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The Turkish president has strongly condemned Monday the mine attack perpetrated by PKK terrorists, which have killed and wounded several soldiers in the southeastern province of Hakkari.

Norway supports Georgia’s NATO membership and will remain faithful to this idea at the next summit of the Alliance.

Die britische Regierung will für die Finanzierung von Flüchtlingsunterkünften einen Teil ihres Entwicklungshilfe-Etats nutzen.

Es war eine einmalige Welle der Hilfsbereitschaft, die über das Wochenende rund 15.000 Flüchtlingen vor allem aus Syrien, aber auch aus Afghanistan, Pakistan und dem Irak verhalf, aus dem chaotischen Ungarn nach Österreich und Deutschland zu gelangen.

The 4th session of the ministers of education of the Turkic Council, the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States, has been held in Astana, AzerTag reports.

September 5, 2015 (JUBA) -The cabinet in South Sudan passed on Friday two administrative decisions, endorsing the formation of a high level committee to oversee implementation of the peace deal recently signed to end months of conflict in the nation.

South Sudan cabinet in session September 1, 2012 (file/photo ST)

Also unanimously approved was a resolution applauding President Salva Kiir's decision to sign the compromise peace agreement with the armed opposition faction led by his former deputy-turned rebel leader, Riek Machar, despite raising serious reservations.

The same peace agreement was also signed by Pagan Amum, South Sudan's ruling party (SPLM) secretary general, who represented the country's former political detainees.

Analysts say Kiir was intending to reject the deal after allegedly coming under pressure from some government officials who felt some provisions in the accord interfered with the country's sovereignty, but rescinded his decision following threats of sanctions.

South Sudan's information minister, Michael Makuei Lueth told reporters that the cabinet had resolved to endorse an earlier resolution of the council of ministers chaired by the incumbent vice president, applauding the decision of the president to sign the deal and agreed to form a high level committee to oversee the implementation of the deal.

“The council has resolved that the president should appoint a high level committee to oversee the implementation of the agreement on the resolution of the conflict in the republic of South Sudan. The members said that the mistakes of the CPA (Comprehensive Peace Agreement) should not be repeated in this agreement. The CPA did not have a committee tasked to oversee the implementation", he said on Friday.

Lueth, also the government spokesperson, urged the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to facilitate the implementation of the deal, claiming the regional bloc had placed itself at the centre of the decision making process and implementation.

“IGAD should not drag their feet. They should come out and facilitate the implementation of this agreement because it has been designed in such a way that it places the IGAD at the centre of decision making process and in the implementation of the agreement itself unlike the CPA which gave the parties a complete responsibility to implement the agreement by themselves”, the minister told the state-owned SSTV.

Analysts view the call on IGAD to facilitate the implementation of the peace accord to mean government's lack of financial resources to handle it, given the fact that it ahas been unable to secure loans to close a persistent monthly budget deficit of $200m.

(ST)

September 6, 2015 (ADDIS ABABA) – South Sudan's armed opposition faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) led by the country's former vice president, Riek Machar, said they have submitted a letter of protest to the East African regional bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), over continues violations of ceasefire by president Salva Kiir's government.

SPLA soldiers sit at the back of a pick-up truck in Malakal, Upper Nile state January 12, 2014. (Photo Reuters/Andreea Campeanu)

The opposition said government's forces and helicopter gunships have continued to carry out attacks on their positions in the country's oil-rich states of Upper Nile and Unity, which will be governed by the SPLM-IO in accordance with the peace agreement.

“We have submitted a letter of protest to IGAD mediation over these ceasefire violations by the regime in Juba,” Machar's spokesman, James Gatdet Dak, told Sudan Tribune when contacted on Sunday.

He accused the government of lacking political will of commitment to respecting the ceasefire declared on 29 August and implementing the peace deal they signed on 26 August.

“For the past four days, government forces have been attacking our bases in Upper Nile state, to the west bank of the River Nile near Malakal, using ground troops backed by helicopter gunships. They have also moved out from Unity state's capital, Bentiu, and begun to attack our bases near Nhialdiu. These are serious violations,” he said.

Dak denied government claims that the rebels had been delaying the conduct of the workshop on the ceasefire arrangements scheduled in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, saying the leadership had already selected senior military officers to take part in the workshop after ratifying the peace agreement beginning on Tuesday.

He said it was important to first ratify the peace deal in accordance with the provisions of the accord itself before implementation of other provisions kicked in.

Dak argued that in the peace agreement, the declaration and respect of the permanent ceasefire came first followed by ratification of the peace agreement and then the ceasefire workshop and so forth.

He accused the government of violating the very ceasefire which should be respected first before the workshop in Addis Ababa.

In a separate statement, SPLA-IO military spokesperson, Colonel William Gatjiath Deng, also claimed that continued attacks by president Kiir's forces on rebel positions took place on Sunday in Upper Nile state, alleging that Ugandan helicopters took part in the attack.

“This afternoon at 12:00AM, two Ugandan helicopter gunships used by the government of South Sudan continuing aerial bombardment at our bases in Panyikang county, Tonga and Nyijuat payam in Upper Nile state. They are targeting both military and local civilian population around. The SPLA/Juba faction is continuing making random shooting at civilians and burns some villages nearby,” said Col. Deng in a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Sunday.

President Kiir in his remarks during a meeting on Sunday with a tribal Jieng [Dinka] Council of Elders admitted that his army violated the ceasefire, but blamed it on undisciplined officers, warning them of punitive actions unless they respected his ceasefire orders.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in New York has been discussing a US-led draft sanctions on individuals in the parties or party which is seen to be violating the ceasefire and spoiling implementation of the deal. The sanctions would include assets freeze, travel bans and arms embargo, among others.

(ST)

Quelques gelées au sol se sont même produites jusqu'à basse altitude pour la première fois depuis le printemps dernier.

Csehország elnöke, Milos Zeman egyetért az euroszkeptikus elődje, Vaclav Klaus bevándorlás-ellenes kezdeményezésével. A volt elnök petíciót indított, amelyben követeli az ország határainak sérthetetlenségét és hogy a parlament utasítsa vissza az Európából erőltetett menekültkvótát. Milos Zeman augus...

Le quatorzième Congrès forestier mondial s’ouvre ce lundi 7 septembre à Durban, en Afrique du Sud. C’est la première fois que cette conférence organisée tous les six ans par l’Organisation des Nations unies pour l’alimentation et l’agriculture (FAO), se tient sur le sol africain. La rencontre 2015 aura pour thème : « Les forêts et les peuples : investir dans un avenir durable ». Une journée spéciale sera consacrée aux défis auxquels l’Afrique fait face.

Denouncing the systematic cultural cleansing afflicting societies in Syria and Iraq as &#8220crimes against all of humanity,&#8221 United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson and the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, met in Paris today to discuss the destruction of cultural heritage and possible measures to counter the rise of violent extremism.

The United Nations special envoy on the Middle East today expressed deep sadness that Reham Dawabsha has succumb to the wounds she received in a terrorist attack in a West Bank village in late July that also killed her husband and infant son, calling the tragedy &#8220a shocking example of the destructive nature of extremism.&#8221

While the world&#39s forests continue to shrink as populations increase and woodlands are converted to agriculture and other uses, over the past 25 years, the rate of net global deforestation has slowed down by more than 50 per cent, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a report published today.

As the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) continues to face challenges in funding its emergency response in Syria, the agency&#39s Executive Director Ertharin Cousin has thanked U2 lead singer and ONE co-founder Bono, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Ireland&#39s Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney for their efforts to give voice and support to the world&#39s hungry poor.

Supporting the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be a key focus for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in years to come, Director General Yukiya Amano told a meeting of the Agency&#39s Board of Governors in Vienna today, where he also provided an update on the application of nuclear safeguards in Iran, Democratic Republic of Korea and Syria.

Winning a five-year contract for the operation and support of the NATO Submarine Rescue System has reaffirmed JFD as the global market leader in submarine rescue. Richard Scott reports UK-based JFD - known previously as James Fisher Defence - took over the running of the NATO Submarine Rescue

The French Army continues to carry out parachute drops as part of its 'Barkhane' counter-insurgency operation against Islamist militants operating in the Sahara. The French Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on 3 September that the latest in a series of such drops had been carried out by its

The Polish Armaments Group (PGZ) unveiled several new developments and variants of the Rosomak 8x8 family at the MSPO defence exhibition held in Kielce from 1-4 September. These included the modernised Rosomak-M, the uprated Rosomak-XP, a Rosomak direct support vehicle armed with a 120 mm cannon,

Key Points Northrop Grumman's JSTARS offering could be delivered to the USAF and enter service by 2021 The acceleration would avoid the 2022-28 time frame when the air force is scheduled to be procuring its three most costly recapitalisation efforts Northrop Grumman's Joint Surveillance Target

Rheinmetall has confirmed it is offering the ARTEC Boxer 8x8 multirole armoured vehicle to meet an Australian requirement under Project Land 400 Phase 2 for 225 combat reconnaissance vehicles (CRVs). In a 3 September statement - issued the same day that tenders closed - Rheinmetall disclosed it