The Dutch government will pay 5,000 euros each to the nation’s soldiers who were part of a UN peacekeeping mission that failed to prevent the Srebrenica genocide in 1995 in Bosnia and Herzegovina in appreciation of their service in horrific circumstances. 

More than 8,300 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed after Bosnian Serb forces attacked the UN "safe area" of Srebrenica in July 1995, despite the presence of Dutch troops tasked with acting as international peacekeepers.

In a statement, Dutch Defense Minister Ank Bijleveld-Schouten said the recommendations of a report by a commission on the Dutch soldiers serving in the UN in Srebrenica will be implemented.

Bijleveld said the soldiers will receive a one-off payment of €5,000 as a "gesture and token of appreciation" for their service, and special flights will be organized for them to visit Srebrenica.

Professional assistance will also be offered to soldiers who still have psychological problems.

Around 850 troops were stationed in Srebrenica when it was overrun by heavily armed Bosnian Serb forces led by General Ratko Mladic.

Srebrenica was besieged by Serb forces who were trying to wrest territory from Bosnian Muslims and Croats to form their own state.

The UN Security Council had declared Srebrenica a "safe area" in the spring of 1993. However, Serb troops led by Mladic overran the UN zone.

Mladic was later found guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

The Dutch troops failed to act as Serb forces occupied the area, killing around 2,000 men and boys on July 11 alone.

Some 15,000 residents of Srebrenica fled to the surrounding mountains, but Serb troops hunted down and killed 6,000 of them in the forests./aa

YANGON, Myanmar

Myanmar began releasing tens of thousands of inmates Friday after an amnesty was announced, the first such release under the new military junta. 

The National Administrative Council (NAC), chaired by the coup leader and country’s military chief Sen. Gen Min Aung Hlaing, announced that the amnesty of 23,314 prisoners was extended on humanitarian grounds as a gesture to celebrate the country’s 71st Union Day.

Those released include 55 foreigners. It was unclear, however, how many political prisoners would be released under the amnesty.

It added that life imprisonment will be reduced to 40-year jail terms, jail terms above 40 years will be reduced to 40 years and 40-year jail terms and shorter sentences will be cut by a quarter.

It was the first amnesty by the military junta that overthrew the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi in a bloodless coup on Feb.1.

The NAC however arrested hundreds of government officials, dissidents and public servants who went on a nonviolent anti-coup strike since the takeover.

Hundreds of residents of Yangon’s North Okkalapa township gathered near the police station late Thursday, demanding the release of a poet actively involved in the anti-coup protest who was dragged away by police./aa

Coronavirus variants first found in the UK and South Africa have been detected in Washington D.C., the district’s health director LaQuandra Nesbitt said Thursday. 

The UK variant, known as B.1.1.7, was found in three people and the South Africa variant, B.1.351, in one person, she said during a news conference.

"Every positive test is not sequenced to be detected for variants only a sampling of cases are sequenced for variants," said Nesbitt. "Not every one of those positive cases is sequenced either by the DC Public Health lab or sent to the CDC for sequencing."

"They are sampling a number of cases and so we've had some of the cases that have been sampled for sequencing come back as positive for this variant," she said.

She was notified of the new strains by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) late Wednesday.

At least 35 US states have confirmed the more transmissible variants, according to the CDC.

There are at least 930 cases of the UK variant and nine of the South African variant./aa

Deaths from COVID-19 in Africa have surged by 40% in the last month, pushing the continent’s death toll close to 100,000 since the first case reported on Feb. 14, 2020, according to the World Health Organization.

Africa is battling new and more contagious variants and gearing up for its largest-ever vaccination drive, the WHO Africa office said on Thursday.

The UN health agency said 22,300 deaths were reported in Africa in the last 28 days, compared with nearly 16,000 deaths in the previous 28 days.

“The increasing deaths from COVID-19 we are seeing are tragic. Health workers and health systems in Africa are also dangerously overstretched.

This grim milestone must refocus everyone on stamping out the virus,” said WHO Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti.

She also urged people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. “My message is, go out and get vaccinated when a vaccine becomes available in your country,” Moeti said.

“The pandemic is far from over, and vaccines are just one crucial tool in our fight against the virus. We must boost investments and support for our health workers and health systems by sticking to mask-wearing, regular hand cleaning, and safe social distancing,” Moeti added.

According to WHO, over 3.7 million confirmed COVID-19 cases on the African continent, with more than 3.2 million recoveries and 96,000 deaths./aa

Turkey rescued seven asylum seekers pushed back by the Greek authorities into Turkish territorial waters in the Aegean Sea, a security source said Thursday.

The asylum seekers were rescued by the Turkish Coast Guard off the coast of Bodrum district in Turkey’s southwestern Mugla province.

Turkey has repeatedly condemned Greece’s illegal practice of pushing back asylum seekers, saying it violates humanitarian values and international law by endangering the lives of vulnerable migrants, including women and children.

Meanwhile, another 23 irregular migrants were held by Turkish security forces in Tatvan district of the eastern Bitlis province, said the provincial governorate.

In a statement, the governorate said the fight against migrant smuggling and human trafficking will continue.

After routine checks, the migrants were taken to the provincial migration authority.

Turkey has been a key transit point for asylum seekers aiming to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution.
/aa

The Turkish Red Crescent laid the foundation for a water well in Senegal’s second-largest city of Touba on Wednesday. 

Abdullah Kaya, the head of the Turkish Red Crescent delegation, told Anadolu Agency that the well, located in Buburel village, will be completed in three weeks.

Noting that the population of the village, where around 200 people live, has sharply increased over time, Kaya said there is a serious water shortage in the surrounding villages due to the dense population.

Around 2,000 families will have access to clean water with the well, he said, adding that around 1,000 masks were also distributed to support the fight against the novel coronavirus.

Established in 1868, the Turkish Red Crescent explains its mission as “providing aid for needy and defenseless people in disasters and usual periods as a proactive organization, developing cooperation in the society, providing safe blood and decreasing vulnerability,” according to its website./aa

The stabbing death of Ursula Bahillo, 19, in the Buenos Aires province of Rojas has sent shockwaves across the country.

Bahillo previously filed 18 complaints of gender violence against her ex-partner and policeman Matías Ezequiel Martínez, 25. She filed a complaint two days before her murder.

Martínez was made aware of the new case against him at the prosecutors’ offices, hours before he killed Bahillo.

According to reports, Martínez also received a restraining order.

In the days before her murder, Bahillo’s mother raised a complaint against Martínez for attacking her daughter, suspecting that he also threatened her.

In an audio recording sent to a friend and later released, Bahillo said she could not deal with the situation. “

I swear I’m very sad. He told me he’s going to kill me, I can’t take it anymore,” she said.

Martínez was arrested near the scene of the murder.

Residents gathered Tuesday to protest outside a police station in Rojas to demand justice, with some alleging a police cover-up.

Objects were thrown at the station and police responded by firing rubber bullets, injuring one woman.

Nevertheless, for many in Argentina, the events appeared to follow a similar pattern for women who dare to speak about or report their abusers and are ultimately left exposed, unprotected and in a vulnerable position.

Minister of Women, Genders and Diversity, Elizabeth Gomez Alcorta said after the murder that women’s lives are not valued equally.

They have "judicial Power without a gender perspective,” she said. “There is no doubt that for justice administrations and for the security forces, when a woman denounces an act of violence it is a minor issue. What is at stake is the lives of women, but it seems that, despite all that we have advanced, women's lives are not worth the same as other lives."

She also cited the lack of “judicial intervention,” adding, "We are facing a case where a young woman makes 18 complaints against a person, who also had complaints in relation to other ex-partners, and that person was without any measure of restrictive freedom.”

Alcorta described on Twitter each femicide as an “irreparable pain” and continued to demand “no more impunity” in her call for greater justice against femicide.

Argentina’s youngest legislator, Ofelia Fernandez took to Twitter to speak out against the 18 complaints which were neglected and to criticize the behavior of police while demanding justice.

"Today we lost Ursula to Matias Martínez and his accomplices, but it is not the first time we have heard this story,” said Fernandez.

Argentine actress Natalie Perez decried the situation on Instagram, pointing out that the tragic events caused her profound “anguish.” She said, “this cannot happen anymore.”

Ni Una Menos, or Not One Less, a social movement across Latin America, has been mobilizing on the streets since 2015. It seeks to advance women’s rights and denounces impunity against women. Perez referenced the movement, saying, “not one less…Not one!”

According to data from the Observatory of Femicides in Argentina, between March 20 and Dec. 31, 2020, a total of 219 women were killed.

During the coronavirus lockdown, the number of women killed in Argentina reach a decade high.

Figures suggest one in seven had already filed a complaint and that 59% of women had been attacked by their partners or ex-partners, with 60% in their own homes.

Reportedly, there is one femicide every 30 hours in Argentina in the last 10 years./aa