{UAH} OUTRAGE AT TREATMENT OF MH17 BODIES

Outrage at treatment of MH17 bodies.

2014-07-19 23:06
News24 - 1 hour ago


Emergency workers load the body of a victim on a truck at the crash
site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 near the village of Hrabove,
eastern Ukraine. (Vadim Ghirda, AP)

Hrabove - International monitors moved gingerly on Saturday through
fields reeking of the decomposing corpses of the victims of a
Malaysian airliner shot down over rebel-held eastern Ukraine, trying
to secure the sprawling site in hopes that a credible investigation of
the disaster can be conducted.

The crash that killed all 298 people aboard the plane two days earlier
intensified the already-high animosity on all sides of the conflict.

The Ukrainian government and separatist rebels accuse each other of
shooting down the Boeing 777 with a surface-to-air missile. Many see
the hand of Russia, either for its alleged support of the insurgents
or perhaps firing the missile itself. The crash site is near the
Russian border.

Scene compromised

Amid wide calls for an international investigation, doubts arose about
whether the evidence was being compromised before inspectors ever
reach the scene.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel
agreed in a phone call on Saturday that the sides should enter talks
and stop fighting, according to a Kremlin statement. Russian Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov and US counterpart John Kerry took a similar
view, a Foreign Ministry statement said.

At an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday, the US
pointed blame at the separatists, saying Washington believes the
jetliner likely was downed by an SA-11 missile and "we cannot rule out
technical assistance from Russian personnel".

The government in Kiev said militiamen have removed 38 bodies from the
crash site and have taken them to the rebel-held city of Donetsk. It
said the bodies were transported with the assistance of specialists
with distinct Russian accents.

The rebels are also "seeking large transports to carry away plane
fragments to Russia", the Ukrainian government said on Saturday.

In Donetsk, separatist leader Alexander Borodai denied that any bodies
had been transferred or that the rebels had in any way interfered with
the work of observers. He said he encouraged the involvement of the
international community in assisting with the cleanup before the
conditions of the bodies worsens significantly.

Ukraine called on Moscow to insist that the pro-Russia rebels grant
international experts the ability to conduct a thorough, impartial
investigation into the downing of the plane - echoing a demand that
President Barack Obama issued a day earlier from Washington.

Outrage, distress

On Saturday, in the village of Hrabove, one passenger's body was seen
still strapped into an airline seat, with bare toes peeking out under
long jeans. Another body was flung face-up into a field of blue
flowers.

Treatment of the victims' remains, left in the open air under a hot
summer sun punctuated by bursts of rainfall, has provoked outrage and
distress.

"The news we got today of the bodies being dragged around, of the site
not being treated properly, has really created a shock in the
Netherlands," Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans told the
Ukrainian president in Kiev. "People are angry, are furious at what
they hear."

Timmermans demanded the culprits be found.

"Once we have the proof, we will not stop until the people are brought
to justice," he said.

Merkel and Putin agreed on Saturday that an independent, international
commission led by the International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO,
should be granted swift access to the crash site, German government
spokesperson Georg Streiter and the Kremlin said.

The commission should examine the circumstances of the crash and
recover the victims, said Streiter, adding that Merkel urged Putin to
use his influence over the separatists to make that happen.

                    Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in anarchy"
                    Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni katika machafuko"