What happens when US Border Patrol agents shoot across international lines, killing Mexicans in their own country?

Fault Lines on Al Jazeera

In October 2012, a US Border Patrol agent fired through the 20-foot steel fence separating Nogales, Arizona from Nogales, Mexico and killed an unarmed 16-year-old Mexican boy, putting 10 bullets through his body.

This was not an isolated incident by a rogue agent, but just the latest in a string of cross-border shootings that raise serious questions about oversight and accountability of the Border Patrol. In the last three years, Border Patrol agents have killed six Mexican citizens on their native soil, firing through the border to threaten and injure even more.

One man was shot while picnicking with his family on the banks of the Rio Grande. A 15-year-old boy was hit between the eyes by a bullet for allegedly throwing rocks.

None of these cases have led to any known disciplinary action or criminal charges against the border police, and US courts have rejected claims made by victims’ families, asserting that Mexican citizens do not have the same constitutional protections as US citizens – effectively giving the agents carte blanche to act with impunity.

Fault Lines travels to the border town of Nogales – currently the nexus for this increasingly lawless law enforcement – to meet the Mexican families who have lost their young sons at the hands of US agents who many accuse of being immune from the law.

ZAMBOANGA/MANILA, 18 September 2013 (IRIN) – Aid workers are struggling to provide assistance to more than 100,000 people displaced by fighting in Mindanao, a crisis that could undermine Philippine President Benigno Aquino’s efforts to bring peace to the country’s turbulent south.

“There are reports that some of the evacuation centres are overcrowded, and there are serious WASH [water, sanitation and hygiene] concerns, as well as access issues to non-food items,” confirmed David Carden, head of office for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the Philippines. “We need to ensure that sufficient assistance is available to all those affected.”

According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), as the crisis entered its 10th day on 18 September, the number of displaced in the city of Zamboanga and Basilan Province has swelled to 109,686, with humanitarian agencies calling on both sides to protect civilians and aid workers on the front lines.

Thirty-seven percent of the city’s population is now displaced, the International Organization for Migration reported on 17 September.

Of the displaced, some 95,000 are now staying in more than 30 evacuation centres, including the city’s main sports stadium, where lack of water and toilets is quickly becoming a concern, aid workers say. Over 50,000 people at the Joaquin Enriquez Sports Complex are now sharing 33 portable toilets, a dire situation that could pose health and sanitation problems soon.

The rest of the displaced are staying with their families or friends, but remain vulnerable from desperate Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rebels now fleeing the assault.

At the same time, residents living along coastal areas were staying in small boats anchored near the sea, only venturing inland to seek relief goods.

“We are just in the evacuation phase. The more challenging part is when they return to their destroyed communities and start to rehabilitate and rebuild,” Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman, who is supervising relief work in Zamboanga, told IRIN.

The crisis began on 9 September, when hundreds of MNLF rebels seeking to hoist their independence flag at the Zamboanga city hall seized control of six heavily populated coastal villages.

Photo: Guy Oliver/IRIN:  Thousands have been impacted by the unrest

Community response

Although there are reports that food stocks are sufficient to meet the current needs in the evacuation centres, the sudden influx of displaced is posing challenges in food distribution due to a lack of personnel and equipment, OCHA reported on 17 September.

Food supplies have been bolstered by local businesses helping to provide tens of thousands of food packs, and the Philippines Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has deployed health workers to help counsel the evacuees, many of whom were distressed after seeing their loved ones hurt or their homes burned down.

“Many are angry and are asking when this would end,” said regional civil defence official Adriano Fuego, describing the situation as “tense”.

“They [evacuees] are helpless at the moment… Even if they want to flee the city, the airport is closed,” he said.

The rebels razed entire communities and took dozens of hostages, whom they used as human shields. Many were trapped in their homes amid the crossfire, while the Philippine Red Cross temporarily suspended its operations in some areas after 10 of its staff and volunteers were injured.

“Since the fighting began, our Red Cross staff and volunteers are risking their lives and working around the clock to assist people displaced by the stand-off in Zamboanga,” Philippine Red Cross Secretary General Gwendolyn Pang said on 15 September.

Troops intensified their campaign on the fifth day of the crisis, deploying two attack helicopters that fired rockets toward enemy positions, allowing ground forces to significantly retake ground from the rebels. But the MNLF rebels have continued to engage in heavy sporadic fighting, using snipers and mortar fire to slow the advance.

Over the past two days, some 149 hostages have either been rescued or managed to escape to safety, where they were tearfully reunited with their families.

Air and ferry services and schools have been suspended for days, but shops and banks have slowly begun to reopen in Zamboanga, a major port city on southern Mindanao Island, which previously voted against joining an autonomous region once under the control of the MNLF.

Photo: Contributor/IRIN: Residents camp along the shoreline for shelter

Peace efforts threatened

Meanwhile, questions remain as to the fallout this will have on the ongoing peace process.

Nur Misuari founded the MNLF in the early 1970s to fight for an independent Islamic state in the south, which local Muslims consider their ancestral home. The long-running insurgency has led to a proliferation of other armed gangs and a black market of unlicensed guns that contribute to the region’s instability.

Over 150,000 have reportedly died in the decades-long conflict. In 1996, however, Misuari signed a peace pact with Manila, ending his bid for independence in favour of the creation of an autonomous region, where he subsequently became governor. But the government later called the region a “failed experiment”, in which Misuari’s autonomous regime squandered millions of dollars in aid and failed to improve the lives of Muslims.

The government is now negotiating with the 12,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), an MNLF splinter group, for the creation of what is envisioned to be an expanded autonomous region that would supersede the one handed to the MNLF, a development that Misuari and a number of still-loyal fighters oppose, which triggered the Zamboanga siege.

The siege has led to significant economic losses, and is now undermining President Benigno Aquino’s aim to put an end to cycle of violence by the time he ends his term in 2016.

“The Zamboanga city crisis must end in order to prevent further loss of innocent lives and avert more damaging ramifications to the region’s economy,” said Luwalhati Antonio, head of the Mindanao Development Authority and an Aquino aide. “We are currently assisting in the process of assessing the full extent of the damage, as well as the quantifiable impact to the region’s economy, in order to determine immediate recommendations for post-conflict rehabilitation.”

But the crisis appears to be far from over, with the military saying they expect the rebels to continue putting up a fight. At the same time, aid workers predict that, even when the conflict is over, the humanitarian consequences will last for quite some time.

“We will continue to press forward in this calibrated military response. As to when this would end, we can’t give you a specific time frame other than to say we hope to finish this as soon as we can,” military spokesman Lt-Col Ramon Zagala said.

According to the Philippine Army, the death toll now stands at 97, which includes 78 MNLF fighters, 12 security forces and seven civilians, with dozens wounded on both sides.

By Antony Gitonga

NAIVASHA, KENYA: It was song and dance in five IDP camps in Mai Mahiu Naivasha after the government embarked on a Sh3.3 billion programme to resettle them by the end of this month.

The IDPs met this with jubilation but expressed their pessimism and concern over the pending cases facing the top two leaders in the ICC.

Addressing the IDPs,  the Principal secretary in the ministry of devolution Gideon Konchellah said all the profiled families would get Sh400,000.

Konchellah said that over 8,200 IDPs and forest evictees would benefit from the funds and challenged them to use the cash wisely.

“The government will use Sh3.3 billion to resettle the IDPs and forest evictees as per President’s promise and we expect this exercise to be through by end of this month,” he said.

Konchellah was speaking in Vumilia camp in Mai Mahiu Naivasha where over 250 families will be the first beneficiaries of the funds.

The camp chairman Francis Karinge welcomed the funds and thanked the government for agreeing to end their suffering.

“This is a dream come true and we shall make sure that we put the cash in good use and develop what we have,” he said.

Originally sourced from Standard Newspaper in Kenya

JOHANNESBURG, 10 September 2013 (IRIN)

Many Angolan refugees living in South Africa have been left undocumented after a deadline for the cessation of their refugee status elapsed before they were able to secure immigration permits or exemption decisions.

In May, the South African government announced plans to implement a recommendation by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to end refugee status for Angolans who had fled their country due to the civil war, which ended in 2002. Nearly 6,000 Angolan refugees, the majority of whom live in Cape Town, were given until 31 August to either repatriate to Angola, apply for an exemption in order to remain in South Africa as a refugee, or apply for a temporary residence permit under “relaxed” documentation requirements.

Help desks were set up at Refugee Reception Offices to give the refugees information and help filling out the required forms.

Reluctant to return

Very few of the refugees were interested in returning home. In fact, according to the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town, which has been assisting Angolans affected by the cessation process, by the August deadline only 11 refugees had done so.

“None of the guys I know want to go back to Angola,” said Manuel Panzo, chairperson of the Congress of Student and Angola Community, a group representing Angolans in South Africa. He described the government of Angola under the leadership of President José Eduardo dos Santos as “a totalitarian regime”, adding that former political activists were “scared to go back”.

Others were reluctant to give up work and family ties that they had established in South Africa over more than a decade of residence.

Window closed

Two of Angolan refugee Joao Pedro’s three children were born in Cape Town, where he is supporting his family through his job as a pipe fitter. Following the May announcement, he decided to apply for a residence permit, but on approaching the help desk at the Cape Town Refugee Office was told that he would first have to apply for an Angolan passport.

He made the passport application in mid-July, but did not receive his passport before the 31 August deadline. As a result, he missed the three-month window that would have allowed him to apply for a two-year temporary residency permit under relaxed requirements and is now, essentially, undocumented.

“I have no clue what’s going to happen. At any time they could come to my home and deport me and my family”

“I have no clue what’s going to happen,” he told IRIN. “At any time they could come to my home and deport me and my family.”

Corey Johnson, an advocacy officer with the Scalabrini Centre, said that the majority of Angolan refugees who had applied for passports were in the same situation, but that the Department of Home Affairs has said it will not extend the window.

At a 31 August meeting at the Cape Town Refugee Office between deputy home affairs minister Fatima Chohan and a group of Angolan refugees, Chohan reportedly told the refugees that her department would not be extending any statuses, and that once their passports arrived, they would be required to leave South Africa within two weeks and apply for immigration permits at the South African embassy in Angola. She warned that those who did not comply could be repatriated and denied re-entry into South Africa.

“Concerns were raised by various people that three months probably wasn’t going to be long enough [for the process]. The whole time, [the Department of Home Affairs] said no one would be left undocumented, but here we are,” said Johnson. “It’s been a total about-face on the cessation process and the effects of it are quite severe.”

He added that Scalabrini had already received reports of affected refugees losing their jobs, having problems accessing their bank accounts and being scared to leave their homes due to their lack of documentation.

Lack of communication

Pedro still has his job but said that he would most likely lose it if he had to return to Angola to apply for permits for himself and his wife and children, a process that could take months with no guarantee of the outcome.

“Basically, there’s a lack of communication and a lack of commitment between the three parties – UNHCR, the Angolan government and Home Affairs,” he said. “We feel very disappointed.”

At a meeting between Home Affairs, the Angolan consulate and UNHCR that took place on 6 September, UNHCR advocated for the Angolan government to speed up the issuing of passports and for the South African government to give refugees awaiting their passports or decisions on exemption applications some kind of transitional status that would not leave them undocumented.

“The government is considering these options and how they could be adopted within the existing legal frameworks,” said UNHCR spokesperson Tina Ghelli.

Repeated efforts by IRIN to get the Department of Home Affairs to comment on the issue were unsuccessful.