Libya: ICC staff held in Zintan released

 

          Four staff members from the International Criminal Court (ICC) held in Libya for four weeks on suspicion of spying have been released.

        The announcement came during a visit to Libya by ICC president Sang-Hyun Song.

       The team had been accused of spying while visiting Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the deposed Libyan leader, in the town of Zintan.

        A senior member of the Libyan attorney-general's office confirmed to the BBC that the four would be leaving Libya.

         "They are due to face the courts here in Tripoli for the final ruling" on 23 July, the source said.

         "We expect them to come back for the hearing but if they don't, a ruling will be made in absentia," the source added.

      Coded documents

           Mr Song offered an apology to the Libyan authorities for the "difficulties" caused by the mission.
In a news conference organised in Zintan, Mr Song also thanked the Libyan authorities for arranging the "release of the four ICC staff to be re-united with their families".

         Mr Song also "expressed his relief that the ICC staff members were well treated during their detention".

         The ICC employees had been accused of jeopardising Libya's national security, the BBC's Rana Jawad in Tripoli reports.

          One of the four, Australian lawyer Melinda Taylor, was accused of passing Saif al-Islam coded documents, allegedly written by his former right-hand man, during the team's visit.

          Ms Taylor and her Lebanese colleague Helene Assaf, a translator, were then formally detained.

         Their two other colleagues, Russian Alexander Khodakov and Spaniard Esteban Peralta Losilla, remained with them out of solidarity.

          Last week, the ICC promised in a statement to investigate any claims of wrongdoing by its staff upon their release and to impose "appropriate sanctions" if necessary.

         Ms Taylor was appointed by the ICC to help prepare the defence of Saif al-Islam, who was captured by the Zintan militia last November as he tried to flee the country.

         The Zintan militia have refused to hand Saif al-Islam over to Tripoli, while the Libyan government is rejecting ICC demands to try him in The Hague.

         Some have expressed concern that Saif al-Islam may not face a fair trial in Libya.

          He was previously considered to be heir apparent to his father, Col Muammar Gaddafi, who was overthrown last year following a popular uprising and Nato air campaign mandated by the UN to protect Libyan civilians.

         Col Gaddafi himself was killed after being captured during an assault on his hometown of Sirte in October.

 

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Will Nigeria's Boko Haram add fuel to Jos fires?

 

The Nigerian city of Jos has become synonymous for the bloody violence which occasionally breaks out between its Christian and Muslim communities. The BBC's Will Ross asks whether bombings by the Islamist group Boko Haram will further inflame tensions.

         Looking at the rubble of what was once "God's Chosen Church" it is staggering that only two people died; one member of the congregation and the suicide bomber who drove the car up to the building in this largely Christian part of Jos city.

       Lying on a hospital bed, 11-year-old Sharon Shade writhes in pain from the deep cut on her leg.
      
      She was with her mother and brother in the church on the morning of 10 June.
      "The pastor wanted to preach about unity and when he started explaining I heard 'boom'.
"Then I saw blood pouring from my leg and the next thing I knew I found myself in hospital," said Sharon before tearfully asking: "Why did this have to happen to me?"
The Islamist group popularly known as Boko Haram later said it was behind the attack.
What happened immediately after the blast is deeply worrying for Nigeria.
An angry mob of young men took over the street and set upon people they believed to be Muslim.
An emergency worker said that because of the violence it had been impossible to get his vehicle close to the church and when he walked the last few hundred metres he saw several dead bodies on the road.

       The arrival of the military and police prevented the retaliatory violence from escalating to the level recently witnessed in Kaduna City where up to 100 lives were lost.

       "You only need to study the reprisals in Jos and Kaduna and you'll see that the young people are getting out of control," says the Archbishop of Jos, Benjamin Kwashi.
      "The young people are learning that if Boko Haram is getting away with evil, with crime and criminality, then why shouldn't they?
       "After all what have they got to lose? They are jobless, they are unemployable, they are hungry, they are angry and it may spiral into anything.
       "The way the politicians are approaching these life and death issues gives me no reason to be optimistic."

       'Terrifying'

      In Jos and the surrounding Plateau State, the bombings threaten to reignite a long-running conflict that has left thousands dead in recent decades.
     Different ethnic groups are in dispute over who are the rightful inhabitants of this part of the country, and that ethnic fault line happens to pit Christians on one side against Muslims on the other.


     
       Some areas of the city are completely off limits if you are perceived to be from the "wrong" religion.
It seems likely that the spate of Boko Haram bomb attacks is intended to fuel inter-religious violence, possibly in an effort to make the country ungovernable.

        President Goodluck Jonathan recently warned that Boko Haram could also start targeting mosques in order to instigate attacks by Muslim youths on Christians.
        On Fridays ahead of Muslim prayers and for the Sunday church services, roads are blocked off, checkpoints are increased and the tension in Jos is palpable.
       Boko Haram has been so active across northern Nigeria people are not asking if there will be an attack, they are wondering where the bombers will strike next.
       "The situation is terrifying. In a society where people's security is not guaranteed it is terrible," said Mohammed Tanku, standing in a long line outside the central mosque, waiting to be frisked.
        "From the government we need social justice.
"We need practical steps to bring an end to this," he said as a military helicopter circled above the city.

       'Reprisal attacks'

 

     
         In a large hall in the mosque several hundred Muslim women came together for hours of special peace prayers.
     "Both the Christians and the Muslims, we are praying to Almighty God that whoever is planting the bombs - may God make them to be known and may God disgrace them," said one of the organisers of the event, Zainab Mustapha, who condemned all the violence.
"If they stop and they repent, God should forgive them.
      "If they do not, may God make them regret their lives because there is no Bible and no Koran that says one should kill somebody," she said.
      Following Friday prayers, the commander of the Special Task Force for Jos arrived for a peace-building meeting, accompanied by masked soldiers.
      "We are meeting with all sides of the divide here to ensure the youths are kept in check... to ensure they don't jump on the bandwagon of any kind of reprisal attacks," said Major General Henry Ayoola.
"We should pretty soon be seeing the end of the whole matter."
But that faith in the system is not shared by everyone in the region.
     "Unless the politicians change, the violence will continue," said Salihu Onnana Mohammed, who mends watches.
    
     "They are the ones fuelling the conflict in order to enrich themselves.
     "If there is no crisis they can't steal as much," he said pointing out that vast security budgets are allocated but no-one knows how the money is spent.

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Timbuktu shrines damaged by Mali Ansar Dine Islamists

Timbuktu, sometimes called the city of 333 saints, is famous for its distinctive architecture

 

Islamist fighters in Mali have damaged the shrines of Muslim saints in the city of Timbuktu, witnesses say.

The fighters, from the Ansar Dine group, which controls much of northern Mali, attacked the mausoleum of Sidi Mahmoud, one of 16 shrines in the city.
Last week, the UN cultural organisation Unesco put Timbuktu on its list of endangered world heritage sites, fearing damage following the coup which toppled the Malian government in March.
Islamists regard shrines as idolatrous.
However, some Muslims, especially Sufis, regard them as an accepted part of Muslim worship.
'Architectural wonders' Witnesses said Islamist fighters began attacking the shrines on Saturday morning, using shovels and pickaxes.
"This is tragic news for us all," Unesco chairperson Alissandra Cummins said in a statement to the AFP news agency. "I appeal to all those engaged in the conflict in Timbuktu to exercise their responsibility."

Ansar Dine spokesman Sanda Ould Boumama told the AFP news agency the shrines would be destroyed, "all of them, without exception".

He went on: "God is unique. All of this is haram (forbidden in Islam). We are all Muslims. Unesco is what?"
"They have already completely destroyed the mausoleum of Sidi Mahmoud (Ben Amar) and two others," Malian journalist Yeya Tandina told the Reuters news agency.
In addition to the shrines, Timbuktu is home to some 700,000 ancient manuscripts held in about 60 private libraries.
On Thursday, Unesco said the city's capture by armed Islamists could endanger its "outstanding architectural wonders".
"It looks as if it is a direct reaction to the Unesco decision," Timbuktu official Sandy Haidara told Reuters.
Timbuktu, an ancient trading city on the edge of the Sahara Desert, is known for its distinctive architectural structures, constructed mainly from mud and wood.
The shrine of Sidi Mahmoud was also attacked in April and set on fire by armed men from Ansar Dine.
Ansar Dine, which has ties to al-Qaeda, seized northern Mali in March, in tandem with ethnic Tuareg rebels.
However, the alliance between the two groups has frayed and the Islamists now say they control the territory after driving out their former allies.
Islamist forces recently seized the town of Gao from the Tuaregs. The 17th Century tomb of Emperor Mohammed Askia, which is in Gao, has also been placed on the Unesco danger list.

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