Day: February 24, 2018

Africa
South Sudan

UN identifies 43 South Sudan war crimes suspects

South SudanThe UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan released a report identifying 43 high-ranking military personnel who may be responsible for war crimes. Since the outbreak of violence due to an internal power struggle between government leaders in 2013, more than four million civilians have fled their homes. The report documents acts of murder, torture, unlawful seizure of property, sexual violence and unlawful detention committed by members of the country's rival military factions. The report urges the Hybrid Court to begin investigating and prosecuting these individuals. The African Union is mandated to establish the Hybrid Court under the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan of 2015. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE DISNEYFIED

SomaliaThe Pentagon announced that a "small, persistent US military presence" of around 500 troops are to return to Somalia, to assist ongoing operations against the Shabaab insurgents. Media commentators widely portrayed this as a policy reversal, with some incorrectly stating that Present Trump "brought the troops home" from Somalia in 2020. However, the Pentagon press release implicitly acknowledges that the so-called "withdrawal" had been largely a fiction: "The existing model of US assistance moving into and out of the country as needed…is inefficient." The troops were never "brought home"; they were redeployed to neighboring Djibouti and Kenya, and sent back in to Somalia as mandated by contingency. Even if the announcement doesn't mean very much, it is being met with some trepidation by rights advocates. Human Rights Watch warned against "repeating past laws of war violations." (Photo: Patrick Crosley/USMC via CommonDreams)

Continue ReadingTHE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE DISNEYFIED