Category: APO-OPA

LONDON, United-Kingdom, December 21, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Minister for Africa Mark Simmonds comments following renewed outbreak of violence in Kenya’s Tana River Delta.
“I am shocked at the tragic news of renewed violence in the T…

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, December 21, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The Commissioner for Peace and Security of the African Union (AU), Ambassador Ramtane Lamamra, received, on Thursday, 20 December 2012, a Danish delegation headed by the Min…

PARIS, Dec. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire via African Press Organization (APO)/ — Building on its expansive growth in recent years, FDS Group has acquired Custom Rubber Products, the Houston-based manufacturer of elastomer, phenolics, and thermoset plastic pr…

LONDON, United-Kingdom, December 21, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The UN Security Council’s approval of armed intervention into Mali risks worsening the human rights and humanitarian crisis in the north, Amnesty International said today.

The Council voted unanimously on Thursday to approve an African-led force with “use all necessary measures” at its disposal to take back the country’s north from “terrorist, extremist and armed groups”.

“An international armed intervention is likely to increase the scale of human rights violations we are already seeing in this conflict,” said Salvatore Saguès, Amnesty International’s researcher on West Africa

Civilians in the north are already suffering under the rule of the armed Islamist groups that have controlled the region since April 2012.

Amnesty International fears that during the intervention, indiscriminate attacks, arbitrary detentions, torture, extrajudicial executions, and the use of child soldiers by both sides, could become even more widespread.

In order to prevent a new surge in abuses, Amnesty International is calling on the UN to ensure that any military force is bound by effective safeguards for civilian protection. Human rights monitors must be sent to observe the conflict closely, with particular attention given to government-supported militias.

“The United Nations has to ensure that any intervention force fully complies with international humanitarian and human rights law, and prioritises the protection of civilians caught in the conflict,” said Salvatore Saguès.

“The African armed forces that could take part in this intervention should not have been involved in human rights abuses against their own population.”

Since April 2012 Islamist groups in Mali’s north have imposed a reign of terror, introducing punishments such as amputations, flogging, and stoning to death for those who oppose their interpretation of Islam.

At the beginning of the conflict, the Malian security forces responded to the uprising by bombing Tuareg civilians, and arresting, torturing and killing Tuareg people apparently only on ethnic grounds. Military intervention risks triggering further ethnic conflict in a country already riven by attacks on Tuareg and other lighter-skinned people.

The Malian army is currently dominated by the military junta which overthrew the democratically elected President Amadou Toumani Touré in March 2012, and is still heavily influential in political life.

Malian soldiers have been responsible for extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances and torture. For example, a group of 16 Muslim preachers comprised of Malian and Mauritanian nationals were arrested and then executed by the Malian military in September 2012, in Diabaly (400 km northeast of Bamako).

“The Malian soldiers have benefited from total impunity. We fear their participation in an armed intervention in the North might lead to further violations against a background of retaliation and revenge”, said Salvatore Saguès.

Amnesty International is also urging the UN to prepare for a deepening refugee crisis. The conflict has already displaced up to 400,000 people, resulting in a flood of refugees to neighbouring countries poorly prepared to protect them, including countries suffering humanitarian crises due to region-wide food shortages.

EL FASHER (DARFUR), Sudan, December 21, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ — UNAMID received reports of displacement of civilians following alleged air strikes by Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and attacks by armed groups in Shangil Tobaya and Tawil…

ROME, Italy, December 21, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The Alexandria Center of Arts staged a concert entitled “Italian Repertory, a recital of operatic arias and songs”. As Italian Consul in Alexandria Mario Concetto Vinci commented, “Italian opera and songs have always brought pleasure to the audiences of Alexandria, and the concert was sold out, despite the well known situation in the country owing to the constitutional referendum”.

OSLO, Norway, December 21, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ — On 20 December, Minister of International Development Heikki Eidsvoll Holmås met President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu. Today he will meet Somali students in Oslo to share his impressions with them.

“This autumn Somalia has taken important steps towards political stability and peace. There are great expectations of the new authorities, but they also face major challenges. It is important now to establish how Norway and the rest of the international community can support the forces for good so that the positive developments in the country continue,” said Mr Holmås.

Mr Holmås visited Somalia on Thursday. In addition to meeting the President, he also met the Speaker of Parliament, Mohamed Osman Jawari. He has close ties with Norway, particularly Trondheim, where lived for many years.

Mr Holmås also had talks with the UN Special Representative for Somalia, Augustine Mahiga, and representatives of the African Union Mission in Somalia.

“It will take time to build up a government apparatus in Somalia that is able to take care of the Somali people. The international community must provide support in a coordinated manner. The new authorities must take on an increasing share of the leadership in this cooperation. They want Norway to continue to play an active role,” said Mr Holmås.

View and download pictures from the visit here for free use by the press.

There are around 25 000 of Somali origin in Norway. Mr Holmås returns home from Somali on Friday morning, and will meet Somali students to share his impressions with them. Members of the press are welcome to attend this meeting.

Time: Friday 21 December at 12:00

Place: Mr Holmås’s office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

GENEVA, Switzerland, December 21, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The newly-appointed United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Eritrea, Beedwantee Keetharuth, on Friday urged the Eritrean authorities to cooperate with her mandate, as required by the UN Human Rights Council.

“I hope that the Eritrean Government would consider the mandate of the Special Rapporteur as an opportunity to start a fresh and constructive dialogue on human rights issues that have been raised by the international community and other stakeholders,” Ms. Keetharuth said. She also noted that the primary concern of the Special Rapporteur is to provide an objective, fair and impartial picture of human rights in Eritrea.

The human rights expert also said she trusted the Eritrean Government would view her mandate as an opportunity “to carefully address Eritrea’s compliance with its human rights obligations as contained in international treaties to which the country is a party.”

As Ms. Keetharuth is due to present her first report to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2013, she requested meetings with Eritrean diplomats in Geneva and in London at the start of her mandate.

“The aim was to introduce myself and present my vision of the mandate in a spirit of openness, as well as to explore avenues for cooperation. Unfortunately these meetings have not yet taken place,” Ms. Keetharuth said. “I have now requested to travel to Eritrea in early 2013.”

In the meantime, the Special Rapporteur will engage with all others concerned by human rights in Eritrea, including those who consider themselves to be victims of alleged human rights violations, human rights defenders and other civil society actors.

WASHINGTON, December 21, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ — TO TAKE CERTAIN ACTIONS UNDER THE AFRICAN GROWTH AND
OPPORTUNITY ACT AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

1. Section 506A(a)(1) of…

PARIS, France, December 21, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The United Nations (UN) Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution today authorizing the deployment of an African-led International Support Mission (AFISMA) to help recover the territory in Northern Mali currently under the control of armed groups.

FIDH and its member organization in Mali, AMDH, welcome the inclusion in the resolution of several mechanisms to protect human rights in Mali, echoing the recommendations presented by FIDH and AMDH during recent meetings with Security Council members and heads of UN bodies in New York. Although our organizations denounce the efforts by some UN Security Council members to remove key human rights instruments from the resolution, we strongly support the resolution’s calls for:

The responsibility for actually implementing the majority of these mechanisms however, falls on individual countries, regional bodies, and the UN Secretariat. The EU for its part has pledged to train the Malian armed forces, and the UN Secretary General has been charged with observing and reporting on the human rights situation in northern Mali.

FIDH President Souhayr Belhassen called on the UN Secretariat and members of the international community to swiftly fulfill their commitments to ensure the prevention of further human rights violations. “All parties – including the Malian transitional authorities, the UN, and regional groups such as the African Union and ECOWAS – must immediately implement human rights protection mechanisms in Mali. If mediation fails and a military intervention does take place without these protection mechanisms, we risk seeing more serious attacks against civilians and violations of human, creating greater animosity and mistrust between the North and South,” Souhayr Belhassen stated.

The UN Security Council resolution also emphasizes the importance of advancing a political process in parallel with the preparations for military action. Although the resolution urges the Malian authorities to finalize a roadmap for inclusive national dialogue and political transition including the holding of elections “as soon as technically possible,” our organizations remain concerned at the lack of progress towards inclusive political transition in Mali, as highlighted by the recent forced resignation of Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra. Attempts at political dialogue have also been marred by an unfair distribution of seats at the table for distinct political parties and civil society groups.

FIDH and AMDH call on the transitional authorities of Mali to establish conditions for a genuinely inclusive political dialogue, and to prepare for the holding of presidential and legislative elections in order to establish a credible and representative government in Mali.