Activists and supporters of the U.S. transgender community raised their voices in Washington and New York Monday to express concern that the Trump administration is working to undermine federal recognition and civil rights protections of their rights. Protesters rallied outside the White House in Washington and held a press conference in New York with a message that they will fight any attempt to infringe on those hard-won rights. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
…
Month: October 2018
Turkey’s President Promises To Reveal Details of Khashoggi’s Killing
Turkish investigators are keeping up the pressure on Saudi Arabia with a series of leaks on the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. European leaders say there is an urgent need to find out what happened to the journalist. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is promising to reveal the details of his death in a speech on Tuesday. VOA’s diplomatic correspondent Cindy Saine reports from the State Department.
…
Bolton to Meet with Putin on Possible US Pullout from Arms Treaty
U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton has hinted that a key arms control pact with Russia may have run its course.
Bolton meets in Moscow Tuesday with President Vladimir Putin to explain why President Donald Trump wants to pull the U.S. out of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
Trump has accused Russia of violating the agreement.
“We don’t think that withdrawal from the treaty is what causes the problem. We think it’s what Russia has been doing in violation of the treaty that’s the problem,” Bolton told Russia’s Kommersant newspaper. “You can’t bring someone in compliance who does not think they are in breach.”
Bolton said he believes Cold War-era bilateral treaties are no longer relevant because of today’s global security environment, where other countries are also building missiles.
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and the late U.S. President Ronald Reagan signed the INF accord in 1987. It bans the United States and Russia from building, testing, and stockpiling ground-launched nuclear missiles with a range from 500 to 5,000 kilometers.
Trump said the U.S. would have to start developing new weapons if Russia and China — which is not part of the INF treaty — do.
Russia denies violating the agreement and says it is U.S. missile defense systems in Europe that are in violation.
A Putin spokesman says a U.S. pullout from the INF treaty would make the world a more dangerous place. He said Russia would have to take security countermeasures to “restore balance.”
Russian National Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev said after his talks Monday with Bolton that Russia is willing to talk with the U.S. about the mutual complaints against one another in a bid to salvage the INF pact.
A Russian statement also said Monday Bolton and Patrushev discussed a possible five-year extension of another arms control agreement, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. That deal took effect in 2011 and is set to expire in 2021.
Defense advocates in Washington say the INF treaty keeps the U.S. from developing a new generation of weapons in a world that faces new global security challenges.
…
CIA Director Travels to Turkey Over Death of Saudi Journalist
U.S. media reports say CIA director Gina Haspel is traveling to Istanbul to meet with Turkish officials who are investigating the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Sources told news outlets that Haspel departed Monday for Turkey to work on the investigation into Khashoggi’s death.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that he has “top intelligence people in Turkey,” but did not give further details. Trump said he is still not satisfied with the explanation he has heard about Khashoggi’s death, but said “we’re going to get to the bottom of it.”
The president said he had spoken with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler — since Khashoggi’s death. He said he will know more about the death once U.S. teams investigating the killing return to Washington from Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
In another development Monday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin met Saudi Arabia’s embattled crown prince in Riyadh. The Saudi Foreign Ministry posted a photograph of the meeting on its Twitter account.
Mnuchin canceled his plans to attend a three-day investment conference hosted by Saudi Arabia beginning Tuesday, but said he would meet the Saudi crown prince to discuss counterterrorism efforts.
New surveillance video released Monday from Istanbul appears to show a Saudi agent wearing Khashoggi’s clothing and leaving Riyadh’s consulate on Oct. 2, an apparent attempt to cover up his killing by showing he had left the diplomatic outpost alive.
The video was taken by Turkish law enforcement and shown Monday on CNN, suggesting Saudi agents used a body double in an effort to conceal the killing.
The video surfaced as Saudi officials offered yet another explanation for the death of the 59-year-old Saudi journalist who had been living in the U.S. in self-imposed exile while he wrote columns for The Washington Post that were critical of the Saudi crown prince and Riyadh’s involvement in the conflict in Yemen.
The Saudis at first said Khashoggi had left the consulate and that they did not know his whereabouts. Later, they said he died in a fistfight after an argument inside the consulate. Now, the Saudis are saying Khashoggi died in a chokehold to prevent him from leaving the consulate to call for help.
It is not known what happened to Khashoggi’s remains, although Turkish officials say he was tortured, decapitated and then dismembered. One Saudi official told ABC News that Khashoggi’s body was given to a “local cooperator” in Istanbul for disposal, but Saudi officials have said they do not know what happened to his remains.
In Washington, White House adviser Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, told CNN the U.S. is still in a “fact-finding” phase in trying to determine exactly what happened to Khashoggi.
“We’re getting facts in from multiple places,” Kushner said. He said that Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will then decide how to respond to Saudi Arabia, a long-time American ally.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is vowing to reveal details about the case in a Tuesday speech to his parliament.
…
Saudi State TV Says Crown Prince Meets US’s Mnuchin
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in Riyadh on Monday, Saudi state TV said in a tweet.
Mnuchin said on Sunday Saudi Arabia’s explanation of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was a “good first step but not enough,” adding that it was premature to discuss sanctions against Riyadh over the incident.
The Saudi crown prince and Mnuchin “stressed the importance of strategic partnership and the future role of this partnership through Vision 2030,” the Saudi TV tweet said, referring to the kingdom’s long-term development plan.
The U.S. official said on Sunday he would not attend a major investment conference to be hosted in Riyadh this week, and that his visit was to hold talks on joint efforts toward countering terrorist financing and curbing Iran’s military and political influence.
…
Zimbabwe Authorities Worried by Medical Drugs on Black Market
Authorities in Zimbabwe say the country’s economic crisis has resulted in an acute shortage of essential medical drugs. Officials say the shortage has pushed some people to turn to the black market for medicines, some of which are not certified by the drug control authority.
For nearly 10 years now, Lena Lukwani has been taking five different types of medication to ease her diabetes and hypertension.
The 77-year-old Lukwani said she used to pay about $50 for her medication, but says the situation has become dire in the past few months, with prices doubling. She says some drugs are in short supply.
“These days it is difficult,” Lukwani said. “Out of the five I only got two; it has been like that for two months. So I have been limiting my diet — especially starch. I am blessed because of the children I have, but that is not the same for my colleagues who are also diabetic and are hypertensive.”
Her seven children living around the globe managed to send her medication that was not readily available for three months. Otherwise, Lukwani said, she would have continued on her controlled diet or turned to the black market for help.
Shingai Gwatidzo is the spokesperson of the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe.
“A lot of people try and take advantage of the current situation,” Gwatidzo said. “You have a lot of unregulated markets that are coming up; those medicines are being smuggled into the country, we have not tested to see if they are safe. So one will be taking a risk in buying medicines on the streets.”
Portifa Mwendera, president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Zimbabwe, acknowledges the health sector is failing to import enough antibiotics as well as drugs for ailments such as cancer, diabetes and hypertension.
“The drug situation is pretty dire currently,” Mwendera said. “Our main worry is that if the prevailing situation continues, we get more complications in our patients. And we might actually lose some patients. What is propped up — which is more worrying — is the parallel market for medicines. We are seeing a lot of people advertising that they can sell and send medication into Zimbabwe.”
On a number of occasions, police and vendors with medicines have engaged in street battles in Harare, only to see the vendors back on the streets the next day.
The vendors argue that they have no other source of income and if the market has demand, they will remain in business by importing the drugs from neighboring countries.
…
Coalition Targets Islamic State in 2nd Mosque in Less than a Week
The U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group has targeted a second mosque in eastern Syria in less than a week, saying the normally protected religious building was used as an insurgent command and control center.
Pentagon spokesman Navy Cmdr. Sean Robertson told VOA the strike Monday killed Islamic State fighters who “were actively firing on coalition partner forces from the mosque” in as-Sousa, near the border with Iraq.
He said IS’s use of protected buildings to shield their fighters from coalition strikes was an “ongoing pattern” seen in recent weeks. The mosque targeted Monday was 2.5 kilometers away from a mosque struck last week.
The law of land warfare protects mosques, but the use of these buildings as a headquarters by IS caused them to lose that protected status, Pentagon spokesman Army Colonel Robert Manning said Monday.
“They are nasty, they are brutal, they are unethical, and they certainly have no problem at all putting civilians at risk,” Manning said of the terror group.
A coalition press release Monday said the mosque was deliberately struck during an attack on several buildings controlled by IS. It called the use of a mosque an act of “desperation.”
The U.S. military said it had closely monitored the buildings targeted Monday and struck “when only their [IS] fighters were present.”
It is unclear whether any civilians were killed in the attack. Manning said the U.S. military would investigate any credible claims of civilian casualties.
Syrian state media and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes in as-Sousa last week killed and wounded dozens, including civilians and IS fighters.
As-Sousa is in the last IS-held area of Syria, where coalition-backed forces have been fighting extremists for weeks.
…
Humble Pomegranate Seed Provides Clue to How Yemen’s War Fuels Hunger
The tiny, red pomegranate seed may not look like much but it helps explain why Yemen’s civil war has brought millions of people to the brink of famine.
Pomegranate exports were a key source of income for people in Saada in northwest Yemen, a province under the control of the Houthi movement aligned with Iran. Before the war began in 2015, farmers exported 30,000 tons of the fruit.
Those exports have fallen by around a third and farmers blame lack of fuel and water for irrigation and the impact of aerial bombing by a coalition of forces led by Saudi Arabia and armed by the United States, France, Britain and other Western countries.
Markets and roads have been targeted, making it much more dangerous and, crucially, more expensive to get pomegranates by truck to Yemen’s main port in Hodeidah, the farmers say.
The coalition is fighting to restore the internationally-recognized government that was ousted from the capital Sanaa by the Houthis. Many bombs have fallen on civilian areas. The coalition denies targeting civilians deliberately.
“The pomegranates are dying because of lack of water because of the blockade,” said farmer Rabeea al-Abdy.
He was referring to stringent measures put in place by the coalition on imports into Yemen that have slowed trade flows, including of commercial goods and vital supplies such as fuel, medicine and humanitarian aid.
The coalition says the measures are necessary to prevent the Houthis smuggling in weapons from Iran. Both the Houthis and Iran deny engaging in such smuggling.
Ali Saleh, an agricultural sales manager in Saada, said exports are down by a third from their pre-war peak.
“The war … led to a rise in the prices of fuel. Farming necessities … have seen a crazy rise in prices in comparison to the farmers’ costs which has had a huge impact on production,” he said.
Three-quarters of the Yemeni population, or 22 million people, require aid and 8.4 million people are on the brink of starvation, according to U.N. special envoy Martin Griffiths.
The United Nations is trying to broker talks to end the war but in the interim aid officials say the key to reducing the risk of famine is not charity but improving the economy: exports of the humble pomegranate could be a small part of the answer.
…
Bolton Meets with Russian Officials on Trump Plan to Withdraw from Arms Treaty
U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton met Monday with top Russian officials about President Donald Trump’s announced intention to pull out of a key Cold War arms deal with Moscow.
Bolton discussed the fate of the three-decade-old treaty in Moscow with Russian Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev ahead of a meeting with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Bolton is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.
Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the U.S. decision “will make the world more dangerous.” He rebuffed the U.S. claim that Russia had violated terms of the agreement that bans the U.S. and Russia from building, testing, and stockpiling ground-launched nuclear missiles with a range from 500 to 5,000 kilometers.
“It is the United States that is eroding the foundations and main elements of this pact” with its missile defense systems and use of drones,” Peskov said.
The Kremlin spokesman said that if the United States goes on to develop new missiles, then Russia would be forced to respond in kind. He said Russian officials want to get more information about the U.S. plans regarding the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in their talks with Bolton.
Trump has accused Russia of building and testing missiles that violate the 1987 treaty.
Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev signed the deal with the late U.S. president, Ronald Reagan, at the White House in 1987.
“Do they really not understand in Washington what this could lead to?” Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted Gorbachev as saying. “Washington’s desire to turn back politics cannot be supported. Not only Russia, but all those who cherish the world, especially a world without nuclear weapons, must declare this.”
Without specifying how Russia violated the treaty, Trump Saturday appeared to say Moscow will not get away with it.
“Russia has violated the agreement. They have been violating it for many years. And we’re not going to let them violate a nuclear agreement and go out and do weapons and we are not allowed to,” he said.
U.S. officials going back to the Obama administration have accused Russia of deliberately deploying a land-based cruise missile to pose a threat to NATO.
Russia has denied violating the INF agreement and says U.S. missile defense systems are a violation.
Defense advocates in Washington say the INF treaty keeps the U.S. from developing a new generation of weapons in a world that faces new global security challenges.
Trump said, “We’ll have to develop those weapons, unless Russia comes to us and China comes to us and they all come to us and say let’s really get smart and let’s none of us develop those weapons, but if Russia’s doing it and if China’s doing it, and we’re adhering to the agreement, that’s unacceptable.”
China is not part of the INF agreement.
Beatrice Fihn, the executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons — the coalition that won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize — said, “By declaring he will leave the INF Treaty, President Trump has shown himself to be a demolition man who has no ability to build real security. Instead, by blowing up nuclear treaties, he is taking the U.S. down a trillion-dollar road to a new nuclear arms race.”
Dmitry Oreshkin, an independent Russian political analyst, told the Associated Press, “We are slowly slipping back to the situation of Cold War, as it was at the end of the Soviet Union, with quite similar consequences, but now it could be worse because Putin belongs to a generation that had no war under its belt. These people aren’t as much fearful of a war as people of [former Soviet leader Leonid] Brezhnev’s epoch. They think if they threaten the West properly, it gets scared.”
…
Taiwan Closely Monitored Two US Warships’ Path Through Taiwan Strait
The United States sent two warships through the Taiwan Strait, the U.S. Navy and Taiwan’s defense ministry said on Monday, in a move that could anger Beijing amid heightening U.S. tensions with China.
The ministry said it was in full control of the situation during the U.S. warships’ journey through the Taiwan Strait, the self-ruled island’s defense ministry said in a statement.
“The Ministry of National Defense stressed that the army was in full control when the U.S. warships passed through the seas around Taiwan and has the ability to maintain the security of the seas and the airspace to ensure regional peace and stability,” it said.
The U.S. navy conducted a similar mission in July and any repeat would be regarded in Taiwan as a show of support by President Donald Trump’s government though it risks irking China, which views Taiwan as a wayward province Beijing has been ramping up pressure to assert its sovereignty over the island.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry declined comment.
Last week, Reuters reported that the United States was considering a new operation to send warships through, aimed at ensuring free passage through the strategic waterway.
Taiwan’s relations with China have deteriorated since the island’s President Tsai Ing-wen from the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party swept to power in 2016.
This year, China increased military and diplomatic pressure, conducting air and sea military exercises around the island and persuading three of the few governments still supporting Taiwan to drop their backing.
Tsai said earlier this month she will maintain the status quo with Beijing, but also vowed to boost Taiwan’s national security and said her government would not submit to Chinese suppression.
…
Turkish Investigators Turn up Heat on Riyadh Over Khashoggi’s Death
Turkish investigators are stepping up pressure on Riyadh over the killing of Saudi Journalist Jamal Khashoggi as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan prepares to reveal key details about the case.
On Monday, CNN showed footage, leaked by Turkish investigators, of a man purported to be a double of Khashoggi wearing the journalist’s clothes leaving from a backdoor in the Saudi Istanbul consulate a few hours after Khashoggi entered the building on October 2.
Sources close to the investigation claim the double was part of a 15 member Saudi hit team that arrived and left the same day as Khashoggi’s killing.
Initially, Riyadh insisted Khashoggi left the consulate. On Friday that story changed with the Saudi government admitting he was accidentally killed in the consulate following a fight. Sunday, Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir said Khashoggi was murdered.
“By drip-feeding, the gory press details of Khashoggi’s murder, Turkey managed to keep interest alive and prevented a deal between Trump’s team and Mohammed bin Salman to hush the affair with little damage,” said analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners.
A Western diplomat speaking anonymously suggested Turkey’s Intelligence chief Hakan Fidan is orchestrating the leaks to the media, thereby dictating the narrative and direction of the unfolding crisis to Turkey’s advantage.
“President Erdogan will make a profit again, making points both nationally and internationally,” said international relations professor Huseyin Bagci of Ankara’s Middle East Technical University.
Milking the crisis
Observers say Erdogan has been uncharacteristically restrained during the crisis, making few comments and not directly attacking Riyadh. That stance is set to change Tuesday, with the Turkish president promising to reveal what he calls the “naked truth” of the investigation.
“He is a political animal; he knows when to act instinctively,” Bagci said, “so he probably senses this is the right time to act.”
Ankara is starting to face growing international pressure to reveal its findings, especially numerous reports by anonymous sources of secret recordings of the last minutes of Khashoggi’s life.
Turkey’s Yeni Safak newspaper, which has close ties to the government, reported the recording of the torture, killing and dismembering of the body. Until now Erdogan has not commented on the existence of the recordings. But last week U.S. President Donald Trump called for the tapes.
Analysts suggest what Erdogan says Tuesday is likely to be dictated by the outcome of ongoing diplomatic talks.
“I don’t expect he [Erdogan] will break up his relations with Saudi Arabia. He will at the end have the same policy as Donald Trump,” Bagci said.
“Of course Saudi Arabia will have to pay” he added, “but I don’t know what. But Erdogan will use this situation for economic and political advantages for Turkey. They [Saudi Arabia Turkey] probably haven’t still agreed; they are still talking. I don’t know how the Saudi government can satisfy Turkish expectations — the president’s expectations.”
Turkey’s economy is facing recession after its currency collapsed this year.
Analysts warn the outcome of the talks could have far-reaching consequences.
“Riyadh will owe Turkey a favor, which shall be cashed in, in terms of investments, loans or probably a more pro-Turkey stance in Syria,” analyst Yesilada said.
“If Ankara wishes to shame Riyadh by releasing the evidence it claims to have, namely the grisly details of the journalist’s murder in the hands of a Saudi hit squad in the presence of the charge d’affaires to Istanbul, this affair could still spin out of control,” he said.
In a possible move to control the volatile diplomatic situation, Trump telephoned Erdogan on Monday.
“Erdogan and Trump agreed the Khashoggi case needs to be cleared up with all aspects.” wrote Turkey’s State Anadolu news agency.
Resetting US ties
“What we do not know yet is how Trump is planning to thank Erdogan for not escalating the Khashoggi crisis further,” wrote columnist Cansu Camlibel of Hurriyet Daily News.
“Whether or not Ankara will be granted generous waivers from the upcoming U.S. sanctions on Iran, which aims to cut oil and gas imports from Tehran, is definitely a crucial part of the negotiations.”
Washington is set to impose tough financial and economic sanctions on November 4 over Tehran’s nuclear energy program. Turkey relies heavily on oil and gas from its neighbor and is lobbying for dispensation from the sanctions, which previous Washington administrations granted when targeting Iran.
U.S. Turkish relations are strained for several reasons, which resulted in Washington hitting Ankara with economic sanctions in August, triggering a collapse in the currency. However, this month’s release of American pastor Andrew Brunson by a Turkish court, a key Trump demand, has improved relations.
Analysts suggest Erdogan’s goal of resetting U.S .relations could eventually facilitate a diplomatic way out for Riyadh.
“Turkey is trying to improve relations with America,” said Bagci, “Turkey has had enough of economic and diplomatic crisis with America.”
…
What is the INF Treaty?
U.S. President Donald Trump has pledged to pull out of a key Cold War arms deal with Russia, accusing Moscow of violating it.Here is some key information about the treaty.
What is the INF?
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which was signed in December 1987 by then U.S. President Ronald Reagan and then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, committed the two sides to eliminate all their nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometers, along with missile launchers.
By the mid-1970s, the Soviet Union had deployed newly-developed SS-20 intermediate-range missiles aimed at Europe. The United States and its NATO allies responded with a “dual-track” policy of deploying intermediate-range, nuclear-armed U.S. ground-launched cruise and Pershing II missiles, while at the same time seeking an arms control agreement with the Soviet side. Negotiations began to bear fruit once Gorbachev became Soviet leader in March 1985.
The INF Treaty, which entered into force on June 1, 1988, originally applied only to U.S. and Soviet missiles. However, in 1991, following the break-up of the Soviet Union, the treaty was extended to cover former Soviet states, including Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. Other European countries, including Germany, Hungary, Poland, the Czech, Slovakia and Bulgaria, eventually also eliminated their stocks of intermediate-range missiles.
Why do some US and Russian officials oppose the treaty?
Russian officials have complained the INF Treaty was unfairly preventing it from having weapons that neighbors like China possess, and raised the possibility Russia could withdraw from the agreement.
Meanwhile, U.S. officials have accused Russia of developing and deploying a new ground-launched cruise missiles that violate the treaty.
Similarly, John Bolton, who is now President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, co-authored a Wall Street Journal op-ed published in August 2011 that cited China’s “rapidly increasing” cruise and ballistic missile arsenals, as well as the potential missile threat from Iran and North Korea, as evidence the INF Treaty had “outlived its usefulness in its current form.”
“Despite the Kremlin’s growing propensity for international troublemaking, both Moscow and Washington have a common interest in not having their hands tied by a treaty that binds them alone.” the op-ed stated.
Why do proponents say the treaty is worth keeping?
IMF Treaty supporters argue, among other things, that withdrawing from it strategically benefits Russia, since its geography is better suited for using such intermediate range missiles. They say there is no chance the U.S. will be able to redeploy intermediate-range missiles in Europe, nor in South Korea and Japan, where they would be most effective against American adversaries like North Korea.
They say withdrawing from the treaty essentially carries little to no strategic U.S. benefit, while giving Moscow a propaganda victory.
…
NATO Says Service Member Killed in Afghanistan
NATO says one of its service members was killed and two others wounded in in attack in Herat province.
“Initial reports indicate the attack was committed by a member of the Afghan security forces,” the NATO-led Resolute Support mission said in a statement.
The Taliban claimed the assailant was one of its infiltrators in the ranks of Afghan security forces.
Meanwhile, the U.S. army has confirmed that a brigadier general was one of two Americans wounded in an attack last week in Afghanistan that fatally wounded a powerful Afghan police chief.
U.S. Army Brigadier General Jeffrey Smiley, in charge of NATO’s military advisory mission in Afghanistan, was shot when a gunman wearing an Afghan security forces uniform opened fire on a group of officials leaving a meeting with the top NATO commander in Afghanistan, General Scott Miller.
Miller escaped injury, but a U.S. civilian was also shot.
General Abdul Raziq, an anti-Taliban strongman, was mortally wounded, along with the local head of the NDS intelligence service General Abdul Momim.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack inside the highly secured compound, dealing a severe blow to the Afghan government in one of its most strategically important provinces. The incident demonstrated the insurgents’ ability to strike top leaders.
Ayaz Gul contributed to this report.
…
Hidden in Diaries, Untold Stories of Boko Haram Survivors Feature in Film
Untold stories of young Nigerian women kidnapped by Boko Haram highlight a documentary debuting on Monday that reveals diaries kept by survivors forbidden from talking about their captivity.
The diaries, secretly given to the U.S.-based documentary producers by former captives, detail life under the jihadist group that, according to the United Nations, has abducted more than 1,000 children in the last five years in northeast Nigeria.
Appearing in the film “Stolen Daughters: Kidnapped by Boko Haram” are survivors from the town of Chibok, where the 2014 abduction of about 220 schoolgirls sparked global outrage, and girls kidnapped elsewhere in Nigeria who escaped the militants.
Producers Karen Edwards and Sasha Aticchi said they were not allowed to ask the freed girls, living in a state safe house, about their ordeal on the grounds it would retraumatize them.
“If ever we did try to talk to them, the minders would stop it,” Edwards told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “That’s why I think they gave us the diaries.”
Boko Haram remains a charged issue politically in Nigeria, where the government has failed to defeat the militants who have waged an insurgency since 2009 to carve out an Islamic state.
About 100 Chibok girls are unaccounted for, while thousands of other abducted children are still missing, campaigners say.
One diary entry given to the filmmakers described three girls who fled but were caught, flogged and thrown into a hole.
“They told us whosoever cries or begs for them not to be slaughtered will be slaughtered along with them,” a girl wrote.
A survivor named Habiba tells of being captured aged 15, locked in a cage for four months, and forced to marry a soldier.
She escaped, two months pregnant, and was caring for her baby and two orphans, boys kidnapped by Boko Haram to be child soldiers, when the filmmakers found them begging in the streets.
“Her story just reflected so many of the women we saw out there who were so courageous and brave,” Edwards said. “Despite what happened to them, they still find it within themselves to be kind to others around them.”
The film will be shown on U.S.-based broadcaster HBO in the United States, Canada and Europe on Monday and later in Israel and Russia, publicists said. Yet there are no plans to broadcast the documentary in Nigeria, according to the filmmakers.
“Anything that leads to the issue of the Chibok girls not being forgotten is a welcome development,” said Aisha Yesufu, a leader of Nigeria’s Bring Back Our Girls [BBOG] campaign group.
“We want the issue to be at the forefront and … the whole world to know that they need to be rescued.”
Other such diaries exclusively given to the Thomson Reuters Foundation last year revealed that the Chibok mass abduction — the biggest publicity coup of Boko Haram’s jihadist insurgency — was not planned but the accidental outcome of a botched robbery.
…
Relative: Victim of Brutal Ugandan Security Arrest Still Missing
Uganda’s security forces are under scrutiny after a video surfaced showing plain clothed officers brutally beating and arresting a civilian on the street. Uganda’s army spokesman says the troops are facing a disciplinary committee but the family of the victim says they are not being told what happened to their relative.
The video of five plain clothed officers as they brutally arrested Yusuf Kawooya sparked outrage in Uganda.
Each armed with an AK-47 rifle, the men in broad daylight grabbed Kawooya in the street. As he fell on the road, the unknown security men pounced.
One man used the butt of his rifle to repeatedly hit Kawooya in the lower abdomen before he was taken away.
Kawooya’s sister Sharifah Nakitende said since the assault last Thursday, her family has not been able to get authorities to tell them why her elder brother was arrested or where he is being held.
“The trauma that is in the children. The fear and our mother, all the family members they are in shock. The biggest fear is; my brother may not be alive. He was badly tortured,” she said.
After the video of the beating and arrest was made public, the Ugandan Army and police forces initially denied any knowledge of the five security men.
But on Friday evening, Army Spokesman Brigadier Richard Karemire released photos of the men appearing before a disciplinary committee.
Without identifying the men or their unit, the five were charged with conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline. The army said they pleaded guilty to the charges, which carry a maximum punishment of disgraceful discharge.
Army and police spokespeople have refused to comment further on the matter, saying it is before the court.
But the brutal arrest left many Ugandans like Anthony Mukalazi in shock.
“The manner in which a fellow Ugandan can be arrested. We had gotten used to sticks. Now if you can and you arrest and thumping people with guns, it shows the level of impunity that the country has. So, it was really heartbreaking and as Ugandans you cannot be sure that you will be safe the next time someone comes to arrest you.” said Mukalazi.
Kawooya, a businessman, is a member of the opposition People Power group created by musician turned opposition politician Robert Kyagulanyi, better known as Bobi Wine.
Wine was himself arrested in August, allegedly tortured, and charged with treason, along with other opposition lawmakers. Authorities accused them of throwing stones at President Yoweri Museveni’s car.
Human rights lawyer Nicholas Opio said Ugandans are living in what is nearly a rogue state.
“Every single day there are countless stories of innocent civilians who have disappeared in the hands of gun wielding non-uniformed individuals. I think for me it’s a shadow state. It’s a very dangerous practice whose sole intention is to instill fear. Whose sole intention is to target regime opponents,” he said.
Opio said the rest of the world needs to know that the pretense about Uganda being democratic and civil is no longer believable.
He said foreign powers that supply weapons to Uganda need to question whether their support is being used to violate human rights.
…
Cameroon’s Biya Declared Election Winner
Cameroon’s longtime leader Paul Biya has been declared the winner of the country’s October 7 presidential poll. Opposition parties are rejecting the results, but the Constitutional Council has already thrown out petitions to nullify the election.
This is the voice of Clement Atangana, president of Cameroon’s constitutional council, reading election results on Monday.
According to the results, incumbent President Paul Biya won a landslide victory with 71 percent of the vote. His strongest challenger, Maurice Kamto, was a distant second with 14 percent. Seven other candidates scored vote percentages in the single digits.
Voter turnout was 53 percent nationwide but much lower in the volatile northwest and southwest regions, where government forces have been fighting separatist movements. Biya won more than 80 percent of the votes cast in those regions.
Dion Ngute, Biya’s close aide and minister in charge of special duties, said he is not surprised at the president’s victory. He said Cameroonians are aware that Biya has done much for them, and is ready to do more for the country’s development.
“Paul Biya, we know the man who is very persevering, the person who is very patient, the one who is very honest and who is candid and who tells Cameroonians what can be done and what is not possible to be done. The man who is peace-loving, and the one who wants good for Cameroon,” he said.
Angry protesters came out singing that Biya had stolen Maurica Kamto’s victory but were quickly dispersed by heavily armed troops.
Augusta Bate supports Kamto.
“We want justice. We should not only preach democracy, we should practice it, as well. The presidential elections, even Biya knows Kamto won this presidential election, so he should just let him take over power,” said Bate.
Joshua Osih of the main opposition Social Democratic Front, who finished fourth in the election, said he does not recognize the election results.
“History holds it that one head of state is using the entire government, army police and state resources to maintain himself in power. History holds it that what happened on the 7th of October 2018 was worse than anything witnessed before. It was everything except an election,” he said.
Last week, Cameroon’s Constitutional Council threw out 18 petitions filed by Kamto, Osih and others demanding the election be nullified.
The opposition parties allege widespread irregularities, insecurity and low turnout, especially in the restive Anglophone regions, but the court ruled there was not enough evidence to throw out the results.
Biya has been in power for over 40 years in Cameroon, seven as prime minister, 36 as president. In 2008, he removed term limits from the constitution, allowing him to serve indefinitely.
He is now the second oldest president in sub-Saharan Africa. When his new term is finished, he will be 93 years old.
…
In Oregon, A Community Responds to Imprisonment of Migrants
Dozens of area residents are volunteering to help immigrants taken to a federal prison in Oregon who were apprehended along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The detainees are among about 1,600 immigrants transferred to federal prisons in five states recently after President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy left the usual facilities short of space.
Almost half of the 124 migrants sent to the prison outside rural Sheridan, Oregon, are from India, many of them Sikhs.
They also came from Nepal, Guatemala, Mexico and a dozen other countries.
Those who pass an initial screening and post bond are released.
A group of retirees, recent college graduates, lawyers, clergy and others from nearby Oregon communities have come together to help them.
The volunteers provide transportation, interpreters, legal counseling, food, shelter and moral support.
…
Rebel Group Claims South Sudan Ceasefire Has Been Violated
Rebels of the Federal Democratic Party (FDP) are accusing forces loyal to Riek Machar’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM IO) of attacking FDP forces in Kotkea near Nasir town in Upper Nile State.
Spokesman Changkouth Bichiock Reth for the umbrella group of opposition parties known as South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA), said FDP commanders Major General Riek Gach Gatluak and Brigadier Ochan Nyuot were captured by opposition forces during the fight over the control of Kotkea.
SPLM IO reaction
SPLM IO Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee Stephen Par told VOA’s South Sudan In Focus that rebels of the FDP have no military posts in Upper Nile.
‘’What is happening in Upper Nile, I don’t think the party [FDP] of Gabriel Changson has forces in Nasir. We are not aware of this,’’ Par said.
However, he admitted his group arrested one person in Nasir for what he called “suspicious activities.”
Reth says the attack by SPLM IO and the arrest of FDP senior military officer Major General Jany Kaway Yoakhor a few weeks is ‘’a flagrant breach of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement signed in December 2017 and a violation of the permanent ceasefire agreed to in Khartoum in June 2018.’’
Looming attacks
Suba Samuel Manase, the spokesman of the rebel National Salvation (NAS), released a statement Saturday accusing the SPLM IO of mobilizing its forces to attack NAS forces in Yei River state.
Manase alleges that NAS intelligence confirmed reports of two groups of SPLM/A –IO forces moving from the village of Panyume in Morobo County to Kajo-Keji, Lanya, and Loka to attack NAS forces stationed in this area.
‘’This information is credible because we have forces on the ground and we monitor the movement of the SPLM IO, and for that matter the information is, indeed, credible.’’ Manase told VOA.
Reth said urged the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the U.S, Norway and the United Kingdom to put pressure on SPLM/A-IO to respect the September 12 peace agreement, release the captured FDP officers, and withdraw from Kotkea.
VOA could not independently verify the accusations by the three rebel groups.
Cease-Fire Monitors
The Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring Mechanism (CTSAMM), a body formed by IGAD to monitoring cease-fire violations, has not issued any statement on the latest reports.
Chris Trott, Britain’s special representative for Sudan and South Sudan told VOA last month that the parties involved in the conflict in South Sudan have a chance to show their commitment to peace by implementing the revitalized agreement.
Just days after the signing of the agreement, reports of fighting had surfaced in several parts of South Sudan, according to Jean-Pierre Lacroix, U.N. undersecretary-general for peacekeeping operations.
In an interview with VOA in September, Angelina Teny, a senior member of the rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO), blamed government forces for allegedly attacking rebel strongholds in Central Equatoria and the former Unity state.
…
AP Analysis: Saudi Prince Likely to Survive Worst Crisis Yet
The killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul is unlikely to halt Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s rise to power, but could cause irreparable harm to relations with Western governments and businesses, potentially endangering his ambitious reform plans.
International outrage over Khashoggi’s Oct. 2 slaying at the hands of Saudi officials, under still-disputed circumstances, has marked the greatest crisis in the 33-year-old’s rapid rise, already tarnished by a catastrophic war in Yemen and a sweeping roundup of Saudi businessmen and activists.
The prince had hoped to galvanize world support for his efforts to revamp the country’s oil-dependent economy, but now the monarchy faces possible sanctions over the killing. Saudi Arabia has threatened to retaliate against any punitive action, but analysts say that wielding its main weapon — oil production — could backfire, putting the prince’s economic goals even further out of reach.
“The issue now is how Western governments coordinate a response and to what extent they wish to escalate this in a coordinated fashion,” said Michael Stephens, a senior research fellow who focuses on the Mideast at London’s Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies.
“Would financial sanctions be considered sufficient as to have sent a message to Saudi Arabia that this will never happen again?” Stephens added. “Some may feel this is inadequate, while others, like the Americans, may feel this is going too far.”
Senior aides close to the prince have been fired over Khashoggi’s killing, and 18 suspects have been arrested. But the prince himself, protected by his 82-year-old father, King Salman, has been tapped to lead a panel to reform the kingdom’s intelligence services, a sign he will remain next in line to the throne.
The king has the authority to change the line of succession — as he did when he appointed his son crown prince in the first place, upending the previous royal consensus.
But any direct challenge to Prince Mohammed’s succession “may be destabilizing for the kingdom as a whole,” said Cinzia Bianco, a London-based analyst for Gulf State Analytics. “Being young and being so close to his father, there is a chance that his behavior can be constrained with the influence of his father and other actors around the world,” Bianco said.
That only holds as long as King Salman remains in power. If Prince Mohammed ascends the throne, he could be in power for decades, longer than any other royal since the country’s founding in 1932, including its first monarch, King Abdul-Aziz Al Saud.
The firing and arrests announced by the kingdom appear to be at least an acknowledgement by the royal family of how serious the crisis has become.
“While it might be too early to evaluate the reaction of the international community, these moves might be read as a serious initial signal that the Saudi leadership is course correcting,” wrote Ayham Kamel, the head of Mideast and North Africa research at the Eurasia Group.
“Despite speculation that the crisis spells the end of Mohammad bin Salman, the recent announcements prove that the king still believes that the current line of succession is suitable.”
The Saudis’ greatest concern is the United States, a crucial military ally against archrival Iran and a key source of the kind of foreign investment they will need to reform the economy. A strong American response could encourage other Western countries to follow suit, further amplifying the crisis.
President Donald Trump has thus far sent mixed signals, vowing “severe punishment” over the death of the Washington Post columnist but saying he doesn’t want to imperil American arms sales to the kingdom.
Trump chose Saudi Arabia as his first overseas trip as president, and his son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner has developed close ties with Prince Mohammed, apparently seeing him as an ally in advancing his yet-to-be-released peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians.
But even if the Saudis keep Trump on their side, they could face a reckoning from the U.S. Congress, where Republicans and Democrats alike have expressed outrage over the killing. Some have suggested using the 2016 Global Magnitsky Act, which makes it possible to impose entry bans and targeted sanctions on individuals for committing human rights violations or acts of significant corruption.
Saudi Arabia last week threatened “greater action” if faced with sanctions. While no official has explained what that would entail, the general manager of a Saudi-owned satellite news channel suggested it could include weaponizing the kingdom’s oil production.
Forty-five years ago, Saudi Arabia joined other OPEC nations in an oil embargo over the 1973 Mideast war in retaliation for American military support for Israel. Gas prices soared, straining the U.S. economy.
But it’s unclear whether such a move would work in today’s economy. Saudi Arabia has been trying to claw back global market share, especially as Iran faces new U.S. oil sanctions beginning in November. Slashing oil exports would drain revenues needed for Prince Mohammed’s plans to diversify the economy, while a spike in oil prices could revive the U.S. shale industry and lead other countries to boost production.
“The Saudis have been very helpful by accelerating oil production, especially as sanctions on Iran ramp up,” said Kristin Diwan, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. “It would be very foolish of Saudi Arabia to forfeit the trust of the oil market earned over decades by injecting politics into their oil policy.”
…
US Lawmakers Slam Saudi Explanation for Khashoggi’s Death
U.S. lawmakers of both political parties remain incredulous of Saudi Arabia’s explanation for the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who disappeared at the kingdom’s consulate in Turkey nearly three weeks ago. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports from Washington.
…
Congo Rebels Kill 15, Abduct Kids in Ebola Outbreak Region
Congolese rebels killed 15 civilians and abducted a dozen children in an attack at the center of the latest deadly Ebola outbreak, Congo’s military said Sunday, as the violence again forced the suspension of crucial virus containment efforts.
“We condemn this attack,” said the World Health Organization’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, while a WHO regional official said it was “difficult to say how long” work would be affected.
Allied Democratic Forces rebels attacked Congolese army positions and several neighborhoods of Beni on Saturday and into Sunday, Capt. Mak Hazukay Mongha told The Associated Press. The U.N. peacekeeping mission said its troops exchanged fire with rebels in Beni’s Mayangose area.
Angry over the killings, residents carried four of the bodies to the town hall, where police dispersed them with tear gas. Vehicles of aid organizations and the peacekeeping mission were pelted with stones, the U.N.-backed Radio Okapi reported.
The ADF rebels have killed hundreds of civilians in recent years and are just one of several militias active in Congo’s far northeast.
Last month, Ebola containment efforts were suspended for days in Beni after a deadly attack, complicating work to track suspected contacts of infected people. Since then, many of the new confirmed Ebola cases have been reported in Beni and the rate of new cases overall has more than doubled, alarming aid groups.
Health efforts in recent weeks had been starting to show results, and this new attack “will bring us back,” Dr. Michel Yao, the WHO incident manager for Ebola in North Kivu province, told the AP. Colleagues’ work in Beni was suspended on Sunday as residents protested and “a few of our cars were broken,” he said.
“Tomorrow, we don’t know yet,” Yao said, noting that the day after an attack is usually for burials and can be very tense. “We understand. We are sympathetic. It’s not easy to lose relatives. At the same time, it could affect the (outbreak) response.”
The overnight attack came after two medical agents with the Congolese army were shot dead by another rebel group — the first time health workers have been killed in this outbreak.
It is a “dark day” for everyone fighting Ebola, Congo’s health minister said.
Mai Mai rebels surged from the forest and opened fire on the unarmed agents with the army’s rapid intervention medical unit outside Butembo city, the ministry said.
The daytime attack appeared premeditated, with civilians left unharmed, the statement said. The medical agents had been placed in “dangerous zones” to assist national border health officials.
Confirmed Ebola cases have now reached 200, including 117 deaths.
Health workers in this outbreak, declared on Aug. 1, have described hearing gunshots daily, operating under the armed escort of U.N. peacekeepers or Congolese security forces and ending work by sundown to lower the risk of attack.
Community resistance is also a problem, and Congo’s health ministry has reported “numerous aggressions” against health workers. Early this month two Red Cross volunteers were severely injured in a confrontation with wary residents in a region traumatized by decades of fighting and facing an Ebola outbreak for the first time.
“Health agents are not a target for armed groups,” Health Minister Oly Ilunga said. “Our agents will continue to go into the field each day to fulfill the mission entrusted to them. They are true heroes and we will continue to take all necessary measures so that they can do their job safely.”
On Wednesday, WHO said it was “deeply concerned” by the outbreak but announced it does not yet warrant being declared a global emergency. An outbreak must be “an extraordinary event” that might cross borders, requiring a coordinated response. Confirmed cases have been found near the heavily traveled border with Uganda.
In the latest example of the rumors that pose another serious challenge to containing the virus, the health ministry said 22 youth in Butembo dug up the body of an Ebola victim and opened the body bag, “wanting to verify that no organs had been taken from the body by health workers.”
They ended up touching highly infectious bodily fluids, the ministry said. “The next day, they agreed to be vaccinated,” joining the more than 20,000 people who have received vaccinations so far.
…
Russia Wants Explanation of Trump Withdrawal from Arms Treaty
U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton faces tough questions this week in Moscow after President Trump said he will pull the U.S. out of a key Cold War arms deal with Russia.
Bolton will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Monday and President Vladimir Putin Tuesday.
Trump has accused Russia of building and testing missiles that violate the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty – better known as the INF pact.
The landmark deal bans the U.S. and Russia from building, testing, and stockpiling ground-launched nuclear missiles with a range from 500 to 5,000 kilometers.
The Kremlin has yet to formally comment on Trump’s announcement other than saying “explanations…will be required.”
Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev signed the deal with the late U.S. president Ronald Reagan at the White House in 1987.
“Do they really not understand in Washington what this could lead to?” Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted Gorbachev as saying. “Washington’s desire to turn back politics cannot be supported. Not only Russia, but all those who cherish the world, especially a world without nuclear weapons, must declare this.”
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Tass news agency that the U.S. move would be “a very dangerous step.”
Without specifying how Russia violated the treaty, Trump Saturday appeared to say Moscow will not get away with it.
“Russia has violated the agreement. They have been violating it for many years. And we’re not going to let them violate a nuclear agreement and go out and do weapons and we are not allowed to,” he said.
U.S. officials going back to the Obama administration have accused Russia of deliberately deploying a land-based cruise missile to pose a threat to NATO.
Russia has denied violating the INF agreement and says U.S. missile defense systems are a violation.
Many so-called hawks in Washington say the INF treaty keeps the U.S. from developing a new generation of weapons in a world that faces new global security challenges.
“We’ll have to develop those weapons, unless Russia comes to us and China comes to us and they all come to us and say let’s really get smart and let’s none of us develop those weapons, but if Russia’s doing it and if China’s doing it, and we’re adhering to the agreement, that’s unacceptable,” Trump said.
China is not part of the IMF agreement.
Beatrice Fihn, the executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons – the coalition that won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize – said that “by declaring he will leave the INF Treaty, President Trump has shown himself to be a demolition man who has no ability to build real security. Instead, by blowing up nuclear treaties, he is taking the U.S. down a trillion dollar road to a new nuclear arms race.”
Dmitry Oreshkin, an independent Russian political analyst told the Associated Press, “We are slowly slipping back to the situation of Cold War, as it was at the end of the Soviet Union, with quite similar consequences, but now it could be worse because Putin belongs to a generation that had no war under its belt. These people aren’t as much fearful of a war as people of (former Soviet leader Leonid) Brezhnev’s epoch. They think if they threaten the West properly, it gets scared.”
your ad hereTurkey’s President Promises to Reveal ‘Naked Truth’ About Khashoggi Killing
Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan is vowing to reveal what he says is the “naked truth” about the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Erdogan told an Istanbul rally Sunday “We are looking for justice here and this will be revealed in all its naked truth, not through some ordinary steps.”
Erdogan spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump by telephone Sunday, a Turkey’s state-run news agency reports. It says both agree the Khashoggi case needs to be “cleared up with all aspects.”
Saudi Arabia says it made “a huge and grave mistake” in Khashoggi’s killing inside its Istanbul consulate and vowed those responsible for it would be held accountable.
Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Fox News Sunday that Saudi agents “did this out of the scope of their authority,” calling it “a rogue operation.”
The top Saudi diplomat offered his condolences to Khashoggi’s family, but disclosed no new information about how the writer was killed, where his body is or if Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — the country’s de facto ruler – was involved.
“There obviously was a tremendous mistake made and what compounded the mistake was the attempt to try to cover up,” al-Jubeir said. “That is unacceptable in any government.”
Saudi Arabia claims the 59-year-old Khashoggi was killed October 2 after an argument leading to a fist fight — an explanation that has drawn widespread international scorn and skepticism, including from Trump. After he initially seemed willing to believe Saudi accounts, the president now says “obviously there has been deception, and there has been lies.”
Al-Jubeir said in the Fox television interview, “This is an aberration. This is a mistake and those responsible will be punished for it. We want to make sure that we know what happened and we want to make sure that those responsible be held to account.” Saudi Arabia says it has fired five key officials linked to the death and arrested 18 others.
Critics are questioning how a team of 15 Saudi agents could fly to Istanbul to meet Khashoggi and eventually kill him without the crown prince’s knowledge and consent. But al-Jubeir said, “There were not people closely tied to him,” although news accounts have said that several Saudi security officials close to Mohammed were involved.
Khashoggi was living in the U.S. in self-imposed exile, writing columns for The Washington Post that were critical of Mohammed and Saudi Arabia’s intervention in the conflict in Yemen.
Trump told the Post that Saudi Arabia has been an “incredible ally” of the United States for decades and it is possible the crown prince did not order Saudi agents to kill Khashoggi.
“Nobody has told me he is responsible. Nobody has told me he is not responsible,” the U.S. leader said. “We have not reached that point…I would love if he was not responsible.”
Numerous U.S. lawmakers, including Trump’s Republican colleagues, are calling for sanctions against the Saudis. Turkish investigators say Saudi agents tortured Khashoggi, decapitated him and then dismembered his body.
Trump told the Post that “something will take place” in response to Khashoggi’s death, but said the United States should not let the incident disrupt a possible $110 billion weapons sale to Riyadh he announced last year.
“It’s the largest order in history,” Trump said. “To give that up would hurt us far more than it hurts them. Then all they’ll do is go to Russia or go to China. All that’s doing is hurting us.”
But one Trump supporter, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, told Fox “I don’t think arms should ever be seen as a jobs program.”
Other U.S. lawmakers voiced skepticism of the Saudi explanation for Khashoggi’s death.
Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN he believes Mohammed bin Salman was responsible, saying, “Yes, I think he did it.”
A Trump critic, Democratic California Congressman Adam Schiff, told ABC News, “This ought to be a relationship-altering event for the U.S. and Saudi Arabia that we ought to suspend military sales, we ought to suspend certain security assistance.”
U.S. officials are faced with reconciling the Saudi explanation for Khashoggi’s death and Turkey’s claim an audio recording exists of Khashoggi’s torture and death. Trump denies U.S. officials have heard the audio or read transcripts of it, but the Post quoted sources saying that Central Intelligence Agency officials have listened to the audio. Verification of it would make it difficult to accept the Saudi explanation for Khashoggi’s death.
European leaders and the human rights group Amnesty International expressed skepticism about the Saudi explanation.
Britain, Germany and France issued a joint statement condemning the killing of Khashoggi and said there is an “urgent need for clarification of exactly what happened.” They said the Saudi explanation for the journalist’s death needs to be supported by facts in order to be credible.
European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the circumstances around Khashoggi’s death are deeply troubling, and called for a thorough, credible and transparent investigation.
Amnesty International called on Saudi Arabia to “immediately produce” Khashoggi’s body so an autopsy can be performed.
Amnesty’s director of campaigns for the Middle East, Samah Hadid, said a United Nations investigation would be necessary to avoid a “Saudi whitewash” of the circumstances surrounding Khashoggi’s death. Hadid said such a cover-up may have been done to preserve Saudi Arabia’s international business ties.
…
Saudi Writer Saw Turkey as Base for a New Middle East
Friends say Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was a proud Arab who wanted to set up a base in his ancestral homeland of Turkey, contributing to the growing community of exiled Arabs who have taken refuge there.
For Khashoggi, a history lover, the growing Arab community and Turkey’s power in the region echoed aspects of the Ottoman empire, when Istanbul was at the center of a rich and multicultural Middle East. With millions of Arab exiles who fled their homes because of wars or oppression, Turkey has become a fertile ground for talent and ideas, a place where Khashoggi could have pursued his own projects, including a pro-democracy group, a media watch group, a forum to translate economic studies and launching online magazines.
Khashoggi was planning to marry his Turkish fiancee on Oct. 3, a day after he walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to get his divorce from a previous marriage confirmed. He had bought a home in Istanbul and friends said he planned to split his time between there and Virginia, where he had owned a condo since 2008.
He never emerged from the consulate. Saudi authorities said Saturday that he died in a brawl involving visiting officials, an account that has drawn widespread skepticism. Turkish pro-government media say a Saudi hit squad traveled to Turkey to kill the columnist for The Washington Post which has called for an investigation led by a U.N.-appointed panel to determine what happened.
Khashoggi’s killing sent a chilling message to the many exiled Arabs who have taken refuge in Turkey. Several anti-government Arab TV stations broadcast from Turkey and Istanbul’s Arab Media Association has about 800 members. Turkey has also welcomed thousands of members of Egypt’s now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group, after its then-President member was ousted from power by the military in 2013. Many Syrian groups opposed to President Bashar Assad have also unsurprisingly converged in neighboring Turkey, where nearly 3 million Syrians have fled to escape the war back home.
Eiad Alhaji, a Syrian filmmaker who was working with Khashoggi on a video about an Ottoman military figure central to Arab-Turkish relations, described their time together after work and interviews.
“We used to go together to sit and talk, two strangers outside our country and society, about what is happening with the Arabs in Turkey and in America. Me as a Syrian, and him as a Saudi Arabian,” said Alhaji.
“He was pained to be living in exile but at the same time, he was glad to be free in his opinion and new life.”
Another companion, Fatih Oke, of Istanbul’s Arab Media Association, said Khashoggi was an important adviser to the group and “we had plans to establish some projects.”
In his last interviews, Khashoggi declared his support for Turkey’s policy toward Syria, while criticizing his own government’s stance.
Saudi Arabia has grown closer to the U.S. policy in Syria, openly supporting Kurdish-led forces in eastern Syria that Turkey sees as a threat. Khashoggi had criticized his country’s rift with Turkey, arguing that an alliance between the two regional powerhouses should come more naturally than a U.S.-Saudi partnership.
Khashoggi, once a Saudi royal family insider, grew critical of the kingdom’s rulers following their crackdown on opposition, their war on neighboring Yemen and the severing of ties with the small Gulf state of Qatar.
Khashoggi found a “welcoming place” in Istanbul, said Azzam Tamimi, a British-Palestinian.
“In Istanbul you don’t feel like a stranger, the people, the food, the habits,” Tamimi said. “Also, Turkey’s current political authority has been the closest to Arabs since the fall of the Ottoman Empire a hundred years ago. Erdogan and his party opened up to the Arabs.”
Turkey has itself faced criticism for jailing more journalists during a crackdown after an attempted coup in 2016.
Khashoggi’s ancestors lived in what is today central Turkey. The family’s name means spoon maker and its Turkish spelling is “Kasikci.”
Alhaji, the filmmaker, said Khashoggi was an “encyclopedia” of the region’s history.
Alhaji worked with Khashoggi on a documentary on the life of Fakhreddine Pasha, the last Ottoman governor and military commander in al-Medina who defended the city in modern day Saudi Arabia against an Arab revolt during World War I.
The siege signaled the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the birth of new Arab states. Khashoggi’s family was displaced during the fighting — some fled to Izmir, in modern Turkey, including his father, while others went to Damascus.
The legacy of Fakhreddine, who fought against the birth of new nation states to preserve Ottoman influence, is a deeply divisive issue between Gulf leaders and Turkey.
Last year, Gulf rulers, critical of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, compared the two, accusing Fakhreddine of robbing them of their heritage by taking manuscripts out of al-Madina to Istanbul as he left. Ankara, which sided with Qatar, responded by naming the street in Ankara of the Emirati embassy after Fakhreddine.
“This period is a turning point for the future of all Arab countries and Middle East,” said Alhajji on what he believed Khashoggi hoped to convey with their project. “We [should] not be focused on Fakhreddine as a biography but we should deal with the history of this period.”
your ad here