Showing posts with label Clashes. Show all posts
Nigerian troops committing atrocities in fight against Islamic uprising - report
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| Nigerian soldiers on the 101st airbase in Bamako (AFP Photo / Eric Feferberg) |
A Nigerian human rights watchdog released a report that says security forces are killing, torturing, illegally detaining and raping civilians in a fight to halt an Islamic uprising in northeast Nigeria that has killed nearly 2,000 people since 2010.
A Nigerian human rights watchdog released a report that says security forces are killing, torturing, illegally detaining and raping civilians in a fight to halt an Islamic uprising that has killed nearly 2,000 people since 2010.
The report, put out by Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission on Sunday, said troops went on a rampage in the northeast of the country after a soldier was killed in April in the fishing village of Baga. Quoting police sources, the soldiers "started shooting indiscriminately at anybody in sight, including domestic animals.” the report said, as quoted by AP.
The retaliation left the homes of many villagers gutted and torched, with troops attempting to hide evidence of the carnage by disposing of bodies.
"The Commission equally received several credibly attested allegations of gross violations by officials of the JTF (joint task force of police and military), including allegations of summary executions, torture, arbitrary detention amounting to internment and outrages against the dignity of civilians, as well as rape," it said.
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| Members of the Nigerian Defence headquarter team inspecting an alleged Boko Haram base in Kirenowa (AFP Photo) |
Military officials said 36 people were killed, most of them “extremist fighters.” Witnesses told AP at the time that some 187 civilians were killed.The report revealed the killings came after Islamic militants had looted a weapons depot, with subsequent reports suggesting the militants were becoming better armed and "had become both more organized and emboldened by their apparent successes, despite the enhanced security presence."
That contradicted reports that the military had taken control of the region in an emergency operation canvassing thee states, or roughly one-sixth of the country. Instead, it appears government troops have pushed the Islamic insurgents into rocky territory where it is more difficult to locate them. It is from these caves and rugged hideouts that the extremists are attacking towns and villages with regularity.
The government commission issued an interim report saying it would determine when its investigators are able to visit the conflict zone, where soldiers have cut mobile phone and internet connections. Nigeria declared a state of emergency on May 14 when extremists from the Boko Haram terrorist group took control of some towns and villages.
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| The suspected leader of the Nigerian Islamist group linked to Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, Imam Abu Muhammad Ibn Muhammad Abubakar Ash Shekawi, also known as Abubakar Shekau (AFP Photo) |
The uprising poses the biggest threat in years to security in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, with 160 million citizens, and the continent's largest producer of oil.
Village communities trapped between the Islamic militants and security forces "reportedly live in desperate fear and destitution," the commission said.
It warned of an imminent threat to public health, as well as food shortages since many farmers have been driven from their fields.
Northeast Nigeria is the poorest region in the country, with government statistics showing 75 percent of the population lives on less than $1 a day.
US mulls sending military training teams to Lebanon and Iraq
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| US soldiers board the last C17 aircraft carrying US troops out of Iraq at Camp Adder on the outskirts of the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah.(AFP Photo / Martin Bureau) |
US military commanders are examining ways the US could bolster security in Syria’s neighboring countries, and have recommended sending military trainers to Lebanon and Iraq.
Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, on Wednesday revealed US plans to strengthen military assistance in Lebanon and Iraq as the conflict in Syria begins to spill over its borders. Dempsey noted that Iraq is suffering the re-emergence of al-Qaeda. Terrorist fighters, including members of the al Nusra Front, are crossing from Iraq into Syria, he said.
"We've made a recommendation that as we look at the challenges faced by the Lebanese armed forces, the Iraqi security forces with a re-emerging al Qaeda in Iraq, and the Jordanians, that we would work with them to help them build additional capability," Dempsey told reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday.
To strengthen US security assistance in the region, he recommends that the US accelerate arms sales and send military training teams to Lebanon and Iraq. He already asked Gen. Lloyd Austin, the head of the US Central Command, to consider small deployments in upcoming weeks, Dempsey spokesman Col. Edward Thomas told CNN.
Thomas said that “it’s in the realm of the possible” that training teams will be sent back into Iraq – a move that would mark the first significant deployment since the US withdrew its troops in 2011. Dempsey emphasized that the US was not sending combat troops into Lebanon or Iraq, but noted that a Patriot missile battery and about a dozen F-16 fighter jets had already been left in Jordan, bringing the total number of American forces in the country to 1,000.
"Militarily, what we're doing is assisting our partners in the region, the neighbors of Syria, to ensure that they're prepared to account for the potential spillover effects," Dempsey said during Pentagon briefing. "As you know, we've just taken a decision to leave some Patriot missile batteries and some F-16s in Jordan as part of the defense of Jordan. We're working with our Iraqi counterparts, the Lebanese Armed Forces and Turkey through NATO."
Syria’s two-year war has already killed more than 100,000 people, and both Iraq and Lebanon have witnessed an increase in violence as the Syrian conflict has divided supporters of President Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian rebels.
Ali al-Moussawi, the media adviser for Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, on Thursday told AP that Baghdad would be welcome to increased arms sales and US training teams to address instability in the region.
The US has long maintained that its involvement in the conflict would be limited. But if military commanders agree to send trainers to the region, the US would have a more direct role in addressing the violence along the Syrian border.
“When you say would we send the United States Army or the United States military into Lebanon, I'm talking about teams of trainers, and I'm talking about accelerating foreign military sales for equipment for them," Dempsey said, trying to reassure Americans that combat troops would not be deployed. "This is about building their capability, not ours."
Clashes in Kosovo as MPs ratify ‘normalizing ties’ deal with Serbia (PHOTOS)
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| Kosovo Police splashed with paint clash with demonstrators in Pristina on June 27, 2013.(AFP Photo / Armend Nimani) |
Hundreds of ethnic Albanians have been pepper sprayed and around 70 arrested amid clashes with riot police in Kosovo’s Pristina. The violence came as Parliament approved an EU-brokered agreement aimed at normalizing ties with neighboring Serbia.
Demonstrators aimed at preventing lawmakers from entering the Parliament building prior to voting threw cans of pink paint at police. Some 17 officers were wounded in a scuffle in front of the government and parliament buildings in the capital, according to local police.
The protest has been called by Vetevendosje (Self-Determination), an opposition nationalist party which fiercely opposes the implementation of the 15-point pact which was signed in Brussels in mid-April. The party insists the pact will create an autonomous Serb region within Kosovo and would therefore undermine the young country's sovereignty. The movement also fears the deal will cement ethnic partition, which currently exists in Kosovo between the Albanian majority and about 50,000 Serbs who live in the northern town of Mitrovica.
Serbia approved normalizing ties with the breakaway region on April 22. More than two months later, the deal has been passed by Kosovo’s 122-seat assembly with 84 votes in favor.
Kosovo’s prime minister, Hashim Thaci, has admitted that achieving normal relations with Serbia will be difficult and complicated, but insisted he would pursue talks with Belgrade.
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| Kosovo Police splashed with paint clash with demonstrators in Pristina on June 27, 2013.(AFP Photo / Armend Nimani) |
"The independence road is irreversible and the process of normalizing relations between the two independent countries is unavoidable," he told legislators.
On June 17, Serbia and Kosovo exchanged liaison officers – a step which should assist in the implementation of the EU-brokered deal.
The agreement, which was reached during the EU-mediated negotiations between Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and his Kosovo counterpart Hashim Thaci, calls for the merger of the four Serb municipalities in the north - North Mitrovica, Zvecan, Zubin Potok and Leposavic. The urban district would have power over economic development, education, healthcare and town planning. Under the deal, Serbs in northern Kosovo will have their own police and appeals court.
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| Kosovo Police splashed with paint clash with demonstrators in Pristina on June 27, 2013.(AFP Photo / Armend Nimani) |
The agreement is widely regarded as a step toward Serbia’s entry into the European Union. Both Belgrade and Pristina have agreed not to block each other's efforts to seek EU membership. So far, Kosovo has been Serbia’s main obstacle to joining the bloc
Kosovo declared independence in 2008 and is now officially recognized by 100 nations - including the United States and 22 of the EU's 27 members.
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| Kosovo Police detain a demonstrator following clashes in Pristina on June 27, 2013.(AFP Photo / Armend Nimani) |
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| Kosovo Police splashed with paint clash with demonstrators in Pristina on June 27, 2013.(AFP Photo / Armend Nimani) |
