MONGO, Chad: More than 100 inmates escaped a Chad prison during a shoot-out that left three people dead, and wounded a state governor visiting the facility, officials told AFP on Saturday.
The break-out occurred late Friday when an uprising happened in the high-security penitentiary five kilometers (three miles) from the town of Mongo, in the center of the country.
“There are around 100 who escaped, three dead and three wounded,” Hassan Souleymane Adam, secretary general of the Guera province in which Mongo is located, said.
A local Mongo official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said prisoners broke into a manager’s office to steal guns.
“A shootout with guards ensued, at the same time the governor arrived. He was wounded,” he said.
The Mongo official confirmed there were three dead, and put the total number of escaped prisoners at 132.
He said the prisoners revolted after complaining about a lack of food.
Chad’s Justice Minister Youssouf Tom told AFP by telephone that he was about to fly to region and would be able to give “precise information once I am at Mongo in the coming hours.”
More than 100 inmates make deadly prison break in Chad
https://arab.news/byj4d
More than 100 inmates make deadly prison break in Chad
- The break-out occurred late Friday when an uprising happened
- A local Mongo official said prisoners broke into a manager’s office to steal guns
Uganda army chief threatens voters who don't choose his father
- The east African country is due to hold a general election in January
- The commander of the army also said that all serving women would from now on march in skirts
Nairobi: The Ugandan president’s son said Thursday that any citizen who voted against his father in upcoming polls would be deported, while also banning women in the army from wearing trousers.
The east African country is due to hold a general election in January, and there has been a mounting crackdown on the opposition in recent months.
General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the son and heir-apparent of long-ruling President Yoweri Museveni, is infamous for his colorful tweets that touch on everything from military matters to his social life.
On Thursday, he posted on X that individuals who “who do not support Mzee wholeheartedly better be very careful!,” using an honorific for his father.
“We will deport all the traitors in public view!!,” he added.
Earlier this month Kainerugaba claimed to have captured and tortured opposition leader Bobi Wine’s bodyguard Eddie Mutwe, who later appeared in court showing signs of torture, according to Justice Minister Norbert Mao.
In another post, Kainerugaba wrote that he took “FULL responsibility” for the actions of his soldiers, “including the long overdue beating of Eddie Mutwe.”
He added: “That was an appetizer!“
Rounding out his string of posts, the commander of the army also said that all serving women would from now on march in skirts.
“Trousers are for men not for women. Anyone who forces our sisters to put on trousers on parade again will have a very bad day,” he explained.
Only a fraction of the Ugandan People’s Defense Force (UPDF) is made up of women, and they are issued the same daily uniform as their male counterparts. They are permitted to wear skirts on formal occasions, according to local media.
UK PM says in talks over third country ‘return hubs’ for migrants
- “We are in talks with a number of countries about return hubs,” Starmer told a joint news conference with his newly reelected Albanian counterpart Edi Rama
- Starmer declined to explain how the hubs would work in practice or say with which countries he was in talks
TIRANA: The UK is in talks with different countries about setting up “return hubs” for failed asylum seekers, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Thursday on a visit to Albania seeking to bring down immigration.
The UK leader is under pressure to reduce immigration and cut the number of irregular migrants arriving on UK shores, many in small boats, amid the rising popularity of the hard-right, anti-immigrant Reform Party.
“We are in talks with a number of countries about return hubs,” Starmer told a joint news conference with his newly reelected Albanian counterpart Edi Rama.
Starmer declined to explain how the hubs would work in practice or say with which countries he was in talks.
But he said his new Labour government had been left a “mess” by the previous Conservative leadership, which he said had failed to process asylum claims.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “This will basically apply to people who have exhausted all legal routes to remain in the UK but are attempting to stall, using various tactics — whether it’s losing their paperwork or using other tactics to frustrate their removal.”
Last July, Starmer’s Labour government abandoned a scheme put in place by the Conservatives to deport undocumented migrants to Rwanda.
Rama said hosting a new UK return hub in Albania was not on the table, adding that an earlier deal with Italy had been a “one-off.”
The scheme by Italy for Italian-run facilities to process migrants to be based in Albania is currently bogged down in the courts.
“The model that we’ve brought to Albania in cooperation with Italy ... is a model that takes its time to be tested,” said Rama.
“If it works, it can be replicated, but not in Albania, in other countries of the region.”
In March, the European Commission unveiled a planned reform of the 27-nation bloc’s return system, opening the way for member states to set up migrant return centers outside the EU.
Earlier this week Starmer unveiled tough new immigration policies that included cutting the number of overseas care workers, doubling the length of time before migrants can qualify for settlement in the country and new powers to deport foreign criminals.
The announcement was widely seen as an attempt to fend off rising support for anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage’s hard-right Reform UK party.
Labour vowed in its general election manifesto last year to significantly reduce net migration, which stood at 728,000 in the 12 months to last June.
It peaked at 906,000 in 2023 after averaging 200,000 for most of the 2010s.
In addition to high levels of legal migration, the UK has also seen unprecedented numbers of irregular migrants. And the numbers of asylum seekers has tripled to 84,200 in 2024, compared to 27,500 between 2010 and 2011.
More than 12,500 migrants have made the perilous Channel crossing so far this year, according to an AFP tally based on figures from the UK’s interior ministry.
Under a deal between the previous Conservative government and Tirana in 2022, Albanians arriving in the UK on small boats across the Channel can be sent back immediately.
Starmer’s Downing Street office said in a statement there had been a 95 percent reduction in Albanian small boat arrivals in the last three years, while the number of Albanians returned to the country had doubled in the past two years.
Some 5,294 Albanians were sent back in 2024, more than double the 2,035 Albanian nationals returned two years earlier.
Starmer also announced an expansion of the Joint Migration Taskforce in the Western Balkans, set up with Albania and Kosovo, to include North Macedonia and Montenegro.
The expansion would allow greater intelligence sharing to intercept smuggling gangs and deploy UK funded drones to snare gangsters funnelling migrants through the Western Balkans corridor to the UK.
Rama has vowed to integrate the Balkan nation into the European Union, and was also set to meet EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa on Thursday in Tirana.
Spain busts lucrative Chinese-Arab money laundering ring
- Police said the investigation began after the dismantling of a migrant-trafficking gang
- Police arrested 17 mostly Chinese and Syrian suspects in January
MADRID: Spanish police on Thursday said they had broken up a Chinese-Arab ring that laundered $21 million of proceeds from people and drug trafficking through the informal “hawala” money transfer system.
Police said the investigation began after the dismantling of a migrant-trafficking gang transporting mostly Syrians between Algeria and Spain, which led to a probe into their finances.
An Arab branch of the network “took charge of the reception of money in any part of the world,” while a separate Chinese branch supplied the cash in Spain in exchange for cryptocurrencies.
Police arrested 17 mostly Chinese and Syrian suspects in January — 15 in Spain, one in Austria and another in Belgium — said EU law enforcement agency Europol which supported the operation.
The network’s Belgium-based leader had “Jordanian-Palestinian nationality” and facilitated contacts within Spain, police chief inspector Encarna Ortega told a press conference in Madrid.
He is suspected of coordinating a litany of operations, mainly laundering money from the proceeds of trafficking humans and drugs, she added.
In total, the suspects moved $21 million between June 2022 and September 2024, Spanish police said.
Authorities seized from them 205,000 euros ($229,000) in cash, more than 183,000 euros in cryptocurrency, 18 vehicles, real estate property and illegal cigars worth more than 600,000 euros destined for sale in China.
Hawala is traditional system of moving money between countries based on confidence and a network of intermediaries with minimal paperwork which is popular in parts of Asia and Africa.
The method is especially common among migrant workers who send remittances to their families, but it has also been linked with financing terrorism.
Australia forges closer defense ties with Indonesia as PM visits Jakarta
- Indonesia, Australia signed a landmark defense pact last August
- Australia’s Albanese has visited Indonesia four times since becoming PM in 2022
JAKARTA: Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese held defense talks with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on Thursday, as he visited Jakarta on his first international visit since re-election.
Albanese arrived in the Indonesian capital on Wednesday evening, a day after his new government was sworn in, as the two countries seek to further strengthen their strategic ties.
The trip comes less than a year after Indonesia and Australia cemented a landmark defense pact last August, which includes provisions that allow their forces to operate from each other’s countries.
“This treaty-level agreement, underpinned by the Lombok treaty, will enable new cooperation in maritime security, counterterrorism as well as humanitarian and disaster relief,” Albanese said during a joint press conference at the Presidential Palace.
The 2006 Lombok Treaty, which entered into force two years later, included agreements on joint military exercises, maritime security and military training.
Albanese said the August deal was “the most significant step” in Australia and Indonesia’s security partnership for three decades.
“Let me be very clear, I do not see this agreement though as the last step, just the next step. I want us to aim high, go further, and work even more closely together.”
Indonesia and Australia held their largest-ever joint military exercise last November, with around 2,000 troops training in air, maritime, amphibious and land operations.
“I’m here in Indonesia because no relationship is more important to Australia than this one,” Albanese said. “And no nation is more important to the prosperity, security and stability of the Indo-Pacific than Indonesia.”
Albanese has visited Indonesia four times since becoming Australia’s premier in 2022.
Newly elected Australian prime ministers typically make their first bilateral visit to Asia, usually Indonesia.
Prabowo said the two countries were committed to “complete the ratification process” of their latest defense agreement.
“We will continue discussing other possibilities to improve and increase cooperation in defense,” he added.
During their meeting, Albanese and Prabowo also discussed cooperation in trade, food security, energy transition, critical minerals and people-to-people relations.
Trump’s sanctions on ICC prosecutor have halted tribunal’s work
- The sanctions will “prevent victims from getting access to justice,” said Liz Evenson, international justice director at HRW
- Iverson filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration seeking protection from the sanctions
THE HAGUE: The International Criminal Court ‘s chief prosecutor has lost access to his email, and his bank accounts have been frozen.
The Hague-based court’s American staffers have been told that if they travel to the US they risk arrest.
Some nongovernmental organizations have stopped working with the ICC and the leaders of one won’t even reply to emails from court officials.
Those are just some of the hurdles facing court staff since US President Donald Trump in February slapped sanctions on its chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, according to interviews with current and former ICC officials, international lawyers and human rights advocates.
The sanctions will “prevent victims from getting access to justice,” said Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch.
Trump sanctioned the court after a panel of ICC judges in November issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant.
Judges found there was reason to believe that the pair may have committed war crimes by restricting humanitarian aid and intentionally targeting civilians in Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza — charges Israeli officials deny.
Staffers and allies of the ICC said the sanctions have made it increasingly difficult for the tribunal to conduct basic tasks, let alone seek justice for victims of war crimes or genocide.
A spokesperson for the ICC and for Khan declined to comment. In February, ICC President Judge Tomoko Akane said that the sanctions “constitute serious attacks against the Court’s States Parties, the rule of law based international order and millions of victims.”
Order targets chief prosecutor
The February order bans Khan and other non-Americans among the ICC’s 900 staff members from entering the US, which is not a member of the court. It also threatens any person, institution or company with fines and prison time if they provide Khan with “financial, material, or technological support.”
The sanctions are hampering work on a broad array of investigations, not just the one into Israel’s leaders.
The ICC had been investigating atrocities in Sudan and had issued arrest warrants for former Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir on charges that include genocide. That probe has ground to a halt even as reports mount of new atrocities in Sudan, according to an attorney representing ICC prosecutor Eric Iverson, who is fighting the sanctions in US courts. Iverson filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration seeking protection from the sanctions.
Iverson “cannot do, what I would describe as, basic lawyer functions,” said Allison Miller, who is representing Iverson in the suit.
American staffers at the organization, like Iverson, have been warned by its attorneys that they risk arrest if they return home to visit family, according to ICC officials. Six senior officials have left the court over concerns about sanctions.
One reason the the court has been hamstrung is that it relies heavily on contractors and non-governmental organizations. Those businesses and groups have curtailed work on behalf of the court because they were concerned about being targeted by US authorities, according to current and former ICC staffers.
Microsoft, for example, canceled Khan’s email address, forcing the prosecutor to move to Proton Mail, a Swiss email provider, ICC staffers said. His bank accounts in his home country of the UK have been blocked.
Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment.
Staffers at an NGO that plays an integral role in the court’s efforts to gather evidence and find witnesses said the group has transferred money out of US bank accounts because they fear it might be seized by the Trump administration.
Senior leadership at two other US-based human rights organizations told the AP that their groups have stopped working with the ICC. A senior staffer at one told the AP that employees have stopped replying to emails from court officials out of fear of triggering a response from the Trump administration.
The cumulative effect of such actions has led ICC staffers to openly wonder whether the organization can survive the Trump administration, according to ICC officials who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal.
One questioned whether the court would make it through the next four years.
Trump alleged ICC’s actions were baseless
Trump, a staunch supporter of Netanyahu, issued his sanctions order shortly after re-taking office, accusing the ICC of “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel.” Washington says the court has no jurisdiction over Israel.
Trump’s order said the ICC’s “actions against Israel and the United States set a dangerous precedent, directly endangering current and former United States personnel, including active service members of the Armed Forces.” He said the court’s “malign conduct” threatens “the sovereignty of the United States and undermines the critical national security and foreign policy work of the United States Government.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Netanyahu has dismissed the ICC’s allegations as “absurd,” and Israel’s Knesset is considering legislation that would make providing evidence to the court a crime.
Israel launched its offensive after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel in October 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting scores of others. Hamas is believed to be holding about two dozen hostages.
Coping with dark humor
Inside the court, staffers have been coping with dark humor, joking about how they cannot even loan Khan a pen or risk appearing on the US radar.
This is not the first time the ICC has drawn Trump’s ire. In 2020, the former Trump administration sanctioned Khan’s predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, and one of her deputies over the court’s investigation into alleged crimes committed in Afghanistan while the US military was operating in the country.
President Joe Biden rescinded the sanctions when he took office several months later.
Three lawsuits are now pending from US court staff and consultants against the Trump administration arguing that the sanctions infringe on their freedom of expression. Earlier this week Iverson, the lawyer investigating genocide in Sudan, won temporary protection from prosecution. But if other US citizens at the court want a similar assurance, they would have to bring their own complaint.
Meanwhile, the court is facing a lack of cooperation from countries normally considered to be its staunchest supporters.
The ICC has no enforcement apparatus of its own and relies on member states. In the last year, three countries – including two in the European Union – have refused to execute warrants issued by the court.
Also in recent months, judges have banned Khan from publicizing his requests for warrants in several investigations. The first such ban, imposed in February and obtained by AP, targeted warrants in the court’s investigation into war crimes in Afghanistan. Subsequent orders, also seen by AP, include a ban on the publication of warrant requests in the investigation into crimes in the Palestinian territories.
The court was already facing internal challenges. Last year, just weeks before Khan announced he was requesting arrest warrants for the Israeli officials, two court staff reported the British barrister had harassed a female aide, according to reporting by the AP.
Khan has categorically denied the accusations that he groped and tried to coerce a female aide into a sexual relationship. A United Nations investigation is underway, and Khan has since been accused of retaliating against staff who supported the woman, including demoting several people he felt were critical of him.
