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Situation: Darfur, Sudan – Case: The Prosecutor v. Abdel Raheem Muhammad Hussein

On 1 March 2012, Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant of arrest against Mr Abdel Raheem Muhammad Hussein (“Hussein”) for 41 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed in the context of the situation in Darfur (Sudan). Mr Hussein is currently Minister of National Defence of the Sudanese Government and former Minister of the Interior and former Sudanese President’s Special Representative in Darfur.

The Chamber considers that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Hussein is criminally responsible for 20 counts of crimes against humanity (persecution, murder, forcible transfer, rape, inhumane acts, imprisonment or severe deprivation of liberty and torture) and 21 counts of war crimes (murder, attacks against civilian population, destruction of property, rape, pillaging and outrage upon personal dignity). These crimes were allegedly committed against the primarily Fur populations of the towns of Kodoom, Bindisi, Mukjar, Arawala and surrounding areas by the Sudanese armed forces and the Militia/Janjaweed in the context of a counter-insurgency campaign against the Sudanese Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A), the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and other groups opposing the Government. The plan of the counter-insurgency campaign was allegedly formulated at the highest levels of the Government of the Republic of the Sudan and had allegedly as a core component an unlawful attack on that part of the civilian population perceived by the Government as being close to the rebel groups.

The Chamber considers that in his role as Minister of the Interior and Special Representative of the President in Darfur and as an influential member of the Government of the Republic of the Sudan, Mr Hussein made essential contributions to the formulation and implementation of the common plan, inter alia, through his overall coordination of national, state and local security entities and through the recruitment, arming and funding of the police forces and the Militia/Janjaweed in Darfur. Furthermore the Chamber considers that his arrest appears to be necessary to ensure his appearance at trial and to ensure that he will not obstruct or endanger the investigations.

The situation in Darfur was referred to the ICC by United Nations Security Council resolution 1593 on 31 March 2005, under article 13(b) of the Rome Statute.

Source: ICC

UGANDA: Charcoal boom a bust for forests

Photo: Charles Akena/IRIN

Uganda loses some 80,000 hectares of forest every year

GULU,  – Once a fortnight, Moses Sserwada travels from the capital, Kampala, to northern Uganda to pick up a truckload of charcoal destined for the popular Owino market in the city.

“I have been in this trade for three years; we get our supply from northern Uganda because the charcoal produced there is of a good quality and in high demand,” Sserwada told IRIN.

The charcoal trade, referred to as “black gold” by Kampala traders, has become more profitable than the forests where trees are being indiscriminately cut down for charcoal-burning. For the rural population, charcoal trade is an opportunity to earn an income.

According to the National Forest Authority (NFA), more than 73,000 hectares of private forest are cleared every year across the country and over 7,000ha of protected forest reserves are destroyed annually for timber and charcoal.

“People are cutting down trees indiscriminately without thinking of the future,” said Moses Watasa of the NFA.

Watasa said Uganda had no clear policy on charcoal production. “We must encourage planting fast-growing trees like eucalyptus now so that we can be in a position to get timber and charcoal in 10 years,” he said.

Northern Uganda has thick forest cover, comprising both hard and soft wood. Forest growth in the area flourished during the two-decades-long Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) conflict as many locals were displaced from their villages.

Previously, Kampala charcoal traders relied on charcoal from Nakasongola, Hoima, Masindi, Kafu, Luwero areas of eastern Uganda. These have since been depleted of private and community forests.

For instance, Langele village, adjacent to the Murchison Falls National Park in Nwoya district in northern Uganda, known for its beautiful scenery and thick forests, is no more. Locals refer to Langele as a charcoal factory.

“The price of forest depends on its thickness but on average it costs 1.5 million shillings [US$600] for a hectare,” said Otto Oola, a resident of Langele. “Any patch of land here covered with trees is [worth] a fortune, it can earn you millions of shillings any time.”

Poverty

Although aware of the environmental impact of indiscriminate cutting of trees, Oola said many people were doing it out of poverty. He said charcoal buyers not only provided cash upon purchase, they also helped villagers clear forested land for cultivation.

“I am trying to survive, I can’t sit hungry in that forest,” Oola said.

Photo: Charles Akena/IRIN

Charcoal production is seen as a way out of poverty

According to the State of the Environment report by the Uganda National Environment Management Authority, the rate of deforestation had, by 2005, increased from 1.76 percent per annum to 2.13 percent per annum.

The report says pressure on land, water, forest and biological resources has dramatically increased to meet the needs of a growing population, leading to a loss of 76 percent of the country’s forest cover.

Geoffrey Oryema, the district leader of Nwoya, said poverty and lack of a meaningful livelihood source were the driving factors for environmental destruction.

“What do you expect somebody in the village without money to pay for his needs such as soap, salt, medicine and food to do?” Oryema said. “People are struggling to find alternatives to survive.”

However, Samuel Abwola, a district environment officer in Gulu, said people in rural areas were being exploited to degrade their own environment.

Depletion

Gulu initially had 371 sqkm of forest cover, but environmentalists now estimate the cover to be only 200 sqkm, a reduction they attribute to charcoal-burning, human settlement as well as the quest to open up cultivable lands.

Margaret Barihahi, a coordinator for the African Climate Change Resilience Alliance, said it was necessary to devise alternatives for sustainable livelihoods and to empower communities with information on the dangers of indiscriminate forest-cutting.

“Without a viable alternative source of energy, it is clear that charcoal and wood fuel will remain the dominant sources of energy,” Barihahi said.

An estimated 95 percent of Ugandans depend on charcoal and wood for cooking. Moreover, Uganda’s rapid population growth, coupled with rapid urbanization, has increased the demand for energy, especially cooking fuel.

However, growth in energy demand has not been matched by corresponding growth in supply of alternative sources of fuel, such as hydro-electricity, which is the cheapest and most convenient alternative source of energy for cooking.

Because of its short supply, hydro-electricity is neither affordable nor reliable.

Uganda’s National Development Plan estimates the country’s electricity demand to reach 35,000MW by 2015 and the absence of cheap charcoal is likely to push demand for electricity even higher.

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source www.irinnews.org

AFGHANISTAN-IRAN: Mehdi, “My hands were hurting because the handcuffs were too tight”

Photo: Mohammad Popal/IRIN

Mehdi, a 15-year-old Afghan, says he was beaten and deported from Iran

ISLAM QALA,  – In an attempt to find long-term solutions for the estimated 1.4 million unregistered Afghans living within its borders, Iran adopted a legalization scheme last year that paved the way for Afghans to enter Iran legally with work visas.

Observers say few Afghans have taken advantage of the new programme, and instead Afghan migrants continue streaming into Iran illegally every day in search of jobs. And every day, hundreds – including unaccompanied minors – are sent back to Afghanistan.

Some say the deportations are politically motivated.

“The Ahmadinejad government successfully uses the refugee issue to increase its leverage over Hamid Karzai’s government in Afghanistan,” the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research wrote in 2010.

“Whenever Afghanistan’s policies displease Tehran, the Iranian government threatens to expel all Afghans living in Iran. Tehran understands that the fragile Afghan government lacks the capacity to absorb a large number of returnees under current security and economic conditions. At times, it has dumped thousands of Afghans into lawless areas in western Afghanistan without advance coordination with either Afghan authorities or international organizations. Such mass deportations trigger humanitarian crises, undermine security in southern and western Afghanistan, and cause political turmoil in Kabul.”

IRIN was at the Iran-Afghanistan one day last month when 44 buses of deportees crossed the border, according to aid workers who track crossings, along with the bodies of four Afghans who died in Iran. Among those deported was 15-year-old Mehdi. He told IRIN his story:

“I went to Iran with my family when I was only four years old, but because I was an Afghan they never let me enrol in school. Now I am illiterate and since I was 10 years old, I started working on construction sites. My job had always been carrying heavy stuff like cement sacks.

“I have two brothers and two sisters. My father is an elderly man and therefore he and my mother both stay at home. I have got one brother older than me and we two were the only breadwinners of our family.

“I was at home [in Iran*] when my cousin came from Qom (a different city in Iran) to visit us. He is as old as I am. We had a very good time because I could get some time off from my job and I was enjoying it with my family.

“My cousin told me to go to the nearby shopping mall with him so that he could buy some stuff. I said yes. When we got out of the bus near the shopping mall, the Iranian police caught us and handcuffed us. I asked him why he was doing it, but he started swearing at me and kicked me as well. Then we both were taken to a detention centre and thrown into a room, which was full of other Afghans including adults and teenagers as old as me or even much younger than me.

“My hands were hurting because the handcuffs were too tight. I begged the Iranian policeman to loosen them, but instead, he grabbed my ears and started banging my head against the wall.

“They beat me, my cousin and many other Afghans in that detention centre. They had a long piece of metal in their hands and they used it to beat people up.

“The room was very small, but the number of detainees inside was huge. I can say there were at least hundreds of us in one room and especially at night we were all sleeping while sitting because there wasn’t enough space. The weather was cold and they did not giving us warm enough blankets.

“Until a few days back, I had the marks of that long metal thing on my body. You weren’t there to really understand the pain. They don’t care who you are and how old are you they just beat you up like an animal.

“I was taken to different detention centres and police stations for eight days before they brought us all to the Sang Safid detention centre which is on the other side of the border and then deported us.

“Now I am at the IOM transit centre on the border. I contacted my family in Iran. Now they are telling me to go to Kabul and stay with my uncle. Actually that cousin of mine who had been caught with me was deported a couple of days earlier.

“I am so upset that I am no longer with my family. I can no longer play with my younger sister and can no longer eat my mother’s cooking.

“You know my family can’t come to Afghanistan because we do not have a shelter here and I heard there are no job opportunities… I am thinking about how I would survive in Afghanistan without my family.

“But on the other hand, I am so happy that I am a free human being now. Nobody can insult me and nobody can arrest me without any reason and torture me. It is my own country and I can go anywhere without any problem.”

*City name withheld to protect Mehdi’s family.
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source www.irinews.org

UGANDA: DRC refugee influx stretching camp facilities

Photo: Samuel Okiror/IRIN

Congolese refugees at the Nteko Reception Centre in Uganda’s southwestern district of Kisoro

KAMPALA,  – An influx of refugees fleeing a mix of increased post-election related violence and continued militia activity in parts of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is stretching the capacity of refugee camps in western Uganda to host them, say officials.

“We are kind of overwhelmed; there are many Congolese pouring and crossing into Uganda daily,” Stephen Malinga, Uganda’s Minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, told IRIN. “So far, we have received about 3,700 new arrivals into the country through three western Uganda border points; we expect many more to come.

“The reasons they are giving us for fleeing is persecution following the last [DRC] elections; they are asked which candidate they voted [for] in the last elections. Some of them are running to escape violence from the local militias and fighters operating in eastern DRC,” said Malinga.

Deadly protests erupted in parts of the DRC in the run-up to and during the 28 November 2011 DRC polls, with scores of people being killed, reportedly by gunmen affiliated to the two main political rivals, President Joseph Kabila and veteran opposition politician Etienne Tshisekedi. On 9 December 2011, the country’s Electoral Commission declared Kabila the winner, having garnered 49 percent of the votes cast against Tshisekedi’s 32 percent, triggering violent protests and a claim to power by Tshisekedi.

According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), at least 2,000 DRC refugees, mainly from the area around Rutshuru in DRC’s eastern North Kivu Province, have crossed into western Uganda since January.

“We have about 40 to 100 Congolese coming per day. They are mainly fleeing their country due to the fighting between different parties in eastern DRC,” said Kai Erik Nielsen, the UNHCR representative in Uganda. “It’s not a massive and huge influx. However, we can’t be able to predict what is going to happen. We shall gear [up] for additional and emergency funding if things change. We don’t know whether the fighting will stop.”

The refugees are being received at the Uganda-DRC border and brought to a transit centre at Nyakabanda in Kisoro district, about 15km from the DRC border, before being transferred either to the Nakivale or Oruchinga refugee camps in southwest Uganda.

But officials say the two camps cannot cater for additional refugees. “Oruchinga and Nakivale are now full; the facilities in [the] two camps are overstretched. We are now planning to open another [refugee] camp in Rwamwaja [in the southwestern district of Kamwege],” said Malinga. “We have to help them [refugees]. We are trying as much as possible to give them food, shelter, water, sanitation facilities and health.”

Nakivale is hosting some 58,256 refugees, 30,071 of whom are Congolese, while Oruchinga has 5,493, with 2,731 of Congolese origin, according to 1 February UNHCR data.

Recently, there have been some challenges to refugee settlement in Nakivale. “There are some Ugandan nationals encroaching on the land gazetted by the government for refugees,” said UNHCR’s Nielsen. The Ugandan government is looking into the matter.

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source www.irinnews.org