Ukraine's Poroshenko flags new talks with Putin, Merkel and Hollande

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says he'll meet with the leaders of Russia, Germany and France in mid-January over his country's ongoing conflict. The gathering will take place in Kazakhstan.

Deutsche Welle, 29 Dec 2014

Poroshenko made a new push to end the conflict in Ukraine's eastern regions on Monday, telling a news conference he would join Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande for talks on January 15, in the Kazakh capital Astana.

The Ukrainian president said he wanted eastern Ukraine, and Crimea, annexed by Russia in March, back under the control of Kyiv.

"The most important thing is to turn a fragile ceasefire into a stable peace and return previously occupied territories under the control of Ukrainian authorities," he said.

The conflict in eastern Ukraine has killed more than 4,600 people since April. But Poroshenko said Kyiv lacked the resources to regain full control by military means.

"We haven't got the resources for an offensive today," he said.

His comments come after the breakdown of the first talks in three months between Kyiv and pro-Russian separatists, last week in Minsk. However, the talks did produce a prisoner swap between both sides.

The meeting was meant to secure a shaky ceasefire agreed in Minsk back in September, as well as a withdrawal of heavy weapons by both Ukrainian government forces and the separatists. But it appeared both sides were reluctant to give any ground.

"Ukraine will never - and we are supported in this by the entire world - allow the (original September) Minsk agreements to be altered," Poroshenko said on Monday.

Poroshenko also said three Ukrainian soldiers had been killed during a battle at the disputed airport near rebel-held Donetsk.

Ukraine and the West have accused Moscow of stoking the fires of conflict in eastern Ukraine by supplying the separatists with troops and weapons, something the Kremlin has denied.

Meanwhile, Russia is experiencing deep economic troubles caused by lower oil prices and Western economic sanctions imposed over the Ukraine conflict.

On Monday, it was announced that Russian growth declined for the first time since 2009 - with gross domestic product (GDP) falling by 0.5 percent in November, compared to the same month last year.

The ruble fell to $57 on the news on Monday morning. The Russian currency, which is one of the worst performing currencies of 2014, had started losing ground against the greenback again on Friday, following a five-day rally.

jr/ksb (Reuters, dpa, AFP)

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Matthew message (Channelled by Suzanne Ward, Aug 3, 2014)

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules..  …”

Putin 'hopes' for fully implemented Ukraine ceasefire

Russian President Vladimir Putin has struck a conciliatory tone during a visit by his French counterpart. Francois Hollande is the first Western leader to visit Moscow since Russia annexed Crimea.

Deutsche Welle, 7 Dec 2014

The two leaders used their talks at the diplomatic terminal of an airport just outside Moscow on Saturday to discuss the ongoing conflict between government troops and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, which has led to a major chill in relations between the West and the Kremlin.

Following their meeting, Putin, who just days ago used his annual state-of-the-nation address to warn Russians of difficult times ahead due to sanctions imposed by the West on Russia over the Ukraine crisis, struck a more moderate tone than expected.

"I very much hope that in the near future we will have a final ceasefire agreement" in east Ukraine, Putin said in remarks broadcast on Russian television.

Without a fully-implemented truce, "it is difficult to picture Ukraine as a territorially integral country, and Russia, as is well-known, supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine," he added.

For his part, Hollande said the "de-escalation of the Ukrainian crisis is possible," if a ceasefire agreed by both the Ukraine government and the rebels at talks held in Minsk in September was fully implemented.

"France wants this crisis to end because it is causing suffering, for Ukrainians and because of the sanctions, and because it prevents relations with Russia from proceeding as they should," Hollande added.

In consultation with Merkel

The AFP news agency cited a source within Hollande's delegation who said that the French president's unscheduled stopover, while en route from neighboring Kazakhstan to Paris, had been planned in consultation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

The short visit came ahead of next week's scheduled talks between the Ukrainian government and pro-Russia rebels in Minsk next week, which are aimed at rescuing the much-violated ceasefire agreed in September. According to the United Nations, around 1,000 people have been killed since the truce came into force.

Tensions between Moscow and the West have been elevated since Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula back in March. The West also accuses the Kremlin of supporting the pro-Russia rebels in eastern Ukraine by providing them with personnel and arms, and has imposed a series of economic sanctions as a result.

Mistral deal not discussed

Another bone of contention between Moscow and Paris is a deal in which France is to deliver warships to Russia. However, France has delayed the delivery of the first Mistral, which had been due this autumn, due to the annexation of Crimea.

Putin said he had not discussed the matter with Hollande on Saturday, but that he was working on the assumption that France would honor the contract. If not he said, France would be required to return the money that it has been paid, but that Russia would "act with understanding no matter how these events develop."

pfd/sm (AP, AFP)

Belgian miner destroyed Congo homes and lied about it, claims Amnesty International

Amnesty International has accused a Belgian mining group of bulldozing hundreds of Congolese homes and benefiting from a government "cover-up." The miner denies the claims.

Deutsche Welle, 24 Nov 2014

Amnesty International says Belgian miner Groupe Forrest International took part in destroying homes near one of its mines, in the southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, in 2009.

In a report released on Monday, Amnesty said a subsidiary of the company provided bulldozers used to demolish homes and forcibly evict hundreds of people near the cobalt and copper mine, in Katanga province.

Police conducted the operation in an apparent attempt to clear the mine of small-scale miners stealing from it, but Amnesty has drawn from satellite imagery and other evidence to refute that claim.

"There is now overwhelming and irrefutable evidence showing that the forced evictions that Groupe Forrest International has denied for years in fact took place," said Audrey Gaughran, the organization's global issues director.

Amnesty claims hundreds of structures were destroyed before and after the police operation to clear the small-scale miners - destroying homes and businesses in three neighborhoods.

"Some people lost their livelihoods as well as their homes. The impacts are still felt today. One woman, whose restaurant was demolished, told us that she doesn't have the money to buy enough food to eat and had to pull her children out of school. Proper compensation for villagers would have alleviated a lot of the suffering," Gaughran said.

The report also claims that government officials in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, ordered no charges be filed - despite recommendations by a government prosecutor.

"This is a cover-up by the Congolese authorities. The state has failed its own people by not bringing anyone to justice for these forced evictions and by not ensuring that compensation was paid," Gaughran said.

Groupe Forrest International has refuted Amnesty International's claims, laying blame on police for the evictions, which it labeled "regrettable and unacceptable."

"These grave allegations are baseless and are not supported by the facts. [The company's] subsidiaries and employees always act in an ethical and responsible manner."

Putin 'will help recover bodies, black boxes': Dutch PM

Yahoo – AFP, 20 July 2014

Dutch Prime minister Mark Rutte gives a press conference in The Hague, on
July 20, 2014, about the situation of the crashed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17
in eastern Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday promised Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte he will help retrieve bodies and black boxes from the Ukrainian rebel-held crash site of flight MH17.

Putin, who is believed to exert influence on the pro-Russia rebels, made the promise in his third conversation with Rutte since Thursday's crash, the Dutch government press service RVD said, amid growing international anger over the stranded bodies.

"Besides allowing unrestricted access to the crash site, the conversation focused on practical matters, namely the departure of the train that has many bodies and the handing over of the black boxes," a spokeswoman for the government press service RVD told AFP, asking not to be named.

"On both points Putin promised his full cooperation," the spokesman said.

Most of the 298 people on the Malaysia Airways flight, likely brought down by a pro-Russian rebel missile, were Dutch.

Around 200 bodies taken from the site in eastern Ukraine are being held in refrigerated trains nearby, pending the arrival of international investigators.

Ukrainian rebels have said that they have the black boxes, crucial in the crash investigation.

OSCE inspectors, part of the monitoring mission to Ukraine, document bodybags

 from MH17 in a refrigerated wagon at Torez train station, near the crash site,

on Sunday. Photograph: Robert Ghement/EPA

Members of the security council vote on a resolution concerning access to the crash

site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 during a security council meeting at United

Nations headquarters, Monday, July 21, 2014. The resolution was adopted by a

unanimous vote. Photograph: Seth Wenig/AP

Related Articles:

Dutch sending police, want to secure MH17 crash site: PM - New

A minute's silence for the MH17 dead as first coffins reach Eindhoven (+Video)
MH17 bodies expected Wednesday, IDs could take months: Dutch PM

Putin and Rutte discuss MH17 site access again

UN Security Council demands safe access for MH17 investigators

Malaysian PM wins guarantees regarding bodies, black boxes
MH17: Dutch experts arrive at crash scene as heavy fighting breaks out

'We have one aim, to get our people back,' Dutch prime minister says

Putin 'must take responsibility' for crash site access: Dutch PM

Malaysian Airlines MH17 passenger manifest (Pdf)

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy,Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) -(Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

Florida jury slaps RJ Reynolds with $23.6 bn in damages

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

Putin 'must take responsibility' for crash site access: Dutch PM

Yahoo – AFP, 19 July 2014

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte speaks during a press conference at the Ministry
of Safety and Justice in The Hague, on July 18, 2014 (AFP Photo/John Thys)

The Hague (AFP) - Vladimir Putin must act to allow access to the Ukranian rebel-held crash site of flight MH17 so bodies can be removed, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Saturday after a "very intense" conversation with the Russian president.

"He (Putin) must now take responsibility vis-a-vis the rebels," Rutte told journalists in The Hague after pro-Russian separatists hindered access to the crash site where 298 died in Thursday's plane crash, 192 of them Dutch.

"The Netherlands and the world will see that he does what needs to be done," Rutte said.

"Given today's developments and the images from this morning, I sent a message to the president to once more exert his influence on the rebels," Rutte added.

"Everyone saw how the plane wreckage, the passengers and the personal belongings are still spread around the site.

"He (Putin) promised me his cooperation yesterday.

"I told him that he must show the world that he wants to help."

Rutte said he was "shocked" by news images of "shameless" rebels handling passenger possessions and walking around the crash site.

Rutte said that he had spoken to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and German Chancellor Angela Merkel and that they also said Putin must act.

"Unimpeded access and quick recuperation of the bodies is the number one priority," Rutte said.

The MH17 crash site is controlled by armed pro-Russia militia, who are

 carefully supervising access to journalists and investigators. Photograph: 

Robert Ghement/EPA

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Dutch banks act on MH17 credit card looting reports

Malaysian Airlines MH17 passenger manifest (Pdf)

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy,Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) -(Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

Florida jury slaps RJ Reynolds with $23.6 bn in damages - New

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

Crimea moves to join Russia, US and EU sanction Moscow

Google – AFP, Lilia Budhurova (AFP), 6 March 2014

A member of the Russian forces stands guard by a Ukrainian Navy emblem

 painted on a wall outside the Ukrainian base in Perevalnoye, near Simferopol,

blocked by Russian troops on March 6, 2014 (AFP, Genya Savilov)

Simferopol — Crimea's pro-Russian parliament voted Thursday to have the tense Ukrainian region secede and join Russia, triggering fury in Kiev while the EU warned of harsh sanctions on Moscow if it kept refusing the path of dialogue.

A decision by Crimea's local legislative assembly to call a March 16 "referendum" in the tense peninsula on joining the Russian Federation was dismissed as illegitimate by Ukraine's interim government, the European Union and the United States.

However, with Russian forces in effective control of Crimea -- which is home to an ethnic Russian majority -- the secession move ratcheted up the stakes in a crisis that is already Europe's worst security emergency in the post-Cold War era.

A Pro-Russian activist holds the Russian

 flag during a rally in Simferopol on March

6, 2014 (AFP, Genya Savilov)

The pro-West, interim administration in Kiev -- brought to power on the back of three months of protests that claimed nearly 100 lives -- immediately took steps to disband Crimea's parliament. Interim president Oleksandr Turchynov said the Crimea legislators' decision was a "crime" inspired by the Kremlin.

US President Barack Obama warned the proposed referendum in Crimea would violate Ukranian sovereignty and international law. He said the US and its allies were united against Russia's incursion into Ukraine, but said a diplomatic solution to the standoff remained possible.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, after holding talks in Rome with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, laid the blame for the escalation of the crisis on Russia.

The United States slapped visa bans on Russians and Ukrainians it held responsible for destabilising both Ukraine and security across Europe as a whole.

EU leaders holding a summit in Brussels took political measures -- but not economic sanctions -- against Russia over its use of force in its western neighbour following the February 22 ouster of Kiev's pro-Moscow leadership.

Ukraine's interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk made an impassioned appeal in Brussels for EU states and the United States to rise to his nation's defence in the face of what he called an unfolding Russian aggression.

"We still believe we can solve in peaceful manner but in case of further escalation and military intervention into Ukraine territory by foreign forces, Ukranian government and military will act in accordance with the constitution and laws. We are ready to protect our country," he said.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L)

 and US Secretary of State John Kerry meet

to discuss the Ukraine crisis on the sidelines

 of an International conference on Libya in 

Rome on March 6, 2014 (Pool/AFP,

Kevin Lamarque)

Yatsenyuk conceded that Ukraine's forces were dwarfed by the Russian army but stressed that his country's troops had the "spirit" to defend themselves in the face of a Russian threat.

Russian President Vladimir Putin for his part on Thursday chaired an unscheduled meeting of his national Security Council to discuss the latest developments but issued no further comment.

- US, EU sanction Russia -

The United States ramped up the pressure on the Kremlin by slapping visa bans on Russians and Ukrainians it blames for destabilising peace and stability both in Ukraine and Europe as a whole.

It was the latest in a series of moves by the US administration to punish Moscow for what the White House denounced as "Russia's ongoing violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity."

Obama also authorised freezing the assets of officials and individuals involved in ordering Russia's military manuevers in Crimea.

European leaders -- split between hawkish Eastern European states and big Western European powers that want to limit the damage to their economic relations with Russia because of their reliance on its natural gas -- reiterated a commitment to sign an association accord with Ukraine before it holds snap presidential polls on May 25.

EU president Herman Van Rompuy said the 28-nation bloc "decided that as a matter of priority we will sign (the agreement) very shortly."

"This means before the Ukrainian elections of 25 May."

Ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych's decision to ditch the pact in November in favour of closer ties with Russia sparked the initial wave of protests in Kiev that led to his regime's downfall and rise of new pro-EU rulers.

Ukrainian riot police stand guard outside

 the regional state administration building in

 Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, after they

regained control of it on March 6, 2014

(AFP, Alexander Khudoteply)

The European bloc agreed after about six hours of tense discussions to suspend visa and economic talks with Russia -- a blow for Moscow's years-long efforts to win open travel rights for Russians.

EU leaders also adopted a statement demanding that Russia enter into negotiations in the next few days. The talks need to "produce results within a limited timeframe," said the statement.

"In the absence of such results the European Union will decide on additional measures, such as travel bans, asset freezes and the cancellation of the EU-Russia summit" in June.

Rompuy dubbed the Ukraine crisis as "perhaps the most serious challenge to security on our continent since the Balkans wars" in the 1990s.

- Putin 'will scare tourists' -

The epicentre of the crisis has been Crimea -- a rugged region seized by Russia in the 18th century and annexed to Ukraine in Soviet times as a "gift" in 1954.

It has been the home of Russian navies since the 18th century and has in the past two decades enjoy more autonomy from Kiev than any other part of Ukraine.

Russian forces have surrounded Ukrainian military bases in Crimea since last weekend and on Thursday even scuttled an old warship at the entrance of a lagoon, trapping Ukrainian navy vessels.

Nervous soldiers stood their ground inside besieged Ukrainian bases. Most to surrender to or hand over their weapons.

But they also seemed ill-prepared to hold off an all-out Russian assault if it came.

Ukrainian soldiers stand guard at their

 air base in Belbek, not far from Sevastopol

on March 6, 2014 (AFP, Viktor Drachev)

"It's extremely tense and I consider it a miracle that bloodshed has been avoided so far," the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe's Crimean envoy Tim Guldimann said in Kiev after returning from the peninsula.

Guldimann said he cut short his visit after UN special envoy to Crimea Robert Serry was forced to leave on Wednesday upon being confronted by gunmen who said they had orders to take him to the airport.

Serry took the first flight out of the region -- to Istanbul -- but returned to Kiev on Thursday.

Violent protests have also broken out in cities in mainly Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine such as Donetsk -- the regional stronghold of the ousted Yanukovych -- where government offices

The Donetsk regional administration building has been raided repeatedly since Wednesday by pro-Moscow and pro-Kiev crowds. It flew the Ukrainian flag on Thursday evening after the Russian-tri colour put up only hours earlier had been taken down.

Putin has condemned the changeover of power in Kiev as "an unconstitutional coup" but said a full-scale military intervention in Ukraine would be a "last resort".

Map showing ethnic proportions of Crimean population (AFP)

Related Article:

Obama: Crimea referendum would violate international law

Claims of illegal eviction in Uganda haunt German firm

Deutsche Welle, 26 August 2013

In 2001, more than 4,000 people were evicted from land in Uganda after it had been acquired by a German coffee firm on a 99 year lease. The company insists the deal was above board, but an NGO is now raising doubts.

Many of the residents from Kyengeza village in Mubende district have always insisted that they were forcefully driven off from their land, which lies approximately 170 kilometers (106 miles) from Uganda's capital Kampala.

Margaret Nakiyingi, 29, is one of the evictees. She now lives in a small wooden house located close to Kaweri coffee plantation. Kaweri is a subsidiary of Neumann Gruppe based in Germany.

After the eviction came despair

Margaret's estranged husband works at the Kaweri coffee farm where he earns $1.5 (1.12 euros) a day. Margaret, who has four children, does not have a regular income but still has to find $15 a month for rent for the tiny house, an enormous amount of money by her standards.

“We don't have a life to enjoy. We move like human beings but deep down in our hearts we are not living a good life", she told DW correspondent Leylah Ndinda.

This is because she has serious financial problems. “We are now suffering because we are in rented houses and have no land to cultivate. Some of our colleagues acquired land away from the coffee farm,” Margaret said.

"Water is challenge. The coffee farm managers constructed a water tap for us but we do not get water all the time, “ Margaret said.

Neumann says it provides fresh drinking water free of charge to two villages

“Another problem is firewood. They kicked us out from our land, but when we go to the coffee farm to collect firewood they beat us up,” she complained, saying they don't have an alternative source of firewood.

The majority of the people living in Kyengeza village were evicted from their farms with a promise from the government that they would be compensated. Twelve years later John Bosco Senginiya, a casual laborer on one of the privately owned farms, said they were subjected to physical abuse during the eviction.

"I didn't even get 100 Uganda shillings, but they paid us with a beating,” he added.

When asked by DW if they knew how much compensation they were entitled to, many residents were unsure with one admitting that "did not know the compensation rate".

Compensation

Neumann Kaffee Gruppe, (NKG in Uganda), the German coffee company behind the controversy, insists that it leased the land in good faith from the Ugandan government.

The firm claims the Ugandan government compensated 166 families.

Residents say they now find it hard to
put a meal on the table

According to Neumann, which operates in 28 countries worldwide, only 25 families in Mubende district refused to move and they were then driven off the land by the Ugandan government.

In a document posted on their website, Neumann Company has denied any allegations of land grabbing or carrying out illegal evictions.

After 12 years, this dispute over land in Uganda has resurfaced in Germany.

FIAN international, an NGO that campaigns for people's right to food, started a campaign to protest against what it calls "brutal evictions". It is also demanding adequate restitution for those who lost their land.

The protests led Germany's Development Minister Dirk Niebel to write a letter to FIAN asking them to cease their activities. The minister warned that such accusations could have far reaching consequences for Uganda's coffee industry. "It is a known fact that since last year some coffee traders in Germany have started to boycott Ugandan coffee," Niebel told the German broadcaster Deutschlandfunk.

Related Article:

UN Agency Adopts Global Guidelines Against 'Land Grabbing’

EU deal to tackle mining corruption

Google – AFP, 10 April 2013

Spanish coal miners demonstrate with their lamps lit through the streets

of the city of Leon, Spain, on June 12, 2012 (AFP/File, Cesar Manso)

BRUSSELS — EU legislators struck an anti-corruption deal Tuesday that aims to force big mining companies to make public the payments they make to governments where they operate, officials said.

Bargaining between EU member states and European Parliament MEPs delivered the deal focused on companies with turnovers of at least 40 million euros, total assets worth 20 million or 250 employees, European Union Markets Commissioner Michel Barnier said in a statement.

The agreement covers "disclosure requirements for the extractive industry and loggers of primary forests and on simpler accounting requirements for small companies."

Barnier, a former French foreign minister, said the extractive business was "far too often shrouded in secrecy", and that the new legislation would therefore "help fight tax evasion and corruption."

It "shows how EU legislation can be a catalyst for change in developing countries," he added, arguing that communities in resource-rich territories "will finally be better informed about what their governments are being paid by multinationals for exploiting oil and gas fields, mineral deposits and forests."

The Oxfam charity, which campaigns on behalf of developing countries, said the accord was to be welcomed.

"It's excellent news that the EU is moving towards a law that will help ordinary people harness the natural resource wealth of their countries to be lifted out of poverty," said Catherine Olier, Oxfam's EU development expert.

But at the same time, the "EU politicians today could have taken a bolder stance against tax evasion and corruption by including other sectors such as telecommunications or construction," Olier said in a statement.

"Strikingly, poor countries lose more to tax dodging than they receive in aid each year."

The accord must now go to be approved by the 27 EU member states.

Related Article:

UN Agency Adopts Global Guidelines Against 'Land Grabbing’