TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 2016 INTERNATIONAL

Iceland’s ready to board ship of state

REYKJAVIK: ’s Pirate Party, founded ment intended for a tiny protest party break with Iceland’s old political guard, and in 2012 as a marginal protest group, is now breathing fresh air into Icelandic politics, put an end to left-right bloc politics. unexpectedly in a position where it could rather than the seat of a party ready to take seize power in a country fed up with the the reins of power. Birgitta Jonsdottir, a 48- ‘Everyone takes part’ political and financial establishment. Recent year-old poetess and WikiLeaks activist, “In the other parties, when you’re public opinion polls have shown the party founded the party in 2012 after the dissolu- young and get involved in politics, it’s sim- with 43 percent of voter support, with many tion of the Citizens Movement, another ple: you start out listening to the speeches Icelanders furious to discover that hundreds small pro-direct democracy party for which given by party leaders, and you clap. Here, of their rich and powerful countrymen were she was elected to parliament in 2009. “She it’s not like that. Everyone takes part, named in the so-called leak was searching for herself. She’s a rebel and everyone can write proposals that will be which exposed hidden offshore dealings she had this idea for the Pirate Party, which debated,” said Karl Hedinn, a 21-year-old around the world. caught on right away,” recalled Stefania party member who zips around central The Pirate Party, a libertarian movement Oskarsdottir, a political science professor at Reykjavik on a skateboard. The party insists campaigning for more transparency in poli- the University of Reykjavik. on a flat structure, almost devoid of hierar- tics as well as Internet freedom and copy- In 2013 legislative elections, the newly- chy except for an executive committee right reform, is modeled on a Swedish created party managed to squeeze into par- consisting of seven members, seven sub- namesake launched in 2006. “We can’t pre- liament, just surpassing the threshold of five stitutes and a rotating presidency. dict whether (voter support) will stay like percent of votes required to be represented “This weak structure is the Pirates’ this or not, but what we can see is that peo- in parliament - 5.1 percent-and taking three strength but also its weakness. They have to ple like our style, our approach,” Asta seats. Since then it has continued to surprise find competent people to make it work, oth- REYKJAVIK: Birgitta Jonsdottir, Icelandic MP speaks to a journalist at Gudrun Helgadottir, one of three Pirate political observers, gaining much more vot- erwise it’ll be complicated. In politics you Reykjavik District Court. The Pirate Party’s popularity stems from mas- Party members to hold a seat in parliament er support than a slew of other protest par- have to be pretty organized so that on elec- sive frustration over the political establishment’s role in two major said. Things have moved quickly for the ties founded in the wake of the 2008 finan- tion day, your voters actually cast their bal- financial scandals, the country’s 2008 banking crash and now the small party, which in many ways is still cial meltdown that plunged Iceland into a lots,” Oskarsdottir said. “For the time being, Panama Papers leaks. — AFP under construction. deep recession and left thousands heavily the Pirate Party is an excellent place to put Its national headquarters, located in indebted. Yet Pirate Party members are try- your voter intent, and send a message. But a be held in the autumn, she said. Voters may single party has obtained a parliamentary Reyjkavik’s Old Harbour, consist of a two- ing not to get in over their heads, despite lot of voters will ask for more during the want to know which governing alliances majority since Iceland’s independence from room office that looks more like an apart- their popularity. The Pirates main goal is to campaign”, with legislative elections due to would be expected, in a country where no Denmark in 1944. — AFP Parents of Nigeria missing Chibok girls cling to hope

LAGOS: When Dauda Yama retrieved his abduction becoming a political issue for mobile phone from a neighbor’s house in Nigerian leaders. January this year, he noticed a missed call from his daughter Saratu who had been missing for Took the lead almost two years. The last time he spoke with Providing counsel to parents of the missing Saratu was on April 14, 2014, when she rang to Chibok girls is part of Nkeki’s role as chairman say men from the Islamist group Boko Haram of the association. He also checks up on the had loaded her and her classmates from the parents to see if they need help at all. “I check if Government Girls’ Secondary School in Chibok they have food items or if someone is seriously in northeast Nigeria onto trucks. Attempts to sick,” he said. “If there is any issue, I call the com- reach her again failed and two years on, 219 mittee members.” Some months ago, for exam- girls abducted that night remain missing, ple, the association received a donation of 128 despite a global campaign #bringbackourgirls bags of corn from a missionary group. The asso- involving celebrities and US first lady Michelle ciation decided to give three bags to one par- Obama calling for them to be found. ent to sell and raise money for medicine for his The students are among an estimated 2,000 son who was bitten by a snake. girls and boys abducted by the Boko Haram Nkeki said he had not intended to become a since the start of 2014, with many of those leader for the parents but was catapulted into abducted used as sex slaves, fighters and even the role when he tried to rally families into suicide bombers, according to an Amnesty action after the abduction. Under his lead, and International report. But when Yama returned frustrated by a lack of official action, the parents the missed call that evening, a man answered. formed a team to search the Sambisa forest for Yama hung up and rushed to the home of missing girls the day after the abduction, find- Yakubu Nkeki, chairman of the Association of ing scarves and other items along a trail until Parents of the Abducted Girls from Chibok. “He heavy rain forced them back. Nkeki then organ- asked me what he should do,” Nkeki, 58, a ized a meeting of parents in his village of schoolteacher, whose 17-year-old adopted Mbalala, calling for a peaceful demonstration daughter Maimuna Yakubu Usman is among and seeking media coverage to get the word those missing, told the Thomson Reuters out, with his initiatives prompting the parents JALALABAD: Afghan security forces inspect damage to a bus after a suicide attack in Jalalabad east of Kabul yesterday. — AP Foundation. to appoint him as their leader. Nkeki took the phone and redialed the It was Nkeki’s efforts that ascertained exact- number that was again answered by a man ly how many girls were missing after the school Afghanistan MP under fire after who said the phone belonged to his wife. said the Boko Haram had razed all records. He Reporting the matter to any of the armed per- cycled from village to village for two weeks sonnel around Chibok was out of the question with pen and paper to build a register. “I got the controversial interview on rape so instead they informed a campaigner with names of the girls, their pictures. I asked for the Bring Back Our Girls group, which advo- proof. They showed me their daughters’ books cates the return of the missing girls “now and so that I could get the exact name the girl used Bomb kills 2 Education Ministry workers in Kabul alive”. “We don’t know who to trust,” said Nkeki in the secondary school,” he said. His census who has received physical threats for his efforts revealed the number of girls abducted was 276 KABUL: A video of an Afghan lawmaker purport- suggesting the video was fabricated. “Actually I carrying Afghan Education Ministry workers in the to keep the abduction of the Chibok girls in the but 57 were able to escape as the trucks took edly threatening to cut off a reporter’s nose after haven’t said such a thing, neither have I behaved in capital Kabul yesterday, killing two people and headlines and the government’s sights with the off and came home. — Reuters she asked his views on marital rape has gone viral a such a way with anyone,” he said. “This video has wounding seven, the ministry said. The roadside and sparked widespread condemnation online. been manipulated and made up. Fabricating a bomb blew up as the bus was carrying workers to The clip, which has been retweeted more than video is something normal and everyone can do it.” their offices in Kabul’s eastern Bagrami district, the 4,000 times since it was posted by the VICE website The clip sparked angry reaction online after being ministry said. There was no immediate claim of Saturday, highlights the parlous state of women’s widely shared on Facebook. User Mohammad responsibility. Government workers and members rights more than 14 years after the fall of the hard- Bashir Haidary wrote in Dari: “Dear MP...you have of the security forces are often targeted by insur- line Taleban. VICE reporter Isobel Yeung is seen defamed the dignity of the entire Afghan people. gent groups, including the Taleban, who are seek- questioning Afghan parliamentarian Nazir Ahmad May you face the wrath of the Almighy, you are ing to topple the US-backed government in Kabul. Hanafi about his opposition to the Elimination of representing the ancient province of Herat.” Bus conductor Rahim Gul said the force of the Violence Against Women Act. Another user, Aminullah Farahi, wrote: “This blast threw him out of the vehicle. “We picked up It was submitted to parliament in 2009 but has dirty man knows well that the interview is watched the Education Ministry staff and we were driving yet to be passed due to strong resistance from by millions of Easterners and Westerners, and you on the road when there was an explosion,” Gul told MPs. “What if a husband rapes his wife, is that are representing Islam, is this Islam?” Gender equal- Reuters Television. “It was very powerful and threw domestic abuse? Should the man be punished or ity has improved somewhat since a US-led coali- me out of the car window. A few minutes later I should the woman be punished for that, in your tion toppled the hardline Taleban regime in 2001, found myself in a wheat field and then I rushed to opinion?” she asks Hanafi. He represents the west- with women-particularly from cities-taking up the site of the attack and helped some injured peo- ern city of Herat and is also an Islamic scholar who numerous professional jobs and holding more ple and they were taken to hospital.” lectures at various universities and madrassas. than a quarter of all seats in parliament. President The Taleban have stepped up their insurgency “There is a kind of rape you have and another we Ashraf Ghani has also pledged to place women’s since most foreign troops withdrew from have in Islam,” he replies. Yeung attempts to press rights at the top of his agenda, but major chal- Afghanistan at the end of 2014, although Kabul on with another question but is cut off by Hanafi, lenges remain. Last year a 27-year-old woman has enjoyed a period of relative calm during the who tells her: “I think you should stop it now.” known as Farkhunda was beaten to death in Kabul harsh winter months. That lull was expected to end after being falsely accused of blasphemy, a case soon with the Taleban poised to launch their annu- Manipulated and made up that became a symbol of the endemic violence al spring offensive. Six people were killed by a sui- He is then seen turning in another direction and that women still face. cide bomber on a motorcycle in Parwan district, says: “Maybe I should give you to an Afghan man to northwest of Kabul, last week. On Feb 22, a Taleban LAGOS: Yana Galang, the mother of Rifkatu Galang, one of the abducted cut your nose off.” Hanafi later denied making the Blast hits bus suicide bomber killed 14 people and wounded 11 Chibok girls, holds a phone with a picture of her daughter during an inter- comments in an interview with Radio Free Europe, In another development, a bomb hit a mini-bus at a clinic in the same district. — Agencies view in Lagos. — AFP Red Cross, Aid groups resist Tensions as Greece and Macedonia tougher Austria asylum bill trade blame for tear gas incident VIENNA: Aid groups, including the Red expected to take place in May. The heads of Cross, said yesterday they would resist all three organizations said the bill IDOMENI: Fresh protests broke out were fired on migrants trying to accused police on the Greek side of children, for injuries across the body plans by the Austrian government to breached both European law and the yesterday at a flashpoint border breach the closed border to get to failing to intervene as around 3,000 caused by rubber bullets. “According toughen its asylum process, shifting deci- Austrian constitution and would encour- crossing, as Greece and Macedonia western Europe. Greece lashed out at migrants “violently” tried to cross the to their accounts, Macedonian police sion-making to centers near its borders. age migrants to make use of human traf- blamed each other for an incident in Macedonia for using “excessive force”. frontier in Sunday’s incident. fired on them,” he said. Macedonian Draft legislation Austria says is needed to fickers. “There is no doubt about the illegal- which tear gas and rubber bullets Macedonia however hit back and Medical charity Doctors Without police accused crowds of hurling safeguard public order and internal securi- ity of the Austrian bill in question,” said Borders (MSF) said 260 people were stones and other objects at them in a ty would make family reunification harder Michael Chalupka of Diakonie. The groups treated for injuries after the flare-up bid to break down a fence at the bor- for migrants and would see the bulk of asy- will appeal to each lawmaker’s conscience on the Greece-Macedonia border: der, saying they had used tear gas to lum requests being dealt with within an in writing to encourage them to vote 200 for breathing problems, 30 for protect themselves. hour of crossing Austria’s border. against the draft tabled by Austria’s centrist wounds caused by plastic bullets and But a spokesman for the Greek “This is probably the most fundamental coalition government, Chalupka said. 30 for other injuries. It was the latest migration coordination agency, change in recent decades. A change which The new plans would go beyond previ- violence to erupt at the flashpoint Giorgos Kyritsis, blasted the means Austria virtually takes leave of the ous restrictions Austria introduced to limit Idomeni crossing, where around Macedonian reaction as totally right to asylum,” Michael Landau, head of the number of asylum claims it accepts 11,000 migrants have been living unwarranted and out of proportion. the Christian non-governmental organiza- this year to 37,500 - less than half of last rough for weeks after Balkan states He told Vima radio station that there tion (NGO) Caritas, told reporters. Austria’s year’s 90,000. It has received around closed their borders, cutting off had been “an excessive and asym- government has relied heavily on NGOs 14,000 claims so far in 2016. The country access to western Europe. metrical use of force” that had creat- such as Caritas, the Red Cross and German has mainly served as a conduit into Many of them are fleeing war in ed a “very difficult situation on Greek aid group Diakonie to manage migrant Germany for refugees and migrants from Syria and Iraq. MSF said in a tweet soil”. The Greek government said it flows and accommodation centers, provide the Middle East and Africa but has that tensions were high in Idomeni had lodged two “very strong legal assistance and collect and distribute absorbed a similar number of asylum seek- yesterday with fresh protests. protests” with Macedonian authori- clothes and food to asylum seekers. ers relative to its much smaller population. “Protestors in Idomeni have dragged ties, while Kyritsis said it had also The head of Austria’s Red Cross, Werner Austria has also coordinated a series of a train wagon in front of the police “launched action against other Kerschbaum, said he had sent a letter to border closures with nearby Balkan coun- IDOMENI: Migrant men show used tear gas canisters apparently bus. Tensions are high,” it said. MSF European countries which have sent the government to say his group would tries over the past few months, which has used by Macedonian police during yesterday riots at the fence of a spokesman Jonas Haeensen added: police observers to the Macedonian refuse to help enforce the new measures, led to around 50,000 people being stuck in makeshift camp in the northern Greek border point of Idomeni “We have treated 30 to 40 people, side,” including Slovenia and should parliament approve them in a vote Greece. — Reuters yesterday. — AP mostly men but also women and Hungary. — AFP