Month: March 2018

Trump Stops Short of Blaming Russia Over Former Spy Poisoning

Posted on by SeeEU

U.S. President Donald Trump acknowledged Tuesday British evidence that the Russians may have been behind the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in England, but he stopped short of blaming Moscow “until we get the facts straight.”

“It sounds to me like it would be Russia based on all the evidence they have,” Trump told reporters outside the White House.

Trump spoke by phone Tuesday with British Prime Minister Theresa May about the attack in southern England on Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia.

The White House said Trump agreed with May that Russia “must provide unambiguous answers” about how the weapon ended up being used in the U.K. They also agreed on “the need for consequences” for those responsible for the attack.

Britain gave Russia by the end of Tuesday to explain how the nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union was used to poison Skripal, a former Russian double agent who gave secrets to British intelligence officials.

If Russia does not comply with the request, May said Britain would take “extensive” retaliatory action.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov insisted Tuesday Moscow was “not to blame” and would only cooperate with a British investigation if it gets samples of the nerve agent that is believed to have been used. But Lavrov said requests for the samples had been rejected, which he said violates the Chemical Weapons Convention. The convention prohibits the production of chemical weapons.

Russia’s foreign ministry said later Tuesday Moscow would retaliate for any sanctions Britain impose in response to the attack.

“Any threats will not remain unanswered,” a ministry statement said.

Prime Minister May said it was “highly likely” Russia was behind the attacks and warned after meeting with members of her national security council that Britain would not tolerate such a “brazen attempt to murder innocent civilians on our soil.” The Skripals remain hospitalized in critical condition in their home city of Salisbury in southern England.

Specialist bio- and chemical weapons teams have been working around the clock at the site of the March 4 attack.

On Monday, May told lawmakers the substance used to poison the Skripals belonged to a group of military-grade nerve agents known as “Novichock.”

“Russia has previously produced this agent and would still be capable of doing so,” May said. “Russia’s record of conducting state-sponsored assassinations, and our assessment that Russia views some defectors as legitimate targets for assassinations, the government has concluded that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible for the act against Sergei and Yulia Skripal,” she said.

“Either this was a direct act by the Russian state against our country, or the Russian government lost control of its potentially catastrophically damaging nerve agent, and allowed it to get into the hands of others,” May said.

In a strongly worded statement released Monday by the State Department, former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was fired by Trump on Tuesday, supported May’s assertion that Russia was behind the attack.

“There is never a justification for this type of attack — the attempted murder of a private citizen on the soil of a sovereign nation — and we are outraged that Russia appears to have again engaged in such behavior,” Tillerson said. “From Ukraine to Syria — and now the U.K. — Russia continues to be an irresponsible force of instability in the world, acting with open disregard for the sovereignty of other states and the life of their citizens.”

The statement continued: “We agree that those responsible — both those who committed the crime and those who ordered it — must face appropriately serious consequences. We stand in solidarity with our Allies in the United Kingdom and will continue to coordinate closely our responses.”

Expectations are growing for a tough response from May, said analyst Ian Bond, director of foreign affairs at the Center for European Reform.

“I think she’ll be under a lot of pressure to show that the U.K. takes this very seriously. And that’s partly because when she was home secretary, and indeed before that, the British reaction to the murder of [Russian defector] Alexander Litvinenko in London was seen as rather weak.”

Britain’s immediate response will likely be to expel some Russian embassy staff, said Bond.

“Getting rid of some identified intelligence officers in the Russian embassy. More importantly perhaps, we have a certain amount of financial leverage against those in [Russian President] Putin’s circle, who have property or other assets in the U.K.”

Other options being considered include boycotting the football World Cup in Russia this year and banning Kremlin state media, such as broadcaster Russia Today.

Investigators said Skripal and his daughter, who arrived from Russia the day before, drove to a shopping center in Salisbury, where they had a drink at a pub and dinner at a restaurant. About a half hour later, emergency personnel were called to assist the two, who were found in “extremely serious condition” on a bench near the shopping center. The police officer who was first on the scene also remains hospitalized.
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UN Chief Calls Himself ‘Proud Feminist,’ Urges Men to Follow

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Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called himself “a proud feminist” Monday and said all men should support women’s rights and gender equality.

His statement was loudly applauded by hundreds of women and a sprinkling of men at the opening of the annual two-week meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women, a U.N. body that Guterres called “vital to end the stereotypes and discrimination that limit women’s and girls’ opportunities.”

The U.N. chief said changing “the unequal power dynamics” that underpin discrimination and violence against women is “the greatest human rights challenge of our time” – and a goal that is “in everyone’s interests.”

“Discrimination against women damages communities, organizations, companies, economies and societies,” he said. “That is why all men should support women’s rights and gender equality. And that is why I consider myself a proud feminist.”

Guterres added that this is “a pivotal moment for the rights of women and girls,” with the issue being discussed around the globe in the (hash)MeToo and (hash)Time’sUp movements.

As examples of the male-dominated world and male-dominated culture that needs changing, he said, “Women are pioneering scientists and mathematicians – but they occupy less than 30 percent of research and development jobs worldwide.”

And despite women being accomplished artists, writers, musicians and filmmakers, this year 33 men took home Oscars at the Academy Awards, but only six women did, he said.

The theme of this year’s U.N. meeting, which ends March 23, is “Empowering Rural Women and Girls.” Guterres called such women “particularly marginalized.”

According to UN Women, rural women do much of the work but fare worse than rural men or urban women.

“Less than 13 percent of landholders worldwide are women, and while the global pay gap between men and women stands at 23 percent, in rural areas, it can be as high as 40 percent,” UN Women says.

Ireland’s U.N. ambassador, Geraldine Byrne Nason, the commission chair, said its work will focus on these women “who are furthest behind” and are “disproportionately affected by violence, poverty, climate change and hunger.”

“Often their predicament quite simply shames us,” she said. 

“We want to make a difference. We have had enough rhetoric. Time is up for the debates that are long on promises and short on delivery,” Byrne Nason said. “We are on the move to bring a tangible result – one that will impact on the lives of women and girls in rural areas.”

UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka told the opening session that almost one-third of employed women worldwide work in agriculture and there are 400 million women who are farm workers.

“Half of rural poor women in developing countries have no basic literacy, and 15 million girls of primary school age will never, never get the chance to learn to read or write in primary school,” she said. 

A rural girl is “twice as likely to be married as a child” compared to an urban girl, she added.

Mlambo-Ngcuka warned that progress toward gender equality is slowing and some gains are even reversing.

She pointed to the World Economic Forum’s 2017 “Global Gender Gap Report,” which found the gap between women and men widening in health, education, politics and the workplace for the first time since the forum’s research started in 2006.

“It predicts that it will take – and listen to this – 217 years before we achieve gender parity,” Mlambo-Ngcuka said, stressing that this can’t be allowed to happen. 

“It has never been so urgent to hold ourselves and leaders accountable for the promises to accelerate progress,” she said. “The ‘Me Too’ movement and ‘Time’s Up’ has also showed us change can happen fast – and that women must be believed. This is a moment that we intend to sustain for all.”
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Amid Trump Visit, it’s Business As Usual for Border Towns

Posted on by SeeUS

The daily commute from Mexico to California farms is the same as it was before Donald Trump became president. Hundreds of Mexicans cross the border and line the sidewalks of Calexico’s tiny downtown by 4 a.m., napping on cardboard sheets and blankets or sipping coffee from a 24-hour doughnut shop until buses leave for the fields.

For decades, cross-border commuters have picked lettuce, carrots, broccoli, onions, cauliflower and other vegetables that make California’s Imperial Valley “America’s Salad Bowl” from December through March. As Trump visits the border Tuesday, the harvest is a reminder of how little has changed despite heated immigration rhetoric in Washington.

Trump will inspect eight prototypes for a future 30-foot border wall that were built in San Diego last fall. He made a “big, beautiful wall” a centerpiece of his campaign and said Mexico would pay for it.

But border barriers extend the same 654 miles (1,046 kilometers) they did under President Barack Obama and so far Trump hasn’t gotten Mexico or Congress to pay for a new wall.

Trump also pledged to expand the Border Patrol by 5,000 agents, but staffing fell during his first year in office farther below a congressional mandate because the government has been unable to keep pace with attrition and retirements. There were 19,437 agents at the end of September, down from 19,828 a year earlier.

In Tijuana, tens of thousands of commuters still line up weekday mornings for San Diego at the nation’s busiest border crossing, some for jobs in landscaping, housekeeping, hotel maids and shipyard maintenance. The vast majority are U.S. citizens and legal residents or holders of “border crossing cards” that are given to millions of Mexicans in border areas for short visits. The border crossing cards do not include work authorization but some break the rules.

Even concern about Trump’s threat to end the North American Free Trade Agreement is tempered by awareness that border economies have been integrated for decades. Mexican “maquiladora” plants, which assemble duty-free raw materials for export to the U.S., have made televisions, medical supplies and other goods since the 1960s.

“How do you separate twins that are joined at the hip?” said Paola Avila, chairwoman of the Border Trade Alliance, a group that includes local governments and business chambers. “Our business relationships will continue to grow regardless of what happens with NAFTA.”

Workers in the Mexicali area rise about 1 a.m., carpool to the border crossing and wait about an hour to reach Calexico’s portico-covered sidewalks by 4 a.m. Some beat the border bottleneck by crossing at midnight to sleep in their cars in Calexico, a city of 40,000 about 120 miles (192 kilometers) east of San Diego. 

Fewer workers make the trek now than 20 and 30 years ago. But not because of Trump. 

Steve Scaroni, one of Imperial Valley’s largest labor contractors, blames the drop on lack of interest among younger Mexicans, which has forced him to rely increasingly on short-term farmworker visas known as H-2As. 

“We have a saying that no one is raising their kids to be farmworkers,” said Scaroni, 55, a third-generation grower and one of Imperial Valley’s largest labor contractors. Last week, he had two or three buses of workers leaving Calexico before dawn, compared to 15 to 20 buses during the 1980s and 1990s.

Crop pickers at Scaroni’s Fresh Harvest Inc. make $13.18 an hour but H-2As bring his cost to $20 to $30 an hour because he must pay for round-trip transportation, sometimes to southern Mexico, and housing. The daily border commuters from Mexicali cost only $16 to $18 after overhead.

Scaroni’s main objective is to expand the H-2A visa program, which covered about 165,000 workers in 2016. On his annual visit to Washington in February to meet members of Congress and other officials, he decided within two hours that nothing changed under Trump. 

“Washington is not going to fix anything,” he said. “You’ve got too many people – lobbyists, politicians, attorneys – who make money off the dysfunction. They make money off of not solving problems. They just keep talking about it.”

Jose Angel Valenzuela, who owns a house in Mexicali and is working his second harvest in Imperial Valley, earns more picking cabbage in an hour than he did in a day at a factory in Mexico. He doesn’t pay much attention to news and isn’t following developments on the border wall.

“We’re doing very well,” he said as workers passed around beef tacos during a break. “We haven’t seen any noticeable change.”

Jack Vessey, whose family farms about 10,000 acres in Imperial Valley, relies on border commuters for about half of his workforce. Imperial has only 175,000 people and Mexicali has about 1 million, making Mexico an obvious labor pool.

Vessey, 42, said he has seen no change on the border and doesn’t expect much. He figures 10 percent of Congress embraces open immigration policies, another 10 percent oppose them and the other 80 percent don’t want to touch it because their voters are too divided.

“It’s like banging your head against the wall,” he said. 
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Trump’s Strong Words on Guns Give Way to Political Reality

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Not two weeks ago, President Donald Trump wagged his finger at a Republican senator and scolded him for being “afraid of the NRA,” declaring that he would stand up to the powerful gun lobby and finally get results on quelling gun violence following last month’s Florida school shooting.

On Monday, Trump struck a very different tone as he backpedaled from his earlier demands for sweeping reforms and bowed to Washington reality. The president, who recently advocated increasing the minimum age to purchase an assault weapon to 21, tweeted that he’s “watching court cases and rulings” on the issue, adding that there is “not much political support (to put it mildly).”

Over the weekend, the White House released a limited plan to combat school shootings that leaves the question of arming teachers to states and local communities and sends the age issue to a commission for review. Just two days earlier, Trump had mocked commissions as something of a dead end while talking about the opioid epidemic. “We can’t just keep setting up blue-ribbon committees,” he said, adding that all they do is “talk, talk, talk.”

Seventeen people were killed in last month’s shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, prompting a national conversation about gun laws, fierce advocacy for stronger gun control from surviving students and, initially, a move from Trump to buck his allies at the National Rifle Association.

In a televised meeting with lawmakers on Feb. 28, Trump praised members of the gun lobby as “great patriots” but declared “that doesn’t mean we have to agree on everything. It doesn’t make sense that I have to wait until I’m 21 to get a handgun, but I can get this weapon at 18.”

He then turned toward Senator Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, and questioned why previous gun control legislation did not include that provision.

“You know why?” said Trump, answering his own question. “Because you’re afraid of the NRA, right? Ha ha.”

Toomey had a ready response after the president’s tweet Monday: “It’s quite obvious that I’m the guy that stood up to the NRA,” he said. Asked if Trump was afraid of the NRA, Toomey said, “I don’t know what’s driving his decision.”

His words rattled some Republicans in Congress and sparked hope among some gun control advocates that, unlike after so many previous mass shootings, meaningful regulations would be enacted. But Trump appeared to foreshadow his change of heart with a tweet the very next night.

“Good (Great) meeting in the Oval Office tonight with the NRA!” the president wrote.

Following ‘process’

White House aides said Monday the president was focusing on achievable options, after facing significant opposition from lawmakers on a more comprehensive approach. Trump will back two modest pieces of legislation, and the administration pledged to help states pay for firearms training for teachers.

Seemingly on the defensive after his about-face, Trump tweeted Monday of the age limit that “States are making this decision. Things are moving rapidly on this, but not much political support (to put it mildly).”

The White House insisted that Trump remained committed to more significant changes even if they are delayed.

“We can’t just write things down and make them law. We actually have to follow a process,” said press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. “Right now the president’s primary focus is pushing through things we know that have broad bipartisan support.”

She placed blame for the inaction on Capitol Hill. But Trump has made little effort to marshal the support of congressional Republicans or use his popularity with NRA voters to provide cover for his party during a contentious vote.

Democrats and gun control advocates were quick to pounce on the president’s retreat from previous demands, with Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, tweeting that Trump “couldn’t even summon the political courage to propose raising the age limit on firearm purchases – despite repeated promises to support such a step at a meeting with lawmakers.”

Television personality Geraldo Rivera — who had urged the president to consider tougher age limits during a dinner at Trump’s Florida club — tweeted that Trump had “blinked in face of ferocious opposition from #NRA.”

Bipartisan support

Still, Trump argued that this was progress.

“Very strong improvement and strengthening of background checks will be fully backed by White House,” he tweeted. He added that an effort to bar bump stock devices was coming and that “Highly trained expert teachers will be allowed to conceal carry, subject to State Law. Armed guards OK, deterrent!”

Without strong advocacy from the White House, an ambitious gun package was unlikely to even get off the ground, given most Republicans’ opposition to any new restrictions. The two measures backed by Trump — an effort to strengthen the federal background check system and an anti-school violence grant program — both enjoy bipartisan support, though some Republicans object and many Democrats say they are insufficient.

Trump drew some Republican backing, with Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, who wrote the school safety bill, tweeting he was “grateful” for the White House backing and calling the measure “the best first step we can take” to make students safer.

No deadline was set for recommendations from Trump’s planned commission, but officials expected them within a year.
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Let’s Study It Instead: Commissions Can Be Policy Graveyard 

Posted on by SeeUS

It’s a time-tested Washington strategy for making a difficult policy question disappear: death by “blue ribbon” commission.

Presidents, Congress and some agency heads set up panels stocked with subject experts to offer sage advice to policymakers. But these panels sometimes are used to slow-walk thorny policy into oblivion. 

President Donald Trump chose what one expert calls “the blue ribbon option” when he assigned a sensitive gun control proposal to a new panel on school safety, part of a package the White House announced Sunday in response to the school shooting in Parkland, Florida. He put Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in charge of the panel and left clues that a key proposal he’s voiced support for — raising the purchase age for some firearms — was now in doubt

There’s “not much political support (to put it mildly),” the president tweeted about the proposal, which is opposed by the National Rifle Administration.

For lawmakers and presidents, creating a commission “represents movement, it’s something that they can report, especially if they’re subject to criticism that they’re taking no action or they’re tone deaf,” said Kenneth D. Kitts, a political science professor at the University of North Alabama and the author of “Presidential Commissions and National Security: The Politics of Damage Control.”

Trump has made it clear he doesn’t think much of such panels, either. 

“We can’t just keep setting up blue-ribbon committees with your wife and your wife and your husband and they meet and they have a meal and they talk. Talk, talk, talk,” the president groused when discussing the opioid crisis at a rally Saturday outside Pittsburgh. “That’s what I got in Washington. I got all these blue-ribbon committees. Everybody wants to be on a blue-ribbon committee.”

Commissions through history have produced important historical information, policy and even material for criminal trials. President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered the Warren Commission to produce a record of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. President George W. Bush’s 9/11 Commission was established to account for the circumstances surrounding the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.Others were less successful. In 2010, President Barack Obama’s bipartisan debt reduction commission did not win enough votes among its members to send it to Congress for a vote.

In 2001, President George W. Bush created a 16-member bipartisan commission to study the feasibility of “modernizing” Social Security. Its recommendations floundered in Congress.

Critics of commissions say they’re primarily created for reasons other than good public policy: They allow lawmakers and officials to look like they’re doing something about controversial topics without having to take a position that could alienate some constituencies — such as the NRA, in the case of Republicans in this midterm election year. Their members are not elected or accountable to the public.

There’s also no quality control, and they’re expensive. The Congressional Research Service in November 2017 reported that commission costs can range from several hundred thousand dollars to more than $10 million. And after all that, lawmakers can simply ignore a commission’s conclusion.

Trump has had some experience as president with the peril of blue-ribbon commissions.

His unsubstantiated claim that millions of illegally cast ballots cost him the popular vote in 2016 led to his executive order last May establishing a commission on “election integrity.” The panel’s work quickly devolved into squabbling, with states refusing to give up their voting information and critics saying the commission was actually about suppressing votes.

In January, Trump terminated the commission and transferred its duties to the Department of Homeland Security.

His commission on opioids produced limited results. In October, Trump declared opioid abuse a national public health emergency. He announced an advertising campaign to combat what he said was the worst drug crisis in the nation’s history, but did not direct any new federal funding toward the effort.

Trump’s declaration stopped short of the emergency declaration that had been sought by a federal commission the president created to study the problem. An interim report by the commission argued for an emergency declaration, saying it would free additional money and resources.

But in its final report in November, the panel called only for more drug courts, more training for doctors and penalties for insurers that dodge covering addiction treatment. It did not call for new money to address the epidemic.

“Do you think the drug dealers who kill thousands of people during their lifetime, do you think they care who’s on a blue-ribbon committee?” Trump railed on Saturday.
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US Northeast Braces for Third Powerful Storm in Two Weeks

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The third nor’easter to hit parts of the U.S. northeast in two weeks was expected to start late on Monday and Amtrak said it would suspend service on Tuesday between Boston and New York, as the storm could bring high winds, a foot or more of snow and power outages.

“This storm won’t be as widespread as before,” said Marc Chenard, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland. “It’ll hit New England the hardest.”

The railroad said the service suspension would last until at least 11 a.m. EDT on Tuesday and that service would resume when weather conditions allowed. The storm was expected to continue into Tuesday. Amtrak said it would also cancel some trains running from New York to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Boston declared a snow emergency and announced a parking ban beginning on Monday at 7 p.m on major roads. The city said Boston Public Schools, libraries and other city services would be closed on Tuesday.

The National Weather Service said parts of Massachusetts could get up to 18 inches of snow and issued a coastal flood warning.

Certain storms are classified as nor’easters because their strong winds typically are from the northeast, and they tend to occur most frequently and most violently between September and April along North Americ’s East Coast, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Some nor’easters carry hurricane-force winds.

Storms on March 2 and 7 left at least 9 people dead across the region, some 2 million homes and businesses without power, and flooding in the streets of Boston.

Other areas that were severely affected in the previous two storms, including parts of New York, New Jersey and Maryland will see only one-to-four inches of snow this time around, Chenard said.

Blizzard conditions are possible and power outages are a threat for parts of Rhode Island, eastern Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, which are under the Winter Storm Watch from Monday evening to Tuesday afternoon, he said.

“Coastal areas could see 40 or 50 mph winds,” he said. “The snow will be wet. Combined with the wind, it presents a serious risk of power outages.”
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Uncertain Fate Awaits Civilians Hiding in Underground Shelters in E. Ghouta

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Civilians in eastern Ghouta are facing an uncertain fate, as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government and its allies are tightening their grip on the area.

Eastern Ghouta, one of the last rebel-held enclaves in Syria, is 60 percent under the control of the Syrian regime, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Monday.

Syrian activists and aid workers appeal daily for an end to the bombardment of civilian populated areas.

Siraj Mahmood, a spokesperson for the White Helmets rescue group in eastern Ghouta, told VOA that men, women and children are hiding in underground shelters under indescribable conditions.

“We ask why the cease-fire in eastern Ghouta was not applied, despite all talks and agreements, even for one hour a day, just to let civilians breathe fresh air,” Mahmood said.

The Syrian government forces’ rapid advance splintered eastern Ghouta into three sections, and it facilitated the capture of the area that had been besieged for five years.

Final onslaught

Eastern Ghouta, part of a larger agricultural area surrounding Damascus called Ghouta, is controlled by the anti-Assad rebel groups known as Faylaq al-Rahman and Jaysh al-Islam. It’s home to more than 390,000 civilians.

Jaysh al-Islam, a Syrian opposition group formed in 2013, announced Monday that an agreement brokered by the U.N. was reached with Russia to evacuate the injured to a safe place for treatment.

“In the framework of the U.N. Resolutions 2254 and 2401, we have reached an agreement with Russia, mediated by the U.N., to evacuate the injured from eastern Ghouta to receive treatment, due to the shortage of medical aid, ban of medications for six years, targeting [of] hospitals and medical points,” Jaysh al-Islam said in its official statement.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based rights group monitoring the situation in Syria, reported the death toll reached 1,160. A majority were killed after the U.N. Security Council Resolution 2401 to cease hostilities in eastern Ghouta for 30 days.

Failed U.N. cease-fire

The U.N. Security Council held a meeting Monday to discuss the stalled resolution.

Last month, the security council unanimously adopted Resolution 2401, calling for all parties to put down their arms, lift the siege on populated areas, enable the evacuation of civilians who wish to leave and accelerate the delivery of humanitarian aid.

The resolution did not take effect, and humanitarian efforts to deliver aid into eastern Ghouta were thwarted. Guterres told the security council Monday that the Syrian regime had removed most of the medical supplies that were to be delivered to eastern Ghouta on March 5.

Thousands of Syrians are in desperate need of medical care, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said Monday. She added that there has been almost no delivery of medical equipment because the Assad regime removed it.

Haley warned that the United States “remains prepared to act, if we must.” 

“It is not the path we prefer, but it is a path we have demonstrated we will take. And we are prepared to take again. When the international community consistently fails to act, there are times when states are compelled to take their own action,” Haley warned.

The Syrian conflict will be entering its eighth year in mid-March. The observatory said more than 500,000 civilians were killed in the past seven years. Of those, about 85 percent were killed by the Syrian regime and its allied militias.
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UN Rights Panel: Saudi Arabia Must Ban Discrimination Against Women

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A U.N. rights watchdog called on Saudi Arabia on Monday to end discriminatory practices against women, including its pervasive system of male guardianship, and give them full access to justice.

After reviewing the deeply conservative kingdom’s record, the independent experts welcomed recent decisions to allow women to launch their own businesses and to lift a de facto ban on them driving a car, set for June.

Saudi Arabia is still one of the most restrictive countries in the world for women. It has no female ministers and retains a guardianship system requiring women to have a male relative’s approval for important decisions.

In its conclusions, the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) urged the Saudi government to “abolish practices of male guardianship.” It should enforce a recent order that would entitle all women to obtain a passport, travel or study abroad, choose their residency, and access health care “without having to seek their guardian’s consent.”

“We asked for the abolition of the system, because even though they said they had passed a law, we realized that in practice the system still continued,” Hilary Gbedemah, a panel member, told Reuters.

A Saudi delegation told the panel last month that it had implemented rules and laws tailored to traditions and religious values that allowed women more independence as they played a growing economic role. Laws concerning justice and child protection had been strengthened.

But the experts said that Saudi Arabia should implement a comprehensive strategy to “eliminate patriarchal attitudes and stereotypes that discriminate against women.”

Rape and all forms of violence against women should be made crimes under Saudi law, they said.

Child marriages, forced marriages and the compulsory dress code for women should be ended, it said. Women should have the right to choose their dress and not face violence or threats by the religious police and their male guardian.

Discussion of the guardianship issue had been “very wide” with the delegation, Gbedemah said.

“We saw it where women were deemed to be disobedient to their guardians, where they needed their consent to marry, where the guardians could enforce dress codes, and in the area of domestic violence,” she said.

“So, in a nutshell, these are the four important areas that we asked for follow-up on, within two years,” she said.

Gbedemeh, asked about the planned lifting of the ban on driving, said: “Even if it is symbolic, it is a positive step.

“Because for so long it was taken for granted that women could not and would not drive,” she said. “I am positive that once this is done, it will open the gates for leverage for removal of other restrictions.”
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Nigerian President Plans to Negotiate for Release of 110 Abducted Dapchi Girls

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Nigeria’s presidency said on Monday it plans to negotiate for the release of 110 girls abducted from a school in the northeastern town of Dapchi last month, rather than use a military operation to free them by force.

The kidnapping is one of the largest since the jihadist group Boko Haram abducted more than 270 schoolgirls from the northeastern town of Chibok in 2014. Some of the Chibok girls have been freed after what security sources say were ransom payments; around 100 are still being held.

Nigeria is grappling with an insurgency by Boko Haram that has killed at least 20,000 people since 2009. Members of the group are suspected of the latest kidnapping, on Feb. 19, in the state of Yobe.

President Muhammadu Buhari, a 75-year-old former military ruler, discussed the use of negotiations during a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in the capital, Abuja, the presidency said.

“Nigeria prefers to have schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram from Chibok and Dapchi back alive, and that is why it has chosen negotiation, rather than a military option,” Buhari’s office said in an emailed statement issued by the president’s spokesman.

“President Buhari added that Nigeria was working in concert with international organisations and negotiators, to ensure that the girls were released unharmed by their captors,” the presidency statement said.

The issue of security has become politically charged in Nigeria less than a year before a presidential election. Buhari is touring areas hit by security problems and this week will visit the state where the schoolgirls were abducted, the statement said.

Tillerson was in Nigeria for the last stop in a week-long tour of African countries, his first trip to the continent as secretary of state, during which he has emphasised security partnerships. He visited Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti and Chad before arriving in Nigeria’s capital.

The emailed statement also said Buhari thanked the U.S. for assistance rendered in the fight against Boko Haram, noting that Nigerian forces are good but need assistance with training and equipment.
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Iran Accuses US of Supporting IS in Afghanistan; Washington Denies Allegation

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Iran has accused the United States of helping Islamic State militants in Afghanistan to fuel regional terrorism and threaten neighboring countries.

Visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made the allegations while speaking to a gathering of diplomats, scholars and journalists in Islamabad.

He said U.S. helicopters were found transporting IS members from the eastern Afghan district of Haska Meyna, also called Deh Bala, to unknown locations.

“We see intelligence, as well as eyewitness accounts, that Daesh fighters, terrorists, were airlifted from battle zones, rescued from battle zones, including recently from the prison of Haska [Meyna],” said Zarif, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

Iran and Russia consistently allege that “unmarked” helicopters have been flying to Afghan areas where IS militants are entrenched.

“This time, it wasn’t unmarked helicopters. They were American helicopters, taking Daesh out of Haska prison. Where did they take them? Now, we don’t know where they took them, but we see the outcome. We see more and more violence in Pakistan, more and more violence in Afghanistan, taking a sectarian flavor,” Zarif said.

Washington denies the allegations as “mere rumors” and cites its relentless airstrikes in support of Afghan forces against IS bases in eastern Nangarhar province, where Haska Meyna is located.

American troops also routinely accompany the Afghan forces into battle against IS. Last year, the highest number of U.S. combat casualties anywhere in the world occurred in Nangarhar.

The terrorist group uses Nangarhar as its main base to launch attacks elsewhere in Afghanistan. Lately, IS militants have made territorial gains in the northern Jowzjan province next to the border with central Asian states, raising alarms in Moscow.

At an international conference Kabul hosted late last month, the Afghan national security adviser, Haneef Atmar, offered Russian and Iranian delegates joint investigations into allegations of unmarked helicopters flying IS fighters to battle zones in the country.

Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif said Iran was ready to use its influence, along with Afghanistan’s neighboring countries, including Pakistan, to promote peace talks between Kabul and the Taliban to prevent IS from spreading its activities in the region.

U.S. officials accuse Iran of supporting the Taliban, while Afghans have long alleged the insurgent group uses sanctuaries in Pakistan to sustain its violent campaign in Afghanistan.
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Haley: Syria Ceasefire a Failure; US Proposes New Resolution

Posted on by SeeEA

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is denouncing the Syrian government and Russia for the failure of a cease-fire in Syria that the U.N. Security Council demanded two weeks ago.

“They have made a mockery of this process and this institution,” Haley told a council meeting Monday on the issue. “For the sake of the Syrian people and the integrity of this council, we must respond and take action.”

 

On Feb. 24, the 15-nation Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution calling for a 30-day truce to allow humanitarian aid into besieged areas, including rebel-held eastern Ghouta, and to evacuate the critically sick and injured. With few exceptions, the cessation of hostilities has not been implemented, and in some areas, fighting has intensified.

Haley said the United States has drafted a new cease-fire resolution “that provides no room for evasion.” She did not offer any details of the proposed draft, but she criticized the Syrian and Russian governments for exploiting loopholes in the current cease-fire that allow for continuing military operations against legitimate terrorist groups.

 

“The Syrian and Russian regimes insist that they are targeting terrorists, but their bombs and artillery continue to fall on hospitals and schools — on innocent civilians,” Haley said.

 

The U.S. proposed text, seen by VOA, calls for a 30-day ceasefire “immediately” upon adoption of the resolution.

There have also been reports of possible chlorine attacks on civilians during the past two weeks. Haley reminded Security Council members of a U.S. airstrike last April on an air base in Syria in retaliation for the government’s alleged use of sarin against the town of Khan Sheikhoun.

 

“We also warn any nation that is determined to impose its will through chemical attacks and inhuman suffering, most especially the outlaw Syrian regime — the United States remains prepared to act if we must,” Haley said. “It is not the path we prefer, but it is a path we have demonstrated we will take, and we are prepared to take it again.”

Russia: Criticism is Political

 

Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia attributed criticism of his government to political agendas, not humanitarian ones. He dismissed an immediate cease-fire as never being realistic, and said Moscow is doing its part to create a sustained de-escalation of violence across Syria.

He also expressed concern that efforts are being made to frame the Syrian government for using chemical weapons in order to justify foreign military action.

“We understand very well the rationale behind the disinformation campaign,” Nebenzia told the council. “We, and the Syrian party, have our fears that what is being prepared is a provocation, in order to then blame the Syrian authorities that they are carrying out chemical attacks.”

He said according to Russian information, the Nusrah Front terrorist group was responsible for a chlorine attack in eastern Ghouta on March 5.

“All of this is being done in order to prepare the ground for the unilateral use of force against sovereign Syria,” Nebenzia said.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said Sunday that the United States is “getting reports” that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces are using chlorine gas in their offensive against rebels in eastern Ghouta.

After the meeting, Nebenzia said he had not yet seen the U.S. cease-fire draft text Haley announced.

Syria’s envoy Bashar al-Jaafari dismissed statements critical of his government as “irresponsible and provocative” and a “direct incitement” to terrorist groups to use the chemical weapons so they can fabricate evidence to accuse the Syrian army.

On Monday, one of the main Syrian rebel groups in eastern Ghouta said it had reached an agreement with Russia to evacuate wounded people from the district. It was not clear if the wounded involved were rebel fighters, civilians or both. The group said the evacuations would take place in stages, but did not detail the timing or where the people would be taken.

Guterres: We Can’t Give Up

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres gave a lengthy briefing to council members, concluding that there has been no cessation of hostilities.

“Syria is bleeding inside and out,” Guterres said. He urged council members not to abandon efforts to implement a cease-fire. “We cannot give up for the sake of the Syrian people,” he said.

The Syrian conflict enters its eighth year on Thursday. More than a half million people are estimated to have died as a result, and 5.6 million Syrians have become refugees.
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Israeli PM Netanyahu Urges Feuding Coalition to Remain Intact

Posted on by SeeEA

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged his feuding coalition partners on Monday to remain in the government, despite speculation he was seeking its collapse and a snap election to help him survive corruption allegations.

The cabinet dispute is over the framing of a bill that would extend a long-standing military service exemption for ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students.

Opposition politicians and at least one coalition partner have suggested Netanyahu is not committed to resolving the issue and might actually prefer to let the government unravel.

An early election, political commentators said, could be used by Netanyahu to shore up public support before Israel’s attorney-general decides, possibly months from now, whether to accept police recommendations to indict him in two graft cases.

Recent opinion polls have shown strong backing for his right-wing Likud party, even as he faces possible bribery charges in those investigations, suspicions of corruption in at least one other case, and testimony by three former aides who have turned state’s witnesses. Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing.

In a statement on Monday, the four-term prime minister said he wanted to keep the current six-party coalition intact.

“I call on all the coalition partners, and chief among them Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, to remain in the government and continue this partnership in order to ensure security, prosperity and stability for the State of Israel,” he said.

Netanyahu issued the statement minutes before Lieberman, head of the secular Yisrael Beitenu party that opposes the exemption, was due to comment on the bill backed by ultra-Orthodox factions. It passed a preliminary vote in a parliamentary committee on Monday.

Friction

As expected, Lieberman reiterated his rejection of the legislation but made clear his party, which has five of the coalition’s 66 seats in the 120-member parliament, would stay in the government for now.

“As long as it (conscription bill) has not gone through second and third readings we will fight from within (the government). The moment it passes the second and third readings, we will draw our own conclusions,” Lieberman said.

He was referring to votes in parliament that could be months away, a time gap that could leave room for compromise.

For decades the exemption from military service on religious grounds has caused friction in Israel, where most Jewish men and women are called up for military service when they turn 18.

The ultra-Orthodox say their study of the Torah is vital for the continued survival of the Jewish people and also fear that young men serving in the army would come into contact with women and with less pious elements in society.

Last September, Israel’s Supreme Court gave parliament a year to pass a new conscription bill after ruling that parts of the existing exemption were unconstitutional.

Netanyahu has previously signalled he wants his government to serve a full term but has not ruled out an early election.

The next election is not due until November 2019.

“I want to finish the term of this government, if the coalition leaders agree that is what will happen. If they don’t, then we’ll have early elections,” he said last week during a trip to the United States.
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Ethiopian Disability Rights Advocate Champions Opportunities for Women

Posted on by SeeAF

Yetnebersh Nigussie had opportunities other girls in rural Ethiopia can only dream of.

Unlike her peers growing up in Wollo province, Nigussie wasn’t married off as a young girl or forced to work at home.

Instead, she devoted herself to learning.

Nigussie moved to the capital, Addis Ababa, and pursued an education, eventually earning a law degree and founding the Ethiopian Center for Disability and Development, a group that advocates for the rights of disabled people in her home country.

What makes Nigussie’s accomplishments especially noteworthy are the challenges she overcame.

Nigussie lost her sight at age 5 after contracting meningitis. But where some see obstacles, Nigussie, now 36, sees potential.

“I believe challenges are opportunities. So we human beings are created to change challenges into opportunities,” she told VOA’s Amharic Service in a phone interview last week. “That’s why I always tell [people] that, when I turned blind at the age of 5, that brought a new opportunity. I would have never been educated had I not been blind. All my siblings and the children in my area, in my age [group] — none of them have gotten educational opportunities.”

Advocacy

Nigussie has built her career on advocating for people with disabilities. In recognition of her accomplishments, she will receive the prestigious Spirit of Helen Keller Award, presented by the nongovernmental organization Helen Keller International, at a May 2 gala in New York.

First presented in 1959, the award is named for an American activist who was deaf and blind. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Keller gained fame for her lectures, writings and advocacy work promoting the rights of women and the disabled.

“Receiving the Spirit of Helen Keller Award is a great thing because Helen Keller has been my source of inspiration that I am living. We believe in the same thing: telling people not to focus on our disabilities, [but] rather on our abilities,” Nigussie said. “Helen was always saying that ‘I don’t know what darkness is, but I know there is a light.’ So it’s a great thing to be associated with such a fantastic hero who has been always my inspiration in life.”

Recognizing contributions

Now, Nigussie wants to honor women making an impact across the globe with a separate award: Her Abilities, which she will give out annually in partnership with Light for the World. Nigussie is an adviser to the Austria-based organization.

The award will recognize women making an impact in the areas of health and education, rights, and sport and culture. It is open to women with disabilities worldwide.

“The reason we decided to focus on women with disabilities is that we believe they face double, and sometimes triple, discrimination,” Nigussie said. “We need to spotlight their work and make sure that they are visible to the world. … So it’s very much in line with my personal motto: I have one disability and 99 abilities. So we’re not going to focus on the one disability. We’re going to talk about their 99 abilities — or more — and we’re going to celebrate their achievements, their greatness.”

Nominations for the award will open July 2, and winners will be announced in December.

Overcoming barriers

An estimated 15 million people in Ethiopia live with disabilities, and they often lack access to resources and protections while facing stigmatization and a heightened risk of poverty and social isolation. According to the World Health Organization, Africans with disabilities face significant gaps in their access to welfare, education, vocational training and counseling services.

Nigussie’s organization, the Ethiopian Center, has sought to address these barriers through job training and publications. For example, it offers an online guide to Ethiopian hotels, restaurants and offices that are accessible to people with disabilities.

The activist also hopes to continue advocating for legal changes, including overturning a restriction that makes it illegal for deaf people in Ethiopia to drive.

Nigussie said she is humbled by the recognition and motivated to do more.

“I believe all these challenges would lead people with disabilities, in particular in Africa, to make sure that they overcome the challenge,” she said. “No challenges are coming to stop us. They are coming as a puzzle for us to solve.”
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Cameroon Separatists Threaten to Kill Kidnapped Official

Posted on by SeeAF

The crisis in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions continues to escalate. In a new video, a regional government official kidnapped by armed separatists says he will be executed if the government does not reveal the whereabouts of 47 detained separatist leaders.

The video has been circulating on social media in Cameroon since Saturday, and has been shared by the accounts of several prominent separatist members. The video begins with a seal and the words “Ambazonian Defense Forces.”

“Ambazonia” is the name separatist groups have given to Cameroon’s English-speaking northwest and southwest regions, both gripped by a strike and violent protests since late 2016.

The video shows Aaron Abinbom, the delegate for social affairs in the northwest.

Aninbom looks unkempt and speaks in a dark room. He says his captors demand to know the whereabouts of 47 separatist leaders arrested in Nigeria and not seen in public since their extradition to Cameroon at the end of January.

“…because they have given me 48 hours that I would be sacrificed if these leaders are not shown to be alive,” he said.

When contacted by VOA, Cameroon government spokesman Issa Tchiroma declined to comment on the video.

Animbom was abducted February 26 in the northwestern town of Batibo. He was abducted barely two weeks after Joseph Namata, the most senior government official in the Batibo subdivision, was taken from his residence. Namata has not been seen since.

The government and security forces have called for assistance from the local population in locating the two missing officials.

At the heart of the crisis is the tension between Cameroon’s French-speaking majority and the two English-speaking regions, where many feel their language is being pushed out of schools, courts and government.

Violence has intensified in the Anglophone regions since Nigeria detained and extradited the separatist activists, including leader Ayuk Tabe Julius. Tabe declared himself president of the so-called English-speaking republic of “Ambazonia.” The government says hundreds of people, including 30 policemen and soldiers have been killed this year.

On Friday, Paul Atanga Nji, permanent secretary of Cameroon’s security commission, announced that armed separatists had tried to kidnap children from a school in the English-speaking northwest.

Nji said one soldier and two attackers were killed in the shoot-out.
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Congo Opposition Groups Unite at Meeting in South Africa

Posted on by SeeAF

A top Congolese opposition leader and other figures opposed to longtime President Joseph Kabila met in South Africa on Monday to build a coalition ahead of long-delayed elections in the turbulent, resource-rich country.

Ending a three-day forum, delegates at a resort hotel near Johannesburg said they would work together to elect Moise Katumbi, who fled Congo in 2016 amid legal troubles that he said were fabricated to stop him from challenging Kabila.

 

In a speech, Katumbi told cheering supporters that Congo must hold “credible and transparent elections” and appealed to his compatriots to “rebuild our country together,” and the audience watched a slick video that outlined his accomplishments as the former governor of Congo’s Katanga province and his leadership of one of Africa’s major soccer teams, TP Mazembe.

 

Katumbi backers waved flags bearing his image and wore T-shirts with an image of clasped hands and the slogan “Ensemble,” which means “Together” in French.

 

The goal of the gathering, opposition activist Germain Kabemba, was to “fight against those who want to maintain power” and to “accelerate the process of democracy.”

 

While Katumbi is one of Congo’s most prominent opposition leaders, there are concerns about whether he can effectively run a political campaign because of security concerns if he returns home. Katumbi was sentenced to three years in prison in absentia over allegations of real estate fraud; Kabila has insisted that Katumbi should face justice.

 

Also, Congo’s plans for an electronic voting system have increased concerns about possible electoral fraud and malfunctions in the deeply divided country of more than 80 million people. Kabila, who has been in power since his father and predecessor was assassinated in 2001, is barred by Congo’s constitution from running for a third term. Analysts believe he could seek to groom a successor so as to protect his interests after he leaves office.

 

The opposition has accused the government of delaying elections to keep Kabila in power, while the government had said vote preparations need more time.

 

Last week, the U.N. Security Council condemned violence during nationwide protests in Congo in February against Kabila’s extended rule and urged all parties to ensure that a presidential election occurs Dec. 23. Kabila’s mandate ended in December 2016 and he agreed to set an election by the end of 2017, but Congo’s election commission said the vote couldn’t be held until the end of this year.

 

The top U.N. envoy for Congo, Leila Zerrougui, has warned of the risk of more violence in the run-up to the election. She described the humanitarian situation in the country as shocking, saying 4.5 million people who were displaced from their homes need help, hundreds of thousands more have sought refuge in neighboring countries and more than 2 million children are severely malnourished.

 

Congo is a country of great natural wealth despite the poverty and hardship that afflicts many of its people. It is a major copper producer and the world’s largest producer of cobalt, a mineral used in lithium-ion batteries.

 
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Southwest ‘Casta’ Paintings Spotlight Race, Popular Culture

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Masked Mexican rebel leader Subcomandante Marcos, wearing a purple three-piece suit, is paired with Britney Spears in a Wonder Woman costume. Their child is a tiny albino Marcos, smoking a pipe and wearing a turban with his own little ski mask, his body the black-suited torso of James Bond.  

 

Another work by border artist Claudio Dicochea shows Ronald Reagan standing on a Pan American jet in colorful cowboy boots. Coupled with Salma Hayek reprising her role as Frida Kahlo but wearing the uniform of a Russian czar, their son is Heath Ledger as the Joker dressed in a pirate’s getup. Their daughter is the late Mexican movie star Dolores del Rio with the body of superhero Vampirella and the headdress of Aztec emperor Montezuma.

 

Spotlighted in the exhibit “Acid Baroque,” on display at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art through May 20, these and other works by the 45-year-old Dicochea give a modern psychedelic spin to the colonial “casta” or caste paintings first created in 18th century Mexico, taking viewers to the crossroad of colonialism and contemporary popular culture as he examines the idea of “mestizaje,” or mixed-race identity. The exhibit is part of a program at the museum that showcases up-and-coming artists from Mexico and the American Southwest.

 

The original caste paintings are still seen at some museums, including the one at Mexico City’s Chapultepec Castle, and feature portraits of mixed-race families _ usually the parents and one or two children. They illustrate how intermarriage among Indians, blacks, Spaniards and mixed-race people after the conquest created hierarchal classifications of every mix imaginable, with the children born from diverse couplings arranged from lightest- to darkest-skinned in a kind of table of elements.

 

In Dicochea’s reimagining of the genre, public figures and celebrities from the 20th and 21st centuries such as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Fidel Castro, as well as numerous Mexican TV soap opera stars, are the parents and children.

 

Race is fluid as the artist uses various materials on wood including acrylic, charcoal, graphite and transfer to tie images together into colorful collages. John Wayne the cowboy movie idol is pictured as an Indian rather than an Indian killer. Albert Einstein is shown as a black child in jeans and T-shirt on a bicycle.

 

“It’s a really serious meditation on race by someone who grew up on the border,” museum director and chief curator Sara Cochran said. “I like to call this a Trojan horse show, a beautiful show that teaches you something by the back door.”

 

For Dicochea, creating a new riff on the old casta paintings is a critique of the role visual arts play in shaping ideas about race.

 

“At the core level, I’m showing that the ideas of race and ethnicity are social processes that are made up rather than natural phenomenon, that they are constructed to exert control,” he said.

 

His work is being displayed through the museum’s southwestNET program, which annually spotlights one or more mid-career artists from the region believed to be on the verge of achieving iconic status, Cochran said. The artists can come from Mexico or anywhere in the Southwest from California to Texas and up to Utah and Colorado.

 

Past southwestNet artists have included Postcommodity, an arts collective that brought a four-channel video with sound of the U.S.-Mexico border fence, titled “A Very Long Line,” to the 2017 Whitney Biennial in New York.   

 

Dicochea was born in San Luis Colorado, Mexico, where the northwestern corner of Sonora state meets southwestern Arizona, just south of Yuma. His family immigrated to the U.S. when he was an infant, and he grew up along the border.

 

As a youth, Dicochea labored briefly as a farmworker, irrigating fields in the Yuma Valley. He left at age 20 to study at the University of Arizona in Tucson, later continuing his studies at the San Francisco Art Institute and Arizona State University in Tempe, where he obtained a master’s in fine arts. He and his wife, Adriana, a painter from the border city of Nogales, Mexico, now live in San Antonio, Texas.

 

Among Dicochea’s earliest mentors was the late African-American painter Robert Colescott, known for satirical paintings such as “George Washington Carver crossing the Delaware,” which replaced the revolutionary war hero with the black botanist and inventor standing in a boat filled with domestic workers and minstrels.

 

Dicochea included Colescott’s work in an exhibit of sometimes racially charged works he recently put together with curator Julio Cesar Morales at the ASU Art Museum in an examination of the current social and cultural climate.

 

“Claudio addresses gender, race and class,” said Morales, “offering a very smart mashup of different cultures and styles to tell the story of where we are now.”

 

 
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Syrian Rebel Group Agrees to Deal for Evacuating Ghouta Wounded

Posted on by SeeEA

One of the main Syrian rebel groups in the besieged eastern Ghouta area says it has reached an agreement with Russia to evacuate wounded people from the region on the outskirts of Damascus.

Jaish al-Islam announced the move Monday, saying it had communicated with Russia through the United Nations to reach the deal.

It was not clear if the wounded involved were rebel fighters, civilians or both.  The group said the evacuations would take place in stages, but did not detail the timing or where the people would be taken.

The Syrian military, backed by Russian forces, has in the past month pressed an offensive in eastern Ghouta aimed at reclaiming control of one of the last major areas around the country’s capital that is still in the hands of opposition fighters.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the Syrian conflict, says more than 1,000 civilians have been killed in eastern Ghouta.

Syria’s conflict began in March 2011, and the Observatory says the overall death toll is now more than 500,000 people.  

The U.N. Security Council has demanded a 30-day halt in fighting across Syria in order to allow those in need of medical care to get help and for humanitarian aid to reach people who need food and supplies.  So far, the council’s resolution has been largely ignored.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is due to brief the council Monday as it meets to discuss implementation of the cease-fire.

 
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British PM on Verge of Publicly Blaming Russia for Poisoning Former Spy

Posted on by SeeEU

A prominent British newspaper reports that British Prime Minister Theresa May “is on the verge of publicly blaming Russia for the attempted murder” of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia” and “ordering expulsions and sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime.”

The Times of London account that appeared on the paper’s website early Monday said “an announcement could come as early as today after a meeting of the government’s National Security Council.”

The Times said the ministers will hear “the latest intelligence” on the attack on Skripal and his daughter, both of whom are hospitalized in critical condition.

The Times account said its sources “suggested that the police and security services had established sufficient evidence to link Moscow with the nerve agent used to try to kill” the father and daughter.

British health officials said Sunday that traces of a nerve agent used in the suspected attempted murder in Salisbury were found in a pub and restaurant the pair visited, but that the risk to public health remains low.

Health officials said those who visited the Mill pub and Zizzi restaurant in Salisbury, southwest England on March 4 and March 5 should take “simple” precautions, including washing their clothes.

“While there is no immediate health risk to anyone who may have been in either of these locations, it is possible, but unlikely, that any of the substance which has come into contact with clothing or belongings could still be present in minute amounts and therefore contaminate your skin. Over time, repeated skin contact with contaminated items may pose a small risk to health,” a statement released by Public Health England read.

Hospital officials in Salisbury said there is no evidence of a wider attack on the town, aside from three people who have been hospitalized since the attack on Skripal and his daughter.

Police have not publicly talked about the nerve agent that poisoned Skripal or who might have been responsible.

British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson said Britain is being “pushed around” by the Kremlin.

Prime Minister May has promised an “appropriate” response, if it is discovered that Russia is responsible for poisoning Skripal, but has urged caution.

 

Russian officials deny the Kremlin had anything to do with the assassination attempt.

 

Skripal served in Russia’s military intelligence agency, GRU, and was exchanged in a spy swap in 2010 on the runway at Vienna’s airport.

 

After serving four years in prison in Russia for spying for Britain’s espionage service, MI6, Skripal was one of four Russian double agents exchanged for 10 Russians expelled from the United States.
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North Korea Nuclear Deal Would Require Major US Concession Too

Posted on by SeeUS

The yet to be confirmed summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has raised expectations that a major breakthrough in resolving the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula is within reach.

“It is expected that there will be more rapid progress regarding the freezing and dismantling of the North Korean nuclear programs than in the past, as the leaders of the U.S. and North Korea will meet directly this time,” said Cheong Seong-chang, a North Korea analyst at the Sejong Institute in South Korea.

However the process to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is complex and will require significant concessions from all involved.

 

Deal or no deal

 

On Saturday, Trump said his meeting could fizzle without an agreement or it could result in “the greatest deal for the world” with the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

 

In the short term, Kim could make a seemingly dramatic offer to stop developing its intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capability that directly threatens the U.S., to extend its unilateral freeze on missile and nuclear tests, and even to reduce over time its stockpile of nuclear material.

It is unclear what concessions the U.S. might offer in return. The Trump administration is wary of providing relief and assistance in exchange for promises, given Pyongyang’s record of reneging on past agreements. Washington would likely demand that international inspectors be given access to verify the freeze and dismantling process, before agreeing to reduce economic sanctions.

 

But to get a significant deal Trump must offer something significant in return.

 

“In order to make this whole process successful, for which Donald Trump will be responsible, he would have to provide economic concessions,” said Go Myong-Hyun, a North Korea analyst with the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul.

 

No preconditions

 

Both Pyongyang and Washington have already made significant concessions in moderating their conditions for dialogue.

 

The Kim government has agreed to suspend all missile and nuclear tests during negotiations and discuss the possibility of giving up its nuclear deterrence if their security concerns are assured. Since November of 2017 North Korea has refrained from provocative actions after a two-year period in which it conducted two nuclear tests and accelerated efforts to develop a nuclear-armed ICBM that can target the U.S. mainland.

For his part, Trump has dropped the longstanding U.S. condition that Pyongyang first take concrete measures to end its nuclear program before there can be talks. The Trump administration insists, however, that its “maximum pressure” campaign will remain in place until a deal is reached. U.S. led efforts at the United Nations produced tough sanctions, banning billions of dollars of North Korean exports. The Trump administration also emphasized the threat of U.S. military action, if sanctions were to fail, to increase pressure on Kim to eliminate the nuclear threat.

 

Delay tactics

North Korea is estimated to have between 13-30 nuclear weapons, hundreds of medium and long-range missiles, and is continuing to produce enough fissile material for two to three nuclear bombs a year. In addition to its nuclear reactor in Yongbyong, which produces plutonium, North Korea reportedly has hidden uranium enrichment facilities, as well, to produce nuclear fuel.

Even if inspectors were allowed in, it would take possibly years to properly inspect and dismantle the North’s nuclear program. The Kim government strategy may be cooperate enough to reduce sanctions, but to delay and obstruct the denuclearization process for years on end.

“If North Korea can have nuclear weapons for the next 20 years in the process of nuclear disarmament, then North Korea becomes a de facto nuclear state,” said Go with the Asan Institute.

Inter-Korean summit

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who has worked to facilitate talks between Pyongyang and Washington, will hold a leaders summit with Kim in April, prior to the U.S.-North Korea summit.

The inter-Korean summit is expected to deal with restarting military to military communications, organizing reunions for families separated since the Korean War divided the country, and resuming humanitarian aid.

The Moon administration may also offer Kim economic incentives contingent on denuclearization progress, such as reopening the jointly run Kaesong complex of South Korean manufacturers that employed over 5,000 North Koreans before it was shut down after a 2016 nuclear test.

The Unification Ministry in Seoul said on Monday it would only consider restoring these economic ties once denuclearization progress is made.

“The issue of reopening the Kaesong Industrial Complex can be discussed in a process where the inter-Korean relations and North Korea’s nuclear issue are in progress as a mutually virtuous cycle,” said Baik Tae-hyun, the spokesman for the Ministry of Unification.

Peace treaty

Clarifying North Korea’s stance on denuclearization would be a key long-term goal in the upcoming summit between Trump and Kim. The North Korean leader reportedly said his country would have no reason to retain nuclear weapons if the military threat from the U.S. and its allies is resolved.

But in the past, Pyongyang has called for a permanent peace treaty to the replace the armistice ending the Korean War, which has been used to justify the continued presence of 28,000 American military forces in South Korea.

“When North Korea says it will give up its nuclear weapons and missiles, it is expected that the United States will have to cease all joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises, completely eliminate the international community’s sanctions on North Korea, and to accept establishing diplomatic ties between the U.S. and North Korea,” said Cheong with the Sejong Institute.

Washington and Seoul oppose ending their longstanding military alliance that is defensive in nature in exchange for the North’s denuclearization.

North Korea has still not officially commented on the upcoming summits or responded to recent inquiries from the South Korean government.

“I feel they’re approaching this matter with caution and they need time to organize their stance,” said the Unification Ministry spokesman.

Lee Yoon-jee contributed to this report from Seoul.

 

 
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What Happens at SXSW?

Posted on by SeeUS

What originally started as a music festival in the 1980s has evolved into an event that is much bigger and harder to define. Imagine networking and partying for more than a week. That is what is happening in Austin, Texas. Musicians, film promoters and tech companies from around the world are gathering for the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference and festival. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has the details from Austin.
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South Korea Praises China’s Role in North Nuclear Talks

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South Korea’s national security adviser on Monday praised China as having played a role in helping push North Korea toward new denuclearization talks.

Chung Eui-yong’s meeting with China’s top foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi follows last week’s announcement of a planned meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“Our President, Moon Jae-in, and the [South Korean] government believe that various advances toward achieving the goal of peace and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula were made with active support and contribution from President Xi Jinping and the Chinese government,” Chung said.

Yang reiterated China’s position that it wants to see the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and to solve problems through dialogue.

U.S. officials vowed Sunday they would not make any concessions to North Korea ahead of the summit and would continue to pressure North Korea.

“Make no mistake about it, while these negotiations are going on, there will be no concession made,” Central Intelligence Agency director Mike Pompeo told “Fox News Sunday.”

Pompeo said the North Korean ruler must “continue to allow us to perform our military-necessary exercises” with South Korea, “and then he’s got to make sure that he leaves on the table that discussion for denuclearization” of his military.

Tufts University Korean Studies assistant professor Sung Yoon Lee told VOA that Kim has tricked the world into believing he has offered concessions.

“We know that nuclear and ballistic missile tests are prohibited under more than 10 U.N. Security Council resolutions, so the mere utterance of abstinence from illicit, forbidden activities is no concession at all,” he said.

White House spokesman Raj Shah told ABC News: “The president has not adopted some of the failed policies we’ve seen over the last several decades, which is negotiations and concessions out of the gate from the United States. Our policy is pressure. It’s pressure from our partners and allies around the world, pressure from the United Nations, pressure through China.”

Shah offered no commitment that Trump would raise the issue with Kim of releasing three Americans currently held by North Korea.

In the past, Trump has derided the possibility of direct talks with North Korea, in October telling Secretary of State Rex Tillerson he was “wasting his time” considering the possibility of negotiations.

But on Saturday Trump noted the historical significance of him accepting the North Korean leader’s offer to meet.

 

“Well, they say, well, [former President Barack] Obama could have done that. Trust me, he wouldn’t have done it. By the way, neither would [former President George W.] Bush or [former President Bill] Clinton,” Trump said. “Anybody could have done it. Obama could have done it. Obama had his chance.”

Asked what Trump could accomplish by being nice to Kim, Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin told CNN on Sunday, “Not a whole lot.”

A Democratic opponent of Trump, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, said on NBC, “I want to see our president succeed, because if he succeeds, America succeeds. The world is safer. But I am very worried that they’re going to take advantage of him.”
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Ethiopian Town on Edge After Security Forces Kill, Injure Unarmed Residents

Posted on by SeeAF

A town on Ethiopia’s border with Kenya is on edge after Ethiopian security forces shot and killed 10 people and injured 11 others Saturday, the mayor said.

Residents of Moyale, along with the Command Post, the military unit overseeing a recently enacted state of emergency, confirmed the casualties in the southernmost part of Oromia, a region gripped in recent years by protests and government crackdowns.

By most accounts, the attack was sudden and unprovoked. Armed security forces began shooting Moyale residents in the streets and in shops and restaurants, killing and injuring apparently innocent people, most of whom were in their 20s.

Moyale’s mayor, Aschalew Yohannes, described how the attack began. “A young man was on his motorbike, and security forces stopped him and shot him,” Yohannes said. “After that, they were shooting at everyone in the town. What we have confirmed so far is that there are 10 people killed and 11 people injured, and of those five have gone to Hawasa,” he said, referring to a town more than 400 kilometers (249 miles) north of Moyale. 

It isn’t clear why Golo Waqo, the man on the motorbike, was stopped and shot. He may have been participating in a peaceful protest, according to Yohannes. After killing Waqo, the security forces continued shooting people in the busy district.

“This happened in the streets of the town, and there were residential houses and cafes, and this was a place where the people were normally going about their lives.”

‘Like an enemy chasing us’

Tamam Nageso, the principal of a school in the area, was returning home for lunch when the attack unfolded. The 34-year-old husband and father of one had just completed a morning of parent-teacher meetings at the school.

The award-winning educator was walking home when a bullet struck his leg. He fell down but managed to get back up to run for safety.

The bullets kept flying, and Nageso was shot twice more. He died in the street.

“This is like an enemy chasing us. There’s no one to hold them to account, and we can only pray to God,” a friend of Nageso told VOA Amharic by phone. “We have lost a friend whom we really loved, and from now on we expect the same for us.”

Unprovoked

Residents say the attack was unprompted, and the victims were simply going about their daily lives.

“There is a church around here, Abune Aregawi, and there are shops, residential places and restaurants,” one resident told VOA by phone.

The woman said most of those killed were young, but two elderly people also died. The victims came from different ethnic groups and were going to and from work and carrying out their days in the Shewaber district, she added.

“I don’t know how they view us, but this seems like they were taking some sort of revenge,” she said. We don’t know how to live, and we are so confused. All we can say is may God help us. That’s all I can say, nothing more.”

Wrong information

The Ethiopian government has characterized the attack as a mistake due to bad intelligence.

Soldiers received a dispatch about possible activity involving the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), according to General Hassan Ibrahim, who spoke to FANA, a state-owned broadcaster. OLF is a militant opposition group that wants the current government, which considers OLF a terrorist organization, removed from power.

It was based on that dispatch, the general said, that soldiers began attacking people in Moyale. At a press conference for local journalists, a Command Post official confirmed that security forces had killed nine people in the town and injured 12 others. After the briefing, one injured person later died.

Yohannes, the mayor, found the purported mistake implausible. “It is known that OLF sometimes makes some movements through the Kenya border in the past, but there is nothing that connects this incident with OLF,” Yohannes told VOA Amharic. 

The Command Post expressed deep regret for the attack and said it is investigating five people, including the person in charge of the security forces believed to be responsible for his incident.

Yohannes said the Command Post and local security forces aren’t in close contact, making it difficult to get answers. He called for a meeting to ensure voices from his community are heard and has lodged complaints at every level of government.

“As the mayor of this town, I would say that this should never happen to enemies, let alone citizens. This has to be improved totally — that’s what I believe. And the people are scared now due to what happened, so it is a really difficult situation,” he said.

VOA’s calls to government officials were not returned.

Calls for accountability

Yared Hailemariam, the executive director of the Swiss-based Association for Human Rights in Ethiopia, criticized the government’s response.

Hailemariam said the incident in Moyale reflects the free rein given to security forces. Asking for forgiveness and investigating those directly responsible aren’t enough, he said.

“They should hold to account not just the four to five people who are part of the security forces, but the authorities on top at the federal level leading the Command Post should be questioned,” he told VOA Amharic.

Displacement

Multiple sources told VOA that the attack resulted in large-scale displacements, with residents in fear of their lives fleeing over the border into Kenya.

One man who crossed into Kenya told VOA Amharic that he thought 2,000 people were staying in the area and said that most of the displaced people are children and women.

Another resident who fled has 13 children.

“Because security forces barged into our homes, opening the doors by force, and we didn’t even have time to ask what the problem is, I was scared and left without shutting the door,” she told VOA. “I am spending the night where I can, but I have nothing to feed my children.”

The government declared a state of emergency on February 16 to stabilize the country following continued protests and unrest.
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Tillerson Cuts Short Africa Trip

Posted on by SeeAF

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is cutting short his trip to Africa by about a day to deal with pressing matters including North Korea.

“Due to demands in the Secretary’s schedule he is returning to  the U.S. one day early, after concluding official meetings in Chad and Nigeria,” Under Secretary of State Steve Goldstein said Monday.

While Tillerson was in Africa, President Donald Trump announced he accepted North Korea’s invitation for direct talks with its leader Kim Jong-un by May. No specific plans have been set.

On Monday, Tillerson visited N’Djamena, the capital of Chad, for talks with Chadian President Idriss Deby.  

The top U.S. diplomat flies to Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, to confer with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari before heading home.

Tillerson resumed his normal schedule in Kenya Sunday after canceling events the day before because he was “not feeling well.”

He laid a wreath at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi Sunday at a ceremony to honor those killed and injured in a bombing there 20 years ago.

“As all of you well know, in 1998, terrorists thought they could demoralize and destroy the Kenyan and American people by attacking the U.S. embassy here in Nairobi. Of course they were wrong. Nearly 20 years later, we meet here to honor those who we lost and those who were injured,” Tillerson told an audience including survivors of the attack.

Among the survivors present was Joash Okindo, who continues to work at the U.S. Embassy after having both of his legs broken in the blast. Okindo, who wore a medal of bravery to the ceremony, was a guard at the embassy the day of the attack.

“When it’s cold, that’s when I feel pain,” he said.

After meeting Friday in Nairobi with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Tillerson hailed the political reconciliation between Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga as “a positive step toward healing Kenya’s ethnic and political divisions,” the State Department said in a statement.

​Kenyatta and Odinga met for the first time since last summer’s contentious presidential elections to start what they called a joint push for national unity.

Tillerson underscored at the meeting with Kenyatta “strong U.S. support for democratic institutions” — including the media — and voiced concern over “restrictions to political space.”

The Kenyan government shut down three television channels in January on the day that Odinga took a symbolic presidential oath in a mock inauguration. The government defied a court order to allow the stations, which had planned to live-stream the oath, to resume broadcasts.

 

Tillerson’s five-nation African trip began with a stop in Ethiopia on Wednesday, following by a visit to Djibouti.  

 

Tillerson said the U.S. will seek to work with African nations, providing them with incentives to improve governance and meet their long-term security and development goals.
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Syrian Government Splinters Rebel-held Eastern Ghouta

Posted on by SeeEA

Syrian government forces have made new advances on rebel-held territory of eastern Ghouta, separating two towns from the rest of the Free Syrian Army stronghold. More than 1,100 civilians have been killed in the past three weeks of fighting, amid reports that the government has resumed the use of a poisonous, possibly with a tacit support from its ally Russia. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
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