Month: July 2018

Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland Massacre Haunts Monday’s Elections

Posted on by SeeAF

Thirty-four years later, Ellis Ndlovu still cannot bear to look at the tree in the schoolyard where Zimbabwean soldiers killed her son.

“They hung him with his legs up and then with his legs down and they were beating him,” said Ndlovu, bent over and frail at 91. “They beat him until he died.”

Her memories are stronger these days, with the approach of Monday’s election in Zimbabwe. The reason: President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the leading candidate, is widely blamed for the army’s brutal killings in Matabeleland, which left 10,000 to 20,000 civilians dead.

“I fear that they are going to elect somebody who may repeat the same act,” said Ndlovu, speaking in the Ndebele language. “I blame the person who sent those people to kill my child.”

The trauma of the Matabeleland massacres is still raw for survivors. Many say they cannot vote for Mnangagwa, who was state security minister at the time.

Days before the polls, Zimbabwe’s elections look too close to call. The Ndebele people of Matabeleland, representing about 15 percent of registered voters, could be a decisive vote for the opposition.

Of all the scars from former leader Robert Mugabe’s 37-year rule of Zimbabwe, the deepest is the Matabeleland killings. The army’s Operation Gukurahundi — “the early rains that blow away the chaff,” in the local Shona language — ran from 1983 through 1987, when the Fifth Brigade rampaged through the southwestern provinces of Matabeleland.

The residents of villages were rounded up and forced to attend all-night rallies for Zimbabwe’s ruling party, ZANU-PF. Community leaders were beaten and sometimes killed in front of the gatherings. Men, young and old, were forced to dig graves, then shot and buried in them. Survivors were forced to dance on top of the fresh graves, sometimes until the blood of the dead seeped through.

Some families were pushed into huts that were set on fire and they either burned to death or were shot dead when they tried to escape.

The Fifth Brigade consisted of 3,000 troops, virtually all ethnic Shona, who make up about 70 percent of Zimbabwe’s population. The brigade received counter-insurgency training by North Korean advisers and was known as the elite praetorian guard of Mugabe, directly answerable to his office. Their arms and uniforms were different from the rest of the army, including their distinctive red berets.

With its prolonged, deadly campaign in Matabeleland, the Fifth Brigade was trying to stamp out rural support for anti-government rebels. Gukurahundi also was viewed by many as an attempt by Mugabe to weaken any opposition to his stated aim of a one-party state.

The army’s campaign did not succeed in winning the Ndebele vote for Mugabe in the 1985 polls or succeeding elections. As Zimbabwe goes to the polls again, the Ndebele people of Matabeleland are still viewed as a solid vote against ZANU-PF and its presidential candidate, Mnangagwa.

Zimbabwean opposition politician David Coltart said enduring resentment across Matabeleland will be evident in the elections.

“What we need from Mnangagwa is an admission of what happened, an apology and communal reparations for the victims of that time,” said Coltart. “I’m not convinced that prosecuting someone like Mnangagwa is going to heal our nation at this time.”

Those at the head of the chain of command have not been held to account. Mugabe never accepted responsibility or apologized for the killings, but he did call them a “moment of madness.”

Mnangagwa has also refused to accept responsibility and has opposed a new investigation, saying it would re-open old wounds. Perence Shiri, the head of the Fifth Brigade during the killings, rose in power to become the head of Zimbabwe’s Air Force and now is the minister of agriculture, appointed by Mnangagwa.

The most authoritative report on the Matabeleland killings is “Breaking the Silence,” published in 1997 by Zimbabwe’s Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace and the Legal Resources Foundation, drawing on interviews with more than 1,000 people and many documents.

Much remains to be done to heal the scars of the killings, said Shari Eppel, the report’s main author, who continues to do forensic research into the killings as director of the Solidarity Peace Trust.

At her office in Bulawayo, Eppel unwrapped canvas to reveal the skull and bones identified as the remains of a Gukurahundi victim, soon to be given a proper burial.

“Julius Mvulo Nyathi died in 1984, which was when the Fifth Brigade was deployed in Matabeleland South,” Eppel said. “We heard that his arms and ankles were tied with wire and he was severely beaten by the Fifth Brigade, soldiers who came in uniforms with red berets and they accused him of being a dissident. … He also had burning plastic dripped onto his legs and he was then dragged away.”

“Nobody actually saw his death, but his body was found in the hills and he was buried in a shallow grave above a secondary school in Matopo district.”

Eppel said many in Matabeleland say the region is haunted by “angry dead.”

“The angry dead are the people buried in the wrong place and who haven’t had the right rituals at the time of their murder and burial,” said Eppel. She said hundreds of reburials are needed to assuage families: “People say these angry dead are the ones who make bad things happen in the family and the community, to keep reminding them; ‘I’m in the wrong place, I need to come home.’”

Isaia Nkomo, 60, remains unsettled by the death of his brother, Simimba, 36 years ago.

“I was at work and my brother was at home. So they came and took him from our homestead and killed him in the bush,” said Nkomo. “We still haven’t located the place where here is.”

His family, he said, is “not feeling well because we keep thinking about him. Other people’s remains have been found and we are still looking for him. He might have been eaten by dogs or some other people removed him and put him somewhere else.”

Nkomo said he will not vote for Mnangagwa or ZANU-PF.

“Voting for Mnangagwa, I can’t do that because my brother was killed at that time by the people who currently want us to vote for them, those that are in power. I’d rather vote for someone in the opposition.”
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Zimbabwe NGOs Woo Youths to Vote in Post-Mugabe Election

Posted on by SeeAF

Some organizations are targeting youths in Zimbabwe to take part in the first post-Robert Mugabe general election Monday in which the issues of unemployment and political stability are likely going to determine voting patterns. A “Go Out and Vote” campaign was active at a free concert in Mbare, an underdeveloped town.

While politicians target big cities and popular places asking for votes ahead of the July 30 polls, the Youth Empowerment and Transformation Trust and other local NGOs have embarked on a nationwide campaign to ensure that young people participate in the election.

In Mbare, Charles Chisale of the trust explains the “Go Out and Vote” campaign, which he calls a dialogue.

“We are going to be discussing all the youths’ concerns, what the youths want after the 2018 elections so please come and witness, please come and share so that we can all build the Zimbabwe we all want,” said Chisale.

Hashton Gumira, a youth leader in this township  who refuses to reveal his political affiliation – welcomes the idea of encouraging Zimbabwe youths to vote on Monday.

“Young people we have suffered and we have suffered enough, now it’s time to use our demographic dividend, 60 percent of the 5.5 million of voters in this election they are young people aged between 18 and 40 so it is very important because for me as a young person I think the issues which affect us as young people are similar so when you go and vote we have to go and vote for our issues, the issues of youth employment,” said Gumira.

In the Monday election, 75-year-old President Emmerson Mnangagwa faces 22 presidential challengers, including 40-year-old Nelson Chamisa of the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance.

Results of Monday’s general election are expected by next Saturday. The country’s constitution requires the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to release results within five days of the closing of polls.
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US Prelate McCarrick Resigns From College of Cardinals Following Sexual Abuse Allegations

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Pope Francis has accepted U.S. prelate Theodore McCarrick’s offer to resign from the College of Cardinals following allegations of sexual abuse, including one involving an 11-year-old boy, and ordered him to conduct a “life of prayer and penance” in a home to be designated by the pontiff until a church trial is held, the Vatican said Saturday.

Francis acted swiftly after receiving McCarrick’s letter of resignation Friday evening, after recent weeks have brought a spate of allegations that the 88-year-old prelate in the course of his distinguished clerical career had sexually abused both boys and adult seminarians. The revelations posed a test of the pontiff’s recently declared resolve to battle what he called a “culture of cover-up” of similar abuse in the Catholic’s church’s hierarchy.

McCarrick had been already removed from public ministry since June 20, pending a full investigation into allegations he fondled a teenager over 40 years ago in New York City. A man, who was 11 at the time of the first alleged instance of abuse, says a sexually abusive relationship continued for two more decades. McCarrick has denied the initial allegation.

The prelate rose steadily up the U.S. Church’s ranks, from auxiliary bishop in New York City, to bishop in Metuchen, New Jersey, to archbishop of Newark, New Jersey, and then to Archbishop of Washington, D.C., the nation’s capital, the city where the papal ambassador to the United States is based.

While most of the scandals involving pedophile clergy have involved rank-and-file priests, some cases involved bishops, and there are a few involving cardinals, including a current case in Australia of one of Pope Francis’ closest advisers, Cardinal George Pell, who now faces a criminal trial in his homeland.

In the case of Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien, accused by former seminarians in 2013 of sexual misconduct, Francis only accepted his resignation after the Vatican’s top abuse prosecutor conducted a full investigation, two years after the first revelations came out.

But the Holy See’s announcement about McCarrick said that Francis was taking action, by isolating McCarrick and ordering penance even before “accusations made against him are examined in a regular canonical trial.” In addition, Francis, “ordered his suspension from the exercise of any public ministry,” indicating he was approving the measure already in effect since last month.

A Catholic University canon law expert, Kurt Martens, noted that this was the first time an order of penance and prayer had been issued before a church trial could take place.

Since he is over 80, McCarrick was already no longer eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a pope. But being a “prince of the church,” as cardinals are sometimes called, is a top honor of the church, and those elevated to that rank are called upon to advise the pope.

Bishops have been implicated in the sexual abuse scandals that have stained the Catholic church’s reputation worldwide for decades now, but often for their roles in covering up for pedophile priests by shuffling them from parish to parish and keeping the faithful in the dark about the allegations about clergy whose pastoral duties often bring them into contact with minors.

Earlier this month, an Australia bishop became the most senior Roman Catholic cleric to be convicted of covering up child sex abuse. Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson was sentenced to 12 months in detention by an Australian court in a landmark case welcomed by some abuse survivors as a strong warning to institutions that fail to protect children.
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Egyptian Court Refers 75 Death Sentences for Review to Top Islamic Leader

Posted on by SeeEA

Arab media reports that an Egyptian court has asked the country’s mufti to review death sentences handed down to 75 people involved in a 2013 Muslim Brotherhood sit-in camp outside the Rabah Adawiya mosque in northern Cairo. The sit-in was stormed by the Egyptian military, after the brotherhood refused to evacuate the camp. Official reports put the death toll at close to 700 people.

It was not immediately clear why the case was remanded to the mufti, although some commentators suggest it was related to the five-year anniversary of the government’s quashing of the Muslim Brotherhood sit-in. Two prominent Muslim Brotherhood leaders, Mohamed Baltagi and Issam el-Eriyan, were among those condemned to death, along with Tareq al-Zumor and Assem Abd al-Maged of the Gama’a al-Islamiya movement.

Forty four of the people condemned to death were judged in absentia, meaning that new trials must be carried out if and when they are captured or return voluntarily to Egypt.

Hilal Khashan, who teaches political science at the American University of Beirut says he does not think the men who were condemned are likely to be put to death, given the controversial nature of the charges against them.

“These are political executions,” said Khashan. “I don’t think they will be carried out. The only cases where executions were carried out were direct attacks on the military that resulted in killings. The sit-ins at Rabah Adawiya in 2013 remain highly controversial and nobody in the world, not even inside Egypt, take these sentences seriously.”

Khashan says the Egyptian government may be trying to “mend its relations with the Muslim Brotherhood, but on its own terms.” He points out that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, who was re-elected to a second four-year term in March, would like his ousted predecessor, Mohamed Morsi, to recognize his government, since that would “finally and officially legitimize his regime.”

Khashan doubts, however, the Muslim Brotherhood would be willing to make such a concession.

Former Muslim Brotherhood politician Amr Darrag claimed in a tweet Saturday that the “Sissi government considers the unfreezing of U.S. military aid [to Egypt] a green light [for the death sentences],” and that the “U.S. administration will have [the] blood of these innocent victims on [its] hands.”

The Trump Administration unfroze $195 million in military aid to Egypt this past week.
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Kurdish-backed SDC to Work With Syria to End War

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The Kurdish-backed Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) says after meeting with Syrian government officials that it will work with the government to end seven years of violence in the country.

The SDC said Saturday that both sides, after meeting in Damascus, had agreed to work together to plot a “roadmap leading to a democratic and decentralized Syria.”

This was the SDC’s first declared visit to Syria’s capital, indicating the interest of Kurdish authorities to open channels of communication with President Bashar al-Assad as the SDC seeks a political accord to preserve their region’s autonomy within Syria.

The Kurdish authorities, which control about one-quarter of Syria, have avoided conflict with Assad during the seven-year-long war, and at times have fought common foes, including rebels, which government forces gradually are crushing with help from Russia and Iran.

 
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Long-time Immigrants Defend, Praise Family-Based Visa System

Posted on by SeeUS

Retired and in their 70s, Ru-Liang Zhang and Xan-Xia Hong spend every weekday after lunch socializing at the Chinese Community Center, a few short blocks from their Delancey Street home in lower Manhattan. Inseparable and competitive, they battle in ping-pong, magnetic darts, karaoke, and occasionally practice the erhu, an ancient two-stringed bowed instrument.

Twenty-eight years after moving to the U.S. through family-immigrant visas, the two say they are living the best time of their lives. Their kids are financially independent, and their social benefits are stable. Still, they’ve never forgotten how difficult it was to get here.

“For the journey, for our whole family, it cost us over 10,000 Chinese Yuan (roughly $2,000 in 1990 U.S. dollars),” Hong said. “What were we to do if we couldn’t get the visa? We would lose everything.”

Lacking formal employment and supported financially by an older brother, the couple poured their dreams and savings into a visa application process that would take nine years. In the decade that followed, Hong worked seven days a week at a garment factory, while Zhang put in similar hours at a restaurant, eventually inheriting a convenience store.

Combined, their work ethic helped put their three kids through college. But they sometimes wonder if those accomplishments might go unnoticed today, as the Trump administration blames so-called chain immigration for bringing in people who do not contribute to the U.S. economy.

The president used a contentious term on Twitter last September, one the White House and anti-immigration advocates have adopted in reference to U.S. citizen-sponsored immigrant visas for family members abroad. 

No new laws … yet

A year and a half into Trump’s presidency, his administration has backed several legislative measures that would cut legal immigration, including family-based immigrant visas, while replacing so-called low-skilled immigrant labor with what it refers to as a merit-based system.

Proponents argue a policy change would lead to better wages for American workers; critics say the economy is dependent on low-skilled labor.

 

WATCH: Longtime Immigrants Fear Family-Based Visa in Doubt After Years of Hard Work

Justin Yu, a former immigration-specialized reporter who now runs the New York Chinese Community Center, calls family-based immigration vital for the well-being of U.S.-based families, and he believes the president should focus his immigration reform efforts elsewhere.

“The problem in the American immigration system is not the legal immigrant — it’s not the family-based immigrant, it’s not the merit-based immigrant,” Yu told VOA. “The problem … is our border has not been controlled, and that we have too many illegals, and we don’t know how to [deal] with it.”

Nationwide split

Recent public polling by Rasmussen Reports and Gallup suggests a nationwide split in opinion over the Trump administration’s proposed policy change.

Yu’s sentiment is common among the Chinese diaspora who believe that social programs and hard-earned rights are sometimes compromised by undocumented immigrants and others who take advantage of the system.

“We worked and worked and worked, all the way until we both retired,” Hong explained of her and her husband’s early years in the country. “If you come to the U.S. like this, that is perfectly OK, but some came and started to get immediately on welfare.”

This is a common misconception, but undocumented immigrants do not qualify for welfare, and legal immigrants must wait five years before becoming eligible for federal “means-tested” financial benefits. Additionally, the legal application process screens for applicants deemed likely to become government-dependent, a policy known as public charge. 

Wellington Chen, who runs a local development corporation in Manhattan called Chinatown Partnership, says such foul play is rare in his neighborhood of mostly small businesses.

“These people came here [and] didn’t take away any jobs; if anything, they hired helpers, they put their kids through college, they work long hours, they work the jobs that no one wants to do,” Chen said. “They didn’t ask for handouts.”

​American Dream, fulfilled

Strolling through Columbus Park, U.S.-born Nicholas Louie, 23, together with his grandfather, Thomas Louie — a product of family-based immigration — talked about the meaning of family.

Sponsored by his own grandfather, the elder Louie came to the U.S. as a teenager more than 60 years ago and was followed by his seven younger siblings. Altogether, their extended family includes a physician, a college professor and a math teacher.

Louie’s grandson says he doesn’t take having his family close by for granted and has difficulty imagining how different life would be if more visa restrictions were applied.

“What’s that to say about the next generation, when there’s children asking where’s [my] grandfather … or where’s [my] uncle?’” Louie said. “Why do they have no family, but everyone else seems to have this wide, extended family?”

His own family unit, Louie adds, is fulfilling the American Dream.

“[Our elders] just wanted all of us to be good, make our own money, be satisfied with what we have and retain the family,” Louie said. “That’s really important.”

VOA Turkish Service reporter Asli Pelit contributed to this report.
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Longtime Immigrants Fear Family-Based Visa in Doubt After Years of Hard Work

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A year-and-a-half into his presidency, Donald Trump’s plans for a legal immigration overhaul, including a steep reduction in family-based immigrant visas, have failed to pick up enough votes in Congress. Though family members of U.S. citizens continue the long process of legally obtaining a visa, the question of whether the law might change worries many immigrants. VOA’s Ramon Taylor reports from New York.
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Robotic Tools Could Revolutionize Cancer Screening

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Not counting certain types of skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women in the U.S. and worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Now researchers in Europe have come up with a robotic device that may speed detection of cancer tumors, potentially saving thousands of lives. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more.
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Lunar Eclipse, Blood Moon Delight Skywatchers in Cairo

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Astronomers and local residents gathered to gaze in awe at the longest lunar eclipse of the 21st century: 1 hour, 43 minutes. During eclipses, the moon turns a red or brownish color because the light that reaches it passes through the earth’s atmosphere. In Cairo, astronomers with their telescopes volunteered to wow stargazers
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US Bottom Line on North Korea, Iran: Complete Denuclearization

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Iran will likely have to agree to complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization in any future deal with the United States, just like North Korea, a top diplomatic official signaled Friday.

“Nothing in the conduct of foreign policy is ever done in a vacuum,” Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, Dr. Yleem D.S. Poblete, told an audience in Washington.

“The end state we must seek for the successful conclusion of any future deal with Iran must also inform and be informed by the end state we are seeking for North Korea,” she said. “Inconsistency in our approach to either negotiation will undermine our credibility and most likely doom the prospects for successfully dealing with the threats to our security posed by these and other actors.”

Demands that Pyongyang dismantle all of its nuclear facilities have been central to the U.S. position in meetings with top North Korean officials.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reiterated to U.S. Senate lawmakers Thursday that the “objective remains the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea as agreed to by Chairman Kim Jong Un.”

The Trump administration has been more confrontational with Iran in recent weeks, with President Donald Trump threating Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in a tweet this past Sunday.

“Never, ever threaten the United States again or you will suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before,” Trump tweeted.

National Security Adviser John Bolton likewise warned this week that, “if Iran does anything at all to the negative, they will pay a price like few countries have ever paid before.”

Tough rhetoric, sanctions

Some analysts and former officials say Trump may be using the tough rhetoric to drive Tehran back to negotiations over its nuclear capabilities, similar to the tactics that he used in the runup to talks with North Korea’s leader.

The U.S. and other world powers had a deal to limit Iran’s nuclear capabilities, the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, but Trump announced in May that the U.S. was pulling out of what he has repeatedly called a “terrible” agreement.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has said Tehran continues to comply with the terms of the JCPOA.

U.S. officials say they are willing to negotiate a new deal with Iran but insist any new agreement must also address Iran’s missile programs as well as its support of terror groups and other malign activities. In the meantime, the U.S. is set to re-impose economic sanctions on Tehran.

“Insofar as it is possible for Iran, we shall remain party to the accord, we shall not quit the JCPOA on condition that we can also benefit from it,” Iran’s Rouhani said earlier this month during a visit to Vienna.

But the head of Iran’s atomic energy agency has since said that the country has not built a factory that can produce 60 nuclear centrifuges a day — necessary if Tehran decides to increase its production of enriched uranium.

‘Full spectrum of threats’

“Any new agreement must address the full spectrum of threats,” the State Department’s Poblete said Friday. “It should verifiably and indefinitely deny Iran all paths to nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, rather merely contain, control or delay it.”

Poblete also criticized Iran’s ally Syria for its failure to adhere to its commitments under the Treaty of Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, suggesting its nuclear activities have continued despite the destruction of its reactor as a result of an Israeli airstrike in 2007.

“Syria’s failure to cooperate with the IAEA remains a matter of ongoing concern,” she said. “Syria continues to go to great lengths to deceive, obfuscate and distract international attention from its perennial noncompliance.”
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NTSB: Recordings Show Weather Change Before Boat Sank

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Video and audio recordings from a fatal tourist boat accident in Missouri show that the lake went from calm to deadly dangerous in a matter of minutes, the National Transportation Safety Board said Friday.

The NTSB cited preliminary findings gathered from the video recorder camera system salvaged by divers after the duck boat sank July 19 at Table Rock Lake near Branson. Seventeen of the 31 people on board died, including nine family members from Indianapolis.

The material was examined at a lab in Washington, but the agency has not yet analyzed the findings, and no conclusions about the cause of the accident, one of the nation’s worst maritime accidents in recent decades, have been drawn.

Frightening scene

The findings, though, paint a chilling picture of the final few minutes before the boat went under.

The captain and driver boarded the vessel at 6:27 p.m. The excursion begins on land at a terminal in Branson. Normally, the vessel tours the popular country music and entertainment community first before going to the lake for about a 20-minute boat ride. The driver drives the vehicle on land, and the captain takes over on the water.

But the video recordings show that at 6:28 p.m., someone briefly stepped onto the rear of the vehicle and told the crew to take the water portion of the tour first. A minute later, with passengers boarding, the captain made a reference to looking at the weather radar prior to the trip.

The vessel arrived at the lake a few minutes before 7 p.m. and the captain briefed passengers on the location of emergency exits and life jackets, then demonstrated use of life jackets and pointed out the location of life rings.

The vessel entered the water around 6:55 p.m. at a time when the water appeared calm, the NTSB said. In fact, over the next five minutes the captain allowed four different children to sit in the driver’s seat.

But suddenly just after 7 p.m., whitecaps rapidly appeared on the water and winds increased, the NTSB said. The captain returned to the driver’s seat.

The driver lowered plastic side curtains and at 7:01 p.m. the captain made a comment about the storm.

Alarm sounds

At 7:03 p.m. the captain made a call on a hand-held radio but the content was unintelligible. A minute later, an electronic tone associated with the bilge alarm activated; about a minute later, the captain reached down and the alarm stopped.

The captain made another call on a hand-held radio at 7:05 but the content was again unintelligible.

Over the next couple of minutes, water splashed inside the passenger compartment.

At 7:07 p.m. an electronic tone associated with the bilge alarm activated again.

At 7:08 p.m. the inward-facing video recording ended as the vessel was still on the surface of the water.

Phone and email messages left with a spokeswoman for Ripley Entertainment, the owner of Ride the Ducks of Branson, were not immediately returned.

A private inspector who examined 24 duck boats for Ripley Entertainment in August, including the one that sank, said that when the bilge alarm went off, it would be a sign that “there’s a significant amount of water in the hull.”

“It just wasn’t getting evacuated,” said Steve Paul, owner of Test Drive Technologies in the St. Louis area.
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Taliban Describes as ‘Productive’ Initial Direct Talks with US

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The Taliban has confirmed that it held direct talks with the United States in Qatar this week on finding a negotiated end to the 17-year war in Afghanistan. 

A senior Taliban official told VOA on Friday that Alice Wells, the State Department’s deputy assistant secretary for South and Central Asia, led the American delegation in the meeting in Doha.

The insurgent official, speaking on condition of anonymity, explained the “preliminary” dialogue focused merely on “laying the groundwork for future contacts and meetings” between the Taliban and the U.S. 

“The overall atmosphere of the meeting was very good and the discussions were also productive,” said the Taliban official,but he shared no further details.

Reports of Monday’s landmark meeting in the Qatari capital appeared in American newspapers earlier this week but neither U.S. officials nor the Taliban directly commented on them until now.

The U.S. State Department declined to comment on the reported meeting with the Afghan insurgency.

No comment from U.S.

“The United States is exploring all avenues to advance a peace process in close consultation with the Afghan government,” said a State Department official when asked for a reaction to reports of talks with the Taliban.

The official made it clear that the Afghan government was fully involved in the effort to jump-start peace talks. “Any negotiations over the political future of Afghanistan will be between the Taliban and Afghan government,” said the State Department official.

The Afghan Taliban has been informally operating a political office in Doha for several years.

The Islamist insurgency had long called for direct talks with Washington. The Taliban insists the U.S., and not the Afghan government, has the authority to determine a timetable for all American and NATO troops to withdraw from Afghanistan.

First significant step

This week’s Qatar talks marked the first significant step toward starting an Afghan peace and reconciliation process since a single round of talks was held between Afghan and Taliban officials in Pakistan in 2015, with U.S. and China also in attendance as observers.

U.S. officials are reported as saying Monday’s engagement with the Taliban was aimed at building on momentum generated by last month’s unprecedented temporary cease-fires the Afghan government and the Islamist insurgency observed during three-day Eid festivities last month.

The meeting in Doha came as the Afghan government is considering another unilateral ceasefire with the insurgents during the upcoming Eid festival in August to encourage the Taliban to come to the table for peace talks. 

 

 

 
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Harvard Slams Group Alleging Bias Against Asian-Americans

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Harvard University is defending its admissions practices in new court records that also offer a scathing rebuke of the group that’s suing over alleged discrimination.

Records filed by the school in Boston’s federal court Friday say the legal case made by Students for Fair Admissions amounts to a “45-page press release” with a “misleading narrative.”

The two sides have been sparring over the group’s 2014 lawsuit accusing Harvard of discrimination against Asian-American students.

An analysis presented by the group says Harvard’s Asian-American applicants bring the strongest academic records but face lower acceptance rates than those of any other race.

The school’s Friday filing dismisses the analysis as “deeply flawed” and says the group has no proof of discrimination.

A statement from the group says it looks forward to going to trial in October.
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Mattis: Training for Joint Patrols with Turkey in Syria to Start Soon

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U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says equipment has landed at a base in Turkey to prepare Turkish troops for joint patrols with U.S. forces in northern Syria.

“Training equipment has landed in Incirlik,” Mattis told reporters Friday at the Pentagon, referring to a strategic air base in southern Turkey used by American forces.

Mattis said the training should start within weeks.

“I don’t think we’re talking months,” he said.

It is unclear when U.S. and Turkish forces would start conducting the joint patrols in Syria once training of Turkey’s troops is complete.

Last month, the United States began “coordinated but independent patrols” with Turkey near the volatile northern Syrian city of Manbij.

The city houses Kurdish militia fighters. Washington supports the Kurdish fighters there, while Ankara says they are anti-Turkey terrorists.

The Pentagon says the purpose of the patrols are to support “long-term security in Manbij” and uphold its commitments to NATO-ally Turkey.
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Some Music Festivals Fuel Rightist Extremism, German Officials Say

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Music festivals have gained serious significance for right-wing extremists in their effort to draw more supporters in Germany and across Europe, the country’s domestic intelligence agency told VOA on Friday.

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, or BfV, said it estimated the number of right-wing extremists in Germany at 24,000 in 2017, up from 23,100 in 2016. Over half of them were thought to have no affiliation with organized groups while 4,500 showed allegiance to the National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD).

Unlike previous years, when a small number of organized music festivals by right-wing members attracted only few participants, they now draw thousands of participants, said Elke Altmuller, a spokesperson for BfV.

“These events are very attractive for young people to bring them into the right-wing extremism scene,” Altmuller said. They are also important for networking and “bring a lot of money to the local right-wing extremism scene,” she added.

According to BfV, the biggest right-wing concert, “Rock Against Foreign Domination,” was held last July in Themar, where 6,000 people gathered, including supporters from Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Switzerland and Slovakia.

Videos obtained from the event by police showed dozens of people displaying the Hitler salute and chanting anti-immigrant slogans.

Nazi symbols are illegal in Germany and their display is associated with anti-Semitism and glorification of Nazi crimes.

Despite the surge in the number of supporters, German authorities point to a significant decline in violence by right-wing extremists, from 907 recorded cases in 2016 to 286 in 2017. Most of the attacks targeted accommodation centers for asylum seekers.

According to the BfV spokesperson, the drop in the violence is mainly due to country’s courts imposing long prison sentences against perpetrators and the fading of the anti-asylum debate within the right-wing extremist arena.

“But in general, you have to notice that the decline of violence does not mean there is not any danger of violence by the individual actors in this scene,” Altmuller added.

Debate over immigration

In recent years, Germany has been faced with divisions and fierce debate about the country’s immigration and asylum policies. Far-right leaders blame “the refugee crisis” and “the asylum problem” for security breaches in the country.

In its annual report published Tuesday, the BfV estimated that in 2017 there were over 25,000 “Islamist followers” in the country, with more than 10,000 having links to Salafists.

The report warned that the risk of attacks by lone jihadists and those who returned from fighting in Syria and Iraq remained high in Germany.

“It still has to be expected that there will be members, supporters and sympathizers of extremist and terrorist organizations covertly entering Germany among the migrants,” the report concluded.

The agency’s investigation found that violence committed by extremists in various politically motivated areas in Germany had declined, but the number of potential extremists had gone up.
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Armenian Court Announces Arrest of Former President Kocharyan

Posted on by SeeEU

An Armenian court on Friday announced the arrest of former president Robert Kocharyan, whom special investigators had recently charged with usurping power.

Yerevan City Court of General Jurisdiction announced Kocharyan’s detention less than a day after Armenian investigators filed a motion to have him arrested.

One of Kocharyan’s defense lawyers, Aram Orbelyan, refused to give any further details of the arrest, citing the confidentiality of the preliminary investigation. He said his team is preparing a response that will be read at a news conference July 28.

Mikael Harutyunyan, Kocharyan’s former defense chief, has also been charged in the case. It is not known whether he has been arrested.

Kocharyan’s arrest comes three months after a transfer of power in the ex-Soviet country following weeks of mass protests against corruption and cronyism.

Kocharyan served as Armenia’s second president from 1998 to 2008, and investigators have charged him with an attempt to overthrow the constitutional order during post-election events in March 2008 when his ally, Serzh Sarksyan, was elected the next president.

In February-March 2008 the opposition held protest rallies, contesting the results of the election and claiming that their candidate, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, had won the vote.

The protests were dispersed and 10 people were killed in clashes with police. The Constitutional Court upheld the election results.

Nikol Pashinyan, an opposition activist at the time who was imprisoned in June 2009 on charges of fomenting unrest during post-election protests, was elected prime minister by parliament on May 8 this year.

Kocharyan, who just returned from Europe, said the latest charges were politically motivated, but added he was ready to spend time in prison.

“These charges are fiction, fabricated, unjustified and have a political implication,” he told an independent Armenian Yerkir Media TV, adding that he would refuse to testify or cooperate with investigators “because of the trumped up nature of charges.”

However, Kocharyan said, he did not intend to run away.

“I’m going to go sit in prison and fight to the end.”

U.S. reaction

After the deadly clashes, the United States issued a report condemning what it called “arbitrary and unlawful killings.”

On Friday, a State Department spokesperson said: “The United States has consistently urged Armenia’s authorities to conduct a serious, credible and independent investigation into these events. We continue to stress to our Armenian partners the importance of respecting internationally recognized standards that relate to the administration of justice.”

Numerous allies of former presidents Sarksyan and Kocharyan have been involved in a series of unrelated anti-corruption probes launched under Pashinyan’s administration.

In a recent interview with VOA’s Armenian Service, Ararat Mirzoyan, Pashinyan’s deputy prime minister, said none of the anti-corruption probes are politically motivated.

“This is not our fault that the 99 percent of all discoveries deal with people from a certain political party,” he said. “That is the party that has been in power. That is the party that refused to transfer the power. That is the party that used all levers to extend their personal power. There is no intent there, rather just statistics. We said that there will be no political vendetta, and we are confident in that.”

This story originated in VOA’s Armenian Service. Some information is from Reuters.
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Bulgarian Court Spurns Treaty on Violence Against Women

Posted on by SeeEU

Bulgaria’s top court ruled Friday that a European treaty to combat violence against women violates the constitution, likely eliminating any chance the

treaty can be ratified.

The center-right government of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov submitted the Istanbul Convention to parliament for ratification in January, only to withdraw it a few weeks later because of an uproar over its language about gender roles.

Its critics include the influential Bulgarian Orthodox Church, the opposition Socialist party and the nationalist alliance United Patriots, which is in government. All said it could encourage young people to identify as transgender or third sex and lead to same-sex marriage.

The Constitutional Court said the treaty used vague language and explained some concepts poorly. It said its ruling had taken into account the views of President Rumen Radev, several ministers, the state child protection agency and nongovernment groups.

Seventy-five lawmakers from Borissov’s GERB party had asked the court to determine if the treaty was in conflict with the constitution.

The 81-article treaty was drawn up by the Council of Europe, the continent’s leading human rights organization. The government signed it in 2016 and ratification was the next step.

Debate centers on its definition of “gender” as “social roles, behaviors, activities and characteristics that a particular society considers appropriate for women and men.”

Human rights groups and senior EU officials urged Bulgarian authorities to ratify the treaty quickly, as 32 European countries have done. But Radev voiced concerns about ratification, saying loose textual language allowed for multiple interpretations. He also said the treaty does not prevent violence, arguing it persists in countries that have already ratified it.

Socially conservative countries such as Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Britain and Ireland have yet to ratify the treaty.
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South Africa Leader Who Gave Up Nukes Says North Korea Is a Different Story

Posted on by SeeAF

VOA’s Korean Service reporter Kim Young-nam spoke to former South African President F.W. de Klerk on Friday about the denuclearization process for North Korea and how it might compare to that of South Africa. As president of South Africa, de Klerk ordered the end of the country’s nuclear weapons program and oversaw its nuclear disarmament process.

Q: Under your presidency (1989-94), South Africa was able to successfully denuclearize. Often times, the North Korean case is compared with the South African model since South Africa was the only country who actually had nuclear weapons and decided to dismantle. I would like to ask how difficult or how long do you think it will take for the international community to denuclearize North Korea.

A: The circumstances in South Africa in 1989 and in North Korea now are entirely different. The threat to South Africa that had led us to develop nuclear weapons had disappeared as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the withdrawal of Cuban forces from Angola, the successful independence process in Namibia, and our own initiatives to resolve our problems through democratic negotiations. Also, the South African government, which then represented the minority communities, was a functioning democracy with regular elections, an effective parliament and independent courts. 

Our main challenge at that time was to extend non-racial democracy to all our people. We had a clear interest in dismantling our nuclear capability because of its expense and because we wished to rejoin the international community as quickly as possible.

I do not think that the situation in North Korea is at all the same. Kim Jong Un is a totalitarian dictator. His primary interest is in ensuring the continuation of his dynastic rule — and he views his nuclear weapons as a major bargaining chip in this process. He also wants to end the sanctions that are crippling the North Korean economy. Accordingly, I think it is unlikely that he will dispense with his nuclear weapons unless he is absolutely sure that there will be no threat to his regime — but he will continue to negotiate with a view to the removal of all, or some, of the sanctions.

Q: South Africa dismantled its nuclear weapons voluntarily and invited international inspectors for the verification. Do you believe it is possible to denuclearize and verify North Korea if Pyongyang is not willing to fully cooperate with the international community as South Africa did? Also there are many who are pessimistic that North will fully give up all weapons, do you have same concerns?  

A: It will be essential to involve the IAEA in any dismantling process — as South Africa did — to ensure that the destruction of all nuclear weapons and fissionable material is meticulously monitored and controlled. The test of North Korea’s sincerity in dismantling its nuclear capability will depend on its willingness to submit to international controls. I do not think it will do so until it is completely certain that its long-term security and the interests of the dynasty have been secured.

Q: South Africa made the significant decision to denuclearize and I would like to ask the reasons for making such decision. Additionally, North Korea is asking for peace treaty or security assurances to be provided before it to denuclearize. Do you think North Korea will follow the similar path with South Africa that it will give up weapons when they don’t believe their security is not threatened anymore or do you think they are just trying to buy time?

A: As pointed out above, we decided to dismantle our nuclear weapons because the threats that had led us to develop them had by 1989 disappeared. A major factor was the collapse of the Soviet Union — and our tripartite agreement with Angola and Cuba in 1988 on the withdrawal of 50,000 Cuban troops from Angola. One must remember that as late as October 1987, our armed forces had been in direct conflict with Cuban and Soviet-led Angolan forces at the Battle of the Lomba River. The battle was probably the largest set-piece battle in Africa since World War II and resulted in the destruction of 93 Soviet-built tanks. The tripartite agreement opened the way to the implementation of the U.N. independence plan for Namibia in 1989 — and the resolution of another long-standing dispute between South Africa and the international community. I also believed that the constitutional negotiations that I planned to launch early in 1990 would resolve all of the tensions between South Africa and our neighboring states in southern Africa. Dispensing with nuclear weapons also helped to speed up our reintegration with the international community — and saved us the considerable expense involved in developing and maintaining nuclear weapons.

Q: What kind of recommendation would you give to both President Trump and Kim Jong Un as they are working on denuclearizing North Korea? Do you have any concerns of nuclear proliferation in Asia such as South Korea and Japan, if the international community accepts North Korea as de-facto nuclear state like India and Pakistan? Similarly, the U.S. tried to sanction and pressure India and Pakistan while they were building nuclear arsenals but their relationships with the U.S. improved, or hostility eased, once they fully developed nuclear programs.

A: I would advise those involved to give North Korea the security assurances that it requires and to spell out the enormous advantages of ending sanctions and reintegrating into the international economic community — in other words — following the same road that China and Vietnam took in recent decades to their enormous advantage.

The danger of nuclear proliferation in Asia will increase to the degree that the countries involved feel threatened by existing nuclear states and to the degree that they perceive that they might in future no longer enjoy the protection of the U.S. nuclear umbrella.

Q: South Africa not only was able to denuclearize, but also improved its human rights situations. Do you believe that the international community will welcome North Korea if it denuclearizes, but still continue gross human rights violations in its country?

A: The immediate goal of the international community should be to ensure the elimination of the North Korean nuclear threat. It would be naive to imagine that North Korea will suddenly respect the full spectrum of human rights and freedoms. However, if it can be persuaded to follow the path of China and Vietnam there would be enormous improvements in the day-to-day lives of the North Korean people.

Q: Many African countries still have ties with North Korea and there have been multiple reports showing North Korean diplomats involved in smuggling of rhino horns and others in African nations, including South Africa, but often get away with their crimes as they have ties with them. Can you tell me why there are many African countries who are still close with North Korea and whether you have any concerns that North Koreans are getting money in Africa to use it for their regime and nuclear program? 

A: Unfortunately, I have very little information regarding North Korea’s relations with African countries and am, therefore, not really in a position to reply to your question.
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Gold Magnate, Tech Leader Are Outside Hopefuls in Mali’s Election

Posted on by SeeAF

Politiki magni. Politics is bad business.

Malians are fond of this phrase, because it illustrates in two words their disappointment with their political system for the past three decades.

At the start of 2018, a young singer by the name of Boubacar Sacko, or Soldat, as he calls himself, summarized that disappointment in the song Bua ka Bla, a none-too-subtle invitation to President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita to step down.

“You are not capable,” he sings, “and you’re tired. It’s time for you to take a rest.”

But the song was directed at not just the president but at Mali’s entire political establishment, which is seen by critics as having failed to deliver peace, security, basic services and jobs.

While there are 24 candidates for president, only two beyond Keita and his main challenger, Soumaïla Cissé, are seen as having a chance for a victory: Aliou Boubacar Diallo, 59, and Cheikh Modibo Diarra, 66.

Both have dabbled in politics but come from the world of business, raising hopes that they could better tackle rampant corruption.

The International Monetary Fund says Mali loses 43 percent of its public investments to corruption, fraud and overinvoicing.

“As far as corruption is concerned, I will fight against impunity,” Diallo says in a campaign video. “I will also carry out a wholesale reform and modernization of our public administration. And I’ll make sure that the standard of living of our officials is improved.”

Diallo was born in Kayes, in Mali’s northwest, part of the country’s gold belt. He went to school in Bamako and then studied economics and finance in Tunisia and France.

In 2002, Diallo became the first and so far only Malian to own and run a major gold mine. Mali is Africa’s third-largest gold exporter, but the industry is run almost entirely by foreigners.

Diallo financed part of Keita’s election campaign in 2013 but has since withdrawn his support.

Diarra was born in Nioro du Sahel, central Mali, went to school in Bamako and then to universities in Paris and Washington.

With degrees in mathematics, physics and aerospace engineering, he caught the attention of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 

Diarra worked for NASA in the 1990s before becoming director of Microsoft Africa.

He was briefly prime minister in 2012, during Mali’s transition from a coup to a civilian government.

Another former prime minister, Moussa Mara, is now Diarra’s main campaigner.

“Our starting point is the fact that Mali’s first problem is corruption,” Mara said. “I can tell you that corruption is worse than the crisis in the north of Mali. It’s worse than terrorism. In fact, corruption has led to the crisis in the north. We must fight corruption among the elites, because if we don’t, we will accomplish nothing in this country.”

While both Diarra and Diallo have been close to politics, they are not seen as susceptible to corruption because they made their own money.

Critics like Mara say Keita and Cissé come from the same political system and that electing either of them will change nothing.

After Sunday’s election, the world will know whether the people of Mali agree.
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Turkish-US Tensions Deepen Over Detained American Pastor

Posted on by SeeEU

A senior U.S. official said Washington is confident a detained American pastor in Turkey will be free soon, as tensions deepen between the two countries.

“On Pastor Brunson, I think there is excellent prospects that he’s going to come home,” Sam Brownback, U.S. ambassador at large for international religious freedom, said Thursday at the conclusion of three days of State Department talks to advance religious freedom.

Andrew Brunson, an evangelical pastor from Black Mountain, North Carolina, has been jailed in Turkey for nearly two years on terrorism and espionage charges. Earlier this week, Brunson was released from a Turkish prison and placed under house arrest while his trial continues.

His case has strained relations between Turkey and the United States, both NATO allies.

 

Threatening sanctions

Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence threatened sanctions on Turkey if Brunson is not released.

The warning prompted a sharp response from Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Twitter.

The State Department said Friday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with Cavusoglu the day before, underscoring “it is well past time” for Brunson to come home.

Washington accuses Ankara of hostage-taking in a bid to extract diplomatic leverage, a charge Turkey denies, insisting its judiciary is independent.

The diplomatic disagreement is further escalating amid reports Ankara reneged on a deal to release Brunson as part of the agreement that saw Israel release Turkish citizen Ebru Ozkan, accused of smuggling for Hamas.

A senior Turkish official dismissed the reports as “baseless.” However, Trump’s strong remarks calling for Brunson’s release have led some to suggest there was some kind of agreement.

“I understand the so-called deal is a verbally agreed deal between the two presidents,” said former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen, who served in Washington, “So we are not privy to the details. Maybe both sides did not understand one another well. So the U.S. believed they had a firm deal. But, Ankara believed there was more to deal with, before Brunson’s release.”

 

Diplomatic fallout

 

With Trump weighing in on Brunson’s case, analysts say the diplomatic fallout for Ankara could be severe.

“Mr. Trump seems to be the only remaining asset left in D.C. [Washington] for Ankara,” Selcen said.

 

Trump and Erdogan reportedly had developed a good relationship. The U.S. president at this month’s NATO summit praised his Turkish counterpart.

“He does things the right way,” he said.

At the same time, the U.S. Senate is set to vote on a bill that would seek the restriction of loans by international bodies to Turkey.

 

“It’s mainly symbolic, but important,” said political analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners.

 

He said the move would only have limited effect on Turkey, but warns it could be a sign of Washington’s intent on how it could punish Turkey.

“Never mind these various sanction bills,” he continued. “Just a few telephone calls from the American Treasury to large American banks to hold back on new loans to Turkey’s counterparts or not to underwrite bonds would cause significant damage to an already extremely fragile Turkish economy.”

Turkey is heavily dependent on foreign capital to sustain its economy.

But Turkey has leverage of its own. U.S. forces are reliant on Ankara for regional operations at the large Incirlik Turkish airbase. Washington is also looking for Turkish cooperation in enforcing Iranian sanctions.

 

Analysts say Turkey also uses Washington’s concerns over its deepening relationship with Russia as leverage. Washington is lobbying Ankara to abandon a purchase of Russian S-400 missiles.
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Historic Vote Looms in Zimbabwe

Posted on by SeeAF

Zimbabwe is preparing for a historic election on Monday, the first in 38 years without former leader Robert Mugabe on the ballot. But voters and observers are cautious in their optimism, amid concerns over whether it will be a free and fair poll, and whether the victor will actually deliver on promises to bring change. VOA’s Anita Powell reports.
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Russia’s Putin says He Invited Trump to Moscow

Posted on by SeeEU

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday he had invited U.S. President Donald Trump to Moscow and that both he and Trump were ready for further summits, but that conditions needed to be right for a meeting to take place.

Putin and Trump met in Helsinki last week at a summit, but Trump faced a storm of criticism back home for his handling of the meeting.

Speaking to reporters at a summit of BRICS countries in South Africa, Putin said telephone calls between Moscow and Washington were insufficient and that both sides needed to meet to talk about issues like the Iran nuclear deal and global

conflicts.

 
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Uganda Court Ruling Allows President Museveni to Rule for Life 

Posted on by SeeAF

A constitutional court in Uganda has validated a constitutional amendment that removes an age limit for the country’s leader, clearing the way for long-serving President Yoweri Museveni to remain in power for life.

The Uganda Constitution had set an age limit of 75 for anyone holding the presidency. Parliament proposed an amendment lifting the age limit and extending the term of office for the president and parliament by two years.

 

After an 11-hour debate, the five-member Constitutional Court, in a four-to-one ruling, upheld lifting the age limit, but struck down extending the terms in office.

Museveni, who is now 73, would have been ineligible to run again when his current term expires in 2021 if the court had not ruled as it did.

Many critics opposed the lifting of the age limit citing Museveni’s 32-year rule, which has been punctuated by corruption scandals, human rights violations and poor social services.

One dissent

Justice Kenneth Kakuru, who was on the panel, voiced his opposition to the ruling.

“I find and declare that, one, the entire constitutional amendment act one of 2018 is unconstitutional and therefore null and void. All its provision ought to be expunged from the constitution of Uganda,” he said.

During last year’s amendment process, legislators voted to have their tenure extended to seven years from five. But all five judges on the panel ruled against that move, saying it was selfish and goes against the principles of good governance.

The judges noted that an extension of the terms of members of Parliament would only be acceptable in a state of emergency or war, and even then they would only allow a only a six month extension.

​Lesson for legislators

Winnie Kiiza, the leader of the opposition in Parliament and one of the petitioners, said the judgment is an important lesson for legislators.

“Our colleagues who thought possibly President Museveni meant well for them, have now known that the law was just about himself, getting his age limit and therefore ditch them along the way,” she said.

Attorney General Mwesigwa Rukutana was pleased with the outcome.

“It was largely a balanced judgment. And it really painted a good picture for our rule of law. It was a win-win situation. We won in some of the issues. The petitioners also won in some issues,” Rukutana said.

Ugandans will now have to wait for the 2021 general elections and use their vote to bring the change they desire.
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Lebanon Considering Legalization of Cannabis 

Posted on by SeeEA

A Lebanese lawmaker has introduced a draft bill in parliament that would legalize the use of cannabis for medical purposes.

Speaking to the Associated Press, Antoine Habchi said he is proposing using the plant as alternative medicine to fight addiction and at the same time as a way to help Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley restore its economy and generate much needed income.

Habchi said that under the bill, cultivation would be tightly controlled.

However, it will likely take months of discussions before the draft bill would come to a vote.

Lebanon is the third largest cannabis producer in the world, after Morocco and Afghanistan, according to the United Nations.

Centered on the Bekaa Valley, known for narcotics production, Lebanon produces some of the finest quality cannabis, mostly processed into hashish.
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