Day: June 2, 2018

On 1st June, Defence Web reported that the UN Security Council voted to renew some sanctions on South Sudan to 15th July and consider imposing travel bans and asset freezes on 6 South Sudanese leaders if the country’s conflict does not stop by June 30th.  The Resolution said absent a cessation of hostilities by June 30th, the Council would consider freezing the assets and banning travel for 6 officials, including Defence Minister Kuol Manyang Juuk, former army chief Paul Malong, Minister of Information Michael Lueth and deputy chief of defence for logistics in the South Sudan Army Malek Reuben Riak Rengu.  It also targeted Koang Rambang, governor of Bieh State, who the US accused of leading military attacks and obstructing aid to civilians; and cabinet affairs minister Martin Elia Lomuro. The Resolution was UN SCR 2148.

http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51900:some-south-sudan-sanctions-extended&catid=56:diplomacy-a-peace&Itemid=111

https://www.un.org/press/en/2018/sc13361.doc.htm

 

Andrea Berger in her blog noted that the Pentagon’s new report on DPRK military capabilities describes Sudan as a “core customer” for North Korean defence exports, though notes their recent agreement to end such co-operation.  The report notes that North Korea uses a worldwide network to facilitate arms-sales activities. It has a core, but dwindling, group of customers that includes Iran and Syria. Others core customers, such as Sudan and Uganda, have recently agreed to end arms co-operation with Pyongyang.  The report provides examples of past arms export cases. It notes that past clients for North Korea’s ballistic missiles and associated technology have included Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, and Yemen. Burma has begun distancing itself from North Korea, but concerns remain regarding lingering arms trade ties between the countries.  North Korea uses various methods to circumvent UN sanctions, including falsifying enduser certificates, mislabeling crates, sending cargo through multiple front companies and intermediaries, and using point-to-point air cargo deliveries for high-value and sensitive arms exports, thus limiting interdiction opportunities.

The report from February 2018 is available at –

https://media.defense.gov/2018/May/22/2001920587/-1/-1/1/REPORT-TO-CONGRESS-MILITARY-AND-SECURITY-DEVELOPMENTS-INVOLVING-THE-DEMOCRATIC-PEOPLES-REPUBLIC-OF-KOREA-2017.PDF

 

An article from the BBC on 2nd June reports that attacks by young Islamist militants in northern Mozambique are fuelled by a mix of poverty and corruption and In the most recent attack, 10 people were decapitated with machetes in Palma district in the country’s northerly Cabo Delgado province.  More than 300 people have been detained by the police and army since the first attack in the port town Mocimboa da Praia on October 2017. Coastal northern Mozambique has a long history of trade and movement of people with the rest of East Africa, and people in this area are traditionally Muslim.  Mozambique has become increasingly corrupt in recent years and its coastal north has become a major centre for ivory, timber, heroin and ruby smuggling – with the involvement of police and other government officials and local smuggling barons incorporated militant young men into their networks and paid them well.  Using incomes made from smuggling, religious networks, and people-traffickers, extremist cells paid to send young men to Tanzania, Kenya and Somalia for military and Islamic training and the income also helped bring radical clerics to Mozambique.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-44320531?src=ilaw

 

On 1st June, HFW published a briefing about a recent UK case, saying that in a recent arbitration decision (which HFW describes as “questionable”) a tribunal rejected the general principle that the obligation on a buyer under a sale contract to open a letter of credit is a condition entitling the seller to terminate if breached.  The briefing points out that, generally, an obligation on a buyer to open a letter of credit in accordance with the contract is a condition which, if not performed in time, allows the seller to terminate the contract and claim damages. The decision (although not binding on other tribunals) suggests that there is uncertainty as to when a contractual requirement to open a letter of credit will be a condition entitling the seller to terminate if it is not met or an intermediate term.  Further, if it is an intermediate term, it is not clear at what point (and how far from the shipment period) a seller would be entitled to terminate if the letter of credit is not opened.

http://www.hfw.com/Not-by-the-letter-Can-a-seller-terminate-if-a-letter-of-credit-is-not-opened-on-time-June-2018

 

Undercurrent News on 31st May/1st June reported on this year’s Global Aquaculture Summit and Asia-Pacific Aquaculture Expo 2018 are being held in Fuzhou, China.  China’s top seafood industry association estimates $3.6 billion worth of shrimp was smuggled into China through Vietnam in 2017, equating to approximately 400,000 metric tons of shrimp.

https://www.undercurrentnews.com/2018/05/31/fuzhou-2018-blog-ussec-promotes-raceway-tech-in-china/

 

Daily NK on 31st May reported claims of further confirmation that North Korean seafood products are being sold in China despite sanctions on the export of such items.  Large volumes of North Korean seafood products that were smuggled into the country as recently as last year are now being processed by China’s customs authorities, it claims.  A photo of traders running to line up around trucks full of North Korean dried fish in Jilin, Húnchūn and Bàiquán Xiàn after inspections by the customs authorities appears to support these allegations.

http://english.dailynk.com/english/read.php?num=15223&cataId=nk01500