Al-Qaeda Calls for Caliphate in China's Xinjiang

By Joshua Philipp, Epoch Times
October 26, 2014

A new recruiting magazine for al-Qaeda has a two-page spread that lists China’s abuses of Uyghurs in its far-west region of Xinjiang, which the Uyghurs call East Turkestan.

The magazine, “Resurgence,” was just launched by al-Qaeda’s propaganda branch, al-Sahab media organization. The inforgraphic appears in its first edition.

The infographic features “10 Facts” about Xinjiang. It says the region “remained independent of China for more than 1800 years” yet for the last 237 years it has been “under Chinese occupation at various intervals.”

It continues, noting that after the Chinese Communist Party took over the region in 1949, more than 4.5 million Muslims were killed by the Chinese regime. It claims the regime has burned close to 30,700 Muslim religious texts, turned 28,000 mosques into bars, turned 18,000 mudrassas into warehouses, and executed more than 120,000 Muslim scholars and imams.

The list of China’s crimes against the Uighurs could go on for some time, including its nuclear weapons tests close to populated areas and its often violent suppression of the Uyghur people.

The magazine stops short of calling for attacks on China, but does claim in a different section that Islamic uprisings will bring “bitter defeat for America, Iran, Russia, China and all those who have fought this war by proxy against Muslims.”

It also states that if the Sykes-Picot Agreement is abolished, people in Pakistan, Xinjiang, and other Muslim countries will be able to live under the Islamic Caliphate. The Sykes-Picot Agreement was passed in 1916 and divided the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire.

The magazine is the first English-language magazine from al-Qaeda central, according to The Diplomat. It appears to pull influence from “Inspire” which is a similar English-language magazine published by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Both magazines seem to share a similar goal, which is to recruit lone-wolf terrorists to launch their own attacks.

The articles focusing on China could be part of al-Qaeda’s attempts to regain some authority, as attention has shifted towards ISIL, also called ISIS or the Islamic State.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIL, called for revenge against several countries including China in July 2014, and his speech made the rounds in the news in early August, according to Foreign Policy.

Baghdadi allegedly said “Muslim rights are forcibly seized in China, India, Palestine.” Chinese media were also circulating a map with unconfirmed origins, which allegedly shows countries ISIL plans to conquer over the next five years. It includes Xinjiang.

As Foreign Policy notes, threats against China from terrorist groups “may constitute a welcome opening for Chinese authorities.” The Chinese regime may, it says, use the threats to help legitimize its suppression of Muslims in Xinjiang.

“In any case, Beijing is likely alarmed by IS’s criticism of its treatment of the Muslim Uyghurs and the group’s alleged plan to seize Xinjiang, no matter how far-fetched the idea might be,” states Foreign Policy. “But just how actively authorities will deal with any [ISIL] threat remains to be seen.”

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/1043863-al-qaeda-calls-for-caliphate-in-chinas-xinjiang/.

Violence marks Afghan president's first month

October 28, 2014

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Suicide bombers, roadside bombs and rocket attacks on the Afghan capital have intensified in the one month since President Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai took office as the Taliban are sending a message that they disapprove of his tough stance on ending the insurgency and close security ties with Washington, officials, analysts and the Taliban said.

In recent days, central Kabul's diplomatic neighborhood has been shaken by late night rocket attacks. On both Friday and Sunday nights, rockets were fired into the heavily fortified "green zone," sending locals running for cover and international residents into basement safe rooms to await the all clear.

According to an Associated Press tally, there have been at least 10 incidents in Kabul since Ghani Ahmadzai's inauguration on Sept. 29, killing 27 people. These include six suicide bombings, two roadside bombs and two rocket attacks. Just hours after Ghani Ahmadzai took the oath of office, seven civilians were killed by a suicide bomber near Kabul airport. On Oct. 1, seven Afghan soldiers and one civilian died in a suicide attack on an Afghan National Army bus.

In the same month last year, six people were killed in five incidents, which included an insider attack on an army base in which an Afghan soldier opened fire on foreign troops and was shot dead. Rocket attacks have been relatively rare in recent years.

The Taliban said they were responsible for sending the rockets into the city and that they would continue doing so following an intense summer of fighting. "The tactics of our attacks have changed because of the weather, the season. The recent rocket attacks were by us and our aim is to destroy this government," said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.

He said the attacks were in retaliation for Ghani Ahmadzai's decision to sign a bilateral security agreement with Washington, permitting a residual force of 9,800 U.S. troops to remain in the country after the end of the year. "These attacks will continue because this government has signed the (agreement). There will be more attacks, as we seek to strike at the head of the enemy," Mujahid said.

The commander of Afghan National Army ground forces, Gen. Murad Ali Murad, said the recent addition of rocket attacks to the Taliban arsenal was an attempt "to show the international community that they are still a force to be reckoned with," as they appeared aimed at the diplomatic district of Wazir Akhbar Khan.

Security in the capital — already fortress-like — had been stepped up, he said. Ghani Ahmadzai's first month in office has coincided with Muharram, a month of mourning by Shiite Muslims for the death in 680 of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. It climaxes with the Ashoura festival, which this year falls in early November. In 2011, at least 54 people were killed in a suicide attack on a Kabul shrine on Ashoura day.

Afghanistan's Shiite minority is estimated to comprise between 10 percent and 30 percent of the population. The true number is subject to speculation since no proper census has been conducted. Wahid Mozhdah, a political analyst and former foreign ministry official in the Taliban's 1998-2001 government, said he believed the insurgents were paying residents of villages outside the capital to enter the city to fire the rockets. "Slowly, slowly the tactics of the Taliban are changing, because now they are paying people to fire rockets for them — it's easy, they just fire the rocket and run away," he said. "The Taliban are not happy with this government because it has made it clear that it does not want to talk with the Taliban."

Ghani Ahmadzai's attitude toward the Taliban has been a departure from that of his predecessor, Hamid Karzai. While Karzai habitually referred to the insurgents as his "brothers" and castigated the United States for its military presence in Afghanistan, Ghani Ahmadzai has not mentioned the Taliban by name in public statements, referring instead to "political opponents."

In response, analysts say the Taliban have adopted a strategy that emphasizes the vulnerability of Kabul and gives the impression that Ghani Ahmadzai's government can't protect the capital. "Rocket attacks create a sense of crisis among the capital's residents and force a deterioration of the security situation," said Jawed Khoistani, a political analyst.

He suggested that the accuracy of the rockets that have landed in the green zone pointed to some degree of cooperation with the security forces that are supposed to be guarding the city perimeter. "Rockets are more dangerous than terrorist attacks in Kabul because it is clear there is help from within the capital itself," he said.

Kabul shop keeper Ghulam Farooq said that while suicide attacks generally happened during daylight hours, the rocket attacks meant that "now Kabul is not safe at night either ... I hope the Ghani government can put a stop to these night-time rocket attacks, so at least we can get some sleep."

Tunisia presidential race begins

By Monia Ghanmi in Tunis for Magharebia
03/11/2014

Campaigning for Tunisia's presidential election kicked off on Saturday (November 1st), just a week after Nidaa Tounes won the legislative vote.

Twenty-seven candidates are running in the November 23rd election, including President Moncef Marzouki, former premier Beji Caid Essebsi, National Constituent Assembly chief Mustapha Ben Jaafar, and former Ben Ali regime ministers Kamel Morjane and Mondher Zenaidi.

Also vying for the post are magistrate Kalthoum Kannou and former central bank governor Mustapha Kamel Ennabli.

In the event no candidate secures an absolute majority, the vote will head to a runoff.

The candidates chose symbolic places for the start of their campaigns. Caid Essebsi launched his campaign at Bourguiba's Mausoleum in Monastir, while Hachmi al-Hamdi began his campaign from the tomb of Mohamed Bouazizi in Sidi Bouzid.

Interim President Marzouki inaugurated his campaign on Sunday in downtown Tunis by organizing a popular meeting.

The campaign is an opportunity for Tunisians to hear the platforms and compare their options.

Ali Boufaress, a 37-years-old from Gabes, said, "I am waiting for the campaign to decide who I will give my voice to; it is true that there are many candidates, but I will try to see all the programs, and then choose the best."

"We are hungry for these elections. This time, we will choose our next president in a transparent, democratic and fair way. The most suitable will win," Tunis resident Aicha Mahfoudhi told Magharebia.

Some candidates may have had a change of heart after the legislative election, said Tarek Omrani, a 27-year-old employee of a private company.

"I think that the chances of some candidates for the presidential race have diminished after the poor results of their parties in the parliamentary elections," Omrani said.

"Yet, who knows, my expectations may turn out to be wrong, because everything is possible," he added.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/features/2014/11/03/feature-01.

Tunisia rival parties look to build coalitions

By Mona Yahia in Tunis for Magharebia
31/10/2014

With Tunisia's parliamentary poll concluded, the country is set for the next stage in its democratic transition.

Nidaa Tounes topped Tunisia's parliamentary election, followed by Islamist party Ennahda, the Free Patriotic Union (UPL) and the Popular Front finished fourth, officials confirmed Thursday (October 30th).

All eyes are focused now on the new government to come – sometime after a new president is elected on November 23rd.

The Tunisian constitution provides that the president assign the party with the largest representation the task of forming a government.

That would be Nidaa Tounes.

Potential alliances and coalitions are already the topic of much debate.

Ennahda Vice-President Abdelhamid Jlassi said that the country's situation was difficult and required a broad alliance between the main powers to form a strong government of national unity.

However, Nidaa Tounes official Khémais Ksila said his party would only ally itself with those that shared the same social and economic visions.

Abdelaziz Kotti, another leader in Nidaa Tounes, said that his party was waiting for presidential elections to determine its position in future negotiations.

The Popular Front, meanwhile, ruled out a coalition with Ennahda after the assassinations of Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi during the Islamists' time in power.

Some Tunisians see a way to move forward.

According to Jawher Ben Mbarek, a law professor, Tunisia is heading towards a government of technocrats.

"This is what Beji Caid Essebsi wants, because Nidaa Tounes does not have a comfortable majority and is forced to form a coalition with at least five small parties in order to form a government of national unity," he explained.

"This government does not have to be political, but can be a government of technocrats in exchange for the support of Beji Caid Essebsi in the presidential elections," Ben Mbarek continued. "Hence he could be a president with broad consensus."

The professor continued: "On the other hand, if Nidaa Tounes wants to form a government of national unity, it can only form it with an alliance with Afek Tounes, the Party of Initiative and the Popular Front."

"Yet these parties have completely different social and economic agendas and this will take us back to the failed experiment of the troika," he added.

Most of the parties that campaigned against Ben Ali were absent from the political scene, as were the parties that participated in the Ennahda-led troika - the Congress for the Republic (CPR) and Ettakatol.

Hichem Guerfali, who heads a polling institution, has a possible explanation.

"The Parties that are considered militant were removed from the political scene because they did not conduct deep reviews of their performance and continued to depend on their historical depth and their images," he told Magharebia.

"The emerging parties," he added, "are characterized by pragmatism."

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/features/2014/10/31/feature-01.

Ennahda admits defeat in Tunisian vote

2014-10-28

According to Tunisian Islamist party Ennahda, Nidaa Tounes won more seats in the parliamentary elections on Sunday.

"Nidaa Tounes will have between 10 and 12 lawmakers more than us in the parliament," Ennahda Spokesman Zied Ladhari told Mosaique FM on Monday (October 27th)

Ennahda would not dispute the results, but would support a government of national unity, Ladhari said.

In other news Monday, El-Mahaba party chief Hachmi Hamdi withdrew from the November 23rd presidential race.

He explained that his decision was due to his party's performance in the legislative election, TAP reported.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2014/10/28/newsbrief-01.

Algeria to launch first African 'supersonic drone'

2014-11-03

Africa's first "supersonic drone" will see the light in Algeria in 2016, APS reported Sunday (November 2nd).

The 18-month collaborative project with South Africa will be hosted at the Blida Aeronotics University, where a team from both countries will start work on January 1st, 2015.

The announcement was made in Oran during the closing ceremony in Oran for the International Salon on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2014/11/03/newsbrief-05.

UAE's Masdar to build $125-million wind farm in Oman

Abu Dhabi (AFP)
Oct 22, 2014

Abu Dhabi energy company Masdar said Wednesday it will build a 50-megawatt wind farm in neighboring Oman that will provide 16,000 homes with clean energy.

The $125-million project, the first large-scale wind farm in the six nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council, would be constructed in the southwestern region of Dhofar, Masdar said in a statement.

Masdar signed a joint development agreement with Oman's Rural Areas Electricity Company to build the farm, which would mitigate 110,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide yearly, it said.

Masdar is overseeing Abu Dhabi plans to generate seven percent of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020.

It said last month it was partnering with Norwegian firms Statoil and Statkraft to build a multi-billion dollar offshore wind farm in Britain, big enough to power 410,000 homes.

The company already has a 20-percent stake in the 630-megawatt London Array project, the world's largest offshore wind farm.

Abu Dhabi is the wealthiest of the seven sheikhdoms that make up the federation of the United Arab Emirates.

It sits on proven oil reserves totaling 98.2 billion barrels -- 95 percent of the UAE's reserves, which are the world's seventh largest. It also has a large gas reserves.

Source: Wind Daily.
Link: http://www.winddaily.com/reports/UAEs_Masdar_to_build_125-million_wind_farm_in_Oman_999.html.

The Invisible Reality of Spain's Homeless

By Ines Ben?tez

MALAGA, Spain , Oct 28 2014 (IPS) - “It’s easy to end up on the street. It’s not because you led a bad life; you lose your job and you can’t afford to pay rent,” says David Cerezo while he waits for lunch to be served by a humanitarian organisation in this city in southern Spain.

Cerezo, 39, lives in a filthy wreck of a house in downtown M?laga with two other people. He used to work as a baker and confectioner but his drug abuse ruined his life, and separated him from his wife and his 36 and 39-year-old brothers.

Now he is determined to undergo rehabilitation, he tells IPS in front of the lunch counter of the ?ngeles Malague?os de la Noche (M?laga Angels of the Night) association.

“Most of those who ask for food here have ended up on the street because of drugs or alcohol, but there are also parents coming for food for their kids, and very young people,” he says, pointing towards the dozens of people lined up under the midday sun for a plate of rice, which is steaming in a huge pot.

Spain’s long, severe recession and high unemployment rate, which currently stands at 24.4 percent according to the national statistics institute, INE, have impoverished the population while government budgets for social services for the poor have been cut.

“On the street I feel vulnerable, so inferior. You lose your dignity and it’s hard to get it back. I want out of this.” -- Miguel Arregui

According to statistics from earlier this year, between 20.4 and 27.3 percent of the population of 47.2 million – depending on whether the measurement uses Spanish or European Union parameters – lives below the poverty line.

Nor does having a job guarantee a life free of poverty. The crisis drove up the proportion of working poor from 10.8 percent of the population in 2007 to 12.3 percent in 2010, according to the Dossier de Pobreza EAPN Espa?a 2014, a report on poverty in Spain by the European Anti Poverty Network.

Even worse is the fact that 27 percent of the country’s children – more than 2.3 million girls and boys – live in or on the verge of poverty, according to the United Nations children’s fund, UNICEF.

A study published Sept. 19 by the Association of Directors and Managers of Social Services reported that public spending on the neediest this year was 18.98 billion dollars – 2.78 billion less than in 2012.

“You find yourself in the street because you don’t have anyone to turn to,” said Miguel Arregui, 40. “And once you’re there it’s really hard to take flight again.”

The tall, black-haired Arregui, who is separated and has an 11-year-old son, told IPS that he spent 15 “endless” days sleeping rough, and that two bags holding his clothes and cell phone were stolen. For the past few weeks, he has been living in a shelter, where he is overcoming his addiction to drugs.

Cerrezo and Arregui are two of the thousands of homeless people in Spain – who total 23,000 according to the last INE census, from 2012, although the social organisations that help them put the number at 40,000.

But the 2014 study on exclusion and social development in Spain by the Foessa Foundation reports that there are five million people in this country affected by “severe exclusion” – 82.6 percent more than in 2007, the year before the lingering economic crisis broke out.

The report states that although homeless people are part of the landscape, most people have no idea what their lives are like. They sleep rough or in shelters, after ending up on the street as a result of numerous social, structural and personal factors.

In M?laga dozens of poor families, many of whom were evicted for failing to pay the rent or mortgage, are living together in squats known as “corralas”, in empty buildings owned by banks or construction companies that went bankrupt.

In the first half of 2014 there were 37,241 evictions in Spain, according to judicial sector statistics.

Since 2007 there have been 569,144 foreclosures, the Platform for Mortgage Victims (PAH) reports. At the same time, there are 3.5 million empty dwellings – 14 percent of the total, according to the INE.

A number of people wake up on the stone benches near the stand where breakfast is served at 9:00 AM. “The day I went to the shelter, they told me it was full and they gave me a blanket,” says José, 47, who spent 15 years in prison and admits that he has to steal to pay for a night in a pension.

“The system could use a turn of the screw, to provide permanent and unconditional housing, in first place,” the director of the RAIS Foundation, José Manuel Caballol, told IPS.

His organization is promoting the Housing First model in Spain. This approach focuses on moving homeless people immediately from the streets or shelters into their own apartments, based on the concept that their first and primary need is stable housing.

The approach targets people who have spent at least three years living on the streets, or those suffering from mental illness, drug use, alcoholism or disabilities.

Caballol said people with severe problems have a hard time gaining access to homeless shelters, supportive housing or pensions, and that even if they do they fail to move forward with their rehabilitation or end up being expelled from the system once again.

“The results are spectacular,” he said. “The people are so happy, they take care of their house and of themselves because they don’t want to lose what they have.”

The activist is convinced that this approach, which emerged in the United States in the 1990s, “offers a definitive solution to the problem of homelessness and spells out significant savings in costs for the state, in hospital care for example.”

Since July, a total of 28 homeless people have been living in eight housing units in M?laga, 10 in Barcelona and 10 in Madrid, some given to RAIS and others rented by the NGO by means of agreements with city governments and foundations, and with economic support from the government.

“Changes are seen very quickly in the people involved,” said Caballol, who stressed the role played by social workers, psychologists and experts in social integration, who listen, support and assist the beneficiaries, depending on what they themselves decide, rather than the other way around.

“On the street I feel vulnerable, so inferior. You lose your dignity and it’s hard to get it back. I want out of this,” says Miguel Arregui just before going into a shelter in downtown M?laga for the night.

Another local NGO, Ayuda en Acci?n (Help in Action), warns that one out of every five people are at risk of social exclusion in Spain.

Cerezo says the social network for the homeless falls short of meeting the current needs, and calls for other models like “casas de acogida” – halfway homes or residential-based homes for the most vulnerable, “with orientation by professionals.”

The number of people assisted in Spain by the Catholic charity Caritas rose 30 percent from 2012 to 2013, according to a report it released Sept. 29.

Source: Inter-Press Service (IPS).
Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/10/the-invisible-reality-of-spains-homeless/.

Catalonian president cancels independence referendum

By Matt Bradwell
Oct. 14, 2014

BARCELONA, Spain, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Artur Mas, president of Spain's separatist-leaning Catalonia region, has canceled plans for a Nov. 9 independence referendum after Madrid declared such action illegal.

Catalonia's regional government will instead hold a non-binding consultation, essentially taking a public poll of the Catalan people on the issue of independence.

"We have sufficient strength to do what we said we would do, which is to consult the people of Catalonia," Mas said at a news conference, adding, "There will will be ballot boxes and papers" at polling places on Nov. 9.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy greeted Mas' decision as "excellent news."

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2014/10/14/Catalonian-president-cancels-independence-referendum/5371413284948/.

Bulgarian archaeologist uncovers 'vampire grave'

By Ben Hooper
Oct. 14, 2014

KARDZHALI, Bulgaria, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- A Bulgarian archaeologist said he has uncovered "a vampire grave" from the 13th century featuring the bones of a man with a stake driven through his chest.

Nikolai Ovcharov, an archaeologist nicknamed "Bulgaria's Indiana Jones," said he discovered "a vampire grave" while excavating the ruins of Perperikon, an ancient city near the border with Greece.

"We have no doubts that once again we're seeing an anti-vampire ritual being carried out," Ovcharov told The Telegraph.

He said the skeleton, believed to be a man between the ages of 40 and 50, had a heavy iron stake hammered into his chest after his death to prevent him from rising from the grave.

"Often they were applied to people who had died in unusual circumstances -- such as suicide," Ovcharov said of anti-vampire rituals.

Bozhidar Dimitrov, head of the National History Museum in Sofia, said about 100 medieval "vampire" skeletons have been found in Bulgaria.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2014/10/14/Bulgarian-archaeologist-uncovers-vampire-grave/7601413294497/.

OPINION: Keeping All Girls in School is One Way to Curb Child Marriage in Tanzania

By Agnes Odhiambo

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, Oct 29 2014 (IPS) - “You cannot continue with your education. You have to get married because this man has already paid dowry for you,” Matilda H’s father told her. Matilda, from Tanzania, was 14 and had just passed her primary school exams and had been admitted to secondary school. She pleaded with her father to allow her to continue her education, but he refused.

She was forced to marry a 34-year-old man who already had one wife. Her family had received a dowry of four cows and 700,000 Tanzanian Shillings (about 435 dollars).

“I felt very sad. I couldn’t go to school,” she told Human Rights Watch (HRW). Matilda said her mother tried to seek help from the village elders to stop the marriage but “the village elders supported my father’s decision for me to get married.” Matilda’s husband physically and sexually abused her and could not afford to support her.

A new HRW report, ‘No Way Out: Child Marriage and Human Rights Abuses in Tanzania’, takes a hard look at child marriage in the Tanzania mainland. Four out of 10 girls in Tanzania are married before their 18th birthday. The United Nations ranks Tanzania as one of 41 countries with the highest rates of child marriage.

In the report, HRW documents how child marriage exposes girls and women to exploitation and violence – including marital rape and female genital mutilation – and reproductive health risks. It pays particular attention to the ways in which limited access to education contributes to, and results from, child marriage.

In Tanzania, girls face several significant obstacles to education. In addition to gender stereotypes about the value of educating girls — such as Matilda faced — discriminatory government policies and practices undermining girls’ access to education and facilitate underage marriage.

Marriage usually ends a girl’s education in Tanzania. Married or pregnant pupils are routinely expelled or excluded from school.

Tanzanian schools also routinely conduct mandatory pregnancy tests and expel pregnant girls. Human Rights Watch interviewed several girls who were expelled from school because they were pregnant. Others said they stopped attending school after finding out they were pregnant because they feared expulsion.

One such girl, 19-year-old Sharon J., said she was expelled when she was in her final year of primary school.

“When the head teacher found out that I was pregnant, he called me to his office and told me, ‘You have to leave our school immediately because you are pregnant.’”

A 2013 Tanzanian Ministry of Education and Vocational Training Tool Kit continues to recommend conducting periodic pregnancy tests as a way of curbing teenage pregnancies in schools. The new Education and Training Policy passed by Cabinet in June 2014 is regrettably silent on whether married students can continue with school, although it does make provisions for the readmission of girls after they have given birth and “for other reasons”.

Government use of the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) has a disproportionate impact on children from poor backgrounds and exposes girls to child marriage. The government of Tanzania does not use the PSLE as an assessment tool, but rather as a selection tool to determine which pupils proceed to secondary school. Pupils who fail their exam cannot retake it or be admitted to a government secondary school.

Parents who are financially able can take their children to private schools. But parents whose daughters have failed the exam and who cannot afford private school fees, see marriage as the next viable alternative for girls.

Nineteen-year-old Salia J. was forced to marry at 15 after failing the PSLE.

“My only option was to join a private secondary school, but my parents are poor. My father decided to get me a man to marry me because I was staying at home doing nothing,” she told HRW.

A lost chance for education limits girls’ opportunities and their ability to make informed decisions about their lives. Ultimately their families and communities suffer too.

The Tanzanian government needs to urgently develop and implement a comprehensive plan to curb high rates of child marriage and mitigate its impact. Such a plan should include targeted policy and programmatic measures to address challenges in the education system that put girls at risk of child marriage.

The government should immediately stop the mandatory pregnancy testing of school girls and exclusion of married pupils and of pregnant girls from school. It should develop programs to encourage communities to send girls to school, and to enable married and pregnant girls to stay in school.

In the long run, Tanzania should take measures to increase access to post-primary education by taking all possible measures to ensure that all children can access secondary education irrespective of their PSLE results.

Many girls HRW interviewed regretted not being able to complete their education and asked that the government take steps to ensure girls who become pregnant or marry while in school are not denied an education. Tanzania should listen to the insights of those who know best what is wrong with the system: the girls themselves.

Source: Inter-Press Service (IPS).
Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/10/opinion-keeping-all-girls-in-school-is-one-way-to-curb-child-marriage-in-tanzania/.

Burkina Faso appoints new transitional leader

November 02, 2014

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Burkina Faso's army appointed a military colonel as transitional leader on Saturday, it said, after the West African country's president resigned from 27 years in office amid violent protests against his continued power.

Lt. Col. Isaac Yacouba Zida was unanimously appointed by the army to lead Burkina Faso, the army said in a declaration. "The period of transition" and its "form and duration will be determined later," said the declaration that was drafted and signed after senior officers met with the joint chief of staff Saturday.

Blaise Compaore resigned Friday after protesters stormed parliament and set the building ablaze following two days of violent demonstrations against his bid to amend the constitution to stand next year for another term. His move left the impoverished West African country in a state of uncertainty, and both Joint Chief of Staff Gen. Honore Traore and Zida had made remarks that they were in power.

Compaore, his family and those close to him had been taken in by Ivory Coast, according to a statement from the office of President Alassane Ouattara. It did not elaborate. It said Ouattara was following events "with particular attention."

Earlier Saturday, Zida said that the president's resignation amid violent street protests was an "insurrection" and not a coup, and that Compaore and a top aide were both safe. "Starting today I will assume all the responsibilities of this transition and of head of state," he said in an announcement carried on radio early Saturday.

Zida was the second in command of the president's security regiment. Having been in Burkina Faso's ranks for more than two decades, Zida is close to the president and appreciated by lower ranking soldier.

Zida called on the international community including the African Union to "support our people during this difficult ordeal." He had announced that the country's borders had been closed, a transitional committee had been set up and the constitution had been suspended.

Gen. Traore, the joint chief of staff, had on Friday told reporters that he would assume the presidency until elections were called, so Lt. Col. Zida's declaration Saturday caused initial confusion. Over the course of several dramatic hours, Compaore, 63, went from looking likely to jam through parliament a bill that would let him seek a fifth term to agreeing to step down next year to abandoning office immediately.

The quick succession of events took many by surprise, since Compaore had long out-maneuvered his adversaries and has in recent years become an important regional mediator. Burkina Faso hosts French special forces and serves as an important ally of both France and the United States in the fight against Islamic militants in West Africa.

The United States called on Burkina Faso's military "to immediately transfer power to civilian authorities" in order "to move immediately towards free and fair presidential elections. "The United States condemns the Burkinabe military's attempt to impose its will on the people of Burkina Faso," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement released Saturday.

Compaore first came to power following the October 1987 coup against then-President Thomas Sankara, Compaore's longtime friend and political ally who was killed in the power grab. While he was respected on the international stage, critics noted that, under Compaore's semi-authoritarian rule, the country of 18 million people remained mired in poverty. The landlocked country's fortunes rise and fall with gold and cotton prices — and adequate rain in a region plagued by drought.

Associated Press reporter Jamey Keaten in Paris and Carley Petesch in Johannesburg contributed to this report.

Israel presents maritime version of 'Iron Dome'

October 31, 2014

LE BOURGET, France (AP) — Israel's "Iron Dome" is heading to the seas, the maker of the rocket-blocking defense system says.

State-owned defense contractor Rafael wants to leverage the system's much-vaunted success in protecting Israeli civilians in this summer's Gaza war, hoping to draw navies as buyers for a new maritime version seen as especially useful in protecting national economic resources at sea like oil and gas platforms.

At this week's Euronaval conference near Paris, Rafael unveiled "C-Dome," which endeavors to help combat vessels counteract any threats from the air, including missiles, helicopters and tiny unmanned drone aircraft, which could increasingly become tools of combat and reconnaissance at sea just as they have on land in recent years.

Large naval vessels generally have radar-based interception systems to counter incoming threats. But Rafael executives say C-Dome offers innovations. It can fire up to a missile per second, cover a 360-degree range while piggybacking on a vessel's own radar systems with heat-tracking missiles that zero in on multiple incoming threats at a time.

"C-dome offers something that is not out there (in the market) yet ... A small footprint and the capability to engage multiple targets and saturation threats. And it's based on the only system in the world that has more than 1,000 intercepts," said program director Ari Sacher. "We can protect the ship from every direction at the same time. Most systems out there can't do that."

Iron Dome was a game-changer in this summer's war, ensuring a decisive technological edge for Israel that all but eliminated civilian casualties from Palestinian rocket fire. The Israeli military says that Iron Dome shot down 735 rockets in this summer's Gaza war, for more than an 85 percent success rate of those targeted.

The land-based system quickly recognizes the trajectory of incoming rockets and whether they are headed for population centers. Those are shot down, while others are allowed to fall in empty fields to spare the hefty cost of firing the sophisticated interceptors. Rafael officials insist Iron Dome intercepted more than 1,200 projectiles during the war.

C-Dome builds on that experience, shapes it for maritime needs and to defend smaller zones like ships or sea-borne installations. At Rafael's display area at the Euronaval exhibit hall in suburban Le Bourget, where high-tech whirligigs like mine-sweepers or virtual-reality training suits for aircraft carrier crews were on show, sat a gray, square metallic box about the size of a large coffee table with a black-tipped missile in one of four launch holes. Missiles would be housed underneath a ship's deck.

The small size makes C-Dome suitable for smaller vessels, such as corvettes and similar — many of which currently rely on less sophisticated intercept systems, Sacher said. C-Dome defends both the ships that carry it and other vessels or oil and gas platforms in its vicinity, he said.

"This is opening a whole new market," Sacher said. The closest competitors, he said, would be MBDA's short-range air defense system VL Mica and the Rolling Airframe Missile system of Raytheon. MBDA says its system provides 360-degree coverage against all existing airborne threats, and Raytheon says the RAM system can be used on ships of all sizes and is now deployed on 165 ships in seven fleets — including corvettes.

John Eagles, a Raytheon spokesman, said RAM has demonstrated in tests an intercept rate of more than 90 percent, and is capable of countering threats against oil platforms. He said he was not immediately aware of any cases when RAM had been used in combat; Rafael's Sacher played up how C-Dome was based on a system with a "proven track record."

C-Dome uses the same Tamir rockets as used in Iron Dome, Sacher said, estimating their "commonality at more than 99.5 percent". At sea, it can intercept "anything above the water," including guided weapons, he said. In contrast, Palestinian rockets from Gaza were relatively crude, unguided weapons.

One analyst said it was important not to overplay its capacities on the seas just yet. "I don't think you would want to overcook this as 'Iron Dome for naval vessels'," said Jeremy Binnie, Middle East and Africa editor at IHS Jane's Defence Weekly. But he acknowledged that protecting oil platforms with on-board intercept systems — if confirmed — would appear to be an important advance.

The new system is more about protecting maritime economic interests than blocking Palestinian projectiles. "The most strategic sites for the future right now will be gas platforms and oil platforms," said reserve Israeli Navy Capt. "Meir," a Rafael business development director for naval warfare systems, waving his hand over the C-Dome static display as a video behind him showed colorful animated images of fired missiles exploding on impact with torpedoes, missiles and drones.

"You have to secure them from missiles; Missiles that will be from terror organizations, from mother boats, from enemy countries, from drones — or any other aerial threat," said Meir, who declined to give his surname for security reasons.

For security and competitiveness reasons, he and other Rafael executives declined to say how many missiles the system could carry, but it would depend on customers' requests. Rafael executives also declined to say when the system was activated or whether the navy of Israel — which has developed a number of large natural gas fields off its Mediterranean coast — was using it.

Aron Heller in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

A Jungle Shrine Awaits its Blessed Moment

By Amantha Perera

MADHU, Sri Lanka, Oct 27 2014 (IPS) - Rising out of a thick forest about 17 km from the nearest main road, the Madhu Church is a symbol of spiritual harmony and tranquility. When the wind blows you hear the leaves rustle. Other times a solemn silence hangs in the air. Old-timers say that once, almost an entire generation ago, the grass grew six feet high in the church compound, and elephants wandered through it.

Located some 300 km by road from Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo, this place is the most venerated Catholic shrine in the country, home to a 500-year-old statue of the Virgin Mary that millions of faithful people believe to be miraculous.

But the peaceful hush that surrounds this holy place is likely to be broken in the months to come.

Heavy construction work takes place round-the-clock here, as efforts to rebuild the side chapel of the Sacred Heart slowly bear fruit. It was severely damaged during a shelling incident in 2008 that, according to some priests, killed over three-dozen people who were seeking shelter, and left 60 injured.

New residential quarters are also underway and about four km from the church a new helipad is being planned. All this for the scheduled visit by Pope Francis set to take place during the second week of January 2015.

“It is a blessing from God, people not only here but all over the island are waiting to see him and hear him at this Church,” said Rev. S. Emilianuspillai, the administrator of the shrine.

The papal visit will be the crowning moment for the church and the relic enshrined within that survived some of the most turbulent and violent years of Sri Lanka’s modern history.

The administrator told IPS that despite some reports that the visit could be cancelled due to impending presidential elections, preparations were going ahead.

Located in the northwestern Mannar District, the church was within the war zone for much of Sri Lanka’s three-decade-long conflict. When heavy fighting engulfed the church compound in April 2008, it had been under the control of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for over a decade. The war ended a year later with the defeat of the Tigers by government forces.

Emilianuspillai still recalls those harrowing days six-and-a-half years ago when he and 16 others were trapped within the church as shells exploded all around. By 6.30 pm on Apr. 3, 2008, a decision was made to move the statue to a safer place. It was a journey fraught with danger, Emilianuspillai, said. Just a mile into the trip a shell fell right in front of the vehicle containing the relic, which the priest had cradled to his own body for safekeeping. “Absolutely nothing happened to it, or us,” he said.

Little less than a year-and-a-half later, in August 2009, the same church compound was filled with over half a million worshippers for the first annual post-conflict feast, all seeking the blessings of their beloved Mother of Madhu.

Devotees revere the statue as a symbol of unity and peace, bringing together Tamils and Sinhalese, as well as Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists, all of whom would mingle during the massive annual feasts.

In the early days of Sri Lanka’s conflict, Madhu was also one of the largest refuges for those fleeing the fighting.

“[Our Lady of Madhu] has survived so much for so long and is still with us, protecting us, keeping us safe,” Benedict Fernando, a pilgrim from the coastal town of Negombo, about 250 km south of Madhu, told IPS.

Praying for reconciliation

Tamils living in the Northern Province also hope that the papal visit will shed light on burning post-war issues that have remained unresolved. The region is one of the poorest in the country with poverty levels sometimes thrice the national average of 6.7 percent. It has also been hit hard by an 11-month drought and losses to the vital agriculture sector. This despite the injection of over six billion dollars worth of government funds since 2009.

“There is a lot more work to be done,” Sellamuththu Sirinivasan, the additional government agent for the northern Kilinochchi District, told IPS.

Other lingering issues include the over 40,000 female-headed families in the Northern Province, struggling to make ends meet in a traditionally male-dominated society.

With assistance from the U.N. and other agencies slowing to a trickle, such vulnerable groups have been left to fend for themselves.

“The economic situation has stagnated despite the large investments in infrastructure. In such an environment, even able-bodied and qualified men and women find it hard to gain employment. These single women with families are really vulnerable [to] exploitation,” Saroja Sivachandran, who heads the Centre for Women and Development in northern Jaffna, told IPS.

Then there are those who went missing during the war.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has just begun the first countrywide survey of the families of the war missing. The survey and its recommendations are to be handed over to the government sometime in mid-2015. But there is still confusion over the number of missing, which some have put as high as 40,000. The ICRC says that it has recorded over 16,000 cases of missing persons since the 1990s.

“The war has ended, but the battles continue for us,” said Dominic Stanislaus, a young man from the town of Mankulam, about 60 km north.

On first glance, the Vanni, the popular name for the northern provinces, seems generations removed from the war years. Glistening new highways have replaced barely navigable roads marked by crater-sized potholes left by shells. A new rail line linking northern Jaffna to the rest of the country after a lapse of a quarter of a century was inaugurated earlier this month.

But burning questions about when the missing will return home, or where the next meal will come from, remain unanswered.

Many, like Stanislaus and Fernando, pray that the papal visit will hasten the healing process. In the meantime, the Madhu Church will continue to bring hope to thousands who still live with the wounds of war.

Source: Inter-Press Service (IPS).
Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/10/a-jungle-shrine-awaits-its-blessed-moment/.

Spacecraft for tourists explodes on test flight

November 01, 2014

MOJAVE, California (AP) — A winged spaceship designed to take tourists on excursions beyond Earth's atmosphere broke up during a test flight Friday over the Mojave Desert, killing a pilot in the second fiery setback for commercial space travel in less than a week.

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo blew apart after being released from a carrier aircraft at high altitude, according to Ken Brown, a photographer who witnessed the explosion. One pilot was found dead inside the spacecraft and another parachuted out and was flown by helicopter to a hospital, Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said.

The crash area was about 120 miles (193 kilometers) north of downtown Los Angeles and 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the Mojave Air and Space Port, where the flight originated. British billionaire Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, has been the front-runner in the fledgling race to give large numbers of paying civilians a suborbital ride that would let them experience weightlessness and see the Earth from the edge of space. Branson was expected to arrive in Mojave on Saturday, as were investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board.

"Space is hard, and today was a tough day," Virgin Galactic CEO President George Whitesides said. "The future rests in many ways on hard, hard days like this." The accident occurred just as it seemed commercial space flights were near, after a period of development that lasted far longer than hundreds of prospective passengers had expected.

Branson released a statement Friday night saying it was "among the most difficult trips I have ever had to make" but that he wants to be "with the dedicated and hardworking people who are now in shock at this devastating loss."

"Space is hard — but worth it," Branson wrote. "We will persevere and move forward together." When Virgin Group licensed the technology from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who put $26 million into SpaceShipOne, Branson envisioned operating flights by 2007. In interviews last month, he talked about the first flight being next spring with his son.

"It's a real setback to the idea that lots of people are going to be taking joyrides into the fringes of outer space any time soon," said John Logsdon, retired space policy director at George Washington University. "There were a lot of people who believed that the technology to carry people is safely at hand."

Friday's flight marked the 55th for SpaceShipTwo, which was intended to be the first of a fleet of craft. This was only the fourth flight to include a brief rocket firing. During other flights, the craft either was not released from its mothership or functioned as a glider after release.

At 60-feet (18-meters) long, SpaceShipTwo featured two large windows for each of up to six passengers, one on the side and one overhead. The accident's cause was not immediately known, nor was the altitude at which the explosion occurred. The first rocket-powered test flight peaked at about 10 miles (16 kilometers) above Earth. Commercial flights would go 62 miles (100 kilometers) or higher.

One difference on this flight was the type of fuel. In May, Virgin Galactic announced that SpaceShipTwo would switch to a polymide-based fuel — a type of thermoplastic. It had been fueled with a type of rubber called HTPB.

Scaled Composites, the company building the spaceship for Virgin Galactic, had extensively tested the new fuel formulation on the ground, President Kevin Mickey said. He characterized the new fuel as "a small nuance to the design."

Officials said they had not noticed anything wrong before the flight. The problem happened about 50 minutes after takeoff and within minutes of the spaceship's release from its mothership, said Stuart Witt, CEO of the Mojave Air and Space Port.

Virgin Galactic — owned by Branson's Virgin Group and Aabar Investments PJS of Abu Dhabi — sells seats on each prospective journey for $250,000. The company says that "future astronauts," as it calls customers, include Stephen Hawking, Justin Bieber, Ashton Kutcher and Russell Brand. The company reports receiving $90 million from about 700 prospective passengers.

Friday's accident was the second this week involving private space flight. On Tuesday, an unmanned commercial supply rocket bound for the International Space Station exploded moments after liftoff in Virginia.

Virgin Galactic plans to launch space tourism flights from the quarter-billion-dollar Spaceport America in southern New Mexico once it finished developing its rocket ship. Taxpayers footed the bill to build the state-of-the-art hangar and runway in a remote stretch of desert in southern New Mexico as part of a plan devised by Branson and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. Critics have long challenged the state's investment, questioning whether flights would ever get off the ground.

SpaceShipTwo is based on aerospace design maverick Burt Rutan's award-winning SpaceShipOne prototype, which became the first privately financed manned rocket to reach space in 2004. Friday's death was not the first associated with the program.

During testing for the development of a rocket motor for SpaceShipTwo in July 2007, an explosion at the Mojave spaceport killed three workers and critically injured three others. A California Division of Occupational Safety and Health report said the blast occurred three seconds after the start of a cold-flow test of nitrous oxide, which is used in the propulsion system of SpaceShipTwo. The engine was not firing during that test.

Pritchard reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers David Koenig in Dallas, Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Seth Borenstein in Washington, and John Antczak, Christopher Weber, Tami Abdollah and Robert Jablon in Los Angeles also contributed to this report.

Nigeria to launch indigenous satellite by 2018

Lagos (XNA)
Sep 26, 2014

Nigeria would design, fabricate, test and launch its indigenous satellite by 2018, Minister of Science and Technology, Abdu Bulama, said on Tuesday.

The minister disclosed this in Abuja when he inspected facilities at the Obasanjo Space Center of the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA).

The center had the mandate to launch Nigeria's first indigenous satellite by 2018, Bulama told reporters.

He described space science and technology program as an important component of the Nigerian dream.

According to him, the satellite program has a very positive role in the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan's administration.

Bulama directed that the assembly, testing and integration center, and the Synthetic Aperture Radar Satellite, which are under construction, should be completed by 2015.

The minister said competence and capabilities in satellite technology serve as a tool for national growth and a huge contribution to the development and benefit of mankind.

Source: Space Mart.
Link: http://www.spacemart.com/reports/Nigeria_to_launch_indigenous_satellite_by_2018_999.html.

Crew including first woman cosmonaut in 17 years blasts off for ISS

by Anna MALPAS
Baikonur, Kazakhstan (AFP)
Sep 26, 2014

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying an American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts, including the first woman cosmonaut in 17 years, blasted off on schedule Friday, Russian mission control said.

The Soyuz-TMA14M spacecraft took off at 12:25 am Moscow time (2025 GMT Thursday) from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to start the journey to the International Space Station (ISS).

"The Soyuz-FG space rocket successfully launched to put the Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft into orbit," the Russian space agency Roscosmos said in a statement.

The crew members were doing well, it added.

Yelena Serova is the first Russian woman to fly to the ISS. She is accompanied by fellow cosmonaut Alexander Samokutyaev and NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore.

Their spacecraft is set to dock with the ISS at 0215 GMT on Friday after taking a six-hour fast-track route.

They are due to join the ISS commander, Russia's Maxim Surayev, his American colleague Reid Wiseman and German Alexander Gerst from the European Space Agency onboard the space laboratory.

The new ISS crew members are scheduled to spend a total of 169 days in space.

Earlier Thursday, the trio took part in pre-flight rituals such as signing the door of their Baikonur hotel and receiving a blessing from a Russian Orthodox priest, before boarding a bus to the launchpad to cheers from relatives.

They then entered their Soyuz-TMA14M capsule around one-and-a-half hours before lift-off on a dark, cloudy night.

Serova is just the fourth Soviet or Russian woman cosmonaut.

The first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, made her only space flight in 1963.

The following two women made two space flights each: Svetlana Savitskaya in 1982 and 1984 and Yelena Kondakova in 1994 and 1997, before a 17-year-long hiatus.

"My flight is my job," 38-year-old space engineer Serova said at a press conference this week, where she had to fend off questions about her hair style and how her daughter would cope in her absence.

"I'll be the first Russian woman who will fly to the ISS," she said. "I feel a huge responsibility towards the people who taught and trained us and I want to tell them: We won't let you down!"

Both Serova's colleagues in the cramped Soyuz capsule have space mission experience.

Wilmore, 51, known as Butch, made his first space flight as the pilot of the US shuttle in 2009, while Samokutyaev, 44, who is commander of the Soyuz spacecraft, spent 164 days on the ISS in 2011.

Russia is currently the only country that can send astronauts to the ISS after the United States stopped its shuttle programme.

NASA has vowed to continue cooperation aboard the ISS despite a major chill in relations over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis.

But Russia has hinted that it may turn down Washington's request to extend the lifespan of the ISS by four years through 2024, saying it is only needed until 2020.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the space sector, jokingly suggested in April that the United States would have to use a "trampoline" to get to the ISS after it imposed sanctions over Russia's annexation of Crimea.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Crew_including_first_woman_cosmonaut_in_17_years_blasts_off_for_ISS_999.html.

Russian backs Ukrainian separatist vote

November 03, 2014

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Moscow offered warm support Monday for rebel-organized elections in eastern Ukraine — an endorsement that could only serve to keep the West's sanctions against Russia in place.

Pro-Russian separatist authorities said Sunday's vote, which saw two rebel leaders easily reconfirmed in their roles, gives them a powerful mandate to slip further from Ukrainian rule. Plans for the election had been condemned by the European Union and the United States, which said it violated Ukrainian law and undermined a 2-month-old cease-fire deal that has existed only on paper.

"The United States deplores and does not recognize yesterday's so-called separatist elections in eastern Ukraine, nor do we recognize any of the leaders chosen in this illegal vote," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters in Washington on Monday. "If Russia were to recognize the so-called elections, it would only serve to isolate it further. "

Russia's Foreign Ministry indicated in a statement that it would refrain from supporting outright independence for the Donbass, as Ukraine's heavily industrial eastern regions are known collectively. "In view of the elections, it is extremely important to take active steps toward promoting sustained dialogue between central Ukrainian authorities and the representatives of the Donbass," the Russian statement said.

A rebuke was swift in coming from Germany, which deems Russia's position on the vote in the rebel-held areas detrimental to the September truce deal signed in the Belarusian capital, Minsk. That accord envisioned local elections being held across the whole of the east and under Kiev's supervision.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said that because the elections weren't carried out in accordance with Ukrainian law they "can have no legal relevance" and will deepen the crisis.

The head of the election body in the main rebel city of Donetsk, Roman Lyagin, said inescapable conclusions needed to be drawn from the polls. "Kiev has to come to terms with the idea that Donbass is not part of Ukraine," he said. "Whether they will recognize the result of our vote or not is Kiev's problem."

Any hardening of secessionist views portends more unrest in the east, where more than 4,000 people have been killed in six months of fighting between government troops and rebel forces. U.S. and European sanctions against Russia in response to the Kremlin's support for the insurgency have dented an economy already teetering on the brink of recession. Investors have balked at taking risks in Moscow and capital flight is at full throttle.

Despite Moscow's seeming unwillingness to compromise on Ukraine, resolve had wavered among some EU members over whether keep all the economic sanctions in place. With its support for the separatist vote, however, Moscow has sealed its fate in the short-term.

"The more Russia appears to be doubling down in Ukraine and using the separatist elections to keep the country divided and weak, then the more difficult alleviating the EU sanctions will be," said Joshua Shifrinson, an assistant professor at the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University.

Donald Jensen, a fellow with the Center for Transatlantic Relations at The Johns Hopkins University, said the united European front may eventually crumble should countries with warmer relations to Russia choose to dissent, resisting pressure from the United States.

"The problem with the EU sanctions is that they require unanimity," he said. "They expire in the middle of next year and getting that unanimity is going to be very hard without very strong and vigorous leverage from Washington."

The separatist vote came on the heels of national parliamentary elections in Ukraine that marked the ascendancy of several staunchly pro-Western parties. That marked the culmination of a process that began with the public revolt that led to the overthrow in February of former President Viktor Yanukovych, who sparked widespread ire by favoring ties with Russia over the European Union.

Shifrinson said that Moscow's strategy in east Ukraine may be aimed in part at reminding Kiev that the parliamentary election was no excuse to disregard Russian interests. "Despite appearing to be challenging Kiev's authority, recognizing the separatist elections may simply be an effort by Russia to salvage something of its influence," Shifrinson said, while stressing that no strategic interests could justify Russia's conduct.

With the unrest likely to rage on, Ukraine looks destined to join the club of post-Soviet nations bedeviled by frozen conflict. Jensen said that binding the future of Ukraine to Russia's whims appears to be the outcome sought by the Kremlin.

"This kind of frozen conflict is something the Kremlin can keep going for a long time, and the Ukrainians certainly don't have the ability to roll it back right now," Jensen said. Currently, the conflict is all too hot.

After a brief lull in hostilities around Donetsk on the day of the election, the sound of artillery fire again boomed for hours Monday from the northern outskirts of the city. An AP reporter spotted a vast column of military vehicles east of Donetsk on the eve of the vote, suggesting that the rebels are doing well for firepower.

Ukraine and the West have repeatedly accused Russia of pouring weapons and manpower into Ukraine, claims that Moscow has always denied. Over the weekend, Ukrainian security officials said they noted a new intensification in that flow.

A NATO military officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment, said the Western military alliance had seen reports of recent Russian troop movements into eastern Ukraine.

The task of monitoring the nominal cease-fire has fallen to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which has in recent weeks deployed drones in the region to facilitate its mission. The OSCE said in statement that a drone flying over a rebel-controlled area came under aircraft gunfire Sunday, but that the aircraft wasn't hit.

In a separate incident, an OSCE drone was subjected to signal jamming Wednesday in a zone near the village of Sartana, which is controlled by government troops.

Nataliya Vasilyeva in Donetsk, Ukraine; Geir Moulson in Berlin; George Jahn in Vienna; and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.