Ukraine separatists vote in controversial election | ||
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Donetsk (Ukraine) (AFP) - Separatists in eastern Ukraine voted Sunday in controversial, Russian-backed leadership elections that Kiev branded a "power grab" and the West condemned. The elections in the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic -- based around the two main rebel-held cities -- were billed as bringing a degree of legitimacy to the makeshift military regimes that already control them. However, the polls deepened an international crisis over the conflict and further undercut an already teetering truce between Ukraine's government and the heavily armed pro-Russian separatists. "I hope that our votes will change something. Perhaps we will finally be recognised as a real, independent country," Tatyana Ivanovna, 65, said as she waited to cast her ballot in Donetsk's school number 104. "We need to be able to live normally," said Valery Vitaliyevich, 50. "It's terrible being afraid for your family at every bombardment. I will vote hoping that this will help the authorities to defend our interests against Kiev." But Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko blasted the election as a violation of a September 5 truce deal, calling them "pseudo-elections that terrorists and bandits want to organise on occupied territory". The Security Service of Ukraine said Sunday it was opening a criminal investigation into "the holding of so-called 'elections'", which it said contradicted the constitution and resembled "a power grab." - Bullets, not ballots - The run-up to the polls saw a spate of intense clashes. The rebels -- who deny being helped by Russia, but boast an arsenal including anti-aircraft missiles, tanks and heavy artillery -- have threatened to expand their offensive to the Ukrainian Black Sea port city of Mariupol. Ukrainian authorities announced Saturday the deaths of seven more soldiers and at least six wounded in separatist shelling, which authorities Sunday said was continuing across the conflict zone. "The election in the Lugansk People's Republic began with the shelling by insurgents of Girskye town," said Gennady Moskal, head of the regional administration, which remains loyal to Kiev. "They fired on the town with Grad (multiple rocket systems)," he said. According to UN figures, more than 4,000 people have been killed in Ukraine's conflict in the last seven months. - International tensions - The elections are the latest bone of contention in the conflict that began with pro-Western demonstrators in Kiev ousting Ukraine's Moscow-backed government in February, then spiralled rapidly, with Russia annexing the southern region of Crimea, and separatists seizing towns in the east. The crisis has triggered the biggest diplomatic dispute between the Kremlin and the West since the Soviet collapse. Russia, which supports the rebels but denies sending troops to fight on their side, says it will recognise the results of the elections. That angered the United States and European capitals, which have imposed heavy economic sanctions on Russia, and back Kiev in condemning the polls as illegal. In a four-way telephone call on Friday, the leaders of Ukraine, Germany and France urged Russian President Vladimir Putin not to recognise the polls. The White House also said Friday that it considered the vote "illegitimate". Both self-declared republics were choosing new presidents and parliaments, though there was little question that the current rebel chiefs -- Alexander Zakharchenko in Donetsk and Igor Plotnitsky in Lugansk -- would be confirmed in their posts. Zakharchenko is already the undisputed leader in Donetsk, where he replaced a series of Russian citizens holding the top job. Plotnitsky is a former Soviet army officer who, like many locals, yearns for the communist past. No international election monitors were present for the vote, and no minimum turnout has been set by the organisers, reflecting uncertainty over how many voters could turn out. "These elections are important because they will give legitimacy to our power and give us more distance from Kiev," said Roman Lyagin, election commission chief of the Donetsk People's Republic. Polls opened at 5:00 GMT and were due to close at 17:00 GMT. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Time running out to reach 2 C warming target: UN experts | ||
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Copenhagen (AFP) - Time is running out to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), the United Nations' climate experts said Sunday, warning that current trends in carbon emissions will lead to disaster. In the crowning summary of a landmark review, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said emissions of three key greenhouse gases were at their highest in more than 800,000 years. Earth is now on a trajectory for at least 4 C warming by 2100 over pre-industrial times -- a recipe for worsening drought, flood, rising seas and species extinctions. “The scientific case for prioritising action on climate change is clearer than ever,” IPCC chief Rajendra Pachauri said. “We have little time before the window of opportunity to stay within 2 C of warming closes. To keep a good chance of staying below 2 C, and at manageable costs, our emissions should drop by 40 to 70 percent globally between 2010 and 2050, falling to zero or below by 2100." The report -- the first overview by the Nobel-winning organisation since 2007 -- comes ahead of talks in Lima next month to pave the way to a 2015 global pact in Paris to limit warming to 2 C. But the negotiations have been hung up for years over which countries should shoulder the cost for reducing carbon emissions, which derive mainly from oil, gas and coal -- the backbone of the world's energy supply today. The report said switching to cleaner sources, reducing energy efficiency and carrying out other emission-mitigating measures would be far cheaper than the cost of climate damage. The bill today for doing this is affordable, but delay would cause it to rise substantially for future generations. "Mitigation cost estimates vary, but… global economic growth would not be strongly affected," the IPCC said, estimating that "ambitious" carbon curbs would shaving 0.06 percentage points annually from global consumption this century, which is targeted to grow by 1.6-3.0 percent annually. “Compared to the imminent risk of irreversible climate change impacts, the risks of mitigation are manageable” said Youba Sokona, one of the lead authors of the new report. The document painted a bleak tableau of a 4 C world, marked by hunger, homelessness, species loss and violent conflict over scarce resources. There would be a "very high risk of severe, widespread and irreversible impacts globally," it said. The report is only the fifth in the IPCC's 26-year history. It was set up in 1988 to provide governments with neutral and objective advice about global warming, its impacts and the options for tackling it. Sunday's synthesis report encapsulated three previous volumes published over the last 13 months. They were written by more than 800 experts, whose work then went through arduous review and commentary by outside specialists.
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UN demands civilian transfer in Burkina, threatens sanctions | ||
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Ouagadougou (AFP) - A UN envoy called Sunday for a civilian transition in Burkina Faso after the ouster of president Blaise Compaore, threatening sanctions if the military holds on to power in the west African country. "We want to avoid having to impose sanctions on Burkina Faso," the UN envoy for west Africa, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, told a news conference. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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