Sri Lanka: Certificates of Absence for Missing Persons

13/02/2016

Parliament was told yesterday that the government intends issuing Certificates of Absence to families of those who have been reported missing irrespective of the causes attributed thereto.

Minister of Home Affairs, Wajira Abeywardena informed Parliament that the government was considering issuing Certificates of Absence for approximately 20,000 persons who have been reported missing.

“We have already received Cabinet approval for this proposal and are now working out a modus to issue such certificates. The Legal Draftsman’s Department will shortly complete the Draft Bill to legalize this step” the Minister said.
Such Certificates of Absence will be issued to families of missing persons. The spouse and/or children can produce the Certificate of Absence and be entitled to obtain pensions and other benefits received by widows of the dead from the Widows and the Orphans Pension Fund. In the event that a missing person returns to his or her family the payment of such pensions and benefits from the Widows and the Orphans Pensions Fund will be discontinued.

The Minister’s statement came in response to a query during a Private Member ‘s motion debate from UNP MP Buddika Pathirana. Pathirana asked that Parliament initiates immediate investigations to ascertain whether the missing persons reported during the war in the last three decades were in fact dead or not and if dead, to only issue death certificates to their next of kin.
By Skandha Gunasekara

CT

ICRC offers to work with Government to assist families of missing

By admin on February 13, 2016

The ICRC has offered to work with the Government to assist the families of those reported missing, the Foreign Ministry said today.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with the ICRC delegation in Sri Lanka have held a meeting with the participation of representatives of relevant line Ministries and Agencies to discuss the ICRC report titled: ‘Needs of the Families of Missing Persons in Sri Lanka: Living with Uncertainty’. The meeting was chaired by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Harsha de Silva, and held at the Ministry premises

The Deputy Foreign Minister reiterated that the Government of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe recognise the importance of dealing with the issues related to the families of missing persons and that it was with this recognition that the Government on 14 September 2015, announced in the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, its commitment to establish, by Statute, an Office on Missing Persons based on the principle of the families’ right to know.

He outlined steps taken by the Government to deal with issues relating to the Missing so far, including the approval by the Cabinet of Ministers for the issuance of Certificates of Absence for which the necessary legislation is now under consideration; facilitating the visit of the Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) after almost 16 years; and signing of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances. 

The Deputy Minister appreciated the work carried out by the ICRC, in Sri Lanka, for over 25 years, winning the confidence of all sections of the population throughout the country.

Claire Meytraud, Head of the ICRC Delegation in Sri Lanka stated that the ICRC believes that the ‘Family Needs Assessment’ carried out by the ICRC and the report compiled by them would be useful to the Government in its efforts to deal with the issues facing the families of missing persons.

She added that the ICRC stands ready to provide all assistance to the Government on this matter and to have further consultations on the report. The ICRC report includes a detailed description of the needs of families, the existing resources available to them and their current coping mechanism.

All the participants at the meeting agreed on the need to take steps to address issues relating to the families of the missing with a view to addressing their grievances and needs in a meaningful manner.

Officials from the Presidential Secretariat, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of National Integration & Reconciliation, the Ministry of National Co-existence & Official Languages, the Ministry of Health, Nutrition & Indigenous Medicine, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Social Empowerment & Welfare, the Ministry of Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation, Resettlement & Hindu Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Office of National Unity & Reconciliation, National IHL Committee, and the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka also participated at the meeting. (Colombo Gazette)

Alleged Prado Duty Fraud: Misinformed JVP Leader Misleads The Parliament

By Nagananda Kodituwakku –February 13, 2016

Nagananda Kodituwakku

On 27th Jan 2016, the JVP Leader, Mr Anura Kumara Dissanayake, made a ‘revealing statement’ in the parliament, alleging that on the orders of the DGC Chulananda Perera and Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, a large number of Toyota Prado jeeps (180 units) seized by Customs, have been released only on recovery of 1.6 million rupees of additional duty for each vehicle. Anura K further alleged that the government had incurred a colossal revenue loss of over 4.7 billion rupees, as a result of the withdrawal of the Gazette Notification No 1901/3 of 10th Feb 2015 (issued by the Finance Minister), which permitted the Customs Officers to ‘combat such frauds’.

It appears that a group of Customs officers have taken the JVP leader for a ride, having fed him with some false information. Whatever is the motive behind these allegations, the JVP Leader cannot be allowed to mislead the people abusing the Parliamentary privileges.

Customs Law relating to valuation of commodities

Sri Lanka is a member of the General Agreement on Trade and Tarrifs (GATT) since July 1948 and in 1994 several important changes were made to GATT Valuation Agreement (Article VII), which were incorporated into the Customs Ordinance in 2003. This changes requires (Section 51) Customs to charge levies on all commodities on the ‘transaction value’, which is the primary source of valuation of goods for Customs purposes.

With this change, the Customs Law also provided stringent sanctions for ‘deliberate understatement of value for customs purposes’, which includes forfeiture of goods (Section 52) and if the fraudulent intent is established, to impose severe penal sanctions up to the treble the value of the goods (Section 129).

Alleged revenue losses on vehicle imports

In Sri Lanka, the Government’s tax revenue depends heavily on the levies charged on motor vehicles. And it is nothing but fair to say that Customs Department is responsible for causing a significant revenue loss due to the collusion of the some Customs officers assisting the unscrupulous importers to present false values for Customs purposes.

‘Vehicles’ withdrawn from application of GATT valuation regime  Read More

Namal likely to join Yoshitha

- Feb 13, 2016

Upon being questioned as to how he had found the capital for five companies at Gower Street at Thimbirigasyaya owned by him, Namal Rajapaksa has said that Sajin Vaas Gunawardena, Nimal Perera and Ishara Nanayakkara had given him the money, but all three businessmen had denied having given him money.

Therefore, Namal too, could get arrested under the money laundering act within the coming week, and he is also accused over the murder of Thajudeen. Investigators have got the confirmation that Tissa Wimalasena, a bodyguard of the former president, was directly involved in the killing.

Having accused the ‘Yahapaalana’ government of being bent on leveling false allegations against the Rajapaksas to insult their fame and challenging it to prove the accusations, Namal warned the government recently to be cautious, since those in the government too, had children.

The present Navy Commander who servilely served Yoshitha then is disdaining Naval laws on his behalf now..!

(Lanka-e-News- 13.Feb.2016, 11.45PM) The Naval officers have questioned the navy Commander, why the laws of the Navy do not apply to Lieutenant Yoshitha Rajapakse. 

According to the laws of the Navy , if any officer no matter his rank is remanded based on charges filed against him , he shall be interdicted with immediate effect , and until the case is concluded the interdiction remains  valid. Besides if he is found guilty and sentenced  to jail even for a day , he is demoted ,and deprived of all his perks, privileges and payments.  In addition after a Navy inquiry ,  he is liable to a punishment  meted out by the Navy. On the other hand if he is proved not guilty , he is reinstated , his salaries refunded   and his promotions are  restored.

It is a well and widely known fact that Yoshitha Rajapakse is now in remand custody for the last two weeks  based on charges of financial fraud , yet the Navy Commander has still not enforced the Naval laws against Yoshitha.

If an ordinary officer of the Navy had been similarly involved , the Navy Commander would have issued a ‘Navy General’ message interdicting that officer. As regards Yoshitha however the Navy Commander is silent .

It is well to recall during the period when Yoshitha was in the Naval academy , Trincomalee , the present Navy commander Rear admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne was the commanding officer of the academy.While Yoshitha was acting in breach of all the disciplinary laws  of the Navy ,  Wijegunaratne without meting out any punishment was on the other hand most servilely serving Yoshitha and doing all his  menial work . Although there were more talented  officers than Yoshitha in his batch , it was the present Navy Commander the Rajapakse stooge who selected Yoshitha for the foreign scholarship award overlooking the more suitable cadet officers.

It is the defense ministry that should know what ought to be done when Navy  Commander is today disdaining and discarding  the sublime Naval laws . 

---------------------------
by     (2016-02-14 00:01:13)

IMF audit on MR projects


2016-02-13
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will visit Sri Lanka next week for a joint ‘Forensic Audit’ with the Central Bank to check on the rationale behind the development projects worth US$250 billion launched by the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime just before the 2015 presidential elections, a senior cabinet minister said yesterday. 

Minister Sarath Amunugama told the media the consensual government was in a dilemma as to how capital investment could be raised for those development projects because the previous regime had started these projects without a single rupee being allocated either from the Treasury or the Budget. 

‘The entire programme amounting to billions of rupees just before the presidential election was a gimmick to hoodwink voters. The consensual government is trying hard to find investors for those massive development projects and it will take a minimum of five years to complete the job,” he said. 

The minister warned of an economic crisis in the West especially in the EU countries consequent to the Middle East crisis. It will affect Sri Lanka badly and we must adjust our economic fundamentals to meet this threat. That is why we will have to apply for a standby arrangement on one billion US$ from the IMF. 

This is the first time, the consensual government is seeking financial assistance from a global lending agency. The last SBA was approved by the IMF on July 24, 2009 for US$ 2.56 billion or 400 per cent of Sri Lanka’s quota. (Sandun A Jayasekera)

Fonseka’s son-in-law sends LoD to justice minister! 

Feb 13, 2015

Danuna Tilakaratne, son-in-law of Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, today (13) sent a Letter of Demand (LoD) to justice minister Wijedasa Rajapakse, it was revealed at a media briefing.

The LoD is against Danuna’s bank accounts being still in the minister’s custody, although courts had acquitted him in the Hicorp case and ordered the release of his passport.

Danuna told the media that since the time he had sent the minister a letter, requesting the release of the money, Rajapakse has summoned a media briefing and tarnished his image by alleging black money was in these accounts and that it should be investigated as to whether it was the commission money Fonseka had received during the period he was the Army commander.

Rajapakse continues to sling mud at him, without responding to his request although three months had elapsed, Danuna said, adding that the Rs. 88.6 million in these accounts was neither commission money nor black money.

He said he had earned the money cleanly, being a consultant to a satellite company in the US.

A Rs. 25 million compensation would be sought at courts after sending a LoD to the justice minister within 14 days for the insulting remarks he had made, Danuna added.

Israel’s “excessive force” kills two more children

Mourners carry the body of Haitham Saada, shot and killed by Israeli soldiers, during the boy’s funeral in Hebron on 6 February.Wisam HashlamounAPA images

Palestinians try to break the Israeli military closure of Qabatiya in the northern West Bank on 6 February.Ahmad Al-BazzActiveStills

Maureen Clare Murphy-12 February 2016

Two Palestinian children were shot dead by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank this past week as a United Nations human rights investigator called on Israel to investigate its excessive use of force against Palestinians.

The special rapporteur Makarim Wibisono “also told Israeli authorities to charge or release all Palestinian prisoners being held under lengthy administrative detention, including children,” Reuters reported, referring to Israel’s widespread practice of holding Palestinians without charge or trial under military court orders.

Wibisono made his remarks during his final report to the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday. The Indonesian diplomat resigned from his post last month because he said Israel would not give him access to the areas he was assigned to monitor.

Israel’s foreign ministry accused the investigator of “flagrant anti-Israel bias” and rejected the findings of his report.

Quartet’s “serious concern”

The Quartet, the ad hoc group of representatives of the UN, EU, the United States and Russia that purports to manage the “peace process,” also expressed its “serious concern” on Friday.

Condemning “all acts for terror,” the group “called upon all parties to reject incitement and actively take steps to de-escalate the current tensions” and declared its intent to prepare a report with recommendations towards “the best way to advance the two-state solution.”

The anodyne Quartet statement echoed the one it issued, on the eve of the current phase of escalated direct confrontation beginning last October, during which nearly 30 Israelis and more than 160 Palestinians have been killed.

Most of those Palestinians killed, including 25 children, were shot dead during what Israel says were attacks – usually incidents of car-ramming or stabbing at West Bank settlements and checkpoints. 

Dozens of others were killed while participating in demonstrations or being in the vicinity of protests in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Human rights groups have criticized Israel for using unwarranted lethal force against alleged attackers, saying that many such incidents amount to extrajudicial executions.

In other cases, Palestinians may not have been attempting any attack when they were slain.

Children shot dead          Read More

ANALYSIS: Anti-IS intervention in Libya a high-risk temptation

With Islamic State gaining ground, some analysts say confronting group is a matter of necessity, but others fear creating a new Afghanistan or Iraq

Widespread destruction in Libya, which has seen unrest since 2011, is helping to fuel the rise of IS (AFP)

Simona Sikimic-Thursday 11 February 2016

If the Islamic State is left to its own devices in Libya, some analysts warn that the group could seize a stretch of the Mediterranean coast and the country’s key oil infrastructure within months.

As the group has proved difficult to defeat in Iraq and Syria, there are fears that the militants will become deeply entrenched in Libya, where they have gone from strength to strength over the past 18 months, sparking serious talk of an intervention.

“The threat imposed by IS in Libya is still gravely underestimated by many,” Wolfgang Pusztai, a freelance security analyst, told Middle East Eye. He warned that, if left unchecked, IS will rule much of the Libyan coastline “no later than late summer 2016”.

“The bottom line [is that] such an intervention to stop the expansion of IS is not a ‘war of choice’ but a matter of necessity,” he said.

Dozens of defence ministers from countries taking part in the US-led anti-Islamic State coalition met in Brussels on Thursday to discuss reinvigorating the drive against the militants. Spurred in part by the advance of IS in Libya, coalition members vowed to redouble their efforts to defeat IS, and NATO said it would look into joining the fight.

This week, the chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee said the Barack Obama administration was “on the verge of taking action”. Tunisia on Friday said that it was preparing for the influx of more Libyan refugees in the event of an anti-IS intervention. 

But for all the talk of bomb dropping and obliteration, the reality of how an intervention in Libya might proceed – and the success it would actually have if it did – is much more complicated.

Some analysts even warn that any intervention would only make things worse.

“The various sides will hoodwink the international community into thinking that they are fighting the Islamic State when in fact they will use this new support to fight each other,” Anas El Gomati, director of the Sadeq Institute, a Libyan think tank, told Middle East Eye.

“The same thing happened in Afghanistan and Iraq and, 10 years on, the social fabric there has been ravaged because localised fighting was accelerated through international co-operation. It’s only adding fuel to the fire, and the same would take place in Libya.”

Unity first

- See more>>>

Russia warns of new Cold War as east Ukraine violence surges

A member of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic forces walks on top of a self-propelled artillery gun during tactical training exercises in Donetsk region, Ukraine, February 4, 2016. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

A member of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic forces walks on top of a self-propelled artillery gun during tactical training exercises in Donetsk region, Ukraine, February 4, 2016

BY ROBIN EMMOTT AND SHADIA NASRALLA

Violence in eastern Ukraine is intensifying and Russian-backed rebels have moved heavy weaponry back to the front line, international monitors warned on Saturday as Moscow responded by accusing the West of dragging the world back 50 years.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev described East-West relations as having "fallen into a new Cold War" and said NATO was "hostile and closed" towards Russia, in the latest sign that peace efforts have made scant progress almost two years since Moscow annexed Crimea.

"I sometimes wonder - are we in 2016 or 1962?," Medvedev asked in a speech to the Munich Security Conference.

Implementation of a deal agreed in Minsk a year ago, which would allow for the lifting of sanctions on Russia, and a lull in violence late last year raised hopes that the conflict that has killed more than 9,000 people could be resolved quickly.

But Lamberto Zannier, who heads the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) monitoring eastern Ukraine, said the situation had "become difficult again."

"We see a multiplication of incidents, violations of the ceasefire," he told Reuters at the Munich Security Conference. "We've seen cases of redeployment of heavy armaments closer to the contact line ... and multiple rocket launchers, artillery being used," he said, referring to the heavy weaponry that is meant to be removed under the Minsk deal.

Medvedev accused Kiev of trying to shift the blame onto Moscow for the continued shelling in the industrial regions of eastern Ukraine now under rebel control.

"The Minsk agreements have to be observed by everyone. But we believe that it's first and foremost up to the Kiev authorities to do that," he said.

The West says it has satellite images, videos and other evidence to show Russia is providing weapons to the rebels and that Moscow has troops engaged in the conflict that erupted following Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea in 2014.

Russia denies such accusations.

NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Philip Breedlove said Russia had the power to "dial up and down" the conflict as it wished to put pressure on the government in Kiev but he said NATO did not want, nor currently see, a new Cold War.

AMNESTY

Extended at the end of last year, the Minsk peace deal signed by Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany aims to give Ukraine back control of its border with Russia, see all heavy weapons withdrawn, return hostages and allow an internationally monitored local election in the east.

Zannier said the vote could not happen until there was a ceasefire and even then it would be difficult to do by mid-year because international observers need to be in place.

Medvedev said Ukraine, not Russia, was in breach of the Minsk deal because Kiev was yet to change Ukraine's constitution to grant special status to eastern Ukraine.

Russia wants an amnesty for mainly Russian-speaking people in the east who seized government buildings during the upheaval of early 2014, when pro-European protesters toppled Russia-backed President Viktor Yanukovich.

"Without this amnesty, these people won't be able to participate in the elections," Medvedev said.

Kiev's Western backers acknowledge the government of President Petro Poroshenko must speed up reforms, especially those tied to its $10-billion International Monetary Fund bailout, but say Russia must respect Ukraine's sovereignty.

"Neither the people of Ukraine nor their partners in the international community believe they have done enough," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said. 

(Additional reporting by Warren Stroebel; Editing by Helen Popper and David Evans)

Indonesia’s transgender madrasa
It’s 11pm, and in moon-lit back-street Yogyakarta, I’m marching along with Eva and Juli. They’re dressed to the nines, tottering and tripping over the cobbles on their high heels, and they’re definitely strutting. Eva is 52 and Juli, drawing hard on a strong kretek clove cigarette, is 55. They’re off to work.

Saturday 13 Feb 2016

This central Javanese city is tolerant of its transgender subculture. It’s nothing new. In fact, it goes back centuries, even pre-dating the arrival of Islam. Elsewhere in this country of 210 million Muslims, waria run the gauntlet of Islamist condemnation. Not here.

Transgender women are known as “waria” — the Indonesian term for someone born as a man and living as a woman, and it’s not derogatory. The word is a compound of “wanita” — or woman — and “pria” — or man.

Noor Aya dances to popular dangdut folk music; there were at least six other Waria doing the same thing elsewhere in the market.

In the alley, groups of women passing in the other direction look at Eva and Juli first, then at me. They’re mostly po-faced. If they disapprove, they don’t give it away. Men just smirk at me. God knows what they’re thinking.

God has been the big theme tonight. Eva and Juli have just finished their Koranic studies and prayers in the world’s one and only transgender-madrasa, set up by waria for waria, so they can have somewhere to study and pray. Tolerant though they are, local mosques don’t want them. Yogyakarta’s top imam told me: “In Islam, it’s prohibited.”

- See more >>>

South Sudan rebels welcome surprise move to reappoint leader as vice president

Decree gets cautious approval but analysts fear former allies turned enemies are not yet ready to cooperate to end fighting

South Sudan’s rebel groups are cautiously celebrating the sudden reappointment of their exiled leader as the country’s vice president, although it is not clear whether he will return home to take up the post.

 Kier and Machar have presided over a conflict that has displaced more than two million people. Photograph: JULIO BRATHWAITE/UNMISS/HANDOUT/EPA

Simon Allison-Saturday 13 February 2016 

President Salva Kiir restored Riek Machar to the post in a surprise decree, but opposition figures have criticised the government for its “random” approach to implementing a recent peace deal.

Machar abandoned the vice-presidency in December 2013 as civil war broke out between the government and rebel forces loyal to him. Since then, the conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than two million people.

A peace deal signed in August 2015 was supposed to stop the fighting, but implementation has been patchy: a recent African Union report noted at least five separate ceasefire violations, including one incident in which 50 civilians suffocated to death after being locked into a shipping container by government forces.

Though a key condition of the deal was the creation of a “government of national unity” with Machar as vice-president, rebels said the method was worrying.

“We welcome the appointment even though we expect the government to show more commitment on outstanding issues,” said Colonel Roman Nyarji, Machar’s spokesperson.

Nyarji identified three key areas of concern: Kiir’s decision to expand the number of states in South Sudan from 10 to 28, which Machar says violates the spirit of the peace agreement; the recent amendment of the constitution which expanded the president’s powers; and the implementation of various security arrangements envisaged in the peace agreement.

It remains uncertain whether Machar intends to take up the vice-presidency.

“If I get the support needed for the implementation of security arrangements, I think within a few weeks I will be able to take up my position,” Machar told news agencies on Friday.

More Story>>>

Pope Francis kicks off Mexico tour addressing drug trafficking and violence

Pope Francis stopped briefly in Cuba for a historic meeting with Patriarch Kirill I, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, prior to the pontiff’s week-long visit to Mexico.

By Joshua Partlow,Gabriela Martinez-February 13

MEXICO CITY — Pope Francis threw himself into the most contentious of issues roiling Mexico during his first full day here, calling on President Enrique Peña Nieto and his government to protect citizens and bring justice to a country wracked with violence and corruption.

Kicking off the first leg of his six-day tour of the Spanish-speaking world’s largest Catholic country, the pontiff offered an unvarnished assessment of Mexico’s troubles and the need for honesty and faith to overcome them. His first speech, addressing Peña Nieto and other top Mexican officials, took place inside the National Palace, as tens of thousands of people filled the Zocalo plaza outside and listened to remarks on jumbo-screens.

“Each time we seek the path of privileges or benefits for a few, to the detriment of the good of all, the life of society becomes a fertile soil for corruption,” the Pope said, “drug trade, exclusion of different cultures, violence and also human trafficking, kidnapping and death.”

The Pope said Mexico's political class had the duty to give its people access to "an adequate home, dignified work, food, real justice, effective security, and a peaceful and sane environment."

One of the world’s mega-cities ground to a halt to greet Francis, with roads barricaded miles from his events, and police and soldiers out in force to maintain security amid the hundreds of thousands who came to get a glimpse of the popular pontiff. Students were off from classes on Friday and many businesses closed as residents lined the streets waiting for a glimpse of the Pope-mobile as it wended through the streets.

 

Over the next week, Francis plans to visit the extremes of Mexico, from the poor, heavily indigenous southern border state of Chiapas, which has become a way-station for thousands of Central American migrants, to the northern border town of Ciudad Juarez, which is recovering from its dark drug war years.

Those backdrops, plus a planned stop in the volatile western state of Michoacan, gives Francis plenty of opportunity, if he chooses, to highlight Mexico’s recurrent failings with violence, immigration, poverty and government corruption. Plus, with anti-immigrant sentiment surging in the American presidential race, the pope could enter that fray by his example of showing compassion for the downtrodden. With all the problems in Mexico, “we need the pope to show us the light,” said Leticia Gutierrez Valderrama, a nun who directs an organization that works with migrants.

Read More

Rwanda’s Way of Solving Its Refugee Problem? Kick Its Refugees Out.

BY SIOBHÁN O'GRADY-FEBRUARY 12, 2016

For months, the Burundian government has accused neighboring Rwanda of arming and training Burundian refugees to topple President Pierre Nkurunziza’s administration — charges Kigali flatly denies.

Now, Kigali has a new plan to deflect those claims: Force the more than 70,000 Burundian refugees living in Rwanda to seek shelter elsewhere.

Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo announced the relocation plans in a statement Friday, saying that keeping Burundian refugees in her country exposes them “to increased threats from forces at home and compromises lasting political solutions.”

“For Rwanda, the growing risks to our national security from the Burundian impasse and misunderstandings in our foreign relations are unacceptable,” she added.

Burundi has been in a state of civil unrest since April, when Nkurunziza announced he planned to seek a controversial third term. He claimed the move abided by the country’s constitution; his opposition disagreed. Since then, some 400 people have been killed and more than 240,000 have fled the country — including more than 70,000 to neighboring Rwanda.

Kigali’s announcement comes just two days after top American diplomats told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee they believed that reports Rwanda is arming Burundian refugees to topple the Burundian government are “credible.” Assistant Secretary of State Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Washington urged the Rwandan government “to play a productive role and not to do anything that might further destabilize Burundi.”

And Thomas Perriello, special envoy to the African Great Lakes region, said he had met three former Burundian child soldiers who told him they were trained by Rwanda.

Reports Rwanda is arming the opposition have infuriated Burundi’s central government, which has accused Rwandan President Paul Kagame of interfering in their internal conflict and threatening to destabilize the entire region.

On Wednesday, Burundian Ambassador to Washington Ernest Ndabashinze told Foreign Policy that “if Rwanda continues to support the opposition rebels, then Burundi will be ready to defend itself.”

“We are always ready to fight against whoever attacks us,” he said.

But there are also concerns that Burundi’s focus on Rwanda’s potential role in the conflict is an effort by Nkurunziza’s administration to distract the international community from human rights violations being carried out by the Burundian government. In December, for example, Burundian security forces reportedly shot dead dozens of people in Bujumbura’s streets, and Amnesty International believes their bodies have since been buried in mass graves. Burundi’s refusal to allow peacekeepers and additional human rights monitors into the country has furthered concerns they have something to hide.

Rwanda’s move to expel refugees backtracks on earlier reports that Kagame’s administration would not force Burundians to leave, and could indicate Rwanda’s growing concern over the West’s involvement in the escalating crisis. On Wednesday, Mushikiwabo — the same minister who made Friday’s announcement —  reportedly said “we are not going to kick out Burundians fleeing the country because they are not friends with their government.”

Photo Credit: STEPHANIE AGLIETTI/AFP/Getty Images

Bangladesh begins survey of undocumented Rohingya Muslims

by AP News-13th February 2016

NEW DELHI (AP) — Authorities in Bangladesh have begun a survey to determine the exact number of Rohingya Muslims who have fled persecution in majority-Buddhist Burma (Myanmar).

The director of the survey says Bangladesh’s Bureau of Statistics began the exercise this week with the help of the International Organization of Migration.

Alamgir Hossain said the survey across six districts will end on Wednesday and will be followed by a census of Rohingya next month.

Around 33,000 Rohingya have been documented in two official camps in the southern coastal district of Cox’s Bazar, which borders Burma.

Bangladeshi officials say another 300,000 to 500,000 Rohingya remain unaccounted for.

The Crisis of High Suicide Rates in Jordan: Who is Responsible?

21% of suicides in Jordan were due to unemployment

Feb-11-2016

(SALEM, Ore.) - A few days after a young man tried to set fire on himself in the northern Hashemi region, the crisis of the high rates of suicide came to back to the forefront.

A security source explained that the young man threatened to set himself on fire while he was inside his house, but later was dissuaded from committing suicide.

Social network users questioned Jordanian authorities' claims that the young man was suffering from mental disorders, stressing that the new attempt to commit suicide happened due to difficult economic conditions plaguing the young man for the past three years.

On the other hand, the Director of the National Center for Forensic Medicine, Momin Hadidi, stressed that "in the past few years suicides increased to 50-70 attempts, while it was 20 cases annually in the years that preceded it."

A report released by the World Health Organization and the International Society for the prevention of suicides disclosed that 21% of suicides in Jordan came due to unemployment.

As these numbers are based only on annual report of the CID of Jordan, many believes that the numbers might be far beyond the official report presented by the Jordanian authorities.

The Jordanian al-Ghad newspaper addressed prevalent corruption, poverty, unemployment and the failure of the state to establish vital and developmental projects for young people in the governorates of Jordan and the impact of these factors on the increasing numbers of suicides in the country.

Observers consider this dangerous phenomenon as the result of the absence of law and the fight against corruption and the supremacy of law for every citizen regardless of their social background.