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A first group of soldiers facing sex abuse allegations in a scandal involving UN and French forces in the Central African Republic (CAR) has faced charges at a trial in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Three Congolese men from the UN’s MINUSCA peacekeeping mission appeared before the court in the Ndolo military prison north of the DRC’s capital, Kinshasa, on Monday. Sergeant Major Kibeka Mulamba Djuma and Sergeant Jackson Kikola are being “prosecuted for raping a (young girl) of 17 and for not following orders,” public prosecutor Lieutenant Mposhi Ngoy said, reading the charges. 

Sergeant Major Nsasi Ndazu also faces charges of attempted rape and disobeying orders. The three soldiers pleaded not guilty. Some 18 other soldiers from the DR Congo are accused of rape or attempted rape of civilians in the CAR also attended the court over the scandal, which came to public attention after 100 victims came forward with appalling accounts of sexual abuse by UN and French troops. Alexis Thambwe Mwamba, the Congolese justice minister, told AFP, “We want absolute transparency in this trial,” adding that “a few individuals cannot discredit our army.” The whole process could take months to complete as three hearings are set to take place weekly.

Venance Kalenga, who was present at the session as an observer for Congolese human rights charity ACAJ, described the absence of victims as “a major obstacle in the demonstration of truth.” But Ida Sawyer, an advocate for Human Rights Watch in the DR Congo, hailed the trial as “a first, and good, step to end impunity.” She also urged all nations involved to ensure “real justice.” The CAR plunged into crisis in December 2013, when anti-balaka militia began coordinated attacks against the Seleka group, which had toppled the government in March that year.

France effectively invaded the CAR, a former French colony, after the UN Security Council adopted a resolution giving the African Union and France the go-ahead to send troops to the country. The UN’s MINUSCA peacekeeping mission was deployed to the CAR in September 2014 to take over from African Union forces. MINUSCA is short for the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic.

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Presstv

05.Apr.2016

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Two Libyans held for more than a decade without trial at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been transferred to Senegal, the Pentagon said on Monday, as President Barack Obama pushes to close the facility before leaving office in January.

The two men were the first of a group of about a dozen who are expected to be transferred in coming weeks to countries that have agreed to take them, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

With the latest departures, there are now 89 prisoners at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo. Most have been held for years without charge or trial, drawing international condemnation.

Obama, who in February gave Congress a plan for shuttering the prison, is seeking to make good on his long-time pledge. But he faces stiff opposition from many Republican lawmakers, as well as some fellow Democrats.

"We are taking all possible steps to reduce the detainee population at Guantanamo and to close the detention facility in a responsible manner that protects our national security," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement.

The Pentagon identified the two Libyans as Salem Abdu Salam Ghereby, 55, and Omar Khalif Mohammed Abu Baker Mahjour Umar, believed to be 43 or 44.

They were among a group of prisoners, now numbering 35 following their departure, who have been cleared for transfer by U.S. government review panels. U.S. officials have said they expect to move out all members of that group by this summer, sending them to their homelands or other countries.

Kerry thanked the government of Senegal, a Muslim-majority West African country, for accepting the two Libyans for “humanitarian resettlement.” The United States has ruled out repatriating detainees to countries like Libya, which is locked in civil conflict and where militant Islamist groups are active.

Both had been accused of links to al Qaeda and were suspected members of a Libyan Islamist faction, according to leaked U.S. military documents. They were captured separately in Pakistan and held at Guantanamo since 2002.

Obama’s blueprint for closing Guantanamo prison calls for speeding up such transfers and bringing several dozen remaining prisoners to maximum-security prisons in the United States. U.S. law bars such transfers to the mainland, and Obama has not ruled out doing so by use of executive action.

The most prominent of those to be resettled over the next several weeks is Tariq Bah Odah, a 37-year-old Yemeni on a long-term hunger strike. He has been force-fed by nasal tube since he stopped eating solid food in 2007.

The latest transfers were the first to Senegal, a U.S. ally. Two Yemeni detainees were sent to Ghana in January. Others were sent recently to Oman.

Guantanamo prisoners were rounded up overseas when the United States became embroiled in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington. The facility, opened by Obama’s predecessor George W. Bush, came to symbolize aggressive detention practices that opened the United States to accusations of torture.

(Reuters)

 

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Elangwe Pauline

05.Apr.2016

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Police in the Republic of Congo's capital exchanged heavy gunfire with unidentified gunmen Monday in the first major outbreak of violence since the re-election of President Denis Sassou Nguesso last month.

The shooting happened in Brazzaville's Bacongo and Makeleke neighborhoods.  There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Nguesso first served as president between 1979 and 1992, and after losing an election returned to power in 1997.  He won disputed elections in 2002 and 2009 before getting voter approval to remove constitutional blocks that would have barred him from the March 20 vote because of age and term limits.

An army general who finished third in the voting alleged fraud and called for a campaign of "civil disobedience" after the results were announced.

(VOA)

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Rita Akana

04.Apr.2016

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An Iranian military official says commandos from an Iranian army unit have been deployed to Syria on an advisory mission. Amir-Ali Arasteh, the deputy for coordination in the Iranian Army’s Ground Forces, told Tasnim news agency on Monday that the Iranian commandos, from Brigade 65 of the Forces, had took on a mission of advising Syrian forces. 

Iran maintains military advisers in Syria, where the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is fighting an array of foreign-backed militant forces, including, but not limited to, those of the Daesh terrorist group. Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, the so-called al-Nusra Front, is another one of the groups engaged in brutal activities against the Syrian people and government.

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Presstv

04.Apr.2016

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The South African parliament is scheduled to debate a motion to impeach incumbent President Jacob Zuma following allegations over his violation of the country’s constitution. "The national assembly will on Tuesday, 5 April, consider a motion by the Democratic Alliance for the removal of the President in terms of section 89 of the constitution," Baleka Mbete, the South African parliament speaker, said on Sunday. 

The decision was made after the country’s top court ruled on Thursday that Zuma had failed to uphold the constitution by ignoring official orders that he repay some of the $16 million in state funds spent on renovating his private home. The restoration project which reportedly cost a total of $24 million of public money in 2014, included a swimming pool, chicken run, cattle enclosure and an amphitheater.

On a televised address, the 73-year-old president said he had "never knowingly and deliberately set out to violate the constitution" and that "any action that has been found not to be in keeping with the constitution happened because of a different approach and different legal advice.”

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03.Apr.2016

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The international airport in Belgium’s capital, Brussels, is set to partially reopen amid tight security checks after a 12-day shutdown of passenger flights due to the deadly attacks claimed by the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group. 

Zaventem Airport chief executive, Arnaud Feist, said the facility would resume services on Sunday with three “symbolic” Brussels Airlines flights. The first flight is expected to take off for the Portuguese city of Faro around 2 p.m. local time (1200 GMT).

The others will be bound for the Greek capital, Athens, and Italy’s Turin. “These flights are the first hopeful sign from an airport that is standing up straight after a cowardly attack,” Feist said.

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Presstv

03.Apr.2016

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