Canadians had own investigation, but Swiss reportedly asked for help over money laundering and corruption
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Riadh Ben Aissa was arrested in Switzerland sometime in the past few days, but it’s not yet clear what charges are faced by the former head of global construction SNC-Lavalin, a large Canadian company. The company has been in Canadian headlines for weeks over a scandal involving missing millions.
The Globe & Mail refers to Ben Aissa as Canada’s most mysterious businessman. It says it was told by Jacquelin Buhlmann, a spokeswoman for the Swiss Public Attorney’s Office that Switzerland in April asked Canada for assistance in its year-long investigation into possible money laundering, corruption and fraud. About that time, says the Canadian newspaper, Canadian police raided the offices of SNC.
“Ben Aissa was forced out of the Montreal-based company in February amid allegations he made $56-million in improper payments to unknown commercial agents,” reports the Globe & Mail. “The company has said it has no idea where the money went. Mr. Ben Aissa has denied any wrongdoing. A source familiar with the company’s investigation has said some of the payments went through banks in Switzerland and the Middle East.”
He had close ties to the two Qaddafi sons, Saadi and Saif, the Toronto Star reports. Their assets in Switzerland have been blocked since before the overthrow of their father’s regime.
The company’s major projects in Libya included, according to RTS, the Benghazi airport, the Gharyan prison and an artificial river that runs through the desert.
RTS notes that SNC has said it will cooperate fully with the Swiss investigation.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Rebel forces in Northern Mali advanced their control over vast areas in an effort to consolidate a Saharan state, taking advantage of the political upheaval left from last month’s military coup in the capital, Bamako.
The fighters are an alliance of Touareg and Islamic rebels seeking to establish a homeland for the Tuareg people. They said they were ready to negotiate with the government, according to Aljazeera 2 April. The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) said, after capturing the legendary town of Timbuktu, 900 kilometers northeast of Bamako, that they were not interested in enlarging the area under their control.
Meanwhile, in the capital, the coup’s leader Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo reinstated the 1992 constitution, just as a deadline for crippling sanctions was closing in.
Desire Ouedraogo, president of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), said he was satisfied with the announcement, according to Aljazeera. But Ecowas went ahead Monday with a travel ban on Sanogo and his group, while also imposing a diplomatic and financial embargo.
It is unclear from Sanogo’s statement about the constitution when elections will take place and whether he still considers himself president.
The rebel MNLA forces have been boosted since the beginning of 2012 with the arrival of manpower and material arriving from neighboring Libya, where Tuaregs had been volunteering in Muammar Khadhafi’s army.
A group, known as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, has been responsible for a number of kidnappings in Northern Mali. It is not clear what links the Tuareg rebels have with this or other Islamic groups.
Links to other sources: AllAfrica, CNN, The Globe and Mail, AP
The continuing fighting in Syria is creating a host of complex problems
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – March marks one year of fighting in Syria, with reports 14 March that government forces are heavily bombarding the northern city of Idlib, near the border with Turkey. The incessant fighting between government forces and insurgents is sending a growing number of refugees across the border but also creating refugee displacement problems within the country, says the UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) in Geneva. Syria has been a host nation for Iraqi refugees and continues to shelter about 110,000 refugees who are registered with the UNHCR.
Fighting unabated
UPI reports that “The fighting in central neighborhoods of the Sunni Muslim city of Idlib, near the Turkish border, resembled last month’s fighting in the opposition Baba Amr neighborhood of the western-central city of Homs, which Assad-regime forces reclaimed two weeks ago, activist groups said. Forces loyal to President Bashar Assad bombarded Idlib using tanks, helicopters and artillery, rockets and mortars in the barrage’s fourth day, activists said.”
UNHCR appoints regional head to coordinate complex refugee situation
The UNHCR in Geneva named Panos Moumtzis its regional refugee coordinator Tuesday 13 Marc. Moumtzis has been the organization’s head of donor relations.
He told media Tuesday that “official data from surrounding countries and UNHCR’s own registration figures indicate that around 30,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries while significant numbers of Syrians are thought to be displaced inside Syria.”
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The news comes as something of an anti-climax after 8 years in the making: the two Tinner brothers and their 74-year-old father are being charged with breaking Swiss arms export laws. They were part of an operation run by Pakistani Abdul Qadeer Khan, who supplied nuclear parts and secrets to a network that included Libya. Libya’s nuclear plans were revealed when the Tinner case came to light in 2003, and, largely as a result, Libya was forced to abandon its programme.
The family of engineers has agreed to a deal, according to the Swiss public prosecutor’s office, whereby they will serve a maximum of five years, but details of the arrangements will remain secret.
One of the open questions linked to the case is whether the family cooperated with the CIA.
Background, GenevaLunch, “The political tug of war over the Tinner’s nuclear plans drags on”, 2009
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Four bodies were found and other people are known to have drowned, says the UN refugee agency UNHCR in Geneva, after the Moroccan Royal Navy guard rescued 53 people from a boat that sank off the coast near Dar Kabdani.
The vessel was carrying more than 60 people and included several pregnant women and children under age 10. UNHCR staff identified two of the bodies, a Congolese woman and her daughter, both of whom were registered refugees.
The rescue was just one of several in the region last week, reports the UNHCR. “The Libyan coast guard has reported that up to four hundred people were rescued from boats off the Libyan coast in recent days. It now seems that migrants and refugees are once again attempting to use Libya as a transit route to Europe. In years gone past it was rare to see boats attempting to make the perilous crossing during the winter.”
Two sailing boats with about 80 people of different nationalities, mostly Afghans, were rescued by the Italian coastguard on Monday after a week at sea. The boats had left from Greece. The people on board were dehydrated and had no food and water left.
A boat with 44 people, many reportedly Somali, that left from the Libyan coast over the weekend was rescued by the Maltese Armed Forces overnight.
Swiss photographer Michael Grob on his work with Cambodian landmine victims: "Unlike in Afghanistan which is still in a state of war, we had to learn to adjust to the reality of such an amount of mines still being in Cambodian soil so long after the fighting has stopped. It was at times very difficult for me to deal with the impression left by the very high number of mine inflicted casualties - especially those of injured children. The work of the UN in Cambodia is, in my eyes, of utmost importance. It is for some communities the only opportunity for some kind of future. The situation touched me deeply and profoundly...my work for the United Nations mine action - as insignificant as it might be in the bigger picture - shall go on as long as needed." (©2011 Michael Grob)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Efforts to get rid of landmines are making good progress in many countries and funding is being maintained despite government budget constraints, a key meeting in Cambodia that closed 2 December shows. But work remains, with 4,000 new victims of landmines each year: six people died in Pursat Province, Cambodia, which hosted the meeting, Thursday 1 December when their truck triggered a mine.
The 11th meeting of the States Parties, the 158 nations that are part of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention finished in Phnom Penh with several strong commitments.
The Netherlands stated that “despite cuts in other areas, the government remains convinced of this matter” and it will maintain its €15 million annual contribution to demining and victim assistance.
Austria is increasing its 2012 funding slightly, to €1.9 million.
Cambodia funding stepped up
Austria announced its first contributions to demining and victim assistance in Cambodia, totaling €400,000. New Zealand, too, will contribute to a demining project in northeastern Cambodia: more than US$ 1 million in 2012.
Burundi bright spot
Cheering news came from Burundi, which says it has completed demining, a full three years ahead of the deadline to which it was committed. It is the 19th country to be declared mine-free.
Myanmar told the landmine ban meeting in Cambodia at the end of November that it is carefully considering the matter (Photo, ©2011, AP Mine Ban Convention)
The meeting, with 1,000 delegates taking part, marked progress in a number of areas and made media headlines over the first-ever participation by Myanmar, as an observer.
The isolated nation has been making commitments to reform, and at the land-mine ban meeting it said that “thorough study of the treaty will be continued”.
Its actions will be watched closely; it is one of three countries, along with Qaddafi’s Libya and Israel, who have been accused of laying mines in 2011.
“Convincing evidence” Syria is using mines
There is also “convincing evidence”, the group says, that Syria has used mines this year.
Tuvalu and South Sudan took their seats as the Convention’s newest adherents. Finland announced that it is on the verge of becoming the 159th to join the Convention.
Fifteen States that have not yet joined the Convention attended as observers, “signaling their openness to engage in a discussion on the devastating impact of anti-personnel mines”, a meeting press release states. The US is one of these and it reported that it is continuing to review its landmine policy.
Other signs of progress reported by the meeting: “Turkey reported the destruction of all stockpiled anti-personnel mines: 3 million mines. Burundi and Nigeria declared completion of their mine clearance obligations. Guinea Bissau, Jordan and Uganda announced that they will complete their demining programmes in coming months.”
A major and often under-funded part of the States’ commitments is helping survivors. Meeting host Cambodia, one of the most affected countries, says it is “assessing its national action plan on disability with a view to preparing a revised plan in 2012.”
Britain, Germany fail to meet commitments to demine
Germany is one of four countries with new reports of mine contamination that are falling far behind on their commitments to demine.
The town of Koblenz, Germany is the site this weekend of a massive project to defuse a bomb with 3,000 tons of explosives left over from the second world war; 45,000 people are being evacuated from their homes to allow the army and experts to get rid of it. The bomb became apparent this year due to lower water levels in the Rhine, reports NPR.
Britain has failed to clear any mines in the Falklands for the second year in a row.
“The UK has consistently failed to meet their clearance obligations under the treaty, and now have to clear more than 110 mined areas across over 7km2 in less than seven years,” the group notes.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The ICRC (International Red Cross) in Geneva and the Libyan Red Cross have begun a three-week radio campaign in Libya to warn the population of the danger of explosive remnants of war. The programme is being launched a day after the Landmine Monitor Report 2011 cautioned that landmine detection work will need to be stepped up in Libya in the wake of several months of fighting.
The ICRC said in Geneva 24 November that billboards, posters and leaflets will back up the campaign, with four radio stations broadcasting the information six times a day.
“The danger exists in different places in Libya, but the campaign is primarily addressing people who are gradually returning to their homes in Sirte and Bani Walid. The heavy fighting which took place until last month left the two cities seriously contaminated by such devices,” the ICRC says in a statement. “The threat to civilians in these urban areas, mainly from small unexploded weapons such as grenades, rockets and mortar shells, is severe,’ says Jennifer Reeves, an ICRC delegate. ‘In Sirte in the past week alone, two children playing with one of these devices and a young man cleaning his damaged house were badly injured. Many people are unaware of the dangers posed by ordnance which may explode at the slightest touch.’ Dozens of civilians have been killed or maimed in the country in similar circumstances in the past month.’”
The ICRC says it has removed some 1,400 unexploded devices in some of the areas worst affected by the hostilities, including Ajdabiya, Misrata and the Nefusa mountains. It has also trained over 140 Libyan Red Crescent volunteers to raise awareness of the threat among the local population.
Uganda landmine survivors met in March 2012 (photo ©2011 Landmine Monitor / D Osman)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – There is some good news on the landmine front, the “Landmine & Cluster Munitions Monitor 2011″ (full report online), issued 23 November reports, but it is dampened by news that three countries laid landmines this year, with two of them, Israel and Libya confirmed.
Myanmar is the third suspect, and four non-state armed groups laid mines as well.
Record ordnance cleared
On the brighter side:
- at least 200km2 of mined areas were cleared by 45 mine action programs in 2010, the highest annual total ever recorded by the Monitor; 198km2 in 2009, the previous record, and 160 km2 in 2008
- more than 388,000 antipersonnel mines and over 27,000 anti-vehicle mines were destroyed during this clearance
- programmes in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Croatia, Iraq, and Sri Lanka together accounted for more than 80% of recorded clearance
- an additional 460km2 of former battle area was reportedly cleared, destroying in the process more than 1.2 million items of unexploded ordnance; largest totals: Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Lao PDR.
Eighty percent of the world’s nation, 158 countries, have now joined the Landmine Ban Treaty. Donor contributions for mine action rose to $637 million, a record high, with 31 countries contributing. Five main mine action donors—the US, European Commission, Japan, Norway, and Canada—accounted for 64% of all funding.
Eighty-seven states have completed the destruction of their stockpiles, including Iraq, who was added to the list in June 2011.
5% increase in new victims
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – An ICRC (International Red Cross) official has told news agency Reuters that its staff has visited Seif al-Islam Qaddafi in Zintan, in western Libya, where he is being held. The ICRC limited its comments to the fact he appears to be in good health, noting that he is one of 8,500 people detained in Libya that the humanitarian group has visited since fighting began there early in 2011.
Al-Islam Qaddafi was widely considered to be in line to take over the Qaddafi regime before it lost its hold on power in Libya.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Abdullah al-Sanussi, who headed the Qaddafi regime’s spy network, was captured, the National Transitional Council announced, without saying when. His capture in the Al-Guira region in the south of the country comes one day after that of Seif al-Islam Qaddafi, the son who was expected to take over from his father Muammar.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The eldest son of Muammar Qaddafi, and presumed heir to the regime before it fell, Seif al-Islam, was arrested Saturday 19 November in southern Libya, an official from the NTC (National Transitional Council) told reporters. He was reportedly flown to a detention centre after it was secured. Three others were arrested with him in the city of Zintan during the night, without incidence, according to Aljazeera. There are conflicting reports about whether or not his convoy was heading for Niger.
Al-Islam, 39 and educated in Britain, created a Geneva-based foundation whose management resigned in February, essentially closing it down (Ed. note: The foundation no longer has a web site).
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Saadi Qadaffi, who fled to Niger, is contesting Interpol’s arrest warrant for him, after earlier dismissing charges of misappropriating funds. His lawyer said Tuesday 2 November that he is challenging the basis of the Interpol warrant, saying it is politically motivated by a new leadership that lacks legitimacy.
The news comes three days after the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, that the presumed heir to the Qddafi regime in Libya, Saif Al-Islam, said it fears Saif Al-Islam, once the presumed heir to the Qaddafi reign, is trying to escape from Libya to Niger with the help of mercenaries, although he is also reported to be asking questions about what will happen to him if he turns himself in. to face prosecutoin by the ICC.
Muammar Qaddafi’s other children have taken refuge in Algeria. They include Hannibal, who provoked a diplomatic row between Libya and Switzerland.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Libya’s NTC, the National Transitional Council, says it will bring to justice the person found to have shot the bullet to the head that killed former leader Muammar Qaddafi, who died 20 minutes after being captured. The NTC had argued for a week that he was killed in crossfire, but video footage shown by those who captured him forced the council to back down. The Guardian reports that everyone in Misrata, where he was captured, knows the man who shot Qaddafi, and his army unit, but there is little sympathy for calls for justice. “Talk of an inquest was being seen by Misrata officials as an attempt by the Benghazi-dominated NTC to claim prominence in post-Gaddafi affairs,” reports the Guardian.
Aljazeera has shown film footage of the man who claims to have taken the shot, surrounded by fighters who are clearly proud of him, but it says it cannot independently confirm the information, a report repeated by other news agencies that have film footage. Aljazeera notes that the United Nations and human rights organizations will be closely viewing films in coming days to determine who murdered Qaddafi, when and how.
UN ends approval of foreign military intervention
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The political security commission of the upper house of parliament is demanding that the Federal Council move as quickly as possible to replace the private security firm guarding the Swiss embassy in Tripoli with a Swiss army unit. The commission said late Friday 28 October that it does not consider the current arrangement adequate; worse, it is embarrassing for the country, with an army unit ready to be deployed the moment the embassy re-opened 15 October.
The private security firm was hired because the government failed to settle a disagreement between the foreign affairs department and the defense department over how the embassy should be guarded, according to the commission.
The embassy was closed in February when the conflict in Libya began to heat up.
The United Nations said Friday it will end its authorization for foreign intervention in Libya, now that the Qaddafi regime has fallen and the transitional government is in place.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The official autopsy results have been released for Muammar Qaddafi, former Libyan leader, showing that he died from a bullet to the head, but the chief pathologist who made the information public would not say if the wound was the result of a close shot or crossfire, a key point in calls for investigations into his death. The autopsy was carried out in the presence of a team from the prosecutor’s office but no foreigners were present, CNN reports.
Links to other sites: Al Arabiya, NY Mag
Qaddafi’s body displayed in Libya, CNN video
The Associated Press is reporting, 21 October that a wounded Moammar Gadhafi raised his hands and begged revolutionary fighters for his life: ”Don’t kill me, my sons.” However, the former dictator was dragged, shot, and killed within an hour. He was then, paraded on the hood of a truck.
The BBC in the meantime, is reporting that Libyan authorities are planning a secret burial for the ousted leader.
However, it appears there may be a delay in his burial, which under Islamic tradition should take place as soon as possible.
Oil minister Ali Tarhouni told Reuters that Col Gaddafi’s body may be kept “for a few days”.
The slain leader’s body is according to Al Jazeera, to be kept in freezer after UN human rights office calls video of his last moments “disturbing”.
Links to: BBC News, Al Jazeera, Associated Press
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A roundup of what selected English language international media are saying about the death of Muammar Qaddafi and the end of his 42-year rule in Libya.
The circumstances surrounding his death remain unclear Friday morning, but most reports now point to his death in crossfire after being captured Thursday 20 October.
Links to: Aljazeera, Bangkok Post, BBC, CNN, The Globe & Mail, Jerusalem Post
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Reports are coming in from several major news agencies that Muammar Qaddafi has died, while other reports say only that he was captured after fighting in the area. Both are emanating from the new regime, reporting from Sirte.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton is the latest foreign leader to visit the new regime in Tripoli, in a surprise visit from Washington Tuesday 18 October. She follows Prime Minister David Cameron of the UK and France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy. She is scheduled to meet, surrounded by tight security, National Transition Council chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil, interim prime minister Mahmoud Jibril as well as Ali Tarhuni, the oil and finance minister.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – China and Russia used their vetoes in the UN Security Council late Tuesday to stop a United Nations draft resolution that threatened sanctions against Syria. It would have been the first such UN decision since March, when President Bashar Assad’s military regime began using tanks and soldiers to crack down on protester. US Ambassador Susan Rice walked out after the vote and remarks against the US by Syria.
The double veto 4 October was the first by the two countries since 2008, when they opposed sanctions against Zimbabwe and it came after several attempts to renegotiate the draft text failed.
The vote was 9-2, with four countries abstaining: India, South Africa, Brazil and Lebanon.
NPR in the US reports that “Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told the council after the vote that his country did not support the Assad regime or the violence but opposed the resolution because it was “based on a philosophy of confrontation,” contained “an ultimatum of sanctions” and was against a peaceful settlement of a crisis. He also complained that the resolution did not call for the Syrian opposition to disassociate itself from ‘extremists’ and enter into dialogue.
Ria Novosti reports that Russia “stands firmly against any mention of sanctions citing the example of Libya where the Nato countries largely overstepped the UN mandate in a military operation against Muammar Qaddafi’s regime, said the text of the document was ‘unacceptable’ despite several changes to the draft. The Russian news agency cites Churkin’s complaint that “the document did not contain provisions on the unacceptability of an external military intervention.”
China’s Ambassador Li Bandong says that China is concerned about the violence but that sanctions achieve little and can complicate the situation rather than help it.
Links to other sites: BBC, The Globe & Mail, NPR, Ria Novosti, Xinhua
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland Thursday welcomed Libya’s new ambassador, Sliman Bouchuiguir, while announcing its own new ambassador to Libya, 49-year-old Michel Gottret, currently ambassador to Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain. Gottret will take up his new post as soon as possible, according to Bern. Switzerland is reviewing the situation in Tripoli with an eye to re-opening its embassy there, closed in early 2011 as the situation there deteriorated.
The new Swiss ambassador has a degree in physics. He entered the federal diplomatic service in 1979. He has held several posts in Bern, Paris, Copenhagen and Washington. In 2002, the Federal Council appointed him as ambassador to Algeria and Mauritania with residence in Algiers. He has held his current post since 2007.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – China has recognized Libya’s new government, the NTC, handing a final international political blow to the Qaddafi regime. The news comes this week as the National Transitional Council in Libya announced that the new government’s main source of law will be moderate Islam.
Earlier this week, 13 September Amnesty International issued a report on crimes against humanity by the Qaddafi regime but it also noted that the NTC may have committed war crimes.
TRIPOLI, LIBYA – The new governor of Libya’s central bank says the hunt is on for assets hidden around the world by the Qaddafi regime. He is cited by AFP as confirming 8 September rumours that former leader Muammar Qaddafi sold at least $1.7 billion in gold at discounted prices in April and May, saying the money went for salaries and other running costs. The sale equalled about 20 percent of the country’s gold reserves and he believes the gold itself probably made it across the border into Tunisia.
Qassem Azzoz says the interim government has enough cash to function, with most of what is on the books intact, although he concedes that much of the country’s money is hidden in investments and accounts around the world.
Links to other sites: AFP/ABC Australia, Khaleej Times/AP
LIBYA – Hannibal Qadaffi’s name is back in the news after western reporters say to have found evidence of “inhumane treatment” of his staff at his compound.
The son of Libya’s leader Muammar Qadaffi, who won his lawsuit for defamation of character brought against the Geneva newspaper La Tribune de Genève and the city of Geneva, and who said would continue to insist “on an international tribunal to clear his name,” could have been hiding a maid that, seemingly, was brutalized by his wife.
In 2008, “Hannibal,” as he is known, was arrested at a luxury hotel in Geneva on charges of abusing two of his domestic staff. The servants later dropped the charges against him.
CNN correspondent Dan Rivers, seems to have found further evidence that abuses against staff at the Hannibal’s household may be widespread. The reporter found a 30-year-old Ethiopian maid, Shweyga Mullah, who says she was brutally tortured by Hannibal’s wife and was later forbidden from receiving medical treatment.
Hannibal Qadaffi and his father are still on the run.
Warning: The CNN report includes graphic content.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Rumours are rife that Muammar Qaddafi is hiding out with his old friend Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, but while they may be hard to prove, it’s clear that Africa has mixed feelings about who is or should be in charge in Libya, reports allAfrica. The African Union voted Friday 26 August against recognizing Libya’s National Transition Council (NTC) as the sole government power, calling for an inclusive government that would include Qaddafi supporters. Nigeria says it has nothing to apologize for, in recognizing the NTC, while Tanzania, among others, has refused to do so.
Zimbabwe has ordered Libya’s ambassador and his staff to leave the country following their defection last week to the NTC.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Swiss officials, like those in the European Union, say they must wait for a new United Nations resolution before allowing financial institutions to release frozen assets of Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi and his entourage, but several countries are meeting in Doha today, 24 August, to discuss an emergency request for $2.5 from Libya’s National Transitional Council.
The UN Security Council’s resolution in early 2011 to block Qaddafi assets led to an estimated $100 billion being frozen, in several countries, according to the Financial Times, which lists the US as the largest holder, at $37b, and the US $12, with Germany holding another $7.3b.
The exact amount frozen in Switzerland has not been confirmed by the Swiss government, but it is likely to be a fraction of the total blocked, possibly less than CHF1 billion, according to earlier figures released by the government. Libya withdrew much of the money it had in Swiss banks and other financial institutions in 2008 after Hannibal Qaddafi, the younger son of Muammar, was arrested at a Geneva hotel for attacking one of his employees.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Fighting is intensifying around the Qaddafi compound in Tripoli, reports Aljazeera, as rebels push to gain control of the Libya capital Tuesday 23 August, in the face of stiff resistance. Tuesday has been a day of conflicting reports, following the surprise appearance of Saif Al-Islam Qaddafi, wanted on war crimes charges by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, after he was reported to have been taken by rebels Monday.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland, along with the UN and other governments, Monday 22 August issued a call to those fighting in Libya to protect foreigners caught up in the battle, and reminded rebels that leaders who are arrested must be dealt with through the justice system. All three sons of Muammar Qaddafi have now reportedly been arrested.
Bern issued a reminder that it was among the first countries to open a humanitarian aid office in Benghazi and that it intends to continue to operate this to help alleviate civilian suffering in Libya. The Libyan National Transition Council remains the only authority Switzerland is dealing with, the Swiss Federal Foreign Affairs Department says, and it has opened a political office in Benghazi to develop working relations with the CNT.
In the UK, Prime Minister David Cameron appeared before the media, calling for the Qaddafi regime to step down immediately. Muammar Qaddafi’s whereabouts remain a mystery.
US President Barack Obama Sunday repeated his earlier calls for Qaddafi to step down, to prevent further bloodshed.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Muammar Qaddafi, in an audio recording Monday 15 August, urged his countrymen to fight against Nato and the rebels who have launched a two-prong attack that could isolate Tripoli. This is the elder Qaddafi’s first live broadcast in several months.
Al Jazeera reports that fighting has been heavy. “Opposition fighters fought for control of the towns of Gharyan and Az-Zawiyah on Sunday, attempting to cut off the southern coastal route from Tunisia that Gaddafi uses for supplies,” it reports, noting that casualties have been high in some areas and that the government denies that the rebels have taken parts of key cities.
Links to other sites: Al Jazeera, Guardian, Xinhua
Europe, with only 29 percent of world’s refugee applications, called on to do more
Update 11:30, latest Somalia figures GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – UNHCR, the Geneva-based refugee organization, barely has time to observe its own birthday, which is in itself a comment on the state of refugee affairs in the world today.The UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees is an international treaty created after the second world war to resolve Europe’s refugee problem. It was adopted 28 July 1951.
“This global treaty provides a definition of who qualifies as a refugee – a person with a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion – and spells out the rights and obligations between host countries and refugees. As the legal foundation on which UNHCR’s work is based, it has enabled the agency to help millions of uprooted people to restart their lives in the last 60 years,” the group notes in an anniversary statement issued Thursday.
Libya’s million, Somalia’s 800,000
Africa has seen a surge in refugees in 2011, with the fighting linked to the demise of several dictatorships. Libya alone has created one million refugees. Somalia is the latest crisis-riddled country to create a massive outflow, with years-long fighting now couple with the worst drought in half a century that has now created a severe famine. More than 800,000 Somali refugees now live outside their country, with the vast majority in the region:
| COUNTRY OF ASYLUM | TOTAL NUMBER |
| Kenya | 351,773 |
| Ethiopia | 81,247 |
| Djibouti | 14,216 |
| Yemen | 180,341 |
| Others | 17,306 |
| Total | 644,883 |
Nearly 1.5 million more Somalis are internally displaced, mostly in the south-central region of the country. More than 100,000 of them have been displaced inside Somalia so far this year.
80% of world’s refugees flee to neighbouring developing countries
Somalia refugees were already fleeing their country in July 2009, before fighting was coupled with famine (photo ©2011 UNHCR / E Hockstein)
Somalia’s refugees now number some 450,000 in neighbouring countries Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti, and the numbers are growing daily, says the UNHCR. Tunisia and Egypt have “received the bulk of the exodus from Libya” says the organization, which underscores that four-fifths of the world’s refugees are in developing countries.
Europe, by contrast, received 243,000 refugee applications in 2010, 29 percent of the world’s total. Antonio Guterres, the High Commissioner for Refugees, says that “at present, a truly common system remains elusive, as significant differences persist among Member States in their reception and treatment of asylum-seekers. The 60th anniversary of the Refugee Convention, we hope, will give impetus to the establishment of a true Common European Asylum System. Europe could also do more to resettle refugees,” referring to the process through which refugees in one country, usually in the developing world, are permanently relocated to new countries, usually in the developed world.
