Musings From Abroad

Germany drags Italy to ICJ over WW11 Nazi reparation

Published

3 years ago

May 1, 2022

The German government has dragged Italy to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) asking it to halt the sale of German-owned buildings in Rome following announcement by the Italian government that it would soon auctioned off the assets to pay for Nazi war crimes compensation cases.

The German case against Italy which was filed on Friday, is an aftermath of a long-running dispute between the two countries regarding World War II reparations.

It was the second time that the case has been dragged to the ICJ following a similar effort in 2012 where the UN’s top court ruled that Germany couldn’t be sued in foreign courts by victims of Nazi war crimes.

In a filing published by The Hague court late on Friday, Germany argued that domestic courts in Italy had repeatedly violated the ICJ’s 2012 ruling after more than 25 new compensations claims were filed against Germany over damages arising from Nazi atrocities during the war.

In many of those cases, Italian courts have ordered Germany to pay compensation to victims and their families.

Germany is also seeking financial compensation from Italy “for any injury caused through violations of Germany’s right to sovereign immunity,” the filing stated.

Germany further argues in the filing that “Italy has violated, and continues to violate, its obligation to respect Germany’s sovereign immunity by threatening to take the buildings to pay for complaints filed by victims of Nazi crimes.”

Germany and Italy have been locked in a legal dispute over WWII reparations for years with the Germans’ arguement being that it has already paid out billions of euros in compensation for atrocities committed by the Nazi regime since the end of WWII, taking part in extensive reparations and peace treaties with the countries affected.

One of the cases involved a man who was deported to Germany in 1944 and forced to work as an enslaved laborer in a munitions factory while other cases concerned claims brought by the families of nine people who were among those killed by the German military in Civitella, Tuscany, in 1944, where 203 civilians were massacred by the Germans.

The most pressing issue for Germany, according to the filing, is a pending Italian court ruling on whether to force the sale of four of German-owned buildings.

The properties include buildings in Rome that house the local offices of the German Archaeological Institute, the German Historical Institute, the cultural Goethe Institute and the German School of Rome.

While no hearing has been scheduled for the case as rulings in the ICJ typically take years to come through, an Italian court said it would decide on May 25 whether to go ahead with the auction of the buildings.

Related Topics:Featured Germany Italy Nazi World War

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Musings From Abroad

Seeking to expand ties in Africa, Indonesia’s Prabowo attends D-8 economic meeting in Egypt

Published

1 day ago

December 18, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

According to the government, Indonesian President, Prabowo Subianto, travelled to Egypt on Tuesday to attend meetings of the D-8 Organisation for Economic Cooperation, a group of eight significant Muslim developing nations.

To enhance collaboration between the nations spanning from Southeast Asia to Africa, the D-8 was formed in 1997 and consists of Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkey. Beginning in January 2026, Indonesia will serve as the group’s chair.

Prabowo said that he would meet with Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the president of Egypt.

“Egypt is our close friend, our strategic partner and an important country in the Middle East,” he said before his departure, adding he would also meet the Egyptian business community.

He would go to Malaysia from Egypt and then return to Indonesia.

Since taking office in October, Prabowo has stated that his administration will uphold Indonesia’s long-standing non-alignment foreign policy.

Since winning the presidency earlier this year, he has been to more than 20 nations, including China, the US, Japan, and Russia.

Musings From Abroad

UN warns Sudan rebels may be getting weapons in Chad from UAE cargo planes

Published

5 days ago

December 14, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Flight data and satellite photographs reveal that dozens of UAE cargo planes have landed at a small Chad airstrip since Sudan’s civil war began last year, which some U.N. experts and diplomats fear is being used to transport guns into the fight.

At least 86 UAE planes have landed at Amdjarass airfield in eastern Chad since the war started in April 2023.

According to flight data and business records examined by Reuters, three-quarters of them were operated by airlines accused by the U.N. of transporting Emirati weaponry to a Libyan warlord.

The UAE, a key Western partner in the Middle East, insists it sends Sudan aid through Chad, not armaments.

The UAE denied “credible” allegations that it was supplying Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group fighting the Sudanese army in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions, via the Chad airstrip in January.

Reuters uncovered footage from Amdjarass this year, revealing two pallets loaded with khaki containers, some labelled with the UAE flag, on the tarmac.

Reuters is obscuring the footage’s date and provenance for fear of reprisals.

Three weapons specialists, two of whom were U.N. inspectors, said the containers were unlikely to convey humanitarian material, generally bundled in cardboard boxes coated in plastic and stacked high on pallets due to its lightweight. The footage shows metal containers packed low on pallets.

One U.N. weapons inspector said the contents were “highly probably ammunition or weapons, based on the design and colour of boxes,” but requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the information.

He stated that right-hand pallet cases are long and slender, suggesting weaponry.

Reuters could not independently verify the containers’ contents. The filming date is being withheld to protect the source.

The UAE government told Reuters it has deployed 159 relief planes with more than 10,000 tonnes of food and medical assistance to feed its Amdjarass field hospital.

“We firmly reject the baseless and unfounded claims regarding the provision of arms and military equipment to any warring party since the beginning of the conflict,” the statement said.

To counter Islamist militants, the oil-rich Gulf kingdom has interfered in crises from Yemen to Libya since the Arab Spring protests of 2011. The UAE views Muslim Brotherhood and other groups as threats to internal stability.

In Sudan’s army, Islamists affiliated with deposed President Omar al-Bashir have long held power.

Senior RSF official Brigadier General Omar Hamdan rejected foreign help. He told Nairobi media on Nov. 18 that Sudanese firms made its guns and ammunition. The RSF declined to comment on this topic.