الكاتب: kafej

The president of the United States and two of his cabinet members are being sued for failing to prevent and aiding and abetting “genocide” in Gaza.

A federal complaint (PDF), filed on Monday against President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, accuses them of “failure to prevent and complicity in the Israeli government’s unfolding genocide”.

New York civil liberties group the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed the suit on behalf of Palestinian human rights organisations, Palestinians in Gaza and US citizens with relatives in the besieged enclave that has faced more than a month of relentless bombardment by Israel, which receives funding and weapons from the US government.

More than 11,200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched attacks on October 7. This followed a Hamas attack in Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed.

“Numerous Israeli government leaders have expressed clear genocidal intentions and deployed dehumanizing characterizations of Palestinians, including ‘human animals’,” the CCR wrote in the introduction to its complaint.

It said those “statements of intent”, when combined with the “mass killing” of Palestinians, reveal “evidence of an unfolding crime of genocide”.

Numerous legal scholars, rights groups and humanitarians have also called Israel’s actions in Gaza genocide.

‘I paid for Israel to kill my cousins’

“Immediately after the launch of Israel’s unprecedented bombing campaign on Gaza, President Biden offered ‘unwavering’ support for Israel, which he and administration officials have consistently repeated and backed up with military, financial, and political support, even as mass civilian casualties escalated alongside Israeli genocidal rhetoric,” the CCR said.

The complaint noted that the US is Israel’s closest ally and strongest supporter, as well as its biggest provider of military assistance – with Israel being the largest cumulative recipient of US foreign assistance since World War II. Because of this, it said, the US could have a “deterrent effect on Israeli officials now pursuing genocidal acts against the Palestinian people”.

Instead, the group said, Biden, Blinken, and Austin “have helped advance the gravest of crimes” by continuing to provide Israel with unconditional military and diplomatic support while undermining efforts by the international community to stop Israel’s bombardment.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Astha Sharma Pokharel, a lawyer at the CCR, said: “They have a significant responsibility under customary international law, under federal law, to prevent this genocide, to stop supporting this genocide. At every step of the way, at every opportunity, they have failed. They have continued to provide cover to Israel; they have continued to provide material support to Israel; and currently, they intend to send more money and more weapons to Israel.”

Laila al-Haddad, a US citizen and one of the plaintiffs in the case, has lost five relatives in Gaza since Israel launched its attacks.

“I paid for Israel to kill my cousins and my aunt, there’s no two ways around it,” she told Al Jazeera. “It was my tax dollars that did that, that sent those bombs to Israel to kill my family. And so I feel I and all other American taxpayers have a very unique responsibility to hold our government and our elected officials responsible.”

The lawsuit also calls for an end to the $3.8bn in annual military support the US sends to Israel.

The White House has not yet responded to Al Jazeera’s requests for comment on the case.

Incumbent president and former footballer, George Weah, is facing off against political veteran Joseph Boakai.

Liberians are heading to the polls to vote in a tight run-off that will decide the next president after two leading candidates finished the initial round of voting in a dead heat.

Polls opened at 08:00 GMT for the country’s fourth post-war presidential election, the first one without the presence of the United Nations mission which previously provided support to the country’s electoral commission.

President George Weah, a former footballer, is seeking a second term in office. He is facing off against former Vice President Joseph Boakai, an elder statesman who is critical of Weah’s rule.

The two candidates took 43.83 percent and 43.44 percent of the vote in the first poll, respectively — a difference of just 7,126 votes — building anticipation for a closely contested run-off on Tuesday.

Controversial first term

Weah, who is more popular with the youth, has asked for more time to come through on his promises to crack down on corruption and improve livelihoods in one of the world’s poorest countries. Liberia is still struggling from the aftermath of two civil wars between 1989 and 2003, and the 2013-16 Ebola epidemic that killed thousands of people.

Weah says he has supported education, built roads and hospitals, and brought electricity into homes.

However, his detractors, including rival Bokai, point to a poor record on corruption, high youth unemployment, and general economic hardship.

“There is a mismatch between words and action,” said Ibrahim Al-bakri Nyei, director of Monrovia-basedDucor Institute for Social and Economic Research.

Boakai, who served as vice president from 2006 to 2018, has significant public and private experience, but at 78 years old, his age is considered a handicap.

Weah and Boakai have received endorsements from candidates who lost in the first round.

A decisive factor could be how the 6 percent of voters whose ballots were invalidated in the first round decide in the second round.

Turnout could also be key, said Lawrence Yealue, who runs the civil society group Accountability Lab Liberia.

He expects a lower turnout than the record 79 percent on October 10, when the presidential vote was coupled with parliamentary elections.

Although generally peaceful, several clashes between vying factions took place in the lead-up to the elections. Any alleged irregularities in the final poll could lead to more unrest.

Liberia’s economy grew 4.8 percent in 2022, driven by gold production and a relatively good harvest, but more than 80 percent of the population still faces moderate or severe food insecurity, the World Bank said in July.

A huge operation is under way to rescue 40 construction workers trapped inside a collapsed Himalayan road tunnel.

The three-mile tunnel was being built in the north Indian state of Uttarakhand when it caved in at around 5.30am on Sunday due to a landslide.

Rescuers have been working around the clock for two days to remove debris and carve out a path to reach those trapped.

A 2ft 6in wide (0.76m) steel pipe will be pushed through an opening of excavated debris with the aid of hydraulic jacks to safely pull out the stranded workers, authorities said.

Falling debris has been hindering the operation but they expect to free the workers by Tuesday night or Wednesday.

“We have been supplying food, water and oxygen to the trapped labourers and the officials are in continuous touch with all of them,” Devendra Singh Patwal, a disaster management official, said.

A team of geologists from the state government and educational institutions had arrived to determine the cause of the accident, he added.

There were around 50 to 60 workers inside the tunnel and around 10 to 20 got out after their shift ended as they were closer to the exit, while the rest were trapped after the collapse, the Indian Express newspaper reported.

“Initially, we thought it might be a minor collapse and began removing the debris however we could,” Rajeev Das, a worker who made it out safely, told the paper.

“But soon, we realised it was a challenging search and rescue (mission).”

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The construction of the tunnel is part of a flagship federal government project connecting various Hindu pilgrimage sites.

The region, which is dotted with Hindu temples and sees a huge flow of pilgrims and tourists every year, is prone to landslides, earthquakes and floods.

It has expanded over the years with the massive construction of buildings and roads.

The tunnel collapse follows land subsidence events in the state that geologists, residents and officials have blamed on rapid construction in the mountains.

Offensive launched by anti-coup forces two weeks ago puts military under pressure and is now spreading across the country.

Ethnic armed groups fighting to restore civilian rule in Myanmar have claimed new territory in the country’s northwest near the border with India, amid an escalating offensive against the military regime.

Fighters in Chin state reportedly took control of two military outposts on the border of India’s Mizoram state after hours-long battles on Monday, according to local media outlets.

The advance follows successes in neighbouring Rakhine state and northern Shan state in a coordinated offensive launched two weeks ago by anti-coup forces.

Myanmar was plunged into crisis when Senior General Min Aung Hlaing seized power in a coup in 2021, leading to mass protests that evolved into armed resistance when the military used force to crack down on its civilian opponents.

About 80 fighters mounted attacks on Rihkhawdar and Khawmawi military camps in Chin state in the early hours of Monday, eventually taking control of both outposts after several hours of fighting, Chin National Front (CNF) Vice Chairman Sui Khar told the Reuters news agency.

The CNF will now look to consolidate its control along the India-Myanmar border, where the Myanmar military has two more camps, he said.

“We’ll move forward,” Sui Khar said. “Our tactic is from the village to the town to the capital.”

Martial law

The generals, who have acknowledged the scale of the challenge posed to their regime, have expanded martial law to more parts of the country amid the intensified conflict.

Social media posts said a nighttime curfew had been imposed in Sittwe, Rakhine’s capital, with some reports of tanks on the streets.

“We saw tanks going around the town. Many shops are closed today,” a resident told Reuters, declining to be named for security reasons.

Fighting was taking place across Rakhine, according to two residents and a spokesperson for the Arakan Army (AA), a group fighting for greater autonomy that has seized military posts in Rathedaung and Minbya towns.

A Rathedaung resident told Reuters on Tuesday the area came under artillery fire overnight and that the military had entered the town.

“Artillery fell on a street in Rathedaung town last night. No immediate report of injured or casualties yet,” said the resident, who asked not to be identified.

“People have started fleeing the town. Soldiers are in the town now.”

Despite its brutal history of communal violence and the 2017 military crackdown on the mostly Muslim Rohingya, Rakhine emerged as one of the more peaceful parts of the country after the coup, thanks to an informal ceasefire between the AA and the military agreed just a few months before.

The arrangement began to break down by November 2021, as the AA entrenched its political control over the state.

The AA was established in 2009 to push for self-determination within Myanmar and mostly represents ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, who make up the majority of the state’s population.

Many of the country’s other ethnic armed groups have been fighting the military for decades.

Robert Jenrick has vowed the government will do “whatever it takes” to implement its Rwanda deportation plan – following Suella Braverman’s sacking as home secretary.

The immigration minister – who kept his job in Monday’s dramatic reshuffle – said the government’s plan “must” go through, “no ifs, no buts”.

However, the policy faces a make-or-break decision on Wednesday when the Supreme Court will rule on whether the plans are lawful.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph during a visit to Bulgaria, just hours after Ms Braverman’s sacking, he said: “Be assured that as a prudent government, we have been thinking through what further steps we could take.

“I worked closely with the former home secretary on various options. But at the heart of this is the deep conviction that you have to inject deterrence into the system.

“We must ensure the Rwanda policy succeeds before the next general election. No ifs, no buts, we will do whatever it takes to ensure that happens.”

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Mr Jenrick did, however, concede that the government would struggle to achieve its goal of stopping small boat crossings in the English Channel if their plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda were deemed unlawful.

Asked whether the boats could be stopped without the Rwanda policy, Mr Jenrick replied: “No.”

The deal – signed by Ms Braverman’s predecessor Priti Patel, but later championed by the now former home secretary – would see some asylum seekers sent to Rwanda to claim asylum there.

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Last month, the Home Office challenged a Court of Appeal ruling from June that the multimillion-pound deal was unlawful.

The Illegal Migration Act brought into law the government’s policy of sending some asylum seekers to Rwanda, but because of the legal wrangling, no deportation flights having taken place.

The first planned flight to Rwanda in June 2022 was grounded minutes before take-off following a ruling by a judge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

As a result, Mr Jenrick has not removed the possibility of the UK’s exit from the European Convention on Human Rights – a move which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has repeatedly refused to rule out.