Over a million Ukrainians displaced
The United Nations refugee agency states that over a million Ukrainians are in a situation of displacement do to conflicts and warn of “devastating consequences” if the fighting does not cease. The last three weeks a displacement of 260,000 refugees is only a low estimate, nearly double the effect in that time frame. Approximately 814,000 are and may continue to migrate to Russia, with tens of thousands moving to varies European countries. Ukrainian authorities say that about 2.2 million still live in battle areas.
If the crisis is not quickly stopped, it will have not only devastating humanitarian consequences, but it also has the potential to destabilize the whole region. After the lessons of the Balkans, it is hard to believe a conflict of these proportions could unfold in the European continent.
To send investigative team
The UN votes to send a team to Iraq to investigate what it says are summary mass executions, forced conversions, abductions, slavery, sexual abuse, torture and the besieging of entire communities by ISIS. Deputy high commissioner for human rights Flavia Pansieri:
The reports we have received reveal acts of inhumanity on an unimaginable scale
The councils says ISIS has also banned women in Mosul from walking unaccompanied by a male guardian or risk being beaten, and using children as checkpoint sentries, informants and even suicide bombers. Of the 47-member Human Rights Council’s 47 members, only South Africa withholds support, saying the resolution is unbalanced.
Netanyahu: ‘Stop bashing Israel’
US Congressmen Rohrbacher and Meeks visit Israel and speaks with Netanyahu about recent events where UN peacekeepers had confrontations with militant Islamists. The Prime Minister made use of the opportunity to express that the United Nations focuses too much time on bashing Israel rather than focusing attention on radical Islam groups. Netanyahu:
What we see is that al-Nusra, Hamas, Hezbollah — backed by Iran, al-Qaeda and these other terrorists groups are basically defying all international norms, breaking them whether in Lebanon, in Syria or in Gaza. I think the UN would do itself a great favor if, instead of the automatic Israel bashing, they actually turn their attention and their investigative committees against these terrorists who trample every norm on which the UN was founded.
About Israel, Rohrbacher:
…the one force for stability and one force for a long-term peace for this region. The rest of the region is awash in tyranny and injustice and gangsterism and terrorism that’s coming from the top, from these people that are running the various organizations, radical Islamic organizations.
Irish troops free Filipino peacekeepers
Irish UN Disengagement Observer Forces troops free a group of Filipino peacekeepers trapped by Syrian rebels including the Al Qaeda-affiliated Al Nusra front at two security posts in the Golan Heights. The Irish troops and Filipino troops both return fire when shot at by rebels during the rescue mission, in which most of the trapped Filipinos are extracted.
#Golan: There are no reported casualties amongst #UN personnel http://t.co/IvUQe2FGZC #UNDOF
— UN Peacekeeping (@UNPeacekeeping) August 30, 2014
Whereabouts of Fijians unknown
A senior Fiji military official confirms that the whereabouts of 44 kidnapped Fijian UN Disengagement Observation Force peacekeepers remains unknown, although the UN has received assurances they are in good health. Brigadier Mosese Tikoitoga to reporters in Suva after speaking to the UN team negotiating for their release:
Their whereabouts at this stage, unfortunately, I cannot confirm. They confirmed that our men are safe and they are all well. (But) they have been moved to a location out of the bombardment range of any security forces or the Syrian security forces. It is out of the UN territory. But again it’s the word of the group. We’ve got no verification whatsoever, no communication but we’re only relaying the message that was delivered to us by the negotiators.
UN: Fijian peacekeepers ‘safe’
The UN says the 44 Fijian peacekeepers captured by Syrian rebels are safe and that it has been informed they were abducted by the rebels including fighters from Al Qaeda affiliate the al-Nusra Front for security reasons. A statement:
The United Nations has received assurances from credible sources that the 44 peacekeepers from the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) who were taken from their position on the morning of Thursday, 28 August, are safe and in good health
It says it has not had direct contact with the troops.
UNDOF has been informed that the intention behind those holding the peacekeepers was to remove them from an active battlefield to a safe area for their own protection
Philippine troops attacked
Philippine peacekeeping troops trapped in the Golan Heights are attacked by rebels. Philippine Defence Minister Voltaire Gazmin says the attacks started early Saturday on 40 peacekeepers at a UN post in the area. He doesn’t give details of casualties. The attackers are thought to include fighters from the al-Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria.
Report: 20 years to rebuild
A housing assessment by Shelter Cluster, chaired by the Norwegian Refugee Council with the participation of the U.N. refugee agency and the Red Cross, says Gaza will take 20 years to rebuild. Most rebuilding is due to the housing deficit of 75,000 units. Cost estimates for the restructuring are more than $6 billion. The housing assessment derives from the present level of goods transferable from Israel to Gaza. The present blockade hinders rebuilding efforts, as construction materials have restrictions to limit tunnel production. The 20 year timeframe takes into consideration 100 truckloads of building materials on a daily basis. Currently there is no mention of plans to ease blockade restrictions.
More than 3 million refugees
The UNHCR reports that more than three million Syrians are now registered as refugees. It says that with almost half of all Syrians displaced from their homes, the war is…
… the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era.
One in every eight Syrians has fled across the border into Lebanon, and a further 6.5 million are displaced within Syria. More than half of those displaced are children. The number of registered Syrian refugees has increased from two million just under a year ago.
Fijian peacekeepers talks underway
Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe (Frank) Bainarama says talks are underway to free the 43 Fijian UN Disengagement Observer Force peacekeeping troops captured by rebels in the Golan Heights:
I want to assure the families of the soldiers we are doing everything possible to secure their safe return. The latest information we have is that they are safe and I can say now that the negotiations for their release have already begun.
Bainimarama says Fiji is ‘united as a nation in praying for their safe return.’
Filippino peacekeepers surrounded
Syrian rebels surround 75 peacekeepers from the Philippines at two UN posts in the Golan Heights. Their commander in Manila, Col. Robert Ancan:
We can use deadly force in defence of the UN facilities. I [would] just like to emphasise our troops are well-armed, they are well-trained … they are well-disciplined warrior peacekeepers.
The rebels include fighters from Syrian Al Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front. Ancan says they have used an English-speaking Fijian, one of a group of peacekeepers from Fiji captured earlier in the week, to relay demands to the Filippinos to lay down their weapons.
Fijian peacekeepers captured
Syrian rebels including fighters from the al-Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s local affiliate, capture 43 Fijian peacekeeping troops from the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in the Golan Heights. A UN statement demands the ‘unconditional and immediate release of all the detained peacekeepers.’
Peacekeepers detained in Syria
The United Nations confirms that 43 international peacekeepers are being detained in the Syrian Golan Heights, as fighting intensifies near Quneitra.
In addition, another eighty-one UNDOF peacekeepers are currently being restricted to their positions in the vicinity of Ar Ruwayhinah and Burayqah … The United Nations is making every effort to secure the release of the detained peacekeepers, and to restore the full freedom of movement of the Force throughout its area of operation.
War crimes
United Nations investigators say that both Damascus and ISIS have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity:
Violence has bled over the borders of the Syrian Arab republic, with extremism fuelling the conflict’s heightened brutality.
A 45-page report released in Geneva says that the government has dropped barrel bombs on civilian areas, including some believed to contain chlorine, while deaths in custody are rising and analysis of photographs taken in government detention centres reinforces ‘longstanding findings of systematic torture and deaths of detainees,’ including fighting-age men allegedly arrested during forced truces. It says ISIS has used amputations, public execution-style killings and whippings to instill terror in areas under its control, as well as ‘acts tantamount to enforced disappearance and forced displacement as part of attacks on the civilian population in Aleppo and Raqqa provinces.’
Airlines suspend flights
Airlines suspend flights through the three nation crisis zone. Air France temporarily suspends services to Sierra Leone, leaving its capital Freetown and Monrovia in neighbouring Liberia with just one regular service, from Royal Air Morocco. Air France:
In light of the analysis of the situation and as requested by the French government, Air France confirms it is maintaining its program of flights to and from Guinea and Nigeria.
Not all authorities agree with more severe isolation. Nabarro:
By isolating the country, it makes it difficult for the UN to do its work.
WHO expresses their concern in regards to aggressive isolation. Fukuda:
Pilots and others, as well as passengers, generally have very low risk of Ebola infection.
‘Massacred 700 Turkmen’
The UN says ISIS has massacred about 700 Shiite Turkmen. The victims include ‘women, children and old people,’ UNICEF Iraq chief Marzio Babille says. The killings are reported to have been carried out in the northern Iraqi village of Beshir between July 11 and 12.
‘Fears of imminent massacre’
There are fears a massacre is imminent of around 13,000 Shiite Turkmen in the northern town of Amerli held under siege by ISIS since June 15, the UN says. The population includes 10,000 women and children who are living in horrendous conditions with severe food and water shortages and no medical services. UN Human Rights High Commissioner Navi Pillay:
The Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan region of Iraq, and the international community must take all necessary measures and spare no effort to protect members of ethnic and religious communities, who are particularly vulnerable, and to secure their return to their places of origin in safety and dignity.
Executes 670 Shiite prisoners
The UN says ISIS has executed as many as 670 Shiite inmates of Mosul’s Badush prison. The group abducts between 1,000 and 1,500 prisoners from the jail and drove them to an uninhabited area before separating Sunnis from the group. It forces the remaining Shiite prisoners to kneel and verbally abuses them before executing them. High commissioner for human rights Navi Pillay:
Such cold-blooded, systematic and intentional killings of civilians, after singling them out for their religious affiliation, may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity
Supplies arrive for displaced citiczens
A Boeing 747 carrying 100 tons of aid to help those forced to flee their homes due to ISIS attacks has landed in Irbil. Other deliveries by land and sea are expected over the next 10 days carrying supplies from Turkey, Jordan and Iran. The UNHCR plans to bring 2,410 pounds of aid into the region between now and the start of September. UN High Commissioner Antonio Guterres:
This is a massive logistics operation to bring relief supplies by air, land and sea to help the hundreds of thousands of desperate people who have fled suddenly with nothing but their lives, and are now struggling to survive in harsh conditions. It’s the largest single aid push we have mounted in more than a decade.
UN blacklist
The United Nations Security Council places six members of ISIS and the al-Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s Syrian wing, on a blacklist in a move intended to weaken the groups. The council unanimously votes to adopt the resolution. (Full details here.) Mark Lyall Grant, UK ambassador to the UN:
We have watched in horror their brutal actions. They are deliberately targeting civilians.