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ECOWAS calls for UN-backed intervention to reclaim north
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Ouagadougou, (Burkina Faso) - Blaise Compaore, Burkina Faso's President and a mediator for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), chaired the talks in his country’s Ouagadougou on Saturday with other regional leaders. The meeting called on Mali to request a UN-backed intervention to try to win back the country's north, which has been taken over by forces loyal to Al Qaeda. ECOWAS has also called for a unity government by July 31.
The ECOWAS meeting Saturday with the presence of the Presidents of six West African nations including Burkina, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Niger, Togo and Benin was aimed at attempting to find a solution to the growing crisis in Mali.
They also are calling on Mali to create a government of national unity by July 31, the next step in bringing the nation back to constitutional rule following the 22 March military coup that partly provoked the chaos allowing the Islamist rebel faction to seize the north.
Mali's civil leaders are set to meet West African leaders in Burkina Faso amid moves to create a government of national unity to tackle a crisis in the country's north, where Islamist fighters have enforced sharia law.
Mali’s Interim president Dioncounda Traore, who has been receiving medical care in Paris since being attacked in his office in May, is among the notable abstentees at the talks.
Renegade soldiers overthrew the elected president on March 22 but, under intense regional and international pressure, later agreed to hand power back to a civilian administration.
There was no reason given for the absence Cheikh Modibo Diarra, the prime minister, though his relations with ECOWAS have been strained as the regional grouping looks for a more "inclusive" government in Mali.
The Popular Movement of 22 March (MP 22), which supports the coup of March 22, also boycotted the meeting in Ouagadougou.
Mali has continued its descent into chaos since then and is effectively split in two, with Islamist groups linked to al-Qaeda controlling the north, a territory as big as France.
For ECOWAS, the urgent priority is to reinforce and stabilise Mali's transitional authorities in order to handle the crisis in the north.
The option of a military intervention by a regional force in order to restore the country's territorial integrity is also on the table, though such a move would require the UN's blessing.
New video footage emerged on Friday which appeared to show a group of men destroying a tomb in the ancient Malian city of Timbuktu earlier in the week.
The video, filmed on Sunday, showed the group using pickaxes to destroy what is believed to be a tomb at the centuries-old mausoleum of Alpha Moya.
The UN Security Council on Thursday passed a resolution calling for sanctions against al-Qaeda-linked fighters blamed for the desecration of the tombs of Muslim saints.
The council expressed "deep concern" at the increased terrorist threat in the north due to the presence of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) fighters. The group has been blamed for kidnappings and attacks in several west and north African countries.
But the council held back from giving a UN mandate to any West African force to help the interim government to take back territory from the Islamist rebels in the north.
The International Criminal Court has described the destruction of Timbuktu's heritage as a possible war crime, while UNESCO's committee on world heritage was due to hold a special session this week to address the pillaging of the site, one of the few in sub-Saharan Africa that is listed by the agency.
The Islamic faction, known as Ansar Dine, or "defenders of the Faith", seized control of Timbuktu last week after ousting the Tuareg rebel faction that had invaded northern Mali alongside Ansar Dine's soldiers three months ago.
Over last weekend, fighters screaming "Allahu Akbar" descended on the cemeteries holding the remains of Timbuktu's Sufi saints, and systematically began destroying the six most famous tombs.
They believe the tombs are not consistent with Islamic law.
Reached by telephone in an undisclosed location in northern Mali, a spokesman for the faction said they do not recognise either the United Nations or the world court.
'Possible war crime'
Among the tombs they destroyed is that of Sidi Mahmoudou, a saint who died in 955, according to the UNESCO website. In addition, on Monday they set upon one of the doors of the Sidi Yahya, a mosque built around 1400.
Local legend held that the gate leading to the cemetery would only open on the final day at the end of time.
The UN cultural agency has called for an immediate halt to the destruction of the sacred tombs. Irina Bokova, who heads UNESCO, reported in a statement issued on Saturday that the centuries-old mausoleums of Sidi Mahmoud, Sidi Moctar and Alpha Moya had been destroyed.
Meeting in St Petersburg in Russia, UNESCO's World Heritage Committee, last week had placed the mausoleums on its list of sites in danger due to earlier attacks by the Islamists, said UNESCO spokesman Rony Amelan.
On Sunday during a stop in Senegal, Fatou Bensouda, prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, said that the destruction of the city's patrimony constitutes "a possible war crime".
54 refugees die of thirst trying to reach Italy
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Geneva - Fifty-four refugees died of thirst trying to reach Italy from Libya in a rubber boat after over two weeks at sea during which their rubber boat gradually deflated, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday, citing the sole survivor.
It said the man, an Eritrean national, was rescued by Tunisian coastguards in a state of advanced dehydration clinging to the remains of the boat after being spotted by fishermen the previous night, the agency said.
The man said he left Libya towards the end of June as part of a 55-strong group, half of whom came from Eritrea.
“He told us that there were immediately problems on the boat, that unfortunately they weren’t even allowed to take a bottle of water and so once they got lost and the voyage went on, people started to feel unwell and die because of the lack of water,” U.N. spokeswoman Laura Boldrini said. “How is it possible that in a sea like the Mediterranean which is full of fishing boats, cargo ships, naval ships, these people were just left to their fate like that,” she said.
The survivor, who was taken to a hospital in Zarzis in southeastern Tunisia, told UNHCR officials the craft nearly reached the coast of Italy but was driven back by strong winds and began to deflate after a few days.
As their desperation grew, many drank sea water, which worsened their thirst, he told the officials.
The incident is the latest in a long series of disasters which have killed thousands of migrants attempting to reach southern Europe from North Africa in small, unstable and frequently overcrowded boats.
According to the UNHCR, around 170 people have died this year trying to reach Europe from Libya. Around 1,300 have reached Italy by sea since the beginning of 2012 and another 1,000 people have reached Malta.
Ghana's President John Atta Mills dies
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Accra - President John Atta Mills of Ghana has died in the capital, Accra, after suffering from throat cancer. He was aged 68.
John Dramani Mahama, his vice-president, has been sworn in as his replacement in a ceremony in the capital. Mr Atta Mills had ruled the West African country since 2009. While his illness had always been a subject of great debate, it was never officially confirmed, correspondents say. He had always insisted he was well, and planned to seek re-election in December's poll. According to a presidential aide, the leader had complained of pains on Monday evening and his condition had deteriorated. He had recently returned to Ghana after visiting the US for medical checks. (FA/NSN)
Mali must Investigate disappearances and killings of Junta opponents
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London - Mali must halt its slide into human rights chaos and open investigations into dozens of cases of enforced disappearances, extra-judicial killings and torture documented by Amnesty International.
In a report released today following a 10-day mission to Mali in July 2012, Amnesty International details brutal abuses committed by soldiers loyal to the military Junta against soldiers and police officers involved in an attempted counter-coup on 30 April 2012.
In the days that followed the attempted counter-coup dozens of soldiers were arrested and taken to Kati military camp, 20 kilometres north of Bamako, the capital. They were held for more than 40 days in appalling conditions and subjected to torture and sexual abuse. Twenty one detainees were abducted from their cell at night and haven't been seen since.
“The Malian authorities have a duty to investigate all the cases we have documented. Those responsible for these brutal efforts to avenge the attempted counter-coup must be held accountable for their actions,” said Gaetan Mootoo, Amnesty International’s West Africa researcher.
“These vengeful acts fly in the face of Mali’s international human rights obligations and action must be taken to ensure the military Junta doesn’t continue to operate with impunity.”
Amnesty International’s report details the enforced disappearance of at least 21 named individuals on the night of 2 to 3 May from the cell they were being held in.
One of the inmates of these disappeared people prisoners told Amnesty International:
“Around two in the morning, the door of our cell opened. Our wardens stood at the door and began to read a list. One by one, the soldiers called, went out. We haven’t seen our cellmates since that date.”
Amnesty International is also concerned about a number of soldiers being treated for wounds in Gabriel Touré Hospital in Bamako who were abducted by the military junta on 1 May. Despite its requests, Amnesty International has not obtained the list of these soldiers and has not been able to establish their whereabouts.
While held in Kati military camp prisoners described inhumane and degrading conditions including 80 inmates wearing just their underwear crammed into a five metre square cell. The detainees were forced to relieve themselves in a plastic bag and were deprived of food during the first days of their detention. Some detainees were regularly taken from their cell to be beaten and interrogated.
One prisoner described the following torture used to extract a confession from him:
“They asked us to confess that we had wanted to carry out a coup. They made us lie face down, they tied our hands behind our backs and then tied them to our feet. One of them forced a cloth in our mouths using a stick. We couldn’t talk let alone scream. They put out cigarettes on our bodies, one of them put out his cigarette in my ear.”
In some cases sexual abuse was carried out against prisoners in Kati. One police officer said:
“We were four, they asked us to undress completely, we were ordered to sodomize each other otherwise they would execute us…During the act, our guards shouted us to do it harder.”
In 2009 Mali ratified the International Convention prohibiting enforced disappearances and therefore has an obligation under international law to make known immediately the whereabouts of all those soldiers and policemen who disappeared in the crackdown following the failed counter-coup. A list of names is available in Amnesty International’s report.
“The transitional government in Mali is failing in its task to protect the human rights of its citizens and this lawlessness cannot be allowed to continue,” said Gaetan Mootoo.
“Malian judicial officials must launch an immediate investigation into these very serious events and restore stability to a country that has suffered immeasurably over the past six months.”
Menawhile, on 29 and 30 July, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) visited 79 Malian military personnel held by the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) in the Tinzaouatène area of north-eastern Mali. In its capacity as a neutral intermediary, the ICRC will also assist in the transfer of a detainee released for health reasons, who will be handed over to the Malian authorities.
ICRC staff spoke with and registered the detainees, and gave them the opportunity to contact their relatives in Bamako and elsewhere by telephone. During the visit, the ICRC also distributed 20 Red Cross messages (containing brief family news) written to detainees. In addition, 75 detainees wrote Red Cross messages which the ICRC will deliver to their families.
"By exchanging news with their families, detainees can reduce their isolation," said Jean-Nicolas Marti, who heads the ICRC's regional delegation for Mali and Niger. "They are directly renewing ties with close relatives they have been separated from for several months."
The detainees were also provided with food aid.
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