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May 21, 2004 |
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THE SAUDI FOREIGN MINISTER: VIEWS CONCERNING POLITICAL ISSUES WERE IDENTICAL AT THE GCC EU MEETING. RICE EXPECTS WORSE WEEKS AHEAD IN IRAQ. COLIN POWELL PLEDGES TO RESPECT ANY PULLOUT REQUEST FROM A SOVEREIGN IRAQI GOVERNMENT. Tunisia's President Zine Al-Abidine bin Ali received Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia who delivered the President a message from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz. In a press statement following the meeting, Prince Saud said that at this critical juncture in the Arab world, all attention is focused on the important and pivotal Arab Summit, noting that it will be a transitional Summit from inefficiency to efficiency, seriousness and credibility in the joint Arab action to solve Arab issues. The Saudi leadership recognizes this situation and all will exert their efforts to stand by Tunisia at this critical juncture passed by the Arab world to firmly and decisively affect outstanding Arab issues in Palestine, Iraq and other areas of concern to the Arab countries, Prince Saud stressed. The meeting was attended by Saudi Ambassador to Tunisia Ahmed Ibn Ali Al-Qahtani and a number of Tunisian officials. On the other hand Prince Saud Al-Faisal told his European counterparts at a meeting in Brussels, peace and reforms should go hand in hand in the Middle East and cannot be the object of a tradeoff. "We are deeply concerned when voices are heard suggesting a tradeoff between (the) need for reforms and the need for peace," the Saudi Press Agency quoted Prince Saud telling a meeting of Gulf and European Union officials. "We should not utilize the pressing need for reforms to postpone or ignore the equally pressing need for peace ... The other side of the coin is equally valid reforms should not be held hostage by developments in the peace process," he said. SPA quoted EU Commissioner Chris Patten as saying after the talks on a long-stalled free trade accord between the EU and the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council that the pact might be sealed before the end of the year. "There will be two final rounds of negotiations between the two sides before the signing" in July and the fall, Patten said. The two groups signed a framework economic cooperation agreement in 1998 but have failed to strike a free trade pact. Reflecting concern in the Arab world at perceived US attempts to impose reform, Prince Saud said Saudi Arabia was "committed to the path of reforms before the so-called Greater Middle East Initiative was launched." "These reform efforts will continue through calculated steps regardless of any internal reservations or external pressures," he said. Prince Saud said the West could help the reform process in the region by providing investment, transferring technology, signing free trade agreements, and supporting Riyadh's efforts to join the WTO. He also urged Western countries to set an example by protecting freedom and human rights and ending discrimination and "not by dictating terms from above or interference from outside or adopting double standards that weaken the credibility of such a model." He added a "strategic partnership" between the European and Gulf blocs would be linked to their contribution to establishing a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East. The Saudi chief diplomat said the setbacks to the Middle East peace process "and the ensuing rise of violence and extremism in our region," were chiefly a result of Israeli policies that contradict "all agreed principles and foundations of the peace process, including those of the road map and the American vision of two states living in peace and security" side by side. "I am saddened to say that this irrational Israeli path recently received full support from the United States," he said in reference to Washington's backing for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's unilateral plan to withdraw from Gaza. Prince Saud suggested combining the peace road map drafted by the so-called quartet (United States, United Nations, EU and Russia) with Crown Prince Abdullah's Arab peace plan. "Perhaps the best way for strengthening the quartet's efforts is by institutionally combining the road map and the Arab peace plan through integrating the efforts of the quartet and the Arab League peace committee," he said. "The Arab peace initiative, in our opinion, contains more comprehensive elements regarding the final peace settlement, for it provides for peace between Israel and all the Arabs," he added. Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Saudi Foreign Minister has affirmed the best way for strengthening the Quartet's efforts is by institutionally combining the Road Map and the Arab Peace Plan through unifying the efforts of the Quartet and the Arab League Peace Committee. In an address "On The Middle East Peace Process," at the 14th Session of the Joint Ministerial Council Of The Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the European Union, Prince Saud said the Arab Peace Initiative in our (the GCC states) opinion contains more comprehensive elements pertaining to the final peace settlement, for it provides for not only peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis, but also between Israel and all the Arabs including Syria and Lebanon. The two plans complement each other perfectly. Referring to the joint EU-GCC responsibility in this regard, Prince Saud Al-Faisal said "it necessitates that we extend every possible effort to advance the peace process to insure reaching its desired objective in the face of the visible and dangerous setbacks it witnessed in recent months." "Our goal for a strategic partnership are strongly linked to our ability to contribute in achieving a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East," he added. Prince Saud deplored the recent setbacks in the peace process, and the ensuing rising tide of violence and extremism in the region, which is derived mainly from the path chosen by the Israeli Government. "This path is clearly in stark contradiction with all agreed principles and foundations of the peace process, including those of the Road Map and the American vision of two states living in peace and security side by side where decent living conditions for both Palestinians and Israelis could be provided," he noted. Prince Saud Affirmed that the GCC states are committed to the path of reforms before the so-called Greater Middle East Initiative was launched. "In spite of the current difficulties in the peace process, our reform efforts are continuous and cumulative in their effects. Our political leadership is keenly aware of the necessity of continuing the reform efforts to meet the needs of our citizens by achieving good governance and equality to all citizens in the eyes of the law." Following is the full text of Prince Saud Al-Faisal's address at the session: "Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen Members of Delegations I wish to express my delegation's gratitude to the Presidency of the European Union, the European Commission and the Secretariat of the EU for all their efforts in preparing for this 14th session of the GCC-EU Joint Ministerial Council. I wish also to welcome the new members on the European side whose participation in this dialogue will certainly enrich GCC-EU cooperation. Mr. President Ladies and Gentlemen It is surely safe to say that international security and stability, which concern us all, as well as the achievement of our goal for a strategic partnership are strongly linked to our ability to contribute in achieving a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East. Our joint responsibility in this regard necessitates that we extend every possible effort to advance the peace process to insure reaching its desired objective in the face of the visible and dangerous setbacks it witnessed in recent months. In our opinion these setbacks in the peace process, and the ensuing rising tide of violence and extremism in our region, derive mainly from the path chosen by the Israeli Government. This path is clearly in stark contradiction with all agreed principles and foundations of the peace process, including those of the Road Map and the American vision of two states living in peace and security side by side where decent living conditions for both Palestinians and Israelis could be provided. Peace and security cannot be achieved by unilateral Israeli actions that aim to create new realities on the ground and predetermine the issues of final status negotiations. "Yet this is exactly the path chosen by the Israeli Government in its expansion of settlements and the building of a wall that cuts up large areas of Palestinian lands. I am saddened to say that this irrational Israeli path has recently received public support from the United States, which was supposed to utilize its special relationship with Israel to make it adhere to the foundations of the peace process, not weaken nor destroy them. Even the Israeli announcement of the intent to withdraw from Gaza was not done by adhering to the Road Map but by ignoring and side-stepping it in an attempt to gain legitimacy for settlements in the West Bank, which threatens the pillars of the international legal system. If Israel were serious in its peace efforts, the decision to withdraw from Gaza should have been made under the supervision of the Quartet and in accordance with a balanced implementation of the Road Map. Israel's continued policies of oppression, assassinations, closures, boycott, demolition of houses, destruction of properties and the general humiliation of the Palestinian people can only serve the extremists on both sides by deepening the feelings of despair and paving the way for continued violence and bloodshed. "The GCC states stand ready today, as they always have, to fully support any efforts aiming at establishing the foundations of a just peace in the Middle East. In this context our governments supported the efforts of the Quartet for a balanced implementation of the Road Map. We wish that the recent meeting of the Quartet had produced a clearer and firmer stand to insure such an implementation by both sides. Perhaps the best way for strengthening the Quartet's efforts is by institutionally combining the Road Map and the Arab Peace Plan through unifying the efforts of the Quartet and the Arab League Peace Committee. The Arab Peace Initiative in our opinion contains more comprehensive elements regarding the final peace settlement, for it provides for not only peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis, but also between Israel and all the Arabs including Syria and Lebanon. The two plans complement each other perfectly. It behooves us to take advantage at the same time of the efforts by civil societies on both sides of the divide to convince their respective public opinion of the desirability of peace. It is an opportunity that should not be dissipated. "As we assert our deep conviction that our region badly needs reforms, which aim to achieve good governance and respect for people's rights, we are deeply concerned when voices are heard suggesting a tradeoff between this need for reforms and the need for peace. Although they are both related, each of these needs is valued on its own merit. We should not utilize the pressing need for reforms to postpone or ignore the equally pressing need for peace, nor should we escape to the future to avoid the responsibility towards overcoming the obstacles facing the peace process. The other side of the coin is equally valid, reforms should not be held hostage by developments in the peace process. We were committed to the path of reforms before the so called Greater Middle East Initiative was launched. In spite of the current difficulties in the peace process, our reform efforts are continuous and cumulative in their effects. "Our political leadership is keenly aware of the necessity of continuing the reform efforts to meet the needs of our citizens by achieving good governance and equality to all citizens in the eyes of the law. These reform efforts will continue through calculated steps regardless of any internal reservations or external pressures. Reforms for us are not mere slogans or formulas imposed upon us from without. Our societies are not laboratories for experimentation or stages for adventurous schemes. These reforms are for the benefit of our citizens, and it is they who are the true arbiters of their government's efforts. Providing investments, the transfer of technology, the signing of free trade agreements and supporting our efforts to join the World Trade Organization are all needed at this time to create the proper environment for our own programs of modernization and insuring their speedy achievement. These are the areas where the advanced West can truly help the process of reforms. If we believe that there are universal values, then the best way the advanced Western countries can influence their spread and acceptance is to provide the example worthy of emulation, and the avoidance of the perception of double standards and imposed dictates. This is the only way to build credibility and trust that are sadly lacking in the Middle East due to past experiences. We recognize the more balanced policies of the European countries towards the just settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the efforts to remove the obstacles to peace, and these policies are duly appreciated. Mr. President Ladies and Gentlemen I hope that our next meeting would be held under more promising conditions regarding the peace process. The time is ripe for peace if only we have the will to stand firm against those whose interest seems to be to continue the conflict." In a major new blow to US-led occupiers, the head of Iraq's Governing Council was killed in a car bombing. Two bombers in a car detonated explosives, killing Izzedin Salim and six other people as a council convoy was heading into the heavily guarded "Green Zone" headquarters of the US-led authorities in central Baghdad for a meeting just six weeks before the handover of sovereignty to Iraqis. The blast, which left a one-meter crater in the road, tore through several cars and a crowd of pedestrians lining up at a checkpoint to get into the compound. An Iraqi resistance group, Al-Rashid Brigades, claimed two of its members carried out the attack and named them as Ali Khaled Al-Jabouri and Mohammed Hassan Al-Samarrai. Despite the claim posted on an Islamist website, the US military said the bombing bore the hallmark of Al-Qaeda activist Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. The bomb contained an artillery shell, just like one a suicide bomber used against another Green Zone checkpoint on May 6 and for which a group led by Zarqawi claimed responsibility, US officials said. They also said a small amount of the nerve agent sarin was found in an artillery shell that exploded in Iraq a few days ago. Salim, who was the current holder of the rotating Governing Council presidency, was the second of the 25-member Council to be killed. In September gunmen assassinated Aqila Al-Hashemi, one of three women on the council. Salim employed relatives as bodyguards and snubbed coalition protection, the US-led authority said. Salim was a stalwart in the Shiite Al-Dawa political party. The Arab League expressed its "strong condemnation" of the assassination. "We express our regret and strong condemnation," said League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, whose 22-member bloc has been critical of the year-old US-led occupation of Iraq. "Iraqi blood must not be shed in this fashion, whatever the political pretexts of this or that politician," he said. Meanwhile The Arab League's chief, Amr Moussa, accused Washington of sidelining Arab states in Iraq's reconstruction efforts and questioned the upcoming role of the United Nations in that country. "The future of Iraq is discussed only by a few countries," Moussa complained at a discussion of Iraq's short-term evolution, sitting in the audience and making his remarks in English. "We regret the exclusion of our (Arab) community to help in rebuilding Iraq." On the other hand Rice condemned the killing in Baghdad of Izzedin Salim, the head of Iraq's Governing Council, by a suicide bomber, adding that it must not stand in the way of the transition to power to the Iraqis on June 30. "We have known for a long time, particularly in the run-up to June 30, that there were going to be people who would try to derail the political process and the political transition," she said. "You have to keep the political transition on track." "It is clearly time for the occupation to end," she said. "It is clearly time for the Iraqis to be in control of their own political future." Salim, a newspaper editor, was one of six people killed by a bomb that blew up at a checkpoint as he was waiting in a convoy to get into the coalition headquarters. Rice said such attacks could worsen in the weeks leading up to June 30 as insurgents try to derail the political transition. "We have to help (Iraqis) provide security until they can provide it for themselves," Rice told reporters. One day earlier, Rice had stressed that the planned handover of power to an Iraqi administration was on track. "It is absolutely critical that we keep our word to the Iraqi people that on June 30 they will receive sovereignty," she said. "They will be fully sovereign in making their own decisions, and that is how it should be." But she added that U.S. forces would not withdraw from Iraq until the situation in the country had been stabilized. "We'll stay until the job is done. We're not at the point where we want to be." British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the bombing was a terrorist act aimed at disrupting the transfer of power. "What this shows is that the terrorists and insurgents in Iraq are trying to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power from the occupiers to the Iraqi people," Straw said. "These terrorists are the enemies of the Iraqi people themselves." British Prime Minister Tony Blair's office also condemned the killing, saying that Saleem and his colleagues had been working "to give Iraq a future of freedom, democracy and security, all of which are goals rejected by the terrorists." Meanwhile the US-led coalition is "in full throttle" in its preparations to hand over sovereignty of Iraq this summer, Downing Street has said. Tony Blair has been speaking to President George Bush "at least" once a week as the 1 July deadline nears, the prime minister's spokesman said. "We are in full throttle on both the diplomatic and security tracks. "We are pushing as fast as we can go to make sure the transfer of sovereignty on July 1 is real," the spokesman added They are talking to each other at least once a week, sometimes more often than that. Downing Street's message came just a day after Ezzedine Salim, the head of the Iraqi governing council, was killed in a car bomb blast in Baghdad. Mr Blair's spokesman said the diplomatic push was intended to give the Iraqis responsibility for their own security "as fast as is consistent with maintaining the security level that's necessary to sustain that development of democracy". "That means an awful lot of work is going on in the diplomatic channels and an awful lot of effort is being put into training Iraqi security services," he said. "This is not a process that's going to happen overnight, but it is a process where extra resources are being poured in." The spokesman said the prime minister and Mr Bush last spoke over the weekend. "They are talking to each other at least once a week, sometimes more often than that, as was the case last week," he said. "What's different is that as we approach 30 June, the momentum is increasing all the time and it's increasing on both the political and the security tracks." The spokesman said the coalition had held meetings at the weekend. A lot of work was going on at the United Nations to get a new security council resolution and consideration was being given to whether there was a need to "increase capacity" for security reasons. The spokesman said no final decision had been made on whether to send more British troops to Iraq, but there was strong speculation that an announcement on this could be imminent. It was important the coalition had a clear strategy for the creation of a stable democracy with the means to defend itself, he said. This means a real transfer of authority on 1 July, leading to elections in January and the apparatus to take over responsibility for security in time. "It's within the context of that strategy that any decision on troops will be made," the spokesman said. Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw admitted that no-one knew for sure how many Iraqis had been killed since the coalition's invasion last year. He claimed it was "extremely difficult" to keep track of those killed, although he knew it was about 10,000 people three months ago. "In a more perfect world there ought to have been estimates kept," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. Mr Straw suggested that the US had not kept note of who had died since the occupation of Iraq began in March last year, but he insisted the British had tried to keep a record. Mr Straw admitted it was "odd that coalition forces have not kept consistent records about estimates of people in Iraq who have been killed". "They will say getting the figures is extremely difficult and I accept that, but I have certainly gone into it ... I've done my bit ... to provide the estimates." U.S. governor of Iraq condemned the Monday assassination of Governing Council president as "vile act" and vowed to defeat the forces responsible. In a statement, L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator of Iraq, called the killing a "shocking and tragic loss." "The terrorists who are seeking to destroy Iraq have struck a cruel blow with this vile act today," he said. "But they will be defeated...The Iraqi people will ensure that his vision of a democratic, free and prosperous Iraq will become a reality." Iraqi politicians said that a military withdrawal by the US-led coalition would be unthinkable in the short to medium term, after US Secretary of State Colin Powell pledged to respect any pullout request from a sovereign Iraqi government. The same view was expressed by both US allies and moderate critics of the year-old occupation, which the coalition has pledged to end with the establishment of a caretaker government by June 30. "There will not be a rapid withdrawal and nobody will be calling for a rapid withdrawal," said Hamid Kifai, spokesman for the coalition-installed interim Governing Council. "The Iraqi security forces are continuing to reinforce their ranks but face a possible deterioration in the security situation so there's a big need for a supporting force." The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, an Iran-backed Shiite religious party which sits on the Governing Council, echoed Kifai's concerns. "A withdrawal would cause grave security problems," said party spokesman Hamed al-Bayati. "A withdrawal would not be able to take place until the security forces and army allow Iraqis to take control of their own security," he said. In recent days, a raft of coalition officials have raised the spectre of a pullout as they talk up the sovereign powers of the promised caretaker government. Last Friday, coalition civil administrator Paul Bremer said the United States did not stay where it was not welcome. "If the provisional government asks us to leave, we will leave," he said, swiftly adding that he expected no such request. The theme was taken up later the same day by US Secretary of State Colin Powell. At a meeting of the Group of Eight industrialised nations in Washington, he led foreign ministers from Britain, Italy and Japan in pledging to respect any pullout request from the new Iraqi administration. "Were this interim government to say to us: 'We really think we can handle this on our own and it will be better if you were to leave,' we will leave," said Powell. Meanwhile U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld arrived in the Iraqi capital on an unannounced visit aimed at calming the storm over prisoner abuse and lifting the spirits of U.S. troops. He was accompanied by Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and some of the Defense Department's most senior lawyers. They met with the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt.Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, and other senior commanders. The Pentagon tried to quash a report that abuse of Iraqi prisoners grew out of a secret plan approved by U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to toughen interrogation methods to fight a growing insurgency. Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said that abuses shown in pictures published around the world had "no basis in any sanctioned program, training manual, instruction or order in the Department of Defense." The Bush administration is struggling to damp down outrage over the abuse and insists a number of low-level guards were to blame for the harsh tactics used to soften up those interrogated at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. The New Yorker magazine said Rumsfeld authorized expanding to Abu Ghraib the methods used in Afghanistan against suspected members of al-Qaida, blamed for the September 11 attacks. Citing current and former U.S. intelligence officials, The New Yorker said the interrogation methods were part of a secret "special access program" that gave advance approval to kill, capture or interrogate so-called high-value targets in the war against terrorism. As the Iraqi insurgency grew and more U.S. soldiers died, Rumsfeld and Defense Undersecretary for Intelligence Stephen Cambone expanded the scope to bring the interrogation tactics to Abu Ghraib, the article said. A former intelligence official told the magazine Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, approved this but may not have known about the abuse. Di Rita said: "Assertions apparently being made in the latest New Yorker article on Abu Ghraib and the abuse of Iraqi detainees are outlandish, conspiratorial, and filled with error and anonymous conjecture." "No responsible official of the Department of Defense approved any program that could conceivably have been intended to result in such abuses as witnessed in the recent photos and videos," he added in the statement on the Pentagon's Web site. "This story seems to reflect the fevered insights of those with little, if any, connection to the activities in the Department of Defense," Di Rita said. National security adviser Condoleezza Rice, interviewed on German television during a visit to Berlin, said: "As far as we can tell there is really nothing to the story." Seven military police reservists have been charged after pictures showed grinning troops beside detainees piled atop one another, forced to engage in sex acts and photographed in other poses aimed at humiliating them in the prison late last year. Secretary of State Colin Powell was asked last Sunday if Abu Ghraib prison, a torture chamber under ousted President Saddam Hussein, should be razed or if he believed Rumsfeld should resign, as has been demanded by many Democrats. "We'll have to decide what's the best action," he said in an interview from Jordan on the ABC program This Week. "But there's no question that this incident has given us a black eye throughout the world." Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on CBS's "Face The Nation" the latest New Yorker report added a "very significant subject" to be investigated by the panel. Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican also on the Armed Services Committee, said he did not think the reservists accused of the abuse acted without being instructed. "We need to take this as far up as it goes and we need to do it quickly," he said on the NBC program "Meet the Press." Rumsfeld returned from the surprise trip to Iraq and Abu Ghraib prison, calling the scandal a "body blow." The United States recognizes that the Geneva Conventions outlawing prisoner abuse apply to the war in Iraq. But it has said al-Qaida "terrorism" suspects do not qualify as prisoners of war under the terms of the treaty. Newsweek last Sunday disclosed a memorandum by White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales written in January 25, 2002, that said "the war against terrorism is a new kind of war." "In my judgment, this new paradigm renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions," he said. White House spokesman Allen Abney said, "We are a nation at war and we are a nation of laws. Our most important responsibility is to protect the American people and we act in an appropriate manner to meet that responsibility. It is the United States' policy to comply with all our laws and our treaty obligations." On the other hand British soldiers have shot and killed Iraqi civilians, including an 8-year-old girl, in situations where the troops were under no apparent threat, Amnesty International alleged last Tuesday. A report by the human rights group said the military failed to investigate many cases in which British soldiers killed civilians in Iraq, and the inquiries they did undertake were too secretive. The Ministry of Defense told The Associated Press that it would comment after it had time to examine the allegations in detail. Amnesty also reported that armed groups and individuals had killed dozens or possibly hundreds of civilians in British-controlled southern Iraq, and many people were afraid to even discuss the killings. It said Iraqis had little confidence that the British military or Iraqi police could protect them. "We are told in the U.K. that southern Iraq is comparatively safe and secure. Yet Iraqis on the ground have painted a very different picture," said Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International U.K. "People live in fear of armed groups who can strike with seeming impunity." Amnesty said the allegations of killings by British forces were based on its representatives' visits to southern Iraq in February and March. The delegates interviewed shooting victims' families, witnesses, Iraqi police officers and Coalition Provisional Authority officials, the report said. The group said it could not estimate how many Iraqi civilian deaths British troops had caused. In one example, the report said a soldier from the 1st Battalion of the King's Regiment fatally shot 8-year-old Hanan Saleh Matrud in the town of Karmat 'Ali in August. A witness, Mizher Jabbar Yassin, had told Amnesty researchers a soldier aimed at Hanan and shot her from about 60 yards away, the group said. It quoted a letter from the First Battalion of the King's Regiment that said soldiers had fired a warning shot near a mob that was throwing stones at a British patrol. A few minutes later, soldiers saw that Hanan had a serious abdominal wound, according to the letter Amnesty says was from the battalion to the child's family, dated Oct. 12, 2003. "The suggestion was that this wound (was) sustained as a result of the warning shot, which has not been proven, but accepted as a possibility," Amnesty quoted the letter as saying. The Ministry of Defense said it was aware of the Amnesty report but had not been able to examine its allegations in detail. A spokesman said the ministry was "considering the points raised and will give a detailed response in due course." "We take our obligations under international law seriously and attach great importance to upholding human rights in all circumstances," the spokesman added. Amnesty also criticized the British military's investigative procedures, saying officers had too much discretion in deciding whether to launch an inquiry when a civilian was killed. The group also said investigations should be more transparent. "The investigations have been shrouded in secrecy some victims have not even been aware that they have been opened," the report said. "Families of victims have also not been given adequate information on how to apply for compensation." |
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