Norway expects Libya to cooperate with the International Criminal Court

“We expect Libya to cooperate with the ICC. The warrants of arrest issued by the Court are based on serious charges against key Libyan leaders, and underline the importance of working to put an end to impunity for atrocities against civilians,” said Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

Yesterday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague issued warrants of arrest for Muammar al Gaddafi, Saif al Gaddafi and Abdullah al Senussi for atrocities against the Libyan people. The warrants are based on charges of crimes against humanity in the form of murder and persecution.

“Lasting peace cannot be built on impunity for atrocities committed by leaders against their own people. The authorities must halt all fighting and seek a long-term political solution to the conflict,” said the Foreign Minister.

Norway supports the work of the ICC in The Hague, and was one of the countries that advocated the establishment of an independent international court of this kind.

The UN Security Council unanimously referred the situation in Libya to the International Criminal Court. Libya’s obligations derive from the UN Charter.

“Let me stress that it is important to ensure that disagreement about the warrants of arrest issued by the ICC does not lead to further violence in Libya or pose new obstacles to humanitarian work in the country,” said Mr Støre.

 

 By the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway
Duty Press Officer:Date:   June 28 2011

 

Kenya: Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka should stop “Payukaring” (Malingering) and pay tax arrears like Prime Minister Raila has done

By API

Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka wants to be the President of the Republic of Kenya, come 2012 elections. Now when the tax-man knocks on the door, he does not want to pay. He says he wants to have a meeting with the tax-man and he wants to take all the Members of Parliament who are against paying taxes with him. What a way to go for a man who wants to be the head of the Republic, when the man he wants to win over, Prime Minister Raila Odinga has paid his tax arrears, showing he is willing to lead by example.

Instead of criticising Raila of following the constitution and paying tax arrears, Kalonzo should shut up and pay.

Kenyans want to be led by example.

Kalonzo, while addressing a crowd in his constituency a few weeks ago attacked Raila indirectly, avoiding to mention his name, he told the crowd that the people of Nyanza have been sat on for a long time by Kingpins and that they needed a break. This was a direct hit on Raila.

Now he is doing it again. Not manly but indirectly. He says  “paying taxes should not be a showbiz affair”, an indirect attack on PM Raila Odinga who went to KRA clerk’s counter and paid all his tax arrears.

If the VP is competing with the PM and wants media coverage, it is simple to do that. He should get his money, summon the media outside KRA when paying the arrears. Kenyans will be happy to see him pay. It may also earn him some points in the election polls.

It does not matter whether showbiz or not, what Kenyans want to see is for all MPs paying tax arrears and taxes as soon as possible.

Having a meeting to negotiate with KRA as the VP wants is nonsense. Maybe he wants to have KRA reduce the arrears, a thing Kenyans will protest in a big way.

When all those affected have paid their arrears, Kenyans should be told how much each one paid and where the money is coming from. They should not loot the State coffers and use that to clear arrears.

This is the first time in the history of Kenya politics that the Kenyan man and woman have despised their Members of Parliament and would rather take away their title “Honourable” because the people think they do not deserve the title any more.

Many of the present MPs will not see the next parliament because they have exercised poor judgement on the tax issue.

END

• Related story: Prime Minister Raila Odinga demonstrates leadership: Paying taxes

 

1.July 2011 UPDATE:

Kalonzo has now paid taxes: He had criticised the Prime Minister of having publicised paying his taxes by having a press conference. The PM was also covered by the media when in KRA offices waiting on the line to pay his taxes.

Funny enough, Kalonzo used the same method ,media as well when he was paying taxes. He even went further than the PM. He did not wait on the line as everybody else. He was given VIP treatment. He worked from his office to the KRA accompanied by the media and instead of joining Kenyans on the line as the PM had done.

Double moral?

Kalonzo decided to disrupt the duties of the KRA Commissioner Waweru by insisting to pay taxes directly to him. He did not want to go to the man in charge of Inland Taxes who had demanded the taxes. It is being big paying to the top-most man in  the building. A way to win votes? Do politicians think Kenyans are stupid when voting? The fact that one pays taxes should not be used this way!

The best these leaders should do is to write a cheque on the arrears and send it to the tax man, otherwise Kenyans will be treated to media circus every time an MP or other big shots decide to pay.

The President (Kibaki) did it quietly. Nobody knows even how much but the tax man knows the President has paid. Thay is enough. No media, no circus.

————-

Pilot should seek emergency landing at the Hague when flying President Al Bashir back from China to Sudan

By API

President Al Bashir, wanted by the ICC is on a visit to China. He is wanted by the ICC to answer charges of genocide in Darfur region.

It has been difficult for the International Criminal Court to get and arrest Bashir because African countries are not willing to cooperate with the ICC.

Now that he is visiting China, a country in business with Sudan due to newly discovered oil in Sudan, ICC could request China to arrest him while on a visit there. China will not want to jeopardise relations that they benefit from.

According to the Chinese people and government, President Bashir is a very welcome friend, a man they will do business with despite the “hungry ICC claws” that would like to get him now rather than later.

The only person that can do magic  and help ICC is the pilot, who can decide and divert the plane and land in the Hague. He would get asylum there after handing over Al Bashir to the authorities.

Bashir must be a man who trusts the pilot flying the plane he now uses. If the ICC was clever in their job, it is not difficult to get the pilots that fly wanted criminals to divert the planes and land in the Netherlands. After all, the passengers, Bashir included, do not know the map that the pilot follows when up there in the skies.

End.

Hugo Chavez’s health deteroriates: A leaked report says he is now unable to speak, not responding well to treatment.

By API

A report that has been leaked from Cuba states that the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is very ill and has not been able to speak in the last few days.

Doctors attending to him in Cuba are reported to be unhappy about the leak that has now started to reach the media, but are said to be working around the clock to save the Venezuelan leader.

When Cuban leaders when under treatment, Doctors ensure there is no leakage on whether they are recovering well or not, but now this may become an embarrassment for Cuba.

Cuba has managed to keep Castro’s treatment secret for a very long time now, but the Venezuelan leader’s health may not be a secret for long after the leakage.

The Venezuelan people have the right to know if their President is dying or recovering because as the electorate they are entitled to that.

End.

Afghanistan produced 4.5 million tons of wheat last year

AFGHANISTAN: Bracing for a reduced wheat harvest

Photo: Akmal Dawi/IRIN

Afghanistan received inadequate or ill-timed rain and snow this year, and will affect the wheat harvest (file photo)

KABUL, 23 June 2011 (IRIN) – Afghanistan is likely to face a significant food shortage in the coming months, following poor rains which have affected this season’s wheat crop. Wheat is the primary food staple for most families.

“There have been problems with rainfall, so there will be a significant shortfall in the harvest,” Challiss McDonough, spokesperson for the UN World Food Programme (WFP), said. “The Ministry of Agriculture is conducting an assessment to determine the numbers of those affected, but there are also concerns about livestock, especially in the northern and highland areas.”

The harvest season runs from May to late August, but according to the US Agency for International Development’s Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET), most of Afghanistan received inadequate or ill-timed rain and snow this year, which will lead to heavy losses as almost all wheat production is rain-fed. Pasture will also be affected. Livestock in the northeast and northwest have already begun to deteriorate, forcing families to sell at 30-50 percent below market prices.

Estimates by the Afghan Ministry of Agriculture and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, it added, show that this year’s production would be about 3.256 million tons of wheat – 28 percent less than the bumper 2010 harvest. In the central highlands and Badakshan in the northeast, spring rain-fed wheat has not been cultivated because of abnormally dry conditions.

“In a year with a normal harvest, most households in the northern rain-fed and irrigated wheat growing areas can produce enough wheat to sell in the market while still meeting their food needs throughout the year,” FEWSNET said in a 20 June statement. “However, due to the shortfalls in production this year, the reliance on purchases will increase and income from wheat sales and on-farm labor will decrease.”

Prices up

The negative perceptions in some provinces about the coming harvest have already pushed wheat prices up, according to WFP’s price monitoring report for June. In March, FEWSNET said, wheat grain prices in Mazar-i-Sharif were 30 percent higher than at the same time last year, and in May prices for wheat grain were 85 percent higher than a year earlier.

“The poor harvests will increase the importance and influence of wheat imports from Kazakhstan, where prices are also high,” it noted. “The poor wheat harvest will also limit the supply of on-farm labor opportunities in the north, an important income source for poor households.”

Early this year, the government announced plans to stockpile up to 500,000 tons of wheat in different areas in anticipation of a mid-level drought later in the year to assist vulnerable communities, stabilize food prices and prevent shortages. By January, about 75,000 tons of wheat (surplus from 2010 domestic production procured by the government) was already in “strategic stockpiles”.

At least nine million Afghans (36 percent of the population) live on less than a dollar a day, and five million “non-poor” live on 2,100 Afghanis (US$43) a month, according to a 2008 National Risk and Vulnerability Assessment. Dry conditions have already affected income earning opportunities in northern Afghanistan and the central highlands because of reduced demand for farm labour.

Afghanistan produced 4.5 million tons of wheat last year (more than 80 percent of the annual 5.2 million tons required nationwide), but failed to offer adequate wheat flour to urban markets, which are dominated by imported flour mainly from Kazakhstan and Pakistan.

McDonough said WFP was refocusing its assistance, partly because of a funding shortfall of US$220 million. “We have a severe funding shortfall, but we are still making every effort to continue giving assistance to those in critical need,” she told IRIN.

The agency had planned to support 7.3 million vulnerable and food-insecure Afghans in all 34 provinces, but the funding shortfall has forced it to scale back on some programmes including school meals.

eo/cb source www.irinnews.org

“My mother was one of the many wives of my father”

SUDAN: Michael David, “My duty was cleaning guns and shining boots”

Photo: UN News Centre

A child soldier with his gun (file photo)

BENTIU, UNITY STATE, 23 June 2011 (IRIN) – Michael David* has not had a normal childhood. In his 11 years he has been a child soldier and a street child, as well as one of the one million primary school children in Southern Sudan out of school. But his life may be taking a turn for the better:

“My mother was one of the many wives of my father. We lived in a home with many `tukhuls’ [huts] near Bentiu with my elder brother and the rest of the family. One day my mother left my father, who was very old, and took us to the home of another man who was her friend. I don’t know how old I was then but I had not started school.

“The man did not like my brother and me very much. We stayed there for some time. When I turned seven and my brother turned nine, he took us to the barracks and left us there. We had to do hard work there in order to get food and a place to sleep.

“As one of the youngest ones, my duty was cleaning guns and shining boots. After cleaning a gun, I would take it to a range to test it. That is how I learnt to be a soldier. I would even do spying duties, going ahead of the older soldiers and coming back to report what I had seen. Many people did not suspect I was a soldier.

“By then I was drinking alcohol and smoking.

“After about two years at the barracks, my brother and I could not stand the suffering; we often went without food and the older soldiers mistreated us. My brother convinced me and another boy that we should try to escape and we eventually did.

“We ended up in Bentiu. Together with my brother, we went to a home we knew belonged to a relative of my father. He agreed to house us and to take us to school. However, two months later, my relative left for Khartoum abruptly, leaving us in the house. Soon we were chased out of the house by the landlord. We stayed out in the streets, scavenging for food during the day and returning to sleep outside our neighbour’s house.

“Last year, a social worker found me in the street and spoke to me about rehabilitation. She tried to take me back home but they sent me away because my mother was no longer there. I was taken to a drop-off [rehabilitation] centre where I stayed for three months. The social worker said they would look for a foster family to take me in. One was identified and I was supposed to stay with the family but they were mean to me. They sold my school uniform and books. So I left and returned to the street.

“Early this year, my social worker took me in and ensured I enrolled in school. Now I am in Primary Two. I like school very much. I was told another family would be identified, probably a relative, who would be supported to keep me in school.

“For the time being, I am happy to live with my social worker; I eat well and sleep well and I go to school every day. One day I hope to study abroad, especially in Kenya, then later come back home to become a teacher. If I don’t become a teacher, I would like to become a big general in the army.

“Returning to school has helped me quit drinking and sniffing glue. I am still trying to stop smoking cigarettes though.”

*not his real name

js/cb source www.irinnews.org

Prime Minister Raila Odinga demonstrates leadership: Paying taxes

By API

The Kenyan people have always paid taxes. MPs and judges were enjoying their money without paying taxes and yet they earn very much money. Raila has shown he can lead by example.

Recently, the judges agreed to be taxed. Many MPs have protested, some even saying they will turn to be corrupt if they are forced to pay taxes.

Paying taxes by the Prime Minister now is a very good sign for Kenya and respect for the new constitution. Raila has done it and he deserves to rule Kenya in the future. he has shown leadership in the situation while other presidential aspirants are talking without paying.

Members of Parliament refusing to pay taxes must now follow suit. They have to serve as role models to the people they lead and represent in parliament.

Prime Minister Has paid his arrears and there is no reason why others are refusing.

By doing what he has done now, Raila actually deserves to lead Kenya. The Kenyan people should give him a chance to lead Kenya come 2012 presidential elections.

End

Thousands of returnees are in need of assistance

PHILIPPINES: Mindanao aid plan underfunded

Photo: David Swanson/IRIN

Thousands of returnees are in need of assistance

MANILA, 23 June 2011 (IRIN) – A US$34 million Humanitarian Action Plan (HAP) aimed at assisting more than 400,000 conflict displaced people return to their homes on the Philippine island of Mindanao, remains underfunded, says the UN.

“Unfortunately contributions to the existing HAP have been inadequate,” Jacqui Badcock, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Manila, told IRIN, prior to a major donor meeting in Geneva on 23 June involving more than 40 donor countries and agencies.

“I hope that this mid-year review will help to re-galvanize donor interest and generate increased financial support to meet the humanitarian needs of vulnerable people in the conflict and flood-affected provinces of Mindanao,” she added.

Launched in February, the HAP aims to assist those who have returned to their homes in six of the island’s provinces following their displacement after clashes between government forces and the 12,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which has been fighting for an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines for decades.

According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, more than 700,000 people were displaced after an August 2008 supreme court decision overruled a proposed deal that would have given MILF control over more than 700 towns and villages they consider their “ancestral domain”.

Of this number, most have since returned to their places of origin, aid workers say, with thousands now in need of livelihood and recovery assistance.

However, only two HAP projects (totalling just over $3 million and involving the World Food Programme and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization) out of 26 have received funding thus far, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, reports.

Changing needs?

Asked to account for this, the European Union’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO) – which supported the HAP process and provided eight million euros in 2009-2010 to assist victims of the conflict – said the situation had changed, but that they continued to remain engaged on the ground.

“In late 2010 ECHO concluded that it no longer needed to fund emergency humanitarian assistance as the level of fighting had ebbed off widely across the region leading to a drastic reduction in the number of IDPs [internally displaced persons],” Mathias Eick, ECHO regional information officer for East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific Region, said, noting however that the EU through its delegation in Manila had launched a four million euro multi-annual programme, together with the UN Development Programme, to facilitate and assist the returnees.

The EU supports the Mindanao Trust Fund, as well as the International Monitoring Team assisting the ongoing peace process in Mindanao, he said.

“At the same time ECHO continues to monitor and assess the humanitarian situation in Mindanao, including the current needs related to the flooding, and will respond if appropriate, he added.

ds/cb source www.irinnews.org