Two men convicted for their roles in the Rwandan genocide have been granted early release from their imprisonment in Mali by the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT).

The MICT was established in 2010 to handle assist both the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Leaders of Iraq and the semiautonomous region of Kurdistan warned that they were close to civil war, due to Exxon Mobil’s attempt to drill for oil, amidst negotiations between the two opposing armies. 

Commenting on the situation, a confidant of Iraqi Prime Minister, Sami Alaskary said,

Indonesian police have shot dead two members of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), a separatist group, campaigning for West Papuan independence.

Hubertus Mabel, 30, and Natalis Alua were killed, bringing the toal of KNPB members killed this year to 22.

A police post was later burnt down by unidentified men, which saw retaliation by police who attacked a house used as a tribal council and burnt it to the ground.

Syrian Vice-President Farouq al-Sharaa has told Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar that without a settlement, neither side can win the war in Syria.

See here for full interview on al-Akhbar.

Quotes from al-Sharaa reproduced below:

“The drop in the number of peaceful protesters led one way or another to the rise in militants,”

Egypt’s public prosecutor, appointed by President Mohamed Morsi, resigned from his post on Monday, in a move that was seen by Morsi’s opponents as a victory for the independence of the judiciary.

The public prosecutor, Talaat Ibrahim, stepped down after unrest among the judges, who described President Morsi’s decision to sack the former public prosecutor and appoint Ibrahim as an assault on the independence of the judiciary.

The French government has come under fire for being a haven for Rwandan genocide suspects after a controversial court ruling earlier this week.

A French court decided to grant residence to Agathe Habyarimana (also known as Agathe Kanziga), widow of former Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana, who is wanted in Rwanda under charges of genocide.

The decision by the  Versailles Court of Appeal followed a long legal battle that saw Kanziga arrested by French authorities and extradition requests by the Rwandan government turned down.

French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius said on Sunday that he believes Assad’s regime is on the brink of collapse and that the new opposition coalition must be supported to keep power out of the hands of extremists.

France was the first Western country to recognise the Syrian National Coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

Talking to RFI radio, Fabius said:

The Libyan government has closed its borders with its southern neighbours, over fears of an influx of illegal immigrants and goods.

A parliamentary decree declared that the southern regions of Ghadames, Ghat, Obari, Al-Shati, Sebha, Murzuq and Kufra would be "considered as closed military zones to be ruled under emergency law".

Since the overthrow of Colonel Gaddafi, the country’s southern regions have suffered from lawlessness.