The Star Online: World Updates
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- U.N. General Assembly to vote on Syria resolution; Russia opposed
- Four men in Minnesota sentenced to prison for aiding Somali rebel group
- Exclusive - Financial sanctions delay North Korea's nuclear arms work: U.N.
| U.N. General Assembly to vote on Syria resolution; Russia opposed Posted: 14 May 2013 09:06 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly is set to vote on Wednesday on a draft resolution that condemns Syrian authorities and accepts the opposition Syrian National Coalition as party to a potential political transition.
Russia, a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is opposed to the resolution, which was drafted by Qatar and other Arab nations and circulated among the 193 U.N. member states. Some Western diplomats said it was unlikely to win as many votes as a resolution that passed last year with 133 in favour. No country has a veto in the General Assembly. "I'm convinced a lot of countries voted for this text because they believed they were voting for the winning side," a senior western U.N. diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said in reference to the August, 2012 resolution. "They are not so sure anymore." "Now also you have the Islamist, terrorist factor which is much more conspicuous," he said. The Syrian conflict started more than two years ago with mainly peaceful demonstrations against Assad, but turned into a civil war in which the United Nations says at least 70,000 people have been killed. Islamist militants have emerged as the most potent of the anti-Assad rebels. Wednesday's vote comes as Washington and European governments have been mulling the benefits and risks of supplying arms to Syrian rebels. Another senior U.N. diplomat, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said this draft resolution was stronger than the earlier resolution, prompting Russia to write to all states to complain that it was unbalanced. The diplomat said Russia had also warned that it could hinder preparations for a Syria peace conference, as agreed by Russia and the United States. A dispute between Russia and the United States over how to end Syria's war has left the U.N. Security Council paralyzed to act. They both agreed last week to convene a peace conference on Syria, but that plan already appears to be hitting snags over who should represent the opposition. The current draft U.N. resolution welcomes the establishment of the Syrian National Coalition "as effective representative interlocutors needed for a political transition." CHEMICAL WEAPONS PROBE But diplomats said some countries may be concerned that the draft resolution could be considered as official U.N. recognition of the coalition as the representative of the Syrian people. "It's very likely the vote will not be as high as last year," said another senior western U.N. diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. "But we clearly don't want the numbers to go below 100 or 110." The Syrian National Coalition has been recognized by the 130 international representatives comprising the "Friends of Syria" group of nations and the Arab League as "the legitimate representative of the Syrian people." The draft resolution condemns "all violence, irrespective of where it comes from," continued escalation in the use of heavy weapons by Syrian authorities, the shelling and shooting by Syrian troops into neighbouring nations and human rights abuses. It also demands that the Syrian authorities grant unfettered access to a U.N. team investigating allegations that chemical weapons have been used in the conflict. The Syrian government and the opposition have accused each other of carrying out chemical weapons attacks. Both deny the accusations. The draft resolution further welcomes Arab League decisions relevant to reaching a political solution, but does not reference an agreement by the league that member states have the right to provide military support to Syrians fighting Assad's troops. In August there were 12 votes against the Syria resolution and 31 abstentions and some countries did not participate. Russia was among those that opposed it. China, Iran, North Korea, Belarus, Cuba and other states that often criticize the West also voted against it. The draft resolution reaffirms U.N. support for U.N.-Arab League Syria mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, who recently agreed to stay on in the role despite his frustration at the international deadlock that has prevented Security Council action to halt the conflict. Copyright © 2013 Reuters | ||
| Four men in Minnesota sentenced to prison for aiding Somali rebel group Posted: 14 May 2013 08:26 PM PDT MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - A federal judge sentenced four men to prison on Tuesday for helping recruit young men in Minnesota to travel to Somalia and fight for the militant group al Shabaab. Investigators believe about 20 young, ethnic Somali men left Minnesota from 2007 to 2009 to go to Somalia to fight for al Shabaab, which the United States designated a terrorist organisation. Three men who cooperated with investigators were each sentenced to three years and a fourth man was sentenced to 12 years in prison. "These defendants, by providing material support to a designated terrorist organisation, broke both the law and the hearts of family members across the Twin Cities," U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones said in a statement. Eighteen men were charged after a four-year investigation. Eight were convicted and the rest are thought to be fugitives or to have been killed in Somalia while fighting for al Shabaab. On Tuesday, Omer Abdi Mohamed, 28, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty in July 2011 to one count of conspiring to provide material support to co-conspirators who intended to murder, kidnap, or maim Ethiopian and Somali government troops. Mohamed, of Minneapolis, admitted that he helped recruits get plane tickets and helped to raise money for them to travel to Somalia to fight with al Shabaab in 2007. Three men who cooperated with investigators were each sentenced to three years in prison by Chief Judge Michael Davis in Minneapolis federal court. Abdifatah Yusuf Isse, Salah Osman Ahmed, and Ahmed Hussein Mahamud had each pleaded guilty to one count of providing material support to al Shabaab. Isse, 29, and Ahmed, 30, both of Minneapolis, admitted travelling to Somalia in December 2007, where they both stayed at al Shabaab safe-houses or training camps. They left Somalia together in the spring of 2008. Mahamud, 28, a Westerville, Ohio, resident who had lived in a Minneapolis suburb, admitted in February 2012 that he helped provide al Shabaab with money and people from 2008 through February 2011. Isse, Ahmed, and Mahamud testified at the trial of another man, Mahamud Said Omar, who was sentenced on Monday to 20 years in prison for his 2009 conviction on five counts for providing money and aiding the travel of men to Somalia for al Shabaab. Omar, a Somali citizen who lived legally in the United States, was accused of aiding al Shabaab from September 2007 through August 2009. He was accused of providing hundreds of dollars to al Shabaab for assault rifles and of helping six men travel from Minnesota to Somalia in the fall of 2008. Also on Monday, Davis sentenced Minneapolis resident Kamal Said Hassan, 28, to 10 years in prison. He admitted going to Somalia, where he trained at an al Shabaab camp and participated in an attack on Ethiopian soldiers, prosecutors said. Hassan pleaded guilty to two counts of aiding al Shabaab and one of lying to investigators. The earliest of the travellers left the United States in October and December 2007, followed by more in 2008 and 2009. Two of the travellers, Shirwa Ahmed and Farah Mohamed Beledi are believed to have blown themselves up in attacks in Somalia. (Reporting by David Bailey; Editing by Kevin Gray and Lisa Shumaker) Copyright © 2013 Reuters | ||
| Exclusive - Financial sanctions delay North Korea's nuclear arms work: U.N. Posted: 14 May 2013 08:07 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Increasingly tough financial sanctions, an arms embargo and other international restrictions on trade with North Korea have significantly delayed expansion of Pyongyang's illicit nuclear arms program, according to a confidential report by a U.N. panel of experts seen by Reuters on Tuesday.
The latest annual report by the U.N. sanctions-monitoring group comes as the United States seeks to persuade China that applying economic and other sanctions against its neighbour is crucial to halting the program. "While the imposition of sanctions has not halted the development of nuclear and ballistic missile programs, it has in all likelihood considerably delayed (North Korea's) timetable and, through the imposition of financial sanctions and the bans on the trade in weapons, has choked off significant funding which would have been channelled into its prohibited activities," the 52-page report said. The document covers the period up through last month, diplomats said, so it was too early to measure the effect the latest round of U.N. sanctions adopted in March. In the report to the U.N. Security Council's North Korea sanctions committee, the panel also recommended sanctioning three North Korean entities and 12 individuals. It will be up to the 15-nation council whether or not it follows the recommendations. The three entities the panel said should be blacklisted are the newly created Ministry of Atomic Energy Industry, the Munitions Industry Department of the Central Committee of the Korean Workers Party (KWP), and the State Space Development Bureau. The individuals the panel wants sanctioned include the atomic energy industry minister, once he is nominated, and four senior officials at the KWP Munitions Industry Department. It also recommends the blacklisting of one national from Kazakhstan, Aleksandr Viktorovich Zykov, and two from Ukraine, Iurii Lunov and Igor Karev-Popov, for their involvement in North Korea-related arms deals. The panel listed North Korea's February nuclear test and its rocket launches as examples of violations of Security Council resolutions that have increased international concerns about Pyongyang. It was North Korea's third nuclear test since 2006. Pyongyang is under U.N., U.S., European Union and other sanctions, including a U.N. ban on all arms exports, due to its nuclear weapons program. IMPORT-EXPORT Among potential violations the panel listed were the seizure by a U.N. member state of aluminium alloys suspected to be nuclear-related in August 2012 and the seizure of missile-related items bound for Syria in May 2012. Previous breaches included shipments of arms-related material to Syria in November 2010 and rocket fuses for Iran in 2008, the panel report said. "The DPRK has continued its efforts to import and export items relevant to missile and nuclear programs and arms," it said. The panel said countries should be on the lookout for North Korean attempts to procure the following key items for Pyongyang's nuclear program - maraging steel, frequency changers, high-strength aluminium alloy, fibrous or filiamentary materials, filament winding machines, ring magnets, semi-hard magnetic alloys in thin strip form and other items. U.N. diplomats said that China, North Korea's principal ally and trading partner, continues to play a key role in enabling Pyongyang to skirt sanctions, though this is not discussed explicitly in the panel's report. Beijing has vowed full implementation of the latest round of U.N. sanctions adopted by the council in March, though it remains unclear how much China was keeping that promise. Recently Bank of China Ltd shut the account of North Korea's main foreign exchange bank, the state-run Foreign Trade Bank, which was hit with U.S. sanctions in March after Washington accused it of helping finance Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program. That closure was the first significant, publicly announced step taken by a Chinese firm to curb dealings with North Korea. Washington has urged Beijing to apply economic sanctions against North Korea to help cripple a nuclear arms program that Beijing has made clear it disapproves of, diplomats say. TARGETING BANKS The U.N. financial restrictions are working, the panel said. "The panel is highly confident that financial measures of the resolutions in general are being effectively implemented by major banks," the experts wrote. "It has concerns, however, about the ability of banks in states with less effective regulators and those unable to afford effective compliance to detect and prevent illicit DPRK transfers," said the report, citing a case involving the Bank of Congo in the Republic of Congo. It said the Bank of Congo processed a wire transfer linked with an attempted arms shipment in 2009 to an account in the name of a diplomat at North Korea's embassy in Beijing, but Banque de France refused to accept the transfer. "This case illustrates how the DPRK makes use of its diplomatic officials in the conduct of prohibited activities ... and in the using bank accounts to shield illicit fund transfers from bank's due diligence procedures," the experts said. The report also said a diplomat at the North Korean embassy in the Republic of Congo has been actively involved in negotiating the contracts for the arms shipments. The Security Council sanctions resolution adopted in March drew attention to North Korean bulk cash deliveries, an issue the expert panel also touched on in its report. U.N. envoys say such transfers are often carried out by North Korean diplomatic personnel. The panel report referred to North Korea's "trade-based money-laundering via front companies and agents to pay for illicit procurements and to transfer proceeds of sales of weapons and WMD-related items." The panel also said North Korea continues to violate the Security Council ban on luxury goods. It said that since May 2012 Japan has reported nine cases of suspected violations of the ban involving luxury goods including alcohol, tobacco, electronic items, automobiles and cosmetics. "The DPRK circumvented sanctions using ... false shipping and customs declarations and the use of intermediaries to make payments either through hand carrying or wire transfers. In at least two instances the end users were falsely declared as a diplomatic mission in Pyongyang," it said. It said the panel had also requested information from China on six earlier luxury goods cases. "China's customs officials told the panel that goods covered by the panel's 2012 report were not considered luxury goods," the experts wrote. Copyright © 2013 Reuters |
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