Zimbabwe’s main political campaigns hold final rallies in the capital, two days before Monday’s historic elections, the first in 38 years without Robert Mugabe on the ballot. Anita Powell and Paul Ndiho report from Harare.
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Month: July 2018
Zimbabwe’s Mugabe Denounces Former Party Day Before Elections
Zimbabwe’s former president, Robert Mugabe, lashed out Sunday at the political party he founded, saying he could not vote for the ruling ZANU-PF in Monday’s poll. His sharp words came just hours ahead of the nation’s most critical election in decades — the the first one in which Mugabe is not running. VOA’s Anita Powell was there, and brings us this report from Harare.
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Protesters Chant Anti-Putin Slogans at Moscow Rally Against Retirement Age Plan
Thousands protested in central Moscow on Sunday against a proposed increase to the retirement age and the crowd chanted slogans critical of President Vladimir Putin whose approval ratings have been dented by the bill.
The rally organized by the opposition Libertarian Party chanted “Putin is a thief” and “away with the tsar,” slogans common at anti-Putin and anti-government protests.
The retirement age proposal is politically sensitive for Putin, who was re-elected in March, because it has prompted a series of protests across Russia since it was announced on June 14, the day Russia played the first match of its soccer World Cup.
Around 90 percent of the population oppose the bill, according to a recent opinion poll, and a petition against it has attracted 3 million signatures online.
More than 6,000 people came to Sunday’s rally some 2.4 kilometers (1.5 miles) from the Kremlin, according to White Counter, an NGO that counts participants at rallies using metal detector frames. Police put the number at around 2,500.
People held placards with slogans against the higher retirement age and one read: “stop stealing our future.”
Authorities detained two protest organizers, Vladimir Milov, a former deputy energy minister and now an opposition campaigner, told Reuters.
The proposal to raise the retirement age, to 65 from 60 for men and to 63 from 55 for women, is part of an unpopular budget package designed to shore up government finances that is backed by lawmakers.
Putin, who once promised not to raise the retirement age, has tried to distance himself from the pension plan.
This month he said he did not like any of the proposals. He said Russia could avoid raising the retirement age for years, though a decision would have to be made eventually.
“We have to proceed not from emotions, but from the real assessment of economic conditions and prospects of its development and [the development of] the social sphere,” Putin said.
On Saturday, more than 12,000 rallied on the same street in Moscow, according to the White Counter data.
The changes to the retirement age would be introduced gradually, starting in 2019, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said when presenting the plan. Officials said the measure should help to raise an average pension in Russia, now at around 14,400 roubles ($229.52).
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Nuns Break Silence over Years of Abuse
Buoyed by the #MeToo Movement, Nuns have begun to free themselves of their fears of speaking out against the abuses they have suffered for years at the hand of their superiors in the church. Cases of abused nuns have emerged in countries all over the world. It does not only involve sexual abuse but also the exploitation of the work of nuns. Nuns are there to clean and cook for the priests, bishops and cardinals they serve and often paid very modestly for their services. There is hardly any recognition for their work. The sisters have a second-class status in the church.
Denouncing abuses is still a huge taboo but the problem is very real and, slowly, victims have begun to overcome their convictions that no one will listen or believe what they say and have started to free themselves of their very heavy burdens. The phenomenon of the sexual abuse of nuns has managed to remain hidden and unspoken for so long because nuns’ felt a sense of shame and guilt. Sexual abuse of nuns in the church is often on women who are fragile and vulnerable. The norm is that victims keep everything to themselves for years and it is more likely that a victim manages to speak out once she has abandoned consecrated life and she has found the strength to start a new life.
The French newspaper Le Parisien recently published the stories of some victims who had left their religious congregation. “It is evidence that the phenomenon is much wider and if the nuns decide to speak freely, a huge scandal can emerge,” said Francois Devaux, president of the association of the victims of abuse in the church. The choice of the victims is certainly not a chance one and the more power they have over the nun the less the victims will speak up and the predators “are safe,” Devaux explained.
In one case reported in Le Parisien, former nun “Christelle,” today a teacher, no longer managed to come close to a priest, to go to confession or even go to Sunday mass. Last fall she filed a report for violence and sexual abuse she suffered in 2010-2011. Her story has all of the typical elements of this type of abuse: vulnerability, manipulation, emotional and spiritual dependence and feelings of guilt.
She suffered under the influence of “Jean,” a priest of her congregation that she had met in 2004. “He had been recommended as a great and saintly preacher,” and become a sort of “spiritual father” and confidant in a context where her relationship with the other nuns, who were all much older, was very tense.
Then in 2007, the relationship changed when he tried to kiss her and seeing her shock said he was sorry and then took his distance from her. “I collapsed as he was my only support”. In 2010 at a moment when she was feeling she had lost her spiritual direction, their relationship improved. “He was always the last person with me, he had an aura and authority, he could help me find my place in the church,” she said. The man’s gestures when they met “were increasingly inappropriate.” “Each time I said no to him but he would continue. He always acted like he was sorry,” she added, “until the day he raped me. He was unable to control himself.
He was perverse. He made me feel guilty. When he tried to kiss me, he said to me that I did not slap him and therefore I wanted it.” “Christelle” felt manipulated at a time she was vulnerable. In 2011, when “Jean” went to work elsewhere the nun managed to tear herself away from that dependence although she felt destroyed. “I thought I would commit suicide,” she said. She managed to come back to life when she left consecrated life and reported the abuse. She learned that her abuser had received a promotion despite her report to the church hierarchy. The case was investigated and “Jean” was banned from working outside of his community.
He has always denied all accusations saying he had “an emotional tie but nothing sexual, that his love was an innocent one which he had to interrupt and she felt wounded.” His superior supported him saying he believed it was “a consensual relationship between two adults.” When “Christelle” filed the report, this same superior contacted her to see if there was a way to find an agreement to resolve the matter. The call was taped.
Last month at a conference of men and women religious of France dedicated to the theme of sexual abuses, Sister Veronique Margron, their president said: “When a religious man abuses a nun, in addition to the physical and extreme psychological damage there is also spiritual violence. The abuser breaks the more intimate part of the faith of a person in her relationship with God.” She urged victims to speak up and “bring their voices out of their tombs.”
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Turkey’s Erdogan Vows Not to Bow to US Threats
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is vowing not to back down to Washington’s demand to release American Pastor Andrew Brunson, who is on trial on terrorism charges. U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday, threatened “severe sanctions” if Brunson was not released.
“We will not take a step back when faced with sanctions, “Turkish state broadcaster TRT on Sunday quoted Erdogan, “They should not forget that they will lose a sincere partner.”
The Turkish President is currently on a tour of African countries.
Erdogan’s comment coincides with an escalation of anti-U.S. rhetoric. Five pro-government newspapers Sunday all carried the same headline, “We are not tied from our stomachs (by an umbilical cord) to the U.S.”
“Turkey, won’t take a knee before anybody,” said Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu.
Ankara insists Brunson’s detention and trial is a matter for the courts. The American pastor is on trial on charges of supporting conspirators behind the 2016 failed coup attempt and being linked to Kurdish insurgents. Earlier this month a court released Brunson and put him under house arrest after being jailed for nearly two years. However, Washington is demanding the pastor’s immediate release, describing the charges as “baseless.”
The deepening diplomatic dispute between the two NATO allies comes as relations are already straining over a myriad of differences. However, observers say Erdogan’s resolute stance against Washington pressure could be a sign of Ankara’s diplomatic weakness.
“Pastor Brunson himself is not important, but he became an important political asset,” said former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen who served in Washington. “Maybe with the exception of cooperation with the U.S. in Syria, that [the release of Brunson] is all Turkey can offer to the U.S. However, there are so many files so to speak waiting to be solved and the single asset Ankara has, is Brunson.”
Ankara is pressing Washington for the extradition of U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, blamed for 2016 failed coup attempt. Gulen denies any role in the coup. Turkey is also lobbying to minimize an expected multi-billion dollar fine by the U.S. Treasury against the Turkish State-owned Halkbank for violating U.S. sanctions on Iran.
Neither Erdogan nor his ministers have so far directly criticized President Trump over the Brunson case. “Turkey saw Trump as a savior,” political analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners said. “Trump has a kinship empathy with strong macho leaders, so he got along with Erdogan despite several policy differences.”
Analysts suggest Erdogan is likely to see his best chance of resolving Brunson case through direct talks with Trump. “You have to open the way for more talks, shouting each other is not the way, both sides have to get to their senses and not play to their own crowds,” former Turkish diplomat Selcen said. “But unfortunately both [Trump and Erdogan] are facing elections in the coming months, I don’t know how that will play out.”
The United States in November has Congressional elections, and the release of Brunson is important for evangelical Christians, a vital part of Trump’s Republican Party voting base. Erdogan is already eyeing March municipal elections for Turkey’s main cities and will be reluctant to bow to Washington’s threats.
The escalating dispute over Brunson is threatening to exacerbate other disputes between the two NATO allies. Ankara’s deepening ties with Moscow including the purchase of Russia’s S 400 missile system has caused alarm in Washington, raising questions over Turkey’s commitment to its western allies. Turkish ministers have also ruled out complying with new U.S. sanctions against Iran. Differences between the two sides remain over Syria.
Analysts point out Washington had until now sought to contain the simmering tensions through dialogue. However, the threat of sanctions over Brunson could herald a change in approach towards Ankara.
“They [Ankara] are quite justifiably afraid that stepping back would lead to further concessions in the future,” analyst Yesilada said.
“If [Brunson is released], that happens American pressure will double,” Yesilada continued, “there is the S 400 case, there are three local U.S. consular employees in detention [in Turkey]. Of course Turkey’s flirtation with Russia, the Syrian conflict and most important Turkey’s defiance of Iranian sanctions. If the United States gets what it wants in the Brunson case, then similar methods will be used again.”
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Ethiopia Invites Investment from Diaspora, and Beyond
In the midst of unprecedented political and social reforms, Ethiopia has a message for its diaspora: The country is open for business.
At a dinner Friday for the Ethiopian business community at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed highlighted opportunities in Ethiopia and urged the diaspora to come back and invest.
Scholars, entrepreneurs and professionals at the gathering greeted Abiy warmly and embraced his call to contribute to their country.
But some are looking for additional changes, and others have expressed doubts about whether the stability achieved in the past four months will last.
‘Time to get together’
Fitsum Arega, Abiy’s chief of staff, told VOA that differences have held Ethiopia back for too long, and the moment has come for communication that builds understanding. “It’s time for Ethiopians and the diaspora community to get together,” Fitsum said.
“In the last decade and a half, the economy has been growing very fast. But when it comes to inclusiveness, there are people left out, unable to get jobs,” Fitsum added. “And we believe, Prime Minister Abiy believes, this time is an important time in the history of Ethiopia to build on human capital, to build on democracy.”
WATCH: Jill Craig’s video report
Since he assumed office in April, Abiy has spearheaded broad reforms that have touched on internal politics, security, regional affairs and business. He’s also brought a message of unity and reconciliation to a country that’s long struggled with conflict along ethnic and political lines. The result, with breathtaking speed, has been a rebranded country that appears more inclusive of its citizens and more hospitable to outside investment.
Abiy’s financial reforms have included moves to privatize state-owned enterprises, including the telecom industry, and initiatives to build public-private partnerships for investors.
He’s also secured $3 billion in financing from the U.A.E., including a $1 billion cash infusion in the country’s central bank.
Too much, too soon?
Just four months ago, Ethiopia’s future was shrouded in uncertainty.
Unrest in two of the country’s largest regions, and violent crackdowns on protesters, led to a state of emergency and the abrupt resignation of the previous prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn.
But conflict continues to affect many Ethiopians, and nearly a million people have been displaced from their homes in the southern part of the country due to ethnic rifts.
Lingering discontent and the sudden reversal in the country’s trajectory have left some wondering whether the pace of change can be sustained. Others are looking for more strides toward democratization.
Yilma Midekssa is an opposition member with the Oromo ethnic group. A trained pilot and lawyer, Yilma sought asylum in the former Soviet Union in the early 1990s and hasn’t been back to Ethiopia in 28 years.
He’d like to return, but he’s also looking for more commitments from the government.
“We need some preconditions to go back. It is concerning of safety, it is concerning of how we go back and work with them.”
For Abiy’s government, though, quick action is necessary and builds momentum toward long-lasting stability.
“We cannot afford to move at a snail’s pace,” Fitsum said. “We have to move forward as fast as we could. What [Abiy] has achieved in the last three and half months … no other government has achieved it in Africa, maybe in 10 years’ time.”
Intertwined politics
For some, investment opportunities can’t be separated from political reform — both realized and potential.
Tura Luco is a member of the Oromo Liberation Front opposition group. He flew from Minnesota to hear Abiy speak in Washington.
He said Abiy has provided hope, and he wants to be part of the movement toward inclusive politics. But that means seeing democratically elected leaders at different levels of government, Tura said.
“It’s all about the freedom,” Tura told VOA. “My great grandfathers, my forefathers, my fathers. I’m also fighting for the freedom.”
Mehabub Abawajy, also a member of the OLF, has lived in the U.S. for 17 years.
“Every time an Ethiopian leader came to America,” Mehabub told VOA, “we’d go against him. We’d protest. But this time there is engagement.”
Mehabub underscored Abiy’s willingness to listen. But until the government makes core institutions — the military, judiciary and election commission — separate from politics, Mehabub said he can’t return home.
“If these conditions are met, and these government institutions are independent of political parties, then we’ll go back to our country.”
Mehabub, a lawyer, managed a multi-million dollar business in South Africa with 70 employees. “I can bring this skill, this experience back home and try to create jobs for a lot of people,” he said.
Diasporan role
Officials hope many will invest in Ethiopia, but they see a special role for the diaspora.
“We may tell them: ‘This is what we have.’ But with their exposure and experience, they may see beyond,” Fitsum said. “Their connection to such a huge, important market as the U.S. gives them an export opportunity [and] network opportunities,” he added.
“There might be bureaucracies here and there. But the government is ready to tackle [them] together. And, I think, the higher the risks, the higher the profit as well.”
Fitsum emphasized that now is the time to seize opportunities. “At the early stages, the benefits they can secure is so huge because there is a market gap.”
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Zimbabwe’s Mugabe Denounces Party He Founded Day Before Poll
Zimbabwe’s former president, Robert Mugabe, lashed out Sunday at the political party he founded, saying he could not vote for the ruling ZANU-PF in Monday’s poll.
This election is the first in 38 years without Mugabe on the ballot as head of ZANU-PF. Mugabe, now 94, resigned in November under pressure from the military. His longtime deputy, 75-year-old Emmerson Mnangagwa, took over and is now running for president.
WATCH: Anita Powell’s video report
“I cannot vote for those who have tormented me,” said Mugabe, who invited journalists to his Blue Roof mansions in a wealthy Harare suburb. He spoke, slowly but uninterrupted, for more than two hours, as an aide intervened occasionally to prop up his slumping body with tiger-print cushions.
When asked directly who he would choose in Monday’s poll, Mugabe demurred. Although 23 candidates registered to run for president, the poll has effectively come down to a two-man contest, with Mnangagwa facing stiff competition from the new head of the largest opposition party, 40-year-old Nelson Chamisa.
“I cannot vote for ZANU-PF,” Mugabe said. “I cannot vote for those who have cause me to be in this condition.”
He said ruled out several other candidates: “I have also said, Ma [Joice] Mujuru and Ma [Thokozani] Khupe don’t offer very much. So there is Chamisa left.”
Mugabe both directly and indirectly denounced his party and its new leader, saying, “it was a thorough coup d’Etat” that saw him lose power. He complained of his treatment over the last seven months, saying family members had been harassed and intimidated, and bemoaned that his government pension amounted to $460,000 and two houses. His Chinese-built mansion, identifiable by its pagoda-style blue roof, he said, is falling down.
He also bemoaned the state of affairs in Zimbabwe, saying freedoms and rule of law have eroded since his departure. But critics and rights groups have repeatedly and credibly accused Mugabe’s regime of human rights abuses, of stifling free speech, and of rigging elections. The U.S. and European nations put Mugabe and his top cronies on sanctions lists over those allegations.
Mugabe said he hoped the election would bring a new day for Zimbabwe — which is the same thing many candidates, and many voters, are also hoping for.
“I have, during all this time, cried for a return, our return to constitutionality, our return to legality, our return to freedom for our people, an environment in which our people would be free”
your ad herePalestinian Protest Icon Released from Israeli Prison
A Palestinian teenager who was videotaped last year slapping two Israeli soldiers has been released from prison. For Israelis she’s a provocateur, for Palestinians a protest icon.
Seventeen-year-old Palestinian Ahed Tamimi got a hero’s welcome in the West Bank after she was released from an Israeli prison. Tamimi served eight months for slapping and kicking an Israeli soldier.
A video of the assault went viral on social media and turned her into a protest icon. Addressing the crowd of supporters waving Palestinian flags, Tamimi was defiant.
She vowed that “the resistance will continue until the [Israeli] occupation is removed.”
While Palestinians are jubilant, many Israelis are angry.
Cabinet Minister Uri Ariel said Israel is way too lenient toward what he described as “terrorists” like Tamimi. He said allowing girls to attack Israeli soldiers makes the army look weak and harms deterrence.
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With 100 Days Until the Midterms, Trump is the Top Issue
One hundred days from now, we should be better able to answer the following question: What does the country really think about the presidency of Donald J. Trump?
Midterm congressional elections are on November 6th and party control of both the Senate and House of Representatives is at stake, not to mention the fate of the Trump presidency for the next two years.
Opposition Democrats enjoy some key advantages three months out. When voters are asked which party they will support in the November elections, Democrats hold a seven point edge over Republicans in the latest polling average calculated by the non-partisan website Real Clear Politics. In a recent Quinnipiac poll, Democrats held a 51 to 39 percent generic ballot lead over Republicans, and other surveys have shown the Democratic advantage widening in recent weeks.
Referendum on Trump
Democrats and Republicans don’t agree on much but they do see eye-to-eye on one thing, and that is that President Trump will be the defining issue in this year’s midterms.
With that in mind, Trump has been busy rallying his base and urging them to get out and support Republican candidates in November.
“We won’t back down, we won’t give in, and we will never, ever, surrender,” Trump told supporters at a recent campaign rally in Great Falls, Montana. “We will never, ever, quit. We go forward to victory.”
The president touted some good economic news on Friday when the Commerce Department reported that the U.S. economy surged last quarter to an annual growth rate of 4.1 percent, the fastest pace since 2014. “We have accomplished an economic turnaround of historic proportions,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Energized Democrats
But the good economic news seems to be doing little to blunt enthusiasm for the upcoming midterms among opposition Democrats.
Democrats have undertaken an intensive grassroots organizing campaign for November to get out the vote, and that includes high-profile names like Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who ran for president in 2016.
“This fight about who controls the House is unbelievably important and it could literally come down to one or two elections,” Sanders told an enthusiastic crowd in Kansas recently. “If you guys can do what I know you can. This will be an election heard not only all over this country but all over the world.”
Democrats need to pick up about two dozen seats to retake the majority in the House, and gain two seats to have a majority in the Senate.
WATCH: US Midterm elections
In addition to being energized, analysts predict that Democrats also have history on their side.
“The midterms generally are good for the out party, the party out of the White House, and in this case Donald Trump is a particularly unpopular president among Democrats,” said John Fortier with the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington. “They are motivated, they don’t like him and they want to come out to vote.”
Trump’s polls
And then there is the issue of the president’s poll numbers, which appear to have slipped slightly since his controversial summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Real Clear average has Trump’s approval at 43 percent, with 53 percent disapproving. But in two polls last week, Trump dropped below 40 percent approval, a reversal after improving his poll numbers in the last few months.
The latest Quinnipiac survey had the president’s approval at 38 percent, with 58 percent disapproving. And the Marist Poll found Trump’s approval at 39 percent with 51 percent disapproving. Marist also had the president under 40 percent approval in three key Midwestern states: Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Trump narrowly won Michigan and Wisconsin as part of his Electoral College triumph in the 2016 presidential election.
Rallying the base
As Trump campaigns around the country on behalf of Republicans, he is urging supporters to defy history and turn out in strong numbers to show support for his agenda.
It is clear that both parties now see the midterms as a referendum on the president. “We have rarely had a president who was so centered on an election and so essential to it,” said University of Virginia analyst Larry Sabato via Skype. “He is the Sun. Everything else revolving around the Sun is a planet or a moon.”
While Trump will be center-stage in the campaign, recent polls show Americans concerned with a range of issues including the economy, immigration, health care, guns and taxes.
Optimistic Democrats
Given Trump’s low approval rating and the historical trend of presidents suffering losses in midterm elections, many experts predict that Democrats should make gains.
“I think the question is, is there a Democratic wave or is it a Democratic tsunami?” said Brookings Institution scholar Elaine Kamarck. “Do Democrats take the House with a margin of five (seats) or do they take the House with a margin of 30? That I don’t think anybody can tell yet.”
But given the president’s loyal base and his apparent interest in campaigning, some Trump supporters caution that Republicans could do better than expected.
“I think the Democrats will gain some seats. But right now, if the election were held today, the Republicans may hold the House by one or two,” said former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. He spoke with VOA’s Georgian Service.
All 435 House seats and about a third of the 100 Senate seats are at stake in November, and the outcome will have a major impact on the next two years of Trump’s presidency.
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Black Man Accuses Sean Spicer of Hurling Racial Slur at Him
A black man yelled at former White House press secretary Sean Spicer in a bookstore and accused Spicer of calling him a racial slur when they were students at a prep school decades ago.
Spicer was “taken aback” by the man’s “outrageous claim” and had no recollection of him or of being in school with him, his publicist said on Saturday.
Spicer was at a book signing in Middletown on Friday to promote his new book reflecting on his time at the press podium for President Donald Trump.
Alex Lombard, who was standing behind a small group of people waiting in line to meet Spicer and get him to sign the book, called out Spicer’s name and said they went to Portsmouth Abbey School together. Spicer waved to him and said, “Hey. Yeah. How are you?”
Lombard, a Newport native who now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, then accused Spicer of calling him the N-word and trying to fight him when they were at school.
“You don’t remember that you tried to fight me?” Lombard asked. “But you called me a (N-word) first.”
A security guard approached Lombard and led him away as he kept talking: “I was 14 then. I was a scared kid then, Sean. I’m not scared to fight you now.”
The Providence Journal reported Saturday that Lombard said he was a member of Portsmouth Abbey’s class of 1990. It said Spicer was a member of the class of 1989.
Phone and email messages left by The Associated Press for the school were not immediately returned.
A Newport Daily News video of the encounter doesn’t show how Spicer, who was seated at a table signing books, reacted to being accused of using the racial slur. But his publicist said he was shocked by the allegation.
Spicer “can’t recall any incident like this happening” and was “not sure if this was just a stunt this man was pulling,” Regnery Publishing publicist Lauren McCue said.
She said Spicer has been in the news a lot the last couple of years and it was “a very odd time” for an accusation like this to be made.
Spicer has been promoting “The Briefing: Politics, the Press, and the President,” which just came out. The book paints a rosy if sometimes thorny picture of Trump, describing him as “a unicorn, riding a unicorn over a rainbow” and a man to whom the regular rules of politics don’t apply.
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With 100 Days to Go Until Midterms, Trump is the Top Issue
There are now 100 days left before U.S. midterm elections in November when control of both chambers of the U.S. Congress will be at stake. Polls give opposition Democrats an edge and both parties agree that President Donald Trump will be the key issue in this year’s election. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has more from Washington.
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Ethiopia Prime Minister Seeks to ‘Bridge’ Gap to Diaspora
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has made his first visit to the United States, speaking to thousands of members of the diaspora in Washington, D.C. on Saturday. The trip coincides with the recent easing of tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea. From Washington, VOA’s Jill Craig has more.
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Former Milosevic Defense Lawyer Killed in Belgrade
A prominent Belgrade lawyer who in the past helped to defend late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic was shot dead, gangland-style, in front of his home on Saturday, police said.
Dragoslav Ognjanovic, 57, was gunned down in front of his apartment building in the Novi Beograd neighborhood and his 26-year-old son was wounded in the right arm, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
As a prominent criminal lawyer, Ognjanovic served in the early 2000s on a legal team that helped to defend Milosevic at his war crimes trial before the U.N. tribunal for former Yugoslavia in The Hague. Milosevic died in the tribunal’s detention unit in 2006 before a verdict was reached.
Over the years, Ognjanovic also defended some of Serbia’s leading underworld figures.
Several prominent members of Serbian and Montenegrin organized crime networks have been killed in Belgrade in the past two years in what police describe as a turf war over the illegal drugs market.
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Editors Calls Capital Gazette Victims ‘Friends of the People’
The five Capital Gazette employees killed in an attack in their newsroom last month were “friends of the people,” and “not one of them deserved to be seen as an enemy,” the executive editor of The Washington Post said Saturday at a benefit concert for the victims’ families and colleagues.
While Martin Baron didn’t mention President Donald Trump by name while speaking to an audience from the concert stage, he clearly had the president in mind. Trump has repeatedly denounced the press as the “enemy” of the American people.
Baron spoke of all five of the victims by name, and he described them as “friends of the people, the people of Annapolis and beyond.”
“Not one of them deserved to be seen as an enemy because of the profession they choose or the place they worked,” Baron said to applause from the audience. “Not one of them deserved to be seen as an enemy by the man who killed them, and not one of them deserved to be called an enemy by anyone else, either: Nor does anyone else in our field deserve to be labeled that way.”
Baron added: “To demean people like these, to demonize, to dehumanize them, is to debase yourself.”
The day after the shooting, Trump said journalists shouldn’t fear being violently attacked while doing their job. He also said the attack “shocked the conscience of our nation and filled our hearts with grief.”
The benefit concert was held a month after the June 28 shooting, which was one of the deadliest attacks on journalists in U.S. history.
Olivier Knox, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, told the audience the nearly 400 members of the organization stood behind the Capital Gazette. Knox also saluted first responders, who also were being honored by the concert. Knox said some reporters also run toward danger and face threats.
“Still, I divide threats against journalists into two eras: before Feb. 17th, 2017 and after Feb. 17th, 2017,” Knox said. “That’s because on Feb. 17th, 2017, the president of the United States, using his Twitter account, declared us enemies of the American people.”
The suspect, Jarrod Ramos, had a history of harassing the Capital Gazette’s journalists. He filed a defamation suit against the paper in 2012 that was dismissed as groundless, and he repeatedly targeted the paper’s staff members in profanity-laced tweets. A grand jury indicted Ramos on 23 counts, including murder, attempted murder and assault in the deaths of Gerald Fischman, Rob Hiaasen, John McNamara, Rebecca Ann Smith and Wendi Winters.
Journalists spoke between musical performances at the event in downtown Annapolis.
Elisabeth Bumiller, the Washington bureau chief of The New York Times, said her office grew silent when they first heard reports of the shooting. She said staff at the newspaper’s office felt solidarity with the reporters and editors at The Capital.
“They were part of a community that we are all a part of and who remind us that the work we do is so vital to our towns, our cities, our country and our democracy,” Bumiller said.
The event was titled “Annapolis Rising: A Benefit for the Capital Gazette and Free Press & First Responders.” Maryland-bred rockers Good Charlotte were headlining the concert Saturday evening.
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Report: Erdogan Defiant in Face of US Sanctions
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, responding to a threat by U.S. President Donald Trump to slap sanctions on Ankara if it did not free an American pastor, said his country would stand its ground, Haberturk TV reported Sunday.
The friendship between the United States and Turkey is on the line in this dispute, Erdogan said, according to TRT Haber and other media.
“We will not take a step back when faced with sanctions,” Erdogan was quoted as saying. “They should not forget that they will lose a sincere partner.”
American pastor Andrew Brunson, who was transferred to house arrest this week after 21 months of detention in a Turkish prison, has worked in Turkey for more than two decades. He has been accused of supporting the group Ankara says was behind a failed military coup in 2016, and of supporting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The pastor, who has denied the charges, faces up to 35 years in jail if found guilty.
Diplomats have been working to settle the tense dispute, and on Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed the status of the pastor with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, the State Department said.
Also Sunday, Haberturk TV quoted Erdogan as saying that Turkey would resort to international arbitration if the United States blocked the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Ankara.
Erdogan also said Turkey had asked for U.S. help in securing the return to Turkey of Turkish citizen Ebru Ozkan, detained in Israel, Haberturk reported.
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Detained Syrian Women Face Stigma Upon Release
Sundus Filfleh, a schoolteacher and a mother from Latakia city in western Syria, struggles to support her two girls and overcome the stigma of serving time in prison for her civil activism.
“After I was released from prison, the first question people asked me was whether I was raped,” Filfleh told VOA. “Society looks at a released woman in a suspicious way. There is a social rejection of the women who are released from prison.”
Syrian government forces arrested Filfleh during a peaceful protest in 2011 as she was trying to escape with other anti-government protesters. She said security forces opened fire on unarmed peaceful protesters to disperse their gathering.
She was imprisoned for about a year by the Syrian regime for her civil activities.
She said prison profoundly changed the way her family and other people view her as a person.
“My husband never accepted me again. We were separated after I was released. A lot of inmates were abandoned by their spouses and families after they were released as well,” she said.
Filfleh said her family members tried to her get out of prison, but turned their backs on her when she was released.
Torture and delivery
Filfleh was pregnant with her daughter when she was arrested, and she gave premature birth to her child inside the prison as a result of severe beating and torture by prison guards.
Now out of prison, Filfleh tries to find meaning and purpose in life. She lives in northern Syria’s Idlib province, one of the last rebel held strongholds in Syria. She works as a social worker, helping other women who went through gender-based violence during the country’s war.
But social work brings its own challenges, and she fears that her work might provoke extremist groups who disapprove of women’s activism and advocacy for rights.
“Surviving the experience of detention took fear out my heart. We must fight back this extremist thought,” Filfleh said.
A recent U.N. report said Syrian women have suffered many abuses, including sexual violence, torture and trauma, by different warring factions in the country.
The report also echoed Fifleh’s experience that prison takes a heavy toll on inmates and changes women’s lives forever.
“Owing to social norms and honor codes, however, men tend to be celebrated by their community upon their release, whereas women face shame, stigma and rejection by husbands or parents, who assume that they were raped in custody,” the report said.
Gülden Sönmez, a lawyer who organized the Conscience Convoy, an all-female march, in Turkey’s border region with Syria earlier this year, told Turkish media outlets that about 14,000 women had been imprisoned by the Syrian regime and that most of them had died because of torture and abuse.
A cause
Rejection by the community has prompted abandoned Syrian women to band together to help heal some of psychological trauma. Some have established organizations to help former prisoners raise awareness their situation and experiences.
Walaa Ahmad, a former prisoner and founder of the Idlib-based Release Me Foundation, started her nonprofit organization to provide psychological healing and education for women who suffered during and after detention in Syria.
“The greatest challenge these women face is the acceptance of society. Many of these women are divorced by their husbands, neglected by their parents, and found themselves cut off without a place to live,” Ahmad said.
“Some of these women are imprisoned with their children, and this creates a greater pressure on them after their release from prison,” Ahmed added.
Ahmed was arrested in late 2014 for her civil activism and was finally released in early 2017. She said she was arrested at a military checkpoint by government forces and taken to the notorious Adra prison in northeast Damascus.
Ahmed was hesitant to go into the details of her experience in prison, but like Filfleh, she finds comfort in helping other women with similar experiences overcome their struggles in post-prison life.
140,0000 detainees
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based rights group monitoring developments in Syria since 2011, has documented more than 140,000 cases of people being detained by the Syrian regime.
The group charges that detainees have been subject to torture and that nearly 15,000 people, including women and children, have died as a result.
The group also says the 15,000 figure represents only cases that can be documented. It says the actual number of detainees who died in government prisons could be several times higher.
VOA could not independently verify the authenticity of these figures.
Many international organizations are urging the Syrian government to release prisoners incarcerated by the regime during the country’s civil war, which broke out in 2011.
In March 2017, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, told a Geneva forum that in order for the Syrian people to find peace, there must be accountability and justice.
“Today, in a sense, the entire country has become a torture chamber, a place of savage horror and absolute injustice,” Al Hussein said.
Syrian local sources said that the fate of thousands of Syrian detainees might be revealed as the government regains most of the land it lost to various rebel groups in the past few years.
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Sonalia, Eritrea Restore Diplomatic Ties
Somalia and Eritrean leaders agreed Saturday to resume their diplomatic ties and open embassies in their capitals.
The decision was made during a summit in Asmara, Eritrea, where Somalia President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo began a historic three-day visit Saturday. The two nations have not had diplomatic ties for nearly 15 years.
Speaking to VOA Somali, Somalia Information Minister Dahir Mohamed Geelle said, “You will see Eritrean and Somali ambassadors in both capitals very, very soon.”
He said the leaders also discussed regional security and changing relations among Horn of Africa countries.The region is of importance to the wealthy nations just across the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, who are interested in a strategic foothold in East Africa through its very busy shipping lanes.
The leaders are scheduled to continue tallks Sunday.
Stabilizing the Horn
Farmajo’s visit comes after longtime rivals Eritrea and Ethiopia restored diplomatic ties. The two nations have a long and complicated history, which has had a destabilizing influence on the Horn of Africa.
One point of contention has been Ethiopia’s military presence in Somalia. Backed by the West, the country’s military is supporting the Somali government fight against al-Shabab militants. Eritrea has criticized this intervention, claiming that Ethiopia’s presence in Somalia is doing more harm than good.
Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of supporting the terrorists. Over the years, this proxy war between the two countries has had the potential to spark regional conflict.
The conflict between the two nations also spilled over into neighboring Djibouti. One of Ethiopia’s main economic allies, Djibouti has been engaged in a war with Eritrea over a border area claimed by both countries.
Ultimately, the prospect of peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea may have a calming effect on the Horn. If stability is achieved, Ethiopia, a country with an estimated population of over 100 million, could realize its potential as a regional economic and military power. This could, in turn, transform the region into a united economic powerhouse.
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Rallies Set Stage for Zimbabwe’s Election
Zimbabwe’s two main presidential rivals faced off Saturday, in simultaneous final rallies in the capital that drew tens of thousands of supporters and set the stage for a fierce battle in Monday’s pivotal election.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his main challenger, opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, rallied their supporters in their final push before election day. Both promised to implement change and to resuscitate the nation’s ailing economy, which has slid into a spiral after years of alleged mismanagement and corruption under the only leader independent Zimbabwe has ever known, Robert Mugabe. He resigned in November under pressure from the military, and Mnangagwa, his deputy, took his place.
“No one who is honest will say things are not changing,” Mnangagwa, 75, told a stadium filled to just over half capacity.
He pointed to what he said were economic improvements over the last eight months. He also pledged to accept the outcome of Monday’s poll, even if it meant his defeat.
Chamisa, 40, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, stressed the need for new blood after nearly four decades of rule by Mnangagwa’s ZANU-PF party.
“People are voting for the new,” he said before a teeming crowd in central Harare, in a speech delivered mainly in the Shona language. “People are voting for the young. People are voting for a new Zimbabwe in authentic and genuine terms.”
Both men — and indeed, all 22 candidates contesting the presidency — are offering some version of the same promise: to bring in change, fix the economy and restore the reputation of a nation long seen as an international pariah for its poor human rights record.
The election is being watched keenly by local observers, and international observers have been invited for the first time in years.
Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson, part of a bipartisan U.S. observation mission, has described the poll as “enormously historic,” and praised the campaign’s relative lack of violence and intimidation.
“This election amounts to a new beginning for Zimbabwe, and one in which I think there is a great deal of optimism on all sides,” he said.
VOA’s Blessing Zulu contributed to this report.
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Third Palestinian Dies After Friday Border Protests
A Palestinian teenager died Saturday of wounds suffered in border protests in Gaza, according to Gaza medical authorities.
Muamen Fathi al-Hams was the third fatality of Friday’s border protests. The two killed Friday were Razi Abu Mustafa, 43, and Majdi al-Satri, 12.
Earlier Saturday, the U.N. Middle East enjoy, Nickolay Mladenov, posted on Twitter:
On Friday, Israeli police closed Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque for several hours after a number of people barricaded themselves inside.
Police said the closure came after they were attacked with fireworks and stones following Friday’s afternoon prayers. Witnesses said the police stormed the building with tear gas and stun grenades.
Authorities reported the arrest of two dozen people who had taken part in the confrontation.
In a statement, a police spokesperson said, “The police intend to act with a strong and uncompromising hand against the suspects who were arrested and others involved.”
Al-Aqsa is Islam’s third-holiest site. It sits on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, which is considered the most holy site in Judaism.
Police closed the mosque Friday and then searched all those inside as they left. Some of the men in the temple were detained.
Also Friday, Gaza health officials said a Palestinian was shot and killed at the border with Israel. Authorities identified the man as Ghazi Abu Mustafa and said the shooting took place during Friday protests at the border.
The Israeli military has not commented.
Meanwhile, Israel’s defense minister Avigdor Lieberman has announced plans to build 400 settlement homes in the West Bank, in response to news that a Palestinian teen had sneaked into an Israeli settlement Thursday and had stabbed three people, one fatally.
One of the victims, identified by the Israeli army as Yotam Ovadia, 31, later died at a hospital. One other was seriously wounded and the third was slightly injured.
The Israeli army said the incident took place in the Adam settlement, between Jerusalem and the Palestinian town of Ramallah in the West Bank.
Violence between Israelis and Palestinians flared in March when Palestinians began daily protests along the Israeli-Gaza border. At least 140 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier have died. Militants in Hamas-ruled Gaza have fired rockets into Israel, prompting a harsh Israeli response.
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UK Lawmakers Urge Tougher Facebook Rules
The U.K. government should increase oversight of social media like Facebook and election campaigns to protect democracy in the digital age, a parliamentary committee has recommended in a scathing report on fake news, data misuse and interference by Russia.
The interim report by the House of Commons’ media committee, to be released Sunday, said democracy is facing a crisis because the combination of data analysis and social media allows campaigns to target voters with messages of hate without their consent.
Tech giants like Facebook, which operate in a largely unregulated environment, are complicit because they haven’t done enough to protect personal information and remove harmful content, the committee said.
“The light of transparency must be allowed to shine on their operations and they must be made responsible, and liable, for the way in which harmful and misleading content is shared on their sites,” committee Chairman Damian Collins said in a statement.
The copy of the study was leaked Friday by Dominic Cummings, director of the official campaign group backing Britain’s departure from the European Union.
Social media companies are under scrutiny worldwide following allegations that political consultant Cambridge Analytica used data from tens of millions of Facebook accounts to profile voters and help U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign. The committee is also investigating the impact of fake news distributed via social media sites.
Collins ripped Facebook for allowing Russian agencies to use its platform to spread disinformation and influence elections.
“I believe what we have discovered so far is the tip of the iceberg,” he said, adding that more work needed to be done to expose how fake accounts target people during elections. “The ever-increasing sophistication of these campaigns, which will soon be helped by developments in augmented reality technology, make this an urgent necessity.”
The committee recommended that the British government increase the power of the Information Commissioner’s Office to regulate social media sites, update electoral laws to reflect modern campaign techniques and increase the transparency of political advertising on social media.
Prime Minister Theresa May has pledged to address the issue in a so-called White Paper to be released in the fall. She signaled her unease last year, accusing Russia of meddling in elections and planting fake news to sow discord in the West.
The committee began its work in January 2017, interviewing 61 witnesses during 20 hearings that took on an investigatory tone not normally found in such forums in the House of Commons.
The report criticized Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg for failing to appear before the panel and said his stand-ins were “unwilling or unable to give full answers to the committee’s questions.”
One of the committee’s recommendations is that the era of light-touch regulation for social media must end.
Social media companies can no longer avoid oversight by describing themselves as platforms, because they use technology to filter and shape the information users see. Nor are they publishers, since that model traditionally commissions and pays for content.
“We recommend that a new category of tech company is formulated, which tightens tech companies’ liabilities, and which is not necessarily either a ‘platform’ or a ‘publisher,” the report said. “We anticipate that the government will put forward these proposals in its White Paper later this year.”
The committee also said that the Information Commissioner’s Office needed more money so it could hire technical experts to be the “sheriff in the Wild West of the internet.” The funds would come from a levy on the tech companies, much in the same way as the banks pay for the upkeep of the Financial Conduct Authority.
“Our democracy is at risk, and now is the time to act, to protect our shared values and the integrity of our democratic institutions,” the committee said.
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West Bank Village Prepares for Protester’s Homecoming
On the eve of Ahed Tamimi’s release from prison, the father of the Palestinian protest icon said Saturday that he expected her to take a lead in the struggle against Israeli occupation but that the 17-year-old was also weighing college options.
In Tamimi’s village of Nabi Saleh, supporters prepared for Sunday’s homecoming, planting Palestinian flags on the roof of her family home and setting up hundreds of chairs for well-wishers in the courtyard.
Ahed and her mother, Nariman, were arrested in December, after Ahed slapped two Israeli soldiers outside the family home and Nariman filmed the incident and posted it on Facebook. Both are to be released Sunday.
To Palestinians and their international supporters, Ahed has become a symbol of resistance to Israel’s half-century-old military rule over the Palestinians. She is easily recognizable with her unruly mop of curly hair.
In Israel, she is seen by many as either as a provocateur, an irritation or a threat to the military’s deterrence.
Ahed’s father, Bassem, said Saturday that after her release from prison, “we expect her to lead and we will support her to lead” in the fight to end occupation. He did not say what this would entail.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast War. Palestinians are increasingly disillusioned about efforts to establish a state in those territories, after more than two decades of failed negotiations with Israel.
Bassem Tamimi said that his daughter completed her high school exams in prison, with the help of other prisoners who taught the required material. He said she initially hoped to attend a West Bank university but has also received scholarship offers abroad.
Ahed was 16 when she was arrested and turned 17 in custody. Her case has trained a spotlight on the detention of Palestinian minors by Israel, a practice that has been criticized by international rights groups. About 300 minors are currently being held, according to Palestinian figures.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops on Saturday detained two Italian artists who had painted a large mural of Ahed Tamimi on Israel’s West Bank separation barrier, according to local activist Munther Amireh and amateur video posted online.
The video shows armed soldiers ordering the two men, along with a Palestinian activist, to get out of a car next to the separation barrier. They are led away through an opening in the barrier.
Israel’s military had no immediate comment.
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US, Turkish Diplomats Discuss Detained American Pastor
The U.S. State Department said Saturday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu discussed American pastor Andrew Brunson, who is being detained in Turkey on terrorism and espionage charges.
Details of the conversation were not disclosed, but State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the two diplomats were “committed to continued discussions to resolve the matter and address other issues of common concern.”
Brunson, an evangelical pastor from Black Mountain, North Carolina, was indicted on charges of helping a network led by U.S.-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey blames for a failed 2016 coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in addition to supporting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The detention of Brunson has strained relations between Turkey and the U.S., both NATO allies. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened sanctions as part of a pressure campaign to free the pastor.
Brunson had been in jail for 21 months before being put under house arrest Wednesday. His transfer came one week after a court inside a prison complex in the western Turkish town of Aliaga ruled to keep Brunson in detention while he is tried. The court dismissed Brunson’s attorney’s request for Brunson to be freed pending the outcome of the trial, which was adjourned until October 12.
Brunson, 50, who denies the charges, could face up to 35 years in prison if convicted.
Pompeo wrote Wednesday on Twitter that Brunson’s transfer was “long overdue news” but added that the U.S. expected Ankara to do more.
Trump has repeatedly demanded Brunson’s release. The U.S. president has tweeted that Brunson’s detention is “a total disgrace” and added, “He has done nothing wrong, and his family needs him!”
Brunson is among tens of thousands of people Erdogan detained on similar charges during the state of emergency he declared following the failed coup.
The state of emergency ended July 18, but the Turkish legislature passed a new “anti-terror” law Wednesday that gives authorities more power to detain suspects and restore public order.
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Vatican Meets #MeToo: Nuns Denounce Their Abuse by Priests
The nun no longer goes to confession regularly, after an Italian priest forced himself on her while she was at her most vulnerable: recounting her sins to him in a university classroom nearly 20 years ago.
At the time, the sister only told her provincial superior and her spiritual director, silenced by the Catholic Church’s culture of secrecy, her vows of obedience and her own fear, repulsion and shame.
“It opened a great wound inside of me,” she told the Associated Press. “I pretended it didn’t happen.”
After decades of silence, the nun is one of a handful worldwide to come forward recently on an issue that the Catholic Church has yet to come to terms with: The sexual abuse of religious sisters by priests and bishops. An AP examination has found that cases have emerged in Europe, Africa, South America and Asia, demonstrating that the problem is global and pervasive, thanks to the universal tradition of sisters’ second-class status in the Catholic Church and their ingrained subservience to the men who run it.
Some nuns are now finding their voices, buoyed by the #MeToo movement and the growing recognition that adults can be victims of sexual abuse when there is an imbalance of power in a relationship. The sisters are going public in part because of years of inaction by church leaders, even after major studies on the problem in Africa were reported to the Vatican in the 1990s.
The issue has flared in the wake of scandals over the sexual abuse of children, and recently of adults, including revelations that one of the most prominent American cardinals, Theodore McCarrick, sexually abused and harassed his seminarians.
The extent of the abuse of nuns is unclear, at least outside the Vatican. Victims are reluctant to report the abuse because of well-founded fears they won’t be believed, experts told the AP. Church leaders are reluctant to acknowledge that some priests and bishops simply ignore their vows of celibacy, knowing that their secrets will be kept.
However, this week, about half a dozen sisters in a small religious congregation in Chile went public on national television with their stories of abuse by priests and other nuns — and how their superiors did nothing to stop it. A nun in India recently filed a formal police complaint accusing a bishop of rape, something that would have been unthinkable even a year ago.
Cases in Africa have come up periodically; in 2013, for example, a well-known priest in Uganda wrote a letter to his superiors that mentioned “priests romantically involved with religious sisters” — for which he was promptly suspended from the church until he apologized in May. And the sister in Europe spoke to the AP to help bring the issue to light.
“I am so sad that it took so long for this to come into the open, because there were reports long ago,” Karlijn Demasure, one of the church’s leading experts on clergy sexual abuse and abuse of power, told the AP in an interview. “I hope that now actions will be taken to take care of the victims and put an end to this kind of abuse.”
TAKING VICTIMS SERIOUSLY
The Vatican declined to comment on what measures, if any, it has taken to assess the scope of the problem globally, what it has done to punish offenders and care for the victims. A Vatican official said it is up to local church leaders to sanction priests who sexually abuse sisters, but that often such crimes go unpunished both in civil and canonical courts.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the issue, said only some cases arrive at the Holy See for investigation. It was a reference to the fact that the Catholic Church has no clear measures in place to investigate and punish bishops who themselves abuse or allow abusers to remain in their ranks — a legal loophole that has recently been highlighted by the McCarrick case.
The official said the church has focused much of its attention recently on protecting children, but that vulnerable adults “deserve the same protection.”
“Consecrated women have to be encouraged to speak up when they are molested,” the official told the AP. “Bishops have to be encouraged to take them seriously, and make sure the priests are punished if guilty.”
But being taken seriously is often the toughest obstacle for sisters who are sexually abused, said Demasure, until recently executive director of the church’s Center for Child Protection at the Pontifical Gregorian University, the church’s leading think tank on the issue.
“They (the priests) can always say ‘she wanted it,’” Demasure said. “It is also difficult to get rid of the opinion that it is always the woman who seduces the man, and not vice versa.”
Demasure said many priests in Africa, for example, struggle with celibacy because of traditional and cultural beliefs in the importance of having children. Novices, who are just entering religious life, are particularly vulnerable because they often need a letter from their parish priest to be accepted into certain religious congregations. “And sometimes they have to pay for that,” she said.
And when these women become pregnant?
“Mainly she has an abortion. Even more than once. And he pays for that. A religious sister has no money. A priest, yes,” she said.
There can also be a price for blowing the whistle on the problem.
In 2013, the Rev. Anthony Musaala in Kampala, Uganda wrote what he called an open letter to members of the local Catholic establishment about “numerous cases” of alleged sex liaisons of priests, including with nuns. He charged that it was “an open secret that many Catholic priests and some bishops, in Uganda and elsewhere, no longer live celibate chastity.”
He was sanctioned, even though Ugandan newspapers regularly report cases of priests caught in sex escapades. The topic is even the subject of a popular novel taught in high schools.
In 2012, a priest sued a bishop in western Uganda who had suspended him and ordered him to stop interacting with at least four nuns. The priest, who denied the allegations, lost the suit, and the sisters later withdrew their own suit against the bishop.
Archbishop John Baptist Odama, leader of the local Ugandan conference of bishops, told the AP that unverified or verified allegations against individual priests should not be used to smear the whole church.
“Individual cases may happen, if they are there,” he said Thursday. “Individual cases must be treated as individual cases.”
PRIESTLY ABUSE OF NUNS IS NOT A NEW PROBLEM
Long before the most recent incidents, confidential reports into the problem focused on Africa and AIDS were prepared in the 1990s by members of religious orders for top church officials. In 1994, the late Sr. Maura O’Donohue wrote the most comprehensive study about a six-year, 23-nation survey, in which she learned of 29 nuns who had been impregnated in a single congregation.
Nuns, she reported, were considered “safe” sexual partners for priests who feared they might be infected with HIV if they went to prostitutes or women in the general population.
Four years later, in a report to top religious superiors and Vatican officials, Sr. Marie McDonald said harassment and rape of African sisters by priests is “allegedly common.” Sometimes, when a nun becomes pregnant, the priest insists on an abortion, the report said.
The problem travelled when the sisters were sent to Rome for studies. They “frequently turn to seminarians and priests for help in writing essays. Sexual favors are sometimes the payment they have to make for such help,” the report said.
The reports were never meant to be made public. The U.S. National Catholic Reporter put them online in 2001, exposing the depths of a scandal the church had long sought to keep under wraps. To date, the Vatican hasn’t said what, if anything, it ever did with the information.
Sister Paola Moggi, a member of the Missionary Combonian Sisters — a religious congregation with a significant presence in 16 African countries — said in her experience the African church “had made great strides” since the 1990s, when she did missionary work in Kenya, but the problem has not been eliminated.
“I have found in Africa sisters who are absolutely emancipated and who say what they think to a priest they meet who might ask to have sex with them,” she told the AP.
“I have also found sisters who said ‘Well, you have to understand their needs, and that while we only have a monthly cycle a man has a continuous cycle of sperm’ — verbatim words from the ’90s,” she said.
But the fact that in just a few weeks scandals of priests allegedly molesting sisters have erupted publicly on two other continents — Asia and Latin America — suggests that the problem is not confined to Africa, and that some women are now willing to break the taboo to denounce it publicly.
In India, a sister of the Missionaries of Jesus filed a police report last month alleging a bishop raped her in May 2014 during a visit to the heavily Christian state of Kerala, and that he subsequently sexually abused her around a dozen more times over the following two years, Indian media have reported. The bishop denied the accusation and said the woman was retaliating against him for having taken disciplinary action against her for her own sexual misdeeds.
In Chile, the scandal of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan, an order dedicated to health care in the diocese of Talca, erupted at the same time the country’s entire Catholic hierarchy has been under fire for decades of sex abuse and cover-ups. The scandal got so bad that in May, Francis summoned all Chilean bishops to Rome, where they all offered to resign en masse.
The case, exposed by the Chilean state broadcaster, involves accusations of priests fondling and kissing nuns, including while naked, and some religious sisters sexually abusing younger ones. The victims said they told their mother superior, but that she did nothing. Talca’s new temporary bishop has vowed to find justice.
The Vatican is well aware that religious sisters have long been particularly vulnerable to abuse. Perhaps the most sensational account was detailed in the 2013 book “The Nuns of Sant’Ambrogio,” based on the archives of the Vatican’s 1860s Inquisition trial of abuse, embezzlement, murder and “false holiness” inside a Roman convent. Once word got out, the Vatican poured the full force of its Inquisition to investigate and punish.
It remains to be seen what the Vatican will do now that more sisters are speaking out.
ONE SISTER’S STORY — AND YEARS OF HURT
The sister who spoke to the AP about her assault in 2000 during confession at a Bologna university clasped her rosary as she recounted the details.
She recalled exactly how she and the priest were seated in two armchairs face-to-face in the university classroom, her eyes cast to the floor. At a certain point, she said, the priest got up from his chair and forced himself on her. Petite but not frail, she was so shocked, she said, that she grabbed him by the shoulders and with all her strength, stood up and pushed him back into his chair.
The nun continued with her confession that day. But the assault — and a subsequent advance by a different priest a year later — eventually led her to stop going to confession with any priest other than her spiritual father, who lives in a different country.
“The place of confession should be a place of salvation, freedom and mercy,” she said. “Because of this experience, confession became a place of sin and abuse of power.”
She recalled at one point a priest in whom she had confided had apologized “on behalf of the church.” But nobody ever took any action against the offender, who was a prominent university professor.
The woman recounted her story to the AP without knowing that at that very moment, a funeral service was being held for the priest who had assaulted her 18 years earlier.
She later said the combination of his death and her decision to speak out lifted a great weight.
“I see it as two freedoms: freedom of the weight for a victim, and freedom of a lie and a violation by the priest,” she said. “I hope this helps other sisters free themselves of this weight.”
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Somalia Leader Makes Historic Trip to Eritrea
Somalia President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo began an historic three-day visit to Eritrea on Saturday, where he holds talks with his counterpart in Asmara.
Eritrea’s information minister announced on Friday that Somalia’s leader was invited by Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki.
“Somalia is ready to write a new chapter of its relations with Eritrea,” Somalia’s presidential spokesman Abdinur Mohamed said Saturday on Twitter.
The countries have not had any diplomatic ties for nearly 15 years, but the spokesman said the visit “will open the doors for diplomatic relations and new cooperation between the two nations.”
Somali and Eritrean flags were placed along the streets of the Eritrean capital, Asmara, ahead of the visit.
The visit by Farmajo comes after the long-time rivals Eritrea and Ethiopia restored diplomatic ties, a move that ended the regional and international isolation of Eritrea that lasted for nearly two decades.
Proxy war
For years, the tensions between Eritrea and Ethiopia had played out partly in Somalia as each gave military support to opposing sides in Somalia.
In 2007, Eritrea had supported the Islamic Courts Union ICU, which ruled much of southern and central Somalia for six months before being ousted in a 2006 Ethiopian-led military offensive.
In 2009, the United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions on Eritrea for its role in Somalia.
Eritrea was accused of supporting Somalia’s al-Shabab group, a charge it had denied. Those sanctions could soon be lifted after Ethiopia’s prime minister recently asked the U.N. to remove the sanctions on Eritrea.
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