Americas | News | The Independent

Hier soir 19h chez Libé

▻https://www.liberation.fr/international/amerique/aux-etats-unis-un-militaire-meurt-apres-setre-immole-devant-lambassade-di

Il a fallu que je cherche, cet article n’est pas sur la page principale de Libé. Dans la section « international » il est en 6e position.

Et Le Monde a trouvé une solution ingénieuse : quelques lignes à la fin d’un article sur la mobilisation de la jeunesse US pour la Palestine, à la rubrique "International Elections américaines"...

▻https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2024/02/27/aux-etats-unis-la-mobilisation-propalestinienne-prend-de-l-ampleur_6218786_3

International
Élection présidentielle américaine 2024

Aux Etats-Unis, la mobilisation propalestinienne s’intensifie

(...)
Dimanche 25 février, en début d’après-midi, un soldat de l’armée de l’air a poussé ses convictions jusqu’à l’extrême. Aaron Bushnell, 25 ans, qui ne voulait pas être « complice d’un génocide », s’est immolé devant l’ambassade d’Israël à Washington. Une vidéo de l’action a été diffusée sur le site Twitch. Les vêtements en feu, le jeune militaire a hurlé « Free Palestine », avant de s’effondrer sur le trottoir. Il a succombé à ses brûlures.

Corine Lesnes(San Francisco, correspondante)

sur Mediapart, zero hit dans le journal ou le fil d’info, 4 hits dans "le club" : ▻https://www.mediapart.fr/search?search_word=Bushnell&section=club

« cela ne nous regarde pas »

C’est vraiment très difficile de penser sur ce « geste » . Que quelqu’un s’immole et meurt pour protester c’est un peu ahurissant . Depuis Aaron Bushnell est brandi comme une icône et je ne sais pas si c’est « bien ou mal ». Voilà

Du bonze au Vietnam en 1963 au jeune Iranien à Lyon en 2022 : le suicide comme acte politique ultime – Télérama 28/12/2022
▻https://www.telerama.fr/debats-reportages/du-bonze-au-vietnam-en-1963-au-jeune-iranien-a-lyon-en-2022-le-suicide-comm

https://focus.telerama.fr/2022/12/28/0/0/3000/1904/1200/0/60/0/1daf703_1672235653474-sipa-ap21285259-000011.jpg

Comme indiqué dans la légende, cette image a eu un impact mondial. De même, à l’époque, toute le monde – et longtemps… – savait qui avait été Jan Palach et ce qu’il avait fait… À l’inverse, un an après, je ne suis pas sûr que le nom de Mohammad Moradi évoque quoi que ce soit à qui que ce soit.

L’impact médiatique dépend de l’usage qu’en font les… médias et les politiques avant eux. Pour le moment, le nom d’Aaron Bushnell risque d’être oublié rapidement.

Quel est la trace aujourd’hui de Rachel Corrie ?
(tiens, le 16 mars, ce sera le 21ème anniversaire)

@MFMB
As a reminder, here is how Barack Obama talked about self immolation and Mohamed Bouazizi.
▻https://twitter.com/jaycaspiankang/status/1762580934518604107

@simplicissimus Rachel Corrie : ►https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Corrie

Je crois bien que j’ai vu sa photo (celle de wikipedia) l’an dernier dans les internet de l’actu. Un search me remonte un papier de The Independent de 2022 : ▻https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/rachel-corrie-death-parents-gaza-idf-b2303078.html

Comme quoi, tout le monde ne l’a pas oubliée

Time te rappelle qu’il est interdit de porter son uniforme de l’armée américaine quand on s’immole par le feu :
▻https://time.com/6821425/israel-embassy-air-force-protest-fire-self-immolation-aaron-bushnell-latest-up

Defense Department policy states that service members on active duty should “not engage in partisan political activity.” Military regulations also prohibit wearing the uniform during “unofficial public speeches, interviews, picket lines, marches, rallies or any public demonstration which may imply sanction or endorsement by [the Defense Department] or the Military Service.”

There are times in the course of history when the actions of ordinary citizens spark movements for change because they speak to a longing for freedom that has been building up for years.

Remarks by the President on the Middle East and North Africa | whitehouse.gov
▻https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2011/05/19/remarks-president-middle-east-and-north-africa

C’est beau !…
Un peu plus bas, il y a de quoi tempérer sa vision optimiste…

But the events of the past six months show us that strategies of repression and strategies of diversion will not work anymore. Satellite television and the Internet provide a window into the wider world -– a world of astonishing progress in places like India and Indonesia and Brazil.

… and Gaza.

Merci à @simplicissimus @gonzo ! C’est tout de même un geste de désespoir. Il avait tant d’années devant lui...

▻https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-immolation_of_Aaron_Bushnell
#Israël #USA #Gaza #génocide #immolation #suicide_politique

merci @colporteur
du coup, on apprend que ce n’est pas le premier États-unien à s’immoler par le feu devant une représentation diplomatique israélienne

Bushnell is not the first person in the US to use self-immolation to protest against Israel over the Palestinian humanitarian crisis. On December 1, 2023, an individual, whose identity was not revealed by Atlanta authorities, protested via self-immolation outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta, Georgia, which resulted in the protester having critical injuries.

Mais ce précédent n’avait pas pris garde de soigner sa communication, du coup, son geste et… son nom passent à la trappe.

Comme dirait Obama, heureusement qu’il y a internet et les réseaux sociaux pour ouvrir une fenêtre sur le vaste monde !

▻https://blogs.mediapart.fr/mathiasdelori/blog/290224/qui-tue-aaron-bushnell-l-homme-qui-s-est-immole-pour-gaza

Ce billet replace ce geste dans l’histoire des « sacrifices politiques de soi » et commente le silence, assourdissant, des médias français sur le sujet.

Mathias Delori, chercheur CNRS en science politique

▻https://twitter.com/ShaykhSulaiman/status/1763060023100363001

US VETERANS BURN THEIR UNIFORMS

AT AARON BUSHNELL’S VIGIL

autre version du texte de M. Delori chez Orient XXI
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/1044885

#gorafi_encore_plagié ?

A rajouter à la compile #Israfrique :
►https://seenthis.net/messages/685758

#Soudan

▻http://french.almanar.com.lb/1629630
Les forces américaines ont récupéré, mardi 28 janvier, deux corps près d’un de leurs avions qui s’est écrasé lundi 27 janvier dans l’est de l’Afghanistan, après que les forces afghanes ont échoué à atteindre cette zone contrôlée par les talibans, ont affirmé des responsables locaux.
L’armée américaine a utilisé « des hélicoptères pour évacuer deux corps du site du crash cet après-midi », a déclaré Nasir Ahmad Faqiri, chef du conseil provincial de la province de Ghazni, à l’AFP. Des avions américains surveillaient la zone et « aucun combat n’a eu lieu durant l’évacuation », a-t-il ajouté.
Vengeance pour l’assassinat de Soleimani ?
Des sources de renseignement russes et iraniennes ont déclaré que Michael D’Andrea (chef de la CIA en Irak) aurait été tué dans ce crash.
D’Andrea, qui serait responsable de l’assassinat du commandant en chef iranien Qassem Soleimani, était apparemment parmi les officiers à bord de l’avion, rapporte le site Internet de Veterans Today, citant des sources de renseignement russes qui sont relayées sur le site Airlive.net.
Il est encore trop tôt pour savoir si cet accident d’avion est lié à la vengeance de Soleimani, qui était le chef de l’axe de la Résistance

Le Pentagone confirme le crash d’un avion militaire en Afghanistan
▻https://www.lefigaro.fr/international/le-pentagone-confirme-le-crash-d-un-avion-militaire-en-afghanistan-20200127

https://i.f1g.fr/media/cms/orig/2020/01/27/21a738f362505fc3a7cdb888533fa693ba0102cf0df1124f0f57202db93ae10e.jpeg

Un avion des forces américaines s’est écrasé ce lundi 27 janvier en Afghanistan, dans la province de Ghazni, a affirmé le Pentagone, confirmant ainsi les affirmations des talibans. Mais Washington dément qu’il ait été abattu par un tir ennemi, ce qu’affirmait les talibans, sans expliquer comment. Ces derniers indiquent également que tous les membres d’équipage ont péri.

« Un Bombardier E-11A américain s’est écrasé aujourd’hui dans la province de Ghazni, en Afghanistan », a tweeté le porte-parole des forces américaines en Afghanistan, le colonel Sonny Leggett. Le Bombardier E-11 est un appareil de soutien aux drones de reconnaissance, équipé de matériel de communications de grande valeur.

attention, lecteurs (ou journalistes) pressés, Bombardier est le nom du fabricant.

▻https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardier_Global_Express
(WP indique que la photo ci-dessus, version E-11 du Global Express est prise à Kandahar)

EDIT : légende complète WP

A 430th Expeditionary Electronic Combat Squadron E-11A aircraft outfitted with a Battlefield Airborne Communications Node sits on the runway at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, April 4, 2019. The 430th EECS is the only unit that operates these aircraft with the BACN payload. (U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. Anna-Marie Wyant) (Photo ID: 5253493)

U.S. says mystery crash in Afghanistan was U.S. Air Force plane | CTV News
▻https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/u-s-says-mystery-crash-in-afghanistan-was-u-s-air-force-plane-1.4784756

https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.4785327.1580148446!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_620/image.jpg

Images on social media purportedly of the crashed plane showed an aircraft bearing U.S. Air Force markings similar to other E-11A surveillance aircraft photographed by aviation enthusiasts. Visible registration numbers on the plane also appeared to match those aircraft.

The so-called Battlefield Airborne Communications Node can be carried on unmanned or crewed aircraft like the E-11A. It is used by the military to extend the range of radio signals and can be used to convert the output of one device to another, such as connecting a radio to a telephone.

Colloquially referred to by the U.S. military as “Wi-Fi in the sky,” the BACN system is used in areas where communications are otherwise difficult, elevating signals above obstacles like mountains. The system is in regular use in Afghanistan.

▻https://www.businessinsider.com/iran-image-zero-dark-thirty-actor-claim-cia-agent-death-2020-1
Iranian state TV used a photo of an actor from ’Zero Dark Thirty’ to spread a wild theory that a senior CIA official was killed in a plane crash in Afghanistan

▻https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200128-cia-chief-behind-soleimanis-assassination-killed-in-down

CIA chief ‘behind Soleimani’s assassination’ killed in downed plane in Afghanistan

The US air force Bombardier E-11A crashed in Afghanistan | The Gal Times
▻https://thegaltimes.com/the-us-air-force-bombardier-e-11a-crashed-in-afghanistan/11021

https://thegaltimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/43747b878d83f8b96d9894bdd9ba62bd.jpg

The First few video frames of the crash scene confirm the aircraft to be Bombardier E-11A ’11-9358′ (military Global Express) 1 of 4 operated by the USAF Battlefield Airborne Communications Node. Number of personnel on board & casualties still not known. pic.twitter.com/vIHtHPzqip
— Airport Webcams (@AirportWebcams) January 27, 2020

Avec une suggestion de motif plus « local » pour la destruction de cet avion…

American bomber E-11A crashed early Monday morning and was initially accepted by the Afghan authorities for passenger aircraft. But soon there were shots, presumably from the crash site showing the emblem of the U.S. air force in the charred fuselage.

Bombardier E-11A is a plane-a repeater, a communication surveillance platform, the U.S. air force. The so-called Air Communication Node (BACN) can be transported in unmanned or crew the aircraft such as the E-11A. He used the military to extend the range of radio signals and can be used to convert the output signal of one device to another, for example, to connect the radio to the phone.

In colloquial speech, this device the U.S. military is called “Wi-Fi in the sky”. The BACN system is required in areas where communication is difficult, because it “picks up” signals over obstacles such as mountains. This system is regularly used in Afghanistan.
[…]
Two weeks ago, a guided missile AGM-114R9X was used by the US military in Afghanistan near the village of Imam Sahib (Kunduz province) to eliminate one of the commanders of the Taliban. It was a response to the killing by the Taliban of two US soldiers in Kandahar province (Afghanistan).

E-11A abattu : le B-52 « neutralisé » ? - Pars Today
▻https://parstoday.com/fr/news/middle_east-i84972
▻https://media.parstoday.com/image/4bv548b9f7b67b1l5cs_800C450.jpg

L’avion E-11 A de l’US Air Force abattu par les Taliban à Ghazni en Afghanistan a été le coqueluche de l’arsenal de la guerre électronique de l’US Air Force. Ce modèle d’une valeur de plus 50 millions de dollars faisait partie de l’escadron 430 de la guerre électronique de l’US Air Force. Doté du système BACN [Battlefield Airborne Communication Node ou nœud de communication aéroporté au-dessus du champ de bataille], l’E-11 A servait de « relais de communication aéroporté » pour remédier aux difficultés posées dans ce domaine par le relief montagneux de l’Afghanistan et le manque d’infrastructures dans ce pays occupé depuis 17 ans.

avec plusieurs photos de l’épave

et la photo du billet initial, présentée comme celle de Michael D’Andrea, mais qui, apparemment n’a pas que l’air d’être une capture vidéo du film Zero Dark Thirty

Iran TV uses ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ screenshot to claim CIA boss was killed in Afghanistan plane crash | The Independent
▻https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/iran-zero-dark-thirty-afghanistan-plane-crash-cia-a9306871.html

https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2020/01/28/18/lehnezerodarkthirty.jpg

State TV in Iran has broadcast a screenshot from the movie Zero Dark Thirty to illustrate a report that a senior CIA officer had been killed in a plane crash.

The photo shows the actor that portrayed a character in the movie based on real life CIA operative Michael D’Andrea.

▻https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredric_Lehne

Avion US abattu en Afghanistan : le responsable du meurtre de Soleimani éliminé ?
Sources : Jerusalem Post et Sputnik en arabe, le 28 janvier 2020.
Traduction : lecridespeuples.fr
▻https://lecridespeuples.fr/2020/01/28/la-vengeance-contre-le-meurtre-de-soleimani-se-fait-elle-ressentir-e

Les médias iraniens affirment que « de nombreux officiers de la CIA » ont été tués lundi lorsqu’un avion s’est écrasé. Les Talibans ont d’abord affirmé qu’un grand nombre d’Américains avaient été tués, tandis que les médias russes et iraniens ont ensuite affirmé qu’un officier supérieur de la CIA responsable du meurtre du Général du Corps des Gardiens de la Révolution Islamique (CGRI) Qassem Soleimani se trouvait à bord. L’affirmation a été accueillie avec scepticisme.

Le nom de Michael D’Andrea a commencé à apparaître dans les médias iraniens peu après le meurtre de Soleimani, lorsque des articles de Mehr News et de Radio Farda ont affirmé qu’il était impliqué dans la planification de l’opération américaine. Le 27 janvier, son nom a de nouveau surgi dans des rumeurs après que l’avion espion américain se soit écrasé en Afghanistan. Nombreux sont ceux qui pourraient avoir intérêt à répandre des thèses sur les Talibans abattant des officiers du renseignement américain de haut rang ; néanmoins l’agence de presse iranienne Tasnim a rapporté l’histoire, citant des sources russes qui affirmaient que « l’assassin de Soleimani se trouvait dans l’avion et a été tué dans le crash ». Ces sources affirment que « D’ Andrea est la figure la plus éminente de la CIA au Moyen-Orient. Il a été en charge des opérations en Irak, en Iran et en Afghanistan. »

Sorry, c’est le Guardian qui a relancé l’affaire le premier, The Independent a juste copié !
▻https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jan/21/amazon-boss-jeff-bezoss-phone-hacked-by-saudi-crown-prince

Heureusement, tout est au conditionnel…

It could also undermine efforts by “#MBS” – as the crown prince is known – to lure more western investors to Saudi Arabia, where he has vowed to economically transform the kingdom even as he has overseen a crackdown on his critics and rivals.

The disclosure is likely to raise difficult questions for the kingdom about the circumstances around how US tabloid the National Enquirer came to publish intimate details about Bezos’s private life – including text messages – nine months later.

It may also lead to renewed scrutiny about what the crown prince and his inner circle were doing in the months prior to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post journalist who was killed in October 2018 – five months after the alleged “#hack” of the newspaper’s owner.

#Allemagne #homicides #meurtre #extrême_droite #extrême-droite #liste_noire #assassinat

The US’s “Economic Blockade” Paved the Way for Venezuela Coup Attempt
▻https://truthout.org/video/the-uss-devastating-economic-blockade-paved-the-way-for-venezuela-coup

https://truthout.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/SEG1-Maduro-Pompeo-Split.jpg

Trump n’aura jamais autant d’abonnés et d’abonnées que nous sur notre Facebook bio .

Pour la première fois depuis 2009, un navire italien ramène des migrants en Libye

Une embarcation de migrants secourue par un navire de ravitaillement italien a été renvoyée en Libye lundi 30 juillet. Le HCR a annoncé mardi l’ouverture d’une enquête et s’inquiète d’une violation du droit international.

Lundi 30 juillet, un navire battant pavillon italien, l’Asso Ventotto, a ramené des migrants en Libye après les avoir secourus dans les eaux internationales – en 2012 déjà l’Italie a été condamnée par la Cour européenne des droits de l’Homme pour avoir reconduit en Libye des migrants secourus en pleine mer en 2009.

L’information a été donnée lundi soir sur Twitter par Oscar Camps, le fondateur de l’ONG espagnole Proactiva Open Arms, avant d’être reprise par Nicola Fratoianni, un député de la gauche italienne qui est actuellement à bord du bateau humanitaire espagnol qui sillonne en ce moment les côtes libyennes.

Selon le quotidien italien La Repubblica, 108 migrants à bord d’une embarcation de fortune ont été pris en charge en mer Méditerranée par l’Asso Ventotto lundi 30 juillet. L’équipage du navire de ravitaillement italien a alors contacté le MRCC à Rome - centre de coordination des secours maritimes – qui les a orienté vers le centre de commandement maritime libyen. La Libye leur a ensuite donné l’instruction de ramener les migrants au port de Tripoli.

En effet depuis le 28 juin, sur décision européenne, la gestion des secours des migrants en mer Méditerranée dépend des autorités libyennes et non plus de l’Italie. Concrètement, cela signifie que les opérations de sauvetage menées dans la « SAR zone » - zone de recherche et de sauvetage au large de la Libye - sont désormais coordonnées par les Libyens, depuis Tripoli. Mais le porte-parole du Conseil de l’Europe a réaffirmé ces dernières semaines qu’"aucun navire européen ne peut ramener des migrants en Libye car cela serait contraire à nos principes".

Violation du droit international

La Libye ne peut être considérée comme un « port sûr » pour le débarquement des migrants. « C’est une violation du droit international qui stipule que les personnes sauvées en mer doivent être amenées dans un ‘port sûr’. Malgré ce que dit le gouvernement italien, les ports libyens ne peuvent être considérés comme tels », a déclaré sur Twitter le député Nicola Fratoianni. « Les migrants se sont vus refuser la possibilité de demander l’asile, ce qui constitue une violation des accords de Genève sur les sauvetages en mer », dit-il encore dans le quotidien italien La Stampa.

Sur Facebook, le ministre italien de l’Intérieur, Matteo Salvini, nie toutes entraves au droit international. « La garde-côtière italienne n’a ni coordonné, ni participé à cette opération, comme l’a faussement déclarée une ONG et un député de gauche mal informé ».

Le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies pour les réfugiés (HCR) a de son côté annoncé mardi 31 juillet l’ouverture d’une enquête. « Nous recueillons toutes les informations nécessaires sur le cas du remorqueur italien Asso Ventotto qui aurait ramené en Libye 108 personnes sauvées en Méditerranée. La Libye n’est pas un ‘port sûr’ et cet acte pourrait constituer une violation du droit international », dit l’agence onusienne sur Twitter.

▻http://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/10995/pour-la-premiere-fois-depuis-2009-un-navire-italien-ramene-des-migrant

Nave italiana soccorre e riporta in Libia 108 migranti. Salvini: «Nostra Guardia costiera non coinvolta»

L’atto in violazione della legislazione internazionale che garantisce il diritto d’asilo e che non riconosce la Libia come un porto sicuro. Il vicepremier: «Nostre navi non sono intervenute nelle operazioni». Fratoianni (LeU): «Ci sono le prove della violazione»

▻http://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2018/07/31/news/migranti_nave_italiana_libia-203026448/?ref=RHPPLF-BH-I0-C8-P1-S1.8-T1
#vos_thalassa #asso_28

Commentaire de Sara Prestianni, via la mailing-list de Migreurop:

Le navire commerciale qui opere autour des plateformes de pétrole, battant pavillon italien - ASSO 28 - a ramené 108 migrants vers le port de Tripoli suite à une opération de sauvetage- Les premiers reconstructions faites par Open Arms et le parlementaire Fratoianni qui se trouve à bord de Open Arms parlent d’une interception en eaux internationales à la quelle a suivi le refoulement. Le journal La Repubblica dit que les Gardes Cotes Italiennes auraient invité Asso28 à se coordonner avec les Gardes Cotes Libyennes (comme font habituellement dans les derniers mois. Invitation déclinés justement par les ong qui opèrent en mer afin de éviter de proceder à un refoulement interdit par loi). Le Ministre de l’Interieur nie une implication des Gardes Cotes Italiens et cyniquement twitte “Le Garde cotes libyenne dans les derniers heures ont sauvé et ramené à terre 611 migrants. Les Ong protestent les passeurs font des affaires ? C’est bien. Nous continuons ainsi”

Départs de migrants depuis la Libye :

https://i.imgur.com/BJNHvTz.png

Libya : outcomes of the sea journey

https://i.imgur.com/dY7LumQ.png

Migrants intercepted /rescued by the Libyan coast guard

https://i.imgur.com/PbQyGAU.png

Lieux de désembarquement :

https://i.imgur.com/Pjceq0y.png

–-> Graphiques de #Matteo_Villa, posté sur twitter :
source : ►https://twitter.com/emmevilla/status/1036892919964286976

#statistiques #chiffres #2016 #2017 #2018

cc @simplicissimus

Libyan Coast Guard Takes 611 Migrants Back to Africa

Between Monday and Tuesday, the Libyan Coast Guard reportedly rescued 611 migrants aboard several dinghies off the coast and took them back to the African mainland.

Along with the Libyan search and rescue operation, an Italian vessel, following indications from the Libyan Coast Guard, rescued 108 migrants aboard a rubber dinghy and delivered them back to the port of Tripoli. The vessel, called La Asso 28, was a support boat for an oil platform.

Italian mainstream media have echoed complaints of NGOs claiming that in taking migrants back to Libya the Italian vessel would have violated international law that guarantees the right to asylum and does not recognize Libya as a safe haven.

In recent weeks, a spokesman for the Council of Europe had stated that “no European ship can bring migrants back to Libya because it is contrary to our principles.”

Twenty days ago, another ship supporting an oil rig, the Vos Thalassa, after rescuing a group of migrants, was preparing to deliver them to a Libyan patrol boat when an attempt to revolt among the migrants convinced the commander to reverse the route and ask the help of the Italian Coast Guard. The migrants were loaded aboard the ship Diciotti and taken to Trapani, Sicily, after the intervention of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella.

On the contrary, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has declared Tuesday’s operation to be a victory for efforts to curb illegal immigration. The decision to take migrants back to Africa rather than transporting them to Europe reflects an accord between Italy and Libya that has greatly reduced the numbers of African migrants reaching Italian shores.

Commenting on the news, Mr. Salvini tweeted: “The Libyan Coast Guard has rescued and taken back to land 611 immigrants in recent hours. The NGOs protest and the traffickers lose their business? Great, this is how we make progress,” followed by hashtags announcing “closed ports” and “open hearts.”

Parliamentarian Nicola Fratoianni of the left-wing Liberi and Uguali (Free and Equal) party and secretary of the Italian Left, presently aboard the Spanish NGO ship Open Arms, denounced the move.

“We do not yet know whether this operation was carried out on the instructions of the Italian Coast Guard, but if so it would be a very serious precedent, a real collective rejection for which Italy and the ship’s captain will answer before a court,” he said.

“International law requires that people rescued at sea must be taken to a safe haven and the Libyan ports, despite the mystification of reality by the Italian government, cannot be considered as such,” he added.

The United Nations immigration office (UNHCR) has threatened Italy for the incident involving the 108 migrants taken to Tripoli, insisting that Libya is not a safe port and that the episode could represent a breach of international law.

“We are collecting all the necessary information,” UNHCR tweeted.

►https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/santiago-anti-abortion-women-stabbed-chile-protest-a8469786.html
#refoulements #push-back

UNHCR Position on Returns to Libya - Update II

▻http://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8d02314.html

Libya rescued 10,000 migrants this year, says Germany

Libyan coast guards have saved some 10,000 migrants at sea since the start of this year, according to German authorities. The figure was provided by the foreign ministry during a debate in parliament over what the Left party said were “inhumane conditions” of returns of migrants to Libya. Libyan coast guards are trained by the EU to stop migrants crossing to Europe.

▻https://euobserver.com/tickers/142821

UNHCR Flash Update Libya (9 - 15 November 2018) [EN/AR]

As of 14 November, the Libyan Coast Guard (LCG) has rescued/intercepted 14,595 refugees and migrants (10,184 men, 2,147 women and 1,408 children) at sea. On 10 November, a commercial vessel reached the port of Misrata (187 km east of Tripoli) carrying 95 refugees and migrants who refused to disembark the boat. The individuals on board comprise of Ethiopian, Eritrean, South Sudanese, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Somali nationals. UNHCR is closely following-up on the situation of the 14 individuals who have already disembarked and ensuring the necessary assistance is provided and screening is conducted for solutions. Since the onset, UNHCR has advocated for a peaceful resolution of the situation and provided food, water and core relief items (CRIs) to alleviate the suffering of individuals onboard the vessel.

►https://reliefweb.int/report/libya/unhcr-flash-update-libya-9-15-november-2018-enar
#statistiques #2018 #chiffres

Rescued at sea, locked up, then sold to smugglers

In Libya, refugees returned by EU-funded ships are thrust back into a world of exploitation.

The Souq al Khamis detention centre in Khoms, Libya, is so close to the sea that migrants and refugees can hear waves crashing on the shore. Its detainees – hundreds of men, women and children – were among 15,000 people caught trying to cross the Mediterranean in flimsy boats in 2018, after attempting to reach Italy and the safety of Europe.

They’re now locked in rooms covered in graffiti, including warnings that refugees may be sold to smugglers by the guards that watch them.

https://www.irishtimes.com/polopoly_fs/1.3758900!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_620/image.jpg

This detention centre is run by the UN-backed Libyan government’s department for combatting illegal migration (DCIM). Events here over the last few weeks show how a hardening of European migration policy is leaving desperate refugees with little room to escape from networks ready to exploit them.

Since 2014, the EU has allocated more than €300 million to Libya with the aim of stopping migration. Funnelled through the Trust Fund for Africa, this includes roughly €40 million for the Libyan coast guard, which intercepts boats in the Mediterranean. Ireland’s contribution to the trust fund will be €15 million between 2016 and 2020.

Scabies

One of the last 2018 sea interceptions happened on December 29th, when, the UN says, 286 people were returned to Khoms. According to two current detainees, who message using hidden phones, the returned migrants arrived at Souq al Khamis with scabies and other health problems, and were desperate for medical attention.

https://www.irishtimes.com/polopoly_fs/1.3759177!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_620/image.jpg

On New Year’s Eve, a detainee messaged to say the guards in the centre had tried to force an Eritrean man to return to smugglers, but others managed to break down the door and save him.

On Sunday, January 5th, detainees said, the Libyan guards were pressurising the still-unregistered arrivals to leave by beating them with guns. “The leaders are trying to push them [to] get out every day,” one said.

▻https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/rescued-at-sea-locked-up-then-sold-to-smugglers-1.3759181

Migranti, 100 persone trasferite su cargo e riportate in Libia. Alarm Phone: “Sono sotto choc, credevano di andare in Italia”

Dopo l’allarme delle scorse ore e la chiamata del premier Conte a Tripoli, le persone (tra cui venti donne e dodici bambini, uno dei quali potrebbe essere morto di stenti) sono state trasferite sull’imbarcazione che batte bandiera della Sierra Leone in direzione Misurata. Ma stando alle ultime informazioni, le tensioni a bordo rendono difficoltoso lo sbarco. Intanto l’ong Sea Watch ha salvato 47 persone e chiede un porto dove attraccare

►https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2019/01/21/migranti-100-persone-trasferite-su-cargo-e-riportate-in-libia-alarm-phone-sono-sotto-choc-credevano-di-andare-in-italia/4911794

Migrants calling us in distress from the Mediterranean returned to Libya by deadly ‘refoulement’ industry

When they called us from the sea, the 106 precarious travellers referred to their boat as a white balloon. This balloon, or rubber dinghy, was meant to carry them all the way to safety in Europe. The people on board – many men, about 20 women, and 12 children from central, west and north Africa – had left Khoms in Libya a day earlier, on the evening of January 19.

Though they survived the night at sea, many of passengers on the boat were unwell, seasick and freezing. They decided to call for help and used their satellite phone at approximately 11am the next day. They reached out to the Alarm Phone, a hotline operated by international activists situated in Europe and Africa, that can be called by migrants in distress at sea. Alongside my work as a researcher on migration and borders, I am also a member of this activist network, and on that day I supported our shift team who received and documented the direct calls from the people on the boat in distress.

The boat had been trying to get as far away as possible from the Libyan coast. Only then would the passengers stand a chance of escaping Libya’s coastguard. The European Union and Italy struck a deal in 2017 to train the Libyan coastguard in return for them stopping migrants reaching European shores. But a 2017 report by Amnesty International highlighted how the Libyan authorities operate in collusion with smuggling networks. Time and again, media reports suggest they have drastically violated the human rights of escaping migrants as well as the laws of the sea.

The migrant travellers knew that if they were detected and caught, they would be abducted back to Libya, or illegally “refouled”. But Libya is a dangerous place for migrants in transit – as well as for Libyan nationals – given the ongoing civil conflict between several warring factions. In all likelihood, being sent back to Libya would mean being sent to detention centres described as “concentration-camp like” by German diplomats.

The odds of reaching Europe were stacked against the people on the boat. Over the past year, the European-Libyan collaboration in containing migrants in North Africa, a research focus of mine, has resulted in a decrease of sea arrivals in Italy – from about 119,000 in 2017 to 23,000 in 2018. Precisely how many people were intercepted by the Libyan coastguards last year is unclear but the Libyan authorities have put the figure at around 15,000. The fact that this refoulement industry has led to a decrease in the number of migrant crossings in the central Mediterranean means that fewer people have been able to escape grave human rights violations and reach a place of safety.
Shifting responsibility

In repeated conversations, the 106 people on the boat made clear to the Alarm Phone activists that they would rather move on and endanger their lives by continuing to Europe than be returned by the Libyan coastguards. The activists stayed in touch with them, and for transparency reasons, the distress situation was made public via Twitter.

https://i.imgur.com/fSxNtav.png

Around noon, the situation on board deteriorated markedly and anxiety spread. With weather conditions worsening and after a boy had fallen unconscious, the people on the boat expressed for the first time their immediate fear of dying at sea and demanded Alarm Phone to alert all available authorities.

The activists swiftly notified the Italian coastguards. But both the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, and in turn the Maltese authorities, suggested it was the Libyan coastguard’s responsibility to handle the distress call. And yet, eight different phone numbers of the Libyan coastguards could not be reached by the activists.

In the afternoon, the situation had come across the radar of the Italian media. When the Alarm Phone activists informed the people on board that the public had also been made aware of the situation by the media one person succinctly responded: “I don’t need to be on the news, I need to be rescued.”

And yet media attention catapulted the story into the highest political spheres in Italy. According to a report in the Italian national newspaper Corriere della Sera, the prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, took charge of the situation, stating that the fate of the migrant boat could not be left to Alarm Phone activists. Conte instructed the Italian foreign intelligence service to launch rapid negotiations with the Libyan coastguards. It took some time to persuade them, but eventually, the Libyans were convinced to take action.

In the meantime, the precarious passengers on the boat reported of water leaking into their boat, of the freezing cold, and their fear of drowning. The last time the Alarm Phone reached them, around 8pm, they could see a plane in the distance but were unable to forward their GPS coordinates to the Alarm Phone due to the failing battery of their satellite phone.
Sent back to Libya

About three hours later, the Italian coastguards issued a press release: the Libyans had assumed responsibility and co-ordinated the rescue of several boats. According to the press release, a merchant vessel had rescued the boat and the 106 people would be returned to Libya.

According to the survivors and Médecins Sans Frontières who treated them on arrival, at least six people appeared to have drowned during the voyage – presumably after the Alarm Phone lost contact with them. Another boy died after disembarkation.

A day later, on January 21, members of a second group of 144 people called the Alarm Phone from another merchant vessel. Just like the first group, they had been refouled to Libya, but they were still on board. Some still believed that they would be brought to Europe.

Speaking on the phone with the activists, they could see land but it was not European but Libyan land. Recognising they’d been returned to their place of torment, they panicked, cried and threatened collective suicide. The women were separated from the men – Alarm Phone activists could hear them shout in the background. In the evening, contact with this second group of migrants was lost.

During the evening of January 23, several of the women of the group reached out to the activists. They said that during the night, Libyan security forces boarded the merchant vessel and transported small groups into the harbour of Misrata, where they were taken to a detention centre. They said they’d been beaten when refusing to disembark. One of them, bleeding, feared that she had already lost her unborn child.

On the next day, the situation worsened further. The women told the activists that Libyan forces entered their cell in the morning, pointing guns at them, after some of the imprisoned had tried to escape. Reportedly, every man was beaten. The pictures they sent to the Alarm Phone made it into Italian news, showing unhygienic conditions, overcrowded cells, and bodies with torture marks.

https://images.theconversation.com/files/257508/original/file-20190206-174873-zfk2c8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1#.jpg

Just like the 106 travellers on the “white balloon”, this second group of 144 people had risked their lives but were now back in their hell.
Profiteering

It’s more than likely that for some of these migrant travellers, this was not their first attempt to escape Libya. The tens of thousands captured at sea and returned over the past years have found themselves entangled in the European-Libyan refoulement “industry”. Due to European promises of financial support or border technologies, regimes with often questionable human rights records have wilfully taken on the role as Europe’s frontier guards. In the Mediterranean, the Libyan coastguards are left to do the dirty work while European agencies – such as Frontex, Eunavfor Med as well as the Italian and Maltese coastguards – have withdrawn from the most contentious and deadly areas of the sea.

It’s sadly not surprising that flagrant human rights violations have become the norm rather than the exception. Quite cynically, several factions of the Libyan coastguards have profited not merely from Europe’s financial support but also from playing a “double game” in which they continue to be involved in human smuggling while, disguised as coastguards, clampdown on the trade of rival smuggling networks. This means that the Libyan coastguards profit often from both letting migrant boats leave and from subsequently recapturing them.

The detention camps in Libya, where torture and rape are everyday phenomena, are not merely containment zones of captured migrants – they form crucial extortion zones in this refoulement industry. Migrants are turned into “cash cows” and are repeatedly subjected to violent forms of extortion, often forced to call relatives at home and beg for their ransom.

Despite this systematic abuse, migrant voices cannot be completely drowned out. They continue to appear, rebelliously, from detention and even from the middle of the sea, reminding us all about Europe’s complicity in the production of their suffering.

▻https://theconversation.com/migrants-calling-us-in-distress-from-the-mediterranean-returned-to-

Libya coast guard detains 113 migrants during lull in fighting

The Libyan coast guard has stopped 113 migrants trying to reach Italy over the past two days, the United Nations said on Wednesday, as boat departures resume following a lull in fighting between rival forces in Libya.

The western Libyan coast is a major departure point for mainly African migrants fleeing conflict and poverty and trying to reach Italy across the Mediterranean Sea with the help of human traffickers.

Smuggling activity had slowed when forces loyal to military commander Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive to take the capital Tripoli, home to Libya’s internationally recognized government.

But clashes eased on Tuesday after a push by Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) back by artillery failed to make inroads toward the center.

Shelling audible in central Tripoli was less intense on Wednesday than on previous days. Three weeks of clashes had killed 376 as of Tuesday, the World Health Organization said.

The Libyan coast guard stopped two boats on Tuesday and one on Wednesday, carrying 113 migrants in all, and returned them to two western towns away from the Tripoli frontline, where they were put into detention centers, U.N. migration agency IOM said.

A coast guard spokesman said the migrants were from Arab and sub-Saharan African countries as well as Bangladesh.

Human rights groups have accused armed groups and members of the coast guard of being involved in human trafficking.

Officials have been accused in the past of mistreating detainees, who are being held in their thousands as part of European-backed efforts to curb smuggling. A U.N. report in December referred to a “terrible litany” of violations including unlawful killings, torture, gang rape and slavery.

Rights groups have also accused the European Union of complicity in the abuse as Italy and France have provided boats for the coast guard to step up patrols. That move has helped to reduce migrant departures.

▻https://www.reuters.com/article/us-libya-security/libya-coast-guard-detains-113-migrants-during-lull-in-fighting-idUSKCN1S73R

Judgement in Italy recognizes that people rescued by #Vos_Thalassa acted lawfully when opposed disembarkation in #Libya. Two men spent months in prison, as Italian government had wished, till a judge established that they had acted in legitimate defence.
Also interesting that judge argues that Italy-Libya Bilateral agreement on migration control must be considered illegitimate as in breach of international, EU and domestic law.

▻https://dirittopenaleuomo.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/GIP-Trapani.pdf

Reçu via FB par @isskein :
▻https://www.facebook.com/isabelle.saintsaens/posts/10218154173470834?comment_id=10218154180551011&notif_id=1560196520660275&n
#justice

The Commission and Italy tie themselves up in knots over Libya

►http://www.statewatch.org/analyses/no-344-Commission-and-Italy-tie-themselves-up-in-knots-over-libya.pdf

–-> analyse de #Yasha_Maccanico sur la polémique entre Salvini et la Commission quand il a déclaré en mars que la Commission était tout a fait d’accord avec son approche (le retour des migrants aux champs logiques), la Commission l’a démenti et puis a sorti la lettre de Mme. Michou (JAI Commission) de laquelle provenaient les justifications utilisées par le ministre, qui disait à Leggeri que la collaboration avec la garde côtière libyenne des avions européennes était legale. Dans la lettre, elle admit que les italiens et la mission de Frontex font des activités qui devrait être capable de faire la Libye, si sa zone SAR fuisse authentique et pas une manière pour l’UE de se débarrasser de ses obligations légales et humanitaires. C’est un acte de auto-inculpation pour l’UE et pour l’Italie.

Returned to War and Torture: Malta and Frontex coordinate push-back to Libya

https://alarmphone.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/25/2020/03/2020.3.15-1.png

On Saturday, 14 March 2020, RCC Malta coordinated a push-back operation from the Maltese Search and Rescue (SAR) zone to Libya in cooperation with the EU border agency Frontex and the so-called Libyan coastguards.[1] Similar to the events we documented on 18 October 2019, the Maltese authorities instructed the so-called Libyan coastguards to enter a European SAR zone in order to abduct about 49 people and force them back to Libya.[2] Instead of complying with refugee and human rights conventions, the Maltese authorities coordinated a grave violation of international law and of the principle of non-refoulment, as the rescued must be disembarked in a safe harbour.[3] Clearly, Libya is not a safe harbour but a place of war and systemic human rights abuses. Every week, the Alarm Phone receives testimonies of torture, rape and other forms of violence against migrants detained in Libyan camps and prisons.

On the same day, we alerted the Armed Forces of Malta to a second boat in distress in the Maltese SAR zone with 112 people on board.[4] Before their eventual rescue, the people spent about 48 hours at sea. Malta delayed the rescue for more than 18 hours, putting 112 lives at severe risk. Non-assistance, delays, and pushbacks are becoming the norm in the Central Mediterranean, causing trauma in survivors, disappearances and deaths, both at sea and in Libya.

Europe continues to delegate border enforcement to the Libyan authorities to evade their responsibility to rescue the distressed to Europe. We hold Europe accountable for the abuses and suffering inflicted on migrants at sea and in Libya. We condemn the role of European institutions and member states, including Malta and Italy, in these human rights violations through bilateral agreements as well as the financing, equipping, and training of the so-called Libyan coastguards.

Summary of the push-back by proxy case:

On Saturday 14 March 2020, at 15:33h CET, the Alarm Phone received a distress call from 49 people, including one pregnant woman and three children, who were trying to escape from the war in Libya. They had left Tripoli the evening before on a white fiberglass boat. They shared their GPS position with us, which clearly showed them within the Maltese SAR zone (34° 26′ 39 ” N, 14° 07′ 86″ E, at 15:33h). The people on board told us that they had lost their engine and that water was entering the boat. We immediately informed RCC Malta and the Italian coastguard via email. We received updated GPS positions from the people in distress at 16:22h (34° 26 81′ N, 014° 08′ 56″ E) and at 17:07h (N 34° 27′ 12″, E 014° 09′ 37″), both confirming once more that they were drifting within the Maltese SAR zone.

At 17:42h, RCC Malta confirmed via phone that they had sent two patrol boats for the two SAR events in the Maltese SAR zone to which we had alerted them: one for the boat of 49 people and another one for the rubber boat with 112 people on board. Soon after, at 17:45h, we talked to the 49 people on the boat who told us that they could see a boat heading in their direction. Unfortunately, the conversation broke off and we were not able to clarify further details. This was our last contact to the people in distress after which we could not reach them any longer. Since then, we have tried to obtain further details from RCC Malta, but they claim to not have any information.

However, confidential sources have informed us that a Frontex aerial asset had spotted the migrant boat already at 6:00h when it was still in the contested Libyan SAR zone. At 18.04h, the Libyan coastguard vessel Ras Al Jadar intercepted the boat in the Maltese SAR zone at the position N34° 26’, E 14° 07’. This means that the European border agency Frontex, MRCC Rome as well as RCC Malta were all aware of this boat in distress and colluded with the Libyan authorities to enter Maltese SAR and intercept the migrant boat.

On Sunday 15 March 2020, at 7:00h, we were called by relatives of the people on board who told us that the people in distress had just informed them that they had been abducted by a Libyan vessel from within the Maltese SAR zone and returned to Libya, where, according to their testimonies, they were imprisoned and battered. In the afternoon, we were called by the people who were on the boat, and they testified that before the push-back occurred they saw a helicopter circling above them. About 30 minutes later, according to their testimonies, a vessel of the so-called Libyan coastguard arrived on scene. The people stated that the Libyan officers behaved brutally toward them, beating them repeatedly. They also stated that they were prevented from filming and documenting these abuses as their phones were confiscated. Moreover, the people reported that they had travelled together with another boat, a white rubber boat with around 60 people on board (including 7 women and 1 woman with a nine-month-old infant). Also this second boat[5] was intercepted and returned to Libya and its passengers experienced similar forms of violence and abuse.

▻https://alarmphone.org/en/2020/03/15/returned-to-war-and-torture/?post_type_release_type=post

#traite #traite_négrière #histoire