Kerry Meets Russian Counterpart in Paris

by Michael Yoakum
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

PARIS, France – Secretary of State John Kerry met with with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Paris Wednesday to discuss peaceful solutions to the standoff in Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula. The meeting came just a day after Lavrov announced that economic sanctions by the US would not change the position of the Russian government.

Kerry denounced the Russian occupation of Crimea Sunday, calling the action “an incredible act of aggression.” (Photo courtesy of Bloomberg News)

Despite their differences, Kerry noted before the meeting that all parties agreed that the situation should be resolved diplomatically rather than militarily.

“All parties agreed today that it is important to try to resolve these issues through dialogue,” said Kerry.

The talks were described as “very constructive” and Kerry considered them to be the beginning of negotiation that would hopefully lead to a peaceful solution. Despite the Secretary’s optimism, the Russian Foreign Minister refused to have a one-on-one meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, opting instead to travel home.

While speaking in to press after the meeting, Kerry renewed his call for Russian forces to withdraw from the Crimean peninsula and allow UN monitors in to the region. Whether or not Russia will heed such a call, Kerry added that the parties agreed to meet again.

“We agreed to continue intense discussions in the coming days with Russia, with Ukrainians, in order to see how we can help normalize the situation, stabilize it and overcome the crisis,” he said.

While Kerry traveled to Paris, President Obama continued to communicate with EU leaders, collaborating with German Chancellor Angela Merkel Tuesday on a resolution to the situation. Their proposal would require Russian forces to partially withdraw, limiting their deployment to 11,000 troops.

The President also directed remarks to Russian President Vladimir Putin Tuesday, saying that Russia was not “fooling anybody” by denying Russia deployed forces to Crimea.

France 24 reports that sources confirm President Obama will not be attending an upcoming G8 summit scheduled to be held in Sochi, Russia unless the situation in Crimea improves.

For more information, please see:

Bloomberg News – Kerry Makes Push to Ease Ukraine Tension in Lavrov Talks – 5 March 2014

CNN – Kerry: Ukraine talks will continue – 5 March 2014

France 24 – US-Russia to hold Ukraine talks in Paris – 5 March 2014

MSNBC News – Kerry Says Russia and Ukraine Willing to Keep Talking – 5 March 2014

The Washington Post – Kerry says ‘Russia is going to lose’ if Putin’s troops continue to advance in Ukraine – 2 March 2014

Croatia To Present Evidence of Genocide By Serbia At ICJ

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

THE HAGUE – Croatia told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Monday that it will present its case during a hearing which will include new evidence to support their claim that Serbia committed genocide in Croatian territory from 1991 to 1995.

The hearing began at the ICJ on Monday, and is scheduled to end on April 1st. (Photo courtesy of inSerbia)

Vesna Crnic-Grotic, the head of the Croatian legal team, stated to the Court that Serbian leaders are “in denial” over a genocide carried out in the early 90’s. Croatia is bringing charges against the former president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic, of leading the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) to commit genocidal crimes, though they were originally supposed to protect the Yugoslavian people.

Crnic-Grotic stated that the Serbian government in Belgrade turned a blind eye to genocidal acts, and though Croatia did not accuse anyone specific for genocide, Crotia decided to formally bring charges before the ICJ.

On Monday before the Court, the Croatian legal team presented a video that depicted the 1991 violence in Vukovar, as they accused Serbia of using the JNA to eliminate Croatian people. The team stated that they will present evidence of genocidal crimes in both Lovas and Vukovar.

The President of the ICJ, Peter Tomka, summarized the history of the dispute between Croatia and Serbia for the Court. Croatia pressed genocide charges on Serbia in 1999, and Serbia filed a counter-suit in 2010. Now that the hearing has finally begun, President Tomka informed both parties which witness statements will be kept private until the end of the hearing- which April 1st.

In its counter-suit, Serbia is requesting that Croatia provide full indemnity for Serbian people from Krajina for all economic losses and damages inflicted by the genocide. The counter-suit also seeks to create legal conditions and protections for Serbs living in Croatia. The Serbian legal team will present case on March 10th.

For more information, please see:

ABC News – Croatia Accuses Serbia of Genocide at UN Court – 3 March 2014

BBC News – Croatia Accuses Serbia of 1990s Genocide – 3 March 2014

inSerbia – Croatia to Present New Evidence Before ICJ – 3 March 2014

Radio Free Liberty, Radio Europe – Croatia Accuses Serbia of Genocide at ICJ – 3 March 2014

Syrian Airstrikes Target Lebanese Border Town

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BEIRUT, Lebanon – According to Lebanon’s official news agency, Syrian military helicopters have launched three air-raids in areas inside Lebanon near the town of Arsal on the Syrian border. The airstrikes signify a spill over of the Syrian Civil War, now in its third year, into neighboring countries as the regime attempts to cut-off supply routes used by rebel forces.

Syrian warplanes are routinely seen near Lebanon’s mountainous border with Syria. (Photo courtesy of Al Jazeera)

On 28 February Reuters reported that an airstrikes near the town of Arsal killed three people and wounded seven. Later that day Sunni militants inside Syria fired rockets into the Lebanese’s town of Britel, a Hezbollah stronghold. The attack wounded a women and her two children.

The majority of the people living in the border town of Arsal’s support the Syrian revolution and opposition fighters. The town is now home to tens of thousands of Syrian refugees and has experienced a sudden influx of displaced persons as the Syrian government launches a mass assault across the border in the Qalamoun region or Syria.

On Wednesday, Syrian helicopters carried out the air raids in the sparsely populated mountainous regions outside of the town of Arsal, near the Syrian border. Airstrikes have become common along the Lebanon-Syria border. Syrian war planes and helicopters routinely carry out air strikes along the border, inside of Lebanon.

Syrian warplanes carried out a series of airstrikes near a Lebanese border town on Wednesday, the latest evidence of a spill over of the Syria’s civil war into neighbouring countries. The town’s Deputy Mayor Ahmad Fliti said that an airstrike was carried out near the border town on Wednesday and that at least eight airstrikes have been carried out along the town’s outskirts where thousands of refugees have established tent-encampments.

Asem Alzein, a Syrian doctor who lives in Arsal said a 30-year-old woman and seven-year-old girl in Wadi Hmaied were wounded during the airstrikes. He said that one blast hit only a few hundred meters away from a school, forcing the teachers and students to flee the building.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damages from Wednesday’s round of air-strikes which appears to be linked to the regime’s military offensive against the rebel stronghold of Yabroud. Syrian journalists who were taken on a state-orchestrated tour of government-held areas around Yabroud on Tuesday reported that they heard gunfire and saw military jets flying overhead. The offensive is an attempt by the Assad regime to gain control of border regions in order to cut-off shipments of arms and other supplies to rebel groups.

For more information please see:

Al Aljazeera – Syrian air raids hit Lebanese border region – 05 March 2014

Reuters – Syrian Air Raids Hit Lebanese Border Region – 05 March 2014

ABC News – Syrian Aircraft Strike near Lebanese Border Town – 04 March 2014

Reuters – Syrian Air Strikes Kill Three near Lebanese Border – 28 February 2014

U.S. Terms Kunming Massacre as “Terrorism”

By Kevin M. Mathewson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – The US State Department has described Saturday’s knife attack which killed 29 people in China’s Kunming city as “an act of terrorism”, but the lack of firearms and explosives in the attack has left some analysts unconvinced by the explanation.

Saturday’s attack at Kunming station killed 29 people and injured more than 130 others. (Photo Courtesy of Reuters)

Ten attackers dressed in black converged on passengers at a train station in the southwestern city of Kunming on Saturday, stabbing bystanders indiscriminately with a range of long knives, taking the lives of at least 29 people and injuring 143 more, according to state-run Xinhua News.

The statement comes after Chinese state-run media accused Washington of double standards for its initial reluctance to use the phrase.

The US Embassy in Beijing originally described the attack as “a horrific, senseless act of violence”, but on Monday US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki revised that statement and described the attack as appearing “to be an act of terrorism targeting random members of the public”.

Officials have blamed separatists from Xinjiang – which is home to the Muslim Uighur minority – for the attack.

Both this attack and an incident late last year in which a car ploughed into pedestrians in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square have been attributed to separatists from the far-western region of Xinjiang.

Authorities traditionally blame extremists for these outbreaks of violence, while Uighur activists point to tight Chinese control as a cause of tensions. Establishing facts independently is difficult, because foreign journalists’ access to the region is restricted.

In a statement, the World Uyghur Congress – a Germany-based umbrella organization of Uighur groups – condemned the violence “unequivocally”, but also called on Chinese authorities to be open and transparent in their investigation.

It urged Beijing “to refrain from using this as a pretext to further and indiscriminately crack down on Uighurs as precedents suggest, and to show a measured response”.

“It is absolutely vital the Chinese government deal with the longstanding and deteriorating human rights issues facing Uighurs if tensions are to be reduced,” its president, Rebiya Kadeer, said in the statement.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – US says Kunming attack is ‘act of terrorism’ – 4 March 2014

The Wall Street Journal – China Calibrates its Police Response to Train Station Attacks – 4 March 2014

Descrier – China blames bloody Kunming massacre on international terrorism, but many remain unconvinced – 4 March 2014

The Irish Times – Police capture remaining suspects after Kunming knife attack – 4 March 2014

The Huffington Post – Chinese Netizens Lash Out At U.S. For Downplaying Severity Of Deadly Knife Attack – 3 March 2014