August 31, 2015 by The Nation

THE NATION MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 2015

FOREIGN NEWS South Sudan: Clashes continue after cease-fire

•People stand at the site of a Saudi-led air strike in Yemen’s capital Sanaa...yesterday.

PHOTO: Reuters

Saudi-led coalition air strike kills 36 Yemenis

N air strike by warplanes from a Saudiled coalition, which said it targeted a bomb-making factory, killed 36 civilians working at a bottling plant in the northern Yemeni province of Hajjah on Sunday, residents said. In another air raid on the capital Sanaa, residents said four civilians were killed when a bomb hit their house near a military base in the south of the city. The attacks were the latest in an air campaign launched in March by an alliance made up mainly of Gulf Arab states in support of the exiled government in its fight against Houthi forces allied to Iran. Coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri denied the strike had hit a civilian target, saying it was a

location used by the Houthis to make improvised explosive devices and to train African migrants whom they had forced to take up arms. He accused the Houthis of using African migrants, stuck in Yemen after arriving by sea before the war in the hope of crossing the Saudi border and finding work in the oil producer, as cannon fodder in dangerous border operations. Human rights group Amnesty International said in a report this month that the coalition bombing campaign had left a “bloody trail of civilian death” which could amount to war crimes. Air strikes killed 65 people in the frontline city of Taiz last Friday, most of them civilians, and the bombing of a milk factory in Western Yemen in July

killed 65 people including 10 children. More than 4,300 people have been killed in five months of war in Yemen while disease and suffering in the already impoverished country have spread. Militias and army units loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, currently taking refuge in Saudi Arabia, have made significant advances toward the Houthi-controlled capital in the last two months but the group remains ensconced in Yemen’s north and casualties mount in nationwide combat every day. Also on Sunday, a bomb exploded near the vacated U.S. Embassy in Sanaa and unknown gunmen shot and killed a senior security official in the southern port city of Aden.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility, but Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula - the deadliest branch of the global militant organization - has been attacking the Yemeni state and plotting against Western targets for years. A powerful bomb detonated in front of a gate on the wall surrounding the embassy around midnight yesterday but claimed no casualties, residents and officials said. The United States and other Western countries closed their missions in Yemen in February as the political feud between the Houthis and the Hadi government led to war. The Houthi-run state news agency Saba quoted a security official calling it a “terrorist and criminal act”.

Japan military law changes draw protests

HOUSANDS of people have protested outside of Japan’s parliament against new legislation that would allow the military to deploy overseas. The changes would allow Japanese troops to fight abroad for the first time since World War Two. The legislation has already been passed by Japan’s lower house and is expected to be endorsed by the upper chamber. Under its constitution, Japan is barred from using force to resolve conflicts except in cases of self-defence. But a reinterpretation of the law will now allow “collective self-defence” - using force to defend allies under attack. Police are lining the streets and telling protesters to move along in an attempt to minimise disruption in the capital’s centre. Despite the wet weather conditions, tens of thousands

•Japan’s post-World War Two constitution bars it from using force to resolve conflicts except in PHOTO:AFP cases of self-defence.

of protesters poured out onto the streets demanding that their pacifist constitution be protected and calling for the prime minister to step down. The streets were lined with police vans but given how unprecedented it is for the Japanese to be so vocal, there was never any fear that things would get out of hand. These demonstrations have been taking place all summer, mainly led by stu-

dents and young people who say they wish to protect Japan’s pacifist constitution. They are often accused of being apolitical and apathetic but it appears they have woken up and are refusing to be silenced. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says the changes are necessary to protect Japan, but polls show many Japanese oppose them. The plan was criticised at a

recent memorial ceremony commemorating the dropping of a US atomic bomb in August 1945 on the city of Nagasaki, which killed 70,000 people. One survivor of the attack, 86-year-old Sumiteru Taniguchi, said he could not accept Mr Abe’s new legislation. Mr Abe has previously said that the change would not lead to involvement in foreign wars.

OVERNMENt troops on Sunday attacked a village in volatile Unity state on the first day of a cease-fire that both sides have pledged to implement, according to a rebel-appointed official in South Sudan’s war-ravaged Unity state. The attack on the village in Mayendit County followed attacks on two other villages in the same area Saturday night, John Riek, who coordinates relief activities in an opposition-held part of southern Unity state, told The Associated Press on Sunday. He said government troops were burning houses and looting livestock on Sunday, and that he himself had to hide in a swamp to escape the violence. AP could not independently verify his claims. Military spokesman Col. Philip Aguer said he was unable to verify reports of clashes. Rebel spokesperson James Gatdet Dak said he has not received reports of new clashes. The two sides accused each other of instigating clashes in Upper Nile state yesterday.

Southern Unity has witnessed chaotic violence between the two sides in recent months following a government offensive against rebel forces. Doctors Without Borders said last week it treated 50 people including women and children for gunshot wounds in the town of Leer over the past month. South Sudan’s war began in December 2013 between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and his former deputy, Riek Machar. Kiir on Wednesday signed a compromise peace agreement, including the ceasefire, following mediation by the leaders of neighboring countries and with U.N. backing. Machar had signed the same document earlier in Ethiopia. Before signing it, Kiir called the agreement flawed, citing many reservations. Rebels have since said those reservations indicate Kiir is not committed to implementing the entire agreement. The U.S. has said it will press sanctions against those who violate the accord.

Turkey PM forms election government

URKISH President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the weekend approved the makeup of the provisional government that will run the country until November 1 elections, including for the first time proKurdish MPs. “Our president... approved the interim cabinet formed under the leadership of Prime Minister Mr Davutoglu,” the presidency said in a statement after a nearly one-hour meeting between Erdogan and Premier Ahmet Davutoglu. The two pro-Kurdish lawmakers are from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), marking the first time a Kurdish party has been represented in the government. The newly appointed cabinet will not have to undergo a vote of confidence in parliament, as required in the constitution. The president’s approval is considered enough for interim governments. Erdogan called new elections after Davutoglu — whose ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its overall majority in parliament in June polls — failed to form a coalition government with the opposition. He appointed Davutoglu to form an interim “election government” which according to the constitution must be made up of all parties represented in parliament. It is the first time in modern Turkish history that postelection talks on forming a coalition government have failed. The cabinet spots are divided up according to the parties’ share of seats in parliament — with 11 going to AKP, five to the secondplaced Republican People’s Party (CHP) and three a piece to the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses a

meeting at the presidential palace in Ankara on August 12, 2015 Opposition parties have refused to take part in the interim government, making the HDP — which the government accuses of being a political front for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) — and the AKP major partners in the new cabinet. Ali Haydar Konca will act as EU affairs minister and Muslum Dogan as development minister, Davutoglu said in a press announcement. Both are lawmakers from the HDP. In a deviation from the party line, MHP lawmaker Tugrul Turkes, son of party founder Alparslan Turkes, accepted an invitation serve as deputy prime minister in a move denounced by the faction’s leadership. Davutoglu had to appoint nonpartisan figures to fill the seats snubbed by the opposition parties. Selami Altinok, former Istanbul police chief, was appointed interior minister and foreign ministry undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu as new foreign minister. Speaking to his party’s provincial heads earlier Friday, Davutoglu said: “We will work just like a fouryear government as we are heading toward November 1.” The election comes at a time of escalating violence between Turkish security forces and Kurdish militants which has for now killed off hopes of ending the threedecade insurgency.

•Davutoglu