United Nations -- True to Form

"[The 57-member group Organization of Islamic Cooperation remains committed to a] just and comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution." 
"[The United Nations must end] the Israeli occupation [of Palestine and declare the Trump administration liable for] all the consequences of not retracting from this illegal decision]."
"[We] consider that this dangerous declaration, which aims to change the legal status of the [city], is null and void and lacks any legitimacy."
Organization of Islamic Cooperation statement

"The OIC rejects and condemns the American decision. This is a violation of international law ... and this is a provocation of the feelings of Muslims within the world."
"It will create a situation of instability in the region and in the world."
Yousef al-Othaimeen, secretary general, Organization of Islamic Cooperation

"Now, Muslim countries in addition to a whole lot of others that are allied with the Palestinian cause will recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine."
"And those Islamic countries are ready to sever relations to punish any one country that follows in the footsteps of the United States in recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel."
Marwan Bishara, senior political analyst, Al Jazeera

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during an extraordinary meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul, Turkey, December 13, 2017. (photo credit: REUTERS/KAYHAN OZER/POOL)

"We are here today to say together and in clear language: Jerusalem was, still is and will always be the capital of the State of Palestine." 
"We will apply to the UN Security Council for the annulment of US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital."
"We call on world nations to reconsider their recognition of Israel over its conduct toward Palestinians and its dismissal of decisions by the international community with the backing of the United States."
"We came to say 'no' to the Trump declaration and to the policy of occupation and ethnic cleansing carried out by Israel in Jerusalem."
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas

Today's resolution brought before the United Nations to condemn the Trump administration's recognition of Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the State of Israel, saw most of the nation-members of the UN vote in favour. There were a handful of rejections of the resolution and a larger group of fence-sitters, among them Canada, all of whom abstained, but the resolution carried with a majority vote in favour, non-binding though it is. The Trump administration does not look favourably upon the craven submission of most UN member-countries in supporting this resolution and in so doing backhand-slapping the U.S.

Co-sponsored by Turkey, the current chair of the summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and Yemen, chair of the Arab Group at the United Nations, Mahmoud Abbas characteristically and predictably called the event a resounding success. Believing that his contention that the Palestinians are a distinct and entitled group of Arabs whose heritage decrees that Jerusalem with its undeniable (supported by UNESCO's denying Judaism's historical, Biblical and archaeological links to Jerusalem) Arabic heritage must be recognized as the capital of a nascent Palestinian state despite the falsity of the claim.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose hatred of Israel is clear in his spewing of vitriolic accusations of Israel as a genocidal, terrorist nation, confuses his own country's verifiably documented persecution and slaughter of Armenians, Greeks and Kurds with his version of a country whose civility and just and fair treatment in equality of citizenship with Israeli minorities, religious and ethnic groups are in stark contrast to Turkey's. The sectarian slaughter that is taking place in Yemen scarcely qualifies that country to condemn another in the region whose goal truly is peace. All that has occurred in this as in other instances of Muslim hostility to Judaism is sadly typical of Arab/Muslim countries.

As for the emergency conference called by Erdogan in Istanbul earlier this month to gather the 57 members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation for the purpose of standing together in unified defiance of the American statement on Jerusalem and condemning Israel for thinking it could reclaim its history and heritage and deprive the Arab world of its claims that the heritage and history are its, when in fact it is a well documented usurper, the conference did not go quite as planned when its most important members failed to present themselves. A tepid showing serving to demonstrate just how divided the cooperative members truly are among themselves.

Palestinians protest in the West Bank town of Hebron on 13 December against Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the Israel last week. Photograph: Abed Al Hashlamoun/EPA

Africa Union troops 'raped' girls in Mogadishu, Somalia

BBC News online -- 8 September 2014

The AU force is in Somalia to help the UN-backed government defeat insurgents

African Union (AU) troops raped women and girls seeking medical aid or water from their bases in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, a rights group says. 

The troops had "misused" their power over women fleeing violence and poverty, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.

One Muslim girl, aged 15, reportedly had her headscarf ripped off before being raped.
The AU, which has some 22,000 troops fighting militant Islamists in Somalia, says it will investigate the claims.

In 2012, the UN recorded 1,700 rapes in camps for displaced people in Somalia.
Many were thought to have been carried out by members of the Somali security forces.

Last year, there was a huge public outcry following claims that AU and government soldiers had gang-raped a woman in Mogadishu.

Tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes because of conflict

Al-Shabab carries out periodic attacks in Mogadishu

A joint investigation by the AU and government dismissed the allegation as unfounded, even though neither the woman nor independent witnesses had been interviewed.
Most of the women who were abused lived in camps for displaced people after fleeing violence and the 2011 famine, HRW said.

"The AU can no longer turn a blind eye to the abuses on Amisom [AU Mission in Somalia] bases, as it's undermining the very credibility of the mission," said Liesl Gerntholtz, HRW's women's rights director.

It interviewed 21 women and girls, some as young as 12, who described being raped or sexually exploited by Ugandan or Burundian soldiers in the AU force, HRW said.

Only one rape case, in which the victim was a child, is before Uganda's military court in Kampala, it added.

"Some Amisom soldiers have used humanitarian assistance, provided by the mission, to coerce vulnerable women and girls into sexual activity," HRW said.

"A number of the women and girls interviewed for this report said that they were initially approached for sex in return for money or raped while seeking medical assistance and water on the Amisom bases, particularly the Burundian contingent's base."

A Burundian soldier gave a 15-year-old girl $10 (£6) after raping her, HRW said.
"First he ripped off my hijab [headscarf] and then he attacked me," it quoted her as saying.
The girl had gone to an AU base of Burundian soldiers to collect medicine for her mother who was ill, HRW said.

Somalia has been hit by instability since the overthrow of long-serving ruler Siad Barre in 1991.
The AU force was deployed in 2007, with most of its troops coming from Uganda and Burundi.

More on This Story

Somalia: Failed State

Getting Involved

"They bombed Diabaly. They bombed the town all night long. I am hiding inside a house. Everyone is afraid to go out."
Ibrahim Toure, resident of Diabaly, cowering within his mud-walled home

"I would advise France not to sing their victory song too quickly. They managed to leave Afghanistan. They will never leave Mali."
Omar Ould Hamaha, commander, Movement for Oneness and Jihad, West Africa

Mali, an immense, over-heated desert, difficult as Afghanistan or Pakistan are for any national government to adequately enforce jurisdiction and remain vigilant and effectively responsive to challenges from Islamists dedicated to the return of a global Islamist Caliphate through violent jihad, now has its champion in its battle against Islamism.

Paradoxically, not the combined forces of the African Union. They have not yet made their entry to Mali, despite their stated intentions. It is France, the former colonial master which knows the terrain, speaks the languages, trained the fighters, which has responded forcefully to having sighted Islamist militias marching toward Bamako.

And having done so, and met considerable, surprising resistance with formidable arms never having been suspected in the possession of the jihadists, will now increase the presence of their military from 800 to 2,500. And although President Francois Hollande boasts on the one hand that the work of sweeping away the jihadists will likely take no longer than a week he is also prepared to allow French troops to remain longer.

"We have one objective: To make sure that when we leave, when we end this intervention, there is security in Mali, legitimate leaders, an electoral process and the terrorists no longer threaten its territory", he announced grandiosely while visiting in the United Arab Emirates. "We are confident about the speed with which we will be able to stop the aggressors, the enemy, these terrorists."

An admirable aspiration indeed. And with the modest transport assistance of allies such as Britain, the United States and even more modestly for the moment Canada, the game is afoot. French armoured vehicles even sped toward Diabaly which has been taken by the Islamists who though equipped with old Russian machine guns and other small arms, also are in possession of more effective weaponry, capable of shooting down a French helicopter gunship.

That's determination; despite five full days of air strikes, the Islamists were able to take Diabaly, a town of 35,000 - home to an important military camp. Whose armaments are now in whose possession? Odd that the offensive that was to have been led by thousands of African troops went awry. Despite the pledge by Mali's neighbours, those troops have been tardy, are not yet on the scene.

Somehow, things are never as they seem; solutions are never so simple. Who among NATO and ISAF ever imagined that ten years would pass and Afghanistan still would not be in a secure position with "security, legitimate leaders, an electoral process and the terrorists no longer threatening its territory"?