News

UK Boosts Nigeria’s Military Aid to Fight Against Boko Haram

June 12, 2014

By: Danielle L. Cowan (Gwozdz)
Senior Desk Operator, Africa

ABUJA, Nigeria – The UK will increase its military and educational aid to help Nigeria tackle Boko Haram, Foreign Secretary William Hague has announced.

He said Nigeria’s army would receive extra training, especially in counter-insurgency, and a million more children would be given schooling.

This is the latest promise of western help since Boko Haram abducted 200 schoolgirls in April.

Since the incident in April with Boko Haram, foreign help has been offered to help end the insurgency.

Correspondents say that attacks have increased since the April kidnappings.

The UK is hosting a meeting about the security situation and how to tackle the Boko Haram insurgents.

Nigeria’s Foreign Minister Aminu Wali will be attending the high-level gathering organized by his British counterpart Hague.

This meeting follows a summit Hague spoke at last month in London, where regional powers pledged to share intelligence and co-ordinate action against the group and its five-year insurgency.

Boko Haram has waged an increasingly bloody insurgency since 2009 in an attempt to create an Islamic state in Nigeria.

Thousands of people have died in the attacks done by Boko Haram and the subsequent security crackdown.

Hague has stressed that human rights must be respected in the operation against the militant group.

Human rights groups have accused Nigeria’s army of killing hundreds of civilians in crackdowns following Boko Haram attacks.

Hague also insisted that the extra aid must be spent effectively. There have been reports of corruption in the military.

There will be no immediate effect, however, in the villages of north-east Nigeria where people are being killed every day. There are no quick fixes to this insurgency.

The Nigerian government says the military cannot be everywhere in order to defend people.

Hague has insisted that the extra aid must be spent effectively. There have been reports of corruption in the military.

Hague further stated that the extra assistance would be provided in conjunction with France and the United States.

In a statement made last week, Hague said that “since the appalling abductions of over 200 schoolgirls in Chibok by Boko Haram, the international community has worked together closely to support Nigeria in the fight against terrorism.”

The UK, US, China, and France are among those countries that have sent teams of experts and equipment to help locate the girls.

For more information, please visit:
BBC News – Boko Haram crisis: UK boosts Nigeria military aid – 12 June 2014
The Guardian – Boko Haram crisis: UK meets on insecurity – 12 June 2014
News Break Nigeria – Boko Haram crisis: UK boosts Nigeria military aid – BBC News – 12 June 2014
Live 91.9 – Boko Haram crisis: UK boosts Nigeria military aid – 11 June 2014
World News – Boko Haram crisis: UK boosts Nigeria military aid – 12 June 2014

Pope Francis Leads Israeli and Palestinian Leaders In a Peace Prayer At the Vatican

June 9, 2014

VATICAN CITY- In an effort to re-launch Middle East peace talks, Pope Francis invited Palestine president, Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli president, Shimon Peres to the Vatican for a prayer of peace.

The invitation took place just weeks after the U.S. sponsored peace negotiations collapsed.

The invitation comes at a time where animosity is mounting over a rising Palestinian unity government that Israel will not accept because the government has the support of Hamas, the Islamic group running Gaza that Israel accuses of being terrorists.

Abbas, Peres, and Pope Francis pray at the Vatican.

To add to the animosity, Israel is building more homes in the occupied West Bank, angering the Palestinians and deterring the peace process.

Last month, on a trip to the Holy Land, Pope Francis invited the leaders to Vatican City for prayer, a move that energized many Palestinians, but caused anger among Israelis. During his visit, Francis made an unplanned stop to pray at the wall Israel built to block out Palestine’s West Bank, a move that many thought showed sympathy to Palestinians and further angered Israelis.

Vatican officials have insisted that Pope Francis has no political agenda in inviting the Middle East leaders to pray at his home. His only hope is to re-kindle a desire for peace.

“This pray meeting will not be for mediation to find solutions,” Pope Francis said. “We are just meeting up to pray, and then everyone goes home.” Francis said it would be “crazy” to expect any mediation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

However, many officials think the meeting has potential significance beyond just symbolism, as it shows Pope Francis as a leader who is willing to forgo normal diplomatic and theological protocol and go out on a limb for the sake of peace.

“In the Middle East, symbolic gestures and incremental steps are important,” said Rev. Thomas Reese, a veteran Vatican analyst for the National Catholic Reporter. “Who knows what conversations can occur behind closed doors in the Vatican.”

Abbas and Peres embraced in the foyer of the Vatican hotel and joked together before sitting on either side of Pope Francis in the Vatican prayer garden for an hour-long invocation of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim prayers delivered in English, Hebrew, Arabic, and Italian. The men also planted an olive tree in the garden as a sign of peace.

The prayers focused on three themes common to each of the religions: thanking God for creation, seeking forgiveness for past wrongdoing, and praying to God to bring peace to the region

Francis told the two men, who first signed the Oslo peace accords in 1993, that he hoped this meeting would ignite a “new journey” towards peace. Francis further said that too many children have died from war and violence and that their memory should now instill thoughts of patience, strength, and coexistence.

“Peacemaking calls for courage much more than warfare,” Francis said. “It calls for the courage to say yes to encounter and no to conflict.”

For more information see:

Al-Jazeera- Pope Leads Israeli-Palestinian Peace Prayer– 8 June 2014

CBC News- Pope Francis holds symbolic peace prayers with Middle East leaders– 8 June 2014

Daily Mail- Pope Francis embraces divided Middle East leaders and presides over Christian, Jewish and Muslim prayers at Vatican in bid to revive collapsed peace talks– 8 June 2014

CBC News- The Pope’s modest “prayer meeting” for the Middle East– 7 June 2014

World’s First Climate Change Refugee Denied Asylum in New Zealand

June 8, 2014

by Max Bartels

Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

Wellington, New Zealand

A Man from the small Pacific islands of Kiribati applied as a “climate refugee” in New Zealand. Mr. Teitiota is the first to apply for such a refugee status. A New Zealand Judge dismissed Mr. Teitiota case and denied him and his family refugee status. This ruling was appealed the New Zealand Court of Appeals upheld the decision of the lower court. Mr. Teitiota and his family have been living illegally in New Zealand for the past seven years, after his initial visa exprired he applied for refugee status. Since Mr. Teitiota’s case and appeal have failed in the New Zealand courts, he and his family are to be deported back to Kiribati. Mr. Teitiota is married with three children, all three children were born in New Zealand; however, New Zealand does not recognize the offspring of illegal immigrants born in the country as citizens.

The New Zealand court held that under international law Mr. Teitiota does not qualify as a refugee. The UN Refugee Convention of 1951 states that a refugee must fear persecution if they returned home, the courts determined that this is a criterion that Mr. Teitiota does not meet. The court went on to say that if refugee status were granted, the floodgates would open for all medium-term environmental deprivation or damage refugees, which would create an influx of refugees. The court further said that Mr. Teitiota and his family would be able to resume their prior subsistence life with dignity in Kiribati.

The islands of Kiribati are quickly being swallowed by the Pacific Ocean. Projections show that the Island will cease to exist by the end of this century. However, the island will become uninhabitable even earlier due to the rise in the rise in the sea-level combined with a more severe storm cycle that will contaminate the water table and with it all the agricultural land. The main atoll, Tarawa is six square miles in total, crammed into this space are 50,000 islanders and that space is quickly shrinking.

The President of Kiribati is exploring options for a mass migration and the Kiribati government hoped that the case in New Zealand would give them that option. Other options the government is pursuing include the purchase of land in Fiji as a possible resettlement option. The government has also explored the option of building a man made island to resettle the population. In total there are over 100,000 people in Kiribati that will eventually be displaced by the rising sea level. With any option the government pursues it will be difficult to relocate such as large group of people.

For more Information, please see:

The Guardian — New Zealand Refuses Climate Change Refugees- Mass Action is Now Needed — 12 May 2014

The Independent — World’s First Climate Change Refugee’ has Appeal rejected as New Zealand Rules Loane Teitiota Must Return to South Pacific Island Nation of Kiribati — 12 May 2014

Australian International Business Times — New Zealand Denies Asylum to World’s First Climate Change Refugee; Court Orders Deportation of Kiribatian — 13 May 2014

The New Zealand Herald — World’s First Climate Change Refugee has Appeal Rejected — 13 May 2014

Transportation Strike in Bolivia Leads to Clashes

June 6, 2014

By Ellis Cortez
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

SUCRE, Bolivia – A transport workers strike caused chaos in the Bolivian city of El Alto on Tueday during a protest against the local government’s plans to regulate the transport system. The demonstrators, who are also demanding higher wages, blocked a main avenue in the city.

Bus drivers block an avenue during a previous transport workers’ strike in La Paz in 2012. (Photo Courtesy of AP)

Riot police arrived on the scene and fired tear gas in an attempt to disperse the protesters. Local media reported 58 bus drivers were arrested for damaging passing vehicles that would not support the protesters.

Bolivian Police were able to clear the roads after protesters set fire to tires in the middle of the road. Approximately 1,200 police officers guarded the highways that lead to the city’s main airports.

The protesters, who run a network of privately owned minibuses, stated that the strike would continue indefinitely if local authorities do not back down on their plans to modernize public transport systems.

A leader of a drivers’ union in El Alto, Marcos Tito Cabrera, said bus drivers have been charging the same fare for the past few decades. “Since the creation of such vehicles (minibuses) for the last 30 or 40 years we have been operating by charging only one Bolivian (peso) as passage. This government in eight years has raised the wages of workers four times, perhaps we are not part of the state but we are also the people,” Cabrera said.

The local government is implementing four modern transport systems in the metropolitan area of two million residents, which the drivers fear will affect their own services in the cities.

An exclusive bus system with special routes is planned, along with a multimillion-dollar cable car system that will link the two mountain cities of La Paz and El Alto. The system will change the way Bolivians transport around the city. The cable car and bus system will aim to offer a faster service than existing modes of city transportation, authorities say.

For more information please see:

Al Jazeera — Bolivian transport strike causes chaos – 4 June 2014

The Washington Post – Clashes in Bolivia over transportation regulations – 4 June 2014

AOL News – Clashes in Bolivia – 3 June 2014

Boston.com – Clashes in Bolivia – 3 June 2014

South Sudan’s Rebels out of Control

June 5, 2014

By: Danielle L. Cowan (Gwozdz)
Senior Desk Operator, Africa

JUBA, South Sudan – Former South Sudan Vice President and leader of South Sudan rebels Riek Machar stated that he is “not completely in control” of his rebel forces. The rebels have recently been accused of atrocities during a brutal six-month conflict.

SDO Article 3 Picture — President Kiir (Left) and Former Vice President Riek Machar (Right) (photo courtesy of Reuters)

Machar further stated that he would “be lying” if he stated he was in control of the rebels. However, he also hoped that he will soon be in control of them because he hopes to train them, which is why they are disciplining them.

President Salva Kiir’s forces have been battling Machar’s rebel forces since December 15th. This fighting broke out in the capital of Juba.

The President is accused of starting the war by launching an eradication of his rivals. However, the President accuses Machar of attempting an overthrow.

Machar admits his forces have been patched together.

Machar told AFP that his rebels became an army when they were forced out of Juba. “It took us time to regroup them into a viable force under control and command.”

“We also have volunteer fighters; civilians who have their own guns who joined the war.”

In January, Machar and Kiir’s sides both agreed to a ceasefire. They also agreed to this earlier in the month. The truces, unfortunately, have not held.

This civil war has forced 1.3 million people to flee their homes and thousands have been killed.

The UN bases also are sheltering about 75,000 people in fear of ethnic violence.

Machar has stressed that he is “committed to peace” and that this was a “senseless war.” Peace talks are rescheduled to continue in Ethiopia this week.

This conflict began as a rivalry between Machar and Kiir. This conflict has divided the army and community along ethnic lines

Both sides have been accused of atrocities and revenge killings on civilians. The UN has called on both leaders to punish those responsible.

For more information, please visit:
Aljazeera – S Sudan’s Machar unable to control rebels – 1 June 2014
Africa News Desk – S Sudan’s Machar unable to control rebels – 1 June 2014
Business News – S Sudan’s Machar unable to control rebels – 1 June 2014
Got News Wire – S Sudan’s Machar unable to control rebels – 1 June 2014