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11 February 2014
A second round of Syria peace talks started on 10 February 2014. For the first time, representatives of the armed opposition groups were also present. Beforehand, the mediator Lakhdar Brahimi told the parties to commit to discussing an end to the fighting as well as setting up a transitional government. There is little evidence of political will and trust, as both sides maintain their firm positions. The mediator will meet the two parties separately over the next few days, in order to improve the atmosphere. He plans to meet United States and Russian officials on 14 February, in what analysts consider an attempt to overcome the strong disagreement in the international community over the conflict.
In the meantime, humanitarian agencies are evacuating civilians from the old city of Homs, made possible by a cease-fire, which has been extended until 12 February. An attempt initiated by France to draw up a draft Security Council Resolution in order to increase access to humanitarian aid was hampered by the absence of Russia and China in the negotiations.
Source: The New York Times | As Second Round of Syrian Talks Begins, U.N.’s Mediator Steps Cautiously
Source: Reuters | Second round of Syria talks makes faltering start
10 February 2014
Government forces, pro-government forces and armed opposition groups are employing civilian suffering as a method of warfare by starvation, denying humanitarian relief, targeting civilians, subjecting them to inhumane treatment and committing other human rights violations. This statement, issued by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, is based on the reports of six unpaid independent experts appointed by the Human Rights Council. ‘The acts being committed amount to crimes against humanity, carried out as a deliberate and systematic effort to cause civilian suffering. They also constitute war crimes and serious violations of customary international humanitarian law which binds all parties,’ they stated. The rapporteurs urge all parties to stop using civilian suffering as a method for warfare and to ensure immediate humanitarian relief.
Source: UN News Centre | Both sides in Syria guilty of war crimes in ‘systematic effort to cause civilian suffering’ – UN experts
4 February 2014
A hacker organisation in Germany, The Chaos Computer Club, accuses Chancellor Angela Merkel and her government of helping US and British intelligence agencies to spy on German citizens. Furthermore, the organisation has filed a criminal complaint against Merkel with the Federal Prosecutor General, however, it is not guaranteed that an investigation will ensue. The complaint alleges that Merkel’s government violated the personal privacy of German citizens through ‘illegal and prohibited covert intelligence activities, along with aiding and abetting such activities’ by allowing and assisting US and British agencies.
Edward J. Snowden, former contractor for the NSA, told reporter Hubert Seipel in an interview that Germany’s intelligence service and the NSA have an ‘intimate’ relationship. Additionally, Snowden stated that ‘[t]hey not only share information, the reporting of results from intelligence, but they actually share the tools and the infrastructure.’ While Steffen Seibert, Merkel’s spokesman, said that to file such a criminal complaint is the right of every German citizen, he declined to comment further on the situation.
Source: The New York Times | Hacker Group Accuses Merkel Government of Helping to Spy
3 February 2014
An US-backed campaign for the past three months to discreetly destroy Libya’s lethal arsenal and chemical weapons successfully ended last week. Hundreds of bombs and artillery rounds filled with mustard agents, which the US feared could fall into terrorists’ hands, were destroyed. The programme took 45 million US dollar from the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction fund and the Pentagon assigned Parsons Corporation to work with Libya to rebuild and safeguard the disposal site. Additionally, Canada donated 6 million US dollar to the site to restore water, sewage and electricity, and to build living quarters, while Germany agreed to send international inspectors to the site.
Paul F. Walker, an arms control expert with Green Cross International, stated ‘[e]ven though Libya’s chemical stockpile was relatively small, the effort to destroy it was very difficult because of weather, geography and because it’s a dangerous area with warring tribes, increasing the risks of theft and diversion.’ The disposal site is located in the desert where Islamist militants are gaining more influence and where the eastern and western provinces struggle over political power and oil revenue.
The programme used a Swedish custom-built device to destroy the chemical weapons. The device is like a giant, high-tech oven in which the weapons are fed into a gas-tight chamber, where the toxic materials are vaporised at temperatures up to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The easily transportable technology used to destroy Libya’s chemical weapons has become a model for the programme in Syria to destroy their chemical weapons now underway.
Source: The New York Times | Libya’s Cache of Toxic Arms All Destroyed
29 January 2014
The Security Council Resolution 2134 extended the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office (BINUCA) mandate in the Central African Republic through 31 January 2015. Additionally, the Security Council ordered the authorisation of EU troops to use force, travel bans, and asset freezes to a currently existing arms embargo. Such decision was a result of the ‘continuing deterioration of the security situation in the CAR’ and the ‘total breakdown in law and order, the absence of the rule of law, religiously motivated targeted killings and arson.’ (more…)
Source: UN News Centre | Security Council authorizes EU force, new sanctions regime in Central African Republic