Tag: sudan
South Sudan Violence: Kerry Meets With African Ministers To Discuss Prevention Of Civil War

South Sudan Violence: Kerry Meets With African Ministers To Discuss Prevention Of Civil War

By Lesley Wroughton

NAIROBI (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and counterparts from six African nations met in Nairobi on Monday to discuss ways to prevent South Sudan from sliding back into civil war.

World powers and regional states have struggled to find leverage over the country’s warring factions despite U.S. and European sanctions on some military leaders and African threats of punitive actions.

After a two-hour meeting with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House, Kerry joined foreign ministers from Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda to discuss options for putting South Sudan’s peace process back on track. Ministers from Djibouti and Tanzania had been expected.

The meeting was expected to discuss plans by the U.N. to deploy a 4,000-strong protection force in the capital Juba, as part of the U.N. peacekeeping mission. The UN has threatened an arms embargo if the government does not cooperate.

“We will … talk about how we move forward in trying to implement peace in this country,” a senior State Department official said before the meeting.

“The people of South Sudan have suffered for far too long, and the continued instability there has led almost a million refugees and a humanitarian crisis that is far beyond the abilities of even the international community to respond to,” the official added.

South Sudan initially said it would not cooperate with the 4,000-strong force that will be under the command of the existing 12,000-strong U.N. mission UNMISS. Juba has since said it was still considering its position.

“We have not rejected it or accepted it, the sovereignty of the people of South Sudan will be decided by the parliament,” South Sudan’s presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny said.

Since the world’s youngest nation gained independence in 2011, oil production – by far the biggest source of government revenue – has plummeted.

Worsening violence has raised fears of a return to civil war that erupted in late 2013, which broadly ran along ethnic lines, pitting President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, against his rival and vice president Riek Machar, a Nuer.

Machar led a two-year rebellion against forces loyal to rival Kiir before the two sides reached a peace deal in August 2015. Under the deal, Machar returned to Juba in April to resume his role as vice president.

After violence flared in the capital Juba last month, Machar withdrew his forces and Kiir subsequently sacked him as vice president.

Machar was picked up by U.N. peacekeepers in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo a week ago with a leg injury and was handed over to authorities in Congo.

Especially of concern to Washington was an attack on a Juba hotel in July by uniformed men who killed a U.S.-funded journalist and raped civilians, including aid workers. The U.N. has launched an investigation into accusations U.N. peacekeepers in Juba failed to respond properly to the attack.

In a letter to Kerry before his visit, the Human Rights Watch group urged him to discuss rights concerns with Kenyatta. The group said it had documented 34 cases of extrajudicial killings and another 11 deaths of people last seen in state custody over alleged links with al-Shabaab militants in Nairobi and in the northeast.

(Additional reporting by Denis Dumo in Juba; Editing by Edmund Blair and Dominic Evans)

Photo: 2016 Rio Olympics – Artistic Gymnastics – Preliminary – Men’s Qualification – Subdivisions – Rio Olympic Arena – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – 06/08/2016 U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrives at the gymnastics venue. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Iran Says Saudi Arabia Cannot Cover Up ‘Crime’ By Cutting Ties

Iran Says Saudi Arabia Cannot Cover Up ‘Crime’ By Cutting Ties

Reuters

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday Saudi Arabia could not hide its “crime” of executing a Shi’ite cleric by cutting ties with Tehran, but Iranian authorities disowned an attack on the Saudi embassy in Iran.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Sudan broke all ties with Iran and the United Arab Emirates downgraded its relations on Monday after the Saudi embassy in Tehran was stormed by protesters. Kuwait recalled its ambassador to Iran on Tuesday.

An angry mob broke into the embassy on Saturday night and started fires following protests against the kingdom’s execution of cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent critic of Saudi policy, and three other Shi’ite Muslims as well as 43 Sunni al Qaeda jihadists.

“Saudi Arabia cannot hide its crime of beheading a religious leader by severing political relations with Iran,” Rouhani was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA in a meeting with Danish Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen in Tehran.

“We believe diplomacy and negotiations are the best way to solve problems between countries,” he added. “Regional countries can save the region from terrorism dangers through unity.”

The Iranian government has distanced itself from the attack on the Saudi embassy and even suggested foreign elements organized it.

Brigadier General Mohsen Kazemeini, the top Revolutionary Guards commander in Tehran, joined the condemnation on Tuesday.

“This was a very wrong and incorrect action and there is no way this ugly action can be justified,” he said, according to the Mizan Online news agency.

The comments appeared to be the first such criticism of the embassy attack by a member of the hardline Guards, who issued a harsh statement against Saudi Arabia about the execution of al-Nimr on Saturday.

Kazemeini said the attack could not have been carried out by “devout forces” and that it was “completely organized”.

An Iranian government spokesman earlier called the attack “suspicious” and “in favor of Saudi Arabia’s policies”.

“A few people – with whom it’s not clear which country’s interests they are serving – took advantage of people’s feelings,” ILNA news agency quoted Mohammad Bagher Nobakht as saying.

Iran’s Justice Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi was quoted by Iranian media as saying “the latest action against the Saudi embassy could be planned and supported by infiltrated agents.”

President Hassan Rouhani has referred to the embassy attackers as extremists and said Iran should put an end to attacking embassies once and forever.

Iran celebrates the anniversary of the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran every year and refers to it as the Second Revolution. Since then, Iranians have attacked several embassies in Tehran including those of Kuwait in 1987, Saudi Arabia in 1988, Denmark in 2006 and Britain in 2011.

(Additional reporting by Babak Dehghanpisheh in Beirut; editing by Andrew Roche)

Photo: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani waves after he registered for February’s election of the Assembly of Experts, the clerical body that chooses the supreme leader, at the Interior Ministry in Tehran.

 

Iran Threatens Response To New U.S. Visa Restrictions

Iran Threatens Response To New U.S. Visa Restrictions

By Sam Wilkin

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran will take reciprocal measures in response to any breach of this year’s nuclear deal, the Foreign Ministry warned on Monday, after Tehran said new U.S. visa restrictions contravened the historic agreement.

Iran has started to restrict its nuclear program under the terms of the July 14 deal with six world powers, including the United States. When the restrictions are completed, international sanctions on Tehran will be lifted.

But decades-old mistrust between Tehran and Washington is as high as ever, and each side has accused the other of undermining the pact, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Earlier this month, the U.S. Congress passed a law restricting visa-free travel rights for people who have visited Iran or hold dual Iranian nationality, a measure that Iran’s foreign minister called a breach of the deal.

The measure, which affects citizens of the 38 mostly European countries that have visa waiver arrangements with the United States, is framed as a counterterrorism measure and also targets Iraq, Syria and Sudan.

“Any steps taken outside the agreement are unacceptable to Iran, and Iran will take its own steps in response where necessary,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari told a televised news conference when asked about the U.S. law.

He said a committee tasked with overseeing the deal would be responsible for ordering the Iranian response to any breaches. Nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi, who heads that committee, has also said the visa law contravenes the deal.

VISA LAW

European Union countries have criticized the visa law, which was introduced after a series of Islamist attacks by citizens of Western countries who had been radicalized abroad. U.S. officials say Iran is included because Washington designates it a “state sponsor of terrorism”, along with Syria and Sudan.

Tehran says it has nothing to do with the recent attacks and is fighting the group that inspired them, Islamic State.

Iran’s hardline Revolutionary Guards have also been pushing the boundaries of the deal, most notably by test-firing a ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead in breach of a U.N. Security Council resolution.

(Reporting by Sam Wilkin; Editing by Catherine Evans)

A staff member removes the Iranian flag from the stage during the Iran nuclear talks in Vienna, Austria July 14, 2015. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Man Dies In Channel Tunnel As Migrant Crisis Deepens

Man Dies In Channel Tunnel As Migrant Crisis Deepens

By Estelle Shirbon and Dominique Vidalon

LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) – A Sudanese man died on Wednesday as migrants desperate to enter Britain from France stormed the channel tunnel entrance, prompting governments in both countries to promise to beef up security there.

Freight and passenger traffic through the rail tunnel has been severely disrupted as migrants camped out in shanty towns in the Calais area have repeatedly tried to board trucks and trains traveling from France to Britain.

France said it was sending 120 more police officers to the site while Britain said it was pressing ahead with erecting a nine-foot (three-meter) fence to protect the terminal.

“One of the things we’re doing is pressing to ensure we can get the security fencing up as quickly as possible to reduce this problem,” British Home Secretary Theresa May said.

The situation has turned into a blame game with Eurotunnel asking French and British governments to reimburse it for the 10 million euros ($11 million) it has spent to increase security to cope with the latest migrant crisis at Calais.

The scale of the crisis has been highlighted by the sight of migrants lining roads and scrambling to jump into moving vehicles in recent weeks. Rocks have been thrown at trucks and migrants have in some cases clashed with drivers and police.

Nigel Farage, leader of Britain’s anti-EU UKIP party, said he was surprised no lorry drivers or tourists had been killed.

“I’m amazed that the French authorities have not done more. Whenever I’m there they appear to be standing by and watching what’s going on,” he told BBC radio.

NINTH VICTIM

The man who died on Wednesday was probably hit by a truck leaving one of the shuttles that transport vehicles through the tunnel, French police said. French media said he was the ninth migrant to be killed in the crisis since early June.

There were about 1,500 attempts by migrants to enter the tunnel on Tuesday night, a Eurotunnel spokesman said, after 2,000 attempts the previous night. Some were probably repeat attempts by the same people.

Hours after the tunnel death, a man believed to be a migrant was electrocuted after trying to jump on board a Eurostar train being prepared for departure from Paris to London, police and Eurostar officials said.

The man vaulted between two trains in an attempt to enter the protected zone for Eurostar departures, but touched a live overhead wire.

A police official at Gare du Nord station told Reuters the man was in a “very serious condition”.

For the thousands of migrants fleeing war, upheaval and poverty and now camped in shanties around the port of Calais known as the “jungle”, the aim is a better life in Britain.

Many will seek illegal employment in Britain’s shadow economy or claim asylum in a system often seen as more generous than the French equivalent. They also know that Britain has no national identity cards.

Such hopes are encouraged by traffickers who squeeze money out of migrants on their arduous journeys from the war zones of the Middle East and from Africa.

A 30-year-old Syrian man, who is seeking asylum in London, told how he was tortured in prison before he fled, leaving behind his wife and child as he embarked on a journey that would take him six months and nearly cost him his life.

He made it across the Mediterranean on his fifth attempt – spending the last two hours swimming ashore. Of the 32 people on his boat only eight survived, he said.

“After like one hour, an hour and a half, I start feeling like I will die, I will go under the water,” he told Reuters.

“But what I start to see in my mind is that my family are on the other side, clapping and telling me come on you will reach us,” he said.

WORSENING SITUATION

In a July 23 letter sent by French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve to Eurotunnel boss Jacques Gounon and seen by Reuters, Cazeneuve accused Eurotunnel of not doing enough to ensure Tunnel security “given the worsening situation”.

Eurotunnel had notably cut to 103 from 325 in 2002 the number of security staff at the site, he said.

Eurotunnel said it had in fact doubled its security staff to close to 200 people since the start of the migrant crisis in the early 2000s and had spent more than 160 million euros on security during that time.

It said the pressure on the terminal every night was more than it could reasonably handle and Britain and France should act.

Britain has agreed up to 7 million pounds ($11 million) of extra funding to help increase security at the tunnel’s French terminal at Coquelles, officials said.

British authorities said they had agreed with the French to work together on returning the migrants to their countries of origin, particularly in West Africa, although no details were given about how this would work.

The crisis at Calais has had a knock-on effect on road traffic on the British side and caused huge delays for freight trucks as well as holidaymakers trying to reach the continent. Hundreds of lorries are parked along the motorway leading to the port of Dover and the British tunnel terminal in what police have called “Operation Stack”.

($1 = 0.6412 pounds)

(Additional reporting by William James and Stephen Addison in London, Pierre Savary in Lille, Tim Hepher and Matthias Blamont in Paris, and Rujun Shen in Singapore; editing by John Stonestreet and Giles Elgood)

Photo: French gendarmes stand near as migrants leave their hiding spot at the Eurotunnel site early in the morning in Calais, northern France, July 29, 2015.  REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol