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- U.N. told up to 500 killed in South Sudan clashes -diplomats
- China confirms near miss with U.S. ship in South China Sea
- Thai protesters say they will rally to hound PM from office
| U.N. told up to 500 killed in South Sudan clashes -diplomats Posted: JUBA/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations received reports from local sources in South Sudan on Tuesday that between 400 and 500 people had been killed and up to 800 wounded in the latest violence, and the government said it had arrested 10 politicians in connection with a "foiled coup". "Two hospitals have recorded between 400 and 500 dead and (up to) 800 wounded," a diplomat in New York said on condition of anonymity, citing an estimate United Nations peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous gave during a closed-door briefing for the 15-member body. Another diplomat confirmed Ladsous' remarks, adding that the United Nations was not in a position to verify the figures. Earlier on Tuesday, a South Sudanese health ministry official told Reuters that at least 26 people were dead after fighting in Juba between rival groups of soldiers from Sunday night into Monday morning. Sporadic gunfire and blasts continued up to Tuesday evening. The Juba government said it had arrested 10 major political figures and was hunting for its former vice president, accusing him of leading a failed coup in the oil-producing country's capital, where gunfire rang out for a second day. The prominence of the names, including former finance minister Kosti Manibe among those who had been detained, underlined the size of the rift in Africa's newest state, less than 2-1/2 years after it seceded from Sudan. The United States urged its citizens to leave the country immediately, and said it was suspending normal operations at its embassy. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, on a visit to the typhoon-ravaged central Philippine city of Tacloban, urged a "peaceful and democratic" solution. "The United States believes very strongly that all parties should refrain from any action that could further escalate the tensions," Kerry told reporters. "Political differences need to be resolved by peaceful and democratic means, those that have been hard fought for." The White House said President Barack Obama was getting briefings on the situation. President Salva Kiir, dressed in military fatigues, said on television on Monday that forces loyal to former vice president Riek Machar, whom he sacked in July, had attacked an army base in a bid to seize power. South Sudan is one of the poorest and least developed countries in Africa despite its oil reserves, and it is plagued by ethnic fighting. The rift at the heart of its political elite will dismay oil companies that had been counting on a period of relative stability after South Sudan's independence so they could step up exploration. France's Total and some largely Asian groups, among them China's CNPC, have interests there. It will also be closely watched by South Sudan's neighbours, which include some of the continent's most promising economies, including Ethiopia and Kenya. After its meeting on the crisis in New York, the U.N. Security Council issued a statement saying it "urged all parties to immediately cease hostilities, exercise restraint and refrain from violence and other actions that could exacerbate tensions." French U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud, president of the council this month, told reporters the council would meet again in coming days on the upsurge in violence in South Sudan. THOUSANDS TAKE SHELTER Kiir and Machar are from different ethnic groups that have clashed in the past. Machar leads a dissident faction inside the ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and was planning to run for the presidency. Fighting erupted outside his compound in Juba on Tuesday, but his whereabouts were unknown, foreign affairs spokesman Mawien Makol Arik told Reuters. Machar has so far not released a statement. The government on Tuesday accused him of being the "coup leader" and listed four other wanted men, including Pagan Amum, the SPLM's former Secretary General and the country's main negotiator in a prolonged oil dispute with Sudan. "Those who are still at large will be apprehended," Information Minister Michael Makuei said in a statement on a government website. He said he believed they had fled to an area north of the capital. The 10 officials had been arrested "in connection with the foiled coup attempt," the statement said. Around 16,000 people had taken refuge in U.N. compounds in Juba by noon on Tuesday and the numbers were rising, the United Nations said. Streets were empty at the start of a dawn-to-dusk curfew, ordered by the president. Mobile phone signals were down for a second day. "Food and water are an issue for the population as they don't have fridges or city power so they buy food almost daily," said one aid worker in Juba, who asked not to be identified. "They haven't stocked up and are getting worried." U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke to Kiir on Tuesday and called for his government to provide an "offer of dialogue to its opponents and to resolve their respective differences peacefully". The president, who comes from South Sudan's dominant Dinka ethnic group, sacked Machar, a Nuer, after mounting public frustration at the government's failure to deliver tangible improvements in public services and other basic demands. The government played down suggestions that the conflict had an ethnic element, and said Kiir had met Nuer leaders to dispel the "misleading information" that they were being targeted. Tensions have been building in the army, broadly along ethnic lines, independently of the Kiir-Machar rivalry, said analysts. "The personalities involved are clearly important, but we think this is more fundamentally about the SPLA rather than necessarily being completely controlled by the SPLM political figures," said Cedric Barnes, Crisis Group project director for the Horn of Africa, based in Nairobi. South Sudan is the size of France but has barely any paved roads. The government's critics complain it suffers the same ills as old Sudan - corruption, poor public services and repression by the state of opponents and the media. (Additional reporting by Drazen Jorgic, Edmund Blair and George Obulutsa in Nairobi, Michelle Nichols in New York, Mark Felsenthal in Washington, and Leslie Wroughton in the Philippines; Writing by Drazen Jorgic and Edmund Blair; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Vicki Allen) |
| China confirms near miss with U.S. ship in South China Sea Posted: BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Wednesday confirmed an incident between a Chinese naval vessel and a U.S. warship in the South China Sea, after Washington said a U.S. guided missile cruiser had avoided a collision with a Chinese warship manoeuvring nearby. Experts have said the near-miss between the USS Cowpens and a Chinese warship operating near China's only aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, was the most significant U.S.-China maritime incident in the disputed South China Sea since 2009. China's Defence Ministry said the Chinese naval vessel was conducting "normal patrols" when the two vessels "met". "During the encounter, the Chinese naval vessel properly handled it in accordance with strict protocol," the ministry said in a statement on its website (www.mod.gov.cn). "The two defence departments were kept informed of the relevant situation through normal working channels and carried out effective communication." Washington said last week its ship was forced to take evasive action on December 5 to avoid a collision. The incident came at a time of heightened tensions in the region following Beijing's declaration of an air defence identification zone further north in the East China Sea, which prompted protests from Washington, Tokyo and Seoul. China's Defence Ministry said, however, there were "good opportunities" for developing Sino-U.S. military ties. "Both sides are willing to strengthen communication, maintain close coordination and make efforts to maintain regional peace and stability," the ministry said. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, which has yet to be fully armed and is being used as a training vessel, was flanked by escort ships including two destroyers and two frigates during its first deployment into the South China Sea. Friction over the South China Sea has surged as China uses its growing naval might to assert a vast claim over the oil-and-gas rich area, raising fears of a clash between it and other countries in the area, including the Philippines and Vietnam. The United States had raised the incident at a "high level" with China, according to a State Department official quoted by the U.S. military's Stars and Stripes newspaper. Beijing routinely objects to U.S. military surveillance operations within its exclusive economic zone, while Washington insists the United States and other nations have the right to conduct routine operations in international waters. China deployed the Liaoning to the South China Sea just days after announcing its air defence zone, which covers air space around a group of tiny uninhabited islands in the East China Sea that are administered by Japan but claimed by Beijing as well. (Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee and Hui Li; Editing by Ben Blanchard and Dean Yates) |
| Thai protesters say they will rally to hound PM from office Posted: BANGKOK (Reuters) - Anti-government demonstrators in Thailand said they will step up their protests in an attempt to force Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra from office and push through electoral reforms before a general election is held. The number of protesters camped on the street in the capital has dwindled to around 2,000 over the past week but their leader, former deputy premier Suthep Thaugsuban, called for marches along main roads in central Bangkok on Thursday and Friday, followed by a big rally on Sunday. "We will chase Yingluck out this Sunday after she made it clear she will not step down as caretaker prime minister," he said late on Tuesday. Suthep massed 160,000 protesters around Yingluck's office on December 9, when she called a snap election for February 2 to try to defuse the crisis. Yingluck remains caretaker prime minister. He has sought the backing of the influential military but has so far been rebuffed. Thailand's military - a frequent actor in Thai politics - ousted Yingluck's brother, the self-exiled Thaksin Shinawatra, when he was premier in 2006. "We will walk until the number of people who come out to join us outnumber those who elected Yingluck. We will march until the military and civil servants finally join us," Suthep told reporters. Thailand's eight-year political conflict centres on Thaksin, a former telecommunications tycoon popular among the rural poor because of cheap healthcare and other policies brought in while he was in power. Yingluck won a landslide victory in 2011 and her Puea Thai Party is well placed to win again because of Thaksin's bedrock support in the populous, rural north and northeast. Ranged against him are a royalist establishment that feels threatened by Thaksin's rise and - in the past, at least - the army. Some academics see him as a corrupt rights abuser, while the middle class resent what they see as their taxes being spent on wasteful populist policies that amount to vote-buying. Thaksin chose to live in exile after fleeing in 2008 just before being sentenced to jail for abuse of power in a trial that he says was politically motivated. DEMOCRATS AT ODDS Even if the election takes place on February 2, its legitimacy could be undermined if the main opposition Democrat Party decides not to take part. At a two-day conference that ended on Tuesday, it reappointed former premier Abhisit Vejjajiva as its leader. However, its members could not agree whether to run in the election or back the street protesters. Democrat lawmakers resigned from parliament this month to march with Suthep, who was a deputy prime minister in Abhisit's government until 2011. Some agree with his call for reforms to be implemented before another election is held, but others believe their party, Thailand's oldest, should respect the democratic process and run for office. A decision is expected on Saturday. Suthep's programme remains vague and it is unclear how long it would take his proposed "people's council" to implement any reforms. He wants to wipe out vote-buying and electoral fraud and has also promised "forceful laws to eradicate corruption", decentralisation, the end of "superficial populist policies that enable corruption", and the reform of "certain state agencies such as the police force". Suthep's protest gained impetus in early November after Yingluck's government tried to push through a political amnesty bill that would have allowed Thaksin to return home a free man. (Additional reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat; Writing by Alan Raybould; Editing by Editing by Paul Tait) |
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