peace – praag.org

SA, Zim cement defence and security

Ministers from South Africa and Zimbabwe have discussed mutual issues of defence and security.

They’ve pledged to strengthen the fight against cross-border crime, using intelligence agencies from both countries.

Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has been quick to dismiss claims that migrants are responsible for most crimes.

“It is not just foreign nationals who are involved in soft criminality,” she said.

“Our correctional facilities are overflowing and 99% of people who are in our correctional facilities are in fact South Africans.”

They’ve also discussed the recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa.

Zimbabwe has praised its neighbour for how it dealt with the violence.

With 27 signed memorandums of understanding and agreements between them, South Africa and Zimbabwe continue to build their relationship.

The two countries have further committed to strengthening their security relations while helping to maintain peace and stability in the SADC region.

Germany puts pressure on Kiev

The Financial Times has disclosed the first attempt by Germany to put pressure on Kiev to implement the Minsk 2.0 peace agreement for East Ukraine.

Germany, in a bid to remain neutral amid rising trans-Atlantic tensions, may have warned the Ukrainians that unless they fulfill the Minsk Memorandum, something the Ukrainians have no intention of doing, there may be renewed aggression.

Kiev has welcomed military training missions from Canada and the US to Ukraine adding to what might become a US -Russian proxy war.

Atlanticist neocons entertain maximalist ambitions and have shown but intransigence to the bloodshed.

It seems as though Germany will exert some pressure on Kiev to back down from further escalating the conflict that have cost thousands of lives and seen the rise of modern Nazis.

From the Financial Times:

Germany and key European partners are pressing Ukraine to speed up implementing the Minsk ceasefire agreement — for fear of giving Russia excuses for renewed aggression.

The warnings from Berlin, Paris and London come as EU officials led by Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission president, are due on Monday to start their first EU-Ukraine summit in Kiev since the Ukraine crisis broke out a year ago.

They coincide with renewed tensions between Russia and the US over Ukraine, with Washington and Moscow trading allegations of increased military involvement in conflict zones.

The latest European comments highlight EU desires to ease tensions with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, even at the cost of irritating Kiev.

EU diplomats readily admit the separatists violate the Minsk ceasefire far more often than Kiev. But they urge president Petro Poroshenko to stick to the accord and implement its political clauses.

The word among German diplomats is that Kiev needs to be “more co-operative”. Stefan Meister, of Berlin’s DGAP foreign policy think-tank, said: “German officials are talking to both sides, but especially to the Ukrainians because if they don’t do what’s necessary, the Russians will always have the possibility of renewing the conflict.”

In France, President François Hollande said during a visit by Mr Poroshenko last week: “The only line of conduct is the full implementation of the Minsk accord.”

In the UK, which has followed the US in taking a tougher line against Moscow, an official said Ukraine should fulfil its side of the Minsk deal and “not give Russia the space to criticise them”.

The latest Minsk accord, agreed in February under pressure from Germany and France, has reduced fighting and led to the withdrawal of some heavy weapons from front lines, though soldiers and civilians still die almost daily.

But Berlin is worried that Kiev is dragging its feet over other parts of the fragile deal, notably in trying to postpone political decentralisation until after local elections are staged in separatist-held territory.

For Ukraine this is critical because it does not want to hand over power to separatist leaders in the Donbas region, who are not recognised by the international community. EU diplomats say, however, that while local elections are indeed envisaged under Minsk, the accord does not insist that they take place before decentralisation.

Dmytro Kuleba, a senior Ukrainian foreign ministry official, dismissed charges of delaying tactics as “perfect hypocrisy”, saying Russia was encouraging this perception while continuing its aggression.

Kiev has, however, acted on another EU concern. Last week, lawmakers softened recent legislation banning Soviet and Nazi symbols. The planned law had raised fears in Russia of a campaign to remove monuments and rename streets dating from the Soviet era. Now such decisions are planned to be devolved to regional authorities.

But Russia is maintaining the pressure. The foreign ministry on Friday accused Kiev of having “no political will” to implement the Minsk agreement.

Meanwhile, Berlin is also pressing EU officials to be conciliatory with Moscow. Foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier wrote this month to Mr Juncker urging the EU to ease “Russian concerns” over a deep free-trade agreement with Ukraine.

The planned deal helped trigger the initial crisis when it fuelled Russian fears of losing influence in Kiev. Implementation was postponed last year in the face of Russian resistance, with the hope of discussing the matter at trilateral talks between Moscow, Kiev and Brussels.

But Kiev is loath to involve Russia in what it sees as a bilateral accord — and Moscow has warned Ukraine against unilateral implementation. Mr Steinmeier has urged a start to the three-way talks, asking Mr Juncker to “use the considerable flexibility that the agreement offers”.

Britain, France urge Palestinian peace deal

Britain and France are urging the UN Security Council to restart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, while New Zealand has begun drafting a resolution on the issue. This was prompted by the US saying it may “reassess” its position on the stalled talks.

France and New Zealand have stressed that it is imperative to act now, given that the Israeli elections are over and there is a current lull in the US before the presidential election campaign heats up.

“We have been working on a text that might serve the purpose of getting negotiations started,” said New Zealand’s UN Ambassador Jim McLay, adding that the country is ready to wait and see how the French initiative for a resolution will turn out.

France announced last month that it wanted to begin talks about drafting “parameters” for ending the conflict in the Middle East, with the hopes of bringing the US onboard, which has repeatedly sided with Israel in the past.

Meanwhile French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said that police are holding a heavily-armed man suspected of planning an imminent armed attack on one or two churches in France, Reuters reports.

A 24-year-old information technology student of Muslim origin was arrested on Sunday in the southeastern 13th arrondissement of Paris after he called emergency services for treatment of a gunshot wound.

Cazeneuve said police found handguns, other weapons and bulletproof vests. France strengthened security after Islamists killed 17 people in attacks on the Charlie Hebdo office and a Jewish food shop in January.

Hollande says Ukraine should not join NATO

French President François Hollande and the German chancellor Angela Merkel are set to visit Moscow on Friday after a trip to Kiev, in order to find a peaceful solution to the escalating violence in Ukraine.

“Together with Angela Merkel we have decided to take a new initiative,” Hollande told a news conference. “We will make a new proposal to solve the conflict which will be based on Ukraine’s territorial integrity.”

The two European leaders decided Wednesday night on the trip and did not consult American officials about it, AP reports citing a senior French official.

Hollande also added that he did not think it would be a good idea for Ukraine to join NATO.

He called on the international community on Thursday to fulfil its “duty” to take action against Islamist extremists in Africa, saying that France could not go it alone, France24 reported.

“There is a message that I want to send to the international community and to the biggest countries,” he told a bi-annual presidential press conference on Thursday. “Do your job. Don’t give lessons – act. Do your duty. No one else will do it in your place.”

“France cannot settle all the world’s conflicts,” he said.

The African Union has backed plans for a regional five-nation force of 7,500 troops to defeat the deadly rise of Boko Haram in northeast Nigeria, and Chad has deployed its army to join the fight against the jihadists.

France is supporting the operations by carrying out reconnaissance flights over border areas of Chad and Cameroon to provide the two nations with intelligence, defence officials in Paris have said.

“We must help the Africans much more to act against terrorism,” Hollande said. “If we don’t do it, countries will be destabilised once again.”

France deployed troops to the Sahel region of Africa to fight against militant extremists after helping oust the Islamist forces that had seized much of northern Mali in 2013. The country is also taking part in US-led operations against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

The United Nations Security Council last month called for a multinational military effort to tackle Boko Haram, expressing concern that its incursions were undermining peace and stability in Central and West Africa.

Obama lapses into Orwellian speech

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the US president’s speech at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday lapsed into an Orwellian fiction.

Lavrov reminded the US that terrorists can hardly be good and bad at the same time. America has insisted that Isil terrorists in Libya and Syria are “moderates” while arming them.

The foreign minister said president Barack Obama failed to deliver a peacemaking speech at the current session of the UN General Assembly.

Lavrov said he found Obama’s statements “bizarre”. Obama insisted several times the the world had become freer and safer despite the fact that the US has now bombed 7 countries in 6 years, thus advancing the scourge of terrorism.

“I didn’t understand whether he was serious or not and whether there was an Orwellian element in it. Because George Orwell invented the Ministry of Truth and it looks like this philosophy is still present.

“The U.S. President presented a US worldview as he stressed many a time the exceptionality of himself and of his country,” Lavrov said.

“That’s the worldview of a country that has spelt out its right to use force arbitrarily regardless of the UN Security Council’s resolutions or other international legal acts in its national defence doctrine.”

“As for the US President’s speech, we earned the second place among the threats to international peace and stability,” Lavrov said. “Number one is the Ebola virus, number two is the so-called Russian aggression in Europe and Isil and other terrorists who are now taking hold of the Middle East and primarily of the countries, which have evidenced US interventions, are ranked as number three.

“That’s why the speech of a peacemaker – the way it was conceived – failed to deliver if one compares it to real facts,” he said.

The events in Iraq are a result of the actions carried out by the US and the UK, and the situation has spiraled out of control.

“We’ve known that our English colleagues have a unique ability to twist everything. But I didn’t expect such cynicism, because the events that are taking place in Iraq are an illustration of a complete failure of the venture started by the US and the UK that allowed it to spiral out of control completely,” Lavrov said.

“We’re interested in settling conflicts in the world not by making unilateral accusations or shifting the blame, but through a fair, equal and respectful dialogue,” Lavrov said.

Regarding the sanctions, Lavrov lashed out that it was only the problem of the US which imposed them. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian conflict is a domestic problem that should be solved without US interference, he added.

“Ukrainians met in Minsk several times and signed two documents there. OSCE and Russian officials helped to foster this dialogue. It’s all written in the protocol and the memorandum and they must be implemented,” he said. “This is what the Ukrainians themselves have agreed to, and it would be incorrect to dictate any of the implementation parameters to them.”

He said he would meet with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry today to tell him that.

WWIII may have begun, Pope warns

A “piecemeal” World War III may have already begun with the current spate of crimes, massacres and destruction, Pope Francis has warned.

“War is madness,” the Pope said at a memorial to 100,000 Italian soldiers at Redipuglia cemetery near Slovenia. The Argentine Pope has often condemned the idea of war in God’s name.

Only last month, Pope Francis said the international community would be justified in using force to stop what he called “unjust aggression” by Islamic State militants, who have killed or displaced thousands of people in Iraq and Syria, including many Christians, the BBC’s David Willey reports.

In Saturday’s homily, standing at the altar beneath Italy’s fascist-era Redipuglia memorial – where 100,000 Italian soldiers killed during WWI are buried, 60,000 of them unnamed, the Pope paid tribute to the victims of all wars.

“Humanity needs to weep, and this is the time to weep,” he said. “Even today, after the second failure of another world war, perhaps one can speak of a third war, one fought piecemeal, with crimes, massacres, destruction,” he said.

Source: BBC

Putin’s plan for de-escalation in Ukraine should be heeded

Very big doubts arise as to sincerity of Brussels and Washington with regard to the #Ukraine crisis, the minister has noted

The calls presented in the plan of peaceful settlement of the situation in Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin should be heeded in Kiev, Luhansk and Donetsk.

Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov has stated this at a meeting with OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Chairman Ilkka Kanerva on Thursday.

“We do not give up. President Vladimir Putin personally makes great efforts in direct contacts with President Poroshenko to find such ways of cooperation that will allow immediately put an end to bloodshed, remove the threat for the civilian population, ensure solution to humanitarian problems, problems of reconstruction of the destroyed infrastructure, and, of course, ensure the beginning of the negotiating political process,” the Russian minister said.

After such contacts, the Russian president formulated the seven-point initiative that is aimed at helping Kiev’s authorities and the militia of the southeast agree on and take steps in coordination to deescalate the situation, Lavrov said.

“We hope the calls will be heeded first and foremost in Kiev, Luhansk and Donetsk,” the minister said. “We will be ready together with OSCE within the framework of the contact group to help the conflicting parties to move along the path of stabilization of the situation in practice.”

“Decisions of the Council of Europe, UN Security Council, and OSCEsce on Ukraine must be implemented undeviatingly; this applies to investigation of events at Maidan, in Odessa, and Boeing airliner crash,” the Russian foreign minister emphasized.

Very big doubts arise as to sincerity of Brussels and Washington with regard to the Ukraine crisis, the minister has noted.

Lavrov drew attention to the following fact: “There was no lack in peace initiatives. We were actively pushing forward approaches which are sealed in the Geneva Statement dated April 17. We fixed the Berlin Declaration and documents which presuppose an immediate cessation of fire and the start of a respectful inclusive dialogue on a constitutional reform with the participation of all regions. None of those that signed the documents together with us, I mean Ukraine, the United States, and the European Union, are interested, as it seemed to us, in implementing what we reached agreement about. This is very sad.”

“Since both OSCE and the United Nations under the pressure of Western countries refused even to acclaim the Geneva statement, when our Western partners in OSCE blocked the initiative of Didier Burkhalter, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, of course, all that actions, the West’s behavior raises very big doubts as to the sincerity of what is being done by Brussels and Washington,” Lavrov said.

In his turn, Kanerva noted that the crisis in Ukraine’s southeast was impossible to settle by military means, and a political decision should be found. “We have arrived today here not to urge you to do something and not to persuade you to act in a certain way. We do not intend to assume any arrogant or aggressive attitude,” Kanerva said.

“We all are very concerned by the deteriorating situation in eastern Ukraine and on the border between Ukraine and Russia,” he added. “We urge all parties of the conflict not to attempt any further provocations and show a constructive attitude towards what is now happening in Ukraine,” Kanerva stressed. “That is why we believe necessary to prevent the flow of weapons and servicemen, which are now crossing the border. We need to find a secure solution for this crisis, which today became a very acute problem.”

Sergei Lavrov believes OSCE should provide a basis for cooperation in Europe that makes impossible “provocations” like the one staged in Ukraine. “We are always open, all the more so the OSCE indeed plays an important role not only when the fire has already broken out,” the minister said.

“The events in Ukraine are now the main problem, since there is a civil war, and civilians are eliminated,” the minister went on saying. “The southeast is the most hot spot of the Ukrainian crisis, but we shall not forget about the other parts of the country.”

In this regard, Lavrov pointed to the problems experienced by the Hungarians, Romanians, Poles, and which are discussed in Europe “but not aloud”. “That is why we considered the national unity in Ukraine the most important matter of principle,” the Russian minister stressed. He recalled the agreement of February 21, signed by Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and other then-opposition leaders, who are currently members of the ruling coalition.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that the bet made by the United States and some Western powers on the so-called NATO’s victory in the ongoing Ukrainian conflict would ‘lead to nothing good.’

“I am sure that Russia just like many other European countries want the Ukrainian people to win in terms of its multiethnic diversity,” Lavrov said during his meeting with Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn.

“Some of our Western partners, unfortunately including most influential player the United States, want NATO to win and want the situation, when the United States dictates its own will for everyone else, to win as well.”

“Nothing good will come out of such concept of exclusiveness, which President (Barack) Obama repeatedly voiced and nothing good comes out of it currently,” the top Russian diplomat said.

The decision of the Council of Europe (CE), the UN Security Council and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) must be fully complied with, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.

He said at a meeting with CE Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland, “We are convinced that the Council of Europe can and should play an active and constructive role in this uneasy period.” “Ukraine is on everybody’s mind, and we are convinced that the decisions, taken by the Council of Europe, the UN Security Council and OSCE should be fully complied with, the same as the agreements made in Geneva, Berlin and other formats.”

“This is so, regarding the investigation of all the crimes, all incidents, be it the Maidan, Odessa events, or the Malaysian Boeing crash, this is also true about the need for an urgent agreement on the unconditional ceasefire and beginning of the inclusive political dialogue,” Lavrov said.

Israel could become a new banned nation, like South Africa

by Jacques Attali

Once again, a conflict breaks out between Israel and one of its neighbors; this time, as in 2008, against Hamas, which still governs Gaza.

The downward spiral appears to be unstoppable: The killing of 3 Israeli teens. The abhorrent murder of a Palestinian teen. Missiles launched from Gaza by Hamas on Israeli cities and at Ben Gurion International Airport, without provoking a catastrophe for the time being, because of the extraordinary efficiency of the Israeli anti-missile shield. And the deadly Israeli bombing raids in Gaza to halt the rocket strikes.

The result of this downward spiral is clear: Thousands of victims from Palestine’s coastal strip, which will weaken Fatah, accused of « collaboration » with Israel. And other victims on the Israeli side, which will nourish a desire for vengeance.

In both countries, those in power increasingly weak.

In Palestine, a discrediting of all leaders; so much so that, if elections were to be held today, Hamas would win in the West Bank, and Fatah in Gaza, leaving the country, or its equivalent, totally ungovernable.

In Israel, a ramshackle coalition between the extremists of Mr. Lieberman and those of Mr. Netanyahu, losing ground. As President Peres prepares to step down from the presidency.

Not far, an already convalescent Egypt who fights against both the Muslim Brotherhood at home and Hamas in Gaza. Lebanon paralyzed by Hezbollah, that is to say: Iran. A martyred Syria, whose tyrant, and enemies alike, are supporting Hamas. Iraq in full meltdown in which two new States are emerging. One is a Kurdish state and peaceful, the other is a Sunni Islamic state, spearhead of a war of creeds between the two branches of Islam.

In this context, no great power is at ease.

The United States, who find themselves on the same side with Iran against Sunni terrorists, have timidly proposed the use of arbitration, that nobody wanted. France, who is torn between the traditionally pro-Palestinian position of the Quai d’Orsay and that of the French political class, a more balanced position, from both the Left and the Right. A Europe without leadership. China and Russia obsessed by the desire not to breed Islamic extremism for their own benefit.

If this situation continues for much longer, the Arabs, the Turks, the Persians, almost all Muslim, Sunni and Shia, will soon reconcile at the expense of Israel, in order to prevent the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from spreading discontent at home. And they will abandon the claim of creating a Palestinian State, realizing that Israeli colonization and messianism, make this option less viable with each passing day. They will advocate a one-state and binational solution.

At that point, it will be the programmed end of the State of Israel. Some will accept the single State, convinced that they will be able to dominate or expel the Arabs. Others will see the trap coming, that would transform Israel into a new South Africa, speedily banned by nations. Before its identity is lost, through demography and democracy.

Consequently, this leaves Israel very little time to dare to encourage the creation of a viable Palestinian State, next to it. And providing it with the means needed to ensure its development, without ever lowering its guard before the danger of terrorist attacks. Which is what the vast majority of Israelis desire.

This leaves very little time for the Arab countries, swimming in their dollar reserves, to provide Gaza with suitable ways to be a beautiful tourist destination in the Mediterranean.

There is even less time for other nations to create the conditions needed to solve this problem, which is causing all forms of violence to flourish.

In particular, France, (where Jewish and Arab communities could take sides and look for sources of division there) must speak loud and clear. And lead by example on the successful path to living together. – www.attali.com

Jacques Attali is a French economist, writer and senior civil servant.

Former adviser to President François Mitterrand and first president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, he founded the non-profit organization PlaNet Finance and was nominated President of the Commission for the Liberation of French Economic Growth. He is also Founder and President of A&A, a consultancy firm. He published more than fifty books, including essays and novels.

He belongs to the top 100 public intellectuals in the world, according to the Foreign Policy Magazine (May/June 2008).

The elusive quest for peace in DRC

The current conflict in the Kivu Region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) threatens to linger on despite an international effort to broker a truce between the M23 rebellion and the Congolese government. The 2012 version of this conflict is difficult to grasp, particularly because the M23 is a shifting armed movement, both geographically and politically. Its leadership is interchangeable among commanders, and the movement is supported by foreign influences with an eye on the geological riches of the region.

The evolution of the M23 Rebellion

Who exactly are the M23 rebels? This is the question the Rift Valley Institute’s Usamala Project tries to unpack in its recent report “From CNDP to M23: The evolution of an armed movement in Eastern Congo” (PDF). While the armed branch of the rebellion is easy to define, its political leadership is more elusive. The report explains further:

The M23 political leadership was made up mostly of former CNDP [National Congress for the Defence of the People] loyalists, with Jean-Marie Runiga Lugerero, the CNDP’s representative in Kinshasa, as political coordinator. However, there were also some new names, allegedly appointed after pressure by Rwanda (…) Between May and August 2012 the M23 also began to beef up its political wing. It named several new local chiefs, set up a tax collection network, and established a formal liaison office for humanitarians working in the area––structures reminiscent to those of the CNDP era. They also established two websites (www.soleildugraben.com and congodrcnews.com), a Facebook fan page and several Twitter accounts run by them or people close to them. On 20 October, in a move to further boost their legitimacy, they renamed their armed wing the Armée Révolutionaire du Congo (ARC, Congolese Revolutionary Army).

Indeed, while rudimentary at first, the public relations strategy of the M23 rebels has grown increasingly sophisticated in order to garner the public support. On Jeune Afrique, Trésor Kibungula illustrates the evolution of M23 on Facebook, from a timid start back in July, to a media platform sufficiently controversial that Facebook eventually had to shut it down.

An interview with the M23’s Bertrand Bisimwa on the Congo Siaisa blog helps to explain the genesis of the movement and its alleged overarching goals:

The M23 is made up of armed groups that signed the March 23 agreement. We started by asking for the implementation of that deal. The government fought us, saying we didn’t have the right to demand that [..] Today, in addition to the March 23 agreement we want good governance in the country and a legitimate government. You have to realize that not all ex-CNDP joined the M23. In fact, most didn’t. It was these others, those who didn’t join, who helped rig the elections in [Jospeh] Kabila’s favor in Masisi.

General Sultani Makenga, the military leader of the M23 also gave an interview recently where he speaks about the fluid leadership of the M23 movement, giving updates on the status of former CNDP leader Laurent Nkunda and arrested general Bosco Ntaganda within the movement.

Aside from its shifting leadership, Melanie Gouby in Newsweek Magazine explains that the movement does not seem to have a defined political ideology and seems mostly driven to protect the economic and political interests of neighboring nations.

Involving all players in the quest for peace

The two nations with most economic and political stakes in the conflict are Rwanda and Uganda. According to the United Nations, Rwanda has been tied to the conflict in Kivu for a long time, despite denials from President Paul Kagame’s administration. Yet, there is little uncertainty about the Rwandan support as the Usamala project report explains:

Rwandan support for M23 has now been well documented, in particular by the UN Group of Experts. Their conclusions have been confirmed by Human Rights Watch, by MONUSCO, and by at least three embassies in Kigali through internal investigations [..]

With regards to Rwanda’s role in the crisis, the U.S. policy to minimize sanctions against Kagame’s administration is perplexing to many observers.

The Ugandan government is also suspected of providing logistics support to the latest M23 offensive. In the following video, Ugandan lawmakers ask the president to explain the relation to the Congo M23 rebels:

With so many players involved in the crisis, what’s in store for the region is still very unclear. Is the Goma withdrawal definitive for the M23? Some M23 fighters seem to firmly believe they will soon be back in the city. Observers do not seem to expect much from peace talks.

Gérard Prunier, a French academic and author, argues that Congo and Rwanda are “just playing a waiting game until the situation on the ground gets sorted out.” He believes there could be an escalation of the crisis:

If tomorrow you could have the secession of Katanga (ed’s note: a Congo region rich in minerals) back on the books, I wouldn’t be surprised

Meanwhile, the local population bears the main burden of this never ending war. The World Food Programme reports that at least 80,000 people are displaced in the region. isnblog.ethz.ch