US-backed Iraqi forces are set to reach the main government complex in Mosul, their next target in the battle to retake the city from Islamic State.
The site should be taken on Monday, Lieutenant Colonel Abdel Amir al-Mohammadawi told the Reuters news agency.
Meanwhile, Colonel John L Dorrian, spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, the American-led coalition against IS, told Sky News the Iraqi forces were "imposing their will on the enemy" in the city.
"They're not going to be pushed out of Mosul - they're going to surrender or they're going to be killed there," he vowed.
A senior commander said earlier Iraqi troops had been involved in the "heaviest" clashes yet with IS fighters in the west of the city since the start of their offensive.
Major General Haider al-Maturi of the Federal Police Commandos Division told the Associated Press the militants had dispatched at least six suicide car bombs, which were all destroyed before reaching Iraqi forces.
He said IS fighters are moving from house to house and deploying snipers.
Iraqi forces launched attacks against IS-held neighbourhoods in western Mosul from three points on Sunday morning.
IS fighters have "some mortar (teams) and snipers positioned inside homes," Iraqi special forces Major Ali Talib said, adding that US-led coalition airstrikes have helped destroy some IS defences, but clashes were continuing.
As the fighting continues, the total number of civilians displaced from the city has risen over the last few days.
More than 200,000 civilians have been forced to flee their homes, according to the International Organisation for Migration.
International aid agencies have voiced fears that camps to accommodate displaced people are approaching full capacity.
The push to recapture the west of the city was launched around two weeks ago after the eastern half of Mosul was declared "fully liberated" in January.
The overall operation to retake the city - which IS has held since the summer of 2014 - began in October after more than two years of slowly taking back territory from IS militants.
Sunday, March 5, 2017
Former President Goodluck Jonathan Rejected British Offer To Rescue Kidnapped Chibok Schoolgirls |UK Guardian
British armed forces offered to attempt to rescue nearly 300 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, but were rebuffed by Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria’s president at the time, the Observer has learned.
In a mission named Operation Turus, the RAF conducted air reconnaissance over northern Nigeria for several months, following the kidnapping of 276 girls from the town of Chibok in April 2014. “The girls were located in the first few weeks of the RAF mission,” a source involved in Operation Turus told the Observer. “We offered to rescue them, but the Nigerian government declined.”
The girls were then tracked by the aircraft as they were dispersed into progressively smaller groups over the following months, the source added.
Chibok is located in Nigeria’s north-eastern Borno state. Today 195 of the girls are still missing. Those who have managed to escape from their kidnappers have told of a life of torture, enslavement, rape, and forced marriages in captivity.
Notes from meetings between UK and Nigerian officials, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, also suggest that Nigeria shunned international offers to rescue the girls. While Nigeria welcomed an aid package and assistance from the US, the UK and France in looking for the girls, it viewed any action to be taken against kidnapping as a “national issue”.
“Nigeria’s intelligence and military services must solve the ultimate problem,” said Jonathan in a meeting with the UK’s then Africa minister, Mark Simmonds, on 15 May 2014.
A document summarizing a meeting in Abuja in September 2014 between Nigeria’s national security adviser and James Duddridge MP, former under-secretary of state at the Foreign Office, shows Operation Turus had advanced to the point where rescue options were being discussed. Minutes from a meeting the following month between Major-General James Chiswell and Jonathan hinted at the frustration felt by those trying to prompt some action from Nigeria.
“[President] Jonathan was still focused on ‘platforms’. General Chiswell said again we could offer advice on what equipment might make sense and how weapon systems might be best deployed,” the October 2014 document stated.
The Nigerian government did not respond to a request for comment. The Foreign Office said: “We wouldn’t comment on specific operational details, which are a matter for the Nigerian government and military.”
Jonathan has drawn criticism at home and abroad for a lack of action and perceived apathy over the kidnappings. The government was slow to mount any response in the weeks after the girls were taken. The governor of Borno, Kashim Shettima, also publicly criticized Jonathan for failing to even call him or any other state official for 19 days after the kidnappings. Jonathan also hit out at the worldwide #BringBackOurGirls campaign, branding it a “manipulation” of the victims of the attack.
Boko Haram had raided the dormitories of the government secondary school at Chibok. The girls staying there had braved warnings of an attack to sit their final examinations. Boko Haram looted the school and then burned it to the ground. The kidnappings also blighted the lives of the girls from the town who were not taken away, as many have been too scared to continue their education.
In addition to Nigeria, Boko Haram is active in regions of Cameroon, Chad and Niger. According to Unicef, more than 1.3 million children have now been displaced. Some of those taken by Boko Haram have been forced to become child soldiers: one in five suicide bombers in Nigeria are believed to be children, and three-quarters of those are girls.
In a mission named Operation Turus, the RAF conducted air reconnaissance over northern Nigeria for several months, following the kidnapping of 276 girls from the town of Chibok in April 2014. “The girls were located in the first few weeks of the RAF mission,” a source involved in Operation Turus told the Observer. “We offered to rescue them, but the Nigerian government declined.”
The girls were then tracked by the aircraft as they were dispersed into progressively smaller groups over the following months, the source added.
Chibok is located in Nigeria’s north-eastern Borno state. Today 195 of the girls are still missing. Those who have managed to escape from their kidnappers have told of a life of torture, enslavement, rape, and forced marriages in captivity.
Notes from meetings between UK and Nigerian officials, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, also suggest that Nigeria shunned international offers to rescue the girls. While Nigeria welcomed an aid package and assistance from the US, the UK and France in looking for the girls, it viewed any action to be taken against kidnapping as a “national issue”.
“Nigeria’s intelligence and military services must solve the ultimate problem,” said Jonathan in a meeting with the UK’s then Africa minister, Mark Simmonds, on 15 May 2014.
A document summarizing a meeting in Abuja in September 2014 between Nigeria’s national security adviser and James Duddridge MP, former under-secretary of state at the Foreign Office, shows Operation Turus had advanced to the point where rescue options were being discussed. Minutes from a meeting the following month between Major-General James Chiswell and Jonathan hinted at the frustration felt by those trying to prompt some action from Nigeria.
“[President] Jonathan was still focused on ‘platforms’. General Chiswell said again we could offer advice on what equipment might make sense and how weapon systems might be best deployed,” the October 2014 document stated.
The Nigerian government did not respond to a request for comment. The Foreign Office said: “We wouldn’t comment on specific operational details, which are a matter for the Nigerian government and military.”
Jonathan has drawn criticism at home and abroad for a lack of action and perceived apathy over the kidnappings. The government was slow to mount any response in the weeks after the girls were taken. The governor of Borno, Kashim Shettima, also publicly criticized Jonathan for failing to even call him or any other state official for 19 days after the kidnappings. Jonathan also hit out at the worldwide #BringBackOurGirls campaign, branding it a “manipulation” of the victims of the attack.
Boko Haram had raided the dormitories of the government secondary school at Chibok. The girls staying there had braved warnings of an attack to sit their final examinations. Boko Haram looted the school and then burned it to the ground. The kidnappings also blighted the lives of the girls from the town who were not taken away, as many have been too scared to continue their education.
In addition to Nigeria, Boko Haram is active in regions of Cameroon, Chad and Niger. According to Unicef, more than 1.3 million children have now been displaced. Some of those taken by Boko Haram have been forced to become child soldiers: one in five suicide bombers in Nigeria are believed to be children, and three-quarters of those are girls.
Hassan Ali Khaire: Hunger, disease kill 110 in two days
Somalia's prime minister has announced the deaths of at least 110 people due to hunger and diarrhoea in the country over the past 48 hours amid a drought in the Bay region.
The announcement by Hassan Ali Khaire on Saturday followed the Somali government's warning last week that the drought amounts to a national disaster.
"It is a difficult situation for the pastoralists and their livestock. Some people have been hit by [hunger] and diarrhoea at the same time. In the last 48 hours, 110 people died due to [hunger] and diarrhoea in Bay region," Khaire's office said in a statement.
The Bay region is in the southwest part of the country.
READ MORE: Dying of hunger - What is a famine?
"The Somali government will do its best, and we urge all Somalis, wherever they are, to help and save the dying Somalis," said the statement, released after a meeting of a famine response committee.
Mostly children and elderly people died in villages surrounding the town of Baido, Abdullahi Omar Roble, the government's regional humanitarian chief, told the DPA news agency.
There was not enough medication to treat all of the patients, Roble said.
The drought has led to a spread of acute watery diarrhoea, cholera and measles and nearly 5.5 million people are at risk of contracting waterborne diseases.
The cholera outbreak has killed at least 69 since Friday, a local government official said.
More than 70 others have been hospitalised.
Thousands flock to Mogadishu
UN experts have sounded a warning on deaths related to cholera and other diseases that arise from a lack of clean water.
The UN estimates that five million people nationwide need aid, amid warnings of a full-blown famine.
Thousands have streamed into the capital, Mogadishu, in search of food aid, overwhelming local and international aid agencies.
More than 7,000 internally displaced people checked into one feeding centre recently.
READ MORE: Somalia drought forces children out of school
About 363,000 acutely malnourished children in Somalia "need urgent treatment and nutrition support, including 71,000 who are severely malnourished", the US Agency for International Development's Famine Early Warning Systems Network has said.
The Somali government has said the widespread hunger "makes people vulnerable to exploitation, human rights abuses and to criminal and terrorist networks".
Somalia was one of four regions singled out by the UN secretary-general last month in a $4.4bn aid appeal to avert catastrophic hunger and famine, along with northeast Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen.
In 2011, an estimated 260,000 people starved to death in Somalia.
The UN humanitarian appeal for 2017 for Somalia is $864m, to provide assistance to 3.9 million people.
But the UN World Food Programme recently requested an additional $26m plan to respond to the drought.
IN PICTURES: Drought in Somalia - Time is Running Out
The drought is the first crisis for Somalia's newly elected Somali American leader, President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, who is also known as Farmajo.
Mohamed has appealed to the international community and Somalia's diaspora of two million people for help.
Previous droughts and a quarter-century of conflict, including ongoing attacks by al-Shabab, have left the country fragile.
The announcement by Hassan Ali Khaire on Saturday followed the Somali government's warning last week that the drought amounts to a national disaster.
"It is a difficult situation for the pastoralists and their livestock. Some people have been hit by [hunger] and diarrhoea at the same time. In the last 48 hours, 110 people died due to [hunger] and diarrhoea in Bay region," Khaire's office said in a statement.
The Bay region is in the southwest part of the country.
READ MORE: Dying of hunger - What is a famine?
"The Somali government will do its best, and we urge all Somalis, wherever they are, to help and save the dying Somalis," said the statement, released after a meeting of a famine response committee.
Mostly children and elderly people died in villages surrounding the town of Baido, Abdullahi Omar Roble, the government's regional humanitarian chief, told the DPA news agency.
There was not enough medication to treat all of the patients, Roble said.
The drought has led to a spread of acute watery diarrhoea, cholera and measles and nearly 5.5 million people are at risk of contracting waterborne diseases.
The cholera outbreak has killed at least 69 since Friday, a local government official said.
More than 70 others have been hospitalised.
Thousands flock to Mogadishu
UN experts have sounded a warning on deaths related to cholera and other diseases that arise from a lack of clean water.
The UN estimates that five million people nationwide need aid, amid warnings of a full-blown famine.
Thousands have streamed into the capital, Mogadishu, in search of food aid, overwhelming local and international aid agencies.
More than 7,000 internally displaced people checked into one feeding centre recently.
READ MORE: Somalia drought forces children out of school
About 363,000 acutely malnourished children in Somalia "need urgent treatment and nutrition support, including 71,000 who are severely malnourished", the US Agency for International Development's Famine Early Warning Systems Network has said.
The Somali government has said the widespread hunger "makes people vulnerable to exploitation, human rights abuses and to criminal and terrorist networks".
Somalia was one of four regions singled out by the UN secretary-general last month in a $4.4bn aid appeal to avert catastrophic hunger and famine, along with northeast Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen.
In 2011, an estimated 260,000 people starved to death in Somalia.
The UN humanitarian appeal for 2017 for Somalia is $864m, to provide assistance to 3.9 million people.
But the UN World Food Programme recently requested an additional $26m plan to respond to the drought.
IN PICTURES: Drought in Somalia - Time is Running Out
The drought is the first crisis for Somalia's newly elected Somali American leader, President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, who is also known as Farmajo.
Mohamed has appealed to the international community and Somalia's diaspora of two million people for help.
Previous droughts and a quarter-century of conflict, including ongoing attacks by al-Shabab, have left the country fragile.
'Syrian' warplane crashes near Turkish border
A Syrian military plane crashed in Turkey near its border with Syria, the Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu said.
The plane crashed in the Turkish province of Hatay on Saturday, the news agency said, quoting provincial governor Erdal Ata as saying police and medical teams were at the crash site.
"The plane's cockpit was empty. We believe that the pilots parachuted out," Ata said, adding that a search for them was under way.
On Sunday, Anadolu reported that the pilot was found and taken to hospital, adding that he had managed to use his parachute to land safely.
He was found exhausted after a nine-hour search by Turkish security teams and was being given medical care at a local medical centre.
Earlier, people in the Turkish border village of Samandag said they heard a loud noise at around 6:30pm (1530 GMT) and alerted the police, the Dogan news agency said.
A Syrian military official, quoted by state television, said: "Contact was lost with a military aircraft on a reconnaissance mission near the Turkish border."
The Syrian rebel group Ahrar al-Sham told AFP news agency that it had shot down a government plane "as it was overflying Idlib province [in northwestern Syria] and carrying out air strikes".
The British-based monitor of the Syrian conflict, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said a plane "which probably belongs to the Syrian regime crashed in Idlib province. The status of the pilot is unknown and there are contradictory reasons for the cause of the crash."
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, quoted by Anadolu, said the cause of the crash was unknown, but he pointed to poor weather conditions at the time.
The Syrian civil war started as a largely unarmed uprising against President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011, but quickly developed into a fully armed conflict.
Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations special envoy to Syria, estimated in April 2016 that more than 400,000 Syrians had been killed since the war started.
Calculating a precise death toll is difficult, partially owing to the forced disappearances of tens of thousands of Syrians whose fate remains unknown.
Almost 11 million Syrians - half the country's prewar population - have been displaced from their homes.
The plane crashed in the Turkish province of Hatay on Saturday, the news agency said, quoting provincial governor Erdal Ata as saying police and medical teams were at the crash site.
"The plane's cockpit was empty. We believe that the pilots parachuted out," Ata said, adding that a search for them was under way.
On Sunday, Anadolu reported that the pilot was found and taken to hospital, adding that he had managed to use his parachute to land safely.
He was found exhausted after a nine-hour search by Turkish security teams and was being given medical care at a local medical centre.
Earlier, people in the Turkish border village of Samandag said they heard a loud noise at around 6:30pm (1530 GMT) and alerted the police, the Dogan news agency said.
A Syrian military official, quoted by state television, said: "Contact was lost with a military aircraft on a reconnaissance mission near the Turkish border."
The Syrian rebel group Ahrar al-Sham told AFP news agency that it had shot down a government plane "as it was overflying Idlib province [in northwestern Syria] and carrying out air strikes".
The British-based monitor of the Syrian conflict, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said a plane "which probably belongs to the Syrian regime crashed in Idlib province. The status of the pilot is unknown and there are contradictory reasons for the cause of the crash."
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, quoted by Anadolu, said the cause of the crash was unknown, but he pointed to poor weather conditions at the time.
The Syrian civil war started as a largely unarmed uprising against President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011, but quickly developed into a fully armed conflict.
Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations special envoy to Syria, estimated in April 2016 that more than 400,000 Syrians had been killed since the war started.
Calculating a precise death toll is difficult, partially owing to the forced disappearances of tens of thousands of Syrians whose fate remains unknown.
Almost 11 million Syrians - half the country's prewar population - have been displaced from their homes.
Is Tony Blair angling for a role with Donald Trump?
A spokesperson for Tony Blair has responded to newspaper claims that the former prime minister is seeking to become President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy.
The spokesperson told Sky News that Mr Blair had not met with the US President or discussed a role within his administration, but did not deny that he had met members of Mr Trump's team.
According to the Mail on Sunday, Mr Blair met the president's son-in-law and key adviser Jared Kushner at the White House last week to discuss working for Mr Trump.
The newspaper went on to claim Mr Blair has met Mr Kushner three times since September.
While in Downing Street, Mr Blair shared a close relationship with President George W Bush.
Despite winning three general elections, his role in leading Britain into the war in Iraq alongside Mr Bush badly damaged his legacy.
After leaving office in 2007, he took the role of Middle East envoy for the Quartet Group comprising the EU, US, Russia and UN until 2015.
Mr Blair has been making more interventions in UK politics since leaving his Middle East role.
Last month in a speech, he urged Remainers to "rise up" and persuade Brexit voters to change their mind about leaving the bloc.
The spokesperson told Sky News that Mr Blair had not met with the US President or discussed a role within his administration, but did not deny that he had met members of Mr Trump's team.
According to the Mail on Sunday, Mr Blair met the president's son-in-law and key adviser Jared Kushner at the White House last week to discuss working for Mr Trump.
The newspaper went on to claim Mr Blair has met Mr Kushner three times since September.
While in Downing Street, Mr Blair shared a close relationship with President George W Bush.
Despite winning three general elections, his role in leading Britain into the war in Iraq alongside Mr Bush badly damaged his legacy.
After leaving office in 2007, he took the role of Middle East envoy for the Quartet Group comprising the EU, US, Russia and UN until 2015.
Mr Blair has been making more interventions in UK politics since leaving his Middle East role.
Last month in a speech, he urged Remainers to "rise up" and persuade Brexit voters to change their mind about leaving the bloc.
Drop in London HIV rates 'may be due to internet drug PrEP'
A drug being bought online is believed to be the reason for a 40% drop in new rates of HIV in London.
Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, reduces the risk of catching the virus and costs around £40 a month.
Four London sexual health clinics saw dramatic falls in new cases of HIV last year compared to 2015.
Dr Michael Brady, medical director of the Terrence Higgins Trust, said the drop in rates is "impressive" and "really exciting".
"I think there are probably a number of reasons, and it kind of reinforces the message that we have been saying for a while that we need to take combined approach to HIV prevention," he said.
"I don't think one single approach is going to make a major impact on the epidemic so I think what we are seeing is a mixture of the impact of better testing... earlier treatment... and increasing numbers of people accessing PrEP, which is a tablet which if taken regularly can prevent someone from getting HIV.
"These drops in diagnoses are probably the first signs we have seen in London of the impact of that combination approach."
The NHS lost a legal battle against funding PrEP in November and, as part of a clinical trial, will now be rolling out the drug to 10,000 people over three years from the summer.
The medication, also called Truvada, is used to treat people who are HIV positive but is also taken as a preventative measure in other countries.
Early data suggests it can reduce the risk of infection by up to 86%.
Its success worldwide has led many people in Britain to source generic PrEP online from places like India and China.
Sexual health clinics have also been carrying out urine and blood tests on people using the drug to monitor their health.
The use of PrEP, however, has led to some concerns it may discourage the use of condoms and cause an increase in sexually transmitted infections.
Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said: "According to Public Health England in 2015, among men who have sex with men, there was a 21% increase in new gonorrhoea infections and a 19% rise in syphilis.
"That is quite a worrying because this was before PrEP became more widely available so there is an anxiety that men who are using PrEP may not use cordons and it could lead to an explosion in STIs."
Krishen Samuel, 30, is HIV positive wants the drug to be made available to those most at risk as soon as possible.
"I wish it had been available when I was HIV negative because it is an amazing tool," he said.
"Sometimes we need to face the reality most prevention campaigns speak about condoms and only focus on condoms but the reality is people do have sex without condoms as well. And if they have another tool that can prevent HIV infection, why not choose it."
In a statement given to Sky News Dr Valerie Delpech, head of HIV surveillance at Public Health England, said: "Provisional data suggests that HIV diagnoses among gay and bisexual men in England has fallen although it is not possible to confirm this at a national level until all data for 2016 have been received.
"We are closely monitoring the situation and conducting analyses of testing and other information that will provide a better understanding of the factors, including PrEP, that may be driving changes in HIV transmission among gay and bisexual men."
Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, reduces the risk of catching the virus and costs around £40 a month.
Four London sexual health clinics saw dramatic falls in new cases of HIV last year compared to 2015.
Dr Michael Brady, medical director of the Terrence Higgins Trust, said the drop in rates is "impressive" and "really exciting".
"I think there are probably a number of reasons, and it kind of reinforces the message that we have been saying for a while that we need to take combined approach to HIV prevention," he said.
"I don't think one single approach is going to make a major impact on the epidemic so I think what we are seeing is a mixture of the impact of better testing... earlier treatment... and increasing numbers of people accessing PrEP, which is a tablet which if taken regularly can prevent someone from getting HIV.
"These drops in diagnoses are probably the first signs we have seen in London of the impact of that combination approach."
The NHS lost a legal battle against funding PrEP in November and, as part of a clinical trial, will now be rolling out the drug to 10,000 people over three years from the summer.
The medication, also called Truvada, is used to treat people who are HIV positive but is also taken as a preventative measure in other countries.
Early data suggests it can reduce the risk of infection by up to 86%.
Its success worldwide has led many people in Britain to source generic PrEP online from places like India and China.
Sexual health clinics have also been carrying out urine and blood tests on people using the drug to monitor their health.
The use of PrEP, however, has led to some concerns it may discourage the use of condoms and cause an increase in sexually transmitted infections.
Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said: "According to Public Health England in 2015, among men who have sex with men, there was a 21% increase in new gonorrhoea infections and a 19% rise in syphilis.
"That is quite a worrying because this was before PrEP became more widely available so there is an anxiety that men who are using PrEP may not use cordons and it could lead to an explosion in STIs."
Krishen Samuel, 30, is HIV positive wants the drug to be made available to those most at risk as soon as possible.
"I wish it had been available when I was HIV negative because it is an amazing tool," he said.
"Sometimes we need to face the reality most prevention campaigns speak about condoms and only focus on condoms but the reality is people do have sex without condoms as well. And if they have another tool that can prevent HIV infection, why not choose it."
In a statement given to Sky News Dr Valerie Delpech, head of HIV surveillance at Public Health England, said: "Provisional data suggests that HIV diagnoses among gay and bisexual men in England has fallen although it is not possible to confirm this at a national level until all data for 2016 have been received.
"We are closely monitoring the situation and conducting analyses of testing and other information that will provide a better understanding of the factors, including PrEP, that may be driving changes in HIV transmission among gay and bisexual men."
Saturday, March 4, 2017
PM under pressure on three million EU nationals living in UK
Theresa May is under renewed pressure on the future of three million EU nationals living in the UK after MPs called for their future rights to be immediately guaranteed.
The Commons Exiting the EU Committee said the Government should not wait for a similar assurance over the British citizens in the EU before acting.
Ministers have said that settling the status of EU nationals in the UK will be a "priority" in Brexit negotiations, but they need to secure the rights of UK nationals at the same time.
But the committee said it was "unconscionable" they should have to wait up to two years when the negotiations are completed before their future is clarified.
:: Post-Brexit fears: 'I'm not Greek anymore, I'm English'
Hilary Benn, chairman, said EU citizens had been left under a "cloud of uncertainty" and did not want to be used as "bargaining chips".
He said: "EU citizens who have come to live and work here have contributed enormously to the economic and cultural life of the UK.
"They have worked hard, paid their taxes, integrated, raised families and put down roots.
"Although the Government has said it wants EU citizens to be able to remain, this has not offered sufficient reassurance that the rights and status that they have enjoyed will be guaranteed. It should now do so."
The committee's report adds to the pressure on the Prime Minister following the House of Lords overwhelming backing of an amendment to the Government's Brexit Bill, which calls for a guarantee on the continuing rights of EU citizens.
:: Sky Views: No such thing as one type of Brexit
Ministers have made it clear they intend to overturn the vote when the bill - which authorises the start of the formal withdrawal process - returns to the Commons later this month.
The report states: "It would be unconscionable for EU citizens in the UK and Uk citizens in the EU not to have clarity about their status for another two years.
"We do not believe the electorates of Europe will thank politicians in any country if the situation is allowed to continue."
The committee said the system for EU citizens to get permanent residency in the UK - completing an 85-page form and "copious" supporting evidence - was "not fit for purpose".
It warned that Brexit would not also necessarily lead to an immediate fall in net migration to the UK.
The Commons Exiting the EU Committee said the Government should not wait for a similar assurance over the British citizens in the EU before acting.
Ministers have said that settling the status of EU nationals in the UK will be a "priority" in Brexit negotiations, but they need to secure the rights of UK nationals at the same time.
But the committee said it was "unconscionable" they should have to wait up to two years when the negotiations are completed before their future is clarified.
:: Post-Brexit fears: 'I'm not Greek anymore, I'm English'
Hilary Benn, chairman, said EU citizens had been left under a "cloud of uncertainty" and did not want to be used as "bargaining chips".
He said: "EU citizens who have come to live and work here have contributed enormously to the economic and cultural life of the UK.
"They have worked hard, paid their taxes, integrated, raised families and put down roots.
"Although the Government has said it wants EU citizens to be able to remain, this has not offered sufficient reassurance that the rights and status that they have enjoyed will be guaranteed. It should now do so."
The committee's report adds to the pressure on the Prime Minister following the House of Lords overwhelming backing of an amendment to the Government's Brexit Bill, which calls for a guarantee on the continuing rights of EU citizens.
:: Sky Views: No such thing as one type of Brexit
Ministers have made it clear they intend to overturn the vote when the bill - which authorises the start of the formal withdrawal process - returns to the Commons later this month.
The report states: "It would be unconscionable for EU citizens in the UK and Uk citizens in the EU not to have clarity about their status for another two years.
"We do not believe the electorates of Europe will thank politicians in any country if the situation is allowed to continue."
The committee said the system for EU citizens to get permanent residency in the UK - completing an 85-page form and "copious" supporting evidence - was "not fit for purpose".
It warned that Brexit would not also necessarily lead to an immediate fall in net migration to the UK.
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