people to understand what’s going on.”
QUEBEC ELECTION
Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ignatius Ong, right, executive official from Malaysia Airline speaks during a press conference in Beijing, China, Sunday. Military radar indicates that the airline’s missing Boeing 777 jet may have turned back, Malaysia’s air force chief said Sunday as scores of ships and aircraft from across Asia resumed a hunt for the plane and its 239 passengers. missing plane was continuing. A total of 34 aircraft and 40 ships have been deployed to the area by Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, China and the United States, in addition to Vietnam’s fleet. Vietnamese air force jets spotted two large oil slicks Saturday, but it was unclear whether they were linked to the missing plane. Two-thirds of the jet’s passengers were Chinese. The rest were from elsewhere in Asia, North America and Europe. The flight manifest identifies the two Canadians as Xiaomo Bai, 37, and Muktesh Mukherjee, 42. Mukherjee and Bai were married and lived with their two children in Beijing, where Mukherjee was working for Pennsylvania-based Xcoal Energy & Resources, CEO Ernie Thrasher said in an email to The
Canadian Press. After more than 30 hours without contact with the aircraft, Malaysia Airlines told family members they should “prepare themselves for the worst,” Hugh Dunleavy, the commercial director for the airline, told reporters. Finding traces of an aircraft that disappears over sea can take days or longer, even with a sustained search effort. Depending on the circumstances of the crash, wreckage can be scattered over many square kilometres (miles). If the plane enters the water before breaking up, there can be relatively little debris. Malaysia Airlines has a good safety record, as does the 777, which had not had a fatal crash in its 19-year history until an Asiana Airlines plane crashed last July in San Francisco, killing three passengers, all Chinese teenagers.
Media mogul Peladeau to run for Parti Quebecois BY THE CANADIAN PRESS SAINT-JEROME, Que. — Media baron Pierre Karl Peladeau shook up the Quebec election campaign on Sunday, announcing he’s decided to run for the Parti Quebecois. Flanked by PQ Leader Pauline Marois, Peladeau told a news conference he’s worked for 25 years to build up Quebecor Media Inc. (TSX:QBR.B) and now wants to devote himself to public service. Peladeau, until recently the head of the powerful conglomerate, said his dream is to help Quebec become a country. “Quebec has all the means to succeed. We have financial resources, we have human resources, we have natural resources,” Peladeau said to cheers from the party faithful in Saint-Jerome, north of Montreal, where he will run for a seat in the April 7 election. “We’ve got everything (we need) for a country to be alive and kicking.” Peladeau’s decision to run for the PQ represents a major coup for Marois as the party has tried to erase doubts about its ability to manage the economy. Marois said Peladeau will bring a valuable perspective to the PQ. “He is a sovereigntist, he is a person that has great experience in business, and I’ve convinced him to work with me and my team for the progress of the economy of Quebec, and the progress of Quebec,” the PQ leader said.
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