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Month: June 2018
Africa 54
We are live. Join us and let us know from what part of the world you are watching us.
…
Despite Fears, No Racism Midway Through Russia’s World Cup
Senegalese computer scientist Alioune Ndiaye’s fears that he might face racist abuse at the soccer World Cup in Russia have not materialized. Nor have other foreign fans’ fears.
Midway through the month-long tournament, no major racist incidents have been reported among players and fans despite concerns in the run-up that the World Cup could be tarnished by racism.
International rights groups that sounded the alarm over a series of racist incidents at soccer matches in the months preceding the tournament have said that the World Cup experience in Russia has so far been generally positive.
“What I found in Russia is very different to what they told me before coming here,” Ndiaye, the Senegalese fan, said outside the stadium in the city of Samara, where his country’s side lost 1-0 to Colombia on Thursday.
“When I told people ‘I am going to Russia’ … they said ‘Oh, no, be careful’ and stuff like that. But people in Russia are very welcoming, very kind and I don’t see anything like racism here.”
Russia had pledged to host a safe and secure World Cup in 11 cities, including for visible minorities. But racist incidents at matches between Russian Premier League clubs and at an international friendly earlier this year fueled concern that players and fans could be subjected to abuse.
CSKA Moscow fans chanted racist abuse at Arsenal’s black players several times during a Europa League match in April in Moscow, while FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, fined Russia one month before the World Cup for racist abuse directed at French players during the friendly in March.
But at the World Cup, fans and rights groups say the mood is different.
“We are all together with them,” said Senegalese fan Bigue Thombane of Russian fans as she banged on a drum outside the stadium in Samara. “There is nothing. No racism at all. Truly.”
Piara Powar, the head of the FARE network, an organisation that monitors discrimination in European soccer, said it had not recorded a single significant incident involving Russian far-right hooligans or any racist incidents involving Russian fans.
“There has been nothing on a major scale and nothing from Russians,” Powar said. “That was one of the concerns of course coming into the tournament. So that’s all good news from our point of view.”
The world is watching
Referees at the World Cup have the power to stop, suspend of abandon a match in the event of discriminatory incidents. They have not done this so far in the tournament.
But the absence of major racist incidents does not mean that the group stage of the World Cup has been without problems related to discrimination.
FIFA fined Mexico for homophobic chants by their fans. Denmark was fined for a sexist banner, and some women at the tournament have been targeted by discriminatory behavior. Poland and Serbia were also fined for “political and offensive” banners displayed by their fans.
Powar said that the absence of racist incidents did not come as a major surprise given Russia’s and citizens’ efforts to project a positive image of the country to foreign guests.
“We know that during the World Cup period, the population sort of understand that they are in the spotlight,” Powar said. “The world is watching.”
Alexei Smertin, the Russian Football Union’s anti-discrimination inspector, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
With the knockout stage beginning on Saturday, fans from the 16 remaining teams are eager for the tournament to remain racism-free.
“They see us around and they ask whether we need anything,” said Colombian fan Hernan Garcia. “No racism at all so far. It has been an amazing experience.”
…
Despite Fears, No Racism Midway Through Russia’s World Cup
Senegalese computer scientist Alioune Ndiaye’s fears that he might face racist abuse at the soccer World Cup in Russia have not materialized. Nor have other foreign fans’ fears.
Midway through the month-long tournament, no major racist incidents have been reported among players and fans despite concerns in the run-up that the World Cup could be tarnished by racism.
International rights groups that sounded the alarm over a series of racist incidents at soccer matches in the months preceding the tournament have said that the World Cup experience in Russia has so far been generally positive.
“What I found in Russia is very different to what they told me before coming here,” Ndiaye, the Senegalese fan, said outside the stadium in the city of Samara, where his country’s side lost 1-0 to Colombia on Thursday.
“When I told people ‘I am going to Russia’ … they said ‘Oh, no, be careful’ and stuff like that. But people in Russia are very welcoming, very kind and I don’t see anything like racism here.”
Russia had pledged to host a safe and secure World Cup in 11 cities, including for visible minorities. But racist incidents at matches between Russian Premier League clubs and at an international friendly earlier this year fueled concern that players and fans could be subjected to abuse.
CSKA Moscow fans chanted racist abuse at Arsenal’s black players several times during a Europa League match in April in Moscow, while FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, fined Russia one month before the World Cup for racist abuse directed at French players during the friendly in March.
But at the World Cup, fans and rights groups say the mood is different.
“We are all together with them,” said Senegalese fan Bigue Thombane of Russian fans as she banged on a drum outside the stadium in Samara. “There is nothing. No racism at all. Truly.”
Piara Powar, the head of the FARE network, an organisation that monitors discrimination in European soccer, said it had not recorded a single significant incident involving Russian far-right hooligans or any racist incidents involving Russian fans.
“There has been nothing on a major scale and nothing from Russians,” Powar said. “That was one of the concerns of course coming into the tournament. So that’s all good news from our point of view.”
The world is watching
Referees at the World Cup have the power to stop, suspend of abandon a match in the event of discriminatory incidents. They have not done this so far in the tournament.
But the absence of major racist incidents does not mean that the group stage of the World Cup has been without problems related to discrimination.
FIFA fined Mexico for homophobic chants by their fans. Denmark was fined for a sexist banner, and some women at the tournament have been targeted by discriminatory behavior. Poland and Serbia were also fined for “political and offensive” banners displayed by their fans.
Powar said that the absence of racist incidents did not come as a major surprise given Russia’s and citizens’ efforts to project a positive image of the country to foreign guests.
“We know that during the World Cup period, the population sort of understand that they are in the spotlight,” Powar said. “The world is watching.”
Alexei Smertin, the Russian Football Union’s anti-discrimination inspector, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
With the knockout stage beginning on Saturday, fans from the 16 remaining teams are eager for the tournament to remain racism-free.
“They see us around and they ask whether we need anything,” said Colombian fan Hernan Garcia. “No racism at all so far. It has been an amazing experience.”
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Will Trump-Putin Summit Be Chemistry Vs Substance?
Summit meetings can change the world. Back in the 1970s, West German Chancellor Willy Brandt used to say that it was of the highest importance for leaders to “get a smell of each other.” Chemistry between leaders was a useful factor in soothing fractious relations, he thought.
On July 16, U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, will hold their first official summit — in Finland’s capital — just days after the U.S. leader is scheduled to hold meetings with NATO, an alliance that has been in his crosshairs. The timing of the meetings gives Europe the opportunity to shape what the U.S. leader may seek from the summit.
Helsinki is no stranger to encounters between U.S. and Russian heads of state; but, the summit will rank as one of the oddest, say analysts, coming against the backdrop of probes into the actions of the U.S. president’s election advisers amid claims they colluded with Moscow’s interference in the 2016 White House race.
Trump’s domestic foes fault him for shying away from criticizing Putin personally, arguing it gives credence to claims made by a former British spy that the Kremlin holds compromising information on the U.S. president. Trump has angrily dismissed the claims.
The U.S. leader has said in the past that “getting along with Russia [and others] is a good thing, not a bad thing” to explain why he wants to improve relations with Moscow.
Not since the Cold War have relations between the West and Moscow been so fraught with clashes over Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and its pro-separatist operations in eastern Ukraine, as well as its military intervention in Syria.
NATO, cybersecurity
There also have been disputes over the nuclear arms treaties, NATO policy, and cybersecurity. And in the crowded battlefield of northern Syria, there was blood-drawing when U.S. artillery bombardments and airstrikes killed an estimated 200 Russians, in an assault still shrouded in mystery.
Much hangs on this summit. Arms control and other security issues will figure as the main topics of discussion, according to U.S. and Russian officials, who say Ukraine and Syria will be discussed as well. Both sides are playing down the likelihood of any breakthroughs.
But it apparently is a summit more than most built around the importance of the leaders themselves, and less on a detailed and actionable agenda. It has not been preceded by a long period of behind-the-scenes diplomatic negotiations to flush out the minutiae of a pre-agreed deal.
“The format reflects both leaders’ preference for bold, big-brushstroke meetings,” said a British diplomat, adding it is similar in nature and conception to the summit in Singapore earlier in June with Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. “And it may be more art than deal,” he added.
Trump and Putin are not alone in being attracted to high-profile, symbolic encounters.
“Summit meetings are especially alluring to alpha types who relish new challenges,” British academics David Reynolds and Kristina Spohr wrote in a recent article for CAM magazine, a Cambridge University publication. But they also warn parleying at such high-profile encounters is “a high-risk business.”
Can personal chemistry be a substitute for substance when foreign leaders sit down to negotiate disputes? Is there a danger in placing too much hope on the personal ties leaders forge at symbolic summits?
Political precedents
In 1972, President Richard Nixon made a largely symbolic visit to China to talk with Mao Zedong in a bid to kickstart efforts to resolve the sharp differences between two highly antagonistic powers. Little of immediate substance was achieved but few doubt the trip was a success, paving the way for the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between Washington and Beijing seven years later.
Analysts and former diplomats point to another Nixon trip in 1972 as a better and less risky model for summitry — his trip to then-Soviet Russia, becoming the first U.S. president to enter the Kremlin. That trip saw Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev toasting each other in St. Vladimir’s Hall. It was preceded by painstaking negotiations, led by then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Even before Nixon set foot in Russia, Washington and Moscow had pre-agreed on 10 deals covering strategic arms limitation, trade, technology and cultural relations.
A former British ambassador to Russia, Andrew Wood, says summits “need something concrete to talk about and it is difficult to know what that concrete is — you can’t just talk in the abstract about Ukraine or the damage Russian military activities have done in Syria.”
He notes that in recent years, U.S. and Russian leaders have talked and “there has been wild-eyed optimism about what could happen and it has been disappointing and I see no reason why this meeting should be any different.”
The U.S. ambassador to Moscow, Jon Huntsman, cautioned in an exclusive interview with VOA shortly after Putin was re-elected as president in April against thinking in terms of a reset with Russia, saying a sudden breakthrough is unrealistic — advice he clearly has been giving to Trump.
“The resets and the redos of years gone by, both Republicans and Democrats, always end in disaster,” he told VOA. “They heighten expectations to the point of our inability to achieve any of those expectations. Hopes are dashed. Relationships crumble. We’ve seen that over and over again.”
He added it is important to maintain a dialogue and look for “natural openings to build trust in small ways.”
Putin’s agenda
Both the Russian and U.S. governments have differences of opinion among their officials — some are more dovish; others more hawk-like. And in the run-up to the July summit, there will be behind-the-scenes debates galore within both governments about tactics, strategies and goals for the meeting.
Last April, then-CIA director Mike Pompeo, during a hearing on his nomination to be U.S. secretary of state, told a Senate panel that he favored a tough approach toward Russia. In the Kremlin there also are disagreements. A Kremlin insider earlier this year told VOA that many in the Russian government, including Putin, suspect there’s a permanent fracture between Russia and the West, which cannot be repaired. “Some people in the Kremlin hoped it would be different with Donald Trump. But I wasn’t holding my breath,” the insider said.
The question now is, if the insider is right, whether Putin has changed his mind and sees a summit as an opening that could help usher in a general improvement in Russia-West relations.
Some European diplomats say they are skeptical, arguing Putin has a clear game plan to persuade Trump to acknowledge that the annexation of Crimea is now irreversible by easing sanctions. The quid pro quo for that could be a Russian acceptance for the pro-Moscow Donbas region to be reintegrated with the rest of Ukraine.
Others said they believe Putin will be looking to Washington to help Russia cope with post-war Syria, which will need an estimated $250 billion in reconstruction costs. “Either way, by holding a summit with him, Trump is normalizing Putin — and without getting anything up front,” said a British diplomat.
A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, dismissed the British charge.
“Of all countries, shouldn’t the British want lines of communication open? Wasn’t it Churchill who said, ‘Jaw-jaw is better than war-war?'” The official was referring to the quote popularly attributed to the late British prime minister, Winston Churchill.
…
Will Trump-Putin Summit Be Chemistry Vs Substance?
Summit meetings can change the world. Back in the 1970s, West German Chancellor Willy Brandt used to say that it was of the highest importance for leaders to “get a smell of each other.” Chemistry between leaders was a useful factor in soothing fractious relations, he thought.
On July 16, U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, will hold their first official summit — in Finland’s capital — just days after the U.S. leader is scheduled to hold meetings with NATO, an alliance that has been in his crosshairs. The timing of the meetings gives Europe the opportunity to shape what the U.S. leader may seek from the summit.
Helsinki is no stranger to encounters between U.S. and Russian heads of state; but, the summit will rank as one of the oddest, say analysts, coming against the backdrop of probes into the actions of the U.S. president’s election advisers amid claims they colluded with Moscow’s interference in the 2016 White House race.
Trump’s domestic foes fault him for shying away from criticizing Putin personally, arguing it gives credence to claims made by a former British spy that the Kremlin holds compromising information on the U.S. president. Trump has angrily dismissed the claims.
The U.S. leader has said in the past that “getting along with Russia [and others] is a good thing, not a bad thing” to explain why he wants to improve relations with Moscow.
Not since the Cold War have relations between the West and Moscow been so fraught with clashes over Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and its pro-separatist operations in eastern Ukraine, as well as its military intervention in Syria.
NATO, cybersecurity
There also have been disputes over the nuclear arms treaties, NATO policy, and cybersecurity. And in the crowded battlefield of northern Syria, there was blood-drawing when U.S. artillery bombardments and airstrikes killed an estimated 200 Russians, in an assault still shrouded in mystery.
Much hangs on this summit. Arms control and other security issues will figure as the main topics of discussion, according to U.S. and Russian officials, who say Ukraine and Syria will be discussed as well. Both sides are playing down the likelihood of any breakthroughs.
But it apparently is a summit more than most built around the importance of the leaders themselves, and less on a detailed and actionable agenda. It has not been preceded by a long period of behind-the-scenes diplomatic negotiations to flush out the minutiae of a pre-agreed deal.
“The format reflects both leaders’ preference for bold, big-brushstroke meetings,” said a British diplomat, adding it is similar in nature and conception to the summit in Singapore earlier in June with Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. “And it may be more art than deal,” he added.
Trump and Putin are not alone in being attracted to high-profile, symbolic encounters.
“Summit meetings are especially alluring to alpha types who relish new challenges,” British academics David Reynolds and Kristina Spohr wrote in a recent article for CAM magazine, a Cambridge University publication. But they also warn parleying at such high-profile encounters is “a high-risk business.”
Can personal chemistry be a substitute for substance when foreign leaders sit down to negotiate disputes? Is there a danger in placing too much hope on the personal ties leaders forge at symbolic summits?
Political precedents
In 1972, President Richard Nixon made a largely symbolic visit to China to talk with Mao Zedong in a bid to kickstart efforts to resolve the sharp differences between two highly antagonistic powers. Little of immediate substance was achieved but few doubt the trip was a success, paving the way for the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between Washington and Beijing seven years later.
Analysts and former diplomats point to another Nixon trip in 1972 as a better and less risky model for summitry — his trip to then-Soviet Russia, becoming the first U.S. president to enter the Kremlin. That trip saw Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev toasting each other in St. Vladimir’s Hall. It was preceded by painstaking negotiations, led by then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Even before Nixon set foot in Russia, Washington and Moscow had pre-agreed on 10 deals covering strategic arms limitation, trade, technology and cultural relations.
A former British ambassador to Russia, Andrew Wood, says summits “need something concrete to talk about and it is difficult to know what that concrete is — you can’t just talk in the abstract about Ukraine or the damage Russian military activities have done in Syria.”
He notes that in recent years, U.S. and Russian leaders have talked and “there has been wild-eyed optimism about what could happen and it has been disappointing and I see no reason why this meeting should be any different.”
The U.S. ambassador to Moscow, Jon Huntsman, cautioned in an exclusive interview with VOA shortly after Putin was re-elected as president in April against thinking in terms of a reset with Russia, saying a sudden breakthrough is unrealistic — advice he clearly has been giving to Trump.
“The resets and the redos of years gone by, both Republicans and Democrats, always end in disaster,” he told VOA. “They heighten expectations to the point of our inability to achieve any of those expectations. Hopes are dashed. Relationships crumble. We’ve seen that over and over again.”
He added it is important to maintain a dialogue and look for “natural openings to build trust in small ways.”
Putin’s agenda
Both the Russian and U.S. governments have differences of opinion among their officials — some are more dovish; others more hawk-like. And in the run-up to the July summit, there will be behind-the-scenes debates galore within both governments about tactics, strategies and goals for the meeting.
Last April, then-CIA director Mike Pompeo, during a hearing on his nomination to be U.S. secretary of state, told a Senate panel that he favored a tough approach toward Russia. In the Kremlin there also are disagreements. A Kremlin insider earlier this year told VOA that many in the Russian government, including Putin, suspect there’s a permanent fracture between Russia and the West, which cannot be repaired. “Some people in the Kremlin hoped it would be different with Donald Trump. But I wasn’t holding my breath,” the insider said.
The question now is, if the insider is right, whether Putin has changed his mind and sees a summit as an opening that could help usher in a general improvement in Russia-West relations.
Some European diplomats say they are skeptical, arguing Putin has a clear game plan to persuade Trump to acknowledge that the annexation of Crimea is now irreversible by easing sanctions. The quid pro quo for that could be a Russian acceptance for the pro-Moscow Donbas region to be reintegrated with the rest of Ukraine.
Others said they believe Putin will be looking to Washington to help Russia cope with post-war Syria, which will need an estimated $250 billion in reconstruction costs. “Either way, by holding a summit with him, Trump is normalizing Putin — and without getting anything up front,” said a British diplomat.
A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, dismissed the British charge.
“Of all countries, shouldn’t the British want lines of communication open? Wasn’t it Churchill who said, ‘Jaw-jaw is better than war-war?'” The official was referring to the quote popularly attributed to the late British prime minister, Winston Churchill.
…
US’ Pompeo, Saudi Arabia’s Al Falih Meet, Discuss Energy Security
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed energy security at a meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid Al Falih on Friday in Washington, the department said.
No other details were provided in a department statement.
The United States has pushed for Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries to add to oil supply to counter the U.S. effort to isolate Iran through renewed sanctions.
Saudi Arabia, the biggest oil producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, said it wants to boost production to 11 million barrels a day to offset declining exports from Iran.
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US’ Pompeo, Saudi Arabia’s Al Falih Meet, Discuss Energy Security
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed energy security at a meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid Al Falih on Friday in Washington, the department said.
No other details were provided in a department statement.
The United States has pushed for Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries to add to oil supply to counter the U.S. effort to isolate Iran through renewed sanctions.
Saudi Arabia, the biggest oil producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, said it wants to boost production to 11 million barrels a day to offset declining exports from Iran.
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No Rule Change Seen After World Cup ‘Non-Games’
After some final World Cup group matches seemed to turn into “non-games” with teams barely playing or seeming unwilling to score, FIFA said on Friday it had no plan to change rules or how the draw is made.
On Thursday, Japan’s 1-0 defeat by Poland turned to farce as the Japanese, level on points, goal difference and goals with Senegal, defended their advantage on FIFA’s fair play criteria by effectively stopping playing — thereby avoiding picking up bookings or red cards that would have jeopardized their second-place finish.
Later, the England v Belgium match was overshadowed by talk that, being both sure of qualifying for the next round, neither wanted to win since the group winners face a potentially tougher route to final than the runners-up. Fans found the tempo sluggish and England seemed less than desperate after Belgium scored.
Had England equalized they would have finished first, as they started with fewer yellow cards, while Belgium had also picked up more bookings during the course of the match.
FIFA’s World Cup chief executive Colin Smith said the fair play criteria for group qualification would be reviewed after its first use at the World Cup but he believed it would not change. And he defended the level of competitive intent seen among the teams involved in the past few days’ matches.
“This is the first World Cup that we’ve brought in this rule,” Smith told reporters of the law that saw Japan advance as Group H runners-up ahead of Senegal because they had the same points, goal difference and goal tally but had picked up fewer yellow cards.
“Obviously what we want to avoid is the drawing of lots. We believe that teams should go forward on their performance. “We will review after this World Cup,” he said. “But as it currently stands we don’t see any need to change the rules we’ve put in place.”
Smith acknowledged that there had been comment about the final minutes of the Japan game.
“But these are isolated cases because they find themselves in a particular scenario after goal difference and the various points that have been met,” he said. “The game of football for the fans is a competitive game of football and the fans who have paid money to come and watch matches expect to see that — and I think we have seen that.”
Asked whether there was a way to avoid teams trying to come second by making a new draw after the group phase, Smith said: “Redoing the draw is obviously very difficult from the whole logistical, organizational point [of view].”
Echoing comments by England coach Gareth Southgate, he said: “If Belgium didn’t want to win then they obviously forgot to tell the goalscorer — because it was a cracker.”
“We believe on our side that every game is a competitive game of football and teams want to win.”
…
No Rule Change Seen After World Cup ‘Non-Games’
After some final World Cup group matches seemed to turn into “non-games” with teams barely playing or seeming unwilling to score, FIFA said on Friday it had no plan to change rules or how the draw is made.
On Thursday, Japan’s 1-0 defeat by Poland turned to farce as the Japanese, level on points, goal difference and goals with Senegal, defended their advantage on FIFA’s fair play criteria by effectively stopping playing — thereby avoiding picking up bookings or red cards that would have jeopardized their second-place finish.
Later, the England v Belgium match was overshadowed by talk that, being both sure of qualifying for the next round, neither wanted to win since the group winners face a potentially tougher route to final than the runners-up. Fans found the tempo sluggish and England seemed less than desperate after Belgium scored.
Had England equalized they would have finished first, as they started with fewer yellow cards, while Belgium had also picked up more bookings during the course of the match.
FIFA’s World Cup chief executive Colin Smith said the fair play criteria for group qualification would be reviewed after its first use at the World Cup but he believed it would not change. And he defended the level of competitive intent seen among the teams involved in the past few days’ matches.
“This is the first World Cup that we’ve brought in this rule,” Smith told reporters of the law that saw Japan advance as Group H runners-up ahead of Senegal because they had the same points, goal difference and goal tally but had picked up fewer yellow cards.
“Obviously what we want to avoid is the drawing of lots. We believe that teams should go forward on their performance. “We will review after this World Cup,” he said. “But as it currently stands we don’t see any need to change the rules we’ve put in place.”
Smith acknowledged that there had been comment about the final minutes of the Japan game.
“But these are isolated cases because they find themselves in a particular scenario after goal difference and the various points that have been met,” he said. “The game of football for the fans is a competitive game of football and the fans who have paid money to come and watch matches expect to see that — and I think we have seen that.”
Asked whether there was a way to avoid teams trying to come second by making a new draw after the group phase, Smith said: “Redoing the draw is obviously very difficult from the whole logistical, organizational point [of view].”
Echoing comments by England coach Gareth Southgate, he said: “If Belgium didn’t want to win then they obviously forgot to tell the goalscorer — because it was a cracker.”
“We believe on our side that every game is a competitive game of football and teams want to win.”
…
UN envoy: Yemen’s Warring Parties Willing to Restart Talks
Yemen’s warring parties have confirmed their willingness to restart negotiations after a two-year hiatus, the U.N. special envoy for Yemen said even as fighting raged along the country’s west coast over a key port city.
Martin Griffiths told the U.N. radio late on Thursday that he plans to bring Yemen’s Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, and the country’s internationally recognized government backed by a Saudi-led coalition to the negotiating table within the next few weeks “at the very latest.”
He said he hopes the U.N. Security Council will come up with a plan next week and present it to the Yemenis.
Griffiths has been talking to both sides to prevent an all-out bloodbath in Hodeida, which is a lifeline for Yemen’s population.
He visited Yemen’s President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi in the southern city of Aden, and he also met with the Houthis’ chief negotiator Mohammed Abdul-Salam. He said he expects more talks with the Houthi side to take place within the next few days over the start of negotiations.
Griffiths attributed a lull in the fighting Friday “to the discussions we have been having with the parties.”
Earlier this month, Yemeni forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition launched an offensive to retake Hodeida. Fighting has been concentrated at and around the city’s airport, threatening to worsen Yemen’s humanitarian situation.
Aid groups have repeatedly voiced fears that a protracted fight could shut down the port and potentially tip millions of people into starvation.
Recently, the Houthis offered to have the United Nations manage Hodeida’s port, pending “an overall cease-fire” in the rebel-held city. This has been accepted by both sides, Griffiths said, adding that the U.N. role would begin “as soon as the parties” formally agree.
The civil war in impoverished Yemen has raged unabated since March 2015.
…
UN envoy: Yemen’s Warring Parties Willing to Restart Talks
Yemen’s warring parties have confirmed their willingness to restart negotiations after a two-year hiatus, the U.N. special envoy for Yemen said even as fighting raged along the country’s west coast over a key port city.
Martin Griffiths told the U.N. radio late on Thursday that he plans to bring Yemen’s Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, and the country’s internationally recognized government backed by a Saudi-led coalition to the negotiating table within the next few weeks “at the very latest.”
He said he hopes the U.N. Security Council will come up with a plan next week and present it to the Yemenis.
Griffiths has been talking to both sides to prevent an all-out bloodbath in Hodeida, which is a lifeline for Yemen’s population.
He visited Yemen’s President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi in the southern city of Aden, and he also met with the Houthis’ chief negotiator Mohammed Abdul-Salam. He said he expects more talks with the Houthi side to take place within the next few days over the start of negotiations.
Griffiths attributed a lull in the fighting Friday “to the discussions we have been having with the parties.”
Earlier this month, Yemeni forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition launched an offensive to retake Hodeida. Fighting has been concentrated at and around the city’s airport, threatening to worsen Yemen’s humanitarian situation.
Aid groups have repeatedly voiced fears that a protracted fight could shut down the port and potentially tip millions of people into starvation.
Recently, the Houthis offered to have the United Nations manage Hodeida’s port, pending “an overall cease-fire” in the rebel-held city. This has been accepted by both sides, Griffiths said, adding that the U.N. role would begin “as soon as the parties” formally agree.
The civil war in impoverished Yemen has raged unabated since March 2015.
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US Candidate Loses Race to Lead UN Migration Policy
Ken Isaacs, the U.S. nominee to lead the U.N. migration agency, was knocked out of the race on Friday after coming third behind Portugal’s Antonio Vitorino and Costa Rica’s Laura Thompson in a secret ballot of member states in Geneva, delegates said.
Isaacs, vice president of U.S. evangelical charity Samaritan’s Purse, had caused controversy after being forced to apologize for tweets and social media posts in which he disparaged Muslims.
your ad hereUS Candidate Loses Race to Lead UN Migration Policy
Ken Isaacs, the U.S. nominee to lead the U.N. migration agency, was knocked out of the race on Friday after coming third behind Portugal’s Antonio Vitorino and Costa Rica’s Laura Thompson in a secret ballot of member states in Geneva, delegates said.
Isaacs, vice president of U.S. evangelical charity Samaritan’s Purse, had caused controversy after being forced to apologize for tweets and social media posts in which he disparaged Muslims.
your ad hereEU, US Extend Sanctions Against Russia
European leaders have agreed to extend their sanctions against Russia for its 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula. The EU leaders said in statement Friday the sanctions have been extended for six months.
The decision was made at the leaders’ summit in Brussels after they had a “very short discussion” on Ukraine, an anonymous source told AFP, the French news agency.
The United States, meanwhile, is also holding to sanctions against Russia for its 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.
The U.S. intelligence community also concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election to help Trump win the White House and special counsel Robert Mueller has already indicted Russian individuals and entities in a scheme to influence the vote.
Meanwhile, as the date and venue for President Donald Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin were announced, the U.S. leader continued to dismiss allegations that Moscow interfered with his 2016 election.
Trump has long disparaged the investigation of special counsel Robert Mueller into Trump campaign links with Russia as a “witch hunt,” but suggested in a new Twitter comment that he accepts Russian denials that it interfered.
“Russia continues to say they had nothing to do with Meddling in our Election!” Trump declared.
Trump’s view contrasted with a Wednesday comment by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, saying that when Trump and Putin meet, Trump is sure to warn the Russian leader that it is “completely unacceptable” to interfere in U.S. elections.
The July 16 talks between the two leaders in Helsinki will be their first full-fledged meeting after previous shorter encounters at international gatherings. They are occurring at a difficult time in Washington-Moscow relations.
But as the summit was announced, Trump railed against Mueller and his 13-month probe in a string of tweets, saying in one of them, “There was no collusion and there was no obstruction of the no collusion.”
The White House said Trump and Putin will discuss “a range of national security issues.” The Kremlin said the two leaders will talk about “the current state and prospects for development of Russian-U.S. relations.”
The Trump-Putin summit will come after the U.S. leader’s attendance at the July 11-12 NATO summit in Brussels and July 13 meetings with British Prime Minister Theresa May and Queen Elizabeth in London.
Despite the sanctions against Russia, Trump has, even in the face of opposition from Western allies, shown an inclination to foster better with relations with Putin. He suggested earlier this month that Russia should be readmitted to the G-7 conclave of leaders of some of the biggest world economies after Moscow was suspended from the group when it annexed Crimea.
Trump said Wednesday that “getting along with Russia and with China and with everybody is a very good thing.” Trump said he and Putin would discuss Syria, Ukraine and “many other subjects.”
As relations between the two countries have chilled, they have traded cuts in their diplomatic entourages.
Before he left office and Trump assumed power, former U.S. President Barack Obama ordered the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats and shut down two Russian recreational retreats in the U.S. in response to the election meddling. In a tit-for-tat action in mid-2017, Russia ordered the U.S. to cut 755 members of its embassy and consulate staffs in Russia.
Three months ago, the U.S. expelled 60 Russian officials from the U.S. and ordered the closure of the Russian consulate in the western city of Seattle in response to the Russian poisoning of former Moscow spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the British city of Salisbury.
your ad hereEU, US Extend Sanctions Against Russia
European leaders have agreed to extend their sanctions against Russia for its 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula. The EU leaders said in statement Friday the sanctions have been extended for six months.
The decision was made at the leaders’ summit in Brussels after they had a “very short discussion” on Ukraine, an anonymous source told AFP, the French news agency.
The United States, meanwhile, is also holding to sanctions against Russia for its 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.
The U.S. intelligence community also concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election to help Trump win the White House and special counsel Robert Mueller has already indicted Russian individuals and entities in a scheme to influence the vote.
Meanwhile, as the date and venue for President Donald Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin were announced, the U.S. leader continued to dismiss allegations that Moscow interfered with his 2016 election.
Trump has long disparaged the investigation of special counsel Robert Mueller into Trump campaign links with Russia as a “witch hunt,” but suggested in a new Twitter comment that he accepts Russian denials that it interfered.
“Russia continues to say they had nothing to do with Meddling in our Election!” Trump declared.
Trump’s view contrasted with a Wednesday comment by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, saying that when Trump and Putin meet, Trump is sure to warn the Russian leader that it is “completely unacceptable” to interfere in U.S. elections.
The July 16 talks between the two leaders in Helsinki will be their first full-fledged meeting after previous shorter encounters at international gatherings. They are occurring at a difficult time in Washington-Moscow relations.
But as the summit was announced, Trump railed against Mueller and his 13-month probe in a string of tweets, saying in one of them, “There was no collusion and there was no obstruction of the no collusion.”
The White House said Trump and Putin will discuss “a range of national security issues.” The Kremlin said the two leaders will talk about “the current state and prospects for development of Russian-U.S. relations.”
The Trump-Putin summit will come after the U.S. leader’s attendance at the July 11-12 NATO summit in Brussels and July 13 meetings with British Prime Minister Theresa May and Queen Elizabeth in London.
Despite the sanctions against Russia, Trump has, even in the face of opposition from Western allies, shown an inclination to foster better with relations with Putin. He suggested earlier this month that Russia should be readmitted to the G-7 conclave of leaders of some of the biggest world economies after Moscow was suspended from the group when it annexed Crimea.
Trump said Wednesday that “getting along with Russia and with China and with everybody is a very good thing.” Trump said he and Putin would discuss Syria, Ukraine and “many other subjects.”
As relations between the two countries have chilled, they have traded cuts in their diplomatic entourages.
Before he left office and Trump assumed power, former U.S. President Barack Obama ordered the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats and shut down two Russian recreational retreats in the U.S. in response to the election meddling. In a tit-for-tat action in mid-2017, Russia ordered the U.S. to cut 755 members of its embassy and consulate staffs in Russia.
Three months ago, the U.S. expelled 60 Russian officials from the U.S. and ordered the closure of the Russian consulate in the western city of Seattle in response to the Russian poisoning of former Moscow spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the British city of Salisbury.
your ad here5 Killed in Maryland Newspaper Attack
U.S. police are combing through the life of a gunman who possibly had a vendetta against an Annapolis, Maryland, newspaper when he opened fire killing five people and injuring two others at the office of the paper. Michael Brown reports for VOA.
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5 Killed in Maryland Newspaper Attack
U.S. police are combing through the life of a gunman who possibly had a vendetta against an Annapolis, Maryland, newspaper when he opened fire killing five people and injuring two others at the office of the paper. Michael Brown reports for VOA.
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Myanmar Downgraded on US Trafficking Report
The United States on Thursday declared Myanmar as among the world’s worst offenders in human trafficking, placing it alongside Iran, North Korea and Syria — countries the U.S. has long disparaged.
The U.S. State Department’s 2018 “Trafficking in Persons Report” downgraded Myanmar (also known as Burma) to the report’s lowest classification amid global criticism over human rights abuses by that country’s military against the minority Rohingya Muslims.
“Burma’s armed forces and others in the Rakhine State dislocated hundreds of thousands of Rohingya and members of other ethnic groups, many of whom were exploited through the region as a result,” said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Thursday.
“Some in the Burmese military also recruited child soldiers and subjected adults and children from ethnic minority groups to forced labor,” he added.
Annual report
The annual report evaluates 187 countries and assigns each one of four categories based on the country’s efforts to combat trafficking. Tier 1 is the best ranking, while Tier 3 is the worst. There are two middle ranks: Tier 2 and Tier 2 Watch List.
Countries placed in Tier 3 can be penalized with sanctions and limited access to the U.S. and international foreign assistance.
WATCH: Myanmar Joins Ranks of Worst Human Trafficking Countries
The U.S. urged Myanmar to cease all unlawful recruitment and use of children in the armed forces, ending its officials’ involvement in sex trafficking and forced labor, and to hold officials criminally accountable for these crimes.
The 2018 report’s “Topics of Special Interest” section also includes a lengthy narrative on the horrors of the institutionalization of children or removing them from family caregiving settings, amid recent controversy surrounding U.S. immigration policy.
“Children in institutional care, including government-run facilities, can be easy targets for traffickers. Even at their best, residential institutions are unable to meet a child’s need for emotional support that is typically received from family members or consistent caretakers with whom the child can develop an attachment,” said the report.
US and zero tolerance
U.S. President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy raised concerns over child welfare and an increase in trafficking. More than 2,000 children were reportedly separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border in recent weeks before the president signed an executive order halting the policy. Some were placed in government-contracted shelters hundreds of miles from their parents.
“There are two distinct crimes of human trafficking and migrant smuggling,” said a State Department official in a telephone briefing on Thursday, pointing out the State Department’s report focuses on human trafficking, which is a crime of exploitation of individuals. “Whereas smuggling is a crime against the state and the illegal crossing of a border entry into a country,” the official said.
The official referred questions on migrant smuggling to the Department of Homeland Security.
While “the State Department deserves credit for its comprehensive exposition on the horrors of institutionalizing children, detailing how removing children from family caregiving settings causes long-term emotional harm and mental health effects, and heightens risks of human trafficking,” John Sifton from Human Rights Watch said “it is an indictment of the Trump administration’s own policies with respect to asylum seekers and others seeking entry into the United States.”
“We hope [Ivanka] Trump and Secretary Pompeo can share it with other federal agencies and brief them about it in more detail,” Sifton added. Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, was at the State Department for the release of the report.
10 who make a difference
Also at Thursday’s release of the report — 10 men and women from around the world who were honored for their efforts to make a difference in the global fight against modern slavery, including Francisca Awah Mbuli, a survivor of human trafficking and the founding director of Survivors’ Network in Cameroon.
“There are limited resources available through international aid. That is why I made it my mission and my organization, Survivors’ Network’s mission, to build a grassroots movement in Africa to create an awareness program to prevent human trafficking,” said Mbuli.
“To prevent trafficking, people need vocational training to build skills so that they can work and become self-sufficient in their home countries,” she added.
Kim Jong-chul is the founder and former director of the Advocates for Public Interest Law in South Korea. He works as an attorney to ensure justice for victims of human trafficking.
Kim told VOA on Thursday that ordinary people and consumers should stop buying products made by companies that hire forced labor.
“We can put pressure on companies by saying that ‘I do not want to buy tainted products by human trafficking victims,’” Kim told VOA.
The report listed 21 other countries in the lowest Tier 3 category: Belarus, Belize, Bolivia, Burundi, China, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, Iran, North Korea, Laos, Mauritania, Papua New Guinea, Russia, South Sudan, Syria, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
Notably, Sudan was taken off last year’s Tier 3 blacklist and upgraded to Tier 2 Watch List, which is the second-to-worst ranking at a time of improved relations between Washington and Khartoum. Last October, the United States lifted long-standing economic sanctions on Sudan, citing the country’s progress in human rights.
…
Myanmar Downgraded on US Trafficking Report
The United States on Thursday declared Myanmar as among the world’s worst offenders in human trafficking, placing it alongside Iran, North Korea and Syria — countries the U.S. has long disparaged.
The U.S. State Department’s 2018 “Trafficking in Persons Report” downgraded Myanmar (also known as Burma) to the report’s lowest classification amid global criticism over human rights abuses by that country’s military against the minority Rohingya Muslims.
“Burma’s armed forces and others in the Rakhine State dislocated hundreds of thousands of Rohingya and members of other ethnic groups, many of whom were exploited through the region as a result,” said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Thursday.
“Some in the Burmese military also recruited child soldiers and subjected adults and children from ethnic minority groups to forced labor,” he added.
Annual report
The annual report evaluates 187 countries and assigns each one of four categories based on the country’s efforts to combat trafficking. Tier 1 is the best ranking, while Tier 3 is the worst. There are two middle ranks: Tier 2 and Tier 2 Watch List.
Countries placed in Tier 3 can be penalized with sanctions and limited access to the U.S. and international foreign assistance.
WATCH: Myanmar Joins Ranks of Worst Human Trafficking Countries
The U.S. urged Myanmar to cease all unlawful recruitment and use of children in the armed forces, ending its officials’ involvement in sex trafficking and forced labor, and to hold officials criminally accountable for these crimes.
The 2018 report’s “Topics of Special Interest” section also includes a lengthy narrative on the horrors of the institutionalization of children or removing them from family caregiving settings, amid recent controversy surrounding U.S. immigration policy.
“Children in institutional care, including government-run facilities, can be easy targets for traffickers. Even at their best, residential institutions are unable to meet a child’s need for emotional support that is typically received from family members or consistent caretakers with whom the child can develop an attachment,” said the report.
US and zero tolerance
U.S. President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy raised concerns over child welfare and an increase in trafficking. More than 2,000 children were reportedly separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border in recent weeks before the president signed an executive order halting the policy. Some were placed in government-contracted shelters hundreds of miles from their parents.
“There are two distinct crimes of human trafficking and migrant smuggling,” said a State Department official in a telephone briefing on Thursday, pointing out the State Department’s report focuses on human trafficking, which is a crime of exploitation of individuals. “Whereas smuggling is a crime against the state and the illegal crossing of a border entry into a country,” the official said.
The official referred questions on migrant smuggling to the Department of Homeland Security.
While “the State Department deserves credit for its comprehensive exposition on the horrors of institutionalizing children, detailing how removing children from family caregiving settings causes long-term emotional harm and mental health effects, and heightens risks of human trafficking,” John Sifton from Human Rights Watch said “it is an indictment of the Trump administration’s own policies with respect to asylum seekers and others seeking entry into the United States.”
“We hope [Ivanka] Trump and Secretary Pompeo can share it with other federal agencies and brief them about it in more detail,” Sifton added. Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, was at the State Department for the release of the report.
10 who make a difference
Also at Thursday’s release of the report — 10 men and women from around the world who were honored for their efforts to make a difference in the global fight against modern slavery, including Francisca Awah Mbuli, a survivor of human trafficking and the founding director of Survivors’ Network in Cameroon.
“There are limited resources available through international aid. That is why I made it my mission and my organization, Survivors’ Network’s mission, to build a grassroots movement in Africa to create an awareness program to prevent human trafficking,” said Mbuli.
“To prevent trafficking, people need vocational training to build skills so that they can work and become self-sufficient in their home countries,” she added.
Kim Jong-chul is the founder and former director of the Advocates for Public Interest Law in South Korea. He works as an attorney to ensure justice for victims of human trafficking.
Kim told VOA on Thursday that ordinary people and consumers should stop buying products made by companies that hire forced labor.
“We can put pressure on companies by saying that ‘I do not want to buy tainted products by human trafficking victims,’” Kim told VOA.
The report listed 21 other countries in the lowest Tier 3 category: Belarus, Belize, Bolivia, Burundi, China, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, Iran, North Korea, Laos, Mauritania, Papua New Guinea, Russia, South Sudan, Syria, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
Notably, Sudan was taken off last year’s Tier 3 blacklist and upgraded to Tier 2 Watch List, which is the second-to-worst ranking at a time of improved relations between Washington and Khartoum. Last October, the United States lifted long-standing economic sanctions on Sudan, citing the country’s progress in human rights.
…
Myanmar Joins the Ranks of Worst Human Trafficking Countries
The U.S. State Department says Myanmar has joined the ranks of China, Russia, South Sudan, Syria, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela and others as the worst offenders in the world for human trafficking and forced labor. But the State Department also recognized 10 heroes who have dedicated their lives to ending the scourge of modern slavery. VOA’s diplomatic correspondent Cindy Saine has more from Washington.
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Myanmar Joins the Ranks of Worst Human Trafficking Countries
The U.S. State Department says Myanmar has joined the ranks of China, Russia, South Sudan, Syria, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela and others as the worst offenders in the world for human trafficking and forced labor. But the State Department also recognized 10 heroes who have dedicated their lives to ending the scourge of modern slavery. VOA’s diplomatic correspondent Cindy Saine has more from Washington.
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Relative Says Iran’s Forces Killed Iranian Kurd Near Border
A relative of an Iranian Kurdish porter carrying goods into Iran from Iraq says Iranian security forces shot and killed him as he was crossing a mountain footpath near the border on Wednesday.
The family member who spoke to VOA Persian said Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) troops shot Shwaneh Mahmoudzadeh, 19, on the Iranian side of the border, west of the town of Sardasht. The relative said Mahmoudzadeh was carrying goods from Iraqi Kurdistan to sell in northwestern Iran’s predominantly Kurdish region.
Iranian Kurdish porters, known locally as kolbars, have carried goods across mountain footpaths between the two countries for years. The practice is one of the only sources of income in the region, which is among Iran’s most impoverished.
The family member also sent VOA Persian an image of a memorial poster containing a photo of Mahmoudzadeh and details of memorial events scheduled for Thursday and Friday in the town of Piranshahr, where he was from.
The poster did not specify what caused his death. Family members have been reluctant to publicize such information, fearing reprisals from Iranian security forces who they say warn them against speaking out about the shootings of kolbars.
Kolbars have told VOA Persian that IRGC forces have defended such shootings by saying they mistook the porters for Iranian Kurdish militants who are active in the region. But the kolbars have said there is no accountability for the shootings, with the IRGC forces involved in the incidents being transferred to other locations.
Iranian security forces began to block the footpaths used by kolbars in December, with local officials saying they acted at the request of Iraq to bring order to border trade and preserve security in border areas. Many residents have rejected that explanation because of what they see as Tehran’s deep influence over Iraqi affairs.
This report was produced in collaboration with VOA’s Persian service. Michael Lipin reported from Washington.
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Relative Says Iran’s Forces Killed Iranian Kurd Near Border
A relative of an Iranian Kurdish porter carrying goods into Iran from Iraq says Iranian security forces shot and killed him as he was crossing a mountain footpath near the border on Wednesday.
The family member who spoke to VOA Persian said Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) troops shot Shwaneh Mahmoudzadeh, 19, on the Iranian side of the border, west of the town of Sardasht. The relative said Mahmoudzadeh was carrying goods from Iraqi Kurdistan to sell in northwestern Iran’s predominantly Kurdish region.
Iranian Kurdish porters, known locally as kolbars, have carried goods across mountain footpaths between the two countries for years. The practice is one of the only sources of income in the region, which is among Iran’s most impoverished.
The family member also sent VOA Persian an image of a memorial poster containing a photo of Mahmoudzadeh and details of memorial events scheduled for Thursday and Friday in the town of Piranshahr, where he was from.
The poster did not specify what caused his death. Family members have been reluctant to publicize such information, fearing reprisals from Iranian security forces who they say warn them against speaking out about the shootings of kolbars.
Kolbars have told VOA Persian that IRGC forces have defended such shootings by saying they mistook the porters for Iranian Kurdish militants who are active in the region. But the kolbars have said there is no accountability for the shootings, with the IRGC forces involved in the incidents being transferred to other locations.
Iranian security forces began to block the footpaths used by kolbars in December, with local officials saying they acted at the request of Iraq to bring order to border trade and preserve security in border areas. Many residents have rejected that explanation because of what they see as Tehran’s deep influence over Iraqi affairs.
This report was produced in collaboration with VOA’s Persian service. Michael Lipin reported from Washington.
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