THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2017 INTERNATIONAL

Kenyans mock president’s passion for project launch

NAIROBI: Kenya’s notoriously caustic tweeters Project” was a step too far for Kenyans on the er tied with a ribbon, one Kenyan wrote: “I have the only thing you are not launched yet is a spirited have taken aim at President Uhuru Kenyatta’s love social networking site. commissioned the multi-million manually pro- fight against corruption,” one person wrote. for a good ribbon-cutting, mocking his endless They criticized him and his advisors for publiciz- pelled dental debris excavator project.” Others referred to the biting drought in the unveilings of often bizarrely named projects. ing such small projects highlighting that many Another posted a picture of a condom tied with country, and a strike by public health doctors that Kenyatta, who is seeking re-election in August, has had been previously launched or commissioned. a ribbon, declaring he was launching a “virginity has lasted over a month. Meanwhile data science an active Twitter account which has recently been “This fetish with ribbons must be investigated,” eradication program.” An even more inventive company Odipo Dev published graphs showing abuzz with him launching a series of infrastructure tweeted James W. The publicity stunt saw the tweeter came up with a “launching kit” of a pair of that a quarter of all projects launched by Kenyatta projects alongside tweets reminding the country country’s twittering class, widely known as scissors and a roll of ribbon, while another pictured were carried out in the past six months. The elec- of how much development he has brought. Kenyans of Twitter (KOT) launch the hashtag a pair of flip-flops to commission his “advanced tion race is heating up in the country, with some However his commissioning last week of a foot- #UhuruChallenge in which they came up with mobility apparatus project.” Others took a more 4,000 opposition members meeting in the capital bridge in the coastal region of Mombasa, dubbed their own projects to be launched or commis- serious tone, pointing to some of the problems Wednesday in a bid to come up with a common the “Buxton Footbridge Non-Motorized Transport sioned. Alongside a picture of a toothpick contain- plaguing the east African nation.”When you realize platform to unseat Kenyatta. —AFP Nazi war criminal died in Syria basement in 2001 ‘He suffered and cried a lot in his final years’

PARIS: Nazi war criminal Alois Brunner, who was Sheltered in Damascus, he became an advisor to responsible for the deaths of an estimated the Syria secret police, allegedly passing on tor- 130,000 Jews, died in 2001 at the age of 89, ture and interrogation methods developed by locked up in a squalid Damascus basement, a the Nazis. French magazine reported yesterday. Its investi- gation described as “highly credible” by veteran Survived parcel bombs Nazi-hunter aims at resolving the But the Israeli intelligence services were fate of one of the most notorious figures of the quickly on his trail. He was said to have been Holocaust. Three ex-members of the Syrian killed by a parcel bomb on Sept 13, 1961. In fact, secret service interviewed by the magazine XXI he lost an eye in that attack and four fingers in said ’s former assistant spent his another parcel bomb in 1981, although the last years in miserable conditions underneath an Syrian authorities continued to deny his exis- apartment block in the Syrian capital. tence. He was convicted of war crimes by French BRAZIL: In this photo released by Agencia Brasil, a ceremony is held for Greece’s late The Austrian-born SS commander was in courts in his absence in 1954, when he was sen- Ambassador to Brazil Kyriakos Amiridis before his remains are flown home from the charge of the Drancy camp north of Paris from tenced to death. In 2001, another French trial, airport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. —AP which Jews in occupied France were sent to the which for the first time included the specific gas chambers. He remained to the end an unre- charge of arresting and deporting hundreds of pentant Nazi and anti-Semite, the sources told orphans, sentenced him to life imprisonment. Gambia election ruling XXI. One of his guards said Brunner, who went The death sentence had been abolished in by the name of Abu Hussein, “suffered and cried France in 1981. delayed for several months a lot in his final years, everyone heard him.” The According to XXI, Brunner was practically man, identified only as Omar, said he “couldn’t under house arrest in his apartment in the diplo- BANJUL, Gambia: The Gambia’s chief until his complaint is heard.On Dec 20 he even wash.” All he had to eat were “army rations, matic quarter of Damascus from 1989. It said at Supreme Court justice dealt a blow to was broadcast on state television saying awful stuff and an egg or a potato. He had to the end of the 1990s he was moved for “security President Yahya Jammeh’s legal challenge “unless the Court decides the case, there will chose one or the other.” reasons” to the basement, and he was confined against the result of December’s election on be no inauguration on the 19 Jan. And let The circumstances of Brunner’s final years there until his death. “Once he was in the room, Tuesday, saying it would not be heard for me see what ECOWAS and those big powers have remained an enigma for decades. The the door was closed and never opened again,” several months. Jammeh’s political party behind them can do.” Centre in Vienna, which tracks Omar told the magazine. He claimed Brunner was lodged a legal case on his behalf last month down former Nazis, had declared that he had buried secretly in accordance with Muslim rites in aimed at annulling his Dec 1 election defeat West African leaders apply pressure died in Damascus in 2010. Klarsfeld, a prominent PARIS: This undated file photo shows the city’s Al-Affif cemetery in December 2001. to opponent Adama Barrow, and triggering The leaders from the ECOWAS regional lawyer and historian, flew to Syria with his wife Austrian-born Nazi war criminal Alois “In a dictatorship like Syria, he was untouch- new elections. “We can only hear this matter grouping led by Nigerian President and fellow investigator Beate in 1982 to urge the Brunner. — AFP able as long as the dictator didn’t want rid of when we have a full bench of the Supreme Muhammadu Buhari will return to The Assad regime to expel him. Klarsfeld’s father was him,” said Klarsfeld. “Until the end he kept his Court,” Chief Justice Emmanuel Fagbenle Gambia for the second time this week since arrested in Nice in September 1943 in an SS than well,” Klarsfeld said. “XXI’s investigation is hatred of Jews intact, as well as his faith in said, adding that the extra judges needed to the election to attempt to find a diplomatic roundup led by Brunner. He later died in highly credible. They have questioned someone National Socialism,” he added. “He was someone hear the case were not available and could solution to the crisis. They were due to arrive Auschwitz. who knew him at close quarters,” he added. who hated France as much as he hated Jews.” In arrive only in May or November. Wednesday but the trip was delayed until Brunner slipped through the Allies’ hands at the a short telephone interview in 1987 Brunner is The Gambia relies on foreign judges, Friday, Buhari’s spokesman said, because Eichmann’s ‘right-hand man’ end of the war. He left Germany for Egypt in alleged to have told the Chicago Sun-Times that notably from Nigeria, to staff its courts due Jammeh had asked for more time. “Delay Eichmann, one of the architects of the so- 1953 with a passport in the name of Georg he didn’t regret his part in . “All of to a lack of trained professionals in the tiny notwithstanding, the mandate of the ECOW- called Final Solution who was hanged in in Fischer. He worked for a time running guns to them deserved to die because they were the west African state. Fagbenle is the panel’s AS will be accomplished,” Garba Shehu said. 1962, called Brunner his “right-hand man.” “We the Algerian independence movement, the FLN, devil’s agents and human garbage. I have no only sitting judge, as the Supreme Court has Nigeria’s foreign minister said Monday the are satisfied to learn that he lived badly rather before moving to Syria the following year. regrets and I would do it again.” — AFP lain dormant since May 2015. The chief jus- use of force remained an option if there was tice added that he would prefer the country no movement in the situation. “Violence to resolve its political deadlock through the should be avoided but nothing is ruled out,” mediation underway by a group of west Geoffrey Onyeama said. Meanwhile an ex- African leaders, who are attempting to per- minister and high-profile defector from suade Jammeh to respect the constitution Jammeh’s government declared his support and step aside. “This is why alternative dis- for Barrow, and said the Supreme Court case pute resolution is important,” he said. “We was an attempt to “subvert the express will are now only left with the ECOWAS media- of the Gambian electorate.” Former informa- tion initiative and the inter-party committee tion and communication minister Sheriff set up by government to resolve the dis- Bojang fled to neighboring Senegal on pute.” The inter-party committee is a UN- Monday after resigning. Bojang said his con- backed body aimed at resolving arguments science had overwhelmed him after Jammeh between different Gambian political parties. declared he would not step down at the end But Jammeh has made clear he will not go of his mandate. —AFP

Germany agrees to send more troops to Mali BERLIN: The German government decid- The Islamists were largely ousted by a ed yesterday to raise the number of troops French-led military operation launched in deployed to Mali as part of a UN mission January 2013, but large swathes of Mali that is known as the world’s most danger- remain lawless and prone to attacks. If ous. The UN’s Mali mission, also known as Berlin does end up sending 1,000 troops MINUSMA, regularly comes under attack to Mali, then the deployment would be from jihadists. Last year alone, more than Germany’s biggest abroad. 30 troops were killed, more than in any To date, its biggest deployment has other UN peacekeeping mission. MINUS- been to Afghanistan, where around 890 MA is tasked with monitoring a peace deal German soldiers are currently stationed. between the government and northern The cabinet also extended to January rebels in the west African country. The 2018 a mission in northern Iraq, where KOSOVO: Kosovo Albanians hold placards in support of Kosovo’s former prime minister Ramush Haradinaj arrested on suspicion of war crimes, German cabinet agreed Wednesday to 150 German soldiers are training Kurdish during a demonstration yesterday in Mitrovica. — AFP raise the limit for troop deployment to the fighters for combat against Islamic State country from 650 to 1,000. jihadists. The German army has already The additional soldiers are meant to trained around 12,000 Kurdish fighters, as Arrest of Kosovo’s ex-PM take over an emergency rescue mission in well as others from groups such as the northern Mali that is currently under the Yazidi minority. The new deployment command of the Netherlands. Four heli- plans would still require parliamentary threatens ties with Serbia copters for transporting injured as well as approval, but are unlikely to meet with four combat helicopters will also be any resistance as Chancellor Angela deployed. Northern Mali fell under the Merkel’s ruling right-left coalition has a PRISTINA: The arrest in France of Kosovo’s for- towns across Kosovo and in neighboring coun- the suspension of all negotiations with Serbia control of Al-Qaeda-linked groups in 2012. crushing majority. —AFP mer prime minister Ramush Haradinaj on suspi- tries with significant ethnic Albanian populations. “until all arrest warrants are waived against lead- cion of war crimes threatens to derail fragile ers or members” of the KLA. negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo and Slow progress ramp up tensions between the former foes. Haradinaj has twice before been acquitted of ‘Block imports’ Spain Govt accepts responsibility Serbia wants to try the former leader of the war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal “Serbia is working openly and on a daily basis insurgent Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) for for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. to destroy the state of Kosovo. The government for 2003 military plane crash alleged atrocities committed against civilians He was elected premier in 2004 but resigned should immediately block imports from Serbia,” during the 1998-1999 conflict against Belgrade after 100 days in power to surrender to the said Ismajl Kurteshi, an MP with the opposition MADRID: Spain’s defense ministry took terms in 2009 for having misidentified the forces. After the conflict, which killed 13,000 United Nations judges. Since his acquittal he has Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) party. The political responsibility for the first time bodies. The crash and subsequent people, the predominantly ethnic Albanian become a political opponent to powerful group’s methods to protest against the Serb yesterday for a 2003 air accident which misidentification scandal hurt the popu- province of Kosovo became a United Nations President Hashim Thaci and a resolute opponent association of municipalities-which they fear will killed 62 Spanish soldiers as they were larity of the then conservative govern- protectorate and declared independence a of a historic 2013 agreement, brokered by the increase the influence of Belgrade-have includ- returning from Afghanistan. “There are ment of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. decade later-a move that has never been recog- European Union, to normalize relations between ed repeatedly releasing tear gas in parliament. reparations that are not economic, which The top advisory body to the government nized by Belgrade. Pristina and Belgrade. The fragile talks have Kosovo’s Prime Minister Isa Mustafa said arrest have to do with recognition,” Defense ruled in an October report that the min- The Serbian justice ministry on Tuesday made progress in terms of the movement of warrants such as Haradinaj’s were “completely Minister Maria Dolores de Cospedal told istry had an “administrative” responsibility requested the extradition of the former guerrilla people and goods, but it has never had great illegal and unjust” with the consequence of “pro- radio Cadena Cope a day after she met in the affair. fighter Haradinaj following his arrest by French popular support, having been imposed by politi- voking tensions and conflicts, and damaging the family members of the victims. Sixty-two Cospedal said the defense ministry police on Jan 4 at the eastern Basel-Mulhouse- cal leaders under pressure from the EU, which European (integration) process in the region.” For Spanish soldiers and 13 Ukrainian and accepted the report’s conclusion that Freiburg airport, under an international arrest both sides aspire to join. its part, Serbia considers Kosovo the cradle of its Belarusian crew were killed on May 26, “there is a relationship between the work warrant. Today, a French court will consider a The dialogue advances laboriously, as illus- identity in religion and affirms its guardianship 2003 when a Russian-built Yak-42 bringing of the defense ministry and the tragedy.” request for the 48-year-old’s release on bail. For trated by Kosovo’s reluctance to set up an associ- its constitution. To think otherwise is politically them back from Afghanistan crashed in a But she stressed this acknowledgement his compatriots, Haradinaj is a hero for his efforts ation of municipalities for its ethnic Serb minori- taboo in Belgrade. mountainous area of northeast Turkey. was symbolic and did not have financial or to win independence from late Serbian strong- ty around 100,000 people out of a population of “Serbia will not give up on prosecuting The defense ministry had chartered the criminal consequences as the victims have man Slobodan Milosevic, and he is known as 1.8 million. In October, with the support of Haradinaj or anybody else who has committed plane from a Ukrainian firm despite warn- already been compensated by insurance “Rambo” at home for his stocky build and military Belgrade, ethnic Serb MPs boycotted both the crimes against Serbs. The Serb people like all ings from military authorities that it was in firms. Cospedal said the defense ministry prowess. “Haradinaj is Kosovo” read the placards government and parliament to protest against others deserve justice,” Foreign Minister Ivica poor shape. The accident was followed by also agreed to search for all documents of hundreds of war veterans who rallied against the nationalization of the Trepca mine, whose Dacic warned. He said he had information about a scandal over the misidentification of the related to the hiring of the Yak-42 plane his arrest in front of the French embassy in ownership is disputed, intense northern Kosovo. plotting among the Albanian diaspora to occupy bodies of 30 of the soldiers, which had that crashed. “We will do everything possi- Pristina last week. Protesters gathered again yes- In a parliamentary session over the Haradinaj Serbian diplomatic premises by force in Europe been delivered to the wrong families. ble to find all the documents...related to terday, despite subzero temperatures, in several affair on Tuesday, Kosovo’s opposition called for and the United States. —AFP Three Spanish military officers received jail the contracts,” she said. —AFP