• Belarusian extradition request to Ecuador set to fail

    Aug 22

    The Ecuadorian deputy foreign minister, Marco Albuja, has confirmed that Ecuador will treat an extradition request from the Belarusian government for a former financial crimes investigator, Aliaksandr Barankov, with the same respect for human rights that guided its actions in the case of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

    “Ecuador will put emphasis on not extraditing a citizen whose life is at risk, from the death penalty or life in prison,” Albuja told reporters.

    Barankov is backed by activists in Belarus , where President Lukashenko has ruled for 18 years by, fixing elections, quashing free speech, jailing dissidents and keeping 80 percent of industry in state hands.

    Barankov has been seeking asylum in Ecuador after he uncovered an oil-smuggling ring which led back to relatives of the president.

    Speaking on the cases of Barankov and Jullian Assange, the Ecuadorian president, Rafael Correa, said that Ecuador rejects “any attack on human rights, or political persecution”, and went on to say that “Ecuador doesn’t negotiate its principles, its values or human rights and it’s not going to negotiate in this case”.

    Less than a year ago the Ecuadorian high court rejected a request to extradite Barankov and the verdict for the second extradition request, which is due in a few days, looks promising for Barankov.

  • Assad defectors were bribed by the West - The Times

    Defectors from the Assad regime were bribed by European countries along with Arab states to make the leap, reports The Times.

    According to the newspaper, in May a meeting took place between European diplomats in Doha, Qatar, where it was agreed that Syrian officials should be "incentivised" to defect the regime and bring about its collapse.

    The paper's source is quoted as saying:

    “They came to the decision that publicly the Annan plan had to be supported, but privately they needed an alternative. Defections were not coming fast enough. They had to coerce and incentivise these guys to drive a wedge into the regime,”

    “Bribes were never mentioned explicitly, there was no need. Everyone understood precisely and left the meeting on the same page.”

    A fund raiser for the Free Syrian Army told the paper:

    “Certainly bribes are being paid. Western intelligence agencies are keen to incentivise regime officials."

    “The Friends of Syria are already thinking of the next phase after Assad, trying to gather third- and fourth-tier officials for the next step. They fear a disintegration of the country like Iraq.”

     

  • Ex- Guatemalan police chief receives 70 year sentence for abduction
    The former chief of Guatemala’s police force has been sentenced to 70 years in prison, for orchestrating the kidnap of a university student, during the country’s civil war.

    Pedro Garcia, who was chief from 1974 until 1982, is now the highest ranking police official to have been convicted for war crimes in the latest string of cases against former government officials (see here, here and here).

    Garcia was found guilty of crimes against humanity and the “forced disappearance” of engineering student Edgar Saenz in 1981.

    He faces further murder charges over the 1980 burning of the Spanish embassy in Guatemala, where 36 people were killed.

    See report from the Guardian here.

  • US chemical weapon threat 'excuse' to attack Syria

    The Chinese state's media organ, Xinhua, has accused President Obama of intending to use Syria's chemical weapons as an 'excuse' for military intervention, after he warned that there would be 'enormous consequences' if there was any indication of Syria planning to use chemical or biological weapons.

    Xinhua criticised his comments as 'dangerously irresponsible'

    "Once again, Western powers are digging deep for excuses to intervene militarily," it said.

    "Apart from being ineffective to bring real peace, military interventions by the United States and its Western partners are always interests-driven and highly selective.

    "It is not difficult to find that, under the disguise of humanitarianism, the United States has always tried to smash governments it considers as threats to its so-called national interests and relentlessly replace them with those that are Washington-friendly."

    Russia had also previously warned against US intervention in Syria, saying that only the UN Security Council can sanction the use of force.

  • Russia warns against US intervention in Syria
    Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned the US against any military intervention in Syria, after US President Barack Obama warned the Syrian regime on the use of chemical weapons.

    Speaking after a meeting in Moscow with China's top diplomat, State Councillor Dai Bingguo and representatives from the Syrian government, Lavrov said there was a need to
    "strictly adhere to the norms of international law and the principles contained in the UN Charter, and not to allow their violation… I think this is the only correct path in today's conditions".
    Lavrov went on to state that only the UN Security Council can sanction the use of force, and warned against “democracy by bombs”.

    Meanwhile, Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil dismissed Mr Obama's statements as "propagandistic threats" and blamed external interference for "hindering efforts for Syrians themselves to resolve this problem".

    See President Obama's statement on Syria's chemical weapons below. Comments on Syria at 18:30.

    The UN has said that at least 18,000 people have been killed by the violence in the country, since the conflict began last year.

     Also see our earlier post: Obama warns Assad on chemical weapon use (20 Aug 2012)
  • HRW: Ugandan government is intimidating rights groups
    The Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report that rights groups were facing increased harassment and intimidation from government officials, consequently making it difficult for civil society groups to freely conduct their work in Uganda.

    Describing the intimidation the HRW noted that closure of meetings, reprimands, demands for apologies or retractions, threats, harassment and physical violence were prevalent tactics that government officials had been using to interfere with the work of civil society groups.

    The HRW recognised that civil society actors working on governance, human rights, land and oil were most susceptible to intimidation, because the regime perceived them “as threatening to undermine the regime’s political and financial interests.”

    The executive director of the Uganda government media centre, Fred Opolot, who had not read the HRW report, told Reuters that the report’s claims of intimidation were unsubstantiated and that the civil society were allowed to work freely, “as long as they did the right things”.

    In May the British Charity, Oxfam, were accused of bringing disrepute to the Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, following the publishing of a report that detailed land grabs by the government in alliance with a foreign company.  Museveni’s government responded to the report by threatening to eject the charity unless it withdrew its accusations and apologised.
     
  • Life sentence sought for Bosnian commander
    UN prosecutors acting in the case of a former Bosnian Serb general have called for a life sentence to be imposed, at a trial in The Hague.

    Speaking at the case of former intelligence chief Zdravko Tolimir, who faces charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, prosecutor Peter McCloskey stated,
    "There is only one sentence for this crime and that is life in prison"
    Tolimir, who was under the command of the infamous Ratko Mladic, is accused of carrying out “the slow strangling of the Srebrenica and Zepa enclave” to create conditions that would force the Muslim population "to give up hope of survival."

    Described by prosecutors as “very bright, very impressive”, they also stated,
    "He deliberately chose loyalty to Mladic, loyalty to the cause... over his duty to his God to say no, and his duty under law to stop."
    "By choosing Mladic over the law, he lost his humanity."
    "He represents... this unique genocide that happened in Srebrenica and he carries that with him personally and will forever."
    See report from AFP here.
  • Burma’ government abolishes media censorship

    The Burmese government has abolished pre-publication checks of the country’s media, according to the information ministry.

    The Press Scrutiny and Registration Department (PSRD) announced that reporters are not required to submit material to state censors before publication.

    "Censorship began on 6 August 1964 and ended 48 years and two weeks later," Tint Swe, head of the PSRD, told AFP news agency on Monday.

    "Any publication inside the country will not have to get prior permission from us before they are published.

    "From now on, our department will just carry out registering publications for keeping them at the national archives and issuing a license to printers and publishers," he said.


    The censorship laws previously applied to written works, including newspaper articles, song lyrics and fairy tales.

    However, the restrictions still apply to movies, and television journalists are asked to ‘self-censor’, by asking for more information about sensitive news, said an official.

    Journalists and authors may still be punished for what they have written if it is deemed unacceptable by the state.

  • German intelligence ‘proud’ of Syrian contribution
    Germany’s foreign intelligence service has been aiding Syrian rebels in their battle against President Assad’s regime, reported a German newspaper this week.

    The Bild am Sonntag stated that a German boat stationed at a Turkish NATO base has spying equipment that can detect Syrian troop movements up to 600km inland. This information, along with telephone and radio conversations and information from sources inside Assad’s regime, is allegedly being passed to US and British intelligence services, who are in turn handing it to the rebels.

    A source from the Bundesnachrichtendienst or BND, Germany’s intelligence service allegedly told the paper,
    “We can be proud of the significant contribution we are making to the fall of the Assad regime,”
    The paper also stated that a US official commented "no Western intelligence service has such good sources inside Syria" as Germany's BND.

    A defence ministry spokesman confirmed “that a ship is currently on an operation in the region that is due to last several months" but denied it was a spy boat and declined to comment further.
  • Obama warns Assad on chemical weapon use
    US President Barack Obama has warned of possible action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, referring to any potential use of chemical or biological weapons by the regime as a “red line” for the United States.

    Although reluctant to involve the nation in another Middle East conflict, President Obama said,
    "We have communicated in no uncertain terms with every player in the region, that that's a red line for us, and that there would be enormous consequences if we start seeing movement on the chemical weapons front, or the use of chemical weapons. That would change my calculations significantly."
    Re-iterating his calls for Assad to step down, Obama also said,
    "So far he hasn't gotten the message, and instead has doubled down in violence on his own people. The international community has sent a clear message that rather than drag his country into civil war, he should move in the direction of a political transition. But at this point the likelihood of a soft landing seems pretty distant."
    Read the full report on Associated Press here.
  • International criminal court stays firm
    International Criminal Court judges have rejected arguments by former Ivory Coast President, Laurent Gbagbo, that they lack the jurisdiction to try him for charges of crimes  against humanity.

    Gbagbo's charges are partly a result alleged murder and rape committed by his supporters in 2010, whilst he was clinging onto power following controversial elections. The former leader still claims that he is innocent.

    Gbagbo's argument was based around his claims of supposed mistreatment during his time in detention.

    The former Ivory Coast leader was extradited to the Hague last November.
     
  • Protests erupt in China over Japan row
    Angry protests have broken out across China this weekend, as a group of activists raised the Japanese flag on a disputed island earlier on Sunday, rapidly escalating tensions between the two countries.

    Thousands of protestors are thought to have taken to the streets in dozens of cities, with sushi restaurants and other perceived Japanese-linked businesses reportedly attacked and Japanese cars left smashed and overturned.

    Banners held by the crowds read “Defend the Diaoyu Islands to the death,” and “Even if China is covered with graves, we must kill all Japanese”.

    Chinese Major General Luo Yuan, also called for a fleet of 100 boats to be sent to defend the islands, commenting,
    “If necessary, we could make the Diaoyu Islands a target range for China’s air force and plant mines around them.”
    The dispute over the contested island was heightened after a group of Japanese activists landed on the island earlier on Sunday, unfurling the Japanese flag. Days earlier, japan arrested and deported a group of Chinese activists who attempted to land on the island.

    China’s foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang responded to the latest incident stating,
    "Japanese right wingers illegally violated China's territorial sovereignty...
    The foreign ministry has already lodged solemn representations and expressed strong protest to the Japanese embassy in China and urged Japan to stop actions which harm China's territorial sovereignty."
    The group of disputed islands are currently controlled by Japan, but also claimed by China and Taiwan. China is involved in a spate of territorial disputes with other states across the South China sea.



  • British intelligence aiding Syrian rebels

    Confirming what has long been suspected, a Syrian opposition official, disclosed that British intelligence was enabling rebels to launch attacks against Assad forces, reported The Sunday Times.

    The Official said that Britain "know about and approve 100%" signals intelligence, using bases in Cyprus that are then passed through Turkey to the Free Syrian Army.

    Speaking to The Sunday Times, the official said,

    “British intelligence is observing things closely from Cyprus. It’s very useful because they find out a great deal,”

    “The British are giving the information to the Turks and the Americans and we are getting it from the Turks.”

    “The British monitor communications about movements of the government army and we got information about reinforcements being on their way to Aleppo. We hit at the government troops in Idlib and Saraqib [southwest of Aleppo], with success."

    According to the official, rebel forces in Aleppo also receive satellite imagery, via Turkey, from the CIA.

    “We’ve had access to it for more than a month now. What the Turks give us is limited but it’s made a difference in Aleppo,” he added.

  • South American bloc unite against UK's embassy threat

    The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) unamimously adopted a resolution endorsing Ecuador's right to grant asylum to Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange.

    Foreign ministers of the 12 nations met in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and agreed seven key points, highlighting the right of any sovereign country to grant asylum, the "inviolability of embassies" and the importance of protecting human rights.

    Addressing the media after the session, Ecuadorian foreign minister Ricardo Patino urged UK to use international law and dialogue, not force, in order to resolve the situation. Acknowledging that UK was a stronger military power than Ecuador, he stressed that Ecuador was only acting within international law.

    “Reason does not call for force,” Patino stated. “The force may be as different and as distant as a small country and a country which has atomic bombs. But here, reason is with us."

  • Burma to ‘investigate’ sectarian violence

    Burma has set up a commission to investigate violence in the Rakhine state, where dozens have died and thousands remain displaced.

    The announcement follows Burma’s recent refusal to allow an independent inquiry into the state violence.

    The UN have welcomed the inquiry, acknowledging the possible contributions the commission could have in restoring peace in the state.

    Commenting on President Thein Sein’s decision for an internal investigation, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, said that the investigation would provide a more “conducive environment for a more inclusive way forward to tackle the underlying causes of the violence, including the condition of the Muslim communities in Rakhine”.

    The violence in the Rakhine state began in May and has resulted in the displacement of over 80,000 people, the UN is set to release the Human Rights envoy’s report next month.

Subscribe to International Affairs