West African Countries Step-Up Quarantine Efforts As Ebola Death Toll Rises

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Managing Editor

MONROVIA, Liberia – As the death toll continues to rise in West Africa’s deadly Ebola virus outbreak several counties have taken steps to prevent the spread of the virus in an effort to prevent the spread of the deadly illness. To date the virus has killed more than 1,200 people in four West African countries; Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

Police in Liberia use force in an attempt to prevent slum residents from breaking quarantine in Monrovia. Slum residents have complained that curfews and quarantines have been placed on them without giving them the proper opportunity to buy and store food and water. (Photo courtesy of The Wire UK)

So far Liberia has been the worst affected of the four West African countries hit by the Ebola virus, with 576 deaths from 972 cases to date. Officials have sealed of the West Point Slum in Monrovia, an area that is home to 75,000 people, in an attempt to stop the spread of the Ebola virus. However, the quarantines have angered residents who say the forced curfews and quarantines came with no advanced warning of the measures which has prevented them from being able to buy and store food and water.

Some residents had begun throwing rocks at police who were enforcing the quarantine. The police responded by firing live rounds and teargas into the crowd. Police also reportedly beat some of the residents. While several serious injuries were reported no-one is reported to have been killed during the incident.

Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, defended the quarantines, which have been established in areas throughout the country, saying they were essential to control the spread of the disease. She argued that Ebola had continued to spread throughout the country because of “continued denials, cultural varying practices, disregard for the advice of health workers and disrespect for the warnings by the government”.

However, there are fears that large scale isolation will lead to unrest in quarantined communities when essential movement of goods and people is cut-off. “I don’t have any food and we’re scared,” said Alpha Barry, a West Point resident. The World Health Organization has begun working with local authorities to deliver emergency food aid into quarantined zones in an attempt to prevent rising unrest.

The World Health Organization, which has set up a task force to monitor and contain the Ebola outbreak, has advised countries affected by the Ebola virus outbreak have been asked to introduce exit screenings at all international airports, seaports and major land crossings in order to stop the spread of the disease. The WHO task force will also be responsible for providing information to governments as well as transport companies. “Any person with an illness consistent with [the Ebola virus] should not be allowed to travel unless the travel is part of an appropriate medical evacuation”, the UN health agency said. It added that non–affected countries in the region “need to strengthen the capacity to detect and immediately contain new cases.”

Several governments have already taken steps to restrict travel from West African countries effected by the Ebola outbreak. Kenya Airways announced that it will suspend flight operations to Liberia and Sierra Leone. The Kenyan government announced other restrictions, saying it is temporarily suspending entry into Kenya of passengers who have passed through Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. The government of Cameroon has closed all its borders with Nigeria, which has had at least 4 deaths due to the virus, in an attempt to halt the spread of the Ebola virus, state radio said on Tuesday.

For more information please see:

Al Jazeera – Liberia Overwhelmed By Number of Ebola Dead – 21 August 2014

The Wire UK – Ebola: Police Open Fire to Enforce Liberia Quarantine – 21 August 2014

Reuters Africa – Cameroon Says Closes Borders With Nigeria in Bid To Halt Ebola – 20 August 2014

USA Today – Ebola Toll Climbs Even Amid ‘Encouraging Signs,’ WHO Says – 19 August 2014

The Wire UK – Ebola: WHO Calls For Screening at Borders in West Africa – 19 August 2014

CNN International – New Restrictions in Kenya for Travelers amid Ebola Fears – 16 August 2014

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – 2014 Ebola Outbreak in West Africa – August 2014

Syria’s Declared Chemical Weapons Stockpile Destroyed

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Managing Editor

DAMASCUS, Syria – On Monday U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration announced that U.S. military and civilian personnel had completed the destruction of the Syrian regime’s declared chemical weapons stockpile. In a statement President Obama said that the neutralization of these chemical agents “advances our collective goal to ensure that the Assad regime cannot use its chemical arsenal against the Syrian people and sends a clear message that the use of these abhorrent weapons has consequences and will not be tolerated by the international community.”

American ship MV Cape Ray docked at Naval Station in Rota, Spain, on Thursday, February 13. The ship was used as the cite where Syria’s most dangerous chemical weapons would be neutralized. (photo courtesy of The Washington Post)

On Monday morning, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel called the captain of the Cape Ray, the ship chosen to oversee the neutralization of chemical weapons in international waters, , to congratulate him and the crew for eliminating the stockpile. President Obama thanked Denmark, Norway, Italy, Finland, Germany, and the United Kingdom for key contributions to the mission. He also noted Russia’s and China’s assistance.

“While the international community’s work to completely eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons program is not yet finished, the secretary believes this is a clear demonstration of what can be achieved when diplomacy is backed by a willingness to use military force,” said Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby.

The effort was conducted with the support of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons as the United Nations. While the Obama Administration acknowledgment the milestone of destroying Syria’s declared stockpile it acknowledgement that the Syrian regime was likely less than forthcoming in declaring the exact extent of its chemical weapons stockpile. “In record time, even amid a civil war, we removed and have now destroyed the most dangerous chemicals in the regime’s declared stockpiles,” Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement. “But much more work must be done.”

Kerry said there are still “discrepancies and omissions related to Syria’s chemical weapons declaration.” Secretary Kerry expressed concerns over the continued use of chlorine gas against Syrian civilians by the regime forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Kerry also reaffirmed the United States’ support of moderate rebels.

“The United States,” Kerry said, “will continue to provide political, financial, and other support to the moderate opposition because we are committed to help those who seek the right of all Syrians to choose a future of peace and oppose the violent extremists who exploit the chaos and ruin that Assad has brought to Syria.”

The announcement comes almost a year after more than 1,4000 people were killed by sarin gas attacks On August 21 2013 in the  Ghouta suburbs of the Markaz Rif Dimashq district outside of Damascus, which were struck by rockets containing the chemical agent sarin.

For more information please see:

For More Information Please See:

Foreign Policy – Syria’s Most Lethal Chemical Weapons Destroyed With Little Fanfare – 18 August 2014

The New York Times – Syria’s Chemical Arsenal Fully Destroyed, U.S. says – 18 August 2014

The Washington Post – Declared Syrian Chemical Weapon Stockpile Now Completely Destroyed –18 August 2014

The White House – Statement by the President on the Completion by the M/V Cape Ray of the Destruction of Syria’s Declared Chemical Weapons – 18 August 2014

ISIS and Pro-government Forces Battle for Iraq’s Critical Infrastructure

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Managing Editor

BAGHDAD, Iraq – The battle between militants belonging to the Islamic State of Syria and Levant (ISIS) and the Iraqi national government forces and Kurdish regional  peshmerga forces has taken a toll on Iraq’s critical infrastructure including the nation’s oil reserves and industry infrastructure, power plans and, most recently, the countries massive hydraulic power system.

Smoke rises from airstrikes conducted by US forces against ISIS fighters near the Mosul Dam in Northern Iraq. (photo courtesy of the Guardian)

Earlier this month ISIS forces seized control of the Mosul Dam, once known as the “Saddam Dam,” which is a key component of Iraq’s massive hydroelectric power and Irrigation system spanning the Tigris and Euphrates watershed. The 3.2-kilometer-long Mosul Dam is the largest dam in Iraq and the fourth largest in the Middle East. The Hydroelectric dam is located along the Tigris River and holds back as much as 12.5 million cubic meters of water. If the dam were to be breached it would create a wall of water tens of feet tall that would cause massive flooding in Mosul, threatening its 1.7 million residents, and would cause massive flooding in communities as far downstream as Baghdad.

On Monday Kurdish peshmerga fighters, backed by US warplanes conducting strategic airstrikes against ISIS strongholds, pressed a counter-offensive against ISISS forces retaking the Mosul Dam alongside Iraqi government forces. US aircraft are carrying out strikes in support of the forces battling ISIS militants, who have declared a caliphate areas under their control in both Iraq and Syria. “The planes are striking and the peshmerga are advancing,” a Kurdish fighter said on Monday near the shores of the Mosul dam.

While critics argued that aiding Iraqi forces in retaking the Mosul dam and other infrastructure may constitute mission creep beyond US forces initial mission in Iraq Administration officials have argued that the Mosul Dam is critical to Iraqi national security as well as the security of US interests in the region citing evidence that ISIS forces was not performing necessary maintenance on the dam as well as fears that the group was planning to destroy the dam, potentially endangering millions of Iraqi residents.

ISIS has a history of using water infrastructure as a weapon of war.  Earlier year, its fighters opened the gates on the Falluja Dam in central Iraq after seizing it in an effort to stop the military from advancing. The water from the dam flooded a several villages. “ISIS has already used other smaller dams to gain control of territory, to pressure Sunnis to support them and to punish the Shiites,” said Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum.

The recapture of Mosul dam marks the biggest victory in the Iraqi governments struggle to take back assets seized by ISIS since the organization launched a massive offensive in Northern Iraq in June.

For more information please see:

CBS News – Emboldened by U.S. strikes, Iraq goes on offense – 19 August 2014

CNN International – U.S. airstrikes critical in Mosul Dam capture – 18 August 2014

The Guardian – Iraqi and Kurdish forces recapture Mosul dam from ISIS – 18 August 2014

The New York Times – Troops in Iraq Rout Sunni Militants From a Key Dam – 18 August – 2014

West Papuan Independence Movement Struggles Against Long Lasting Indonesian Control

by Max Bartels 

Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

 

Manokwari, West Papua 

West Papua is the western half of the of the Island of New Guinea, the other half being the nation of Papua New Guinea. West Papua has been under the control of the Indonesian government since the late 1960s when a vote mandated by the U.N ended in a sham where only a handful of the indigenous population were allowed to vote.  As a result of the vote the province remained in the hands of the Indonesian government against the will of the majority of the local population.

IW #10 West Papua
Indonesian police arrest West Papuans celebrating the anniversary of their independence from Dutch colonial rule.
(Photo curtesy of Aljazeera)

 The West Papuan Independence movement has since had the goal of expelling Indonesian occupation from West Papua. There have been many similar incidents over the years but the most recent was in April. There was a shooting near the border with Papua New Guinea where the resistance fighters shot an Indonesian border guard and set a car wash on fire. The resistance fighters raised the flag of West Papua as a symbol of resistance.

There seems to be a split amongst West Papuan leaders on the best approach to achieve their goals. Some support the actions of the independence movement, most of these leaders now live in a exile in countries and islands around the South Pacific. Other leaders, mainly those in the West Papuan congress believe that it is better to work with the Indonesian government to achieve a better standard of living within the province.

In February the Guardian reported an incident in a West Papuan village where the Indonesian military and police woke up the locals at 3am and shuffled all the families into the town square to be questioned for their involvement in the resistance movement. Many people were interrogated with guns held to their heads, others were arrested and beaten and some families were forced to burn down their own homes.

The resistance movement has a lack of outside international support. While it has been reported that the Indonesian government has committed many human rights offenses to the indigenous population of West Papua, the Indonesian government still has the support of the Australian government. Indonesia is an import political ally for Australia and therefore Australia has not been unwilling to support the movement. West Papuan exiles have also been denied entry into Australia.

Recently two French journalists attempted to enter West Papua in an attempt to film a documentary on the resistance movement. Both were arrested for visa violations, France and the U.S have appealed to Indonesia to lessen their restrictions on journalism in West Papua.

For more information, please see:

The Guardian — West Papuans Beaten and Had Guns Held to Head In Military Operations — 3 February 2014

The Guardian — West Papuan Independence Fighters Injure Two in Border Shooting — 8 April 2014

The Guardian — West Papuan Independence Movement- a History — 28 August 2013

The Sydney Morning Herald — Indonesian Authorities Arrest French Journalists in west Papua in the Company of Separatists — 8 August 2014