Venezuela's Maduro sends military to fight crime in Caracas streets

By Enrique Andres Pretel

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday sent some 3,000 troops into the streets of the capital of Caracas to crack down on rampant crime that has made the OPEC nation one of the most dangerous in the world.

The "Secure Fatherland" plan is a new effort to lower violent crime following close to 20 similar attempts during the 14-year rule of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez.

"Our armed forces are taking the streets to protect the people," Maduro said in a speech to military police and troops that was carried live on state television.

"I call on you to serve your country. It must be more than just patrolling. It must a commitment of conscience, passion, and love."

The plan will create around 500 checkpoints in the coming months around the city. Some 9,000 new police officers currently in training and some 1,600 National Guard officers will later join the program.

The opposition has called it yet another half-baked attempt to crack down on crime, which has become the top concern for Venezuelans of all walks of life.

Official figures show that more than 16,000 people were killed in Venezuela in 2012, an increase of 14 percent from the year before and a murder rate of 55.2 per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the highest in the world. Close to 3,4000 have been killed this year alone.

Non-governmental organizations that track violence report that the 2012 figure was actually above 21,000. The government accuses the media and the opposition of magnifying the problem and creating a "sensation of insecurity" for political gain.

One prominent human rights group criticized the new plan on the grounds that the military is trained to fight wars and to control public order, not to prevent crime.

Chavez himself was highly critical of previous governments that used the military to break up demonstrations or protests.

Hundreds and possibly thousands of people were killed when the military suppressed riots sparked by a fuel price hike in 1989, creating a lasting stigma about using troops to control civilians.

"The armed forces are different now," said Maduro on Friday when asked about potential human rights abuses in an interview with regional television station Telesur.

Maduro faces a delicate situation after winning a narrow victory in last month's election, which was triggered by Chavez's death.

He fell considerably short of his former boss's resounding election victories, beating his rival by only 1.5 percentage points, and the opposition has refused to recognize the results.

Crime was considered one of the biggest shortcomings of the Chavez government, which was widely admired for expanding access to healthcare, investing in education and providing subsidized groceries for the poor.

The interior ministry recognizes that many of the robberies, homicides and kidnappings are carried out by "mafias" within the police forces themselves.

Experts say the problem is rooted in a dysfunctional justice system, poor working conditions for police officers, and chaotic and gang-controlled prisons.

Maduro, a 50-year-old former bus driver, said he will also seek limits on television programming that promotes violence and a "cult of weapons."

(Reporting by Enrique Andres Pretel; Additional reporting by Diego Oré; Editing by Eric Beech)

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Venezuela's Maduro sends military to fight crime in Caracas streets

By Enrique Andres Pretel

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday sent some 3,000 troops into the streets of the capital of Caracas to crack down on rampant crime that has made the OPEC nation one of the most dangerous in the world.

The "Secure Fatherland" plan is a new effort to lower violent crime following close to 20 similar attempts during the 14-year rule of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez.

"Our armed forces are taking the streets to protect the people," Maduro said in a speech to military police and troops that was carried live on state television.

"I call on you to serve your country. It must be more than just patrolling. It must a commitment of conscience, passion, and love."

The plan will create around 500 checkpoints in the coming months around the city. Some 9,000 new police officers currently in training and some 1,600 National Guard officers will later join the program.

The opposition has called it yet another half-baked attempt to crack down on crime, which has become the top concern for Venezuelans of all walks of life.

Official figures show that more than 16,000 people were killed in Venezuela in 2012, an increase of 14 percent from the year before and a murder rate of 55.2 per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the highest in the world. Close to 3,4000 have been killed this year alone.

Non-governmental organizations that track violence report that the 2012 figure was actually above 21,000. The government accuses the media and the opposition of magnifying the problem and creating a "sensation of insecurity" for political gain.

One prominent human rights group criticized the new plan on the grounds that the military is trained to fight wars and to control public order, not to prevent crime.

Chavez himself was highly critical of previous governments that used the military to break up demonstrations or protests.

Hundreds and possibly thousands of people were killed when the military suppressed riots sparked by a fuel price hike in 1989, creating a lasting stigma about using troops to control civilians.

"The armed forces are different now," said Maduro on Friday when asked about potential human rights abuses in an interview with regional television station Telesur.

Maduro faces a delicate situation after winning a narrow victory in last month's election, which was triggered by Chavez's death.

He fell considerably short of his former boss's resounding election victories, beating his rival by only 1.5 percentage points, and the opposition has refused to recognize the results.

Crime was considered one of the biggest shortcomings of the Chavez government, which was widely admired for expanding access to healthcare, investing in education and providing subsidized groceries for the poor.

The interior ministry recognizes that many of the robberies, homicides and kidnappings are carried out by "mafias" within the police forces themselves.

Experts say the problem is rooted in a dysfunctional justice system, poor working conditions for police officers, and chaotic and gang-controlled prisons.

Maduro, a 50-year-old former bus driver, said he will also seek limits on television programming that promotes violence and a "cult of weapons."

(Reporting by Enrique Andres Pretel; Additional reporting by Diego Oré; Editing by Eric Beech)

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Nigerian Islamist raid in northeast town kills 55: military

By Ibrahim Mshelizza

BAMA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Suspected members of the Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram armed with machineguns laid siege on the northeastern town of Bama on Tuesday, freeing over 100 prison inmates and leaving 55 people dead, the military said.

Around 200 heavily armed members of Boko Haram arrived in buses and pick-up trucks and carried out a coordinated strike, first hitting the army barracks and the police station before breaking into the town's prison, military spokesman Sagir Musa told Reuters.

Musa said 22 police officers, 14 prison officials, two soldiers and four civilians were killed, while 13 of the group's own members died, in what was one of the rebel's most deadly single strikes since a 2009 uprising.

Gunmen freed 105 prisoners during the raid which began at around 5 a.m. (0400 GMT) and lasted almost five hours, Musa said. He said some of the attackers were dressed in army uniforms.

Bama's police station, army barracks and government buildings were set ablaze, he said.

"They came in army uniform pretending to be soldiers but were able to detect them," Musa said.

Bama is a small, remote town in northeastern Borno state, Boko Haram's home state and the nucleus of its attacks.

"The call to prayer was just being said at about 5 a.m. when the Boko Haram started shooting from all directions and we ran for our lives," eyewitness Amina Usman told Reuters.

"One woman who could not run burned to death," Usman added.

The Boko Haram sect and offshoots such as the al Qaeda-linked Ansaru, as well as associated criminal networks, pose the main threat to stability in Africa's top energy producer.

Western governments are increasingly concerned about Nigerian militants linking up with other jihadist groups in the West African region.

Boko Haram wants to carve out an Islamic state in a country split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims. One of its chief demands is that its imprisoned members and family members are released and it has carried out several prison breaks.

Attacks by Boko Haram have killed more than 3,000 people since 2009, based on figures from Human Rights Watch.

Violence in Nigeria's northeast has shown no signs of abating. Clashes between Islamists and a multinational force from Nigeria, Niger and Chad killed dozens of people last month.

A senator who visited the site said 228 people were killed, but the military puts the figure at 37.

President Goodluck Jonathan has set up a committee to work out the terms of an amnesty for the rebels but their leader, Abubakar Shekau, has shown no interest in it so far.

(Additional reporting by Tim Cocks in Maiduguri; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Michael Roddy)

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A quieter second-act for U.S.-South Korea military drills?

By Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration, which has made military moves intended to signal to North Korea and U.S. allies that it takes Pyongyang's threats seriously, plans to switch gears and tone down public pronouncements about joint military exercises with Seoul, U.S. officials said Thursday.

The U.S. messaging, which has included flying two B-2 stealth bombers over the Korean peninsula and the announcement of new or expanded missile defense systems in Alaska and Guam, was intended to reassure South Korea and Japan it would back them in a crisis, the officials said.

But it also appears to have prompted even greater threats and bellicose rhetoric from North Korea.

"Our actions thus far have had their intended effect: they've shown our deterrence capability and our willingness to defend South Korea. We always make adjustment and if going quiet for a short period of time gives the North Koreans space to dial back their rhetoric, fine," said one U.S. official.

U.S. officials say they do not see a conflict with North Korea as imminent. And they have told U.S. allies Pyongyang's threats of war appear to be just rhetoric, according to U.N. diplomats.

Washington still plans to forge ahead with joint military exercises with South Korea, which Pyongyang has branded a "rehearsal for invasion," said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

This includes an amphibious assault drill by the United States and South Korea at the end of April. The exercises, named "Foal Eagle," began on March 1 and will end on April 30.

"It's not so much that we're dialing back the exercises. We may not be as public about it," the official said.

Last week, in a pointed message to Pyongyang, the U.S. military command in South Korea announced a first-of-its-kind practice bombing drill by B-2 stealth bombers over South Korea.

Two of the nuclear-capable, bat-winged planes flew 37 1/2-hours from their U.S. base to drop dummy munitions on a South Korean range, and then returned home.

A second U.S. official acknowledged there had been some debate at lower levels within the administration about the B-2 flight, given its potential to agitate Pyongyang. But the idea did not run into opposition in higher-level discussions, the official said.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR TENSION

U.S. hopes of easing the crisis could face a bumpy road.

Western officials on Thursday confirmed that North Korea has moved a rocket, apparently a medium-range missile known as a Musudan or Nodong B, to its east coast.

Experts said it was unclear if the missile was moved as a menacing gesture or in preparation for a test firing.

Analysts are anxiously looking ahead to April 15, the birthday of Kim Il-sung, North Korea's founder and the grandfather of its current leader, Kim Jong-un. The anniversary is a time of mass celebrations, nationalist fervor and sometimes demonstrations of military prowess.

And U.S. concerns about North Korea are certain to be aired publicly in testimony before Congress next week by top Pentagon officials, including the commanders of U.S. forces in Korea and the broader Pacific region.

Officials hope the coming weeks will see a more measured tone that could at least open room for diplomacy over North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, something that seems impossible now.

"As these exercises wind down, we're probably going to be pivoting more to the diplomatic phase," a U.S. official said. "You get to a point where you get diminishing returns from unilateral sanctions, or B-2s."

While U.S. officials can't rule out a North Korean provocation, like a rocket launch, they said there are no signs Pyongyang is gearing up for war.

"We're not seeing any kind of troop movements, still" that would signal preparations for a conflict, the first U.S. official added.

Britain's ambassador to the United States, Sir Peter Westmacott, told reporters on Thursday there was a sense that "this is the usual game that is played every decade or so."

"The experts seem to be still of the view that this is a degree of theater, of game-playing, which is familiar, but some of the stuff has been more extreme than what's happened in the past," Westmacott said.

Some U.S. officials believe Pyongyang's bellicosity is aimed primarily at a domestic audience.

They see Kim trying to keep his vast, poorly paid army motivated with anti-U.S. propaganda and improve his status among North Korea's largely poor population by standing up to foreign enemies, even as he seeks to cement his grip on power.

(Additional reporting by Warren Strobel, Louis Charbonneau, Arshad Mohammed and Mark Hosenball; Editing by Todd Eastham)

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Hagel tells military to brace for further belt-tightening

By David Alexander and Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned the military to brace for more belt-tightening on Wednesday as he conducts a review that could cut the number of generals, pare back the civilian workforce and stem the spiraling cost of new weapons.

Hagel, in his first major policy speech as Pentagon chief, told students at the National Defense University that the United States could not allow its current budget crisis to force it to retreat from the world. But he underscored the limits of U.S. military power.

"We need to challenge all past assumptions, and we need to put everything on the table," Hagel said. "Any serious effort to reform and reshape our defense enterprise must confront the principal drivers of growth in the department's base budget - namely acquisitions, personnel costs and overhead."

Hagel's remarks come as the Pentagon is struggling to deal with a $41 billion budget cut that went into effect on March 1, part of a $500 billion reduction that could slice defense spending by $50 billion a year for the next decade.

His comments marked a shift in tone at the Pentagon, which for months harbored hope that Congress and the White House would rescue it from spending reductions beyond a $487 billion cut approved in 2011.

"The speech ... represented a bit of a turning point for the Pentagon because he acknowledged that further cuts in defense spending are likely, if not inevitable, and that DoD should begin preparing for them," said Todd Harrison, a defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments think tank.

Hagel, a Vietnam veteran who took office in late February, faced pointed questions from his audience.

One woman asked why the department was moving ahead with a decision to put civilian employees on unpaid leave later this year, essentially slashing their pay by 20 percent for 14 weeks as part of its effort to cut spending.

"In case your advisers haven't told you, it is affecting morale," she said.

Questioned about how soon defense personnel might face reductions in benefits, Hagel said the military would fulfill commitments it had made so far. But he also said the Pentagon would ask for higher fees on some benefits like healthcare, a move Congress has rejected in the past.

He emphasized that the system ultimately would have to change.

'I WISH IT WAS OTHERWISE'

"If you play this out over a 10-, 20-year period, we're not going to be able to sustain the current personnel costs and retirement benefits. There will be no money in the budget for anything else," he said.

"I'm sorry. I wish it was otherwise," Hagel said. "But that's a fact of life and the longer we defer these things, the worse it's going to be for all of us."

He said the department had to come to grips with factors that are driving up long-term costs, like a big bureaucracy, high personnel costs and unwieldy weapons-development programs.

"In many respects, the biggest long-term fiscal challenge facing the department is not the flat or declining top-line budget, it is the growing imbalance in where the money is being spent internally," Hagel said.

He expressed concern that the military was looking at "systems that are vastly more expensive and technologically risky than what was promised or budgeted for" as it attempts to modernize weapons.

While recognizing the sacrifices of troops and their families over nearly a dozen years of war, Hagel said "fiscal realities demand" the Pentagon take another look at the number and mix of military and civilian personnel it employs.

"Despite good efforts and intentions, it is still not clear that every option has been exercised or considered to pare back the world's largest back-office," Hagel said, referring to the Pentagon's bureaucracy.

He said the military's hierarchies needed re-examination as well.

"Today the operational forces of the military - measured in battalions, ships and aircraft wings - have shrunk dramatically since the Cold War era," he said. "Yet the three- and four-star command and support structures sitting atop these smaller fighting forces have stayed intact, with minor exceptions, and in some cases they are actually increasing in size and rank."

(Editing by Philip Barbara and Xavier Briand)

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Hagel Orders Review of Rules in Military Sex Assault Convictions

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says he is ordering a review of the rules that allow a military commander to overrule court martial convictions by military juries. Hagel wrote a letter to Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., which is posted on her website.

The move was prompted by the outrage on Capitol Hill after an Air Force general decided to throw out an F-16 fighter pilot's jury conviction for aggravated sexual assault. Lt. Col. James Wilkerson was convicted of the assault, which took place at his home base in Aviano, Italy where he was the base's Inspector General. Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin threw out the conviction, reinstated him in the Air Force and cleared his record.

Franklin made the change against the recommendation of his staff lawyer and instead agreed with Wilkerson's attorney that prosecutors had not proved that he was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

RELATED: Military Lags Assisting Victims of Sexual Assault

Wilkerson was able to do this because he was designated the "convening authority" for the case. Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), convictions go to the case's convening authority, a commander, for final action. This happens in every military trial.

"I believe this case does raise a significant question whether it is necessary or appropriate to place the convening authority in the position of having the responsibility to review the findings and sentence of a court-martial," wrote Hagel, "particularly prior to the robust appellate process made available by the UCMJ."

Hagel can't review the actions of the Wilkerson case or overturn the case, but he's ordering a review of the case to see whether it "points to changes that should be considered in the UCMJ, or in the military services' implementation of the UCMJ and, if so, what changes should be made."

The Wilkerson case has gained traction over the past week on Capitol Hill as Democratic Senators Boxer, Claire McCaskill and Debbie Stabenow have all expressed outrage over the general's actions. They demanded that the military change the UCMJ provisions to remove the leeway commanders have in sexual assault cases. McCaskill has a meeting set up with the Air Force's top general, Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh.

RELATED: "Invisible War" - Military Rape Victims Go to Congress

On Tuesday Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif, is expected to introduce legislation in the House that, if enacted, would remove the ability of military commanders to unilaterally overturn or lessen the decisions of judges or juries at courts martial under their review. But at meeting of the Senate Armed Services Committee last week, the commander of the U.S. Central Command said that while he wasn't aware of the Wilkerson case, he stood by the military legal system in its current form.

Marine Gen. James Mattis said the powers bestowed upon convening authorities were intended to serve as a defendant's right and check to the jury system.

"No court system is more subject to being characterized as a kangaroo court than one where military officers who are in command also initiate it," Mattis said, adding he believed the U.S. Military Justice code "overwhelmingly" served justice.

"I say that because as a commander, I was not just responsible for prosecution; I was also responsible for defense," he said. "And commanders must balance both of those if we're to have a fair system."

On Wednesday the case is expected to be discussed at the first Senate hearing in a decade dedicated to the issue of sexual assault in the military.

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Unrest in Egyptian city draws in military

CAIRO (AP) — Clashes between protesters and the police in in the restive Egyptian city of Port Said that entered their second day Monday have dragged in the military to a dramatic extent into the nation's turmoil.

At times in the violence, frictions have arisen between the police that were battling protesters and army forces that tried to break up the fighting. Troops in between the two sides were overwhelmed by police tear gas, one army colonel was wounded by live fire, and troops even opened fire over the heads of police, bringing cheers from protesters.

Three policemen and three civilians were killed in the fighting, and troops stood by as protesters torched a government complex Monday that contains the city's main police building.

The scenes, following three weeks of strikes and protests in the city, have underlined a scenario that many in Egypt view with a mix of concern and relief — that the military may move back into politics, prompted by mushrooming protests, a breakdown in law and order and mounting challenges to the Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. Some opponents of Morsi have outright called for the military to take power, and even those who say they oppose a military return have used the prospect to pressure Morsi to find some consensus in the country's political crisis.

Prominent opposition leader Mohammed ElBaradei warned of decaying state institutions and rising levels of violence.

"The regime in its current form is unable to manage the country," he wrote on his Twitter account. "There must be a radical review before it is too late."

Unable to halt the violence, both the police and military Monday sought to deny any tensions between them. Meanwhile, there was no official comment from the presidency following one of the worst flare-ups of violence since January.

Unrest also spread in other parts of the country. In the capital, Cairo, protesters blocked the main thoroughfare along the Nile River, and police tried to clear them with volleys of tear gas. Other disgruntled young men set fire to two police cars in two different locations in Cairo, sending police fleeing the vehicles in the middle of traffic.

The unrest in Egypt is reaching new heights, just weeks before the parliamentary elections scheduled next month, which have further enflamed an already tense political landscape.

Opposition leaders are calling for a boycott of the elections, accusing Morsi of failing to seek consensus over critical issues, such as the drafting of the constitution and the elections law. Morsi opponents accuse him of working to lock his Muslim Brotherhood's hold on power.

"How can elections be held with the tragic situation in Port Said and as martyrs are falling there and in other provinces," former presidential candidate and leading opposition member Amr Moussa said in an email. "How can elections be held with security undermined everywhere in the nation."

Months of violence have prompted calls by some in the opposition for the military, which ruled for nearly 17 months after the fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, to take back power and contain the discontent.

Hundreds of Port Said residents, followed by some in other provinces, took the symbolic step of going to public registrar offices to issue "power of delegation" documents asking the military to step in "manage" the country.

Abdullah el-Sinawi, a commentator and columnist in the daily Al-Shorouk newspaper, said the "clashes between police and military which took place, even if they were limited, represent the absence of the rule of law."

Such a clash between two powerful institutions "warns of the decay of the state," he said. There were increasing signs from the generals of their displeasure with Morsi's management of the country and lack of political openness, he said, raising the specter of military intervention, perhaps not to remove Morsi but to prevent a breakdown.

Morsi supporters and members of the Muslim Brotherhood have downplayed rising expressions of discontent. Mohammed el-Beltagi, a senior Brotherhood member, told reporters that Egyptians will never accept the military back in power.

Another senior Brotherhood member, Gamal Heshmat, told the legislature Monday that the media is portraying Port Said as if it is "on fire."

"Anyone watching from outside will think that Egypt is all Port Said," he told a parliamentary session, according to the main state-run daily, Al-Ahram.

Port Said, on the Mediterranean coast at the mouth of the Suez Canal, has been in turmoil since late January, when a Cairo court issued death sentences against 21 people, most residents of the city, for involvement in Egypt's deadliest soccer riot in February 2012. The verdicts sparked angry protests in the city, which turned into deadly clashes with police, leaving more than 40 dead, including two policemen.

Residents have been outraged by what they call excessive force by the police and by Morsi's backing of the security forces. The police said most of the protester deaths came during an attempt to storm a prison.

Tensions have risen further ahead of a court hearing planned for Saturday that is expected to confirm the death sentences and issue new verdicts for police officers and other Port Said defendants also charged in the soccer riot case.

Port Said's fighting Sunday began when thousands of protesters marched on the police headquarters after word emerged that 39 defendants in the soccer case had been transferred to prisons outside the city ahead of Saturday's hearing.

The protesters Sunday lobbed rocks and firebombs at the police building. The police, heavily deployed around their building, moved out to try to push back the protesters.

Army officers tried but failed to negotiate an end to the fighting. Then the troops began getting hit. An army colonel was shot in the right leg by live ammunition, military spokesman Ahmed Mohammed Ali said. Soldiers were overwhelmed by the tear gas that police were firing at the protesters. In one case, captured on video, a tear gas canister fell inside a military armored vehicle, and the choking soldiers stumbled out, helped by protesters who carried them to an ambulance.

The military deployed their vehicles between the protesters and police. They fired in the air in the direction of the police, witnesses said. "The people and army are one hand," cheering protesters chanted.

One protester, 25-year-old Mohammed Atef, said the scene restored his confidence in the military. "We felt they are feeling the injustices against us; that they decided to protect us too."

But another said she believed the military was only acting to protect itself. "The military only moved against the police when one of theirs was shot," said Amira el-Alfi, 33. "It is pretending, and is moving neither to protect institutions, nor to protect people."

On Monday, soldiers and military vehicles escorted thousands marching in the funeral procession for the civilians killed in the fighting the day before.

"It is now war between us and you, Interior Ministry," the marchers chanted as they carried the coffins of the dead to the cemetery. Many wave the black-white-and-green flags of Port Said that have become a symbol of the city's revolt against the government.

On their way back from the funeral, protesters hurled rocks at the police headquarters, which lies in a government complex. Police responded with volleys of tear gas. The military largely stood by. Flames were visible from the provincial government's headquarters and a nearby tax authority office, adjacent to the police building.

On Monday, both the military and the Interior Ministry, which is in charge of the police, sought to dispel any sign of friction between their forces. The Interior Ministry issued a statement saying "unknown elements" fired arbitrarily at the police and military with the aim of sowing sedition and causing escalation.

In a statement late Sunday, the military denied it fired at police. On Monday, the military spokesman Ali said that the fact that people on both sides were injured indicates that unknown elements were behind the gunfire.

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