Dutch aid ship Pelikaan forced to quit Haitian port as crowd threaten security. (curacaochronicle).
PORT AU PRINCE - A ship carrying much-needed aid for stricken Haiti has had to turn back because of a lack of port security.
The Dutch government ship HNLMS Pelikaan
has 35 tons of food, shelter and hygiene kits from Curaçao to help after
Hurricane Matthew, and is permanently stationed in the area for just
this sort of operation.
But thousands of people gathered on the shore at Jeremie Port, and
with minimal security or no organized way to distribute the aid the ship
was forced to leave.
Post-Hurricane flooding has reactivated the cholera UN peacekeepers
brought to Haiti after its 2010 earthquake, and Matthew has added a
further 175,000 to the homeless list.
Close to one and a half million people need urgent humanitarian aid.
Moscow Has received Greek, Iranian Approval For Humanitarian Syria Flights. (rferl).
Greece and Iran have reportedly granted Russia permission to fly over their territory when supplying aid to Syria.
The Interfax news agency quoted a Russian Embassy official in Tehran as saying on September 9 that Iran approved all of Moscow's requests on flights delivering humanitarian aid to Syria.
Separately, a Russian Embassy official in Athens told TASS that Greece granted Russia the right to use its airspace for humanitarian flights to Syria on August 31.Read the full story here.
Minsk peace talks on Ukraine end without any agreement. (UAE).
Another round of peace talks on Ukraine, ending without any agreements. Representatives from Russia, Ukraine, east Ukraine militants and Europe's OSCE watchdog debated long into the night at this hotel in the Belarusian capital Minsk on Monday.
Four main themes were discussed - based around security, the economy, politics and humanitarian issues. In particular, the demilitarization of the Azov Sea coastal village of Shyrokyne and the extension of a buffer zone along other parts of the front line.
Martin Sajdik, OSCE representative at talks: "Work is being conducted, as you know, on the agreement on the pullback of tanks and artillery - calibre of up to 100mm and mortars of a calibre of up to 120mm. This work will continue tomorrow."
Plans to create a buffer zone east of Mariupol have angered a proportion of local residents and Ukrainian fighters. They argue Russian-backed militant units would launch a fresh advance along the coastline, if Ukrainian forces were to give up land in line with any political agreement.
Diplomat talk of a largely-held ceasefire in eastern Ukraine has not mirrored along parts of the front line, where Ukrainian troops and joint Russian-separatist forces blame each other for launching attacks. Read the full story here.
Important if true ===> Lukashenko: No intervention in Ukraine from Belarusian territory
http://t.co/NR72gvMYbP
Syria: Humanitarian aid from Red Cross only distributed to Muslims and not Christians by Red Crescent! (RadioVatican).HT: Christianophobie.
Vatican Radio broadcast on 24 February, a telephone interview with Bishop Jacques Behnan Hindo , Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Hassaké (Syria).
The prelate gives information on the situation of the Assyrians after their villages were attacked by the Islamic state, but also slams the fact that the assistance the Red Cross generously grant to the Red Crescent is distributed only to Muslims and Christians get nothing.
A very serious charge and one which I will question today the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva.* Here is an excerpt of the interview:
There is one thing I would say the Red Cross aid, provides money to the Red Crescent . However, the Red Crescent gives absolutely nothing to Christians.
Yesterday there was the Red Crescent , [the] UNHCR [United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees], etc., that was paraded before the televisions, who spoke as if they had helped people.
However, they did not even distributed a Syrian pound.
So far, the Red Crescent has not given to Christians, and this for four years (note: the beginning of the war) .
I have said this on a large Arabic channel and here now, I tell you.
We need the Red Cross to know. they must know. Here are the responsible are Muslim Brotherhood or related. I say it out loud because it exasperates me and disgusts me [...]
The Red Cross does not work there in the region as it provides all aid to the Red Crescent and Red Crescent here do not even distributes a one billionth of it receives nothing go's towards the Christians.
Whenever a Christian comes to them (RedCrescent), they say we have "nothing".While we, the Church, Caritas , etc., we give to Christians, Muslims, everyone. They do not give anything. Source: Vatican Radio (February 24)
Manuella Affejee managed to reach by phone Mgr Jacques Behnan Hindo , Syrian Catholic Bishop of Hassaké . It is the context for the kidnapping and denounced some disturbing facts.: (French) http://media02.radiovaticana.va/audio/audio2/mp3/00467000.mp3
Record music with Vocaroo >> Radio Vatican
Redaction Française
Palazzo Pio Piazza Pia, 3
00120 Cité du Vatican
e-mail: sicfra@vatiradio.va *
A propos de l'auteur: Daniel Hamiche
Daniel Hamiche est journaliste et président de l’association Amitié catholique France/États-Unis. Il a lancé, en 2007, le blogue Americatho (aujourd’hui membre du portail de réinformation Riposte Catholique). Il est administrateur et rédacteur du blogue L’Observatoire de la Christianophobie.
Translation: About the author: Daniel Daniel Hamiche Hamiche is a journalist and president of the Catholic Association for Friendship France / USA. It launched in 2007 , the blog Americatho (now a member of the Catholic Response re-information portal ) . He is director and editor of the blog Observatory Christianophobia . Update! Since the UK Red Cross told me that the Radio Vatican story is a lie and false statement i took the liberty to contact Radio Vatican and give them the conversation i had with the UK Red Cross. Here below is a screenshot of the E Mail i received in response:
Translation in English:
Hello Sir,
And
thank you for your email. Red Cross, -and therefore the Red Crescent, are
quite entitled to challenge the words of Bishop Hindo provided to
provide evidence, data and tangible elements, which they do not give!
We
do not have "made up the story" or "falsified" anything. We simply asked
Bishop Hindo, one of the few bishops who are still in Hassaké, to give us details of the dramatic events taking place in the region.
We
are obviously not there, so it is difficult to actually measure things,
given the fragmented information, or contradictory information circulating. We
therefore choose often to give voice to those who live on site, (bishops,
clergy, religious, members of civil society ...) the ones who know the
situation from everyday living.
Bishop
Hindo seems to be a reliable person, a pastor, leader of a community who has no interest in spreading false accusations. His comments were
also corroborated by other evidence, on condition of anonymity.
In any case, thank you for your attention to our work.
Kiev Denies Knowledge of New Russian Humanitarian Convoy .(RN).
The Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council has received no official information about the Russian humanitarian aid convoy announced earlier, the body’s spokesperson Andriy Lysenko told the press on Tuesday.
"No official information, no official documents have been received by the Ukrainian side on this issue," Lysenko said at a briefing in Kiev.
Russia will send up to 3,000 metric tons of humanitarian aid to Ukraine's southeastern regions within a week, Russian Deputy Emergencies Minister Vladimir Stepanov told RIA Novosti Tuesday.
"Within a week the total weight of humanitarian aid will amount to 3,000 metric tons," Stepanov said, adding that it will be delivered both by aircraft and land vehicles.
According to Stepanov, on Tuesday three aircraft will deliver part of the aid to the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, where it will be loaded onto trucks.
The aid includes food, medicine and construction materials that will help residents of southeastern Ukraine to prepare for the winter.
The deliveries of aid to Ukraine are being carried out in coordination with the Red Cross and the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Earlier today, Russia's Emergency Ministry confirmed that on October 28 a convoy of up to 50 trucks carrying humanitarian aid for the people of Donetsk and Luhansk regions will depart from the city of Noginsk.
LIVE FEED HERE: Russia’s humanitarian convoy crossing border with Ukraine
Several dozen trucks in the Russian humanitarian convoy have crossed the Ukrainian border and started moving in the direction of Lugansk, after Moscow ordered the convoy to proceed, without waiting for further permission from Kiev.
Moscow has accused Kiev of deliberately holding up the delivery of Russian humanitarian aid to the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in eastern Ukraine, according to a new statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
“Our convoy with humanitarian aid is starting to move in the direction of Lugansk,” the Foreign Ministry's statement reads. “We are of course ready for it to be accompanied by Red Cross representatives and for their participation in the aid’s distribution.”
A third of the Russian humanitarian convoy, which is around 90 trucks, has now reportedly crossed the border with Ukraine.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is not escorting the convoy.
“That’s because of the problems with security,” Galina Balzamova of the ICRC told RT. “Lugansk was shelled all night long. We believe we did not get sufficient guarantees of safety from all the parties to the conflict to start escorting the convoy.”More here.
Russia Deploys Mobile Border Guard Teams to Border With Ukraine – FSB. (RN).
Russia has deployed mobile teams of border guards to the vicinity of the border with Ukraine, but they are to operate strictly on the Russian side, a spokesman for Russia’s FSB Border Guard Service said Friday.
The spokesman said that residents of the border territories are under threat due to increased numbers of Ukrainian servicemen crossing into Russia and frequent cross-border shelling.
“They [border guard groups] are operating solely on the territory of Russia. In this regard, the reports about a group of Russian servicemen crossing the Russian-Ukrainian border are completely untrue,” the spokesman said.
On Thursday, a number of foreign news agencies reported that a convoy of military vehicles with Russian license plates crossed into Ukraine via the Izvarino border checkpoint. Earlier on Friday, the UNN information agency, citing the Anti-Terrorist Center operating under the Security Service of Ukraine, reported that the reports had been confirmed. According to preliminary accounts of the alleged incident, the vehicles were carrying armed servicemen.
The Ukrainian government has long blamed Russia for funneling heavy equipment, arms and troops across the border with Ukraine to support the independence movement in the country’s eastern regions, a claim Moscow has repeatedly rejected.
Last week, Pengaton spokesman John Kirby said Russia had amassed 10,000 troops on the border with Ukraine. Shortly after, NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow said 20,000 servicemen had already been deployed to the border. NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu added later that NATO is concerned that Russia might send troops into eastern Ukraine under the “pretext” of a humanitarian or peacekeeping mission.
Earlier this week NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said there was a “high probability” the humanitarian aid Russia dispatched to the crisis-plagued Ukrainian eastern regions might be a pretext for a military incursion into Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Ministry has dismissed the allegations, calling them absurd.
At the same time, there are numerous reports of Ukrainian servicemen flowing into Russia. Earlier this month, 438 Ukrainian personnel, some employees of Ukraine’s State Border Service, requested refugee status in Russia.
The Russian-Ukrainian border has also been subjected to Ukrainian artillery shelling in the nearly four-month-long standoff between Ukraine’s national troops and eastern independence supporters. In total, one person has been killed and several others injured on Russian territory as a result of Ukrainian shelling since the military operation began.
Distinguished Law Professor: "My advice to Vladimir Putin, cut off all gas supplies to Europe."(RN).
Russia will do everything possible to end the bloodshed in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated Thursday in his address to the heads of political parties.
The only reasonable reaction in light of the crisis in Ukraine and West-imposed sanctions is to completely cut off energy deliveries to Europe, be it through Ukraine, or North Stream, says Francis Boyle, distinguished Professor of Law, in an interview to radio Voice of Russia.
Meanwhile, Russia has embarked on the humanitarian mission, approved by the Red Cross last week. 280 aid-loaded Russian Kamaz trucks are now heading to the Ukrainian border. The move may bring about different scenarios, though. The most favorable one for Europe seems to be that of Ukrainians shelling the convoy, which could be a pretext for a new war, the expert argues.
“Russian humanitarian relief convoy heading to the border of Ukraine could well be fired upon by Ukrainian forces. And at that point anything could happen.”
Mr. Boyle says “his advice to Vladimir Putin” would be to trump the European sanctions by cutting off all gas supplies to Europe “completely and immediately”.
He expresses certainty the move is well justified on the grounds of article 1 of the Genocide Convention, which Russia, Ukraine and all of Europe are all parties of.
Mr. Boyle says this requires all the states involved “to undertake, to prevent and to punish genocide”. At this point President Putin would have excellent legal ground to cut all the gas supplies to Ukraine and Europe, and thus stop the fall of Donetsk and Luhansk, he adds.
The fall of the predominantly Russian speaking cities would lead straight to an egregious massacre of their Russian-speaking residents, which must be stopped once and for all.
Cutting off gas supplies to Europe would be completely lawful, Mr. Boyle argues, citing his personal experience, as he worked in former Yugoslavia and stood on guard of the Bosnians’ interests in the 1992-1995 war.
“I was a lawyer for Bosnia Herzegovina during the war, I argued their case for genocide in a war court. I won two war court orders against Yugoslavia, to cease acts of genocide against Bosnia. I am currently the attorney of record for the mothers of Srebrenica, many of the women who survived that massacre.”
Mr. Boyle points to the examples of Karadžić and Mladić, who are currently on trial in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for genocide. “This is exactly what Ukraine is doing to Donetsk and Luhansk,” he states.
He says there’s no time to waste and Russia has by all means to respond in light of the latest wave of sanctions imposed on the country.
“I think President Putin should undertake this step immediately first to prevent the fall and massacre in Donetsk and Luhansk, and then second, who knows what will happen when that humanitarian relief convoy arrives at the border? It’s a thousand kilometers, maybe two days at best, and the Ukrainians could start shelling it.” Professor Boyle says Europe is aiding and abetting Ukraine to commit genocide against the Russian speakers in Ukraine “in violation of article three paragraph E of the Genocide Convention “Complicit in genocide”.
”The only way to “bring Europe to senses” and stop the Donbass siege is to cut off gas supplies, he reiterates.
By vilifying President Putin the western world is apparently looking forward to waging a new war, and the chances are it will happen, says the expert. If the convoy is shot at and Putin is thus forced to send the troops to Ukraine, this is an appropriate scenario for the EU, and NATO forces will shortly start “pouring into Ukraine”. “There’s no question about that, they are already arrayed all around Ukraine”.
Mr. Boyle finds the case similar to what they [the US] did to Saddam Hussein when it pushed him into invading Kuwait, while President Bush Senior used this as a pretext to place 500,000 troops on the Iraqi territory. “They want to soccer President Putin into invading, or entering, Ukraine, however you want to call it, with military forces”. Russia will thus fall into the trap, he says.
Violence in eastern Ukraine has intensified in the recent time, with the UN saying some 2,086 people have been killed since the conflict began in mid-April. There has also been a surge in the number of Ukrainian refugees who continue to flee to Russia. As of August 11, they numbered more than 51,000 people. According to the UN, about 730,000 have chose to leave their homes and head for Russia since early 2014.
Video - Russia's humanitarian convoy heads to E. Ukraine under agreement with Kiev. (RT).
Kiev says it's ready to accept the humanitarian aid being sent from Russia, after Moscow agreed to a Ukrainian presence in the convoy. Update on Convoy by Min For AffairsLavrov.
Question: Could you please comment on the status of the delivery of Russian humanitarian relief aid to the people of southeastern Ukraine?
Sergey Lavrov: In the past few days, we have been addressing the humanitarian crisis in southeastern Ukraine, as instructed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
We drafted a plan in cooperation with the Ukrainian authorities, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the representatives of other international organisations, including the UN and the OSCE, and the plan was finalised yesterday.
At the same time, we followed all of Ukraine’s requirements without exception, including the route suggested by Kiev, although this route is much longer than the other routes used for delivering humanitarian relief aid. Nevertheless, we have accepted the route which suits the government in Kiev, we have agreed to install Ukrainian vehicle license plates on Ukrainian territory, and we have agreed that not only representatives from the ICRC and the OSCE but also Ukrainian officials should ride in the trucks carrying the humanitarian relief consignment. Everything has been agreed.
We have sent an official note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, requesting permission to set out, and the convoy has already set out. Today we received a note confirming that Ukraine was ready to accept this assistance.
I hope very much that certain public statements voiced by a few officials in Kiev today that demand new terms will be disavowed, and that they will not hinder the implementation of the agreement reached between the Russian Federation, Ukraine and the ICRC.
ICRC representatives will meet the convoy at the Ukrainian border and in a populated area that has been agreed with the Ukrainian authorities. They will inspect the consignment, and will ride with the convoy to its final destination, primarily in the Lugansk Region.
Question: Does anyone plan to reload the entire humanitarian relief consignment, as has been noted today?
Sergey Lavrov: The issue of reloading the consignment from all 287 trucks onto those hired by the ICRC was raised during our talks with Ukraine. For obvious reasons, they decided against this due to the added difficulty and expense.
As I said, the consignment will be inspected at the Ukrainian port of entry. Representatives of the OSCE, the ICRC and Ukrainian authorities will ride with the convoy. I hope that there will be no complications.
Here is one important thing (we are strongly relying on the assurances given to us by the Ukrainian authorities): they guarantee the convoy’s safe passage through the territory controlled by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies.
Naturally, we expect the resistance forces to act accordingly to this humanitarian project, and we have sent out certain messages to them. I am confident that there will be no mistakes on their part.
They are in an area where residents need urgent relief. It is already hard to deny this. The Western media is beginning to offer detailed coverage of the situation, although grudgingly, and to show the horrors facing the civilian population.
Just yesterday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) issued a new bulletin assessing the rather sad humanitarian situation in the Lugansk and Donetsk regions. Thousands of people have been killed, and thousands more wounded.
There is no electricity or drinking water, it is impossible to ensure the operation of hospitals, retirement homes and other social infrastructure facilities. Even those who previously voiced a rather restrained stance on these developments are beginning to tell the truth, although belatedly. I would like to thank the Russian journalists who have made a tremendous contribution so that the truth can, at last, resound from the various pages of newspapers, TV screens and international organisations.
According to the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS, there are 280 trucks in the convoy that is delivering food, medicine, and drinking water to the needy in Ukraine. The vehicles are carrying a total of 2,000 tons of humanitarian aid. The goods sent by the administration of the Moscow Region contain food, including 400 tons of cereals, 100 tons of sugar, 62 tons of baby food, 54 tons of medical equipment and medicines, 12 thousand sleeping bags, and 69 electrical generators of various capacities.
Russia says Syria agrees to aid access from Iraq, Turkey, Jordan. (Taz).
Russia said on Tuesday it has gained Syrian approval to open four border crossings from Iraq, Jordan and Turkey to deliver aid to millions of people under a "far-reaching formula" proposed to U.N. Security Council members, Reuters reported.
Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin declined to elaborate on the formula, but diplomats familiar with the plan said it involved using international monitors to inspect humanitarian aid convoys entering Syria.
Veto-wielding council members - the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia - have been negotiating a humanitarian resolution drafted by Australia, Luxembourg and Jordan to boost aid deliveries in Syria, including across rebel-held borders. Russia presented its formula to those seven states on Tuesday.
Churkin said Syria had accepted Moscow's plan to open the four border crossings named in the draft text."It's a pretty innovative approach to doing things. So we hope it's going to work and we hope it's going to help the humanitarian agencies to work on the ground in Syria, including in areas which are not controlled by the government," he said.
"It is a far reaching formula which will allow to open those four crossing points in which the humanitarian agencies were interested," Churkin told reporters, adding he hoped the draft resolution could be adopted within days.
But Western diplomats said they need time to study Russia's proposal and consult with the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on whether it could work on the ground. A draft resolution would also still need to be circulated to the remaining seven council members before a vote.
The Security Council achieved rare unity in unanimously approving a resolution in February that demanded rapid, safe and unhindered aid access in Syria, where a three-year civil war has killed more than 150,000 people.
But that resolution has failed to make a difference, U.N. officials said. The United Nations says some 9.3 million people in Syria - half the country's population - need help, while another 2.5 million people have fled the conflict.
Western council members decided to pursue a stronger resolution under Chapter 7, which would be legally binding and enforceable with military action or sanctions, diplomats said. The February resolution was binding but not enforceable.
Russia has said it is opposed to the delivery of aid in Syria without the consent of Damascus and is against a Chapter 7 resolution. Russia, supported by China, previously vetoed four resolutions threatening any action against its ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Churkin described Russia's cross-border aid proposal as an "elegant solution."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in Geneva earlier on Tuesday that he had been urging the Security Council to facilitate unimpeded humanitarian access to some 3.5 million hard-to-reach people in Syria.
"I sincerely hope the United Nations Security Council will take as soon as possible early action on the proposed resolution on this matter," Ban said.
