Uganda has suspended 20 army officers accused of corruption in Somalia while battling Islamist militants as part of an African Union (AU) force, a Ugandan army spokesman has told the BBC. The officers are accused of selling food and fuel, meant for troops, on the black market, reports say.
The Ugandan contingent head, Brigadier Michael Ondoga, is among those being investigated.
The force, funded mainly by the United Nations (UN) and European Union (EU) is fighting the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group in Somalia.
Brigadier Ondoga was among the officers who had been recalled for allegedly "getting involved in conduct injurious" to the AU force, a Ugandan defence ministry spokesman said, AFP news agency reports.
The investigation followed complaints by junior officers of "unscrupulous conduct" by their superiors, he said. This included allegations that junior officers were not being paid and food meant for them was being sold, Col Ankunda told the BBC.
Uganda's privately owned Daily Monitor newspaper said in a report that Ugandan soldiers in Somalia often get only one meal a day because of the alleged theft and sale of food to private companies.
Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni had cancelled Brig Ondoga's appointment as military attache to Kenya, it reports. He was due to have taken the post when his term as head of the Ugandan contingent in Somalia ended at the end of the month, the Daily Monitor adds.
Uganda has more than 6,000 troops in the AU force in Somalia.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/19/2013 00:00 ||
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The Saudi government announced yesterday that it would donate $300,000 to a trust fund that aims to abolish maritime piracy off the coast of Somalia and to support the prosecutorial legal process.
Badanov is right: the price of ammo has gone up...
Prince Turki bin Mohammed bin Saud Al-Kabeer, undersecretary for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Multilateral Relations in the UAE, made the announcement in his speech in Dubai during the 3rd conference against maritime piracy. The theme of the conference was "Anti-Piracy: A Continuing Task to Build Regional Capacity."
Saudi Arabia is known for its active role in combating piracy around the world, as it greatly affects local and international sales of goods in the entertainment industry.
And diverts gunnies from more fruitful, faithful measures...
Last year, the government adopted the Unfair Competition Law (UCL) to further boost the Kingdom's campaign against piracy.
Yeah! No fair you Pakistani blokes horning in on our piracy biz!
The Kingdom also provided expert training courses for coast guards to identify, prosecute and apprehend pirates in the Arabian Sea's borders.
International deliveries are frequently interrupted along the Somali coast, which has resulted in an unprecedented rise in shipping expenses amounting to around $6.6-6.9 billion a year, according to statistics provided by Oceans Beyond Piracy (OBP).
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/19/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Hardly a significant amount or their is a mistake in the editing.
Recent WP Blog article on meeting "pirates" with the force of "cold war" weapons.
"the term 'using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut' springs to mind."
Posted by: Au Auric ||
09/19/2013 9:44 Comments ||
Top||
#4
...anyone check to see if on the annual training requirements was the line item to drop a bomb? Maybe getting a twofor here. Or getting rid of ordnance before its expiration date, a threefor.
BTW a 2000 pound 'smart' bomb or a dumb bomb with 'smart' attachments? Remember we're dealing with LSM who can't tell a shotgun from an AR-15.
[AnNahar] Two Iranian warships have entered Sudan's territorial waters and were heading to dock for "routine" fueling, a front man of Sudanese army said on Wednesday.
And to off-load Qassam rockets for Hamas, to be ported up through Egypt and the Sinai, thence through a tunnel, and then aimed randomly at the evil Zionists...
"Two Iranian ships have entered our territorial waters, one of them is a destroyer and the other is a supplies vessel," Colonel Sawarmi Khaled Saad told Agence La Belle France Presse.
He said the vessels are stopping in Sudan for a "routine and regular visit" to get "supplies, food and water".
In October, two Iranian navy vessels called at Port Sudan, followed by two more in December, in what Khartoum described as a "normal" port stop.
Israel considers the area of the Red Sea and east Sudan as a passage for arms smuggled to Islamist Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, movement in the Gazoo Strip.
Khartoum's links with Iran came under scrutiny after Sudan accused Israel of being behind an October 23 strike against the Yarmouk military factory in the capital, which led to speculation that Iranian weapons were stored or manufactured there.
Last month, Saudi authorities denied permission for a plane carrying Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. to cross its airspace for the swearing-in of Iran's new president.
Riyadh said Bashir's flight plan lacked prior approval.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
09/19/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Sudan has a coaling station and a sailmaker's shop? I mean, who knew??
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
09/19/2013 1:19 Comments ||
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#2
time for another desert convoy strike
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/19/2013 7:58 Comments ||
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#3
Might be carrying arms for the Brotherhood in Egypt rather than Hamas.
It's not a good time to be a foreigner in Egypt. Yesterday it was Frenchmen.
[AnNahar] Two Canadians being held in Egypt have launched a hunger strike in protest at their incarceration without charge, a family member told Agence La Belle France Presse on Wednesday.
John Greyson is a Toronto filmmaker and university professor, and Tarek Loubani is an emergency room doctor from London, Ontario.
The men were tossed in the slammer Book 'im, Mahmoud! last month soon after trying to enter Gazoo, where Greyson was scouting for a documentary and Loubani planned to help train local doctors. But they were turned back at the Gazoo border and later locked away Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! in Cairo.
"They're on the third day of their hunger strike," Greyson's sister Cecilia told AFP.
She had rallied filmmakers and moviegoers at the Toronto International Film Festival last week to press for the pair's release, prior to a scheduled meeting with Egyptian prosecutors over the weekend.
But the meeting was pushed to next week and in the meantime the pair were ordered held for an additional 15 days.
"We're losing confidence in the process as it's been going so far," Cecilia Greyson said.
On their detention, she said previously that there were "blanks in the picture" because their families have not had an opportunity to speak to the pair directly.
She said the men had asked at a cop shoppe for directions back to their hotel room, and were arrested.
#1
The men were tossed in the slammer last month soon after trying to enter Gazoo, where Greyson was scouting for a documentary and Loubani planned to help train local doctors
I do hope Egyptians won't so unenlightened as to try force feed them.
#4
My immediate reaction is that here are two more self-entitled elitist lefties who think that they are sooooo special that they can do whatever wherever and be allowed to do it because of their citizen-of-the-worldliness is so awesome.
Help the Gazooks? Make a "documentary" about the Gazooks (guess from what perspective)?
When you play with skunks don't be surprised to get sprayed.
#6
Just a quick link for stragglers like myself who aren't sure it's worth a click or two to look these buggers up. Greyson's a hoot (Wikipedia article). Your tax loonies at work. Not that the old regime was perfect, but Jesus, how did things ever come to this?
North Korea has called again for the resumption of multi-nation talks on its nuclear program. But the United States -- a key participant in the so-called six-party negotiations -- says Pyongyang first must take "meaningful action" on earlier promises to end its nuclear weapons program.
The public exchange between Pyongyang and Washington began Wednesday, when North Korea's first vice foreign minister, Kim Kye-gwan, called for a new round of talks without preconditions. He spoke in Beijing at a forum marking the 10th anniversary of the talks, which the North abandoned in 2009.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf later said "the onus" is in on North Korea to honor its earlier promises "to abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs."
Since quitting the talks, Pyongyang has defied United Nations resolutions with two underground nuclear tests, and has ignored further UN directives with multiple missile launches. It conducted a third nuclear test earlier this year.
In his Beijing comments, Kim -- the North's chief nuclear envoy -- said attaching such preconditions causes "mistrust." He blamed Washington's "hostility toward North Korea" for increased tensions.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said "all parties should be devoted to restarting the six-party talks."
Those negotiations involved North Korea, South Korea, the United States, Japan, China and Russia. They were aimed at getting the North to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for badly needed foreign aid.
Last week, the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University said Pyongyang likely has restarted a closed plutonium reactor at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex. It based its conclusion on recent satellite photos that appear to show white steam emerging from a building near the reactor. The reactor was shut down in 2007 under an aid-for-disarmament deal worked out by the six-nation process. But in April, Pyongyang warned it would restart all operations at Yongbyon to boost its nuclear force in both "quantity and quality."
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/19/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
They just screamed "NO TALKS"
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/19/2013 11:48 Comments ||
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With his poll numbers falling and his second-term floundering so far, Obama has sought help from the former aides who helped catapult him to the presidency.
When the president held a recent strategy meeting on the Syria conflict, for example, he invited former political adviser David Plouffe, former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, former chief speechwriter Jon Favreau and former National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor to attend. Ex-advisers like Plouffe, Gibbs and David Axelrod routinely participate in calls with current White House staffers, and Obama has invited the first-term all-stars to strategy sessions on other issues too.
Former Obama aides and other political observers say that, while the White House is chock full of talent, the campaign-type mentality of first-term aides who sought to win every messaging cycle is missing.
KHYBER AGENCY: Dr Shakil Afridi, who helped the United States track down al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, has been summoned by the Court of Political Agent Khyber Agency on September 24. Dr Afridis counsel, Samiullah Afridi, told APP that he was informed by the political administration of Khyber Agency on Wednesday that the hearing would be held on September 24.
Does he live that long?
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/19/2013 00:00 ||
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The Sindh Assembly on Wednesday unanimously passed the Sindh Witness Protection Bill 2013, which will now give legal protection to witnesses as well as their families, and enable them to provide evidence in criminal proceedings.
This is unexpected...
There are the laws on the books, and the laws that are enforced. Pakistan has plenty of the former.
The Sindh Assembly is the first elected assembly in the country to pass what some experts say is a landmark law and will help bring forward more witnesses in important criminal and terrorism cases. The new legislation allows witnesses to conceal their identities by wearing a mask, changing their voice and appearance as well as any other form of segregation during investigation or trial, and also allows the use of modern technology, such as video conferencing.
It also provides the room for relocation of witnesses in an attempt to keep them safe and protect them form the dangers of being targeted by the criminals, and also allows provision of accommodation to the witnesses.
Sindh Law Minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro, who is also the minister for parliamentary affairs, told the assembly that the law has been made in view of increasing incidents of terrorism and crimes in the province, where most of the times the witnesses refuse to come forward or give evidence in criminal cases for fear of life.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/19/2013 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] Embassies in Indonesia are warning their nationals that gunnies may attack the Miss World beauty pageant on the resort island of Bali after a series of hardline Mohammedan protests.
The United States, British and Australian embassies have in recent days all issued warnings.
"The embassy has received information that myrmidon groups may be planning to disrupt the Miss World pageant being held in Bali from September 8 to 28, potentially through violent means," said the U.S. embassy in Jakarta in a statement.
The British embassy said that "local Islamist vigilante groups have threatened to hold large-scale demonstrations to disrupt the Miss World pageant".
It added that "extremist groups may also be planning to attack the event".
Bali has been attacked by Islamic snuffies before, most notably in 2002 when bombings on the resort island killed 202 people, many of them foreigners.
However, the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits... Indonesia, which has the world's biggest Mohammedan population, has waged a crackdown on Death Eater groups over the past decade and has succeeded in dismantling key networks.
In recent weeks thousands of snuffies have taken to the streets protesting against the decision to hold Miss World in Indonesia, denouncing it as "smut" and "pornography".
The growing protest movement prompted the government to order the entire event be moved to Hindu-majority Bali, where myrmidon influence is minimal.
Originally only the early rounds were due to take place on the island, with later rounds and the September 28 final to be held in and around the capital Jakarta.
While the vast majority of Indonesians practice a moderate form of Islam, a vocal hardline fringe has become increasingly influential in recent years.
#1
Upon seeing the headline I thought they're talking about attack (on our sense of aesthetics and definitions of what constitutes human level intelligence) by the contestants.
[AnNahar] Thailand on Wednesday sentenced a Swedish citizen of Lebanese origin to two years and eight months in prison for possession of materials that could be used to make a bomb.
Atris Hussein, 49, was placed in durance vile Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! in January last year after a tip-off from Israel's secret services that Hizbullah members planned to attack Thailand during the New Year.
He was convicted for possessing about 2,800 kilos (2.8 tons) of ammonium nitrate, which is commonly used in agriculture but when mixed with other substances can make a bomb. Its possession requires a permit in Thailand.
"The court found him guilty of illegal armament possession and sentenced him to four years in jail, but due to his useful testimony during the investigation and hearing his sentence is reduced by one-third to two years and eight months," a judge said.
The court said Sherlocks could not prove Hussein had links with Hizbullah.
Hussein, who had faced a maximum of five years in jail, denied the charges and the alleged links to Hizbullah.
Before his arrest, the United States had warned of a "serious" threat of a terrorist attack on tourist areas in Bangkok.
A smiling Hussein hugged his wife and daughter after the ruling.
Asked how he felt, he replied: "I'm happy."
His lawyer Wittaya Buranasin said the defense would appeal.
"The investigation process should follow the law. Hussein himself said clearly he did not have a lawyer present when he was questioned," Wittaya said.
In a separate case, two Iranian men were last month sentenced to between 15 years and life for their parts in a botched bomb plot last year in Bangkok that ended with one of them having his legs blown off.
The pair were among five Iranians suspected of involvement in blasts that Israel linked to a 2012 spate of attacks on its diplomats around the world.
U.S.-Russian deal to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons, hailed as a diplomatic breakthrough just days ago, hit its first and last delay Wednesday with indications that the Syrian government will not submit an inventory of its toxic stockpiles and facilities to international inspectors by this weekend's deadline.
Who's going to force them?
The State Department signaled that it would not insist that Syrian President Bashar Assad produce the list Saturday, the end of a seven-day period spelled out in the framework deal that Washington and Moscow announced last weekend in Geneva.
Oh right, not us...
Marie Harf, a State Department spokeswoman, said Wednesday that "our goal is to see forward momentum" by Saturday, not the full list. "We've never said it was a hard and fast deadline."
Secretary of State John F. Kerry had described the date as the first of several "specific timelines" that would indicate whether Syria is committed to the deal that he and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had worked out.
It wasn't clear whether Syrian officials needed more time to complete a formal declaration of their chemical arms, or whether the disarmament deal itself was in trouble.
It wasn't clear to the reporter, to intellectuals and to all believers in unicorns, but it's clear enough to the rest of us...
So will all the other countries which chose to support international commerce in this way.
[AnNahar] The German government on Wednesday defended granting permits around a decade ago for exports to Syria of chemicals that can be used to make deadly sarin gas.
The economy ministry said the export licences were granted between 2002 and 2006 for shipments totaling more than 100 tonnes of chemicals for both military and civilian use.
They received the green light after "careful examination of all possible risks, including abuse and diversion threats in view of their possible uses in connection with chemical weapons", the ministry said.
Wasn't careful enough .. or maybe it was just careful enough...
Ministry sources said the chemicals were "classic dual-use" products that could also be used in the surface treatment of metals, fluorination of drinking water and the manufacture of toothpaste.
U.N. chemical weapons inspectors reported this week that banned chemical weapons were used on a large scale in the Syrian civil war, and that evidence showed sarin gas killed hundreds in an opposition-held area near Damascus on August 21.
The U.N. report did not say who used the sarin gas, though the Syrian opposition and its allies have blamed President Bashar Assad's troops. The United States claims more than 1,400 people died in the attack and has threatened to attack Assad's regime.
The German ministry conceded that chemicals that could potentially be used to make sarin had been exported, responding to a question in parliament by the far-left Linke opposition party.
"In all these cases a plausible case was made for their civilian use," the ministry said. "The evaluation of all the available information before the permits were issued led to no evidence of military use that would have justified a refusal of the permission."
It added that the "government has no information to suggest the delivered goods have since then been used for anything other than the stated civilian purposes."
Linke party lawmaker Jan van Aken suggested that the government had been grossly irresponsible.
"I really can't believe it," he told ARD public television. "Germany over many years delivered more than 111 tons of chemicals with which one can produce sarin to Syria, a country known to be operating a chemical weapons program."
The military threat against Syria's regime has eased after Russia and the United States agreed on a plan to put Syrian chemical arms under international control.
Syrian officials have denied using sarin gas and Russia said Wednesday Damascus had given it evidence that the rebels were behind the August 21 attack.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
09/19/2013 00:00 ||
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There appears to be a fundamental law for Western relations with the Arab-Islamic world:
Whether the West engages/trades with/boycotts/criticizes/praises/negotiates with/attacks/supports/detracts/etc Arab-Islamic governments/rebels/dissidents/moderates/hardliners/etc the West is always making a mistake and is ultimately to blame for the bad consequences.
If the West completely ignores a nation (like Afghanistan in the 90s) the same applies.
The West is at fault. Always. The governments and people of these countries are never ever to blame.
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/19/2013 12:19 Comments ||
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#5
The Germans knew and didn't care. Same goes for their super-bunkers. Considering how much guilt so many Germans feel over World War 2 you would think they'd bend over backwards in the direction of not selling to people dedicated to ethnic cleansing Israel.
From TFA:
The U.S.-Russian plan for the removal or destruction of Syria's chemical weapons, hailed as a diplomatic breakthrough just days ago, appeared to run into trouble Wednesday as the Obama administration backed off a deadline for the Syrian government to submit a full inventory of its toxic stockpiles and facilities to international inspectors.
The State Department signaled that it does not expect Syrian President Bashar Assad to produce the list within seven days, as spelled out in the framework deal that Washington and Moscow announced last weekend in Geneva.
Marie Harf, a State Department spokeswoman, said Wednesday that "our goal is to see forward momentum" by Saturday, not the full list. "We've never said it was a hard and fast deadline."
U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry had described the deadline as the first of a series of "specific timelines" that would indicate whether Syria is committed to the pact, which demands that Assad's government give up its chemical weapons in exchange for the United States shelving the threat of airstrikes. The Other Perfesser said he didn't see the one week deadline in the text. In the agreement it says:
In furtherance of the objective to eliminate the Syrian chemical weapons program, the United States and the Russian Federation have reached a shared assessment of the amount and type of chemical weapons involved, and are committed to the immediate international control over chemical weapons and their components in Syria. The United States and the Russian Federation expect Syria to submit, within a week, a comprehensive listing, including names, types, and quantities of its chemical weapons agents, types of munitions, and location and form of storage, production, and research and development facilities.
#1
Yokay, I'll bite, ISN'T THIS THE SAME ONE-WEEK DEADLINE SECSTATE JAAAWHN FORMALLY REJECTED LAST WEEK???
IIAC, Kerry's rejection infers that Baby Assad = Syria is NOT obligated to the one-week deadline, + actually has more time than that???
Is it possible that POTUS Bammer + SecState Jaaawhn are NOT confabbing+ coordinating wid one another on Syria as should be - NOT THE FIRST TIME ITS OCCURRED IN US POLITICS, NOR WILL IT BE THE LAST???
[BBC.CO.UK] Russia will give the Security Council evidence implicating Syrian rebels in a chemical attack on 21 August, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said. Syrian officials supplied the evidence, which Mr Lavrov has not yet seen.
Does he need to?
A UN report released on Monday concluded the nerve agent sarin was used in the attack in Damascus, which the US blames on the Syrian regime.
Russia has called the report one-sided and biased. The UN has hit back, saying its findings are "indisputable".
The UN report did not apportion blame for the attack, which sparked diplomacy that culminated in a deal for Syria to hand over its chemical arsenal by mid-2014.
The UK, La Belle France and the US now want the disarmament deal enshrined in a UN resolution backed by the threat of military force.
But Russia, which has repeatedly cast doubt on the whether the regime carried out the attacks, has objected to any resolution authorising force.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/19/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
If you told me 30 years ago that I'll live to see the time when Russians---led by a KGB alumnus, will be the good guys defending Truth, Justice, and International Law; whereas Americans---led by a first black* POTUS will use a very, very iffy evidence** to justify military action which will enable genocide; I'd call you names**.
* 30 years ago it was the PC term.
** later I learned not to argue with crazy people.
UN chemical weapons inspectors will return to Syria soon to investigate various accusations against the regime and opposition, their chief told AFP on Wednesday.
Yes we will be returning to Syria. Our planning isnt finished yet, so I cant say when we will be going, but it will be soon, UN chief inspector Aake Sellstroem said.
Apparently Scott Ritter isn't available...
His team, which went to Syria last month, concluded in a report presented on September 16 that banned chemical weapons were used on a wide scale in the Syria war. There was clear evidence sarin gas killed hundreds of people in an attack on Ghouta near Damascus on August 21, the report said.
The report that was presented was an interim report, Sellstroem said.
Thus requiring more dining study...
There have been other accusations presented to the UN secretary general, dating back to March, against both sides in the conflict, he said.
There were 13, 14 accusations that have to be investigated, he added.
Each one at a time...
Sellstroem said the weapons inspectors would not be addressing the question of who was responsible for the August 21 gas attack, in which the United States claims more than 1,400 people died.
Thats not our assignment, Sellstroem said.
So the one big attack that we'd all really like to know about? They're not touching that one...
He said the weapons inspectors travel plans should firm up within a week.
He hoped to be able to present a final report addressing all of the accusations possibly by the end of October.
Of which year?
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/19/2013 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.
The Saudi government announced yesterday that it would donate $300,000 to a trust fund that aims to abolish maritime piracy off the coast of Somalia and to support the prosecutorial legal process.
North Korea has called again for the resumption of multi-nation talks on its nuclear program. But the United States -- a key participant in the so-called six-party negotiations -- says Pyongyang first must take "meaningful action" on earlier promises to end its nuclear weapons program.
[AnNahar] Thailand on Wednesday sentenced a Swedish citizen of Lebanese origin to two years and eight months in prison for possession of materials that could be used to make a bomb.
