Anders Behring Breivik claims two more terror cells remain at large

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Created on Monday, 25 July 2011 00:00

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Anders Behring Breivik claims two more terror cells remain at large

Norway gunman pleads not guilty to mass killing and tells Oslo hearing he acted to 'save Europe' from Islam

Mark Townsend in Oslo and agencies

The man who confessed to killing more than 70 people in a bomb and gun massacre on Friday has claimed he belonged to an organisation with two more cells who remain at large.

At a closed hearing in Oslo, Anders Behring Breivik admitted carrying out the attacks but pleaded not guilty to one of the worst mass killings in peacetime Europe, and told the court he had acted to "save Europe" from Islam.

Breivik, 32, will be detained in complete isolation for four weeks, with no incoming letters or visitors except for his lawyer, while police investigate his claims to have accomplices. Breivik has previously said he acted alone in the attacks.

"The accused has made statements today that require further investigation, including that 'there are two more cells in our organisation'," said the judge, Kim Heger, who warned that Breivik could tamper with vital evidence if released. He will be held for at least another month after the court-ordered solitary confinement.

Breivik arrived at court on Monday morning to jeering from a crowd of around 400 people. As a police convoy approached the rear of Oslo's central court, someone shouted then the crowd surged forward. Bystanders screamed "traitor" and banged on the windows of a police car after one man said he'd spotted Breivik in the back seat.

A local book editor, Marius Wulfsberg, 54, described one bystander pointing at a man in the crowd as Breivik's vehicle passed. "That man lost three friends on Nyota Island, what do you have to say now? But the man he was pointing at was just standing there, impassive.

"People were angry, shouting, some were hitting the door of the car."

Just after 1.40pm local time, Breivik was hustled into an underground tunnel that led into the basement and then taken up to courtroom 828, on the 8th floor.

The hearing was ordered to be held behind closed doors after the judge was informed of last-minute police concerns.

Outside the sealed courtroom, reporters waited in vain for a glimpse of Breivik, who had initially requested to appear in court in uniform, and asked for time to explain his actions.

Normally such a hearing would be held in open court, but many in Norway had argued that Breivik should not be given a platform to justify the killings.

Breivik's lawyer, Geir Lippestad, said his client had admitted to the attacks but denied any criminal guilt.

The court acknowledged the need for transparency in the case, but after a 35-minute hearing, Judge Heger said an open hearing would not be possible "for practical reasons."

"It is clear that there is concrete information that a public hearing with the suspect present could quickly lead to an extraordinary and very difficult situation in terms of the investigation and security," he said.

Police had earlier put the death toll at more than 90 but on Monday they revised the figure for the youth camp massacre down to 68, with at least seven killed in the bombing.

Earlier, a minute's silence brought Oslo to a standstill as thousands flocked to pay tribute outside the cathedral. More than 10 minutes later, thousands were still standing while others converged upon the vast field of flowers that has steadily grown in the heart of Oslo since Breivik struck.

The flag on the courthouse remained at half mast.

Meanwhile, the search for victims continued. Police have not released the names of the dead, but Norway's royal court said on Monday that those killed at the island retreat included Crown Princess Mette-Marit's stepbrother, an off-duty police officer, who was working there as a security guard.

In an interview with the Swedish tabloid Expressen, Breivik's father said he was disgusted by his son's acts and wished he had committed suicide.

"I don't feel like his father," said the former diplomat Jens David Breivik. "How could he just stand there and kill so many innocent people and just seem to think that what he did was OK? He should have taken his own life too. That's what he should have done."

Source: The Guardian UK, 25 July 2011

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Baroness Amos calls for donors to 'dig deep' for drought in Africa

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Created on Tuesday, 05 July 2011 00:00

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Baroness Amos calls for donors to 'dig deep' for drought in Africa

The head of UN humanitarian affairs says the scale of the drought in east and the Horn of Africa is much greater than anticipated

Mark Tran

Baroness Amos, head of UN humanitarian affairs, appealed on Tuesday for donors to "dig deep" to help the 10 million people affected by the worst drought conditions in 60 years in east Africa.

Last year, the UN appealed for $500m (£310m) for Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya to address food insecurity, but only half has been funded, while a $30m appeal for Djibouti has reached just 30% of the target. A lack of seasonal rains has led to failed harvests, acute water and pasture shortages, and the deaths of thousands of animals in the region. Thousands of people have already left their homes in search of water and grass for their livestock.

In some areas of Somalia and northern Kenya up to 30% of the population is suffering from acute malnutrition, which is double the amount sufficient to declare a humanitarian emergency.

On Monday, Oxfam launched its biggest appeal, seeking £50m to help 3 million people, and on Sunday the UK's Department for International Development announced £38m in emergency food aid for Ethiopia.

"We are appealing for donors to dig deep," Amos told the Guardian. "The scale of the problem is much greater than we had anticipated last year. We need the money very quickly as children and some adults are turning up in refugee camps malnourished. We launched an appeal for this year at the end of last year, but the impact has been much greater. In Somalia, the number of people affected has gone from 2 million to 2.5 million because of a convergence of factors including drought, cereal prices and conflict."

Up to 1,000 Somalis a day are crossing the Kenyan border to Dadaab, already the world's largest refugee settlement with 367,000 residents.

Amos stressed the importance of finding long-term solutions to avoid lurching from one crisis to another. The area has experienced severe drought and food shortages on a regular basis since the 1980s. Recent appeals for funds were made in 2006, 2008 and 2009.

"We need a longer-term strategy that builds on economic development and sustainable livelihoods," said Amos, adding that work had to be done at national and regional levels.

Amos now chairs a UN interagency standing committee to monitor the progress – or lack of progress – in terms of fulfilling pledges made two years ago by the world's eight largest economies.

The G8, meeting in L'Aquila, Italy, pledged $22bn towards agriculture in the developing world to boost food self-sufficency and food security. They agreed that investment in small farms in Africa was the key to avoiding a food crisis, but groups such as ActionAid say there is little evidence that aid for agriculture has risen significantly as a result of the pledge.

"We have fallen behind in some areas," said Amos. "There is a need for more dynamism in the process, but there are so many different people involved, so many reasons for lack of progress. It is not just about drought, there is the impact of climate change, governance is weak in some of these countries ... It's a vast geographical area, all of this makes it a very complicated picture."

Jamie Drummond, executive director of the advocacy group, ONE, said the current emergency should not obscure the progress that has been made elsewhere in Africa, symbolised by a rising African middle class. Like Amos, he urged rich countries to fulfil the pledges made at L'Aquila.

"This is not yet a famine of biblical proportions," he said. "It's a bad situation that can be avoided for a few hundred millions of dollars. We have to ensure the money gets through quickly, and let's keep previous promises so we can avoid similar situations."

ONE is due to release a report on where the G8 is falling down on its pledges.

Source: The Guardian UK, 05 July 2011

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Shrien Dewani 'unfit to stand trial', says barrister

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Category: Law & Justice

Created on Monday, 18 July 2011 00:00

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Shrien Dewani 'unfit to stand trial', says barrister

Honeymoon murder suspect facing extradition to South Africa is deemed too 'fragile' to face British court

Steven Morris

A British man accused of arranging for his wife to be murdered while they were on honeymoon in South Africa would be considered unfit to stand trial if he was facing a British court, his extradition hearing has been told.

Shrien Dewani faces being sent back to South Africa to be put on trial for allegedly conspiring to kill his wife, Anni, in a fake carjacking in Cape Town. However, he has been diagnosed as suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder and his barrister, Clare Montgomery QC, argued that if he was facing domestic proceedings he would be "simply unfit to stand trial".

Dewani, who is being treated in a medium secure hospital, was excused from staying in court to hear proceedings after Montgomery claimed it would be "inhuman" to force him to remain.

Montgomery said Dewani had had to begin his journey from the Fromeside hospital in Bristol to Woolwich crown court in east London, where the extradition hearing is taking place, at 4am every morning he was required to appear. Travelling by car, being exposed to loud noises and the presence of other people exacerbated his condition, Montgomery said. Dewani sat in the dock looking dishevelled and confused as Montgomery asked for him to be allowed to leave.

District judge Howard Riddle accepted that Dewani's health was "fragile" and agreed that in the "exceptional" circumstances he could be excused from attending. Dewani was led from the dock looking unsteady on his feet and disoriented.

Anni Dewani, 28, was shot dead in the back of a taxi in Cape Town on 13 November after a hijacking alleged to have been staged by Dewani and three other men.

Dewani, from Bristol, and his family, who run a successful string of care homes, deny strongly he had any involvement in his wife's death. But the South African authorities insist that he should return to Cape Town to be put on trial.

Over the next three days Judge Riddle is to hear claims from Dewani's lawyers that he is too ill to be extradited. Dewani's team is also claiming that his human rights would be infringed if he were sent back because he would not receive the treatment he needed in South Africa's prisons as he awaited trial and if he was convicted of the crime.

Judge Deon Hurter Van Zyl, who heads an independent inspectorate that monitors conditions in South African prisons, was asked by Montgomery about gang and sexual violence. She suggested to him that most prisoners were sexually assaulted even before they actually reached prison in holding cells, police stations and vehicles as part of "initiation" rites.

Van Zyl accepted there were many problems within the system and staff lacked pride, commitment and dedication. He also told the court inmates with mental health conditions mixed with other prisoners and there were not sufficient facilities for dealing with those who suffered from psychiatric problems.

At an earlier stage of the hearing in May, the court was told Dewani would be particularly vulnerable to attacks in prison because of his good looks, the fact that a woman was his alleged victim and allegations – denied by his family – that he is gay.

The South African authorities have stipulated which prisons Dewani would be held in while awaiting trial and if convicted and insist he would be safe and cared for. But the court has also heard that future governments would not be bound by any promises made now.

Also at the May hearing, the South African authorities revealed they had a witness who would claim that seven months before the killing Dewani had said he "needed to find a way out" of the marriage. The witness claimed Dewani had said he would be disowned by his family if he broke off the engagement with Anni.

Dewani's family insist the marriage was a happy one.

Dewani is wanted for kidnapping, robbery with aggravated circumstances, conspiracy to commit murder and obstructing the administration of justice. The extradition hearing is being heard by Westminster magistrates, sitting at Woolwich crown court.


Source: The Guardian UK, 18 July 2011

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Barack Obama rebuked for Libya action by US House of Representatives

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Category: DateLines

Created on Saturday, 25 June 2011 00:00

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Barack Obama rebuked for Libya action by US House of Representatives

In a primarily symbolic vote, Republican-led House rejects resolution authorising Libya mission – but fails in bid to cut funds

Ewen MacAskill and Nick Hopkins

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives delivered a rare rebuke to Barack Obama over his involvement in the Libyan war on Friday by rejecting a resolution to authorise the US mission.

It is an embarrassment for the president to have a vote go against him in time of conflict and reflects the disenchantment in the US over yet another war. The vote is primarily symbolic but members of Congress sympathetic to Obama and the US role in Libya said the danger was that it could leave the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, with the impression that support for the war is collapsing.

The House voted 295 to 123 against the resolution to authorise the war. About 70 of the president's Democratic party joined the Republicans to vote it down.

The vote was held to highlight a constitutional debate between the White House and Congress over presidents engaging in wars without congressional approval. It is the first time since during the Bosnian conflict in 1999 that either the House or the Senate has voted against a military operation. The Democratic-controlled Senate is unlikely to mirror the House vote.

The House ignored pleas by the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, on Thursday against voting it down. Obama argues that he does not need congressional authorisation because the Libya mission is not a full-blown conflict.

House speaker John Boehner said: "I support the removal of the Libyan regime. I support the president's authority as commander-in-chief, but when the president chooses to challenge the powers of the Congress, I, as speaker of the House, will defend the constitutional authority of the legislature."

Republican congressman Tom Rooney, who sits on the armed services committee, said: "The last thing that we want as Americans is for some president, whether it's this president or some future president, to be able to pick fights around the world without any debate from another branch of government."

Rooney had sponsored a separate bill aiming to cut off funds to the Libya campaign, which would have barred drone attacks and air strikes but allowed the US to continue actions in intelligence gathering, refuelling and reconnaissance. The effort to cut off money was defeated by 238 votes to 180.

Republican leaders had backed the measure, but did not pressure other Republicans in the House to support it.

In a separate development, the Guardian has learned that Nato forces are confident they are successfully tracking Gaddafi as he moves from hideout to hideout in Tripoli.

The coalition is abiding by the UN mandate, which does not permit the military to target the Libyan leader directly, and commanders are hoping he will be removed by a revolt from within his circle of closest associates.

There is also a privately held wish in London that Gaddafi might be caught up in a legitimate bombing raid on a command and control cell as he flits from one safe haven to another. A senior British source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Gaddafi's movements were being monitored closely, and that the military had been able to track him "racing from one place to another" over recent weeks.

Nato has an array of surveillance equipment at its disposal: as well as a Nimrod plane and drones, HMS Liverpool, which is stationed off the Libyan coast, has listening systems which should enable the military to keep watch on the Libyan leader and his entourage.

Source: The Guardian UK, 25 June 2011

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