Iraq's Tikrit, free of the Islamic State, is a city in ruins

April 04, 2015

TIKRIT, Iraq (AP) — In Iraq's Tikrit, liberation from the Islamic State group comes at a heavy price, both in loss of life and in the sheer devastation the militants leave in their wake.

Much of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown and once a bustling city north of Baghdad, now lies in ruins. Islamic State extremists captured it during a blitz last June that also seized large chunks of northern and western Iraq, along with a huge swath of land in neighboring Syria.

After a nearly 10-month Islamic State occupation, it took Iraqi forces and their allies, including Iranian-backed Shiite militias, a month of ferocious street battles to win the city back. They declared victory in Tikrit on Wednesday, and U.S.-led coalition airstrikes also helped turn the tide in the final weeks of the battle.

Today, the houses that still stand are pocked with bullet holes and Tikrit's streets are lined with potholes where mortars slammed down. The provincial headquarters in the downtown — now adorned with Shiite militia flags in place of the Islamic State group's black banner — is burned from fire and damaged from heavy fighting.

On Friday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi warned that the military will start arresting and prosecuting those who loot abandoned Tikrit properties. He also urged security forces to quickly ensure that normalcy is restored so that Tikrit's residents, most of whom fled the Islamic State onslaught, can return home.

The looting was first reported within hours of the military victory but authorities have refrained from blaming anyone. A number of human rights organizations have accused the Shiite militias of carrying out revenge attacks on Sunnis in newly-recaptured towns, or destroying their homes so they can never return.

Some Shiite militias have set up checkpoints on the southern approaches of Tikrit, and stop passing cars to check for looted goods. A satellite image of Tikrit, released in February by the United nations, showed that at least 536 buildings in the city have been affected by the fighting. Of those, at least 137 were completely destroyed and 241 were severely damaged. The Iraqi offensive to recapture Tikrit also exacerbated previous damage, particularly in the city's southern neighborhoods where clashes were the most intense.

So much about life in Tikrit under the Islamic State group's rule remains unknown. On the city's outskirts, near Camp Speicher — a base once used by American forces — blood stains are splattered on a wall, next to a window offering a picturesque view of the Tigris River.

Government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to journalists, say a mass grave was found on the camp's grounds with bodies of up to 1,700 Iraqi soldiers killed by the extremists in Tikrit and northern Iraq last June.

In the heart of the city, Iraqi policemen are out in full force, along with explosives experts working to clear remaining roadside bombs and booby traps left behind by the militants. Evidence of the damage caused by the bombs is everywhere — charred military vehicles and remains of cars bombs have yet to be collected from the city streets.

But elsewhere, there is little law and order, and the Shiite militias roam Tikrit streets freely, spray-painting their graffiti and slogans on buildings and homes. Much remains to be done before Tikrit residents, most of whom are Sunnis, can return. Services such as power and water are yet to be restored.

The government says police and local Sunni tribes eventually will be empowered to maintain law and order in Tikrit, and the militias are expected to leave. But that is still off in the future.

More than 800 land in Indonesia, Thailand in growing crisis

May 15, 2015

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — More than 800 migrants have landed on the shores of Indonesia and Thailand after being adrift at sea for weeks, authorities said Friday. They are among the few who have successfully sneaked past a wall of resistance mounted by Southeast Asian countries who have made it clear the boat people are not welcome.

Several thousand refugees from Bangladesh and Myanmar — fleeing either poverty or persecution — are believed to be adrift on boats in the Andaman Sea in what has become a spiraling humanitarian crisis. In recent days, about 2,000 landed in Malaysia and Indonesia, but both countries then said they could not accept any more.

Fishermen, however, towed two boats to Indonesia's eastern Aceh province early Friday — one with nearly 700 people and another carrying 47, police said. The larger boat was on the verge of sinking when fishermen brought it to the fishing village of Langsa, according to Lt. Col Sunarya, who like many Indonesians uses only one name. He said everyone aboard was weak from hunger and dehydrated.

"Some of the people told police they were abandoned at sea for days and Malaysian authorities had already turned their boat away," Sunarya said. About 25 kilometers (15 miles) south of Langsa, fishermen rescued the smaller boat carrying 47 Rohingya migrants, also dehydrated and hungry, said Aceh Tamiang police chief Dicky Sandoni. They were brought to a beach at Kuala Seruway village in Aceh's Tamiang district.

Separately, the Thai navy found 106 people, mostly men but including 15 women and two children, on a small island off the coast of Phang Nga province, an area known for its world-class scuba diving. "It's not clear how they ended up on the island," said Prayoon Rattanasenee, the Phang Nga provincial governor. The group said they were Rohingya migrants from Myanmar. "We are in the process of identifying if they were victims of human trafficking."

The plight of Myanmar's 1.3 million Rohingya has worsened recently and in the last three years more than 120,000 members of the Muslim minority, who are intensely persecuted in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, have boarded ships to flee to other countries, paying huge sums to human traffickers.

But faced with a regional crackdown on human trafficking, some captains and smugglers have abandoned their ships, leaving an estimated 6,000 refugees to fend for themselves, according to aid workers and human rights groups.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "alarmed by reports that some countries may be refusing entry to boats carrying refugees and migrants," according to a statement from his office Thursday. It said Ban urged governments in the region to "facilitate timely disembarkation and keep their borders and ports open in order to help the vulnerable people who are in need."

But the message from leaders of Southeast Asia on Thursday indicated that was not in the cards. "What do you expect us to do?" asked Malaysian Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Jafaar. "We have been very nice to the people who broke into our border. We have treated them humanely, but they cannot be flooding our shores like this."

"We have to send the right message," he said, "that they are not welcome here." Thai Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha said his country couldn't afford to host the refugees. "If we take them all in, then anyone who wants to come will come freely," he said. "Where will the budget come from?"

He had no suggestions as to where they should go, saying: "No one wants them." Denied citizenship by national law, Myanmar's Rohingya are effectively stateless. They have limited access to education or adequate health care and cannot move around freely. They have been attacked by the military and chased from their homes and land by extremist Buddhist mobs in a country that regards them as illegal settlers.

Cyprus leaders look to open 2 more crossings across divide

May 28, 2015

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The leaders of Cyprus' rival Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities on Thursday agreed to open two more crossing points across the island's north-south divide as reunification negotiations ramped up.

United Nations envoy Espen Barth Eide made the announcement after Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and leader of the breakaway Turkish Cypriots Mustafa Akinci met for the second time after peace talks resumed this month following an eight-month pause.

Eide said the leaders agreed to look at opening more crossing points, as well as to implement other trust-building steps including interconnecting separate electricity grids and mobile telephone networks.

Cyprus was divided along ethnic lines in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup aiming to unite the tiny east Mediterranean island with Greece. Turkish Cypriots declared an independent state in the island's northern third, but it's recognized only by Turkey which keeps more than 35,000 troops there. Although Cyprus is a European Union member, only the internationally recognized south enjoys full benefits.

There are currently seven crossing points across the 180-kilometer (120-mile) U.N.-controlled buffer zone. The first opened 11 years ago after nearly three decades of the two sides' almost complete isolation from one another. The leaders didn't specify when the two new crossing points, in the island's northwest and southeast, would open.

The trust-building steps aim to inject more momentum into the talks and win over skeptics by underscoring the leaders' commitment to solving the decades-old problem. Anastasiades said the leaders are focused on delivering a swift peace accord that lives up to the expectations of Greek and Turkish Cypriots and "ensures that this state will fully comply with the European norms of other (EU) member states."

The leaders for the first time made a joint appeal for any information assisting a UN-facilitated search for some 2,000 Greek and Turkish Cypriots who disappeared during inter-communal violence in the 1960s and the 1974 invasion. The appeal came with a promise that any information will be kept strictly confidential.

The leaders also agreed to put together a committee on gender equality aiming to gather "the perspectives of both women and men" on a peace deal.

Croatian dilemma: Oil in the Adriatic, or tourism

May 28, 2015

MEDULIN, Croatia (AP) — Peter Fries has been coming to Croatia for years after falling in love with its pristine coastline, fresh seafood, mellow wine and friendly hosts.

With Croatia announcing it will allow oil drilling in the Adriatic sea, the 60-year-old German businessman is having second thoughts about his loyalty to this Mediterranean tourist haven known for glorious sunsets over sparkling seas and white pebble beaches shadowed by thick pine forests.

That picture-perfect image, he fears, could soon change with the construction of giant offshore oil rigs on the horizon. "This is a high-risk problem," Fries said in a warm breeze that stirred the sea's mirrored surface. "No one wants to swim or dive in a sea with pipelines, oil platforms and tankers."

Despite surging opposition to pumping crude in the waters of one of Europe's fastest-growing summer travel destinations, the Croatian government is determined to boost the state's poor finances by offering several exploration licenses to foreign energy companies.

The decision has deeply split the European Union's newest member state of some 4.3 million, a country still scarred by the 1990s Balkans wars and where the untouched beauty of the Adriatic is a matter of national pride.

Opponents warn that besides damaging the spectacular scenery, offshore drilling represents a grave environmental hazard, raising the risk of oil spills that could wreck tourism — the country's main source of income.

Supporters say pumping oil could bring billions of dollars to Croatia's troubled economy, which has been in recession for years. They add that drilling could ultimately help Europe reduce its reliance on Russian energy imports.

"This is an existential matter that will bring a better life to Croatian citizens," Economy Minister Ivan Vrdoljak told The Associated Press. The latest opinion polls indicate that 45 percent of Croats are against Adriatic oil drilling, while 40 percent are for it — with those in favor living mostly inland and far from the coast.

"The Adriatic is like a jewel that should not be touched," said Ivo Lorencin whose main income is renting rooms in a quiet bay in the northern Adriatic during the three-month summer peak season. "If the sea is destroyed, we all are destroyed."

Croatia's Adriatic tourism industry was already devastated once — during the war for independence from former Yugoslavia. The stunning medieval walled town of Dubrovnik was severely damaged by shelling, and broadcasts of warfare beamed around the world kept tourists away years after the conflict subsided.

Tourist numbers of about 11 million a year returned to pre-war levels in 2012, only after widespread rebuilding and a worldwide media campaign under the slogan: "The Mediterranean as it once was." The government believes that Croatia's strategic position between Europe's east and west could turn the country into a regional energy powerhouse, like Norway in the North Sea.

"Croatia will then become an energy exporter which will bring security of supplies to the region," Vrdoljak said. He said that environmental risks would be minimal because the latest EU safety standards would be applied, and most of the new offshore platforms would not be visible from the main coast.

"All studies say that the (oil) production is a lesser environmental risk than transportation by tankers that we now use to import oil," he said, adding that there was no need for a popular referendum demanded by the opposition, and hinted at by the country's prime minister.

The initial exploration, which will determine the quantities and profitability of oil production in the Adriatic, is set to start in June and last for five years before commercial pumping eventually begins.

There is little doubt that there are oil and gas reserves in the area. In neighboring Italy, dozens of offshore platforms currently operate, some syphoning crude. There are also 18 rigs on the Croatian side of the Adriatic that extract only gas, which is considered a much smaller environmental risk than oil.

Croatia's Greens are unimpressed by government's safety pledges. They have started a petition campaign entitled "Say NO to oil in the Adriatic, say YES to sustainable growth." "The risks are very high," said Mirela Holy, the leader of ORaH, a small Green party that started the campaign. "Alternatives are renewable energies, especially in the Adriatic, such as solar energy, windmills and small hydro power stations."

Opponents also say Croatia's tourist revenue of about 7.5 billion euros ($8.4 billion) a year far exceeds the potential financial benefits of oil exploration, estimated by the government at euros 160 million ($180 million) a year in licenses given to oil companies.

"In case of an accident, this (tourist revenue) will be completely destroyed," said Monica Frassoni, co-chair of the European Green Party, attending an environmental conference in Croatia's capital, Zagreb. "So, why the risk?"

Muhammadu Buhari takes over Nigeria in crisis

May 29, 2015

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Muhammadu Buhari takes over a nation in crisis Friday with an Islamic uprising that has made 1.5 million people homeless and coffers emptied by massive corruption.

Similar crises confronted him when he ruled briefly as a military dictator in the 1980s. The 72-year-old says a similar prescription more judiciously imposed by a "born-again democrat" can heal the woes of Africa's biggest nation, economy and oil producer.

Nigerians are hopeful that Buhari — the only leader believed not to have lined his pockets from the state treasury — can curb the graft that keeps a rich nation impoverished. With Nigeria so broke it's borrowing money to pay government workers, Buhari intends to retrieve ill-gotten gains to fund programs from education for girls to job creation for young people — seeking to address the roots of Boko Haram's northeastern insurgency. Nigerian newspapers are carrying unconfirmed reports that some politicians already have returned millions of dollars, in hopes of currying favor and avoiding scrutiny.

Buhari, the first Nigerian to oust a sitting president at the polls, has a wealth of international goodwill. Some 50 heads of state are expected at Friday's inauguration along with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, looking to mend fences broken under the discredited administration of Goodluck Jonathan.

The inauguration is being held in Abuja at Eagle Square, where a 2010 twin car bombing and grenade attack by oil militants killed 12 people at Independence Day celebrations. Buhari must decide how to deal with the militants who are threatening to renew attacks if he does not continue an amnesty program that has them paid to guard the installations they once attacked.

Jonathan, who allowed Boko Haram's nearly 6-year-old insurgency to flourish unhindered until this year and was seen as uncaring of the suffering it has imposed in the northeast of the country, won acclaim at home and abroad for graciously conceding defeat. There were fears of the kind of electoral violence that killed more than 1,000 people in the mainly Muslim north when Jonathan defeated Buhari in 2011 elections.

"You have changed the course of Nigeria's political history," Buhari told Jonathan when he handed over the report of his administration Thursday. "For that you have earned yourself a place in our history, for stabilizing this system of multiparty democracy and you have earned the respect of not only Nigerians but world leaders."

Political science professor Richard Joseph of Northwestern University said Buhari's victory has hopeful international implications. "The world desperately needs a victory against cultist jihadism. Nigeria (under Buhari) can provide it," he said. "In no other large country, with an almost equal number of Muslims and Christians, is such a process conceivable."

Buhari was a major general when he defeated another homegrown Nigerian Islamic group in the 1980s. Jonathan was forced to accept an international intervention from neighboring countries to curb Boko Haram this year as its uprising spread across Nigeria's borders. His government also hired foreign mercenaries to help train troops even as it halted a U.S. military training program last year.

Buhari has criticized the need for foreign troops in Nigeria, which has Africa's largest standing army, albeit demoralized and under-resourced by some plundering officers. "The answer to defeating Boko Haram begins and ends with Nigeria," he has said.

Burundi urges citizens to donate money to pay for elections

May 28, 2015

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Burundi's government is asking Burundians to donate money to pay for elections as some foreign donors warn of aid cuts if President Pierre Nkurunziza runs for a third term, a presidential spokesman said Wednesday.

Demonstrators were in the streets again Wednesday, holding leafy tree branches as peace symbols, confronting soldiers and demanding that Nkurunziza withdraw from the elections. Gervais Abayeho told The Associated Press that "a political vacuum in this country ... would be worse that a coup d'état," and that elections will happen whether or not Western governments help. He said the government has already set aside money for the June 26 elections but needs Burundians to give more for elections.

The president's effort to extend his stay in power has sparked almost daily street protests in which at least 20 people have been killed and at least 471 injured. An opposition party leader was gunned down on Saturday. The turmoil sparked a failed coup against Nkurunziza by some senior military officers.

In New York, the U.N. Security Council president said after an emergency meeting Wednesday that "the predominant opinion" of members is that Burundi's elections should not take place as scheduled in late June.

Lithuania's U.N. Ambassador Raimonda Murmokaite, who leads the council this month, said many members pointed to the unrest, tensions and flow of refugees in saying elections are not possible now. The council heard a briefing by U.N. envoy to Burundi, Said Djinnit, who is trying to facilitate talks between the government, opposition parties, and religious organizations. France's U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre told reporters the talks haven't resumed.

Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete who chairs the East African Community which is holding a summit on May 31 on Burundi. Ban expressed hope that the regional leaders will help chart a way forward to end the political crisis, the U.N. spokesman said.

The controversy over elections led the presidency to call on its official Facebook page on Tuesday for "patriotic citizens" to donate voluntarily for elections. Belgium has already cut funding to Burundi amid the unrest, and Abayeho said France and the Netherlands have also indicated some aid will be suspended if Nkurunziza persists with his controversial bid for a third term.

Burundi, a poor country which exports mostly coffee and depends heavily on foreign aid, experienced an ethnic-based civil war from 1993 to 2003 in which at least 250,000 people died. Nkurunziza came to power in 2005 following the signing of the Arusha accords that ended the civil war, then was re-elected in 2010 unopposed after the opposition boycotted the elections. He maintains he is eligible for a third term because parliament elected him for the first term, and he was not popularly elected.

Associated Press Writer Edith M. Lederer contributed to this report from the United Nations

Crocodiles born in Sweden to be released in Cuban swamp

May 28, 2015

HAVANA (AP) — Ten young female crocodiles born in Sweden are to be released in their parents' former swampy home in Cuba after being returned to the Caribbean island.

The Skansen Zoo in Stockholm sent the reptiles to Cuba's National Zoo in April to help encourage reproduction of the protected species native to the island. Hiram Fernandez, a veterinarian at the Cuban zoo, says the reptiles will be released soon in Zapata Swamp, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) southeast of the capital. Their ranks have been thinned by hunting and diminishing habitat, with few examples of Crocodylus rhombifer still found in Zapata Swamp and Cuba's Isle of Youth.

Fidel Castro in the 1980s gave the crocodiles' parents, named Castro and Hilly, to Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Shatalov, who initially took them to Moscow.