Month: September 2018

Car Bomb Hits Somali Capital

Posted on by SeeAF

Officials in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, say a car bomb has hit a district headquarters, killing at least six people and injuring 16.

The blast targeted the headquarters of Hodan district in Mogadishu.  Witnesses said the explosion Monday caused massive destruction to the building.

“The blast was huge,” police officer Ibrahim Mohamed, told the French news agency, AFP.  

The al-Shabab  militant group claimed responsibility via their affiliate social media accounts.

It is the second time the group has targeted a local district headquarters in Mogadishu this month.  On September 2, a suicide car bomb destroyed the headquarters of the neighboring Hawlwadag district, killing three people.

 

 

 

 

 
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China Prepared to Resist if US Adds Support for Taiwan’s Foreign Relations

Posted on by SeeUS

China is expected to use its economic strength to counter any U.S. actions aimed at helping Chinese political rival Taiwan regain a world diplomatic foothold after losing much of it under pressure from Beijing.

The Beijing government, which sees self-ruled Taiwan as part of Chinese territory rather than as a country entitled to foreign diplomacy, could handily increase development aid to lock in relations with third countries that the United States punishes for breaking ties with Taipei, experts say. 

China is pushing those countries to switch sides so it can squelch Taiwan’s international profile, officials in Taipei say.

The U.S. Department of State said Friday it had called back envoys to three Latin American countries that have cut ties with Taiwan since 2017 in favor of China. Last week, four senators proposed a bill authorizing a downgrade in U.S. relations with countries that switch. China will offset any such measures, experts say.

“If anything economic, it would be easily offset or compensated for by the Chinese, and I think the Chinese will make sure that these countries will be compensated for their punishment,” said Yun Sun, East Asia Program senior associate at the Stimson Center think tank in Washington.

“If it appears that the U.S. punishes these countries and China does nothing, then no other countries in the future would have the same level of incentive to sever their diplomatic ties with Taiwan,” she said.

Pushback in Washington

Five countries have switched sides from Taiwan to China since President Tsai Ing-wen took office in Taipei in 2016. China resents Tsai for snubbing its dialogue precondition that both sides belong to one country. The two sides have been separately ruled since the Chinese civil war of the 1940s, but China insists that they eventually unify.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s government has already taken steps to improve relations with Taiwan amid a widening U.S. trade dispute with China.

Envoys to the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Panama were called back to “discuss ways in which the United States can support strong, independent, democratic institutions and economies throughout Central America and the Caribbean,” the State Department website said Friday.

Separately, four U.S. senators introduced on September 3 the Taiwan Allies International Protection and Enhancement Initiative Act to strengthen Taiwan’s standing in the world. The act authorizes the State Department to downgrade U.S. relations with third countries that switch from Taiwan to China, meaning possible suspension of aid such as military financing.

Trump could use the bill as a “card” against China, said Gratiana Jung, senior political researcher, Yuanta-Polaris Research Institute think tank, Taipei.

“In the final analysis, it’s something the administrative units need to decide whether to carry out,” Jung said. “(Those units) might consider the president’s ideas and we don’t know what Trump will do.”

China will watch, then act

China is expected to say little but offer money as needed to convince Taiwan’s remaining 17 allies – compared to more than 170 that recognize China – of its position that a shift in allegiance is worth the wrath of Washington.

“I think Beijing behind the scene would continue and probably even strengthen the economic lures and diplomatic interactions with those countries that still recognize Taiwan despite what Washington is now saying,” said Lin Chong-pin, a retired strategic studies professor in Taiwan. “That’s the most likely course Beijing will take.”

Countermeasures from Beijing to incentivize breaks with Taipei would depend on U.S. influence in the third country being targeted, said Huang Kwei-bo, international affairs college vice dean at National Chengchi University in Taipei.

American influence in Latin America goes back decades, including development aid and military support. Most of Taiwan’s allies are poor nations that look to it, and sometimes later to China, for economic aid.

China already offers development aid in much of the world. It has the second largest economy after the United States, and the Communist government can allocate money quickly, if needed. Its 65-nation Belt-and-Road infrastructure building campaign will cost about $1 trillion, to name the best known example.

Since the African nation of Sao Tome and Principe left Taiwan for China in 2016, Beijing has pledged $146 million for the modernization of its international airport and construction of a deep-sea container port to facilitate Chinese trade in Africa. Last week, China pledged $60 billion in financial support to Africa and promised to forgive some African governments’ interest-free loans that are due this year.

“If the law passes (the U.S. Congress), I think there’s a possibility that mainland China would steal away another ally to express that your American effort is basically useless,” Huang said. “It’s hard to say whether this law’s passage would stoke Beijing to act faster in taking away yet another friend of Taiwan.”
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US to Threaten Sanctions if ICC Investigates Afghan War Crimes Allegations

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The Trump administration is set to threaten sanctions Monday if the International Criminal Court in The Hague carries out an investigation into allegations of war crimes by U.S. military and intelligence personnel in Afghanistan.

A draft speech that U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton is scheduled to give before the conservative Federalist Society in Washington takes a hard stance against the court. It says the ICC should not have jurisdiction over people from the United States or other nations that never ratified the treaty that created the court.

The ICC began operation in 2002 and was designed to be permanent and independent of national governments as it investigated war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

Bolton’s draft text says the United States will not cooperate with the ICC, and that if it does investigate U.S. actions in Afghanistan then the Trump administration will consider travel bans, asset freezes and possible prosecution in U.S. courts for the judges and prosecutors involved in the probe.

Last year, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda requested judicial authorization to investigate allegations of misconduct by members of the U.S. military and the Central Intelligence Agency.

The alleged war crimes involve reports from secret detention facilities in Afghanistan and on the territory of other nations who are party to the ICC, particularly between 2003 and 2004.

The Pentagon objected to the possible probe and said it was committed to complying with the laws of war.

Bolton is also expected to announced in his speech Monday that the State Department is shutting down a Palestinian Liberation Organization office in Washington in response to Palestinian efforts to have the court prosecute Israeli actions.

The Trump administration initially announced it would close the office last year for the same reason, but later reversed its decision.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has asked the international court to investigate and prosecute Israeli officials for “their involvement in settlement activities and aggressions against our people.”
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Tiwa the Talking Monkey Uses Tech to Help Revive Nigerian Folk Tales

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A stuffed toy monkey called Tiwa holds some of Nigeria’s oldest folk tales and is helping to revive the traditional practice of storytelling by appealing to a younger generation. Faith Lapidus reports.
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Restored World Trade Center Subway Station Symbolizes New York’s Resilience

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A New York City subway station which was destroyed during the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center re-opened Saturday after 17 years. New York City has spent $181.8 million to reconstruct the Cortlandt Street subway station under the World Trade Center. The ceiling had to be completely rebuilt after parts of the World Trade Center fell through it and large portions of the rail on either side of the station also had to be replaced. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
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Seven Wounded in Paris Knife Attack

Posted on by SeeEU

French police have arrested a man who wounded seven people, including two British tourists, in Paris late Sunday.

Reuters news agency quoted a judicial source saying there was no indication the attack was terror related. It also reported that four of those wounded were in serious condition.

Witnesses told Agence France Presse the man was also carrying an iron bar.

The incident reportedly took place at 2100 UTC in northeast Paris.
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Ford Says It Will Not Move Small Car Production from China to US

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Ford says it has no plans to move production of a small car from China to the United States despite President Donald Trump’s enthusiastic tweet Sunday.

“It would not be profitable to the build the Focus Active in the U.S. given an expected annual sales volume of fewer than 500,000 units,” a Ford statement said.

Ford earlier announced it would not ship the cars from China to the United States because tariffs would make them too expensive, prompting a Trump tweet saying “This is just the beginning. This car can now be BUILT IN THE U.S.A. and Ford will pay no tariffs.”

Ford may keep building the Focus Active in China, but won’t not sell them in the United States.

Trump has imposed tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports to remedy what he calls unfair Chinese trade practices. China has retaliated and both countries threaten more tariffs.
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Russia Protests Putin, as Pro-Kremlin Candidates Cruise to Election Wins

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Thousands of Russians rallied against government-backed pension reforms and hundreds of them faced arrest Sunday, as Kremlin-backed candidates for the powerful mayor’s post in Moscow as well as a majority of regional governorships appeared headed to easy victory in elections scattered across the country.

The split screen images of smiling voters on TV, and protesters facing down baton-wielding police on the internet, once again raised questions about Russia’s system of so-called “managed democracy” in which political freedoms are tolerated, but only to a degree.   

Indeed, while the day saw unexpected results in a handful of races, Sunday’s vote was far more reminiscent of Russia’s March presidential elections, which saw President Vladimir Putin dominate the field after Russia’s Elections Commission weeded potential rivals from the race well in advance of election day. 

“This is not an election.  We see this as a reappointment,” said Dmitry Gudkov, the leader of the Party of Change, whose own candidacy to compete against Moscow’s incumbent mayor Sergey Sobyanin was derailed by “municipal filters” aimed at keeping critical voices off the ballot.

With only Kremlin-approved challengers allowed into the race, even seasoned political observers admitted they found it hard to identify Sobyanin’s competition.

“Honestly, I’m a political analyst and even I don’t know who the other candidates are,” said Anton Orekh, Echo of Moscow’s resident political observer, in an interview with VOA.

“And the majority of residents feel exactly the same,” he added. “It’s always been clear who will win these elections.  It is not even necessary to falsify the results. ”

Preliminary results showed Sobyanin receiving about 70 percent of the vote.

The new Moscow beckons

Mayor Sobyanin’s reelection bid was buoyed by years of Kremlin-funded urbanization projects that have transformed Moscow’s appearance, despite an economy weighed down by Western sanctions and persistent low world oil prices.

New parks and pedestrian walkways, glistening stadiums built for the World Cup 2018, and dozens of new metro stations have increasingly given the city, if not Western-style values, a more Western-style feel.

Sobyanin made a Moscow’s renewal the centerpiece of an otherwise lackluster campaign that featured few appearances and a refusal to participate in debates. President Putin, in turn, has backed Sobyanin’s urbanization projects and urged other regions to follow Moscow’s lead in creating what the Russian leader says should be more “citizen friendly” environments.

Protests and Arrests

Even amid what appeared to be landslide victories for a majority of pro-Kremlin candidates, Russia’s growing economic problems were also on display Sunday.

Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, currently serving a 30-day term for violating the country’s stringent protest laws, called nationwide protests against a proposal to raise the pension age that is deeply unpopular with the public.

The reform has sparked a wave of protests and sent Putin’s polling numbers on a downward slide, despite a televised address by the Russian leader to explain the move as a longterm fiscal necessity. Independent polls find 90 percent of Russians are opposed to the changes.

In Moscow, several thousand protesters gathered in downtown Pushkin Square to chants of “Impeachment,” “Putin is a Thief” and “It’s not reform, it’s robbery.”  Similar rallies were held in dozens of other cities.  They followed nationwide protests organized by Russia’s Communist Party last week.

“The government is robbing from my parents and from my generation as well,” said Andrei Kiripko, 22, a marketing student protesting in Moscow. “All I can do is fight for my country and my children’s future.”

“Unfortunately, many of my generation didn’t show up,” said Sergey, 51, a private business owner who declined to give his last name.  “Everyone I know doesn’t agree with the reform, but they’re not here because they’re scared of what will happen.”

More than 800 arrests were reported in cities across Russia by OVD-INFO, a local rights monitoring group.  Police routinely rounded up Navalny regional supporters in Novosibirsk, Tomsk, and Khabarovsk. In Yekaterinburg, former mayor Evegeny Roizman, a Navalny ally recently removed from his post, was detained by OMON troops for marching with demonstrators.

The authorities response was most aggressive in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, where demonstrators were beaten by baton-wielding OMON troops. The images immediately raised the specter of potential criminal charges and harsh prison sentences to follow.

The battle online

Political battles surrounding the day, meanwhile, extended far beyond the streets and onto social media.

In another sign the Kremlin was taking public discontent seriously, the government exerted pressure on opposition activities through Youtube, which Navalny has effectively harnessed to spread his political ideas, despite being largely banned from state media.

 

At the request of Russia’s internet governing body Rozkomnadzor, the U.S.-based video service blocked paid Navalny video advertisements in support of the protest, apparently agreeing the videos violated Russia’s “day of silence” law 24 hours ahead of voting.

“We consider all justified appeals from state bodies.  We also require advertisers to act in accordance with the local law and our advertising policies,” explained Google Russia, in an email published by Reuters.

“What Google did presents a clear case of political censorship,” countered Navalny aide Leonid Volkov, who addressed Google’s actions in a post to Facebook.  

Volkov was right, in part. Navalny’s Youtube channel continued to operate throughout Sunday’s events. But the blocked ads again raised questions about Western tech companies’ ability to find a balance between their oft-stated support for free speech and pursuit of business interests in repressive political environments.

 
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US Senators Digest Kavanaugh Testimony

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U.S. senators are reflecting on President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court pick, appellate judge Brett Kavanaugh, after the nominee gave days of often-contentious testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports, the conservative jurist is expected to receive the committee’s endorsement with Republican-only votes, setting up a fierce, partisan battle on the Senate floor later this month
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Serena Williams Fined $17,000 For Violations During US Open Final

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The U.S. Tennis Association fined 2018 U.S. Open runner-up Serena Williams $17,000 Sunday for violations during the women’s final the day before.

Williams will pay for three violations made during the extremely controversial match with 20-year-old Naomi Osaka, who claimed her first grand slam title.

Williams’ first violation for allegedly receiving coaching during a game cost her a warning and $3,000. A second violation, slamming her racket and breaking it, led to a point penalty and a fine of $4,000. The third violation, what umpire Carlos Ramos called verbal abuse when Williams’ called him a “thief” for the point penalty, resulted in her losing a game to penalty and an additional fine of $10,000.

The penalties drew criticism from fans of Williams and many in the tennis world, where a game penalty is extremely rare.

“When a woman is emotional, she’s “hysterical” and she’s penalized for it. When a man does the same, he’s “outspoken” & and there are no repercussions,” Billie Jean King, former World No. 1 professional tennis player and a long-time advocate of women athlete’s rights and equality wrote on Twitter Saturday. “Thank you, @serenawilliams, for calling out this double standard. More voices are needed to do the same.”

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With her 6-2, 6-4 victory Sunday, Osaka won Japan’s first tennis Grand Slam title.

Williams’ defeat cost her tying for Margaret Court’s record of 24 major titles.
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Florence Strengthens to Hurricane, Could Hit US

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Tropical storm Florence became a hurricane Sunday and is expected to intensify and threaten parts of the East Coast of the United States this week, according to the National Hurricane Center.

 
The National Hurricane Center said the mid-Atlantic region should closely monitor the hurricane’s progress and be prepared to take instruction from local authorities.

Florence was packing winds up to 120 kilometers per hour.

Tropical storm Isaac, a few hundred kilometers east of Florence in the Atlantic ocean, was also gaining speed and is expected to become a hurricane later Sunday or Monday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper on Friday declared a state of emergency and encouraged residents near the coast to prepare.  Authorities in Florida and South Carolina said they were keeping an eye on the storm.

Florence intensified to hurricane strength and weakened again in the past week, while whirling over the open water of the Atlantic Ocean.

Florence could affect eastern U.S. coastal areas far to the north of the impact area, producing dangerous riptides and coastal flooding on the New Jersey shore, forecasters said.

Hurricane experts say there is still a chance the storm would remain over water near the U.S. coastline and eventually move back out to sea to die out.

 
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Cameroon Separatists Attack Buses in English-Speaking Region

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Cameroon says it has deployed additional troops to Bamenda several hours after armed separatists blocked access into and out of the northwestern English-speaking town, attacking buses and passengers.

At least 20 passenger buses are still lined up at Akum, a village 10 Kilometers from Bamenda, the capital of the Cameroon’s English speaking northwest region.

Some of the buses that were traveling to the French-speaking cities of Yaounde and Douala have been burned and others damaged. The Cameroon military has accompanied some travelers who were chased from the buses to help them identify and collect their luggage.

University student Philip Njie was traveling to Yaounde when at least 100 gunmen ordered passengers out of the buses late Saturday.

“There were so many of them. So many of them holding their hands at the trigger, ready to shoot at anyone who disrespected them so we were very scared,” said Njie.

At least 1,000 people traveling into and out of Bamenda were stopped by the gunmen.

The government troop commander in northwestern Cameroon, General Agha Robinson, calls the gunmen “terrorists.”

“There is an operation to dislodge these terrorists to make sure weapons are seized, and therefore, we go down to the field and then we shut down these areas where these guys produce these weapons. We have been searching some areas where we deem necessary and in our check points too, we have our eyes on the bags which people are carrying,” said the general.

Separatists groups claimed responsibility for the attack on social media. They have warned that no buses would be allowed to travel into or out of the English-speaking northwest and southwest regions of Cameroon after September 16.

The separatists say it is part of their plan to disrupt Cameroon’s October 7 presidential election, which they say can not take place in their territory because they are an independent state called Ambazonia.

Unrest began in Cameroon in November 2016 when teachers and lawyers in the English-speaking northwest and southwest began calling for reforms and greater autonomy.

The United Nations reports 300 people, including 130 policemen and the military, have been killed and hundreds of thousands have fled, including 20,000 who crossed into Nigeria.
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Pence: Anonymous Critic Resisting Trump Should Quit

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U.S. Vice President Mike Pence called Sunday for the anonymous senior official carrying out inside resistance to the Trump administration to “do the honorable thing and resign.”

Pence told Fox News Sunday that the official, who wrote an op-ed opinion article in The New York Times last week that called Trump amoral, was “literally violating an oath, not to the president, but to the Constitution” by seeking to undermine Trump’s presidency.

Pence reiterated that he did not write the article even though it contained an unusual word — “lodestar,” meaning one who serves as an inspiration — that he has used in numerous speeches. The vice president said he would agree to take a lie detector test “in a heartbeat,” but said it was up to Trump to decide whether other White House officials should do the same to try to identify who wrote the article.

Pence said he does not know who wrote it. The official said he or she was part of an internal resistance “working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.”

“The root of the problem is the president’s amorality,” the official said, denouncing Trump’s “impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective” leadership style.

Trump has railed against the writer, telling a political rally in Montana last week, “Nobody knows who the hell he is, or she. Unidentified deep state operatives who defy voters to push their secret agendas are truly a threat to democracy itself.”

The article in the newspaper came a day after the first details were revealed from veteran investigative journalist Bob Woodward’s new book, “Fear: Trump in the White House,” depicting chaotic White House operations under Trump, with his own key administration officials attacking him as dangerously ignorant of world affairs.

Woodward said Trump aides at times have plucked documents off the president’s Oval Office desk to keep him from signing documents the officials considered to be detrimental to U.S. national security interests. Woodward, a longtime Washington Post reporter and editor, quoted Trump chief of staff John Kelly as saying that the White House under Trump was “crazytown” and that the president was an “idiot,” remarks Kelly denied uttering.

Trump and other White House officials have attacked Woodward’s book as fiction. But the author told CBS on Sunday that the president’s claim he does not speak the way Woodward quoted him is “wrong,” saying his reporting was “meticulous and careful,” backed up by hundreds of hours of interviews with current and past Trump aides.

Woodward said he has no idea who was the writer of the New York Times article, but said its vague description of White House events did not meet his own standard reporting life behind the scenes in Trump’s administration.

Pence defended Trump’s performance, saying the president promotes “a vigorous debate” within the White House over public policy issues, and then “he makes the decision. He’s in command.” Pence called him “a president of almost boundless energy.”

In a Twitter remark last week, Trump assailed Attorney General Jeff Sessions for bringing criminal charges against “two very popular Republican congressmen,” Chris Collins in New York and Duncan Hunter in California, just as they face re-election contests in November. Trump said, “two easy wins now in doubt…. Good job Jeff.”

Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike criticized Trump for saying that the charges should not have been brought because of the political ramifications affecting Republicans.

Pence said the serious charges against the two lawmakers “ought to be pursued,” but defended Trump’s criticism, saying it was aimed at not bringing charges too close to an election, so as to not impact the outcomes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
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Kosovo Bars Serbian Leader’s Visit to Enclave

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Kosovo has barred Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic from visiting a Serb-populated enclave after dozens of protesters blocked the road to the village he had planned to travel to.

Kosovar Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj said on Facebook on September 9 that the revocation of Vucic’s permission to visit the village of Banje was made in the interests of the safety of citizens.

President Hashim Thaci said on Facebook that he supported the decision but called protests and roadblocks unhelpful as Kosovo and Serbia make efforts for “peace and reconciliation” after the 1998-99 war between the two sides.

Thaci added that the blockade “shows that the pain and war injuries are still fresh.”

The protesters used cars and trucks to block the main road between the city of Mitrovica and the village of Banje, which Vucic was scheduled to visit later on September 9.

They also burned tires and displayed banners that read “Vucic will not pass here” and “You have to apologize for the crimes.”

NATO peacekeepers from Hungary wearing full riot gear and backed by Swiss Army bulldozers were stationed close to the barricade and said they were ready to intervene if they are asked by Kosovar authorities to clear the road.

The NATO-led peacekeeping mission, known as KFOR, said in a statement that it was working with Kosovar authorities to remove the barricade on the road to the Serb-populated village without incident.

“KFOR is working to do it peacefully, but it is ready to intervene…if required,” the mission said in a statement to the Associated Press.

It added that “nobody is threatening Mr. Vucic and his safety was guaranteed.”

Vucic arrived in Kosovo on September 8 for a two-day visit that began a day after a meeting between him and Thaci was canceled because the Serbian president refused to meet.

The failed meeting adds further doubt to a possible land swap between the two countries that was floated by both Belgrade and Pristina last month.

While some EU and U.S. officials have said they support the exchange of territories, Germany and many analysts have said it is a bad idea that could renew old ethnic hostilities throughout the Balkans.

The land swap is also opposed by Kosovo’s ruling coalition and the opposition.

Serbia lost control over Kosovo in 1999 after NATO bombed to stop the killing and expulsion of Albanians by Serbian forces during a two-year counterinsurgency war.

Kosovo declared independence in 2008 and has been recognized by more than 100 countries, but not by Serbia. Normalizing bilateral ties is a key condition for both countries to move toward EU membership.

​Speaking in northern Kosovo on September 8, Vucic said he would continue talks with Kosovar officials but warned it would be difficult to reach a deal that could normalize relations. 

Maja Kocijancic, a spokeswoman for EU foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini, said in a statement that the EU “regrets the decision” to cancel Vucic’s visit to Banje.

“We ask all those responsible to maintain order and provide secure passings throughout the day. Full commitment to preserving peace and security of the people of Kosovo and the people of Serbia, wisdom and calm is what is needed now,” Kocijancic said.

Kosovo police on September 9 stopped Vucic and his entourage on the road to the Drenica region and informed they would not be allowed to proceed due to security concerns. The region was the site of Serbian forces’ first bloody crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists in 1998.

Vucic, once a fiery ultranationalist, told members of the Serbian ethnic minority in Mitrovica on September 9 that he would “not hesitate for second when it comes to the need to defend our nation in any part of Kosovo and Metohija if our nation is attacked.”

Belgrade continues to refer to the country as “Kosovo and Metohija,” its official name when it was an autonomous Serbian republic.

“We want Serbian children and schools, teachers, and kindergartens for them,” Vucic said. “I want you to have enough reasons to want to have children. I want maternity wards, playgrounds, roads, and factories, so that in the end you can have everything that will let you stay here.”

But Vucic said that he did not “want to incite war” and “won’t promise arms and ammunition.

“I wish to believe that we can now have an era of rational, and why not in 50 years, friendly relations with the Albanians,” he said.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP
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Botswana Hits Back at Critics on Anti-Poaching Policy

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Botswana’s president says criticism of his government’s anti-poaching policy is “nothing but hysteria,” following reports that poachers are killing more elephants in a country with Africa’s biggest elephant population.

The remark by President Mokgweetsi Masisi came after some conservationists expressed concern that Botswana’s wildlife department had been stripped of weapons required for the sometimes dangerous work of thwarting armed poachers.

“This stretch of imagination of linking the poaching of any species with an alleged disarmament of the department of wildlife is nothing but hysteria,” Masisi said Saturday after returning home from an official trip to China.

Elephants Without Borders, a conservation group, said this month that results from an ongoing elephant census in Botswana indicate poaching has surged. The spike coincided with the disarming of anti-poaching units, the group said.

The southern African country has long been a refuge for elephants on a continent where tens of thousands have been killed over the years for their ivory. A study a few years ago said Botswana had 130,000 elephants.

Botswana’s military has killed some suspected poachers who illegally crossed the border, a crackdown seen as necessary by some conservationists but criticized by neighboring countries.

 

The government of Masisi, who took office this year, said weapons were withdrawn from the Department of Wildlife and National Parks in line with legislation that bars the department from having them.

 

An official previously specified that the weapons in question are military issue, indicating that the department does retain some firearms. And all security agencies have been involved in anti-poaching operations since the 1980s, according to the government.

Accustomed to international praise for conservation efforts, Botswana has come under scrutiny from groups such as PETA that suggest an outcry over the weapons issue could hurt wildlife tourism there.

 

“As Botswana’s government transitions to a new anti-poaching policy, it remains to be seen whether the spike in poaching is an isolated incident or reflects a troubling new trend,” said another group, WildAid.

Pushing back at critics, Masisi said the fact that elephants have flourished in Botswana is a tribute to the country’s conservation approach.

“Most are found here,” he said. “It’s not accidental. It is we who caused them to be.”
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Education for Millions of Syrian Children in Crisis

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The U.N. children’s fund reports only half of Syria’s four million school children will be able to return to the classroom this month because of conflict and a severe shortage of money.

UNICEF reports more than seven years of war in Syria has put one in three schools out of use. It says many have been destroyed or damaged, while others are sheltering displaced families. Some schools are being used for military purposes in this war, which is estimated to have killed more than one-half million people.

This year, UNICEF says more than 60 schools have been attacked. Despite the destruction of infrastructure, a severe shortage of teachers and lack of money, the agency says children eagerly go to school when they can. It says school provides them with a sense of normalcy in an otherwise chaotic environment.

But UNICEF spokesman Christophe Boulierac says it is increasingly difficult, and in some cases impossible for children to go to school in areas of conflict, including Idlib where military action is intensifying.

“In Idlib, schools opened ahead of schedule in an effort to gain more instruction time as schooling is often suspended because of insecurity, shelling and violence. An estimated 400,000 school children, including 70,000 internally displaced students began the school year on the first of September,” said Boulierac.

UNICEF reports some 700,000 Syrian refugee children in neighboring countries also are unable to get an education, largely because there is little money to keep them in school.

It warns children out of school are at risk of exploitation, of early marriage, recruitment as child soldiers and of engaging in some of the worst forms of child labor.

UNICEF says it needs $135 million to run its school programs inside Syria this year and more than $517 million to keep education programs going in five neighboring countries of refuge.

 

 
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Detainees and Diplomacy: Turkey Denies a Link

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Turkey’s arrests of an American pastor and other Western citizens have thrust its troubled judicial system to the forefront of ties with allies, reinforcing suspicions that the Turkish government is using detainees as diplomatic leverage.

 

Turkey scoffs at the idea that it treats detained foreigners as foreign policy pawns, and points the finger at the U.S. for cases against Turks in American courts. Turkey’s top appeals court judge weighed in this week, saying only “independent” courts can free pastor Andrew Brunson.

The reality is more complex in a nation where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has tightened his grip on the state, including a judiciary purged of thousands of judges and prosecutors after an attempted coup in 2016. Constitutional changes have since expanded Erdogan’s control of judicial appointments, undermining Turkey’s avowals that it wants to mold impartial courts.

 

There is no evidence that jailed foreigners in Turkey were arrested to be used as “hostages,” and Erdogan could genuinely believe they were acting on behalf of foreign governments against Turkey, said Nicholas Danforth, an analyst at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington.

 

“In taking and holding prisoners to combat the West’s presumed hostility, Ankara ends up creating the kind of hostility it imagines,” Danforth wrote in a blog post last week.

Recent Turkish court rulings seemed to align with diplomatic outreach to Europe. Two Greek soldiers held for months were freed; Taner Kilic, an Amnesty International representative, was released; and a judge lifted a travel ban on a German of Turkish descent accused of terror offenses.

 

Conversely, the courts ruled against freeing Brunson, who is accused of links to Kurdish rebels and the 2016 coup plotters, after U.S. economic penalties deepened the Turkish currency’s slide.

 

A coincidence? Some analysts don’t think so.

 

“As the crisis with the U.S. heated up and as the economic crisis heated up, Erdogan saw a need to speed up the process of normalization with Europe,” said Howard Eissenstat, an associate professor of Middle East history in Canton, New York.

Eissenstat, also a fellow at the Washington-based Project on Middle East Democracy, speculated that President Donald Trump’s focus on freeing Brunson had backfired, encouraging Turkish officials to think: “‘This guy’s really valuable and we can get a lot for him.'”

For Turkey, “a lot” would be the extradition of Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric who lives in Pennsylvania and denies Turkish allegations that he engineered the coup attempt, which killed nearly 300 people.

 

Turkey has also criticized the case against Mehmet Hakan Atilla, an official at Turkey’s state-controlled Halkbank who was jailed in the U.S. for helping Iran avoid American sanctions.

 

Last year, Erdogan floated a possible trade in which the U.S. sends Gulen to Turkey in exchange for the release of Brunson, now under house arrest in the city of Izmir. However, comments on Monday by Ismail Rustu Cirit, the Turkish judge, reflected an official view that Turkey’s sovereignty in the matter is paramount.

 

“The only and absolute power that can rule on the arrest of a foreign citizen in Izmir and decisions about his trial are the independent and impartial courts,” Cirit said.

The European Union has urged Turkey to guarantee the impartiality of its courts, a key requirement in an EU candidacy bid that stalled years ago.

Judicial reforms more than a decade ago, in the early years of Erdogan’s rule, reduced the power of the military and moved Turkey closer to European standards. But backsliding followed, amid increasing accusations that the ruling party was using the courts to muzzle opponents.

In another twist, internal conflict erupted at the end of 2013 when prosecutors launched an investigation of alleged corruption at the top of the government, a move described by Erdogan’s camp as a power grab by Gulen supporters.

 

Detainees remain an irritant between Germany and Turkey, which freed Die Welt journalist Deniz Yucel and activist Peter Steudtner. But Turkey still holds a number of Germans for what Berlin considers political reasons.

 

Turkey, meanwhile, has bemoaned a Greek court’s decision to grant asylum to some servicemen who fled to Greece a day after Turkey’s coup attempt. In a reverse scenario, Turkey would never “shelter” coup plotters acting against Greece, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.

Turkey doesn’t have “very much” to show for what may be opportunistic attempts to use detainees as leverage with other countries, according to Eissenstat.

 

He said there could be a parallel with similar cases in Iran or the former Soviet Union, in which “local officials would sometimes make decisions and then the central government would decide, ‘OK, how does this fit into a larger policy?'”
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At Least 19 Killed in South Sudan Plane Crash

Posted on by SeeAF

Nineteen people were killed in a plane crash in South Sudan Sunday, officials said.

At least 22 people were aboard the flight from the capital Juba’s international airport to the city of Yirol when it crashed.

An Italian citizen working with a non-profit was identified as one of the survivors, and was reported to be in stable condition after being flown back to Juba.

Several crashes have occurred in war-torn South Sudan in recent years. In 2017, four passengers were injured when a plane crashed into a truck trying to land in the city of Wau amid bad weather.

In 2015, 36 people were killed when a Russian-built cargo plane with passengers crashed shortly after taking off from Juba.

 
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Boris Johnson’s Brexit ‘Suicide Vest’ Comment Sparks Furor

Posted on by SeeEU

Former British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has compared Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan for Brexit to putting the country’s constitution in a “suicide vest” and handing the detonator to the European Union.

The attack, and Johnson’s choice of language, widened the divide in the governing Conservative Party over Brexit.

Johnson, a strong supporter of Brexit, quit May’s government in July after rejecting her proposal for close economic ties with the bloc after the U.K. leaves next year. His article in the Mail on Sunday ramped up speculation that he plans to challenge her leadership.

But some Conservative colleagues condemned his language.

 

Foreign Office Minister Alan Duncan tweeted that the comments marked “one of the most disgusting moments in modern British politics” and should be “the political end of Boris Johnson.”
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Demonstrators Protest Russian Pension Reform Plans

Posted on by SeeEU

Supporters of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny are staging protests across Russia Sunday over plans to increase the nation’s pension age, as Russians go to the polls for regional elections.

Navalny was scheduled to appear at the demonstration in Moscow Sunday, but last month he was convicted of breaking protests laws and was jailed for for 30 days. His detention, Navalny says, was designed to wreck his plans for the nationwide rallies against raising the age when workers can start receiving their pensions.

Navalny’s supporters, however, went forward with the plans for the protests.  The demonstrations have not been sanctioned by the government.

The OVD-Info organization that monitors political repression, reported that 153 protesters had been arrested across the country, with rallies in as many as 80 cities.

The protests take place as regional elections are being held in Russia and present a challenge to authorities hoping for a high turnout to the polls.

Proposed changes to Russia’s pension plan would raise the retirement age for men from 60 to 65 and from 55 to 60 for women beginning in 2019.  Putin says the move is overdue, risking inflation and increasing poverty.  But the changes are deeply unpopular, leading Putin’s approval ratings to drop roughly 15 percent, according to Reuters.

“For 18 years, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and his government have stolen from the budget and squandered it on meaningless projects.  Now the money’s run out and we have to steal from pensioners to make ends meet,” Navalny’s supporters wrote on social media.

Navalny has served a number of weeks-long jail terms in recent years for organizing protests.  He also organized massive street protests to coincide with Putin’s 2012 re-election, and was barred from the presidential ballot in March because of a conviction on financial crimes, charges he contends were fabricated.

 
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Through Regional Diplomacy, Eritrea Normalizes Ties with Djibouti

Posted on by SeeAF

The Horn of Africa continued to resolve diplomatic impasses with the announcement Friday that Eritrea and Djibouti will normalize relations.

Leaders in the region, and beyond, are celebrating the development, which promises to end a decadelong dispute and follows renewed diplomatic ties between Eritrea and both Ethiopia and Somalia in July.

The Eritrea-Djibouti dispute stemmed from a 2008 border skirmish that left several dead and resulted in prisoners of war on both sides. Relations remained frozen for years after previous attempts at mediation failed.

Mohamed Siad Doualeh, Djibouti’s ambassador to the United Nations, said the time is right for the nations of the Horn of Africa to support one another.

“I think we all have a patriotic duty in the Horn never to engage in fratricidal struggles provoked by efforts to challenge brothers, and build an economic future for our people,” Doualeh told VOA. “This is a patriotic duty. We owe it to our people in the Horn.”

Regional accomplishment

Ahmed Isse Awad, Somalia’s foreign minister, told VOA’s Somali service that both Ethiopia and Somalia played prominent roles in Eritrea’s reconciliation with Djibouti.

“Our president, along with the prime minister of Ethiopia, has played an important role in working toward a region that is united, that’s peaceful, that’s cooperating on political, economic and security fronts, and silencing the gun, as the goal of the A.U. (the African Union) is, and bringing these two brotherly countries of Djibouti and Eritrea together to resolve their feuds and conflicts,” Awad said.

Ethiopia’s foreign minister, Workneh Gebeyehu, told VOA’s Amharic service that peace between Eritrea and Djibouti benefits the entire region.

“Ethiopia can only find peace if the region is peaceful. If neighbors are closer, Ethiopia greatly benefits. Trade, investment and tourism will pour into this region, and Ethiopia would benefit,” Workneh said. “When there is peace in the region, Ethiopia benefits more than anyone, and that is what we are working toward.”

Sanctions and port access

Both nations have much to gain from rapprochement.

For Eritrea, the conflict with Djibouti was the last major hurdle before the possibility of seeing United Nations sanctions lifted. Those sanctions were imposed in 2009 by the U.N. Security Council for Eritrea’s alleged support of al-Shabab in Somalia and its border conflict with Djibouti.

Somali announced in July that it supported lifting the sanctions following its own rapprochement with Eritrea.

For Djibouti, peace with Eritrea diminishes the risk of isolation.

Djibouti once offered Ethiopia, a landlocked nation of 100 million people, its only access to the sea, and it has invested heavily in a railway project designed to connect Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, to its port.

But Ethiopia’s peace with Eritrea created the possibility of additional port access, putting Djibouti’s role into question. Peace across the region, however, should lead to overall tighter integration.

“I think the future is bright for all of us, you know,” Doualeh said. “As far as Djibouti is concerned, we’ve been building and investing in world-class port facilities that are designed not just for the region but also the COMESA countries (a trade agreement between 19 African members). And we would really like to see those facilities serving the purpose of supporting the economic development of the region, the Horn,” he added.

‘What’s happening is momentous’

The U.S. has cheered the thawing of tensions in the region.

“We commend the mutual efforts of Djibouti and Eritrea to restore good relations. Upon request, we stand ready to support next steps toward the resolution of outstanding issues,” Tibor Nagy, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for African Affairs, said on Twitter.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres joined a chorus of international support praising the end of the impasse as well.

This is “another important step in the rapprochement among the countries in the Horn of Africa region,” Guterres said Saturday.

Countries in the region believe recent strides toward peace will lead to transformative changes to the Horn’s economy, stability and security.

“We are hopeful that this is signaling a radical change in ways of doing things in the Horn. We should just welcome that and not doubt or cast suspicion on the developments,” Doualeh said. “What’s happening is momentous.”

VOA Somali Service reporter Sahra Abdi Ahmed and VOA Horn of Africa Afaan Oromo Service reporter Sora Halake contributed to this story.
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Can Controversy Fill Swimsuit Void at Miss America Pageant?

Posted on by SeeUS

The swimsuits are gone, but there has been plenty of controversy surrounding this year’s Miss America competition that could keep viewers tuning in.

       The next Miss America will be crowned around 11 p.m. Sunday on a nationally televised broadcast on ABC from Atlantic City.

 

       This year marks the first time the broadcast will not include a swimsuit competition.

 

       It has been replaced by onstage interviews, which have generated attention-grabbing remarks from contestants regarding President Trump, and NFL player protests, among other topics.

 

       And behind the scenes, a revolt is underway among most of the Miss America state organizations who demand that national chairwoman Gretchen Carlson and CEO Regina Hopper resign.

 

       The outgoing Miss America, Cara Mund, says the two have bullied and silenced her, claims that the women deny.

 

       Through it all, the 51 young women vying for the crown and a $50,000 scholarship have tried to remain focused.

 

       “I am just having the time of my life,” said Miss Massachusetts Gabriela Taveras, who won Friday’s onstage interview preliminary with comments on how Americans traveling abroad should let people from other nation’s know that America supports and wants to help them. “I don’t know what will happen; I just really shared myself as much as I could.”

 

       The 98th Miss America competition will be held at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in the city where it started nearly a century ago as a bathing beauty contest designed to extend the summer tourism season for another week after Labor Day.

 

       Upon taking over at the helm of the Miss America Organization last winter following an email scandal in which former top leaders denigrated the appearance, intellect and sex lives of former Miss Americas, Carlson and Hopper set out to transform the organization, dubbing it “Miss America 2.0.”

 

       The most consequential decision was to drop the swimsuit competition and give the candidates more time to talk onstage about themselves, their platforms and how they would do the job of Miss America. Supporters welcomed it as a long-overdue attempt to make Miss America more relevant to contemporary society, while others mourn the loss of what they consider an integral part of what made Miss America an enduring part of Americana.

 

       Unhappy with how the decision was reached, as well as with other aspects of Carlson and Hopper’s performance, 46 of the 51 state pageant organizations (the District of Columbia is included) have called on the two to resign.

 

       Adding to the intrigue was a remarkable letter released by Mund, the outgoing Miss America, who said Carlson and Hopper had bullied, silenced and marginalized her. They deny doing any of that, saying they have been working tirelessly to move the organization into the future. It remains unknown if Carlson will speak or appear during the broadcast finale.

 

       Onstage interview comments have raised some eyebrows during three nights of non-televised preliminary competition. On Friday, Miss West Virginia Madeline Collins was asked what she feels is the most serious issue facing the nation.

 

       She replied, “Donald Trump is the biggest issue our country faces. Unfortunately he has caused a lot of division in our country.”

 

       A day earlier, Miss Virginia Emili McPhail was asked what advice she would give to NFL players about whether to stand or kneel for the national anthem.

 

       She said not standing during the anthem “is a right you have. But it’s also not about kneeling; it is absolutely about police brutality.”

 

       Wednesday night’s preliminary winners were Miss Florida Taylor Tyson for talent, and Miss Wisconsin Tianna Vanderhei for onstage interview. Thursday night, McPhail won the interview preliminary and Miss Louisiana Holli’ Conway won for talent. Friday, Taveras won for onstage interview and Miss Indiana Lydia Tremaine won for talent. 
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Swedish Anti-Immigration Party Gains Popularity

Posted on by SeeEU

Voters in Sweden went to the polls Sunday for a parliamentary election that could change the Scandinavian country’s reputation for being a liberal stronghold.

The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, who want the country to leave the European Union and put a freeze on immigration, are hoping to become the country’s largest party.

Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson told voters Saturday there needs to be “tight, responsible” immigration policies to help create “breathing space” in Sweden.

At a rally Saturday, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven warned, “The haters are mobilizing in Sweden and are egging on people against people. … We will resist. We will stand up for equality.”

Sweden, like most of Europe, has been hit by an influx of asylum-seekers, who are fleeing mainly from the Middle East, South Asia and Africa.  

The influx of 163,000 asylum-seekers in Sweden in 2015 has polarized voters and fractured a cozy political consensus.  

Pollsters say the growing popularity of the Sweden Democrats, a party with roots in the neo-Nazi fringe, could result in  the far-right group winning veto power over which parties form the next government.

Magnus Blomgren a social scientist at Umea University, says, “Traditional parties have failed to respond to the sense of discontent that exists.”
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Some Congolese Artists Focus on Preserving Traditional Dance

Posted on by SeeAF

The Democratic Republic of Congo is known across the continent for its high-energy dance culture. The contemporary local pop dances that feature winding waist movements and stiff leg kicks have become famous. But some dance artists are focused on older styles of dance. Ballet Grand Danseurs is a Kinshasa-based group formed in 2011 to preserve the traditional dances of the Congo’s ethnic groups. Chika Oduah has this story from Kinshasa.
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