Two state broadcast journalists from South Sudan were arrested on Sunday for failing to cover a presidential speech, reports Reuters . The two senior staff, named as Louis Pasquale and Ashab Khamis, were arrested by the state government of Western Bahr El Ghazal for "administrative issues", having failed to cover a presidential visit to the town of Wau, close to the Sudan border, last month. State information minister Derrick Alfred Uya told Reuters: "They were arrested simply because when the president arrived here in Wau on December 22, 2012, he gave a very, very important speech," New York...
A public speech by besieged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has, where he denounced his opponents as “puppets of the west”, has drawn immediate and widespread criticism, as fighting in Syria continues to rage on. In a defiant speech on Sunday, and the first public speech in six months, Assad told cheering supporters, "We are now in a state of war in every sense of the word…. This war targets Syria using a handful of Syrians and many foreigners. Thus, this is a war to defend the nation…. There are those who seek to partition Syria and weaken it. But Syria is stronger and will remain sovereign...
Protests by hundreds of opposition activists in Kuwait were broken up by security forces using stun grenades on Sunday. Stating that the protest was not licensed, security forces began to disperse crowds as soon as they gathered in small groups of 200-300, and were seen to be chasing protesters into side streets. According to a former MP, about 20 people were arrested. Meanwhile, the interior ministry spokesperson claimed that many "instigators of unrest" had been arrested.
The French arm of Basque nationalist party, Batasuna, announced the dissolution of the organisation on Thursday, putting an end to the movement long seen as the political wing of armed separatist group ETA. Announcing the dissolution of the organisation, spokesperson Maite Goyenetxe, reiterated that the resolve for an independent homeland was still present, stating “We affirm that we will achieve the project of building Euskal Herria (the Basque Country) only by political means, in the face of oppressive French and Spanish states.” Explaining the dissolution of the Batasuna, Goyenetxe...
The United Nations announced on Wednesday the death toll since the internal conflict instigated in March 2011 has left over 60,000 people killed in Syria. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said , “The number of causalities is much higher than we expected, and is truly shocking.” Navi Pillay condemned the international community and the U.N. for “fiddling around” while “Syria burns”. She has urged the international community to find a solution quickly if not “thousands more will die or suffer terrible injuries.” She has also acknowledged based on the evidence that...
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) today warned the M23 armed movement that anyone attacking UN helicopters would face prosecution as a war criminal. The warning from the UN Stabilising Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) comes after a UN press release noted that two utility helicopters had faced hostile fire from the M23 on boxing day. MONUSCO reiterated that any attack against peacekeepers would amount to war crimes. The peacekeeping mission vowed that “Those responsible for such acts will be prosecuted and brought to justice”
The Metropolitan police in the UK have charged a Nepalese army officer on two counts of torture committed during the country's civil war in 2005. The officer, Colonel Kumar Lama who is currently employed as an UN peace keeper in Sudan and visiting the UK was arrested on Thursday by Met police. Charged with intentionally "inflicting severe pain or suffering" whilst a public official on two separate individuals during April and May 2005 at the Gorusinghe Army Barracks in Nepal, Col Lama will face trial under a UK law that allows prosecution of alleged war criminals. He will appear before...
Ten police officers were injured on Thursday evening during further loyalists riots over the removal of the union flag at Belfast City Hall. The violence, centred mainly around East Belfast, broke out on Thursday at around 6.30pm by Albertbridge Road, Castlereagh Road and Mountpottinger Street. Commenting on the incident Assistant Chief Constable George Hamilton said: "It was initiated by the loyalist protesters and unfortunately for a number of weeks now we have been trying to facilitate lawful protest and we have been trying to do that in a proportionate and a graduated way." "This sort of...
Supporters of Fatah flocked to a mass rally held in Gaza in Friday, with the numbers reaching 'hundreds of thousands' according to a Fatah spokesperson. The rally was the first to have been held by Fatah in Gaza, since Hamas won elections there in 2007 and subsequently gained control of the territory. The move signalled closer relations between the two groups with Hamas stating the rally was a "celebration of national unity and a success for Hamas as well as Fatah... This positive atmosphere is a step on road to restoring national unity". In a speech broadcast from Ramallah, Abbas said, "Gaza...
Congolese rebels have threatened to walk away from this week’s peace talks following an increased presence of government troops in the east. The rebel, March 23 Movement(M23), affirmed that they would walk away unless the government agreed to sign an official ceasefire. Speaking to reporters the head of the rebel’s political wing, Jean-Marie Runiga, said, “If Kinshasa continues to refuse to sign a ceasefire, M23 is going to ask its delegation to return to the DRC” A government spokesman dismissed the rebel demand, stating, “There’s no point in a ceasefire. When did we declare war?" The first...