Tag: civilian casualties

Afghanistan
Special Forces

ICC approves Afghanistan war crimes investigation

MONUSCOAt least 43 people were killed as government troops fired on protesters in Goma, capital of conflicted North Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The protest against the the UN Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) was organized by a religious sect, the Natural Judaic & Messianic Faith Towards the Nations, also known as Wazalendo. MONUSCO "peacekeepers" have faced repeated protests from local residents over their failure to protect civilians amid ongoing inter-factional fighting. The UN is demanding an investigation into the Goma incident, which Human Rights Watch called an "apparent massacre." (Photo: Sylvain Liechti via UN News)

Afghanistan
Afghanistan

Will human rights be betrayed in US-Taliban deal?

ZhengzhouChina's banking regulator announced that it has opened an investigation into officials at its bureau in Henan province, which this month saw protests by depositors unable to withdraw funds. The China Banking & Insurance Regulatory Commission said a local inspector is suspected of "serious disciplinary violations" concerning fraud and embezzlement at five rural lenders. Several members of a "criminal gang" accused of taking control of the banks have been arrested. The situation turned violent after some 1,000 depositors protested in Zhengzhou, demanding access to their savings in frozen accounts. The protesters were assaulted by a group of unidentified men in matching white outfits, as police held back and did not intervene. Video of the incident went viral on social media. In addition to the banking imbroglio, China's central government faces a growing mortgage payment boycott across the country—and it is all happening in a politically sensitive year. President Xi Jinping is widely expected to secure a third leadership term at the upcoming 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. (Photo via Twitter)

Afghanistan
Afghan army

UN rights office protests Trump military pardons

UkraineUN General Assembly members approved a resolution supporting Ukraine's territorial integrity on the day marking the third anniversary of Russia's massive invasion of the country. The resolution won 93 votes in favor, with 18 votes against and 65 abstentions. Washington sided with Russia, as well as Belarus, North Korea and Sudan, to vote against the measure. Hungary, Israel, Eritrea, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Nicaragua also voted against. China and Iran were among the abstentions. The US had declined to co-sponsor the resolution, instead pushing its own language that failed to blame Russia for the war or mention Ukraine's borders. (Map: PCL)

Afghanistan
Afghan paramilitary

CIA-backed Afghan forces commit ‘grave’ abuses

Santiago protestsA state of emergency has been declared in Chile following protests that initially erupted over transit fare hikes in Santiago but quickly escalated to an uprising over general economic agony. Youth have blocked thoroughfares, burned buses and ransacked shops, while whole families have filled the streets in a nationwide cacerolazo—beating pots and pans to express outrage over the high cost of living. Protesters have similarly taken the streets, erected barricades and clashed with police in Lebanon, where a state of "economic emergency" has been declared. Again, demonstrations were initially sparked by government plans to impose a tax on text messaging, but protests have continued even after the tax was rescinded in response to the upsurge of popular anger. Demonstrators have revived the slogan from the 2011 Arab Revolution, "The people demand the fall of the regime." (Photo: KaosEnLaRed)

Afghanistan
warplane

UN report: air-strikes on Afghan drug labs illegal

MozambiqueMozambique's President Filipe Nyusi is usually wary of foreign military intervention. But the grim situation in Cabo Delgado seems to have forced his hand. Rwanda is deploying a 1,000-strong force to the insurgency-hit northern province. And troops from the Southern African Development Community regional bloc are also set to arrive. Reports suggest the Rwandans will set up around the Afungi peninsula, where a multi-billion dollar gas project is located. Their battlefield enemy—known locally as al-Shabab—is formidable and entrenched, as Mozambique's army and its mercenary allies know well. Lost in the military chatter is much mention of Cabo Delgado's worsening humanitarian crisis: More than 700,000 people have been uprooted, and close to a million are now facing severe hunger. (Map via Moscow Times)

Greater Middle East
Russian missile

Russia admits: Syria is test war for weaponry

A former member of the Red Army Faction (RAF) arrested in Berlin after 30 years on the run has been remanded in custody. Daniela Klette was apprehended folowing an informant's tip, prosecutors announced. A second suspect was also detained in the operation, although authorities later determined that he is not tied to the group. Popularly known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang, the RAF has carried out a series of bombings, assassinations, kidnappings, robberies and shoot-outs with the police since the 1970s. Fugitive members of the group are on the EU's most wanted list. (Image via Janus)

Afghanistan

Trump-Taliban schmooze: don’t call it ‘peace’

Trump-TalibanThe utterly surreal news that Taliban leaders were invited to Camp David—a week before the 9-11 commemoration, no less!—will further fuel the perverse fantasy that Trump is a hippie pacifist. But the supposed "peace" talks with the Taliban completely sidelined Afghanistan's actual government and civil society alike—and were bitterly protested by Afghan women and their advocates. It was to be a "peace" crafted by genocidal clerical-reactionaries and imperialists, with the actual aim to prosecute a war on their mutual enemy, the ISIS insurgency that has now emerged in the country.  ISIS are now the "bad" (undomesticated) clerical reactionaries, who will not abandon their ambitions to attack the West. This only sends the message (entirely accurate, from the imperial perspective) that Western lives matter, and Afghan lives do not.  (Photo: Khaama Press)

Greater Middle East

Trump joins Putin in bombardment of Idlib

TrumpDuring his first days back in office, Donald Trump rapidly started implementing his hardline migration agenda, including by declaring a state of emergency at the US southern border. The move allows his administration to access billions of dollars to expand the building of a border wall and to deploy the military and national guard to the area. Around 1,500 active duty soldiers are already being deployed. Trump also reinstated the controversial "Remain in Mexico" program from his first administration. This policy, which requires people to wait for asylum appointments in Mexico, helped to create a now-perennial humanitarian crisis in northern Mexico. The Trump administration has also shut down CBP One—a cell phone app for scheduling asylum appointments—leaving thousands of people stranded in Mexico, and suspended the US refugee resettlement program, as well as cancelling travel plans for refugees who had already been approved to enter the country. Trump's promised mass deportation of millions of undocumented people has yet to get underway, but his administration has begun laying the groundwork for expanded immigration raids—potentially including on schools, churches, and hospitals—and has threatened to prosecute any local officials who don't comply. (Image: White House)

Afghanistan
warplane

US allies maintain lead over Taliban in civilian deaths

MozambiqueMozambique's President Filipe Nyusi is usually wary of foreign military intervention. But the grim situation in Cabo Delgado seems to have forced his hand. Rwanda is deploying a 1,000-strong force to the insurgency-hit northern province. And troops from the Southern African Development Community regional bloc are also set to arrive. Reports suggest the Rwandans will set up around the Afungi peninsula, where a multi-billion dollar gas project is located. Their battlefield enemy—known locally as al-Shabab—is formidable and entrenched, as Mozambique's army and its mercenary allies know well. Lost in the military chatter is much mention of Cabo Delgado's worsening humanitarian crisis: More than 700,000 people have been uprooted, and close to a million are now facing severe hunger. (Map via Moscow Times)

Afghanistan

Afghanistan: pilgrims slain in Kandahar attack

AfghansSecretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Afghans, saying that the "conditions in Afghanistan" no longer warrant continuing the program. Afghanistan is experiencing a dire human rights crisis under renewed Taliban rule. Human Rights Watch has reported that individuals who have links with the previous Afghan government's security forces (or the US-led force that backed it) face violent reprisals such as extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention and torture. Meanwhile, nearly 60 white South Africans were admitted into the US as part of Trump's resettlement program for Afrikaners who say they fear persecution. Trump, who has otherwise virtually shut down the US asylum program, said that a "genocide" against "white farmers" is taking place in South Africa. Bill Frelick, head of the Refugee & Migrants Rights Division at Human Rights Watch, responded that Trump's claim "is not actually supported from any of the information that we have seen." (Photo: USMC Staff Sgt. Victor Mancilla/CentCom Public Affairs via Wikimedia Commons)

Greater Middle East

Waterworks, civil defense centers bombed in Idlib

GazaThe Israeli government unveiled a new military plan for the Gaza Strip, an operation forebodingly dubbed "Gideon's Chariots" after an Old Testament conqueror. Approved unanimously by the security cabinet, the plan calls for the "conquering of Gaza" and retaining the territory indefinitely, an official said. The plan also includes concentrating the Palestinian civilian population in a "sterile area" in the south of the Strip. The official said Israel will give Hamas until the end of US President Donald Trump's upcoming trip to the Middle East to agree to a hostage deal. Otherwise, "Operation Gideon's Chariots will begin with great force and will not end until all its objectives are achieved." The military is already calling up tens of thousands of reservists in preparation for the new operation. (Photo: Rita Baroud/TNH)

Afghanistan
Afghan army

Afghanistan war crimes victims appeal to ICC

UkraineUN General Assembly members approved a resolution supporting Ukraine's territorial integrity on the day marking the third anniversary of Russia's massive invasion of the country. The resolution won 93 votes in favor, with 18 votes against and 65 abstentions. Washington sided with Russia, as well as Belarus, North Korea and Sudan, to vote against the measure. Hungary, Israel, Eritrea, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Nicaragua also voted against. China and Iran were among the abstentions. The US had declined to co-sponsor the resolution, instead pushing its own language that failed to blame Russia for the war or mention Ukraine's borders. (Map: PCL)