Syrian Peace Talks Once Again Fall Through

DAMASCUS, Syria-The United States and Russia have failed to agree on a date to bring Syria’s disputing sides back to the table to negotiate.  The two powers have currently remained divided over what role Iran should play in an aspired for Geneva peace conference.

President of the Syrian National Coalition Ahmad Jarba attends the Arab foreign ministers’ meeting in Cairo (photo courtesy of Reuters)

Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N.-Arab League’s top envoy to Syria, reported that even though Russia and the U.S. did not reach an agreement at the end of their discussions, all hope is not lost in resuming negotiations.  Another round of talks is set for November 25th.

Brahimi further went on to say that one of the biggest hurdles to overcome is the various divisions among the Syrian opposition.  “It is no secret to anyone that the opposition has a lot of problems and is working seriously to overcome these problems to reach a position and appoint a convincing delegation to represent them in Geneva, and that is what has delayed us a bit,” he said.

Diplomats have experienced numerous challenges throughout the negotiation process with world powers strongly disagreeing over what steps should be taken to end the fighting and how the Syrian government should be shaped moving past President Bashar Assad’s regime.

Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister, has once again insisted that Iran, a supporter of Assad, should join them in the discussion of the Syrian conflict.  Russia has been an avid supporter of Assad as well but Iran’s presence at a Geneva conference would cause controversy among Syrian rebels and their Gulf Arab supporters.

Syria’s Information Minister, Omran al-Zoubi, claimed that the Assad government is not ready to hand over their power causing many to insist that Assad should not be present at any negotiations.

The United Nations announced that outside aid in the form of food, shelter, medicine, and other basic necessities is in need to at least 40 percent of Syrians, as storages are running low.  “It’s a disaster, and it continues,” said Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

More than 9 million people, including 6.5 million who are internally displaced, are in need of humanitarian assistance.  The war has claimed more than 100,000 lives in the past three months.

The plan to incorporate a government body to replace the Assad regime began in June 2012 with talks of establishing a government with full executive powers agreed to by both sides with implementation of elections.  However, once again, no general agreement has been achieved on how this should be done.

For more information, please see the following:

Aljazeera-No date agreed for Syria peace conference-06 November 2013

USA Today-Syria peace talks postponed in blow to Obama-06 November 2013

Associated Press-UN envoy: No deal on Syrian peace talks date-05 November 2013

Reuters-Arab League backs Syria peace talks, urges opposition to go-04 November 2013

North Korea Claims to Have Captured South Korean Spy

By Brian Lanciault
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PYONGYANG, North Korea–North Korea announced Thursday that a South Korean spy had been arrested while attempting to use “dishonest elements” for a mission to destabilize its government. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) immediately rejected the claim as baseless.

Pyongyang regularly accuses Seoul and Washington of working to sabotage its secretive, authoritarian system, but specific claims that an individual spy has been captured, especially before an investigation is concluded, are unusual. (Photo Courtesy of AP)

Security authorities recently captured an agent of South Korea’s intelligence agency in Pyongyang, according to the North’s state-run media outlet, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

KCNA’s report quoted a spokesman for the Ministry of State Security as saying the spy confessed to coming into Pyongyang illegally through a third country.

“An initial investigation indicates that he was engaged in anti-DPRK (North Korea) espionage and plot-breeding activities in a third country bordering the DPRK for nearly six years, while disguising himself as a religionist,” KCNA reported.

The spy came to Pyongyang to “rally dishonest elements within the boundary of the DPRK and use them for undermining the stability of the social system in the DPRK”, it said.

“This fully proves to what extent the puppet group of conservatives has reached in its anti-DPRK moves,” the report continued.

NIS responded from Seoul almost immediately.

“Such allegations are absurd and totally groundless,” an NIS official said.

North and South Korea have remained technically at war since their 1950-1953 conflict ended in an armistice. Since then, thousands of North Korean spies have been arrested in the South. The North has also sporadically announced the arrests of South Korean citizens on charges of espionage.

The South’s Yonhap news agency speculated that a South Korean citizen might have been detained while doing missionary work in the North.

The North arrested Kenneth Bae, a 45-year-old US citizen, in November and sentenced him to 15 years’ detention in a labor camp on charges of seeking to topple the government.

The court described Bae, also known by his Korean name Pae Jun-Ho, as a militant Christian evangelist who smuggled inflammatory material into the country.

Since the announcement, Northern officials claim to be “intensifying investigations.”

For more information, please see:

Fox News– North Korea says it has arrested South Korean spy in Pyongyang; Seoul rejects claim — 7 November 2013

Bloomberg– North Korea Arrests South Korean Spy in Pyongyang, KCNA Reports — 7 November 2013

Arirang News– N. Korea admits catching S. Korean spy — 7 November 2013

AFP– N. Korea arrests S. Korean spy: state media — 7 November 2013

Sky News– North Korea says it arrested South spy — 7 November 2013

Al-Qaeda-Affiliated Group Claims Responsibility for Murders of Two French Journalists in Mali

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

GAO, Mali – The Al Qaeda-linked militant group, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has claimed responsibility for the deaths of two French journalists, who were murdered in Mali on Saturday.

Dupont and Verlon were abducted and murdered by a subset of Al Qaeda on Saturday. (Photo courtesy of BBC News)

The Mauritanian news agency, Sahara Medias, stated that it received the message in the form of an email. In the email, AQIM claimed it was responsible for the deaths of Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, journalists from Radio France International.

Dupont and Verlon were found dead just outside of Kidal in northern Mali hours after being abducted at gunpoint. Sahara Medias stated the email said the murders had been carried out by a unit led by Abdelkrim al-Targui, a Malian national who has risen to prominence internally in a branch of Al Qaeda that is led by Algerian jihadists. Sahara Medias, often sent statements by Islamic militants in Mali, stated it received the email from fighters loyal to Targui.

“This operation was a response to crimes committed by France against Malians and the work of African and international forces against the Muslims of Azawad,” the email stated.

France had launched a military operation in the ground and air in Mali in January earlier this year, with the objective of reclaiming territory seized by Islamist militants in the northern part of Mali.

The AQIM statement also suggested that the murders were “the minimum debt” owed by the French people and President François Hollande “in return for their new crusade.”

Targui is a native of the Kidal region of Mali and is also believed to be responsible for the previous kidnappings of two French nationals, Philippe Verdon and Serge Lazarevic. Verdon and Lazarevic were abducted from the town of Hombori in northern Mali in 2011. Lazarevic remains in captivity, while Verdon was executed earlier this year.

AQIM grew in the 1990’s out of a movement started by radical Algerian Islamists who sought the overthrow of the Algerian government and to replace it with Islamic rule. The organization joined forces with Al Qaeda in 2006 and has spread itself across the Sahel region abutting the southern Sahara desert.

On Tuesday, France stated that it had sent seven investigators, including intelligence and police officials, to Mali to assist in the search for Dupont and Verlon’s killers. A member of the Malian security forces said that roughly thirty five suspects had been arrested in connection with the murders.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – “Al-Qaeda killed” French Reporters Dupont and Verlon in Mali – 6 November 2013

France 24 – Al-Qaeda-Linked Group Claims Murder of French Journalists – 6 November 2013

New York Times – Killing of French Journalists Reverberates in France and Mali – 6 November 2013

Reuters – France, Malian Forces Hunt Suspects Behind Journalist Killings – 4 November 2013

 

Egypt Court Upholds Ban on Muslim Brotherhood

By Thomas Murphy
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt – On Wednesday, a court in Egypt upheld an earlier ruling that banned the Muslim Brotherhood and ordered their assets confiscated. Muslim Brotherhood lawyer Osama el-Helw announced that they would appeal the ruling and may do so on multiple grounds and in multiple courts.

Mohamed Morsi supporters protest outside of the Cairo Police Academy, where his trial took place on November 4.

The group was originally banned on September 23 as a result of the overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi. In that ruling, the court ordered the Brotherhood’s assets to be seized until the criminal trials of the now removed president and the leaders of the Brotherhood are complete.

The original verdict was viewed as a pretext to move against the Muslim Brotherhood’s assets which include schools, hospitals, charities, and businesses. On October 2, members of the ruling government created a committee to review the assets, but thus far have not moved against them.

The leftist Tagammu party, which filed the case demanding the banning of the group, said the new ruling should give the authorities the green light to move.

“The government must take urgent measures to implement the court ruling … and prove it is serious about implementing the law,” Hani el-Husseini, a Tagammu member, told the official MENA news agency.

El-Helw said the government has already violated due process by forming the committee and allowing it to begin its work while the group had filed for suspension of ruling.

“We will pursue legal means. Let the law be the arbiter,” el-Helw said.

Although an appeal is planned it will not stop the government from moving forward unless it is accepted by another court. Legal experts say it is unlikely that the ruling will be overturned despite the fact that the court may have been improper and failed to provide clear guidelines for monitoring the Brotherhood’s assets.

The Muslim Brotherhood has already begun feeling the effects of the new regime, specifically in a charitable capacity.

Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands, reporting from Cairo, said: “We have been speaking to charities that are affiliated with the organization who say that over the past couple of months, things have gotten very difficult for them indeed, and their donations have all but totally dried up. But now we will see things get even tougher for the Muslim Brotherhood as a financial entity and as a political entity too.”

For further information, please see:

ABC – Egypt Court Upholds Muslim Brotherhood Ban – 6 November 2013

Al Jazeera – Egypt court upholds Muslim Brotherhood ban – 6 November 2013

BBC – Egypt court rejects Muslim Brotherhood ban appeal – 6 October 2013

CNN – Egypt court upholds ban on Muslim Brotherhood activities – 25 October 2013

Ugandan Officers Force Rwandan Refugee to Return to Country he Fled

By: Danielle L. Gwozdz
Impunity Watch News Reporter, Africa

KAMPALA, Uganda – A Rwandan refugee was forcibly returned to Rwanda by Ugandan police after he went missing for six days. The refugee, Joel Mutabazi, is now in police custody in Rwanda in an undisclosed location.

Photo Courtesy of Operation World.

Mutabazi had been living in a “safe house” under Ugandan police protection before going missing.

Uganda’s conduct is a violation of Mutabazi’s refugee status and raises concerns about Mutabazi’s safety in Rwanda.

Mutabazi has survived an abduction in Uganda, as well as an assassination attempt, in which both cases the perpetrators were unknown. The Ugandan police were aware of these incidents and agreed to provide him with 24-hour security protection.

Ugandan authorities say they are investigating the incident and have suspended the Ugandan officer who arrested Mutabazi and erroneously handed him over to Rwandan authorities.

An Ugandan representative for the United Nations refugee agency, Mohammed Adar, said that Mutabazi’s case was not subjected to judicial review before he was handed over to Rwandan authorities.

“We don’t understand how he managed to get out of the country and how he was handed over to the Rwandan government,” he said. “He survived two attempts in the past to take him back to his country . . . We are concerned about his safety.”

Rwandan police are holding Mutabazi in an undisclosed location after he was arrested by Ugandan police and handed over to Rwandan authorities. The Human Rights Watch is concerned he will receive an unfair trial like “other alleged criminal suspects whom the government accused of having links with the opposition.”

Rwandan officials have previously said that Mutabazi, a Rwandan army lieutenant who served President Paul Kagame’s security detail before defecting, was wanted back home over alleged robbery charges. He is accused of robbing a bank in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, more than two years ago.

They also claim Mutabazi is accused of terrorism and was the subject of an international arrest warrant issued by Rwanda. But the Ugandan government statements admits that handing Mutabazi to Rwanda without court proceedings is contrary to “established legal procedure” and the “Police Code of Conduct.”

“The Ugandan police have utterly failed to protect this refugee, who was clearly at serious risk,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director. “It’s unconscionable that they handed him over summarily to the police force of the country whose persecution he fled.”

Human Rights Watch says that Ugandan authorities should immediately put in place effective measures to protect Rwandan refugees and asylum seekers, particularly those whose security is at risk. The Ugandan authorities urgent should complete the investigation they have announced into Mutabazi’s handover to Rwanda and publish its findings without delay.

Further, Human Rights Watch states that Mutabazi should be transferred back to Uganda and subject to a formal extradition procedure in a Ugandan court, including consideration of the human rights implications of the transfer and his refugee status.

Many journalists and former civilian and military officials have fled Rwanda, alleging persecution. In the most prominent case, Gen. Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, a Rwandan army chief who once was a close Kagame ally, defected to South Africa in 2010 and later accused Rwanda’s government of ordering a failed attempt to assassinate him. Rwanda denied the allegations.

For more information, please visit:

Human Rights Watch – Uganda/Rwanda: Forcible Return Raises Grave Concerns – 4 November 2013
allAfrica – Uganda/Rwanda – Forcible Return Raises Grave Concerns – Rwandan Government Should Ensure Returnee’s Safety, Fair Trial – 4 November 2013
Topix – Uganda/Rwanda: Forcible Return Raises Grave Concerns – 4 November 2013
Zimbio – Uganda/Rwanda: Forcible Return Raises Grave Concerns – 4 November 2013
azfamily.com – Rwandan in Uganda sent home despite safety fears – 5 November 2013
abc News – Rwandan in Uganda Sent Home Despite Safety Fears – 5 November 2013
St. Louis Today – Rwandan in Uganda sent home despite safety fears – 5 November 2013
SRN News – Rwandan in Uganda sent home despite safety fears – 5 November 2013