UNHCR launches Ramadan campaign for forcibly displaced persons

UNHCR launches Ramadan campaign for forcibly displaced persons
People stand by a building destroyed in recent earthquake in Aleppo, Syria, Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. (File/AP)
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Updated 28 March 2023

UNHCR launches Ramadan campaign for forcibly displaced persons

UNHCR launches Ramadan campaign for forcibly displaced persons
  • Campaign comes amid an increase in humanitarian emergencies in Turkiye, Syria and Bangladesh

DUBAI: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is launching a Ramadan campaign to raise funds for the growing needs of people who have been forcibly displaced around the world. 

The campaign comes amid an increase in humanitarian emergencies, the UNHCR said on Tuesday..

Over 100 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes last year as a result of war, violence, persecution, and human rights violations. 

The devastating earthquakes that struck Turkiye and Syria in February affected 23.8 million people, including many Syrian refugees who had already been displaced by the country's long-running crisis. 

UNHCR is appealing for $201.3 million to meet the urgent needs of quake-impacted families.

Meanwhile, in Bangladesh, a 90 percent funding shortfall adds to the difficulties that 978,000 Rohingya refugees face regarding nutrition, shelter, sanitation, and livelihoods. 

“UNHCR is urgently calling for support to address the growing humanitarian needs of displaced people observing Ramadan facing increasing challenges across the world,” said Khaled Khalifa, UNHCR’ Representative to Gulf Cooperation Council countries. 

“We are working tirelessly to ensure that those affected by war and displacement are provided with immediate and long-term relief,” Khalifa added.

Since its inception in 2017, the UNHCR Refugee Zakat Fund has supported over six million people  in 26 countries. 


Pope Francis holds talks with head of Muslim World League in the Vatican

Pope Francis holds talks with head of Muslim World League in the Vatican
Updated 13 sec ago

Pope Francis holds talks with head of Muslim World League in the Vatican

Pope Francis holds talks with head of Muslim World League in the Vatican

LONDON: The Secretary-General of the Muslim World League, Sheikh Mohammad Al-Issa, on Saturday held talks with Pope Francis at his office in Saint Martha House in the Vatican, the organization said.

The two sides discussed a number of issues related to shared values and the civilizational alliance, it added.

Following the meeting, Alissa said he was delighted with the sincere, brotherly and deep dialogue with Pope Francis at his residence. 

“We discussed our shared values and building bridges between civilizations based on effective and sustainable initiatives,” he added. “I appreciate Pope Francis’s kind hospitality and noble sentiments.

Pope Francis held a number of private meetings on Saturday after resuming his regular appointments a day after canceling his schedule due to a fever.


Migrants who tried to cross Mediterranean brought back to Libya, UN says

Migrants who tried to cross Mediterranean brought back to Libya, UN says
Updated 26 min 37 sec ago

Migrants who tried to cross Mediterranean brought back to Libya, UN says

Migrants who tried to cross Mediterranean brought back to Libya, UN says
  • The Italian Coast Guard reported on Thursday the rescue of 423 and 671 migrants in two separate operations in Italian search and rescue waters, and Alarm Phone said they were unrelated to the missing boat

ROME: Nearly 500 migrants who tried to cross the central Mediterranean have been brought back to Libya, a spokesman for the UN migration agency said, two days after charity groups lost contact with the boat carrying them.
“Libya is an unsafe port where migrants should never be brought back,” Flavio Di Giacomo, a spokesman for the UN’s International Organization for Migration or IOM wrote on Twitter.
He said there were 485 migrants and they docked in the Libyan port of Benghazi on Friday.
No further details were provided to IOM at this stage.
Alarm Phone, a group that picks up calls from migrant vessels in distress, had no signs from the boat since Wednesday morning.
At the time, the boat was adrift, with no working engine, in high seas about 320 km north of Libya and more than 400 km away from Malta or Italy’s southern island of Sicily.
The Italian Coast Guard reported on Thursday the rescue of 423 and 671 migrants in two separate operations in Italian search and rescue waters, and Alarm Phone said they were unrelated to the missing boat.
The Italian coast guard had no immediate comment.
In a separate incident, German charity SOS Humanity said 27 migrants were picked up at sea by an oil tanker and illegally taken back to Libya.
Under international humanitarian law, migrants cannot be forcibly returned to countries where they risk serious ill-treatment, and widespread migrant abuse has been extensively documented in Libya.
European governments have taken an increasingly hard line on migration, including in Italy, which is facing a surge in sea arrivals.
More than 47,000 landings have been recorded in the year to date, up from around 18,000 in the same period of 2022.

 


‘Jihadi Hipster’ jailed for life by UK court

‘Jihadi Hipster’ jailed for life by UK court
Updated 27 May 2023

‘Jihadi Hipster’ jailed for life by UK court

‘Jihadi Hipster’ jailed for life by UK court
  • Shabazz Suleman fled to join Daesh in Syria as a teenager in 2014 while holidaying in Turkiye
  • Promising student claims he was ‘brainwashed’ by group, spent time playing computer games

LONDON: A British man has been jailed after spending three years fighting with Daesh in Syria.

Shabazz Suleman, from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, had been a promising student in the UK, having recently completed his high school exams and been accepted onto a course to study at Keele University before he disappeared while on a family holiday in Turkiye in 2014.

He was detained by Turkish forces trying to cross into Syria, before being exchanged as part of a prisoner swap with Daesh in return for two Turkish diplomats.

Suleman, who was 18 at the time, styled himself as the “Jihadi Hipster,” a moniker he used on social media site Twitter. Adopting the name Abu Shamil Al-Britani, he became “disillusioned” with life under Daesh within a year, claiming the group targeted other Muslims and used its fighters as “cannon fodder.”

Ten months into his stay he was jailed by the group in Raqqa for refusing to fight. He was later released after agreeing to join Daesh’s security wing Amniyat.

Suleman was captured again by Turkish-backed forces in October 2017, and later traveled to Pakistan. He returned to the UK in 2021, where he was detained.

Suleman pleaded guilty to preparing acts of terrorism in April, and was sentenced to life with a minimum of nine-and-a-half years.

During his trial he claimed he spent most of his time with Amniyat playing computer games, but Judge Mark Lucraft KC said he must have known he was “supporting a terrorist organization that engaged in indiscriminate violence against civilians.”

The court heard that after joining an aid convoy to Syria in 2013, he told a friend he wanted to “go deeper where it’s more dangerous,” and that he had been visited by local police when his trip to the country was revealed.

He celebrated the deaths of journalists at the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in 2015 on Twitter, and also detailed his life under Daesh, as well as posting an image of an alleged spy who was beheaded and crucified by the group. In another message he claimed he wanted to “behead some Americans.”

After disappearing on holiday, Suleman contacted his family to tell them: “I’m doing this for Allah, no one else. I’m not brainwashed or anything. I’ve been planning this for months.”

In 2015 he told journalists at The Times he had become “disillusioned” and was “brainwashed,” adding: “I found myself falling for the propaganda of (Daesh). Eventually, I no longer knew who I was.”

After he was captured in 2017, he told Sky News: “I take responsibility. I was with (Daesh), I was with a terrorist organization. But I didn’t kill anyone, I hope I didn’t oppress anyone. I did have a Kalashnikov and a military uniform, but I didn’t hit anyone.”

Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC said: “It is clear from the evidence that the defendant fully appreciated before he set off that he would be joining and supporting a terrorist organization which engaged in indiscriminate violence against civilians.

“He was warned not to go, due to the danger, and was told that there was a risk to his life as a UK national. He thus knew very well before traveling how harshly (Daesh) would treat foreigners who did not support (it), and in particular how it treated non-believers.”


Ukraine says Russia eases Bakhmut attacks, Kyiv talks up counteroffensive

Ukraine says Russia eases Bakhmut attacks, Kyiv talks up counteroffensive
Updated 27 May 2023

Ukraine says Russia eases Bakhmut attacks, Kyiv talks up counteroffensive

Ukraine says Russia eases Bakhmut attacks, Kyiv talks up counteroffensive
KYIV: Russian forces have temporarily eased their attacks on the besieged eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut to regroup and strengthen their capabilities, a senior Kyiv official said on Saturday.
Separately, senior Ukrainian officials indicated their forces were ready to launch a long-promised counteroffensive to recapture territory taken by Russia since the start of the war.
Russia’s Wagner private army began handing over positions to regular troops this week after declaring full control of Bakhmut following the longest and bloodiest battle of the war.
In a statement on Telegram, Ukraine Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Russian forces were continuing to attack but that overall offensive activity had decreased.
“Yesterday and today there have not been any active battles — neither in the city nor on the flanks,” she wrote, adding that Moscow’s troops were instead shelling the outskirts and approaches to Bakhmut.
“The decrease in the enemy’s offensive activity is due to the fact that troops are being replaced and regrouped,” Maliar said. “The enemy is trying to strengthen its own capabilities.”
Kyiv is expected to soon launch a highly anticipated counteroffensive to retake Russian-occupied territory.
Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, told the British Broadcasting Corporation that the push could begin “tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or in a week.”
Presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak, speaking to Britain’s Guardian newspaper, said preliminary operations such as destroying supply lines or blowing up depots had already begun.
Ukraine’s top general, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, posted a sleekly produced video on Saturday showing Ukrainian troops swearing an oath and preparing for battle.
“The time has come to return what is ours,” he wrote.

Charity vessel rescues almost 600 migrants off Italy

Charity vessel rescues almost 600 migrants off Italy
Updated 27 May 2023

Charity vessel rescues almost 600 migrants off Italy

Charity vessel rescues almost 600 migrants off Italy
  • "After three hours of operation, the 599 survivors, including women and children, are now safely aboard ... and being cared for by the medical team," MSF tweeted
  • The migrants will be disembarked in the southern port of Bari, as assigned by the Italian authorities

ROME: A vessel operated by the charity Doctors without Borders (MSF) rescued nearly 600 migrants sailing on an overcrowded boat which was in distress off the island of Sicily on Saturday, the group said on Twitter.
“After three hours of operation, the 599 survivors, including women and children, are now safely aboard ... and being cared for by the medical team,” MSF tweeted, saying its vessel the Geo Barents had been conducting training activities when it was called in to undertake the rescue.
The migrants will be disembarked in the southern port of Bari, as assigned by the Italian authorities, MSF said, adding it would take around 40 hours to reach the port.
Charities have criticized the Italian administration of Giorgia Meloni, which takes a tough stance against illegal immigration, saying it often assigns ports too far away from the areas where rescues take place.
More than 47,000 migrant landings have been recorded in Italy so far this year, up from around 18,000 in the same period of 2022, interior ministry data show.