By Iain Overton

LONDON - Last Wednesday, a car bomb exploded in Kabul. It killed at least 18 people and injured over 100 more. The atrocity was claimed by the Taliban, who said it had targeted a ‘recruitment centre’ to kill soldiers and police officers.

The attack comes as the Taliban is holding peace talks with the United States. Both sides are seeking to establish a timetable for American troop withdrawal. This has even included the Taliban meeting Afghan government officials at peace talks in Doha and sitting down with female representatives.

It wasn’t unexpected. In the midst of the peace talks, Afghanistan is witnessing a sharp rise in violence.

Last month was the worst for civilian casualties from explosive weapons since at least October 2010, when the charity I head – Action on Armed Violence – first started recording global explosive violence as reported in English language media. There were 1,013 civilian casualties from 82 bomb blasts across the country in July alone.

Between January and June of 2019, there were a further 1,327 civilian casualties from explosive violence in 319 reported incidents.

These continued attacks on civilians by the Taliban may represent an attempt to gain leverage in the peace talks and exert pressure on both the US and Afghan government. Certainly, there is a determination to exert the bloody ‘propaganda of the deed’ across the nation.

Kabul was the city most impacted in July 2019, with almost a third of all civilian casualties occurring in the capital. Almost nine out of ten of those killed or injured were victims of one of the most pernicious weapons of modern times – the improvised explosive device (IED). And one of the deadliest forms of IED, the suicide attack, dominates. It accounted for more than half of all civilian casualties last month.

The suicide bomber is a relatively new phenomenon in Afghanistan. Traditionally, the mujahideen in Afghanistan were careful not to lose men in battle against the Soviets. Martyrdom was not part of their culture. In the 1980s, they even asked the Tamil Tigers if they could supply Sri Lankan suicide attackers in exchange for money. And when the CIA-sponsored Pakistan intelligence services tried to find a suicide bomber to detonate a vehicle bomb in the 1.6-mile-long Salang Tunnel, in a bid to destroy the crucial north–south Soviet supply route, there were no takers. Suicide, they said, was a sin.

No longer. Years of violence, and a rise in global Salafist-jihadism, has hardened the resolve of Afghan’s fighters. Since late 2010, there have been at least 489 suicide strikes in Afghanistan, killing and injuring over 15,000 people.

The numbers are increasing. In 2011, some 1,970 people – civilians and security personnel – were killed or injured by suicide attacks in Afghanistan. By 2018, it was at least 3,079 – a rise of 56%.

While the Taliban are not the only people waging war, they are the most harmful. We know the perpetrators responsible for 60% of the civilian casualties so far this year and, of those, 70% were from Taliban bombs. This reflects the increasing power that Taliban forces hold in Afghanistan, a force that has now retaken control of large swathes of the country and holds more territory than at any stage since the US invasion in 2001.

This is not to say the Taliban are the only ones responsible. So far this year, Nato’s interventions have led to at least 30 explosive violence incidents, causing the death or injury of some 280 people, of which 11% have been civilians. US forces have been reported to have been behind a further 19 incidents, harming 197 people, of which 49 were civilians. The US’ civilian-harm ratio is over twice that of Nato’s – possibly reflecting a more gung-ho approach by the Americans.

Such rising violence in the country, though, has been largely ignored by the UK media. An examination of UK news outlets shows that some of Britain’s most influential press outlets have severely under-reported civilian casualties from explosive weapons in Afghanistan since the beginning of the year.

Despite there being at least 2,340 civilian casualties since January, a Google-search analysis shows that the BBC News Online reported on just 378 deaths or injuries. The Guardian website reported on 333 civilian casualties and The Independent just 216.

Overall, the BBC, The Guardian, and The Independent, have reported on only 13, five, and six specific explosive violence incidents respectively, though they did report on UN findings in April that more Afghan civilians were being killed by pro-government forces than by Taliban.

These outlets’ individual reports on distinct incidents against civilians each represent less than three per cent of the total 401 explosive incidents in the country.

The Daily Mail, who use a greater number of wire services, have reported on 43 incidents or 11% of the total number. The Mail listed some 1,504 civilian casualties being harmed, or 64% of the total civilians killed or injured as reported in global media. Despite this, a comprehensive Google search shows that the Daily Mail has published just a few in-house articles reporting on the rising explosive violence in Afghanistan since the beginning of the year.

The impact of this under-reported but escalating violence is unclear. Both the US and the Taliban insist there has been progress in the peace talks and have reportedly resolved differences over the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. But it raises a fundamental question: has the West’s intervention in Afghanistan since Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001 made the country a safer place?

Judging by the current maelstrom of violence in Afghanistan, the answer has to be no. But if you only read the British press, you wouldn’t easily come to that conclusion.



Iain Overton is the Executive Director of Action on Armed Violence, a London-based charity that charts explosive violence globally, and author of The Price of Paradise: How the Suicide Bomber Shaped the Modern Age.

NEW YORK - The fate of 130 children on board two rescue ships in the Mediterranean Sea should not be put at risk by political point-scoring, the UN said on Thursday, amid ongoing uncertainty about whether the vessels will be allowed to dock in Italy.

The appeal by UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, to European Governments to prevent EU-bound migrants and refugees from being stranded at sea, follows the signing of a second Italian decree banning humanitarian vessels from entering the country.

Last week, Italian lawmakers agreed to impose fines of up to €1 million on vessels and organizations carrying out search and rescue operations, if they enter Italian territorial waters. In addition, vessels stand to be automatically impounded, said UNHCR.

So far this year, around 4,000 people have made the treacherous crossing to Europe via the so-called Central Mediterranean Route from North Africa to Italy  - nearly 80 per cent less than in the first seven months of last year.

On Sunday, more than 400 people were rescued off the Libyan coast by two boats at the centre of UNICEF’s appeal.

One of the boats, Open Arms, is reportedly moored close to the Italian island of Lampedusa.

UNICEF said that only 11 of the 103 children aboard the second vessel, Viking Ocean, had a parent or guardian with them.

In a statement, UNICEF Special Coordinator for the Refugee and Migrant response in Europe, Afshan Khan, said that many of the youngsters had “fled poverty, conflict and unthinkable atrocities”, and had the right to be safe.

Amid reports that the Spanish authorities had agreed to shelter more than a dozen of those rescued at the weekend, many of whom are from Sudan, Ms. Khan welcomed what she called “recent progress towards a plan for increased solidarity and responsibility sharing among European Governments”.

COPENHAGEN - While neither US officials nor the Danish government have publicly commented on Trump's alleged idea of buying Greenland, it has already caused a stir across the Atlantic.

Politicians in Denmark have reacted with disbelief to reports that Donald Trump has set his sights on buying Greenland – they still insist that the world's largest island is not for sale.

According to an almost-anecdotal report in the Wall Street Journal, Donald Trump has showed interest in Greenland’s natural resources and geopolitical importance, and asked his White House counsel to look into the concept.

It was not clear from the report how serious the president was about the idea; neither the State Department nor the White House has commented on the speculation so far.

Officials in Copenhagen did not regard this real estate project as something sane, let alone feasible.

“If it is true that he (Donald Trump) is working on this idea, this is a final proof that he has gone mad,” Soren Espersen, an MP for the right-wing Danish People's Party told the newspaper Jyllands Posten.

“I'd say that the very idea that Denmark can sell 50,000 of its nationals to the United States is absolutely crazy”.

Former Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen echoed his tone, tweeting: “It must be an April Fool’s Day joke ... but totally out of [season]!”

Rasmus Jarlov, a representative of the Conservative People's Party, was also sceptical about the prospects for selling the gigantic island. "Out of all things that are not going to happen, this is the most unlikely. Forget it," he said.

Michael Aastrup, an MP for the liberal Venstre party, was even more outspoken, saying: "Greenland is not for sale! Times when one could buy territories and people have long gone. I hope that our government will declare this firmly to Trump when he pays a visit to Denmark, on behalf of Danish society," Aastrup wrote on Twitter.

Donald Trump is scheduled to make his first trip to Denmark early in September, which is said to be unrelated to the idea.

Martin Lidegaard, a member of the Social Liberal Party, was likewise hopeful that Trump’s alleged territorial ambitions were a joke, but warned that a prospective purchase of Greenland by the United States could lead to the “militarisation” of the island and could encroach on the independence of the local people, meaning a “great loss” for Denmark.

The US embassy to Greenland has not given any comments on the matter, but former ambassador Rufus Gifford caked the idea “a complete and total catastrophe.”

Greenland, located between the Arctic and the Atlantic oceans, is an autonomous territory of Denmark. Its government makes decisions on most domestic matters, but Copenhagen remains in charge of foreign and security policy.

In 1917, Denmark sold the then-Danish West Indies islands to the US for $25 million following an unofficial referendum, in which 99.83 per cent of voters supported the deal. The Caribbean islands, with an area of 346.36 km2, were then renamed ‘the United States Virgin Islands’.

The US reportedly proposed to buy Greenland in 1946, under President Harry Truman, for $100 million in gold, and also discussed swapping land in Alaska for those portions of the oil-rich island that had military value for the United States. According to the documents unearthed from the National Archives in the 1970s, the proposal “came as a shock” to the Danes and was laid aside.

If the Unites States bought Greenland, it could become the land deal of the century (with an area of 2.16 million km2, Greenland is bigger that the lands acquired in the 1803 Louisiana Purchase and the 1867 Alaska Purchase).

MILAN, ITALY - Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said on Wednesday the citizen’s income scheme introduced earlier this year would need reviewing if the League won elections.

“With our government (pension reform plans) are untouchable... it will rather be necessary to reassess the citizen’s income,” Salvini said in an interview in daily Corriere della Sera.

Salvini, who is also Interior Minister in a year-old coalition with the anti-establishment 5-Star party, said last week the governing alliance had become unworkable and said he wanted elections as soon as October.

Salvini, who is head of the right-wing League, said he would want cabinet undersecretary Giancarlo Giorgetti to be Treasury minister if his party won elections.

GENEVA - Briefing journalists in Geneva, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) Spokesperson Babar Baloch, said that staff had heard numerous testimonies from people whose family members had been killed in Ituri province.

Severe underfunding for aid work and insecurity involving the Hema and Lendu groups have meant that increasing numbers are vulnerable and unable even to go home to pick up essentials, he added.

“These people are not even able to return,” Mr. Baloch said. “Many of them have reported people who have tried - or relatives who have tried - to return to their villages and to their homes have been reportedly attacked and killed.”

Ebola efforts hindered by mass displacement of people ‘on the run’

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the mass displacement of people “on the run” has also hindered efforts to tackle the year-old Ebola virus outbreak.

Latest data from the UN health agency published on Thursday indicated a total of 2,842 Ebola infections and 1,905 deaths in DRC’s Ituri and Nord Kivu provinces, with an overall fatality rate of 67 per cent.

“The (Ebola) treatment centres are operational and the scenario of people - a highly mobile population on the run - is something that has been underlying in this response since the beginning, which is why it is so difficult to end it,” said WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier.

Evidence of beheadings, several massacres

The Hema and Lendu communities have a history of extreme violence in Ituri.

In late June, the UN Human Rights office, OHCHR, reported attacks on “multiple villages” in Djugu and Mahagi territories, where investigators found evidence of several massacres where some victims had been beheaded.

Information gathered by the UN “seems to indicate that despite the attackers reportedly belong to one community, and the victims to others, there appear to be additional political and economic motives underlying the assaults”, OHCHR said in a statement at the time.

In the latest violence, attacks and counter-attacks forced people to flee Djugu territory, UNHCR said, adding that both communities had reportedly formed self-defence groups and carried out revenge killings.

“In the last three weeks of June alone, more than 145,000 newly displaced people sought safety and assistance in the displacement sites across Ituri, while 215,000 were estimated to have fled to the neighbouring areas,” Mr. Baloch said, in line with UNHCR’s earlier statements highlighting widespread displacement in late 2017 and early 2018 in three of Ituri’s five administrative territories: Djugu, Mahagi and Irumu.

“Difficulties with access in some places and the large area from which people have fled means the real figure is difficult to verify,” the UNHCR official warned. “Thousands have continued to flee since, although at lower rates.”

While most of the displaced have found shelter with host communities, tens of thousands have been forced to find shelter where they can.

Squalid camps, where fear rules

“Fear and squalor” prevail in displacement camps, Mr. Baloch insisted, adding that many “are forced to sleep in the open”.

In Drodro, a relatively small town that has seen its population triple in just a few weeks, “local schools and churches have transformed into large, squalid dormitories,” he said, noting that UNHCR has built emergency hangars for those sleeping in the open, and individual shelters for the most vulnerable.

Funding for this humanitarian crisis remains critically low, however, and UNHCR is appealing to the international community to come forward with further funding and allow humanitarian organizations to provide basic, life-saving assistance.

So far this year, UNHCR has received only 32 per cent of the $150 million needed for its operations.

LONDON - Ahead of Tanzanian journalist Erick Kabendera’s next appearance in court on 19 August, when he will be required to enter a plea on charges of leading organized crime and money laundering, Amnesty International’s Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes, Joan Nyanyuki, said:

“The trial of Erick Kabendera is a travesty as the charges brought against him are politically motivated. The charges must be dropped and Kabendera immediately and unconditionally released. He must not be put through one more day of this judicial charade brought against him solely for doing his job.

“Kabendera is a well-respected journalist whose investigations have shed light on the workings of Tanzania’s government both at home and abroad. The outrageous fabricated charges against him show the intolerance of the Tanzanian authorities’ to any criticism.”

 
Background

 
Investigative journalist Erick Kabendera was on 5 August charged with three unbailable offences -  leading organized crime, failure to pay tax amounting to TSh 173m ($75,000), and money laundering -  that he allegedly committed between January 2015 and July 2019 in Dar es Salaam. His lawyer told Amnesty International that he had also been interviewed on an offence of sedition but was not formally charged for that.

Eric Kabendera is currently being held at Segerea maximum security prison in Dar es Salaam. Since his arrest, the authorities have also confiscated his wife’s passport.

By JOHN ADUKATA

ADDIS ABABA - Regional block Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) has set a date for a face-to face meeting between South Sudan rival leaders, President Salva Kiir and Riek Machar.

Igad, which brokered the South Sudan peace agreement in September 2018, has proposed August 21 for the two leaders to meet in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

The meeting comes after the regional bloc noted that lack of consultations between the two had been hindering the enactment of the peace pact.

“I would like to invite all parties to the agreement to attend the consultation meeting in the presence of the representatives of Igad member states,” reads the statement by Igad.

The duo in May extended the pre-transitional period to November 12 but peace monitors expressed concern over the slow progress for the timely formation of the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU).

However, the country’s Information Minister and government spokesperson Michael Makuei Lueth, said that President Kiir will not attend the meeting.

By KITSEPILE NYATHI

WASHINGTON/LONDON - The United States and United Kingdom embassies in Zimbabwe have condemned a spate of abductions of opposition activists.

Tension is rising in the southern African country as the main opposition party is preparing for protests Friday against President Emmerson Mnangagwa. The protesters want a negotiated resolution to an election dispute.

Civil society groups on Thursday said six activists were abducted by armed men in the last few days, tortured and dumped in various parts of the capital Harare.

US ambassador to Zimbabwe Brian Nichols visited some of the victims in hospitals.

“The US government is concerned about renewed reports of abductions and assault of civil society members and opposition party members,” the US embassy said. “Harassment and intimidation have no place in a democratic and pluralistic society.”

The British embassy urged the government to bring those behind the abductions to book.

“We are concerned at the continuing reports of abductions. Freedom to peaceful demonstrations is a right of all Zimbabwean citizens,” the embassy said.

“We urge the government of Zimbabwe to uphold the constitution, ensure these incidents don’t continue and hold those responsible to account.”

However, reacting to the indictment, government spokesperson Nick Mangwana said a ‘third force’ was behind the kidnappings.

“Since the emergence of the new dispensation, there has always been a force comprised of discharged and disgruntled former members of the old establishment of whom some are trained,” Mangwana said in a statement.


Protests


In January, a wave of violent protests rocked the country following a steep increase in the price of fuel.

President Mnangagwa deployed the army to quell the protests and human rights groups say soldiers killed at least 17 people during the unrest.

There were claims that several activists were abducted following the protests.

Civic groups now say they fear a repeat of the violence as government ministers have been threatening to unleash the army on opposition protestors.

“To date, six people have since been tortured by suspected state agents in relation to the planned protests being led by the opposition MDC,” the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum said on Thursday.

The MDC led by Nelson Chamisa says it will embark on peaceful protests until the ruling party leader agrees to enter into talks aimed at resolving the country’s political and economic crises.

NGOMIRON ISLAND, LAKE CHAD - To mark next week’s International Day of Remembrance of and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism, UN News travelled to Chad and the Far North region of Cameroon in West Africa earlier in the year, to interview people who have personal stories to tell about how terrorism has shattered their lives.

In 2015, the island of Ngomiron Doumou in Lake Chad was attacked by armed extremists who said they belonged to the outlawed Boko Haram group. The island is home to some 5,750 people. Up to 300 men, women and children were abducted at gunpoint by Boko Haram fighters who had travelled to the island from Nigeria. Twenty-five-year-old Kedra Abakar is one of around 100 people who made it back to the island. Here is his story.

“My name is Kedra Abakar. I am 25 years old and live on Ngomiron Doumou island. I was 21 when Boko Haram invaded my island; they created confusion and fear. Many neighbours fled, but those who were unable to do so, maybe 2-300 people, were rounded up. I was one of those people. We were kept under a tree and they slaughtered three of my friends in front of us. It was terrible. We were told that if we didn’t go with Boko Haram, the same would happen to us. We were very fearful.

We were taken to Nigeria by Boko Haram. We had three duties; farming, fishing and fighting for Boko Haram. I had to fight when it was my turn. I was given a gun and told to attack a village - I was forced to do this - If I refused, they would have killed me. I did shoot my gun, but I do not know if I killed anyone.

I spent two painful years with Boko Haram and I was not happy. I looked for an opportunity to escape but knew if I was caught, I knew I would be killed, so I was very scared. In the end, I was able to flee. I took a canoe at night time on the shore of Lake Chad. I was not able to come directly to Chad but had to travel through Cameroon.

When I think of the time with Boko Haram, I am very unhappy. Only 100 of the 300 people who were taken, have returned to the island. Many died in the fighting and some are still there; those who believe Boko Haram is a good thing.

My advice to other young people is to understand that Boko Haram is very bad. I tell them that they must remain in the village if they can. We were cheated by Boko Haram as we did not know any better.

My community has welcomed me back. Whatever I needed they gave me. I hope that in the future there will be a school on the island, so people can be educated and not fall under the spell of Boko Haram.

By Lidia Ke

MELBOURNE - Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama accused Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison of insulting leaders of Pacific island nations during a regional summit earlier this week, and said Chinese officials were far more tactful and better mannered.

The Fijian prime minister’s comments come after the Pacific Islands Forum failed to agree on tough new climate change commitments at the insistence of the pro-coal Australian government, upsetting leaders of island nations at risk from rising sea levels.

Bainimarama said Morrison tried to force his country’s policies onto the other nations, and insulted them by saying how much money Australia has given to the region.

“The prime minister was very insulting, very condescending, not good for the relationship,” Bainimarama told Guardian Australia late Friday, a day after the summit of 18 Pacific nations in Tuvalu.

Australia and the United Staves have historically enjoyed virtually unchecked influence in the Pacific, but their sway in the region has been challenged in recent years by China.

Bainimarama said there was “no competition” between Australia and China, but when asked whether some Pacific leaders might now seek better ties with Beijing, he said, “nothing can be worse”.

“The Chinese don’t insult us,” Bainimarama said. “They don’t go down and tell the world that we’ve given this much money to the Pacific islands. They don’t do that. They’re good people, definitely better than Morrison.”

The Fijian premier also called comments by Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, published on Friday by the Guardian, very insulting. McCormack had said that Pacific island nations affected by climate changes will continue to survive because “many of their workers come here to pick our fruit”.

Opposition Labor Party climate change spokesman Mark Butler said that Morrison has damaged the long-standing relationship with Pacific countries and McCormack’s comment “just adds insult to injury”.

Morrison’s office would not comment on Bainimarama’s accusations, but earlier on Saturday Morrison said that Australia is committed to the region.

“We’re there for the difficult conversations, we’re there for every type of conversation with our Pacific family, just like any family that comes around the table,” he told reporters after addressing a South Australian Liberals conference.

“We will always be there and regardless of whatever issues we have to work through at the time.”

By Charlotte Greenfield

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand - After a lone gunman killed 51 mosque worshippers in March, New Zealand’s outpouring of collective grief and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s heartfelt support for the Muslim community won praise around the world.

But months after the attacks in two Christchurch mosques, criticism is mounting over the aftermath, including the prolonged legal process and the handling of a powerful government inquiry.

New Zealand is no stranger to natural disasters, but the unprecedented scale of violence targeting a minority has strained institutions designed to provide answers and deliver justice.

New Zealand is also less experienced in dealing with cultural needs of Muslims, who make up only about 1% of the population.

That has led to cultural blind spots, including scheduling hearings during important religious periods and failing to engage with Muslims in an appropriate way, members of the Muslim community, experts and advocates say.

“What’s being done to manage the expectations of victims and how do they actually feel included and ensure they are not re-traumatized through it and re-victimized through that process?,” said Pakeeza Rasheed, a lawyer and chairperson of New Zealand Muslim women’s organization, the Khadija Leadership Network.

From the beginning, delays and confusion confirming the identities of victims and releasing bodies upset relatives who were unable to bury their loved ones as soon as possible, as is customary in Islam.

Soon after the attack, many Muslims questioned whether security services took the risk of white supremacist violence seriously enough, and whether authorities were overly focused on the danger of Islamic extremism.

Ardern in May announced a wide-ranging inquiry, known as a Royal Commission, seeking answers to such questions.

INCLUSION, SUPPRESSION

But at least six human rights advocates and local Muslims contacted by Reuters have become skeptical of the process.

New Zealand’s Chief Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt called on the Royal Commission to improve inclusion of the Muslim community and said the Commission’s public suppression of information from various government agencies was too broad.

Former race relations commissioner Joris De Bres declined to give evidence to the commission last month, saying he too had concerns over undue secrecy and Muslims being sidelined.

“I…must regretfully decline to participate in the process until I am confident that it is transparent, places the families of the victims of the March 15 massacre, and their communities and organizations at its center and that they have the ability…to question and challenge the information provided by government agencies under investigation,” De Bres told the Commission in a letter he provided to Reuters.

The Commission said it needed to ask government agencies direct and probing questions and was working on the assumption that information gathered would be made public later, wherever possible.

Guled Mire, a Wellington-based Muslim community advocate, initially accepted an invitation to join a Muslim community reference group set up by the Commission, but pulled out in July after its first meeting, saying Muslims were not being listened to.

“They’re perpetuating the same attitudes and behaviors that have led to March 15, essentially ignoring our lived experiences, not valuing what we have to say, really not willing to engage with us on our terms,” Mire said. “The commission has instead undertaken what I would describe as tokenistic forms of engagement.”

Pakeeza Rasheed was also invited to join group but said she did not feel comfortable participating after the Commission did not respond to a number of questions she had about what the process would entail.

The Commission said the Muslim community reference group was only one way it was engaging with Muslim communities.

“We also continue to meet personally with groups and individuals and we’re in contact with many more by phone, email and whatever medium people prefer,” a spokeswoman said in an emailed response to Reuters.

“We understand there may be some members of the Muslim Community Reference Group who may decide the process is not for them and that’s ok.”

Others say they have been pleased with their interactions with the Commission.

Ambreen Naeem, whose husband Naeem and eldest son Talhawere killed at the Al Noor Mosque, contacted the commission by email and was visited by the head commissioner in July.

Ambreen said she had welcomed the chance to raise questions, including about how seriously threats of violence against Muslims were taken in the lead up to the attacks.

“Everyone makes mistakes, if they made mistakes we will understand, but we need to know,” said Ambreen, who is trying to rebuild a life for herself and two surviving sons.

LONG COURT PROCESS

For Ambreen and others, the long and unfamiliar court process has been a source of stress and trauma.

In June, relatives and victims were told the trial of suspected white supremacist Brenton Tarrant, who has pleaded not guilty to 92 murder, attempted murder and terrorism charges, would not take place until May next year, coinciding with the holy Islamic month of Ramadan.

“I don’t know why they drag it that long,” said Abdul Aziz, who fought the attacker with a credit card machine at Linwood Mosque. “Each time I come out of the court, what happens? All the memories come back.”

Muslim Association of Canterbury President Shagaf Khan said they had asked authorities to change the trial date so it does not coincide with Ramadan.

A court official said the court was trying to have the case brought to trial as soon as possible but was open to reviewing the date.

A lawyer for Tarrant, Jonathan Hudson, said: “Our primary concern is ensuring that Mr Tarrant receives the fair trial that he is entitled to.”

A third preliminary High Court hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

Two earlier High Court hearings have been set on Fridays, the holiest day in the Islamic week, and the day the attacks happened.

The Ministry of Justice said it had received initial feedback gathered from victims at an earlier court hearing by a cultural adviser it had engaged and was “open to discussion about how we can do things better to support the victims and their families through the court process”.

The Ministry said it had also arranged to have private rooms and a prayer room available to victims at the court.

While the court process would inevitably be painful for those involved, steps could be taken to mitigate trauma such as avoiding religiously important times for proceedings, acknowledging victims, and providing culturally informed psychological support processes for those attending, said Tayyab Rashid, a Pakistani-Canadian psychologist who ran support sessions at Al Noor Mosque.

“I think the court or legal system can find ways to support them because this is not the typical case, it is an atypical scenario and for atypical scenarios, you need atypical solutions.”

CANBERRA/AUCKLAND - Six people including four British men have been arrested in Australia and New Zealand in one of the region's largest-ever drug seizures.

Australian police said the bust was connected to a UK-based organised crime syndicate which supplied highly pure methamphetamine and MDMA powder.

Drugs with an estimated value of A$90m (£50m; $61m) were seized in the state of Queensland.

The drugs could have made up to 12 million ecstasy capsules, police added.

Queensland Police said it was the third-largest MDMA bust in Australia's history and the drugs were the "highest purity" ever seized in the state.

Police arrested two British men, aged 40 and 51, an Australian man, 26, and an Australian woman, 51.

Another two British men, aged 49 and 60, were arrested in Auckland, New Zealand last week after police there seized 200kg of methamphetamine.

Raids were also carried out in the Australian state of New South Wales.

"Organised crime syndicates are making significant profit at the expense of our Australian community," Queensland Police said in a statement.

"Police believe the powder was destined for production into pill and capsule form to be sold across Australia."

MDMA is the active drug found in ecstasy tablets.(FA)

CANBERA - Australia’s Special Forces will be better equipped to keep Australians safe thanks to a $3 billion investment in cutting edge equipment under the Coalition Government, said the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in a statement.

The Government has approved the first stage of Project GREYFIN, which will provide the first $500 million of a $3 billion planned investment over 20 years.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the funding will ensure our Special Forces can better respond to threats, including that of terrorism.

“I’ve always said keeping Australians safe is my Government’s number one priority. That’s why we’re ensuring the men and women in our Special Forces have the equipment and training they need to succeed in their operations,” said Mr Morrison.

“Australian Special Forces undertake complex, highly demanding operations in high threat environments.

“Global threats will continue to evolve in ways which threaten Australia's interests. This funding will ensure our Special Forces have cutting edge capabilities to stay ahead of those who might threaten Australia's interests.”

Defence Minister Linda Reynolds says project GREYFIN ensures our Special Forces have the best body armour; weapons; diving, parachuting, roping and climbing systems; medical search and rescue; communications; human performance training and support; and everything else they need to help ensure Australia’s security.

“Our Special Forces, now more than ever, need to be ready and able to deploy on operations anywhere in the world, at short notice, and in very uncertain conditions.

“This first stage of funding enables our Special Forces to engage with intelligence, science and technology, and innovation organisations to ensure future threats and opportunities are assessed, to make sure we are delivering them the capability they need in the future.”

Project GREYFIN presents significant opportunities for Australian defence industries. These will span from small-to-large enterprises depending on the capabilities being acquired.

This commitment continues to pursue the special operations capability enhancements outlined in the Defence White Paper 2016.

The Coalition Government is investing more than $200 billion in Australia’s defence capability over the next decade – the nation’s biggest peacetime investment in Defence. By 2020-21, we will have restored investment in Defence to 2 per cent of GDP.