originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

• On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
• In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
• Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
• The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
• Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
• Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
• Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
• In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
• A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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  \n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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  \n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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  \n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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  \n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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  \n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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  \n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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  \n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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  \n

  The Egyptian Islamist leader was echoing a line that had been peddled by Turkish authorities behind closed doors to its Egyptian MB guests. He added that he continued to trust Turkey, calling on his followers to do the same.[1]<\/strong> The fact that he was actually given airtime on Al-Jazeera<\/em>, a long-time supporter of the MB, is in itself testimony that little has changed in Turkish-Qatari backing for the outlawed Islamist group. But he felt obliged to come out and speak in light of an avalanche of media reports about an upcoming Turkish abandonment of the MB, which sent shivers down the spine of many members of the Egyptian MB. One said that Turkey had muzzled thirty members of the MB, ordering them to stop speaking to the press. Another added that Egyptian Islamists in Turkey were being placed under house arrest in anticipation of their deportation, while a third claimed that investigations were underway into the bank accounts of Egyptian MB members based in Turkey.[2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  On 20 March 2021, the Acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Ibrahim Munir, appeared on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera<\/em> television station to speak about the rapprochement-in-the-making between Cairo and Ankara, which has raised eyebrows, and a storm of speculation, across the region. He seemed confident and very well-informed, telling his followers that no deal had been reached at their expense between Turkish and Egyptian governments. Turkey, he added affirmatively, would never expel members of the Egyptian Brotherhood from its territory. On that, Munir was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Egyptian Islamist leader was echoing a line that had been peddled by Turkish authorities behind closed doors to its Egyptian MB guests. He added that he continued to trust Turkey, calling on his followers to do the same.[1]<\/strong> The fact that he was actually given airtime on Al-Jazeera<\/em>, a long-time supporter of the MB, is in itself testimony that little has changed in Turkish-Qatari backing for the outlawed Islamist group. But he felt obliged to come out and speak in light of an avalanche of media reports about an upcoming Turkish abandonment of the MB, which sent shivers down the spine of many members of the Egyptian MB. One said that Turkey had muzzled thirty members of the MB, ordering them to stop speaking to the press. Another added that Egyptian Islamists in Turkey were being placed under house arrest in anticipation of their deportation, while a third claimed that investigations were underway into the bank accounts of Egyptian MB members based in Turkey.[2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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  \n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/eeradicalization.com\/can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On 20 March 2021, the Acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Ibrahim Munir, appeared on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera<\/em> television station to speak about the rapprochement-in-the-making between Cairo and Ankara, which has raised eyebrows, and a storm of speculation, across the region. He seemed confident and very well-informed, telling his followers that no deal had been reached at their expense between Turkish and Egyptian governments. Turkey, he added affirmatively, would never expel members of the Egyptian Brotherhood from its territory. On that, Munir was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Egyptian Islamist leader was echoing a line that had been peddled by Turkish authorities behind closed doors to its Egyptian MB guests. He added that he continued to trust Turkey, calling on his followers to do the same.[1]<\/strong> The fact that he was actually given airtime on Al-Jazeera<\/em>, a long-time supporter of the MB, is in itself testimony that little has changed in Turkish-Qatari backing for the outlawed Islamist group. But he felt obliged to come out and speak in light of an avalanche of media reports about an upcoming Turkish abandonment of the MB, which sent shivers down the spine of many members of the Egyptian MB. One said that Turkey had muzzled thirty members of the MB, ordering them to stop speaking to the press. Another added that Egyptian Islamists in Turkey were being placed under house arrest in anticipation of their deportation, while a third claimed that investigations were underway into the bank accounts of Egyptian MB members based in Turkey.[2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4741,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/eeradicalization.com\/can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On 20 March 2021, the Acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Ibrahim Munir, appeared on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera<\/em> television station to speak about the rapprochement-in-the-making between Cairo and Ankara, which has raised eyebrows, and a storm of speculation, across the region. He seemed confident and very well-informed, telling his followers that no deal had been reached at their expense between Turkish and Egyptian governments. Turkey, he added affirmatively, would never expel members of the Egyptian Brotherhood from its territory. On that, Munir was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Egyptian Islamist leader was echoing a line that had been peddled by Turkish authorities behind closed doors to its Egyptian MB guests. He added that he continued to trust Turkey, calling on his followers to do the same.[1]<\/strong> The fact that he was actually given airtime on Al-Jazeera<\/em>, a long-time supporter of the MB, is in itself testimony that little has changed in Turkish-Qatari backing for the outlawed Islamist group. But he felt obliged to come out and speak in light of an avalanche of media reports about an upcoming Turkish abandonment of the MB, which sent shivers down the spine of many members of the Egyptian MB. One said that Turkey had muzzled thirty members of the MB, ordering them to stop speaking to the press. Another added that Egyptian Islamists in Turkey were being placed under house arrest in anticipation of their deportation, while a third claimed that investigations were underway into the bank accounts of Egyptian MB members based in Turkey.[2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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  \n

  The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4741,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/eeradicalization.com\/can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On 20 March 2021, the Acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Ibrahim Munir, appeared on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera<\/em> television station to speak about the rapprochement-in-the-making between Cairo and Ankara, which has raised eyebrows, and a storm of speculation, across the region. He seemed confident and very well-informed, telling his followers that no deal had been reached at their expense between Turkish and Egyptian governments. Turkey, he added affirmatively, would never expel members of the Egyptian Brotherhood from its territory. On that, Munir was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Egyptian Islamist leader was echoing a line that had been peddled by Turkish authorities behind closed doors to its Egyptian MB guests. He added that he continued to trust Turkey, calling on his followers to do the same.[1]<\/strong> The fact that he was actually given airtime on Al-Jazeera<\/em>, a long-time supporter of the MB, is in itself testimony that little has changed in Turkish-Qatari backing for the outlawed Islamist group. But he felt obliged to come out and speak in light of an avalanche of media reports about an upcoming Turkish abandonment of the MB, which sent shivers down the spine of many members of the Egyptian MB. One said that Turkey had muzzled thirty members of the MB, ordering them to stop speaking to the press. Another added that Egyptian Islamists in Turkey were being placed under house arrest in anticipation of their deportation, while a third claimed that investigations were underway into the bank accounts of Egyptian MB members based in Turkey.[2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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  \n

  \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4741,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/eeradicalization.com\/can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On 20 March 2021, the Acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Ibrahim Munir, appeared on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera<\/em> television station to speak about the rapprochement-in-the-making between Cairo and Ankara, which has raised eyebrows, and a storm of speculation, across the region. He seemed confident and very well-informed, telling his followers that no deal had been reached at their expense between Turkish and Egyptian governments. Turkey, he added affirmatively, would never expel members of the Egyptian Brotherhood from its territory. On that, Munir was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Egyptian Islamist leader was echoing a line that had been peddled by Turkish authorities behind closed doors to its Egyptian MB guests. He added that he continued to trust Turkey, calling on his followers to do the same.[1]<\/strong> The fact that he was actually given airtime on Al-Jazeera<\/em>, a long-time supporter of the MB, is in itself testimony that little has changed in Turkish-Qatari backing for the outlawed Islamist group. But he felt obliged to come out and speak in light of an avalanche of media reports about an upcoming Turkish abandonment of the MB, which sent shivers down the spine of many members of the Egyptian MB. One said that Turkey had muzzled thirty members of the MB, ordering them to stop speaking to the press. Another added that Egyptian Islamists in Turkey were being placed under house arrest in anticipation of their deportation, while a third claimed that investigations were underway into the bank accounts of Egyptian MB members based in Turkey.[2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4741,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/eeradicalization.com\/can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On 20 March 2021, the Acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Ibrahim Munir, appeared on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera<\/em> television station to speak about the rapprochement-in-the-making between Cairo and Ankara, which has raised eyebrows, and a storm of speculation, across the region. He seemed confident and very well-informed, telling his followers that no deal had been reached at their expense between Turkish and Egyptian governments. Turkey, he added affirmatively, would never expel members of the Egyptian Brotherhood from its territory. On that, Munir was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Egyptian Islamist leader was echoing a line that had been peddled by Turkish authorities behind closed doors to its Egyptian MB guests. He added that he continued to trust Turkey, calling on his followers to do the same.[1]<\/strong> The fact that he was actually given airtime on Al-Jazeera<\/em>, a long-time supporter of the MB, is in itself testimony that little has changed in Turkish-Qatari backing for the outlawed Islamist group. But he felt obliged to come out and speak in light of an avalanche of media reports about an upcoming Turkish abandonment of the MB, which sent shivers down the spine of many members of the Egyptian MB. One said that Turkey had muzzled thirty members of the MB, ordering them to stop speaking to the press. Another added that Egyptian Islamists in Turkey were being placed under house arrest in anticipation of their deportation, while a third claimed that investigations were underway into the bank accounts of Egyptian MB members based in Turkey.[2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4741,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/eeradicalization.com\/can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On 20 March 2021, the Acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Ibrahim Munir, appeared on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera<\/em> television station to speak about the rapprochement-in-the-making between Cairo and Ankara, which has raised eyebrows, and a storm of speculation, across the region. He seemed confident and very well-informed, telling his followers that no deal had been reached at their expense between Turkish and Egyptian governments. Turkey, he added affirmatively, would never expel members of the Egyptian Brotherhood from its territory. On that, Munir was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Egyptian Islamist leader was echoing a line that had been peddled by Turkish authorities behind closed doors to its Egyptian MB guests. He added that he continued to trust Turkey, calling on his followers to do the same.[1]<\/strong> The fact that he was actually given airtime on Al-Jazeera<\/em>, a long-time supporter of the MB, is in itself testimony that little has changed in Turkish-Qatari backing for the outlawed Islamist group. But he felt obliged to come out and speak in light of an avalanche of media reports about an upcoming Turkish abandonment of the MB, which sent shivers down the spine of many members of the Egyptian MB. One said that Turkey had muzzled thirty members of the MB, ordering them to stop speaking to the press. Another added that Egyptian Islamists in Turkey were being placed under house arrest in anticipation of their deportation, while a third claimed that investigations were underway into the bank accounts of Egyptian MB members based in Turkey.[2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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  \n

  The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4741,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/eeradicalization.com\/can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On 20 March 2021, the Acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Ibrahim Munir, appeared on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera<\/em> television station to speak about the rapprochement-in-the-making between Cairo and Ankara, which has raised eyebrows, and a storm of speculation, across the region. He seemed confident and very well-informed, telling his followers that no deal had been reached at their expense between Turkish and Egyptian governments. Turkey, he added affirmatively, would never expel members of the Egyptian Brotherhood from its territory. On that, Munir was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Egyptian Islamist leader was echoing a line that had been peddled by Turkish authorities behind closed doors to its Egyptian MB guests. He added that he continued to trust Turkey, calling on his followers to do the same.[1]<\/strong> The fact that he was actually given airtime on Al-Jazeera<\/em>, a long-time supporter of the MB, is in itself testimony that little has changed in Turkish-Qatari backing for the outlawed Islamist group. But he felt obliged to come out and speak in light of an avalanche of media reports about an upcoming Turkish abandonment of the MB, which sent shivers down the spine of many members of the Egyptian MB. One said that Turkey had muzzled thirty members of the MB, ordering them to stop speaking to the press. Another added that Egyptian Islamists in Turkey were being placed under house arrest in anticipation of their deportation, while a third claimed that investigations were underway into the bank accounts of Egyptian MB members based in Turkey.[2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4741,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/eeradicalization.com\/can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On 20 March 2021, the Acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Ibrahim Munir, appeared on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera<\/em> television station to speak about the rapprochement-in-the-making between Cairo and Ankara, which has raised eyebrows, and a storm of speculation, across the region. He seemed confident and very well-informed, telling his followers that no deal had been reached at their expense between Turkish and Egyptian governments. Turkey, he added affirmatively, would never expel members of the Egyptian Brotherhood from its territory. On that, Munir was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Egyptian Islamist leader was echoing a line that had been peddled by Turkish authorities behind closed doors to its Egyptian MB guests. He added that he continued to trust Turkey, calling on his followers to do the same.[1]<\/strong> The fact that he was actually given airtime on Al-Jazeera<\/em>, a long-time supporter of the MB, is in itself testimony that little has changed in Turkish-Qatari backing for the outlawed Islamist group. But he felt obliged to come out and speak in light of an avalanche of media reports about an upcoming Turkish abandonment of the MB, which sent shivers down the spine of many members of the Egyptian MB. One said that Turkey had muzzled thirty members of the MB, ordering them to stop speaking to the press. Another added that Egyptian Islamists in Turkey were being placed under house arrest in anticipation of their deportation, while a third claimed that investigations were underway into the bank accounts of Egyptian MB members based in Turkey.[2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
  \n

  Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4741,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/eeradicalization.com\/can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On 20 March 2021, the Acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Ibrahim Munir, appeared on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera<\/em> television station to speak about the rapprochement-in-the-making between Cairo and Ankara, which has raised eyebrows, and a storm of speculation, across the region. He seemed confident and very well-informed, telling his followers that no deal had been reached at their expense between Turkish and Egyptian governments. Turkey, he added affirmatively, would never expel members of the Egyptian Brotherhood from its territory. On that, Munir was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Egyptian Islamist leader was echoing a line that had been peddled by Turkish authorities behind closed doors to its Egyptian MB guests. He added that he continued to trust Turkey, calling on his followers to do the same.[1]<\/strong> The fact that he was actually given airtime on Al-Jazeera<\/em>, a long-time supporter of the MB, is in itself testimony that little has changed in Turkish-Qatari backing for the outlawed Islamist group. But he felt obliged to come out and speak in light of an avalanche of media reports about an upcoming Turkish abandonment of the MB, which sent shivers down the spine of many members of the Egyptian MB. One said that Turkey had muzzled thirty members of the MB, ordering them to stop speaking to the press. Another added that Egyptian Islamists in Turkey were being placed under house arrest in anticipation of their deportation, while a third claimed that investigations were underway into the bank accounts of Egyptian MB members based in Turkey.[2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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  \n

  A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4741,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/eeradicalization.com\/can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On 20 March 2021, the Acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Ibrahim Munir, appeared on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera<\/em> television station to speak about the rapprochement-in-the-making between Cairo and Ankara, which has raised eyebrows, and a storm of speculation, across the region. He seemed confident and very well-informed, telling his followers that no deal had been reached at their expense between Turkish and Egyptian governments. Turkey, he added affirmatively, would never expel members of the Egyptian Brotherhood from its territory. On that, Munir was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Egyptian Islamist leader was echoing a line that had been peddled by Turkish authorities behind closed doors to its Egyptian MB guests. He added that he continued to trust Turkey, calling on his followers to do the same.[1]<\/strong> The fact that he was actually given airtime on Al-Jazeera<\/em>, a long-time supporter of the MB, is in itself testimony that little has changed in Turkish-Qatari backing for the outlawed Islamist group. But he felt obliged to come out and speak in light of an avalanche of media reports about an upcoming Turkish abandonment of the MB, which sent shivers down the spine of many members of the Egyptian MB. One said that Turkey had muzzled thirty members of the MB, ordering them to stop speaking to the press. Another added that Egyptian Islamists in Turkey were being placed under house arrest in anticipation of their deportation, while a third claimed that investigations were underway into the bank accounts of Egyptian MB members based in Turkey.[2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next

  \n

  The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4741,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/eeradicalization.com\/can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On 20 March 2021, the Acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Ibrahim Munir, appeared on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera<\/em> television station to speak about the rapprochement-in-the-making between Cairo and Ankara, which has raised eyebrows, and a storm of speculation, across the region. He seemed confident and very well-informed, telling his followers that no deal had been reached at their expense between Turkish and Egyptian governments. Turkey, he added affirmatively, would never expel members of the Egyptian Brotherhood from its territory. On that, Munir was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Egyptian Islamist leader was echoing a line that had been peddled by Turkish authorities behind closed doors to its Egyptian MB guests. He added that he continued to trust Turkey, calling on his followers to do the same.[1]<\/strong> The fact that he was actually given airtime on Al-Jazeera<\/em>, a long-time supporter of the MB, is in itself testimony that little has changed in Turkish-Qatari backing for the outlawed Islamist group. But he felt obliged to come out and speak in light of an avalanche of media reports about an upcoming Turkish abandonment of the MB, which sent shivers down the spine of many members of the Egyptian MB. One said that Turkey had muzzled thirty members of the MB, ordering them to stop speaking to the press. Another added that Egyptian Islamists in Turkey were being placed under house arrest in anticipation of their deportation, while a third claimed that investigations were underway into the bank accounts of Egyptian MB members based in Turkey.[2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next

  \n

  There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4741,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/eeradicalization.com\/can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On 20 March 2021, the Acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Ibrahim Munir, appeared on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera<\/em> television station to speak about the rapprochement-in-the-making between Cairo and Ankara, which has raised eyebrows, and a storm of speculation, across the region. He seemed confident and very well-informed, telling his followers that no deal had been reached at their expense between Turkish and Egyptian governments. Turkey, he added affirmatively, would never expel members of the Egyptian Brotherhood from its territory. On that, Munir was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Egyptian Islamist leader was echoing a line that had been peddled by Turkish authorities behind closed doors to its Egyptian MB guests. He added that he continued to trust Turkey, calling on his followers to do the same.[1]<\/strong> The fact that he was actually given airtime on Al-Jazeera<\/em>, a long-time supporter of the MB, is in itself testimony that little has changed in Turkish-Qatari backing for the outlawed Islamist group. But he felt obliged to come out and speak in light of an avalanche of media reports about an upcoming Turkish abandonment of the MB, which sent shivers down the spine of many members of the Egyptian MB. One said that Turkey had muzzled thirty members of the MB, ordering them to stop speaking to the press. Another added that Egyptian Islamists in Turkey were being placed under house arrest in anticipation of their deportation, while a third claimed that investigations were underway into the bank accounts of Egyptian MB members based in Turkey.[2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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  \n

  Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4741,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/eeradicalization.com\/can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On 20 March 2021, the Acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Ibrahim Munir, appeared on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera<\/em> television station to speak about the rapprochement-in-the-making between Cairo and Ankara, which has raised eyebrows, and a storm of speculation, across the region. He seemed confident and very well-informed, telling his followers that no deal had been reached at their expense between Turkish and Egyptian governments. Turkey, he added affirmatively, would never expel members of the Egyptian Brotherhood from its territory. On that, Munir was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Egyptian Islamist leader was echoing a line that had been peddled by Turkish authorities behind closed doors to its Egyptian MB guests. He added that he continued to trust Turkey, calling on his followers to do the same.[1]<\/strong> The fact that he was actually given airtime on Al-Jazeera<\/em>, a long-time supporter of the MB, is in itself testimony that little has changed in Turkish-Qatari backing for the outlawed Islamist group. But he felt obliged to come out and speak in light of an avalanche of media reports about an upcoming Turkish abandonment of the MB, which sent shivers down the spine of many members of the Egyptian MB. One said that Turkey had muzzled thirty members of the MB, ordering them to stop speaking to the press. Another added that Egyptian Islamists in Turkey were being placed under house arrest in anticipation of their deportation, while a third claimed that investigations were underway into the bank accounts of Egyptian MB members based in Turkey.[2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next

  \n

  But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4741,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/eeradicalization.com\/can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On 20 March 2021, the Acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Ibrahim Munir, appeared on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera<\/em> television station to speak about the rapprochement-in-the-making between Cairo and Ankara, which has raised eyebrows, and a storm of speculation, across the region. He seemed confident and very well-informed, telling his followers that no deal had been reached at their expense between Turkish and Egyptian governments. Turkey, he added affirmatively, would never expel members of the Egyptian Brotherhood from its territory. On that, Munir was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Egyptian Islamist leader was echoing a line that had been peddled by Turkish authorities behind closed doors to its Egyptian MB guests. He added that he continued to trust Turkey, calling on his followers to do the same.[1]<\/strong> The fact that he was actually given airtime on Al-Jazeera<\/em>, a long-time supporter of the MB, is in itself testimony that little has changed in Turkish-Qatari backing for the outlawed Islamist group. But he felt obliged to come out and speak in light of an avalanche of media reports about an upcoming Turkish abandonment of the MB, which sent shivers down the spine of many members of the Egyptian MB. One said that Turkey had muzzled thirty members of the MB, ordering them to stop speaking to the press. Another added that Egyptian Islamists in Turkey were being placed under house arrest in anticipation of their deportation, while a third claimed that investigations were underway into the bank accounts of Egyptian MB members based in Turkey.[2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next

  \n

  Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4741,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/eeradicalization.com\/can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On 20 March 2021, the Acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Ibrahim Munir, appeared on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera<\/em> television station to speak about the rapprochement-in-the-making between Cairo and Ankara, which has raised eyebrows, and a storm of speculation, across the region. He seemed confident and very well-informed, telling his followers that no deal had been reached at their expense between Turkish and Egyptian governments. Turkey, he added affirmatively, would never expel members of the Egyptian Brotherhood from its territory. On that, Munir was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Egyptian Islamist leader was echoing a line that had been peddled by Turkish authorities behind closed doors to its Egyptian MB guests. He added that he continued to trust Turkey, calling on his followers to do the same.[1]<\/strong> The fact that he was actually given airtime on Al-Jazeera<\/em>, a long-time supporter of the MB, is in itself testimony that little has changed in Turkish-Qatari backing for the outlawed Islamist group. But he felt obliged to come out and speak in light of an avalanche of media reports about an upcoming Turkish abandonment of the MB, which sent shivers down the spine of many members of the Egyptian MB. One said that Turkey had muzzled thirty members of the MB, ordering them to stop speaking to the press. Another added that Egyptian Islamists in Turkey were being placed under house arrest in anticipation of their deportation, while a third claimed that investigations were underway into the bank accounts of Egyptian MB members based in Turkey.[2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next

  \n

  The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4741,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/eeradicalization.com\/can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On 20 March 2021, the Acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Ibrahim Munir, appeared on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera<\/em> television station to speak about the rapprochement-in-the-making between Cairo and Ankara, which has raised eyebrows, and a storm of speculation, across the region. He seemed confident and very well-informed, telling his followers that no deal had been reached at their expense between Turkish and Egyptian governments. Turkey, he added affirmatively, would never expel members of the Egyptian Brotherhood from its territory. On that, Munir was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Egyptian Islamist leader was echoing a line that had been peddled by Turkish authorities behind closed doors to its Egyptian MB guests. He added that he continued to trust Turkey, calling on his followers to do the same.[1]<\/strong> The fact that he was actually given airtime on Al-Jazeera<\/em>, a long-time supporter of the MB, is in itself testimony that little has changed in Turkish-Qatari backing for the outlawed Islamist group. But he felt obliged to come out and speak in light of an avalanche of media reports about an upcoming Turkish abandonment of the MB, which sent shivers down the spine of many members of the Egyptian MB. One said that Turkey had muzzled thirty members of the MB, ordering them to stop speaking to the press. Another added that Egyptian Islamists in Turkey were being placed under house arrest in anticipation of their deportation, while a third claimed that investigations were underway into the bank accounts of Egyptian MB members based in Turkey.[2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next

  \n

  By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and  munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4741,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/eeradicalization.com\/can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On 20 March 2021, the Acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Ibrahim Munir, appeared on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera<\/em> television station to speak about the rapprochement-in-the-making between Cairo and Ankara, which has raised eyebrows, and a storm of speculation, across the region. He seemed confident and very well-informed, telling his followers that no deal had been reached at their expense between Turkish and Egyptian governments. Turkey, he added affirmatively, would never expel members of the Egyptian Brotherhood from its territory. On that, Munir was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Egyptian Islamist leader was echoing a line that had been peddled by Turkish authorities behind closed doors to its Egyptian MB guests. He added that he continued to trust Turkey, calling on his followers to do the same.[1]<\/strong> The fact that he was actually given airtime on Al-Jazeera<\/em>, a long-time supporter of the MB, is in itself testimony that little has changed in Turkish-Qatari backing for the outlawed Islamist group. But he felt obliged to come out and speak in light of an avalanche of media reports about an upcoming Turkish abandonment of the MB, which sent shivers down the spine of many members of the Egyptian MB. One said that Turkey had muzzled thirty members of the MB, ordering them to stop speaking to the press. Another added that Egyptian Islamists in Turkey were being placed under house arrest in anticipation of their deportation, while a third claimed that investigations were underway into the bank accounts of Egyptian MB members based in Turkey.[2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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  \n

  The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and  munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4741,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/eeradicalization.com\/can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On 20 March 2021, the Acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Ibrahim Munir, appeared on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera<\/em> television station to speak about the rapprochement-in-the-making between Cairo and Ankara, which has raised eyebrows, and a storm of speculation, across the region. He seemed confident and very well-informed, telling his followers that no deal had been reached at their expense between Turkish and Egyptian governments. Turkey, he added affirmatively, would never expel members of the Egyptian Brotherhood from its territory. On that, Munir was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Egyptian Islamist leader was echoing a line that had been peddled by Turkish authorities behind closed doors to its Egyptian MB guests. He added that he continued to trust Turkey, calling on his followers to do the same.[1]<\/strong> The fact that he was actually given airtime on Al-Jazeera<\/em>, a long-time supporter of the MB, is in itself testimony that little has changed in Turkish-Qatari backing for the outlawed Islamist group. But he felt obliged to come out and speak in light of an avalanche of media reports about an upcoming Turkish abandonment of the MB, which sent shivers down the spine of many members of the Egyptian MB. One said that Turkey had muzzled thirty members of the MB, ordering them to stop speaking to the press. Another added that Egyptian Islamists in Turkey were being placed under house arrest in anticipation of their deportation, while a third claimed that investigations were underway into the bank accounts of Egyptian MB members based in Turkey.[2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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  \n

  \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and  munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4741,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/eeradicalization.com\/can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On 20 March 2021, the Acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Ibrahim Munir, appeared on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera<\/em> television station to speak about the rapprochement-in-the-making between Cairo and Ankara, which has raised eyebrows, and a storm of speculation, across the region. He seemed confident and very well-informed, telling his followers that no deal had been reached at their expense between Turkish and Egyptian governments. Turkey, he added affirmatively, would never expel members of the Egyptian Brotherhood from its territory. On that, Munir was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Egyptian Islamist leader was echoing a line that had been peddled by Turkish authorities behind closed doors to its Egyptian MB guests. He added that he continued to trust Turkey, calling on his followers to do the same.[1]<\/strong> The fact that he was actually given airtime on Al-Jazeera<\/em>, a long-time supporter of the MB, is in itself testimony that little has changed in Turkish-Qatari backing for the outlawed Islamist group. But he felt obliged to come out and speak in light of an avalanche of media reports about an upcoming Turkish abandonment of the MB, which sent shivers down the spine of many members of the Egyptian MB. One said that Turkey had muzzled thirty members of the MB, ordering them to stop speaking to the press. Another added that Egyptian Islamists in Turkey were being placed under house arrest in anticipation of their deportation, while a third claimed that investigations were underway into the bank accounts of Egyptian MB members based in Turkey.[2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next

  \n

  It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and  munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4741,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/eeradicalization.com\/can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On 20 March 2021, the Acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Ibrahim Munir, appeared on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera<\/em> television station to speak about the rapprochement-in-the-making between Cairo and Ankara, which has raised eyebrows, and a storm of speculation, across the region. He seemed confident and very well-informed, telling his followers that no deal had been reached at their expense between Turkish and Egyptian governments. Turkey, he added affirmatively, would never expel members of the Egyptian Brotherhood from its territory. On that, Munir was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Egyptian Islamist leader was echoing a line that had been peddled by Turkish authorities behind closed doors to its Egyptian MB guests. He added that he continued to trust Turkey, calling on his followers to do the same.[1]<\/strong> The fact that he was actually given airtime on Al-Jazeera<\/em>, a long-time supporter of the MB, is in itself testimony that little has changed in Turkish-Qatari backing for the outlawed Islamist group. But he felt obliged to come out and speak in light of an avalanche of media reports about an upcoming Turkish abandonment of the MB, which sent shivers down the spine of many members of the Egyptian MB. One said that Turkey had muzzled thirty members of the MB, ordering them to stop speaking to the press. Another added that Egyptian Islamists in Turkey were being placed under house arrest in anticipation of their deportation, while a third claimed that investigations were underway into the bank accounts of Egyptian MB members based in Turkey.[2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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  \n

  But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and  munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4741,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/eeradicalization.com\/can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On 20 March 2021, the Acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Ibrahim Munir, appeared on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera<\/em> television station to speak about the rapprochement-in-the-making between Cairo and Ankara, which has raised eyebrows, and a storm of speculation, across the region. He seemed confident and very well-informed, telling his followers that no deal had been reached at their expense between Turkish and Egyptian governments. Turkey, he added affirmatively, would never expel members of the Egyptian Brotherhood from its territory. On that, Munir was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Egyptian Islamist leader was echoing a line that had been peddled by Turkish authorities behind closed doors to its Egyptian MB guests. He added that he continued to trust Turkey, calling on his followers to do the same.[1]<\/strong> The fact that he was actually given airtime on Al-Jazeera<\/em>, a long-time supporter of the MB, is in itself testimony that little has changed in Turkish-Qatari backing for the outlawed Islamist group. But he felt obliged to come out and speak in light of an avalanche of media reports about an upcoming Turkish abandonment of the MB, which sent shivers down the spine of many members of the Egyptian MB. One said that Turkey had muzzled thirty members of the MB, ordering them to stop speaking to the press. Another added that Egyptian Islamists in Turkey were being placed under house arrest in anticipation of their deportation, while a third claimed that investigations were underway into the bank accounts of Egyptian MB members based in Turkey.[2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next

  \n

  On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and  munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4741,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/eeradicalization.com\/can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On 20 March 2021, the Acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Ibrahim Munir, appeared on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera<\/em> television station to speak about the rapprochement-in-the-making between Cairo and Ankara, which has raised eyebrows, and a storm of speculation, across the region. He seemed confident and very well-informed, telling his followers that no deal had been reached at their expense between Turkish and Egyptian governments. Turkey, he added affirmatively, would never expel members of the Egyptian Brotherhood from its territory. On that, Munir was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Egyptian Islamist leader was echoing a line that had been peddled by Turkish authorities behind closed doors to its Egyptian MB guests. He added that he continued to trust Turkey, calling on his followers to do the same.[1]<\/strong> The fact that he was actually given airtime on Al-Jazeera<\/em>, a long-time supporter of the MB, is in itself testimony that little has changed in Turkish-Qatari backing for the outlawed Islamist group. But he felt obliged to come out and speak in light of an avalanche of media reports about an upcoming Turkish abandonment of the MB, which sent shivers down the spine of many members of the Egyptian MB. One said that Turkey had muzzled thirty members of the MB, ordering them to stop speaking to the press. Another added that Egyptian Islamists in Turkey were being placed under house arrest in anticipation of their deportation, while a third claimed that investigations were underway into the bank accounts of Egyptian MB members based in Turkey.[2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next

  \n

  President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for \u201cnegligence\u201d in stocking ammunition so close to populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and  munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4741,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/eeradicalization.com\/can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On 20 March 2021, the Acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Ibrahim Munir, appeared on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera<\/em> television station to speak about the rapprochement-in-the-making between Cairo and Ankara, which has raised eyebrows, and a storm of speculation, across the region. He seemed confident and very well-informed, telling his followers that no deal had been reached at their expense between Turkish and Egyptian governments. Turkey, he added affirmatively, would never expel members of the Egyptian Brotherhood from its territory. On that, Munir was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Egyptian Islamist leader was echoing a line that had been peddled by Turkish authorities behind closed doors to its Egyptian MB guests. He added that he continued to trust Turkey, calling on his followers to do the same.[1]<\/strong> The fact that he was actually given airtime on Al-Jazeera<\/em>, a long-time supporter of the MB, is in itself testimony that little has changed in Turkish-Qatari backing for the outlawed Islamist group. But he felt obliged to come out and speak in light of an avalanche of media reports about an upcoming Turkish abandonment of the MB, which sent shivers down the spine of many members of the Egyptian MB. One said that Turkey had muzzled thirty members of the MB, ordering them to stop speaking to the press. Another added that Egyptian Islamists in Turkey were being placed under house arrest in anticipation of their deportation, while a third claimed that investigations were underway into the bank accounts of Egyptian MB members based in Turkey.[2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next

  \n

  Rights groups have called for a transparent and independent investigation into a series of massive explosions in Equatorial Guinea\u2019s main city of Bata that flattened a military camp and nearby residential areas, killing scores of people and causing widespread destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for \u201cnegligence\u201d in stocking ammunition so close to populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and  munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4741,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/eeradicalization.com\/can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On 20 March 2021, the Acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Ibrahim Munir, appeared on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera<\/em> television station to speak about the rapprochement-in-the-making between Cairo and Ankara, which has raised eyebrows, and a storm of speculation, across the region. He seemed confident and very well-informed, telling his followers that no deal had been reached at their expense between Turkish and Egyptian governments. Turkey, he added affirmatively, would never expel members of the Egyptian Brotherhood from its territory. On that, Munir was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Egyptian Islamist leader was echoing a line that had been peddled by Turkish authorities behind closed doors to its Egyptian MB guests. He added that he continued to trust Turkey, calling on his followers to do the same.[1]<\/strong> The fact that he was actually given airtime on Al-Jazeera<\/em>, a long-time supporter of the MB, is in itself testimony that little has changed in Turkish-Qatari backing for the outlawed Islamist group. But he felt obliged to come out and speak in light of an avalanche of media reports about an upcoming Turkish abandonment of the MB, which sent shivers down the spine of many members of the Egyptian MB. One said that Turkey had muzzled thirty members of the MB, ordering them to stop speaking to the press. Another added that Egyptian Islamists in Turkey were being placed under house arrest in anticipation of their deportation, while a third claimed that investigations were underway into the bank accounts of Egyptian MB members based in Turkey.[2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

  Page 3 of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next

  \n

  originally published:<\/em> 10 March 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/3\/10\/hrw-questions-official-death-toll-in-equatorial-guinea-explosion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Rights groups have called for a transparent and independent investigation into a series of massive explosions in Equatorial Guinea\u2019s main city of Bata that flattened a military camp and nearby residential areas, killing scores of people and causing widespread destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for \u201cnegligence\u201d in stocking ammunition so close to populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and  munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4741,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 22:09:27","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/eeradicalization.com\/can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On 20 March 2021, the Acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Ibrahim Munir, appeared on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera<\/em> television station to speak about the rapprochement-in-the-making between Cairo and Ankara, which has raised eyebrows, and a storm of speculation, across the region. He seemed confident and very well-informed, telling his followers that no deal had been reached at their expense between Turkish and Egyptian governments. Turkey, he added affirmatively, would never expel members of the Egyptian Brotherhood from its territory. On that, Munir was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Egyptian Islamist leader was echoing a line that had been peddled by Turkish authorities behind closed doors to its Egyptian MB guests. He added that he continued to trust Turkey, calling on his followers to do the same.[1]<\/strong> The fact that he was actually given airtime on Al-Jazeera<\/em>, a long-time supporter of the MB, is in itself testimony that little has changed in Turkish-Qatari backing for the outlawed Islamist group. But he felt obliged to come out and speak in light of an avalanche of media reports about an upcoming Turkish abandonment of the MB, which sent shivers down the spine of many members of the Egyptian MB. One said that Turkey had muzzled thirty members of the MB, ordering them to stop speaking to the press. Another added that Egyptian Islamists in Turkey were being placed under house arrest in anticipation of their deportation, while a third claimed that investigations were underway into the bank accounts of Egyptian MB members based in Turkey.[2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Fact or Fantasy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Many of these reports about Turkey turning on the MB were more fantasy than fact, however, either the doing of an imaginative journalists or anti-Brotherhood hopefuls\u2014both categories well-represented in the Arab World. All of these reports were seemingly based on recent instructions from Turkish authorities to three Egyptian opposition channels broadcasting from Turkey, ordering them to tone down their criticism of Egyptian ruler Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The three channels\u2014El-Sharq<\/em>, Watan TV<\/em>, and Mekameleen<\/em>\u2014are all affiliated with the MB and they were threatened with penalties if they defied the order.[3]<\/strong> Immediately El-Sharq<\/em> came out with a statement, apologizing to viewers for not airing an evening episode of a program called, \u201cThe Streets of Egypt,\u201d which was usually dedicated to bashing the Sisi government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Putting things into perspective was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV<\/em> to deny that his boss had any intention of closing the three television channels or extraditing members of the Egyptian MB. Aktay described the backlash as \u201cbarking,\u201d adding: \u201cIt is impossible for Turkey to extradite any person, neither to Egypt nor to any country that observes capital punishment\u201d.[4]<\/strong> Prominent Egyptian opposition member Ayman Nour, who manages El-Sharq TV<\/em>, added that Turkish authorities had asked them politely to amend their editorial policy towards Egypt, also denying an order to shut down his channel.[5]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Not that these statements did much good; the media speculation about a divorce between Erdogan and the MB continued to mushroom. One report said that a senior delegation had been created to revisit the residency permits of Egyptian Brotherhood members residing in Ankara and Istanbul since 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which admittedly has a very spotty record when it comes to accuracy, added to the wave of speculation, saying that Turkish-backed fighters in Libya have been ordered to pack up and leave in a gesture of goodwill towards the Egyptians. The report added that 9,000 of them have already left the Libya battlefield and were flown out by Turkish intelligence.[6]<\/strong> At least one of those military groups, Faylaq al-Sham, is openly affiliated with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.[7]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Erdogan Will Not Abandon the Brotherhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Expecting Erdogan to sell out the MB is akin to asking Iran to abandon Hezbollah or Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Syria. It is wishful thinking that simply will not happen. The Turkish leader has built his entire foreign policy towards the Arab World on supporting non-state players like the MB, using them as pressure cards to destabilize governments and advance his own political ambitions. Without the MB he would lose his leverage in Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian affairs, eroding his recent victories in Libya, where he managed to thwart the military offensive of Khalifa Haftar last year, through MB-affiliated mercenaries. He needs Hamas to maintain a threshold in the upcoming Palestinian elections, and their Syrian comrades to keep the territory that he grabbed in Syria during the years 2016-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Abandoning these proxies would be akin to Erdogan shooting himself in the foot, depriving himself of a reliable tool of state policy that he has used, time and again, to influence events in the Arab World. And we need to ask what Erdogan will get in return for such a suicidal policy? Turkish-Egyptian economic relations are on the rise, but they were never suspended despite the political tensions. According to official figures, Egyptian exports to Turkey rose to $2 billion in 2018, slightly up from $1.9 billion in 2017, while Turkish imports stood at an impressive $2.3 billion.[8]<\/strong> With or without a U-turn on the MB, those economic relations are likely to continue. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that he is ideologically committed to the MB, where he started his career as a young politician. It must be remembered that not even the multi-state boycott of Qatar, succeeded in getting its young emir, Tamim Bin Hamad, to abandon Hamas and the MB or amend the pro-Islamist editorial policies of Al-Jazeera TV\u2014and Qatar is much more vulnerable to pressure than Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Still, it does seem there is an Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement underway, motived by mutual interests and shifting regional dynamics related to the Biden Administration. Turkish-American relations are at all-time low after a recent decision by the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide that took place during the First World War.[9]<\/strong> Turkey is also already facing the threat of sanctions from both the European Union and the United States for, respectively, drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus and purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Erdogan feels increasingly vulnerable and isolated, searching for regional and international allies. Many of those on whom he had relied for years are gone, including Egypt\u2019s Mohammad Morsi, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and more recently, Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Official admission from Ankara came on 12 March when Erdogan\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu announced that talks have resumed with Egypt, at both an intelligence and political level, a significant breakthrough, no doubt, after years of tension and animosity resulting from the 2013 ouster of President Morsi, who was backed fully by Erdogan.[10]<\/strong> On 14 March, Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri confirmed that talks had indeed resumed, saying that Turkey\u2019s statements of good will needed to be followed with concrete action for the normalization to move forward, explaining why Turkey floated the trial balloon of clipping the wings of the three MB-affiliated channels\u2014as a confidence building measure with Cairo. But for those talks to move forward and bear fruit, Erdogan will have to do better than that, taking serious action against the MB, which\u2014pending some radical, unforeseeable event\u2014he will not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \u201cThe disengagement of President Erdogan from the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing but a balloon full of hot air,\u201d said Abdullah Bozkurt, a Turkish journalist affiliated with the Turkish opposition Gulen movement. Speaking to EER, Bozkurt went on: \u201cHe may offer sacrifices [and] concessions, but his overall strategy won\u2019t change,\u201d concluding: \u201cThis recent posturing is not a strategic shift for him and his MB-minded political Islamists in Turkey. He will revert to his old policies openly as soon as the circumstances allow. In the meantime, he will continue lending his government\u2019s support to the MB discreetly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  __________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [1] \u201cCairo sees little place for Brotherhood in rapprochement with Ankara\u201d Arab Weekly<\/em> (March 22, 2021): https:\/\/thearabweekly.com\/cairo-sees-little-place-brotherhood-rapprochement-ankara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [2] Abdul-Razeq, Said. \u201cTurkiya tuqayid harakat al-Ikhwan\u201d Alsharq Alawsat<\/em> (March 20, 2021): shorturl.at\/gDRTZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [3] \u201cTurkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop airing anti-Egypt rhetoric\u201d Al-Arabiya English<\/em> (March 18, 2021): https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2021\/03\/19\/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [4] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [5] \u201cMustashar Erdogan: Lam natlob iglak qanawat muarida li Masr, wa tasleem muarideen lam yutrah\u201d CNN Arabic<\/em> (March 19, 2021): https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/middle-east\/article\/2021\/03\/19\/turkey-yasin-aktay-tv-stations-egypt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [6] \u201cBad Awdet Erdogan ila al-Hudn al-Arabi, tarakub li awdat al-murtazaka al-Souriyeen min Libya ila Souria bi awamer Turkiya\u201d Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (March 19, 2021): shorturl.at\/oHUZ6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [7] Lefevre, Raphael & El Yassir, Ali. \u201cSham Legion: Syria\u2019s Moderate Islamists,\u201d Carnegie Middle East Center<\/em> (April 15, 2014): https:\/\/carnegie-mec.org\/diwan\/55344<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [8] Cengiz, Sinem. \u201cCan Egypt and Turkey break the ice after years of chilly relations?\u201d Arab News (March 5, 2021): https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1820551<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [9] Ghazanchyan, Siranush. \u201cBiden Administration will officially acknowledge Armenian genocide,\u201d Public Radio of Armenia (March 23, 2021): https:\/\/en.armradio.am\/2021\/03\/23\/biden-administration-will-officially-acknowledge-armenian-genocide-political-analyst-ian-bremmer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  [10] Burc Eruygur. \u201cThe Turkish-Egyptian Rapprochement: Prospects for the Future\u201d The Center for Middle East Studies<\/em>, (March 20, 2021): https:\/\/www.orsam.org.tr\/en\/the-turkish-egyptian-rapprochement-prospects-for-the-future\/<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Turkey Break With the Muslim Brotherhood?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-turkey-break-with-the-muslim-brotherhood","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4741","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4727,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-11 21:59:17","post_content":"\n

  originally published:<\/em> 01 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2021\/04\/can-myanmars-protesters-win\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Nobody \u2013 least of all the Tatmadaw, Myanmar\u2019s military \u2013 could have imagined that the February coup in Myanmar would trigger such a flood of outrage, mass civil disobedience, and the forging of a multi-ethnic alliance across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Most Myanmar experts from the region\u2019s plethora of think tanks would have scoffed at the suggestion that even two months after the coup, Myanmar\u2019s military would not have been able to crush the revolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The heady days of the protest are best described by long-time analyst and ex-political prisoner Dr. Khin Zaw Win, writing for openDemocracy<\/a>: \u201cThe protests are marked by their size as well as diversity. It is truly amazing to witness people from different ethnicities, faiths, and occupations from everywhere in Myanmar coming together in a single purpose \u2013 to bring down the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Khin Zaw Win, the director of the Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, also observed that even the much-persecuted Rohingya are included in the movement: \u201cLong-suppressed voices like those of the Rohingya and Muslims are now being seen and heard prominently, and women are participating in strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The regime has unquestionably been weakened by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that mushroomed all over the country after the coup. The nationwide non-compliance has throttled almost all sectors, from government administration to banks and the rest of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The military has responded with force. A brutal crackdown has turned parts of Yangon and Mandalay into war zones in the last two weeks. The civilian death toll of both protesters and hapless bystanders has surpassed 536, with 2,600 people detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  A Myanmar specialist at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Ashley South, told The Diplomat that, despite the repression, \u201cIt is impossible for the junta to normalize this coup. Schools have closed down. It is amazing the only functioning schools in Myanmar today are in the liberated zones of ethnic armies such as the KNU [Karen National Union] and parts of Kachin, Mon, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  On the day of the coup, most the senior National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders were detained, but a number of members of parliament escaped from the capital, Naypyidaw, and set up a an anti-coup Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), as Myanmar\u2019s parliament is known. The committee claims to be the legitimate government<\/a> as a representative of the NLD government that was re-elected in a landslide in the 2020 polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Amid the brutal crackdown, thousands have left the cities and headed for ethnic states. The CRPH has joined thousands of urban activists in fleeing from the military raids in urban areas on a mission to develop a parallel clandestine government, now being set up in under the protection of the ethnic peoples\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However a series of air strikes on Karen villages near the Karen National Liberation Army\u2019s 5th Brigade sent more than 5,000 villagers fleeing to the Thai border seeking aid and sanctuary. This raises serious doubts as to the degree of protection ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) can provide against a major Tatmadaw offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The KNU has also recommended that urban activists who wish to take up arms do not visit their areas, as they are already stretched to supply Karen people with food, shelter, and security, now with the additional influx of over a thousand refugees from the cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s regime has struggled to establish a functioning administration at home, while on the international front few countries have so far formally recognized Naypyidaw\u2019s new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. secretary general has strongly pledged to work for the restoration of democracy. His special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, has warned that<\/a> no country should recognize or legitimize the junta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the warning did not stop the representatives of eight countries from attending a Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade on March 27 \u2013 the same day the nation mourned the killing by police and military of 114 people, including bystanders and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Russia and China, major arms suppliers to the Tatmadaw, attended the event, along with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among Myanmar\u2019s nine fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), only Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have expressed alarm over the shooting of unarmed demonstrators, were conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Meanwhile, a major international lobbying battle over which government will represent the people of Myanmar is likely unfold in the coming months leading to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Myanmar\u2019s current ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, has lambasted the regime back home, making a passionate speech<\/a> urging the U.N. to use \u201cany means necessary to overturn the military coup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Despite being fired by the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun continues to work for U.N. recognition of the CRPH government. Many Myanmar diplomats abroad have also affirmed their allegiance to the ousted democratic government that appointed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  There are various precedents for recognizing the CRPH as the legitimate government. The U.N. credentials committee will no doubt be reminded of the U.N. General Assembly verdict on the Cambodia seat in 1979 after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, and its ongoing recognition of a Cambodian coalition government in exile. This controversial precedent could be adapted to deny the U.N. seat to a regime that is driving Myanmar toward civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However the clinching argument should be that the new head of state in Myanmar, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was cited as the general who ordered the ethnic cleansing<\/a> of the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar\u2019s west, according to a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission report published in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The U.N. report stated that \u201cMyanmar\u2019s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  If the junta cannot persuade the U.N. General Assembly to accept its credentials, that will be a huge victory for a CRPH parallel government. Even if China and Russia try to block this move, there could be a compromise option of leaving the seat vacant until democracy is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The hopelessly unrealistic expectations of a speedy U.N. intervention or ASEAN pressure to halt the bloodshed are fast fading. The R2P (responsibility to protect<\/a>) slogans seen on many protest posters and placards in the streets of Yangon represent a desperate appeal for U.N. humanitarian intervention, but so far the protocol has never been used to prevent to prevent crimes against humanity from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  However, South argues that R2P status could be applied to the only organizations currently protecting civilians in Myanmar \u2013 the EAOs. \u201cAs the U.N. seems unable to protect the people of Myanmar,\u201d South proposes<\/a>, \u201cit is imperative to recognize and support EAOs, who are struggling to provide assistance and protection both to ethnic nationality civilians targeted by the Myanmar Army, and to those fleeing from the SAC junta\u2019s murderous violence in the towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  As the killing continues unabated and U.N. action is blocked by Russia and China, this idea could have a special relevance as Myanmar moves dangerously close to civil war. A new humanitarian crisis is looming along the Thai-Burmese border after a several air force planes bombed Karen villages<\/a> in zones patrolled by ethnic soldiers belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army. Thailand accepted 3,000 refugees on a temporary basis, but turned back another 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Western analysts and risk consultancies have generally concluded that despite the bravery and tenacity of Myanmar\u2019s People Power, their struggle is doomed to defeat, given they are pitted against a ruthless military caste that has run the country for the last 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  I recall how many diplomats and analysts routinely expressed the same attitude toward East Timor\u2019s demands for independence, as if ending the Indonesian occupation was some absurd fantasy. I was told it would never happen. But by 2000 it had happened, and East Timor \u2013 now Timor-Leste \u2013 became the first new state of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Long\u2013running dictatorships in Indonesia and Philippines were also overthrown by a combination of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the case of the Philippines, the defection of Gen. Fidel Ramos and the defense minister expedited the downfall of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. The United States then crafted the end-game. Marcos and his family were extracted from Manila in a U.S. helicopter, providing a safe exit to Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Clearly a precise replica of that end-game is not possible in the case of Min Aung Hlaing and his junta. However, the defections of more than 600 police officers<\/a> to the side of the CDM offers evidence that demoralization can happen side-by-side with brutal repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In just two months it is hardly surprising that the protest movement, despite massively successful boycotts and a general strike, has yet to topple one of Asia\u2019s most entrenched and feared armed forces. But what they have achieved is the isolation of the regime, which is now floundering in a post-coup quagmire and hoping to somehow shoot their way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  No one knows if there are army captains or colonels who enjoyed Myanmar\u2019s period of opening up and the economic growth of the last decade from 2011 until the coup \u2013 and are now seething with a secret anger. Are they quietly calculating the right moment to join the Spring Revolution, either as defectors or leaders of a mutiny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  What will be the end-game in Myanmar? It\u2019s too soon to tell, but history has taught us not to count out the determination of the people, whether in Myanmar, the Philippines, or Timor-Leste. It could still be that Min Aung Hlaing is the one left scrambling for an exit strategy when all is said and done.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Can Myanmar\u2019s Protesters Win?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"can-myanmars-protesters-win","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4727","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4691,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 22:17:07","post_content":"\n

  <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

  originally published:<\/em> 02 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/poc\/16-29-march-2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • On 19 March a 45-year-old Palestinian man who was throwing stones at Israeli forces, during a weekly protest near Beit Dajan village (Nablus), was shot and killed with live ammunition.<\/strong> The soldiers concerned are reportedly being debriefed. The fatality brings to three, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Ten people were injured in the protests near Beit Dajan, which have been taking place every Friday for the past six months, against the establishment of a new outpost on village-owned land. <\/li>
  • In addition to the ten above,  another 53 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank.<\/strong> Forty-three were wounded in confrontations in the Kafr \u2018Aqab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Five were injured in two search-and-arrest operations in Beit Ummar (Hebron) and Bir Nabala (Jerusalem); four in the weekly protests against settlement expansion in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya); and one while attempting to enter Israel through one of the breaches in the Barrier in the Tulkarm area. Of the overall injuries, 40 were treated for tear gas inhalation, 16 by were hit by rubber bullets, and seven were physically assaulted, or hit by a tear gas canister. In addition, in Jericho, a Palestinian shepherd sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance that he was handling detonated.<\/li>
  • Israeli forces carried out 128 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including five children, across the West Bank.<\/strong> The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (27), followed by Tulkarm (21) and Hebron (18). In one operation in Beit Kahil (Hebron), 21 Palestinians were arrested. <\/li>
  • The entry of Palestinians to the closed area of H2 (Hebron city), where they live, was delayed for long periods<\/strong> due to the re-introduction of heavy restrictions by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leading to Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. In this context, forces have required Palestinian residents to pass through metal detectors, which was has not been a requirement for several years.<\/li>
  • Citing the lack of building permits, the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 34 people, of whom 15 were children, and otherwise affecting about 40.<\/strong> Twenty-two structures were targeted on 17 March in four communities in Area C, including eight tents seized in Khirbet Tana (Nablus), displacing 18 people; and 11 uninhabited houses demolished in An Nuwei'ma Al Fauqa Bedouin community (Jericho), affecting 21 people. Four of the structures were demolished in East Jerusalem, including three by their owners, displacing 12 people. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators known or believed to be Israeli settlers injured two Palestinians and damaged a few hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees.<\/strong> Both Palestinians were physically assaulted, one near Susiya community (Hebron) and the other while working his land near Al Khader (Bethlehem). Residents in the villages of Jalud, Khirbet Sarra and Tell in Nablus, and Ras Karkar and Deir Nidham in Ramallah, reported that about 300 trees and saplings had been vandalized. In Beit Iksa (Jerusalem) and Kafr ad Dik (Salfit), people known or believed to be settlers vandalized a house, three agricultural structures and three vehicles. In Al Baq\u2019a area (Hebron), settlers started bulldozing privately-owned Palestinian land. Settlers blocked off a spring near Tubas, preventing Palestinian herders from accessing it. Settlers erected tents on land belonging to residents of Tuqu\u2019 and Kisan villages (Bethlehem); in Kisan, they eventually removed the tents, and in Tuqu\u2019 the Israeli authorities ordered them to remove them by 4 April. <\/li>
  • Perpetrators believed to be Palestinians stoned Israeli-plated vehicles travelling on West Bank roads.<\/strong> As a result, ten vehicles sustained damage, according to Israeli sources.<\/li>
  • In Gaza, on at least 17 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire near Israel\u2019s perimeter fence or off the coast, presumably to enforce access restrictions, with no injuries reported.<\/strong> On two occasions, Israeli forces conducted land levelling near the fence inside Gaza. No injuries were reported.<\/li>
  • A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, reportedly falling in an open area and resulting in no injuries or damage.<\/strong> Israeli airstrikes followed, reportedly striking military sites in Gaza, causing some damage.<\/li><\/ul>\n","post_title":"Occupied Palestinian territory: Protection of Civilians Report | 16 - 29 March 2021","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"occupied-palestinian-territory-protection-of-civilians-report-16-29-march-2021","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4691","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4674,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-05 21:59:30","post_content":"\n

    <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    originally published:<\/em> 05 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.journaldebangui.com\/rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Un groupe d\u2019experts des Nations unies s\u2019est alarm\u00e9 de l\u2019augmentation du recrutement et de l\u2019utilisation, par le gouvernement de la R\u00e9publique centrafricaine (RCA), d\u2019entreprises militaires et de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 priv\u00e9es \u00e9trang\u00e8res. En cause notamment de possibles exactions dans le cadre d\u2019une mission totalement opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mercenaires, agents priv\u00e9s, instructeurs\u2026 Les noms changent pour d\u00e9signer les paramilitaires russes en mission en Centrafrique. Ils sont dans le pays \u00e0 la demande du pouvoir et leur mission vise officiellement \u00e0 former les forces arm\u00e9es centrafricaines. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines, des rapports d\u00e9noncent de graves violations des droits de l\u2019Homme imputables aux soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes lors d\u2019op\u00e9rations conjointes avec des soldats centrafricains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Des informations font \u00e9tat d\u2019ex\u00e9cutions sommaires massives, de d\u00e9tentions arbitraires, de torture pendant les interrogatoires, de disparitions forc\u00e9es\u2026 \u00bb, souligne un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ces exactions auraient eu lieu ces derniers mois dans le cadre d\u2019une contre-offensive visant \u00e0 sauver le pouvoir du pr\u00e9sident Faustin Archange Touad\u00e9ra. Les forces gouvernementales, assist\u00e9es par leurs alli\u00e9s rwandais et russes, ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 repousser l\u2019avanc\u00e9e des rebelles et lib\u00e9rer la plupart des villes occup\u00e9es en d\u00e9cembre par les groupes arm\u00e9s qui contr\u00f4lent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les deux-tiers du pays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mais les conditions d\u2019intervention et le r\u00f4le exact des agents russes ne sont pas clairement d\u00e9finis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Si les rapports \u00e9tudi\u00e9s par le groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU ne laissent aucun doute sur de graves violations des droits humains, il est tr\u00e8s difficile d\u2019en \u00e9tablir les responsabilit\u00e9s. Le groupe de travail sur les mercenaires d\u00e9plore le manque de cadre, l\u2019absence d\u2019enqu\u00eates et se dit profond\u00e9ment pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par le m\u00e9lange des genres entre les op\u00e9rations civiles, militaires et celles de maintien de la paix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00ab Les liens \u00e9troits entre les diff\u00e9rents acteurs, ainsi que le manque de transparence, compromettent encore plus les chances de mener une enqu\u00eate impartiale \u00bb<\/em>, un groupe d\u2019experts de l\u2019ONU dans un communiqu\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Les experts ind\u00e9pendants demandent la clarification du r\u00f4le des partenaires internationaux, ce qui permettrait de rendre des comptes. Ils mettent en garde contre \u00ab les contacts \u00e9troits \u00bb entre les personnels des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s militaires priv\u00e9es russes, notamment ceux du groupe Wagner, et les forces de l\u2019ONU, dont les t\u00e2ches sont d\u00e9finies par un mandat international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dans un communiqu\u00e9 diffus\u00e9 par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies aux droits de l\u2019Homme \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve, les experts font \u00e9tat de r\u00e9unions coordonn\u00e9es en pr\u00e9sence de \u00ab conseillers russes \u00bb<\/em> et d\u2019\u00e9vacuations m\u00e9dicales de \u00ab formateurs russes \u00bb<\/em> bless\u00e9s vers les bases de la Minusca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pr\u00e8s de 12 000 casques bleus de la force de maintien de la paix de la Mission de l\u2019ONU en Centrafrique sont pr\u00e9sents dans le pays depuis 2014, notamment pour prot\u00e9ger les civils, \u00e9viter les abus et lutter contre l\u2019impunit\u00e9.<\/p>\n","post_title":"RCA : des experts de l\u2019ONU s\u2019inqui\u00e8tent du r\u00f4le des paramilitaires russes","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rca-des-experts-de-lonu-sinquietent-du-role-des-paramilitaires-russes","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4674","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":3},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};

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