NICOSIA: The United Nations refugee agency on Friday accused government authorities in ethnically divided Cyprus of rounding up dozens of migrants and forcing them back inside a UN-controlled buffer zone that they crossed to seek asylum.
UNHCR spokeswoman Emilia Strovolidou said that as many as 99 asylum seekers were “pushed back” into the buffer zone between mid-May and Aug. 8.
The asylum seekers entered the European Union member country from the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north and crossed the buffer zone into the south where they could file their applications with the internationally recognized government.
Of those 99 migrants, 76 people from countries including Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Somalia, Bangladesh, Sudan, Iraq and Gaza remain stranded in two locations inside the buffer zone, to the west and east of the capital Nicosia. They include 18 minors, six of whom are unaccompanied.
Strovolidou said although the UN has supplied the asylum seekers with military food rations, tents, blankets, toilets and washing facilities, they remain exposed to extreme heat, dust and humidity.
“Their humanitarian needs are increasing, and their physical and psychological condition is deteriorating as they continue to remain in these conditions, some for nearly three months,” Strovolidou told The Associated Press.
She said some are survivors of gender-based violence and trafficking and people suffering from serious illnesses such as cancer, asthma and serious mental health issues.
Cyprus was split in 1974 when Turkiye invaded after supporters of a union with Greece mounted a coup with the backing of the junta then ruling Greece. Cyprus joined the EU in 2004, but only the south enjoys full membership benefits.
Aleem Siddique, spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus, urged an immediate end to the “pushbacks” and for Cypriot authorities to live up to their obligations under international and EU law.
“In nearly all instances, the asylum seekers found their way into government-controlled areas from where they were intercepted by the Cyprus Police and forcibly dumped into the buffer zone after having their passports and mobile phones confiscated,” Siddique told AP.
He said the UN has shared video evidence of the “pushback operations” with Cypriot authorities.
“The buffer zone in not a refugee camp,” Siddique said.
The Cyprus government has taken a tough line with migrant crossings along the 180-kilometer (120 mile) length of the buffer zone, insisting that it would not permit it to become a gateway for illegal migration.
Deputy Minister for Migration Nicholas Ioannides said earlier this week that the government doesn’t want to be at odds with the UN and is in talks with the UNHCR to resolve the issue.
What complicates the issue are the peculiarities of the buffer zone itself, which isn’t a formal border and as such. Cypriot authorities say the UN is mistaken when it speaks about pushbacks that specifically pertain to “expulsions at recognized sea or land borders.”
In a written statement to AP, the ministry said migrants who cross the buffer zone arrive on the island’s north from Turkiye — a safe country — and then cross southward along remote stretches of the porous buffer zone where there are no physical barriers preventing crossings.
According to an established legal framework, Cypriot police and other authorities are lawfully empowered to conduct “effective surveillance” of the buffer zone in order to combat illegal migration by “discouraging people from circumventing checks” at all eight lawful crossing points.
The ministry said given the “tremendous migratory pressures” Cyprus is under, the government has adopted a “principled stance” to avoid turning the buffer zone into a “route for irregular migration” while offering humanitarian assistance to stranded migrants.
Human rights lawyer Nicoletta Charalambidou is contesting the Cypriot government’s claim that it’s acting in line with international and EU law.
She has launched legal action on behalf of 46 stranded migrants to get Cypriot authorities to allow them to submit asylum applications.
“The government has an obligation to allow these people to file asylum claims,” she told AP. She added that asylum applications should be assessed individually to determine if conditions of safety exist in Turkiye for each applicant.
UN refugee agency accuses Cyprus government of pushing asylum seekers into a UN buffer zone
https://arab.news/nj8dq
UN refugee agency accuses Cyprus government of pushing asylum seekers into a UN buffer zone
- UNHCR spokeswoman Emilia Strovolidou said that as many as 99 asylum seekers were “pushed back” into the buffer zone between mid-May and Aug. 8
- Of those 99 migrants, 76 people from countries including Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Somalia, Bangladesh, Sudan, Iraq and Gaza remain stranded in two locations
Philippines says ‘we have not lost’ South China Sea reef after pullout
- Beijing claims most of the South China Sea, including Sabina Shoal, despite an international tribunal ruling that its assertions have no merit
Manila had deployed the coast guard flagship BRP Teresa Magbanua to Sabina Shoal in April to stop Beijing from building an artificial island there, as it has atop several other disputed features in the strategic waterway.
But the ship was abruptly called back to the western Philippine island of Palawan, with Manila citing damage from an earlier clash with Chinese ships, ailing crew members, dwindling food and bad weather.
“We have not lost anything. We did not abandon anything. Escoda Shoal is still part of our exclusive economic zone,” Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela told a news conference Monday, using the Filipino name for Sabina Shoal.
Beijing claims most of the South China Sea, including Sabina Shoal, despite an international tribunal ruling that its assertions have no merit.
It has acted aggressively toward Philippine government vessels at Sabina and other disputed features in recent months, ramming, blocking, water-cannoning and even boarding them, causing damage and injuries.
The confrontations have sparked concern that the United States, a military ally of Manila, could be drawn into armed conflict with China.
With the Chinese harassing resupply missions, Tarriela said it came to a point that the BRP Teresa Magbanua’s water desalinator broke down, forcing the crew to rely on rainwater for drinking “for more than one month now.”
He said the crew were also reduced to “eating porridge for three weeks,” which “obviously is not nutritious.”
Following the ship’s pullout, China’s coast guard insisted on Sunday that Beijing “has indisputable sovereignty” over Sabina.
It warned the Philippines to “stop inciting propaganda and risking infringements,” adding Beijing would “continue to carry out rights protection and law enforcement activities” there.
But Tarriela on Monday maintained the withdrawal from Sabina was “not a defeat,” rejecting comparisons to the Scarborough Shoal, which Manila lost to Beijing after a similar months-long standoff in 2012.
He said it would be “impossible” for China to totally stop the Philippines from sending its ships around the 137-square-kilometer (53-square-mile) Sabina Shoal.
“The coast guard can carry out whatever it takes for us to make sure that China will not be able to occupy and even reclaim Escoda Shoal,” he said.
“We have other coast guard vessels that, as we speak right now, may have been or may already be proceeding to Escoda Shoal,” Tarriela said without providing details, citing operational security considerations.
Sabina is located 140 kilometers (86 miles) west of Palawan and about 1,200 kilometers from Hainan island, the nearest major Chinese landmass.
North Korea’s foreign minister leaves for Russia, embassy in Pyongyang says
- Valentina Matviyenko, speaker of the Federation Council, Russia’s upper house of parliament, said in June that delegations from almost a hundred countries were expected at the forum
MOSCOW: North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui has flown to Russia to attend the fourth Eurasian Women’s Forum and the BRICS Women’s Forum in Saint Petersburg, Russia’s embassy in North Korea said on Monday.
“Russian Ambassador (Alexander Ivanovich) Matsegora saw off North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui at the Pyongyang International Airport,” the embassy said in a post on its Vkontakte social network.
The embassy said that the minister’s speeches and participation in discussions are planned at the forum, which will take place Sept. 18 to 20.
Valentina Matviyenko, speaker of the Federation Council, Russia’s upper house of parliament, said in June that delegations from almost a hundred countries were expected at the forum.
“We will strive to ensure a record foreign representation in the entire history of the Forum,” Matviyenko said in June, according to a transcript provided on the Council’s website.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has attended previous meetings of the forum, but the Kremlin is yet to announce his participation in this year’s forum.
Warming ties between the countries reached a new high this year when Putin signed a deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that included a mutual defense pledge during a visit to Pyongyang.
The United States and its allies have accused North Korea of helping Russia by supplying weapons for its war in Ukraine in return for economic and other military assistance. Moscow and Pyongyang have denied this.
Death toll rises as torrential rain and flooding force evacuations in central Europe
- Several countries have already been hit by severe flooding, including Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania
- The floods have claimed six lives in Romania and one each in Austria and Poland, while four were declared missing in Czech Republic
PRAGUE: The death toll was rising in central European countries on Sunday after days of heavy rains caused widespread flooding and forced evacuations.
Several Central European nations have already been hit by severe flooding, including Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania. Slovakia and Hungary might come next as a result of a low pressure system from northern Italy dumping record rainfall in the region since Thursday.
The floods have claimed six lives in Romania and one each in Austria and Poland. In the Czech Republic, four people who were swept away by waters were missing, police said.
It’s not over yet
Most parts of the Czech Republic have been affected as authorities declared the highest flood warnings at around 100 places across the country. But the situation was worst in two northeastern regions that recorded the biggest rainfall in recent days, including the Jeseniky mountains near the Polish border.
In the city of Opava, up to 10,000 people out of a population of around 56,000 have been asked to move to higher ground. Rescuers used boats to transport people to safety in a neighborhood flooded by the raging Opava River.
“There’s no reason to wait,” Mayor Tomáš Navrátil told Czech public radio. He said that the situation was worse than during the last devastating floods in 1997, known as the “flood of the century.”
“We have to focus on saving lives,” Prime Minister Petr Fiala told Czech public television on Sunday. His government was set to meet Monday to assess the damages.
The worst “is not behind us yet,” the prime minister warned.
President Petr Pavel sounded more optimistic, saying “it’s obvious we’ve learned a lesson from the previous crisis.”
At least 4 missing and villages cut off
Thousands of others also were evacuated in the towns of Krnov, which was almost completely flooded, and Cesky Tesin. The Oder River that flows to Poland was reaching extreme levels in the city of Ostrava and in Bohumin, prompting evacuations.
Ostrava, the regional capital, is the third-largest Czech city. Mayor Jan Dohnal said the city will face major traffic disruptions in the days to come. Almost no trains were operating in the region.
Towns and villages in the Jeseniky mountains, including the local center of Jesenik, were inundated and isolated by raging waters that turned roads into rivers. The military sent a helicopter to help with evacuations.
Jesenik Mayor Zdenka Blistanova told Czech public television that several houses in her and other nearby towns have been destroyed by the floods. A number of bridges and roads have been badly damaged.
About 260,000 households were without power Sunday morning in the entire country, while traffic was halted on many roads, including the major D1 highway.
A firefighter dies as Lower Austria declared a disaster zone
A firefighter died after “slipping on stairs” while pumping out a flooded basement in the town of Tulln, the head of the fire department of Lower Austria, Dietmar Fahrafellner, told reporters on Sunday.
Authorities declared the entire state of Lower Austria in the northeastern part of the country a disaster zone, while 10,000 relief forces have so far evacuated 1,100 houses there. Emergency personnel have started setting up accommodation for residents who had to flee their homes due to the flooding.
The municipality of Lilienfeld with about 25,000 residents is cut off from the outside world. Residents were told to boil tap water as a precaution.
The situation is particularly dangerous along the Kamp River, which flows into the Danube. The Ottenstein reservoir on the river functions as a buffer, but exceeding its limits could cause more flooding, experts say.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said the situation “continues to worsen.” He said 2,400 soldiers were ready to support the relief effort in Austria. Of those, 1,000 soldiers will deploy to the disaster zone in Lower Austria, where dams were beginning to burst.
“We are experiencing difficult and dramatic hours in Lower Austria. For many people in Lower Austria these will probably be the most difficult hours of their lives,” said Johanna Mikl-Leitner, the governor of Lower Austria.
In Vienna, the Wien River overflowed its banks, flooding homes and forcing first evacuations of nearby houses.
Romania reports 2 more flooding victims
Romanian authorities said Sunday that another two people had died in the hard-hit eastern county of Galati after four were reported dead there a day earlier, following unprecedented rain.
Dramatic flooding in Poland
In Poland, one person was presumed dead in floods in the southwest, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Sunday.
Tusk said the situation was “dramatic” around the town of Klodzko, with about 25,000 residents, located in a valley in the Sudetes mountains near the border with the Czech Republic. Helicopters were used to pick up people from roofs in a few cases.
In Glucholazy, rising waters overflowed a river embankment and flooded streets and houses. Mayor Paweł Szymkowicz said, “we are drowning,” and appealed to residents to evacuate to high ground.
A bridge in the town collapsed under the flood pressure and a police station building was knocked down in Stronie Śląskie, after floodwaters burst through a dam. Submerged cars could be seen in many places in the Kłodzko Valley region bordering the Czech Republic, while a new flood wave was expected there.
In the city of Jelenia Gora, which has 75,000 residents, downtown streets were flooded after one of the embankments burst on the Bobr River. City authorities have warned residents they may need to evacuate as more flooding was moving toward the city.
Energy supplies and communications were cut off in some flooded areas, and regions may resort to using the satellite-based Starlink service, Tusk said.
The weather change arrived following a hot start to September in the region. Scientists have documented Earth’s hottest summer, breaking a record set just a year ago.
A hotter atmosphere, driven by human-caused climate change, can lead to more intense rainfall.
Traces of this Pakistani megacity’s past are vanishing, but one flamboyant pink palace endures
- Karachi’s population grows by around 2 percent every year and with dozens of communities and cultures competing for space there’s little effort to protect the city’s historic sites
KARACHI, Pakistan: Stained glass windows, a sweeping staircase and embellished interiors make Mohatta Palace a gem in Karachi, a Pakistani megacity of 20 million people. Peacocks roam the lawn and the sounds of construction and traffic melt away as visitors enter the grounds.
The pink stone balustrades, domes and parapets look like they’ve been plucked from the northern Indian state of Rajasthan, a relic of a time when Muslims and Hindus lived side by side in the port city.
But magnificence is no guarantee of survival in a city where land is scarce and development is rampant. Demolition, encroachment, neglect, piecemeal conservation laws and vandalism are eroding signs of Karachi’s past.
The building’s trustees have fended off an attempt to turn it into a dental college, but there’s still a decadeslong lawsuit in which heirs of a former owner are trying to take control of the land. It sat empty for almost two decades before formally opening as a museum in 1999.
The palace sits on prime real estate in the desirable neighborhood of Old Clifton, among mansions, businesses and upmarket restaurants.
The land under buildings like the Mohatta Palace is widely coveted, said palace lawyer Faisal Siddiqi. “It shows that greed is more important than heritage.”
Karachi’s population grows by around 2 percent every year and with dozens of communities and cultures competing for space there’s little effort to protect the city’s historic sites.
For most Pakistanis, the palace is the closest they’ll get to the architectural splendor of India’s Rajasthan, because travel restrictions and hostile bureaucracies largely keep people in either country from crossing the border for leisure, study or work.
Karachi’s multicultural past makes it harder to find champions for preservation than in a city like Lahore, with its strong connection to the Muslim-dominated Mughal Empire, said Heba Hashmi, a heritage manager and maritime archaeologist.
“The scale of organic local community support needed to prioritize government investment in the preservation effort is nearly impossible to garner in a city as socially fragmented as Karachi,” she said.
Mohatta Palace is a symbol of that diversity. Hindu entrepreneur Shivratan Mohatta had it built in the 1920s because he wanted a coastal residence for his ailing wife to benefit from the Arabian Sea breeze. Hundreds of donkey carts carried the distinctively colored pink stone from Jodhpur, now across the border in India.
He left after partition in 1947, when India and Pakistan were carved from the former British Empire as independent nations, and for a time the palace was occupied by the Foreign Ministry.
Next, it passed into the hands of Pakistani political royalty as the home of Fatima Jinnah, the younger sister of Pakistan’s first leader and a powerful politician in her own right.
After her death, the authorities gave the building to her sister Shirin, but Shirin’s passing in 1980 sparked a court fight between people saying they were her relatives, and a court ordered the building sealed.
The darkened and empty palace, with its overgrown gardens and padlocked gates, caught people’s imagination. Rumors spread of spirits and supernatural happenings.
Someone who heard the stories as a young girl was Nasreen Askari, now the museum’s director.
“As a child I used to rush past,” she said. “I was told it was a bhoot (ghost) bungalow and warned, don’t go there.”
Visitor Ahmed Tariq had heard a lot about the palace’s architecture and history. “I’m from Bahawalpur (in Punjab, India) where we have the Noor Mahal palace, so I wanted to look at this one. It’s well-maintained, there’s a lot of detail and effort in the presentations. It’s been a good experience.”
But the money to maintain the palace isn’t coming from admission fees.
General admission is 30 rupees, or 10 US cents, and it’s free for students, children and seniors. On a sweltering afternoon, the palace drew just a trickle of visitors.
It’s open Tuesday to Sunday but closes on public holidays; even the 11 a.m.-6 p.m. hours are not conducive for a late-night city like Karachi.
The palace is rented out for corporate and charitable events. Local media report that residents grumble about traffic and noise levels.
But the palace doesn’t welcome all attention, even if it could help carve out a space for the building in modern Pakistan.
Rumors about ghosts still spread by TikTok, pulling in influencers looking for spooky stories. But the palace bans filming inside, and briefly banned TikTokers.
“It is not the attention the trustees wanted,” said Askari. “That’s what happens when you have anything of consequence or unusual. It catches the eye.”
A sign on the gates also prohibits fashion shoots, weddings and filming for commercials.
“We could make so much money, but the floodgates would open,” said Askari. “There would be non-stop weddings and no space for visitors or events, so much cleaning up as well.”
Hashmi, the archaeologist, said there is often a strong sense of territorialism around the sites that have been preserved.
“It counterproductively converts a site of public heritage into an exclusive and often expensive artifact for selective consumption.”
Russia launches drone attack on Kyiv, Ukraine’s officials say
KYIV: Russia launched a drone attack overnight on Kyiv, with air defense units engaged in repelling the strikes, Ukrainian military officials said on Monday on the Telegram messaging app.
Reuters’ witnesses reported a series of loud explosions in what sounded like air defense systems in operation.
