Month: March 2018

Mugabe Critic Says He’ll Run in Local Harare Election

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Zimbabwean Pastor Evan Mawarire was a vocal critic of former President Robert Mugabe. Now he has decided to run in local government elections this year and possibly land the job of mayor of Zimbabwe’s biggest city.

From pulpit to politics. Pastor Evan Mawarire is wading into the electoral fray in Zimbabwe.

He and other independent candidates have joined forces to run for local government posts in the coming elections. They call their coalition the People’s Own Voice.

Mawarire has his eye on the mayor’s spot in Harare should he win local government elections.

“Up to today, we still deliver dangerous and very dirty water to the residents of Harare,” he said. “We have potholes, our road network is completely dysfunctional, completely dilapidated and needs to be revived again. We have issues that have to do with refuse collection, we still don’t collect refuse for our people and that attracts all sorts of diseases. Those are things that my generation feels urgently [need attention].”

Mawarire rose to prominence in 2016 as the activist behind the #ThisFlag movement that organized protests against rights abuses by the government and former President Mugabe’s handling of the ailing economy.

He was jailed several times. He was later acquitted on some charges of subversion, while others are still pending in court.

The polls expected this July and August will be the country’s first without Mugabe, who resigned under military pressure last year.

Analysts say Mawarire’s entry into politics could spell trouble for the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change. The MDC has struggled with internal divisions following the recent death of founder Morgan Tsvangirai.

Word is that the MDC has already reached out Mawarire for talks, though VOA could not confirm that information.

Sekai Holland, a former senior member of the MDC, welcomed Mawarire to politics. She did not indicate where her allegiances now lie.

“The effort that pastor Mawarire is launching with his colleagues, is very significant,” he said. “It’s middle-class African kids whose absence from politics has caused many problems. Their coming in strengthens the processes of development, and it is important that they themselves understand that they are part of the fabric, and not an independent formation. So they should dialogue with everybody.”

Last year, Kenya saw a surge in the number of independent candidates in its nationwide elections. Among them was the activist Boniface Mwangi who ran for parliament. He was in Harare for the launch of Mawarire’s movement.

“It is important because independent candidates do not carry any baggage, but they have a voice because they want to reclaim their country,” she said. “So it is very commendable that people have come together. The other thing is that when they’re independent, they do not support any side, especially presidential elections, which means they are able to get both votes from Chamisa and ‘Crocodile’ voters.”

He is referring to the two expected frontrunners in the coming presidential race.

Current President Emmerson Mnangagwa, or the “Crocodile” as he is known, will carry the mantle of the ruling ZANU-PF party.The MDC is expected to put forward its acting leader, Nelson Chamisa.
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US Steps Up Protection for Coalition Forces in Northern Syria’s Manbij

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As part of the global coalition against Islamic State, the United States this week increased its special operations troops in the flashpoint town of Manbij in northern Syria.

In an email Thursday to VOA, Col. Thomas F. Veale, a U.S. military spokesperson and public affairs director for the coalition, said the recent deployment is a protection measure to ensure the safety of coalition troops in the area.

“Coalition forces are establishing a joint coordination mechanism for operations there, through the coalition’s official relationship with the Manbij Military Council,” Veale said.

Manbij, in northern Syria, has recently become another major point of disagreement between the U.S. and its NATO ally, Turkey, over the presence of the Kurdish militant group People’s Protection Units, also known as the YPG.

Turkey says the YPG is a terrorist organization, alleging the group is linked to Kurdish separatists inside Turkey, known as the PKK, which was designated a terror organization by both the U.S. and the EU. But the U.S. denies the connections between the PKK and the YPG and considers the YPG to be a key ally in the ongoing campaign against the Islamic State terror group in the region.

Turkey’s National Security Council, chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a statement on Wednesday, threatened that Ankara “will take action” if the YPG fighters do not withdraw immediately from the region.

“In the meeting, it is stated that the terrorists in Manbij should be removed from the area, otherwise Turkey will not hesitate to take initiative by itself as it did in other regions,” the statement read.

The Turkish military and its allied rebels this month captured the Kurdish town of Afrin in northwest Syria from the YPG in an operation code named Operation Olive Branch, that started on January 20.  

The U.S. has said it is “deeply concerned” that the operation has displaced thousands of civilians and diverted attention from the more important task of eliminating Islamic State.

Officials of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) say a Turkish-led attack on Manbij could encourage thousands of fighters, especially those recruited from the town, to leave battlefields against Islamic State remnants in eastern Syria and move to the west to push back against the Turkish army and its allied rebels military offensive.  

Najim Muhammad, the deputy commander of the Manbij Military Council, said the U.S.-led coalition has assured them it will protect the town.

“We are cooperating with the global coalition towards the security and safety of Manbij,” Muhammad told VOA. “Our coordination is very strong.”

Muhammad said he was concerned that the Free Syrian Army rebels are emboldened by the Turkish support and are amassing forces in northwest Manbij.

WATCH: More US Special Forces Deployed to Manbij

​The Turkish pro-government Yeni Safak newspaper Tuesday reported that a force of 12,000 militants from the Free Syrian Army “are waiting for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to initiate the operation.”

Col. Veale of the U.S. military refused to disclose the number of U.S. special operations troops recently deployed to the area, but said “the level of force protection is commensurate to the threat.”

A VOA reporter in northern Syria who visited the site said the U.S. troops are stationed mostly across the Sajur river area in northwest Manbij, bordering near the Turkey-backed Syrian fighters.  

The U.S. troops in Manbij came under direct attack by Turkish-backed rebels in August 2017. The Pentagon then said the U.S. troops returned fire but there were no casualties on either side.
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Turkey Slams France’s Offer of Mediation Over Syrian Kurd Militia

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Paris’s offer to mediate between Ankara and the YPG Syrian Kurdish militia has provoked outrage from the Turkish government.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said the move amounted to supporting terrorism, and could make France “a target of Turkey.”  President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described Paris’s move, as a “show of hostility against Turkey.”

French President Emmanuel Macron made the mediation offer after meeting a delegation of the Syrian Defense Force (SDF), which included prominent members of the YPG militia and its political wing, PYD. Ankara accuses the YPG of being affiliated to the PKK which is waging an insurgency inside Turkey. Friday the PKK was blamed for an attack on Turkish security forces that killed at least 5.

“We do not need a mediator. Since when has Turkey been sitting at a table with terrorist organizations? Where did you get this from? You can sit at the table with terrorist organizations. But Turkey fights against terrorist organizations in places like Afrin [in Syria],” said Erdogan Friday at a meeting of his supporters.

 

“France no longer has the right to complain about the actions of any terror organization on its soil after meeting with the representatives of the PYD and its armed wing, the People Protection Units (YPG),” Erdogan added.

In a statement, the French presidency said along with mediation, it was prepared to support the creation of a stabilization region to facilitate the SDF fight against Islamic State. The statement “paid tribute to the sacrifices and the determining role” of the SDF in fighting against the jihadist group. Ankara accuses the SDF of being a front for the YPG Kurdish militia.

Symbolic victory for YPG

Ankara’s fury appears to be exacerbated by claims by those attending the Paris meeting that France was ready to deploy forces to northern Syria as part of efforts to protect Kurdish forces. Paris has not confirmed those claims. France, like the United States, has provided arms to the SDF, including members of the YPG, as well as deploying special forces in the fight against Islamic State, much to Ankara’s anger.

But analysts suggest even if claims of a French military deployment prove unfounded, the symbolism of President Macron for the first time hosting members of the YPG at the Elysse Palace, is a significant victory for the militia.

“Well, it legitimizes people that Turkey calls terrorists,” points out political columnist Semih Idiz, of the al-Monitor website.  “And we may expect these same people now to appear in other European countries, Germany, Austria and other places. This has potential to add new higher-level tensions between Turkish European relations.”

Ankara’s strong pushback against Paris could also be a sign that Europe could be considering taking a more assertive stance towards Turkey.

“If you look at the way the European Union has closed ranks against Russia, we could end up with a similar situation with Turkey.  A block could be developing against Turkey centered on not so much the YPG but the Kurdish issue,” warns columnist Idiz.

European leaders, including Macron are facing growing domestic disapproval of what critics claim is the abandoning of Kurdish fighters, who had successfully fought Islamic State.

Ankara pushing ahead

Erdogan Friday announced preparations were underway for a new offensive in Syria against the Kurdish militia, promising to sweep across northern Syria to the Iraqi border. The next declared target of Turkish-led forces is the Syrian town of Manbij, where U.S. forces are deployed with the YPG.

Analysts suggests Erdogan will likely be emboldened by U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement Thursday he would pull U.S. forces from Syria. The U.S. State Department, however, said there was no change in Syrian policy, while the Pentagon reaffirmed support for the SDF in its fight against the Islamic State.

But Ankara’s strong pushback against Paris is indicative of what observers claim is Erdogan’s belief that none of its Western allies are ready to confront it over its Syrian intervention.

“This is what President Erdogan’s brinkmanship is based on, having had his way in Afrin, he is feeling rather bullish about this and he is going to press on,” warns columnist Idiz.

“We are heading for some confrontation, especially over Manbij. But it is true there seems to be very little that Europe and the West generally can do. Erdogan is set to continue on his path because he believes he can get what he wants.”

 
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Mauritania Jails Slave-Owner for 20 Years in Country’s Harshest Ruling

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Two slave-owners in Mauritania face 10 and 20 years in prison after a court handed down the country’s harshest anti-slavery ruling yet, activists said Friday.

The West African country criminalized slavery in 2007 and this was the third-ever prosecution. In past cases, slave-owners were sentenced to two to five years.

“This is a big victory,” Jakub Sobik of Anti-Slavery International told Reuters. “The sentences are quite high and in line with the law, which is by no means a given.”

Mauritania has one of the highest rates of slavery in the world, with 1 in 100 people living as slaves, according to the 2016 Global Slavery Index. Activists say that anti-slavery laws are rarely enforced.

The two cases were brought by former slaves in the city of Nouadhibou.

In one case, the verdict pronounced Wednesday was the result of a seven-year fight, said Salimata Lam of Mauritanian group SOS Esclaves, which assisted the victims.

A man who was sentenced to 20 years cannot be found, but a woman sentenced to 10 years was taken to prison, she said.

Slavery is a historical practice in Mauritania, which became the last country worldwide to legally abolish it in 1981.

Black descendants of certain ethnic groups are often born into slavery and spend their lives working as domestic servants or cattle herders for lighter-skinned Mauritanians.

Earlier this year, the African Union urged Mauritania to issue harsher sentences for the crime.

“I think the trend is irreversible. You can’t close your eyes to this situation,” said Lam.

But there is still a long way to go, she added. Anti-Slavery International has helped file at least 40 cases from former slaves that are lingering in courts, Sobik said.

Mauritania has jailed more anti-slavery activists than slave-owners, and the repression of organizations fighting to end slavery is growing, rights groups said this month.
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Mali’s Erratic Weather Pushes Girls into Risky Domestic Work

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From sweeping to fetching water, washing children to cooking, Sitan Coulibaly’s day as a maid in Bamako begins at 6 a.m. and ends well after dusk.

The 17-year-old is used to hard work — but as a farmer, growing millet on her parents’ farm in Babougou, in central Mali.

“I haven’t been home in over five months,” she said, lowering her head as she spoke. “I left before the harvesting season even ended, because there was nothing to harvest.”

Longer droughts and other unpredictable weather are destroying an ever-larger share of crops across this country in Africa’s Sahel region.

That is leading more families to send their daughters to earn money in cities during the lean season, often as maids, while sons leave for seasonal jobs as street vendors or gold miners.

Around the world, migration is growing among families hit by shifting weather patterns, disasters, conflict and other pressures.

In some of the world’s poorest places, bad times mean children, as well as adults, may need to leave home to find work, sometimes leading to separation from their families, risks of abuse and disruption to their education.

In Bamako, the majority of migrant girls work as housekeepers from December to June before returning to the farm.

But a particularly poor harvest season last year meant many left home as early as September, farm families say.

Last year, rainfall “was worse than before,” said Baba Sogore, a rice farmer from Segou.

“The government even asked us to stop growing rice off season, because the river is too dry to water fields,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Agnes Dembele, the head of APAFE Muso Danbe, a Malian charity that seeks to improve migrant girls’ working conditions, said that farm girls heading to cities in search of housekeeping jobs “is nothing new.”

“But due to worsening weather we’re seeing more girls coming to big cities like Bamako from all over the country,” she added, estimating the number of migrant girls at tens of thousands.

Poor working conditions

While housekeeping jobs allow Malian girls to send cash to their families, they often trap them in abusive working conditions, said Dembele.

“Employers know the girls are desperate, so some take advantage of that to steal from, abuse or even rape them,” she explained.

Oumou Samake, who works as a maid in Badalabougou, a posh neighborhood in the Malian capital, said her boss regularly berates and insults her, and deducts money from her wages when he isn’t happy with her work.

“At least he hasn’t hit me yet,” she sighed, surrounded by a group of fellow maids meeting on the street at the end of their work day. “If I move to another family it will be the same, or even worse.”

Her family’s precarious situation doesn’t leave her with much of a choice, added Samake.

“I worry about my parents and seven brothers and sisters. I don’t know whether they eat, as they haven’t harvested anything,” the 16-year-old explained.

“That’s why I send them 10,000 CFA francs [about $20] each month, to buy a bit of rice and millet.”

Most girls like Coulibaly and Samake go back to their villages and are married by the age of 16, said Dembele, with some of their wages as maids going toward their dowry.

A Save the Children index from 2017 ranks Mali one of the three most-affected countries in the world — out of 172 nations assessed — in terms of children at risk from child marriage, teenage pregnancy, an early end to education and other threats.

Protecting girls

A lack of contacts in urban areas or a formal recruitment process makes migrant girls more vulnerable to exploitation, according to Dembele. Samake said she arrived in Bamako not knowing anyone, and went looking for jobs by knocking on doors.

“My boss said he would pay me 10,000 CFA francs as that’s what other girls get,” she explained.

To help girls negotiate a better salary and curb abusive practices, APAFE Muso Danbe acts as an intermediary to find them an employer from its database of 300 families. It also draws up a job contract.

“With a contract, the girls’ wages range from 10,000 to 50,000 CFA francs per month ($20-$100), instead of just 10,000 normally,” said Dembele, adding that the NGO gives them free cooking and cleaning training to make them more employable.

Both parties also sign a code of conduct, she added.

“The maids commit to reporting any broken items and not wasting food, while their employer renounces any physical or psychological violence,” Dembele explained.

The charity also alerts local authorities to cases of abuse or violence, and helps the victims bring their cases to court.

Thomas Martin Diarra, who also works at the nongovernmental organization, said it recently dealt with the case of a maid whose employer’s son knocked her head against a wall “simply because he didn’t like her.”

“We referred her case to the police,” he explained. “It is ongoing, but the girl has received treatment for her injuries.”

One of the team’s priorities is also to ensure the girls get an education, Dembele said. “We try to sign up those who have a basic level of education to further studies.”

“Ideally, they wouldn’t have to work as maids as well, but we at least make sure they don’t have to pay for their training or education.”
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South Sudan Dispute With Mobile Firm Disrupts Service

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Hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese remained without mobile phone service Friday, as network operator Vivacell continued a standoff with the government over a licensing dispute.

The government cut the network’s signal to its roughly 900,000 subscribers just after midnight Tuesday, alleging that Vivacell owed tens of millions of dollars in licensing fees.

The government’s information minister, Michael Makuei, told VOA earlier this week that Vivacell previously had been exempted from taxes and licensing fees. “We want them to pay a sum of up to $66 million for their license, and up to now they are dragging their feet,” he said.

The licensing fee dispute underscores the mounting financial pressures facing the government in a country ravaged by civil war since late 2013.

Ruling party holds Vivacell stake

Pagan Amum – the former secretary general of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), the country’s ruling party – said Vivacell already pays for a valid license it has held for years. “There is no way Vivacell can be required to pay for another license,” he told VOA’s “South Sudan in Focus” radio program on Thursday.

Amum said that, as secretary general, he had helped negotiate the original deal with Lebanon’s Fattouch Investment Group – Vivacell’s majority owner – giving the SPLM party a minority share in the telecom firm. 

Vivacell has operated in South Sudan since 2008 under a license issued to the SPLM, Amum said. He added that, since 2012, the ruling SPLM has received $100,000 a month from Vivacell for licensing fees.

Vivacell officials went to Makuei’s office earlier this week in an attempt to negotiate, but he refused a meeting, the firm’s managing director, Jesus Antonio Ortiz Olivo, told Reuters on Wednesday. 

Makuei, in media interviews this week, has expressed a desire “to reorganize the telecommunications sector.” 

Low cellphone penetration rate

Mobile phone subscription rates have been falling in South Sudan, and telecom-sector operators “are placing themselves in survival mode and are hoping for a political settlement and a return to some degree of social stability,” the telecommunications research site BuddeComm reported in February.

BuddeCom said South Sudan has one of Africa’s lowest rates of cellphone penetration, at 21 percent, noting that recovery could bring “potentially many years of strong growth” to the sector.

South Sudan’s regulatory Communications Authority estimates the country’s entire telecom market – also served by South Africa’s MTN and Kuwait’s Zain – has fewer than 3 million subscribers, according to Reuters.

Complications for customers, clients

On Wednesday in the capital city, Juba, long lines formed at mobile phone stores where people waited to buy new subscriber identification module (SIM) cards from Vivacell competitors.

Vivacell subscriber Ever Fanusto said the sudden shutdown cut her off from friends and relatives, including those living overseas.

“I used to call my elder brother who is in America and now we have been disconnected with him,” Fanusto said. She added that it would be a challenge to retrieve her contacts’ information and load it onto a new SIM card.

In a notice published Wednesday, Vivacell informed its subscribers that the company was working with national authorities to resolve the matter and that it hoped to resume business soon in South Sudan. Otherwise, the company said it would set up “a clear mechanism” for reimbursing dealers, retailers and agents for their SIM card stocks.
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Islamic State Takes Responsibility for East Libya Suicide Bombing

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Islamic State claimed responsibility on Friday for a suicide car bombing this week in the eastern Libyan town of Ajdabiya, the militant group’s news agency Amaq said on Friday.

The explosion struck a checkpoint on Thursday at the eastern exit of Ajdabiya, a town south of Benghazi, a military source said. It is close to the oil export ports of Brega and Zueitina.

Amaq said 14 troops of General Khalifa Haftar had been killed of wounded. His forces allied to a parallel government based in the east control Ajdabiya and much of eastern Libya. According to medics, six people were killed and nine

wounded.

Islamic State, which lost in 2016 its stronghold Sirte in central Libya, had in October claimed an attack about 60 km (37 miles) south of Ajdabiya during which two soldiers were killed.

The group has retreated since the fall of Sirte to camps in the desert in southern Libya from where it has launched suicide bombings and attacks in coastal towns.
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Mary Magdalene’s Image Gets New Look in Modern Age

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If there’s a feminist figure from the Bible for the #MeToo era, it could very well be Mary Magdalene.

The major character in the life of Jesus was long maligned in the West and portrayed as a reformed former prostitute. But scholars have adopted a different approach more recently, viewing her as a strong, independent woman who supported Jesus financially and spiritually.

The New Testament tells how Jesus cast demons out of her. She then accompanied Jesus in his ministry around the Galilee, before witnessing his crucifixion, burial and resurrection in Jerusalem, which is being commemorated by Christians this week and next. The Roman Catholic Church and Western Christian churches observe Easter on Sunday, Eastern Orthodox Christians a week later.

 

Pope Francis took the biggest step yet to rehabilitate Mary Magdalene’s image by declaring a major feast day in her honor, June 22. His 2016 decree put the woman who first proclaimed Jesus’ resurrection on par with the liturgical celebrations of the male apostles.

“By doing this, he established the absolute equality of Mary Magdalene to the apostles, something that has never been done before and is also a point of no return” for women in the church, said Lucetta Scarrafia, editor of the Vatican-published Women Church World monthly magazine.

For centuries, Western Christianity depicted Mary Magdalene as a former prostitute, a narrative that began in the sixth century. Pope Gregory the Great conflated Magdalene with an anonymous sinful woman mentioned in the chapter before she’s introduced in the Gospel of Luke.

Only in 1969 did the Catholic Church roll back centuries of labeling Mary Magdalene as such, stating she was distinct from the sinful woman mentioned in Luke. Eastern Orthodox Christians never depicted her as a prostitute.

 

Mary Magdalene was from a thriving fishing village on the Sea of Galilee named Magdala, which has been excavated extensively by archaeologists in recent decades.

The site is home to the oldest known synagogue in the Galilee, where a stone bearing the likeness of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem was found, as well as a marketplace, ritual baths and fishing harbor. Marcela Zapata-Meza, the lead archaeologist at the site, has called it “the Israeli Pompeii.”

Modern scholars have adopted a different understanding of Mary Magdalene, and regard her as one of Jesus’ most prominent disciples, who stood by him to the end while his most devoted apostles did not.

“Historical tradition says she was a prostitute from Magdala,” said Jennifer Ristine, director of the Magdalena Institute at Magdala. “Reanalyzing that reputation that she had we can see she was probably a woman of greater social status, higher social status, a woman of wealth who accompanied Jesus as we see in Luke 8:2, helping Jesus and his disciples with her own resources.”

Nonetheless, the image of Mary Magdalene as a licentious, sexualized woman has persisted in Western culture, including in “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “The Da Vinci Code.”

 

Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, the Vatican’s culture minister, said Mary Magdalene’s reputation was sullied by her depiction in art over the centuries.

“Art history made her become a prostitute, which is something that is not present in the Gospels,” he said, adding that she also has been portrayed as Jesus’ wife.

“It is important to find the real face of Mary Magdalene, who is a woman who represents the importance of the female aspect on the side of Christ,” he told The Associated Press at the Vatican.

The Gospel of Mary, an early Christian text, depicted her as a visionary who received secret revelations and knowledge from Jesus.

Claire Pfann, academic dean at the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem, said Mary Magdalene must be seen for what she was: “An independent woman who has discretionary time and wealth from the city of Magdala, not identified by a father or a husband, whose life was dramatically restored, healed, changed by her encounter with this Jewish itinerant teacher and healer, Jesus of Nazareth.”

“It takes a long time for serious scholarship to trickle down to the popular level,” she added.

A new film on the life of Mary Magdalene, starring Rooney Mara in the title role, Joaquin Phoenix as Jesus and Chiwetel Ejiofor as Peter the Apostle, recasts her in that mold.

The film has been released in Europe and Australia. A release date for the United States has not been set, following the collapse of its original distributor, the Weinstein Co., after a series of sexual harassment and assault claims against founder Harvey Weinstein. The rash of allegations made against Weinstein spawned the global #MeToo movement.

Ristine said Mary Magdalene plays a critical role in the New Testament and carries an “essential pivotal message of Christianity.”

 

“Why is a woman there, giving testimony to that in a culture where woman are just not paid attention to, or not placed as witnesses?” Ristine asked. “Well, this speaks very strongly to women today, that the power of their witness, the power of their testimony to speak up for a truth, can have effects that ripple down through the centuries.”
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Russia Summons Envoys of Countries Which Expelled Its Diplomats

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Russian Foreign Ministry is summoning envoys of foreign states that expelled Russian diplomats to hand them notes of protest and inform them of Russia’s retaliatory measures.

The Ambassador of Germany was seen leaving the Russian Foreign Ministry Friday, while the ambassadors of the Netherlands, Ukraine, France, Italy and Poland were seen arriving.

The United States on Thursday declared there is no justification for Russia’s retaliatory expulsion of American diplomats.

Later Thursday, the White House issued a statement saying the action by Moscow “marks a further deterioration” of the relationship between the U.S. and Russia.

“The expulsion of undeclared Russian intelligence officers by the United States and more than two dozen partner nations and NATO allies earlier this week was an appropriate response to the Russian attack on the soil of the United Kingdom. Russia’s response was not unanticipated, and the United States will deal with it,” the statement said.

The Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Heather Nauert, also criticized Moscow’s actions, announced earlier in the day by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

“Russia should not be acting like a victim,” the State Department spokeswoman added, remarking that the only real victims are those poisoned and inconvenienced by the March 4 release of a nerve agent in the British city of Salisbury.

Retaliation

Lavrov announced the expulsion of 60 U.S. diplomats in response to Washington ordering the departure of the same number of Russian envoys.

Russia also is closing the U.S. consulate in the city of Saint Petersburg, ordering it to cease operations in two days.

“It’s clear from the list provided to us that the Russian Federation is not interested in a dialogue on issues that matter to our two countries,” Nauert told reporters at Thursday’s State Department briefing. “We reserve the right to respond.”

The United States, along with more than two dozen other nations, has revoked the credentials of Russian diplomats the nations accuse of working as spies after Moscow was blamed for the nerve agent attack on former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, earlier this month in Salisbury.

“The United States is better off with fewer Russian spies,” Nauert told reporters at Thursday’s State Department briefing.

All of the Americans declared persona non grata — 58 diplomats in Moscow and two officials of the consulate in Yekaterinburg — are to leave Russia by April 5.

Russia also is expected to expel diplomats from the other countries that took action against it.

Moscow denies responsibility for the nerve agent attack. It alleges that the attack was carried out by British intelligence services in order to make Russia look bad. Britain dismisses that allegation.

Call for dialogue

Expressing concern about deteriorating relations between the two nuclear powers, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is calling for Washington and Moscow to discuss their differences.

“During the Cold War there were mechanisms of communication and control to avoid the escalation of incidents, to make sure that things would not get out of control when tensions would rise. Those mechanisms have been dismantled,” Guterres told reporters. “I do believe that mechanisms of this sort are necessary again.”

U.S. Ambassador to Russia, Jon Huntsman — who was summoned to the foreign ministry on Thursday — told VOA that it is “our desire, of course is to maintain dialogue on the issues that matter the most. Issues like strategic stability and arms control, which are not just a U.S.-Russia set of issues, but indeed impact the stability and the well being of the entire globe.”

British Prime Minister Theresa May, in a phone call this week with U.S. President Donald Trump, praised Washington’s “very strong response” in the wake of the poisoning.

The White House said, “Both leaders agreed on the importance of dismantling Russia’s spy networks in the United Kingdom and the United States to curtail Russian clandestine activities and prevent future chemical weapons attacks on either country’s soil.”

Poisoning victim improving

Meanwhile, Yulia Skripal is “improving rapidly” after the nerve agent attack and is no longer in critical condition, said Salisbury District Hospital Medical Director Christine Blanshard.

Sergei Skripal remains in critical condition, according to the physician.

British police say detectives believe the Skripals first made contact with the toxin at the front door of their home. They cautioned that those living in the neighborhood will see continued searches, but that the risk to the public remains low.

Margaret Besheer at the UN and Jamie Dettmer in Moscow contributed to this report
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Stephen Reinhardt, Liberal Lion of 9th Circuit Court, Dies

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Judge Stephen Reinhardt, a liberal stalwart on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for nearly four decades, died Thursday in Southern California. He was 87.

Reinhardt died of a heart attack during a visit to a dermatologist in Los Angeles, court spokesman David Madden said.

“As a judge, he was deeply principled, fiercely passionate about the law and fearless in his decisions,” 9th Circuit Chief Judge Sidney Thomas said in a statement. “He will be remembered as one of the giants of the federal bench.”

Reinhardt was appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 and went on to become the sixth longest-serving judge on the court.

Liberal judge

He was considered to be one of the most liberal judges on the 9th Circuit and his rulings often placed him on the side of immigrants and prisoners. Reinhardt wrote a 2012 opinion striking down California’s gay marriage ban.

He also wrote a 1996 opinion that struck down a Washington state law that prohibited doctors from prescribing medication to help terminally ill patients die.

Last year he wrote in an opinion that a Trump administration order to deport a man who entered the country illegally nearly three decades ago and became a respected businessman in Hawaii was “inhumane” and “contrary to the values of the country and its legal system.”

Reinhardt was “brilliant — a great legal mind and writer — but he was equally hard working,” said Hector Villagra, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California.

Villagra, who clerked for Reinhardt in 1995, said he once found the judge in his chambers at 11 p.m. on a Saturday writing a dissent to the court’s decision not to rehear a death penalty appeal.

“He knew it was totally pointless; it wasn’t going to affect the outcome. But it was the right thing to do, and that’s what mattered,” Villagra said in a statement.

‘Giant within the law’

“He was a giant — not just on the 9th Circuit, but within the law,” University of California, Berkeley, law school Dean Erwin Chemerinsky told the Los Angeles Times. “He also was a judge with a particular vision of the law, based on enforcing the Constitution to protect people.”

He was among the federal judges who decided that overcrowding in California’s prison system was unconstitutional.

Reinhardt joined another judge in ruling that the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance were unconstitutional, a decision that was later overturned.

A New York-native, Reinhardt was a graduate of Southern California’s Pomona College and earned his law degree at Yale Law School.

After serving two years in the U.S. Air Force, he served as a clerk for a federal judge in the District of Columbia, then entered private practice in Los Angeles. He served as an informal adviser to Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and served on the city’s Police Commission from 1975 until his appointment to the 9th Circuit.

Reinhardt is survived by his wife, Ramona Ripston, the former director of the ACLU of Southern California.
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Vietnam Stands to See Modest Wins if China, U.S. Start Trade War

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A wider Sino-U.S. trade dispute would help export-reliant Vietnam compete against Chinese companies but put the country at risk of any global fallout, analysts say.

The numerous exporters in Vietnam that ship manufactured goods to the United States would save money compared with Chinese peers if not subject to American tariffs, said Dustin Daugherty, senior associate with business consultancy Dezan Shira & Associates in Ho Chi Minh City.

The U.S. government said this month it would develop a list of tariffs on up to $60 billion in Chinese imports. China has threatened to impose its own in response.

“Let’s say (the United States) went the more traditional route, tensions kept escalating and more tariffs are slapped on Chinese products,” Daugherty said. “In that case Vietnam’s export sector definitely benefits. We’re already seeing the U.S. being very warm to Vietnam and U.S. businesses keen on doing business with Vietnam.”

But Chinese firms hit by tariffs might flood Vietnam with raw materials for local manufacturing, while overall world market volatility caused by a Sino-U.S. trade dispute could hamper the country’s trade, said Carl Thayer, emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

​A tariff-free Vietnam scenario

Vietnamese exporters would save money compared to their Chinese peers if the U.S. government placed tariffs on Chinese firms alone without touching their cross-border supply chains, Daugherty said.

The government of U.S. President Donald Trump calls China unfair in its trade practices, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative says on its website. China enjoys a $375 billion trade surplus with the United States.

Vietnam counts the United States as its top single-country export destination and it shipped $46.484 billion worth of goods to that market last year.

Vietnamese officials have carved out an investment environment since the 1980s that hinges on low costs for manufacturers. American-invested factories such as a Ford Motor plant and an Intel chip factory are among those active in Vietnam today.

Foreign investment contributed to exports worth $155.24 billion in 2017, financial services firm SSI Research in Hanoi says. Vietnam’s economy grew about 7 percent in the first quarter this year, it says.

Attractive investment

Vietnam would be a more attractive investment compared with China under higher U.S. tariffs, analysts say.

Some new investors might be formerly China-based firms hoping to flee the tariffs, said Song Seng Wun, an economist in the private banking unit of CIMB in Singapore.

China itself might offer Vietnam, along with other countries, preferential trade policies or infrastructure help to shore up trade ties, some believe. Stronger trade relations outside the United States would help China offset any tariff damage, Daugherty said.

This week China’s commerce minister pledged to relax trade rules affecting India.

​Specter of a broader trade war

U.S. import tariffs that hit China’s extensive cross-border supply chain would hurt Vietnam as a place that finishes Chinese goods for final export, Thayer said. It’s unclear whether Washington would tax Chinese firms alone or their wider supply networks.

Chinese firms already co-invest with Vietnamese partners, Song said, and supply chains for goods such as consumer electronics can net multiple countries, not just China.

More co-investment might follow if Vietnam can offer shelter from tariffs. But Sino-Vietnamese political tension over a maritime dispute risks giving Vietnamese firms a bad name at home if they work too extensively with Chinese partners.

“I would say there will be all kinds of repercussions and implications just because of the very integrated supply chain in the world these days,” Song said. “Take an Apple phone as an example. Parts from here and there are assembled in China.”

Steel, aluminum tariffs

U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs that took effect last week cover much of the world including China and Vietnam. Vietnam exported 380,000 tons of steel, worth $303 million, to the United States in 2017, domestic news website VnExpress International says.

Chinese firms hit by the range of tariffs being mulled now in Washington might boost sales to Vietnam, Thayer said. Chinese sellers of raw materials for Vietnamese exports could dump goods into Vietnam to keep up their own balance sheets as U.S. tariffs hurt them, he added.

Chinese sellers often have an economy of scale that lets them sell for less in Vietnam than local vendors do. Vietnam counts China as its top trading partner.

An escalation of Sino-U.S. trade tensions could also chill global markets or trade as a whole, some analysts fear. That fallout could slow global growth, he said.

“Disruption to trade shouldn’t affect Vietnam overall, but it’s the way the entire globe is reacting to this that I think could affect Vietnam,” he said. “Vietnam is overall heavily committed to global integration with a number of partners, so disruption along that way would have an effect.”
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Italian Market Offers Array of Items to Help Celebrate Easter

Posted on by SeeUS

Easter, also known as Resurrection Sunday, commemorates Jesus’ resurrection, three days after his crucifixion. It’s preceded by Lent, 40 days of fasting, prayer and repentance. While Easter is a solemn holiday for Christians, it’s also a time for families to get together around the festival holiday table, one that has been influenced by the many cultures that make up American society. VOA’s Mariama Diallo visited an Italian market owned by Suzy and Bill Menard and filed this report.
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Despite Setbacks, Automakers Move Forward with Electric and Self-Driving Cars

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A recent fatality involving one of Uber’s self-driving cars may have created uncertainty and doubt regarding the future of autonomous vehicles, but it’s not stopping automakers who say autonomous and self-driving vehicles are here to stay. At the New York International Auto Show this week, autonomous vehicles and electric cars were increasingly front and center as VOA’s Tina Trinh reports.
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Humanitarian Group to Clear Minefields Near Jesus’s Baptism Site

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An international effort is de-mining the area around the ancient churches near where Christians believe Jesus was baptized. Access to these churches has been blocked for more than 50 years by the minefields of the Arab-Israeli war. HALO Trust, a British-based charity that specializes in removing postwar debris, began clearing landmines in the West Bank in 2014 and is clearing the baptism site near the Jordan River to allow pilgrims to visit the historic churches. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke has more.
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Israel Restricts Entry of Gaza Christians for Easter

Posted on by SeeEA

Israeli authorities said Thursday that they have decided to block most of Gaza’s small Christian community from entering Israel for Easter celebrations, citing security concerns.

Israel maintains a blockade over the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and restricts entry from the territory. But it often eases the restrictions during religious holidays to allow Gaza’s residents to visit holy sites in Jerusalem or to visit relatives in Israel or the West Bank.

COGAT, the defense body that oversees Palestinian civilian affairs, said it will let only Christians age 55 and older and children younger than 16 enter Israel for Easter, which is celebrated by Catholics on Sunday and Orthodox Christians the following week. It said the restrictions were needed after previous cases in which Gazan visitors overstayed their permitted time in Israel.

A Christian leader in Gaza said the restrictions mean that only about one-third of the community’s 1,100 members will be allowed into Israel to celebrate. He said he was disappointed because his children would not be able to see their aunts in the West Bank city of Ramallah. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not want to jeopardize his own entry permit.

Wadie Abunassar, a Catholic Church official, called the restrictions “very sad” because Easter is a family holiday. He said it was “not reasonable” to allow a mother and father to enter Israel, while “leaving their children back in Gaza,” and urged Israel to reconsider.

“If people want to leave, they don’t want to leave for a honeymoon,” he said. “It is for a family trip.”
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Trump, Pentagon Chief Had ‘Initial Conversation’ About Border Wall

Posted on by SeeUS

U.S. President Donald Trump has spoken with his top defense official about using military funding to build the border wall with Mexico.

“It’s been an initial conversation,” Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Dana White said Thursday when asked if Trump had broached the subject with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

“Remember, securing Americans and securing the nation is of paramount importance to the secretary,” White said.

This past Sunday, the president tweeted, “Because of the $700 & $716 Billion Dollars gotten to rebuild our Military, many jobs are created and our Military is again rich.”

He followed that with a second Tweet, saying, “Building a great Border Wall, with drugs (poison) and enemy combatants pouring into our Country, is all about National Defense. Build WALL through M!”

The Pentagon has not provided any details about how much military funding could be used to build the border wall, which has an estimated price tag of more than $20 billion, or what impact that would have on the U.S. military itself.  

But the defense appropriations act passed by Congress tells the Pentagon where to spend its money and a change in the budget would need Congressional approval.

“That’s a bridge too far because we don’t have those details,” the Defense Department’s White told reporters Thursday. “It’s been an initial conversation.”

“There’s no daylight between them (Mattis and Trump) with respect to making sure this military stays the most lethal in the world,” White added.

 
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French Ex-Leader Sarkozy to Be Tried on Corruption, Influence Peddling Charges

Posted on by SeeEU

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was ordered to stand trial Thursday on charges of corruption and influence peddling.

The case focuses on phone calls Sarkozy allegedly made to a judge who was investigating claims that his 2007 presidential campaign was illegally funded.

The hard-charging conservative politician allegedly offered to help the judge get promoted in exchange for information about the investigation into his campaign. In a phone call to Judge Gilbert Azibert, then a senior judge in France’s highest court, Sarkozy allegedly offered to help him get a coveted position in neighboring Monaco. The phone call was wiretapped by police.

The latest development comes only days after an investigation was launched into claims Sarkozy accepted illegal financial donations from late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi for his successful presidential campaign 11 years ago.

Sarkozy denies any wronging and his lawyers said they would appeal the decision to prosecute him at a hearing June 25.

Sarkozy’s lawyer, Thierry Herzog, and former magistrate Azibert have also been ordered to stand trial.

Thursday’s court announcement is the second time Sarkozy has been ordered to stand trial. A judged ordered him and 13 others to trial last year to face charges of illegal financing of his 2012 presidential campaign. Sarkozy appealed that order and a decision is pending.  

Sarkozy lost his party’s primary election for the 2017 presidential campaign, and has largely stayed out of politics since.
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US Judge Rejects Bid for Trump Testimony on Porn Star

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A U.S. federal judge has rejected a bid by a lawyer for adult film actress Stormy Daniels to question President Donald Trump under oath about their alleged 2006 affair and a $130,000 hush payment to her just before the 2016 election to keep quiet about the alleged liaison.

Judge James Otero said the request for the Trump testimony by the porn star’s attorney, Michael Avenatti, was premature because it came before an anticipated request by the president and his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, to settle the case through private arbitration, rather than a public hearing as Avenatti is seeking.

The legal wrangling is occurring in a lawsuit brought by Daniels to void the hush money agreement on grounds that it is invalid because Trump never signed it, either under his own name, or as “David Dennison,” the pseudonym he is identified as in the legal document.

Trump, through Cohen and White House aides, has denied the affair.

But he has not publicly commented about it in the days since Daniels described in detail her encounter with the future U.S. leader last Sunday on CBS’s nationally televised 60 Minutes show, a spectacle that drew 22 million viewers. On Thursday, Trump ignored reporters’ questions about it as he headed to Ohio for a speech.

Avenatti told CNN he thinks he eventually will succeed in forcing Trump and Cohen to answer questions under oath about Daniels’s claim the one-night affair occurred at a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada in mid-2006, months after Trump’s wife Melania gave birth to their son Barron.

“Our goal is to get straight answers,” Avenatti said, including whether Trump knew about the hush money paid to Daniels and whether he reimbursed Cohen, who says he paid the money out of a personal line of credit after creating a new company to facilitate the payment.

Cohen’s attorney, David Schwartz, says the president did not know ahead of time about Cohen’s decision to pay the hush money.
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Turkey Criticizes US Support of New ‘Syria’s Future’ Political Party

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Ankara has launched new attacks and threats aimed at Washington for ongoing U.S. support of the Syrian-Kurdish militia, the YPG.  The latest verbal salvo comes as diplomatic talks between the NATO allies continue to resolve their worst crisis in bilateral relations.

The YPG is a key ally in Washington’s war against Islamic State militants, but Ankara accuses the militia of being linked to the PKK, which is waging a decades-long Kurdish insurgency within Turkey.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim slammed Washington for the recent creation of a Syrian political party dubbed “Syria’s Future,” which Yildirim claimed was nothing more than a political front for the YPG.  

“We know them well. They may be able to fool some of our allies by changing their name, but Turkey will recognize them,” Yildirim told reporters.  “The United States, which tried to hide the PKK with three-letter signs in order to form a terror corridor to siege Turkey from the south, is now making these villains set up a party in Syria,” Yildirim added.

Ankara is demanding the removal of the YPG Kurdish militia and its political wing, the PYD from the Syrian town of Manbij.  The creation of the new Syrian party is seen by Ankara as the latest example of deception by Washington, in which Kurdish forces simply rename themselves, but remain in Manbij.

Manbij is a key point of tension in U.S.-Turkish relations.  Under former U.S. president Barack Obama, American forces promised the YPG militia would withdraw from the town after ousting Islamic State.  “How trustworthy are the United States as an ally,” declared international relations expert Soli Ozel of Istanbul’s Bilgi University.  “Did they or did they not promise they would make YPG and PYD leave Manbij.  Did they keep their promise?  No,” added Ozel.

Adding to Ankara’s fury, U.S. forces are now deployed with the YPG in Manbij.  The town is strategically important as a junction between east and west Syria.  Analysts say U.S. forces see it as key not only preventing any re-emergence of Islamic State, but also countering growing Iranian influence.

Low on patience

But Ankara is warning its patience is running out with Washington.  “It was stated that terrorists in Manbij should be removed from the region as soon as possible, or Turkey will not abstain from taking initiative,” read a statement after Wednesday’s meeting of Turkey’s National Security Council.

Observers warn Ankara is emboldened after Turkish-led forces scored a crushing victory over the YPG in the Syrian Afrin enclave around 100 kilometers from Manbij.

“Erdogan has announced Manbij is his next target, he is no doubt going to move slowly there,” says political columnist Semih Idiz of the al-Monitor website.  “He is going to dare the Americans, either a diplomatic solution or possibly military solution.  Over the next few days there will be some hard thinking in Washington,” said Idiz.

Turkish ministers have warned U.S. forces could be targeted if they remained deployed with YPG in Manbij.  Such threats have been dismissed by U.S. generals, warning any attack on its forces would be strongly resisted.

Turkish and U.S. diplomats are engaged in seeking to resolve the looming confrontation.  Talks have added urgency now that Turkish presidential and general elections are due next year.  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government analysts are using the crisis to play to strong anti-American sentiments of its nationalist voting constituency.

“Because of the current political climate in Turkey, the tendency of the political leadership [is] to engage in highly populist discourse,” points out analyst Sinan Ulgen of Brussels-based Carnegie Europe, “…The failure in these talks may lead to an escalatory process, where Turkey would take measures, which would be responded to by the U.S.”

Ankara’s determination to end the threat posed by the PKK Kurdish insurgency is not only confined to Syria.  Baghdad has also been put on notice over the presence of PKK bases in its territory.  “It is expected from the Iraqi state to prevent terrorist group action in various locations in Iraq, especially in Sinjar and the Qandil Mountains,” read Wednesday’s National Security Council statement.

The PKK has for decades had its headquarters in Iraq’s mountainous Qandil region.  A Turkish military intervention into the Iraqi Sinjar region, where the PKK also was based, was narrowly averted after Kurdish fighters handed over the area to Iraqi forces.  “For the global politics, raw power is back, playing hard ball is in fashion, we can see in a way, Turkey has joined the others,“ observes former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen.

“Turkey, will not shy away from projecting power either in Syria or Iraq,” added Selcen.

 
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Soybean Acres to Exceed Corn for the First Time in 35 Years

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Corn has been dethroned as the king of crops as farmers report they intend to plant more soybeans than corn for the first time in 35 years.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says in its annual prospective planting report released Thursday that farmers intend to plant 89 million acres (36 million hectares) in soybeans and 88 million acres (35.6 million hectares) in corn.

The primary reason is profitability. Corn costs much more to plant because of required demands for pest and disease control and fertilizer. When the profitability of both crops is close, farmers bet on soybeans for a better return.

The only year that soybean acres beat corn in recent memory was 1983, when the government pushed farmers to plant fewer acres to boost prices in the midst of the nation’s worst farm crisis.

Iowa is the top corn-producing state, followed by Illinois, Nebraska and Minnesota. Top soybean states are Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and North Dakota.
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Russia Orders Expulsion of US Diplomats in Tit-for-Tat Move

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Moscow will expel 60 U.S. diplomats after Washington announced it was ordering the expulsion of dozens of Russian diplomats over the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain.

Lavrov said Thursday Russia will also close the U.S. consulate in the city of St. Petersburg.

The U.S., along with more than 20 other nations, ordered the expulsion of Russian diplomats after Moscow was blamed for the nerve agent attack on former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter earlier this month in the British town of Salisbury.

Russia denies it was responsible for the nerve agent attack and has alleged the it was carried out by British intelligence services in order to make Russia look bad. Britain dismisses that allegation.

In a phone call this week with U.S. President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Theresa May praised the “very strong response” by the United States in the wake of the poisoning.

The White House said “both leaders agreed on the importance of dismantling Russia’s spy networks in the United Kingdom and the United States to curtail Russian clandestine activities and prevent future chemical weapons attacks on either country’s soil.”

Meanwhile, Skripal’s daughter Yulia is “improving rapidly” after a nerve agent attack earlier this month and is no longer in critical condition, Christine Blanshard, Salisbury District hospital medical director, said.

Sergei Skripal  remains in critical condition, Blanshard added.

British police gave an update on the investigation Wednesday, saying that after forensic examinations detectives believe the Skripals first made contact with the toxin at the front door of their home. They cautioned that those living in the neighborhood will see continued searches taking place but that the risk to the public remains low.

So far, police say they have looked through 5,000 hours of security camera footage, examined more than 1,350 other exhibits and interviewed hundreds of witnesses.

National Security correspondent Jeff Seldin and White House correspondent Steve Herman contributed to this article.
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Top Kenyan Officials Fined for Defying Court Order

Posted on by SeeAF

Kenya’s High Court has fined three top government officials $2,000 each for defying court orders, including an order to release detained opposition leader Miguna Miguna. The sentencing reflects a months-long tug of war between the executive branch and the judiciary in the wake of last year’s contentious presidential election.

Kenyan Interior Minister Fred Matiang’i, Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet, and the head of immigration Gordon Kihalangwa were again no-shows in court Thursday.

“Each of the first, second and third respondents are hereby penalized to pay a fine of 200,000 Kenyan shillings personally. The same sum will be deducted directly from their next month salary,” said Judge George Odunga, issuing the sentence.

On Wednesday, the judge held the three officials in contempt of court for defying an order to immediately release opposition leader Miguna Miguna, who had been detained at the airport since Monday and denied entry to Kenya.

“In this case, it is clear the respondents are the ones in charge of security in this country,” he said. “They are in charge of executions of warrants of arrests. They have clearly shown they have no respect for the rule of law and will not comply with orders of this court. Even if the citizens were to arrest them, they would still be placed at the disposal of their juniors. I do not see how any of the juniors will execute the warrants against them.”

The Interior Ministry spokesman declined to comment on the sentencing when reached by VOA.

Kenyans woke up Thursday morning to learn that Miguna had been deported, for a second time, during the night, this time to Dubai. A human rights lawyer and assistant to Miguna told VOA’s Daybreak Africa that Miguna had been forcibly deported under sedation.

Lawyers in Nairobi wore yellow ribbons Thursday in protest.

“The legal fraternity and the whole country have become increasingly concerned with the state’s blatant disregard of lawful court orders as witnessed over the last couple of months. There can be no justification of disobedience of court orders by any party,” said Harriet Chigai, the vice president of the Law Society of Kenya, speaking alongside leaders of the Kenya National Human Rights Commission at a joint press conference Thursday.

Officials have defied several court orders this year relating to both the previous arrest and deportation of Miguna in February and a media blackout over the opposition’s swearing-in of Raila Odinga as the so-called “people’s president” in January.

Miguna’s lawyer, Nelson Havi, says the government has set a dangerous precedent.

“The biggest beneficiary of the due process is the government, so when the government disobeys court orders they are setting a very bad precedent because in future nobody else will have any compulsion to obey a court order,” he said.

The matter is expected to return before the High Court on April 6.

Setting the date for the hearing, Judge Odunga said his order from earlier this week that the state produce Miguna in court is still valid.

 
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US says Airstrike Killed Top al-Qaida Leader in Libya

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The U.S. military says its airstrike last weekend in southwestern Libya killed two al-Qaida militants, including a top recruiter, Musa Abu Dawud.

The military’s Africa Command’s Wednesday statement said Abu Dawud had trained recruits by the terror network’s North Africa branch, known as al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.

 

In 2016, the United States said Abu Dawud had been involved in “terrorist activity” since 1992 and labelled him a “specially designated global terrorist.”

 

AFRICOM said he “provided critical logistics support, funding and weapons to AQIM, enabling the terrorist group to threaten and attack U.S. and Western interests in the region.”

 

AFRICOM says the March 24 airstrike near the town of Ubari didn’t kill any civilians.

 

Islamic extremists expanded their reach in Libya amid the chaos that followed the 2011 uprising.

 

 
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Puntland Police on Alert as Somalia Terror Threat Moves North

Posted on by SeeAF

A checkpoint in the desert of northern Somalia is the first line of defense against Al-Shabab and Islamic State from reaching the port city of Bossaso, the economic hub of the semi-autonomous Puntland state.

The two extremist groups have set up camp in the mountains east and west of the city, and launch periodic attacks, including two assaults on the checkpoint last year.

In daylight, armed police search every car heading in and out of the city, looking for weapons, explosives, and hidden militants.  At dusk, they take up positions behind bunkers in case the extremists attack again.

“We are always on standby, we are always careful, but with God’s will we will defeat them one day,” says Lieutenant Colonel Mahmoud Mohamed Ahmed, who commands the checkpoint.

Puntland has long been more stable than the country’s volatile south, where al-Shabab has battled the government and African Union forces for the past decade.  But in the past year, there have been a string of smaller attacks in Puntland, including tossed grenades and shootings in and around Bossaso.

Now, government security forces are on alert amid fears that Somalia’s instability may be creeping north.

At the checkpoint, Ahmed says they uncover weaponry or make arrests almost every day.  Two weeks ago, they found six al-Shabab suspects hidden in a truck bed, he says.

Just days before VOA’s visit, Ahmed says his men captured a suspected IS member who had jumped off his vehicle and tried to skirt the checkpoint by foot.

“I sent two groups of troops.  Some took the vehicle, the others went by foot,” Ahmed explains.  “When [the suspect] saw the first troops coming in front, he tried to run backwards, and he ran into the second group.”

Blending in

In Bossaso itself, security appears tight, with police and soldiers riding pickup trucks, maintaining a visible presence on the streets.  But authorities admit extremist cells are in the town, blending into the civilian population.  There have been two attacks on police posts in Bossaso this year, killing a handful of officers.

“As a normal person you can’t distinguish them from the rest of the people, and if they have the intention to do something, they do it and run away,” says Colonel Abdul Hakim Yusuf Hussein, the police commissioner for Puntland’s Bari region, which includes Bossaso.

While it’s unclear exactly who carried out the two recent incidents, police have set up new checkpoints and conduct night operations in the city to round up potential troublemakers.

Hussein says al-Shabab members are shifting north to escape military pressure in southern Somalia, and gain access to weapons smuggled by sea across the Gulf of Aden from war-torn Yemen.

But Hussein downplayed the overall extremist threat, noting that IS, which briefly captured a town east of Bossaso in 2016, now only has between 40 and 50 fighters, not enough to launch large offensives.  He said smaller grenade or gun attacks are merely a way for extremists to say “We are still here.”

Bossaso remains calmer than Somalia’s capital Mogadishu in the south, where deadly explosions are common.  Attacks in Bossaso target security forces and officials, a contrast to large bombings in Mogadishu that mostly kill civilians.

During a walk with police through a busy market, VOA spoke to shopkeepers like Ali Mahmoud, who said security was fine in the city.

“You can come across an accident or an incident, but there is no big threat that we now fear,” he said.

Even so, as long as extremists remain in the countryside with access to weapons, Bossaso is not completely safe.
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