Hundreds Protest Currency Slump in Central Iran’s Isfahan

Hundreds of Iranians joined a street protest Tuesday in the central city of Isfahan to denounce the government’s handling of economic problems, including the record low value of Iran’s currency.

Images verified by VOA Persian and sent by Isfahan residents showed protesters marching and chanting anti-government slogans in the city’s New Shapur district.

Residents said they were protesting the rial’s slump to a record low against the U.S. dollar in unofficial trading this week, a decline that has raised prices for many imported products. They said the demonstration also was an expression of anger about electricity outages plaguing Isfahan in the middle of the hot summer season. 

In one video clip, marchers in the New Shapur district chanted: “No to Gaza, No to Lebanon — I give my life to Iran,” a common refrain of many anti-government protests across Iran this year. It is a reference to many Iranians’ disapproval of the country’s Islamist rulers devoting public funds to supporting Islamist militant groups across the region rather than spending those funds to tackle domestic problems.

In another clip, a man said truck drivers were among those participating in the New Shapur protest. 

Other images shared on social media showed demonstrators chanting: “Reza Shah, may your soul be blessed,” a reference to the late monarch whom Iran’s current rulers overthrew in the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Praise for the shah also has been a regular feature of recent protests in Iran.

Residents said many New Shapur retailers shuttered their stores and joined the protest as well. 

In an interview with state-controlled news agency ISNA published on Tuesday, the head of Isfahan’s chamber of commerce expressed sympathy with the protesting merchants, saying most of their demands were legitimate.

Rasoul Jahangiri also called on the Iranian government to stabilize currency fluctuations so that merchants and manufacturers can plan their business activities for the coming six months.

But Jahangiri also tried to downplay the significance of Tuesday’s protest, saying most of the participants were concerned with their businesses and should not be considered as part of an anti-government opposition movement. He also said his business association did not support street protests and urged merchants to present their demands through what he called legal channels. 

Since December, Iran has seen frequent public protests against local and national authorities and business owners accused of mismanagement, corruption and suppressing freedoms.

This report was produced in collaboration with VOA’s Persian service.

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Hundreds Protest Currency Slump in Central Iran’s Isfahan

Hundreds of Iranians joined a street protest Tuesday in the central city of Isfahan to denounce the government’s handling of economic problems, including the record low value of Iran’s currency.

Images verified by VOA Persian and sent by Isfahan residents showed protesters marching and chanting anti-government slogans in the city’s New Shapur district.

Residents said they were protesting the rial’s slump to a record low against the U.S. dollar in unofficial trading this week, a decline that has raised prices for many imported products. They said the demonstration also was an expression of anger about electricity outages plaguing Isfahan in the middle of the hot summer season. 

In one video clip, marchers in the New Shapur district chanted: “No to Gaza, No to Lebanon — I give my life to Iran,” a common refrain of many anti-government protests across Iran this year. It is a reference to many Iranians’ disapproval of the country’s Islamist rulers devoting public funds to supporting Islamist militant groups across the region rather than spending those funds to tackle domestic problems.

In another clip, a man said truck drivers were among those participating in the New Shapur protest. 

Other images shared on social media showed demonstrators chanting: “Reza Shah, may your soul be blessed,” a reference to the late monarch whom Iran’s current rulers overthrew in the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Praise for the shah also has been a regular feature of recent protests in Iran.

Residents said many New Shapur retailers shuttered their stores and joined the protest as well. 

In an interview with state-controlled news agency ISNA published on Tuesday, the head of Isfahan’s chamber of commerce expressed sympathy with the protesting merchants, saying most of their demands were legitimate.

Rasoul Jahangiri also called on the Iranian government to stabilize currency fluctuations so that merchants and manufacturers can plan their business activities for the coming six months.

But Jahangiri also tried to downplay the significance of Tuesday’s protest, saying most of the participants were concerned with their businesses and should not be considered as part of an anti-government opposition movement. He also said his business association did not support street protests and urged merchants to present their demands through what he called legal channels. 

Since December, Iran has seen frequent public protests against local and national authorities and business owners accused of mismanagement, corruption and suppressing freedoms.

This report was produced in collaboration with VOA’s Persian service.

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Free Ambulance Service Imperiled in Somali Capital

Financial troubles, staffing shortages and high demand threaten to halt the only free private ambulance service in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu.

“We have been providing this voluntary service for 12 years with the help of friends and other generous individuals in private business, but now the responsibility is greater than our power,” said Abdulkadir Abdirahman Adam, a dentist who founded Aamin Ambulance. He cited a staffing shortage and an inability to cover costs.

At its peak, the service had 53 workers. Now, “only 20 people with 16 vehicles [are] providing 24/7 services to a growing city and huge population,” Adam said, estimating the metropolitan area at more than 2 million people.

Adam, who also teaches at a Mogadishu university, said the service has been running on donations from individuals, such as “students who provided us $1 a month. That is not enough to cover the needs of this city and its residents.”

The service began in 2006 with a single ambulance and a few drivers and nurses in Mogadishu, risking their lives while trying to save victims of mortar fire, artillery shells and random gunfire that have ricocheted around this crumbling seaside city for almost 30 years.

“Before this service, people used to transport the wounded with wheelbarrows and taxis that charged expensive fees,” said Fadumo Nur, who runs a midwifery center. “But now all you need is to call 999 and then there is an ambulance at your door. If we miss this service, we will go back to the dark days.”

The United Nations’ top diplomat in Somalia called for more support during a February visit to the ambulance service office.

Aamin plays “an important role in providing the population a degree of comfort that when something very bad goes wrong, there is someone they can turn to,” said the envoy, Michael Keating, who was quoted by the U.N. Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM). 

Aamin Ambulance maintains the only Mogadishu call center with a 24-hour emergency helpline.  

But staffing shortages, along with traffic issues, delay the ambulance service’s life-saving responses, he said. “We have many times witnessed mothers who called us from homes in an active labor and, due to delays, they deliver babies in our vehicles on their way to the hospital.”

Aamin Ambulance is almost always found at sites hit by terror attacks or natural disasters, often as the first emergency responder. Photos from the country’s deadliest assault — an October 14 truck bombing in Mogadishu that killed 512 and wounded more than 300 — showed Aamin’s first responders at the blast scene tending to injuries.

Earlier this month, Aamin Ambulance responded to a blast at Somalia’s ministry of interior affairs compound, transporting 21 people with injuries along with five bodies, the company said in a tweet. 

Somalia has been engulfed by chaos since President Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991. Subsequent governments and administrations have not been able to provide basic social services such as health care and education.

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Free Ambulance Service Imperiled in Somali Capital

Financial troubles, staffing shortages and high demand threaten to halt the only free private ambulance service in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu.

“We have been providing this voluntary service for 12 years with the help of friends and other generous individuals in private business, but now the responsibility is greater than our power,” said Abdulkadir Abdirahman Adam, a dentist who founded Aamin Ambulance. He cited a staffing shortage and an inability to cover costs.

At its peak, the service had 53 workers. Now, “only 20 people with 16 vehicles [are] providing 24/7 services to a growing city and huge population,” Adam said, estimating the metropolitan area at more than 2 million people.

Adam, who also teaches at a Mogadishu university, said the service has been running on donations from individuals, such as “students who provided us $1 a month. That is not enough to cover the needs of this city and its residents.”

The service began in 2006 with a single ambulance and a few drivers and nurses in Mogadishu, risking their lives while trying to save victims of mortar fire, artillery shells and random gunfire that have ricocheted around this crumbling seaside city for almost 30 years.

“Before this service, people used to transport the wounded with wheelbarrows and taxis that charged expensive fees,” said Fadumo Nur, who runs a midwifery center. “But now all you need is to call 999 and then there is an ambulance at your door. If we miss this service, we will go back to the dark days.”

The United Nations’ top diplomat in Somalia called for more support during a February visit to the ambulance service office.

Aamin plays “an important role in providing the population a degree of comfort that when something very bad goes wrong, there is someone they can turn to,” said the envoy, Michael Keating, who was quoted by the U.N. Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM). 

Aamin Ambulance maintains the only Mogadishu call center with a 24-hour emergency helpline.  

But staffing shortages, along with traffic issues, delay the ambulance service’s life-saving responses, he said. “We have many times witnessed mothers who called us from homes in an active labor and, due to delays, they deliver babies in our vehicles on their way to the hospital.”

Aamin Ambulance is almost always found at sites hit by terror attacks or natural disasters, often as the first emergency responder. Photos from the country’s deadliest assault — an October 14 truck bombing in Mogadishu that killed 512 and wounded more than 300 — showed Aamin’s first responders at the blast scene tending to injuries.

Earlier this month, Aamin Ambulance responded to a blast at Somalia’s ministry of interior affairs compound, transporting 21 people with injuries along with five bodies, the company said in a tweet. 

Somalia has been engulfed by chaos since President Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991. Subsequent governments and administrations have not been able to provide basic social services such as health care and education.

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S. Africa’s ANC to Amend Constitution to Allow Land Expropriation

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Tuesday that the ruling African National Congress would push ahead with plans to amend the constitution to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation.

The comments come after the ANC said in May that it would “test the argument” that land redistribution without compensation is permitted under current laws, a move that would have avoided the risky strategy of trying to change the constitution.

The proposal was first adopted in December by the party.

In a recorded address to the nation, Ramaphosa said it had become clear “that our people want the constitution to be more explicit about expropriation of land without compensation, as demonstrated in the public hearings.”

He said the ANC would go through the parliamentary process to finalize a proposed constitutional amendment “that outlines more clearly the conditions under which expropriation of land without compensation can be effected.”

Most land remains in white hands, making it a potent symbol of lingering inequalities 25 years on from the end of apartheid.

Since white minority rule ended in 1994, the ANC has followed a “willing-seller, willing-buyer” model whereby the government buys white-owned farms for redistribution to blacks. Progress has been slow.

The ANC has said it will not pursue land reform in a way that threatens food security or economic growth.

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S. Africa’s ANC to Amend Constitution to Allow Land Expropriation

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Tuesday that the ruling African National Congress would push ahead with plans to amend the constitution to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation.

The comments come after the ANC said in May that it would “test the argument” that land redistribution without compensation is permitted under current laws, a move that would have avoided the risky strategy of trying to change the constitution.

The proposal was first adopted in December by the party.

In a recorded address to the nation, Ramaphosa said it had become clear “that our people want the constitution to be more explicit about expropriation of land without compensation, as demonstrated in the public hearings.”

He said the ANC would go through the parliamentary process to finalize a proposed constitutional amendment “that outlines more clearly the conditions under which expropriation of land without compensation can be effected.”

Most land remains in white hands, making it a potent symbol of lingering inequalities 25 years on from the end of apartheid.

Since white minority rule ended in 1994, the ANC has followed a “willing-seller, willing-buyer” model whereby the government buys white-owned farms for redistribution to blacks. Progress has been slow.

The ANC has said it will not pursue land reform in a way that threatens food security or economic growth.

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Yemen’s Houthis Halt Red Sea Attacks for Two Weeks

Yemen’s Houthi group said Tuesday that it would unilaterally halt attacks in the Red Sea for two weeks to support peace efforts, days after Saudi Arabia suspended oil exports through a strategic Red Sea channel following attacks on crude tankers last week.

Yemen — where a Saudi-led coalition has been battling the Iranian-aligned Houthi movement in a three-year-old war — lies on one of the world’s most important trade routes for oil tankers, the Bab al-Mandeb strait.

“The unilateral halt in naval military operations will be for a limited time period and could be extended and include all fronts if this move is reciprocated by the leadership of the coalition,” the head of the Houthi supreme revolutionary committee, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, said in a statement.

A statement from the Houthi-controlled defense ministry said the movement planned to halt naval operations for two weeks, starting at midnight Wednesday (2000 GMT Tuesday).

“We welcome any initiative to spare bloodshed and stop aggression against Yemen,” the statement published on the state news agency SABA said, quoting a defense ministry official.

Saudi Arabia said on Thursday that it was suspending oil shipments through the strait after the Houthis attacked two Saudi oil tankers, one of which sustained minimal damage, until the waterway was safe.

Analysts say Riyadh is trying to encourage its Western allies to take the danger posed by the Houthis more seriously and step up support for its war in Yemen, where thousands of airstrikes and a limited ground operation have produced only modest results while deepening the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

A coalition spokesman did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The Houthi leader said the group’s initiative aimed to support efforts to find a political solution to the conflict, which has killed more than 10,000 people, according to the United Nations.

U.N. special envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths has been shuttling between the warring parties to try to avert a coalition assault on the main port city of Hodeida. The U.N. fears that such an attack would risk causing a famine.

Hodeida port is the main port of the impoverished Arab country, where around 8.4 million people are believed to be on the verge of starvation.

The Western-backed coalition of Sunni Muslim Arab states intervened in Yemen’s war in 2015 to restore the internationally recognized government in exile and thwart what Riyadh sees as Iran’s expansionary ambitions in the region.

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Yemen’s Houthis Halt Red Sea Attacks for Two Weeks

Yemen’s Houthi group said Tuesday that it would unilaterally halt attacks in the Red Sea for two weeks to support peace efforts, days after Saudi Arabia suspended oil exports through a strategic Red Sea channel following attacks on crude tankers last week.

Yemen — where a Saudi-led coalition has been battling the Iranian-aligned Houthi movement in a three-year-old war — lies on one of the world’s most important trade routes for oil tankers, the Bab al-Mandeb strait.

“The unilateral halt in naval military operations will be for a limited time period and could be extended and include all fronts if this move is reciprocated by the leadership of the coalition,” the head of the Houthi supreme revolutionary committee, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, said in a statement.

A statement from the Houthi-controlled defense ministry said the movement planned to halt naval operations for two weeks, starting at midnight Wednesday (2000 GMT Tuesday).

“We welcome any initiative to spare bloodshed and stop aggression against Yemen,” the statement published on the state news agency SABA said, quoting a defense ministry official.

Saudi Arabia said on Thursday that it was suspending oil shipments through the strait after the Houthis attacked two Saudi oil tankers, one of which sustained minimal damage, until the waterway was safe.

Analysts say Riyadh is trying to encourage its Western allies to take the danger posed by the Houthis more seriously and step up support for its war in Yemen, where thousands of airstrikes and a limited ground operation have produced only modest results while deepening the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

A coalition spokesman did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The Houthi leader said the group’s initiative aimed to support efforts to find a political solution to the conflict, which has killed more than 10,000 people, according to the United Nations.

U.N. special envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths has been shuttling between the warring parties to try to avert a coalition assault on the main port city of Hodeida. The U.N. fears that such an attack would risk causing a famine.

Hodeida port is the main port of the impoverished Arab country, where around 8.4 million people are believed to be on the verge of starvation.

The Western-backed coalition of Sunni Muslim Arab states intervened in Yemen’s war in 2015 to restore the internationally recognized government in exile and thwart what Riyadh sees as Iran’s expansionary ambitions in the region.

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Flurry of Syrian Death Notices Shows Fate of Government Detainees

For six years Amina al-Khoulani hoped her brothers Majd and Abdelsattar were alive, albeit cut off in a Syrian government prison after their arrest early in Syria’s war.

But last week, newly published state records obtained by relatives told her the men died back in 2013, just weeks after the family last saw them through a metal fence during a visit to the Sednaya military jail near Damascus.

“We used to hear a lot of reports that they had been executed. We know that the regime is criminal and is capable of doing this but you always have hope that this is untrue.” al-Khoulani, a refugee in Britain, said in a video call.

After years of government silence about the fate of tens of thousands of people that rights groups say have been forcibly disappeared in the war, authorities have begun quietly updating registers to acknowledge hundreds of their deaths, according to Syrians who have recently learnt of their relatives’ fate.

Starting in around April, families began discovering what happened to their loved ones by chance, when they requested records from register offices, rights groups and Syrians said.

Such records are needed for many administrative tasks in Syria, so they are often sought. Only this time, the information was not what they expected — but what they had long feared.

Word spread that deaths were being acknowledged and more people began approaching registries for information.

Reuters in Beirut did not receive any response to questions faxed to the Syrian Information Ministry in Damascus. Officials at the Syrian missions in New York and Geneva could not be reached for comment.

The Syrian government last year denied a report by Amnesty International saying it had carried out a campaign of mass hangings and exterminations at Sedneya prison, calling it “devoid of truth.”

Time of death 10 p.m.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), which has been documenting the war from outside Syria, has recorded 532 cases of forcibly disappeared people being listed as deceased in state records in recent months, without relatives having been previously informed of their deaths.

SNHR head Fadel Abdul Ghany said the death notices were Assad’s signal to Syria that he has won.

Anwar al-Bunni, a human rights lawyer with the Berlin-based Syrian Center for Legal Research and Studies and himself a former detainee now based outside Syria, put the figure much higher. From sources inside Syria, he had so far documented 3,000 names and called this the tip of the iceberg.

“Mothers and sisters are going to see if their sons are on the lists. Those that find out drop to the ground and faint,” said 63-year-old Fadwa Mahmoud, a refugee in Germany who founded Families for Freedom which campaigns on behalf of disappeared and detained Syrians.

Mahmoud is herself awaiting news of her husband and son who were detained in 2012.

Many of the death notices on the updated register are for activists arrested in the early days of the Syrian uprising in 2011 and 2012.

And many of those came from the Damascus suburb of Daraya, one of the early centers of the uprising where rebels were finally defeated by the government in 2016 after years of siege.

“Of course the paper does not state that they died in prison … the death is written, the date, and that is it,” said al-Khoulani. The al-Khoulani brothers’ registry document, seen by Reuters, says they both died at 10 p.m. on Jan. 15, 2013.

She said her brothers had been taking part in Daraya protests calling for “freedom and dignity” — slogans of the “Arab Spring” uprisings under way across the region at the time.

Abdelsattar’s friend and fellow protester Islam al-Dabbas also died that day, al-Khoulani said. So too did prominent Daraya activist Yahya al-Shorbaji, his family — now living outside Syria — told Reuters, producing his record.

The number of Daraya residents registered as having died on the same day has led relatives to conclude they were executed together.

‘I want justice’

A resident of Mouadamiya town, another early centre of the uprising, said 96 people had recently been listed as dead at the local records office. But the resident’s son, missing since January 2013, was not among them.

“My heart and my hopes say he is alive, God willing, but common sense says that he has been killed with many others because he was a peaceful activist,” the resident said. SNHR has documented at least 85,036 people forcibly disappeared across Syria since the start of the war.

Around 90 percent are thought to have been taken by government security agencies, the rest by factions operating in Syria’s chaotic multi-sided war, it said.

Backed by Russia and Iran, Assad’s advances have accelerated this year with rebels now posing no military threat to his rule.

Assad’s ally Russia is urging refugees to come home, saying there is nothingto fear from Assad’s government.

But people continue to flee areas that are falling back under its control, and many refugees say they are scared to return, fearing arrest, conscription or worse.

Syrian opposition officials and Turkey, which backs them, have pushed for the issue of detainees and the forcibly disappeared to be discussed in peace talks that have made no progress.

“They forced us out of our homes, took our money and killed our children,” said the mother of the al-Khoulani brothers from her exile in Britain. “I want justice.”

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Flurry of Syrian Death Notices Shows Fate of Government Detainees

For six years Amina al-Khoulani hoped her brothers Majd and Abdelsattar were alive, albeit cut off in a Syrian government prison after their arrest early in Syria’s war.

But last week, newly published state records obtained by relatives told her the men died back in 2013, just weeks after the family last saw them through a metal fence during a visit to the Sednaya military jail near Damascus.

“We used to hear a lot of reports that they had been executed. We know that the regime is criminal and is capable of doing this but you always have hope that this is untrue.” al-Khoulani, a refugee in Britain, said in a video call.

After years of government silence about the fate of tens of thousands of people that rights groups say have been forcibly disappeared in the war, authorities have begun quietly updating registers to acknowledge hundreds of their deaths, according to Syrians who have recently learnt of their relatives’ fate.

Starting in around April, families began discovering what happened to their loved ones by chance, when they requested records from register offices, rights groups and Syrians said.

Such records are needed for many administrative tasks in Syria, so they are often sought. Only this time, the information was not what they expected — but what they had long feared.

Word spread that deaths were being acknowledged and more people began approaching registries for information.

Reuters in Beirut did not receive any response to questions faxed to the Syrian Information Ministry in Damascus. Officials at the Syrian missions in New York and Geneva could not be reached for comment.

The Syrian government last year denied a report by Amnesty International saying it had carried out a campaign of mass hangings and exterminations at Sedneya prison, calling it “devoid of truth.”

Time of death 10 p.m.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), which has been documenting the war from outside Syria, has recorded 532 cases of forcibly disappeared people being listed as deceased in state records in recent months, without relatives having been previously informed of their deaths.

SNHR head Fadel Abdul Ghany said the death notices were Assad’s signal to Syria that he has won.

Anwar al-Bunni, a human rights lawyer with the Berlin-based Syrian Center for Legal Research and Studies and himself a former detainee now based outside Syria, put the figure much higher. From sources inside Syria, he had so far documented 3,000 names and called this the tip of the iceberg.

“Mothers and sisters are going to see if their sons are on the lists. Those that find out drop to the ground and faint,” said 63-year-old Fadwa Mahmoud, a refugee in Germany who founded Families for Freedom which campaigns on behalf of disappeared and detained Syrians.

Mahmoud is herself awaiting news of her husband and son who were detained in 2012.

Many of the death notices on the updated register are for activists arrested in the early days of the Syrian uprising in 2011 and 2012.

And many of those came from the Damascus suburb of Daraya, one of the early centers of the uprising where rebels were finally defeated by the government in 2016 after years of siege.

“Of course the paper does not state that they died in prison … the death is written, the date, and that is it,” said al-Khoulani. The al-Khoulani brothers’ registry document, seen by Reuters, says they both died at 10 p.m. on Jan. 15, 2013.

She said her brothers had been taking part in Daraya protests calling for “freedom and dignity” — slogans of the “Arab Spring” uprisings under way across the region at the time.

Abdelsattar’s friend and fellow protester Islam al-Dabbas also died that day, al-Khoulani said. So too did prominent Daraya activist Yahya al-Shorbaji, his family — now living outside Syria — told Reuters, producing his record.

The number of Daraya residents registered as having died on the same day has led relatives to conclude they were executed together.

‘I want justice’

A resident of Mouadamiya town, another early centre of the uprising, said 96 people had recently been listed as dead at the local records office. But the resident’s son, missing since January 2013, was not among them.

“My heart and my hopes say he is alive, God willing, but common sense says that he has been killed with many others because he was a peaceful activist,” the resident said. SNHR has documented at least 85,036 people forcibly disappeared across Syria since the start of the war.

Around 90 percent are thought to have been taken by government security agencies, the rest by factions operating in Syria’s chaotic multi-sided war, it said.

Backed by Russia and Iran, Assad’s advances have accelerated this year with rebels now posing no military threat to his rule.

Assad’s ally Russia is urging refugees to come home, saying there is nothingto fear from Assad’s government.

But people continue to flee areas that are falling back under its control, and many refugees say they are scared to return, fearing arrest, conscription or worse.

Syrian opposition officials and Turkey, which backs them, have pushed for the issue of detainees and the forcibly disappeared to be discussed in peace talks that have made no progress.

“They forced us out of our homes, took our money and killed our children,” said the mother of the al-Khoulani brothers from her exile in Britain. “I want justice.”

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Ex-Slave Seeks Office in Mauritania to Fight for Freedom

Born into slavery and kept as a servant for 30 years, Haby Mint Rabah is now running for parliament in Mauritania to fight for freedom in a nation with one of the world’s worst slavery rates.

Rabah’s candidacy is a first for the West African country, where more than two in every 100 people — 90,000 in total — live as slaves, according to the 2018 Global Slavery Index.

Slavery is a historical practice in Mauritania, which became the last country to abolish it in 1981. Black descendants of ethnic groups in the south are typically enslaved by lighter-skinned Mauritanians, often as cattle herders and servants.

Rabah, 44, was born into bondage and forced to work from age 5 as a maid and a field hand. She hopes to be a role model and show that freedom and a life after slavery are possible.

“I submitted my candidacy because I was a slave, like my parents and my parents’ parents before me,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from the capital, Nouakchott. “And I never saw a slave candidate in elections.”

Mauritania criminalized slavery in 2007, but few slave owners have been penalized. Some members of the political elite deny that slavery still exists, and several activists who spoke out against it have been arrested and even jailed.

Mauritania’s government has repeatedly denied restricting the activities of rights groups or making arbitrary arrests. 

‘I know that they exist’

“The day that I’m in parliament I will defend the slaves … because I know that they exist and that they have many needs,” Rabah said. “I’ll be there for them.”

Rabah will stand in the September 1 elections as a member of the Mauritanian Rally for Global Action, the political wing of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA), in coalition with the more established Sawab party.

Rabah was freed in 2008 with the help of the IRA after one of her brothers escaped and alerted the anti-slavery group.

As a slave, her chores included carrying water and herding animals. Her master repeatedly raped and beat her, Rabah said.

“I suffered every kind of mistreatment,” she added.

Slaves in Mauritania do not tend to escape because they are unaware of their rights and cannot envisage a life beyond slavery, said Boubacar Messaoud, president of rights group SOS Esclaves. 

“[Rabah’s candidacy] is something that should encourage slaves to lift their heads … to see that when you are free, you have the possibility to access everything the others always had,” Messaoud said.

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Ex-Slave Seeks Office in Mauritania to Fight for Freedom

Born into slavery and kept as a servant for 30 years, Haby Mint Rabah is now running for parliament in Mauritania to fight for freedom in a nation with one of the world’s worst slavery rates.

Rabah’s candidacy is a first for the West African country, where more than two in every 100 people — 90,000 in total — live as slaves, according to the 2018 Global Slavery Index.

Slavery is a historical practice in Mauritania, which became the last country to abolish it in 1981. Black descendants of ethnic groups in the south are typically enslaved by lighter-skinned Mauritanians, often as cattle herders and servants.

Rabah, 44, was born into bondage and forced to work from age 5 as a maid and a field hand. She hopes to be a role model and show that freedom and a life after slavery are possible.

“I submitted my candidacy because I was a slave, like my parents and my parents’ parents before me,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from the capital, Nouakchott. “And I never saw a slave candidate in elections.”

Mauritania criminalized slavery in 2007, but few slave owners have been penalized. Some members of the political elite deny that slavery still exists, and several activists who spoke out against it have been arrested and even jailed.

Mauritania’s government has repeatedly denied restricting the activities of rights groups or making arbitrary arrests. 

‘I know that they exist’

“The day that I’m in parliament I will defend the slaves … because I know that they exist and that they have many needs,” Rabah said. “I’ll be there for them.”

Rabah will stand in the September 1 elections as a member of the Mauritanian Rally for Global Action, the political wing of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA), in coalition with the more established Sawab party.

Rabah was freed in 2008 with the help of the IRA after one of her brothers escaped and alerted the anti-slavery group.

As a slave, her chores included carrying water and herding animals. Her master repeatedly raped and beat her, Rabah said.

“I suffered every kind of mistreatment,” she added.

Slaves in Mauritania do not tend to escape because they are unaware of their rights and cannot envisage a life beyond slavery, said Boubacar Messaoud, president of rights group SOS Esclaves. 

“[Rabah’s candidacy] is something that should encourage slaves to lift their heads … to see that when you are free, you have the possibility to access everything the others always had,” Messaoud said.

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Activists: School Policy Reversal Not Enough to Protect Burundi’s Girls

Burundi’s rollback on banning pregnant girls and expectant teen fathers from attending school is a victory for child rights, but steps must be taken to curb sexual exploitation and teen pregnancies, campaigners said Tuesday.

Burundi’s education ministry on Friday reversed a month-old policy under which pregnant teens and young mothers, as well as the boys who made them pregnant, no longer had the right to be part of the formal education system.

The ministry did not give a reason for lifting last month’s ban, which had sparked widespread criticism from rights groups who said it was retrogressive.

“Burundi’s U-turn on its recent ban against pregnant students and teenage mothers who are in school is welcome,” said Elin Martinez, child rights researcher with Human Rights Watch, calling the ban “highly damaging” to thousands of students.

“The government should take this opportunity to develop a sound policy that fully supports teenage mothers to return to school, whilst ensuring it adequately tackles the root causes of teenage pregnancies,” Martinez said.

Forty percent of victims of physical or sexual violence are teenage girls in Burundi. About 11 percent of girls aged 15-19 are sexually active, while 7 percent have had at least one child, said the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA).

Campaigners say tens of thousands of girls in Africa are ostracized or shamed for becoming pregnant every year, despite most having no sex education. Many such cases involve rape.

Yet in some countries such as Tanzania, Sierra Leone and Equatorial Guinea, they have been expelled from school in a bid to discourage adolescents from being sexually active.

Morality laws

Other countries such as Morocco and Sudan, apply morality laws that allow them to criminally charge adolescent girls with adultery, indecency or extramarital sex.

Burundi’s Minister of Education Janvière Ndirahisha ordered the ban in all private and public primary and secondary schools in a letter to provincial education directors dated June 26.

The ministry then issued a statement on July 27 saying all schools would after all take girls who are victims of unintended pregnancies, and boys who made them pregnant. Government officials did not give a reason for the reversal.

Campaigners said global criticism of the ban may have pressured authorities into reversing their course, but added that much more needed to be done to curb the sexual exploitation of young girls and high rates of teen pregnancies.

“In many cases, girls are from low-income, rural families and are exploited sexually by teachers who offer to pay their school fees, pass their exams — or even buy them basics things like sanitary pads,” said Naitore Nyamu-Mathenge, a lawyer from the campaign group Equality Now.

“Burundi must look at integrating comprehensive sex education into all schools. They need to ensure girls understand what consent and exploitation is,” Nyamu-Mathenge said. “They must also ensure those who sexually exploit these girls are prosecuted, as it will act as a deterrent.”

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Activists: School Policy Reversal Not Enough to Protect Burundi’s Girls

Burundi’s rollback on banning pregnant girls and expectant teen fathers from attending school is a victory for child rights, but steps must be taken to curb sexual exploitation and teen pregnancies, campaigners said Tuesday.

Burundi’s education ministry on Friday reversed a month-old policy under which pregnant teens and young mothers, as well as the boys who made them pregnant, no longer had the right to be part of the formal education system.

The ministry did not give a reason for lifting last month’s ban, which had sparked widespread criticism from rights groups who said it was retrogressive.

“Burundi’s U-turn on its recent ban against pregnant students and teenage mothers who are in school is welcome,” said Elin Martinez, child rights researcher with Human Rights Watch, calling the ban “highly damaging” to thousands of students.

“The government should take this opportunity to develop a sound policy that fully supports teenage mothers to return to school, whilst ensuring it adequately tackles the root causes of teenage pregnancies,” Martinez said.

Forty percent of victims of physical or sexual violence are teenage girls in Burundi. About 11 percent of girls aged 15-19 are sexually active, while 7 percent have had at least one child, said the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA).

Campaigners say tens of thousands of girls in Africa are ostracized or shamed for becoming pregnant every year, despite most having no sex education. Many such cases involve rape.

Yet in some countries such as Tanzania, Sierra Leone and Equatorial Guinea, they have been expelled from school in a bid to discourage adolescents from being sexually active.

Morality laws

Other countries such as Morocco and Sudan, apply morality laws that allow them to criminally charge adolescent girls with adultery, indecency or extramarital sex.

Burundi’s Minister of Education Janvière Ndirahisha ordered the ban in all private and public primary and secondary schools in a letter to provincial education directors dated June 26.

The ministry then issued a statement on July 27 saying all schools would after all take girls who are victims of unintended pregnancies, and boys who made them pregnant. Government officials did not give a reason for the reversal.

Campaigners said global criticism of the ban may have pressured authorities into reversing their course, but added that much more needed to be done to curb the sexual exploitation of young girls and high rates of teen pregnancies.

“In many cases, girls are from low-income, rural families and are exploited sexually by teachers who offer to pay their school fees, pass their exams — or even buy them basics things like sanitary pads,” said Naitore Nyamu-Mathenge, a lawyer from the campaign group Equality Now.

“Burundi must look at integrating comprehensive sex education into all schools. They need to ensure girls understand what consent and exploitation is,” Nyamu-Mathenge said. “They must also ensure those who sexually exploit these girls are prosecuted, as it will act as a deterrent.”

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Change in Elevator Rules Frustrates Eiffel Tower Queue

A change in who gets to use the Eiffel Tower’s elevators has stranded frustrated tourists in long queues at the Paris landmark during a heat wave in the French capital.

Management of the 324-meter (1,063-foot) tower decided this month to dedicate one elevator for those who book tickets in advance and leave only one for those who turn up on the day, rather than both as before.

Sightseers who arrive without tickets have had to join queues that snake all the way around the base of the monument.

Some said they had waited for up to three hours, annoyed that few people were lining up for the other elevator.

Temperatures in the city have hit 38 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit), leaving sweltering adults and children desperate for bottled water in the queue.

“It’s too long!” said Burty Surette, 37, an electrician visiting from Mauritius. “I was expecting the wait to be long but not this long. There should be two elevators for people arriving without tickets. With the number of people that are coming to visit, one is not sufficient.”

Pat Murphy, a 66-year-old retired automotive worker from Ohio, disliked the idea of having to book three months in advance for a particular day.

“You don’t know if it’s going to rain,” he said.

A spokeswoman for the Eiffel Tower played down suggestions the new system had caused extra queues, saying there always are large numbers of visitors to the monument, particularly in summer.

Workers at the tower have threatened to strike over what they call the “monstrous” new system. Negotiations are under way between the tower’s management and the CGT union, with a decision expected Wednesday.

“I can understand the workers saying this is insane — people are getting mad … so I’d join them on strike,” Murphy said.

More than 40 million tourists visited Paris last year, the highest on record, with over 6 million going up the Eiffel Tower, the most popular site in the city.

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Change in Elevator Rules Frustrates Eiffel Tower Queue

A change in who gets to use the Eiffel Tower’s elevators has stranded frustrated tourists in long queues at the Paris landmark during a heat wave in the French capital.

Management of the 324-meter (1,063-foot) tower decided this month to dedicate one elevator for those who book tickets in advance and leave only one for those who turn up on the day, rather than both as before.

Sightseers who arrive without tickets have had to join queues that snake all the way around the base of the monument.

Some said they had waited for up to three hours, annoyed that few people were lining up for the other elevator.

Temperatures in the city have hit 38 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit), leaving sweltering adults and children desperate for bottled water in the queue.

“It’s too long!” said Burty Surette, 37, an electrician visiting from Mauritius. “I was expecting the wait to be long but not this long. There should be two elevators for people arriving without tickets. With the number of people that are coming to visit, one is not sufficient.”

Pat Murphy, a 66-year-old retired automotive worker from Ohio, disliked the idea of having to book three months in advance for a particular day.

“You don’t know if it’s going to rain,” he said.

A spokeswoman for the Eiffel Tower played down suggestions the new system had caused extra queues, saying there always are large numbers of visitors to the monument, particularly in summer.

Workers at the tower have threatened to strike over what they call the “monstrous” new system. Negotiations are under way between the tower’s management and the CGT union, with a decision expected Wednesday.

“I can understand the workers saying this is insane — people are getting mad … so I’d join them on strike,” Murphy said.

More than 40 million tourists visited Paris last year, the highest on record, with over 6 million going up the Eiffel Tower, the most popular site in the city.

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German Farmers Step Up $1B Aid Call After Drought Damage

German farmers intensified calls for around 1 billion euros ($1.17 billion) in special aid on Tuesday after crop damage from a drought and heatwave, but Berlin said it would wait for an August harvest report before making a decision.

The president of German farming association DBV, Joachim Rukwied, said drought had caused 1.4 million euros ($1.6 million) of damage to grains crops alone this year.

Poor growing weather, including a heatwave and lack of rain, has damaged crops in France, Germany and the Baltic Sea countries, while a shortage of animal feed is also looming after damage to maize (corn) crops and grass.

“Expensive animal feed will have to be purchased,” Rukwied told German TV channel ZDF.

However, German agriculture minister Julia Kloeckner said on German television that a clearer view of the national picture was needed and the government would await her ministry’s own harvest report in late August.

“Then we will have a real overview of the situation in Germany,” she said, adding that regional state governments could provide local aid if needed.

Indications were that German federal and state governments were in disagreement about whether aid should be paid.

German state and federal agricultural agencies meet on Tuesday to discuss the drought and Kloeckner is due to report to the cabinet on Wednesday.

Kloeckner said later on German radio NDR that harvests were varied among states.

“Farmers themselves do not know how their harvest will turn out,” she said.

Till Backhaus, the farm minister in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, called on the government to declare a state of emergency for farmers, saying a decision in late August would not be fast enough.

French consultancy Strategie Grains expects the German soft wheat crop to fall to 20.7 million tons, from 22.8 million estimated in early July, Reuters reported on July 25. Last year some 24 million tons were harvested in Germany. German grain traders, however, increasingly expect a wheat harvest of under 20 million tons.

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German Farmers Step Up $1B Aid Call After Drought Damage

German farmers intensified calls for around 1 billion euros ($1.17 billion) in special aid on Tuesday after crop damage from a drought and heatwave, but Berlin said it would wait for an August harvest report before making a decision.

The president of German farming association DBV, Joachim Rukwied, said drought had caused 1.4 million euros ($1.6 million) of damage to grains crops alone this year.

Poor growing weather, including a heatwave and lack of rain, has damaged crops in France, Germany and the Baltic Sea countries, while a shortage of animal feed is also looming after damage to maize (corn) crops and grass.

“Expensive animal feed will have to be purchased,” Rukwied told German TV channel ZDF.

However, German agriculture minister Julia Kloeckner said on German television that a clearer view of the national picture was needed and the government would await her ministry’s own harvest report in late August.

“Then we will have a real overview of the situation in Germany,” she said, adding that regional state governments could provide local aid if needed.

Indications were that German federal and state governments were in disagreement about whether aid should be paid.

German state and federal agricultural agencies meet on Tuesday to discuss the drought and Kloeckner is due to report to the cabinet on Wednesday.

Kloeckner said later on German radio NDR that harvests were varied among states.

“Farmers themselves do not know how their harvest will turn out,” she said.

Till Backhaus, the farm minister in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, called on the government to declare a state of emergency for farmers, saying a decision in late August would not be fast enough.

French consultancy Strategie Grains expects the German soft wheat crop to fall to 20.7 million tons, from 22.8 million estimated in early July, Reuters reported on July 25. Last year some 24 million tons were harvested in Germany. German grain traders, however, increasingly expect a wheat harvest of under 20 million tons.

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Angola’s Isabel dos Santos Misses Summons From Prosecutors

The daughter of a former president of Angola failed to respond to her first summons from state prosecutors to answer questions about her time running Sonangol, the state oil company, Angola’s state news agency Angop reported.

Isabel dos Santos is allowed to provide reasons for not appearing three times, Angop said late Monday, citing a source in the prosecutor general’s office. After that, she might face arrest.

The investigation relates to allegations made in February by current Sonangol Chairman Carlos Saturnino. He said an internal audit had uncovered suspicious transactions overseen by dos Santos, including a payment of $38 million made to a Dubai-based company she approved after she was dismissed from Sonangol.

Dos Santos has denied wrongdoing and accused Saturnino of trying “to rewrite history.” A spokeswoman for dos Santos said she had not received any summons.

“Ms. Isabel dos Santos was surprised when she was informed by the media that she had been notified to respond regarding her management at Sonangol,” the spokeswoman said.

Angop said the summons was issued July 17 for her to appear before prosecutors the next day.

A spokesman for the prosecutor general’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

President Joao Lourenço, who took office in September when Jose Eduardo dos Santos stepped down after nearly four decades in power, has acted to sideline powerful figures associated with his predecessor and tackle rampant corruption.

He sacked Isabel dos Santos as chair of Sonangol and her half brother Jose Filomeno dos Santos as head of the Sovereign Wealth Fund. The latter is also a suspect in a fraud case involving a transfer of $500 million from the central bank. He has said he is cooperating with authorities.

State prosecutors opened an investigation into the allegations by Saturnino against Isabel dos Santos in March but have issued no public statements since.

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Angola’s Isabel dos Santos Misses Summons From Prosecutors

The daughter of a former president of Angola failed to respond to her first summons from state prosecutors to answer questions about her time running Sonangol, the state oil company, Angola’s state news agency Angop reported.

Isabel dos Santos is allowed to provide reasons for not appearing three times, Angop said late Monday, citing a source in the prosecutor general’s office. After that, she might face arrest.

The investigation relates to allegations made in February by current Sonangol Chairman Carlos Saturnino. He said an internal audit had uncovered suspicious transactions overseen by dos Santos, including a payment of $38 million made to a Dubai-based company she approved after she was dismissed from Sonangol.

Dos Santos has denied wrongdoing and accused Saturnino of trying “to rewrite history.” A spokeswoman for dos Santos said she had not received any summons.

“Ms. Isabel dos Santos was surprised when she was informed by the media that she had been notified to respond regarding her management at Sonangol,” the spokeswoman said.

Angop said the summons was issued July 17 for her to appear before prosecutors the next day.

A spokesman for the prosecutor general’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

President Joao Lourenço, who took office in September when Jose Eduardo dos Santos stepped down after nearly four decades in power, has acted to sideline powerful figures associated with his predecessor and tackle rampant corruption.

He sacked Isabel dos Santos as chair of Sonangol and her half brother Jose Filomeno dos Santos as head of the Sovereign Wealth Fund. The latter is also a suspect in a fraud case involving a transfer of $500 million from the central bank. He has said he is cooperating with authorities.

State prosecutors opened an investigation into the allegations by Saturnino against Isabel dos Santos in March but have issued no public statements since.

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Amal Clooney Scholarship Winner Aims to Fight Child Marriage and Rape

The 16-year-old winner of the annual Amal Clooney Scholarship said on Tuesday that she wants to combat child marriage and marital rape in Lebanon, where there is no minimum age to wed.

Kamar Omary will head to Armenia’s UWC Dilijan College in August to enroll in its two-year international baccalaureate program — the fourth Lebanese teenager to receive the award set up by the prominent Lebanese-British human rights lawyer.

“We need a minimum age for marriage and marital rape should be criminalized,” Omary told Reuters by phone from Lebanon. “Sexism and abuse of women and children is still widespread. … Women are stigmatized. They are generally seen as weaker than men and we need change.”

Religious communities’ personal status laws in Lebanon allow girls younger than 15 to marry, leading many Syrian refugee families, who cannot afford food or rent, to marry off their young daughters, rights groups say.

Clooney, a London barrister, is known for representing Yazidi women who have been victims of sexual slavery, rape and genocide by Islamic State militants in Iraq, and for her marriage to Hollywood star George Clooney.

Omary said she hopes to follow in Amal Clooney’s footsteps of fighting for “people in need,” such as some 1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, most of whom live in poverty.

“Every single person deserves education, health and security, and most refugees don’t get that here. That is very unfair,” Omary said. “I want to connect with people and listen to them — that is how you trigger change and that is what Amal does. She listens to the people and defends them.”

Amal Clooney Scholarship winners are chosen based on their academic performance and interest in the promotion of human rights and international issues.

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Amal Clooney Scholarship Winner Aims to Fight Child Marriage and Rape

The 16-year-old winner of the annual Amal Clooney Scholarship said on Tuesday that she wants to combat child marriage and marital rape in Lebanon, where there is no minimum age to wed.

Kamar Omary will head to Armenia’s UWC Dilijan College in August to enroll in its two-year international baccalaureate program — the fourth Lebanese teenager to receive the award set up by the prominent Lebanese-British human rights lawyer.

“We need a minimum age for marriage and marital rape should be criminalized,” Omary told Reuters by phone from Lebanon. “Sexism and abuse of women and children is still widespread. … Women are stigmatized. They are generally seen as weaker than men and we need change.”

Religious communities’ personal status laws in Lebanon allow girls younger than 15 to marry, leading many Syrian refugee families, who cannot afford food or rent, to marry off their young daughters, rights groups say.

Clooney, a London barrister, is known for representing Yazidi women who have been victims of sexual slavery, rape and genocide by Islamic State militants in Iraq, and for her marriage to Hollywood star George Clooney.

Omary said she hopes to follow in Amal Clooney’s footsteps of fighting for “people in need,” such as some 1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, most of whom live in poverty.

“Every single person deserves education, health and security, and most refugees don’t get that here. That is very unfair,” Omary said. “I want to connect with people and listen to them — that is how you trigger change and that is what Amal does. She listens to the people and defends them.”

Amal Clooney Scholarship winners are chosen based on their academic performance and interest in the promotion of human rights and international issues.

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North Korea Tops Pompeo Agenda at Asia Security Meeting

North Korea will top Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s agenda as he heads to an Asian security meeting in Singapore this week amid new concerns over Pyongyang’s ballistic missile program and commitment to denuclearization.

Pompeo and North Korea’s foreign minister are both set to attend the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum on Saturday and U.S. officials say a meeting between the two of them is possible, although not confirmed.

North Korea is one of 27 members of the forum, which in the past has served as a venue for meetings between top diplomats from Pyongyang and Washington. Singapore was also the site of last month’s historic summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at which the two reached a loose agreement on denuclearization.

North Korea “will be in the room and there will certainly be discussions about denuclearization,” one senior State Department official said Tuesday. The official was not authorized to publicly discuss Pompeo’s schedule and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Since the Trump-Kim summit, though, issues have arisen to give U.S. and other analysts pause.

On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that U.S. intelligence officials suspect that North Korea is continuing to build new missiles in the same research facility that manufactured the country’s ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States.

The Post also reported that North Korean officials have talked about how they plan to deceive the U.S. about the size of their arsenal of missiles and nuclear warheads and facilities. “Their strategy includes potentially asserting that they have fully denuclearized by declaring and disposing of 20 warheads while retaining dozens more,” the newspaper said.

Missile experts, using open source satellite information, also reported seeing activity at the research facility in Sanumdong near the capital, Pyongyang. Jeffrey Lewis, who directs the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, said his group has reviewed 40 high-resolution images since January. Intelligence agencies likely have more detailed images, he said.

“We’ve tracked the vehicle traffic in and out and it’s still active,” Lewis said in a phone interview Tuesday. “That facility is used for producing missiles and space launchers and that facility has remained active all year long. There’s new construction and shipping containers going in and out.”

The senior State Department official would not address the report, but Pompeo and other members of Trump’s national security team have cautioned that the process of denuclearizing North Korea and eliminating the threat from its long-range missiles will not be quick. They have urged patience even as Trump himself has played up positive developments, including the return of apparent remains of more than 50 American troops killed during the Korean War.

The officials cited by the Post said new evidence, including satellite photos taken in recent weeks, suggests that work is underway on at least one and possibly two liquid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missiles at a research facility in Sanumdong on the outskirts of Pyongyang.

The report cast further doubt on Trump’s claims of victory last month in disarmament talks with North Korea. After the president met Kim, Trump declared on Twitter “There is no longer a Nuclear threat from North Korea.”

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on Tuesday played down the significance of the Post report.

“It suggests that this is a process,” she told Fox News of U.S. efforts to denuclearize North Korea. “Things don’t change overnight,” Conway added.

Trump asserted last week that his administration’s plan to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear weapons is “going very well.” Trump made his remarks after the North Korea-focused 38 North website released recent satellite imagery that seems to show dismantlement underway at Sohae.

But his comment seemed at odds with Pompeo, who said any such step would have to be confirmed by international inspectors and that North Korea continued to produce fuel for nuclear weapons despite Kim’s pledge to denuclearize. Pompeo said there was “an awful long way to go” before North Korea could no longer be viewed as a nuclear threat.

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North Korea Tops Pompeo Agenda at Asia Security Meeting

North Korea will top Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s agenda as he heads to an Asian security meeting in Singapore this week amid new concerns over Pyongyang’s ballistic missile program and commitment to denuclearization.

Pompeo and North Korea’s foreign minister are both set to attend the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum on Saturday and U.S. officials say a meeting between the two of them is possible, although not confirmed.

North Korea is one of 27 members of the forum, which in the past has served as a venue for meetings between top diplomats from Pyongyang and Washington. Singapore was also the site of last month’s historic summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at which the two reached a loose agreement on denuclearization.

North Korea “will be in the room and there will certainly be discussions about denuclearization,” one senior State Department official said Tuesday. The official was not authorized to publicly discuss Pompeo’s schedule and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Since the Trump-Kim summit, though, issues have arisen to give U.S. and other analysts pause.

On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that U.S. intelligence officials suspect that North Korea is continuing to build new missiles in the same research facility that manufactured the country’s ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States.

The Post also reported that North Korean officials have talked about how they plan to deceive the U.S. about the size of their arsenal of missiles and nuclear warheads and facilities. “Their strategy includes potentially asserting that they have fully denuclearized by declaring and disposing of 20 warheads while retaining dozens more,” the newspaper said.

Missile experts, using open source satellite information, also reported seeing activity at the research facility in Sanumdong near the capital, Pyongyang. Jeffrey Lewis, who directs the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, said his group has reviewed 40 high-resolution images since January. Intelligence agencies likely have more detailed images, he said.

“We’ve tracked the vehicle traffic in and out and it’s still active,” Lewis said in a phone interview Tuesday. “That facility is used for producing missiles and space launchers and that facility has remained active all year long. There’s new construction and shipping containers going in and out.”

The senior State Department official would not address the report, but Pompeo and other members of Trump’s national security team have cautioned that the process of denuclearizing North Korea and eliminating the threat from its long-range missiles will not be quick. They have urged patience even as Trump himself has played up positive developments, including the return of apparent remains of more than 50 American troops killed during the Korean War.

The officials cited by the Post said new evidence, including satellite photos taken in recent weeks, suggests that work is underway on at least one and possibly two liquid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missiles at a research facility in Sanumdong on the outskirts of Pyongyang.

The report cast further doubt on Trump’s claims of victory last month in disarmament talks with North Korea. After the president met Kim, Trump declared on Twitter “There is no longer a Nuclear threat from North Korea.”

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on Tuesday played down the significance of the Post report.

“It suggests that this is a process,” she told Fox News of U.S. efforts to denuclearize North Korea. “Things don’t change overnight,” Conway added.

Trump asserted last week that his administration’s plan to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear weapons is “going very well.” Trump made his remarks after the North Korea-focused 38 North website released recent satellite imagery that seems to show dismantlement underway at Sohae.

But his comment seemed at odds with Pompeo, who said any such step would have to be confirmed by international inspectors and that North Korea continued to produce fuel for nuclear weapons despite Kim’s pledge to denuclearize. Pompeo said there was “an awful long way to go” before North Korea could no longer be viewed as a nuclear threat.

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