Briefing Notes. Group 22 - Information Centre Asylum and Migration. Afghanistan. 28 September 2015

Transcription

1 Group 22 - Information Centre Asylum and Migration Briefing Notes 28 September 2015 Afghanistan Security situation The situation remains unchanged. There were more attacks targeting government representatives, more bombings, and fighting between insurgents and security forces. Fighting After conquering a military post in the north-eastern province of Baghlan the Taliban burnt it down on 21 September 15. The Taliban attacked another military base in Jawzjan province (north) and killed ten Afghan soldiers on 22 September 15. On the same day Afghan and international troops engaged in joint military operations in Uruzgan (south) killing many insurgents. A NATO soldier died in an attack on Bagram Airbase in Parwan (centre) on 23 September 15. Fighters claiming to belong to IS attacked several police posts in Nangarhar (east) on 27 September 15. Reportedly these were the first coordinated attacks by IS fighters in Nangarhar. The Taliban attacked the city of Kunduz in the north from three sides on 28 September 15. A police spokesman reported heavy fighting. Targeted attacks A head of district police died along with five others in a bomb attack in the northern province of Balkh on 22 September 15. Two members of the family of a former advisor to the president were injured in an attack in Kapisa province (centre) on 23 September 15. On the same day the deputy head of the police in Paktika province (south-east) was injured in a bombing together with four other policemen; two policemen were killed. At least nine people died and over 50 were wounded in a suicide bombing at a football match in Paktika province on 27 September 15. Taliban justice The Taliban shot seven men accused of mugging illegal migrants in the Char Borjak district of the southern province of Nimroz (on the border to Iran) on 21 September 15. A woman was sentenced to public stoning by the Taliban for alleged adultery in the northern province of Sar-i-Pul. She survived the execution of the sentence with serious injuries on 21 September 15. Bacha Bazi still prevalent The press reported that the abuse of boys (Bacha Bazi, games with boys, dancing boys) is still widespread among the Afghan security forces. US soldiers reported that they had been instructed to ignore this type of abuse. Both the US and the Afghan defence departments denied this. The Afghan president declared that his government would take harsh action against sexual abuse. Emigration from Afghanistan expected to increase According to several reports the Afghan authorities issued more than one million passports since the beginning of September 15. Allegedly 7,000 new passport applications are received every day. It can be expected that many of these people will set out to Europe. The Afghan government started an anti-emigration campaign on social media. 1

2 Iraq Refugees The United Nations reported that there are 3.2 million internal refugees in Iraq and a total of ten million Iraqis depend on aid. The UN Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Dominik Bartsch, solicited more help from the members of the international community. Merely 40 percent of the USD 500 million planned for the second half of 2015 had so far been paid in. At the moment Iraq was unable to pay its employees and officials and could not take care of the internal refugees. In recent months tens of thousands of people from Iraq had already fled to Europe. Cholera epidemic in Iraq The Iraqi health ministry had reported an outbreak of the cholera in Najaf and Diwaniya and in the west of Baghdad already on 15 September 15. At least 38 people had been infected at that time, the number of current infections is said to be 70. In the Abu Ghraib region west of Baghdad six people died. To contain the disease special attention is paid to the water supply in the endangered regions. New refugee camps The UNHCR opened two new refugee camps in Baghdad province. The first of these is Scout Camp opened on 16 September 15 in the Ghzaliya district of Baghdad for about 1,500 displaced persons who had been housed in unfinished buildings, in host communities or with relatives throughout the city. The second is Sadr Yusufiya Camp for about 2,000 people about six kilometres from "Bzeibiz Bridge" opened on 22 September 15. The bridge is the main link between the provinces of Baghdad and Anbar. Peshmerga reconquer yet another village According to press reports Kurdish Peshmerga succeeded in taking complete control of Geregani village in the region around Daquq. Thus a total of twelve villages in the south of Kirkuk province could be liberated from IS by the Peshmerga during their offensives in recent weeks. High-ranking IS leader killed The US announced that the high-ranking IS leader Abu Bakr al-turkmani had been killed already on 10 September 15 in air raids of the international military coalition in Tal Afar (Ninive province). Al-Turkmani, a former Al-Qaeda member, had been responsible for IS' financial operation as a senior IS "Emir". UK extends reconnaissance flights According to a dpa report of 26 September 2015 the British air force will continue its reconnaissance flights over Iraq and Syria until the year For security reasons no final date has been announced. Syria France and the UK are fighting IS also within Syria now Near the town of Deir ez-zor French fighter jets bombed for the first time an IS training camp in Syria on 27 September 15. The UK had attacked the extremists within Syria for the first time at the end of August. Previously these two countries had only participated in the US-led coalition against IS in Iraq. Israel responds to shell In response to a shell fired from Syria, the second incident within two days, Israeli artillery fired at a Syrian army post on the Golan Heights on 27 September 15. Attack on a Homs district At least 17 people, including four women and four children, were killed in an attack of the Syrian government troops on the district of Waer of Homs on 26 September 15, the last district still held by the rebels. More than 100,000 civilians and rebel fighters in the city are besieged by government forces. Homs was one of the first cities in which protests erupted in 2011 and has long been considered an opposition stronghold. After a two years siege the old town was conquered by the army in May 2014, the last rebels had been taken 2

3 out of the old town on the basis of an agreement. Negotiations about a ceasefire for the district of Waer have failed so far. Ceasefire agreed for 14 towns On 25 September 15 a six months ceasefire agreement for 14 Syrian towns was announced. The agreement had been negotiated between Turkey and Iran under the auspices of the UN. Rebels and civilians are to be allowed to leave the city of Zabadani near the Lebanese border that is under siege by the Lebanese Hezbollah. In turn about 10,000 members of the Shiite minority (women, children and old men) are to be allowed to leave the towns of Fua and Kafraya near the city of Idleb (Idlib) under siege by the rebels. The agreement also covers nearby villages around these towns. The agreement contains a clause that bans the Syrian regime from flying air raids on certain rebel areas. Secret services cooperate The secret services of Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Russia agreed to cooperate in the procurement of intelligence on IS by security and secret services. For some time already the Iraqi government has been cooperating with Iran in fighting IS. In recent weeks Russia strengthened its military presence in Syria. The Syrian president is allied both with Moscow and Iran. US-trained fighters said to have handed military equipment to JN The Pentagon admitted on the weekend that about 70 fighters supported by the US that had arrived in Syria on the preceding weekend had handed over military equipment (six army trucks and ammunition, in total about one quarter of the equipment provided by the US-led military alliance) to Jabhat al-nusra (Nusra Front or JN) that is allied to al-qaeda, after their arrival. In July 2015 the first group of 54 fighters trained by the US had been attacked by JN and killed or abducted. The training programme that costs about half a billion dollars is controversial. Original plans had called for the training of 5,400 fighters annually over three years in Turkey to be send to Syria thereafter. However, reportedly there are not enough suitable candidates. It is said that the US government is considering a revision of the programme. Turkey Government ministers resign The pro-kurdish party HDP terminated its participation in the inter-party interim government on 22 September 15 when its two ministers, the minister of European affairs Ali Haydar Konca and the minister for reconstruction Müslum Dogan, resigned. They criticized the policy pursued by the AKP in the dominantly Kurdish south-east of Turkey and accused the government of fuelling the tensions between Turks and Kurds for tactical reasons prior to the elections. Thus the first involvement in a government of a pro-kurdish party in Turkey ended after only 26 days. The other opposition parties CHP and MHP had refused to participate in the interim government from the start. The media reported that Prime Minister Davutoglu intends to appoint independent personalities close to the AKP for the vacant posts. Financial assistance At a special summit of EU heads of state and government on 24 September 15 a number of measures to contain the flow of migrants to Europe were adopted. Specifically the Syrian neighbours are to receive more support and the EU's external borders are to be reinforced. The focus is on Turkey where two million refugees from Syria are staying. The EU intends to intensify cooperation with the government in Ankara, even though it is critical of the conflict between the Turkish army and the PKK. The EU Commission plans to support Turkey with at least one billion euros in financial assistance. Financial assistance for Lebanon and Jordan, which have also taken in millions of Syrian refugees, is to be stocked up "significantly" as well. More casualties in fighting with the PKK According to information from Turkish security sources two soldiers and 34 PKK fighters have been killed in fighting in the south-east since 24 September 15. These fighters allegedly opened fire on the government troops near the Turkish-Iraqi border. In the ensuing battle 34 insurgents were reportedly killed with airborne support. 3

4 Israel Use of firearms against violent protesters In response to clashes between Israelis and Palestinians on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem the Israeli security cabinet extended the use of firearms against Palestinians that are throwing stones or petrol bombs. The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed on 24 September 15 that police will in future be allowed to use firearms even though the lives of civilians are at risk until now this was limited to situations in which the lives of policemen were at risk. At the same time the cabinet resolved on harsher punishment for violent protests: accordingly, the minimum sentence for adults throwing stones will be four years of imprisonment and youths and their parents are facing large fines. On several days in mid-september there had been clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces during the Jewish new year's festival (see BN of 21 September 15). Yemen President Hadi returns from exile After spending six months in exile in Saudi Arabia Yemen's President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi returned to Yemen as security sources announced. They said that Hadi landed in the southern port of Aden on 22 September 15 with a Saudi-Arabian military plane. Prime Minister Khaled Bahah and several ministers had returned to Aden from exile already last week. At the beginning of the year Hadi and his government had abandoned the capital Sanaa for Aden when the Houthi rebels advanced and in view of their further advance he fled to Saudi Arabia at the end of March. After Saudi-led ground forces were deployed in July Hadi's soldiers succeeded in reconquering Aden and five southern provinces from the rebels. The rebels continue to control Sanaa and several provinces in the country's centre and north. 25 casualties by air strike Witnesses reported that 25 civilians were killed in an air strike on the village of Bani Sela in north-west Yemen, most of the victims had been women and children. The villagers blamed the Saudi Arabian military alliance for the deaths. Saudi Arabia denied the accusations. The Saudi-led alliance has been attacking positions of the Shiite Houthi rebels for six months now. It intends to drive the Iran-supported militia from the capital Sanaa and to reinstate President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. Casualties after suicide bombing At least 25 praying Shiite Muslims were killed by a suicide bomber in a mosque in Sanaa on 24 September 15. Rescue forces said that dozens more were injured. The bombing occurred in al-balili mosque near the city's police academy, while Shiites were praying in the morning of the Islamic Feast of the Sacrifice, Eid al- Adha. Witnesses reported that there had first been an explosion in the mosque, when the faithful were then running out of the building in panic a suicide bomber exploded his device near the entrance. Sanaa has been under the control of the Shiite Houthi rebels for about one year. For several months there have been repeated serious attacks on Shiites in mosques for which the Sunni terror militia Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility. Egypt Leader of the April 6 democracy movement detained The leader of the April 6 democracy movement, Amr Ali, was detained by Egyptian security forces on 21 September 15. The movement had played a major role in the mass protests against the former ruler Hosni Mubarak in the beginning of Pardons The two Al Jazeera journalists imprisoned in Egypt, Muhammad Fahmy and Baher Muhammad, were pardoned by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-sisi together with 98 other prisoners on 23 September 15. Al- Sisi's decision was announced shortly before the Islamic Feast of the Sacrifice, Eid al-adha. Fahmy and Mu- 4

5 hammad together with the Australian Peter Grester had been sentenced to three years imprisonment in August for allegedly supporting the banned Muslim Brotherhood. Other than the three journalists the amnesty extended to a number of young activists that had been sentenced for illegal protests and attacks on the police. Houses on Sinai destroyed According to Human Rights Watch the Egyptian army destroyed the houses of 3,200 families on the Sinai near the border to the Gaza Strip. The region has been considered a refuge for extremists for a long time already and was a barred military zone. Attacks and fighting between extremist groups and the Egyptian army are frequent in the area. Libya UN peace negotiations for Libya After talks in the Moroccan city of Skhirat UN Special Envoy Bernadino Leon said on 21 September that the representatives of the Libyan parties to the conflict had agreed on a text for a peace agreement to form a government of unity. Therefore the work of the UN had been completed. The draft basically provides for the division of power between the competing blocks in Tobruk and Tripoli to allow for abolition of the parallel governments, parliaments, and armed groups. Leon urged the rivalling Libyan groupings to adopt this text. This will have to be followed by talks about the specific composition of the unity government, in particular the distribution of posts. The Libyan conflict parties have not yet approved the agreement. Central African Republic Fatalities in Bangui unrest At least 21 people were killed and over 100 injured in an attack by Muslims on a Christian district of the capital Bangui on 26 September 15. Thousands fled to other districts. The unrest had been triggered by the murder of a Muslim. Sudan Peace forces ambushed Rebels in the Darfur region ambushed a unit of the United Nations peace forces and the African Union on 27 September, killing one soldier from South Africa and wounding another. At the end of June 2015 the UN Security Council had unanimously approved the extension of the peace force's mission by another year against the will of the Sudanese government. Somalia Bomb explodes in the capital A car bomb exploded near the presidential palace in Mogadishu on 21 September 15 killing five civilians and wounding 13. The police said that the bomb exploded near the entrance of a guarded building complex housing the offices of the president and the prime minister. It is assumed that this attack was committed by the al-shaabab militia allied with al-qaeda. Republic of Congo Referendum on constitutional amendment On 27 September 15 tens of thousands of people demonstrated peacefully in the Congolese capital of Brazzaville against President Denis Sassou Nguesso's plans to allow himself a third period in office by amending the constitution. The 72-year-old incumbent Denis Sassou Nguesso had been elected president in 2002 and On 22 September 15 he had announced a referendum on the constitutional amendment without stating 5

6 a specific date for the referendum. The constitution of the Republic of Congo adopted in 2002 limits the presidential turns to two and provides that candidates must be below the age of 70. Burkina Faso Coup ended In the presence of several heads of state of the West African Economic Community (ECOWAS) transitional president Kafando, who had been ousted by the presidential guard (RSP) led by General Gilbert Diendéré on 16 September 15, was reinstated in office on 23 September 15 (see BN of 14 September 15) and thus a civilian government took over again. The first cabinet meeting after the unsuccessful coup on 25 September 15 decided to dissolve the RSP and to dismiss its commander and the security minister. Furthermore a commission was appointed to investigate the putsch and to name those responsible for it within 30 days so they can be held accountable. The preparation of a new schedule for the parliamentary and the presidential elections was agreed as well. Originally these were to be held on 11 October 15, but will now probably be postponed for several weeks. The coup also failed, because the regular army turned against the rebels and entered the capital Ouagadougou in the night of 22 September 15 to disarm the RSP without meeting any resistance. In the night of 23 September15 the army made an agreement with the presidential guard on ending the putsch which inter alia provided for the return of the rebels to their base in Naaba Koom II and the reinstatement of the former interim government. On 25 September 15 the disarmament of the rebels started. The government announced that eleven people died and 271 were wounded during the coup. Nigeria Many die in bomb attacks in the Federal State of Borno Armed men attacked the village of Mailari (Konduga Local Government Area LGA) on 27 September 15 killing nine villagers and wounding another ten people. The army announced on 21 September 15 that 54 people died and 95 were seriously wounded in several bombings in the outskirts of Maiduguri (capital of Borno state in north-eastern Nigeria) in the areas of Ajilari, Bintu Sugar, and Gomari airport on 20 September 15. The staff of two hospitals said that there had been at least 117 casualties. On the same day a suicide bomber blew himself up near a control post on the market of Monguno (administrative seat of the LGA of the same name) killing at least 27 people. The Boko Haram terror organization is held responsible for these attacks. Boko Haram commander arrested The military stated that the city of Banki (Bama LGA) located directly on the border with Cameroon in Borno state had been reconquered from Boko Haram by Nigerian troops with the support of the air force and the army of Cameroon on 24 September 15. Several Boko Haram fighters had been killed and arrested during the battle. Seven terrorist camps in the surroundings had been destroyed. On the previous day two terrorist camps near Banki had been destroyed, 241 hostages had been freed, mostly women and children, and 43 suspected terrorist had been arrested, among them the wanted regional Boko Haram commander Bulama Modu. Ukraine UN and aid organizations instructed to leave The pro-russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine instructed the UN and international aid organizations to move out of the rebel stronghold Lugansk. They also want several NGOs to leave Lugansk. The UN emergency relief coordinator said that about 16,000 tons of relief goods did not reach the needy in the region because of the rebel-imposed blockade and that the local hospitals were unable to do surgery as they lacked anaesthetics. Previously the pro-russian separatists had accused the aid organizations Doctors without Borders (MSF) and the Red Cross of illegally warehousing psychoactive medication which both organizations denied. The 6

7 organisations said that their work had been interrupted for several weeks because the rebels denied their permission. Crimean Tatars threaten another blockade In protest against the pressure exerted on the Tatar minority Ukrainian activists of the Crimean Tatars and Ukrainian nationalists threatened to tighten the blockade of the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia in the month of October. Militant nationalists and Crimean Tatars living in the Ukrainian heartland are already blocking lorries on three access roads to the Crimean peninsula. However, no supply shortages have as yet resulted, because most of the food is now coming from Russia by land. The activists hope that their protest will help to lift the entry ban issued by Russia against Tatar politicians and to allow critical media on the peninsula to operate again. They also demand the release of Ukrainians held in Russia. Western Balkans Montenegro, Kosovo, and Albania are safe third countries The federation and the federal states agreed to declare the three Western Balkan countries Montenegro, Kosovo, and Albania safe third countries at the refugee summit in Berlin on 24 September 15. The federal government aims at completing the related parliamentary procedures still in October, probably in the form of a resolution of the Bundestag in mid-october. Serbia Serbian-Croatian border On 25 September 15 Serbia lifted its border restrictions against Croatia after Croatia had reopened some of the border crossings with Serbia. Previously Serbia and Croatia had blocked their borders and stopped all entries. The conflict became imminent already on 15 September 15 when Hungary closed its border with Serbia redirecting the flow of refugees partially to Croatia (see BN of 21 September 15). Armenia/Azerbaijan Fighting in Berg-Karabach Violence has escalated again in the conflict over the Berg-Karabach region that has been sweltering for more than two decades between the two southern Caucasus states Armenia and Azerbaijan. This time at least five soldiers were killed. On 26 September 15 the Azerbaijani exterior ministry reported that four Armenians had been killed and one Azerbaijani soldier had lost his life in the intense exchange of fire. The authorities of Berg-Karabach, that has a dominantly Armenian population, accused the Azerbaijani military of having used heavy artillery in the conflict region for the first time in 20 years and confirmed the death of four soldiers. The Armenian defence ministry in the capital of Jerewan announced military counter measures involving artillery and missiles. Background Under international law Berg-Karabach belongs to the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan that has an authoritarian regime. When the Soviet Union disintegrated at the end of 1991 the Berg-Karabach region had seceded in a war from Azerbaijan and later on declared its independence. However, the region would not be able to survive without the help of Armenia. A ceasefire in force since 1994 has been repeatedly violated. Azerbaijan has threatened several times to reconquer the renegade region. Columbia Breakthrough for peace talks The government and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) rebel organization agreed on a legal framework to overcome the armed conflict of more than 50 years between the security forces and 7

8 the leftist guerrilla in Havanna on 23 September 15. Columbian President Juan Manuel Santos called it a historical breakthrough. A special tribunal is to be set up to investigate genocide and crimes against humanity. Anybody who confessed of a crime could expect a maximum prison sentence of eight years, otherwise the maximum sentence would be 20 years if convicted, he said. This applied both to the rebels and the members of the public security forces. The peace talks are to be completed within the next six months. The text of the peace agreement must then be approved by the population in a referendum. The rebels are to put down their arms within two months after signing the peace agreement. Since 1964 about 220,000 people died in this conflict, several millions became internal refugees. Until they were demobilized in the middle of the 2000s also rightist para-military groups had been involved. The peace talks with FARC had been initiated in November In 2014 negotiations started with another rebel organization of minor importance, the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN). Some of the members of the paramilitary groups continue to operate in criminal gangs. China Many casualties in an attack in Xinjiang Radio Free Asia reported on 22 September 15 that at least 40 people, including five policemen, were killed in an attack on a coal mine in the district of Bay (Chinese: Baicheng) in Aksu (Chinese: Akesu) prefecture on 18 September 15. A group of men armed with knives had forced their way into the mine area and attacked the security staff, the owner of the mine and later the police arriving on the scene. Because of such incidents the police in the city of Kashgar had ordered in August 2015 that kitchen knives may only be purchased with an official permit. 8