February 26

Inside February 26, 2018 .qxp_Layout 1 2/23/18 8:00 PM Page 3
•Mr Barnaby Joyce has repeatedly denied
breaching ministerial standards
Australia's Scandal-hit deputy PM to resign
BARNABY JOYCE says he will
resign as Australia's deputy prime
minister following a politically
damaging saga that began with
his affair with a former staffer.
Mr Joyce said he would step
down on Monday as leader of
the Nationals, the junior government
partner.
He had previously resisted
calls to quit amid intense scrutiny
over his ministerial conduct.
He described his decision on
Friday as a "circuit-breaker" for
his family and new partner, with
whom he is expecting a baby in
April.
"This current cacophony of
issues has to be put aside," he
told reporters.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull
issued a statement shortly
after thanking Mr Joyce for being
"a fierce advocate for rural and
regional Australia”.
Rumours of an affair started
to spread after Mr Joyce and
Vikki Campion, his former media
adviser, were photographed together
at a bar in Sydney in February
2017. BBC
DAILY HERITAGE MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2018
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH
Children 'forced to watch
rape' in South Sudan
CHILDREN IN
South Sudan have
been forced to
watch their mothers
being raped and
killed, the United
Nations (UN) says.
A report by UN human rights investigators
says that 40 officials may
be individually responsible for war
crimes and crimes against humanity.
It says civilians have been tortured
and mutilated, and villages destroyed
on an industrial scale.
Conflict between government
factions has continued in South
Sudan despite a peace deal signed in
2015.
Of the 40 senior officials identified
as potentially responsible for
atrocities, five are colonels and three
are state governors.
The UN says the testimony gathered
from survivors is "devastating",
including some people being forced
to rape family members "in cases
reminiscent of Bosnia".
One woman said her 12-year-old
son was forced to have sex with his
grandmother, in order to stay alive.
The same woman also saw her husband
being castrated.
Another man saw his companion,
a man, gang raped and left for dead
in the bushes.
"Sexual violence against men in
South Sudan is far more extensive
than documented", says the head of
the Commission on Human Rights
in South Sudan, Yasmin Sook.
"What we see so far is likely just
the tip of the iceberg."
Another survivor, a pregnant
woman in Lainya County, says she
saw suspected opposition supporters
being detained, tortured and then
decapitated by SPLA fighters. BBC
•In December women from South Sudanese rights groups marched in protest at the suffering
women and children face
World news in 4 stories
•A Congolese refugee
stands outside the UN office
with her children
Congolese refugees killed
in Rwanda protests
FIVE REFUGEEs from the
Democratic Republic of
Congo have been killed during
a protest over a cut in
food rations in Rwanda.
The deaths came after
three days of a sit-in protests
outside the United Nations'
refugee offices in the capital
Kigali.
Thousands of people had
walked almost 15km (10
miles) from the Kiziba
refugee camps to the offices
on Tuesday, angry at the cut
in food aid.
The World Food Programme
(WFP) has been
forced to cut the amount it
gives refugees twice in the
last six months.
The first cut of 10% came
in November, followed by
25% in January.
Earlier this week, the UN
refugee agency, UNHCR,
said it had been forced to
make the hard decisions because
"humanitarian operations
in Rwanda remain
severely underfunded".
On Thursday afternoon, a
smaller group "armed with
stones, sticks and metal projectiles"
allegedly assaulted
officers brought in to intervene,
Rwandan police said in
a statement today.
They said seven officers
were injured.
Police responded with tear
gas, the statement added, and
20 refugees were hurt. Five
have since died, the statement
said. Another 15 were arrested.
BBC
Syria war: Ghouta pounded as UN tussles over ceasefire
THE UNITED Nations (UN) Security
Council is struggling to
agree a resolution seeking a ceasefire
in Syria as a rebel-held area
has been bombarded for a sixth
day.
Russia wanted changes to a
draft that calls for a 30-day calm to
allow for aid deliveries and medical
evacuations.
Western diplomats have accused
Russia, Syria's key ally, of
stalling for time. France said failure
to act may spell the end of the
UN itself.
Activists say 426 people in the
Eastern Ghouta have been killed
this week.
Warplanes maintained the
bombardment on Friday, witnesses
said. Douma and Hamouriyeh
were among areas hit.
Diplomats have announced
that the UN Security Council will
vote on the resolution in New
York at 11:00 (16:00 GMT), but
did not say whether a deal with
Russia had been agreed.
Western powers suspect that
Moscow wants to give Syria time
to deal a final blow to rebel forces
in the rebel-held enclave on the
edge of Damascus.
The United States, the United
Kingdom (UK) and France have
called for the resolution to be approved
without delay. UN special
envoy Staffan de Mistura said a
truce had to be followed by immediate,
unhindered access to the
Eastern Ghouta. BBC
•Already overwhelmed hospitals are struggling to cope with
the influx of casualties