Owing to VAT component dissent Hambantota uninhabited

Jul 07, 2016

The government decision to increase the VAT component to 15% was criticised in many quarters. It is reported that all businessmen in the towns in Hambantota district and around have decided to protest by closing all their business establishments in extending their protest against the government’s decision on the 07th instant.

Accordingly the shops in the Hambantota, Suriyawewa,Tissamaharamaya, Ranna, Hungama,Beliatta,Nikeveratiya,Middeniya, Agunugonapelessa will be closed as decided by the businessmen.

The significant factor has been that in the electorate of Tangalle also in which seat is of the elected Member of Parliament and State minister of fisheries and aquatic resources, the businessmen have also resorted to this protest action by keeping their business also closed. The members of the Tangalle commercial association has organised the protest.

The fair that is usually held on Thursdays at the Ambalantota too will not be held as their counterpart businessmen in Hambantota have decided to protest by closing their businesses. This had caused a terrible inconvenience and loss to those small scale businessmen who come to Ambalatota for small scale business to the Mahajana pola. This is as they had been given prior notice.

Against the increase in the VAT component a number of trade organisations have jointly. They have all have got together near the clock tower at Ambalantota and protested for about an hour carrying placards and slogans expressing their protest to the government. They had together taken part in a protest procession around the town

However it is reported that a few shops in the Ambalantota town which are supposed to be owned by the UNP member of provincial council TVK Gamini. This member had quipped that the people should not suffer and be inconvenienced as the JVP members are behind this protest.

No justice, no aid: Gaza on its knees two years after war, say reports

NGOs decry lack of reconstruction, while Amnesty angered that neither Israelis nor Palestinians have been charged for crimes in 2014 war

Thursday 7 July 2016

Two years after Gaza's last devastating conflict with Israel, rights groups vented frustration on Thursday over the slow pace of reconstruction in the Palestinian territory and lack of war crimes prosecutions.

Amnesty International said it was "indefensible" that no criminal cases had been brought for alleged war crimes committed by Israel or the Palestinians, while a coalition of leading NGOs urged Israel to lift its blockade of the impoverished Gaza Strip.

The July-August 2014 war between Israel and Gaza killed more than 2,200 Palestinians and 73 people on the Israeli side, and destroyed or damaged thousands of homes in besieged Gaza.

Reconstruction has been painfully slow, with the United Nations taking over a year to rebuild its first destroyed home.

Israel has maintained a blockade on the enclave, limiting the entry of many goods essential for construction that officials fear could fall into the hands of Hamas and be used for another military build-up.

Only three Israeli soldiers have been charged over the war, all on minor charges, the Amnesty report said, ahead of Friday's anniversary of the outbreak of the conflict.

"The fact that no one has been held to account for war crimes that were evidently committed by both sides in the conflict is absolutely indefensible," said Philip Luther, Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa head.

"Two years have passed and it's high time the wheels of justice started turning."

In a separate report, AIDA - an umbrella body for major international NGOs working in Israel and the Palestinian territories - said Israel's decade-long blockade was "severely impeding reconstruction and recovery" in Gaza.

"Unless it is lifted, Palestinians living in Gaza will be unable to move on with their lives and live in freedom, dignity and safety," said Chris Eijkemans, country director at AIDA with the British charity Oxfam.

Fear and misery in Gaza

In Gaza, although new roads have been constructed, many areas remain desolated and the economy has ground to a standstill.

Over 120,000 homes were at least partly damaged, while around 20,000 were left totally uninhabitable in the war, according to the United Nations.

The Mediterranean enclave's unemployment rate of 45 percent is one of the highest in the world, while child labour has doubled over the past five years, according to Palestinian estimates.

Sohad al-Masry, a 40-year-old housewife, lost her home in the war, in which her cousin was killed.

"I don't like to remember but I am sad," she told AFP. "They have not rebuilt the destroyed houses, the siege and closure [continue], and there is unemployment."

Fears of another conflict with Israel, which would be the fourth since 2008, have grown in recent months after Israeli forces uncovered two Hamas "attack" tunnels allegedly reaching across the border.

After a brief flare-up in May, leaders on both sides have talked of being ready for another conflict.

"I am very worried a fourth war is coming. The occupation is threatening war on Hamas's tunnels," said Mohammed Abu Daqa, 26, who works in a government school.

He called on Hamas to reconcile with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, which runs the West Bank, to whip up global support for lifting the siege of Gaza.

"But unfortunately Hamas and Fatah are not ready for a reconciliation," he sighed.

Palestinians in Khan Eshieh face a second Nakba

Budour Youssef Hassan-

 7 July 2016

For the past three years, shellings and airstrikes have been a reality for the residents of Khan Eshieh refugee camp near Damascus.

But the intensity of shelling on the camp in the past two months is unprecedented even by that standard.

The Palestinian camp has come under greater fire amid an escalation of fighting between Syrian government forces,

backed by Russian airstrikes, and various Islamist rebel groups in the Damascus countryside. Several civilians in the camp were killed in June.

“Russian warplanes targeted the camp with cluster bombs and missiles on Thursday, killing six people and causing massive destruction,” Emad al-Muslimani from Khan Eshieh told The Electronic Intifada via Skype. “Civilians are the target. There are about 2,000 families trapped in the camp with nowhere to go.”

The two days of relative quiet that followed the 30 June shelling proved to be only a temporary 

reprieve.Airstrikes on Sunday night killed three residents and resulted in the destruction of a community center for children run by the Jafra Foundation, a volunteer group that works in Syria’s Palestinian refugee camps.

A host of problems

Al-Muslimani, a 31-year-old citizen journalist and member of the Khan Eshieh local council, says those who remain in the camp are civilians.

“Most of those in the camp are either children and the elderly or those waiting for family unification as they have relatives in Europe,” he said.

Save the Children stated in May that an estimated 3,000 children currently live under near-total siege there.

According to al-Muslimani, residents of the camp face several acute problems in addition to the daily shelling and the overall dire situation. They are living through a sweltering summer with only four to six hours of electricity per day.

The last remaining open road out of the camp, known locally as the “road of death,” is constantly targeted by snipers. The road is a flashpoint for clashes between government and rebel forces and if it is seized by the government, it would put the camp under complete siege.

It’s via this road that residents go to their jobs in the Syrian capital or get fuel, flour and medicine from the nearby village of Zakia. But even going to receive medical treatment or run a simple errand can become a life-threatening proposition.

What basic goods enter the camp are sold at such high prices that most residents cannot afford them if not for the help of local charities and humanitarian organizations.

Located approximately 15 miles southwest of Damascus near the highway connecting the Syrian capital to Quneitra, Khan Eshieh is the Palestinian refugee camp in Syria closest to Palestine.

Older residents of the camp, according to those who have fled and now reside in Lebanon, have never relinquished the dream of return, and continue to maintain they are a heartbeat away from home.

They still hope that once Palestine is liberated, refugees from Khan Eshieh would be the first to make their way home. They take pride in the camp lore that the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, a hugely popular figure in the camp, reportedly named Khan Eshieh the “camp of return.”

Bedouin traditions

Khan Eshieh camp, named after the Syrian town next to it, was established by UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees, in 1949. The camp was set up to serve those who had fled of were forced to flee northern Palestine the year prior, when their country was overrun by Zionist militias and some 750,000 Palestinians were displaced. The dispossession of Palestine during that period is known as the Nakba or catastrophe.

The vast majority of the camp’s residents hail from Bedouin tribes that lived in the Galilee region, a background that has left an unmistakable trace on the camp’s social fabric.

Not only was the camp divided across tribal lines, with streets named after the tribes that resided in them, but many of the camp residents, even those born in Syria, still retain the Bedouin accent.

The tents that were initially set up in the camp were later replaced by houses made of clay before unregulated construction began to dominate in the last three decades. Natural growth in the camp meant it had to expand beyond the small area designated for it by UNRWA.

The Palestinian residents of the camp needed little time to form strong ties with neighboring Syrian villages and towns in the western Ghouta area, say residents who have fled the fighting and now reside in Lebanon. For many years, the camp was the only place in that rural area with a functioning education system.

“The UNRWA-run schools in the camp drew kids from neighboring Syrian towns who came to Khan Eshieh to study,” Palestinian poet Raed Wahsh, who was born and raised in Khan Eshieh, told The Electronic Intifada.

“And later when public schools were established in those villages, it was mainly teachers from Khan Eshieh who taught there,” he added. “Khan Eshieh provided its Syrian neighbors with education twice: first through its schools, and later through its teachers.”

The camp operated both as a trade center and market for neighboring towns and provided them with a significant workforce in the local agriculture sector.

More freedom

In Syria, where civil and political liberties are sharply circumscribed, Palestinian camps had a slightly wider margin for political organizing, as long as they refrained from criticizing the government.

Yasser Arafat’s Fatah party was long banned by the Syrian government, but other Palestinian factions were allowed to open offices in the camp. The last decade witnessed a rise in the influence of Hamas in the camp as a growing tide of political Islam swept the region.

“Hamas provided aid and charity for those in need and used that, in addition to its close relations with the Syrian regime back then, to establish itself as the main political force in the camp,” Wahsh said. “In fact, Khan Eshieh was also a microcosm for the divisions among Palestinian factions and especially the Fatah-Hamas split.”

Divisions notwithstanding, Khan Eshieh clung to its strong sense of community. Residents maintained their penchant for telling and sharing stories, not without sprinkling in the necessary political flavor.

Wahsh authored A Missing Piece from the Damascus Sky, a prose book published in 2013, offering a glimpse into the lesser known refugee camps of Damascus. Through a mixture of fact and fiction, the book narrates the stories of the camp’s heroes and villains, dealing with individual grief and collective transformation after the Syrian conflict erupted in 2011.

By 2011, Khan Eshieh was home to 20,000 refugees registered with UNRWA, as well as many Syrians, and the total population was believed to be 25,000. That figure almost quadrupled, say residents, by the start of 2012, as people displaced by the fighting in the country sought shelter in the camp.

When popular protests broke out in the country in early 2011 and were repressed with lethal force by the government, war followed, and Palestinian camps in Syria, including Khan Eshieh, were keen to remain outside the fighting.

While walls in the camp did see some anti-government graffiti during the early phases of the uprising, Palestinian political factions and civil groups agreed that it was important for the camp as a whole to stay neutral, according to accounts by former residents now living in Lebanon.

Another Nakba?

Like several Palestinian camps in Syria, most notably Yarmouk refugee camp, Khan Eshieh offered a safe haven for internally displaced Syrian families.

“Khan Eshieh welcomed displaced people from Darayya, Muadamiyat al-Sham, Yarmouk refugee camp and other areas that witnessed clashes,” Rafiq Hadi, an activist from Khan Eshieh now based in Beirut, told The Electronic Intifada. “Our camp represented a rare model of solidarity and peaceful organizing that belied its small size and limited resources.”

The influx of displaced families led Syrian government forces to set up a checkpoint in 2012 where camp residents were repeatedly harassed and humiliated, according to Hadi. The checkpoint was removed after coming under fire from opposition factions active in the vicinity. The government, however, maintained a military outpost at the outskirts of the camp.

“Khan Eshieh’s own Nakba commenced on 13 March 2013, a day known by residents as Bloody Wednesday,” Hadi, a cofounder of a media center covering Palestinian refugee issues, said. On a day of intense shelling thatkilled a teacher employed by UNRWA as he and his family tried to flee, Hadi said the situation in Khan Eshieh changed dramatically.

“Opposition groups attacked the [army] outpost and seized it,” Hadi said.

Government forces responded by shelling the camp, causing a mass exodus. But those that remained were determined to stop the camp from being taken over by armed groups, say former residents. Local groups clashed with Islamist militias when the latter tried to control the camp and turn it into a base.

Residents eventually forced them out. A civil committee was set up to manage camp affairs. Issues relating to education, aid and relief are now mainly addressed by local civil society groups. But while these efforts were successful — fighters affiliated with rebel groups are now concentrated in farms near the camp, not the camp itself — this has not protected the camp from bombing.

Khan Eshieh has reportedly been one of the areas in Syria most afflicted by the government’s crude barrel bombings. Combined, airstrikes and barrel bomb attacks have caused the destruction of nearly 20 percent of the camp’s buildings, according to Hadi.

“Khan Eshieh has returned to the drawing board after the shrinking of its area and population,” Raed Wahsh said. “There is an attempt to erase the camp because the camp is an embodiment of the right of return and the commitment to Palestine.”

Elderly residents of the camp, who harbor memories of their expulsion from Palestine in 1948, are living the Nakba again. Some seventy years later, they bear witness to another chapter of uprooting and displacement.

Palestine will never be as close, as touchable, if Khan Eshieh is lost.

Budour Youssef Hassan is a Palestinian writer and law graduate based in occupied Jerusalem. 

Blog:budourhassan.wordpress.com. Twitter: @Budour48

Damning report exposes Hun Sen clan’s stranglehold on Cambodia’s business world

 7th July 2016

A NEW report by research and advocacy group Global Witness says the family of Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen uses a business empire worth at least US$200 million, along with influential positions they hold in the military and government, to keep a lock on power.

The extensive report reveals that a network of high-profile businesses controlled by the family of Cambodia’s longtime leader sustains and is sustained by his authoritarian rule, making foreign investment in the country risky.

The London-based group, which focuses on exposing the corrupt exploitation of natural resources in the developing world, says the Hun family has significant holdings in the media, along with close ties with other powerholders and business cronies which help them tighten their grip on power.

The report, ‘Hostile Takeover – The corporate empire of Cambodia’s ruling family’, sheds light on a huge network of secret deal-making and corruption that Global Witness says has “underpinned Hun Sen’s 30-year dictatorial reign of murder, torture and the imprisonment of his political opponents”.

Based on official data on company ownership in Cambodia, the report says Hun Sen’s family owns or part-controls companies with listed capital of more than US$200 million – with links to big international brands such as Apple, Nokia, Visa, Unilever and Honda – but says this is likely “just a fraction of the true value of the family’s business holdings”.

It found that 27 relatives of the prime minister have links to vast holdings across 18 sectors.

“Hun Sen has abused his position as Prime Minister to allow his relatives control of, or [have] major stakes in, most of Cambodia’s major industries,” the report states.

“However, this is not just about the accumulation of personal wealth or specific links between Hun family members and particular companies – the Hun family’s domination of Cambodia’s public and private sectors has resulted in Hun Sen having near-total control over the country.”

Source: Global Witness.

The report found that Hun Sen’s immediate family have registered interests in 114 private domestic companies. Of these, 103 have family members as chairperson, director or holding a shareholding of more than 25 percent, meaning that they exercise total or substantial control.

Here is just a small sample, as provided in the Global Witness report:

• Hun Sen’s youngest daughter Hun Mali chairs TK Avenue, Phnom Penh’s first luxury shopping mall.
• Hun Sen’s eldest daughter Hun Mana has interests in K Thong Huot Telecom, which claims to have exclusive distribution rights for Nokia phones in Cambodia. She chairs NVC Corporation, which makes Vital bottled water promoted by the Ministry of Tourism for use in official events; and owns newspaper Kampuchea Thmey Daily and Bayon Media, which broadcasts via three TV stations and on Bayon Radio.
• His nephew is a director of LHR Asean Investment, which runs a network of petrol stations across the country.
• His niece is the chair of Gloria Jean’s Coffees, which has six stores in Cambodia.
• Three of Hun Sen’s children are listed as owners of company Electricity Private – which sells energy to the state.
• The wife of Hun Sen’s nephew chairs iOne, Cambodia’s leading Apple retailer.

Aside from the Hun family’s stranglehold on the business world, the report delves into a number of other abuses, including extra-judicial killings, illegal land grabs, and alleged heroin smuggling operations.

“These revelations point to a cruel irony of Hun Sen’s model of dictatorship – his family has Cambodia’s economy so sewn up that Phnom Penh residents are likely to struggle to avoid lining the pockets of their oppressors multiple times a day,” said Patrick Alley, Co-Founder of Global Witness.

“Foreign investors, on the other hand, can and should opt out of bankrolling a regime that kills, intimidates or locks up its critics.”

Additional reporting from the Associated Press

Ukraine’s Former Prime Minister on Dirty Politics, Populist ‘Bullshit,’ and Life After ‘Political Suicide’

After popular protests ousted Russia-backed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014, Arseniy Yatsenyuk was named the country’s acting prime minister — a job he called “political suicide” at the time.

BY REID STANDISH-JULY 5, 2016


It’s been a tumultuous two years since then: Less than a month after his appointment, the Kremlin annexed Crimea, and in April 2014, war broke out in eastern Ukraine between Russia-backed separatists and Kiev. By late 2015, pressure against Yatsenyuk and the slow pace of reforms began to boil over, made manifest when a lawmaker tried to physically lift him by the waist and groin from his podium in the Ukrainian parliament, sparking a brawl in the legislature. In February, Yatsenyuk narrowly survived a no-confidence vote brought against him by members of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s parliamentary faction, sparking a tense political crisis in the country. In April, the pro-Western leader resigned as prime minister.

But Yatsenyuk — tall, bald, and outspoken — still views his shaky tenure as a success. In an interview with Foreign Policy in Washington last week, Yatsenyuk defended his track record on reform, expressed frustration over his high-profile fallout with Poroshenko, and lamented the rise of populist politics in Ukraine.

“We are still facing tremendous challenges, but what we’ve done in the last two years we were never able to do in the last two decades,” Yatsenyuk said. “From my political standpoint, if you ask me if I would change anything, I would answer, ‘No.’”

A former foreign minister, economy minister, parliamentary speaker, and acting central bank chief, Yatsenyuk came to power with promises to clean up government and implement tough reforms. As prime minister, Yatsenyuk took the lead on a series of complex reforms: simplifying the country’s burdensome tax code, pushing through austerity packages to comply with the terms of a $17.5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, and restructuring Ukraine’s outstanding debt to forestall a potential default. His willingness to get his hands dirty on reforms in Ukraine’s rough-and-tumble politics earned him strong backing from Western governments, especially Washington.

But in his push to tackle those deep-seated problems, Yatsenyuk faced strong suspicions from the public, as well as political friends and foes, that he had foregone the fight against corruption and had instead reverted to making back-room deals with Ukraine’s oligarchs.

Yatsenyuk acknowledged that he could have done a better job with his “strategic communications” in explaining and selling the complex reforms to the public and recognized that his tough style of pushing legislation earned him few friends in the Ukrainian parliament.

“Look, you know, politics is not the best thing in the world. Definitely not the cleanest one,” Yatsenyuk said. “I was offensive against [parliament] every single time. I can even say it was political blackmail and political intimidation in order to grab the votes. But it’s all about the result. In the end, we succeeded to pass every single piece of legislation.”

Yatsenyuk and Poroshenko rode a wave of pro-European sentiment into power. The two men’s political parties — Yatsenyuk’s People’s Front and the president’s Poroshenko Bloc — were the major partners in a pro-Western coalition in Ukraine’s legislature. Despite their auspicious start, Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk soon turned on each other, and their rocky relationship was showcased in Ukrainian media. Yatsenyuk said that lawmakers from Poroshenko’s party were criticizing him “on every single bloody TV show” to tarnish his name and hurt his popularity.

The dysfunction saw Yatsenyuk’s approval rating evaporate, hitting single digits in 2016 before dwindling to close to zero prior to his April resignation. But the episode also hurt Poroshenko’s popularity, with his approval rating hovering below 10 percent.

In his conversation with FP, Yatsenyuk remained coy about his future political aspirations, saying that what he does next will be for voters to decide. But many analysts believe that despite his low poll numbers, the former prime minister is biding his time while he prepares for a return to the political spotlight.

“The story of comebacks is not unusual in Ukrainian politics,” Balazs Jarabik, a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told FP. “Yatsenyuk wants to be a mover and a shaker of policymaking. Whether it’s a top role or not, he’ll find a way to be influential.”

Despite Yatsenyuk’s resignation as prime minister, his People’s Front is the second-largest political party in the Ukrainian parliament and maintains several key cabinet posts. In addition to behind-the-scenes power, Yatsenyuk also has a strong working relationship with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden — whom he met in Washington last week — and senior State Department diplomat Victoria Nuland, who, in a notorious leaked phone call at the height of Ukraine’s political crisis in February 2014, said she preferred Yatsenyuk for a senior position in the country’s fledgling government. “Yats is the guy who’s got the economic experience, the governing experience,” Nuland said at the time.

Following Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk’s feud, the pro-European political coalition fractured, and several parties went into opposition, including former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s Fatherland party and the right-wing Radical Party, headed by Oleh Lyashko. Tymoshenko, whose popularity is on the rise, emerged as a major critic of rising energy prices due to natural gas reform demanded by the IMF and championed by Yatsenyuk, and Lyashko has sought to capitalize at the polls by attacking the austerity measures adopted by Kiev.

“The world has entered a vicious cycle of stupid populists, who are playing with the sentiments and the hearts and minds of ordinary people,” Yatsenyuk said.“They promise everything: low taxes, new jobs, high wages and salaries, a wealthy and happy life. It’s bullshit.”

But in an eventual political return, Yatsenyuk’s greatest challenge could be other self-styled liberal reformers, including Volodymyr Groysman (Yatsenyuk’s replacement as prime minister), former Georgian President and current Governor of Odessa MikheilSaakashvili, and a collection of liberal lawmakers in therecently rebranded Democratic Alliance party, said Orysia Lutsevych, the manager of the Ukraine Forum at Chatham House, a London-based think tank.

“Many people lost faith that Yatsenyuk can break the old system. Now he will have to compete against a bunch of new parties as a member of the elite,” Lutsevych told FP.

Photo credit: Dean Mouhtaropoulos / Getty Images

Oil down 5 percent to two-month lows as U.S. crude draw disappoints

A pump jack operates at a well site leased by Devon Energy Production Company near Guthrie, Oklahoma September 15, 2015.REUTERS/NICK OXFORD

BY BARANI KRISHNAN-Fri Jul 8, 2016

Oil prices fell 5 percent to two-month lows on Thursday after the U.S. government reported a weekly crude draw within analysts' forecasts that disappointed market bulls expecting larger declines.

Brent crude also lost the most in a session since February as the global benchmark and U.S. crude futures broke key technical support they had defended for nearly two weeks since a selloff on Britain's shock vote to exit the European Union.

"Once we got past those levels, it was just longs liquidation all the way," said Tariq Zahir, a trader in crude spreads at New York's Tyche Capital Advisors.

Oil broke support levels after the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said crude stockpiles fell 2.2 million barrels for the week to July 1, just below a 2.3-million barrel decline forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll. [EIA/S]

While the EIA reported a seventh weekly decline in crude stocks, the figure it gave was far less than a 6.7 million-barrel draw cited by trade group the American Petroleum Institute in preliminary data issued late Wednesday. [API/S]

"Expectations were high for this report, and they were dashed," said John Kilduff, partner at New York energy hedge fund Again Capital.

Brent crude futures settled down $2.40, or 4.9 percent, at $46.40 per barrel. That was the biggest percentage loss for Brent in a day since Feb. 9.

The session low of $46.15 marked a bottom for Brent since May 11 and tripped the technical support of $46.69 held since June 27.

U.S. crude futures settled down $2.29, or 4.8 percent, at $45.14. They hit a two-month low of $44.87 earlier, tripping the June 27 bottom and support of $45.83.

"This opens the door down to $43 on a technical basis," said David Thompson, executive vice-president at Washington-based commodities broker Powerhouse.

The CBOE volatility index, a gauge of options premiums based on moves in the U.S. oil exchange traded fund, jumped to its highest level in more than four months.

Traders said that indicated sentiment shift in a market that has traded not far from the psychologically bullish $50 a barrel level since mid-May despite mixed data on crude.

Oil has risen more than 70 percent from 12-year lows of around $27 for Brent and $26 for U.S. crude in the first quarter, driven by unexpected supply outages from Nigeria to Canada that are now being resolved.

U.S. gasoline inventories also fell less than expected, slipping by 122,000 barrels according to EIA, versus forecasts of a 353,000-barrel draw. That added to fears of a gasoline glut.

U.S. gasoline futures hit four-month lows, settling down 5 percent at $1.3631 per gallon.

(Additional reporting by Libby George in LONDON and Henning Gloystein in SINGAPORE; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

OPINION: “GUIDELINES FOR EFFECTIVE PROPAGANDA” TO MARKET BIAFRA

July 7, 2016

My mission in writing this article is to call to the attention of all Biafranists (those who are campaigning for the freedom of Biafra from Nigeria) to the need to package and sell the Biafran message to the world through appropriate mediums. It does not matter the profession to which anyone of us belongs, I still think that each person can contribute positively to this endearing collective effort to help free the Igbo from Nigeria. I believe that these bits and pieces of contributions, if taken to heart and actually made use of, can help the Igbo to succeed in their quest for freedom and survival. In this piece we are going to talk about the use of positive propaganda in the Biafran freedom effort. We qualify the word “propaganda” with “positive” in the sense that the justness of the Biafran cause is self-evident and does not need any kind of embellishment to sell it to the world.

As will be explained in the later part of this article, part of the above heading in quotes is borrowed from the formula used by the people (our predecessors) who struggled to free the old Biafra from the clutches of the genocidal state of Nigeria. In spite of the many odds which were thrown against them, we all agree that they did a good job in fighting to liberate our people from the shackles of bondage in which they are in Nigeria. Therefore, in the present effort, we are only starting from where they stopped. As a word of caution, we repeat that “propaganda,” at least as used in this context, does not connote any negativity.

As the campaign for freedom rages on, it will not hurt if the present campaigners should borrow ideas from the pioneers. In my opinion, by so doing, it’s like borrowing ideas from experience and if we are faithful and honest, I don’t think we will go off the mark by a wide margin. As will be remembered, the Biafrans of old had among others a very effective “Directorate of Propaganda” where notable figures like Cyprian Ekwensi, Okon Okon Ndem and others performed creditably well. Biafra’s Directorate of Propaganda coordinated and oversaw the dissemination of information throughout the genocidal war period. Following closely the lessons of history is important especially in a matter such as we are engaged in.

In order to learn from history, I will suggest that we try to use more often the rearview mirror and compare notes with the works of those who had been in this business before us. The importance of references to history in the struggle cannot be over emphasized. While depending on the lessons of history by glancing often at the rearview mirror, we must not overlook the fact that all successful drivers are only those who take seriously the dangers of their blind spots. So, apart from using the rearview mirror, experience has shown that you will never become a good driver without taking time to look sideways and listen to cautionary advices from fellow travelers who may have some vantage views of the road you are on. The best way to deal with blind spots is to listen and act first and ask questions later. If you thought that you saw something at the corner of your eye, then you must have seen something, take precautionary action. What this means is that absolute caution is important. And one of the first rules of caution in this business is to listen often to the opinions of others.

To truly get our jobs done right today as the pioneers did, we must set out our goals and clearly define them. That is what the people who worked in the various “directorates” of the old Biafra did. By taking time to assess the events and accomplishments of the pioneers, I have come to the conclusion, and many of us will agree with me on this; that of all the Biafran directorates, the propaganda outfit was one of the most successful. The reason for their success was simple. They worked out of a template; they had a “guideline.” No one was a law unto their selves. Everyone’s effort was subject to the scrutiny and assessment of another. Then again, they spoke in the language that appealed to all decent and informed listeners as well as to the regular Ngbeke and Ngbafor on the streets of Enugu, London, New York and Paris. Yes, they spoke in the language of the world. They delivered their urgent and important message to the world, still tempered with respect and journalistic excellence and decorum.

I want to remind us that talking about the success of those pioneers is not based on the judgement or assessment of only those of other Biafrans; no, they were successful mostly because they produced materials and information that met both the internal and international audiences’ standards. They told the truth, pursued excellence and as well as being in earnest, they were sincere and honest.

Why did they and of course we today have to cater to both internal and external audiences? Well, the answer as we may imagine is obvious. It is because whatever message that must be passed on should make sense as well as palatable (consumable) to audiences that are total strangers to our experience and message and to those who know all there is to know about them. Whatever part we are playing at this time in this Biafran liberation effort, the overall goal should be that we are ultimately able to present a comprehensive and convincing message that is honest, sincere, reliable as well as believable. It is only after we have succeeded at this task can we truly consider to have done our job. I believe that those qualities are mostly what will get a stranger listening, to get interested, listen more and understand better our plight and become sympathetic and maybe lift a finger or more to speak and act in our favor.

Producing only messages that are parochial and appeal to a narrow segment of the general audience will only work to defeat the overall goal. It is important that we should work to capture the attention of the international community through the way we present our message. Why we should be careful and court the sympathy of the international audience can be illustrated like this; when a person is sick, very often it is only right that he or she needs to go out to seek for solution. Remaining inside the house and shouting one’s throat hoarse to listeners who are already familiar with their case and may not have all the answers does not always bring healing.

To help us in packaging an acceptable message for the international community we need to always remember that as the theme of our message: Igbo Genocide, though very painful is not unique. Other people in other places and at other times have also suffered like us. Always remembering this will help us to stay both humble as well as sympathetic with other people’s stories and whatever else they are going through. Exhibiting this empathetic attitude should not stop with appreciating the pain or concerns of others of similar experiences; we must not be oblivious of the complaints and concerns of our detractors or persecutors. We must find ways to engage even our worst enemy in constructive diplomatic dialogs at all times. The feelings of all humanity are the same, whether they are in the rank of the perpetrators of the genocide or are the victims of the crime.

Therefore, even when we find ourselves at the receiving end of genocidal injustices as it is, we are still required to look at our pain and those who are responsible through the glass of a common humanity. In the middle of man’s worst inhuman acts against the Igbo we cannot afford to lose faith in humanity. By resorting to insults and unconstructive criticisms of the enemy shows a sign of desperation. We cannot afford to despare, we must find ways to let others find their story in our own as we try to learn everything which we can from the others’ stories. Some of these others like the Armenians, the Jews, the South Sudanese and others have fought and won while others are still fighting and there are those who fought and lost. We can learn a lot from the experiences of these other people, if we tried hard enough.

What we are saying is that it runs counter to the overall aim of the struggle for Biafra’s freedom to continue producing desperate and angry messages that shock and assault what most people consider the standard sense of decency. Continuing along this path will not sustain for long the patronage and sympathy of our audience. And when we talk of the people or the audience here, who we have in mind are those whose opinions and decisions matter in situations like ours – opinion molders and decision makers across the world.

Every person who is familiar with the Biafran story will agree with me that it is possible to maintain an objective position while making the strongest case for justice in regards to Biafrans’ pains. While presenting the Biafran case in the strongest of terms, we can still respect the feelings of other people, listen genuinely to any counter argument and still not compromise the message. Listening to the opinions of other people does not diminish our points or positions. That we defend our points in a civil manner against those of others does not mean their points will automatically win over our own. Only superior arguments win always in the end of the day.

At this point let me remind us of the initial point we made at the beginning of this discussion about goal setting. Setting appropriate goals will help us to determine the methods we plan to use in achieving them. I hope that most Biafranists will agree that the number one goal which of course happens to encompass all others is the attainment of freedom for us, for our people and for our fatherland. As much as we all agree that this goal is right and noble yet from experience we also know that because a case is right does not automatically make it easy to accomplish.

Yet, achieving freedom from Nigeria may be the easy part of the game. But freedom is not going to be enough by itself. Perhaps what is even more important is how to deal with the freedom when it is achieved. In thinking about this we can only take one cursory look at what is happening today in South Sudan and appreciate the importance of pursuing peace and harmony along with freedom. The current situation in South Sudan where there is a seemingly interminable and unmanageable power struggle among the ranks of the leaders should be scarier to us than any other anticipated problems once we attain freedom from Nigeria. Thinking of this booby trap of winning often should be able to make us sober and help us to work harder at becoming more mature and civil in our dealings with fellow Biafranists by cultivating the spirit of give and take. We should for this reason discard and discourage the tendency of any one person trying to display an attitude of “I know it all” and crass insubordination. This is often mistakenly referred to as the practical display of the concept of Igbo enweze. On the contrary, it is pure distortion of an otherwise wholesome concept and an unforgivable bent to cause mischief.

If we must invoke the true concept of Igbo enweze, we have to come to terms with the fact that the concept does not recognize insubordination and the tendency to display unwholesome obstinacy based on unreason and simply to create an unruly, chaotic and primitive-state-of-nature atmosphere around all contested subjects and issues. The concept of Igbo enweze is firmly grounded in the fact of equality of all men, women and peoples everywhere. So, the true spirit of Igbo enweze makes every true Igbo person to take seriously the equality of all individuals and peoples within the Igbo society and across all societies. The Igbo while recognizing this principle of equality as a vital fundamental structure of all functional societies, work hard to preserve the structures of constituted authorities and respect the role of individual leaders who have merited their positions. Usually the Igbo owe their undivided allegiance and trust to these individuals and institutions of sterling repute and accomplishment.

The Igbo despite being entrenched in the practice of eschewing the role of an eze (king) over their dominion still accept the fact that there will always be a head over a body. (The Igbo respects constituted authorities.) The Igbo while according the head and the body their places, recognizes that the relationship between the two has always been that of symbioses – the head cannot exist without the body and vice versa. Please note that Igbo enweze contrasts very drastically with the system of unquestioning feudal worshipfulness which is practiced by most other peoples with whom the Igbo presently share the Nigerian citizenship. This fundamental difference has contributed immensely in the prevailing irreconcilable divides between the others and the Igbo in Nigeria.

Another reason why the period after freedom is very critical can easily be explained. When the people are still struggling to be free, their power base is dissipated and distributed among a wide range of stakeholders in the struggle. This is different from the condition that obtains at the post-struggle era. With freedom comes the concentration of power and authority in specific persons and institutions. Yes, it is the access to power and authority that make managing freedom harder than achieving it. For this reason, we must at this stage spend a considerable amount of time in planning ahead and practicing before time how to respect the rights and opinions of others without resorting to arbitrariness and the primitive abuse of power. In order to achieve this level of refinement in wielding power, we need to practice self-control and discipline. Leaders should always remember the fact that others are just as patriotic and may have as much talents as they do. The watchword is to always have in mind that no one person has a monopoly of patriotism.

In this vein, we must point out a nascent and very dangerous phenomenon which is becoming more apparent with every passing day. It is completely against everything which the Igbo stand for and can be nipped in the bud before it turns into an uncontrollable monster. Throughout history, the Igbo have always been wary of building any kind of cult personalities or institutions where self- or personality-promotion is valued above truth and the common good. It is expected that leaders must be humble in leadership while the people must exhibit unalloyed loyalty and creative support of those elected to be at leading positions. Such leaders are seen merely as representatives of the people and their institutions who serve only at the people’s behest. At every given time, the people are expected to be ready to point out respectfully to the leaders (their representatives) some observed dangers in their blind spots.

After freedom, the people and their representatives must be ready to function under the long established Igbo practice of symbiotic relationship between the elected and the electorate. In this sacred relationship, each recognizes the other’s existence as vital to their own being. While Biafrans are still faced with seemingly insurmountable task of liberating themselves from Nigeria’s oppression they should also concern themselves equally with the onerous task of assembling very quality materials for real state building. Such questions like what kind of state do we conceive? How do we plan to achieve a functional and progressive state that is different from the present dysfunctional and retrogressive Nigerian state? These and many other questions should occupy the mind of all those who are presently involved in the Biafran liberation struggle. In order to achieve such laudable and progressive state, it will take much effort on everybody’s part. For this reason, the best and the brightest of all Biafrans must get involved in the fight to free Biafra.

On the other hand, it will require that each of us must give up the current mad pursuit of self-promotion and projection of personal power (abilities) and interests to the detriment of the common pursuit. From start to finish each person must imbibe the spirit of teamwork and the fight for the collective interest. Unfortunately, even up till this moment some of us still think that to always disagree with the opinions of others and form as many splinter groups as possible is alright and even healthy. That is not true for many reasons but especially when we look at the present South Sudan example.

In closing, as promised earlier, I will like to give us an insight into how the old Biafran Directorate of Propaganda functioned. Perhaps taking a glimpse at the way that office worked will be helpful to the present crop of Biafranists. This insight is courtesy of Roy Doron, a neutral observer of the Biafran phenomenon. He said that: “Biafra propaganda was crafted so as to avoid portraying Biafra as another case of Africans needing a white savior. The Biafrans created an image of a modern state in the making, taking care to show only the most educated and eloquent speakers in interviews.” The people at the Directorate had a clearly defined objective. The aim was to put forth first their (Biafra’s) best foot forward at all times. Not mediocre or the second bests. Duties were distributed according to abilities and there was never a situation where one person was the gburu gburu (the everything.)

Still continuing Doron said; “Biafran propaganda machine was so well oiled and so efficiently managed that it acted like any modern marketing firm and was very adaptable to the changing military situation until almost the very end of the war. The Biafrans employed surveys, focus groups, and evaluations of their media in print and on the airwaves, to ensure that their message adhered to a set of goals that was modified every week and that these goals adhered to the “Guide lines for Effective Propaganda’ articulated at the beginning of the war that expressly set out the objectives of propaganda and how to correctly achieve them.” Given the current riotous situation, if these observations are not instructive for those involved in the Biafran liberation today, I don’t know what else would. In Doron we really have it well cut out for us and we may never need to ask for more.

To succeed both at home and abroad, the old Biafrans took great care to construct their argument and manage its implementation and were disciplined enough to follow a “guideline.” As a capper Doron summed up how Biafrans succeeded by saying that; “The message they constructed had to appeal to [the international community, as well as] the people at home, who on the one hand needed little convincing of the genocidal aims of the Nigerians.”

Written by Osita Ebiem.

North Korea calls US sanctions against Kim Jong-u​n a 'declaration of war'

The leader and other senior officials are accused of human rights abuses but Pyongyang says announcement was a ‘hideous crime’

‘Under Kim Jong-un, North Korea continues to inflict intolerable cruelty and hardship on millions of its own people,’ said Adam J Szubin, of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. Photograph: Wong Maye-E/AP

Thursday 7 July 2016

North Korea has described US sanctions against Kim Jong-un and other senior officials for human rights abuses as a “declaration of war”. Pyongyang said the announcement of sanctions was a “hideous crime”, according to North Korea’s official KCNA news agency.

The United States imposed its first sanctions targeting any North Koreans for rights abuses on Wednesday, blacklisting Kim along with 10 other people and five government ministries and departments. The move affects assets within US jurisdiction.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, hopes China will urge its ally North Korea to cooperate internationally on human rights, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Thursday in New York.

Dujarric said that Ban, who is currently visiting China, “believes that discussion of human rights concerns allows for a more comprehensive assessment and action when addressing security and stability concerns on the Korean peninsula.”

China’s foreign ministry said it opposed the use of unilateral sanctions when asked about the US move. China argues that the human rights situation in North Korea is not a threat to international peace and security and has sought to prevent the issue being discussed at the UN security council.

US secretary of state John Kerry said he had spoken to China’s foreign minister Wang Yi and hoped that Beijing would continue to cooperate with the United States UN sanctions aimed at rolling back North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

North Korea has been under UN sanctions since 2006. In March, the security council imposed harsh new sanctions on the country in response to North Korea’s fourth nuclear test in January and the launch of a long-range rocket in February. Some analysts and diplomats have warned that the US move could limit cooperation with China on further action.

Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said last month that the United States would seek to identify people and entities linked to a series of recent ballistic missile tests by Pyongyang, in violation of a UN ban, who could be sanctioned by the UN security council. The cooperation of China and Russia would be needed for any further designations.

Senior US administration officials said the new US sanctions showed the administration’s greater focus on human rights in North Korea, an area long secondary to Washington’s efforts to halt Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs.

“Under Kim Jong-un, North Korea continues to inflict intolerable cruelty and hardship on millions of its own people, including extrajudicial killings, forced labor, and torture,” said Adam J Szubin, acting undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, in a statement.

Inside North Korea adulation for Kim, 32, is mandatory and he is considered infallible. A 2014 report by the United Nations, which referred to Kim by name in connection to human rights, triggered a strong reaction from Pyongyang, including a string of military provocations.

The US treasury department identified Kim’s date of birth as 8 January 1984, a rare official confirmation of his birthday.

South Korea, which cut all political and commercial ties with its own sanctions against the North in February, welcomed the US move, saying it will encourage greater international pressure on the North to improve its human rights record.

Minn. governor says race played role in fatal police shooting during traffic stop

Philando Castile. (Courtesy of Allysza Castile)--Philando Castile, right. (Courtesy of Allysza Castile)

Philando Castile, 32, was fatally shot by a police officer at a traffic stop outside St. Paul. His girlfriend, Diamond “Lavish” Reynolds, and her 4-year-old daughter were in the car with him. Reynolds live streamed the aftermath on Facebook. Here's what you need to know. (Monica Akhtar, Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)
By Michael E. Miller, Wesley Lowery and Lindsey Bever July 7 at 4:27 PM

A Minnesota traffic stop turned deadly Wednesday evening when a police officer opened fire on a black driver and killed him — less than 48 hours after another fatal police shooting in Louisiana.

As outrage mounted Thursday over the shooting in a quiet St. Paul suburb, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton (D) suggested that race played a role in the death of Philando Castile, a 32-year-old school cafeteria manager.
The Facebook live video of the aftermath of the police shooting of Philando Castile went down for a few hours shortly after it reached more than 1 million viewers. Facebook blames a technical glitch. (Jhaan Elker/The Washington Post)

The fatal encounter in Falcon Heights, Dayton said, probably would have ended differently had Castile been white.

“Nobody should be shot and killed in Minnesota … for a taillight being out of function,” the governor said.

“Nobody should be shot and killed while seated still in their car. I’m heartbroken.”

He added: “All of us in Minnesota are forced to confront that this kind of racism exists.”

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