UN steps up support for thousands left homeless after fire at Rohingya refugee camp

Details

Written by northsouth

Category: Asia

Published: 15 January 2021

Hits: 1174

ROME - UN agencies have stepped up efforts to help thousands of Rohingya refugees left without shelter after a devastating fire tore through a crowded refugee camp in south-eastern Bangladesh on Thursday.

The fire erupted shortly after midnight on Thursday (local time) in the Nayapara refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, gutting about 550 shelters and 150 shops. A community centre is also said to have been destroyed.

About 3,500 Rohingya refugees, including children, lost their homes and belongings in the blaze, in the middle of winter and the coronavirus pandemic, UN agencies said.

No lives were lost, and the fire was brought under control in a few hours by firefighters, volunteers and refugees.

The Nayapara camp hosts about 22,500 refugees, of whom about 17,800 are women, children and the elderly.

UN response

UN agencies have been on the ground since early Thursday morning, assessing the damage and helping the affected.

“We are working with our Government and NGO partners, other UN agencies, and Rohingya refugees to help people who have lost their homes and possessions during last night’s terrible fire in the refugee camp at Nayapara,” said Marin Din Kajdomcaj, an official with the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Cox’s Bazar.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is providing emergency food assistance, including hot meals to families in need.

Alongside, humanitarian partners from the Inter Sector Coordination Group (ISCG), Bangladesh Red Crescent and NGOs are also

A complex refugee crisis

The complex Rohingya refugee crisis erupted in August 2017, following attacks on remote police outposts in western Myanmar by armed groups alleged to belong to the community. These were followed by systematic counter attacks against the minority, mainly Muslim, Rohingya, which human rights groups, including senior UN officials, have said amounted to ethnic cleansing.

In the weeks that followed, over 700,000 Rohingya – the majority of them children, women and the elderly – fled their homes for safety in Bangladesh, with little more than the clothes on their backs, joining over 200,000 others sheltering there as a result of earlier displacements from Myanmar.

What happened to Kim’s sister?

Details

Written by northsouth

Category: Asia

Published: 14 January 2021

Hits: 1205

SEOUL - Demoted? Pushed aside? what is fate of the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's sister?

That is a question many who watch the cloistered, nuclear-armed country are wondering after she failed to appear in absolute leader Kim Jong Un's newly released lineup for the country's powerful Politburo in recent days.

Some say Kim Jong Un may have demoted his sister over general policy failures. Others, however, believe he could be worried about her rapid rise and increasingly high profile as he tries to bolster his domestic authority in the face of growing economic challenges.

Rumors that Kim Yo Jong is her brother's heir apparent could be dangerous because they "raise the issue of Kim's hold on power and health inside North Korea," said Oh Gyeong-seob, an analyst at Seoul's Korea Institute for National Unification. This, he said, is why Kim Jong Un is slowing down her rise in power.

The development is a surprise because Kim Yo Jong, who became an alternate member of the Politburo last year, was widely expected to receive a full bureau membership during a ruling Workers' Party congress that ended Tuesday. A Politburo membership is viewed as crucial for high-level officials hoping to thrive in Kim Jong Un's government because he's made key decisions at bureau meetings, including the 2013 move to execute his powerful uncle Jang Song Taek, and the 2012 purge of military chief Ri Yong Ho.

When the eight-day congress, the first of its kind since 2016, opened last week, Kim Yo Jong, who is thought to be about 32, sat on the leadership podium, standing out amid the often elderly, overwhelmingly male party cadres. But when the congress on Monday announced a list of 30 alternate and full members of the Politburo, including the 37-year-old Kim Jong Un, her name wasn't there.

Kim Yo Jong hasn't been purged or forced to quit politics, a fate that some officials have met under Kim Jong Un, and she still retains her membership in the party's Central Committee, also a high-level body. But when she released a statement criticizing South Korea on Wednesday, state media identified her as a "vice department director" of the party, a lower rank than her previous title of "first vice department director."

Kim Jong Un is urging his 25 million people to rally behind his leadership to overcome what he has called his nation's "worst-ever" difficulties. North Korea has faced coronavirus-related economic shocks, a spate of natural disasters last summer and persistent U.S.-led sanctions over its pursuit of illicit nuclear weapons. During the congress, Kim vowed to expand his nuclear arsenal and build a stronger, self-reliant economy.

"The congress' purpose is to solidify Kim Jong Un's leadership. If Kim Yo Jong had become a full Politburo member, all eyes would have been on her ... and Kim Jong Un likely felt that as a burden," Ko Young-hwan, a former deputy head of the Institute for National Security Strategy, a think tank run by South Korea's spy agency, said during a TV news program Monday.

Previously little known to outsiders, Kim Yo Jong has soared politically since her brother inherited power after their father, Kim Jong Il, died in late 2011.

The current Kims are the third generation of their family to rule North Korea, and their leadership is based on a personality cult established after their grandfather Kim Il Sung founded the country in 1948. Their mythical "paektu" bloodline, named after the North's most sacred mountain, allows only direct family members to rule the country.

Kim Yo Jong rose to international prominence after her brother's high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with President Donald Trump and other world leaders in 2018 and 2019. In those meetings, her proximity to Kim Jong Un sparked speculation that she was serving as her brother's chief of staff.

In South Korea, she built an image as "a peace messenger" after she attended the opening ceremony of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, becoming the first member of the North's ruling family to visit the South since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

Last year, however, she abruptly changed course by launching harsh diatribes against South Korea and putting pressure on the United States to make concessions amid deadlocked nuclear diplomacy. North Korea's state media said she was in charge of relations with South Korea, and outside experts speculated that she might be handing U.S. affairs as well.

In her statement on Wednesday, she slammed South Korea for provoking the North by announcing that it had detected intelligence that North Korea held a military parade or a rehearsal for such a parade this week.

When unconfirmed global rumors about Kim Jong Un's health rose last year, some observers said Kim Yo Jong was next in line to rule North Korea if her brother became incapacitated. South Korea's spy agency said later that she was virtually the North's No. 2 official but hadn't been anointed as her brother's heir.

"Kim Jong Un likely held his sister responsible for worsened (external) ties, as she had no achievements in relations with the U.S. and South Korea," said Kim Yeol Soo, an analyst with South Korea's Korea Institute for Military Affairs.

Whatever the reason for her apparent loss of the Politburo job, many experts say her political clout likely remains unchanged thanks to her direct link to the paektu bloodline. There's also a feeling that Kim Jong Un could eventually give her another high-profile job.

Oh, the analyst, said Kim Yo Jong is likely the second-most powerful woman in North Korean history after Kim Song Ae, the late second wife of Kim Il Sung.

"Kim Yo Jong can meet and talk to Kim Jong Un freely anytime ... so we can't help saying that she has a tremendous influence," Oh said. "As she gets older, her roles will be bigger."

But, he added, her rise could end if she covets more power. "She has to be careful about that," he said.

Taliban See Ghani as 'Obstacle' to Afghan Peace

Details

Written by northsouth

Category: Asia

Published: 11 January 2021

Hits: 1089

DOHA - The Taliban warned Saturday that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's resolve to remain in office until the completion of his tenure was detrimental to peace talks aimed at finding a negotiated end to four decades of war in Afghanistan.

The insurgent group's warning came on a day when its leaders held fresh discussions in Qatar with representatives of the Ghani government on developing "a joint agenda" for what are officially known as intra-Afghan negotiations.

The talks between the two Afghan warring sides have led to media speculation that Ghani might have to relinquish power to allow for an interim government to oversee the peace process.

But the Afghan president in an apparent rebuttal repeatedly vowed this week that he was legally bound to transfer power to his "elected successor."

"This [presidency] is not mine. This seat belongs to the nation of Afghanistan. This system has dignity. You all voted for me," Ghani told a public gathering in eastern Nangarhar province Wednesday.

"My basic goal is to be able to hand power, through the will of the people, to my elected successor," he told CNN in an interview broadcast Friday.


'Nothing but poverty, misery'


The Taliban in their commentary said Ghani's insistence on clinging to power could obstruct the way to a "negotiated and peaceful solution" to the long Afghan war.

"Ashraf Ghani's rule has brought nothing but poverty, misery, bloodshed, notoriety and problems to Afghanistan," the insurgent group said.

For its part, the Afghan government condemns the Taliban for intensifying insurgent activities and killing thousands of civilians and security forces across the country. The United Nations again held the insurgents responsible for causing most civilian causalities in 2020.

The intra-Afghan peace negotiations started in September. The process stemmed from a deal U.S. President Donald Trump's administration signed with the Taliban in February 2020 to encourage a political settlement to the war and bring American forces home.

The U.S.-Taliban agreement requires all U.S. and NATO-led troops to leave Afghanistan by May 2021. In return, the insurgent group has pledged to sever ties with the al-Qaida terror network and prevent other transnational terrorist groups from using Afghan soil as a sanctuary.

The Taliban have also promised to negotiate a political power-sharing deal with rival Afghan groups in order to end the conflict.


'Peace of the graveyard'


"One thing needs to be clear: Afghan society is not willing to go back, and we are not a type of society that the Taliban-type approach of the past can be imposed on us. That was the peace of the graveyard," Ghani said in his CNN interview.

The Afghan president referred to the Taliban's harsh Islamic rule in most of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, barring girls from seeking education and women from working outdoors, among other controversial restrictions.

The Taliban were ousted from power in late 2001 when a U.S.-led international military alliance invaded the country to punish the Islamist group for harboring al-Qaida leaders accused of plotting the deadly September 2001 attacks on the United States.

The Taliban, however, have since waged a deadly insurgency, taking control of or extending their influence on nearly half of Afghanistan territory. The insurgents justify their violent campaign by arguing the existing governance system in Kabul is illegitimate and a product of "U.S. occupation" of the country.

However, the U.S.-Taliban deal has ended attacks on international troops in Afghanistan. The number of U.S. soldiers in the country is expected to drop to around 2,500 by mid-January from more than 12,000 at the time of the signing of the pact.

During his election campaign, President-elect Joe Biden spoke in favor of a U.S. military drawdown in Afghanistan but stressed the need for maintaining a small counterterrorism force.

The Taliban have said presence of even a single foreign soldier on Afghan soil beyond the agreed- upon deadline would mean continuation of the war.