Month: January 2019

Graham: Attorney General Pick Barr Has Confidence in Mueller

Posted on by SeeUS

The incoming chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Wednesday Attorney General nominee William Barr has confidence in special counsel Robert Mueller and will let him complete his Russia investigation.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said after meeting with Barr, who led the Justice Department under President George H.W. Bush, that Barr has a “high opinion” of Mueller. Barr was spending most of Wednesday on Capitol Hill, meeting senators on the committee before his confirmation hearing next week.

“He had absolutely no indication he was going to tell Bob Mueller what to do or how to do it,” Graham said.

President Donald Trump pushed out Attorney General Jeff Sessions in November and made Sessions’ chief of staff Matthew Whitaker the acting attorney general before nominating Barr in December.

Trump’s critics have expressed concern that Barr may try to curtail Mueller’s investigation, which Trump repeatedly has called a “hoax” and a “witch hunt.” Also, Barr wrote an unsolicited memo to the Justice Department last year critiquing Mueller’s investigation into whether the president had sought to obstruct justice by firing James Comey as FBI director.

Graham said Barr told him about his longtime relationship with Mueller. Barr and Mueller worked together when Barr was Bush’s attorney general between 1991 and 1993 and Mueller oversaw the department’s criminal division. Graham said the two men were “best friends,” that their wives attended Bible study together and that Mueller had attended the weddings of Barr’s children.

“So his opinion of Mr. Mueller is very, very high in terms of ethics and character and professionalism,” Graham said.

Graham listed a number of questions that he had put to Barr:

“I asked Mr. Barr directly, Do you think Mr. Mueller is on a witch hunt?' He said no.Do you think he would be fair to the president and the country as a whole?’ He said yes. And do you see any reason for Mr. Mueller's investigation to be stopped?' He said no.Do you see any reason for a termination based on cause?’ He said no. `Are you committed to making sure Mr. Mueller can finish his job?’ Yes.”

Graham said Barr said if he were attorney general, he would “err on the side of transparency” when he eventually received Mueller’s report.

The senator said Barr also told him that he has a high opinion of Rod Rosenstein, the current deputy attorney general who has so far overseen the Mueller investigation and is expected to leave office if Barr is confirmed.

“Mr. Rosenstein mentioned to him when they first met, I think, that two years would probably be enough” Graham said. “He has got some ideas of a deputy. I told him to pick somebody you are comfortable with and that the president can approve, and I trust his judgment to find a worthy successor to Mr. Rosenstein.”

Barr also met with the outgoing committee chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who said he believes Barr’s previous experience “ought to make his nomination very easy.”

Barr was scheduled to meet later with Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Ben Sasse, R-Neb.
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Pompeo Meets Top Iraqi Officials During Unannounced Visit to Baghdad

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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with top Iraqi officials Wednesday during an unannounced visit to Baghdad.

Pompeo’s visit coincided with the anniversary of the Iraqi national police force. A police band serenaded Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, who presided over the celebration before meeting Pompeo in private.

A spokesman for the secretary said the two men discussed “the U.S. commitment to Iraq’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” as well as the new Iraqi government’s “efforts to deliver stability, security and prosperity to all Iraqis.” The men also discussed efforts to “ensure the lasting defeat of ISIS in the region.”

Pompeo also met with Iraqi President Barham Salih and parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi. Salih told the secretary that Baghdad “will need the support of (U.S. troops),” and expressed his “gratitude to the U.S. for its support, over the years.” He added that “ISIS is defeated militarily, but the mission is not (fully) accomplished.” Halbusi discussed U.S. efforts to help Iraq “with reconstruction and investment.”

Iraqi analyst Hani Ashour, who teaches political science at Baghdad University, told Sky News Arabia that the “Iraqi parliament was due to debate U.S. troop levels in Iraq Thursday, following protests by some political parties over fears the U.S. was moving troops it was withdrawing from Syria to Iraq.” He said that Secretary Pompeo “reassured Iraqi leaders that was not the case,” prompting a cancellation of Thursday’s parliament debate.

Iraqi political analyst Hazem al-Shammari told Al-Arabiya TV that Iraqi leaders are caught between U.S. and Iranian wishes, given that Iran has called on the U.S. to withdraw its troops completely from Iraq. “Given the divisions among Iraq’s political leaders,” he argued, “It is a strategic mistake to stick Iraq in the midst of the quarrel between the U.S. and Iran,” since Iraqi politicians “might not be able to withstand the pressure.”

Joshua Landis, who heads the Middle East program at the University of Oklahoma, tells VOA that Secretary Pompeo is facing a strategic dilemma in Iraq:

“America’s position in Iraq, like its position in Syria, is on thin ice, because Iran — in Iraq — has really won the day and ultimately we’ve seen that the rise of sectarian sensibilities and sectarian animosities in the larger Middle East has undermined America’s position and strengthened Iran’s position, because Iran is (a majority) Shi’ite country…and the U.S. is seen to be a pro-Saudi, pro-Sunni, pro-Gulf country,” said Landis.

Theodore Karasik, a Washington-based Gulf analyst, tells VOA that Pompeo’s visit was the “third by a senior U.S. official to Baghdad in as many weeks,” and he was hoping to “reassure (Iraqi leaders)…about the restructuring of (U.S.) forces and operations in the region.”

Karasik said he believed that energy issues were “another important facet of the visit” along with discussions over the sanctions regime (regarding Iran) and the “logistic flow of oil in the region and protection of that flow.” He thinks that Pompeo may also announce the establishment of a regional Gulf energy entity during a stop in Oman.
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South Africa’s ANC Facing Factionalism Ahead of Vote

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South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) celebrated its anniversary this week by counting the party’s successes in the past 25 years.  But the ANC is battling with factionalism and corruption allegations against senior party members, which could affect its standing in upcoming May national elections.

In a speech Tuesday marking the 107th birthday of ANC, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa touted the party’s success since the end of apartheid.

“Our economy has tripled in size over the last 25 years.  Seven million more people are now employed today than they were in 1994. And we have taken bold steps to confront corruption,” Ramaphoda said.

The ANC was born January 8th, 1912, in the little town of Bloemfontein.

The party became famous for leaders like Nelson Mandela, who gave up his freedom to end apartheid, South Africa’s former system of racial segregation and discrimination.

But former ANC lawmaker Ben Turok said, a century later, the party of Mandela is a different organization.

“A catch-up culture penetrated the movement. Catch-up! The whites had this, we want the same. And that catch-up led to many of the problems that we have today,” Turok said.

These problems include the ANC’s mismanagement of state-owned enterprises, 25 percent unemployment, inequality, corruption, and a divided party.  

The ANC split last year between supporters of President Cyril Ramaphosa and disgraced former president Jacob Zuma after the latter was forced to resign over corruption allegations.

‘Fault lines’

Political analyst Theo Venter said the ANC is not in the best shape as the country heads toward May national elections.

“One can clearly see the fault lines in the ANC. There are factions talking about each other as factions. I think there is a far more urgent need for discussion, because I think the push back from the Zuma side in the ANC is threatening the unity,” Venter said.

Although the ANC has received the majority of votes in every election since the end of apartheid, the winning margins have been gradually decreasing.

Opposition parties are hoping to take advantage of the ANC’s waning support, including in its biggest support base – Kwazulu Natal Province.

Democratic Alliance party leader Zwakele Mncwango said the ANC is at its weakest moment.

“The main mission for us is to drop the ANC below 50 percent. We’ve seen it’s possible,” Mncwango said.

Political analyst Tinyiko Maluleke said although the ANC will no doubt win the coming elections, the party will no longer be able to rely solely on its liberation credentials.  South Africans are now demanding services like clean water and electricity.

“I think the most serious challenge is that perhaps the ANC has not managed to facilitate service delivery to the extent that the ANC as a party has been promising,” Maluleke said.

At the anniversary celebrations this week, the ANC sought to project an image of a confident and unified party.

Ramaphosa was side-by-side with Zuma and told the nation their comradeship is still at its best.

How much that translates into reversing the party’s downward trend will become clear with the May elections.

 

 
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EU Trade Chief: US Talks Will Not Include Agriculture

Posted on by SeeEU

The European Union and United States have not yet agreed on the scope of trade negotiations, but the bloc will not include agriculture in the talks, its trade commissioner said on Wednesday.

Cecilia Malmström told reporters the EU was willing to include all industrial goods, such as autos, in the discussions.

“We have made very clear agriculture will not be included,” she said, though the two sides had not yet agreed on that issue.

She was speaking after meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and ahead of a meeting with U.S. and Japanese leaders to discuss World Trade Organization (WTO) reform this week.

U.S. President Donald Trump has demanded better terms of trade for the United States from China, the EU and Japan, saying poor trade deals cost the United States millions of jobs.

Washington has already reworked the North American trade treaty with neighbors Mexico and Canada.

USTR notified lawmakers in October of its plans to pursue the trade talks with the European Union. American farmers and farm state lawmakers such as Republican Senator Chuck Grassley from Iowa have said they want agricultural products to be included in any new trade deal.

Malmström said she had received no assurance that a U.S. auto tariffs report would be put on hold during the discussions, but believed the European bloc would not be affected by such tariffs while the talks were ongoing.

The EU was in the final stages of preparing its negotiating mandates for the talks, she said.

The European Commission executive said it was preparing two mandates — one to cover removal of tariffs on industrial goods and another on areas of possible regulatory cooperation in areas such as pharmaceuticals, medical devices and cyber security.

The mandates would first need to be cleared by the commissioners before being presented to the EU’s 28 member countries for approval.

It was unclear how long this process would take place and when formal talks could be held. Experts from both sides will conduct discussions about technical matters this week.

Discussions around the reform of WTO rules have focused on transparency and ways to address concerns over Chinese trade practices. “We are not forming a coalition against China. We are worried about many of the Chinese practices,” she said.
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US Military Hits Somali Militants in 4th Airstrike This Week

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The United States military has killed six al-Shabab militants in Somalia, in the fourth airstrike there this week, according to the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM).

The latest attack was carried out Tuesday in Somalia’s Bay region and destroyed one vehicle, an AFRICOM official told VOA.  He said no civilian casualties resulted from the attack.

On Monday, the U.S. military said it carried out two strikes in Somalia killing four al-Shabab extremists, in defense of Somali forces who “were engaged by al-Shabab militants.”

AFRICOM said another U.S. airstrike on Sunday killed six al-Shabab members near Dheerow Sanle in the Lower Shabelle region, and a strike on January 2 killed 10 militants in the same area.

The U.S. military says no civilians were killed or injured in these airstrikes.

According to AFRICOM, the U.S. military carried out 47 airstrikes in Somalia last year and 35 in 2017, killing hundreds of militants. Most targeted al-Shabaab, while some targeted Islamic State militants in the African country.

The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab militant group continues to control large areas in southern and central Somalia. They are also responsible for deadly bombings in the capital, Mogadishu.
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Embassy Warns Americans to Leave Congo

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The U.S. embassy in the Democratic Republic of Congo is warning Americans to leave the country, as Congolese officials prepare to announce election results.

The embassy in Kinshasa posted an alert Wednesday that said Americans in Congo should make departure plans that do not rely on U.S. government assistance. It urged Americans to avoid large crowds and demonstrations, and monitor local media for updates.

Congo’s election commission has said it will announce results of the Dec. 30 election at 11 p.m. local time Wednesday.

Riot police began to gather outside election commission headquarters in Kinshasa on Wednesday afternoon as officials, who had met overnight, promised an announcement of provisional results.

In usually bustling Kinshasa, shops were shuttered. Provisional results were originally due several days ago, but officials said they were still counting ballots from the poll.

Congo on edge

The delays and other missteps have taken the election out of the realm of reality and into the murky world of rumor and speculation, analyst Richard Moncrieff of the International Crisis Group. And that, in a country as politically heated as Congo, is dangerous.

“The rumor mill is working at full-tilt, even despite the partial shutdown of all internet services in the country, and this obviously is unhelpful as people will produce evidence that they think favors their candidate, and so forth,” he told VOA.

Already, the influential Catholic Church, which deployed 40,000 observers throughout the country, fueled tensions by saying more than a week ago that it had identified a clear winner, and urged the electoral commission to make an announcement.

That led to speculation that the ruling party favorite, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, had lost the poll. He is the hand-picked successor of longtime President Joseph Kabila, who has remained in office more than two years beyond his mandate because of repeated delays in holding the election.

On Wednesday, as officials prepared to announce results, the presidents of South Africa and Zambia met to urge the electoral commission to “speedily finalize the vote tabulation and release the election results in order to maintain the credibility of elections.”

Stephanie Wolters, a longtime Congo analyst for the Institute for Security Studies, questioned the timing of their statement, and its effect.

“It really comes at a bizarre time,” she told VOA. “For [Cyril] Ramaphosa and Edgar Lungu to be engaging at this level about the DRC elections over 10 days after that election took place just seems like a hasty, last-minute afterthought to sort of put it on record that [regional bloc] SADC is doing something. The kind of statement they came out with today is the kind of statement they could have come out with weeks ago, without really having to meet with one another because there’s nothing controversial in it, and nothing unusual and nothing particularly strong.”

Delay ‘all about Kabila’

Moncrieff says the vote-counting delay is similarly unconvincing. The head of the electoral commission, Corneille Nangaa, is known to be fiercely loyal to Kabila.

“They are using the fact that they have not counted 100 percent of the vote as a pretext to play for time to allow Kabila to make what’s a political and not a technical decision,” he said. “Kabila will tell Nangaa who to declare winner. And Nangaa will follow that. So this is all about Kabila. Any delay is a political delay and it’s a delay because [of] Kabila, who after all hates making decisions and always tries to delay decisions.”

Congolese politics has always been a rough game. Kabila took power after the assassination of his father, who himself took power in a coup over totalitarian leader Mobutu Sese Seko.

​Moncrieff hopes this vote will have a more peaceful outcome.

“What’s at stake here is the winner-takes-all structure of Congolese politics, and that’s what makes people so afraid of losing,” he said. “And I think it’s beholden on the political actors to make statements that are inclusive to try to attenuate the winner-takes-all problem.”

That does not appear to be happening now, with opposition candidate Martin Fayulu, who many projected to be the winner of the poll, saying this week that “the election results are not negotiable.”

But negotiation seems to be an unknown concept in Congolese politics. When VOA reported from Kinshasa last month, the two leading presidential camps — Shadary and Fayulu — were asked if they would be interested in forming a coalition government in the future, or even working closely with their political opponents once in power.

Both dismissed the idea.
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Pentagon Denies Reports US Military Witnessed Prisoner Torture in Yemen

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The Pentagon is denying allegations that U.S. military members were involved in or witnessed torture of jailed terror suspects in Yemen.

The Pentagon made its denial in a new report to Congress. The Associated Press has seen an unclassified version of the report.

“Based on information gathered at this time, (we) have determined that DOD personnel have neither observed nor been complicit in any cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment of detainees in Yemen,” the report says, according to the AP.

It also says U.S. officials have not “developed any independent, credible information” that U.S. allies in Yemen have tortured suspects.

The AP and human rights groups have alleged that Yemenis have been mistreated and sexually abused in prisons run by the United Arab Emirates and allied militias in Yemen, and that U.S. forces may have witnessed some of it.

The UAE is part of the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

The United States has been supporting the coalition through arms sales to Saudi Arabia and by providing intelligence.

The Pentagon report says U.S. military personnel are “trained in the law of armed conflict and humane treatment standards and trained on how to look for and report on any detainee abuse.”

A Pentagon spokeswoman said Tuesday that U.S. officials will continue to investigate reports of prisoner abuse. 
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US Supreme Court Rules Against Foreign Company Fighting Subpoena

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The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled against a mystery foreign corporation fighting a subpoena believed to have been issued by a grand jury in the special counsel investigation of Russian election meddling.

In a brief order, the court denied a request by the unidentified company to block a recent ruling by an appeals court, requiring it to comply with the subpoena. The high court did not give a reason for its decision.

The identity of the company — referred to in court documents as a state-owned “Corporation” from “Country A” — has become the subject of intense media speculation. But the subpoena is believed to be linked to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, and allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

It is the first time the high court has become publicly involved in the Russia investigation.

Earlier this month, Chief Justice John Roberts put on hold the D.C. appeals court’s ruling holding the company in contempt and imposing a daily fine until it complied with the grand jury subpoena. That decision by the chief justice has now been vacated, the court order said.

A subpoena is a legal order issued by a grand jury to witnesses and other subjects of interest to testify or provide documents.

The Russia investigation grand jury, impaneled shortly after Mueller’s appointment in 2017, has used the power of subpoena to force dozens of witnesses to testify and provide documents to investigators.
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Impact on US Government Widens on 18th Day of Shutdown

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A shutdown of about a quarter of the U.S. government reached its 18th day on Tuesday, with lawmakers and the White House divided over Republican President Donald Trump’s demand for money for a border wall ahead of his prime-time address to push the project.

The shutdown, which began on Dec. 22, is the 19th since the mid-1970s, although most have been brief. This one now ranks as the second-longest, with Trump saying it could continue for months or years, even as he said he hoped it was resolved within days.

Border security negotiations last weekend between Vice President Mike Pence and congressional staff yielded no progress on a deal as Democrats continued to object to the wall.

The current shutdown has not affected three-quarters of the government, including the Department of Defense and the Postal Service, which have secure funding. But 800,000 employees from the departments of Homeland Security and Transportation, among others, have been furloughed or are working without pay.

Private contractors working for many government agencies are also without pay and private companies that rely on business from federal workers or other consumers — such as national park visitors — are affected across the country.

Here is what is happening around the federal government.

Internal Revenue Service

Nearly 70,000 IRS employees, or about 88 percent of the workforce, have been furloughed, raising concerns about American taxpayer filings and refunds and the ability of the agency to manage government revenues ahead of the April 15 income tax filing deadline.

The acting director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vought, has said tax refunds would be distributed despite the shutdown.

Homeland Security

The department that oversees Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Transportation Security Administration, the Coast Guard and the Secret Service is affected.

Of 245,000 agency employees, nearly 213,000 have been deemed “essential,” according to the department’s contingency plan, so they are working without pay until a funding bill is passed.

More than 50,000 TSA officers are working without pay, but Democratic lawmakers have expressed concern about some transportation employees failing to show up for work or calling in sick. 

The TSA said on Tuesday the absences were having “minimal impact.” The agency said 4.6 percent of screeners did not show up for work on Monday, compared with 3.8 percent on the same day last year.

Housing and Urban Development 

Most of this department’s 7,500 employees are “non-essential” and only about 340 are working. Nearly 1,000 others may be called in for specific tasks, without pay.

The shutdown has left administration officials scrambling to prevent the eviction of thousands of people covered by a HUD program that expired on Jan. 1 and now cannot be renewed, according to the Washington Post.

Public housing authorities and Native American tribal housing entities are not part of the federal government and so are not required to shut down. But the federal government provides some of their funding, so some have reduced services or changed operating hours.

HUD, which oversees some housing loan and low-income housing payment programs, warned in its contingency plan that “a protracted shutdown could see a decline in home sales, reversing the trend toward a strengthening market.”

Interior 

The National Park Service, under the umbrella of the Interior Department, is operating with a skeleton staff. Under its contingency plan, some parks may be accessible, with others closed completely. 

The park service is providing no visitor services such as restrooms, facility and road maintenance and trash collection. Some volunteers have worked to clean up sites, according to media reports, and some states and other localities have also pitched in funding to keep parks operating.

Campgrounds have begun closing because of sanitation issues. The parks are losing about $400,000 a day in fees because no rangers are staffing the entrances, according to Senate appropriators. 

The park service has authorized using previously collected entrance fees to bring in additional staff to clean up trash and other tasks in a move some critics have said is illegal, the Washington Post reported.

 At least two people have died at two national parks since the shutdown, according to the Post.

The Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo in Washington, which receive U.S. government funding, are also closed.

Commerce Department

The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis and Census Bureau are not publishing economic data, including figures on gross domestic product, inflation, personal income, spending, trade and new home sales, during the shutdown.

Office of Personnel Management 

The agency that oversees the federal workforce has given advice to workers on dealing with landlords, mortgage lenders and other creditors, including sample letters explaining severe income loss because of the lack of federal funding. Some federal workers are applying for unemployment benefits, according to media reports.

Judiciary

 The U.S. court system said on Monday it could operate until Jan. 18 and that most proceedings would continue as scheduled.

Cases involving furloughed lawyers from the executive branch of government may be delayed. After funds are exhausted, courts may operate as necessary, but it would be up to each court to set staffing, the system said in a statement.

The shutdown over the border wall is also straining the country’s immigration system and has been blamed for worsening backlogs in courts. Immigration judges are among those furloughed, leading to thousands of long-delayed deportation cases being rescheduled.

Health 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other agencies under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are partially affected by the shutdown.

Some food and drug inspections are on hold, but the FDA says it is still able to respond to emergencies, such as foodborne illness outbreaks. The Indian Health Service is not able to provide most of its funds to tribes and Urban Indian Health programs. Some scientific research projects also cannot continue in full.

Agriculture

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Tuesday that U.S. farmers could have more time to apply for aid aimed at mitigating any harm during ongoing trade disputes with China, among others, adding that farmers who had already applied would continue to receive payments.

USDA has also delayed several key reports on major domestic and world crops that were due to be released on Jan. 11.

Funding for food aid for low-income Americans, known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP, is expected to run out at the end of January and could lapse next month unless a deal is reached, according to media reports.

Federal Communications Commission

The FCC, which regulates radio and television broadcast and cable systems, has suspended most operations. Work for “the protection of life and property” will continue as will operations at the agency’s Office of Inspector General, the FCC’s internal watchdog.

Transportations Department 

Of its 55,000 employees, 20,400 have been put on leave. That excludes most of the Federal Aviation Administration, where 24,200 are working and the Federal Highway Administration, where all 2,700 employees are funded through other sources. Air traffic control, hazardous material safety inspections and accident investigations continue, but some rule-making, inspections and audits have been paused.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has furloughed nearly 60 percent of its staff, halting auto safety investigations and new vehicle recall notices. The agency said it would recall furloughed employees if it “becomes aware of an imminent threat to the safety of human life.” 

The Federal Aviation Administration has limited its safety operations to critical staff “whose job is to perform urgent continued operational activity to protect life and property.”

Executive Office of the President

An estimated 1,100 of the office’s 1,800 employees are on leave. That includes most of the Office of Management and Budget, which helps implement budget and policy goals.

NASA

Most employees at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration are on furlough. The small percentage who remain — most deemed essential to “prevent imminent threats to human life or the protection of property” — are working without pay. Work on any satellite mission that has not yet launched will be suspended until the agency receives funding, according to its contingency plan.

Home purchases

Individuals trying to finance home purchases through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) are experiencing significant delays in loans being processed and approved, as are those applying to refinance an FHA-insured mortgage, according to Senate appropriators.

 
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Kenya: No Schoolgirls Being Screened for FGM After Backlash

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No schoolgirls in western Kenya are being forced to undergo examinations for female genital mutilation, Kenyan authorities said Tuesday, after a government official sparked outrage by proposing compulsory tests to curb the crime.

George Natembeya, commissioner for Narok County, said on Friday that girls returning to school after the Christmas break were being screened for female genital mutilation (FGM) in order to prosecute their parents and traditional cutters.

Rights groups condemned the move, saying examining the girls — aged between nine and 17 — was demeaning and contravened their right to privacy and dignity.

Kenya’s Anti-FGM Board said they had conducted an investigation in Narok after Natembeya’s statement and found no evidence of girls being tested.

“The Board hereby confirms that no girl has been paraded for FGM screening as per allegations that have been circulating in the last few days,” the semi-autonomous government agency said in a statement.

“The Board recognises and appreciates the role played by different stakeholders in complementing the government’s efforts in the FGM campaigns but we want to reiterate that all interventions must uphold the law.”

FGM, which usually involves the partial or total removal of the external genitalia, is prevalent across parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East — and is seen as necessary for social acceptance and increasing a girl’s marriage prospects.

FGM dangers

It is usually performed by traditional cutters, often with unsterilized blades or knives. In some cases, girls can bleed to death or die from infections. It can also cause lifelong painful conditions such as fistula and fatal childbirth complications.

Kenya criminalized FGM in 2011, but the deep-rooted practice persists. According to the United Nations, one in five Kenyan women and girls aged between 15 and 49 have undergone FGM.

Natembeya said he had announced the compulsory tests to warn communities not to practice FGM on their daughters, but that there was no intention to force all girls to undergo screening.

Rights groups said the policy was rolled back following outrage.

“We are not going to line up all the girls and test them — you can’t do that as they can be stigmatized,” he told Reuters.

“What we are doing is that if we get reports from schools that a girl has undergone FGM, it becomes a police case and the girl is taken to hospital and medically examined. Then the parents or caregivers will be arrested and taken to court.”
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Malawi Campaigners Seek to End Sex in Girls’ Initiation Ceremony

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In rural Malawi, families send girls as young as 12 years old for “initiation,” a traditional, cultural practice that marks a child’s entry into adulthood. But child rights campaigners say the ritual entices young girls into early sex, marriage, and teenage pregnancy — forcing many to drop out of school. One local organization is seeking to change this by teaching initiation counselors to give girls age-appropriate information. 

Madalitso Makosa was 13 years old when she underwent a traditional, Malawian initiation ritual to become an adult. 

She says after the initiation ceremony, the counselors advised her to perform a Kusasa Fumbi or “removing the dust” ritual with a man of my choice. She chose to sleep with her former boyfriend but, unfortunately, became pregnant.

“Removing the dust” refers to a girl losing her virginity, often without protection, to become an adult.  Those who become teenage mothers pay the price for this tradition.

Makosa says when she discovered she was pregnant, she was devastated because she had to drop out of school. She is now struggling to get support to take care of her baby.  She wished she had continued with her education.”

During the initiation, counselors show how they prepare girls for marriage and for sex.

Agnes Matemba, is an initiation counselor. 

She says she gives girls these lessons so that they should keep their man and prevent him from going out to look for another woman. Because, if he goes out and finds excitement in other women, he is likely to dump her.

Child rights campaigners say the initiation ritual fuels Malawi’s high rate of child marriage.  Half the girls here marry before age 18.

Malawian group Youthnet and Counselling, YONECO, wants to keep girls in school with a more age-appropriate initiation ritual.

MacBain Mkandawire is YONECO’s executive director.

“This is a traditional cultural thing that people believe in, and it will be very difficult to just say let us end initiation ceremonies,” Mkandawire said. “But what we are saying is that can we package the curriculum in such way the young people are accessing the correct curriculum at the correct time?”

YONECO is working with initiation counselors and traditional leaders to tone down Malawi’s initiations. Already, some areas are banning the practice of encouraging sex after the ceremony.

Aidah Deleza is also known as Senior Chief Chikumbu.

“We say no, no, no,” Chikumbu said. “This is why we have a lot of girls drop out from school, that is why the population has just shot so high just because of that, just because a lot of girls now they have got babies, most of them they are not in marriage.”

To further discourage teenage pregnancy, traditional leaders like Chikumbu are dividing girls’ initiation rituals into two camps.

One is a simple ceremony for teenage girls like Makosa, while the other provides some sex education for older girls who are preparing to marry.  
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Question of Protocol: US Clashes With EU Over Diplomatic Status of Delegation

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The United States downgraded the diplomatic status of the European Union’s delegation in Washington last year without formally announcing the change or telling Brussels, according to EU officials.

They say it only came to light when the bloc’s envoy in the U.S. capital, Irish diplomat David O’Sullivan, discovered he wasn’t being invited to certain events and was invited to the funeral of former U.S. President Herbert Walker Bush after national ambassadors, despite his seniority.

Diplomacy is saturated with symbolism and double meanings – and the downgrade, which now has been temporarily reversed – has angered EU officials, who fear the move was meant as a snub. They’ve requested an explanation for the downgrade, according to EU spokesperson Maja Kocijancic.

Motives elusive

Politicians and analysts on both sides of the Atlantic are struggling, though, to understand the motives for the demotion, debating whether the move was meant as a rebuff by an administration that has clashed with Brussels over trade and defense issues or whether it was the result of a bureaucratic mix-up.

“The demotion of the EU representative was reversed following bilateral talks in December,” an EU official told reporters Tuesday in Brussels.

President Donald Trump has been a vocal supporter of Britain’s exit from the EU – describing himself on the campaign trail as Mr. Brexit and frequently lambasting the bloc for running trade surpluses with America.

He has embraced anti-EU figures, including Nigel Farage, a leading Brexiter and onetime leader of the UK Independence party, whom he met after his election win ahead of meeting any EU leaders or Britain’s prime minister. The president tweeted that he thought Farage should be made Britain’s ambassador to the U.S. “Many people would like to see @Nigel_Farage represent Great Britain as their Ambassador to the United States. He would do a great job!” Trump said.

Because of the partial government shutdown in Washington, the State Department is not responding to media requests about the protocol change.

‘Not notified of any change’

Previously, the U.S. treated the EU delegation and its ambassador as representatives of a country would be, say European officials. But the change, which is thought to have been made last October or November, downgraded the diplomatic status of the EU delegation to that of representing an international organization, a much lower pegging with potential impact regarding access to the administration.

“We understand that there was a recent change in the way the diplomatic precedence list is implemented by the United States’ Protocol,” said Kocijancic in a statement. “We are discussing with the relevant services in the administration possible implications for the EU delegation in Washington. We were not notified of any change. We expect the diplomatic practice established some years ago to be observed.”

The status change was first reported by German broadcaster Deutsche Welle. “We don’t exactly know when they did it, because they conveniently forgot to notify us,” an EU official told the broadcaster. “This is clearly not simply a protocol issue, but this is something that has a very obvious political motive,” he said.

Other EU diplomats in the U.S. capital contacted by VOA expressed the same view. A senior European diplomat maintained the relegation also may have been motivated by a wish to reverse a decision taken by the previous Obama administration, which upgraded the status of the delegation of the 28-nation bloc in 2016.

“If this wasn’t meant as a snub then the timing is odd,” he said. “Normally protocol tweaks are made in the first few months of a new administration, not two years in,” he said. “That aside, even if they didn’t intend it as a rebuff, they must have realized that’s how it would be interpreted. It is in line with what we see as an anti-EU stance by the Trump administration, which also dislikes multilateral organizations.”

‘Petty Trump move’

In a speech in Brussels in December, as the diplomatic downgrade was being discussed between U.S. and EU officials, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Trump’s “America First” policy was reshaping the post-Second World War system by recognizing the importance of sovereign states over multilateral institutions. He criticized “bureaucrats” for believing multilateralism is “an end in itself,” and cast doubt on the EU’s commitment to its citizens. That drew a sharp rebuke from the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm.

Several high-profile European politicians reacted to the news of the downgrade Tuesday with frustration. “Soap opera politics: US downgrades EU mission in DC in a petty Trump move,” tweeted Carl Bildt of the European Council on Foreign Relations and a former Swedish prime minister.

Euro-skeptics cheered. “That should take the EU superstate down a peg or two!” tweeted the pro-Brexit Leave campaign.

EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom Tuesday heads to Washington for a round of trade talks with U.S. counterpart Robert Lighthizer. Trade tensions between Brussels and Washington have flared since Trump imposed tariffs on European aluminum and steel imports.

The U.S. president has threatened to impose tariffs on the European cars, too.
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Activists Warn of Gaps as EU Lifts Ban Threat on Thai Fishing Industry

Posted on by SeeEU

Labor rights campaigners warned against complacency as the European Union on Tuesday withdrew its threat to ban Thai fishing imports into the bloc, saying that the country has made progress in tackling illegal and unregulated fishing.

The EU’s so-called “yellow card” on Thai fishing exports has been in place since April 2015 as a warning that the country was not sufficiently addressing the issues.

“Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing damages global fish stocks, but it also hurts the people living from the sea, especially those already vulnerable to poverty,” Karmenu Vella, European Commissioner for environment and fisheries said.

“Today’s decision reverses the first step of a process that could have led to a complete import ban of marine fisheries products into the EU,” he said in a statement.

Thailand has amended its fisheries legal framework in line with international law, and improved its monitoring and surveillance systems, including remote monitoring of fishing activities and more robust inspections at port, the EU said.

The country’s multibillion-dollar seafood industry has also come under scrutiny for slavery, trafficking and violence on fishing boats and at onshore processing facilities.

After the EU threatened to ban fish exports, and the U.S. State Department said it was failing to tackle human trafficking, the Southeast Asian country toughened up its laws and increased fines for violations.

Thailand has introduced modern technologies — from satellites to optical scanning and electronic payment services — to crack down on abuses.

But the International Labor Organization said in March that fishermen remained at risk of forced labor, and the wages of some continued to be withheld.

The EU on Tuesday said it recognized efforts by Thailand to tackle human trafficking and to improve labor conditions in the fishing sector.

Thailand voted in December to ratify ILO convention 188 — which sets standards of decent work in the fishing industry — becoming the first Asian country to do so.

But important gaps remain, said Steve Trent, executive director at advocacy group Environmental Justice Foundation.

“We still have concerns about the workers. We need to see that the reforms are durable,” he said.

Thailand is yet to ratify two other ILO conventions on the right to organize and the right to collective bargaining, both of which are essential to protect workers, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

This is particularly important in the fishing and seafood processing industries, as most of their estimated 600,000 workers are migrant workers.

“There is a risk that with the lifting of the yellow card, complacency will set in. We need to see a culture of compliance, and more being done to protect vulnerable workers in the industry,” Trent said.
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Congo Opposition Campaign Says It Is Talking With Kabila Camp on Transition

Posted on by SeeAF

A Congolese presidential candidate’s representatives have met with outgoing President Joseph Kabila’s camp to ensure a peaceful transfer of power, they said on Tuesday.

Kabila’s camp denied any such meetings had occurred since the December 30 election, for which provisional results are expected this week, but supporters of another candidate, who led opinion polls ahead of the vote, said they feared the government was maneuvering to squeeze him out of contention.

Members of opposition candidate Felix Tshisekedi’s campaign said they spoke with representatives of Kabila’s hand-picked candidate, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, in meetings aimed at promoting national reconciliation.

Kabila and Tshisekedi “have an interest in meeting to prepare for the peaceful and civilized transfer of power,” Jean-Marc Kabund told a news conference at which he said Tshisekedi was the “presumptive winner.”

Tshisekedi’s spokesman, Vidiye Tshimanga, later said Kabila and Tshisekedi had not met personally since the election but that their representatives had convened several times.

Barnabe Kikaya Bin Karubi, a spokesman for Shadary and one of Kabila’s senior advisers, denied there had been contacts with Tshisekedi or his representatives.

Supporters of Martin Fayulu, the opposition candidate who had a healthy pre-election poll lead, have voiced suspicions Kabila may be looking to negotiate a power-sharing agreement with Tshisekedi if his preferred candidate, Shadary, loses.

Fayulu and six other presidential candidates issued a statement on Tuesday saying: “the electoral results cannot be negotiated and under no circumstances will we or the Congolese people accept such results.”

In a tweet, Fayulu’s Lamuka coalition also criticized Tshisekedi for saying in an interview with a Belgian newspaper this week that Kabila deserves praise for agreeing to step down. Kabila is due to leave office this month but his refusal to go when his mandate expired in 2016 sparked protests in which security forces killed dozens of people.

“Falsifying the history of Congo by attributing to Mr. Kabila a false role in the advent of the [democratic] transfer of power would be an insult to the memory of all our martyrs who died for democracy,” it said. Urgent meeting

The election is meant to bring about Congo’s first democratic transition in 59 years of independence, but a disputed result could trigger the kind of violence that erupted after 2006 and 2011 elections and destabilize Congo’s eastern borderlands with Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, where dozen of militia groups are active.

The streets of the eastern city of Goma were deserted on Tuesday evening after a rumor spread that the results were about to be announced. The election board has not given a date for the release of results, which have already been delayed past Sunday’s deadline.

Zambian President Edgar Lungu’s office said he was traveling to South Africa on Tuesday for an “urgent consultative meeting” with President Cyril Ramaphosa about the election.

Domestic observer mission SYMOCEL said on Tuesday it witnessed 52 major irregularities, including people tampering with results, in the 101 vote counting centers it monitored. There are 179 counting centers tallying the vote across Congo.

Its findings, and those of a Catholic Church observation mission that noted significant irregularities, are likely to fuel complaints about the outcome once it is announced, although regional observers said the vote went “relatively well.”

In its own news conference on Tuesday, the ruling coalition accused Fayulu’s campaign and Catholic bishops of trying to stoke post-election violence.

Last week, the bishops said they knew the winner of the election, a declaration widely seen as a warning to authorities against rigging the vote.
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In Shift, EU Sanctions Iran Over Planned Europe Attacks

Posted on by SeeEU

The European Union on Tuesday froze the assets of an Iranian intelligence unit and two of its staff, as the Netherlands accused Iran of two killings on its soil and joined France and Denmark in alleging Tehran plotted other attacks in Europe.

The move, although in part symbolic since one of the men is in prison in Belgium, marks the first time the EU has enacted sanctions on Iran since lifting a host of curbs on it three years ago following its 2015 nuclear pact with world powers.

The decision, which includes designating the unit and the two Iranians as terrorists, follows last year’s disclosure by Denmark and France that they suspected an Iranian government intelligence service of pursuing assassination plots on their soil. Copenhagen sought an EU-wide response.

“EU just agreed to enact sanctions against an Iranian Intelligence Service for its assassination plots on European soil. Strong signal from the EU that we will not accept such behavior in Europe,” Denmark’s Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen said on Twitter.

France, which has already hit the two men and the ministry unit with sanctions, has said there was no doubt the Iranian intelligence ministry was behind a failed attack near Paris.

On Tuesday, the Dutch government publicly accused Iran of the plots, as well as two killings in 2015 and 2017, sending a letter to parliament to warn of further economic sanctions if Tehran did not cooperate with European investigations.

The letter signed by the Dutch foreign and interior ministers said Britain, France, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium met Iranian officials to convey “their serious concerns regarding Iran’s probable involvement in these hostile acts on EU territory.”

“Iran was informed that involvement in such matters is entirely unacceptable and must be stopped immediately … further sanctions cannot be ruled out,” the letter said.

Iran has denied any involvement in the alleged plots, saying the accusations were intended to damage EU-Iran relations.

“Accusing Iran won’t absolve Europe of responsibility for harboring terrorists,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tuesday in a tweet.

“Europeans, incl(uding) Denmark, Holland and France, harbor MEK,” he added, referring to an exiled Iranian opposition group Mujaheedin-e Khalq.

Paris accused Iran of a plot to carry out a bomb attack at a rally near Paris organized by the MEK. Denmark says it foiled an Iranian intelligence plan to assassinate an Iranian Arab opposition figure on its soil.

On Tuesday, the Netherlands said it had “strong indications” that Iran was behind the assassinations of two Dutch nationals of Iranian origin, in 2015 and in 2017. The latter was dissident Iranian Arab activist Ahmad Mola Nissi who was gunned down by an unidentified assailant in front of his home in The Hague.

Iran denies any involvement in the killings.

Sanctions sensitive

The decision to impose the curbs was taken without debate at an unrelated meeting of Europe ministers in Brussels and the asset freeze comes into effect Wednesday, EU officials said.

The Danish Foreign Ministry named the two employees as the deputy minister and director general of intelligence, Saeid Hashemi Moghadam, and a Vienna-based diplomat, Assadollah Asadi.

Their names are to appear in the EU’s Official Journal on Wednesday.

Sanctions on the intelligence ministry, which is under the control of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, are unlikely to change what the European Union says are Iran’s destabilizing activities in Europe and the Middle East.

The deputy minister and director general of intelligence is in Iran, while the Iranian diplomat was charged and is being held by Belgian authorities. Neither appear to have assets in France, which first imposed the asset freeze late last year.

But imposing economic sanctions on Iran, once the EU’s top oil supplier, remains highly sensitive for the bloc.

The EU has been straining to uphold the 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and world powers that U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of in May. It has been less willing to consider sanctions, instead seeking talks with Tehran.

Iran has warned it could ditch the nuclear deal if EU powers do not protect its trade and financial benefits.
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Iran, Islamic State on Agenda as Pompeo Visits Middle East

Posted on by SeeEA

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is focusing on Iran and Islamic State as he makes a week-long visit to the Middle East.

Pompeo said ahead of his first stop Tuesday in Jordan that he wants to “send a clear message” that the United States is committed to the region, defeating Islamic State and countering what he called “Iran’s destabilizing activities.”

In his talks with Jordanian leaders, Pompeo was expected to discuss the situation in Syria, where the Trump administration is planning to withdraw 2,000 U.S. forces, as well as Jordan’s economic links with neighboring Iraq.

Other stops on the top U.S. diplomat’s trip include Egypt, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait.

Pompeo is due to give a speech in Cairo that the State Department says will focus on “U.S. commitment to peace, prosperity, stability and security in the Middle East.”

Ten years ago, it was President Barack Obama making a major address in Cairo, where he sought “a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world.”

Since taking office at the end of Obama’s term, President Donald Trump has taken different foreign policy paths than those of his predecessor, including abandoning the nuclear agreement the United States and five other nations struck with Iran to limit the Iranian nuclear program.

​The other parties of the agreement say it is the best way to make sure Iran cannot develop nuclear weapons, something Iran has said it was not trying to do. The United Nation’s nuclear watchdog has certified in multiple reports that Iran is living up to its part of the deal.

Trump criticized the deal as giving Iran too much while demanding too little and says it leaves Iran with a path to nuclear weapons.

“We’re actually going to set a policy that’s actually going to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons,” Pompeo told reporters traveling with him. “That’s probably the most important thing that we’re expecting to achieve.”

Pompeo said he will be discussing with leaders at his various stops the ways in which the governments can “apply pressure” to get Iran to change its behavior.

His stops in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia will also include a focus on the war in Yemen, where Saudi and UAE forces are helping Yemen’s government fight Houthi rebels.

The United States has provided support to the Saudi-led coalition, including refueling for warplanes conducting airstrikes.

Last month, the U.S. Senate sent a strong signal of displeasure with Saudi Arabia by passing resolutions calling for an end to U.S. support for the Saudi military campaign and blaming Saudi Arabia for the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Khashoggi was killed when he visited the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey in October. Initially Saudi Arabia said he safely left the site on his own, but later admitted he was killed there in what Saudi officials called a rogue operation.

Saudi Arabia has charged 11 people in connection with the killing.

The State Department said Pompeo would be seeking an update on the status of the Saudi investigation.
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Trump Security Advisor Bolton to Ask Turkey Not to Strike Kurdish Fighters in Syria

Posted on by SeeEA

U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton has told U.S. allies in the Middle East that the Trump administration will not withdraw U.S. forces from northern Syria until Turkey guarantees it will not strike Kurdish forces allied with the U.S., and not until the last remnants of the so-called Islamic State terrorist group have been defeated. The statement comes after President Trump tweeted he would be pulling out all U.S. troops from Syria. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
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Yemen’s Humanitarian Nightmare Worsens

Posted on by SeeEA

The war in Yemen has taken its toll far beyond what is reported in terms of military casualties. Guns and bombs are claiming lives, but hunger is another major threat to Yemenis. The World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization say 73,000 Yemeni civilians are facing famine and another 14 million are on the brink of starvation. Aid agencies say more than 1.8 million children under the age of 5 are acutely malnourished. For VOA, Neha Wadekar reports from Aden in southern Yemen.
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Julian Castro Vows to Champion Health Care, Housing During 2020 Bid

Posted on by SeeUS

Former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro introduced himself to Iowa Democrats on Monday night as a champion for universal health care and affordable housing as he indicated he was close to launching a run for the presidency.

 

Castro spoke with party activists at a crowded house party in North Liberty after forming an exploratory committee last month. Castro said that he would announce his presidential campaign on Saturday in San Antonio and that he looked forward to meeting with Iowa voters before the first-in-the-nation caucuses next year.

 

Castro said that he would lay out his vision for making the United States “the smartest, the healthiest, the fairest and the most prosperous nation in the world.” He said that his plans will include expanding Medicare to allow access for all and addressing what he called a housing affordability crisis in which rising rents are squeezing the poor and middle class.

Castro, who served as the nation’s housing secretary during President Barack Obama’s second term, also promised that he will not accept money from political action committees tied to corporations and unions.

“What you’re going to hear from me is that I’m not taking that PAC money, that I support universal health care, and that I’ve shown in my time in public service an ability to stand with the people instead of the special interests, and I’ve taken action to do that,” said Castro, 44.

 

Castro shook hands, spoke and fielded questions for an hour as guests sipped wine from plastic cups. He received a warm welcome from the activists, who said they were eager for someone who could defeat President Donald Trump in the 2020 election. North Liberty is a fast-growing bedroom community that’s located near Iowa City in Johnson County, which has long been the state’s liberal stronghold.

 

Castro’s visit was the latest activity in Iowa as the field of candidates seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination begins to take shape. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts visited the state over the weekend after forming her own exploratory committee, and several more candidates are expected to join the race soon.

 

Castro acknowledged that some Democrats will view his and other candidates’ decisions to not accept PAC money as tantamount to “bringing a knife to a gun fight.” But he said that the Democratic nominee will have no problem raising money from individuals who want change and that the decision sends an important message.

 

“I think it says something, that if a candidate doesn’t take that money, they’re going to work for you,” he said. “If I’m elected, that’s what I’m going to do.”
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Zimbabwe’s Hospitals Turn Away Patients as Doctors’ Strike Drags On

Posted on by SeeAF

Hospitals in Zimbabwe are turning away patients as a strike by doctors enters its sixth week. There is no end in sight to the strike, as President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government says it cannot meet the doctors’ demands.

The Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, Zimbabwe’s largest treatment center, is largely empty as a doctors’ strike that began December 1 drags on.

Sixty-nine-year-old Kasirina Zibveka had a lung infection in September, according to her medical records. After numerous tests were done, it was confirmed that her right lung had gone bad and needed to be removed.

 

But by then, doctors were on strike. She was discharged December 13 and was told to return Monday for the ailing lung to be removed. But with the strike unresolved, that did not happen.

 

Her daughter, Margret Chikoti, says the family has paid for her treatment, but only nurses are attending to her mother.

 

“We have no idea what is really happening to her since December 13,” she said. “All we see is her discharging some blood stained stinking fluids [through a hole pierced by nurses under her right breast]. What is happening inside her body? Is it getting worse? We just give her painkillers and use ointment to clean her wound. We hope that their negotiations [doctors and government] bear fruit and they return to work.”

Doctors held a meeting Monday and resolved to remain on strike until their demands are met. The doctors want the government to equip hospitals with modern technology, sufficient medicine and protective clothing for doctors.

 

They also want to be paid in U.S. dollars instead of Zimbabwe’s depreciating currency, known as bondnotes.

 

“We will not accept the money that they are refusing. We want the money that buys,” Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association Vice President Marambire Sinaravo Jongwe said this to his members. “We are very understanding people, we are very lenient to our government. They are just trying to ignore us, they are very insincere to doctors. But yet we are saving the public, the general of Zimbabwe. For our patients we care, the government does not care.”

 

The doctors also say they do not want to prescribe drugs that are not in stock, a practice that forces patients to seek out black market drugs.

The Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe has warned about such drugs being fake, expired and unsafe to use.

 

The government, meanwhile, said last week it is not in a position to pay doctors or any civil servants in U.S. dollars.

Officials say they have imported medicines and are now stocking hospitals. But with doctors still on strike, that news might not be enough to help patients like Kasirina Zibveka.
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US Expresses Optimism About Trade Talks with China

Posted on by SeeUS

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said there is “a very good chance” that the United States and China will reach a trade agreement. 

Ross told CNBC he is hopeful such a deal would address “all the key issues.”

Working-level trade talks between the United States and China began Monday in Beijing with negotiators for the world’s two biggest economies trying to resolve tariff disputes that have roiled world markets in recent weeks.

In a sign the meeting was off to a good start, China’s economic czar, Vice Premier Liu He, dropped by the talks on Monday to encourage the negotiators.

While Chinese officials expressed optimism at the start of the two-day talks, Beijing at the same time complained about the sighting of the U.S.S. McCampbell, a warship, in what it said were Chinese waters near disputed islands in the South China Sea.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China had made “stern complaints” with the United States about the sighting of the destroyer, but the trade talks went ahead as scheduled.

There was no immediate U.S. response to the Chinese complaint.

Few details have emerged from the trade talks, which are scheduled to run through Tuesday.

​The trade talks are the result of an agreement last month between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to stop the tit-for-tat tariff conflict between the two countries for 90 days starting on New Year’s Day. 

Trump said last week, “I think we’ll have a deal with China.” 

Lu said the two countries have agreed to hold “positive and constructive” discussions.

“From the beginning we have believed that China U.S. trade friction is not a positive situation for either country or the world economy,” Lu said. “China has the good faith, on the basis of mutual respect and equality, to resolve the bilateral trade frictions.”

​The talks are occurring as Chinese growth — 6.5 percent in the July-to-September period — fell to its lowest point in a decade. There are concerns that U.S. growth, 3.4 percent in the third quarter, is also slowing even as the country’s unemployment rate remains nearly at a five-decade low.

Even so, Lu said, “China’s development has ample tenacity and huge potential. We have firm confidence in the strong long-term fundamentals of the Chinese economy.”

The United States has long complained about access to the vast Chinese market and Beijing’s demands U.S. companies reveal their technology advances.
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UN Security Council Delays Congo Session Amid Vote Counting

Posted on by SeeAF

The U.N. Security Council has put off a planned session on Congo and its closely watched presidential election as the country continues waiting for delayed results.

 

A council discussion initially set for Tuesday was postponed to Friday after Congolese officials indefinitely postponed the release of the first results. They had been due Sunday.

 

The council has been keenly following the long-awaited election in a country where the U.N. operates one of its biggest peacekeeping missions.

 

But there have been differences in the council over sending a collective message about the Dec. 30 election, diplomats said. A closed-door discussion last week spanned two hours but yielded no joint statement.

 

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday the U.N. is looking forward to “the timely publication” of provisional results. Spokesman Stephane Dujarric also reminded everyone with a stake in the outcome to respect Congo’s electoral laws and “help maintain an environment free of violence.”

 

The vote could herald Congo’s first democratic, peaceful transition of power since its 1960 independence from Belgium, and the vast, mineral-rich Central African nation is awaiting the results in a tense atmosphere.

Longtime President Joseph Kabila had already postponed the election for two years, and some Congolese worry it could be manipulated to keep his party in power — suspicions fanned by the delay in announcing a winner.

 

With a little over half the vote compiled, officials said Sunday that no information would be released until all ballots were tallied. Officials gave no date for when that might be. Meanwhile, the government has cut off internet access to prevent any social-media speculation about who won.

 

In the Security Council’s private meeting Friday, France — which had called for the session — wanted the group to make a statement about the importance of the election and results, according to two council diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity to talk about the private discussion.

 

Other countries, including South Africa, thought the council shouldn’t weigh in until results were known, the diplomats said Monday.

 

South African Ambassador Jerry Matjila, whose country just joined the council as a voice from Africa, had publicly appealed for patience on his way into the session: “Let’s wait for the count,” he told reporters.

 

While the council didn’t speak as a whole, French Ambassador Francois Delattre said Friday that the meeting underscored the group’s close attention to Congo’s electoral process.
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Democrats Tour Border Warn Trump Against Diverting Funds for Wall

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A Congressional delegation of Democrats touring a Border Patrol facility in New Mexico on Monday warned President Donald Trump against circumventing Congress and diverting already appropriated money towards building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

“He can expect a strong and swift challenge from all of us and other members of Congress, and from the American people,” said U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro, when asked about Trump’s planned address to the nation and his visit to the border on Thursday.

Castro, a Democrat from San Antonio, is leading a Congressional delegation visiting the Border Patrol facility in Alamogordo, New Mexico to investigate the death of 8-year-old Felipe Gomez Alonzo, the second child to die in December after being apprehended crossing the border illegally.

Democrats, who now control the U.S. House of Representatives, have rejected the Republican president’s demand for $5.7 billion to help build a wall. Without a deal on that sticking point, talks to fund the government — now in the 17th day of a shutdown — have stalled.

Trump has vowed not to back off his 2016 campaign promise to build a wall that he believes will stem illegal immigration and drug trafficking. He promised during the campaign that Mexico would pay for the wall. Mexico has refused to do so.

Democrats in Congress say a wall would be expensive, inefficient and immoral.

In New Mexico, Border Patrol agents walked the Congressional delegation through the holding areas of the Alamogordo station, which Representative Jerry Nadler, a Democrat from New York, said were “miraculously” empty.

Castro said the Border Patrol did not provide a report about Gomez’s death nor did they tour the hospital where he was treated for a cold and then released with a prescription for antibiotics and ibuprofen. The boy died shortly after his release.

“We know that CBP is woefully under equipped in terms of its standards of medical care, but we also need to find out whether the doctors in the hospital – how responsible they were in terms of that case,” Castro said.

The Border Patrol itself has said their facilities are not properly equipped to hold families, Castro said. “I think all of us who look at what they have here believe that that is true.”

U.S. Representative Veronica Escobar, a Democrat from El Paso, said the area where Gomez and his father turned themselves over to Border Patrol is on American soil and already fenced.

“The wall only pushes people out to more dangerous, treacherous crossings, creating even more death,” she said.

Illegal crossings at the southern border have dropped dramatically since the late 1970s, but in recent years more Central American families and unaccompanied children are migrating to the United States. Many are released after turning themselves into border agents and requesting asylum, a legal process that can take years to resolve in U.S. immigration courts.
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Madagascar Official Election Result Due After Protests

Posted on by SeeAF

Madagascar is set to confirm the result of its presidential election on Tuesday, after Andry Rajoelina was declared the victor in the vote count and supporters of his bitter rival took to the streets crying foul.

In the run-off vote on Dec. 19, Rajoelina scored 55 percent of the ballot and Marc Ravalomanana won 44 percent, according to the final results.

Ravalomanana lodged complaints over alleged irregularities with the Constitutional Court, which will announce the official winner on Tuesday.

Last week riot police in the Indian Ocean island used tear gas to break up one of several protests by thousands of Ravalomanana supporters in the capital Antananarivo.

Rivals banned for 2013 election

The two rivals, both former presidents, were banned from running in the 2013 election as part of an agreement to end recurring crises that have rocked Madagascar since it gained independence from France in 1960.

The 2018 two-round election was beset by allegations of fraud from both sides, and a contested result may raise the risk of renewed political instability.

European Union and African Union election observers said they had not seen evidence of fraud.

Fiercely personal duel 

Rajoelina and Ravalomanana have been locked in a fiercely personal duel for power, coming first and second in the preliminary election in November.

Last month, Ravalomanana told AFP at his campaign headquarters that he suspected “massive fraud.”

Ravalomanana, 69, was first elected president in 2002 but was forced to resign seven years later by violent demonstrations supported by Rajoelina, then the mayor of Antananarivo.

Rajoelina, now 44, was installed by the army and ruled until 2014. He is a former events planner and successful entrepreneur with slick communication skills.

Both candidates spent lavishly on campaigning, with promises and handouts distributed liberally to voters, who are among the poorest in Africa.

Madagascar is well known for its vanilla and precious redwood but is one of the world’s poorest nations, with 76 percent of people living in extreme poverty.

Attempts at law changes backfires 

The island, which is also famed for its unique wildlife, is dependent on foreign aid and burdened by political friction.

Outgoing president Hery Rajaonarimampianina was eliminated in the first round after collecting less than nine percent of the vote.

His attempts to change the electoral laws this year backfired, sparking nearly three months of sometimes violent protests.

The demonstrators forced Rajaonarimampianina to accept a “consensus” government tasked with organising the election.
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