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UN Envoy Condemns killings of Peaceful Protesters in Sudan

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UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms Michelle Bachelet, has condemned the killings of peaceful protesters against military rule in Sudan.

It is “utterly shameful” that live ammunition keeps being used against protesters, Bachelet said in a statement from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva.

According to reports, security forces killed at least 15 people and wounded thousands of Sudanese protesting on Wednesday against military rule.

The protesters, marching against an Oct. 25 coup across the capital Khartoum and in the cities of Bahri and Omdurman, demanded a full handover to civilian authorities and for the leaders of the Oct.

25 coup to be put on trial.

Bachelet said at least 39 people had been killed by security forces in Sudan since the October 25 military coup, 15 of whom were reportedly shot dead on Wednesday.

“Shooting into large crowds of unarmed demonstrators, leaving dozens dead and many more injured, is deplorable, clearly aimed at stifling the expression of public dissent, and amounts to gross violations of international human rights law,” she said.

According to reliable medical sources, more than 100 people were wounded during protests on Wednesday in Khartoum, Khartoum-Bahri and Omdurman.

Of the injured, 80 sustained gunshot injuries to their upper bodies and heads.

Arrests were reported to have been made before, during and after the demonstrations. Police issued a statement saying that 89 police officers had also been injured.

On Wednesday, the military imposed a total shutdown of phone and mobile communications across the country, in addition to the continued shutdown of internet services, effectively cutting off Sudan from the world.

Only satellite links continued to function.

Bachelet explained that people were unable to call for ambulances to treat injured protesters.

She said families were unable to check on the safety of their loved ones, and hospitals were also unable to reach doctors as emergency rooms filled up, to name just a few very real and serious consequences.

For the High Commissioner, “blanket internet and telecommunications shutdowns violate core principles of necessity and proportionality and contravene international law.”

Since the military coup, journalists, particularly those perceived to be critical of the authorities, have been targeted.

Journalists have been arbitrarily arrested, attacked while reporting, and had their homes and offices raided by security forces.

There have also been disturbing reports of their attempted abduction by armed assailants in plain clothes.

“With the internet shutdowns, the role of journalists in getting essential information out on the current situation is particularly crucial, but I fear the increasingly hostile environment against them may lead to self-censorship, and further threaten media pluralism and independence,” the Commissioner said.

Bachelet also urged the authorities to immediately release all those who had been detained for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, as well as all detained political actors.

She upheld that all members of the security forces and political and military leaders responsible for unnecessary and disproportionate use of force against protesters must be held accountable in line with international human rights law.

The Commissioner also stressed the need to ensure that healthcare workers were not targeted for providing medical care to injured protesters, and that their essential work is not hampered. (NAN)

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Russian Army Fires Ballistic Missiles at Kiev from Crimean Peninsula

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The Russian Army has hit the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, with ballistic missiles, injuring four people and damaging an uninhabited three-storey building, according to officials.

Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said  that two of the injured  people were in a central neighbourhood and  had been taken to hospital.

Rocket debris also fell in two other neighbourhoods.

According to the Ukrainian air force, two ballistic missiles were fired at the city of millions, from the Russian-controlled Crimea Peninsula.

Both were shot down.

Half a dozen explosions from anti-aircraft missiles had previously been heard in the city centre.

The air raid warning was only triggered a few seconds beforehand, it said.

Ukraine has been facing  Russian invasion for over two years.

Since then, the Ukrainian air defence system has been massively reinforced with Western systems. (dpa/NAN)

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Cambodia Arrests 2 Foreigners for Smuggling 2.27 kg Narcotics

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Cambodian customs police at the Phnom Penh International Airport said they have arrested two South Korean nationals for an attempt to smuggle 2.27 kg narcotics to South Korea.

The duo, a man and woman, were caught Sunday night while they checked in for a ZA215 flight bound for Seoul.

The General Department of Customs and Excise of Cambodia said in a news release on Monday.

In their body searches, our customs officials found many packs of drugs wrapped around their waists, the news release said.

“As a result, some 1.29 kg of crystal methamphetamine and 0.98 kg of ketamine were seized from the two suspects’ possession.’’

The Southeast Asian country has no death sentence for a drug trafficker.

Under its law, someone found guilty of trafficking more than 80 grammes of illicit drugs could be jailed for life.

According to the country’s Anti-Drug Department (ADP), Cambodia nabbed 3,899 drug-related suspects, including 106 foreigners, in 1,659 cases from Jan. 1 to March 3, 2024.

According to the report they confiscated a total of 2.79 tonnes of narcotics.

Most of the seized drugs were ketamine, crystal methamphetamine, methamphetamine tablets, heroin, ecstasy, and cocaine. (Xinhua/NAN)

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February Ends with Extreme Heat – WMO

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The UN weather agency, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), says February saw more extreme heat and unusually high temperatures in both hemispheres.

Summarising the state of the climate, it said the month ended with extreme heat in the southern hemisphere where it is summer, while high temperatures atypical of the northern hemisphere winter prevailed.

Parts of North and South America, northwest and southeast Africa, southeast and far eastern Asia, western Australia and Europe all saw record-breaking temperatures, either on a daily basis or for all of February.

“The anomalous heat is consistent with the persisting warming observed since June 2023, with seven consecutive new global monthly temperature records, including January 2024,” Alvaro Silva, a climatologist working with the WMO, said in a statement.

Global sea surface temperatures were record high. While the El Niño weather pattern “has stoked temperatures in some parts of the world, human induced climate change is the long-term major contributing factor,” he added.

Conversely, a large part of northwestern Canada, central Asia – and from southern central Siberia to southeastern China – witnessed exceptional cold during the last week of the month.

The meteorological winter in the northern hemisphere and summer in the southern hemisphere finished officially at the end of February.

Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) raised increasing concern on Friday that more refugees would cross into Chad from Darfur in the coming weeks amid a worrying lack of food and other essentials.

Almost a year since the start of the civil war between rival militaries in Sudan, neighbouring Chad urgently needs more humanitarian aid and significant development investment, the agency reported, especially in its eastern areas which are hosting the refugee influx.

This investment will allow the country to continue its generous open-door stance towards refugees.

“Chadian officials are concerned that many more hungry Sudanese families will come in the next weeks,” said Kelly Clements, UNHCR’s Deputy High Commissioner, who is in the country to review the relief operation.

“The country is committed to keeping its borders open, despite the fragility of this region.

“But, doing so will put even more strain on Chad, which has so graciously been hosting refugees from Sudan’s war – now raging almost a year – and other refugees still here from earlier emergencies.” (NAN)

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