December 2017 - Page 16 of 24

Russia’s Putin Lands in Egypt in Sign of Growing Ties

Posted on 12/11/2017 by SeeEU

Russian President Vladimir Putin, making his second visit to Egypt in as many years, held talks Monday with his Egyptian counterpart on their countries’ rapidly expanding ties.

Egypt’s general-turned-president, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, has visited Russia three times since the ouster of his Islamist predecessor in 2013. After taking office, el-Sissi has bought billions of dollars’ worth of Russian weapons, including fighter jets and assault helicopters.

The two countries are also in the late stages of negotiations over the construction by a Russian company of Egypt’s first nuclear energy reactor.

Also, Russia last month approved a draft agreement with Egypt to allow Russian warplanes to use Egyptian military bases, a deal that would mark a significant leap in bilateral ties and evidence of Moscow’s expanding military role in a turbulent Middle East. That deal, if it goes through, will likely irk the United States, until now a top Egypt military ally.

Putin flew to Cairo after a brief and previously unannounced visit to a Russian military air base in Syria. The air base has served as the main foothold for the air campaign Russia has waged since September 2015 in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad against armed groups opposed to his rule.

El-Sissi met Putin at Cairo’s international airport and the two leaders later went straight to the presidential Ittahidyah palace in Cairo’s upscale Heliopolis suburb where talks got underway.

Egypt’s currently close ties with Russia harken back to the 1950s and 1960s, when Cairo became Moscow’s closest Arab ally during the peak years of the Cold War.

Egypt changed allies in the 1970s under the late President Anwar Sadat, who replaced Moscow with Washington as his country’s chief economic and military backer following the signing of a U.S.-sponsored peace treaty with Israel. Egypt has since become a major recipient of U.S. economic and military aid.

In what would have been unthinkable during the Cold War, Egypt has under el-Sissi been able to maintain close ties with both Russia and the United States.

Egypt, however, has not been able thus far to persuade Russia to resume its flights to Egypt, suspended since October 2015 when a suspected bomb brought down a Russian airliner over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people on board. Egypt has since spent millions of dollars to upgrade security at its airports and undergone numerous checks by Russian experts to ascertain the level of security at the facilities.

The suspension of Russian flights has dealt a devastating blow to Egypt’s vital tourism industry. Britain, another major source of visitors, has since the Russian airliner’s crash also suspended flights to Sharm el-Sheikh, a Red Sea resort in Sinai from which the Russian airliner took off shortly before it crashed.

“Your Excellency: When will Russian tourism return to Egypt?” read the front-page banner headline in a Cairo daily loyal to the government, in both Arabic and Russian.

There have been speculations that el-Sissi and Putin might during the visit finalize and announce a deal on the construction of the nuclear reactor on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast after months of wrangling over technical and financial details.

Egypt and Russia have already initialed an agreement for a $25 billion Russian loan to finance the construction.

Egypt has quietly supported Russia’s military involvement in the Syrian civil war, a policy that had clashed with the position taken by Saudi Arabia, Cairo’s chief ally and financial backer. The Saudis, however, have gradually softened their opposition to Russian involvement there and taken a host of steps to thaw decades of frosty relations with Moscow.

Both the Saudis and Egyptians, according to analysts, are now hoping that Russia’s presence in Syria would curtail the growing influence there of Shiite, non-Arab Iran, whose expanding leverage in the region has been a source of alarm to both Cairo and Riyadh.

Egypt, meanwhile, has been raising its own profile in Syria, negotiating local cease-fires between government and opposition forces with the blessing of both Damascus and Moscow.

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Putin Visits Syria, Announces Russian Troop Withdrawal

Posted on 12/11/2017 by SeeEU

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday he has ordered his military to withdraw a “significant part” of Russia’s forces from Syria.

He made the announcement during a surprise visit to Russia’s Hemeimeem airbase in Latakia province, where he also met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Russian forces joined the Syrian conflict in late 2015 in support of Assad’s military.

Putin said Monday that Russian and Syrian forces had defeated the “most battle-ready group of international terrorists,” in an apparent reference to the Islamic State group.

Syrian state media said Assad thanked Putin for Russia’s role in the fight against terrorism in Syria and that the Syrian people will not forget what the Russian military achieved.

Russia plans to keep Hemeimeem airbase as well as a naval facility in Tartus.

The visit to Syria was Putin’s first, and came on his way to talks to Cairo.

Russia’s intervention in Syria helped stabilize Assad’s effort to defeat rebels who have fought since 2011 to force him from power. The conflict started as peaceful protests that were met with a strong government crackdown and eventually led to a civil war that also included the emergence of the Islamic State group in large areas of eastern Syria.

Forces opposing Islamic State have made large gains during the past year in both Iraq and Syria, including pushing the militants out of their major strongholds in Mosul, Iraq and Raqqa, Syria. The United States has led its own coalition of militaries providing airstrikes and other support to fighters on the ground in both countries.

Multiple efforts to bring about productive peace talks to end the fighting in Syria have proven unsuccessful as millions of people fled their homes. The latest attempt at finding a negotiated peace is going on in Geneva, led by the United Nations.
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American Diplomat: US Looks to Counter Iran in Post-war Iraq

Posted on 12/11/2017 by SeeUS

As Iraq emerges from three years of war with the Islamic State group, the U.S. is looking to roll back the influence of neighboring Iran and help the central government resolve its dispute with the Kurdish region, the American envoy to the country told The Associated Press.

U.S. Ambassador Douglas Silliman took up his post in Baghdad in September 2016, just weeks before the start of the operation to retake the northern city of Mosul. With IS now driven out of all the territory it once held and Iraq’s declaration that the war against the extremists is over, he says Washington is focused on keeping the peace and rebuilding, and sees Iran’s influence as a problem.

“Iran simply does not respect the sovereignty of its neighbors,” Silliman said. “The Iranians have — to some extent — assisted the government of Iraq in defeating ISIS,” he said, using an alternative acronym for IS. “But frankly I have not seen the Iranians donating money for humanitarian assistance, I have not seen them contributing to the U.N. stabilization program.”

Iran gained major influence in Iraq after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein’s Sunni-led dictatorship and empowered the country’s Shiite majority.

When IS swept across northern and central Iraq in the summer of 2014, Iran-backed militias mobilized in the country’s defense, providing a bulwark in many areas while the beleaguered armed forces were rebuilt. The now state-sanctioned paramilitaries, known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, consist of tens of thousands of mostly Shiite fighters deployed across the country. Victories against IS have made their leaders increasingly powerful.

The Trump administration has called for the paramilitary forces to disband after the IS fight is complete. It has also vowed to take a much tougher line on Iran, threatening to pull the U.S. out of the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement and levying sanctions on Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard.

Iraq is meanwhile seeking external support for reconstruction after the war, which the government says caused an estimated $100 billion in damage. Some 3 million Iraqis are still displaced, months after major fighting ended.

The Trump administration has made clear that the $14.3 billion military campaign against IS will not be replaced with a similarly funded reconstruction effort. International aid organizations are instead looking to wealthy Gulf states.

“Iraq is coming out of a difficult period where there had been a lot of economic destruction, lots of social disruption and we think that it is important for Iraq to have good, positive relationships with all of its neighbors, and Iran is included in that,” Silliman said.

He said the U.S. was encouraged by recent Iraqi efforts to reach out to Saudi Arabia and Jordan, allies that it hopes will play a bigger role in the country going forward.

The U.S. is also hoping to help calm tensions between the central government and the northern Kurdish region following a September independence referendum that was rejected by Baghdad. Federal forces clashed with Kurdish fighters in October as Baghdad retook disputed territories that the Kurds had seized from IS.

“The relatively modest role we are playing is to help both sides find ways to walk through the door of discussions,” Silliman said, explaining that while both sides support “the idea” of discussions, negotiations to end the crisis have not yet begun.
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US to Help Cambodia Preserve Khmer Rouge Victims’ Belongings

Posted on 12/11/2017 by SeeUS

The U.S government has provided more than $55,000 to Cambodia for the preserving of personal items belonging to prisoners at a Khmer Rouge prison and torture center in the 1970s.

The project agreement was signed Monday by U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia William Heidt and Cambodian Secretary of State for Ministry of Culture and Fine Art Chuch Phoeurn. The funding aims to preserve and maintain 3,000 to 5,000 items of clothing, shoes, hats and belts belonging to prisoners who were detained at the Khmer Rouge’s main Tuol Sleng prison facility.

Under the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime, an estimated 17,000 Cambodians were tortured at the center, known as S-21 prison, and then killed. An estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died from execution, starvation and inadequate medical care under the rule of the ultra-communist group.

Heidt said the timing of the project is critical since the items are slowly deteriorating. The prisoners’ belongings tell the extremely personal and heartbreaking stories of the victims of the Khmer Rouge and include clothing, hats and other items from both adults and children.

“If you look closely, you even can see that some items still show blood and sweat stains,” Heidt said. “The conservation work will carefully preserve the textiles without removing this historical evidence. Each piece carries its own history and we recognize how important it is to preserve this story for future generations.”

Chuch Phoeurn welcomed the U.S. funding and said the preservation of the belongings is important because they can help educate young Cambodians. He said some of the items will be displayed at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.
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Wavering US Olympic Commitment Worries South Korea

Posted on 12/11/2017 by SeeUS

Mixed messages from the United States and concerns of a North Korean provocation could undermine South Korea’s plans to use the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics to further peace and reconciliation efforts.

On Sunday, Nikki Haley, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, said in an interview with Fox News that the full U.S. Olympic team would participate in the winter games to be held in South Korea in February. However, she again left open the possibility that heightened security concerns could force the U.S. to reconsider this commitment. Haley said, “We always look out for the best interests of United States citizens.”

Last week Haley said U.S. participation was an “open question” due to high tensions with North Korea over its continued missile and nuclear tests.

The White House and State Department have both expressed unqualified support for sending the full Olympics team and delegation. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders wrote on Twitter Thursday, “The protection of Americans is our top priority and we are engaged with the South Koreans and other partner nations to secure the venues.”

But Haley’s equivocal comments reflect increasing anxiety the U.S. nuclear standoff with North Korea could mar the games.

H.R. McMaster, President Trump’s national security adviser, recently said the potential for military conflict between the U.S. and North Korea is “increasing every day,” as the Kim Jong Un government’s efforts to develop a nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), able to target the U.S., constitute an unacceptable security threat.

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said that U.S. and South Korean large-scale military drills conducted last week made the outbreak of war “an established fact.” On Monday, Japan joined the U.S. and South Korea in two days of missile tracking drills.

South Korean anxiety

Officials in Seoul have opted to focus on the reassurance of Olympics participation offered by the White House.

“President Trump has said the U.S. team will participate in the PyeongChang Olympics in a phone call between two heads of South Korea and the U.S. on November 30th. Also, he promised to send high-level delegation during the Olympics,” said South Korean Unification spokesperson Lee Eugene on Friday.

But South Korean newspapers on Monday voiced alarm that the U.S. might withdraw from the Olympics, especially after the International Olympic Committee banned Russia from participating over state-sponsored athlete doping violations.

“Dark clouds are hanging over the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics,” wrote the Korea Joongang Daily in an editorial Monday. Adding, “We wonder what our government has been doing to reassure the United States.”

A Korean Herald editorial said it is “unusual and shocking” that a U.S. official would contemplate such a “worst case scenario” regarding a North Korean threat during the Olympics, and said it indicates “a grave (security) situation indeed.”

Peace Olympics

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has emphasized that the PyeongChang Olympic Games should be an “Olympics for Peace,” and his government has been urging North Korea to participate, to both insure there are no provocations during the games, and to help ease regional tensions.

A Korea Times editorial criticized Moon for focusing more on persuading its adversary in the North to come to the games while seeming to neglect the concerns of “our allies and traditional powerhouses in winters sports.”

The North Korean Olympic Committee missed the Oct. 30 deadline to register for the winter games, but the International Olympic Committee has indicated it is still not too late. Figure skaters Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik are the only North Korean athletes to qualify for the Olympics so far.

North Korean provocation

The possibility that North Korea would attempt to disrupt the Olympics with a missile or nuclear test, a cyberattack or even launching a minor skirmish against South Korea is a credible threat, said Ahn Chan-il, a North Korean defector and analyst with the World Institute of North Korean Studies

“If North Korea decides not to participate and relations between North Korea and the U.S. worsen, it is possible North Korea may disturb our glorious event by provocation,” said Ahn.

In the last two years, North Korea has conducted numerous missile launches and three nuclear tests, despite facing increasing international sanctions for its provocative actions.

After a long range Hwasong-15 missile test in November, which reportedly reached an altitude of 4,475 kilometers and flew 950 kilometers, Pyongyang claimed it successfully reached operational ICBM capability. But the U.S. and South Korea dispute the operational aspect of this claim and expect further tests in the future.

Youmi Kim in Seoul contributed to this report.
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California Wildfire One Of The Worst in State’s History

Posted on 12/11/2017 by SeeUS

Fire officials in the western U.S. state of California are focusing efforts on battling a wildfire northwest of Los Angeles that is already one of the largest and most destructive in the state’s history.

The Thomas Fire has burned 930 square kilometers and destroyed 800 buildings in Santa Barbara County since it started a week ago. Authorities say the blaze is only 10 percent contained, and while firefighters have had some success attacking it from the air, it remains a dangerous fire that can be spread quickly by strong winds.

Cal Fire official Tim Chavez said at a briefing late Monday the area 160 kilometers northwest of Los Angeles is a “very difficult place to fight fire.” He said the last time the same area burned in a wildfire was 1964, so the fuel there is more than 50 years old.

More than 5,700 personnel are involved in fighting the Thomas Fire, one of several burning in southern California.

But crews have made significant progress in bringing the other fires, which are much smaller, under control.

The fires have forced more than 200,000 people to evacuate their homes. The number grew Sunday with more evacuations in Santa Barbara as the biggest fire in the region spread west. Authorities have been handing out face masks to help protect people from smoke inhalation, and a number of schools have been closed.

President Donald Trump responded to the fires Friday by issuing a federal declaration of a state of emergency for California, paving the way for federal agencies to help coordinate relief efforts.

Fires are not uncommon in Southern California this time of year, before the winter rains set in, when the vegetation is tinder dry and winds blast the region. This year, however, has been particularly bad for California fires because of dry, hot and windy conditions that would be extreme for any season, including the winter season that is just two weeks away.

Just weeks ago, wildfires that broke out in Northern California killed 44 people and destroyed 8,900 homes and other buildings.
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France Orders International Recall of Lactalis Baby Formula

Posted on 12/11/2017 by SeeEU

France has ordered banned the sale and ordered a recall of several baby formula milk and baby food products made by French dairy giant Lactalis after the discovery of salmonella bacteria, consumer protection agency DGCCRF said in a statement.

The recall includes products for export, including to China, Taiwan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Morocco, Lebanon, Sudan, Romania, Serbia, Georgia, Greece, Haiti, Colombia and Peru.

Some were also destined for regional markets, including Africa and Asia.

The agency said that Lactalis, the world’s largest dairy company, had not managed contamination risk and has been ordered to conduct a product recall and halt the sale and export of several baby food products made at its Craon plant in western France since Feb. 15.

The recall follows 20 cases of salmonella infection of infants in France during early December, which had already prompted a limited recall of 12 Lactalis products.

This week five new cases were reported of infection with the “salmonella agona” bacteria. One of the infants had consumed a Lactalis product that had not been on the first recall list. The infants have now recovered, the agency said.

Lactalis spokesman Michel Nalet said on BFM Television that the products can be exchanged in pharmacies or supermarkets. He said that any salmonella bacteria would be killed by boiling the milk for two minutes.

A full list of the products concerned is available on the agency’s website.
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Morocco’s Government Partners with Civil Society Groups to Reforest the Land

Posted on 12/11/2017 by SeeAF

Morocco’s government is partnering with civil society groups to plant the roots of understanding about deforestation’s potential harm to local communities. Arash Arabasadi reports.
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Fighting Climate Change for Profit

Posted on 12/11/2017 by SeeAF

Coral reefs stop erosion, and are incredibly biodiverse. Mangroves store carbon and keep rising seas at bay. But U.N. officials say we are losing both at an alarming rate. In Kenya, government and U.N. officials are enlisting locals to help replace what is being lost. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.
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Macron Urges Netanyahu to Make Gestures For Peace

Posted on 12/11/2017 by SeeEU

French President Emmanuel Macron urged visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make a move toward peace with the Palestinians in the wake of U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem has sparked a wave of protests in the Arab and Muslim world. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports fresh protests took place in Egypt, Lebanon, Pakistan and elsewhere on Sunday.
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EU to Netanyahu: Jerusalem Must be Capital of Two States

Posted on 12/11/2017 by SeeEU

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday he believes most or all European countries will move their embassies to Jerusalem and recognize the city as Israel’s capital, following a move to do so by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Speaking in Brussels alongside European Union Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini, Netanyahu said Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem “put facts squarely on the table” and that “peace is based on reality.”

WATCH: Macron on Trump Jerusalem decision

“Jerusalem is Israel’s capital. No one can deny. It doesn’t obviate peace, it makes peace possible because recognizing reality is the substance of peace, it’s the foundation of peace,” Netanyahu said.

Mogherini said the EU will continue to follow international consensus on Jerusalem until its status is solved as part of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, which at this time means not joining the U.S. position Trump announced last week.

”We believe the only realistic solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine is based on two states with Jerusalem as the capital of both the state of Israel and the state of Palestine,” Mogherini said.

She pledged to increase work with partners in the region, including Egypt and Jordan, as well as the Israelis and Palestinians themselves to relaunch the peace process, “even if it seems like difficult times.”

Mogherini said the worst that can happen at this time is an escalation of violence and tension, and she condemned “in the strongest way” all attacks against Jews and Israel.

Ahead of his visit to Brussels to meet with EU foreign ministers, Netanyahu had criticized European leaders for what he called their “hypocrisy” in standing against Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and set in motion the process of moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to the city.

“I hear voices from there condemning President Trump’s historic statement, but I have not heard condemnations of the rockets fired at Israel or the terrible incitement against it,” the Israeli leader said Saturday.

He added Sunday after meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron that Jerusalem has always been Israel’s capital, and that “the sooner the Palestinians come to grips with this reality, the sooner we’ll move toward peace.”

Macron condemned attacks on Israel, but said he opposes Trump’s decision on Jerusalem. Macron described it as a “breach of international law and a risk for peace. In risk for peace because I believe these statements do not serve security, including the security of Israel and the Israelis.”

Trump’s decision has been met by protests in parts of the Muslim and Arab world, including a new wave of demonstrations Sunday.

Lebanese security forces outside the U.S. Embassy in Beirut fired water cannons and tear gas to beat back Lebanese and Palestinian protesters who hurled projectiles at the embassy and burned Trump in effigy, along with U.S. and Israeli flags.

In Indonesia, home to the world’s largest Muslim population, thousands of protesters mounted a demonstration outside the U.S. Embassy in the capital, Jakarta. Other protests occurred in Jordan, Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia, Egypt and the Palestinian territories bordering Israel.

Police in the Swedish city of Gothenburg arrested three people for allegedly throwing firebombs at a synagogue. A police spokesman said Sunday the incident is being investigated as attempted arson. No one was hurt in the incident.

Israeli police said a security guard was stabbed and seriously wounded near the Jerusalem bus terminal. His attacker was arrested.

Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, defended Trump’s decision in an interview on CNN. She said Israel already has numerous government agencies in Jerusalem, adding, “Why shouldn’t we have the embassy there?” She said Trump “did the will of the (American) people” by making a decision that previous U.S. presidents refused to do.

Earlier Sunday, the Arab League called Trump’s decision “a dangerous development that places the United States at a position of bias in favor of the occupation and the violation of international law and resolutions.”

The statement was issued after an emergency meeting of league foreign ministers in Cairo and went on to say that Trump’s decision also strips the U.S. of its role as a “sponsor and broker” in the Mideast peace process.

The resolution also said Trump’s Jerusalem decision “undermines efforts to bring about peace, deepens tension and will spark anger that will threaten to push the region to the edge of the abyss of violence, chaos and bloodshed.”

The head of the Arab League called on the nations of the world to recognize Palestine as a sovereign state with Jerusalem as its capital, in response to Trump’s announcement. The foreign ministers also called on the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution condemning Trump’s decision.

The heads of the largest Christian church in Cairo and Al-Azhar University have said they will not meet with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence when he visits Cairo on December 20. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has also announced he will not meet with Pence, saying “the U.S. has crossed red lines” on Jerusalem.

A spokeswoman for Pence said Sunday it was “unfortunate that the Palestinian Authority is walking away again from an opportunity to discuss the future of the region.”

A statement from the Coptic Orthodox Church called the Trump decision “inappropriate and without consideration for the feelings of millions of people.”
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Kenya’s Opposition Delays Mock "Inauguration" of Odinga

Posted on 12/10/2017 by SeeAF

Kenya’s opposition has delayed plans for an “inauguration” ceremony of leader Raila Odinga, who boycotted elections in October, his party said Sunday.

The National Super Alliance (NASA) had planned a mock ceremony to “inaugurate” Odinga as president on Tuesday, Kenya’s independence day, two weeks after incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta was officially sworn in for a second term.

NASA said the decision was made after “consultations and engagement with a wide range of national and international interlocutors” without naming any specific parties.

Kenya’s attorney general said last week a mock swearing-in could amount to charges of treason against Odinga, which is punishable by death in Kenya.

After two elections, several Supreme Court petitions, frequent protests and many other twists and turns, Uhuru Kenyatta finally was sworn in on November 28th for a second term as president of Kenya.

On the same day, Odinga vowed that he would be inaugurated – a promise that worried many observers who feared the move could reignite political tensions that left at least 58 people dead in violent clashes.

After his August electoral win was nullified, Kenyatta won a second election in October with about 98 percent of the overall vote, after opposition leader Raila Odinga told his supporters to boycott the polls. There was 39 percent overall voter turnout in October, leading many to ask whether Kenyatta had earned a mandate.

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UN: 4,500 Civilians Killed, Wounded in Somalia Since 2016

Posted on 12/10/2017 by SeeAF

The United Nations says more than 4,500 civilians have been killed or wounded in the conflict in Somalia since the start of 2016.

The U.N. Human Rights Office and the U.N. Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) have issued a new report that implicates parties to the conflict in the death and injuries sustained by the civilians.

In the report, covering a period from January 1, 2016 until October 14 2017, UNSOM documented 2,078 civilian deaths and 2,507 injuries. The worst perpetrators of the killings against civilians are the al-Shabab militant group that is responsible for more 60 percent of the casualties according to the report. About a quarter of the death toll comes from the October 14 truck in Mogadishu where a special committee tasked to investigate the incident reported that 512 people were killed and more than 300 others were injured. Al-Shabab has been blamed for the attack.

“They are by far the worst when it comes to activities that kill civilians in conflict,” said U.N. Special Envoy to Somalia Michael Keating. “Of the incidents attributable to al-Shabab, 79 percent are as a result of the use of IEDs [improvised explosive devices] whether they are vehicle borne or otherwise.”.

The report says clan militias are responsible for 13 percent of the casualties, while state actors, including the army and the police, are responsible for 11 percent. The report says the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) is responsible for four percent. A further 12 percent of the casualties was caused by unidentified or undetermined attackers, the report said.

The U.N.’s Keating said civilians are paying the price for the failure to resolve Somalia’s conflicts through political means.

“Parties to the conflict are simply not doing enough to shield civilians from the violence. This is shameful,” he said.

The U.N. report coincides with the International Human Rights Day. The United Nations expressed concern over the death of some civilians in the hands of Somali security forces and AMISOM because they “undermine the Somali population’s trust in the Government and the international community”.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Watch welcomed the report. Senior researcher Laetitia Bader told VOA Somali this report is “very important” given the difficulties in getting data about human rights violations in Somalia.

“Too often the extent and the magnitude of the toll on civilian from the ongoing conflict in Somalia has been been undermined in many ways because of the lack of data, so this report which seeks to offer a baseline to quantify casualties is a very important insight into just how many civilians have been lost,” she said.

The report says the conflict disproportionately affected children, exposing them to “grave violations” during military operations.

In the first 10 months of 2017, 3,335 cases of child recruitment were reported with 71.5 per cent attributed to al-Shabab, 14.6 per cent to clan militia, and 7.4 percent to the Somali National Army, the report says.

Bader said some of the report’s findings corroborate their own research in Somalia.

“A lot of the grave abuses which are documented in this report and quantified to a certain extent are ones which we ourselves have continued to document, whether it is cases of sexual violence against internally displaced people, whether it’s ongoing recruitment of children by al-Shabab in Baidoa,” she said. “I was recently in Baidoa looking into the recruitment trend in Bay region, so a lot of the things they document in this report are ones which confirm our own research.”
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California Wildfires Force New Evacuations

Posted on 12/10/2017 by SeeUS

New evacuations were ordered in Santa Barbara county in Southern California Sunday morning as the largest wildfire currently burning in the state threatened a number of coastal towns.

Residents of Carpinteria and Montecito were ordered to evacuate early Sunday, as the Thomas fire spread further toward the city of Santa Barbara, about 160 kilometers west of Los Angeles.

More than 88,000 people have been evacuated because of the Thomas Fire, which the state’s fire agency said was 15 percent contained by Saturday night.

Nearly a half dozen fires burned across Southern California over the past week, burning more than 670 square kilometers since Monday. New fires keep erupting in dry conditions, though, and are being stoked by relentless westward Santa Ana winds, which are expected to gust up to 80 kilometers per hour (50 mph) on Sunday.

State of emergency

President Donald Trump responded to the fires Friday by issuing a federal declaration of a state of emergency for California, paving the way for federal agencies to help coordinate relief efforts.

Just weeks ago, wildfires that broke out in Northern California killed 44 people and destroyed 8,900 homes and other buildings.
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Alabama Senator Shelby: State ‘Deserves Better’ than Election of Republican Roy Moore

Posted on 12/10/2017 by SeeUS

Alabama’s senior senator, Republican Richard Shelby, said Sunday the state “deserves better” than the election of Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore, accused of sexual improprieties with teenage girls four decades ago when he was in his 30s.

Shelby, in the Senate for three decades, told CNN he has already cast an absentee ballot ahead of Tuesday’s special election, writing in the name of “a distinguished Republican” he declined to name.

“I’d rather see the Republican win, but I would hope that Republican would be a write-in,” Shelby said.

“I couldn’t vote for Roy Moore. I didn’t vote for Roy Moore. I’d rather see another Republican in there, and I’m going to stay with that story,” Shelby said. “I’m not going to vote for the Democrat, I didn’t vote for the Democrat or advocate for the Democrat. But I couldn’t vote for Roy Moore.”

Moore, accused of sexual misconduct by two women, one of whom was 14 during the time he was a local prosecutor, is locked in a tight contest with Democrat Doug Jones, a former federal prosecutor. The winner will fill the remaining three years of the Senate seat once held by Jeff Sessions, who resigned to join President Donald Trump’s Cabinet as attorney general, the country’s top law enforcement position.

Other women say that Moore pursued them for dates when they were teenagers, but Shelby said the “tipping point” for him were allegations made by the then-14-year-old, now in her 50s. “That was enough for me,” he said.

Trump on Moore

Trump in recent days has mounted a full-bore campaign for Moore, ignoring the allegations of sexual improprieties against him and the fact that he was twice deposed as an Alabama state supreme court judge for refusing to adhere to federal court rulings. Trump says Jones would be a “puppet” for the top Democratic congressional leaders, Senator Charles Schumer and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.

“We can’t have a Pelosi/Schumer Liberal Democrat, Jones, in that important Alabama Senate seat,” Trump said in one of several pro-Moore Twitter comments. “Need your vote to Make America Great Again! Jones will always vote against what we must do for our Country.”

Trump has recorded a robocall phone conversation supporting Moore that Republicans plan to use in the state on Monday.

To no avail, numerous key Republican leaders in Washington called for Moore to end his candidacy and said they will try to expel him from the Senate if he wins Tuesday’s vote.

But Dean Young, Moore’s chief strategist, predicted Sunday, “Judge Moore’s going to go to Washington. Judge Moore’s going to win, and I highly doubt there’s going to be a Senate investigation.”

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Thousands in Ukraine Demand Saakashvili’s Release

Posted on 12/10/2017 by SeeEU

Thousands in Ukraine rallied Sunday in protest of the arrest of opposition leader Mikheil Saakashvili, calling for his release and the impeachment of President Petro Poroshenko.

Ukrainian officials have accused Saakashvili, whom they arrested Friday, of abetting an alleged “criminal group” led by former President Viktor Yanukovych — who was pushed from power in 2014 and fled to Russia — and have suggested that his protests are part of a Russian plot against Ukraine.

A day after he declared a hunger strike, his supporters took to the streets of Kyiv to demand his release.

“The authorities have crossed a red line. You don’t put opponents in prison,” said Saakashvili’s wife, Sandra Roelofs, as marchers brandished anti-government and anti-corruption slogans.

Saakashvili, 49, is also wanted in his native Georgia, where he served as president from 2004 until 2013, for alleged abuse of power.

Saakashvili became a regional governor in Ukraine in 2015 at the invitation of President Poroshenko. However, the two men later had a falling out, with Saakashvili accusing the president of corruption and calling for his removal from office.

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Spain Rescues 104 Migrants Crossing Mediterranean Sea

Posted on 12/10/2017 by SeeEU

Spain’s maritime rescue service says it has saved 104 migrants trying to make the perilous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea to Europe from North Africa.

The service says its rescue craft Guardamar Concepcion Arenal intercepted two boats carrying 53 and 22 migrants each overnight and early Sunday in the Strait of Gibraltar. The same rescue vessel also took on board another 25 migrants that a Civil Guard patrol craft had picked up at sea.

Another rescue craft, the Salvamar Denebola, later spotted a tiny rubber boat carrying four more migrants that it took to shore.

Tens of thousands of migrants try to reach Europe each year in small smugglers’ boats unfit for the open sea, with thousands dying in the attempt.
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Nobel Peace Prize Winners Urge Nuclear Powers to Sign UN Treaty

Posted on 12/10/2017 by SeeUS

Winners of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize warned that the world was “one impulsive tantrum” away from destruction, urging nuclear nations to adopt a U.N. treaty banning atomic weapons.

“Will it be the end of nuclear weapons, or will it be the end of us?” Beatrice Fihn, who accepted the award on behalf of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), asked in her speech following the group’s acceptance of the award.

Fihn warned that in particular, warlike threats exchanged between North Korea and the United States amid nuclear tests by Pyongyang were forcing the world to live “under the conditions where our mutual destruction is only one impulsive tantrum away.”

The Geneva-based group, which received the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this year, consists of about 500 organizations in more than 100 countries that are working toward global nuclear disarmament.

The Nobel committee praised ICAN’s efforts toward securing the 2017 U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. A total of 122 nations adopted the deal — but none of the nine known nuclear powers signed up.

In a break from tradition, the three western nuclear powers — the U.S., France and Britain — sent second-ranking diplomats rather than their ambassadors to Sunday’s ceremony.

Receiving the award with Fihn was 85-year-old Setsuko Thurlow, a survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bombing and now an ICAN campaigner, who described horrible scenes in the aftermath of the atomic bomb in 1945 when she was 13 years old.

“Listen to our testimony. Heed our warning. And know that your actions are consequential,” Thurlow said during her speech at the ceremony.

The nine nations that have nuclear weapons boycotted the U.N. treaty negotiations, which began in February. They are Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel.

Nearly three decades after the end of the Cold War, the debate between disarmament versus deterrence is still being fought.

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Sources: Yemen’s Saleh Buried in Sana’a

Posted on 12/10/2017 by SeeEA

Yemen’s Houthi group has buried the body of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sana’a, allowing only a handful of relatives to attend, sources from his General People’s Congress (GPC) party said on Sunday.

Saleh, 75, was killed by the Iran-aligned Houthis on Monday, after he had called for a “new page” in ties with a Saudi-led coalition that his supporters together with the Houthis had fought for nearly three years.

A GPC source, who has asked not to be identified, said the Houthis allowed less than 10 people from Saleh’s relatives to attend the night-time burial in the capital Sana’a, but gave no details on the exact location.

GPC Secretary-General Aref al-Zouka, who was killed with Saleh, was buried on Saturday in his native al-Saeed district of Shabwa province in southern Yemen after the Houthis handed over his body to tribal leaders, media and GPC officials said.

Relatives said on Thursday that Saleh’s family had refused conditions demanded by the Houthis for handing over the body.

Some said they wanted to bury the body in the courtyard of a mosque he had built near the presidential compound in southern Sana’a.

Saleh ruled Yemen for 33 years before being forced to step down in 2012 in a Gulf-brokered transition plan following months of Arab Spring protests demanding democracy.

He remained in politics as the head of the GPC, Yemen’s largest political party, and in 2015 he joined forces with the Iran-aligned Houthis after they captured the capital Sana’a in a move that precipitated Saudi-led military intervention on the side of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
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Britain’s Top Diplomat Raises Detainee’s Case in Iran Talks

Posted on 12/10/2017 by SeeEA

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson raised the case of a detained dual national on Sunday when he met with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani during a two-day trip to Tehran.

The British Foreign Office says Johnson raised the case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who is serving a five-year prison sentence for allegedly plotting against Iran’s government, during a “worthwhile visit” to the country.

The Foreign Office said both Johnson and Rouhani “spoke forthrightly” during their nearly hour-long meeting and “agreed on the need to make progress in all areas,” without elaborating.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband says she faces trial on new charges Sunday that carry the possibility of an additional 16-years imprisonment, but Iranian judiciary spokesman Gholamhosein Mohseni Ejehi said last month that her verdict has been finalized.

Efforts to free Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a charity worker who has been held since April 2016, are believed to top Johnson’s agenda. Johnson recently complicated those efforts by saying incorrectly that she was training journalists when arrested. He has since apologized.

London is considering repaying Tehran some 400 million pounds from a pre-1979 arms deal. Both sides say the money isn’t related to Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

Johnson met with Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s nuclear program, earlier Sunday.
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Syrian Government Returns to Geneva Talks

Posted on 12/10/2017 by SeeEA

The Syrian government’s delegation returned to Geneva on Sunday for the resumption of talks with United Nations mediator Staffan de Mistura after more than a week’s absence, but Western diplomats voiced skepticism about its willingness to engage.

Bashar al-Ja’afari, Syria’s ambassador to the U.N. and chief negotiator in talks aimed at finding a political solution to end the nearly seven-year-old war, landed in a snowstorm on a flight from Beirut, a Reuters reporter on board said. Ja’afari declined to comment.

De Mistura convened an eighth round of separate talks with the government and unified opposition delegations on Nov. 28, focusing on constitutional reform as well as elections.

But Ja’afari arrived a day late and left after two days, saying the opposition had “mined the road” to the talks by insisting that President Bashar al-Assad could not play any interim role in Syria’s political transition.

De Mistura told reporters last Thursday that he would assess this week whether either side is trying to “sabotage” the process.

“The opposition has been extremely constructive and willing to get down to it,” a senior Western diplomat said. “They are in a difficult place while being criticized internally and pressured by the fact that the regime is bombing away in eastern Ghouta and other places.”

The diplomat told Reuters that the government’s failure to return as scheduled on Dec. 5 had been “a clear sign of not being interested in engaging in the political process.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested holding a Syrian congress in the Russian city of Sochi early in 2018.

Diplomats see his plan as a bid to draw a line under the war and celebrate Moscow’s role as the power that tipped the balance of the war and became the key player in the peace process.
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New Protests Erupt in Muslim, Arab World Against Trump’s Jerusalem Decision

Posted on 12/10/2017 by SeeEA

A new wave of protests against U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital erupted Sunday in parts of the Muslim and Arab world.

In Indonesia, home to the world’s largest population of Muslims, thousands of protesters mounted a demonstration outside the U.S. Embassy in the capital, Jakarta, while other protests occurred in Jordan, Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia, Egypt and the Palestinian territories bordering Israel.

Officials in Stockholm say security has been tightened around a synagogue in the capital.

Israeli police said a security guard was stabbed and seriously wounded near the Jerusalem bus terminal. His attacker was arrested.

Netanyahu in Paris

Before he left late Saturday for meetings with European leaders, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attacked what he said was their hypocrisy in condemning Trump’s decision to eventually move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv, where most foreign governments have their embassies in Israel.

“While I respect Europe, I am not prepared to accept a double standard from it,” Netanyahu said. “I hear voices from there condemning President Trump’s historic statement, but I have not heard condemnations of the rockets fired at Israel or the terrible incitement against it. I am not prepared to accept this hypocrisy.”

After meeting with Netanyahu, French President Emmanuel Macron condemned attacks on Israel, but said he opposes Trump’s decision on Jerusalem. Macron described it as a “breach of international law and at risk for peace. In risk for peace because I believe these statements do not serve security, including the security of Israel and the Israelis.”

Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, defended Trump’s decision in an interview on CNN. She said Israel already has numerous government agencies in Jerusalem, adding, “Why shouldn’t we have the embassy there?” She said Trump “did the will of the [American] people” by making a decision that previous U.S. presidents refused to do.

Arab League meeting

The statement was issued early Sunday after an emergency meeting of league foreign ministers in Cairo and went on to say that Trump’s decision also strips the U.S. of its role as a “sponsor and broker” in the Mideast peace process.

The head of the Arab League called on the nations of the world to recognize Palestine as a sovereign state with Jerusalem as its capital, in response to Trump’s announcement.

The foreign ministers also called on the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution condemning Trump’s decision.

The meeting in Cairo took place after days of street protests in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as protests at Al-Azhar Mosque in the Egyptian capital.

A report in Foreign Policy magazine says the White House, in a recent meeting with Palestinian diplomats, failed to tell them about Trump’s Jerusalem decision even as the delegation asked if Trump would sign the waiver to prevent the U.S. Embassy from moving to Jerusalem.

A statement from the Coptic Orthodox Church called the Trump decision “inappropriate and without consideration for the feelings of millions of people.”

In Paris, pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched ahead of Netanyahu’s visit. Netanyahu met with French President Emmanuel Macron, who has called Trump’s decision “regrettable.”

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AP Fact Check: Trump Wrong on Black Homeownership, Trade, Wages

Posted on 12/10/2017 by SeeUS

In his rally Friday night, President Donald Trump falsely stated that black homeownership has hit a record high under his stewardship and made the dubious claim that he set Canada’s prime minister straight on the state of trade between the two countries.

Trump spoke in Pensacola, Florida, across the state line from Alabama. Trump looked back on his months in office and overstated his achievements during more than an hour of boasting.

A look at some of his statements:

Black homeownership

TRUMP, surveying the crowd: “Look at these guys, ‘blacks for Trump.’ I love you. I love you. By the way, now that you bring it up, black homeownership just hit the highest level it has ever been in the history of our country. Congratulations.”

THE FACTS: Not true or even close.

The U.S. Census finds that the black homeownership rate peaked during 2004, when 49.7 percent of black households owned homes (the rate for all races that year reached 69.2 percent, also a modern record). The black homeownership rate stayed in similar territory until the recession, when it dropped to the mid-40s.

This year: 42.7 percent in the first quarter, 42.3 percent in the second and 42 percent in the third. That’s an uptick from last year but far from a record. Quarterly rates this year for the total U.S. population: 63.6 percent, 63.7 percent and 63.9 percent.

Signed legislation

TRUMP: “Working with Republicans in Congress we’ve already signed 88 pieces of legislation. We get no credit. They always say, well, President Trump really needs this tax bill because he hasn’t passed any legislation. Well, so far in 10 months we’ve passed more during this period of time than any other president in the history of our country and the second — let’s call runner up — is Harry Truman, was second.”

THE FACTS: Trump’s first-year legislative record pales next to that of a variety of presidents (Franklin Roosevelt, with his New Deal, signed 14 historic laws in his first 100 days). The tax package Trump may soon sign would mark his first major legislative achievement after months of false starts and frustrations on health care and more. His promised infrastructure initiative got sidelined but appears in the offing.

Trump signed a law strengthening accountability at the Veterans Affairs Department, used executive orders to roll back Obama-era regulations and policies and, perhaps most significantly, won confirmation of a conservative Supreme Court justice, Neil Gorsuch. But legislatively, his record is thin, despite having Republican majorities in Congress.

All presidents sign plenty of bills that have little consequence; most don’t make so much of it. Among Trump’s routine signings: naming a Veterans Affairs health clinic in Butler County, Pennsylvania, after Bataan Death March survivor Abie Abraham, appointing a regent at the Smithsonian Institution, naming a federal building and courthouse in Nashville, Tennessee, after late Sen. Fred Thompson.

Trudeau and trade

TRUMP on a conversation with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about trade: “He said, ‘I’m telling you that Canada has a deficit with the United States.’ I told my people, in front of a lot of people, I said, go out and check — and he was right. Except he forgot two categories — lumber, timber and energy. Other than that, he was right. When you add them altogether we actually have a $17 billion deficit with Canada, right? So, he forgot a couple of categories that he didn’t want to mention.”

THE FACTS: Trump’s accounting is puzzling and at odds with U.S. trade statistics.

Trudeau is right that the U.S. has a trade surplus with Canada, according to those numbers.

“Exports were $320.1 billion; imports were $307.6 billion,” says the U.S. trade representative’s office. “The U.S. goods and services trade surplus with Canada was $12.5 billion in 2016.”

The U.S. ran a $12.1 billion deficit with Canada in trade on goods. That was offset by a $24.6 billion surplus in trade of services.

Trump may have been ignoring services — half of the equation on trade — but if so his numbers still don’t match his government’s.

Critics in Washington

TRUMP on his critics in Washington: “They will lie and leak and smear because they don’t want to accept the results of an election where we won by a landslide.”

THE FACTS: His win was far from a landslide.

His winning margin in the Electoral College is far closer to the narrowest win in history than to the widest.

The final Electoral College margin was Trump 306, Hillary Clinton 232, for a winning percentage of just less than 57 percent. That ranks the 2016 election as the 13th closest of the 58 presidential elections in U.S. history, according to a tally by Claremont McKenna College political scientist John Pitney. Barack Obama won both of his presidential elections with bigger Electoral College margins: 61 percent in 2008 and 62 percent in 2012. Trump’s margin was narrower than all but two of the last 10 presidential elections, those of George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004.

As well, he lost the popular vote to Clinton.

Wealth creation

TRUMP: “Since the election, we have created more than $5 trillion in new economic wealth just in the stock market alone. We’re not including real estate and other values, $5 trillion.”

THE FACTS: According to the Federal Reserve, household wealth has risen by about $5 trillion since the end of last year, but that figure does include home values. Either way, stock ownership is highly concentrated in the United States, so a rising market is mostly benefiting a limited population. Ten percent of Americans owned 84 percent of the value of U.S. stocks in 2016, according to Edward Wolff, an economist at New York University. Median household wealth is still 34 percent below its 2007, prerecession level, Wolff calculates.

Factories coming back

TRUMP: “You know, we have factories pouring back into our country. Did you ever think you would hear that? I used to tell you, that’s going to happen.”

THE FACTS: Factories are not pouring into the country, according to available data. Spending on the construction of factories has dropped 14 percent over the past 12 months. There has been a steady decline in spending on factory construction since the middle of 2015, a trend Trump has yet to reverse despite his claims otherwise.

The existing manufacturing sector, though, has been doing a steady dose of hiring. This appears to reflect the synchronized global growth that has aided a rebound in manufacturing after setbacks in 2016 from a stronger dollar and low energy prices. In November, manufacturing added 31,000 jobs for a gain of 189,000 from a year earlier.

Are wages going up?

TRUMP: “By the way, wages — starting to go up. First time in 20 years — starting to go up. That’s all going to happen.”

THE FACTS: It’s not true that wages haven’t gone up for 20 years.

The latest jobs report shows average hourly earnings up 2.5 percent over the past 12 months, roughly the same pace of growth as the year before, when Barack Obama was president. Wages were rising faster in December 2016, up by 2.9 percent. Average hourly wage figures are volatile but they don’t show an upward trend under Trump.

The last time unemployment was this low — in 2000 — that figure was rising at 4 percent.

Inflation-adjusted median household incomes, meantime, have barely budged for several decades.
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Iraq Celebrates Victory Over Islamic State With Parade

Posted on 12/10/2017 by SeeEA

Iraq celebrated its victory over the Islamic State with a military parade Sunday in the capital, a day after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the successful ouster of the jihadist group from the country.

The parade was not broadcast live and state media were the only ones allowed to attend.

Witnesses say Iraqi army units in the parade marched across the main square in central Baghdad as helicopters and fighter jets flew overhead.

Writing on Twitter, Prime Minster Abadi thanked Iraqi forces “for their service” and remembered “those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.”

Abadi had declared Sunday a public holiday.

On Saturday, he announced the three-year war aimed at driving Islamic State out of Iraq was successful and has come to an end.

“Our forces are in complete control of the Iraqi-Syrian border and I therefore announce the end of the war against Daesh [IS],” Abadi said at a conference in Baghdad that was arranged by the Iraqi journalists’ union.

The announcement came two days after Russia said it had defeated IS in Syria, where Moscow is supporting the Syrian military.

The Iraqi government said the declaration of victory meant its forces had secured the western desert, in addition to the Iraq-Syria border.

IS fighters seized control of nearly one-third of Iraq in the summer of 2014, threatening the very existence of the Iraqi state. Over the past three-and-one half years, however, Iraqi forces backed by the U.S.-led coalition recaptured all of the territory.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert congratulated the Iraqi people and the country’s security forces Saturday, saying, “The Iraqi announcement signals the last remnants of ISIS’s self-proclaimed “caliphate” in Iraq have been erased and the people living in those areas have been freed from ISIS’s brutal control.”

The militant group is still capable of executing insurgent attacks in Iraq, as it did in November when it regained control of Rawah, the last town it held, near the border with Syria before relinquishing it again over the following weeks.

Nauert acknowledged the fight against terrorism in Iraq is not over and said the U.S. would continue to provide the country military support.

“Together, we must be vigilant in countering all extremist ideologies to prevent the return of ISIS or the emergence of threats by other terrorist groups,” she said.

Iraq now turns its attention to rebuilding the many areas of the country that were devastated by the fighting and assisting some 3 million Iraqis who are still displaced.

Nauert said the U.S. would continue to provide humanitarian aid to the war-torn country so that displaced Iraqis could return to their homes and “begin to reestablish their lives.”

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