Category Archives: Security

A Short History Of Boko Haram

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From: Abdalah Hamis

By Cheta Nwanze

This morning, members of the Boko Haram movement attacked a DSS detention facility close to the seat of power in Abuja. Who is Boko Haram, and how did they come to be?

Nigeria has a long history of communal conflicts, many of which were only suppressed under military rule. Despite the heavy handed tactics of the dictators, some of these conflicts came to the fore, the best example being the Maitatsine conflict which was eventually wiped out in the early 1990s .

A lot of these conflicts and the groups that aid them found more freedom after the return to civilian rule.

One of these groups is Jama’atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda’Awati Wal Jihad, which became the Boko Haram sect. This group started in and around Maiduguri in the early part of the last decade. Starting out as a radical group at the Ndimi Mosque in Maiduguri about 2002, they saw society, particularly the government of Mala Kachalla as irredeemably corrupt. So, in the middle of 2002, the group, under its founder, Mohammed Ali, embarked on a hijra to Kanama in Yobe state.

In Islam, a hijra is a journey from the bad world to go and be closer to God. The Prophet undertook one, from Mecca to Medina. Usman dan Fodio also undertook his own hijra, to Gudu, when Yunfa wanted to kill him. This should give us some context.

Back to topic, and this period at Kanama, is probably where they had their first foreign contact. While there, more members joined, some of these new members, the kids of influential Northerners, such as the son of Yobe’s governor at the time, Bukar Abba Ibrahim. Bukar Abba Ibrahim is now a senator, and his son’s involvement meant that the group was in a typically Nigerian style, more or less immune from punishment.

Towards the end of 2003, the group had a communal clash with the Kanama community over fishing rights which led to police involvement. In the crisis which followed, they defeated the police, which in turn led to the Army getting involved, and the group was defeated, the founder, Mohammed Ali, was killed, and the group “scattered”, a few of the survivors, including a chap called Shekau, went north to training camps in the Sahara desert.

The other survivors of the Battle of Kanama returned to Maiduguri and reintegrated into the Ndimi Mosque, where they were now led by Mohammed Yusuf, who started the process of starting a new mosque without molestation. The land on which the new mosque was built was donated by Baba Fugu Mohammed, Mohammed Yusuf’s father-in-law. Baba Fugu Mohammed, was an influential, but moderate figure, who while never a full member, was to be murdered by the group. His crime, was attempting to negotiate with former President Obasanjo after things got out of hand.

Between this time (early 2004, and 2009), Boko Haram was largely left alone, and grew as a movement. In that time, they started a farm, provided employment for their members, provided welfare for those members who could not work, gave training to those who could, in short, they provided an alternative to the government of the day, and this very viability attracted more members, and a lot of zakat donations from prominent members of the Northern elite.

The only incident which brought them to prominence was in 2007, when Sheikh Ja’afar Mahmoud Adam was murdered. Ja’afar had started criticising them, and predicted that someday, because of their extremist ideologies, they would clash with the government. It is generally believed that Mohammed Yusuf ordered his murder

For another two years after the Ja’afar assassination, they were left largely alone, growing, and attracting more followers. Then, in February 2009, the government of Ali Modu Sheriff banned riding bikes without the use of helmets. This seemingly innocuous event, is what led to the meltdown.

Five months later in July, a prominent member of Boko Haram died, and a large number of them were on the way to bury him. They were stopped by the police who quizzed them about their lack of helmets as the new law dictated. An argument began, and in the process, shots got fired. People on both sides got injured and things went out of hand. Boko Haram attacked in Bauchi, Borno and Yobe states, killing several policemen. In Maiduguri, they took over town, and controlled it for three days, doing what they pleased, until the army was called in to help. Eventually, the army regained control, and arrested a lot of Boko Haram members, including Mohammed Yusuf.

However, when Mohammed Yusuf was handed over to the police, he died. According to the police, “while trying to escape”. Boko Haram on their part, say that he was murdered extra-judicially, in cold blood.To be frank, there is evidence that Mohammed Yusuf’s arrest and an eventual trial would have exposed some prominent people. One of the Boko Haram members killed in that time was a former Borno state commissioner, Buji Foi, who was shot in the back by policemen. The video is available online till this day. Asides Yusuf and Foi, a large number of people were also killed in cold blood by the police.

After this, Abubakar Shekau, who had returned to Nigeria in the time being and had become Mohammed Yusuf’s right hand man relocated to Northern Cameroon. Shekau decided that there could be no negotiations with such a government, and set about reorganising the group. He adapted the Al-Qaeda model, and broke the group into cells which are largely independent of each other.

This is currently Boko Haram’s structure; a cellular structure, and no centralised command, and seemingly no unity of purpose. This “lack of unity” makes them particularly difficult to negotiate with, as you cannot tell who exactly represents the group. When someone attempts to negotiate on behalf of the group, think Baba Fugu Mohammed, he is quickly hunted down and killed. So, as things stand, the extremist elements within Boko Haram are the ones fully in control of the narrative.

Putin Address on Crimea Annexation

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From: Yona Maro

Address by President of the Russian Federation

March 18, 2014, 15:50 The Kremlin, Moscow

Vladimir Putin addressed State Duma deputies, Federation Council members, heads of Russian regions and civil society representatives in the Kremlin.

PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Federation Council members, State Duma deputies, good afternoon. Representatives of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol are here among us, citizens of Russia, residents of Crimea and Sevastopol!

Dear friends, we have gathered here today in connection with an issue that is of vital, historic significance to all of us. A referendum was held in Crimea on March 16 in full compliance with democratic procedures and international norms.

More than 82 percent of the electorate took part in the vote. Over 96 percent of them spoke out in favour of reuniting with Russia. These numbers speak for themselves.

To understand the reason behind such a choice it is enough to know the history of Crimea and what Russia and Crimea have always meant for each other.

Everything in Crimea speaks of our shared history and pride. This is the location of ancient Khersones, where Prince Vladimir was baptised. His spiritual feat of adopting Orthodoxy predetermined the overall basis of the culture, civilisation and human values that unite the peoples of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. The graves of Russian soldiers whose bravery brought Crimea into the Russian empire are also in Crimea. This is also Sevastopol – a legendary city with an outstanding history, a fortress that serves as the birthplace of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Crimea is Balaklava and Kerch, Malakhov Kurgan and Sapun Ridge. Each one of these places is dear to our hearts, symbolising Russian military glory and outstanding valour.

Crimea is a unique blend of different peoples’ cultures and traditions. This makes it similar to Russia as a whole, where not a single ethnic group has been lost over the centuries. Russians and Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars and people of other ethnic groups have lived side by side in Crimea, retaining their own identity, traditions, languages and faith.

Incidentally, the total population of the Crimean Peninsula today is 2.2 million people, of whom almost 1.5 million are Russians, 350,000 are Ukrainians who predominantly consider Russian their native language, and about 290,000-300,000 are Crimean Tatars, who, as the referendum has shown, also lean towards Russia.

True, there was a time when Crimean Tatars were treated unfairly, just as a number of other peoples in the USSR. There is only one thing I can say here: millions of people of various ethnicities suffered during those repressions, and primarily Russians.

Crimean Tatars returned to their homeland. I believe we should make all the necessary political and legislative decisions to finalise the rehabilitation of Crimean Tatars, restore them in their rights and clear their good name.

We have great respect for people of all the ethnic groups living in Crimea. This is their common home, their motherland, and it would be right – I know the local population supports this – for Crimea to have three equal national languages: Russian, Ukrainian and Tatar.

Colleagues,

In people’s hearts and minds, Crimea has always been an inseparable part of Russia. This firm conviction is based on truth and justice and was passed from generation to generation, over time, under any circumstances, despite all the dramatic changes our country went through during the entire 20th century.

After the revolution, the Bolsheviks, for a number of reasons – may God judge them – added large sections of the historical South of Russia to the Republic of Ukraine. This was done with no consideration for the ethnic make-up of the population, and today these areas form the southeast of Ukraine. Then, in 1954, a decision was made to transfer Crimean Region to Ukraine, along with Sevastopol, despite the fact that it was a city of union subordination. This was the personal initiative of the Communist Party head Nikita Khrushchev. What stood behind this decision of his – a desire to win the support of the Ukrainian political establishment or to atone for the mass repressions of the 1930’s in Ukraine – is for historians to figure out.

What matters now is that this decision was made in clear violation of the constitutional norms that were in place even then. The decision was made behind the scenes. Naturally, in a totalitarian state nobody bothered to ask the citizens of Crimea and Sevastopol. They were faced with the fact. People, of course, wondered why all of a sudden Crimea became part of Ukraine. But on the whole – and we must state this clearly, we all know it – this decision was treated as a formality of sorts because the territory was transferred within the boundaries of a single state. Back then, it was impossible to imagine that Ukraine and Russia may split up and become two separate states. However, this has happened.

Unfortunately, what seemed impossible became a reality. The USSR fell apart. Things developed so swiftly that few people realised how truly dramatic those events and their consequences would be. Many people both in Russia and in Ukraine, as well as in other republics hoped that the Commonwealth of Independent States that was created at the time would become the new common form of statehood. They were told that there would be a single currency, a single economic space, joint armed forces; however, all this remained empty promises, while the big country was gone. It was only when Crimea ended up as part of a different country that Russia realised that it was not simply robbed, it was plundered.

At the same time, we have to admit that by launching the sovereignty parade Russia itself aided in the collapse of the Soviet Union. And as this collapse was legalised, everyone forgot about Crimea and Sevastopol ­– the main base of the Black Sea Fleet. Millions of people went to bed in one country and awoke in different ones, overnight becoming ethnic minorities in former Union republics, while the Russian nation became one of the biggest, if not the biggest ethnic group in the world to be divided by borders.

Now, many years later, I heard residents of Crimea say that back in 1991 they were handed over like a sack of potatoes. This is hard to disagree with. And what about the Russian state? What about Russia? It humbly accepted the situation. This country was going through such hard times then that realistically it was incapable of protecting its interests. However, the people could not reconcile themselves to this outrageous historical injustice. All these years, citizens and many public figures came back to this issue, saying that Crimea is historically Russian land and Sevastopol is a Russian city. Yes, we all knew this in our hearts and minds, but we had to proceed from the existing reality and build our good-neighbourly relations with independent Ukraine on a new basis. Meanwhile, our relations with Ukraine, with the fraternal Ukrainian people have always been and will remain of foremost importance for us. (Applause)

Today we can speak about it openly, and I would like to share with you some details of the negotiations that took place in the early 2000s. The then President of Ukraine Mr Kuchma asked me to expedite the process of delimiting the Russian-Ukrainian border. At that time, the process was practically at a standstill. Russia seemed to have recognised Crimea as part of Ukraine, but there were no negotiations on delimiting the borders. Despite the complexity of the situation, I immediately issued instructions to Russian government agencies to speed up their work to document the borders, so that everyone had a clear understanding that by agreeing to delimit the border we admitted de facto and de jure that Crimea was Ukrainian territory, thereby closing the issue.

We accommodated Ukraine not only regarding Crimea, but also on such a complicated matter as the maritime boundary in the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait. What we proceeded from back then was that good relations with Ukraine matter most for us and they should not fall hostage to deadlock territorial disputes. However, we expected Ukraine to remain our good neighbour, we hoped that Russian citizens and Russian speakers in Ukraine, especially its southeast and Crimea, would live in a friendly, democratic and civilised state that would protect their rights in line with the norms of international law.

However, this is not how the situation developed. Time and time again attempts were made to deprive Russians of their historical memory, even of their language and to subject them to forced assimilation. Moreover, Russians, just as other citizens of Ukraine are suffering from the constant political and state crisis that has been rocking the country for over 20 years.

I understand why Ukrainian people wanted change. They have had enough of the authorities in power during the years of Ukraine’s independence. Presidents, prime ministers and parliamentarians changed, but their attitude to the country and its people remained the same. They milked the country, fought among themselves for power, assets and cash flows and did not care much about the ordinary people. They did not wonder why it was that millions of Ukrainian citizens saw no prospects at home and went to other countries to work as day labourers. I would like to stress this: it was not some Silicon Valley they fled to, but to become day labourers. Last year alone almost 3 million people found such jobs in Russia. According to some sources, in 2013 their earnings in Russia totalled over $20 billion, which is about 12% of Ukraine’s GDP.

I would like to reiterate that I understand those who came out on Maidan with peaceful slogans against corruption, inefficient state management and poverty. The right to peaceful protest, democratic procedures and elections exist for the sole purpose of replacing the authorities that do not satisfy the people. However, those who stood behind the latest events in Ukraine had a different agenda: they were preparing yet another government takeover; they wanted to seize power and would stop short of nothing. They resorted to terror, murder and riots. Nationalists, neo-Nazis, Russophobes and anti-Semites executed this coup. They continue to set the tone in Ukraine to this day.

The new so-called authorities began by introducing a draft law to revise the language policy, which was a direct infringement on the rights of ethnic minorities. However, they were immediately ‘disciplined’ by the foreign sponsors of these so-called politicians. One has to admit that the mentors of these current authorities are smart and know well what such attempts to build a purely Ukrainian state may lead to. The draft law was set aside, but clearly reserved for the future. Hardly any mention is made of this attempt now, probably on the presumption that people have a short memory. Nevertheless, we can all clearly see the intentions of these ideological heirs of Bandera, Hitler’s accomplice during World War II.

It is also obvious that there is no legitimate executive authority in Ukraine now, nobody to talk to. Many government agencies have been taken over by the impostors, but they do not have any control in the country, while they themselves – and I would like to stress this – are often controlled by radicals. In some cases, you need a special permit from the militants on Maidan to meet with certain ministers of the current government. This is not a joke – this is reality.

Those who opposed the coup were immediately threatened with repression. Naturally, the first in line here was Crimea, the Russian-speaking Crimea. In view of this, the residents of Crimea and Sevastopol turned to Russia for help in defending their rights and lives, in preventing the events that were unfolding and are still underway in Kiev, Donetsk, Kharkov and other Ukrainian cities.

Naturally, we could not leave this plea unheeded; we could not abandon Crimea and its residents in distress. This would have been betrayal on our part.

First, we had to help create conditions so that the residents of Crimea for the first time in history were able to peacefully express their free will regarding their own future. However, what do we hear from our colleagues in Western Europe and North America? They say we are violating norms of international law. Firstly, it’s a good thing that they at least remember that there exists such a thing as international law – better late than never.

Secondly, and most importantly – what exactly are we violating? True, the President of the Russian Federation received permission from the Upper House of Parliament to use the Armed Forces in Ukraine. However, strictly speaking, nobody has acted on this permission yet. Russia’s Armed Forces never entered Crimea; they were there already in line with an international agreement. True, we did enhance our forces there; however – this is something I would like everyone to hear and know – we did not exceed the personnel limit of our Armed Forces in Crimea, which is set at 25,000, because there was no need to do so.

Next. As it declared independence and decided to hold a referendum, the Supreme Council of Crimea referred to the United Nations Charter, which speaks of the right of nations to self-determination. Incidentally, I would like to remind you that when Ukraine seceded from the USSR it did exactly the same thing, almost word for word. Ukraine used this right, yet the residents of Crimea are denied it. Why is that?

Moreover, the Crimean authorities referred to the well-known Kosovo precedent – a precedent our western colleagues created with their own hands in a very similar situation, when they agreed that the unilateral separation of Kosovo from Serbia, exactly what Crimea is doing now, was legitimate and did not require any permission from the country’s central authorities. Pursuant to Article 2, Chapter 1 of the United Nations Charter, the UN International Court agreed with this approach and made the following comment in its ruling of July 22, 2010, and I quote: “No general prohibition may be inferred from the practice of the Security Council with regard to declarations of independence,” and “General international law contains no prohibition on declarations of independence.” Crystal clear, as they say.

I do not like to resort to quotes, but in this case, I cannot help it. Here is a quote from another official document: the Written Statement of the United States America of April 17, 2009, submitted to the same UN International Court in connection with the hearings on Kosovo. Again, I quote: “Declarations of independence may, and often do, violate domestic legislation. However, this does not make them violations of international law.” End of quote. They wrote this, disseminated it all over the world, had everyone agree and now they are outraged. Over what? The actions of Crimean people completely fit in with these instructions, as it were. For some reason, things that Kosovo Albanians (and we have full respect for them) were permitted to do, Russians, Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars in Crimea are not allowed. Again, one wonders why.

We keep hearing from the United States and Western Europe that Kosovo is some special case. What makes it so special in the eyes of our colleagues? It turns out that it is the fact that the conflict in Kosovo resulted in so many human casualties. Is this a legal argument? The ruling of the International Court says nothing about this. This is not even double standards; this is amazing, primitive, blunt cynicism. One should not try so crudely to make everything suit their interests, calling the same thing white today and black tomorrow. According to this logic, we have to make sure every conflict leads to human losses.

I will state clearly – if the Crimean local self-defence units had not taken the situation under control, there could have been casualties as well. Fortunately this did not happen. There was not a single armed confrontation in Crimea and no casualties. Why do you think this was so? The answer is simple: because it is very difficult, practically impossible to fight against the will of the people. Here I would like to thank the Ukrainian military – and this is 22,000 fully armed servicemen. I would like to thank those Ukrainian service members who refrained from bloodshed and did not smear their uniforms in blood.

Other thoughts come to mind in this connection. They keep talking of some Russian intervention in Crimea, some sort of aggression. This is strange to hear. I cannot recall a single case in history of an intervention without a single shot being fired and with no human casualties.

Colleagues,

Like a mirror, the situation in Ukraine reflects what is going on and what has been happening in the world over the past several decades. After the dissolution of bipolarity on the planet, we no longer have stability. Key international institutions are not getting any stronger; on the contrary, in many cases, they are sadly degrading. Our western partners, led by the United States of America, prefer not to be guided by international law in their practical policies, but by the rule of the gun. They have come to believe in their exclusivity and exceptionalism, that they can decide the destinies of the world, that only they can ever be right. They act as they please: here and there, they use force against sovereign states, building coalitions based on the principle “If you are not with us, you are against us.” To make this aggression look legitimate, they force the necessary resolutions from international organisations, and if for some reason this does not work, they simply ignore the UN Security Council and the UN overall.

This happened in Yugoslavia; we remember 1999 very well. It was hard to believe, even seeing it with my own eyes, that at the end of the 20th century, one of Europe’s capitals, Belgrade, was under missile attack for several weeks, and then came the real intervention. Was there a UN Security Council resolution on this matter, allowing for these actions? Nothing of the sort. And then, they hit Afghanistan, Iraq, and frankly violated the UN Security Council resolution on Libya, when instead of imposing the so-called no-fly zone over it they started bombing it too.

There was a whole series of controlled “colour” revolutions. Clearly, the people in those nations, where these events took place, were sick of tyranny and poverty, of their lack of prospects; but these feelings were taken advantage of cynically. Standards were imposed on these nations that did not in any way correspond to their way of life, traditions, or these peoples’ cultures. As a result, instead of democracy and freedom, there was chaos, outbreaks in violence and a series of upheavals. The Arab Spring turned into the Arab Winter.

A similar situation unfolded in Ukraine. In 2004, to push the necessary candidate through at the presidential elections, they thought up some sort of third round that was not stipulated by the law. It was absurd and a mockery of the constitution. And now, they have thrown in an organised and well-equipped army of militants.

We understand what is happening; we understand that these actions were aimed against Ukraine and Russia and against Eurasian integration. And all this while Russia strived to engage in dialogue with our colleagues in the West. We are constantly proposing cooperation on all key issues; we want to strengthen our level of trust and for our relations to be equal, open and fair. But we saw no reciprocal steps.
Agreement on the accession of the Republic of Crimea to the Russian Federation signed

March 18, 2014, 16:00 The Kremlin, Moscow

The Agreement between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Crimea on the Accession of the Republic of Crimea in the Russian Federation and on Forming New Constituent Entities within the Russian Federation was signed in the Kremlin on March 18, 2014.

The document bears the signatures of President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, Chairman of the State Council of the Republic of Crimea Vladimir Konstantinov, Prime Minister of the Republic of Crimea Sergei Aksyonov and Chairman of the Coordinating Council for the establishment of the Sevastopol municipal administration Alexei Chaly.

* * *

The agreement is based on the free and voluntary expression of will by the peoples of Crimea at a nationwide referendum, held in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol on March 16, 2014, during which the people of Crimea made the decision to reunite with Russia.

The Republic of Crimea is considered to have acceded to the Russian Federation from the date of the Agreement’s signing. Beginning on the day that the Republic of Crimea accedes to the Russian Federation, two new constituent entities are formed within the Russian Federation: the Republic of Crimea and the Federal City of Sevastopol.

The text of the Agreement includes a preamble and ten articles that outline the provisions concerning the accession of the Republic of Crimea to the Russian Federation and the formation of new constituent entities within the Russian Federation, including provisions regarding the territories of the new Russian constituent entities, their residents’ citizenship, and the constituent entities’ government bodies.

In accordance with the Agreement, from the day that the Republic of Crimea accedes to the Russian Federation and new constituent entities are formed and until January 1, 2015, a transitional period is in effect for settling issues of integrating the new federal constituent entities into Russia’s economic, financial, credit and legal systems, Russia’s system of government agencies, and matters of fulfilling military responsibilities and military service on the territories of the Republic of Crimea and the Federal City of Sevastopol.

Legislative and other regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation are in effect on the territories of the Republic of Crimea and the Federal City of Sevastopol from the day of the Republic of Crimea’s accession to the Russian Federation and the formation of new federal constituent entities within Russia, unless otherwise specified by Russian legislation.

Regulatory legal acts in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, a city with a special status, shall be in effect on the territories corresponding to the Republic of Crimea and the Federal City of Sevastopol until the end of the transitional period or the adoption of a corresponding regulatory legal act by the Russian Federation and/or a regulatory legal act by the Republic of Crimea, a regulatory legal act by the Russian Federation and/or a regulatory legal act by the Federal City of Sevastopol.

Regulatory legal acts of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, the Republic of Crimea and the Federal City of Sevastopol that contradict the Constitution of the Russian Federation shall not be executed.

The Agreement is subject to ratification on the basis of Article 15 of the Federal Law On International Agreements of the Russian Federation and in accordance with Article 10 of the Agreement.

—
Yona Fares Maro
Institut d’études de sécurité – SA

MH370: 10 questions that are still unresolved

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From: Yona Fares Maro

As the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 continues in the southern Indian Ocean, some key questions remain unanswered.

Here are 10 questions about what happened to the Boeing 777 that disappeared after leaving Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing on 8 March, with 239 people on board.

1. Why did the plane make a sharp left turn?

Military radar logs show flight MH370 turned unexpectedly west when it diverted from its planned flight path, by which time the plane’s transponder had already been switched off, and its last ACARS datalink transmission sent.

Sudden turns like this are “extremely rare”, according to Dr Guy Gratton of Brunel University’s Flight Safety Lab. He says the only real reason pilots are likely to make such a manoeuvre is if there’s a serious problem on the plane which makes them decide to divert to a different destination, to get the aircraft on the ground.

That could be a fire or sudden decompression, according to David Barry, an expert on flight data monitoring at Cranfield University.

Malicious intent – by a pilot or intruder – is another possibility.

But unless the “black box” flight recorders are found, whatever happened in the cockpit at that moment will remain in the realms of speculation.

2. Is it reasonable to speculate that a pilot could have intended to kill himself?

There has been much speculation in the media that suicide might have been behind the loss of the plane.

It wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened. The crashes of Egypt Air flight 990 in 1999 and Silk Air flight 185 in 1997 are both thought to have been caused deliberately by a pilot, though the view has been contested. The Aviation Safety Network says there have been eight plane crashes linked to pilot suicide since 1976.

So far, no evidence has been released from searches of the homes of Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah and his co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid that back up any similar explanation for MH370. There has been speculation that Shah may have been upset after breaking up with his wife, but there is so far no reliable source for his state of mind. It’s been reported police are still examining a flight simulator found in the captain’s home.

Barry says the apparent turning off of certain systems might give weight to the theory, but “pilot suicide is a theory like any other”. Gratton agrees. “There simply isn’t any evidence to prove or disprove it,” he says.

3. Is a hijack scenario even possible?

Airliners have been fitted with strengthened flight deck doors – intended to prevent intruders from taking control – since 9/11. David Learmount, safety editor at Flight International magazine, says they are “bulletproof” and “couldn’t be penetrated with an axe”.

Sylvia Wrigley, light aircraft pilot and author of Why Planes Crash, agrees it’s unlikely anyone would be able to force their way in. “Even if the door was being broken down, they wouldn’t be able to get in before there’d been a mayday call, unless the pilots were incapacitated,” she says.

However, one former pilot, who did not wish to be named, has suggested there is theoretically a way to disable the lock and get into the flight deck.

But in any case, however secure the door, there are times when the door is open – when a member of the crew either visits the toilet or has to check on something in the cabin. It’s always been pointed out that it would be possible to rush the cockpit when this is the case. Some airlines, including Israel’s El Al, have double doors to guard against this scenario. Gratton says there’s a procedure which requires a member of the cabin crew to guard the door when it’s opened.

But even in the event of hijackers rushing the cockpit, it would be easy for either crew member to send a distress signal.

The security of the cockpit door offers protection against intruders, but it also prevents action being taken if something does go wrong. Last month the co-pilot of an Ethiopian Airlines flight waited for the pilot to go to the toilet before hijacking the aircraft and flying it to Switzerland.

There’s also the possibility that a pilot invited a passenger in. Photographs have emerged of the co-pilot of MH370 entertaining teenage tourists in an aircraft cockpit during a previous flight.

Boeing said it would be inappropriate to comment on an ongoing investigation.

4. Is there an accidental scenario that stands up to scrutiny?

So far most theories have been based on the assumption that the communications systems and the plane’s transponder were deliberately disabled, a view endorsed by Malaysian officials.

However, Wrigley believes it’s possible a sequence of events may have taken the plane so far off course by accident. “Something could have gone wrong in stages. A fire could have taken out part of the plane, or led to some systems failing, but left the plane intact. Then there could have been decompression – not an explosive decompression, but a gradual one,” she says.

Wrigley cites the Helios Airways flight 522 which crashed into a mountain in Greece in 2005 after a loss of cabin pressure and lack of oxygen incapacitated the crew, but left the plane flying on autopilot, as an example. “I’m not saying it’s a likely scenario, but it’s not impossible,” she says.

Pilots have pointed out that one of the very first actions in many emergency drills is to send a message to air traffic control or some other form of signal. For a purely accidental scenario to make sense, whatever initial event took place must have simultaneously knocked out all regular means to communicate with the ground.

5. Why was no action taken when the plane’s transponder signal went off?

MH370’s transponder – which communicates with ground radar – was shut down as the aircraft crossed from Malaysian air traffic control into Vietnamese airspace over the South China Sea.

If a plane disappeared in Europe, Barry says someone in air traffic control would have noticed and raised the alarm pretty quickly. Gratton agrees. “In Europe handover is extremely slick.

“At the very least I’d expect air traffic controllers to try and contact a nearby aircraft to try and establish direct contact. Pilots frequently use TCAS [traffic collision avoidance system], which detects transponders of other aircraft to ensure they aren’t too close to each other,” he adds.

However Steve Buzdygan, a former BA 777 pilot, says that from memory, there’s a gap or “dead spot” of about 10 minutes in the VHF transmission before the plane would have crossed into Vietnamese airspace.

Learmount says it’s also perfectly feasible that nobody on the ground noticed the plane’s disappearance. “Malaysian air traffic control had probably handed it over to the Vietnamese and forgotten about it. There could have been a five-minute delay before anyone noticed the plane hadn’t arrived – a gap in which nobody pressed the alarm button,” he says.

Even if air traffic control did notice the plane was amiss, they wouldn’t necessarily have made it public, he adds.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam says the plane failed to check in as scheduled at 0121 with air traffic control in Ho Chi Minh City. However, an unnamed pilot flying a 777 heading for Japan says he briefly established contact with MH370 minutes after he was asked to do so by Vietnamese air traffic control.

6. Why isn’t it easier to track missing planes by military satellite?

The search effort on seas some 2,500km (1,500 miles) to the south-west of the Australian city of Perth has relied on images provided by commercial satellite companies.

Dan Schnurr, chief technology officer at Geospatial Insight, says there are 20 known satellites that have a resolution capable of obtaining these images in the “vast tracts of the ocean passing over the poles”. Of those, probably about 10 of them capture images on a daily basis.

The images are beamed down from the satellites in very near real time, and are probably on the ground within two or three hours of image capture, he says. The delay in detecting valuable images is down to the time it takes to analyse the large volume of imagery.

There are also satellite sources owned by the military and government, but these have not been prominent in the search. This has led to some speculation that the fate of the plane was known about earlier in the search, but not revealed.

Laurence Gonzales, author of flight 232: A Story of Disaster and Survival, says some nations are bound to have more sophisticated surveillance systems than they are letting on. “A very small, fast ballistic missile can be picked up easily, so how can they lose a big, slow-moving object like a jumbo jet? It tells me somewhere in the angles of power in the world someone knows where the plane is but doesn’t want to talk about it, probably for reasons of national security because they don’t want to reveal the sophistication of the material they have… that their satellite technology is so good it can read a label on a golf ball,” he says.

But Gratton says military satellites looking for ballistic missiles probably wouldn’t have thrown up much useful data because they wouldn’t have been calibrated to pick up aircraft of this size.

“This aircraft was seven miles up and travelled at three-quarters of the speed of sound. Ballistic missiles go up to four or five times the speed of sound, and 30 to 50 miles up – they have very different profiles,” he says.

7. Did the plane glide into the sea or plunge after running out of fuel?

The MH370’s final moments seem to depend on whether the plane was still being flown by a pilot.

“If it was under control, the plane was capable of being glided. The Airbus that went into the New York’s Hudson River lost both engines – which is an identical outcome to running out of fuel – and the pilot managed to land on the water,” Gratton says.

Barry agrees there could have been a gentle descent. “Aircraft of this size will normally fly or glide over 50 miles before they hit the sea if they run out of fuel,” he says. However, if no-one was at the controls, he says the descent could have been “pretty severe”.

8. Would the passengers have known something was wrong?

If a major malfunction had not occurred, it is unclear whether passengers would have known anything was awry, especially if there were no obvious signs of a struggle onboard. Joe Pappalardo, senior editor at Popular Mechanics magazine, says in most scenarios where a plane flies off course for hours, passengers can remain oblivious. At 01:00, many would probably have been asleep. In the morning, the astute might have worked out the Sun was in the wrong position.
Malaysian authorities have said the plane rose to 45,000ft, before falling to 23,000ft, after it changed course. If that’s the case, passengers might have felt the loss of altitude, according to Pappalardo.

However one theory is that the plane’s apparent climb could have been designed to induce hypoxia – oxygen deprivation – which could have knocked people unconscious and even killed them.

Wrigley thinks it could have played out in one of two ways. “In the horror story version passengers would have realised something was wrong as the plane climbed – and a decompression event would have led to oxygen masks coming down, and an awareness that oxygen was limited. A better scenario is they didn’t know anything had happened until impact,” she says.

9. Why didn’t passengers use their mobile phones?

One commonly asked question is why, if it had been obvious something was wrong, passengers wouldn’t have used mobile phones to call relatives and raise the alarm. This seems especially puzzling in light of the example of United flight 93, where passengers communicated with people on the ground after the plane was hijacked during 9/11.

It’s been stated that it’s extremely unlikely that anyone could get mobile signal on an airliner at 30,000ft. Barry agrees the chances of a mobile phone working on the plane were “virtually impossible”. “It can be hard to get a signal on a remote road, let alone seven miles up, away from mobile phone masts, travelling at 500mph,” he says.

10. Why can’t planes be set up to give full real-time data to a satellite?

Arguably the most baffling thing to a layperson about the disappearance of MH370 is how it is even possible for a plane of this size to disappear so easily. In an era when people are used to being able to track a stolen smartphone, it’s perplexing that switching off a couple of systems can apparently allow an airliner to vanish.

Barry says the technology exists to allow planes to give off full real-time data. The problem is planes are “snapshots in time from when they are designed”.

“We’re doing research into devices that will allow aircraft to start transmitting information by satellite when something unusual like a fire or decompression happens, but it’s hard to fit things into a plane retrospectively.

“The 777 went into service in the early 90s… the technology is of that era,” he says.

However, Gratton says ACARS would have done the job if it hadn’t been turned off. A more complex satellite system would also be open to that risk, he argues, unless the industry wanted to go with a system that couldn’t be manually switched off, and that would come with other risks.

“It’s not a particularly easy question. Is the bigger risk an aircraft going missing, or electronics overheating? Both situations can’t be met,” he says.

– See more at
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US State Dpt., Press Releases: U.S. Concern about Sharp Escalation of Violence and Insecurity in Darfur

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From: U.S. Department of State
03/26/2014 02:19 PM EDT
Press Statement
Marie Harf
Deputy Department Spokesperson, Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
March 26, 2014

We are deeply concerned by the sharp escalation in violence and insecurity in Darfur resulting from actions committed by Sudanese Government forces, government-sponsored militias, and Darfuri armed movements.

On March 22, 300 unidentified, heavily armed men reportedly attacked the Khor Abeche Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp, and between March 15 and 17, the Sudanese Government-supported Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacked sixteen villages in North and South Darfur kidnapping and killing civilians. Additionally, we are disturbed by reports that on March 18, the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) bombed several villages in East Jebel Marra, which resulted in a number of civilian casualties and the displacement of over 15,000 civilians. Equally alarming are reports of several incidents involving elements of Justice and Equality Movement, the Sudan Liberation Movement/ Minni Minawi faction and the Sudan Liberation Movement/ Abdul Wahid faction, which resulted in heavy civilian casualties in North Darfur.

The United States strongly condemns these attacks. We urge all parties to immediately halt attacks against civilians, and further call upon the Government of Sudan to prevent further violence, particularly the indiscriminate attacks committed by government-sponsored militias, such as the RSF, and to cease its own campaign of aerial bombardments.

We also reiterate our call for the Government of Sudan to immediately allow full and unfettered humanitarian access to affected populations who are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance and to cease obstructing the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) as it works to carry out its mandate to protect civilians and facilitate humanitarian access.

Violence and insecurity in Darfur so far this year have displaced an estimated 215,000 civilians. We urge the Government of Sudan and armed movements to begin an inclusive and comprehensive political dialogue to bring peace to Sudan and to reestablish the rule of law.

The Office of Website Management, Bureau of Public Affairs, manages this site as a portal for information from the U.S. State Department.
External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views or privacy policies contained therein.

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KENYA: WAR WITH RADICAL ISLAMISTS UHURU WILL NEVER WIN

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From: joachim omolo ouko
News Dispatch with Father Omolo Beste
TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 2014

I laughed when I heard President Uhuru Kenya giving Kenyans hope that his government will take decisive action against all those engaging in terror activities at the Coast, saying criminals would not be allowed to hide under the umbrella of religion to harm Kenyans.

Definitely this is the war Uhuru will never win. This is because radical Islam is not merely an extreme version of Islam but a cultural-social ideology dominating all aspects of life. They are ready to die when defending what they think it is their rights.

Like many violent totalitarian movements, radical Islamists’ primary objective is to dominate all those within its reach and suppress all other ideologies, movements, and beliefs in its path, Christianity included. In short, radical Islam is dedicated to the conquest of the world, by any means possible.

Community leaders on Kenya’s coast have already warned that Islamic extremism is not only on the rise, but also a threat to peace and stability in the region. Killing Christians and burning their churches is to send a signal to the government that the truth about the killing of a Muslim cleric, Sheikh Aboud Rogo Mohammed must be found and justice must be done to the Muslim communities at the Coast.

Radical Islamists believe that the Government of Kenya collaborated with US FBI to kill the cleric. A gunman – or gunmen – shot him dead at close range in August. Mr Rogo’s wife was in the car with him. She was injured, but survived.

What irritates the radical Islamists and the entire Muslim communities at the Coast is the manner in which the outspoken cleric was killed. They killed him as an animal, not as a human being, they argue.

It explains why the training and terror attacks are done at the Masjid Musa, the mosque where Mr Rogo used to preach. Aboud Rogo was killed shortly he had urged his followers to take up arms against Kenyan government forces fighting in Somalia.

His name appeared on a US and UN sanctions list, accused of providing “financial, material, logistical or technical support to al-Shabab”, the Somali militant group aligned to al-Qaeda. No-one has admitted to killing the cleric, but many in Mombasa Muslim communities believe he was assassinated at the behest of the Kenyan government.

Radical Islam draws on widely accepted Islamic religious philosophy and customs. The movement also draws heavily on dangerous ideas that negate basic human rights and freedoms of expression.

Terrorism is only one of the tactics used by radicals, with new tactics arising everyday. Some are more subtle such as the use of textbooks, while others are outright violent, such as terrorizing those who embrace freedom of speech.

Radical Islam’s kinship with terrorism, and its willingness to use violence as a means to its ultimate ends, is clearly spelled out in a training manual produced by the radical Islamist terror group al Qaeda, whose operatives carried out the 9/11 attacks in USA.

Radical Islamists tend to gravitate toward three major methods of achieving their ultimate objective. The first is to fight the Near Enemy prior to fighting the Far Enemy. The Near Enemy is anyone inside Islamic lands, whether it is an occupier or someone who has taken away territory that used to be Islamic. It explains why they attack Christians.

The second method is to fight the Greater Unbelief—the major enemy, which today is the United States—before the Lesser Unbelief. And the third method is to fight the Apostates (false Muslims) first, and then the other Unbelievers.

The Sunday Christians attack at the Coast came as the United Nations issued an alert of increased threat of attacks from the Shabaab. The security and intelligence never took this warning seriously otherwise the killing would have been prevented.

This is not the first time Uhuru has given the warning. He gave similar warning six months ago after the terrorists attacked Westgate mall.

Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail obolobeste@gmail.com

Omolo_ouko@outlook.com
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The Creation of Another Iraq, Afghanistan or Somalia

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From: South Sudan Press
Press Release

March 22, 2014 (SSNA) — The SPLM/SPLA Youth League would like to register their voices and unwavering support to the leadership of the SPLM/SPLA particularly on their stand toward achieving a meaningful peace and security in our nation. We also applaud our leadership on being open minded, courageous and stand firm on the principle of inclusivly since, it’s our believe that this crises cannot be resolved without the participation of all the people of South Sudan regardless of their tribes or political affiliation. However, we would like to bring to the attention of the SPLM/SPLA Leadership the following areas of concern, which we demand immediate examination and intervention from both the IGAD and its Partners.

1. Creation of parallel forces to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan by the IGAD and its Partners: we condemn this in the strongest terms possible and we want say that as Youth of this beloved nation we are not ready and we will never and ever be ready seeing another Iraq, Afghanistan or Somalia being created at our watch. The so-Call ‘Stabilisation Force’ or ‘Deterrence force’ carry no meaning and it doesn’t help South Sudan whatever the reasons may be but just a clear plan to colonize our people and loot our nation under the claim of the protection of civilian and vital infrastructure because of the following reasons.

First, inclusive of the IGAD stabilization force, there will be seven (7) different forces in South Sudan namely:-
1. SPLM/SPLA Forces
2. Salva Kiir Forces
3. Musseveni UPDF
4. JEM Sudan rebel group
5. SPLM North Sudan rebel group
6. UNMISS Forces

Secondly, the IGAD head of States praised the role of Uganda in protecting the vital infra-structures in South Sudan when we actually know weapons (Cluster bombs) that is prohibited under the International Humanitarian law was used by UPDF in Jonglei State.

Thirdly, the creation of the said parallel force shall undermined the UNMISS roles and it shall be in conflict with resolution of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to deploy additional 5,500 forces. If it’s true that the intention behind the creation of such force is to protect civilians than expand the mandates of the UNMISS so as to cover the intention or move a motion in the UNSC to deem UNMISS irrelevant and get them out of South Sudan before the deployment of the said force.

Fourthly, if the IGAD still claim to have taken this resolution in a good faith and they cannot reverse it than the SPLM/SPLA Youth League shall have to believe that the participation of the Countries within IGAD shall result into regionalization of the conflict and therefore we purpose to both IGAD and its Partners to only deploy troops from Western part of Africa and Southern part of Africa and if at all they cannot move out of IGAD Countries and they cannot listen to the voice of reality because the intention is to declare war on our people like they did when they permitted Uganda to go and fight long side Salva Kiir and use cluster bomb on the civilians target than it should only be Ethiopia and Sudan to be deploy but not any other Country.

2. Political Detainees: The IGAD turned around and violated a document signed under their mediation. The release and the participations of the eleven (11) political detainees is clearly mentioned and defined by the Status of the political detainees signed on the 23rd of January 2014. We still believe that Kangaroo Court in Juba wouldn’t produce any meaningful solution to the conflict instead will make it worst.

Inclusion, we want to be clear and very clear to the whole world and to the IGAD AND its Partners that our motive and objective is that we are fighting for a Free, Just and Prosperous South Sudan where the principle of Equality is embraced. A nation where Lado, Gatluak, Deng, Gwado, John, and Mohamed can sit side by side on a table of brotherhood.

A nation where its resources shall belong to the people of South Sudan not ABMC as it’s the case at moment. Because of all these reasons we want to say let no man blaspheme the cause that the dead generation of South Sudan served by giving it any other name and definition than their name and their definition. For all these reasons, we pledge to South Sudan our sincere love, and we pledge to the dictatorship in Juba our hate and disappointment and therefore we shall never and ever choice the path of submission and suffer the most sacred right of our nation and our people to be violated or ignored by any external or internal force.

Cde. Puot Kang Chol

The Representative of the SPLM/SPLA Youth League, under the leadership of Dr. Riek Machar Teny

The Buzuruga Muslim – Sungusungu Conflict of 1983

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From: Abdalah Hamis

By Mohamed Said

The Buzuruga Muslim – Sungusungu Conflict of 1983 [1]

In 1983 the government and BAKWATA found itself facing a crisis which vibrated even beyond its borders. A few miles from Mwanza, a town on the shore of Lake Victoria there is a small village, Buzuruga which had a small mosque of which its imam was one Sheikh Daud. The village had its fair share of Muslims, Christians and animists. Buzuruga was to participate in the installation of its traditional headman, the leader of a local tribal militia known as the sungusungu. The ceremony entailed congregation of all the people including men and women standing on an open ground with women leaving their top parts bare. People were to stand like this early morning before sunrise in order to watch the sun rising from the east and supplicate to it. This was a pagan initiation ceremony and no Muslim could participate. The CCM Chairman one Masabo Kabambo in a rally on 8 th August declared that no one was to be spared in the ceremony, Muslims must participate like all other citizens.

The sungusungu a Sukuma tradition long forgotten was revived as a peoples’ militia when it was realised the police force could no longer be trusted to maintain peace and order due to several reasons, one of them being corruption in the police force. Under the authoritarian regime of Nyerere, sungusungu had a political stance and was given a force of law. This force of law conferred to an untrained force under arms, although primitive, created apathy. Muslims refused to participate in those celebrations held on 17 August for the simple reason that the festivity was un-Islamic. The Muslim stand enraged sungusungu and in its fury sungusungu conducted a house to house search and went Sheikh Daud’s house and roughed[2] him up ridiculing Islam, and in the process intentionally defaced the Holy Qur’an. Sheikh Daud was punished with 115 lashes for his insolence. Muslims were rounded up as they were going for salat fajr and forcefully matched to the grounds to participate in the celebrations. Other Muslims including w
omen were dragged from their homes and taken to the grounds. Men were forced to strip and women to take off their hijab. Muslims who resisted were manhandled and humiliated. The following day when Muslims in Mwanza alerted the Muslim umma in Tanzania of what had taken place in Buzuruga Muslims were appaled.

Muslim activists in Mwanza sent a detailed report to Warsha in Dar es Salaam. In return Warsha through its members in the executive of the Dar es Salaam University Muslim Student Association (MSAUD) dispatched an emissary to Mwanza one Mohamed Lulengelule to have on the spot assessment of the situation. The emissary interviewed Sheikh Daud. BAKWATA were hesitant to issue a statement to condemn the defilement of the Qur’an because sungusungu was taken as a state institution. BAKWATA was waiting for direction from the government on how to act and what to say. Meanwhile Muslims throughout the country were calling for Muslims to raise up in jihad against the government and BAKWATA.

When eventually BAKWATA sent the Grand Sheikh, Sheikh Hemed bin Juma to Mwanza it was too late. Muslims had taken full control of the problem. BAKWATA had come to close the stable door after the horse had bolted. And when BAKWATA through the Grand Sheikh using the state-radio gave their own version of the crisis Sheikh Hemed bin Juma said that it was not the Holy Qur’an which was defaced but Yasin and there was no reason for Muslims to raise up in arms. It was better if BAKWATA had remained silent. Muslims were by that gesture made to see BAKWATA for what it was- a hypocrite, puppet organisation on the government payroll. In the articles which Warsha and other Muslim organisations wrote and distributed to Muslims BAKWATA and the government were treated as one. While BAKWATA went down on the estimation of Muslims, Warsha’s stature rose in the eyes of Muslims as a true organisation representing Muslim interests.

—

IMMIGRATION RECRUITMENT STAMPEDE: THIS SCAM MUST BE PROBED

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From: MIIVOC INFO
MIIVOC PRESS RELEASE

Media Initiative against Injustice, Violence and Corruption-MIIVOC is shocked at the death of tens of Nigerian unemployed youths who died in the course of a recruitment test organized by the Nigerian Immigration Service last weekend.

As a non-governmental organization that believes in due process, transparency, accountability and protection of human rights, we are amazed that in the 21st century, public office holders still adopt strategies that never worked even in the dark ages.

The tragedy should have been averted, if persons in positions of authority did their Job in a professional, competent and transparent manner.

Our preliminary investigations show that there are more questions than answers on why the tragedy occurred across the centers. The entire exercise was a charade and marred by deceit.

Consequently, MIIVOC has resolved to drag the Federal government of Nigeria and other concerned persons to Court if they fail to conduct a proper probe on the incident. The findings of the probe must be made public and those indicted made to face the wrath of the law.

This jamboree that took the lives of innocent young Nigerians must be probed. The lives of Nigerian youths must not waste, just like that. Our agents were in Port Harcourt, Owerri and Abuja and we saw things for ourselves.

More worrisome is the fact that these same unemployed graduates were compelled to pay a compulsory application fee by the Service, in conspiracy with its cohorts. What other scam could be worse than this? This is an obvious act of corruption and extortion that must also be investigated.

Consequently, we hereby call on the Federal government to immediately suspend from office, the country’s Minister for Interior, Abba Moro, Comptroller General of Immigration and all other public officers involved in the exercise, pending the outcome of the investigations.

Also, the Federal government should forthwith, place a perpetual ban on all forms of application levy by government Agencies, Parastatals and Ministries in Nigeria. Steps must also be taken to ‘heavily’ compensate the families of those that lost their lives in the exercise, beyond rhetoric.

We shall be left with no option, than to seek legal redress and mobilize Nigerians for mass protest against this barbaric and criminal waste of innocent lives of Nigerians, if our demands are not met within seven days.

There shall be no alternative to justice in this matter.

Walter Duru
Executive Director

Russia emposes entry ban on US lawmakers, officials in retaliation for US sanction

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From: Juma Mzuri

The Russian has published a list of US politicians against whom sanctions will be introduced, identical to those imposed by the United States against Russian officials.

“In response to “punitive” sanctions imposed by the United States on March 17 on a number of Russian officials and MPs for their support of the Crimean referendum, the Russian Foreign Ministry announces the imposition of symmetrical sanctions on the same number of US politicians and lawmakers,” the ministry said on its website.

Voice of Russia, RIA
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http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_03_20/Russia-emposes-entry-ban-on-US-lawmakers-officials-in-retaliation-for-US-sanction-6051/

KENYA: HOW CARTEL OF HIGH-RANKING OFFICERS USE MUNGIKI

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From: joachim omolo ouko
News Dispatch with Father Omolo Beste
THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 2014

Jimmy from Nairobi writes: “Fr Beste I read your article on how President Uhuru has a big challenge to weed out cartels of corruption in Kenya. I am shocked Mungiki has made comeback according to Joseph ole Lenku, the cabinet secretary of internal security.

In early 2003 soon after Mawi Kibaki came into power, Chris Murungaru, who was then security minister reportedly expressed shock that a cartel of high-ranking officers could have been involved in ten of the military Land Rovers given to Mungiki sect. Father Beste don’t you think Kenya is in a very bad situation if cartels can use outlawed sect? I am worried.

This revelation was made in the lead up to the general election when then chief of the general staff General Joseph Kibwana was asked to investigate the scandal in person and present his findings to the Office of the President. The report was to detail the value of the ten vehicles, who got them, and why they were disposed of.

If cartels can have such powers to divert the Land Rovers to Mungiki, as detailed in a Daily Nation report on the scandal, then you are right Beste that it will be a big challenge for Uhuru to weed out cartels.

According to the report senior DoD officials involved in the cartel were said to have held secret talks shortly before Dr. Murungaru arrived to plan their next course of action. What is more worrying is that the report and its findings have never been made public to date.

Although Murungaru expressed shock on the revelation, according to military sources at the time said that the orders were issued by Chris Murungaru himself during a meeting with General Kibwana and other top generals at the Department of Defence headquarters in Nairobi.

The issue of Land Rovers cropped up when Murungaru made his first familiarisation tour of the DoD, a month after Narc came to power.

Shortly after revelation the Department of Defence was converted into the Ministry of Defense with Hon Yusuf Haji at the helm. This was meant to cover up the scandals. Father Beste Kenya needs prayers direly.

Jimmy this issue of Mungiki sect is very complicated. According to a commission set up to investigate the 2008 post-election violence Mungiki members were suspected of perpetrating violence. The Waki Report states that powerful individuals in Kibaki’s government used Mungiki to coordinate revenge.

Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail obolobeste@gmail.com

Omolo_ouko@outlook.com
Facebook-omolo beste
Twitter-@8000accomole

Thai Air Force radar might have tracked missing MH370

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From: Abdalah Hamis

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Ten days after a Malaysian jetliner disappeared, Thailand’s military said Tuesday it saw radar blips that might have been from the missing plane but didn’t report it “because we did not pay attention to it.”

Search crews from 26 countries, including Thailand, are looking for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which vanished early March 8 with 239 people aboard en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Frustration is growing among relatives of those on the plane at the lack of progress in the search.

Aircraft and ships are scouring two giant arcs of territory amounting to the size of Australia — half of it in the remote waters of the southern Indian Ocean.

Cmdr. William Marks, a spokesman for the U.S. 7th Fleet, said finding the plane was like trying to locate a few people somewhere between New York and California.

Early in the search, Malaysian officials said they suspected the plane backtracked toward the Strait of Malacca, just west of Malaysia. But it took a week for them to confirm Malaysian military radar data suggesting that route.

Military officials in neighboring Thailand said Tuesday their own radar showed an unidentified plane, possibly Flight 370, flying toward the strait beginning minutes after the Malaysian jet’s transponder signal was lost.

Air force spokesman Air Vice Marshal Montol Suchookorn said the Thai military doesn’t know whether the plane it detected was Flight 370.

Thailand’s failure to quickly share possible information about the plane may not substantially change what Malaysian officials now know, but it raises questions about the degree to which some countries are sharing their defense data. At a minimum, safety experts said, the radar data could have saved time and effort that was initially spent searching the South China Sea, many miles from the Indian Ocean.

“It’s tough to tell, but that is a material fact that I think would have mattered,” said John Goglia, a former member of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.

“It’s just bizarre they didn’t come forward before,” Scott Hamilton, managing director of aviation consultancy Leeham Co., said of Thai authorities. “It may be too late to help the search … but maybe them and the Malaysian military should do joint military exercises in incompetence.”

Flight 370 took off from Kuala Lumpur at 12:40 a.m. March 8 and its transponder, which allows air traffic controllers to identify and track it, ceased communicating at 1:20 a.m.

Montol said that at 1:28 a.m., Thai military radar “was able to detect a signal, which was not a normal signal, of a plane flying in the direction opposite from the MH370 plane,” back toward Kuala Lumpur. The plane later turned right, toward Butterworth, a Malaysian city along the Strait of Malacca. The radar signal was infrequent and did not include data such as the flight number.

When asked why it took so long to release the information, Montol said, “Because we did not pay any attention to it. The Royal Thai Air Force only looks after any threats against our country.” He said the plane never entered Thai airspace and that Malaysia’s initial request for information in the early days of the search was not specific.

“When they asked again and there was new information and assumptions from (Malaysian) Prime Minister Najib Razak, we took a look at our information again,” Montol said. “It didn’t take long for us to figure out, although it did take some experts to find out about it.”

The search area for the plane initially focused on the South China Sea. Pings that a satellite detected from the plane hours after its communications went down eventually led authorities to concentrate instead on two vast arcs — one into Central Asia and the other into the Indian Ocean.

Malaysia said over the weekend the loss of communications and change in the aircraft’s course were deliberate, whether it was the pilots or others aboard who were responsible.

Malaysian police are considering the possibility of hijacking, sabotage, terrorism or issues related to the mental health of the pilots or anyone else on board, but have yet to say what they have uncovered.

Investigators had pointed to a sequence of events in which two communications systems were disabled in succession — one of them before a voice from the cockpit gave an all-clear message to ground controllers — as evidence of a deliberate attempt to fly the plane off-course in a hard-to-detect way. On Monday, they backtracked on the timing of the first switch-off, saying it was possible that both were cut around the same time, leading to new speculation that some kind of sudden mechanical or electrical failure might explain the flight going off-course.

Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said some sort of problem aboard the plane was not out of the question, although he noted it still was intact enough to send a signal to a satellite several hours later.

As further confirmation that someone was still guiding the plane after it disappeared from civilian radar, airline pilots and aviation safety experts said an onboard computer called the flight management system would have to be deliberately programmed in order to follow the route taken by the plane as described by Malaysian authorities.

“If you are going to fly the airplane to a waypoint that is not a straight … route to Beijing, and you were going to command the flight management computer and the autopilot system, you really have to know how to fly the airplane,” said John Gadzinski, a U.S. Boeing 737 captain.

“If you were a basic flight student and I put you in an airborne 777 and gave you 20 minutes of coaching, I could have you turn the airplane left and right and the auto throttle and the autopilot would make the airplane do what you want,” he said. “But to program a waypoint into the flight management computer, if that is what they flew over, is a little bit harder.”

Investigators have asked security agencies in countries with passengers on board to carry out background checks.

China said background checks of the 154 Chinese citizens on board turned up no links to terrorism, apparently ruling out the possibility that Uighur Muslim militants who have been blamed for terror attacks within China might have been involved.

“So far there is nothing, no evidence to suggest that they intended to do harm to the plane,” said Huang Huikang, China’s ambassador to Malaysia.

A Chinese civilian aviation official has said there was no sign of the plane entering the country’s airspace on commercial radar.

A group of relatives of Chinese passengers in Beijing said they decided to begin a hunger strike to express their anger over the handling of the investigation.

One relative displayed a sign reading, “Hunger strike protest. Respect life. Return my relative. Don’t want become victim of politics, Tell the truth.”

The search for the aircraft is among the largest in aviation history.

The U.S. Navy said P-3 and P-8 surveillance aircraft were methodically sweeping over swaths of ocean, known as “mowing the grass,” while using radar to detect any debris in the water and high-resolution cameras to snap images.

Australian and Indonesian planes and ships are searching waters to the south of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island all the way down to the southern reaches of the Indian Ocean.

Huang said China had begun searching for the plane in its territory, but gave no details. When asked at a Foreign Ministry briefing in Beijing what this search involved, ministry spokesman Hong Lei said only that satellites and radar were being used.

China also was sending ships to the Indian Ocean, where they will search 300,000 square kilometers (186,000 square miles) of sea.

The area being covered by the Australians is even bigger — 600,000 square kilometers (232,000 square miles) — and will take weeks, said John Young, manager of Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s emergency response division.

“This search will be difficult. The sheer size of the search area poses a huge challenge,” Young said. “A needle in a haystack remains a good analogy.”

Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron telephoned his Malaysian counterpart to offer the U.K.’s help in the first direct contact between the two since the flight disappeared, according to Downing Street.

Cameron did not offer specifics on what particular military or civilian assistance could be provided, the prime minister’s spokesman, Jean-Christophe Gray, said Tuesday.

“It was very much inviting any specific requests from the Malaysians,” Gray said. “Prime Minister Najib said he would think about that and let us know if they have any specific requests.”

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KENYA: KISUMU BASED CIVIL SOCIETY’S ENDEVOUR TO BRING PEACE AMONG THE KALENJINS AND LUOS

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to: “jaluo@jaluo.com”

By Agwanda Saye

A Kisumu based Civil society charged with promotion of use of alternative dispute resolution mechanism for peaceful co-existence Uhai Lake Forum Organization is now engaging youths in useful ventures as away of reducing insecurity and has also brought on board elders within the luos and Kalenjins fighting over cattle rustling.

The organization which is now based a long the volatile Kisumu and Kericho Counties has also brought on board elders from where the two communities have been fighting over cattle rustling which has resulted into seven people being injured, fifty seven houses being burnt down and five hundred households being displaced have died resulting to who works in the region to bring the elusive peace among the warring communities have now organized meetings among elders from both sides to address the insecurity situation. Tom Onyango the Co-coordinator of the organization that is being funded by Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFORD) said they have identified elders they been engaging in the past and will organize for peace meetings across the border.

“The locals say that the absence of jobs is the reason for the rice in criminal activities that has seen the rise in cattle rustling sparking conflict in the region” Onyango said. But elders in Nyakach are now calling upon the national and the county governments to create employment to the youths and offer soft loans for business start up to make them become self reliant. John Rasare, an elder from Nyakach said the national government needs to assist county governments to earmark projects that could engage the youths in the country. Rasare said that a free and secured society is for the government to invest in its youths who are believed to be the strength of every economy. The locals now want the county governments to establish a youth databank to help develop policies and services geared for young people. “Lack of job opportunities has been blamed for the youths engaging in criminal activities, including engaging in cattle rustling and the government should address the social, economic and security challenges facing the youth. “He added Onyango who led the organization to the ground that was hit with clashes further announced that they are mooting plans to establish community peace committees along the troubling Nyakach-Kericho boarder. He said that in the wake of skirmishes in the area that has led to the killings of six people, the committees should strive to incorporate the youth, women and other interested parties drawn from the border. “The conflict along the border is an issue that has taken the government along time to bring to end and should now resort to home grown solution by involving the locals themselves,” he said. Onyango said they had organized more forums within these areas and have identified peace ambassadors who will work closely with the communities to create awareness on the need to co-exist peacefully.

He also says that youths should maintain peace and learn to live with harmony with each other “As a civil society we will strive to ensure our people live peacefully and put the government on spot over the creation of more jobs for our youths,” said Onyango.

Ends.

RWANDAN INTELLIGENCE ASSASSINS WERE GIVEN A MISSION TO KILL KAYUMBA NYAMWASA AND HIS ENTIRE FAMILY

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From: Abdalah Hamis

Source: ©2014 AfroAmerica Network. All Rights Reserved

SUNDAY, MARCH 9, 2014

“Why didn’t you accomplish the mission on March 2, 2014, as directed? Why did you wait for two days? You failed the mission. You failed the country. You failed me. If the mission had been accomplished as directed, the enemy with his entire family could have been history by now. Now, not only is he, along with his wife and daughter, still alive, but we have to deal with the stupid media, “ General Paul Kagame told his inner circle during a briefing on the failure by Rwandan operatives in South Africa to kill the exiled General Kayumba Nyamwasa, his wife and his daughter and South African Police officers providing personal security.

According to the sources that attended the briefing but were not initially privy to the top secret assassination mission, Genera Paul Kagame was very angry, pounding the table as he spoke, and threatening his closest aides.

A Series of Murders and Assassination Attempts

General Paul Kagame was referring to the attack on March 4, 2014 in Johannesburg, on a safe house provided to the former Rwandan Army Chief of Staff and Ambassador General Kayumba Nyamwasa. South African government has, after a briefing to South African President Jacob Zuma, stated that it has irrefutable evidence that the attack was an assassination plot, planned in Kigali, Rwanda, by General Paul Kagame himself.

According to the sources within General Kagame’s inner circle, the plan was to attack the safe house, kill General Kayumba Nyamwasa and any relative found inside the house. The intelligence possessed by Rwandan intelligence operatives was that General Kayumba Nyamwasa, his wife and his daughter would be home on Sunday, and hence all three killed. However, for unknown reasons, the attack on Sunday did not become possible, and the operatives tried again on Tuesday March 4, 2013, in broad daylight. According to South African police, between six and eight gunmen, armed with AK-47 rifles and pistols, accessed the safe house in Bruma, eastern Johannesburg, where KayumbaNyamwasa, his wife, and his daughter live, under the protection of South African security services.

General Kayumba Nyamwasa: A Man with Many Lives

For some reason, General Kaumba Nyamwasa, who rarely leaves home, his wife and two of his bodyguards had gone out a few minutes earlier, whereas their teenage daughter was at school.

According to witnesses in South Africa, the squad of killers managed to persuade gatekeepers, who are disguised South African policemen, to open the gate to the safe house. Once inside, some of the assailants held the officers captive at gunpoint, while others searched the house for General Kayumba, his wife and daughter. When they did not find them, the grabbed electronics including a PlayStation console, which they later discarded into the garden, when they probably realized it was not a computer.

The well coordinated attack is part of a campaign by General Paul Kagame’s government to assassinate leaders of his political opposition. General Paul Kagame confirmed the intention to hunt down and kill his political opponents earlier this year, while commenting on the assassination of his former spy chief, Colonel Patrick Karegaya. In a speech during a Christian prayer breakfeast meetin, General Paul Kagame warned his political opponents and threatened them to “usually face serious consequences, wherever they are.” (see our article here). General Kayumba Nyamwasa himself has escaped assassination three times, since 2010 (see here)

South African President Jacob Zuma Furious

According to sources in South Africa, when President Jacob Zuma was briefed on the irrefutable evidences against Rwandan General Paul Kagame, he was irate. He ordered the expulsion and immediate departure of three Rwandan diplomats. One of the diplomats expelled, Didier Rutembese, is believed to be the coordinator of attacks and assassinations against Rwandan dissidents living in South Africa.

In retaliation, Rwanda has also expelled six South African diplomats from Kigali (see our article here).

The question now is what General Kayumba Nyamwasa is going to do, now that General Paul Kagame has indicated his intentions to, not only assassinate him, but also hunt down and murder his relatives including his wife and children.

“We were all shocked when General Paul Kagame said that the mission was to kill not only General Kayumba Nyamwasa, but also his wife and daughter,” the source within General Paul Kagame’s inner circle told AfroAmerica Network. “We wondered whether General Paul Kagame thought that he, himself, has children and a wife,” the source added.
—

KENYA: CALM HAS RETURNED ALONG KERICHO-NYAKACH BORDER AFTER ETHNIC SKIRMISHES BETWEEN THE LUOS AND KIPSIGIS.

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Writes leo Odera Omolo .

RELATIVE calm has returned along the volatile Kericho-Nyakach after three days of ethnic clashes, which left six people dead and scores sustained serious bodily injuries and close to 60 dwelling houses torched with household worth thousands of shillings destroyed.

The peace only returned after the government had dispatched a contingent of the crack paramilitary police unit, the General Service unit [GSU} who have joined other security personnel in patrolling the tension parked border areas separating the two communities in Nyanza and Rift Valley Provinces.

This came about only after Nyakach uutspoken MP Aduma owuor had fired the first salvo s and pointed an accusing finger at an unnamed senior politician from Eldoret North who he alleged is responsible for inciting tribal animosity in the area.

The MP at the same time issued a threat that he would be contacting and consulting the prosecutors at the Hague based International Court of Criminal Justice {ICC} asking it to explore the possibility of instituting fresh investigations on the violation of human rights against his constituents with the possibility of opening up fresh prosecution against the perpetrators of violence against his people

Other sources linked a Senator in the Rift Valley and a Ward Representative from Sigowet area in Kericho West sub-county of fueling ethnic clashes. The MP further alleged that the attackers were being ferried into the border by lorries and Matatus hired by the politicians who areas allegedly sending them fresh supplies of food , mainly loaves or breads and bottled mineral waters, which the criminal thugs have been seen enjoying in their hideout bushes in remote areas where there are no nearby shops.

Nyakach MP recalled that the Kipsigis and Luos have lived together harmoniously from the time memorable years and have always enjoyed peaceful co-existence while involved in batter trades across the common borders.

The Provincial administration who included the County Commissioners in Kerich West and Nhakach have also played the pivotal role in calming down the situation by way of holding joint peace meetings.

Their works were supplemented by a visit by Sigowet MP Justice Kemei who together with Justice Kemei who together with the Kericho Senator Charles Keter flew into the area and addressed a meeting at Kipsitet Market and urged the warring communities in give peace a chance and find ways of solving their problems amicably instead of engaging in combative attack against their neighbors. The flare ups which have so far left six people dead began last Friday night and continued on Saturday and Sunday. The attack covered several villages on the Nyakach side, which included Ngege in Koguta Eas. Onyuongo, Holo, Asao and Cherwa in Agoro area as well as Kandaria areas. Those interviewed said the attackers came in waves of dozens armed with arrows, bows, machetes, swords and spears. They are usually come around in the wee hours of the night and then retreated back to the Kericho West side at dawn.

The victims were puzzled and mesmerized and could not tell exactly what was the cause of the problems. The police Commandant in Nyakach district Ng’etich suspected the politician son both side of the common border for having incited their people into fighting each other, and wondered why some politicians have been holding separate meetings at this time when they need to have joint meetings and talk to the protagonists in a joint effort to end the conflict.

The volatile Nyaka-Kericho border has always been prone to incessant cattle at rustling, which some times ends up in the loss of lives

The two communities, Luos and Kalenjin went into full scale tribal war during the politically motivated Kalenjin Warriors attack in 1992, and in 1996/1997. Thus was durng the clamour for the multiparty politics as opposed to the hitherto monolithic one party system which was favored by the KANU regime under the retired President Daniel Arap Moi. THhe Kalenjin warriors launched spontaneous attacks against Luhiya, Kisiis and Luos in all fronts. Mainly these are the communities which were perceive to be in the opposition against the Moi regime.

ENDS

KENYA: KISUMU BASED CIVIL SOCIETY’S ENDEVOUR TO BRING PEACE AMONG THE KALENJINS AND LUOS

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by Agwanda Saye

A Kisumu based Civil society charged with promotion of use of alternative dispute resolution mechanism for peaceful co-existence Uhai Lake Forum Organization is now engaging youths in useful ventures as away of reducing insecurity and has also brought on board elders within the luos and Kalenjins fighting over cattle rustling.

The organization which is now based a long the volatile Kisumu and Kericho Counties has also brought on board elders from where the two communities have been fighting over cattle rustling which has resulted into seven people being injured, fifty seven houses being burnt down and five hundred households being displaced have died resulting to who works in the region to bring the elusive peace among the warring communities have now organized meetings among elders from both sides to address the insecurity situation.

Tom Onyango the Co-coordinator of the organization that is being funded by Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFORD) said they have identified elders they been engaging in the past and will organize for peace meetings across the border.

“The locals say that the absence of jobs is the reason for the rice in criminal activities that has seen the rise in cattle rustling sparking conflict in the region” Onyango said.

But elders in Nyakach are now calling upon the national and the county governments to create employment to the youths and offer soft loans for business start up to make them become self reliant.

John Rasare, an elder from Nyakach said the national government needs to assist county governments to earmark projects that could engage the youths in the country.

Rasare said that a free and secured society is for the government to invest in its youths who are believed to be the strength of every economy.

The locals now want the county governments to establish a youth databank to help develop policies and services geared for young people.

“Lack of job opportunities has been blamed for the youths engaging in criminal activities, including engaging in cattle rustling and the government should address the social, economic and security challenges facing the youth. “He added

Onyango who led the organization to the ground that was hit with clashes further announced that they are mooting plans to establish community peace committees along the troubling Nyakach-Kericho boarder.

He said that in the wake of skirmishes in the area that has led to the killings of six people, the committees should strive to incorporate the youth, women and other interested parties drawn from the border.

“The conflict along the border is an issue that has taken the government along time to bring to end and should now resort to home grown solution by involving the locals themselves,” he said.

Onyango said they had organized more forums within these areas and have identified peace ambassadors who will work closely with the communities to create awareness on the need to co-exist peacefully.

He also says that youths should maintain peace and learn to live with harmony with each other

“As a civil society we will strive to ensure our people live peacefully and put the government on spot over the creation of more jobs for our youths,” said Onyango.

Ends.

FIVE PEOPLE DIE IN FRESH TRIBAL CLASHES IN WESTERN KENYA.

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Reports Leo Odera Omolo In Sondu TOWN.

Five people are believed to have died following three days of fresh ethnic flare up along the boundaries of Nyanza and Rift Valley Provinces in Western Kenya.

Tension has remained high for the last two weeks when youth from the Kipsigis community in Keriho West district crossed the border and launched what appeared a well coordinated, but surprise attacks against several villages on the Luo side of the border and torched several dwelling houses and property on unknown values.

The latest skirmishes began last Friday night when unknown men believed to be the Kipsigis youth attacked Peter Okango at Ngege village in Koguta East and hacked him to death using machetes.

The two communities shared the common borders between Kericho and Nyakach districts. Cattle rustling has been so rampant along the common borders separating the the Kalenjin and the Luos.

On Saturday morning at about 9 AM. close to 100 youth armed with crude weapons grouped along the main Kisumu – Kisii road and launched fresh attack on villages located in Kndaria and Jimo east and speared one man to death. The sparked off what looked like the retaliatory attack by Luo youth from Nyakach. The police moved in and disposed the two hostile crowds of combatants standing on both sides of the road while facing each other.

The presence of the armed youth on both sides of the road had caused the blockade of the main road and no vehicles were allowed to pass from either side during the best part of Saturday morning. Motorists driving on this route were forced to use alternative routes.

Nyakach District Commissioner Chaybgy Mwachaung visited the scene and urged the combatant to disperse and maintain peace. The police ordered the youth back to their side of the border, but not very long the combatants were seen to have re-grouped immediately the police left the scene.

Residents of Nyakach, however, have blamed the police for doing nothing and incapable of quelling the riotous youth. They said the police appeared to be biased on Luos while appeared to be protecting the aggressive Kalenjin youth. The Inspector General of the police Kimayio I a Kalenjiin and so is the Deputy President William Ruto is also a Kalenjin.

The latest flared up only came three days after security teams from both side had held an inter-counties meeting to discus the situation and find the lasting peaceful solution.

The residents of Nyakach further alleged that an innocent and a non-combatant man was killed in Jimo East in the presence of heavily armed police officers who did not act and appeared to be biased in favour of the Kalenjin yourh.

Two months ago, unknown assailants killed the parents of Nyaka M Aduma Owuor and burnt the family house. The region is prone to crimes waves which are mostly aggravated by cattle rustling. The Nyakach residents have called for the immediate deployment of the Crack para-military police unit, the General Services Unit {GSU}[commonly called Majohnie to protect the lives and property by mopping up all the criminal’s hideouts on both sides of the border.

ENDS

S. Sudan: Ugandan Air Force Bombs Civilians in Jonglei, Cluster Bombs Used

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From: South Sudan Press

South Sudan’s rebels have on Tuesday accused Ugandan air force of carrying out aerial bombardments in Jonglei State.

In a press statement extended to the South Sudan News Agency, the head of the SPLM/A Delegation-in opposition to the Peace Talks in Ethiopia, General Taban Deng Gai, said that Juba and Kampala began air campaigns against civilians on the 26th of February 2014 using dangerous weapons.

“On February 26, they [UPDF & SPLA] bombed Pamai cattle camp and on the 2nd and 3rd of March, they bombed Wech-Kol Payam all in Uror County-Jonglei State killing women, children, elderly, and livestock using cluster bombs”, Gai said in the statement.

“The exact number of casualties is yet to be established and more information will follow”, He continues.

Gai declares that the latest air campaign against civilians in Jonglei State violates the Ceasefire signed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and warns that the peace talks could not go as planned. Gai also calls on the International Community to take action against Uganda, and asks the United Nations to investigate the use of banned weapons.

“SPLM/SPLA [in opposition] calls on IGAD, the AU, the Troika countries, EU and UN to exert more pressure on Uganda to immediately cease all forms of indiscriminate aerial bombardments and to withdraw its forces from all territories of South Sudan. We call upon the United Nations to investigate the use of prohibited weapons such as cluster bombs by the Government of South Sudan and the Uganda Air Force”, Gai said.

“This continuous violation of the CoH may jeopardise the Peace Process that is already underway in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia”, he added.

Last month, the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) found remnants of cluster bombs in Jonglei, prompting the United Nations to launch an investigation.

Regional observers have on many occasions cautioned that the continuous involvement of Uganda’s military in the conflict could cause a regional war. But Uganda claims it has interests in the young nation’s internal affairs and that its fight alongside South Sudan government’s troops against rebels is justified.

S. Sudan: Open Letter to the Members of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights From South Sudanese Civil Society Organizations

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From: South Sudan Press

Condemn Rights Violations, Support the Commission of Inquiry and Help Build A Culture of Human Rights in South Sudan

6 March 2014

Dear Sir or Madam,

March 6, 2014 (SSNA) — We, the undersigned South Sudanese civil society organizations, with support from organizations operating in Africa, write to request that the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) issue a resolution condemning the serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law that have taken place in South Sudan since the outbreak of violence on 15 December 2013. We also urge the ACHPR to advocate for the immediate establishment of the Commission of Inquiry called for in the 30 December 2013 communiqué from the African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC). In order to secure the sustained commitment of the government of South Sudan to protection of human rights in accordance with the African Charter, we call on the ACHPR to visit South Sudan under its promotional mandate and to call for the ratification of regional and international human rights instruments.

Issue a Resolution Condemning Violations of International Law

Since 15 December 2013, an armed conflict between forces loyal to President Kiir and opposition forces under the leadership of former Vice-President Riek Machar has engulfed South Sudan in violence. International and domestic organizations have documented killings of civilians, sexual violence, torture and the use of child soldiers. Entire towns and villages have been razed to the ground, civilian property has been looted or destroyed, and parties to the conflict have deliberately targeted places of refuge, such as churches and hospitals.

Government security sector personnel and non-state armed groups have stolen humanitarian relief supplies and equipment and killed humanitarian personnel. According to the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, there is also evidence of the use of cluster bombs. The humanitarian impact, particularly on women, children and the elderly, has been devastating. Approximately 900,000 people have been displaced from their homes.

The ACHPR—the main body mandated with promoting human and peoples’ rights on the continent—has so far been silent on the rights violations that have occurred and the importance of accountability for these crimes.

We call upon the ACHPR to adopt a resolution on the situation in South Sudan during its 15th Extraordinary Session to be held from 7 to 14 March 2014 in Banjul, The Gambia. The ACHPR should condemn violations of international law in the context of the current violence and call on both parties to respect the cessation of hostilities agreement signed in Addis Ababa on 23 January. It should publicly call on the government of South Sudan to take all necessary measures in accordance with international human rights and humanitarian law to ensure protection of civilians, and to guarantee that adequate humanitarian support is provided to the populations affected by the conflict. The ACHPR should also call for and support the establishment of justice and accountability mechanisms, and emphasize that the victims of the heinous crimes that have occurred have a right to a remedy and that perpetrators must be held to account.

Advocate for the Immediate Establishment of the Commission of Inquiry

In its 30 December 2013 communiqué, the AUPSC requested the Chairperson of the AU Commission, in consultation with the Chairperson of the ACHPR and other relevant AU structures, to urgently establish a Commission of Inquiry to “investigate the human rights violations and other abuses committed during the armed conflict in South Sudan and make recommendations on the best ways and means to ensure accountability, reconciliation and healing among all South Sudanese communities.” The Council requested that the Commission of Inquiry submit a report of its findings within three months.

Now, two months after this communiqué was issued, the members of the Commission of Inquiry have still not been named and terms of reference have not been published. This leaves South Sudanese citizens and civil society organizations in doubt as to when and if the critically needed investigations will actually take place.

Time is of the essence as evidence of atrocities is rapidly disappearing. Human remains have already been buried, burned, or dumped in waterways. Important witnesses have been harassed, intimidated or become casualties of the conflict, while others have been displaced or taken refuge in neighboring countries. The continued delay risks the destruction or loss of evidence that may be critical to piecing together an account of the violence.

The speedy initiation of the investigation could also help to deter those who incite and engage in atrocities. The lack of accountability for crimes committed during violence in South Sudan for decades has fostered a sense that there are no consequences for violence.

Investigations can demonstrate that the days of impunity are gone, and that this time the perpetrators will be made to face justice. If affected communities trust that a process for holding wrongdoers accountable is underway, it will also discourage revenge killings and help break the cycle of violence that is spiraling beyond control.

Survivors need hope. For many communities, the current violence is yet another tragedy over which they have no control. We must avoid a situation in which the politicians shake hands, grant each other amnesty, and expect communities to resume their lives as though nothing happened. Documentation is necessary to ensure that people’s experiences are recorded and that their pain will not be forgotten.

The call for justice and accountability from South Sudanese is overwhelming, and comes from direct victims, from civil society, as well as from the parties to the current conflict themselves. The government also has acknowledged that serious rights violations have occurred and has initiated multiple investigations. The opposition forces on their part have also made public statements on the need for justice. A thorough, independent and impartial inquiry into serious crimes committed in violation of international law during this conflict is a necessary first step to setting the stage for integrated transitional justice process including national reconciliation, truth-telling, prosecutions, and vetting.

We therefore request that the ACHPR support and advocate for the immediate establishment of the Commission of Inquiry. The ACHPR should help ensure that the Commission of Inquiry’s terms of reference, membership, and human and financial resources enable it to conduct adequate investigations. Towards this end, we ask the ACHPR to fully support the detailed recommendations that we made previously in our 25 January statement enclosed herein, particularly our call for the Commission of Inquiry to consult with civil society organizations in the implementation of its mandate and for it to issue a public report.

Promote A Culture of Respect for Human Rights and the Rule of Law in South Sudan

Even prior to the outbreak of the current armed conflict, the government of South Sudan was failing to guarantee basic human rights to people in its territory. Particular human rights concerns include arbitrary arrests and detentions, the failure to guarantee the right to a fair trial, discrimination against women, and violations of the right to freedom of expression.

Human rights organizations have also documented unlawful killings by security forces in the context of civilian disarmament and counter insurgency campaigns as well as in response to peaceful protests. If South Sudan emerges from the current crisis, significant effort will be needed to foster a culture of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. The ACHPR should play a decisive role by beginning to call for broad human rights reforms in South Sudan.

Though South Sudan gained independence in July 2011, the country has still failed to ratify major human rights treaties. Some progress had been made prior to the outbreak of violence. In May 2013, the Council of Ministers adopted a resolution approving seven regional and international instruments namely the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms Of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and the Torture Convention (CAT). The Legislative Assembly subsequently passed bills for ratification of the African Charter and the CRC in October and November respectively. Yet the President has failed to sign these bills, and instruments of ratification have not been transmitted to the relevant bodies.

The ACHPR should call upon South Sudanese authorities to strengthen the national human rights normative framework, by ratifying and implementing regional and international human rights instruments. They should specifically call on President Kiir to immediately assent to the ratification of the African Charter and the CRC.

To our knowledge, no Commissioner of the ACHPR has ever visited South Sudan for a promotional mission. The ACHPR should carry out, without further delay, a mission to South Sudan aimed at sensitizing relevant stakeholders on the African human rights system and at disseminating the African human rights instruments. Such a mission should particularly involve the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, the Special Rapporteur on the rights of women in Africa, and the Special Rapporteur on refugees, asylum seekers, migrants and internally displaced persons. It should also involve the Chairpersons of the Working Group on the Death Penalty and Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Killings in Africa, the Working Group on Extractive Industries, Environment and Human Rights Violations, and the Working Group on the Prevention of Torture in Africa.

The Commission should further provide support to and organize trainings on human rights for relevant government officials in South Sudan.

South Sudan must commit to numerous long-term improvements in order to better protect and promote human rights. Comprehensive judicial reforms are necessary if the judiciary is to meet minimum standards of professionalism and independence, particularly if it is to play a role in holding the perpetrators of the recent violence to account. The ACHPR should call for and support such comprehensive reforms and call on the government of South Sudan to devote adequate human and financial resources to the judicial sector. The ACHPR should also ensure that its Guidelines on the Right to Fair Trial and Legal Assistance in Africa are adequately disseminated in South Sudan and integrated into national law.

Weaknesses in the South Sudan Human Rights Commission, including insufficient human and financial resources and its susceptibility to political pressure have left it unable to adequately respond to the current crisis. The ACHPR should call upon the government of South Sudan to ensure that the Human Rights Commission is fully independent and that it benefits from adequate resources to carry out its mandate, in accordance with provisions of the Paris Principles.

Signatories:

Assistance Mission for Africa (AMA)
Citizens for Peace and Justice (CPJ)
Kush, Inc.
Peace and Development Collaborative Organization (PCDO)
South Sudan Law Society (SSLS)
South Sudan Friends International
South Sudan Women Lawyers Association (SSWLA)
South Sudanese Professionals in Diaspora
Sudd Institute
The Rally for a Peace and Democracy (RPD)
The ROOTS Project
Upper Nile Youth Mobilization for Peace and Development Agency (UNYMPDA)
Voice for Change (VFC)
With support from:

Blue Nile Center for Human Right & Peace
Coalition for the International Criminal Court
East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRD)
Enough Project
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (R2P)
Human Rights Watch (HRW)
International Center for Policy and Conflict
International Crime in Africa Programme of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS)
Pan-African Human Rights Defenders Network (PAHRDN)
PAX
Public International Law Uganda (APILU)
Voice for Nyala
Waging Peace

US: Press Releases – State Department Concludes Settlement of Alleged AECA and ITAR Violations by Esterline Technologies Corporation

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From: U.S. Department of State
Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC

March 6, 2014

——–

The U.S. Department of State concluded an administrative settlement with Esterline Technologies Corporation of Bellevue, Washington, to resolve alleged violations of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) (22 U.S.C. § 2778) and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) (22 C.F.R. Parts 120-130). Esterline agreed to enter into a consent agreement with the Department pursuant to ITAR Section 128.11. The agreement was reached following an extensive compliance review by the Department’s Office of Defense Trade Controls Compliance (DTCC) in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. This settlement addresses hundreds of alleged civil violations of the AECA and ITAR, and highlights the Department’s responsibility to protect U.S. defense articles, including technical data, and defense services from unauthorized use.

DTCC determined that Esterline demonstrated inadequate corporate oversight and failed to establish an adequate AECA and ITAR compliance program in its defense trade activity. Over the course of many years, Esterline and its operating divisions, subsidiaries, and business units disclosed to the Department hundreds of alleged AECA and ITAR violations consisting of unauthorized exports of defense articles, including technical data, and defense services; unauthorized temporary imports of defense articles; violations of terms and conditions of licenses or approvals granted; exports of defense articles in excess of quantity and value authorized; improper use of exemptions; and failure to file or filing of incorrect documentation with the Automated Export System.

DTCC’s compliance review concluded that many of these alleged violations occurred because Esterline did not properly establish jurisdiction over its defense articles and technical data, did not properly administer licenses and agreements, and had incomplete or poor recordkeeping. The alleged violations involved defense articles, technical data, and defense services that are or were controlled at the time of the alleged violations by the U.S. Munitions List under the following current or former categories: IV(h), VI(i), VI(f), VI(g), VII(g), VII(h), VIII(h), VIII(i), XI(a), XI(c), XI(d), XII(e), XII(f), XV(e), XV(f), XX(c), and XX(d).

Under the terms of a three year Consent Agreement with the Department, Esterline will pay a civil penalty of $20 million. The Department agreed to suspend $10 million of this amount on the condition the Department approves expenditures for self-initiated, pre-Consent Agreement remedial compliance measures and Consent Agreement-authorized remedial compliance costs. Additionally, Esterline will engage a Special Compliance Official to oversee the Consent Agreement, and Esterline will conduct two audits of its compliance program as well as implement additional compliance measures, such as improved policies and procedures, and additional training for employees and principals.

Esterline disclosed the alleged AECA and ITAR violations resolved under this settlement to the Department, acknowledged the serious nature of the alleged violations, cooperated with the Department, and implemented or has planned extensive remedial measures. For these reasons, the Department determined that an administrative debarment of Esterline was not appropriate at this time.

The Consent Agreement and related documents will be available for public inspection in the Public Reading Room of the U.S. Department of State and on the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls website at http://www.pmddtc.state.gov/compliance/consent_agreements.html.

For additional information, please contact the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs’ Office of Congressional and Public Affairs at PM-CPA@state.gov.

The Office of Website Management, Bureau of Public Affairs, manages this site as a portal for information from the U.S. State Department.
External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views or privacy policies contained therein.

——–

Stay connected with the State Department:
http://www.state.gov/

KENYA: KISUMU JOURNALIST WAS CARJACKED TORTURED AND ROBBED

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Writes Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City

A Kisumu based investigative freelance journalist last week carjacked robbed, robbed of mobile phones and money before being abandoned in a disused Murom quarry, which is located four kilometers outside the City’s outskirts.

Shem Kosse who is a regular contributor to the popular WEEKLY CITIZEN, while in the company of a friend who is a prominent businessman in the town had a very pleasant evening. They had taken few bottles of beers at the famous hotel’s restraint where they also enjoyed an evening meals of the delicious tilapia fish.

The two left Lakeview hotel at about 11 PM and drove to the Club Signature which is only one street away from the hotel. The Club, they found had no parking space for their car. They moved further to another street down and found a parking space at the nearby petrol station.

After securing the parking space, they parked their vehicle and walked on foot back to the Club Signature a short distance where they stayed until almost close to midnight.

Kosse and his companion left the Night Club at about 1.A.M and walked on foot back to the Petrol station where they had left their vehicle. Upon reaching their car, they found another vehicle parked too close to their. The second vehicle had four occupants who appeared to be chewing “Miraa” and relaxing. And because it was parked too close to their car, the two went to the other vehicle and kindly requested them to move their car backward to create a space for them to move out. The men obliged and reversed a few steps backward their vehicle. But hell broke out when Kosse and his friends tried to open the door of their vehicle. All of a sudden the four occupants of the second vehicle turned out to be criminal thugs. They swiftly whipped out pistils and ordered Kosse and his friend inside their own car at the back seat. The men produced ropes and tied Kosse and his friend on the vehicle”s back eats. Three of the thugs got into their own car leaving one who was heavily armed with two pistils who took the command of the steering wheel and drove of from the scene and through the town with the other car following closely.

At this point one of the thugs hit Kosse on the forehead with the gun bat. He was bleeding profusely from his facial wound, but the thugs did not bother. They were driven to Kanyakwar area near Miwani Junction road on the main Kisumu-Kakamega road. The thugs then branched off and drove into a disused quarry, which is located next to the stalled headquarters of the Lake Basin Development Authority { LBDA}.

The two captives were made to scrawl into the quarry walking on their knees. Inside the quarry the thugs produced more ropes from their heavy jackets and tied their hands from behind as well as their legs and abandoned them for a while, only to return a few minutes later and threatened to shoot them .At this juncture the four thugs stood on the edge of the quarry and pointed their guns down on the captives. The thugs then selected the ignition key of Kosse”s friends sleek car a brand new Rav-4. They threw down into the quarry the rest bunch of keys which hit Kosse’s friend hard on the chest.

The thugs then drove away on both cars, but only after ransacking the captives pockets and fleecing them of their money. Kosse lost Kshs 3900. While his friend lost Kshs 12,000 in hard cash.

It was now approaching 4AM in the morning the two struggled for hours before untying themselves using a sharp stone. From there Kosse and his friend walked by foot in the darkness up to Kondele suburb about 4 kilometers from where they took a boda boda motorbike which took them to Kisumu Central Police Station where they reported the incident. Of late there is a sharp increase of carjacking by heavily armed thugs, and on sharp increase incident the stolen vehicle are hardly retrieved or traced.

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