Timbuktu Desecrated by Radical Islamists

By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

BAMAKO, Mali – Considered one of the centers from which Islam spread through Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries, Timbuktu may be counting its last days of existence as armed men raze the fabled city.

 

Radical Islamists tearing down a shrine in Timbuktu. (Photo Courtesy of AFP)

The attack came from radical Islamists from the Al- Qaeda linked Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith). The campaign began after UNESCO declared the site an endangered World Heritage Site. Carrying chisels and hoes, the attackers smashed four more tombs of Muslim saints in the face of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) warning that the destruction of sites such as Timbuktu constituted a war crime.

On Saturday the group destroyed the tombs of Sidi Mahmoud, Sidi Moctar and Alpha Moya, and on Sunday attacked four more including Cheikh el-Kebir’s mausoleum.

Yaya Tandina, a local journalist said that about 30 men, armed with Kalashnikovs and pickaxes destroyed three mausoleums of saints.

Witnesses say that the group targeted the 15th-century Sidi Yahya mosque on Monday, tearing off the entrance door.  The door is considered sacred and was to remain closed until the end of the world.

Ansar Dine says the shrines are idolatrous and have threatened to destroy any mosques housing the remains of the ancient saints.

When asked about the outpouring of anger and emotion over the destruction of the mausolea, Ansar Dine spokesman Sanda Ould Boumama said, “It is Islam which is good,”.”God is unique. All of this is haram (forbidden in Islam). We are all Muslims. UNESCO is what?” Boumama said.

He said the group was acting in the name of God and would “destroy every mausoleum in the city. All of them, without exception”.

The Islamist fighters from Ansar Dine are among the Al-Qaeda linked armed groups which occupied the north of Mali in the chaos that emerged after the March coup in Bamako.

On Sunday, International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda warned the perpetrators that destruction of such sites constituted a war crime.

“My message to those involved in these criminal acts is clear: stop the destruction of the religious buildings now,” the ICC Prosecutor told AFP.

Bensouda said that Mali was signatory to the Rome Statute which established the ICC. Article 8 of the statute states that deliberate attacks against undefended civilian buildings which are not military objectives constitute a war crime.

“This includes attacks against historical monuments as well as destruction of buildings dedicated to religion,” said Bensouda.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon deplored the destruction of tombs, with his spokesman Martin Nesirky quoting him as saying: “Such attacks against cultural heritage sites are totally unjustified.”

Nesirky added: “The Secretary-General calls on all parties to exercise their responsibility to preserve the cultural heritage of Mali.”

Ban also reiterated his support for ongoing efforts of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union and countries in the region to “help the government and people of Mali resolve the current crisis through dialogue.”

 

For further information, please see:

The Australian – Destruction of Mali Tombs a War Crime – 3 July 2012

Al Jazeera – ICC Threatens Mali Islamists with War Crimes – 2 July 2012

All Africa – Liberia: Is Setting Up a War Crimes Court in Liberia Timely?  – 2 July 2012

Voice of America – Mali Says Rebel Tomb Desecration a War Crime – 2 July 2012

The Telegraph – Timbuktu Shrine Destruction ‘a war crime’ – 2 July 2012

Capital FM News – Timbuktu Shrine Destruction a ‘war crime’: ICC – 2 July 2012

Channel News Asia – Timbuktu Shrine Destruction a ‘war crime’: ICC Prosecutor – 2 July 2012

 

Syrian Revolution Digest Monday 2 July 2012

THE COMMENTARY IN THIS PIECE DOES NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF IMPUNITY WATCH.  

*WARNING VIDEOS MAY CONTAIN GRAPHIC IMAGES*

Putin’s Gambit!

Can anyone of those who attended the Geneva Conference explain to pro-democracy protesters in Syria how will their proposed plan end the massacres, the ethnic cleansing and the ongoing partition of the country? I have read the full text of their final communiqué and I still can’t understand how they plan to accomplish this.

Monday July 02, 2012

Today’s Death toll: 114. The Breakdown: 32 in Damascus (30 in the Suburbs and 2 in the City), 27 in Hama, 20 in Homs, 13 in Deir Ezzor, 6 in Idlib, 4 in Aleppo, 4 in Daraa and 1 in Lattakia.

In a new provocation of Turkish authorities, pro-Assad militias shell the refugee camp ofKilis right across the border http://youtu.be/Fk3w1RT6zgY

News

Recent weeks have seen an escalation in the number of Syrian troops fleeing the country. The troops flee as the international community has failed to decide on a unified response to the crisis in Syria.

Op-Eds & Special Reports

Mounting Pressure on the Syrian Army Unless the army finds a way to relieve growing pressure on its capabilities and cohesion, it will likely collapse, sweeping away much of the regime in the process.

“A combination of military operations by the local resistance with aerial cover from the U.S. and allies will shortly provide a separation of forces between the few real areas that are still loyal to the regime and the majority of the country which has joined the revolution. It’s at this stage that talks over transition can truly begin.”

Putin’s Gambit

I agree that Russia’s position on Syria is not about Syria. But it’s not simply about the question of who makes the call on international issues either. Russians have their own doublespeak as well, and we just have to find ways to decipher it which the Russians themselves often provide. In my conversations with Russian policy experts back in late May, mention of Saudi Arabia was as frequent as that of Syria and the U.S. The bottom line was: “what can you (the opposition) and the Saudis can offer us to help us change our position?” Some did indeed put it as bluntly as this, so I didn’t really have to struggle to piece things together.

Putin views developments in Syria as a new front for the struggle between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and he believes that Saudi is the main sponsor of the Syrian opposition. If Saudi wants to prevail on this front Russia would like to help for a price.

And the price is not a port along the Syrian coast, Russia already has that and has no plans to give it up, nor do they see that a need for such a move could seriously arise. The opposition, in their view, will never be able to control the coastal areas and force such a development.

And the price is not a multi-billion dollar arms deal with Saudi, albeit they wouldn’t mind that. But that is not as urgent a need as this stage as that other thing that Putin really needs: driving oil prices up! Current oil prices coupled with chronic mismanagement and corruption in Russian circles will soon translate into an economic nightmare for Russia where the elite has until recently lived in the same kind of cocoon that the Ben Alis, the Mubaraks, the Salehs, the Gaddafis and the Assads have been living in: they thought they were invincible. Then came the Arab Re-Awakening, and Putin and his crowd saw in that, rightly, a clear warning sign.

In order to avoid what happened to Arab regimes, Russian officials knew they had little time to tackle some very knotty economic and developmental problems in record time. But for that, they need cash, and plenty of it, and for this they need higher oil prices which constitute the quickest possible fix to their problems.

But Saudi cannot deliver on that without American approval, and Obama cannot give his approval on something like this during elections season, and so long as the economic situation in the U.S. and the E.U. remains as problematic as it is today. Higher oil prices might good for Russia among few other countries, not to mention oil companies, but, at this stage, they are bad for the world.

So, Russia cannot have what it wants at this stage, and that means that Russia cannot be part of the solution in Syria.

Video Highlights

This leaked video shows how pro-Assad troops are pounding the Damascene Suburb ofDaraya from a square in the Midan District http://youtu.be/iFFupmLA-Yo The pounding leaves many dead http://youtu.be/hLJ0PNFgOg0 , http://youtu.be/ZKtlea7ssAE

Pro-Assad militias transform the Damascene Suburb of Douma into another ghost townhttp://youtu.be/M9Jic0FnRbw Local activists retrieve the bodies of people who seem to have been executed in their homes by pro-Assad militias http://youtu.be/7ARu2nj4wIQ ,http://youtu.be/U3v7OWbOePM , http://youtu.be/K9GeK_MSE6k , http://youtu.be/-T9Li1XWVuE , http://youtu.be/QcA9HSpKmKk A body that lies unclaimed in the stairwellhttp://youtu.be/E9IzcCPxKJw

The pounding of Deir Ezzor City in the northeastern parts of the country continueshttp://youtu.be/nbAAS8ZTOHI A mortar round lands on a passing car disintegrating the inhabitants http://youtu.be/se4QIRNjd3A Homes catch fire http://youtu.be/BrHFXxp7qGAThe impact of pounding http://youtu.be/NGPZCqQE_Tc

Lattakia: fires started by pro-regime militias continue to rage in Al-Akrad Mountainsdriving locals out finishing the job of ethnic cleansing http://youtu.be/9lNYs-_pBCs

The pounding of Talbisseh, Homs Province, continues http://youtu.be/VLe1jdOEEtc So does the pounding of Rastan http://youtu.be/fp1KqcUrnks ,http://youtu.be/mF3JJINpUqo

The pounding of Naeemah, Daraa Province, continues http://youtu.be/fQtwkbMza20 ,http://youtu.be/bxj1Ik4J5wA

Indian Police Kills Alleged Maoist Rebels in Chhattisgarh

By Jenna Furman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NEW DELHI, India—Last Thursday the Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) killed twenty alleged Maoist rebels in the central state of Chhattisgarh.

Members of the Central Reserve Police Force being briefed at a base in Chhattisgarh. (Photo Courtesy of NY Times)

Nineteen of the rebels died at the scene of the clash, another died shortly thereafter at a nearby hospital. Six of the paramilitary police officers were wounded in the attack.

The CRPF and the State police were undergoing a counter-insurgency operation late June 29 in dense forests located in the Maoist-dominated Bijapur district. The joint governmental forces planned to intercept a Maoist company at Silger in the Sukma district but encountered alleged Maoist rebels a mere three kilometers from their camp.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the Maoist rebels as the biggest internal security challenge facing India.

Maoist rebels are active in more than a third of India’s districts. They have been mobilizing throughout India in an attempt to form a people’s government. The Maoist insurgents fight for the rights of India’s poor peasants and laborers.

In the past two years, 1611 people have died in thousands of incidents alleged to be part of the Maoist rebellion in India.

Following the June 29 encounter, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram praised the combined State and CRPF forces for their courage and skill in addressing the insurgency.

The Indian police stated that a large number of arms and ammunition were recovered from the area where the fire-fight began, some of which were the homemade variety of Maoist rebels. They also stated that the wounding of six of their officers provides proof enough that the encounter was not “fake” as the Opposition Congress declared three days following the incident.

Local tribal villagers have protested the police’s claim that Maoist insurgents were the victims of police fire but state that those killed were innocent villagers. Activists are calling the incident a “cold-blooded murder” of tribal villagers including women and children.

Former Delhi high court Chief Justice Sachar and other activists demanded a judicial inquiry into the alleged fire-fight between the police and Maoist rebels. Activists state that a delegation with President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will soon take place.

Their sentiment is echoed by Indians who have lost faith in India’s police system – a system where imagination substitutes for information, according to one police officer.

The chief of Central Reserve Police Force, K. Vijay Kumar stated, “We identified the Maoist and conveyed to the media on the same day. We have used extreme restraint.” When asked about the death of a teenage girl in the skirmish between police and alleged rebels, Kumar responded, “A bullet is gender blind, a bullet is age blind.”

A magisterial inquiry into the sequence of events surrounding the killings has been ordered.

For further information, please see:

The Hindu – Chhattisgarh Congress Contradicts Chidambaram on Bijapur Encounter – 2 July 201

NY Times – Controversy Grows in India Over Police Killing of Alleged Maoists – 2 July 2012

The Times of India – Chhattisgarh Maoist Encounter: Activists call it cold-blooded murder, CRPF denies allegations – 2 July 2012

BBC News – India Police Kill ’17 Maoists’ in Chhattisgarh – 29 June 2012

 

U.N., House Panel Approve Plan to Hunt Joseph Kony

By Tara Pistorese
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KAMPALA, Uganda—The United Nations (UN) and the U.S. Foreign Affairs Committee have endorsed plans to propel the hunt for Joseph Kony and neutralize the Ugandan rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

An LRA Child Soldier. (Photo Courtesy of Togo Security Council)

For twenty-six years, northern Uganda was victimized by atrocities at the hand of Kony and his army. After years of massacres, mutilations, and child abductions, resulting in female children becoming sex slaves and males becoming child soldiers, the United States designated the LRA a terrorist organization in 2001. Kony is currently wanted by the International Criminal Court for these human rights violations.

After 2004, most of the LRA combatants were driven out of Uganda; however, remnants of the guerilla group continued to attack Ugandan citizens and neighboring countries, including the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In March, Invisible Children, a human rights group based in San Diego, California, released “Kony 2012,” an Internet video bringing Kony and the LRA brutalities into the public eye. The organization received credit from diplomats and activists, such as Human Rights Watch, for keeping pressure on the initiative to find and prosecute Kony.

Francisco Madeira, a representative of the African Union (AU), praised Invisible Children, saying the organization “has been able to make the world know there is a tyrant in Africa who is maiming, raping, and destroying the lives of young, young Africans.”

Although one senior LRA commander was recently captured, Kony’s forces remain extremely dangerous and capable of inflicting considerable damage and suffering on the civil population, according to Abou Moussa, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of United Nations Regional Office for Central America (UNOCA).

The recently approved UN Security Council plan focuses on five key strategic objectives, including, but not limited to: promoting further protection of civilians; expanding current disarmament, demobilization, expatriation, resettlement, and reintegration activities; and, coordinating a humanitarian and child protection response in the affected areas. The UN plan also aims to implement 5,000 AU soldiers in the impacted areas by next year.

Similarly, the United States House Panel approved legislation last week expanding State Department awards for the justice program, which targets the world’s most serious human rights abusers.

Currently, locating Kony, one of the program’s highest priority targets, warrants a reward of anywhere between $1-25 million. The newly approved program and legislation received bipartisan support.

But some question the delayed international response. “On the one side, we are so grateful there is this new regional program,” said Jan Egeland, deputy executive director of Human Rights Watch. “On the other side, we are now in the 26th year of the problem.”

 

For further information, please see:

Boston Herald—Staying Focused on the Hunt for Kony—1 July 2012

All Africa—Central Africa: Security Council Endorses UN Regional Strategy to Combat LRA Threat—29 June 2012

The Sacramento Bee—U.N. Endorses AU Force to Hunt Kony—29 June 2012

The Philadelphia Inquirer—Lawmakers Back Funding of Human-Rights Rewards—28 June 2012

General Bachelet’s Death Confirmed as Aggravated by Torture

By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

SANTIAGO, Chile—On June 21, 2012, investigations confirmed that General Alberto Bachelet’s fatal heart-attack was induced by torture while he was held in captivity.

General Bachelet's Cause of Death Confirmed as Aggravated by Torture. (Photo Courtesy of Merco Press)

In 1973, Bachelet was charged with treason after showing support for the socialist President Salvador Allende in opposition to the military coup led by the late Augusto Pinochet. Bachelet died in captivity. Investigations as to the cause of his death were reopened by the Santiago Court of Appeals last year in 2011, along with another 700 cases of human rights violations under Pinochet’s regime and dictatorship.

Bachelet joined the Chilean army in 1940. He served as Brigaidier General in the Chilean Air Force and also served as a Secretary for President Allende’s government. Bachelet strongly opposed Pinochet’s military coup in 1973. Because of this, he was held captive at the Air Force’s War Academy along with many of his colleagues, where they were interrogated and tortured. Bachelet’s wife, Angela Jeria, and his daughter Michelle, did not escape Pinochet’s regime. They too were tortured and held in captivity until they were able to escape to Australia where they lived with relatives.

During the investigation, a forensic study was conducted by Judge Carroza, who was assigned to study and review the complaint brought by Bachelet’s relatives alleging that he had been tortured to death. The study convinced Carroza that “all the interrogations to which General Bachelet was submitted damaged his heart and was the likely cause of death.” Judge Carroza has also been assigned to investigating the death of former President Allende himself. While a team of international experts concluded that Allende committed suicide, many of his supporters suspect that he was killed by military soldiers.

Deputy Guillermo Tellier of Chile’s Communist Party (PC), who was also detained and tortured alongside Bachelet stated that, “The information submitted by Minister Carroza on the death of the father of former President Bachelet, apart from being painful for the family, is also painful for our entire society, which must relive these atrocities every time the justice system is able to establish the truth about the fate of our countrymen.”

In the General Cemetery, in Chile’s capitol city of Santiago, stands a memorial to honor more than 3,000 people who disappeared or were executed under Pinochet’s dictatorship. It is here that Alberto Bachelet is buried and his name appears on the monument along with thousands of other Chilean victims.

 

For further information, please see:

I Love Chile – Investigations Confirm Bachelet’s Father Died of Torture – 21 June 2012

Merco Press – Father of Former President Bachelet Was Tortured to Death by Pinochet Dictatorship – 21 June 2012

The Santiago Times – Bachelet’s Father Confirmed Among Chileans Tortured Under Pinochet – 21 June 2012

BBC News – Chile to Probe General Bachelet’s Death Under Pinochet – 25 August 2011