Month: January 2019

Turkish Employee of US Consulate Indicted for Espionage

Posted on by SeeEA

Turkish prosecutors are seeking a life sentence for a local employee of the United States consulate in Istanbul accused of attempting to overthrow the government and espionage.

A 78-page indictment seen by The Associated Press on Sunday against Turkish national Metin Topuz, jailed since October 2017, said he was in “very intense contact” with police officers who led a 2013 anti-corruption investigation that implicated top government officials.

 

The Turkish government accused U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen for attempting a “judicial coup” with that investigation and labeled his network a terror group. Gulen is also blamed for the 2016 failed coup but he denies the accusations.

 

The indictment said Topuz, who worked as a translator and fixer for the Drug Enforcement Agency in the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul, told authorities he had been in touch with several police officers with alleged links to Gulen for narcotic investigations.

 

The prosecutor said this was a “reflexive acknowledgment of his crimes” and claimed Topuz’s communication with the officers was “beyond the limits of consular work.”

 

The indictment includes telephone calls, text messages, CCTV frame grabs with suspected police officers, along with testimonies from four witnesses and two suspects.

He’s also accused of privacy violations and illegally recording personal data.

 

A call to Topuz’s lawyer on Sunday was not immediately returned.

 

A judge will decide whether the case will proceed to trial. Among the 30 complainants are Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and former ministers.

 

Topuz’s arrest increased tensions between the two NATO allies in 2017 and led to the suspension of bilateral visa services for more than two months.

 

Relations hit rock bottom last summer when U.S. President Donald Trump sanctioned two Turkish officials and increased tariffs on aluminum and steel imports, causing a huge loss in the Turkish lira’s value, to pressure the country to release an imprisoned American pastor. Pastor Andrew Brunson was convicted in October for terror links but later allowed to leave the country.

 

Two other local consular employees are under investigation in Turkey. Jailed translator Hamza Ulucay is accused of terror group membership with alleged links to outlawed Kurdish militants, and staff Mete Canturk was placed under house arrest.

 

Ties have been on the mend since, but a host of issues remain as irritants, including U.S. support for Kurdish militants in Syria Turkey considers terrorists, Turkey’s pledge to buy Russian missile defense systems and cleric Gulen’s continued residence in Pennsylvania.

 

The Turkish government launched a massive crackdown against Gulen’s network following the 2016 coup and arrested more than 77,000 people and sacked more than 130,000 public employees through emergency decrees. Critics say the purge went beyond the suspects of the coup with the arrest of journalists, lawmakers and activists.

 

 
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Sudanese-British Billionaire Mo Ibrahim Calls on Sudan’s Al-Bashir to Stop Deadly Protest Crackdowns

Posted on by SeeAF

A month of deadly protests across Sudan represents a “total rejection” of President Omar al-Bashir’s 30-year rule, said Mohammed “Mo” Ibrahim, a Sudanese-British billionaire and founder of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.

Since mid-December, Sudanese youth have taken to the streets to protest failed policies, repression, government-sanctioned torture, ongoing conflict and a deteriorating economy that has left many unsure of their next meal.

“People are hungry, and they see the looting of the country’s resources by the ruling clique,” Ibrahim told VOA by phone Friday. “Just, people had enough.”

Protests erupted last month over concerns about the government’s economic policies, Ahmed Elzobier, a Sudan researcher at Amnesty International, told VOA.

After violent crackdowns across the country, which human rights groups say have left more than 40 people dead, protesters’ demands have expanded, Elzobier added.

Now, they want the country’s leadership to step aside.

“People just eat bread because you cannot afford anything else,” Ibrahim said. “When they are pushed against the wall, they just have nothing to lose.”

Impunity

Ibriham decried a culture of impunity that has, so far, shielded Bashir and the ruling party, the National Congress Party. Politicians openly flaunt their power, Ibrahim said, while the country’s 40 million people can only watch.

“If 70 percent of the budget is allocated to the president, at his whims, to spend on the militias, the armies, the security forces — what is left? Thirty percent to support education, health, agriculture, road infrastructure, clean water?” Ibrahim said. “This is not a way to run a country.”

Ibrahim said protesters face “a huge array of armed forces” in the capital, Khartoum, and across the country.

“The people of Sudan were courageously going out in the street everywhere — in every single town and city and village in Sudan, demonstrating and asking those guys to go,” he said.

But security forces have abused their power, Elzobier added, putting protesters at risk.

“We received many reports from different activists and human rights defenders that the Sudanese security forces use lethal force — live ammunition — against protesters,” Elzobier said.

Government empathy

With protesters showing no signs of relenting, the government has made a point to acknowledge their concerns.

Bashir has called the youth “the future of Sudan” and said he respects their right to protest “in search of better conditions,” promising to make their “just demands” a reality, Al Arabiya, a Dubai-based, Saudi-owned news organization reported Sunday.

But the government has shown two sides, according to Amnesty.

Despite their gestures of appeasement, the ruling party also wants to protect the government and its grip on power. To do that, Elzobier said, they’ve enlisted the help of “shadowy groups” — heavily armed militias that travel in unmarked pickup trucks wearing masks.

The country’s former vice president has said this armed militia “will protect the regime at any cost,” Elzobier added.

Outside help

As the protesters press on, Amnesty has called for the immediate cease of lethal force, the unconditional release of peaceful protesters and an investigation into those who have committed crimes against civilians.

But Ibrahim said the Sudanese people need help outside the country to find justice.

“It just cannot go on unpunished, and we look for the international community to really stand up and say ‘enough is enough’,” Ibrahim said.

That could involve imposing sanctions on officials involved in the killing of protesters and more media coverage of the protests and the violence unfolding.

In 2017, the United States lifted long-standing sanctions against Sudan following months of diplomacy in a bid to boost the economy.

Ibrahim expressed doubt, however, that pursuing charges against Bashir in the International Criminal Court was the best course of action, suggesting instead that abandoning that route could entice Bashir to prevent further violence and deaths.

Room for optimism

Despite unrest in his home country, Ibrahim sees reasons for optimism in governance across Africa.

“There is a lot of positive things happening,” he said. “In Angola, in Botswana, in Namibia, in Ghana — I would hope in Nigeria.”

Each of these countries has, in the past five years, held successful elections or seen the peaceful transfer of power. Nigerians will head to the polls again in February.

“The battle now is moving towards peaceful elections, more transparency. I am optimistic, and I think we are moving forward — unfortunately not in my country.”

Ibrahim’s foundation, established in 2006, seeks to promote good leadership and governance in Africa through an annual index of governance, a cash prize for noteworthy achievements in leadership and other initiatives.
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Lebanon Uses Arab Summit to Call for Syrian Refugees’ Return

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Lebanon used an Arab economic summit on Sunday to call for the return of Syrian refugees to safe areas of their war-torn country, where the nearly eight-year civil war is still underway despite a recent series of government victories.

President Michel Aoun told the opening session that Lebanon is overwhelmed by the presence of Syrian and Palestinian refugees, who make about half the population of the tiny country, which is struggling with an economic crisis.

The meeting is the first economic and development summit to be held since 2013, and comes as Syria, Yemen and Libya remain gripped by violence and Iraq confronts a massive reconstruction challenge after its costly victory over the Islamic State group.

Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit said nearly half of all refugees “come from our Arab world.”

Qatar’s ruler attended the summit, which has been marred by divisions over readmitting Syria to the Arab League. But Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani arrived shortly before the summit and left minutes after it began.

Qatar has been one of the main backers of Syrian insurgents trying to overthrow President Bashar Assad.

The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have reopened their embassies in Damascus, and the visit by Qatar’s ruler is widely seen as a first step to restoring relations with Syria.

Sheikh Tamim and the president of Mauritania were the only heads of state from the 22-member Arab League who came to Beirut to attend the summit. Other countries sent lower-level delegations.

The other leaders’ absence appeared to be a snub to Lebanon, where groups led by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah had insisted that Assad should be invited.

“We regret the absences of some brotherly kings and presidents who have their justified excuses,” Aoun said without elaborating.

“We call for a safe return of Syrian refugees to their country, especially to stable areas that can be reached and areas of low levels of violence,” Aoun said in his opening address. “This should not be linked to reaching a political solution.”

Lebanon is home to some 1 million Syrian refugees, or a quarter of the country’s population.
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Humanitarian Issues to Figure Prominently at Davos Forum

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Heads of U.N. and international aid agencies will use the World Economic Forum’s influential platform to present humanitarian and human rights issues on behalf of millions of people caught in conflict, poverty and natural disasters. The Forum begins its annual weeklong meeting in the plush Swiss Alpine resort of Davos on Monday.

The World Economic Forum is best known for the many high-powered government and business leaders who make the annual pilgrimage to Davos to acquire lucrative deals and shape geopolitical events.

But the annual event also presents a robust humanitarian agenda. This year, the Forum, World Bank and International Committee of the Red Cross will launch a Humanitarian Investing Initiative. The aim is to seek new solutions for protracted humanitarian crises by moving from short-term to long-term funding to support fragile communities.

United Nations aid agencies will feature prominently during the week-long meeting. The World Food Program’s executive director, David Beasley, will co-host events, such as ‘conflict and hunger’ and ‘the use of digital technology in the humanitarian sector.’

WFP spokesman Herve Verhoosel says the group will be seeking support for its operations. He says many of the companies attending Davos understand that investments in food security are fundamental to business success.

“It saves lives and builds stronger markets around the world. In fact, it can increase GDPs by up to 16.5 percent and a person’s lifetime earnings by 46 percent,” he said.

With more than 3,000 of the world’s movers and shakers from 110 countries present, aid agencies see the Forum as a valuable opportunity to strengthen relationships with world leaders and keep their life-saving missions on the world’s agenda.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet will be attending events on a wide range of topics. Her spokeswoman, Ravina Shamdasani, says these include LGBTI or Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender and Intersex standards in businesses, and human rights and democracy in a changing world.

“A couple of events on women’s rights as human rights and female leadership. The importance of women playing a role in global affairs by creating a new architecture that allows them to fully participate as leaders and shapers,” she said.

The head of the U.N. Children’s Fund, Henrietta Fore will champion the needs of children and young people who are caught up in humanitarian crises or are being left behind because of extreme poverty and lack of development.

U.N. Development Program Administrator, Achim Steiner will seek to raise $100 million from Davos’ wealthy clientele to protect wild animals and their habitats.

 

 

 
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Syrian State Media: Blast Rocks Damascus

Posted on by SeeEA

A bombing in the Syrian capital Sunday targeted a military checkpoint on a main highway during rush hour, state media reported.

There was no immediate word on casualties from the blast in the southern neighborhood of Qazaz, near the highway leading into central Damascus. State TV gave few details about the explosion, which happened on the first working day of the week, but said it appeared to have been “a terrorist act.”

State news agency SANA said the blast targeted a military checkpoint in the area, adding that nearby roads were closed. It added that a second attack in the same area was thwarted by security forces.

However, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told the French news agency that the blast targeted a military intelligence department and left a number of dead and wounded.

“The explosion took place near a security branch in the south of the city. There are some people killed and injured, but we could not verify the toll immediately,” the war monitor told AFP.

It was unclear if the blast was caused by a bomb that was planted or a suicide attack, according to the monitor, which relies on a network of sources inside the country.

It said that shooting followed the explosion. 

Attacks have been rare in Damascus since Syrian government forces captured the last rebel-held neighborhoods and suburbs of the capital last year.

Bombings had left hundreds dead over the course of the nearly eight-year civil war.
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Trump Proposes Immigration Deal in Bid to End Shutdown

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In a bid to end the monthlong partial shutdown of the United States government, President Donald Trump is offering Democrats compromises on his hard-line immigration policies, but they were immediately knocked down by the opposition party. VOA’s White House bureau chief Steve Herman has the story.
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Women’s March in Washington Brings Heat on a Wintry Day

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The third annual Women’s March on Washington attracted a smaller turnout than the original event in 2017, held one day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration. But Saturday’s event was no less rollicking as women and men marched through the nation’s capital amid considerable controversy leading up to the rally. VOA’s Anna Kook has the details.
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Tshisekedi Declared Congo’s President, but Runner-Up Revolts

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Congo’s election crisis deepened early Sunday when the Constitutional Court confirmed the win of Felix Tshisekedi, rejecting claims of fraud, and runner-up Martin Fayulu promptly declared himself the country’s “only legitimate president.”

Fayulu’s supporters have alleged an extraordinary backroom deal by outgoing President Joseph Kabila to rig the vote in favor of the opposition after the ruling party’s candidate did so poorly that a Plan B was needed. Neither side has acknowledged the accusations.

The court, however, said Fayulu offered no proof to back his assertions that he had won easily based on leaked data attributed to the electoral commission.

Fayulu urged Congolese to take to the streets to peacefully protest what he called “constitutional coup d’etat,” accusing the court of validating false results. “It’s no secret … that you have elected me president,” he said.

Neither Congolese nor the international community should recognize Tshisekedi, nor obey him, Fayulu added.

Tshisekedi: Congo won

Tshisekedi said early Sunday that the Constitutional Court’s decision confirming him as the winner of the presidential election was a victory for the entire country.

“It is Congo that won,” said Tshisekedi, speaking to his supporters after the court decision. “It is not the victory of one camp against another. I am engaged in a campaign to reconcile all Congolese. … The Congo that we are going to form will not be a Congo of division, hatred or tribalism. It will be a reconciled Congo, a strong Congo that will be focused on development, peace and security.”

The largely untested Tshisekedi, son of the late, charismatic opposition leader Etienne, is to be inaugurated Tuesday. His supporters who had gathered outside the court cheered.

​African Union doubts

“It’s a shame that Mr. Fayulu wants to stay isolated,” Tshisekedi’s spokesman, Vidiye Tshimanga, told The Associated Press. He said the two men once had been part of an opposition coalition demanding that Kabila step down.

The new president will need everyone for the reconstruction of the country, Tshimanga said, as the Congolese people have “suffered a lot in recent years.”

The court’s declaration came shortly after the African Union in an unprecedented move asked Congo to delay announcing the final election results, citing “serious doubts” about the vote. It planned to send a high-level delegation Monday to find a way out of the crisis, fearing unrest spilling across borders of the vast Central African nation.

Congo’s government replied it was up to the courts.

The court turned away Fayulu’s request for a recount in the Dec. 30 vote.

Government spokesman Lambert Mende quickly acknowledged the court’s decision, congratulating Tshisekedi as Congo’s fifth president.

​Mineral rich country

The country of 80 million people, rich in the minerals key to smartphones, is moving close to achieving its first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since independence in 1960.

But observers have warned that the court’s upholding of the official results could lead to further unrest. At least 34 people have been killed since provisional results were released Jan. 10, the United Nations has said.

The court could have ordered a recount or ordered a new election.

It called unfounded a challenge filed by another candidate, Theodore Ngoy, that objected to the electoral commission’s last-minute decision to bar about 1 million voters from the election over a deadly Ebola virus outbreak.

The court said Tshisekedi won with more than 7 million votes, or 38 percent, and Fayulu received 34 percent. However, leaked data published by some media outlets, attributed to the electoral commission and representing 86 percent of the votes, show that Fayulu won 59 percent while Tshisekedi received 19 percent.

​Threat to Kabila, allies

Fayulu, a lawmaker and businessman who is outspoken about cleaning up Congo’s sprawling corruption, is widely seen as posing more of a threat to Kabila, his allies and the vast wealth they have amassed.

All of the election results, not just the presidential ones, had been widely questioned after Kabila’s ruling coalition won a majority in legislative and provincial votes while its presidential candidate finished a distant third.

Congo’s election was meant to take place in late 2016, and many Congolese worried that Kabila, in power since 2001, was seeking a way to stay in office. Barred from serving three consecutive terms, Kabila already has hinted he might run again in 2023.

After Tshisekedi was announced as the surprise winner in provisional results Jan. 10, some Congolese weary of turmoil appeared to decide that replacing Kabila with an opposition figure was enough, despite questions about the vote.

Reflecting the yearning for stability, 33 Congolese non-governmental groups and civil society movements Thursday called on people to comply with whatever the court rules to “preserve the peace.”

With that perhaps in mind, Tshisekedi’s party sharply rejected the AU’s attempted intervention.

The continental body’s stance is “the work of some mining lobbies seeking to destabilize the Democratic Republic of Congo in order to perpetuate the looting of this country,” the party’s secretary-general, Jean-Marc Kabund, said in a statement.

Ahead of the court’s ruling, hundreds of Tshisekedi’s supporters were in the streets of the capital, Kinshasa, waving tree branches and banners reading “Congo for the Congolese.”
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Students in MAGA Hats Mock Native American After Rally 

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A diocese in Kentucky apologized Saturday after videos emerged showing students from a Catholic boys high school mocking Native Americans outside the Lincoln Memorial after a rally in Washington. 

 

The Indigenous Peoples March in Washington on Friday coincided with the March for Life, which drew thousands of anti-abortion protesters, including a group from Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills. 

 

Videos circulating online show a youth staring at and standing extremely close to Nathan Phillips, a 64-year-old Native American man singing and playing a drum.  

  

Other students, some wearing Covington clothing and many wearing “Make America Great Again” hats and sweatshirts, surrounded them, chanting, laughing and jeering.  

‘Appropriate’ punishment

  

In a joint statement, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington and Covington Catholic High School apologized to Phillips. Officials said they are investigating and will take “appropriate action, up to and including expulsion.”  

  

“We extend our deepest apologies to Mr. Phillips,” the statement read. “This behavior is opposed to the church’s teachings on the dignity and respect of the human person.” 

According to the Indian Country Today website, Phillips is an Omaha elder and Vietnam veteran who holds an annual ceremony honoring Native American veterans at Arlington National Cemetery. 

 

“When I was there singing, I heard them saying, ‘Build that wall, build that wall,’ ” Phillips said, as he wiped away tears in a video posted on Instagram. “This is indigenous lands. We’re not supposed to have walls here. We never did.”

He told The Washington Post that while he was drumming, he thought about his wife, Shoshana, who died of bone marrow cancer nearly four years ago, and the threats that indigenous communities around the world are facing. 

 

“I felt like the spirit was talking through me,” Phillips told the newspaper.

State Rep. Ruth Buffalo, a North Dakota state lawmaker and member of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, said she was saddened to see students showing disrespect to an elder who is also a U.S. military veteran at what was supposed to be a celebration of all cultures. 

 

“The behavior shown in that video is just a snapshot of what indigenous people have faced and are continuing to face,” Buffalo said. 

 

She said she hoped it would lead to some kind of meeting with the students to provide education on issues facing Native Americans. 

Online fury

 

The videos prompted a torrent of outrage online. Actress and activist Alyssa Milano tweeted that the footage “brought me to tears,” while actor Chris Evans tweeted that the students’ actions were “appalling” and “shameful.” 

 

U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., who is a member of the Pueblo of Laguna and had been at the rally earlier in the day, used Twitter to sharply criticize what she called a “heartbreaking” display of “blatant hate, disrespect and intolerance.” 

Haaland, who is also Catholic, told The Associated Press she was particularly saddened to see the boys mocking an elder, who is revered in Native American culture. She placed some of the blame on President Donald Trump, who has used Indian names like Pocahontas as an insult.

“It is sad that we have a president who uses Native American women’s names as racial slurs, and that’s an example that these kids are clearly following, considering the fact that they had their Make America Great Again hats on,” Haaland said. “He’s really brought out the worst in people.”
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Congo Court Declares Tshisekedi Elected President

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Congo’s Constitutional Court early Sunday declared the election of Felix Tshisekedi as president, rejecting challenges to the vote by runner-up Martin Fayulu, who had alleged fraud.

Tshisekedi, son of the late, charismatic opposition leader Etienne, is now set to be inaugurated Tuesday.

The declaration came shortly after the African Union in an unprecedented move asked Congo to delay announcing the final election results, citing “serious doubts” about the vote. It planned to send a high-level delegation Monday to find a way out of the crisis, fearing unrest spilling across borders of the vast Central African nation.

The court turned away Fayulu’s request for a recount in the Dec. 30 vote. He had accused Congo’s electoral commission of announcing results dramatically different from ones posted at polling stations around the country. Leaked data attributed to the commission shows that Fayulu easily won.

But the court said Fayulu did not put forward proof to back his claims.

Backroom deal alleged

Outside court, Fayulu’s supporters have alleged that outgoing President Joseph Kabila made a backroom deal with the largely untested Tshisekedi once it became clear that the ruling party’s candidate did poorly in the election. Neither party has acknowledged the accusations.

Congo, rich in the minerals key to smartphones, is moving close to achieving its first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since independence in 1960.

But observers have warned that the court’s upholding of the official results could lead to further unrest. At least 34 people have been killed since provisional results were released on Jan. 10, the United Nations has said.

There was no immediate reaction early Sunday from Tshisekedi, who has said little publicly since the election, or Fayulu. Many people in the courtroom erupted in cheers after the declaration, along with Tshisekedi supporters who had gathered outside.

The court could have ordered a recount or ordered a new election.

It called unfounded a challenge filed by another candidate, Theodore Ngoy, that objected to the electoral commission’s last-minute decision to bar about 1 million voters from the election over a deadly Ebola virus outbreak.

Vote totals disputed

The court said Tshisekedi won with more than 7 million votes, or 38 percent, and Fayulu received 34 percent. However, leaked data published by some media outlets, attributed to the electoral commission and representing 86 percent of the votes, show that Fayulu won 59 percent while Tshisekedi received 19 percent.

Ahead of the court’s decision, both Congo’s government and Tshisekedi’s party dismissed the AU’s request to delay the final results.

Congo’s government called it a matter for the court. Tshisekedi’s party rejected the request outright.

The continental body’s stance is “the work of some mining lobbies seeking to destabilize the Democratic Republic of Congo in order to perpetuate the looting of this country,” the secretary-general of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress party, Jean-Marc Kabund, said in a statement.

He called on the Congolese people to mobilize and defend the mineral-rich country’s sovereignty.

Ahead of the ruling, hundreds of Tshisekedi’s supporters were in the streets of the capital, Kinshasa, waving tree branches and banners reading “Congo for the Congolese.”
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Survivors: Up to 117 Missing From Sunken Boat Off Libya 

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Three survivors of the sinking of a rubber dinghy in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya say up to 117 other migrants were aboard at the time, a U.N. migration official said Saturday. 

It appeared to be the latest tragedy on the dangerous central Mediterranean route from North Africa to Europe. 

Flavio Di Giacomo of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) told Italian state TV that “unfortunately about 120” migrants were reported by survivors to have been on the overloaded smugglers’ dinghy when it was launched from Libyan shores on Thursday evening. 

“After a few hours, it began sinking and people began drowning,” Di Giacomo said. 

Among the missing were 10 women and two children, including a 2-month-old baby, he said. Survivors indicated their fellow migrants came from Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Gambia and Sudan, Di Giacomo said. 

Italian President Sergio Mattarella, who has urged that the government show more compassion for migrants, expressed his “deep sorrow for the tragedy that has taken place in the Mediterranean.” 

Premier Giuseppe Conte told reporters he was “shocked” at the reports of the sinking and vowed that Italy would continue to combat human traffickers. 

Italy’s populist government has banned private rescue boats from bringing migrants to Italian shores. Together with Malta, Italy has also launched probes of the rescue groups themselves, claiming their operations might facilitate trafficking. 

Friday rescue

The three survivors of the sinking were plucked to safety by an Italian navy helicopter on Friday afternoon, the navy said.  

The Italian navy said when its patrol plane spotted the sinking dinghy it had about 20 persons aboard. The plane’s crew launched two life rafts near the dinghy, which inflated, and a navy destroyer 100 nautical miles (200 kilometers) away sent a helicopter to the scene.  

That helicopter rescued the survivors, two from a life raft and one from the water, the navy said, adding that all had hypothermia. 

They were flown to Lampedusa, an Italian island near Sicily, and treated in a hospital, Di Giacomo said.   

Many migrants cannot afford to pay for life vests, an extra cost when boarding a smuggler’s boat in Libya. The survivors said the migrants aboard the dinghy didn’t have any. 

It wasn’t immediately clear exactly how many migrants might have died before the navy plane spotted the sinking dinghy. 

The Italian Coast Guard says Libya asked a nearby cargo ship to search for survivors but the ship reported it found no one. 

Libyan navy spokesman Ayoub Gassim said one of its boats was sent Friday to the scene but it “had a mechanical issue and we had to call it back.” The official said 50 migrants were believed to have been aboard the dinghy when it set sail. 

According to the IOM, at least 2,297 people died at sea or went missing trying to reach Europe in 2018. In all, 116,959 migrants reached Europe by sea routes last year, it says. 

The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said Saturday it was “appalled” at the news of the latest migrant deaths in the Mediterranean. In a statement from its Geneva headquarters, it said in addition to those missing off Libya, 53 people died in recent days in the western Mediterranean, where one survivor was rescued by a fishing boat after being stranded for more than 24 hours at sea.  

Can’t be ignored

“We cannot turn a blind eye to the high numbers of people dying on Europe’s doorstep,” said U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. 

Italy has trained and equipped the Libyan coast guard so it can intercept and rescue more migrant boats closer to their shores. But U.N. refugee officials and rights advocates say the migrants rescued by the Libyans are returned to dangerous, overcrowded detention facilities, where detainees face insufficient rations, rape, beatings and torture. 

Libyan navy official Ayoub Gassim said Saturday that the Libyan navy had stopped two smuggling boats, one with 67 migrants aboard and the other with 20.  

In a separate operation, the German rescue group Sea-Watch said it rescued 47 people from a rubber boat off the coast of Libya. 

After Italy’s populist government took power in June 2018, the number of migrants reaching Italy after rescue at sea dropped off sharply, as anti-migrant Interior Minister Matteo Salvini refused to let humanitarian rescue vessels enter Italian ports.

Salvini says Italy has received hundreds of thousands of migrants rescued from Libyan-based smugglers in unseaworthy boats in the last few years and demands that other European Union countries do their part. 

After the latest sea tragedy, Salvini said that when humanitarian rescue boats patrol off Libya, “the smugglers resume their dirty trafficking [and] people start dying again.” 
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Clashes Break Out in France in Latest ‘Yellow Vest’ Protest

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Clashes broke out throughout France on Saturday, as an estimated 84,000 “yellow vest” demonstrators took to the streets in a 10th consecutive weekend of protests against President Emmanuel Macron’s government. 

The demonstrations passed off relatively peacefully in Paris where 7,000 turned up, although Reuters Television reporters saw scuffles briefly break out between police and demonstrators, some wearing masks, in the capital’s Invalides district. 

Protesters threw firecrackers, bottles and stones at police, who responded with water canon and tear gas to push them back. 

“Macron, resign!” some protesters shouted. 

The protests, named after the fluorescent jackets French motorists are required to carry in their cars, began in November over plans to raise fuel taxes. The number of demonstrators on Saturday was roughly the same as last week’s figure.  

The fuel tax hikes were subsequently scrapped, yet the movement has morphed into a broader protest against Macron’s government and general anger over taxes and the cost of living. 

“How can we continue to live with so little?” said Bernard Grignan, a 65-year old retired manager who took part in the Paris demonstrations. 

 

Trouble in Toulouse

In Paris, some demonstrators carried mock coffins symbolizing the 10 people who have died during the protests, mainly because of accidents when demonstrators blocked roads. 

December’s demonstrations saw some of the worst violence in decades in Paris, as rioters burned cars and vandalized shops. 

Protests in Paris this month have not seen the same level of trouble, although video of a former French boxing champion punching and kicking police in Paris shocked many. 

Despite a relative decline in crowd trouble in Paris, however, disturbances have flared up in other cities. 

According to official figures, the biggest demonstration on Saturday occurred in the southern city of Toulouse, where around 10,000 people took part. The demonstration turned violent as evening fell, as protesters vandalized a bank and other shops. 

Eight people were injured and there were 23 arrests. Reuters correspondents also reported disturbances in Bordeaux, Lyon and Marseille, while the local government building was attacked in Angers, northwest of Paris. 

Macron has launched a series of national debates to help quell public discontent and restore his standing.  

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen — soundly beaten by Macron in the 2017 presidential election — is looking to take advantage of the “yellow vest” crisis and win ground in the May 2019 European Parliament elections. 

‘Legitimate’ revolt

On Saturday, Le Pen reiterated her support for the protesters at a meeting near Marseille, at which she described the movement as a “legitimate” and “courageous” revolt. 

The Angers member of Parliament, Matthieu Orphelin, a member of Macron’s LREM centrist party, said he would cancel talks with members of the “yellow vests” in light of the trouble in Angers. 

“It fills me with fury to see our beautiful town attacked in this way, in particular the damage caused to symbols of the republic,” Orphelin said in a statement. 
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Ethiopia Readies ‘Massive Offensive’ on al-Shabab in Somalia

Posted on by SeeAF

The Ethiopian National Defense Force on Saturday confirmed an ambush by al-Shabab extremists on an Ethiopian peacekeeping convoy in neighboring Somalia and said Ethiopian forces are preparing a “massive offensive” in response.

The statement rejected an al-Shabab claim that several Ethiopian troops were killed.

The ambush was reported as the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the deadly hotel assault in Nairobi and deadly attacks on forces inside Somalia.

Ethiopia contributes troops to a multinational African Union peacekeeping mission. It also has troops in Somalia independently under Ethiopian army command.

The statement said the ambush occurred when the convoy was traveling Burhakaba to Baidoa in Somalia’s southwest.

A separate statement by the AU force said the ambush occurred on Friday and AU troops returned fire, killing four extremists and wounding several others.

Three soldiers with the AU force were wounded, the statement said.

Al-Shabab, which formed more than a decade ago in response to the presence of Ethiopian forces inside Somalia, among other reasons, has never managed to orchestrate a major attack inside the Ethiopian heartland, though it has carried out major attacks in neighboring Kenya.

In late October, al-Shabab claimed killing 30 Ethiopian troops inside Somalia. Weeks before that, Ethiopian state media outlets reported that the Ethiopian Air Force killed 70 al-Shabab members after the extremist group tried to attack Ethiopian forces.
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Trump Paying Tribute to Americans Killed in Syrian Attack

Posted on by SeeEA

President Donald Trump was paying tribute Saturday to the four Americans killed in a suicide bomb attack in Syria this week as he set off to Dover Air Force Base for the return of their remains.

The trip was not listed on the president’s public schedule that was released Friday night, but he tweeted the news before he left the White House in the morning.

“Will be leaving for Dover to be with the families of 4 very special people who lost their lives in service to our Country!” he wrote. He later told reporters: “When I’m going to meet relatives of some of our great, great heroes that have fallen, I think it might be the toughest thing I have to do as president.”

The visit comes during a budget fight that has consumed Washington for the past month, shuttering parts of the federal government and leaving hundreds of thousands of workers without pay. Raising the stakes in his dispute with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the president on Thursday abruptly canceled her military flight, hours before she and a congressional delegation were to depart for Afghanistan on a previously undisclosed visit to U.S. troops.

Trump planned an afternoon announcement that was expected to outline a deal the White House hopes might pave the way for the shutdown’s end.

Discretion advised, graphic images!

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attack in the northern Syrian town of Manbij that came about a month after Trump had declared that the militants had been defeated and that he was withdrawing U.S. forces from the country.

The attack highlighted the threat still posed by IS despite Trump’s assertion and could complicate that withdrawal plan. Some of his senior advisers have disagreed with the decision and have offered an evolving timetable for the removal of the approximately 2,000 U.S. troops.

The bombing, which also wounded three U.S. troops, was the deadliest assault on U.S. forces in Syria since they went into the country in 2015.

At least 16 people were killed, and the dead were said to have included a number of fighters with the Syrian Democratic Forces, who have fought alongside the Americans against IS.

The Pentagon has identified three of the four Americans killed:

—Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jonathan R. Farmer, 37, of Boynton Beach, Florida, who was based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

—Navy Chief Cryptologic Technician (Interpretive) Shannon M. Kent, 35, of Pine Plains, New York, and based at Fort Meade, Maryland.

—civilian Scott A. Wirtz from St. Louis.

The Pentagon hasn’t identified the fourth casualty, a civilian contractor.

Trump has made one other visit to Dover during his presidency, soon after taking office. On Feb. 1, 2017, Trump honored the returning remains of a U.S. Navy SEAL killed in a raid in Yemen. Chief Special Warfare Operator William “Ryan” Owens, a 36-year-old from Peoria, Illinois, was the first known U.S. combat casualty since Trump became president.

Over the past month, Trump and others have appeared to adjust the Syria pullout timeline, and U.S. officials have suggested it will likely take several months to safely withdraw American forces from Syria.

In a Dec. 19 tweet announcing the withdrawal, Trump had said, “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.” He said the troops would begin coming home “now.” That plan triggered immediate pushback from military leaders and led to the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

A leading U.S. voice on foreign policy, Sen. Lindsey Graham, said during a visit Saturday to Turkey that an American withdrawal from Syria that had not been thought through would lead to “chaos” and “an Iraq on steroids.” Graham, R-S.C., urged Trump not to get out without a plan and said the goal of destroying IS militants in Syria had not yet been accomplished.

Trump said before arriving in Dover that IS has lost almost all its territory but “that doesn’t mean you’re not going to have somebody around.” He also said “we can be pulling back but we’ve been hitting ISIS very hard over the last three weeks … and it’s moving along very well.”

Manbij is the main town on the westernmost edge of Syrian territory held by the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds, running along the border with Turkey. Mixed Kurdish-Arab Syrian forces liberated Manbij from IS in 2016 with help from the U.S.-led coalition.

But Kurdish control of the town infuriated Turkey, which views the main U.S. Kurdish ally, the YPG militia, as “terrorists” linked to Kurdish insurgents on its own soil.

Trump reinforced his withdrawal decision during a meeting with about a half-dozen GOP senators late Wednesday at the White House.

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who was at the meeting, told reporters on a conference call that the president remained “steadfast” in his decision not to stay in Syria – or Afghanistan – “forever.” But the senator did not disclose the latest thinking on the withdrawal timeline.

Paul said Trump told the group, “We’re not going to continue the way we’ve done it.”
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Trump Plans ‘Major Announcement’ on Border, Longest Shutdown

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President Donald Trump said he’ll be making a “major announcement” on the government shutdown and the southern border on Saturday afternoon as the standstill over his border wall continues into its fifth week.

Democrats are now proposing hundreds of millions of dollars for new immigration judges and improvements to ports of entry from Mexico but nothing for the wall, a House aide said, as the party begins fleshing out its vision of improving border security.

After days of bitter clashes between Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, it was unclear if the twin developments represented serious steps toward resolving the nasty partisan fight or posturing. But they were the first tangible signs of movement in a dispute that has caused a partial government shutdown, which Saturday was entering its record 29th day.

Trump’s refusal to sign spending bills that lack $5.7 billion he wants to start constructing that wall, which Democrats oppose, has prompted the shutdown.

The White House declined to provide details late Friday about what the president would be announcing. But Trump was not expected to sign the national emergency declaration he’s been threatening as an option to circumvent Congress, according to two people familiar with the planning.

Instead, Trump was expected to propose the outlines of a new deal that the administration believes could potentially pave the way to an end to the shutdown, according to one of the people. They were not authorized to discuss the announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The move, amid a shutdown that has left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without paychecks, represents the first major overture by the president since Jan. 8, when he delivered an Oval Office address making the public case for his border wall. Democrats have said they will not negotiate until the government reopens, raising questions about how Trump might move the ball forward.

Democrats were proposing $563 million to hire 75 more immigration judges, who currently face large backlogs processing cases, and $524 million to improve ports of entry in Calexico, California, and San Luis, Arizona, the Democratic House aide said. The money is to be added to spending bills, largely negotiated between the House and Senate, that the House plans to vote on next week.

In addition, Democrats were working toward adding money for more border security personnel and for sensors and other technology to a separate bill financing the Department of Homeland Security, but no funds for a wall or other physical barriers, the aide said.

It was possible Democrats would unveil that measure next week as the cornerstone of their border security alternative to Trump’s wall, the aide said. Earlier Friday, Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., who chairs the House Appropriations Committee’s homeland security subcommittee, said in an interview that some Democrats were asking leaders, “What is our plan?”

The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the details publicly. The Democrats’ spending plans were first reported by The New York Times.

In a video posted on his Twitter feed late Friday, Trump said both sides should “take the politics out of it” and “get to work” to “make a deal.” But he also repeated his warnings, saying: “We have to secure our southern border. If we don’t do that, we’re a very, very sad and foolish lot.”

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said only that Trump was “going to continue fighting for border security” and “going to continue looking for the solution” to end what the administration had repeatedly referred to as a “humanitarian and national security crisis at the border.”

While few would argue that a humanitarian crisis is unfolding at the U.S.-Mexico border, as the demand for entry by migrants and the Trump administration’s hardline response overwhelm border resources, critics say Trump has dramatically exaggerated the security risks and argue that a wall would do little to solve existing problems.

Trump will be speaking from the Diplomatic Room at 3 p.m.

Trump’s Friday evening tweeted announcement came after Pelosi, D-Calif., on Friday canceled her plans to travel by commercial plane to visit U.S. troops in Afghanistan, saying Trump had caused a security risk by talking about the trip. The White House said there was no such leak.

It was the latest turn — and potentially the most dangerous — in the high-stakes brinkmanship between Trump and Pelosi that has been playing out against the stalled negotiations over how to end the partial government shutdown.

And it showed once again the willingness of the former hard-charging businessman to hit hard when challenged, as he was earlier this week when Pelosi suggested postponing his State of the Union address until after the shutdown.

It was an unusually combative week between the executive and legislative branches.

Tensions flared when Pelosi suggested Trump postpone the annual State of the Union address, a grand Washington tradition — and a platform for his border wall fight with Democrats — that was tentatively scheduled for Jan. 29.

Trump never responded directly. Instead, he abruptly canceled Pelosi’s military flight on Thursday, hours before she and a congressional delegation were to depart for Afghanistan on the previously undisclosed visit to U.S. troops.

Trump belittled the trip as a “public relations event” — even though he had just made a similar stop in a conflict zone during the shutdown — and said it would be best if Pelosi remained in Washington to negotiate to reopen the government.

Pelosi, undeterred, quietly began making her own preparations for the overseas trip.

But on Friday, Pelosi said her plan to travel by commercial plane had been “leaked” by the White House.

“The administration leaked that we were traveling commercially,” Pelosi told reporters at the Capitol. She said it was “very irresponsible on the part of the president.”

She said the State Department told her “the president outing” the original trip made the scene on the ground in Afghanistan “more dangerous because it’s a signal to the bad actors that we’re coming.”

The White House said it had leaked nothing that would cause a security risk.

Denying military aircraft to a senior lawmaker — let alone the speaker, who is second in line to the presidency after the vice president, traveling to a combat region — is very rare.

Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California slammed Trump for revealing the closely held travel plan, calling it “completely and utterly irresponsible in every way.”

Some Republicans expressed frustration. Sen. Lindsey Graham tweeted, “One sophomoric response does not deserve another.” He called Pelosi’s State of the Union move “very irresponsible and blatantly political” but said Trump’s reaction was “also inappropriate.”
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UNHCR Calls on Cameroon to Halt Forcible Returns of Nigerian Refugees

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The UN refugee agency says it is shocked by reports that Cameroonian authorities have forcibly returned some 9,000 Nigerian refugees who fled across the border earlier in the week in search of safety from militant attacks.  

The sudden mass exodus of thousands of Nigerian refugees into Cameroon followed attacks by Boko Haram militants in the small border town of Rann in Nigeria’s Borno State on Monday.

The militants reportedly targeted military installations, civilian and humanitarian facilities.  The United Nations reports the market and shelters housing thousands of internally displaced people in Rann were burned down by the attackers.  At least 14 people are reported killed.

UN refugee spokesman, Babar Baloch, tells VOA Cameroon’s expulsion of the thousands of Nigerian refugees fleeing for their lives was totally unexpected and distressing.

“It is really alarming for us to see desperate people who have just arrived in Cameroon seeking safety in this remote part and then for them to be ending up back into a situation of danger is extremely worrying,” said Baloch.

Baloch says the UNHCR and its partners were making preparations to provide humanitarian aid to the newly arriving refugees when they heard the refugees were being summarily expelled.

“It is unexpected because there were no indications.  We were already in touch with the Cameroonian authorities in terms of how to take care of the newly arrived refugees and then we found out reports that they may have been sent back,” said Baloch.

Baloch says there are concerns for the possibly precarious situation of another 6,000 Nigerian refugees who fled to Cameroon several weeks ago.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi is appealing to Cameroon to continue its open-door policy toward those seeking refuge.  He is calling for an immediate halt to any more returns.  He says Cameroon must ensure compliance with its obligations under national and international law to protect refugees in fear of their lives.  
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Thousands of Women Expected in US Capital for 3rd Annual March

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Thousands of women are gathering in cities in the United States and around the world Saturday for the third annual Women’s March to demand gender equality and call attention to environmental concerns and immigrant rights, among other issues.

The beginning

The first Women’s March was held in 2017, the day after Donald Trump was sworn in as president of the United States.

On Trump’s first full day in office, hundreds of thousands of women descended on Washington in a display of popular opposition to the new administration and its policies. Sister marches were held in more than 600 locations in the U.S. and across the globe in solidarity with the marchers in Washington.

Peter Newsham, Washington’s interim police chief at the time, said of the march in the U.S. capital, “The crowd stretches so far that there’s no room left to march.”

Many of the women wore knitted pink “pussycat” hats, featuring small catlike ears, to show their solidarity with the anti-Trump sentiments and as an oblique reference to vulgar comments Trump was known to have made years before he entered politics.

​Moment to movement

In 2018, organizers of the Women’s March sought to build on the first rally by focusing on politics and the power of women voters. They held the second march in Nevada, a battleground state for the midterm elections later in the year. The rally touting the message “Power to the Polls” focused on voter registration, featuring activists and members of Congress as speakers.

As in 2017, sister marches were held in cities across the U.S. and thousands of women also marched in London, Paris, Sydney and other European and Australian cities.

In 2019, the organizers are bringing the march back to Washington. Hopes were high for this year’s turnout, especially after a record 102 women were elected to the House of Representatives in the midterms at the end of last year.

​A growing controversy

Several prominent women’s and civil rights organization are absent from the list of partners published on the Women’s March website.

Among those that had partnered with the group in the past, but missing in 2019, are civil rights organization Southern Poverty Law Center and the political action committee Emily’s List. By late Tuesday, the Democratic National Committee had also withdrawn its name from the list of partners.

The controversy surrounds several Women’s March leaders who have been accused of holding racist and anti-Semitic views.

Organizers have repeatedly denied all accusations of misconduct or using inappropriate speech.

The issue resurfaced when two of the march’s organizers appeared on ABC talk show The View on Monday and refused to denounce Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who has made repeated anti-Semitic and anti-white remarks.

When asked why she had posted a photo of Farrakhan on Instagram with a caption that included the hashtag for the title “Greatest Of All Time,” Women’s March’s co-president Tamika Mallory said, “I didn’t call him the greatest of all time because of his rhetoric. I called him the greatest of all time because of what he’s done in black communities.”

Mallory’s co-president, Bob Bland, denied allegations printed in The New York Times and the Jewish magazine Tablet that members of the organization had expressed anti-Semitic beliefs at a meeting behind closed doors.

“The people that the journalist spoke to did not tell the truth, period, full stop,” Bland said. “The Women’s March unequivocally condemns anti-Semitism, bigotry, transphobia. … We condemn any statements of hate.”

​Going forward

Some marchgoers say they are not deterred.

“The controversy has certainly influenced conversations around my decision to attend or not. Though it never was going to stop me, even more so I feel it’s important to attend,” said Naomi Zipursky of San Francisco, who is attending the local march there Saturday.

“By not showing up, I don’t even allow the conversation to begin and only create a bigger gap.”

“The thought that I, as a Jewish woman, wouldn’t be welcome or would need to leave part of my identity at the door in order to attend the march is disheartening and frankly, alienating,” Zipursky said. “(But) I also believe that what one person may say or do doesn’t necessarily represent what an entire organization may stand for.”

A separate “March for ALL Women” is planned for Saturday in the U.S. capital, with organizers rallying those who may feel the main march is divisive and not inclusive.

Many participants don’t think the marches will ever compare to the first one. 

“It’s going to be very hard to pull off the momentum of the first women’s march,” said Mary Tablante, communications officer at the Asian Americans Advancing Justice. “I am still going (this year) because I do think they are trying to improve it. There’s still a lot of work to be done in the movement.”

Despite the controversy, marches are planned in almost every U.S. state. ABC News reports some states will hold multiple marches: California plans to have more than 30 marches, New York 15, Texas, 13 and Florida 11. Michigan will host eight and Pennsylvania seven.

Marches are also planned in more than a dozen European nations, as well as in Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Pakistan, Israel, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, and South Africa, among others.
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As US-China Relations Cool, Iowa Farmers Hope History With Chinese Preserves Trade

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The trade war between Washington and Beijing is hurting farmers who grow huge amounts of soybeans in Iowa for export to the massive Chinese market.

Farmers in Iowa hope that the strong commercial and close personal relationships that China and the U.S. farm state have nurtured for many years will help the two sides overcome complications like the record U.S. trade deficit with China.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has visited Iowa farmers repeatedly over the past couple of decades and former Iowa governor Terry Branstad is now the U.S. ambassador to Beijing.

The close ties have been strained by Washington’s allegations that China unfairly manipulates markets, steals American intellectual property, and creates bureaucratic obstacles to trade. China also accuses the United States of unfair practices.

​Tariff war

The United States imposed tariffs on Chinese exports, and Beijing retaliated with tariffs on American agricultural products.

That meant that Iowa soybeans were more expensive and less competitive on global markets.

Demand for U.S. soybeans — and prices paid to U.S. farmers — plunged $85 a metric ton.

An Iowa farmer who manages several farms, including 153 hectares of soybeans, says his profits fell 100 percent for 2018. David Miller is not happy to lose money but says without the tariffs, China would not pay any attention to the talks.

​Needing each other

China really needs what Iowa produces, according to Grant Kimberley, the marketing manager for the Iowa Soybean Association, who has been to China more than 20 times.

“China needs soybeans … because their middle class has grown, and that means they are eating more protein in their diet, more meat, and if you have more meat production, you have to have more soybeans to feed those animals,” he said.

Kimberley’s family runs a 600 hectare farm, 48 kilometers from Des Moines, which was one of the places visited by Xi, who saw that it uses more advanced equipment and technology than is available to Chinese farmers.

The former director of Iowa’s department of natural resources, Roger Lande, and his wife, Sarah, have twice hosted Xi, at their home in the small town of Muscatine.

Roger Lande says sometimes China does things “we don’t like,” but all relationships, with family, friends and business associates, have ups and downs.

Kimberley is optimistic things will work out. 

“Because that’s a long-standing relationship that’s been in place for 35 years,” he said. And “I think the overall underlying support and the people that are involved between the states and the province is still strong. And, and everybody recognizes that, over the long term, eventually this will get resolved,” he added.

Nevertheless, some farmers and U.S. experts worry that a lengthy dispute could mean American farmers permanently lose much of this crucial market. 

As tariffs raised the cost of U.S. soybeans, Chinese pork producers have bought more beans from Brazil and other nations. In the future, they might also encourage Chinese farmers to boost production, or use more corn to feed their livestock.
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Graham: US, Saudis Cannot Move on Until Prince ‘Dealt With’

Posted on by SeeEA

Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham said Saturday the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia cannot move forward until Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is “dealt with,” without being more specific.

Speaking in Ankara a day after meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Graham also said Congress will reintroduce sanctions against those involved in the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

“The relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia cannot move forward until Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is dealt with,” Graham said.

Khashoggi was a prominent Saudi journalist and U.S. resident who wrote opinion columns for The Washington Post. He was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October.

Riyadh initially denied knowledge of Khashoggi’s disappearance, then offered contradictory explanations, including that he was killed in a rogue operation.

Saudi officials have said the crown prince knew nothing of the killing. Saudi Arabia said last year that 21 Saudis were taken into custody in relation to the Khashoggi case, 11 of whom have been indicted and referred to trial.

Crown Prince Mohammed’s top aide Saud al-Qahtani was dismissed after overseeing the operation.

The United States imposed economic sanctions on 17 Saudi officials in November for their role in the Khashoggi killing.

The Senate voted in December to move ahead with a resolution to end U.S. military support for the Saudi-led coalition in the war in Yemen, and lawmakers vowed to push for sanctions against the kingdom in the new year.
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US Court Holds Iranian-American Journalist as Material Witness

Posted on by SeeEA

A U.S. court has confirmed that an Iranian-American anchorwoman who works for Iran’s state television has been jailed in the United States as a material witness but has not been charged with any crime.

Court officials say they expect Marzieh Hashemi to be released immediately after her testimony to a grand jury in Washington.

Officials have not released details about the criminal case in which Hashemi has been named as a witness.

Iran has protested the arrest of Hashemi, who was born in the United States and is a presenter on Iran’s English-language Press TV. Hashemi, 59, married an Iranian man and converted to Islam.

Federal agents detained Hashemi last Sunday in the St. Louis airport after she visited with relatives in the area.

The chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Beryl Howell, unsealed documents related to Hashemi’s detention on Friday, which said she has twice appeared before the court and has been appointed an attorney.

The media rights group, Committee to Protect Journalists, issued a statement early Friday expressing concern over Hashemi’s detention. The New York-based group asked the Justice Department to disclose the reason for her arrest and noted that “Iran routinely jails journalists.”

U.S. law allows judges to detain witnesses if they are considered unlikely to respond to a subpoena and are believed to be a flight risk.
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Safari Club Event Vendors Sold Products Made From Threatened Wildlife

Posted on by SeeAF

Photos and video taken by animal welfare activists at a recent trophy hunting convention show an array of products crafted from the body parts of threatened big-game animals, including boots, chaps, belts and furniture labeled as elephant leather.

Vendors at the Safari Club International event last week in Reno, Nevada, also were recorded hawking African vacations to shoot captive-bred lions raised in pens. The club has previously said it wouldn’t allow the sale of so-called canned hunts at its events.

The hidden camera footage was released Friday by the Humane Society of the United States. Both federal and state laws restrict the commercial sale of hides from African elephants, which are protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Safari Club spokeswoman Rachel Harris did not respond Friday to a phone message seeking comment. The group also didn’t respond to emailed questions about what steps it takes to ensure exhibitors at its events are following the law.

The club denied a request earlier this month from The Associated Press for a media credential to attend its annual conference, billed as the nation’s premier big-game hunting show.

​‘Hunters’ heaven’

“This hunters’ heaven has everything the mind can dream of and occupies more than 650,000 square feet of exhibit space,” the group’s web site boasts. “Six continents are under one roof where SCI members come to book hunts, rendezvous with old friends and shop for the latest guns and hunting equipment.”

Humane Society investigators purchased tickets to the conference and prowled the exhibit booths with concealed cameras. They recorded racks of clothing and other products made from the hides, bones and teeth of imperiled African wildlife.

“Making money off the opportunity to kill these animals for bragging rights is something that most people around the world find appalling,” said Kitty Block, acting president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States. “It’s an elitist hobby of the 1 percent, and there is no place for trophy hunting in today’s world.”

The wares included oil paintings of big-game animals painted on stretched elephant skins, bracelets woven from elephant hair and an elephant leather bench. There was also a coffee table made from the skull of a hippopotamus and boxes filled with hippo teeth.

Under a state law, it is illegal in Nevada to purchase, sell or possess with intent to sell any item that contains the body parts of elephant, lion, rhinoceros, tiger, leopard, hippopotamus and other imperiled wildlife.

The Humane Society has provided its undercover video and photos to state wildlife officials in Nevada.

​Trump reversed restrictions

Though President Donald Trump has decried big-game hunting as a “horror show,” his administration reversed Obama-era restrictions on the importation of elephant and lion trophies for personal use or display. But federal law still prohibits the sale or use of the body parts from such international protected species for commercial purposes.

The Safari Club has actively lobbied the Trump administration to loosen restrictions on the importation of wildlife trophies, arguing that the fees paid to African countries by American hunters help to fund anti-poaching and conservation programs. A licensed two-week African hunting safari can cost more than $50,000 per person, not including airfare, according to advertised rates.

The AP reported last year that a federal advisory board created by then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to advise his agency on the issue was stuffed with big game hunters. At least seven of the 16 members of the International Wildlife Conservation Council are Safari Club members, including the group’s president.

In a February 2018 media release, the Safari Club said it would no longer support the practice of breeding lions in captivity so they can be shot for trophies, saying the practice “has doubtful value to the conservation of lions in the wild.” The club also pledged not to accept advertising from the operators of such canned hunts or allow such trips to be sold at its annual convention.

In the video released by the Humane Society of Friday, multiple vendors at the Safari Club conference were recording salesmen pitching hunts of captive-bred lions in South Africa, describing how the lions would be “placed” where they could be easily shot. Vendors also described hunts where lions were baited using the meat from giraffes or other animals, with one guide bragging that a customer had shot a lion in less than 90 minutes.
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Greeks Plan Massive Rally to Protest Deal With Macedonia

Posted on by SeeEU

Demonstrators in Greece are planning a massive rally Sunday to protest a deal that would normalize Greek relations with Macedonia.

Greeks have been divided over the deal, in which Macedonia will change its name to the Republic of North Macedonia and Greece will drop its objections to the Balkan country’s joining NATO and the European Union.

The U.S. State Department said in a tweet Friday that Sunday’s demonstration in Athens is expected to draw 150,000 or more participants.

Greek identity

Greek protesters say Macedonia’s new name represents an attempt to appropriate Greek identity and cultural heritage. Macedonia is the name of Greece’s northern province made famous by Alexander the Great’s conquests.

Opposition to the deal is particularly strong in the Greek province of Macedonia, where many people have put up posters urging local lawmakers to vote against the agreement.

A nationwide poll in Greece this week found that 70 percent of respondents oppose the deal.

The agreement has caused Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to lose his four-year coalition in parliament after his nationalist allies defected to protest the deal. Following the upheaval, Tsipras narrowly won a confidence vote in parliament Wednesday.

Tsipras has called for a televised debate on the planned name deal with Macedonia before parliament votes on the agreement.

The Greek prime minister and his Macedonian counterpart, Zoran Zaev, brokered the compromise in June to end a 27-year name dispute between the two neighbors.

​Macedonia approves

Last week, Macedonia’s parliament approved a constitutional revision to change the country’s name. The agreement has also caused protests in Macedonia, with critics there saying the government gave up too much in the deal.

Tsipras has argued the Macedonia deal will bolster stability in Europe’s Balkan region. European Union countries have also strongly backed the deal.
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IS Vows More Attacks on Manbij 

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The Islamic State terror group is promising to keep targeting U.S. and U.S.-backed forces in the northern Syrian town of Manbij, where a suicide attack this week killed four Americans and five coalition soldiers. 

 

The claim, published in IS’s most recent online newsletter, Naba, comes as U.S. defense and intelligence officials are questioning whether the terror organization’s security and intelligence networks run deeper and remain more intact than previously thought. 

 

“The Attacks of the Mujahedeen Will Continue in Manbij Until Sharia Governance Returns,” the newsletter proclaimed, according to a translation by the SITE Intelligence Group. 

 

IS “began executing attacks against the apostates months ago,” it added, citing an interview with an IS fighter who is part of one of several “security detachments operating in the area.” 

 

Previous targets included coalition-backed military and intelligence officials, the newsletter claimed, along with several unsuccessful attempts to attack U.S. forces. 

 

“ISIS remains an adaptive and dangerous adversary,” a senior U.S. counterterrorism official told VOA, using an acronym for the group. 

 

And while IS’s claim of responsibility for Wednesday’s attack in Manbij has yet to be confirmed, “we believe the claim is authentic,” the official said, calling the attack “very typical” of IS insurgent activities. 

​Detail, coordination demonstrated 

 

A key concern for some officials and analysts are the levels of detail and coordination demonstrated in the Manbij attack. 

 

“There were several photos, videos and detailed discussions identifying the coalition aircraft posted on social media immediately after the attack,” said Jade Parker, a former counterterrorism analyst in support of U.S. military activities. 

 

“This may present an enduring challenge for the coalition in countering the insurgents because Islamic State intelligence capabilities, in particular, prolong the group’s ability to target individuals perceived as threats to the survival of their terrorist organization,” she added. 

 

The IS newsletter, Naba, itself detailed how the group’s fighters or informants have been watching U.S. forces at their bases around Manbij, noting how and when they move, and how they interact with members of the coalition-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. 

 

And the IS suicide bomber struck just as the U.S. patrol approached a restaurant known to have been frequented by the American forces.  

Just as troubling to former officials is that all this took place in an area that was liberated from IS more than two years ago. 

 

“Manbij should have been a showcase of how stability comes back and ISIS can be contained and defeated, and it’s not,” former U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford said during a conference call on U.S. Syria policy. 

 

“These ethnic tensions that I’ve talked about, the economic grievances … will always give ISIS a recruiting base,” he said. 

Sleeper cells

 

The most recent U.S. estimates have put the overall number of IS fighters in Syria at 13,000 to 14,500, many of them outside areas controlled by U.S.-backed forces. U.S. military officials have also said many IS fighters have been content to lie low, hiding in remote areas or as part of sleeper cells, waiting until the opportune moment to activate and strike. 

 

The attack Wednesday in Manbij appears to have been one of those moments. 

 

Defense officials Friday identified three of the Americans killed in the attack as Army Green Beret Chief Warrant Officer Jonathan Farmer, 37; Navy Chief Cryptologic Technician Shannon Kent, 35; and Defense Intelligence Agency operations support specialist Scott Wirtz, 42. 

 

A fourth American, civilian contractor Ghadir Taher, also was killed, her company, Valiant Integrated Services, confirmed. 

 

Taher’s family told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution the 27-year-old had emigrated to the U.S. from Syria as a child and was working there as an interpreter. 

 

“As Wednesday’s attack demonstrates, ISIS remains a threat,” acting chief Pentagon spokesman Charles Summers Jr. said Friday. “We will continue to hit the remnants of ISIS hard to destroy any residual networks and ensure its enduring defeat.” 

​Equipment withdrawal 

 

The Pentagon has already begun pulling some equipment from Syria as part of a withdrawal announced by U.S. President Donald Trump last month. 

 

But Summers insisted that despite the mandate to get the 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria back home, there was no timetable for their return. 

 

“The withdrawal is based on operational conditions on the ground, including conversations with our allies and partners,” he said, adding that the number of troops in Syria “will fluctuate during this process.” 

 

But critics of the Trump administration have complained that any withdrawal will be more complicated given the president’s announcement that U.S. forces will be returning home.  

 

“His recent choices, unfortunately, are already giving the Islamic State — and other American adversaries — new life,” Brett McGurk, former U.S. envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat IS, wrote in an op-ed in The Washington Post Friday.

“The Islamic State and other extremist groups will fill the void opened by our departure, regenerating their capacity to threaten our friends in Europe — as they did throughout 2016 — and ultimately our own homeland,” he added. 
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Sudanese-American Politician Who Organized Protests Goes Missing

Posted on by SeeAF

A Sudanese-American politician who organized recent anti-government protests in Sudan remained missing Friday, two days after disappearing on the streets of the capital, Khartoum, his wife said.

Rudwan Dawod, a political activist with the group Sudan of the Future Campaign, vanished hours before large protests were slated to begin Thursday, Nancy Dawod said.

Nancy Dawod, who lives in Eugene, Ore., said she learned of her husband’s arrest through a Sudanese lawyer who told her that he and Rudwan Dawod had been arrested together, but Sudanese authorities released the lawyer because he had no prior arrests.

Nancy Dawod said the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum was trying to call Sudanese authorities to confirm her husband’s whereabouts and that officials would go to the headquarters of the National Intelligence and Security Services on Saturday morning to request access to all American citizens being detained in Sudan.

Nancy Dawod said the lawyer, who prefers not to be identified for safety reasons, claimed he had been beaten around his head. She said she feared for her husband’s safety.

“I’m pretty worried about him. Because of his love for the people there, he just continues the struggle and is usually out in front,” she said, adding she was “hoping and praying” security forces would not harm her husband. “Because he is such a well-known public figure, I’m hoping he will be treated better.”

Nancy Dawod said she also hoped pressure from the United States would help ensure his safety.

Previous arrests

Rudwan Dawod was arrested shortly before Christmas in Sudan, then released. He was arrested on another occasion last year and detained for close to six weeks, Nancy Dawod said. He was never charged with a crime during either arrest, she added.

Rudwan Dawod returned to Sudan about two years ago.

Nancy Dawod said she, her husband and their 6-year-old daughter, Sudan, are U.S. citizens. Dawod said she spoke to her husband a few hours before his arrest but that he was being “very cautious,” knowing that his arrest was “something that we knew could happen.”

Nancy Dawod said her husband was a candidate for first vice president of Sudan until his Sudan of the Future Campaign withdrew from elections scheduled for 2020. She said they stood with other opposition political parties “to end [Sudanese President Omar al-]Bashir’s brutal regime and enter into a transitional government” until a democratic election is held.

Plea to U.S.

Nancy Dawod called on the U.S. officials “to pivot their policy on Sudan and to support freedom and justice there,” adding there is “no betting with this bloody regime. It needs to end.”

For nearly four weeks, protesters have been demanding the resignation of Bashir, who has said that will not happen.

The U.S. decided to remove economic sanctions on Sudan last October.

Sudan’s economy has been in crisis for several months, with inflation soaring and people struggling to survive.

The protests began over rising prices for bread and fuel and morphed into a demand for Bashir to give up his 30-year autocratic rule over Sudan. Bashir has withstood large-scale protests before.

Nadia Taha contributed to this report.
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