South Sudan massacres may be war crimes - UN

2015-01-10 19:07

New York - Hundreds of civilians were massacred in two separate incidents in South Sudan last year in which victims were targeted for their ethnicity, nationality or political views, possibly amounting to war crimes, the United Nations said in a report on Friday.
The 33-page report comes after the UN Security Council called for an investigation of April 2014 killings in South Sudan's oil hub, Bentiu. The UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, which carried out the probe, also looked at an incident in the same month in the town of Bor.
"Unmiss Human Rights Division finds that there are reasonable grounds to believe that at least 353 civilians were killed, and at least 250 wounded, in the attacks on Bentiu and Bor," the report said.
The Bentiu killings, it said, included at least 19 deaths at a Bentiu hospital and roughly 287 at a mosque in Kalibalek. In Bor, at least 47 civilians were killed at an Unmiss base where they were seeking protection.
"Perpetrators intentionally targeted civilians, often based on ethnicity, nationality, or perceived support for the opposing party," it said. "In both Bentiu and Bor, attacks took place against protected objects - a hospital, a mosque, and a United Nations base - which may amount to war crimes."
The findings could form the basis for war crimes charges. South Sudan is not a party to the International Criminal Court, though the Security Council could theoretically refer the country's 13-month civil war to The Hague-based court.
The report urges UN members to support efforts to protect civilians "and assist with accountability efforts".
The report quoted one witness to the killings at the Bentiu hospital as saying: "They lined up about 20 Darfurians, who were tied with their clothing ... and told them to run to save their lives. When they ran, [rebel] soldiers shot at them."
While rebels appeared responsible for the Bentiu incident, "credible and consistent testimony" suggests the Bor massacre involved government forces, though it was unclear if they were "in their official capacities", the report said.
Civil war has killed more than 10 000 people in the world's newest state, reopened deep ethnic divisions, caused more than one million to flee and driven the country of 11 million closer to famine.
Violence erupted in December 2013 in South Sudan after months of political tension between President Salva Kiir and his sacked deputy and rival, Riek Machar. The conflict pits Kiir's Dinka ethnic group against Machar's Nuer.
The Security Council threatened both sides with sanctions, but is divided over whether to impose an arms embargo on South Sudan, which split from Sudan in 2011.
Reuters

Man killed, wife assaulted in Gauteng farm attack

2015-01-10 19:46

Johannesburg - Gauteng police said on Saturday that no arrests have been made after a farm attack on a couple in Lindley, near Muldersdrift.
Lieutenant Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said investigations into the murder and assault of an elderly man, the assault of his wife and robbery of their house continued.
"I can't anymore," were the last words Charles Henderson, 61, said to his wife Jenna, 60, before he died, Netwerk24 reported on Saturday.
The couple were tied with their backs to each other after men stormed their house on Thursday night after 23:00.
Attacked with shovel and brick
Beeld reported that Henderson heard the dog barking outside and when he went to investigate he was attacked with a shovel and a brick.
Jenna Henderson struggled for three hours after her husband died to get loose.
Their son-in-law Paul Orffer said Charles Henderson lost a lot of blood and died for R600, cellphones, a TV, DVD player and an iPad.
Orffer said his father-in-law was hit over the head with a brick a couple of metres from the kitchen door and dragged inside, while his mother-in-law was kicked in the head and hit.
He said a man was arrested after being traced with the iPad, but Dlamini denied anyone had been arrested.
SAPA

City frustrated by Naismith

Liverpool - Steven Naismith earned Everton a sorely-needed point and denied Manchester City the chance to keep pace with Premier League leaders Chelsea in a 1-1 draw at Goodison Park on Saturday.
Manuel Pellegrini's team took a 74th minute lead when Samir Nasri set up a shooting opportunity for David Silva, whose blocked strike fell for Brazilian midfielder Fernandinho to head in from close range past the despairing goalline lunge of Seamus Coleman.
But second placed City held the lead for just four minutes as they defended poorly at Leighton Baines' left-flank free-kick and the unmarked Naismith was allowed to head home powerfully past the stranded Joe Hart.
City's frustration was compounded as leaders Chelsea beat Newcastle to open up a two-point lead over the champions.
The best chance of the first half had fallen to Everton, although it took the home side 42 minutes to create their first opening as Coleman fed Romelu Lukaku in the area.
The Everton forward easily beat his marker Eliaquim Mangala before forcing Hart into a fine save with an outstretched boot.
Better yet, for home fans frustrated both by their team's recent form and their first half performance, Aiden McGeady gathered the rebound from Hart's save and completed a short pass to Coleman who struck the cross-bar with a 20-yard shot.
Had Roberto Martinez's struggling side taken a lead into the half-time interval, it would have been an injustice on a City team which, aided by strong winds behind them, had dominated first half proceedings.
Everton did not help themselves, however, with their back four - England defender Phil Jagielka in particular - making far too many unforced errors and constantly gifting City the ball.
Had City forward Stevan Jovetic shown better aim on a number of occasions, they would have had a stranglehold on the game well before the halfway point.
It would have been a good occasion for Jovetic to prove his attacking value to Pellegrini given that Sergio Aguero, a substitute at Goodison, and Edin Dzeko are both close to full fitness and Wilfried Bony is poised to complete a transfer to City from Swansea.
Instead, Jovetic was presented with at least three shooting opportunities from the edge of the area but failed to test Joel Robles in the Everton goal even once.
Jesus Navas was also guilty of a glaring miss, after 14 minutes, when the influential and the hugely impressive Silva capitalised on a Jagielka slip and set him up for a shot which was rolled well wide of goal.
Mangala almost got a touch on a low Silva shot just six yards out - with any touch surely bringing City the lead - but, for all their possession, Robles reached half-time without having had a real save to make.
The home side made a purposeful start to the second period with Ross Barkley curling a 20-yard free-kick just wide of the City goal and Lukaku once more bettered Mangala after 57 minutes, taking Barkley's pass and shooting towards the far corner and forcing Hart into another good stop.
However, the consequence of more Everton possession was more threat from City on the counter.
Nasri and Silva linked well with a one-two that had Robles scurrying off his line to save and, on the hour, the Everton keeper was required to punch, unconvincingly, to clear a Nasri free-kick.
In a much improved second half performance, Everton had the ball in the City goal after 69 minutes when Hart failed to deal with a Leighton Baines free-kick, allowing Jagielka to net the rebound, only for Naismith to be ruled offside.

AFP

Romney considering 2016 White House run

2015-01-10 19:46

Washington - Mitt Romney, the Republican US presidential nominee in 2012, told a meeting of donors on Friday that he is considering another White House run in 2016, a source familiar with the comments said.
The former Massachusetts governor, who has sent mixed signals about the likelihood of another campaign, told a small group of donors in New York that he was thinking about running and to "tell your friends" he was considering it, the source said.
The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the comments, said Romney did not give a timetable for making a decision about whether to launch what would be his third presidential campaign. Romney failed to win the nomination in 2008 and lost the general election to President Barack Obama in 2012.
Romney's statement comes as some of the party's top donors begin to line up behind former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who said in December he would actively explore a presidential run. If Romney entered the race, he would be competing with Bush for many of the party's most established major donors.
Romney has equivocated about another presidential campaign, going from absolutely ruling it out after his 2012 loss to sounding more uncertain recently. The comments in New York appear to be his most open admission that he is seriously considering it.
"He's more open to it, based on all the encouragement he's received," a senior Romney adviser said of a possible run.
The Journal said one of the attendees at the meeting asked Romney if he wanted to be president, and he said "yes, of course."
The topic of whether Romney would run for the White House came up at a dinner he had with former advisers on Wednesday night in Menlo Park, California. "The sense I got from him was that he was leaving his options open," said a former adviser who attended the dinner. The former adviser emphasised that the dinner was a social occasion, not a strategy session, however.
As to whether Romney feels the likelihood of Bush running makes it harder for him to enter the fray, the former adviser said Romney believes the Republican field is in the "formational stages" and he would not be deterred from jumping in.

Crowded field
Romney's entrance in the race would dramatically reshape what promises to be a crowded and competitive field. Polls show him at or near the top of the Republican race along with Bush.
Bush and his allies on Tuesday formed a pair of political committees that allow him to speak with donors and raise money, formalising his political activity and putting pressure on Romney, with whom he would compete for donors.
A handful of former Romney donors and operatives have committed to help Bush's likely bid.
Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee left his Fox News show over the weekend to ponder a bid, and more than a dozen other possible serious contenders could still run.
Romney would likely compete for financial support with Bush and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who is also considered a member of the party's "establishment" wing. A Romney bid could similarly complicate the aspirations of Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who was vetted by Romney's campaign in 2012 as a vice presidential possibility.
A Romney candidacy would make it very difficult for Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan, who was the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2012, to run for the White House.
Others considering a White House bid include senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas, as well as governors Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Rick Perry of Texas, John Kasich of Ohio, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, and Mike Pence of Indiana.
Great scepticism remains among key Republican Party figures that Romney, 67, will actually run, however. "I just think a lot of the money has already drifted away to other candidates," a former Romney adviser said.
Reuters

Hunted woman left France - source

2015-01-10 19:46

Paris - The suspected female accomplice of Islamists behind attacks in Paris left France last week and traveled to Syria via Turkey, a source familiar with the situation said on Saturday.
French police are searching for 26-year-old old Hayat Boumeddiene, believed to be the partner of a man who killed a police woman and four people at a Jewish supermarket on Friday.

Meanwhile AFP reported that a "survivors' issue" of Charlie Hebdo to be published in a few days will also be sold outside France because of the huge global attention on the satirical weekly after the massacre of its top staff - marking a turnaround for a publication that just a week ago was on the brink of folding.

The remaining employees of the paper are putting out the special edition on Wednesday, with one million copies to be printed instead of the usual 60 000.

Public appeal
In a sign of the international support, the slogan #JeSuisCharlie has now been used more than five million times online, making it the most-shared hashtag for France-related topics ever.
All money from sales of the issue are to go to the families of the 12 people murdered in the attack on Charlie Hebdo's offices by two Islamist gunmen.
The massacre wiped out five of the newspaper's leading cartoonists. The surviving members of the publication are working in premises loaned by the newspaper Liberation to produce the new issue.
The newspaper, named after the American comic book character Charlie Brown ("Hebdo" is French slang for weekly), had only in November made a public appeal for donations to keep going.

Reuters

Cartoonist lambastes Charlie's 'new friends'

2015-01-10 17:00

The Hague - A prominent Dutch cartoonist at Charlie Hebdo heaped scorn on the French satirical weekly's "new friends" since the massacre at its Paris offices, in particular far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen.
"We have a lot of new friends, like the pope, Queen Elizabeth and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. It really makes me laugh," Bernard Holtrop, whose pen name is Willem, told the Dutch centre-left daily Volkskrant.
"Marine Le Pen is delighted when the Islamists start shooting all over the place," said Willem, 73, a longtime Paris resident who also draws for the French leftist daily Liberation.
He added: "We vomit on all these people who suddenly say they are our friends."
Commenting on the global outpouring of support for the weekly, Willem scoffed: "They've never seen Charlie Hebdo."
"A few years ago, thousands of people took to the streets in Pakistan to demonstrate against Charlie Hebdo. They didn't know what it was. Now it's the opposite, but if people are protesting to defend freedom of speech, naturally that's a good thing."
Willem was on a train between northwestern Lorient and Paris when he learned of Wednesday's attack by two Islamist gunmen as the paper was holding its weekly editorial meeting.
He told Liberation: "I never come to the editorial meetings because I don't like them. I guess that saved my life."
Willem stressed that Charlie Hebdo must continue to publish. "Otherwise, [the Islamists] have won."
AFP

France deploys troops before million-strong march

2015-01-10 17:17

Paris - France deployed hundreds of troops around Paris on Saturday, beefing up security on the eve of a march expected to draw more than a million in tribute to 17 victims of a three-day killing spree.
Fears remained acute and security levels were kept at France's highest level as the girlfriend of one of three gunmen killed in a fiery climax to twin hostage dramas on Friday remained on the loose.
But refusing to be cowed, people poured onto the streets in cities around France in poignantly silent marches paying tribute to those killed in the nation's bloodiest week in more than half a century.
The marches in the cities of Nice, Pau and Orleans were a taste of what was to come in Paris on Sunday, where a monster rally will be held for national unity, to be attended by President Francois Hollande and a host of world leaders.
The defence ministry said it was sending another 500 soldiers into the greater Paris area, bringing current numbers to what will be about 1 350 troops.
After Friday's dramatic events, Hollande warned grimly that the threats facing France "weren't over", comments followed by a chilling new threat from a Yemen-based al-Qaeda group.
Security forces were focused on hunting down 26-year-old Hayat Boumeddiene, the "armed and dangerous" partner of Amedy Coulibaly who took terrified shoppers hostage in a Jewish supermarket on Friday, killing four of them.
Before he was killed by elite police in a massive assault on the store, he told journalists he was a member of the Islamic State jihadist group.
Coulibaly and Boumeddiene are the prime suspects in the murder of a policewoman on Thursday just outside the French capital.
That attack further spooked a nation still reeling from the Wednesday assault at the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly in Paris that saw two gunmen mow down 12 people including some of the country's best-known cartoonists.
In a sombre address after Friday's sieges, Hollande said: "I call on all the French people to rise up this Sunday, together, to defend the values of democracy, freedom and pluralism to which we are attached."
But as leaders urged the country to pull together in grief and determination, questions were also mounting over how the three men - brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi, and Coulibaly - had slipped through the security net after it emerged that all three were known to the intelligence agencies.

'Appalling anti-Semitic act'
France's darkest week in decades came to an explosive end on Friday after the gunmen holed up in two hostage dramas about 30km apart.
The massive manhunt for the two Kouachi brothers developed into a car chase and then a tense standoff as they held a hostage in a printing firm northeast of Paris.
The small town of Dammartin-en-Goele was transformed into what looked like a war zone, with elite forces deploying snipers, helicopters and heavy-duty military equipment as they surrounded the pair.
With all eyes on the siege outside Paris, suddenly explosions and gunfire shook the City of Light itself as Coulibaly stormed a Jewish supermarket on the eastern fringes of the capital.
In what Hollande called an "appalling anti-Semitic act", Coulibaly took terrified shoppers hostage hours before the Jewish Sabbath, killing four.
As the sun set on the horrified capital, the brothers charged out of the building with guns blazing in a desperate last stand, before being cut down.
Within minutes, elite commando units moved against Coulibaly, who had threatened to execute his hostages unless the brothers were released.
Coulibaly had just knelt for his evening prayer when the special forces struck. Explosions rocked the neighbourhood - one lighting up the shopfront in a fireball - and shooting erupted as the commandos burst in.
"It's war!" shouted a mother as she pulled her daughter away.
Up to five people - including a three-year-old boy - survived hidden inside a refrigerator for five hours, with police pinpointing their location using their mobile phones, prosecutors and relatives said.
In the printing firm, the brothers took the manager hostage, later releasing him after he helped Said with a neck wound, while a second man hid beneath a sink upstairs.
'Clear failings' As the drama reached its climax, links emerged showing the brothers and Coulibaly were close allies and had worked together.
All three had a radical past and were known to French intelligence.
Cherif Kouachi, 32, was a known jihadist who was convicted in 2008 for involvement in a network sending fighters to Iraq.
His brother Said, 34, was known to have travelled to Yemen in 2011, where he received weapons training from AQAP.
It also emerged that the brothers had been on a US terror watch list "for years".
Cherif told French TV he was acting on behalf of the Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula while Coulibaly said he was a member of the Islamic State group.
Coulibaly, 32 - who met Cherif Kouachi in prison - was sentenced to five years in prison in 2013 for his role in a failed bid to break an Algerian Islamist, Smain Ait Ali Belkacem, out of jail.
Boumeddiene and Cherif's girlfriend spoke "more than 500" times by phone in 2014, said Paris's chief prosecutor Francois Molins.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the carnage they left in their wake showed there had been "clear failings" in intelligence.
The Islamic State group's radio praised them as "heroes" and Somalia's Shebab militants, al-Qaeda's main affiliate in Africa, hailed their "heroic" act.
Meanwhile, AQAP top sharia official Harith al-Nadhari chillingly warned France to "stop your aggression against the Muslims" or face further attacks, in comments released by the SITE monitoring group.
AFP