Established 1961 7 International Wednesday, January 1, 2020 Syrian refugees facing tough winter conditions in Idlib Turkey repeats it will not evacuate posts in Syria’s Idlib

IDLIB, Syria: Displaced Syrians escaping from In September 2018, Turkey and Russia agreed attacks on civilians by the Bashar Al-Assad regime to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone in which and Russian forces are facing harsh winter conditions acts of aggression are expressly prohibited. Since in Idlib, a de-escalation zone in northwestern Syria. then, more than 1,300 civilians have been killed in Sarot camp’s residents struggling with flooding attacks by the regime and Russian forces in the and mud due to heavy rainfall, are waiting for their de-escalation zone as the cease-fire continues to area to be cleaned and their basic needs to be be violated. met. Aerial footage of the camp taken by Anadolu It is “out of the question” for Turkey to evacu- Agency Video News shows people trying to cope ate its military observation posts in Syria’s Idlib, in the water, mud and cold. Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said yesterday, after Sarot camp’s director said that it was the best Russian and Syrian forces intensified their bom- place they could find to locate the camp. bardment of targets in the northwestern province. Complaining about the situations in the camp, one Turkey has 12 such posts in Idlib, and at home it of the residents, Subhiyye Birro said: “We didn’t hosts some 3.7 million Syrian refugees, the largest know where the bombing came from. Everywhere refugee population in the world. It fears another was bombed. We ran away with the clothes on us. wave from the region, where up to 3 million We need everything here. We want everything we Syrians live in the last significant rebel-held need from our God. Stoves, diesel oil, clothes, food swathe of territory after a nearly nine year civil and some drink. We need everything.” “I have two war. Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad has vowed IDLIB, Syria: Members of the Syrian Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, search for survivors children. Nights are freezing. We need a stove and to recapture Idlib, prompting a recent wave of following an air-strike on the flashpoint town of Maaret Al-Numan in Syria’s southern Idlib governorate diesel oil,” Birro added. refugees towards Turkey’s border. —Reuters on Monday night. —AFP Lebanon neighbors welcome Ghosn, N Africans claiming activists in uproar to be innocent BEIRUT: Lebanese neighbors of embattled former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn have welcomed his sudden migrants held return from Japan, but anti-government protesters accused the ex-tycoon of belonging to a corrupt in Yemen prison elite. In an upper-class district of the Lebanese capi- tal, traffic appeared normal in front the pink-colored TAIZ, Yemen: Dozens of would-be North African town house said to be the ex-auto tycoon’s base in migrants held in the central Prison in Taiz, south of the country. Yemen, want to return to their homeland, saying that AFP was not immediately able to confirm whether poverty forced them to leave. 78 Africans including Ghosn was inside the house, where the pale blue shut- three women who set out from the Horn of Africa, ters had been flung open but a black steel gate was mainly from Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, hop- firmly shut. The 65-year-old Brazil-born businessman ing for a better life ended up in al-Dabab district jail in has said he escaped “injustice” in Japan, where he was western Taiz. on bail awaiting trial over financial misconduct charges. The migrants have been held in prison for three On the street corner, a shop owner in his fifties named months and say they travelled through Yemen seeking Rene said he was delighted Ghosn had returned for refuge and work in other countries. The Yemeni New Year’s Eve. authorities said they had to put the migrants in Taiz “Injustice is unacceptable,” said Rene, who said the prison as there was no other appropriate shelter for them. They migrants share their food with other business tycoon had been a guest of honor at his son’s BEIRUT: This picture taken yesterday, shows a Lebanese internal security forces vehicle parked outside high school graduation. a house identified by court documents as belonging to former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn in a wealthy Yemeni prisoners. One north African migrant said they “They did him wrong. A person is innocent until neighborhood of the Lebanese capital Beirut. —AFP did not commit any crime that requires them to be proven guilty, not the other way around,” he added qui- imprisoned. etly as his wife sat nearby. “Japan cannot treat like this “We receive daily promises to get us out of prison a person who took over an indebted auto company and stepped inside the premises briefly before returning to Lebanese are facing a grinding dollar shortage even without interest. We are tired and want to return to turned it around to make profits and become one of the the street. as politicians argue over a new cabinet, six weeks into our families and homes,” Abu Zaid said. “We came to world’s leading firms.” In the building next door, a blonde woman in her unprecedented protests against a political elite deemed Yemen as a transit station to Saudi Arabia, in search of fifties who asked to remain anonymous said she was inept and corrupt. livelihood, and dreamed of a life of comfort and reas- ‘Huge respect’ appalled at the handling of Ghosn’s case in Japan. Protesters of all political and confessional back- surance, before we ended up in this prison,” he added. Many Lebanese view Ghosn as a symbol of their “They cannot treat him this way,” she said. “We, his grounds have accused the country’s leaders of syphon- An African woman who is also being held in Taiz country’s large diaspora and a prime example of neighbors, have huge respect for him. For the Lebanese, ing off public funds. “Carlos Ghosn has suddenly befall- prison said they were unaware that there is a war in Lebanese entrepreneurial genius, and were shocked by he is a prime example of success.” On Twitter, televi- en us, as if the country didn’t already have enough Yemen . She said “Our goal was to enter Saudi Arabia his sudden arrest in November 2018. Ghosn was out on sion show host Ricardo Karam defended the former thieves,” Ali Mourad, an assistant professor at the in search of work.” bail after 130 days in a Japanese detention center, but auto executive. Beirut Arab University, wrote on Facebook. Film direc- “I want nothing but to return to my country and his flight to Lebanon has dumbfounded even his chief “Carlos Ghosn is back to freedom on New Year’s tor Lucien Bourjeily said he was not surprised Ghosn embrace my family,” she added. War-ravaged Yemen lawyer in Japan. He faces charges of deferring part of Eve,” he said. “Every human being deserves human had sought out Lebanon’s justice system. is suffering from the conflict between regional powers. his salary until after his retirement and concealing this rights and a chance to tell the truth out loudly. Congrats Ghosn “said in his statement that he escaped the It also sees an irregular influx of migrants trying to from shareholders, as well as syphoning off millions in to humanity!” ‘rigged’ Japanese justice system,” Bourjeily wrote on reach Saudi Arabia. Authorities claimed the African Nissan cash for his own purposes. Journalists gathered Twitter. “He then came to the comfort of the ‘efficient’ migrants illegally entered Yemen to join Houthi rebels in coats and woolly hats outside the pink house in ‘Enough thieves’ Lebanese justice system that never ever put a politician fighting Yemeni government forces. —Reuters Beirut yesterday saw a security guard rushing out of Ghosn has consistently denied all charges against in jail for corruption even though billions of public the premises on a motorbike. him, while he and his lawyers have repeatedly voiced funds are embezzled yearly,” he said. An unidentified man with greying hair approached fears he would not get a fair trial in Japan. But else- Musician Ziyad Sahhab wrote on Facebook that the house and slipped a letter through the bars of the where on social media, Lebanese activists said Ghosn’s Ghosn had returned to “an environment incubating Congo’s veteran gate. And soon after, two vehicles belonging to the return was the last straw for a country suffering a twin thieves.” “We’re demanding the return of stolen funds, security forces pulled up and a high-ranking officer political and economic crisis. not those who stole it,” he said. —AFP president set to Turkish run anew in 2021 BRAZZAVILLE, Congo: Congolese President Denis Sassou archeologists continue Nguesso has been chosen by his party to run again for the top job in 2021, having already led the central African coun- excavation work try for a total of 35 years. During its congress in Brazzaville overnight Monday, his Congolese Party of Labour (PCT) unanimously named Sessou Nguesso, 76, as its candidate on oldest shipwreck for president. His re-election in 2016 sparked violence in a country where most of the five million people live below the ANKARA: Turkish archeologists are continuing exca- poverty line despite huge oil reserves. vation work with the participation of international sci- “We said the choice of Denis Sassou Nguesso is an entists on a sunken merchant ship dating back to the inevitable choice,” top ally Leonidas Mottom told AFP. bronze age. The shipwreck was found in 2018 lying on “It’s the choice of change in continuity, it’s the choice of the bottom of Turkey’s southern coast near Antalya. stability and the choice of peace,” said Mottom, the party’s Turkish officials said it is the oldest commercial deputy leader. The party’s outgoing secretary general, shipwreck that has ever been discovered in the Pierre Ngolo, said the 2,588 PCT congress participants world. The striking find in the depths of the reappointed Sassou Nguesso as head of the central com- Mediterranean Sea has been described as “the mittee in addition to naming him as their candidate in the Gobeklitepe (the world’s oldest known temple) of 2021 presidential elections. According to the constitution, underwater archaeology” by archaeologists. The 14- which was changed in 2015, Sassou has the right to run meter (46-foot) shipwreck was discovered by an again for the presidency in 2021 and for a last time in 2026. underwater research team from Akdeniz University in On Thursday, the main opposition group, the Pan-African Antalya, southern Turkey. Union for Social Democracy (UPADS), said conditions were Initially, a scientific article about the 3,600-year- not right for Congo to organize elections in 2021. old wreck was published with evidence. The discov- UPADS instead proposed a transition and an election in ery was later announced by Governor Munir 2023 without Sassou Nguesso on the ballot. The PCT, Karalioglu in April 2018. Within the scope of a five- which on Tuesday marked its 50th anniversary as a party, year project related to the shipwreck, excavations named 727 new members to its central committee during its are being carried out with the participation of inter- congress from December 27-30. They in turn elected Pierre national archaeologists from the International Moussa, 78, as secretary general for a five-year term, Institute of Nautical Archeology, Texas A&M dates back to 200 years before the previous oldest than 100 pieces mostly dating back to 1600-1500 replacing Ngolo, 65, who is also president of the Senate. University and Oxford University under the supervi- wreck in the world. BC and which consist of copper ingots probably Moussa is an economist by training who worked for inter- sion of underwater physicians. “After the scientific works, it has been confirmed extracted from mines in Cyprus,” he added. national financial institutions such as the World Bank. Historical findings extracted from a depth of about to be the oldest excavated shipwreck in the world The Merchant ship is believed to have sunk due to Moussa, who served as cabinet minister several times 50 meters were taken to the Antalya Conservation carrying commercial cargo,” said Oniz. The Professor a storm it hit while sailing from Cyprus to the island between 1997 and 2012, was also president of the CEMAC, and Repair Laboratory in the Antalya Museum. The said excavation works started this summer after of Crete or the Aegean Sea 3600 years ago. the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa, historical artifacts which also excites foreign scien- being given permission by Turkish authorities. “We According to the first findings, the main load of between 2012 and 2017. Sassou Nguesso first came to tists will be exhibited in the underwater archeology identified the location where the remains of the the shipwreck was copper ingots. power in February 1979 and headed a single-party regime museum planned to be built in Kemer district. wreck spread, or rather the area where the shiploads At the same time, the ship was probably carry- for 12 years. Under pressure, political pluralism was intro- Dr. Hakan Oniz, head of Akdeniz University’s spread. The area was unearthed, we reached the his- ing one of the world’s first and earliest industrial duced in 1991 and the following year Sassou Nguesso lost Underwater Research Center said the shipwreck torical artifacts,” he noted. “We have found more products. —Reuters presidential elections. —AFP