INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY, MAY 18, 2014

News 43 die as Libya ex-general in brief

‘Executed’ N Korean battles Benghazi Islamists singer alive and well SEOUL: A North Korean singer said to be leader Kim Jong-Un’s ex-girlfriend and rumored to have been Libyan forces vows to flush out ‘terrorists’ executed last year has appeared on state television, apparently alive and well. Pyongyang’s state TV BENGHAZI: Libyan forces loyal to a rogue said it took in four bodies and 27 wounded. wave of abductions and attacks targeting for- showed Hyon Song-Wol, the head of a band known as general, vowing to flush “terrorists” out of The fighting subsided in the afternoon, an eign diplomats, was taken in coordination Moranbong, delivering a speech at a national art Benghazi, clashed with former rebel Islamist AFP journalist said, as witnesses reported that with Libyan authorities. There was no men- workers rally in Pyongyang on Friday. She expressed groups in the eastern city, killing 43 people Haftar’s forces were pulling back south to Sidi tion of the violence in Benghazi. But the gratitude for Kim’s leadership and pledged to work and wounding some 150. The violence in Fradj. Haftar heads a group calling itself the clashes in the Mediterranean city underscore harder to “stoke up the flame for art and creative what was the cradle of Libya’s 2011 revolution “National Army” which launched “a large- the government’s struggle to rein in former work”. Her appearance came after months of specula- comes weeks after the government acknowl- scale operation to flush terrorists out of rebels who helped topple Kadhafi nearly tion about whether or not she was alive. Japan’s Asahi edged for the first time the existence of “ter- Benghazi”, said a spokesman, Mohammed Al- three years ago. The city has been rocked by Shimbun and South Korean media said in September rorist groups” in the country and said it was Hijazi. “This is not a civil war. It’s an operation almost daily attacks that have killed dozens of that Hyon, members of the Unhasu Orchestra and mobilizing against them. Authorities have against terrorist groups,” said Hijazi, who like members of the security forces, judges and other state musicians had been executed by firing been avoiding a full-blown confrontation with Haftar was a former officer in Kadhafi’s army foreigners. There have been no claims of squad for taping themselves having sex. South the heavily armed ex-rebels who have bas- before defecting. responsibility but Islamists have been blamed Korea’s spy chief Nam Jae-Joon added weight to the tions in Benghazi and other eastern regions, Libya’s armed forces chief of staff, for the bloodshed. reports when he said in October that he was “aware” until they can bolster the army and police. Abdessalam Jadallah Al-Salihin, denied any In March, the government issued a state- of the alleged execution. “We are aware of the execu- The clashes erupted after a group led by army involvement in the Benghazi clashes. ment blaming “terrorists” for dozens of dead- tion of some 10 people associated with the Unhasu Khalifa Haftar, a retired general who led “The (regular) army has nothing to do with ly attacks and vowed to eradicate these Orchestra”, two lawmakers quoted Nam as saying at a ground forces in the 2011 uprising that top- the clashes. The army did not give any orders groups. Its pledge came after Haftar, in a closed door parliamentary session, according to pled dictator Muammar Gaddafi, pounded a for any sort of operation” in Benghazi, he said. video posted on the Internet, announced an Yonhap news agency. The Asahi said the rare execu- barracks of the “February 17 Brigade”, witness- Salihin admitted, nevertheless, that some offi- “initiative” under which the interim govern- tion of state performers had been ordered to prevent es said. Warplanes backed up the attack on cers and units from the regular army had ment and parliament would be suspended rumours spreading about the supposedly decadent the Islamists who responded with anti-aircraft joined Haftar’s group. Prime Minister in preparation for elections. That video lifestyle of North Korean first lady Ri Sol-Ju while she fire. The two groups also fought pitched bat- Abdullah al-Thani denounced Haftar’s forces sparked rumors on social media that a coup tles in Sidi Fradj, south of Benghazi, an AFP as “outlaws” and told a news conference in might be in the offing. The government, was an entertainer. journalist said, and witnesses said Haftar’s Tripoli that the army was “in control on the TRIPOLI: Libya’s interim premier Abdullah Al- which has come in for criticism for failing to men seized the headquarters of Rafallah Al- ground”, urging restraint in Benghazi. Amid defeat lawlessness in Libya, was quick to Thani, speaks during a press conference in Myanmar rally calls Sahati militia. Medical sources at Al-Marj hos- the violence, air traffic was suspended in quash the rumors and insist it was in control. Tripoli on the security situation in the coun- for charter change pital, east of the city, where Haftar’s casualties Benghazi during the day while in the evening, try’s eastern coastal city of Benghazi. — AFP Weeks later it declared a “war against terror- were taken, said four bodies and 70 wounded an official said the city’s airport would be ism”. However, no concrete measures have YANGON: Thousands of people joined a rally in were brought in. closed for 24 hours due to security reasons. embassy and consulate in Tripoli, saying it been taken. Attacks against the army have Myanmar’s main city yesterday to call for changes Benghazi hospitals gave a toll of 16 dead had received a “real and imminent threat” to spurred tribesmen, soldiers and some ex- to a military-drafted constitution that bars opposi- and 49 wounded, without identifying them. Algeria closes embassy its diplomats and staff. The foreign ministry in rebels to join forces with Haftar against the tion leader Aung San Suu Kyi from becoming presi- And Al-Abyar hospital south of the restive city As the fighting raged, Algeria closed its Algiers said the decision, which comes after a jihadists. — Agencies dent. The former political prisoner-turned-politi- cian has been campaigning to amend the charter since she became a lawmaker two years ago. The 2008 constitution blocks anyone whose spouse or children are overseas citizens from leading the country-a clause widely believed to be targeted at the Nobel laureate, whose two sons are British. It also ring-fences a quarter of the seats in parliament for unelected military personnel, leaving the army with a significant political role despite the end of outright junta rule. Addressing a crowd at the rally in Yangon, Suu Kyi urged the military top brass as well as rank-and-file soldiers to support a petition campaign to amend the charter. “I would like you all to consider whether getting more opportunities than ordinary citizens is really fair,” Suu Kyi said. “The main strength of the military forces is weapons. So I would like you to consider whether getting special opportunities because of the power of arms is dignified or good for yourself,” she said. Parliamentary elections due to be held in 2015 are seen as a definitive test of whether the military is willing to loosen its grip on power.

BOUFARIK: Illegal migrants from Niger stand next to their tents after settling, some of them for Illegal migrants from Niger hang clothes on a string near the fruit market in the Algerian town Lao military plane with more than one year, near the fruit market in the Algerian town of Boufarik, 35 km south of the of Boufarik. defense chief crashes capital Algiers in the Blida province. — AFP photos BANGKOK: A Laos air force plane carrying about 20 people including the country’s defense minister and other senior officials crashed yesterday, Thailand’s Foreign Ministry said. There was no immediate word Despite deaths, crackdown, on casualties, said the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Sek Wannamethee. The plane took off from the capi- tal, Vientiane, early yesterday morning and crashed in the northeastern province of Xiangkhoung, about Sahara migrant trail thrives 470 kilometers away. The aircraft was carrying Lao Defense Minister Douangchay Phichit, who is also a AGADEZ: After 92 people died of thirst attempt- slung mud brick houses perched on the south- Given the nature of the trade, statistics on We were able to go after the chain of corruption deputy prime minister, and several other high-rank- ing to cross the Sahara in late September, the ern rim of the Sahara. For years it has served as a the numbers of those who try to cross the that operated the business.” At the entrance to ing officials, including the governor of Vientiane. They government of Niger moved to shut down its hub in the networks that smuggle people, guns, Sahara are sketchy. At least 34,800 people have one Agadez transit house a gate now sits pad- were heading to an official ceremony for the Ministry decades-old desert migrant routes. “We cannot drugs and food across the desert. Although made the treacherous crossing from North locked. Next door, the “Restaurant African”, previ- of Defense, said Sek, who was informed of the crash remain indifferent in the face of this tragedy,” home to some of the continent’s fastest growing Africa to Europe so far this year, compared to ously a favourite of migrants, has been aban- by authorities in neighboring Laos. He did not imme- Colonel Garba Maikido, the governor of the economies, West Africa is struggling to generate 43,000 in all of 2013, according to figures from doned. The weekly, convoy of dozens of diately have any other details, and there was no offi- country’s main northern town of Agadez told enough jobs for its mushrooming young popu- the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. Hundreds of migrant-filled vehicles has been reduced to a cial statement on the crash from authorities in Laos, national radio. “We must take measures so that lation. As a result, migrants from countries as those are likely to have come via Agadez. handful of trucks ferrying locals, sheep and which is ruled by a secretive Communist Party. In this type of tragedy never happens again on our diverse as oil-rich and democratic Ghana to Maikido, the Agadez governor, estimates that some hay north. Hawkers peddling plastic October, a Lao Airlines ATR-72 turboprop crashed dur- territory.” Police raided dozens of transit houses, Gambia, a relatively poor police state, are still some 3,000 migrants a week headed to Libya sachets of water, toothbrushes and packets of ing a heavy storm as it approached Pakse Airport in where would-be emigrants stay until heading off taking their chances by heading north to before the crackdown. A Niamey-based diplo- medicines for travelers lament the drop in cus- southern Laos, killing all 49 people on board. across the desert for North Africa and Europe Europe, often through Agadez. mat put the weekly number at 3,000 to 5,000. tomers. beyond, and arrested a handful of smugglers and “They talk about economic growth but we Reseau Exodus, a project that worked with officials. About 50 policemen in the region don’t see it,” said Emmanuel Apiah, a Ghanaian police in Niger to collect data on registered Nothing has changed around Agadez were replaced. Niger’s govern- from the southern gold mining and cocoa grow- migrant flows towards Libya, recorded just over Quietly, though, the migrant trade contin- ment says large-scale migrant smuggling, which ing region of Ashanti, as he waited for a bus 40,000 people leaving Agadez travelling north ues. At a bus depot in downtown Niamey each in effect was officially tolerated for years, has now from Niamey to Agadez from where he planned over nine months in 2013. About half of these evening, a steady flow of migrants arrive from ended. But interviews with migrants, smugglers to cross the Sahara. According to Frontex, the were from Niger, so some may have been head- across West Africa ahead of the 3 a.m. bus for and officials in Agadez and in the capital Niamey European Union’s border management agency, ing to remote towns in the northeast. Most of Agadez. They gather in groups, resting on mats tell a different story. The crackdown initially the single biggest route for migrants entering the migrants from Niger said they intended to laid out in the open to catch the occasional stemmed the flow of migrants. But the people the EU is by air, and most of those illegally in work in Libya. But nearly half of those from else- breeze during the intense night heat. “Nothing smugglers have opened up new, more danger- Europe first entered with valid documents and where in West Africa told the researchers they has changed,” said Bachir Amadou, who works ous routes, and begun charging people more then overstayed. But tens of thousands also pay saw the North African nation as a stepping stone as a guide for Ghanaians headed for Libya. than ever to make the journey. The crackdown smugglers to make the dangerous journey for Europe. Amadou collects passports and cash from his has ended the spectacular mass departures of across central Asia and the Middle East, from the eight charges for the next trip. Briefing them the past, but migrants are still leaving the ancient Horn of Africa through Sudan, or from West Phenomenon defeated on what to expect, he tells them that on top of trading town, often in small groups at night to Africa across the Sahara to the Mediterranean. For years, the Agadez route operated largely the 17,000 CFA ($36) bus ticket, they will have meet up with 4x4s waiting in the desert. At least The trade took off in the mid 1990s, when in the open. Most people left in trucks and bene- to pay 43,000 CFA in bribes to get through the CARACAS: Venezuelan President Nicolas 13 migrants died this month after being aban- countries like Spain and Italy imposed stricter fited from weekly escorts provided by Niger’s police checkpoints between the capital and Maduro (right) and Palestinian leader Mahmud doned by smugglers near the Niger-Algeria bor- visa requirements. Africans began making the military. That changed with last year’s deaths. Agadez. For anyone without correct docu- Abbas, pose after decorating each other during der, officials in northern Niger said. dash across the Strait of Gibraltar, slipped into Most of the 92 were women and children who ments it will be double, he says. An official at a a ceremony at Miraflores presidential palace in Spain’s North African enclaves of Ceuta and had been abandoned in the desert when the regional bus company said that following a dip Caracas on May 16, 2014. — AFP Smuggling gangs Melilla, or attempted treacherous boat trips to trucks they were in broke down. Marou in numbers after the crackdown, “the flow (in The measures have also pushed the multi- the Canary Islands in the Atlantic or the Italian Amadou, Niger’s justice minister and the official migrants) is up again.” Behind a corrugated Venezuela to send million dollar business further into the hands of island of Lampedusa in the Mediterranean. The government spokesman, said the incident gal- iron gate in one Agadez neighborhood a few oil to Palestinians smuggling gangs, dominated by the Sahara’s popularity of routes changes as authorities vanized public opinion and helped end a culture weeks ago, a dozen migrants from Senegal, CARACAS: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro nomadic Toubou tribe. The speed with which adapt. A crackdown by Spanish and African of denial. “The large scale nature of the phenom- Mali and Guinea sat on the floor of a single- pledged Friday to send oil and diesel to the the trade has sprung back into life shows how authorities on the Canary Island route over enon has been defeated. We cannot end 100 roomed house. A 20 year-old Guinean who Palestinian Authority, as part of agreements signed hard it is for nations such as Niger to stop illegal recent years has meant more traffic through the percent of the fraud but we think the govern- gave his name as Amadou said he hoped to with its leader Mahmud Abbas during his visit to emigrants from leaving. The experience of the Sahara, where the violence and chaos of post- ment had recorded a big victory,” he told reach Libya. “My family tells me I that I should Caracas. Venezuela, which sits atop the world’s past few months in Agadez also highlights the Gaddafi Libya has made things easier. Reuters. “We were able to dismantle the camps. not do it but I am going to try in any case. I am largest oil reserves, said it would provide an initial problem of official collusion in the trade. Often, scared of the desert but I will go and get a job.” shipment of 240,000 barrels of oil, but gave no the very people meant to police the immigrant In the centre of town, a line of people waiting details as to how it would send them. “Thanks to routes are involved in the business themselves, to receive money via Western Union transfer Venezuela for supporting Palestine... to break Israel’s say migrants, diplomats and an internal govern- curled round the corner from a bank. Migrants monopoly on our economy, for your response to our ment report seen by Reuters. So far, no one in a say they often travel to Agadez with little mon- needs, for your willingness to support the senior position has been charged with involve- ey to make sure they are not robbed. Once Palestinian people in their long struggle,” Abbas ment in the trade. Immigration has re-emerged there, they get a relative or friend to wire them said, according to an official translation. During the as a hot topic in Europe as the continent recov- cash. meeting, Maduro also agreed to support the ers from years of economic hardship. Fringe par- The Reseau Exodus project ended in January Palestinian Authority’s quest to be granted observer ties are likely to score strongly in elections to the after funding from the Italian government and status in three Latin American regional organiza- EU parliament later this month, many demand- non profits ran out. In the first two weeks of this tions: the Union of South American Nations (UNA- ing that borders be shut to new migrants or year, the organization recorded nearly 500 for- SUR), the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our numbers be strictly rationed. But if Agadez is eigners arriving in Agadez, down by about two America (ALBA) and the Community of Latin anything to go by, the flow of migrants to thirds on the levels of earlier last year, but up American and Caribbean States (CELAC). “The Europe from West Africa is set to continue. “The again after the November crackdown. “People Palestinian people have the right to maintain com- corruption will never end,” said Mohamed are still coming in. This means they must be mercial relations with the world as well,” Maduro Anacko, a former Tuareg rebel leader who is now going out,” said Mohamed Andando, a member said. During his third visit to Venezuela in five years, president of Agadez’s regional council. “These of an Agadez-based organization called Gage Abbas visited the grave of Maduro’s predecessor, networks are reorganizing themselves and that carried out much of Reseau Exodus’s longtime leader Hugo Chavez, who died of cancer becoming stronger.” research. Aboubacar Issaka Oumarou, Agadez’s last year. new police commissioner, said migrants were Shifting routes being ferried out at night to waiting Toyota Hilux Agadez is a maze of sandy streets and low- Illegal migrants prepare food next to their tents. pick-ups. —Reuters