Responding to sweeping US sanctions imposed on dozens of people and entities tied to China, Myanmar, North Korea and Bangladesh; China's Foreign Minister, Wang Wenbin, urged America to "immediately withdraw the relevant wrong decision and stop interfering in China’s internal affairs".

“If the US acts recklessly, China will take effective measures to strike back resolutely,” Wang told reporters on Monday.

The US sanctions follow the conclusion of the Biden administration's "Summit for Democracy" and come alongside the first new sanctions on North Korea under Biden's presidency and targetted sanctions on Myanmar's military. Both Canada and the UK have joined the US in imposing sanctions related to human rights abuses in Myanmar. The sanctions were announced on international Human Rights Day.

Defending genocide

Wang's statement stressed China's sovereignty and territorial integrity whilst also defending China's draconian treatment of the Uighur Muslim population in the autonomous region of Xinjiang.

Wang claimed that China was determined "to combat violence, terrorism, separatism, and religious extremist forces".

“The perverse actions of the United States cannot destroy the overall shape of Xinjiang’s development, stop China’s progress, or reverse the trend of historical development” he added.

The statement comes as an independent UK-based tribunal has decried China's treatment of the Uighurs as an act of genocide. China has detained over a million Uighurs in "reeducation camps" where many have been subject to torture and forced sterilisation to reduce the group's population.
Commenting on the tribunal's findings, Sir Geoffrey Nice QC highlighted that China's "vast apparatus of state repression could not exist if a plan was not authorised at the highest levels”.

Read more here

Gen Bipin Rawat, the Indian Chief of Defence Staff, died in a helicopter crash that took place in Coonoor, Tamil Nadu, along with his wife and eleven others who were travelling in the chopper. 

The Indian Air Force (IAF) confirmed the deaths and said it was a “tragic accident” in a Twitter post. An investigation into the cause of the accident has been launched. 

Chief Minister M.K. Stalin immediately made a visit to Coonoor from Chennai and made inquiries regarding the incident with the army and police. 

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???????? ??????? ??????? ??????????? ???? ????????? ??????????! pic.twitter.com/zIC1qIGqby

— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) December 8, 2021

The Mi-17V5 chopper crashed at a location that was ten kilometres away from the helipad where it was supposed to land. 

One soldier, Captain Varun Singh, survived the accident and is currently receiving treatment at a military hospital. 

Gen Bipin Rawat was an outstanding soldier. A true patriot, he greatly contributed to modernising our armed forces and security apparatus. His insights and perspectives on strategic matters were exceptional. His passing away has saddened me deeply. Om Shanti. pic.twitter.com/YOuQvFT7Et

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 8, 2021

Condolences to Gen Rawat began to pour in as soon as his passing was confirmed. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Rawat was an “outstanding soldier” in a tweet. 

Pakistan Army Chief of Staff Qamer Javed Bajwa also expressed his condolences on the death of his Indian counterpart. 

General Nadeem Raza, CJCSC & General Qamar Javed Bajwa, COAS express condolences on tragic death of #CDS General #BipinRawat, his wife and loss of precious lives in a helicopter crash in India

— DG ISPR (@OfficialDGISPR) December 8, 2021

Representatives to India from Russia, Singapore and Japan also conveyed their grief through official means. 

Gen Rawat was the first Chief of Defence Staff in India, a position which was created in 2019 that unified the leadership of the army, navy and the airforce. 

He was considered to be a close confidant of PM Modi and was in control of major operations in Indian-administered Kashmir whose provisions for autonomy was struck down in 2019. 

On Wednesday Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, announced that Australia would join the US in its diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics in February 2022, over concerns of the genocidal treatment of Uighur Muslims.

The announcement comes as China continues to face criticism over their detention of over one million Uighurs in “re-education camps”. Detainees have reported being tortured, sexually abused, and forcibly sterilised whilst in detention. Human rights campaigners have charged the Chinese government with genocide against the Uighur population.
Akin to the US, whilst Australian officials and politicians will not attend the games, Australian athletes will compete in them.

New Zealand has also revealed that they will not be sending diplomats but the country's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern claimed that they never had any intention of doing so.

Growing tensions between Australia and China

In explaining his decision Morrison pointed to China's trade sanctions against Australia and refusal to return phone calls from Australian ministers. 

China initial imposed these sanctions in response to Australia's criticism of China's human rights record and its clampdown on Hong Kong. The sanctions see barriers against Australian exports including wine, beef, seafood, barley and timber.

“[We are] very happy to talk to the Chinese government about these issues and there’s been no obstacle to that occurring on our side, but the Chinese government has consistently not accepted those opportunities for us to meet about these issues,” Morrison stated.

New Zealand's position

The Times notes that on Wednesday, New Zealand Prime Minister Ardern and President Xi of China had "an hour-long amicable telephone conversation last month".

Reporting this news Wang Genhua, China’s chargé d’affaires in Wellington, initially reported that the Prime Minister had expressed support for the Winter Olympics. However, Arden's office later added that the Prime Minister had expressed concern over the human rights situation for the Uighur people in Xinjiang and the situation in Hong Kong.

The Times further highlights that "New Zealand is the only member country of the Five Eyes intelligence network — which also includes the US, Canada, Australia and the UK — to sign the Olympic Truce, a tradition that dates back to Ancient Greece to ensure that conflicts do not disrupt the competition".

Read more here.

French police announced on Monday that they had arrested a suspect in the murder and dismemberment of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi and former member of the Saudi royal guard, Khalid Alotaibi.

Alotaibi was detained as he prepared to board a flight for Riyadh at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. He is alleged to be part of a 16-member team involved in Khashoggi's execution and is the first alleged member to have been arrested. French officials have noted that Alotaibi was travelling under his own name but could not explain how he managed to enter France undetected.

Turkish officials have reported that Khashoggi, a fierce critic of the Saudi regime, was suffocated and dismembered by a saw in Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul before his body was burnt in an oven. The Times notes that a trial of the suspected murderers is being held in their absence in Turkey with defendants being accused of "premeditated murder with the intent of [causing] torment through fiendish instincts”.

Hatice Cengiz, Khashoggi’s fiancée, welcomed the arrest telling reporters:

“France should try him for his crime or extradite him to a country able and willing to genuinely investigate and prosecute him as well as the person who gave the order to murder Jamal.”

Saudi officials allege that this is a case of mistaken identity and assert that they had already convicted the murders of Khashoggi. Saudi Arabia has arrested 8 men and sentenced them for 7-20 years in jail for their alleged involvement in the execution of Khashoggi. Authorities named further individuals however they have not been charged, this includes Alotaibi.

Agnès Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, decried the trial as a “parody of justice” which was “neither fair nor just, nor transparent”.

Read more here.
 

Photo Credit: Stop Killer Robots

Following calls from the government of New Zealand for the adoption of international laws to prohibit and limit autonomous weapons systems, the United States has opposed such regulations.

Speaking at a meeting in Geneva, US official Josh Dorosin maintained that America saw "the best way to make progress ... would be through the development of a non-binding code of conduct”.

Autonomous weapons systems would enable military equipment which could deploy lethal force without a human overseeing the process. A report by Human Rights Watch and Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic describes such weaponry as "grave threats" and warns that it presents "the prospect of losing meaningful human control over the use of force”.

The report emphasises the need for "meaningful human control over the use of force" and calls for a "prohibition on the development, production, and use of weapons systems that by their nature select and engage targets without meaningful human control".

Statements of support

New Zealand's Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control, Phil Twyford, has spoken out against such systems describing them as “abhorrent and inconsistent with New Zealand’s interests and values.”

His statements have been supported by UN chief, António Guterres, who in November 2018 called for a ban but as of yet no countries have agreed on the need for regulations. The US and India have been particularly critical of the idea and voiced their opposition in a debate on Thursday.

Clare Conboy of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots maintained that:

“States have a historic opportunity to ensure meaningful human control over the use of force and prevent a world in which machines make life and death decisions”.

Her statements have been supported by former British Foreign Minister, William Hague, who in an op-ed for the Times, called upon the British government to"join in the search for such solutions".

Pathways forwards

Human Rights Watch has criticised the pursuing discussions through the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) noting "eight years of inconclusive talks". Instead, they have called for the negotiation and adoption of a "new international treaty through a stand-alone process, as was the case for the treaties banning antipersonnel landmines and cluster munitions".

Another suggestion presented by the organisation is to go through the United Nations General Assembly, where the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was negotiated.

Read more here

On Monday India Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a $5.4 billion dollar missile defence system sale to India despite warnings from the United States of sanctions.

The sale of Russia's S-400 missile defence system was also accompanied by a $600 million deal to manufacture hundreds of thousands of Russia's AK-203 rifles in Uttar Pradesh. These rifles will replace the older Kalashnikov-style rifles currently used by Indian troops. Both Modi and Putin further agreed to extend cooperation between their countries on military technology over the next decade and triple bilateral trade to $30bn by 2025.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III meets with Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval - 2019

Photo Credit: US Secretary of Defence

This agreement comes despite warnings from US Defence Secretary, Lloyd Austin, in March that the sale of Russia's equipment could trigger US sanctions.

“We certainly urge all our allies and partners to move away from Russian equipment … and really avoid any kind of acquisitions that would trigger sanctions on our behalf,” Austin told reporters.

In December 2020, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Turkey for acquiring the same system three years after its purchase. This was despite Turkey being a NATO member and served as a warning to countries such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia who are considering purchasing equipment from Russia. The sanctions were carried through the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

Growing security concerns

The agreement follows the fall of Kabul to the Taliban which has heightened security concerns in Delhi. Last year also saw deadly border skirmishes in the Himalayan region in 20 Indian soldiers and 43 Chinese soldiers were killed in melee combat.

A joint statement from the Indian and Russian premiers, following their meeting, stressed their concern that

"Afghanistan’s territory should not be used for sheltering, training, planning or financing any terrorist groups".

Modi further reaffirmed Indo-Russia relations during the meeting stating:

“New geopolitical angles have emerged. Amidst all such variables, Indo-Russian friendship has been constant.”

India has long relied on Russia for military equipment over the decades with approximately half of its arms supplies coming from Russia.

This comes despite growing anxiety in the US over growing Russian aggression with the build of forces near the border of Ukraine. Last week, US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, reaffirmed US commitment to Ukraine's security and warned that Russia would face severe consequences if it took aggressive action. 

A cheaper alternative

In explaining the decision to opt for Russian arms, Nandan Unnikrishnan an expert on India-Russian relations for the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation, noted that "while American or Israeli equipment is state of the art, the money it requires is three times more".

The S-400 surface to air missiles costs approximately half the US Patriot system. Indian military officials have come to describe the system as "a booster dose" for the country's military. 

Unnikrishnan further notes that India is unlikely to face severe repercussions from the US as he states:

“The U.S. is sophisticated enough to understand that they should not be harming their own potential allies in a bigger picture struggle they have.”

A US failing?

Kenneth I. Juster, a former US envoy to India, has argued that this arrangement also stems from a failure of the Obama administration to meet the needs of India's military.

Discussions over the S-400 go back to 2012 when India was in similar discussions with the US but the Obama administration were "reluctant to provide advanced missile defence systems to India" Juster writes.

By late 2018 the US offered the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense to counter Russia's equipment, however; "from the Indian perspective, however, the U.S. equipment does not have the same needed". 

Juster argues against the threat of US sanctions for India writing:

“The U.S.-Indian partnership is now critical to promoting a free, open, and stable Indo-Pacific region [...] It [The US] should recognize that the continued threat of CAATSA sanctions against India is counterproductive in terms of the bilateral partnership as well as the broader U.S. strategy in the Indo-Pacific".

Read more here.

Speaking at the White House press briefing, US Press Secretary, Jen Psaki, announced that “the Biden administration would not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic games given the PRC’s ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses”.

The announcement comes as China continues to face criticism over their detention of over one million Uighurs in “re-education camps”. Detainees have reported being tortured, sexually abused, and forcibly sterilised whilst in detention.

US diplomatic or official representation “would treat these games as business as usual in the face of the PRC’s egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang” Psaki added. She did note that US athletes would continue their participation in the games.

She further highlighted US President Biden’s remarks to Chinese Premier Xi that “standing up for the human rights is in the DNA of Americans”.

China has lashed out at the US describing the boycott as a “pretentious act” and a “political manipulation” which would have no impact on the Games”.

They further claimed that “no invitation has been extended to US politicians whatsoever, so this ‘diplomatic boycott’ simply comes out of nowhere”.

The US is reportedly encouraging its allies to also boycott diplomatic representation at the games. Australia is claimed to be likely to follow suit.

Read more here.

The north district court in San Francisco has received a class action complaint, on behalf of estimated 10,000 Rohingya Muslims, against the social media giant Facebook for enabling and fomenting genocidal violence in Myanmar.

In 2018 Facebook admitted that it had not done enough to prevent the incitement of violence and hate speech against the Rohingya; following a brutal military campaign in the Rakhine state which saw over 10,000 Rohingya killed. There are an estimated million Rohingya who continued to be displaced and living in the Cox’s Bazar refugee camp, in south-eastern Bangladesh.

“Despite Facebook’s recognition of its culpability and its pronouncements about its role in the world, there has not been a single penny of compensation, nor any other form of reparations or support, offered to any survivor", a letter written by the lawyers representing this case noted.

The letter further slammed the company noting that Facebook was “willing to trade the lives of the Rohingya people for better market penetration in a small country in south-east Asia.”

“In the end, there was so little for Facebook to gain from its continued presence in Burma, and the consequences for the Rohingya people could not have been more dire. Yet, in the face of this knowledge, and possessing the tools to stop it, it simply kept marching forward” it added.

An independent commission investigating Facebook had found that the platform had "become a means for those seeking to spread hate and cause harm, and posts have been linked to offline violence”. In the Rohingya case, it was evidenced that the "campaign was fomented by extensive material published on and amplified by the Facebook platform,”

The complaint further details some of these posts which including one in 2013 stating:

“We must fight them the way Hitler did the Jews, damn Kalars [a derogatory term for Rohingya people].”

Another post in 2018 showed a photo of a boatload of Rohingya refugees and stated:

“Pour fuel and set fire so that they can meet Allah faster.”

Frances Haugen, a Facebook whistleblower, has accused the platform of fanning ethnic violence in countries such as Ethiopia and that efforts to curb this was ineffective. 87% of the spending on combatting misinformation, she noted, was spent on English content while only 9% of users are English speakers. Facebook has also faced criticism for acting with governments to censor minorities.

The US case is acting on behalf of an estimated 10,000 Rohingya in the country whilst a similar UK case has about 20 claimants.

Read more here and here.

Myanmar’s military-ruled court has halved their sentence of deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi, from four to two years, as international criticism continues to mount.

This follows the court’s initial guilty ruling on Monday of inciting dissent and breaking COVID-19 rules. These are the first in a series of charges which are to be levied against the ousted leader; others include corruption, election fraud, and illegally importing and possessing walkie talkies. The court had ruled that she be jailed for four years before lowering the sentence to two. Ousted President Win Myint was also sentenced to four years.

Amnesty International’s Ming Yu Hah decried the ruling as being based on “bogus charges” and being “the latest example of the military’s determination to eliminate all opposition and suffocate freedoms in Myanmar”.

She further urged for the international community to step up their efforts to “protect civilians and hold perpetrators of grave violations to account, and ensure humanitarian and health assistance is granted as a matter of utmost urgency”.

Since the military coup in February, Myanmar’s military has killed 1,2000 people and arrested 7,5000. Those detained have been subject to police brutality, torture, and rape which remain widespread and systemic issues.

Human Rights Watch has urged for the courts to quash the charges against her and to “release of everyone arbitrarily detained”.

Charles Santiago, Chair of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights also decried the court’s ruling as a “travesty of justice”.

Since the day of the coup, it’s been clear that the charges against Aung San Suu Kyi, and the dozens of other detained MPs, have been nothing more than an excuse by the junta to justify their illegal power grab.

World leaders have also condemned the actions of Myanmar’s military with British Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss slamming the ruling as an attempt to “stifle opposition and suppress freedom and democracy”.

Read more here and here

Responding to the reported executions of over 100 former Afghan security officials by the Taliban, the US, EU and 20 other countries have released a joint statement condemning the killings.

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) report notes that whilst the Taliban had agreed to provide amnesty to surrounding security forces; they had used screening "to detain and summarily execute or forcibly disappear individuals within days of their registration, leaving their bodies for their relatives or communities to find". Their report notes that over 100 former members of the Afghan security forces have been killed or forcibly disappeared in the provinces of Ghazni, Helmand, Kunduz and Kandahar provinces.

The joint statement called on the Taliban "to effectively enforce the amnesty for former members of the Afghan security forces and former Government officials to ensure that it is upheld across the country and throughout their ranks". These countries further urged for prompt and transparent investigations into the reported killings. 

Among the listed countries are Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and Ukraine.

Whilst the Taliban had announced commissions that would inquire into human rights abuses, corruption, theft and other crimes, no investigations have been inquiring into these killings. 

“The Taliban’s unsupported claims that they will act to prevent abuses and hold abusers to account appears, so far, to be nothing more than a public relations stunt,” it said.

Thus far, no country has officially recognised the Taliban government yet and billions of dollars in Afghan assets and funds abroad have been frozen.

Read the full joint statement here.

Following a meeting with Ukraine's Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken reaffirmed American support for the "territorial integrity of Ukraine" and warned Russia that it would be held responsible for any aggressive actions it takes towards Ukraine.

Blinken has further threatened this week that the US respond to “Russian aggression against Ukraine” with “high-impact economic measures that we’ve refrained from taking in the past”.

The announcement comes as US intelligence has revealed potential Russian invasion plans for early next year. The unclassified intelligence includes satellite images showing a buildup of Russian forces and equipment near Ukraine's eastern border and details 100 battalion groups, made up of 175,000 troops which may be used in an invasion of Ukraine.

Commenting on this intelligence, US General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, maintained that "there’s enough out there now to cause a lot of concern".

A spokesperson for the US National Security Council however maintained on Friday that the US did not seek conflict with Russia and believed that diplomacy was the way forwards.

The US has grown increasingly alarmed by Russian aggression towards Ukraine and its support for pro-Moscow separatists. In 2014 Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula. 

Read more here.

On Tuesday US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, revoked the designation of the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC) rebel group as a "foreign terrorist organisation" but proscribed two splinter organisations of FARC, "FARC-EP and Segunda Marquetalia".

The decision follows a resurgence of violence in the rural regions of Colombia where FARC had previously held control. The International Crisis Group has pointed towards the dire economic conditions that are pervasive in Columbia to explain this uptake in arms however Columbia's army has accused the Venezuelan regime of arming and providing a safe haven to militants.

In explaining the decision a statement from the State Department maintained that FARC "no longer exists as a unified organization that engages in terrorism or terrorist activity or has the capability or intent to do so". It maintained however that decision "does not change the posture with regards to any charges or potential charges in the United States against former leaders of the FARC". The statement further adds that the designation of FARC-EP and Segunda Marquetalia is "directed at those who refused to demobilize and those who are engaged in terrorist activity".

On Twitter Blinken stated:

Today’s revocation of FARC’s terrorist designations is a credit to the 2016 Peace Accord with the Colombian government. Our new designations of two new terrorist groups will continue to isolate those who engage in terrorism at the expense of the Colombian people.

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) November 30, 2021

A fragile peace accord

The December peace accords brought to a close over 50 years of violent conflict between the Columbian government, back by the army and right-wing militias, and left-wing insurgents. The agreement was achieved premised on the following principles:

- The future political participation of FARC members,
- rebels’ reintegration into civilian life,
- illegal crop eradication,
- transitional justice and reparations, and
- rebel disarmament and implementation of the peace deal.

The Santo's administration further pledged to invest billions of dollars in rural areas with experts hoping that this would amount to between $80 and $90 billion over the next ten years which would provide an alternative to the drug trade.
The peace accords themselves were contentious having only been secured after massive military defeats for the insurgents which were overseen by a ruthless military campaign by Columbia's army. In mid-2016 a ceasefire was agreed upon but the initial peace accords were rejected in a popular referendum. Following further amendments, the agreement was adopted in December without being put to a referendum and with certain militant groups refusing to sign on to the accords.

Crackdown on former cadres

Critics however maintain that this has not been achieved with the federal government failing to provide sufficient protection not only to former cadres but also to rural human rights leaders, who often face death threats from local criminal groups they oppose. Since 2016, over 400 of such leaders have been killed. An estimated 137 former fighters have also been assassinated since the agreement. In one case a demobilised guerrilla member was murdered alongside their seven-month-old baby.

Responding to this violence, former FARC guerrilla Hugo Fernando Ramírez, told reporters:

“There aren’t any guarantees for what awaits us. What are we waiting for? A bullet in the head? Years in prison? Who knows.”

Writing in Foreign Policy, Catherine Osborn highlights concerns that the "government resources are disproportionately spent on pursuing high-profile targets such as Otoniel rather than the peace deal’s pledges to ordinary rural Colombians".

"In other words, an offensive war on criminal groups supersedes the framework for peace" she notes.
The Biden administration has responded to the criticism over the failure to implement the peace accords on Monday by pledging the US commitment to ensuring its full implementation.

Political Integration

Responding to the deproscription of FARC, Sergio Guzman, a Bogota-based political analyst, maintained that whilst welcome "it will also not change the political reality for Comunes".

"The political party formed by ex-FARC members, which is guaranteed five seats in the Senate and five seats in the House under the 2016 peace agreement [...] Beyond that their ability to capture votes elsewhere is practically nil,” he noted.

He further highlighted that it would not change many restrictions ex-members of the group continue to face, including on international travel or charges at the JEP.

Arlene Tickner, a professor of political science at Bogota’s Rosario University, welcomed the decision highlighting how it enabled former cadres "access to the financial system, availability for US assistance and interlocution with diverse US actors and institutions – all of which were severely restricted while the terrorist designation was in place”.

Al Jazeera highlights that under the designation many former FARC members had struggled to set up bank accounts which made it difficult to "establish farming projects to formalise those programmes and build sustainable livelihoods".

Renewed calls for discussion

In  2019 several former FARC cadres, including Iván Márquez and Jesús Santrich who had participated in the 2016 peace accords, called on the Columbian government to reengage with all insurgent groups.

"We want a government that will go all out for peace, that resumes talks with the ELN, that opens a new chapter of dialogue with all the insurgent groups,” Márquez said

Responding to this video and the rearmament of militants, Columbian President Duque announced a specialised military force in search of the rebels and offered 3 billion pesos, or $882,000, the reward for the capture of those in the video.

Duque decried Márquez as “a criminal, a terrorist, a narco-terrorist”.

“Peace for bandits like him is either to capture them or kill them, and the only thing that awaits him is the same fate as his counterpart Otoniel,” Duque further added, referring to Dario Antonio Usuga, one of the country’s most notorious drug traffickers, who was captured in late October. 

Read more here and here.

The United States has sanctioned the Eritrean army and the country's ruling party for their role in the Ethiopian conflict. 

In a press release, the US Department of the Treasury announced sanctions on four entities and two individuals "that have contributed to the crisis and conflict" in Ethiopia. 

"The presence of Eritrean forces is an impediment to ending the ongoing fighting and increasing humanitarian access," the press release said. 

The individuals and entities that have been sanctioned are Eritrean Defense Force, the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice, Abraha Kassa Nemariam, Hidri Trust, Hagos Ghebrehiwet W Kidan, and Red Sea Trading Corporation. 

“Treasury will continue to use all our tools and authorities to target and expose those whose actions prolong the crisis in the region, where hundreds of thousands are suffering," said Andrea M. Gacki, Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

"The United States stands ready to pursue additional actions, including against the Government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, if there is not tangible progress toward a cessation of hostilities," she added. 

Eritrea condemned the sanctions, calling them part of the US's "misguided and hostile policy" while the Ethiopian foreign affairs ministry called on the US to revoke the designations. 

The conflict between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray's People's Liberation Front (TPLF) began last year after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a military offensive against the TPLF. The conflict has killed thousands and left hundreds of thousands facing famine like condiitons. 

Earlier this week, the World Health Organisation (WHO) chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the Tigray region is under “systematic blockade”, and warned that people were starving to death and dying from lack of access to medicine. 

Read more here, here and here. 

International Criminal Court prosecutor, Karim Khan, said on Wednesday he will open an investigation into possible crimes against humanity in Venezuela.

Speaking in a conference alongside Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, Khan said he is "determined that he will proceed to open an investigation to establish the truth" of events that occurred in Venezuela. A  memorandum of understanding was signed by both the President and Karim Khan. 

A preliminary investigation was conducted in 2018 and Khan noted during the press conference that "The preliminary examination that opened in 2018 is nothing more than a filtering stage as we move into this new stage".

The ICC has been conducting a preliminary examination into the country since 2018 and has said there may be reason to believe officials in Maduro's government have committed crimes against humanity. However, the government have expressed that they do not share the same opinion regarding the progression of the investigation.

The government notes that they do not think the situation in the country "justifies the movement from the preliminary examination phase to an investigation phase". Despite this, the government has been cooperative. 

President Maduro further went on to say "we respect his decision as a state, though we have made clear we do not share it". He added that "We have signed an agreement that does guarantee, in an effective way, cooperation, positive complementarity, mutual support, constructive dialogue to seek truth and justice."

Read more at Reuters