[AFRICANEWS] The UN mission in Mali (MINUSMA) lowered the United Nations flag at its headquarters in Bamako, symbolically closing ten years of deployment in this crisis-ridden country from which the junta has driven it out.
The ceremony attended by AFP correspondents near the capital's airport symbolically marks the end of the mission in this country prey to jihadism and a deep crisis, even if some of its elements remain temporarily on site, his spokesperson Fatoumata Kaba told AFP.
The closure ends a commitment begun in 2013 in the face of the spread of violence that threatened the stability of a poor and fragile state. They have since reached the centre of the country and the Sahelian neighbours of Burkina Faso and Niger, causing thousands of civilian and combatant deaths and displacing millions of people.
With more than 180 members killed in hostile acts primarily perpetrated by groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State organization, MINUSMA is the hardest-hit UN peace mission in recent years. Its numbers were around 15,000 soldiers and police officers from a multitude of countries.
Despite human losses and a considerable financial commitment, MINUSMA was the subject of strong criticism from some Malians, who denounced its inability to stem the crisis.
UN officials have always objected that MINUSMA's mission was not to fight jihadists. His mandate assigned him to support the implementation of a major peace agreement with northern separatists (non-jihadists); to help the Malian authorities stabilize the center, another source of violence; to protect civilians and human rights.
In these areas, "the Mission has accomplished remarkable work in Mali", its leader El Ghassim Wane said recently in the MINUSMA accounts.
Where the Malian State was not present, MINUSMA carried out "many projects" which "marked a real difference in the lives of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Malians" , he said. He stressed that the effectiveness of MINUSMA depended in part on the cooperation of Malian actors.
However, the presence of MINUSMA became almost untenable after the military seized power in 2020. Their advent signified a strategic reorientation. The junta broke the old alliance with the former dominant power France and turned militarily and politically towards Russia .
The UN openly denounced flight bans and other obstructions by the authorities. The latter protested against the “instrumentalization” by MINUSMA of human rights.
[ZH] An anti-ship cruise missile fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels struck a Norwegian-flagged tanker in the Red Sea near a key maritime chokepoint known as the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, where nearly 10% of all crude traded at sea passes through.
Reuters quoted Houthi military spokesperson Yehia Sarea, who said the tanker - named "Strinda" - was targeted because it was headed to an Israeli terminal, and the crew ignored all warnings.
However, Strinda's owner, Norway's Mowinckel Chemical Tankers, said the vessel was bound for the Suez Canal and then on to Italy with a cargo containing vegetable oil and biofuels.
A US official told Reuters that the attack occurred about 60 nautical miles north of Bab al-Mandab Strait, connecting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden around 2100 GMT. After the attack, another official said the tanker could move under its own power.
According to the US military's Central Command, which supervises US forces in the Middle East, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Mason received a distress call from Strinda and was able to respond:
"There were no US ships in the vicinity at the time of the attack, but the (US Navy destroyer) USS MASON responded to the M/T STRINDA's mayday call and is currently rendering assistance."
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/12/2023 11:06 ||
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#1
Seems like that could provoke a response.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/12/2023 12:35 Comments ||
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#2
Norway is part of NATO and if feeling squirrely could invoke it.
[SD Union Trib] MEXICO CITY — A recent killing spree in Tijuana could have been lifted from a TV script: enraged drug lords hunting down corrupt police officers who stole a drug shipment. Two of the officers suspected of the theft have been killed, prosecutors say. But so have at least three other officers, according to the city’s former police chief, suggesting the cartel believed to have owned the drugs may have launched a generalized retribution.
The cache of drugs appeared to have belonged to the Sinaloa cartel, specifically the wing controlled by drug lord Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, probably the most powerful gang in town.
It is the latest blow for Tijuana which has the most homicides of any city in Mexico, with about double the number of the place that comes second — the border city of Ciudad Juarez. Tijuana, situated in the border state of Baja California and with a population of over 2.1 million, has for several years seen around 2,000 murders annually. By comparison, Houston, Texas, which has about the same population, saw 435 killings in 2022.
According to prosecutors, in mid-November, a half-dozen local and state police officers in Tijuana allegedly hatched a plot to steal a large shipment of drugs from a warehouse where traffickers were storing it.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/12/2023 00:00 ||
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#1
But it is not just government officials or police who are running scared; Tijuana is a hub for everyone from businessmen and tourists to immigrants seeking to reach the United States. The city’s persistent violence problem threatens all.
Yeah, that's just down the road apiece from where I live. Can't wait until the festivities cross the border. Thanks, Joe. Thanks for keeping us all so safe.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/12/2023 11:53 Comments ||
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#2
^ Eastlake in Chula Vista has seen the spillover
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/12/2023 11:54 Comments ||
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] Security forces detained 14 residents of Karachay-Cherkessia suspected of involvement in the extremist organization At-Takfir wal-Hijra*,
...At Takfir wal Hijra split off from the Muslim Brotherhood in about 1970 to pursue violent jihad. It split again when the more moderate faction followed Ayman Al-Zawahiri, who subsequently became Al Qaeda’s second in command. Takfir wal Hijra has cells all over the world ...
the FSB reported.
As the Caucasian Knot wrote, in September 2022, five people were sentenced in Karachay-Cherkessia to prison terms on charges of involvement in the banned organization At-Takfir wal-Hijra.
The organization "At-Takfir wal-Hijra" ("Accusation of disbelief and hijra") appeared in Egypt and spread in the North Caucasus in 1997-1998. Supporters of the organization belong to the Salafi movement in Islam and are distinguished by strict requirements for fellow believers. They consider anyone who does not pray five times a day to be an apostate, even if such a person calls himself a Muslim, says the Caucasian Knot material “ Kabardino-Balkaria: On the Road to Catastrophe. Preconditions for the armed uprising in Nalchik on October 13-14, 2005.”
In Karachay-Cherkessia, 14 local residents suspected of involvement in the activities of the At-Takfir wal-Hijra cell were detained, a representative of the republican FSB Directorate reported today.
“As a result of the measures taken, 14 local residents involved in the activities of the extremist organization and its propaganda, including on the Internet, were detained,” he said.
According to him, firearms, ammunition and communications equipment, as well as “extremist literature exposing their illegal activities,” were seized from the homes of the detainees.
Criminal cases have been initiated against some of the detainees under parts 1 and 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (organizing the activities of an extremist organization and participating in it), while the issue of initiating criminal cases is being decided against the rest, Interfax reports.
[Jpost] US Capitol Police said they arrested 51 people in total as a result of the demonstration.
Several dozen activists calling for the United States to push for a permanent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas briefly protested in a US Senate office building on Monday before police ended the protest and took dozens into custody.
Only several dozen? Pathetic.
Groups, including the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights and Jewish Voice for Peace organized the protest, which called for the US government to divert funds to domestic priorities such as affordable housing and childcare instead of further arming Israel with US weapons.
ARRESTS MADE DURING THE PROTEST
One activist was arrested after he climbed up onto a 51-foot (15.5 m) high black steel sculpture by artist Alexander Calder. Others chanted "ceasefire now" and wore shirts with the slogan "invest in life" as they linked arms.
US Capitol Police said they arrested 51 people in total as a result of the demonstration. Reuters images show activists engaging in civil disobedience in Hart Senate Office Building, part of the US Capitol complex where many senators and committees have their offices.
"Funding more death and destruction of human life...makes no one secure, and instead fuels hatred and continued war," Sandra Tamari, executive director of the Adalah Justice Project, one of the groups involved in the protest. "The Senate must heed our urgent demand to stop funding militarism and instead invest in life."
The Gaza health ministry said 18,205 people had now been killed and 49,645 wounded
...numbers Hamas pulled out of thin air...
in air strikes on Gaza since Israel attacked the territory in retaliation for Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, which led to the deaths of roughly 1,200 Israelis.
#2
Given all the beefed up Congress Security after Jan 6th. we were told about. How was this possible unless it was in part politically coordinated?
BTW: In reading the JVP press and media position releases. The name "Jewish Voice for Peace" is a misleading name, as it is a 180 of what they actually are, PRO Palestinian & HAMAS.
The voice is what the speakers believe speaks to a Jewish ethos – and a few of the speakers are actually of Jewish ancestry, to give the thing a proper astroturf figleaf. It’s not actually a Jewish group and never was.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vehicle at a police station’s main gate in northwest Pakistan early Tuesday, killing at least 23 troops and wounding 32 others, and causing a part of the building to collapse upon impact, the military and officials said.
The suicide attack — one of the deadliest attacks since January — led to "multiple causalities," Pakistan’s army said in a statement. It added that six militants also opened fire and a shootout ensued for hours between them and security forces before "the terrorists" were gunned down. Local police officials also confirmed all six attackers were dead.
Separately, the statement said that "troops killed 27 insurgents" in multiple operations in the same region.
The death toll from Tuesday’s attack was likely to rise as some of the officers were in critical condition, authorities said. The bodies of the 23 security forces killed were transferred to a hospital, Mohammad Adnan, a senior police official told reporters.
The attack targeted the Daraban police station in Dera Ismail Khan, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, local police officer Kamal said. The province is a former stronghold of the militant Pakistani Taliban group, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP.
The newly formed militant group Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, or TJP
...it must be very new if this is its first appearance in the Rantburg archives...
— believed to be an offshoot of the TTP — claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, saying it targeted the officers who were at the police station. The statement also claimed that 20 officers were killed. However, this couldn’t be independently verified.
#2
The unequivocal diplomatic and moral support of the Pakistaini military - whatever your enterprise, if that ain't the Good Housekeeping Stamp of Failure then I don't know what!
[GEO.TV] The health ministry in the Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip said Monday the corpse count of the Israel-Hamas ...not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... war has risen to 18,205 in the Paleostinian territory.
A number, if it were real, which would be entirely due to the fact that Hamas & friends started a war, and Israel fought back better.
Some 49,645 people have been maimed since the conflict erupted on October 7, ministry front man Ashraf al-Qudra said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2023 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[AFRICANEWS] The UN mission in 
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vehicle at a police station’s main gate in northwest Pakistan early Tuesday, killing at least 23 troops and wounding 32 others, and causing a part of the building to collapse upon impact, the military and officials said.
...not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
