THE HAGQUE, Netherlands - Former democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi is set to make legal history when she defends Myanmar in The Hague this week against charges of genocide targeting the Buddhist state's minority Rohingya Muslims.
The tiny west African state of Gambia, acting on behalf of the 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, will ask the International Court of Justice to take emergency measures to halt Myanmar's "ongoing genocidal actions".
But in a highly unusual move, the office of Nobel Peace laureate and Myanmar civilian leader Suu Kyi has said she will lead a team to the UN's highest court, based in the turreted Peace Palace in the Netherlands.
Legal experts said Suu Kyi would be one of the first national leaders to personally address the tribunal since it was set up in 1946 after World War II to rule in disputes between countries.
Her plan to appear before the court's judges for the three-day hearing starting Tuesday was "unprecedented and also very unwise", Cecily Rose, an assistant professor in international law at Leiden University, told AFP.
"States never ever send politicians to lead legal teams at the ICJ," she said.
Although Oxford-educated Suu Kyi's background was "impressive, she has no legal qualifications and would be completely at sea before the court," Rose added.
Around 740,000 Rohingya were forced to flee into camps in Bangladesh after Myanmar's military launched a violent crackdown on the group in 2017, which UN investigators concluded amounted to genocide.
The case will be the first international legal attempt to bring Myanmar to justice over the crisis, and is a rare example of a country suing another over an issue to which it is not directly a party.
Muslim-majority Gambia's case alleges that Myanmar has breached the 1948 UN Genocide Convention. It is seeking the special measures pending a future decision by the court on whether to take on the wider case.
Any final judgment could take years.
Suu Kyi has said she is heading to The Hague in order to "defend the national interests of Myanmar".
Myanmar is expected to argue that the court has no jurisdiction, that its military operation was targeting Rohingya militants and that its own investigations into alleged abuse are adequate.
However, Suu Kyi's international reputation has been tarnished by her response to the crisis, with critics saying she is acting as an apologist for the same military that kept her under house arrest for many years.
Experts say Suu Kyi now risks being in the legal firing line herself.
"It's highly unusual for top leaders to go to the ICJ themselves to defend their countries," said Willem van Genugten, professor of international law at the Netherlands' Tilburg University.
"What you often see is that they come to The Hague when a case is launched to attract extra publicity," he added, for example when then-Bolivian president Evo Morales came to The Hague for a ruling on a border dispute with Chile.
Myanmar faces other legal challenges, including an investigation by the International Criminal Court -- another Hague-based tribunal set up in 2002 to probe war crimes -- and a lawsuit in Argentina.
This week's case will be only the fourth in the ICJ's history invoking the genocide convention, after two involving the 1990s Balkans wars and another one between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda in 2002.
ICJ judges have only once ruled that genocide was committed: the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Bosnia.
"What might be seen as unusual about Aung San Suu Kyi leading the Myanmar delegation is the fact that she is viewed as personally responsible at some level for Myanmar's alleged wrongdoing," Mike Becker, assistant international law professor at Trinity College in Dublin, told AFP.
"Suu Kyi is not personally on trial at the ICJ... but her presence will be remarkable."(FA)

TOKYO - The Imperial Japanese Army asked the government to provide one "comfort woman" for every 70 soldiers, Japan's Kyodo news agency said, citing wartime government documents it had reviewed, shedding fresh light on Tokyo's involvement in the practice.
"Comfort women" is a euphemism for the girls and women - many of them Korean - forced into prostitution at Japanese military brothels. The issue has plagued Japan's ties with South Korea for decades.
Later, there were also several "comfort women" reported from the Philippines during the second world war.
One dispatch from the consul general of Qingdao in China's Shandong province to the foreign ministry in Tokyo, says that the Imperial Army asked for one woman to accommodate every 70 soldiers, Kyodo reported late on Friday.
Another dispatch, from the consul general of Jinan, also in Shandong province, notes "at least 500 comfort women must be concentrated here" as the Japanese forces made further advances, Kyodo said.
The 1993 "Kono Statement", named after then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono in whose name it was issued, acknowledged Japanese authorities' involvement in coercing the women to work in the brothels.
But that did not stop disputes over the issue, such as the degree of involvement of the Japanese government.
"From the latest document ... we got detailed information on the operation of the brothels - how many soldiers were so-called assigned to a comfort woman," said Yoon Mi-hyang, head of the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan.
"This is a clear sign that the Japanese government is accountable for forcefully recruiting Korean women for sexual enslavement."
No officials were immediately available for comment at Japan's Cabinet Secretariat, which Kyodo said collects official documents concerning comfort women.
South Korea reached a settlement with Japan to resolve the comfort women dispute in 2015, in which Japan apologised to victims and provided 1 billion yen ($9m) to a fund to help them.
Relations between the two East Asia neighbours have deteriorated since South Korea's top court ruled in favour of South Koreans seeking compensation from Japanese firms for wartime forced labour.(FA)

MOSCOW - Leaked documents detailing UK-US trade talks were posted on Reddit by an account linked to a campaign "originating from Russia", the online message board has said.
In a post on Friday, the site said it had suspended 61 accounts that were part of a co-ordinated effort.
The papers had their first wide burst of public attention when unveiled in the election campaign by Jeremy Corbyn.
The government said it was "looking into the matter".
Mr Corbyn claimed they show the NHS is "for sale" and Labour says their release was in the public interest.
The Conservative Party, which denies the NHS would be on the table during trade talks with the US, declined to comment on Reddit's announcement.
Reddit's post did not provide any further details about the evidence behind its conclusions.
But it said a group of suspect accounts "provides us with important attribution for the recent posting of the leaked UK documents, as well as insights into how adversaries are adapting their tactics".
Mr Corbyn and Boris Johnson continue to debate what the UK government documents actually mean - and the subject came up again during Friday's televised BBC debate.
The Labour leader, who first highlighted them at a press conference on 27 November, contends they pave the way to higher drug costs and the privatisation of the National Health Service, while the prime minister insists that is not true.
Culture secretary Nicky Morgan said it was "extremely serious" that the leaked documents could be linked to a Russian disinformation campaign.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme she said: "I understand from what was being put on that website, those who seem to know about these things say that it seems to have all the hallmarks of some form of interference.
"And if that is the case, that obviously is extremely serious. And actually as culture secretary, obviously one of the things that we are looking for and monitoring is any interference in our elections."(FA)

NAIROBI - The governor of Nairobi was arrested on Friday shortly after Kenya's chief prosecutor ordered he be detained to face charges for economic crimes.

Governor Mike Sonko is the latest in a string of top officials to be hauled in on corruption charges as Kenya battles to clamp down on rampant graft.

"EACCKenya confirms that Nairobi City County Governor Mike Sonko Mbuvi has been arrested while escaping arrest at a road block in Voi," the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) posted on Twitter.

Sonko and other country officials are accused by public prosecutor Noordin Haji of having benefitted from irregular procurement and payments of $3.5m (3.1 million euros).

Haji said he had sufficient evidence to prosecute Sonko and other county officials for "unlawful acquisition of public property, money laundering and other economic crimes."

"I have therefore ordered for the immediate arrest and arraignment in court of the Governor of Nairobi Hon. Mike Mbuvi Sonko and other persons," Haji said in a statement earlier on Friday.

When, in 2017, the ruling party chose populist Mike Sonko as its candidate for Nairobi's gubernatorial poll, it was seen as a maverick move. Sonko is a controversial politician who has spent time in jail and has had to deny allegations of illegal activities, including drug trafficking.

Haji said his investigation into Sonko and his officials had been challenging "because of the repeated attempts by the accused to obstruct the course of the investigations by deploying intimidation tactics".

Kenya has for decades battled the scourge of corruption, and President Uhuru Kenyatta - like many presidents before him - has vowed to combat graft.

Dozens of top executives and government officials have been charged since Kenyatta's 2017 re-election, including sitting Finance Minister Henry Rotich who was in July charged over an alleged multi-million dollar corruption scandal.

Rotich and nearly 20 other top officials from the treasury and other departments were arrested after an investigation into the alleged loss of 21 billion Kenyan shillings ($203m) on ghost dam construction projects.

The finance minister, a Harvard-trained economist, pleaded not guilty to a slew of charges that included but limited to: failure to comply with guidelines relating to procurement, conspiracy to defraud the public and financial misconduct.(FA)

KIGALI - A top Rwandan opposition leader has not given permission to leave the country in order to pick up a human rights award.

Victoire Ingabire wanted to travel to Madrid in Spain to collect the award but she told the BBC that she reached out to the minister of justice for permission to travel and got no response. The ministry has not commented.

She has to seek permission to travel out of Rwanda after she was pardoned among 2,400 other convicts by President Paul Kagame in September 2018.

The FDU-Inkingi was awarded the International Human Rights Award 2019 by Apdhe, a Spanish human rights association.

Ms Ingabire's three children had to receive the award on her behalf:

Ms Ingabire addressed the awards ceremony through a video live stream instead.

She said her country does not respect human rights.

Rwanda is far from respecting the human rights, like freedom of expression and of political affiliation. For this, the opposition pays the price. We have people who were killed, those who are abducted and those imprisoned for their rights. Being not there to collect the prize is a proof of what I am saying."(FA)

TRIPOLI - Officials in Libya's UN-recognised government say they plan to confront Moscow over the alleged deployment of Russian mercenaries to fight alongside their opponents in the country's civil war.

Libyan and US officials accused Russia of deploying fighters through a private security contractor, the Wagner Group, to key battleground areas in Libya in recent months.

They say the Russian fighters are backing renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar, whose forces have been trying for months to capture the capital, Tripoli, where the UN-recognised Government of National Accord is based.

The GNA has documented between 600 and 800 Russian mercenaries in Libya and is collecting their names on a list to present to the Russian government, according to Khaled al-Meshri, head of the GNA's Supreme Council of State.

"We are going to visit Russia after we collect all evidence and present to the authorities and see what they say," al-Meshri told The Associated Press last week.

He did not say when the visit would take place. Moscow has repeatedly denied playing any role in Libya's war.

Haftar's Libyan National Army - made up of army units, ultra-conservative militias, and tribesmen - launched its offensive on Tripoli in April after seizing much of eastern Libya from rivals in recent years.

Haftar is backed by the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, as well as France and Russia, while the GNA receives aid from Turkey, Qatar and Italy.

Libya was plunged into chaos when a NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The country is now split between a government in the east, allied with Haftar, and the GNA in Tripoli in the west. Both sides are bolstered by militias.

Fighting has stalled in recent weeks with both sides dug in and shelling one another along Tripoli's southern reaches.

David Schenker, US assistant secretary of state for near east affairs, told reporters last week the State Department is working with European partners to impose sanctions on the Russian military contractor responsible for sending fighters to Tripoli. (FA)

NOUAKCHOTT - At least 58 people, including women and children, were killed after a boat carrying dozens of migrants capsized in the Atlantic Ocean off the West African nation of Mauritania, the UN's migration agency said.

The perilous sea passage from West Africa to Europe was once a major route for migrants seeking jobs and prosperity.

The sinking is one of the deadliest incidents since the mid-2000s when Spain stepped up patrols and fewer boats attempted the journey.

The boat carrying at least 150 people was low on fuel while approaching Mauritania before it capsised, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said.

It said 83 people swam to shore. The survivors were being helped by Mauritanian authorities in the northern city of Nouadhibou, IOM said.

Survivors said the boat left The Gambia on November 27.

IOM's Leonard Doyle said the vessel was unseaworthy and overcrowded when it overturned.

"It speaks really to the callousness of the smugglers who of course have made their money and disappeared into the wilderness. That's the problem here, people are being exploited, people are looking for a better life," Doyle told Al Jazeera.

An unknown number of injured were taken to hospital in Nouadhibou.

There was no immediate statement from authorities in The Gambia, a small West African nation from which many migrants set off in hopes of reaching Europe.

Al Jazeera's Mohamed Vall, reporting from Mauritania's capital Nouakchott, said the military police discovered the survivors - most of whom came from The Gambia - and that is when the extent of the tragedy became clear.

"It's a very horrible story and one of the deadliest incidents in regard to migrants trying to cross the Atlantic Ocean or the Mediterranean Sea towards Europe this year," said Vall. "It's been confirmed that women and children were on that boat and some of them lost their lives."

Although home to some of the continent's fastest-growing economies, West Africa is struggling to generate enough jobs for its growing population of young people.

Doyle said the survivors would likely be returned to their home countries.

"We can imagine that they're deeply traumatised. People will need some medical care and our staff will need to establish their origin and try to help them return in the most dignified way as possible. The tragedy in all this is there is no happy solution for people who take these routes," he said.

Despite the Gambia's small size, more than 35,000 Gambian migrants arrived in Europe between 2014 and 2018, according to the IOM.

The 22-year long oppressive rule by then-president Yahya Jammeh severely affected the country's economy, especially for The Gambia's young people, prompting some to look to migrating.

Since Jammeh was voted out of office in 2016 and fled into exile in January 2017, European countries have been pushing to return asylum seekers, but the country's economy has still to recover.

The coastal nation, a popular tourist destination, was shaken earlier this year by the collapse of British travel company Thomas Cook.

At the time, The Gambia's tourism minister said the government convened an emergency meeting on the collapse, while some Gambians said the shutdown could have a devastating impact on tourism, which contributes more than 30 percent of the country's GDP.(FA)

NEW SOUTH WALES, Australia - Fires raging out of control in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) have merged into what firefighters dubbed a "mega fire", escalating the destruction of the country's worst fire season on record.
More than 2.1 million hectares (5.1 million acres) have been scorched, 688 homes destroyed, and six people killed since fires erupted across the state in September.
Greg Allan, spokesman for the NSW Rural Fire Service (RSF), said 87 separate fires were burning throughout the state on Sunday.
Cooler weather and more favourable wind conditions have assisted firefighters in containing many of these blazes throughout the day, but about 50 remain out of control, including the Gospers Mountain "mega fire" near Sydney's northwest outskirts.
"Crews today have worked to slow the spread of fire under the more favourable conditions of easterly winds and undertake back burning where they can ahead of worsening conditions on Tuesday," Allan said.
Temperatures are expected to hit the high 30s to low 40s throughout the state on Tuesday with westerly winds returning, which threatens to place large parts of the state under "severe fire danger".
The worst of Australia's fire season usually comes in the mid-summer month of January.
"It was a very fast, very early, very destructive season," Allan told Al Jazeera. "In fact, the amount of hectares already burned is more than the previous three seasons combined, and the season is not over yet."
RSF is the world's largest volunteer firefighting service. Allan said about 2,200 volunteer firefighters and support crews are right now working to save homes, lives and forests throughout NSW.
"They've already done an amazing effort," he said. "They're all very tired, but it goes to show the willingness and the commitment of our volunteers to support not only their local communities but travelling around the state to support residents and communities elsewhere."
These volunteer units have received assistance from other government departments and interstate fire agencies.
Firefighting specialists have also been flown in from Canada, the United States and New Zealand to assist local crews with planning and logistics.
But a continuing drought that has devastated much of Australia has driven the spread of fires.
"Very high temperatures, strong winds, low humidity, coupled with the ongoing drought and the dryness of the land certainly hasn't helped," Allan said, adding that water shortages in some areas have also been an obstacle for fire crews.(FA)

WELLINGTON - New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern apologized on Thursday for the then-government’s handling of a plane crash in Antarctica 40 years ago that took the lives of 257 people in the country’s worst peacetime disaster.

On 28 November 1979, Air New Zealand flight 901 was on a sightseeing tour from Auckland when it crashed into the side of Mount Erebus, a 3,794 meter (12,448 ft) volcano near the U.S. Antarctic research base of McMurdo Station.

Most of the 237 passengers and 20 crew killed were New Zealanders but other nationalities included Americans, Canadians, Japanese and Australians.

Originally the crash was blamed on the pilots, but following a public outcry, a Royal Commission of Inquiry was set up to investigate the disaster. It concluded the main cause of the accident was the state-owned airline’s actions in reprogramming the aircraft’s navigation system without advising the aircrew.

The Commission head, former justice Peter Mahon, controversially also said witnesses from Air New Zealand had conspired to give false evidence, famously describing the airline’s defense as “an orchestrated litany of lies”.  

This led to his report being criticized by both Air New Zealand and the government.

The actions of the then government and the airline caused more pain and grief to the victims’ families, Prime Minister Ardern said at a memorial service at the Government House in Auckland on Thursday.

“After forty years, on behalf of today’s government, the time has come to apologize for the actions of an airline then in full state ownership; which ultimately caused the loss of the aircraft and the loss of those you loved,” Ardern said in her speech.

“The pilots were not responsible for this tragedy, and I stand here today to state that again,” she added.

Ardern acknowledged the findings of the Royal Commission were not accepted by the government of the day, and it was only nearly 20 years later the report was even presented in parliament.

In 2009, Air New Zealand apologized to the families of the victims for mistakes made by the airline in the aftermath of the crash, and on Thursday Air New Zealand Chairman Therese Walsh also expressed regret.

“I apologize on behalf of an airline which 40 years ago failed in its duty of care to its passengers and staff,” said Walsh.

BEIJING/CANBERA - Australia has engaged in a war of words with China after a media outlet accused Beijing of plotting to install an agent in the country's parliament, allegations rejected by the Chinese government as "fabricated."

Beijing on Monday reacted to the allegations aired on the Nine Network's 60 Minutes program on Sunday, which suggested suspected Chinese agents had approached a Chinese-Australian man to run as a candidate in the parliament prior to Australia's May general elections.

The report claimed that they offered Bo "Nick" Zhao, a member of Australia's Liberal Party, $679,000.

According to the report, the 32-year-old man disclosed the alleged approach for him to spy on the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (Asio) last year.

He was later found dead in a motel room in March. Police have been unable to determine how he died.

Parliamentary intelligence committee Chief Andrew Hastie also accused China of trying to "infiltrate our parliament using an Australian citizen and basically run them as an agent of foreign influence in our democratic system."

"This is really significant and Australians should be very, very concerned about this," he said.

Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison described the allegations as "deeply disturbing and troubling."

Morrison, however, warned authorities not to leap into conclusion.

"Hostile foreign intelligence activity continues to pose a real threat to our nation and its security," said the prime minister. "Australia is not naive to the threats that it faces more broadly. And I mean more broadly."

He also reassured that his government has "strengthened the laws… increased the resources... to ensure Australia was in the best possible position to deal with any threats that come our way broadly, or specifically."

The media claims and Australian officials' reactions angered China, with its Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang saying at a daily news briefing on Monday that the interference allegations leveled against China in Australian media outlets had been fabricated.

Australians 'seized with imaginary fear' of China

He said that some Australian politicians, organizations, and media outlets have "become seized with imaginary fears" on issues related to China.

"They constantly fabricate cases of so-called Chinese spies infiltrating Australia," he said. "However bizarre the story, lies are still lies in the end, whatever new guise they wear."

In an unrelated case, Nine also reported that a man claiming to be a Chinese agent had applied for asylum in Australia.

It said the man identified as Wang "William" Liqiang had reportedly provided authorities with information about operations in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia.

The man told the program that he was aware of several Chinese spies operating in Australia and attempting to influence politics.

Chinese police, however, identified the man as an unemployed fugitive who was convicted of fraud before fleeing China on a fake passport.

It said Wang, a 26-year-old from the eastern province of Fujian, was found guilty of fraud in 2016 and given a suspended 15-month prison sentence.

Australia has long accused China of trying to influence the country's domestic affairs.

China, Australia's largest trading partner, however, says it never interferes in the internal affairs of another country.

CANBERRA - The reporting on Nine's Sixty Minutes contains allegations that ASIO takes seriously.

As the Director-General of Security, I am committed to protecting Australia's democracy and sovereignty.

Australians can be reassured that ASIO was previously aware of matters that have been reported today, and has been actively investigating them.

However, in accordance with long-standing practice, I will not comment on this particular operational matter, including any detail of the individuals involved. Given that the matter in question is subject to a coronial inquiry, and as not to prejudice our investigations, it would be inappropriate to comment further.

Hostile foreign intelligence activity continues to pose a real threat to our nation and its security. ASIO will continue to confront and counter foreign interference and espionage in Australia.


Australian media slammed for hyping up 'spy' story


Chinese experts slammed Western media for defaming China in disregard of the facts after Shanghai police clarified that self-confessed "Chinese spy" Wang Liqiang, who has applied for political asylum in Australia, is in fact an ex-con.

Shanghai police said on Sina Weibo Saturday night that Wang is wanted for involvement in a fraud case involving 4.6 million yuan ($653,000). He was previously sentenced to 15 months in prison in 2016 for fraud.

Wang left for Hong Kong on April 10, the police said, noting that his Chinese passport and Hong Kong permanent resident identity documents were forged. He is said to be 26 years old from Nanping, East China's Fujian Province.

Police said they are still working on the case.

The announcement came after on Saturday The Sydney

Morning Herald reported that Wang had "defected" to Australia. The newspaper said Wang was ordered to "shift his attention from a covert operation to undermine Hong Kong's democracy movement and focus instead on meddling in Taiwan's 2020 elections."

The ultimate aim was to topple Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen, the report said.

Wang told the newspaper he holds a Chinese passport (No. EA6120226) with the name Wang Qiang, a Hong Kong permanent resident identity card (No. Z780239) and a South Korean passport (No. M35772699) which he said he used to conduct his alleged espionage.

Based on the report, Wang is supposed to be a very senior and important intelligence officer.

"But how could a 26-year-old man with a wife and son living in Australia be [a spy]," Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University's Institute of International Relations, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Those working for China's national security departments must pass the civil service examination. Many hold master's or doctorate degree.


Convicted for fraud


As Wang was convicted in China, his name and picture have been made public by the court, which is against the confidentiality principle of being intelligence personnel, Li said.

The only explanation is that Wang not only is a fraudster, but also tried to get political asylum by making up stories, Li noted.

Yu Lei, a researcher at the Oceania research center at the Guangzhou-based Sun Yat-sen University, told the Global Times on Sunday that if Wang was indeed a "Chinese spy," the Australian intelligence community would have extracted Chinese intelligence from Wang and protected his identity from being published in the media as best they could. "However, considering the spread of the media reports about Wang, most likely Australian intelligence officers did not believe Wang's story, but instead exposed him in public, which provided the media good material to defame China," Yu said.

The reports by Western media, including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and The New York Times, to spread Wang's untenable story reflect that they care less about the credibility of the story than whether Wang is a fraud suspect who used a forged identity to cheat his way to an Australian green card or citizenship. Instead, it is clear they want material to demonize China even in disregard of the facts, Yu noted.

Chinese police announced on August 22 that Simon Cheng Man-kit, 28, then an employee of the British Consulate General in Hong Kong was detained for soliciting prostitutes after Western media extensively reported that Cheng "had gone missing" during a business trip to Shenzhen, a mainland city that borders Hong Kong.

Australian media outlets have previously published several reports which alleged that Chinese students in Australia could be spies, and that China had infiltrated Australian elections and interfered in Australian domestic affairs, which have been picked up by other Western mainstream media.

Geng Shuang, a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry, said in October that China hopes that the Australian side will learn from the setbacks in the relations in recent years, look at China and China-Australia relations in an objective, rational and just manner.