October 2017 - Page 2 of 20

Leftist Candidates Dominate Local Elections in Macedonia

Posted on 10/30/2017 by SeeEU

Candidates supported by Macedonia’s left-led government have dominated local elections, preliminary results from Sunday’s runoff show.

Results on the state electoral commission’s website Monday gave government-backed candidates victory in 57 of 81 municipalities, including the capital, Skopje.

Candidates backed by the main opposition VMRO-DPMNE conservatives won five posts.

The election took place amid bitter rivalry between Prime Minister Zoran Zaev’s new Social Democrat-led government and VMRO-DPMNE, which had governed for a decade.

The first round was held Oct. 15. Past elections in Macedonia have been marred by claims of vote-rigging or voter intimidation.

But the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which monitored the elections, said the second round of voting showed “respect for fundamental freedoms.”
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Romania: Lawmakers Approve Law That May Harm Press Freedom

Posted on 10/30/2017 by SeeEU

Romanian senators on Monday approved a proposal that would allow Parliament to dismiss the chief of the Agerpres national news agency, despite opposition from press groups, which said it could harm the outlet’s political independence.

Senators voted 64-16 with 27 abstentions to approve the amendment, initiated by members of the ruling Social Democratic Party. Culture Minister Lucian Romascanu said the changes were necessary because Parliament currently lacked the authority to fire the agency’s general manager.

But press groups, including Reporters Without Borders, the European Center for Press and Media Freedom and the Romanian Center for Independent Journalism among others, published a letter earlier urging lawmakers not to change the law, saying: “Don’t destroy this institution. Don’t vote to change the law.” The proposal still needs to be approved by the lower house, the Chamber of Deputies before it can become law.

Agerpres general manager Alexandru Giboi criticized the vote, saying lawmakers wanted “merely to transform (the agency) into…. a button that any political party in power can press,” to control it.

Under existing legislation, Agerpres’ general manager has a five-year mandate and the agency, under parliamentary control, is required to be politically impartial.

The European Federation of Journalists has called the measure “an instrument to politicize the public service media.”
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Finnish President Says Joining NATO Would Require Referendum

Posted on 10/30/2017 by SeeEU

Any move by Finland to join NATO would need public approval via a referendum, President Sauli Niinisto told a panel debate on Monday ahead of elections in January.

The Nordic country is a member of the European Union but has stayed outside the NATO military alliance in line with its tradition of avoiding confrontation with Russia, with which it shares an 833-mile (1,340 km) border and a difficult history.

It has forged closer ties with NATO in recent years, however, sharing information and taking part in military exercises, reflecting concerns in Finland about the Ukraine crisis and increased East-West tensions in the Baltic Sea.

Niinisto, who is expected to easily win a second six-year term in the Jan. 28 election, did not indicate whether he favored joining NATO but said a decision to apply for full membership would require a referendum.

“I am convinced that (membership) decision would require legitimacy, a wide acceptability … I would warn against making decisions where a significant part of citizens would get deep wounds,” Niinisto said in a panel discussion in Helsinki.

Only 21 percent of Finns support joining NATO, while 51 percent are opposed, a poll by YLE showed in February.

Niinisto, 69, who will stand as an independent candidate after previously representing the conservative National Coalition Party, is known for cultivating good relations with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Finland’s president is in charge of foreign and defense policy together with the government.

Nils Torvalds, the only one of seven presidential candidates who advocates joining NATO, said politicians needed to show leadership on the issue.

“The thesis of a referendum blocks the discussion on membership. Everybody’s waiting for a referendum and are not taking a stance on the real question … We do have a parliament to decide on issues.”

“To apply for a membership when a crisis is knocking on the door, forget that. The membership must be applied for when the weather is still rather beautiful.”

Torvalds, a politician for Swedish People’s Party of Finland, had 1 percent support in a recent opinion poll while Niinisto had 76 percent.

Finland’s center-right government has said it will monitor the security situation in the region and retain the option of joining NATO.

Russia, which has opposed NATO’s eastward expansion has said any move by Helsinki to join would be of “special concern.”

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Cameroon Court Sentences Opposition Leader to 25 Years in Prison

Posted on 10/30/2017 by SeeAF

A military court in Cameroon sentenced an opposition leader on Monday to 25 years in prison, his lawyer and Amnesty International said and denounced the trial as politically motivated.

The court convicted Aboubakar Siddiki, the president of northern Cameroon’s main opposition party, of hostility against the homeland as well as revolution and contempt of the president over accusations he plotted to destabilize the country.

“We are going to appeal this decision, which does not seem to us to be at all just,” Siddiki’s lawyer, Emmanuel Simh, told Reuters. In a statement, Amnesty said the prosecution was part of a government campaign to stifle its critics.

The government denies the charges are political.

Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds arrested in a crackdown in recent months on protests in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions.

Residents there say they suffer social and economic marginalization in the predominantly Francophone country.

The protests have become a lightning rod for opposition to President Paul Biya’s 35-year rule.

Besides Siddiki, the court sentenced Abdoulaye Harissou, a well-known notary, to three years in prison for failure to denounce a crime. The court also dropped charges against three journalists arrested in connection with the same case.
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Liberia’s Johnson Sirleaf Rejects Accusations of Election Interference

Posted on 10/30/2017 by SeeAF

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s spokesman on Monday denied allegations from her own party that she meddled in this month’s presidential election.

The dispute has cemented a falling out between Johnson Sirleaf, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and her party’s leadership after 12 years in power that saw the country consolidate a post-war peace but draw sharp criticism over alleged corruption and underdevelopment.

At a news conference on Sunday, leaders from Johnson Sirleaf’s Unity Party accused the president of holding inappropriate private meetings with election magistrates before the Oct. 10 vote.

They accused her of showing greed “in its most callous form” with the “intent of disrupting the fragile peace of Liberia,” and backed a challenge to the first-round results brought by other parties before the country’s election commission.

Unity Party’s candidate, Vice President Joseph Boakai, placed runner-up in the first round with 28.8 percent of the vote to front-runner George Weah’s 38.4 percent, setting up a second-round run-off scheduled for Nov. 7.

“The office of the president wishes to state unequivocally that these allegations are completely baseless and an unfortunate attempt by agents provocateurs to undermine Liberia’s democratic process,” Johnson Sirleaf’s spokesman, Jerolinmek Piah, told reporters.

He said that all of the president’s meetings with election officials were “consistent with her constitutional role to ensure that the process was supported.”

“These allegations fall in the category of hate speech and inciting language which should be condemned by all peace-loving Liberians,” Piah added.

Liberia’s economy has quadrupled under Johnson Sirleaf’s watch, but the forested country remains impoverished and many have no access to reliable drinking water and electricity. Tired of the monied elite that they say Johnson Sirleaf represents, many voters see Weah as the candidate for change.

Boakai has served as Johnson Sirleaf’s vice president since her inauguration in 2006, but Johnson Sirleaf declined to endorse him and he distanced himself from the last administration.

The election commission was expected on Monday to hear the challenge to the first-round results brought by the Liberty Party of third-place candidate Charles Brumskine, with the backing of Unity Party and the All Liberian Party of businessman Benoni Urey.
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Party: Detained Ethiopian Opposition Chief Bailed 2 Years After Protests

Posted on 10/30/2017 by SeeAF

An Ethiopian opposition leader was due to be released on bail almost two years after he was detained during mass protests over land rights, a member of his party said on Monday.

Bekele Gerba, secretary general of the Oromo Federalist Congress, was arrested in December 2015 as activists stepped up demonstrations accusing the government of seizing their land and passing it on to firms and developers.

Violence went on to spread across the Oromiya province that surrounds the capital Addis Ababa and is home to many foreign-owned businesses, drawn in by the government’s industrialization push.

Bekele would walk free late Monday or early Tuesday after the high court granted him 30,000 birr ($1,110) bail, the party’s current deputy leader, Mulatu Teshome, told Reuters.

Bekele, who denies all wrongdoing, was initially charged with involvement in terrorism and collusion with the secessionist Oromo Liberation Front, which the government has branded a terrorist group.

A court reduced those charges to inciting violence in August, but denied him bail then, as prosecutors said he would flee.

Nearly 700 people died in one bout of unrest during months protests in 2015 and 2016, according to a parliament-mandated investigation.

Rallies over land rights then broadened into demonstrations over political restrictions and perceived rights abuses, including the incarceration of Bekele and his colleagues.

The party’s chairman Merera Gudina remains behind bars since his arrest in December last year on charges of colluding with an outlawed group.

The violence has fueled fears about security in Ethiopia, the region’s biggest economy and a staunch Western ally. Last week, at least five people were killed in a town of Ambo after police opened fire during a protest over sugar

shortages.

A week before that, ethnic clashes killed at least 11 people in the same region, while another bout of violence along Oromiya’s border with the country’s Somali region last month displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

($1 = 27.0172 birr)

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Abadi Calls for Calm in Kurdistan After Barzani Resignation

Posted on 10/30/2017 by SeeEA

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is calling for calm and a respect for the law in the northern Kurdistan region, a day after its leader announced he was stepping down as president.

Abadi said Monday he is closely following the developments in the Kurdistan region and the attacks on the headquarters of the parties “as well as the media and attempts to cause chaos and disturbances in Irbil and Dahuk.”

He said the central government in Baghdad wants to establish safe conditions in all of the country’s provinces and to protect the interests of every citizen.

Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani used a televised speech Sunday to say he would resign effective November 1.

He asked lawmakers to dissolve the position of the president and distribute its duties among the Kurdish prime minister, parliament and the judiciary.

Dozens of Barzani’s supporters broke into the building and attacked lawmakers and journalists, while a crowd outside waved Kurdish flags in support of him.

He said Abadi’s government used a September Kurdish independence referendum as “an excuse” to retake much of the territory the Kurds had controlled for years after peshmerga and coalition forces ousted the Islamic State militants who captured vast swaths of northern Iraq in 2014. The referendum resulted in more than 92 percent of Iraqi Kurds choosing independence.

Abadi called the independence referendum illegal.

The Iraqi military and the Kurdish minority had been clashing for several weeks in mostly low-level firefights until Friday, when they agreed to a cease-fire, and Kurdish forces abandoned the land they held, largely without resistance.

Kurdish leaders offered to freeze the referendum results and start dialogue with the central government in Baghdad, but Abadi rejected that offer.

Abadi said he would accept only an annulment of the referendum and respect for the country’s constitution.

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Kenya Braces for Presidential Election Announcement

Posted on 10/30/2017 by SeeAF

Kenya is bracing for an announcement by its election commission Monday as its presidential poll drama continues.

Will the election commission declare incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta the winner of last week’s vote in which he faced no opposition in the re-run of the August election?

If it does, how will the commission reconcile the fact that a number of voters where prohibited from voting Thursday where opposition supporters stopped voters from going to the polls? Plans to restage the vote Saturday in those areas were scrapped in the wake of more demonstrations at voting locations.

Or, will the commission schedule yet another presidential election re-run?

Opposition leader Raila Odinga on Sunday demanded a new presidential election in 90 days, saying the country is in “grave danger” from political violence.

William Ruto, Kenyatta’s deputy, is adamant that a new vote is out of the question. “There will be no election in 90 days,” he told Doha-based broadcaster Al-Jazeera, “there will be no discussion on matters to do with elections.”

The October vote was a re-run of the August presidential election whose results were thrown out by the country’s Supreme Court because of irregularities.

“It was Uhuru versus Uhuru,” Odinga told the Associated Press about Thursday’s poll. He also said the president is trying to “destroy other institutions of governance in our country.”

Odinga has accused the United States and other Western diplomats of being “very irresponsible” for urging Thursday’s repeat vote.

“Us, we are talking about credible elections…they say any election is OK. They say they are Kenya’s friends…if they are our friends, then we do not need enemies,” he told AP.

Odinga said he is willing to talk with the Kenyatta government on holding a free and fair election, while, at the same time he calls for strikes, boycotts, and peaceful protests to pressure Kenyatta.

With nearly all the ballots counted, the election commission has given Kenyatta about 7 million votes — a number Odinga says has to be inflated because of a low registered voter turnout.

Post-election violence has left at least eight people dead in Kenya, including an elderly man possibly murdered in the Koguta region — an area located between the Kalenjin community which supports Kenyatta and the Luo community which backs Odinga.

Tension and hatred between the two sides over land rights and politics have simmered for years.

Kalenjin youths armed with bows, arrows and machetes told VOA’s Mohammed Yusuf that Luo residents have been blocking roads as part of a political protest, making their lives difficult. They say they were prevented from getting to a polling place to vote Thursday.

A local Luo leader, Marreen Otiang, says the killing must stop.

“We do not want any Luo dying in the name of insecurity, in the name of voting. We have a right if they want peace, let them give us peace. Enough is enough. We are tired.”

Mohammad Yusuf contributed to this report from Nairobi.
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May Calls for Changes in Handling UK Sex Harassment Cases

Posted on 10/30/2017 by SeeEU

British Prime Minister Theresa May is calling for changes in the way Parliament deals with allegations of inappropriate behavior as she responds to suggestions that dozens of U.K. lawmakers have sexually harassed their employees or other people.

May wrote to House of Commons speaker John Bercow proposing a mediation service and contractually binding grievance procedures for all parliamentary staff, saying the current voluntary system “does not have the required teeth.”

Conservative Party lawmaker Anna Soubry has asked for the issue to be discussed Monday in Parliament.

“I do not believe that this situation can be tolerated any longer,” May said in her letter. “It is simply not fair on staff, many of whom are young and in their first job.”

Over the weekend, May asked the Cabinet Office to investigate whether an international trade minister breached the ministerial code of conduct by asking his secretary to buy sex toys for him. Environment Secretary Michael Gove also was forced to apologize for attempting to make light of the Harvey Weinstein scandal during a radio interview.

Britain’s political establishment has come under increasing scrutiny as the scandal surrounding the Hollywood mogul emboldens people in many industries to tell their own stories of sexual harassment at the hands of powerful individuals who control their future job prospects.

The situation in the House of Commons is complicated by the fact that lawmakers directly employ their staff, leaving little direct recourse for those who feel aggrieved.

The Guido Fawkes political website on Monday claimed that Conservative Party aides had compiled a spreadsheet identifying 36 party lawmakers, including two serving Cabinet members, accused of inappropriate behavior. The website blacked out the names of the accused but listed allegations such as “handsy with women at parties” and “paid a woman to be quiet.”

Soubry highlighted the lack of protection for parliamentary staff in a blog post, even as she said most lawmakers were “hard working, decent people.”

“As in all organizations, there are some whose behavior is not acceptable,” she said. “But unlike other workplaces, people working in Parliament do not have the protection they need from that small minority.”

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Manafort Surrenders to US Authorities in Russia Probe

Posted on 10/30/2017 by SeeUS

Paul Manafort, who for a short time was U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign chairman last year, turned himself in to authorities Monday, as part of the criminal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

A federal grand jury on Friday approved charges in the probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller. Manafort long has helped run a Washington lobbying firm representing world leaders, including interests in Ukraine and Russia. A former business partner of Manafort’s, Rick Gates, also surrendered to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The charges filed by Mueller are the first since he assumed control of the investigation in May and mark a sharp turn of events in the Russia probe that has cast a shadow on the first year of Trump’s presidency.

Trump has repeatedly called the criminal and congressional probes into connections between his campaign and Russian interests a “witch hunt” used by Democrats to explain his stunning election upset of former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. But Mueller is a former director of the FBI and viewed in Washington by many as apolitical.

Manafort, who was Trump’s campaign manager from June to August last year and was a key figure in the campaign before then, was roused from his sleep in a pre-dawn raid on his home in suburban Washington in late July, as FBI agents carted off documents related to the investigation. Reports at the time said he was told then he would be indicted.

In addition to Mueller’s investigation, there are separate congressional probes into Russian meddling and possible links between Trump’s campaign and Russia.

The U.S. intelligence community concluded in early 2017 that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally directed a campaign to undermine U.S. democracy and help Trump win.

Trump has insisted there was no collusion, including in a series of tweets Sunday in which he said Democrats and his election opponent Hillary Clinton are the ones who are guilty.

“The Dems are using this terrible (and bad for our country) Witch Hunt for evil politics, but the R’s [Republicans] are now fighting back like never before,” Trump wrote. “There is so much GUILT by Democrats/Clinton, and now the facts are pouring out. DO SOMETHING!”

He further blamed the Russia investigations for taking attention away from Republican efforts on tax reform.

“Is this coincidental? NOT!” Trump said.

Ty Cobb, a member of Trump’s legal team, said in a statement that Trump’s comments were not related to the developments in Mueller’s investigation.

“Contrary to what many have suggested, the President’s comments today are unrelated to the activities of the Special Counsel, with whom he continues to cooperate,” Cobb said.

Mueller is also believed to be investigating former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was fired by Trump less than a month after he took office for lying to Vice President Mike Pence and other officials about his contacts with Russia’s ambassador to Washington.

In addition, Mueller is probing whether Trump obstructed justice when he fired then-FBI director James Comey in May, who was leading the agency’s Russia investigation before Mueller took over.
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Taliban Claims US Hostage Health Deteriorating

Posted on 10/30/2017 by SeeUS

Afghanistan’s Taliban claims the health condition of an American hostage, Kevin King, is rapidly deteriorating and he urgently needs better medical care.

The 60-year-old King and his Australian colleague, Timothy Weeks, 48, were teaching at Kabul’s American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) before they were kidnapped at gunpoint near the campus in August 2016.

The Islamist insurgency later claimed responsibility and demanded release of Taliban prisoners held by both the Americans and Afghans.

Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said Monday King has been suffering from “dangerous heart and kidney diseases” and requires urgent medical treatment.

“We have periodically tried to treat and care for him but since we are facing war conditions and do not readily have access to health facilities therefore we are unable to deliver complete treatment,” Mujahid asserted.

His feet have begun swelling, he frequently losses consciousness and his health is deteriorating rapidly, said the spokesman.

Taliban demands

Mujahid urged the United States to urgently accept Taliban demands to secure the release of the two hostages.

“Since the American side does not care about the life and death of its nationals hence we are warning them to accept the demands of the Islamic Emirate [the Taliban] presented for the freedom of these two detainees and secure their release,” the spokesman added.

If King’s illness becomes “incurable or he loses his life” the Taliban will not be held responsible, Mujahid warned.

It was not possible to seek independent verification of the claims made by the Taliban.

AUAF swiftly released a statement in response to the Taliban’s announcement, saying its board of trustees, students, staff and faculty “are deeply saddened and disturbed to receive the news about the deteriorating health condition of King and his colleague.”

It again urged the Taliban kidnappers to immediately release the hostages unharmed.

“They are innocent victims of a criminal abduction. They came to Afghanistan to teach Afghan youth and contribute to building a peaceful Afghanistan. They have done no harm to anyone,” noted the statement.

“Kevin, we are immensely sad to hear about your health situation. Please know that you and Tim remain in our thoughts and prayers. We will not stop trying to work for your release. We urge your kidnappers to release you at once.”

Video messages

The insurgents released two video messages from the hostages this year. In the last message in June, both men urged U.S. President Donald Trump and the Australian Prime Minister to negotiate their freedom with the Taliban.

King and Weeks looked haggard in the video and said the Taliban wants freedom for its “soldiers” being held at the U.S.-run Bagram air base and the Afghan prison called Pul-e-Charkhi in return for their freedom.

U.S. officials, while responding to the video at the time, said the administration was committed to seeing its citizens returned safely to their families and the department worked closely with agencies across the government to do so.

“We continue to call for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. Taking and holding civilian hostages is reprehensible and we condemn such actions in the strongest terms,” they maintained.

The two hostages are believed to be in the custody of the notorious Haqqani network, an ally of the Taliban. One of the prisoners the insurgents are demanding to be freed is Annas Haqqani who is on death row in an Afghan prison.

He is the youngest son of the founder of the Haqqani network, Jalaluddin Haqqani.

Other hostages rescued

Earlier this month, Pakistani security forces acting on an a tip from U.S. intelligence rescued American citizen Caitlan Coleman, 31, and her Canadian husband, Joshua Boyle, along with their three children from the custody of Haqqanis.

The rescue operation was launched hours after the family was transported into Pakistan from the Afghan side, according to Pakistani and U.S. officials.

The U.S. CIA chief in a public talk later claimed Haqqanis held the hostages in Pakistan since they were kidnapped in 2012 from the volatile Afghan province of Wardak.

But in a recent interview to a Canadian newspaper, Coleman disputed Pakistani and U.S. statements, saying the family was brought to the Pakistani side of the porous border more than a year ago.

Caitlan was pregnant and was backpacking with her husband in Wardak when they went missing. The Taliban later claimed responsibility and demanded release of prisoners for freeing the westerners. Caitlan gave birth to four children in custody, but the family said their fourth child was killed by their Haqqani captors and their mother was also raped.

The Taliban denied the charges, saying Caitlan suffered a miscarriage due to lack of facilities in captivity and declared rape charges as baseless and an attempt to defame the Islamist insurgency.

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Ship With Sailors Rescued at Sea Reaches US Base in Okinawa

Posted on 10/30/2017 by SeeUS

Two women from Hawaii who were adrift on a storm-battered sailboat in the Pacific for months set foot on solid ground Monday at a U.S. Naval base in southern Japan.

The USS Ashland rescued Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuiava and their two dogs about 1,450 kilometers (900 miles) southeast of Japan, and brought them to America’s White Beach Naval Facility after waiting for a typhoon to pass.

The two women, sporting USS Ashland knit shirts, were standing with the commanding officer and others high on the bridgeway as the ship docked. They later spoke to reporters on the flight deck before clearing customs and walking down metal stairs to the dock.

They had left Honolulu on May 3 aboard Appel’s 15-meter (50-foot) vessel, the Sea Nymph, for what was supposed to be an 18-day trip to Tahiti. Storms flooded the engine, destroying the starter, and damaged the mast so badly that they couldn’t generate enough wind power to stay on course, they said.

The two women tried to return and at one point in June were within 1,345 kilometers (726 nautical miles) of Oahu but couldn’t make it, Appel said.

“We knew we weren’t going to make it,” she said. “So that’s when we started making distress calls. We were hoping that one of our friends who likes to go deep sea fishing and taking people out might have gone past the 400-mile mark and might have cruised near where we would be.”

The women said they drifted aimlessly and sent unanswered distress calls for 98 consecutive days.

They were thousands of miles in the wrong direction when a Taiwanese fishing vessel found them. Towing the sailboat damaged it further, but Appel said she paddled over to the Taiwanese vessel on a surfboard and made a mayday call. The Ashland, which happened to be in the area to avoid a storm, traveled (160 kilometers) 100 miles and found them the next day, said the ship’s commanding officer, Cmdr. Steven Wasson.

The women said they ran out of food for the dogs and began sharing their own, leaving their food supply 90 percent depleted by the time they were rescued.

On Wednesday, the USS Ashland picked up the women and the dogs, Zeus and Valentine, all four looking remarkably fit for having been lost at sea for nearly six months.

Appel told reporters on Friday that they were beginning to believe they were completely out of luck when they saw the U.S. Navy ship chugging toward them.

“When I saw the gray ship on the horizon, I was just shaking,” she said then. “I was ready to cry, I was so happy. I knew we were going to live.”

The Navy sent a six-person crew on a small boat over to the sailboat. Wasson said they determined “there were just too many things that needed to be solidified to make that vessel seaworthy again … so that’s why we brought them on board.”

His ship, which transports and deploys amphibious landing craft, wasn’t equipped to bring the sailboat back, so it was abandoned at sea. The two women still hope it will be found and they can repair it. If not, Appel said they want to build an “unsinkable and unbreakable boat” and set out for Tahiti again.

“We still never got to see the 20,000 islands, so I think that would be the most fantastic trip for May of next spring,” she said.

Although Appel has been sailing the Hawaiian islands for 10 years and spent two years preparing for this voyage, she acknowledged that she and Fuiava, a novice sailor, may not have prepared as well as they could have.

Appel earlier credited their survival in part to the veteran sailors in Hawaii who had warned them to prepare well for their journey.

“They said pack every square inch of your boat with food, and if you think you need a month, pack six months, because you have no idea what could possibly happen out there,” she said. “And the sailors in Honolulu really gave us good advice. We’re here.”

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Transfer of Power from Catalan to Central Spanish Government Begins

Posted on 10/30/2017 by SeeEU

Catalonian police entered government buildings in Barcelona Monday morning, as Catalonia entered its first week after the Spanish central government’s assertion of control over the would-be breakaway region.

It remains to be seen whether the transfer of power will be smooth or face opposition, which could deepen the political crisis in the country.

There were no signs that now fired regional elected leaders, including the head of government, Carles Puigdemont, and other members of his deposed Cabinet would try to go to their offices Monday.

Puigdemont is likely to be accused of rebellion as early as Monday for pushing ahead with secession.

Sunday, hundreds of thousands of supporters of a united Spain took to the streets of Barcelona to voice their rejection of Catalonia’s declaration of independence.

Chanting “Viva Espana” and waving Spanish, Catalan and European Union flags, the protesters marched in Catalonia’s capital to show they supported the Spanish central government’s dismissal of Catalonia’s cabinet and quashing of the region’s secession push.

Protesters also held banners reading, “We won’t let Spain be torn apart into pieces” and “The awakening of a silenced nation,” among others.

“We have organized ourselves late, but we are here to show that there is a majority of Catalans that are no longer silent and that no longer want to be silenced,” said Alex Ramos, head of the pro-union Catalan Civil Society.

Organizers said the rally attracted more than 1 million people, but police put the figure at 300,000.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy dissolved Catalonia’s parliament, just hours after the regional body voted Friday in favor of independence from Spain.

In addition to dismissing the regional parliament, Rajoy has called for snap Catalan elections on December 21 and has stripped Catalonia’s most senior police officials of their powers.

Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, a spokesman for the Spanish government, has said Puigdemont and all other Catalonian leaders would be eligible to run in the December election.
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Wounded Soldier’s Wife Expected to Testify Against Bergdahl

Posted on 10/30/2017 by SeeUS

Emotional testimony is expected Monday when the wife of a seriously wounded soldier takes the stand during the sentencing hearing for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.

Prosecutors told a judge that they intend to call Shannon Allen to the stand to discuss a traumatic brain injury suffered by her husband when he was shot during a search mission for Bergdahl after he walked off his post in Afghanistan in 2009.

Bergdahl has pleaded guilty to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. He faces up to life in prison. Prosecutors are using wounds to several service members who searched for Bergdahl as evidence to convince the judge that he deserves a stiff punishment. The sentencing hearing started last week.

National Guard Master Sgt. Mark Allen was on a mission with other U.S and Afghan troops to gather information in two villages in July 2009 when they were ambushed by insurgents using small arms, machine guns and rocket propelled grenades.

Allen was attempting to make a radio call when he was shot near the temple. He suffered a traumatic brain injury that left him unable to speak, in need of a wheelchair and dependent on assistance for such everyday tasks as getting out of bed.

Shannon Allen has declined interview requests, but the toll on her was evident the day Bergdahl pleaded guilty, as she sat weeping in the courtroom. She is one of the final prosecution witnesses before the defense presents their own.

While Bergdahl acknowledged at his plea hearing that his actions triggered the search missions that resulted in the wounds, his lawyers argue there’s a limit to his responsibility for a lengthy chain of events that includes decisions by the U.S. military commanders who led the searches as well as enemy attacks.

Bergdahl, who suffered five years as captive of Taliban allies after abandoning his remote post in 2009, made no deal with prosecutors to limit his punishment, so the judge has wide leeway to determine his sentence.

The 31-year-old soldier from Hailey, Idaho, has said he was caged by his captors, kept in darkness and beaten. He said he tried to escape more than a dozen times before President Barack Obama brought him home in 2014 in a swap for five Taliban prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
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Washington Waits for Criminal Charges in Probe of Russia Links to US Election

Posted on 10/30/2017 by SeeUS

Washington braced Monday for the potential unsealing of the first criminal charges linked to Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as President Donald Trump reiterated his stance that the underlying investigations are a “witch hunt.”

A federal grand jury on Friday approved charges in the probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller, according to several major news outlets that reported the indictment could be made public as soon as Monday.

There was no public indication of who is facing charges or what crimes are being alleged. Legal experts say the first charges could be against a peripheral figure in the case, with prosecutors using a common strategy to first build their case against lower level officials before focusing on more prominent people.

In addition to Mueller’s investigation, there are separate congressional probes into Russian meddling and possible links between Trump’s campaign and Russia.

The U.S. intelligence community concluded in early 2017 that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally directed a campaign to undermine U.S. democracy and help Trump win

Trump has insisted there was no collusion, including in a series of tweets Sunday in which he said Democrats and his election opponent Hillary Clinton are the ones who are guilty.

He further blamed the Russia investigations for taking attention away from Republican efforts on tax reform.

“Is this coincidental? NOT!” Trump said.

Ty Cobb, a member of Trump’s legal team, said in a statement that Trump’s comments were not related to the developments in Mueller’s investigation.

“Contrary to what many have suggested, the President’s comments today are unrelated to the activities of the Special Counsel, with whom he continues to cooperate,” Cobb said.

Mueller is believed to be examining activities of two key Trump campaign officials, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was fired by Trump less than a month after he took office for lying to Vice President Mike Pence and other officials about his contacts with Russia’s ambassador to Washington, and Paul Manafort, who for a short time last year was Trump’s campaign manager and also had wide lobbying interests in Ukraine and links to Russia.
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Madrid: Separatist Leader Can Run in Catalonia’s Snap Election

Posted on 10/30/2017 by SeeEU

The Spanish government has not banned Catalonia’s separatist leader from running in the December snap election. Spain’s foreign minister said Sunday ousted Catalan President Carles Puidgemont is theoretically eligible to run as the leader of his party unless he is imprisoned beforehand. Puidgemont’s government has caused Spain’s biggest political crisis in decades after declaring Catalonia’s independence from Madrid. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
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Lagos Fashion Week Features Plunging Necklines, Conservative Wear

Posted on 10/30/2017 by SeeAF

From eye-popping colors to outfits with plunging necklines and see-through tops to more conservative wear, fashionistas and industry professionals showcased their latest eye catching designs at this year’s Lagos Fashion Week in Nigeria Mariama Diallo reports.
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IAEA Chief: Iran Living Up to Nuclear Deal

Posted on 10/30/2017 by SeeEA

The head of the United Nations atomic agency on Sunday said Iran was carrying out its commitments made under a landmark nuclear deal with world powers.

“As of today, I can state that the nuclear-related commitments made by Iran under the JCPOA (nuclear deal) are being implemented,” Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said at a Tehran press conference broadcast by state television.

The announcement comes on the heels of a dispute between Washington and Iran over U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision this month not to certify Iranian compliance with the nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers.

The U.S. Congress now has less than 60 days to decide whether to reimpose economic sanctions on Tehran that were lifted under the deal in exchange for restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities.

Amano, whose agency is in charge of monitoring those restrictions, says the deal already subjects Tehran to the world’s toughest nuclear inspection regime. It includes a ban on high-level uranium enrichment – 20 percent or more – that would take Iran close to the level needed for a nuclear weapon.

Amano met with Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization chief Ali Akbar Salehi.

“The U.S. president with his actions and words and stances that he has taken, has created a sensitive situation,” Salehi said at the press conference. “We have asked Mr. Amano to offer his technical viewpoints neutrally and impartially just like before, in accordance with the scope of his responsibilities and what the IAEA’s charter states.”

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said Tehran will stick to the agreement as long as the other signatories do, but will “shred” the deal if Washington pulls out, as Trump has threatened to do.
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Mass Grave Uncovered Near Libya’s Benghazi

Posted on 10/29/2017 by SeeEA

A mass grave with at least 36 bodies has been uncovered near Benghazi in Libya.

The victims appear to have been executed, but it is unclear who they are. One report says some of the bodies were dressed in business suits while others were wearing athletic clothes.

Ghassan Salame, the head of United Nations mission in Libya, said in a statement he was “appalled by this heinous crime” and called for an investigation and greater accountability for cases of this nature.

Both of Libya’s rival administrations – the internationally recognized government in Tripoli and the one in the east led by strongman Khalifa Haftar – also condemned the killings and promise to investigate.

Haftar’s fighters are suspected in a number of killings over the past three years.

Libya has been in chaos and political turmoil since longtime strongman Moammar Gadhafi was toppled and killed in 2011.

A U.N.-backed unity government in Tripoli has struggled to assert its authority over the numerous militias battling for territory on the ground.
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Saudi Arabia to Open Sports Stadiums to Women in Reform Push

Posted on 10/29/2017 by SeeEA

Starting next year, Saudi women will be able to attend sports events at three stadiums across the country, as part of the kingdom’s efforts to improve women’s rights.

Last month hundreds of women were allowed to enter a sports stadium in Riyadh, used mostly for football matches, in a one-off event to celebrate Saudi Arabia’s national day.

On Sunday, the General Sports Authority announced on social media that it was “starting the preparation of three stadiums in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam to be ready to accommodate families from early 2018.”

The ultra-conservative kingdom, which has some of the world’s tightest restrictions on women, has long barred women from sports arenas by strict rules on segregation of the sexes in public.

The announcement follows one last month which will allow women to drive starting next June.

The kingdom is also expected to lift a public ban on cinemas and has encouraged mixed-gender celebrations – something unseen before.
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Haley’s Blunt Diplomacy Targets South Sudan, Congo

Posted on 10/29/2017 by SeeAF

In a mountainous camp for displaced Congolese, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley wrapped her arm around an inconsolable woman who recounted being raped twice.

“It only makes me more passionate, it makes me more determined,” Haley told a small group of reporters traveling with her during her first trip to Africa.

“I’ll carry the voices of the women that I met and things that they said.”

Dispatched by President Donald Trump to Ethiopia, South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo, Haley’s trip was one of the first tangible signs of interest in Africa by the nine-month old administration.

Her challenge: how to show the United States is actively engaged in Africa, where humanitarian and political crises are often overshadowed by more urgent conflicts elsewhere and at the same time honor Trump’s avowed “America First” policy which puts U.S. economic and national interests ahead of international commitments.

As Africa struggles to win Trump’s interest, U.S. policy is more likely to be increasingly focused on countering militant threats. Washington also has a financial interest at stake as it tries to cut U.N. peacekeeping costs, for which it pays more than a quarter.

Trump has made a point of saying he would not impose U.S. values on others, raising concerns among activists that human rights issues could take a backseat.

Nowhere is that more in focus than in Niger where a deadly ambush killed four U.S. troops who were there to assist local Nigerian forces fighting a local Islamic State affiliate this month. At the same time, Washington has mostly turned a blind eye to the increasingly authoritarian moves of Niger’s former

opposition leader, now president Mahamadou Issoufou, as it tries to stop the militant threat from expanding.

Haley, a former governor of the U.S. state of South Carolina, was the most senior member of Trump’s administration to travel to the three sub-Saharan states in a trip that showed how she balances her political skills with her nascent foreign policy and diplomacy experience.

She was moved to tears after visiting displaced Congolese in Kitchanga in the conflict-ravaged east of the country. In Ethiopia’s Gambella region, she kicked off her shoes and sat down on the floor to play with South Sudanese toddlers.

“Those kids will be 18 one day,” Haley told a small group of reporters during her trip. “They will be an uneducated adult with no social skills that will have resented the fact that they were put in that situation and that’s dangerous for the United States and that’s dangerous for the world.”

‘Bluntness is important’

With U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson shying away from the spotlight, Haley has carved out a high-profile role for herself. Amid speculation about Tillerson’s future Haley said that if she was offered the job: “I would say no.”

Known for taking a blunt approach that has raised eyebrows among diplomats at the United Nations, Haley took her direct style to lengthy one-on-one conversations with the South Sudanese and Congolese leaders.

“I think bluntness is important, but I also expected it back and I got candid conversations back from them,” she said. “That was very much appreciated because we didn’t want to have to sit there and deal with the political talk, we wanted to get to the realities of the situation.”

It’s not clear yet if South Sudanese and Congolese leaders will heed her message.

In Kinshasa she spoke privately with President Joseph Kabila for 90 minutes. She had said Kinshasa must hold a long-delayed election to replace Kabila by the end of next year or the vote will lose international support.

But the Congolese opposition was critical of her statement there because it conceded there would be no election this year, in violation of a deal Kabila’s camp signed with the opposition last December, without extracting any concessions in return.

“Calling for Kabila to stay in power beyond Dec. 31, 2017, is the equivalent, pure and simple, of making oneself complicit with the evil genius!” opposition leader Olivier Kamitatu wrote on Twitter above a photo of Haley from her visit.

In Juba, Haley met with President Salva Kiir for 45 minutes, showing him photos of refugees from her visit to Gambella.

South Sudan spiraled into a civil war in 2013, just two years after gaining independence from Sudan, sparked by a feud between Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and his former deputy Riek Machar, a Nuer.

The U.S. invested heavily in the process that led to South Sudan’s independence. The Trump administration has been far less engaged, let alone influential, in trying to end the war that erupted.

Haley plans to meet with Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster this week to discuss her trip.

“I’ll give options and then if asked I’ll give the recommendation,” Haley said. “[President Trump] very much wants to know how everybody else feels, he very much takes all that into consideration and then he makes his decision.”
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Women Rally Across France to Protest Sexual Harassment, Assault

Posted on 10/29/2017 by SeeEU

Hundreds of women took to the streets of Paris and 10 other French cities to protest against sexual harassment in the wake of the scandal surrounding Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.

In Paris, women gathered in Republic Square, waving signs bearing the #metoo hashtag used by tens of thousands of women to share personal stories of harassment and assault.

Similar gatherings were also held in Marseille, Bordeaux and Lille, among other cities.

As the #metoo campaign erupted across the United States, a similar campaign unfolded across France under the hashtag #balancetonporc or #squealonyourpig. As in America, French women have begun naming and shaming their attackers.

Since it started, several prominent figures have been targeted in French assault claims, including a lawmaker in President Emmanuel Macron’s party, a judge on France’s equivalent of reality show “America’s Got Talent” and Oxford professor Tariq Ramadan, a leading lecturer in Islamic studies.

French-Polish filmmaker Roman Polanski, who is wanted in the U.S. for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl in the 1970s, has also been hit with new abuse claims.

The avalanche of accusations was unleashed weeks ago when The New York Times and The New Yorker published reports of women accusing Weinstein of rape and sexual harassment going back decades. Among the accusers were some of Hollywood’s most prominent actresses, including Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Rosanna Arquette.
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Saudi FM Says Iran Major Obstacle to Peace Efforts in Yemen

Posted on 10/29/2017 by SeeEA

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister says Iran’s hostile policy is the major obstacle to solving the crisis in Yemen, where Riyadh is leading a military alliance against Iran-aligned Houthi militant forces.

Adel al-Jubeir accused Iran of interfering in Yemen and providing arms to the Shi’ite Houthi rebels.

“Iran provides weapons to Houthi and [supporters of former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah] Saleh,” al-Jubeir said Sunday at the opening of a conference of foreign ministers and chiefs of staff of Muslim counterterrorism coalition countries, which is led by Saudi Arabia. “[Iran] also destroys efforts to resolve the conflict in Yemen which has led to the failure of negotiations between the legitimate government [of Yemen] and the militias.”

Al-Jubeir accused the Houthi forces of causing hunger and poverty in Yemen and depriving more than four million children of education.

Yemen has been engulfed in civil war for the past four years. The country descended into chaos after the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels swept into the capital Sana’a and overthrew President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi’s Saudi-backed government in September 2014.

Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia has been leading a military campaign in support of Hadi’s government against the Houthi forces that are now allied with former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was ousted in the 2011 Arab Spring uprising.

The Houthis have been dislodged from most of the south, but remain in control of Sanaa and much of the north.

The Houthi forces have also repeatedly targeted Saudi territory with missiles. Their leader, Abdel-Malek al-Houthi, last month threatened that missiles available to his forces could target Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, which is a key member of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.

UN report

More than 10,000 people have been killed in ground battles and airstrikes, many of them civilians. A recent U.N. report has blamed Houthi forces and the Saudi-led coalition for civilian deaths, including the “killing and maiming” of hundreds of children, and destroying schools and hospitals.

The Houthis have also been accused of recruiting hundreds of children “as fighters, porters or checkpoint guards.”

The United Nations says it has been working to find “a comprehensive solution” and encourage the warring parties to commit to a peace deal. Previous peace initiatives have failed to end the war in the country.

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the U.N. special envoy for Yemen, earlier this month accused the country’s warring leaders of refusing to end the fighting and warned that “the situation will continue to worsen as well as the terrorist threat” if the parties do not listen to the people and display flexibility.

In addition to the civil war, impoverished Yemen has been gripped by an al-Qaida insurgency as well.

Al-Qaida’s branch in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which emerged in Yemen in early 2009, has claimed responsibility for a number of terrorist attacks against Yemen’s army and government institutions.

The United States and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries last week imposed sanctions against several individuals and entities accused of supporting the Islamic State and al-Qaida in Yemen.

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In Calm Before Storm, Madrid and Catalan Separatists Maneuver

Posted on 10/29/2017 by SeeEU

An air of calm settled over Barcelona after hundreds of thousands of Catalans attended a rally Sunday for Spanish unity. The atmosphere of the rally was peaceful, as police helicopters monitored from above.

Amid a forest of Spanish national flags and chants of “Viva Espana,” protesters called for the jailing of Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, who on Friday issued a declaration of independence shortly before the Spanish government stripped Catalonia of its autonomy.

But the calm that followed the rally in the Catalan capital attended by an estimated 300,000 people had the quality of the stillness before a storm. Few are ready to hazard a prediction of how events in Catalonia may unfold in the coming days in a confrontation that has seen intransigence from both sides.

How Madrid starts imposing direct rule Monday on its restive northeast region, and how separatists respond, will determine the next phase in the month-long cat-and-mouse standoff between the politicians in Madrid and Catalan secessionists. Both appear to be banking on the other side tiring like a bull played by a matador.

But fears are growing the perilous confrontation, at times visceral and seamed with past historical grievances including from the era of Gen. Francisco Franco, will degenerate into violence, despite the separatists’ determination to remain non-violent and Madrid’s eagerness not to repeat the national police violence that accompanied an October 1 independence referendum.

Olive branch

Despite the sacking of Puigdemont by Madrid among a raft of direct-rule measures announced Friday, including the dissolving of the regional parliament, Spanish ministers offered an olive branch Sunday by suggesting the Catalan leader is not barred from continuing in politics and even welcomed the idea of him taking part in regional elections Madrid has called for December 21.

“If Puigdemont takes part in these elections, he can exercise [his] democratic opposition,” said government spokesman Íñigo Méndez de Vigo. That suggests the implacable deputy Spanish prime minister, María Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría Antón, a 46-year-old former prosecutor who is charged with overseeing direct rule, is not planning to kick off by arresting Catalan separatist leaders, a move some analysts say would be inflammatory, if it is tried.

Nonetheless, there will be several flash-points in the coming week that could push the confrontation, the worst political crisis to roil Spain since a failed military coup in 1981, down paths neither Madrid nor the secessionists want or could control, say analysts. They worry the type of clashes seen on October 1, when the national police and Civil Guard tried to distort the referendum, will be seen when Madrid decides to enforce direct-rule by closing down Catalonia’s parliament and regional government. “I really will be amazed if we don’t see more of that, sadly,” said Sally Ann-Kitts, a lecturer in Hispanic studies at Britain’s University of Bristol.

“All sides seem to be living in Wonderland,” according to John Carlin, who was fired from his job at the Spanish newspaper El País earlier this month over an article he wrote highly critical of the Spanish government for its response to the independence referendum.

In an article for the London Sunday Times, Carlin argued the biggest risk may come if the idea takes hold “among highly energized independence-seeking youth that they have been the victims of a Franquista coup d’état.”

Another risk is that provocateurs on either side, violent anarchists or hardline Spanish nationalists take advantage of the mess Catalonia is in and organize an incident to provoke a reaction from their opponents. On Friday young Spanish nationalists attacked a Catalan radio station.

Rival administrations

As things stand, Catalans will wake up Monday to two rival administrations in their region claiming legitimacy, the Puigdemont-led regional government and an emergency authority staffed by Spanish civil servants and led by Sáenz de Santamaría. On Saturday, Puigdemont defied the fact that he was formally dismissed by the Spanish government and urged Catalans to “defend” the new republic in a televised address.

Separatist leaders and their supporters appear determined to wear Madrid down much as a matador does with a bull by obstructing and resisting the orders issued by Madrid. “The only answer we have is self-defense – institutional self-defense and civil self-defense. I hope Catalans won’t be intimidated by Madrid,” says Abel Escriba, a pro-independence political scientist.

Madrid is banking on Catalonia’s 200,000 public employees and the executives of public companies in the region accepting direct-rule and ignoring the instructions of the Puigdemont-led regional government. Public employee, teacher and firefighter unions have proclaimed their members will ignore Madrid’s instruction.

“We are going to ask them to be professional and to continue to provide services for their citizens,” a Spanish official told VOA last week. The strategy is to be as light-touch as possible as the region is steered to the snap elections in December, which the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is gambling will go against the separatists.

A poll published by El Pais Saturday suggested a small majority of Catalans (52 percent to 43 percent) favor the dissolution of the regional parliament and the holding of the early elections. Fifty-five percent of Catalan respondents opposed the declaration of independence, with 41 percent in favor of secession.

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