nation0428

THE NATION TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2015 59
FOREIGN NEWS
Nepal quake: International
aid effort stepped up
•Death toll climbs to almost 4000
THE international aid effort for
Nepal is gathering pace, with
Saturday’s huge earthquake now
known to have killed at least 3,900
people and injured 7,000.
China, India, Pakistan and Britain
are among the countries contributing
to the effort, alongside major aid agencies.
Nepal has asked for more help, saying
it needs everything from helicopters
and blankets to paramedics and
drivers.
At least 200 climbers have now been
rescued around Mount Everest, after
the quake triggered avalanches.
Vast tent cities have sprung up in
Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, for those
displaced or afraid to return to their
homes. Across the country, thousands
spent Sunday night - their second
night - outside.
Much of the effort is now turning
to recovery of bodies in and around
Kathmandu Cremations are taking
place near a river in Kathmandu
The Nepalese government’s Chief
Secretary, Lila Mani Poudyal, said his
country was short of relief materials
and medical teams.
He said there was a desperate need
for “tents, dry goods, blankets, mattresses
and 80 different medicines”.
“We don’t have the helicopters that
we need or the expertise to rescue the
•Museveni
Museveni: Train
Ugandan youths to
tackle al-Shabab
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni
has ordered security agencies to
re-introduce military training
for Ugandan civilians to counter the
threat from al-Shabab., Mr Museveni
said that although al-Shabab was “defeated”,
Ugandans need to guard
against attacks.
Uganda has more than 6,000 troops
in Somalia as part of an African Union
force battling the Islamist militants.
In 2010, al-Shabab bomb attacks in
Kampala killed at least 76 people.
In the 1980s and 990s, Ugandan
school leavers used to perform two
years of national service before attending
university.
President Museveni said he had already
given instructions to the relevant
security agencies to launch the
programme, focusing initially on the
most vulnerable areas in the country.
He did not give many details about
the scheme, but Ugandan army
spokesman Lt Col Paddy Ankunda
said that there were no plans to arm
the civilian population
FRANCE and Australia have condemned
the death penalty as executions
for three of their na-
tionals loom in Indonesia.
Earlier, Australia called on Indonesia
to delay executing two convicted
Australian drug traffickers until corruption
claims were investigated.
Andrew Chan and Myuran
Sukumaran were convicted in 2006.
The two, along six other foreigners
and an Indonesian, have been formally
told of their execution. A French
trafficker is appealing against his conviction.
Under Indonesian law, convicts
must be given 72 hours’ notice of execution.
This means the executions by
the firing squad could be carried out
SUDAN’S President Omar al-
Bashir has been re-elected with
94% of the vote, according to official
results.
The country’s main opposition parties
boycotted the elections, saying
they would not be free and fair.
Turnout was officially 46% but BBC
Sudan analyst James Copnall says
many believe the real figure was even
lower.
Mr Bashir, who has been in power
since 1989, denies International Criminal
Court (ICC) charges of ordering a
•An injured person is loaded onto a rescue helicopter at Everest base camp at the aftermath of the Nepal quake.
More than 18 climbers were killed at the camp base. PHOTO: Getty
League, and Russia, says our correspondent.
The ICC arrest warrant for Mr
Bashir relates to the Darfur conflict,
which began in 2003, and in which the
UN estimates 300,000 people died and
more than two million displaced.
The African Union (AU) has rejected
the ICC’s attempts to have him arrested,
arguing that Mr Bashir enjoys
presidential immunity and therefore
cannot be tried while in office.
In December 2014, the ICC dropped
its investigation into the crimes, blam-
JAPAN and the United States unveiled
new guidelines for defence
cooperation yesterday, reflecting
Japan’s willingness to take on a
more robust international role at a time
of growing Chinese power and rising
concerns about nuclear-armed North
Korea.
The first revision to the guidelines
since 1997 allows for global cooperation
militarily, ranging from defence
against ballistic missile, cyber and
space attacks and maritime security,
following a Japanese Cabinet resolution
last year reinterpreting Japan’s
pacifist constitution to allow the exercise
of the right to “collective self-defence.”
The guidelines reflect a changing
world and mean Japan could shoot
down missiles heading toward the
United States and come to the aid of
third countries under attack.
as early as Tuesday.
“France and Australia share the
same attachment to human rights and
condemn the death penalty in all
places and all circumstances,” the
French presidency said in a statement
after a meeting between French President
Francois Hollande and Australian
Prime Minister Tony Abbott in
Paris.
French convict Serge Atlaoui still
has an appeal before the courts. France
has warned of “consequences” if the
execution goes ahead.
Meanwhile, Philippine President
Benigno Aquino appealed to Indonesian
President Joko Widodo for “humanitarian
consideration” in connection
with the case of a Filipina
people trapped.”
The need for doctors would rise as
more survivors were pulled from the
rubble, he added.
Dozens of people are also reported
to have been killed by the earthquake
in neighbouring China and India.
Both countries have sent emergency
teams to Nepal, along with Pakistan,
which said it was dispatching four
C130 transport planes carrying a 30-
bed hospital. Other countries, including
Britain, Australia and New
Zealand are also contributing.
However, congestion at
Kathmandu’s airport has caused delays,
with Indian TV reporting that
an Indian relief flight was forced to
turn back.
United Nations World Food
Programme spokeswoman Elisabeth
Byrs told AFP that the agency planned
“a large, massive operation”.
Water is becoming scarce and there
are fears that children in particular
could be at risk of disease. Even residents
of some of the city’s smarter
neighbourhoods are sleeping on carpets
and mattresses outside their
homes.
Aid flights are coming in rapidly
and in fact Kathmandu airport is running
out of parking bays, so many
aircraft have to wait before getting
permission to land.
Officials have warned that the number
of casualties could rise as rescue
teams reach remote mountainous areas
of western Nepal.
Rescuers have been able to take injured
people off Mount Everest
On Mount Everest, clear weather
yesterday allowed helicopters to rescue
foreign climbers and their
Nepalese guides who had been
stranded by a huge avalanche.
At least 18 people have been killed
by avalanches on the mountain.
U.S., Japan unveil new defence pact
Indonesia condemned over death penalty
Sudan’s Bashir wins by a landslide
genocide in the Darfur conflict.
Pro-government militias were accused
of ethnic cleansing during the
Darfur conflict
Western countries, including the US,
Britain and Norway, criticised the polls
for not being free and fair.
The African Union monitors said
that basic freedoms and human rights
would have “enhanced” the polls.
Most Western countries will not accept
the elections as meaningful, but
71-year-old President Bashir can count
on support from the likes of the Arab
A centrepiece of Japanese Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe’s U.S. visit this
week, the guidelines are part of Abe’s
wider signal that Japan is ready to take
more responsibility for its security as
China modernizes its military and
flexes its muscles in Asia.
In return, the conservative Japanese
leader, who is scheduled to meet U.S.
President Barack Obama today, has
been seeking fresh assurances that
America comes to Japan’s aid if necessary
in a clash with China.
A joint statement issued after the
meeting “reconfirmed the alliance’s
commitment to the security of Japan,”
as well as Japan’s sovereignty over islets
in the East China Sea known as the
Senkakus in Japan and the Diaoyus in
China, the subject of a bitter territorial
dispute.
The surge in China’s military spending
since 1997, when the last U.S.-Japan
defence cooperation guidelines
were issued, and its more assertive
stance in maritime and territorial disputes
has uneased both Japan and U.S.
allies in Southeast Asia.
Announced after a meeting of the
U.S. and Japanese foreign and defence
ministers in New York, the guidelines
eliminate geographic restrictions that
had largely limited joint work to the
defence of Japan and the surrounding
area, a senior U.S. official said.
The changes would allow greater
coordination and information sharing,
for example, in missile defence,
and allow Japan to shoot down any
missiles heading for U.S. territory or
to defend U.S. ships engaged in missile-defence
in the vicinity of Japan,
he said.
They would also allow increased cooperation
in cyber security and defence
of assets in space, the U.S. official said.
woman, Mary Jane Veloso, who is
also on death row for drug-trafficking
offences.
Mr Widodo’s spokesman said he
was “sympathetic” and was consulting
the attorney general on legal issues.
Australia made last-minute pleas
on behalf of the two Australian men
to delay their execution until a corruption
investigation into their case
was complete.
But on Monday evening,
Indonesia’s attorney general confirmed
that the nine death row convicts
would be executed as planned,
without giving an indication of when
the executions would be likely to take
place.
•Bashir
ing inaction by the UN Security Council.
President Jonathan
commiserates
with Nepal
quake victims
ON behalf of the government
and people of Nigeria, President
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
extends sincere condolences to the government
and people of Nepal over the
loss of thousands of lives in the devastating
earthquake that has occurred in
the country.
President Jonathan notes that the
tragedy has caused deep sorrow, not
just for the Nepalese but all humanity.
The President assures the government
and people of Nepal of the deepest
sympathy and solidarity of the
people of Nigeria as they mourn those
who lost their lives to the earthquake
and begin the onerous task of rehabilitating
survivors and rebuilding
affected parts of their country.
President Jonathan also assures the
Nepalese government of Nigeria's
preparedness to join other sympathetic
nations in assisting the people
of Nepal to overcome the damage and
destruction caused by the earthquake.
Pope calls for aid
for quake victims
POPE Francis has led prayers in
St. Peter’s Square for the dead
and displaced from the massive
earthquake in Nepal and surrounding
areas.
Francis called for assistance for the
survivors during his weekly Sunday
blessing. He said he was praying for
the victims, the injured and “all those
who are suffering from this calamity,”
and asked that they have the “support
and fraternal solidarity” they need.
On Saturday, the Vatican secretary
of state sent a formal telegram of condolences
seeking to encourage rescue
crews and comfort the survivors.
Saturday’s magnitude 7.8 earthquake
left at least 1,900 people dead, spreading
horror from Kathmandu to small
villages and to the slopes of Mount
Everest, triggering an avalanche that
buried part of the base camp packed
with foreign climbers.
Togo president
ahead in polls
TOGO’S incumbent President
Faure Gnassingbe appeared set
for a third term after a
weekend election, with partial results
issued on Monday giving him a
strong lead.
The Independent National Electoral
Commission (CENI) said Gnassingbe
had won 62 percent of the vote, far
ahead of his nearest rival Jean-Pierre
Fabre, who took 32 percent with about
12 percent of ballots counted.
Up to around 55 percent of the
country’s 3.5 million voters turned out
on Saturday, according to the CENI,
which has five days to announce the
final outcome.
Turnout was significantly lower
than in 2010, when nearly two thirds
of registered voters took part.
Experts had said the narrow chance
of a loss for Gnassingbe would depend
on a massive voter turnout, but civil
society groups said participation rates
were “very weak”.
results came from 934 of a total of
8,994 polling stations in six regions of
the country, a long strip of land that
lies between Ghana and Benin, the
commission said.
Gnassingbe has been in power since
the death of his father, Gnassingbe
Eyadema, in 2005, winning contested
elections that year and five years later.
His father came to power in 1967,
and ruled the country with an iron
fist. When he died in February 2005,
the army put his son in power,
causing an outcry. Faure Gnassingbe
resigned and then won a hastily
organised election.
Analysts say divisions within the
opposition five-party coalition
Combat for Political Change (CAP
2015) combined with the benefits of
incumbency made Fabre’s prospects
of victory very dim.