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Former UN chief Boutros Boutros-Ghali dies at 93

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UN announces death of 93-year-old Egyptian who was the body’s first African secretary-general.

Boutros-Ghali led the UN during the period that saw genocide in Rwanda, civil war in Angola, the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia [Reuters]

Boutros-Ghali led the UN during the period that saw genocide in Rwanda, civil war in Angola, the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

The UN Security Council has announced the death of former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who lived until the age of 93.

Venezuela’s UN Ambassador Rafael Ramirez, the current council president, made the announcement at the start of a meeting on Yemen’s humanitarian crisis on Tuesday, before asking members to rise for a moment of silence.

Born in November 14, 1922, in Cairo, Boutros-Ghali studied in the Egyptian capital and Paris and became an academic specialising in international law.

The Egyptian politician and diplomat was the sixth secretary-general of the United Nations, serving from January 1992 to December 1996.

He led the UN during the period that saw genocide in Rwanda, civil war in Angola, the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia – all of this amidst increasingly stormy relations between the US and the UN.

Al Jazeera interviewed Boutros-Ghali, a Coptic Christian, in 2009, when he spoke in part on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In his farewell speech to the UN, Boutros-Ghali said he had thought when he took the post that the time was right for the UN to play an effective role in a world no longer divided into warring Cold War camps.

“But the middle years of this half decade were deeply troubled,” he said. “Disillusion set in.”

Turkey pushes for ground operation in Syria

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turkish_military

by Al Bawaba

Turkey has announced it is in favor of a military deployment on the ground in Syria but on the condition that its allies participate in the operation, according to a statement released by a senior Turkish official said on Tuesday.

“We want a ground operation with our international allies,” the official told reporters in Istanbul.

“There is not going to be a unilateral military operation from Turkey to Syria,” the official remarked, before adding that: “Without a ground operation it is impossible to stop the fighting in Syria.”

Turkey considers the removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as essential to ending the protracted war in Syria which is currently in its fifth year. The Turkish state is also highly critical of the involvment of Iran and Russia and their support for the Assad regime.

“We are asking the coalition partners that there should be a ground operation,” the official said.

Turkey has attacked Kurdish militia targets in Syria over the past few days, a move which has strained relations between Ankara and Washington. The United States has been supportive of Syrian Kurds fighting Daesh, but Turkey fears this will embolden Kurds living within Turkish borders to push for independence.

Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz previously stated on Sunday that Turkey had no plans of intervening on the gound in Syria.

Deadly air strikes hit hospitals in northern Syria

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At least 21 people killed in suspected Russian raids on two hospitals and a school in provinces of Aleppo and Idlib.

MSF's destroyed hospital in Idlib [Syria Civil Defence]

MSF’s destroyed hospital in Idlib [Syria Civil Defence]

by Al Jazeera

At least 21 people have been killed and dozens others injured in air strikes and rocket attacks on a school and two hospitals in separate locations in northern Syria, Al Jazeera has learned.

In the deadliest incident, at least 14 people were killed and about 30 injured when air strikes and rocket artillery damaged parts of a hospital in the town of Azaz in Aleppo province, the media office at the rebel-controlled Aleppo local council said on Monday.

In the same raid, a school where refugees were sheltering was also hit. No death toll has been confirmed.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in a news conference in Kiev on Monday that a Russian balistic missile hit the school and hospital in Azaz.

The head of the media office, Abu Thaer al-Halabi, told Al Jazeera that a section of a highway that facilitates the main supply line for humanitarian aid to the region was destroyed in the raids.

Halabi also said the strikes were carried out by Russian fighter jets.MSF hospital hit

MSF hospital hit

Meanwhile, air strikes also targeted a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in the town of Maaret al-Numan in Idlib province, killing at least seven people, the charity’s France president said on Monday.

“There were at least seven deaths among the personnel and the patients, and at least eight MSF personnel have disappeared, and we don’t know if they are alive,” Mego Terzian told Reuters, adding that he believed Russia or Syrian government forces were behind the attack.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said nine people, including a child, had been killed in the “presumambly Russian” raids.

A spokesman for the Syria Civil Defence in Idlib confirmed that the hospital was hit but said four people were killed.

“At least four people have been killed while several others have been injured. We expect the death toll to rise. There are doctors and MSF staff missing,” Radi said, without stating his full name.

At least 13 people were reportedly injured in the strikes, as rescue workers were trying to reach several people buried under the rubble.

“Extreme damage has been caused to the hospital. Six floors have been almost reduced to rubble. This hospital is located in an area previously surrounded by restaurants and has no rebel strongholds. It has been functioning for over a year now,” Radi said.

MSF condemned the attack in a report released on Monday.

“This appears to be a deliberate attack on a health structure, and we condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms,” said Massimiliano Rebaudengo, MSF’s head of mission.

“The destruction of the hospital leaves the local population of around 40,000 people without access to medical services in an active zone of conflict,” Massimiliano said.

Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from the Turkish town of Gaziantep near the Syria border, said:

“This is not the first time a hospital or a health facility has been targeted in Syria.

“What we understand is the facility in Idlib that was hit this morning was serving up to 40,000 people who live in what MSF called an active zone of conflict, so they will be denied health services,” she added.

“The health system in Syria as a whole really has all but collapsed and undoubtedly a very grim situation.”

Report: Death toll from Syrian conflict now 470,000

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Syrian girls react following a reported Syrian regime air strike in a rebel-controlled area in the northern city of Aleppo on February 8, 2016. (AFP/Ameer al-Halbi)

Syrian girls react following a reported Syrian regime air strike in a rebel-controlled area in the northern city of Aleppo on February 8, 2016. (AFP/Ameer al-Halbi)

by Andolu Ajansi

A report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research has said that nearly 12 percent of the Syrian population have been killed or injured in civil war.

According to the report released on Thursday, 470,000 Syrians were killed and 1,900,000 others injured in the war which has entered in its fifth year, following the involvement of other actors such asRussia, Iran and Hezbollah.

This is far above the United Nation’s last death-toll figure of 250,000. The UN stopped collecting statistics about the casualties of Syrian stalemate 18 months ago.

In addition, the conflict-hit country’s infrastructure and health system were nearly decimated, researchers said. It added that 400,000 people were killed directly by the violence and another 70,000 lost their lives due to lack of food and medicine plus disease and sanitation problems.

Thursday’s report also said life expectancy had dropped from 70 to 55.4.

The report said that 45 percent of the Syrian population had been displaced, more than four million have become refugees in other countries and six million others were internally displaced. The report also touched upon economic losses in Syria, saying the war had cost $255 billion and that almost 14 million people had lost their livelihoods.

It also added that poverty increased by 85% in 2015 and health, education and income standards have sharply deteriorated.

Pakistan foils plot to free Daniel Pearl’s killer

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Brazen Hyderabad jailbreak plan halted by intelligence agents with arrest of 97 “hardcore terrorists”, military says.

Mugshots of arrested suspects who planned to free the alleged murderer of a US journalist in 2002 [Reuters/PTV]

Mugshots of arrested suspects who planned to free the alleged murderer of a US journalist in 2002 [Reuters/PTV]

by Al Jazeera

Pakistani intelligence agents arrested 97 insurgents, including three commanders, who planned a prison break aimed at freeing the killer of US journalist Daniel Pearl.

Army spokesman Lieutenant General Asim Saleem Bajwa said in a conference in Karachi on Friday that three armed groups – al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) – were working together on the plot to free British-born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, currently on death row for the 2002 murder of Pearl.

“A deputy leader of al-Qaeda in the Subcontinent named Mussanah was mastermind of the plan and was arranging all the finances while he was aided by the deputy chief of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Naeem Bukhari,” Bajwa said.

“These arrests were made over a period of time, starting from the first arrest made a few months ago.”

The suspects had been involved in several major attacks in the southern port city of Karachi and elsewhere, and planned to killed 35-40 hostages and break about 100 inmates out of a prison, he added.

Defense and security analyst Talat Masood told Al Jazeera that freeing “their companions” from jail was only to prove their power.

“Pakistan army is doing their best to eliminate terrorism and these arrests are one of their big achievements,” he said.

“However, arresting militants and busting their attacks is not the only solution to eradicate terrorism in the country. Pakistan needs to work on cross-border relationships, especially with Afghanistan, which will help them track terrorists very easily,” said Masood.

Pearl’s death

Pearl, 38, was the South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal when he was abducted and beheaded in Karachi in 2002, while researching a story about Islamist fighters.

A graphic video showing Pearl’s decapitation was delivered to the US consulate in the city nearly a month later.

British-born Sheikh was arrested in 2002 and sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court, while three other co-accused received life imprisonment.

In January 2011, a report released by the Pearl Project at Georgetown University in the US following an investigation into his death made chilling revelations when it claimed the wrong men were convicted for Pearl’s murder.

The investigation – led by Pearl’s friend and former Wall Street Journal colleague Asra Nomani and a Georgetown University professor – claimed the reporter was murdered by Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the alleged mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 attacks, not Sheikh.

Mohammed was arrested in Pakistan in 2003 and is being held in Guantanamo Bay.

Syria: Russian PM warns of world war if troops sent in

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Dmitry Medvedev tells German paper proposal to send Arab ground forces to fight ISIL “draws everyone” into war.

Dmitry Medvedev

by Al Jazeera

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has warned that the deployment of foreign ground troops in the Syrian conflict could result in a world war.

Medvedev was quoted as saying in an interview published late on Thursday by the German newspaper Handelsblatt that “a ground operation draws everyone taking part in it into a war”.

When asked about a recent proposal from Saudi Arabia to send in ground troops to Syria, the Russian prime minister answered that “the Americans and our Arab partners must consider whether or not they want a permanent war”.

Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands, reporting from Moscow, said Medvedev’s comments were an explicit warning to the United States and its regional allies, including Saudi Arabia.

“He basically told them to back off on sending troops because if they did, this might result in some sort of interminable or even a world war,” Challands said.

Medvedev also criticised Western powers’ refusal to collaborate with Russia in Syria. The prime minister said ties at the level of defence departments were only sporadic.

US defence chief Ashton Carter, meanwhile, welcomed a commitment from Saudi Arabia to expand its role with ground troops in Syria against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

At a gathering of more than two dozen defence ministers at NATO headquarters, Carter said on Friday key ally the United Arab Emirates agreed to send special forces soldiers to Syria to assist in the development of local Sunni Arab fighters focused on recapturing Raqqa, ISIL’s de facto capital.

Carter declined to say how many Emirati commandos would go to Syria. He said they would be part of an effort led by the US and bolstered by Saudi special forces to train and enable local Arab fighters who are motivated to recapture Raqqa.

Saudi Arabia’s Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri said his country was ready to send troops into Syria if there was a consensus in the anti-ISIL coalition. But he declined to elaborate, saying: “It is too early to talk about such options. Today we are talking at the strategic level.”

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov intends to meet with his Saudi counterpart Adil al-Ahmad al-Jubayr in Munich, Germany on Friday, a Russian news report said.

Vyacheslav Matuzov, a former Russian diplomat, told Al Jazeera that Russia was not fuelling the Syrian conflict, rather it had prevented it from spreading.

Matuzov said he understood that a “cessation of hostilities” pact that world powers had arrived at in Munich on Thursday meant the only solution for the conflict had to be political.

“I think all groups would understand there is no solution but a political solution. Those who do not agree to stop fighting will be enemies, and will be destroyed, as I understand to be the result of Munich,” he said.

Ceasefire talk as 50,000 Syrians flee Aleppo fighting

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Russia reportedly has proposed a March 1 truce as the Syrian government ramps up its military offensive on Aleppo.

Syrian refugees wait for food near a refugee camp in Bab Al-Salama city, in northern Syria, on February 6 [Sedat Suna/EPA]

Syrian refugees wait for food near a refugee camp in Bab Al-Salama city, in northern Syria, on February 6 [Sedat Suna/EPA]

by Al Jazeera

Russia is ready to discuss a possible ceasefire in Syria, an official said on Thursday, before a crucial meeting of major powers in Germany on how to end the five-year-old Syrian civil war.

“We are ready to discuss the modalities of a ceasefire in Syria,” Gennady Gatilov, the deputy foreign minister, was cited by the TASS news agency as saying. “This is what will be talked about in Munich.”

Citing an unnamed Western official, the Reuters news agency reported late on Wednesday that Russia proposed a ceasefire to begin on March 1.

International powers, including Russia, the United States, Saudi Arabia and Iran, were to meet on Thursday in Germany in a bid to resurrect Syrian peace talks inGeneva that were postponed earlier this month.

A Syrian government offensive around the city of Aleppo – backed by Russian air strikes – has sent tens of thousands of people fleeing to the Turkish border, putting the Geneva talks in jeopardy.

Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands, reporting from Moscow, said that the US and its allies would probably view Russia’s truce offer with scepticism.

“The US concerns are that this gives the offensive that’s currently ongoing in the Aleppo region more time to push the rebels back, possibly going so far as a full military victory,” said Challands.

Meanwhile, the Russian defence ministry lashed out at the US-led coalition in Syria for refusing to provide intelligence on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) targets there.

Major-General Igor Konashenkov, the defence ministry spokesman, said in a statement on Thursday that Russia has shared its own intelligence with the US that has “gratefully taken” it – but has not reciprocated.

Konashenkov said Moscow has repeatedly asked Washington and its allies for intelligence in response to the accusations that Russians are targeting the “wrong objects”.

At least 50,000 Syrians have fled the fighting in Aleppo, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Wednesday, adding that water supplies have been disrupted in some parts of the province.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Wednesday that at least 500 people have been killed since the Syrian government, backed by Russian air strikes,  launched a major offensive  from the north of Aleppo on February 1.

The Observatory said  that among those killed were “89 civilians, including 23 children, 143 pro-government fighters, 274 rebels and foreign fighters”.

Russian air strikes that began in September have tilted the war in favour of President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

The Syrian government holds the west of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, while the rebels hold the east, but the situation is largely reversed in the countryside.

The latest diplomatic efforts to end the Syrian conflict through peace talks were suspended in Geneva earlier this month until February 25, after UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said that more work was needed to make progress.

The Syrian opposition has said that it will not attend the scheduled talks unless the government ends its air strikes and lifts the sieges on cities and towns.

The peace talks are meant to develop a “road map” to end the conflict of almost five years that has resulted in more than 250,000 Syrians being killed.

The conflict has also displaced millions more and sent hundreds of thousands fleeing as refugees to Europe.

Congo to probe alleged sex abuse by peacekeeers in CAR

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Republic of Congo launches investigation after UN sends troops home following new allegations of sex abuse in CAR.

The allegations are the latest in a barrage of claims of troops assaulting civilians they are supposed to protect in CAR [Reuters]

The allegations are the latest in a barrage of claims of troops assaulting civilians they are supposed to protect in CAR [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

The Republic of Congo has launched an investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse involving its troops serving as UN peacekeepers in the Central African Republic (CAR).

“Under a memorandum of understanding between the Congolese government and the office of the UN secretary general it has been decided that an administrative inquiry will be carried out,” Communications Minister Thierry Moungalla said on Friday.

The defence ministry will lead the investigation and “verify the veracity of the allegations”, after Human Rights Watch (HRW) brought the cases to the attention of MINUSCA, the UN’s stabilisation mission in CAR.

MINUSCA said it had “identified seven new possible victims of sexual exploitation and abuse in Bambari”, in the centre of the country, involving soldiers from the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

A UN probe “found sufficient initial evidence that five of the victims were minors and had been sexually abused and that one adult had been sexually exploited”, MINUSCA said in a statement.

Following the claims, the UN said it would repatriate 120 peacekeepers from the Republic of Congo, a month after asking DRC to send home its contingent.

On Thursday, HRW released a statement documenting eight new allegations of rape or sexual exploitation by UN troops in the same region of Bambari.

All eight survivors said that they believed the peacekeepers responsible were from the Republic of Congo or the DRC, according to HRW, which alleged the abuse took place between October and December 2015.

MINUSCA said one of the allegations passed on by HRW had been previously reported and is currently under investigation.

“Among the survivors are a 14-year-old girl and an 18-year-old woman who said peacekeepers gang-raped them near Bambari airport in the center of the country,” HRW said.

CAR is struggling to recover from a cycle of violence that began after a 2013 coup, pitting mainly Muslim rebels against Christian militias, but international peacekeeping efforts have been undermined by a string of sex abuse claims.

Moungalla said Brazzaville had a “zero tolerance” policy on rights abuses and would “roundly condemn” the abuse if proven by the investigation.

The allegations are the latest in a barrage of claims of troops assaulting civilians they are supposed to protect in CAR.

While most of the cases concern UN peacekeepers, France’s Sangaris force and the EU’s EUFOR mission have also been accused of similar crimes.

NATO chief: Russian airstrikes in Syria undermine peace talks

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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg presents the 2015 NATO annual report during a press conference in Brussels, January 28, 2016. (AFP/Emmanuel Dunand)

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg presents the 2015 NATO annual report during a press conference in Brussels, January 28, 2016. (AFP/Emmanuel Dunand)

by Al Bawaba

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday that Russia’s increase in airstrikes is undermining Syria peace talks in Geneva, Reuters reported.

“The intense Russia airstrikes, mainly targeting opposition groups in Syria, is undermining the efforts to find a political solution to the conflict,” Stoltenberg told Reuters upon arriving for a meeting of EU defense ministers in Amsterdam.

Stoltenberg also defended claims that Russia had again violated airspace in Turkey, a NATO member.

“The increased Russia presence, the air activity in Syria, is also causing increased tensions and violations of Turkish airspace … violations of NATO airspace,” he said. “This creates risks.”

Since Monday, the Syrian army and forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad have made advances in a push to encircle and rout out rebels in the eastern part of Aleppo. The assault has been backed by Russian airstrikes and has also cut off a key supply route to the Turkish border.

US drone strike kills senior al-Qaeda leader in Yemen

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Jalal Baleedi, a field commander in the country’s south, was killed with his guards in Shabwa province.

The US has continued a drone campaign in Yemen targeting al-Qaeda figures [EPA]

The US has continued a drone campaign in Yemen targeting al-Qaeda figures [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

One of al-Qaeda’s senior commanders was killed by a US drone strike in southern Yemen, a military source told Al Jazeera.

Fighters belonging to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) were preparing to receive the body of Jalal Baleedi, also known as Hamza al-Marqashi, after he was killed overnight with two of his guards near the town of Azzan, the source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Thursday.

Reuters news agency also reported another US drone attack that killed six alleged al-Qaeda fighters in their car travelling in Yemen’s southern Shabwa province.

Al-Qaeda fighters took over Azzan on Monday, and it has become the group’s stronghold in Shabwa.

Originally from Yemen’s mountainous Abyan province, Baleedi was identified in 2004 by the Yemen Times as being the field commander of AQAP in the southern governorates of Abyan, Shabwa, Lahj, Hadramout, and al-Beidha.

Recent reports suggested  Baleedi pledged allegiance to and joined the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group with several other AQAP fighters, becoming the leader of ISIL in Yemen.

However, the reports were not confirmed by ISIL nor by AQAP.

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