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Nearly 100 Afghans are killed every month by unexploded mines, and yet when Gulandam first signed up to help with de-mining efforts, men would hurl insults at her in the street.

“At the beginning we faced many problems, especially when we used to walk around Bamyan wearing our de-mining clothes” explains Gulandam, one of the first sixteen female de-miners on the team, whose funding is provided by the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS). 

They started attacking each other as an argument spilled over and scores were settled. Some spectators tried to stop the brawl as security guards requested back-up. Thousands were killed, entire villages were set on fire, and shocking testimonies emerged of widespread rape and torture. About 740,000 people fled the killing fields into neighbouring Bangladesh, where they languish in the world’s largest refugee settlement.

Under a constitution drafted by the generals for the return to partial civilian rule, Suu Kyi has no control over the military and no obligation to appear in the Hague. But she is fiercely loyal to the army created by her father, the independence hero Aung San.

When she discovered the damage, the men allegedly posed as passersby who were willing to help, with Jollu Shiva taking the scooter away so it could be repaired. Officers say Shiva actually dumped the scooter, then returned to the scene where the group allegedly dragged the woman into an abandoned compound where they believe the rape took place.

“It was a small number, but I don’t care how many it was,” he said. “One antisemite is too many, and what we’ve done is we’ve started kicking them out in numbers. The reports this morning, that I saw in the papers, cited a number of examples. Those people have been expelled or suspended. They’ve been done.”

McDonnell said he had previously made clear he was angry because the Labour party “weren’t quick enough or ruthless enough”. “The new procedures are dealing with that and that report today doesn’t take that into account,” he said.