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Africa Subsaharan

Machine gun attack on UN Mali base in Timbuktu kills eight

2017-08-15

[AlAhram] Gunmen attacked a United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... peacekeeping base in the northern Mali city of Timbuktu on Monday, officials said, killing eight people, including a peacekeeper, five Malian security guards, a gendarme and civilian. "An attack has been launched against one of our camps in Timbuktu (by) unknown men with machine guns," Radhia Achouri, a spokeswoman for the U.N. peacekeeping mission, said earlier by telephone, adding that it had deployed a rapid response force with helicopters to the scene. Mali's army front man Selon Diaran Kone said the incident was now over, as the assailants had been repelled and four of them killed. He gave the toll as seven Malians killed. Frahan Haq, deputy, front man for the U.N. Secretary General said a peacekeeper was killed during the clash, without giving further details. Islamist murderous Moslems frequently target the U.N. peacekeeping mission, and more than 100 peacekeepers have been killed, making it the most deadly U.N. mission to date. Militants killed three United Nations peacekeepers in a attack outside their base in Kidal in northern Mali in June.

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Africa North

Nine Killed, Four Rescued From Hotel in Mali, Says Official

2015-08-09

[WSJ] Mali's special forces early Saturday rescued four people who hid in a hotel for nearly 24 hours after Islamic faceless myrmidons stormed the building and launched a rare attack far from their northern strongholds that killed nine people, officials said. Three attackers were also killed in the fighting. The four rescued U.N. employees are two South Africans, a Russian and a Ukrainian, said U.N. mission in Mali spokeswoman Radhia Achouri. "Our contractors survived because at no time was their presence discovered by the forces of Evil in the hotel," she said, adding there wasn't much resistance Saturday morning during the rescue. The four will soon go to Bamako, the capital, she said. Additional U.N. personnel may still be missing, said a U.N. official not authorized to speak to the press on the matter. Some personnel couldn't be reached, and some of the attackers left Sevare after the initial attacks Friday morning, the official said. A 38-year-old South African who died in the attack worked for an aviation company that was assisting the U.N. contingent in Mali, Nelson Kgwete, front man for South Africa's Foreign Ministry, said on Twitter. Mr. Kgwete declined to reveal the identity of the dead South African. Two other South Africans caught up in the attack are safe, he said on Twitter. An Nahar has a slightly different count: There are 12 dead in all," an army officer told Agence La Belle France Presse after the operation at the Hotel Byblos in Sevare, listing the fatalities as five "terrorists", five soldiers and "two white people".

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Africa North

Bombs thrown at unused UN compound

2013-01-30

Such brave, brave Lions of Islam! [Libya Herald] Two Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were thrown over the wall of an unused United Nations Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) compound in the capital in the early hours of this morning. No-one was injured in the attack which took place at around 1.30 am. "One device exploded causing minor damages to the building and breaking several windows," said UNSMIL spokesperson Radhia Achouri. "A second, similar device was later found and successfully removed by the Libyan police who reacted swiftly and effectively to the incident," she added. The devices were thrown over the back wall of the compound on Gurji Road in the city's Ghut Shaal district . In the past UNSMIL has considered using the compound as its headquarters but it is unoccupied at present. The IEDs are reported to have been 'gelatina' bombs -- improvised gelignite bombs particularly popular with fisherman. This type of device and the amateur manner of the operation suggests that this was not a planned attack by an organised terrorist group but rather the action of individuals. Achouri said that the police are now investigating the incident.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

UN panel asks to quiz Hezbollah on Hariri murder

2010-03-26

[Al Arabiya Latest] An international team investigating the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri has requested to question six Hezbollah members about the crime, a security source said on Thursday. A suicide truck bomber killed Hariri and 22 others in Beirut in Feb. 2005. A U.N. investigation into the assassination first implicated Syrian and Lebanese officials but later held back from giving details of its findings. Last May German magazine Der Spiegel said that according to information it had obtained, investigators believed Hezbollah was behind Hariri's killing, allegations the Syrian- and Iranian-backed Shiite group roundly rejected. "They have asked to question six people from Hezbollah about the crime of the assassination of the martyr Rafik al-Hariri," the source, who asked not to be named, said. Hezbollah declined to comment, as did judicial officials in Beirut. Radhia Achouri, spokeswoman for the investigating Special Tribunal's prosecutor, also declined to comment. "As long as we are still at the investigation stage we will not be disclosing this sort of information, so no comment," she said in Amsterdam.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

UN Hariri tribunal begins 3D crime scene filming

2010-03-24

[Al Arabiya Latest] A U.N. team investigating the assassination of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri on Tuesday began filming the site of the 2005 Beirut murder in three dimensions, a U.N. spokeswoman said. It has been five years. Detlev Mehlis had the case cracked in about 90 days. They've been treading water and throwing dust ever since. "We are undertaking an actual 3D modeling of the Hariri crime scene to reconstruction the scene and whatever happened there using digital scanning techniques," spokeswoman Radhia Achouri told AFP. A U.N. tribunal based in The Hague was set up by a Security Council resolution in 2007 to try suspects in the murder of Hariri, killed in a massive bomb blast on the Beirut seafront in February 2005. Achouri, the tribunal's spokeswoman, said the filming would be finalized within 10 days but denied it was linked to recent progress in the investigation. "It is happening now because it is possible and has nothing to do with the actual progress of the investigation for the time being," she said. "It was an issue of establishing the need. We deemed it necessary and can now afford to do it physically and in terms of resources," Achouri added. An AFP photographer at the scene said members of the U.N. team wearing identity cards around their necks were filming and photographing the assassination site outside the once popular Saint Georges Hotel. Before the tribunal was set up, a U.N. commission of inquiry said it had found evidence to implicate Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services in the Hariri murder, but there are currently no suspects in custody.

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Africa Horn

East Sudan talks to begin in Asmara after delay

2006-06-14

KHARTOUM - Rebels from Sudan’s east will open their first talks with the Khartoum government on Tuesday in neighbouring Eritrea, hoping to resolve the simmering conflict in the gold-rich area, officials said. Eastern rebels, allied with other regional Sudanese rebel groups, have controlled Hamesh Koreb, a small area on the Eritrea-Sudan border for around a decade. The east, which contains Sudan’s only port, is the only peripheral area not to have begun peace talks with Khartoum. “The United Nations will be participating in the talks tonight,” U.N. spokeswoman Radhia Achouri said on Tuesday. U.N. observation of the talks is a key rebel demand. The rebels must be both weak and clueless .... The government delegation, headed by Presidential Advisor Mustafa Osman Ismail, is due to leave this evening to open the long-delayed talks in the Eritrean capital Asmara. The Eastern Front, an alliance of the main eastern political parties and rebel groups, have been trained in negotiation skills to be able to match the experienced Khartoum government. How about training in weaponry and logistics? One source close to the mediation said these initial talks were preparatory and no substantive negotiations were expected to begin as yet. The talks follow the highest-level visit from Eritrea in years to Sudan, as President Isaias Afwerki met Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al Bashir in Khartoum on Monday, agreeing to normalise relations. Sudan’s east, like other regions in Africa’s largest country, complain of neglect by central government. The arid area has some of the highest malnutrition rates in Sudan. But the east is strategically important, containing the largest gold mine and Sudan’s main oil pipeline. Sudan will soon pump around 500,000 barrels per day of crude. The former southern rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), now partners in central government, are the main fighting force in Hamesh Koreb. But on Sunday they formally withdrew and handed over control to local government, a move their eastern allies dislike. The SPLM say they had hoped eastern peace talks would have begun last year and reached a deal by now. Analysts warn this could spark renewed fighting in the area.

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Africa Horn

US, AU condemn Darfur attack

2005-12-22

The United Nations and the African Union have condemned an attack on a village in Darfur in western Sudan in which armed men killed 20 civilians and burned their huts. I'm sure they find that very comforting... The attackers riding camels and horses swept through the village of Abu Sorouj in the war-wrecked Darfur region on Monday, killing the villagers and destroying and looting their houses, UN spokesperson Radhia Achouri, told reporters. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned the attack, Achouri said on Wednesday, warning that "the security situation in Darfur remains volatile. Militia attacks on villages continue". He condemns, but he does nothing. Give him another peace prize.

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Africa Horn

U.N., African Union Condemn Darfur Attack

2005-12-21

The United Nations and the African Union on Wednesday condemned an attack on a village in Darfur in western Sudan in which camel and horse-riding assailants killed 20 civilians and burned their huts. The 500 men, suspected Arab militiamen known as the Janjaweed, swept through the village of Abu Sorouj in the war-wrecked Darfur region on Monday, killing the villagers and destroying and looting their houses, U.N. spokeswoman Radhia Achouri told reporters. 500 guys on camels and horses riding around waving guns shouldn't be that difficult to spot from the air. Couple cluster bombs and a follow-up with helicopter gunships would sort them right out. That is, if you really wanted to stop them. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned the attack, Achouri said, warning that 'the security situation in Darfur remains volatile. Militia attacks on villages continue.' Abu Sorouj was among a number of villages that were attacked this week in all three Darfur states 'and continuous displacements of people have been reported,' Achouri said. Recent fighting has forced 5,000 people to flea their homes in southern Darfur to northern areas, Achouri said. The African Union, which maintains 7,000 peacekeepers in Darfur, said it was 'outraged' by the Abu Sorouj attack. An AU statement said the organization's peace mediator Salim Ahmed Salim, condemned 'the unwarranted brutal killings of numerous innocent civilians, including women and children, and the destruction of their homes and property by armed militia.' AU-sponsored peace talks ended Dec. 7 in Abuja, Nigeria, and another round is not expected before the new year. The AU also urged Sudanese officials to ensure that the assailants 'face the full force of the law.' Yeah. Right. Darfur's herding and farming communities, split by years of skirmishes over land and water, took up arms in large-scale fighting in 2003. So far, the ensuing famine and disease have killed more than 180,000 people. The Arab-dominated government in Khartoum, already accused of unfair distribution of wealth in the country, has been accused of unleashing the Janjaweed against the ethnic tribe members in Darfur.

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Africa: Horn

UN Won’t Quit Darfur Despite Violence

2005-10-06

The United Nations mission in Sudan said yesterday it had no plans to leave the war-torn western region of Darfur despite an upsurge in violence that has left at least 44 people dead. Well, that's certainly unusual... “The UN has no intention of pulling out of Darfur due to the violence currently taking place in the region,” UN spokeswoman Radhia Achouri told reporters in Khartoum. The UN humanitarian coordinator, Jan Egeland, warned on Sept. 28 that the recent escalation of violence in the region could disrupt the agency’s operations and relief work in Darfur. “If it continues to be so dangerous to do humanitarian work, we may not be able to sustain our operations for 2.5 million people,” Egeland said. The security situation in Darfur deteriorated sharply in September after rebels seized two government-held towns and Arab militias loyal to Khartoum raided camps for displaced persons in the region.

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Africa: Horn

Sudanese clash for third day after Garang death

2005-08-04

At least 20 people were reported killed overnight in the Sudanese capital as clashes between northerners and southerners extended to a third day on Wednesday after the death of former southern rebel leader John Garang. Violence in Khartoum erupted on Monday when angry southerners took to the streets after the official announcement of the death in a helicopter crash of Garang, who fought the northern government for two decades before making peace. "There are quite a number of casualties and it's quite serious," U.N. spokeswoman Radhia Achouri told Reuters. Some southerners fear the absence of Garang, who was made Sudan's first vice president last month, could weaken their hand in governing Africa's largest country.

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Africa: Horn

Sudan: 4,000 Flee LRA Raids in Southern Sudan

2005-05-08

Thousands of villagers have fled their homes to escape attacks by the rebel Lords Resistance Army (LRA) in southern Sudan. In the last one week thousands of sudanese have been forced to cross to Kitgum inside Uganda following stepped up attacks by LRA in different parts of the war ravaged south. The United Nations estimates, "more than 4,000 people have arrived at the refugee transit centre at Palorinya in northern Uganda seeking protection," UN spokeswoman Radhia Achouri said. Many of the refugees said they had seen LRA rebels hacking people to death, cutting their lips off and burning homes, Achouri said.

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Africa: Horn

Sudanese airstrike in Darfur killed 100

2005-01-30

An airstrike by the Sudanese Air Force on villagers in southern Darfur killed or wounded nearly 100 people in a serious violation of a fragile cease-fire in the conflict-torn region, the United Nations said yesterday. The bombardment Wednesday of villages outside Shangil Tobaya sent thousands of people fleeing, UN spokeswoman Radhia Achouri said by telephone from Khartoum, Sudan's capital. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was "deeply disturbed" by the bombing, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said in New York. "Deeply, deeply disturbed." "This is the latest in a series of grave cease-fire violations that have resulted in a large number of civilian casualties, the displacement of thousands of people, and severe access restrictions for relief workers," Eckhard said in a statement. Achouri said African Union observers at the scene had reported "almost 100 casualties" but did not specify how many were dead and how many wounded. "But 100 casualties is 100 too many, be they wounded or dead," she said. "It is definitely one of the most serious violations of the cease-fire" signed by the government and the Darfur rebels last year. "We're hoping the next violation doesn't have quite that many." The United Nations' deputy chief envoy to Sudan, Taye-Brook Zerihoun, spoke to the Sudanese Foreign Ministry about the bombardment, but had not received a reply, Achouri said. Sudan's government had issued no statement about the incident by last night. The chief spokesman of the Foreign Ministry did not answer his cellphone yesterday, the Islamic sabbath. "We gots nuttin' to say. Piss off." Aid workers based in Shangil Tobaya, 40 miles south of El Fasher, said they saw bombs exploding on the ground Wednesday afternoon and an air force Antonov, a Soviet-built aircraft, circling overhead. Later Wednesday, the African Union, which has 1,400 cease-fire monitors and protection troops in Darfur, confirmed the aerial bombardment, calling it a "major violation" of the cease-fire. "The government of Sudan always says aerial bombardments are not government policy and that President Omar el-Bashir has issued firm instructions that there should be no use of Antonovs for aerial bombardment," Achouri said. Couldn't have been them, then, right? The Sudanese government often has been accused of employing its air force against civilians in Darfur, and it has usually denied the allegations. It is rare that the African Union confirms an aerial bombardment. Achouri also said that rebels were believed to be responsible for the destruction of Hamada village in southern Darfur last week. Earlier this week, the United Nations announced the attack on Hamada, singling it out as the worst case of the escalated fighting in Darfur. More than 100 people, mainly women and children, were feared killed. Hamada and Shangil Tobaya lie in the northeast part of South Darfur. Fighting has displaced more than 10,000 people there in the past two weeks, the UN said.

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