ABOARD GEO BARENTS: Guards at a Libyan detention center for migrants shot and killed at least six people amid chaos in the overcrowded facility, UN officials said Saturday as they again condemned widespread abuses against migrants in the North African country.
The development comes a week after authorities rounded up more than 5,000 migrants in a massive crackdown and after UN-commissioned investigators said abuses and ill treatment of migrants in Libya amount to crimes against humanity.
The shooting took place Friday in the Mabani detention center west of the capital, Tripoli, where authorities earlier this month sent 4,187 new detainees, including 511 women and 60 children, according to the International Organization for Migration.
A spokesman for Libya’s Interior Ministry, which oversees migrant detention centers, didn’t respond to requests for comment.
It wasn’t immediately clear what triggered the violence. But Vincent Cochetel, the UN refugee agency’s special envoy for the Central Mediterranean, said “human rights violations and inhuman conditions” at Libya’s overcrowded detention centers led to the mayhem, which included “indiscriminate shooting.”
Cochetel urged the European Union and UN to impose sanctions on those implicated in the abuses against migrants, especially after the findings of UN-commissioned investigators.
“Some individuals bear special responsibility for the human rights abuses committed either because they are directly involved in them or because they cover them under their authority. It is time for the UN and the EU sanctions committee to take action and list some individuals,” he told The Associated Press.
Federico Soda, the head of IOM’s mission in Libya, said at least six migrants were shot dead by guards.
Footage circulated online purporting to show hundreds of migrants fleeing the detention center through a gap in the facility fence. Some were seen helping apparently injured fellow migrants. Other videos showed large numbers of migrants running through the streets in Tripoli.
Gabriel Akoulong, 24, of Cameroon, was among the fleeing migrants. He was detained in the crackdown in the western town of Gargaresh, a major hub for migrants in Libya, and imprisoned in Mabani.
“They put us into crowded cells where we couldn’t even breathe. There was no food, no water, no oxygen,” he said.
During the escape, some migrants fell and were caught by Libyan guards who beat them. Some of the migrants trying to flee were shot, he said.
“I still ask myself why we have been detained and imprisoned,” he told the AP in a phone interview from Tripoli where he was in hiding.
Earlier this week, many migrants attempted to flee from the Mabani center, but they were met “with extreme violence,” said medical aid group Doctors without Borders, which was granted a rare visit to the center.
The group, also known by its French acronym MSF, said its visiting team “heard two rounds of heavy gunfire at very close range and witnessed the indiscriminate beating of a group of men who were later forced into vehicles and driven to an unknown destination.”
More than 5,000 migrants were rounded up in the crackdown earlier this month, including 215 were children and more than 540 women, at least 30 of whom were pregnant, according to the IOM. The crackdown, which left one migrant dead and 15 others injured, began Oct. 1 in Gargaresh and spread to surrounding areas.
Libyan authorities described the crackdown as a security operation against illegal migration and drug trafficking. But they made no mention of any traffickers or smugglers being arrested.
Hours before Friday’s chaos in Mabani, the UN refugee agency said authorities demolished many buildings and makeshift houses for migrants during the crackdown.
“The raids ... have created widespread panic and fear among asylum seekers and refugees in the capital,” the UNHCR said. Many migrants, including unaccompanied children and young mothers, have protested at the agency’s Community Day Center in Tripoli, demanding evacuation from Libya.
The UNHCR said it temporality suspended its activities in the center after two of its workers were injured.
Libya has been engulfed in chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011. The county has since emerged as migrant hub for those fleeing poverty and civil war in Africa and the Middle East and hoping a better life in Europe.
Thousands of migrants have been intercepted at the Mediterranean Sea and returned to Libya’s detention centers which are rife with widespread abuses, torture and sexual violence.
UN-commissioned investigators said violations against migrants at sea, in detention centers and at the hands of traffickers amount to crimes against humanity.
UN officials say guards kill 6 migrants detained in Libya
https://arab.news/m4pqx
UN officials say guards kill 6 migrants detained in Libya
- UN-commissioned investigators said abuses and ill treatment of migrants in Libya amount to crimes against humanity
- The UN refugee agency’s special envoy for the Central Mediterranean said “human rights violations and inhuman conditions” at Libya’s overcrowded detention centers led to the mayhem
Olympic push for kho kho, India’s ancient tag sport
- Nearly a century later, enthusiasts have sought to raise its profile with the inaugural Kho Kho World Cup featuring teams from 23 nations competing in India’s capital New Delhi
NEW DELHI: The ancient game of kho kho is enjoying a resurgence in India, with organizers of the first international tournament hoping their efforts will secure the sport’s place in the Olympics.
Kho kho, a catch-me-if-you-can tag sport, has been played for more than 2,000 years across southern Asia but only saw its rules formalized in the early 20th century.
It was played as a demonstration sport at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin but did not gather enough support to be included in the Summer Games and since then has been largely eclipsed by India’s ferocious love of cricket.
Nearly a century later, enthusiasts have sought to raise its profile with the inaugural Kho Kho World Cup featuring teams from 23 nations competing in India’s capital New Delhi.
The tournament’s opening ceremony saw a gala of song, dance and an Olympic-style team parade, reflecting the aspirations of organizers and athletes to take the sport global.
“My elder sister played the sport, but was not able to pursue her dreams,” Indian women’s team player Nasreen Shaikh, 26, told AFP.
“We have crossed the first barrier of playing in a World Cup. The next big step would be an entry in the Olympics.”
Kho kho is traditionally played outside on a rectangular court, divided in two by a line that connects two poles at either end of the field.
Teams switch between attack and defense, with the former chasing and tagging defending players around the field.
Only one player can give chase at a time and attacking players can only move in one direction around the court, forcing them to tag in team-mates crouched on the center line to take over pursuit.
The match is won by whichever team can gain the most points, primarily by tagging defenders faster than the opposing team.
The franchise-based Ultimate Kho Kho League, founded in 2022, brought the sport off grassy fields and onto indoor mats, also boosting its profile with a television audience.
Since then the league has become the third most-watched non-cricket sports tournament in the world’s most populous country after the Pro Kabaddi League — another ancient Indian tag sport — and the Indian Super League football competition.
“The turning point was when it transitioned from mud to mat. It made it into a global game,” Kho Kho Federation of India president Sudhanshu Mittal told AFP.
“Today we are in 55 countries... Native players in countries like Germany, Brazil, and Kenya are embracing the game because of its speed, agility and minimal equipment required.”
Mittal said he expected the sport to gain a foothold in dozens more countries by the end of the year, giving it a strong claim to be featured in the Olympics in the coming decade.
That would coincide with India’s audacious bid to host the 2036 Games in the city of Ahmedabad, 100 years after kho kho last appeared at the Olympics.
The United States, England and Australia were among the nations that competed in this month’s World Cup in New Delhi, with expatriate Indians heavily represented after taking the game to foreign shores.
But Pakistan is a glaring omission from the competition despite the sport being popular there — a reflection of the deep animosity between the nuclear-armed archrivals.
World Cup organizers refused to comment on the absence, which failed to dim the sense of optimism at the competition that the sport is destined to thrive.
“There has been a sea change in the sport,” Indian men’s team captain Pratik Waikar, 32, told AFP.
“Cricket has a rich history and they developed it well by going live on TV, and now our sport has also gone live,” he said. “In the next five years it will be on another level.”
Sabalenka, Swiatek eye final showdown at Australian Open
- The men’s finalists at Melbourne Park will be decided on Friday, leaving the women in the spotlight in a night-time double-header at Rod Laver Arena
- Should Swiatek and Sabalenka meet in the final, the winner would leave Australia with the No. 1 ranking
MELBOURNE: Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek are clear favorites to win their respective semifinals on Thursday and set up a blockbuster Australian Open title decider.
The men’s finalists at Melbourne Park will be decided on Friday, leaving the women in the spotlight in a night-time double-header at Rod Laver Arena.
First up at 7:30 p.m. (0830 GMT) will be the world No. 1 and defending champion Sabalenka against Spain’s 11th seed Paula Badosa, followed on to the center court by five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek against Madison Keys.
Sabalenka can become the first woman since Martina Hingis in 1999 to win the Australian Open three years in a row.
If she does, she will join a select group of five women who have completed the Melbourne three-peat. The others are Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles.
“I’m really happy that I put myself in this situation where I have the opportunity to become one of them,” said the 26-year-old Belarusian.
“To be next to those names, wow, that’s just a dream.”
Badosa stunned world No. 3 Coco Gauff in straight sets to reach her maiden Grand Slam semifinal at the age of 27.
“She’s a great player and she has been through a lot. Now she’s back on her best game. I’m really happy to see that,” said Sabalenka.
The Spaniard almost quit tennis last year because of a chronic back condition and she plunged outside the top 100.
“A year ago I didn’t know if I had to retire from this sport,” said Badosa, who reached a career-high two in the world in 2022.
She is projected to get back in the top 10 after Melbourne.
Poland’s Swiatek has been the dominant force in the women’s draw so far, matching her previous best Australian Open run from 2022, when she lost to Danielle Collins in the last four.
The world No. 2 has dropped only 14 games so far in her five matches — seven of those in her first-round clash.
She has exuded an air of calmness and confidence as she aims not only to win a maiden Australian Open title but also retake the number one ranking from Sabalenka.
If the Belarusian fails to make the final, Swiatek will again rise to the top.
Should Swiatek and Sabalenka meet in the final, the winner would leave Australia with the No. 1 ranking.
Swiatek must first get past 19th seed Keys.
The American is into the Melbourne semifinals for the third time, 10 years after her first, and on a career-best 10-match win streak after clinching the Adelaide title this month.
“Madison is a great player and experienced so you never know,” Swiatek said.
“It will be tricky, I will just be focused on myself. She has already played a good tournament here and we are well aware of how she can play.”
The 29-year-old Keys says she is a “smarter” player than the one who lost the semifinal in 2015 to eventual champion Serena Williams.
She added: “Probably a little bit less fearless though, but to be here 10 years later in the semifinals again, I’m really proud of myself.”
We cannot allow illegal annexation of the West Bank, Slovenia’s foreign minister warns
- Nothing and no one is above international law, Tanja Fajon tells Arab News in New York
- While immediate focus in Gaza must be to ensure ceasefire holds and aid enters the territory, world also needs to keep an eye on the path to a 2-state solution, she says
NEW YORK CITY: Throughout the first year of its two-year stint as an elected member of the UN Security Council, the primary world body tasked with maintaining international peace and security, Slovenia was relentless in pressing for a permanent ceasefire between Hamas and Israel in Gaza.
During the 15 months of war, Ljubljana’s representatives also intensified their calls to scale up deliveries of humanitarian aid to the starving population of the territory, while at the same time engaging in serious discussions about ways in which the implementation of a two-state solution might be expedited. Slovenia itself officially recognized Palestine as a state in June last year.
“I'm very proud that Slovenia was on the right side of history with the recognition of an independent and sovereign state of Palestine,” the country’s foreign minister, Tanja Fajon, told Arab News.
She said she is watching developments on the ceasefire front with “hope and relief,” albeit with the awareness that the situation is “very fragile.” All stakeholders in the region will have to commit to the agreement during all of its upcoming phases, she added, until it leads to a “permanent” cessation of hostilities and the dawn of long-awaited peace in the wider region.
During a chat with Arab News on the sidelines of a high-level meeting of the Security Council this week to discuss developments in the Middle East, Fajon said atrocities committed in Gaza during the conflict could amount to genocide.
On Jan. 26 last year, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s actions in Gaza could amount to genocide, and set out six provisional measures with which Israel should comply to protect Palestinians in the territory from the threat of genocide. These measures included ensuring the sufficient provision of humanitarian assistance, and enabling the delivery of basic services.
Amnesty International has accused Israeli authorities of failing to take “even the bare minimum steps to comply” with the court’s ruling.
In November, the UN-backed International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, as well as a former Hamas commander, citing allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
ICC Judges said there were reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant bear criminal responsibility, as co-perpetrators, for the war crime of using starvation as a method of warfare, and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts.
Several countries that are signatories to the ICC ignored its findings, with some stating they would refuse to abide by the arrest warrant.
These and other instances of disregard for international law have led many around the world to lament that the international system, of which the ICJ and ICC stand as main pillars, now lies in tatters.
As Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency, the largest aid organization for Palestine refugees, told Arab News last week, the war in Gaza is a “crisis of impunity.”
He said: “What we have witnessed is an extraordinary ‘crisis of impunity,’ to the extent that international humanitarian law is almost becoming irrelevant if no mechanism is put in place to address this impunity.”
However, Fajon, whose country prides itself on the enshrinement of international law as the main pillar of its foreign policy, said she remains “strongly convinced that there is no alternative to the world order, the UN Charter, international law and international humanitarian law.”
She continued: “We need this organization (the UN.) We need multilateralism to be effective.”
There is a global consensus that there should be no impunity for the perpetrators of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. But to successfully prosecute these crimes in national courts, effective cooperation and collaboration among governments is essential.
Experts in international law across five continents have concluded that the current international procedural legal framework for mutual legal assistance and extradition in cases involving the most serious international crimes is incomplete and outdated, effectively hampering the ability of states to cooperate effectively in the fight against impunity.
The desire to address this issue ultimately resulted in the development of the Ljublijana-The Hague Convention, spearheaded by Slovenia, Argentina, Belgium, Mongolia, the Netherlands and Senegal, and signed last year by 32 states.
Also known as the “MLA initiative,” it is a landmark international treaty that aims to ensure justice for victims of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and other international crimes by facilitating international cooperation in domestic investigations into, and prosecutions of, such crimes.
Fajon, who is also Slovenia’s deputy prime minister, said: “There can be nothing above international law and international humanitarian law.
“We are strongly committed to the work of international tribunals, be it the ICJ or ICC. And we have to really focus on accountability for those perpetrators who are responsible for atrocities and human tragedies. They have to be brought to justice.”
While the priority now must be to “vigilantly” monitor the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, Fajon said, and “do everything in our power” to ensure it holds and progresses to become a permanent ceasefire, “we cannot allow a possible illegal annexation of the West Bank.”
She added that “there are also really serious concerns” about UNRWA’s ability to continue its work, given an Israeli ban on the organization that is due to take effect next week.
Work with the Global Alliance on the Two State solution should also continue to help ensure a “strong” Palestinian Authority emerges after 15 months of war, Fajon said. Slovenia will also work to help facilitate Palestinian Authority control of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, she added, and “really be engaged to make sure there is security for Israelis and statehood of Palestine, for true peace in the region to be established.”
The Saudi foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, presided over a gathering in New York in September to discuss the situation in Gaza, which was co-hosted by the EU, the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation. From this meeting, which attracted more than 100 participants, the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two State Solution emerged.
The Kingdom plays “a crucial role” in maintaining stability in the region, Fajon said.
“Saudi Arabia is also a very important partner and mediator,” she added. “So I see a strong role of Saudi Arabia, and I hope we can rely on such a strong role also in the future, especially the role that preserves what is most necessary: that is, international law, international humanitarian law, and the UN charter.
“These have to be respected no matter where. And Saudi (Arabia) being a mediator and a good partner also to Slovenia, I do hope we will continue to develop relations in that regard.”
As Trump declares ‘Gulf of America,’ US enters name wars
- “In claiming the right to force others to use the name of his choosing, Trump is asserting a sort of sovereignty over an international body of water,” Gerry Kearns, a professor of geography at Maynooth University in Ireland
WASHINGTON: For years, as disputes over names on the map riled up nationalist passions in several parts of the world, US policymakers have watched warily, trying to stay out or to quietly encourage peace.
Suddenly, the United States has gone from a reluctant arbiter to a nomenclature belligerent, as President Donald Trump declared that the Gulf of Mexico will henceforth be called the “Gulf of America.”
In an executive order signed hours after he returned to the White House, Trump called the water body an “indelible part of America” critical to US oil production and fishing and “a favorite destination for American tourism and recreation activities.”
The term Gulf of America was soon used by the US Coast Guard in a press release on enforcing Trump’s new crackdown on migrants, as well as Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, when discussing a winter storm.
Deep-sea ecologist Andrew Thaler said Trump’s declaration was “very silly” and would likely be ignored by maritime professionals.
A president has the authority to rename sites within the United States — as Trump also did.
“The Gulf of Mexico, however, is a body of water that borders several countries and includes pockets of high seas,” said Thaler, founder of Blackbeard Biologic Science and Environmental Advisers.
“There really isn’t any precedent for a US president renaming international geologic and oceanographic features. Any attempt to rename the entire Gulf of Mexico would be entirely symbolic,” he said.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has cheekily suggested calling the United States “Mexican America,” pointing to a map from well before Washington seized one-third of her country in 1848.
“For us it is still the Gulf of Mexico and for the entire world it is still the Gulf of Mexico,” she said Tuesday.
The International Hydrographic Organization, set up a century ago, works to survey the world’s seas and oceans and is the closest to an authority on harmonizing names for international waters.
The United Nations also has an expert group on geographical names, which opens its next meeting on April 28.
Martin H. Levinson, president emeritus of the Institute of General Semantics, said it was unknown how much political capital Trump would invest in seeking name recognition by other countries.
“Does he really want to strong-arm them for something as minor as this?” Levinson asked.
“I think the political benefit is to the domestic audience that he’s playing to — saying we’re patriotic, this is our country, we’re not going to let the name be subsumed by other countries,” he said.
He doubted that other countries would change the name but said it was possible Google Earth — a more ready reference to laypeople — could list an alternative name, as it has in other disputes.
Among the most heated disputes, South Korea has long resented calling the body of water to its east the Sea of Japan and has advocated for it to be called the East Sea.
The United States, an ally of both countries, has kept Sea of Japan but Korean-Americans have pushed at the local level for school textbooks to say East Sea.
In the Middle East, Trump in his last term angered Iranians by publicly using the term Arabian Gulf for the oil-rich water body historically known as the Arabian Gulf but which Arab nationalists have sought to rename.
The United States has also advocated maintaining a 2018 deal where Greece agreed for its northern neighbor to change its name to North Macedonia from Macedonia, but Athens ulitmately rejected due to historical associations with Alexander the Great.
Gerry Kearns, a professor of geography at Maynooth University in Ireland, said that Trump’s move was part of the “geopolitics of spectacle” but also showed his ideological bent.
With Trump also threatening to take the Panama Canal and Greenland, Trump is seeking to project a new type of Monroe Doctrine, the 1823 declaration by the United States that it would dominate the Western Hemisphere, Kearns said.
“Names work because they are shared; we know we are talking about the same thing,” he wrote in an essay.
“In claiming the right to force others to use the name of his choosing, Trump is asserting a sort of sovereignty over an international body of water.”
Trumps’ top diplomat Rubio affirms ‘ironclad’ US commitment to Philippines amid China threat
- Marco Rubio discussed China's “dangerous and destabilizing actions in the South China Sea” in a call with his Philippine counterpart, says State Department spokeswoman
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday the United States under President Donald Trump remained committed to the Philippines’ defense, as tensions simmer with Beijing in the South China Sea.
In a call with his Philippine counterpart Enrique Manalo, Rubio “underscored the United States’ ironclad commitments to the Philippines under our Mutual Defense Treaty,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.
The Philippines has been embroiled in wrangles at sea with China in the past two years and the two countries have faced off regularly around disputed features in the South China Sea that fall inside Manila’s exclusive economic zone.
China claims most of the strategic waterway despite an international tribunal ruling that its claim lacked any legal basis.
Rubio’s call followed his hosting of counterparts from Australia, India and Japan in the China-focused “Quad” forum on Tuesday, the day after President Donald Trump returned to the White House. The four recommitted to working together.
Quad members and the Philippines share concerns about China’s growing power and analysts said Tuesday’s meeting was designed to signal continuity in the Indo-Pacific and that countering Beijing will be a top priority for Trump.
In the call with Manalo, Rubio “underscored the United States’ ironclad commitments to the Philippines” under their Mutual Defense Treaty and discussed ways to advance security cooperation, expand economic ties and deepen regional cooperation, the statement said.
Just ahead of Trump’s swearing-in, the Philippines and the United States carried out their fifth set of joint maritime exercises in the South China Sea since launching the joint activities in 2023.
Security engagements between the allies have soared under Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who has pivoted closer to Washington and allowed the expansion of military bases that American forces can access, including facilities facing the Chinese-claimed but democratically-governed island of Taiwan.
Visiting the Philippines last week, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said a trilateral initiative to boost cooperation launched by Japan, the US and the Philippines at a summit last year would be strengthened when the new US administration took over in Washington.
