Egypt Sentenced 509 to Death in 2014, Obama Releases Jets, Amnesty International Releases Report

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 1 with video -- In Egypt in 2014, 509 people were sentenced to death. 

  On March 31, 2015, on the very day the UN belatedly criticized airstrikes in an IDP camp in Yemen, and Doctors without Borders and the Red Cross complained of the blockades that prevent medical supplies from getting in, US President Barack Obama said he is releasing tanks, jets and rockets to Egypt, which is part of the military offensive and blockade.

 On April 1, Inner City Press asked Amnesty International's representative at the UN Renzo Pomi about the death sentences, and the Obama administration's decision. Video here.

  While Pomi had no direct comment linking the two issues, Amnesty International was fast in reporting civilian casualties from the Saudi-led, Egypt-involved offensive on Yemen. 

 (And, Amnesty notes, in 2014 "the USA continued to use the death penalty in contravention of international law and standards," citing the cases of Edgar Tamayo, Askari Adullah Muhammad, Paul Goodwin and Ramiro Hernandez Llanas.)

 In Amnesty's study of executions in 2014, Pomi told Inner City Press, only "judicial" executions were considered. This apparently means, by a state or recognized entity such as in Gaza. ISIS is not counted, though its executions have led to others. Are all states judicial? We hope to have more on this.

  The White House read-out began, "President Obama spoke with Egyptian President Abdelfattah al-Sisi today regarding the U.S.-Egyptian military assistance relationship and regional developments, including in Libya and Yemen.  President Obama informed President al-Sisi that he will lift executive holds that have been in place since October 2013 on the delivery of F-16 aircraft, Harpoon missiles, and M1A1 tank kits."

 The NSC specified that "President Obama has directed the release of 12 F-16 aircraft, 20 Harpoon missiles, and up to 125 M1A1 Abrams tank kits that have been held from delivery."

   The timing is strange. Or perhaps not.

 Amid continued airstrikes in Yemen, on March 30 came reports of an airstrike on an internally displaced persons camp in Haradh. Inner City Press immediately sought confirmation (and comment) from the UN.

 On March 31, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid issued a statement on Yemen including this:

'I am shocked by Monday’s airstrike against the Al-Mazraq camp for internally displaced people in Harad, in the north of Yemen,' Zeid said. There are different accounts as to how many people were killed in the airstrike, but UN human rights staff in Yemen have verified at least 19 fatalities, with at least 35 others injured including 11 children. This camp, home to some 4,000 people, was established by the UN in 2009 and recently received at least 300 new families displaced from Sa'da."

  Meanwhile UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was in Kuwait, talking about "a deeply moving video entitled 'Clouds over Sidra.'  It is an amazing virtual reality production of the starkness of life in the Za’atari Refugee Camp through the eyes of a beautiful young girl by the name of Sidra."

  Ban speaks on this virtual reality - but remains silent on the inconvenient reality of the airstrike on the real IDP camp in Haradh in Yemen.

   

On Sudan, HRW Chides UNAMID, ICG on Aid into Blue Nile from Ethiopia, Amnesty Report Online (as is FUNCA)

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 21 – In Sudan, International Criminal Court indictee Ali Kushayb continues killing in Darfur and the SPLM-North rebels shell Kadugli, recently killing a UN peacekeeper there.

In New York, the International Crisis Group, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International held a join press conference on Friday. 

  On Kushayb, Inner City Press asked HRW's Jehanne Henry about the UNAMID peacekeeping mission responding on June 5 that “fighting between Miseria and Salamat tribes took place [but] UNAMID has not observed Muhammad Ali Abdel-Rahman (also known as Ali Kushayb) in Darfur.”

  Henry replied that while UNAMID has a strong protection of civilians mandate, it is not fulfilling this mandate, there are many examples and this is just one. Video here, from Minute 27:13.

We have noted in the past a reticence by HRW to criticize the UN. Perhaps because UNAMID is a hybrid mission with the African Union, it is different? One wonders: when Ken Roth met with Ban Ki-moon, was the weakness of UNAMID brought up?

  And why has HRW said so little about DPKO's Herve Ladsous' lack of communication and action about the rapes in Minova by two units of the Congolese Army he continues to support? 

  About Ladsous' proposed use of the Chadian Army, on the UN's list of child soldier recruiters, in the MINUSMA mission in Mali – which not only Watchlist but also WorldVisior have criticized?

On the evening of June 20, Inner City Press asked top UN Humanitarian Valerie Amos about Amnesty's report on Blue Nile; she said that Sudan is offering to let aid in “cross line” but is opposed to cross border entry from South Sudan, which the SPLM-North is insisting on. 

  The question is whether the insistence on cross border aid is, as in Syria, used for political purposes by some.

  Renzo Pomi of Amnesty declined to get into cross-border aid, saying it is being discussed but not yet put on paper. He noted divisions in the UN Security Council, and said he'd more closely review what Amos answered Thursday night. We'll await that. The Amnesty report, including recommendations to international NGOs and UN agencies, is online here.

  EJ Hogendoorn of the International Crisis Group said if the aid into Blue Nile couldn't be cross-line, it should be cross border. He said this might be possible from Ethiopia, which would be less problematic for Sudan.

  One wonders how the killing of an Ethiopian peacekeeper in Kadugli, pretty clearly by the SPLM-North, will impact Ethiopia's positions on Sudan and South Sudan.

  The Ethiopia idea was something new, at least in UN world – just as when ICG's Comfort Ero told Inner City Press of Mali, “there must be a willingness to include all armed groups at table if they are willing to end armed struggle.” 

  That was not pen-holder France's thinking; Ero was also willing to publicly note that Romano Prodi with his Sahel report had been slow. Now that it's out – and underwhelming – we'll be writing on that soon. Watch this site.

Footnote: In a note on the ICG / Ero press conference on Mali, the UN Correspondents Association and some of its Executive Committee members' attempt to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN was reviewed. On Friday, the first question went to UNCA, taken by a person who lost when running for the Executive Committee. We've said it before: given the payment of dues, this amounts to questions being for sale at the UN. So says the FREE UN Coalition for Access, now tweeting questions, often from journalists denied access or answers by the UN, from@FUNCA_info. Onward.