Month: February 2019

France Recalls Ambassador to Italy Amid Spat

Posted on by SeeEU

France is recalling its ambassador to Italy over so-called “outrageous” attacks on the French government by Italy’s leaders, further weakening a European Union struggling with Brexit and other divisions. 

France’s Foreign Ministry said its ambassador to Rome is being brought back for “consultations,” after what it said were “repeated and baseless attacks and outrageous statements” by the Italian government, which it suggested were aimed at winning win votes in May’s European parliament elections. 

Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Luigi di Maio met Wednesday with French yellow vest protesters — and after mounting tensions between Rome and Paris over issues ranging from immigration to the Libyan crisis.

France’s European affairs minister, Nathalie Loiseau, later tried to dial down tensions. In remarks carried on French radio, she called for restarting political dialogue. While Paris and Rome do not share the same political choices, she said, both governments must focus on domestic issues their citizens care about.

Italian leaders have directed sharp criticism against French President Emmanuel Macron and his government in recent months. Di Maio has accused France of continuing to colonize Africa and of fueling the migrant crisis. Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini described Macron as a “terrible president” and said he hoped French voters would turn against him. France and Italy also are competing for influence in trying to solve the Libyan crisis.

The last straw for France came with di Maio’s meeting with French yellow vests who plan to run in elections. After the meeting, he tweeted that the “wind of change has crossed the Alps” into France.

The spat adds to EU worries that include a potentially chaotic hard-Brexit and divisions among other European governments that include rising populist movements.

“It is clear the European Union is going through multiple crises,” French analyst and former diplomat Philippe Moreau Defarges said. “The problem, the challenge is if the European Union could disappear … if Europe destroys the European Union, there is nothing else.”

Defarges said that is why this particular spat between Paris and Rome is so worrying.

“The Europeans must be careful about their own future,” Defarges said. “That is why it is not an important crisis, but it is a dangerous crisis.”

Defarges also said Italy’s anger over immigration has some merit. Along with Greece, it is shouldering the biggest burden of migrants crossing the Mediterranean, while France and other European nations are not taking on their fair share. 
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California Utility Vows to Improve Wildfire Prevention

Posted on by SeeUS

Up to 5 million California customers could temporarily lose power this year in the name of wildfire prevention if regulators approve Pacific Gas & Electric’s $2.3 billion safety proposal submitted Wednesday.

PG&E unveiled the preventive blackout strategy for the first time late last year, getting regulatory permission to turn out the lights on 570,000 customers living in wildfire-prone areas during dangerous weather.

In a regulatory filing with the California Public Utilities Commission, PG&E asked for permission to cut power during wildfire threats throughout its entire system serving 5.4 million customers in the northern and central parts of the state.

Emergency, not routine

A consumer advocacy group says it’s disappointed with the utility’s emphasis on blackouts.

San Francisco-based The Utility Reform Network says PG&E’s proposal to shut power during wildfire threats should be an emergency response only rather than a routine preventive measure.

Spokeswoman Mindy Spatt called on PG&E to make improving the safety of its equipment and training of its workers more of a priority than cutting power. 

“It puts customers in harm’s way,” she said.

​Overhaul wildfire prevention

The utility also promised to overhaul much of its wildfire-prevention measures in response to growing legal, financial and public pressure for its role in starting some of the most destructive blazes in California history.

The embattled utility also vowed to increase inspections, cut more trees and work with forestry experts to lessen its role in starting wildfires.

A new state law passed in response to the destructive 2017 wildfires required the state’s utilities to file their wildfire-prevention plans with the California Public Utilities Commission. The agency has scheduled several public meetings to review and amend the proposals before they are adopted.

Federal judge steps in

A federal judge who said he’s skeptical of PG&E’s safety commitment also demanded the wildfire plan.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup is threatening to impose sweeping prevention measures on the utility, proposals PG&E said could cost as much $150 billion. The utility said Wednesday its plan will cost between $1.7 billion and $2.3 billion.

Alsup ruled last month that PG&E’s response to a 2017 wildfire violated probation terms included in its felony conviction for a deadly 2010 natural pipeline explosion in a San Francisco suburb.

In response, Alsup proposed PG&E workers inspect, document and rate every inch of its 2,400 square-mile electrical system and remove or trim trees threatening to touch equipment and start fires. PG&E said that could require removing up to 100 million trees. Alsup said he will determine PG&E’s sentence later.

Tree removal, wire insulation

On Wednesday, PG&E proposed removing 375,000 trees this year after cutting down 160,000 last year. PG&E also said it would increase in-depth pole inspections from 9,400 last year to 40,600 this year and build 200 weather stations in addition to the 200 existing stations.

The utility said it also planned to bury underground or wrap in insulation 150 miles of bare wire next year and 7,100 miles over the next decade.

State fire authorities blamed PG&E’s equipment for starting 17 major wildfires in the last two years. The San Francisco-based utility is facing more than 1,000 wildfire-related lawsuits. The utility filed for bankruptcy last month, saying the lawsuits could cost more than $30 billion.

Seven other utilities, including Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric, also submitted plans Wednesday, but none included the significant reforms PG&E was proposing.
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UNMISS Boss: Conditions Improving in South Sudan

Posted on by SeeAF

The head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan said there is reason to be hopeful that the country’s transitional government will succeed.

David Shearer said that following the signing of a new peace agreement, conditions have greatly improved from when former Vice President Riek Machar fled Juba in 2016.

Shearer said Tuesday that the government has control of more territory, and there’s an enormous push by the people of South Sudan for real change.

“And I don’t think either side can turn their back on that. And together with the way that the peace negotiations were conducted, it brought both sides together, and they were able to agree on the basic framework for going forward,” Shearer said at U.N. headquarters in New York.

Shearer acknowledged “some tricky issues going forward,” and said while no agreement is perfect, the U.N. feels it is an agreement “that offers the best chance in a long while for moving South Sudan in the right direction.”

Shearer also said that while the U.N. is very mindful of the pitfalls that lie ahead, it is cautiously optimistic both sides are “committed to going down that path. And if that happens, it’ll make an enormous change to South Sudan.”

Warring factions and the government of President Salva Kiir signed a new peace agreement in September 2018. Under the agreement, Machar, who led one of the largest rebel groups, expects to return home later this year and take part in the transitional government.

The U.N. mission chief paints an optimistic picture of the current state of security in the country. He said civilian casualties have greatly diminished in recent months.

In the last four months since the signing of the agreement, Shearer said there has been “a very significant decline in casualties as a result of political violence.” But he said there’s been an uptick in casualties with regard to cattle raiding. Shearer said the numbers are in the low 100s.

Some fighting continues in parts of the Equatoria region in the southern part of the country, but Shearer added the casualties “are in the 2s and 3s, not in the hundreds.”

And where peacekeepers patrol, such as around Protection of Civilian sites, Shearer said violence is almost non-existent.

“Very low numbers, in the POCs it’s virtually nothing. If there’s anything, it will be criminal more than anything else and through the rest of the country, but the peace agreement and cease-fire has largely held,” said Shearer.

Some people have concerns about security when Machar returns to the country. The SPLA-IO leader is expected to come back in May when the pre-transitional government is supposed to wind down to make way for the transitional government of national unity.

Shearer pointed out that a combined, pre-transitional committee, as outlined in the revitalized peace deal, will make decisions about security arrangements.

“We believe that it’s in the best interests of the peace agreement that the parties themselves decide how they want to handle those security arrangements. If they can handle them themselves, that is an enormous confidence step to being able to get things moving that does not involve the U.N.,” said Shearer.

To date, the U.N. has not been approached by any side regarding security for Machar’s return.
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Experts: Plan for Partial Denuclearization Realistic Goal at 2nd Trump-Kim Summit 

Posted on by SeeUS

A roadmap for partial denuclearization is a realistic goal for President Donald Trump to set for the second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, because Pyongyang is unlikely to give up all its nuclear weapons in the near future, experts said.

During their first summit, Trump and Kim agreed to “work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” But since then, the two sides have failed to agree on what that means, and how or when it will be carried out. A second summit is scheduled to take place in Vietnam Feb. 27-28.

“It is absolutely possible to make progress toward denuclearization, but it is not clear whether the objective of full denuclearization is achievable — on North Korea’s current trajectory,” said Scott Snyder, director of the U.S.-Korean policy program at the Council of Foreign Relations.

“But the job of Trump as a disruptive policymaker is to work with Kim to change the trajectory of the respective policies of the two governments,” Snyder added. North Korea has not taken meaningful steps to dismantle its nuclear program, raising doubts about making significant progress toward full denuclearization.

Ken Gause, director of International Affairs Group at the Center for Naval Analyses, echoed Snyder, saying the likelihood that Pyongyang will not give up all its nuclear weapons is “entirely possible at least for the foreseeable future.” 

However, Gause said, “that does not mean that North Korea might not make concessions on its nuclear program and dismantle a part of its nuclear program. So as long as we’re not talking absolutes here, I think that progress could be made toward denuclearization.” 

Optimistic tone from Trump

During his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Trump used an optimistic tone to announce the second summit. 

“Much work remains to be done, but my relationship with Kim Jong Un is a good one,” he said.

The official announcement came after the president appeared on “Face the Nation” on Sunday and told Margaret Brennan, host of the CBS show, that there is “a very good chance of making a deal” with Kim.

To gear up for the second summit, U.S. Special Representative Steve Biegun traveled to Pyongyang to have working-level talks with his North Korean counterpart Kim Hyok Chol on Wednesday.

Ahead of his trip, Biegun laid out several demands Washington wants North Korea to meet including “a set of concrete deliverables” and “a roadmap of negotiations” on denuclearization when he gave a speech last week at Stanford University.

First summit

The first summit Trump held with Kim in Singapore in June has been characterized as “a missed opportunity” where “only vague and ambiguous language” came out of the joint statement issued by the two leaders and lacking “any follow-up implementation process,” according to Robert Manning, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. 

Experts said the ideal deal for Washington at the second summit would be to secure from Pyongyang an agreement to disclose the inventory of its nuclear weapons as a sign of Kim’s seriousness about eventual full denuclearization.

“What the U.S. administration, and also Seoul, has talked about is a declaration of North Korea’s nuclear program,” Gause said.

Nicholas Burns, former undersecretary of state for political affairs at the State Department during the George W. Bush administration suggested to VOA Korean that Trump should not go to Vietnam without a certainty of obtaining the inventory. 

“If you are able to establish that [Kim’s] ready to make those concessions, declare all of his nuclear weapons, fissile material, then you go.” Burn said. “But if he’s not ready to do that, don’t go.”

Bargaining chip

Biegun said in his Stanford speech the U.S. must “have a complete understanding of the full extent of the North Korean weapons of mass destruction missile programs,” but it is unclear whether he has asked for a list during his meeting in Pyongyang this week.

Gause, however, thinks Pyongyang is unlikely to reveal the list that it considers one of its best bargaining chips.

“I cannot imagine them for the foreseeable future giving a comprehensive list,” Gause said. “To do so, would take away leverage and flexibility from their negotiating position.” 

Some experts believe it is unlikely that Pyongyang will give up its nuclear program.

“I do not believe that Kim Jong Un will give up his nuclear weapons because I think that he sees them as an insurance policy for his regime survival,” Burns said. “He believes he can have the negotiations and keep his weapons.”

Evans Revere, acting assistant secretary at the State Department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs during the George W. Bush administration, said, “The North Korean leader has made a strategic decision to retain his nuclear weapons, even as he seeks to improve relations with the United States.

“As a result,” he added, “getting Kim Jong Un to take the kind of steps that would constitute real denuclearization will likely not be possible.”

Their assessment follows the testimony of Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats at a Senate hearing last week. Coats expressed skepticism over Pyongyang’s willingness to give up its nuclear weapons.

A confidential report by the United Nations Security Council sanctions committee, which Reuters obtained and reported on Monday, assessed North Korea is trying to prevent its nuclear and missile capabilities from being destroyed by any military strikes by “using civilian facilities, including airports” and dispersing “its assembly, storage, and testing locations.”

Since last year’s negotiations that stalled when Pyongyang abruptly canceled a planned meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Washington has softened its initial hard-line approach toward North Korea. At the time, Washington refused to relax its maximum pressure policy until North Korea denuclearized.

But last week at Stanford, Biegun said the U.S. will pursue commitments made at the Singapore summit by taking steps “simultaneously and in parallel” with the process of Pyongyang’s denuclearization.

“Washington realizes that ‘final fully verified’ denuclearization can only be achieved in a series of stages over time and that the U.S. will need to take measures in response to North Korean actions at every stage,” said Gary Samore, the White House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction during the Obama administration. 

“The U.S. flexibility comes in not insisting on a definitive result on the front end of the process,” Snyder said, “but instead in being willing to join with North Korea in an experiment in which the desired outcome is not yet completely defined.”

Lee Joeun of the VOA Korean Service contributed to this report.
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With New Fitness Test, Army Aims to be More Combat Ready

Posted on by SeeUS

Army soldiers struggle to haul heavy sleds backward as fast as they can down a grassy field at Fort Bragg, filling the brisk North Carolina morning air with grunts of exertion and the shouts of instruction from their coaches.

Watching from the sidelines, Sgt. Maj. Harold Sampson shakes his head. As a military intelligence specialist he spends a lot of time behind a desk. Over his two decades in the Army, he could easily pound out the situps, pushups and 2-mile run that for years have made up the service’s fitness test.

But change has come. The Army is developing a new, more grueling and complex fitness exam that adds dead lifts, power throws and other exercises designed to make soldiers more fit and ready for combat. 

“I am prepared to be utterly embarrassed,” Sampson said on a recent morning, two days before he was to take the test.

​Troops not fit enough

Commanders have complained in recent years that the soldiers they get out of basic training aren’t fit enough. Nearly half of the commanders surveyed last year said new troops coming into their units could not meet the physical demands of combat. Officials also say about 12 percent of soldiers at any one time cannot deploy because of injuries.

In addition, there has long been a sense among many senior officials that the existing fitness test does not adequately measure the physical attributes needed for the battlefield, said Gen. Stephen Townsend, head of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command.

The new test, “may be harder, but it is necessary,” Townsend said.

Same test, same scoring

Reaching the new fitness levels will be challenging. Unlike the old fitness test, which graded soldiers differently based on age and gender, the new one will be far more physically demanding and will not adjust the passing scores for older or female soldiers.

For example, in the current test — two minutes of situps, two minutes of pushups, a 2-mile run — younger soldiers must do more repetitions and run faster to pass and get maximum scores than those who are older or female.

Townsend said the new test was designed based on scientific research that matched specific exercises to tasks that soldiers in combat must do: sprint away from fire, carry a wounded comrade on a stretcher, haul cans of fuel to a truck.

The scoring is divided into three levels that require soldiers with more physically demanding jobs, such as infantry or armor, to score higher.

​A more combat-ready Army

“We needed to change the culture of fitness in the United States Army. We had a high number of nondeployable soldiers that had a lot of muscular/skeletal injuries and medical challenges because we hadn’t trained them from a fitness perspective in the right way,” said Army Maj. Gen. Malcolm Frost, commander of the Army’s Center for Initial Military Training and the officer in charge of developing the new fitness test. “The goal is about a having a more combat-ready army.”

Frost said that about one-third of the soldiers who come into the service leave before their third year, many because of muscular skeletal injuries. The new test, he said, will help screen out recruits who are less physically fit and mentally disciplined. Those who make the cut are more likely to stay in the service.

It will also challenge senior officers such as Sampson, who have been doing less physical desk jobs.

“It breaks the mindset of ‘I am an intel soldier,’” said Sampson. “It changes it to ‘I am a soldier,’ because bullets on the battlefield don’t discriminate.”

The Associated Press was with Frost on a recent sunny Tuesday as he watched soldiers from three battalions go through the test. The six events take nearly an hour and are done in order with only a few minutes rest in between:

A dead lift, with weights between 140 pounds and 340 pounds.
A standing power throw, which requires soldiers to throw a 10-pound medicine ball backward and overhead.
Hand-release pushups, completing as many as possible in two minutes.
The “sprint-drag-carry” that includes a 50-yard sprint, a 50-yard backward sled drag, a 50-yard lateral, where soldiers shuttle sideways down the lane and back, a 50-yard carry of two 40-pound kettle bells and a 50-yard sprint.
After a short rest, the soldiers do the leg tuck pullup, as many as possible in two minutes.
A 2-mile run.

“Many folks find it easy to do the maximum standard for the current test,” Frost said. “This new test is gender and age neutral. I cannot max this test.”

Training has begun

Across the country, 63 battalions are working on the final test development and will eventually go back to their units and train others. By Oct. 1, the entire Army will be using the test. By October 2020, it will be the official exam that all soldiers will have to pass.

Technique is key to success.

As the soldiers lined up to fling the medicine ball back over their heads, coaches stood by ready to shove them out of the way if the ball went straight up and came right back down.

The first throws landed with a chorus of thuds; many throws fell short. But the second and third tries went farther as soldiers figured out when to release the ball.

Next they quickly moved to pushups.

Crouched beside a soldier straining to master the hand-release, Frost shouts out encouragement and then drops down to demonstrate proper form. Each time the soldier lowers his body, both hands must quickly lift off the ground and immediately press back down for the next pushup.

A few lanes away, Staff Sgt. Idis Arroyo has started what most consider the toughest element, the sprint-drag-carry. Pulling the 90-pound sled backward down the lane, her feet slip and she stumbles.

“C’mon get up! Get up, pull, pull!” a coach yells. Arroyo bounces up, drags it to the end and shifts quickly to the next movement.

How hard was it?

“It was pretty difficult,” said Arroyo, who is with the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion. “Once we got into the sprint-drag-carry and then sprint again and the laterals and all that, I think that was actually the hardest part.”

But she said she knows it will help her when she has to embed with a combat unit.

Even the fit struggle

Commanders said the test will be harder at first for less fit soldiers or longtime veterans, who are in less physical jobs, and many may fail at first. But they said that over time, as soldiers adjust and get stronger, their scores will improve.

Lt. Col. Eric Haas, commander of Arroyo’s battalion, watched as his soldiers powered through the test. He said it was very telling to watch fit leaders struggle.

“This is a good assessment of where we are physically,” Haas said. “For years I’ve been taking the Army physical fitness test and that’s the most miserable I think I’ve seen a 2-mile finish line.”

Sampson, who is also with the 519th battalion and has deployed three times to Iraq and Afghanistan, said improving fitness will make his soldiers more prepared to do their jobs.

“It doesn’t matter that 90 percent of the time I may sit in a chair working behind a computer,” he said. “I’m going to have to move a person from point A to point B.”

As for his expected embarrassment on the test? He scored well and passed.
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US Political Activist Linked to Russian Agent Charged with Money Laundering, Fraud

Posted on by SeeEU

A conservative U.S. political activist romantically linked to admitted Russian agent Maria Butina has been indicted by a federal grand jury on wire fraud and money laundering charges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Dakota said on Wednesday.

Paul Erickson, 56, was indicted on 11 counts of wire fraud and money laundering on Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to the charges in an appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Moreno, the office said in a statement. Erickson’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Erickson is a well-known figure in Republican and conservative circles and was a senior official in Pat Buchanan’s 1992 Republican presidential campaign.

He was romantically linked to Butina, a 30-year-old native of Siberia, who pleaded guilty in December to conspiracy.

Butina admitted working with a top Russian official to infiltrate the powerful National Rifle Association gun rights group and to make inroads with American conservatives and the Republican Party as an agent for Moscow.

Butina, a former graduate student at American University in Washington, had publicly advocated for gun rights. She was the first Russian to be convicted of working to influence U.S. policy during the 2016 presidential race.

Erickson’s indictment did not specifically refer to Butina by name, but it indicates he made a payment of $8,000 to an “M.B.” in June 2015 and another payment of $1,000 to “M.B.” in March 2017. The indictment also indicates he paid American University $20,472.09 in June 2017.

The indictment against Erickson alleges that between 1996 and 2018, Erickson made “false and fraudulent representations” to people in South Dakota and elsewhere about his business schemes in an effort to convince potential investors to give him money, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Erickson owned and operated Compass Care Inc, Investing with Dignity LLC, and an unnamed venture to develop land in the Bakken oilfields in North Dakota, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each count as well as possible fines, the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He was released on bond, and no date has been set for a trial.
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Iran May Have Attempted Second Satellite Launch

Posted on by SeeEA

Iran appears to have attempted a second satellite launch despite U.S. criticism that its space program helps it develop ballistic missiles, satellite images released Thursday suggest. Iran has not acknowledged conducting such a launch.

 

Images released by the Colorado-based company DigitalGlobe show a rocket at the Imam Khomeini Space Center in Iran’s Semnan province Tuesday. Images from Wednesday show the rocket was gone with what appears to be burn marks on its launch pad.

 

Iranian state media did not immediately report on the rocket launch, though such delays have happened in previous launches. 

 

Iran has said it would launch its Doosti, or “Friendship,” satellite. A launch in January failed to put another satellite, Payam or “Message,” into orbit.

 

The U.S. alleges such launches defy a U.N. Security Council resolution calling on Iran to undertake no activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

 

Iran, which long has said it does not seek nuclear weapons, maintains that its satellite launches and rocket tests do not have a military component. Tehran also says they don’t violate a United Nations resolution that only “called upon” it not to conduct such tests.

In the past decade, Iran has sent several short-lived satellites into orbit and in 2013 launched a monkey into space.

 

Iran usually displays space achievements in February during the anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution. This year will mark the 40th anniversary of the revolution as Iran faces increasing pressure from the U.S. under the administration of President Donald Trump.
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Iran May Have Attempted Second Satellite Launch

Posted on by SeeEA

Iran appears to have attempted a second satellite launch despite U.S. criticism that its space program helps it develop ballistic missiles, satellite images released Thursday suggest. Iran has not acknowledged conducting such a launch.

 

Images released by the Colorado-based company DigitalGlobe show a rocket at the Imam Khomeini Space Center in Iran’s Semnan province Tuesday. Images from Wednesday show the rocket was gone with what appears to be burn marks on its launch pad.

 

Iranian state media did not immediately report on the rocket launch, though such delays have happened in previous launches. 

 

Iran has said it would launch its Doosti, or “Friendship,” satellite. A launch in January failed to put another satellite, Payam or “Message,” into orbit.

 

The U.S. alleges such launches defy a U.N. Security Council resolution calling on Iran to undertake no activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

 

Iran, which long has said it does not seek nuclear weapons, maintains that its satellite launches and rocket tests do not have a military component. Tehran also says they don’t violate a United Nations resolution that only “called upon” it not to conduct such tests.

In the past decade, Iran has sent several short-lived satellites into orbit and in 2013 launched a monkey into space.

 

Iran usually displays space achievements in February during the anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution. This year will mark the 40th anniversary of the revolution as Iran faces increasing pressure from the U.S. under the administration of President Donald Trump.
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Trump: Formal Announcement on Recapture of IS Territory Expected Next Week

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U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday he expected a formal announcement as early as next week that a U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State militants has reclaimed all of the territory the extremist group held two years ago. Trump acknowledged that remnants of the terrorist group may remain active in parts of Syria and Iraq, but said they can no longer extract national resources or tax local civilians to fund their fight. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
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FGM Engenders Sharp Cultural Divide

Posted on by SeeAF

F.A. Cole was 11 when her stepmother told her to dress up for a special occasion near her hometown of Freetown, Sierra Leone. 

 

It was, instead, a traumatic occasion, Cole recalls 34 years later. Her stepmother turned her over to a small group of women, who led her into a forest and bound and blindfolded her. Then someone put a razor blade to her genitals.  

 

“Two or four of the women held me down. They spread my legs open and pinned me down, and then the woman who was the cutter, she sat on my chest,” Cole recounts. “As she began to cut my clitoris, I began to fight and scream and wriggle under her, just looking for somebody to help me, somebody to come to my rescue.” 

 

No one came then. But the United Nations has been working to eradicate female genital mutilation. To raise awareness, the U.N. since 2003 has sponsored an International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM to raise awareness. The annual observance was on Wednesday.  

 

FGM is widespread in parts of Africa and also practiced here in the United States. The procedure has sparked a global clash between those who define it as a cultural tradition and those who say it’s a dangerous ritual that should end. 

 

Lingering questions 

 

Cole recalls days of excruciating pain and years of wondering why she was cut.  

 

“When I came to America and I started doing research, and I started talking about my story, that’s when I realized the damage — not just the sexual damage, but the psychological damage that was done,” says Cole, who now lives in Washington and campaigns to end FGM.   

The World Health Organization identifies three types of FGM most common in Africa. In type one, the clitoris is partially or totally removed. Type two goes further, including the labia. And type three involves removing the labia and stitching to narrow the vaginal opening. 

 

The cultural practice can have serious medical consequences. Physicians at major U.S. medical centers and teaching hospitals worry whether American doctors are equipped — medically and culturally — to treat women who have been circumcised.  

Dr. Ranit Mishori, a professor of family medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, recalls an experience in the second month of her residency. A woman from Djibouti, in East Africa, was in labor.  

 

“I was getting ready to do a pelvic examination, and I put my gloves on and suddenly I realize I can’t put my fingers in there because the whole area is closed off,” Mishori said of the patient’s vagina. “I had no idea what that meant. I called my senior physicians and they had no idea what was going on. The bottom line is a lot of doctors don’t know what to expect, don’t know how to handle these types of emergencies.” 

 

A call for communication and respect 

 

That experience inspired Mishori to teach other doctors about FGM, especially as they treat more immigrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East.  

 

She stresses communication and cultural humility. 

 

“We can’t forget that some women are very proud [of being circumcised], because that ensures their marriageability and economic prospects,” Mishori says, adding that medical personnel must learn “to ask about it in a nonjudgmental way.” 

 

Respectful questioning, she says, is “more important than how to deal with the medical complications, even though they are there. In some women, the cutting has healed. There are no scars, maybe … but the long-term effects are here and here,” she adds, pointing first to her head, then her heart. 

 

Not everyone agrees the practice should be banned.  

Anthropologist Fuambai Ahmadu, who lives in Washington and also is from Sierra Leone, says she was circumcised, not mutilated. She was an adult when she chose to undergo the procedure — the most minimal type of circumcision. 

 

Ahmadu testified on behalf of Dr. Jumana Nagarwala, who was among eight people facing federal charges over the genital mutilations of nine girls from Michigan, Illinois and Minnesota. As the Associated Press reported, U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman in November dismissed mutilation and conspiracy charges against the defendants, saying the 1996 law banning the practice was unconstitutional.       

 

A rite of passage 

 

Ahmadu says circumcision is a rite of passage into womanhood in Kono culture. She believes anti-FGM campaigners are putting African cultures under siege. 

 

“The grand narrative of mutilation is completely inappropriate,” says Ahmadu. “… It’s really important that FGM campaigners understand that the messages that they’re sounding out to women, they’re not working, they’re not effective,” she says. “What they’re doing is driving the practice underground.”  

 

She says some families are reacting to the pressure by bringing in their daughters for circumcision at younger ages — sometimes even as babies. She advocates that girls should have a choice in whether to undergo the procedure and that they should wait until at least age 16  to understand the cultural significance. 

 

“This is a coming-out ceremony, where they are celebrated and they are now women,” Ahmadu says. 

 

It was no celebration for Cole, who says her circumcision made her less desirable to men in Sierra Leone.  

 

“It was supposed to make me more marriageable, but I’m 45 and still single,” she says. “So what was that?” 

 

This report originated in VOA’s English to Africa service. 
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Trump Says Curtain Likely to Fall on IS Caliphate Within Days

Posted on by SeeEA

U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he expected to formally declare victory over the Islamic State terror group’s self-declared caliphate in the next week.

“Nobody thought it was possible to do it this quickly,” Trump told members of the global coalition to defeat the Islamic State group, who were meeting in Washington.

“It should be formally announced, probably sometime next week, that we will have 100 percent of the caliphate,” he added. “We’ve had victory after victory.”

U.S. defense and intelligence officials believe that up to 1,500 IS fighters are still clinging to a 50-square-kilometer patch of land in Syria, but have been more cautious in their assessments. 

In just the past week, they have described the fighting as tough, saying coalition-backed forces were pushing through booby-trapped streets and settlements. And they warned that even once the last of the IS-held territory was liberated, the terror group still would have as many as another 30,000 fighters and supporters dispersed throughout Syria and Iraq.

Yet despite more wary assessments from top military and intelligence officials, Trump said Wednesday that the terror organization had been decimated, losing tens of thousands of fighters and more than 60 high-ranking leaders. 

“We’ve eliminated almost every one of them,” he told representatives from the 79-member coalition, reiterating that the time had come to pull out the 2,000 U.S. forces helping to fight IS in Syria. 

 

Trump: Announcement on Recapture of IS Territory Next Week

Warm welcome

“We look forward to giving our brave warriors in Syria a warm welcome back home,” he said. 

The decision to withdraw those forces, first announced in December along with Trump’s initial declaration of the Islamic State’s defeat, surprised and rattled many of Washington’s allies and partners, and even some top U.S. military commanders. 

Jim Mattis resigned as defense secretary days later. 

Since then, the White House and other top U.S. officials have sought to reassure allies it is not abandoning them or their efforts to deal IS a lasting defeat. 

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told coalition members earlier Wednesday that while the “nature of the fight is changing,” U.S. goals remained the same.

“It simply represents a new stage in an old fight,” Pompeo said in remarks to open the daylong conference. 

“The drawdown of troops is essentially a tactical change. It is not a change in the mission,” he added. “The fight is one that we will continue to wage alongside of you.” 

But how the fight will proceed and when U.S. troops will leave Syria are unclear. 

Defense officials confirm that while some equipment already has been moved out of Syria, plans for withdrawing U.S. forces are still being formulated with the help of allies and partners on the ground. ​

The commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, Central Command’s Gen. Joseph Votel, told lawmakers during a hearing Tuesday that however U.S. forces left, it would be “deliberate.” 

“I am not under pressure to be out by a specific date and I’ve not had any specific conditions put upon me,” Votel said, adding the U.S. and its partners must maintain pressure on IS cells in Syria and beyond. 

“They have the capability of coming back together if we don’t,” he said. 

Other top defense officials have been equally outspoken, warning that pulling troops out of Syria will put hard-fought gains in danger. 

“Militarily, we will be less effective,” Owen West, the Pentagon’s assistant secretary for special operations/low-intensity conflict told lawmakers Wednesday.  “It is much more effective to be co-located with your partners.” 

White House counters

White House officials have pushed back, insisting the time has come for other nations to step up their contributions to the fight. 

“[Trump] doesn’t believe that the United States can solve this problem externally,” a senior administration official said when asked about delivering IS an enduring defeat. 

“He thinks it is something we can assist with, it’s something we can encourage, but that that has to come from within the Muslim community,” the official added. 

The official also said that the withdrawal from Syria would be “conditions-based,” with U.S. forces staying in the vicinity of the U.S. base at al-Tanf, in southern Syria, until the very end. 

And the president himself said Wednesday that even then, U.S. forces would stand ready to assist.

“Rest assured, we will do what it takes to defeat every ounce and every last person within the ISIS madness,” Trump told ministers from coalition countries. 

“The struggle against terrorism is a shared fight,” he added. “Everyone must do their part and contribute their fair share.” 

Already, U.S. officials are calling on fellow coalition members to “put our money where our mouth is,” and increase funding to eliminate a $350 million shortfall in reconstruction funds for Iraq. 

Pompeo also urged coalition members to “seriously and rapidly consider requests that will enable our efforts to continue,” adding, “Those requests are likely to come very soon.” 

Iraqi officials, as well, are asking for assistance. 

“I call on all countries of the world to help Iraq fight sleeper cells of Daesh and to help Iraq restore its stability,” Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Hakim told the conference Wednesday, using the Arabic acronym for the terror group. 

Although Iraq declared victory over IS more than a year ago, the country’s security forces continue to battle pockets of resistance across the country, sometimes with the help of coalition airstrikes. 

Reaction to Trump interview

But while Iraq’s foreign minister asked for more help, he also warned the U.S. and other countries must heed “the basic principles on which the global coalition has been there, including most importantly the complete respect of the territorial integrity of Iraq and for all operations to take place with the knowledge of the government.” 

The comment is the latest from Iraqi officials following an interview Trump gave CBS News on Sunday, in which he said he wanted U.S. troops stationed in Iraq to “watch Iran.” 

U.S. officials have repeatedly warned of Iran’s destabilizing activities in Syria and across the Middle East, but officials from Baghdad maintain the U.S. military presence in Iraq is the result of an agreement to combat terrorism, and that keeping an eye on Tehran is not part of the deal. 
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French Jets Strike Chadian Rebels to Head off Deby Destabilization

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French warplanes destroyed about 20 pick-up trucks in a third day of air strikes on Wednesday against a Chadian rebel convoy that crossed last week from Libya, an operation the French military said was aimed at preventing the destabilization of its former colony.

The strikes, which started on Sunday, come as Chadian rebels have increased their activities in southern Libya since vowing last year to overthrow President Idriss Deby. The strikes were also held on Tuesday but not Monday.

The Union of Forces of Resistance (UFR), a rebel Chadian coalition created in 2009 after almost toppling Deby, has said it was behind this week’s incursion, which saw some 50 pick-up trucks drive 400 km (250 miles) into Chadian territory.

“The incursion of this armed column deep into Chadian territory was aimed at destabilizing this country,” the French military said in a statement.

The strikes by Mirage fighter jets were carried out in response to a formal request for assistance by a sovereign state and were conducted according to international humanitarian law, it said. The planes took off from the Chadian capital N’Djamena and were supported by a Reaper drone, the statement said. A UFR official told Reuters on Monday two of its fighters had been killed.

Deby has faced several rebellions since seizing power in 1990 in a military coup. International observers have questioned the fairness of elections that have kept him in office since and last year he pushed through constitutional reforms that could keep him in office until 2033.

France intervened in 2008 to stop the UFR toppling Deby, but President Emmanuel Macron has said he wants a new relationship with France’s former colonies and the era of propping up leaders is over.

However, France considers Chad as crucial given it is deemed as having the most battled-hardened troops in the fight against Islamist militants in West Africa. Paris has based its 4,500-strong counter-terrorism Operation Barkhane force in N’Djamena, where the United States also has a base.

The “Chadian army is an essential partner in the fight against terrorism in Mali … the G5 force and its action against Boko Haram,” the French military statement said.

Chadian air strikes had initially attempted to destroy the rebel convoy on February 1-2. Deby’s fight against Islamist militants in the region has strained his military and hit the oil-dependent economy, leading to growing dissatisfaction in one of the world’s poorest nations.
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Erdogan Slams Washington Over Venezuela 

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is accusing Washington of “imperialism” in its efforts to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. 

 

Erdogan’s latest verbal salvo in support of his ally Maduro came amid growing U.S. pressure on Ankara to end support for the beleaguered Venezuelan leader. 

 

“Is Venezuela your instrument?” said Erdogan, chiding U.S. President Donald Trump in an address to his parliamentary deputies Tuesday. “Their president came through elections. What right do you have to appoint another? And where is democracy? How can this be accepted? 

 

“We do not accept the world where the one who is stronger is right. We are against such an imperialist position,” Erdogan added to rapturous applause from his deputies and cheering supporters. 

At odds with West

 

With both Washington and the European Union recognizing Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the interim president, Erdogan’s strong backing of Maduro puts him on a collision course with his Western allies. 

 

“I think the issue [for Turkey] is a matter of principle rather than geopolitical factors,” said international relations professor Serhat Guvenc of Istanbul’s Kadir Has University. 

 

“Turkey does not approve of the idea of regime changes in sovereign countries,” he added. “So, they clash with the U.S., in terms of principle. Turkey is in the league of Russia and China, and these countries value sovereignty above all else.”  

Maduro’s opponents accuse him of undermining democracy and presiding over skyrocketing inflation and a collapsing economy.  

 

Ankara’s support of Maduro extends far beyond rhetoric. Turkey is processing large amounts of Venezuelan gold. Last year, Caracas exported nearly $900 million worth of gold to Turkey. The trade provides Maduro with a vital source of revenue in the face of tightening international sanctions. 

 

“Maduro is raiding the gold reserves of Venezuela to generate cash. He has already stolen at least 10 percent of total reserves in the last week,” U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, tweeted Friday. “I hope the UAE & Turkey will not be accomplices in this outrageous crime. Any companies that are involved will face U.S. sanctions.”

Pressure from Washington

News reports say Washington is urging Ankara to stop its Venezuelan gold trade. Analysts say adding to U.S. officials’ concerns is the suspicion of some that the Venezuelan gold may end up Iran, violating U.S.-Iranian sanctions. 

“Turkey is duly warned by Washington over this gold deal,” said political scientist Cengiz Aktar. “But I don’t think Turkey can play with the big boys of China and Russia to support the Maduro regime, because Turkey will be forced to step back.”  

Ankara has painful experience with U.S. sanctions. Last year, the Turkish currency collapsed after Trump hit Ankara with sanctions over Turkey’s detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson, who has since been released. Although the sanctions lasted only a few weeks, Turkey’s economy is now facing a recession. 

 

“Up to a point, you may afford to have a deterioration in your relations with the world’s most powerful country, but there is certainly a limit,” said Guvenc. “Turkey has tested those limits and now knows what those limits are, so we will probably see a moderation in Turkey’s position.” 

 

Any step back by Ankara over Venezuela may not be immediate. Turkey holds critical and hotly contested local elections in March. A tough stance toward Washington, analysts point out, plays well with Erdogan’s core religious and nationalist constituents. 

 

“Things may get complicated [with the U.S.] in the short term,” said international relations expert Esra Akgemci of Turkey’s Selcuk University. “But I don’t think things will end up with a serious rupture in Turkey-U.S. relations. It means that Turkey’s support to Venezuela will be restricted.” 

Personal reaction

 

Some analysts explain Erdogan’s strong backing of Maduro by pointing to his personal experiences. In 2013, nationwide anti-government demonstrations, dubbed the Gezi Park protests, nearly ousted Erdogan from power as the then-prime minister. 

 

“Having gone through the experience of the Gezi Park protests,” said Guvenc, “it’s only natural to view such [Venezuelan] street protests through the prism of his personal experience in Turkey. He [Erdogan] is viewing those protests with a certain degree of suspicion.

 

“The government and Erdogan have shown [in the past] and repeatedly said they will use every means at their disposal to suppress any such protests in Turkey in the future,” Guvenc added.  

Erdogan’s suspicion of anti-government protests is heightened by the overthrow of his close ally, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. Mass demonstrations in 2013 were the catalyst for then-Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi’s seizure of power through a coup. 

“When Sissi overthrew Morsi, Erdogan took it personally,” said Aktar. “So, probably as far Maduro is concerned, another Erdogan ally, all this international pressure on Maduro and protests, Erdogan is taking it personally as well. This is clear.” 

 

Erdogan accuses Washington and other foreign powers of engineering Morsi’s downfall, along with the current protests in Venezuela. Elements of Turkish pro-government media are already claiming Turkey could be Washington’s next target. 
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UN Aid Convoy Reaches Remote Rukban Camp in Syria

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The largest United Nations humanitarian aid convoy since the start of the Syrian conflict has reached Rukban refugee camp, where thousands of desperate people are stranded in the desert close to the border with Jordan, the U.N. said on Wednesday.

The United Nations said the convoy of more than 100 trucks was carrying food, sanitation and hygiene supplies, and health assistance to the camp.

“Conditions at Rukban are increasingly desperate. The vast majority of people at the site are women and children who have been staying there for more than two years in harsh conditions,” Fadwa AbedRabou Baroud, a U.N. Damascus-based spokeswoman said.

The Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) is also taking part in the convoy, which will involve an emergency vaccination campaign for 10,000 children against measles, polio and other diseases.

Rukban, located close to the Tanf U.S. military base in the desert near where the borders of Syria, Jordan and Iraq converge, is home to between 40,000 to 50,000 people whose last U.N. aid convoy arrived in November.

In the last three years, tens of thousands of people have fled to the camp from Islamic State-held parts of Syria being targeted by Russian and U.S.-led coalition air strikes.

Rukban lies inside a “deconfliction zone” set up by U.S. forces. Moscow and Damascus who say U.S. troops are occupying Syrian territory and providing a safe haven for rebels have been pushing Washington to leave the area.

The U.S.-protected zone has encouraged many of Rukban’s inhabitants to stay rather than go back to their homes in areas under government control where they fear retribution by the Syrian army, local officials say.

Many youths fear being dragged into the army.

Both the United Nations and Jordan, where the camp is close to its border, says the situation is not tenable in the long run and residents should be encouraged to voluntarily leave.

Shortages of food and medicine at the desolate camp have caused dozens of deaths in the last few years, aid workers say.

“While this delivery of assistance will provide much-needed support to people at Rukban, it is only a temporary measure,” acting U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Sajjad Malik was quoted as saying in the statement.

A long-term solution is urgently needed, Malik said.
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Algerian Brain Drain is Pre-election Headache for Government

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No matter who wins Algeria’s presidential election, 29-year-old cardiologist Moumen Mohamed plans to seek his fortune elsewhere.

He is one of a growing number of young, educated Algerians who are looking for work in Europe or the Gulf to escape the low salaries imposed by a state-dominated economy at home.

The exodus of doctors, engineers and other highly skilled workers is a headache for a government hoping to engage with its largely youthful electorate ahead of the vote on April 18.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 81, has not said if he will seek a fifth term, although the ruling FLN party, labor unions and business leaders are urging him on.

For young professionals, the question is scarcely relevant.

Many feel disconnected from an elite populated by the veterans of Algeria’s 1954-1962 war of independence from France, an era they only know about from their grandparents.

They want to pursue their careers but feel discouraged by a system that offers low-paid jobs and little opportunity to better themselves.

“I have already done my paperwork to migrate,” said Moumen, the cardiologist, who works at a state hospital. “I am waiting for a response.”

Nearly 15,000 Algerian doctors work in France now and 4,000 submitted applications to leave their home country last year, according to official figures.

The government does not accept all the blame.

“The press has exaggerated the phenomenon… it is a problem for all Algerians, not just the government,” Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia said in response to a reporter’s question about young doctors leaving.

But in Europe doctors can earn ten times what they get in Algeria, a socialist economy where medical professionals are paid little more than less skilled public employees.

“Salaries, working conditions are bad, and above all there is no appreciation of doctors,” said Mohamed Yousfi, head of the specialist doctors’ union.

“Our doctors are filling the medical desert in Western countries like France, Canada and Germany. They are also present in the Gulf,” said Yousfi, sitting in his office in the public hospital at Boufarik, a town near Algiers.

The hospital, which opened in 1872, was being refurbished by building workers, and Yousfi said medical equipment was readily available.

“The authorities focus on walls and equipment but forget human resources,” he said.

Public sector

Algeria has poured billions of dollars in the health sector in the past decades, with around 50,000 doctors and 150,000 beds available in 2018, official data shows.

The North African oil and gas producing nation guarantees citizens cradle-to-grave welfare, but lack of competition from the private sector means some services are poor.

The country only ranks 85 out of 189 in the Human Development Index of living standards compiled by the United Nations Development Program. This is behind Western and Eastern Europe, the Gulf and even sanctions-hit Iran.

Many public hospitals do not offer the same level of quality as private clinics, which have been slowly opening. Those who can afford it go abroad for treatment.

“We are not respected as we should be as long as our dignitaries, ministers and generals continue to seek treatment overseas,” said a doctor who asked not to be named.

Doctors are not the only ones who want to migrate. Pilots, computer engineers, oil drillers and even journalists are also heading for the airport, privately owned Algerian media report.

Around 10,000 engineers and drillers from the state energy firm Sonatrach have left the company in the past ten years, according to senior company officials. “If nothing is done to improve working conditions and salaries, more and more will leave,” a Sonatrach source said.

Most professionals head for the Gulf, where they earn good salaries.

“I left Algeria in 2015. I am a computer engineer and I am now in Oman working for a big telecoms firm,” Messaoud Benali, 39, said by phone.

“I know plenty of educated Algerians who work in Gulf countries,” he said.

Bouteflika must say whether he will run or not by March 3, according to the constitution.

If he does, he is expected to win despite his poor health, because the opposition remains weak and fragmented, analysts say. But how the ruling elite can connect with young people is another question altogether.

Algeria has one of the world’s slowest internet speeds, but its young people are still very tech-savvy.

This became clear when 21-year-old singer Farouk Boujemline invited fans via Snapchat to celebrate his birthday in the center of Algiers.

About 10,000 showed up, jamming the traffic for hours, and police had to set up barriers around the city’s independence monument to make sure the party didn’t get out of control.

By contrast, Bouteflika, Prime Minister Ouyahia and several other ministers do not have Twitter accounts to communicate with the public.

Algeria is one of the few countries where government ministries still use fax machines to communicate with the outside world.

“How to reconnect with the young elite, this is the top priority for Algeria’s next president,” said political analyst Ferrahi Farid.

In the past, authorities could ensure public support by increasing salaries or extending the welfare state.

When riots erupted in Algiers in 2011, the government sought to prevent any spread of the Arab Spring uprisings by offering billions to pay for salary increases, interest-free loans, and thousands of jobs in the public sector.

But 95 percent of government income depends on oil and gas revenues, which halved in the years from 2014 to 2017, forcing officials to impose a public hiring freeze.

“When the oil price is $100 you can do a lot, but when it is $50 there is not much you can do,” Farid said.

 
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Trump Speech Stokes Allies’ Fears Over US Troop Withdrawal

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U.S. allies have given a cautious welcome to the announcement of a second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, to be held later this month in the Vietnamese city of Da Nang.

The planned meeting was the major foreign policy announcement Tuesday in President Trump’s State of the Union address.  He said the rapprochement with Pyongyang, which began with a summit in Singapore last June, was a major success of his presidency.

“Nuclear testing has stopped, and there has not been a missile launch in more than 15 months,” Trump told lawmakers and guests gathered on Capitol Hill.

To audible gasps from some in the audience, Donald Trump said America would likely be at war with North Korea if his Democrat rival Hillary Clinton had won the presidency in 2016.  His claims of success in negotiations with Pyongyang are disputed, says Leslie Vinjamuri, head of the US program at policy group Chatham House.

“There hasn’t been the kind of progress with North Korea that the president’s claiming.  There’s still evidence that they are committed to their nuclear program.”

A spokesperson for the South Korean president said, “We hope that the two leaders take more specific and practical actions in Vietnam.”

Seoul is taking a cautious approach, says U.S. Policy Analyst and author James D. Boys.

“I would imagine that there are many people in South Korea who are concerned at this point that perhaps Donald Trump might continue that withdrawal process, and talk about bringing American troops home from the Korean peninsula, in exchange for any nuclear agreement.”

Troop withdrawals

The U.S. president pledged to bring more American troops home from conflicts overseas.

“We have spent more than $7 trillion in the Middle East.  As a candidate for president, I pledged a new approach.  Great nations do not fight endless wars,” he told lawmakers.

He added that peace talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan must be given a chance, and the Islamic State terror group had been largely defeated in Syria.

But there are growing concerns among allies over an American withdrawal from the region, says Leslie Vinjamuri.

“As to whether you can really rely on the Taliban to deliver on any peace settlement that might be agreed, certainly a lot of concern by women in Afghanistan and what that would mean.  And again the same line that he’s going to pull America’s troops out of Syria and there’s very grave concern there about what the implications for stability in Syria, for ISIS, whether that threat will grow.”

Russia

Trump criticized Moscow’s purported violation of the Cold War-era Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, from which the United States and Russia have pulled out recently, and warned if there is no new agreement “the U.S. would outspend and out-innovate all others.”

NATO allies are fearful of an arms race with Russia and an unpredictable U.S. president, says analyst James D. Boys.

“It’s notable that he was very critical of European leaders, NATO allies, claiming that they had to be dragged kicking and screaming to their share of defense expenditure for example, and yet spoke quite warmly of people like President Xi from China.”

While the speech appears to have done little to answer questions about foreign policy among European allies, the impression from afar is the State of the Union address was largely aimed at addressing the president’s challenges at home.
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Top Iraqi Cleric Rejects Trump’s Statements on US Troops

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Iraq’s most senior Shi’ite cleric has expressed his criticism of President Donald Trump’s recent statement that U.S. troops should stay in Iraq to keep an eye on neighboring Iran.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is the latest Iraqi official to criticize Trump’s remarks made to U.S. media in which he said U.S. troops are needed in Iraq so that America can “watch Iran.”

Al-Sistani says Iraq rejects serving as a launching pad to harm any other country. He spoke on Wednesday, during a meeting with U.N. Iraq envoy Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert at the cleric’s base in the city of Najaf.

 

He says Iraq aspires to have good and balanced relations with all neighboring countries, without interference in its internal affairs.

 

Both Iraq’s president and prime minister have hit back at Trump’s statements.

 

 
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West Virginia Woman Accused of Threatening to Kill Trump

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A West Virginia woman has been indicted on charges of threatening to kill President Donald Trump.

 

A federal grand jury in Wheeling on Tuesday indicted 25-year-old Taryn Corrinne Henthorn of Middlebourne.

 

Prosecutors say Henthorn made the threat on Facebook and elsewhere last month.

 

Henthorn faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of three counts if convicted.

 

It’s unclear if Henthorn has a lawyer.

 

 
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Macedonia Moves Closer to NATO Membership

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Macedonia has signed a key document for its bid to join NATO, a process that could be completed by next year.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Dimitrov were among those who took part in the ceremony Wednesday in Brussels.

Stoltenberg said adding Macedonia as the 30th NATO member will bring more stability and security to the region.

“Today’s signing of the accession protocol shows what diplomacy and statesmanship can achieve,” he told reporters.

Standing alongside Stoltenberg, Dimitrov said that what is important for his country in joining the alliance is that it will “never walk alone again.”

“A country is as strong as its military. It is also as strong as its democratic institutions are functional and healthy. But it is also as strong as the number of close friends it has,” he said.

Greece had blocked Macedonia’s efforts to join NATO because of a long-running dispute over the use of the name Macedonia — shared both by a historic region of northern Greece and the former Yugoslav republic.

Both countries agreed that the country will change its name to the Republic of North Macedonia.

All 29 current NATO members must ratify Macedonia’s membership before it can join.
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Pope: My UAE trip Wrote New page in Christian-Islam History

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Pope Francis says his pilgrimage this week to the United Arab Emirates wrote a “new page in history of the dialogue between Christianity and Islam” and in promoting world peace based on brotherhood.

Telling pilgrims at the Vatican Wednesday about making the first-ever papal trip to the Arabian Peninsula, Francis described his encounter with leaders of Islam as a counterpoint to the “strong temptation” to contend there’s a current clash between Christian and Islamic civilizations.

While in Abu Dhabi, Francis signed a document with the grand imam of al-Azhar, the ancient seat of learning in Sunni Islam, condemning religiously motivated and other violence. The pope said the two religious leaders wanted to give a “clear and decisive sign” that respect and dialogue is possible between the Christian and Islamic worlds.

 

 
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UN Chief: ‘There is a Wind of Hope in Africa’

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U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres travels to Addis Ababa this week for the African Union Summit. He sat down with VOA U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer ahead of his trip. He told VOA cooperation between the world body and the African Union has substantially improved and expressed optimism that the continent is making progress on some of its biggest challenges.
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Vietnam Site for 2nd Trump-Kim Summit May Bring Wins for All

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Vietnam’s selection as the venue for the second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is largely a matter of convenience and security, but not without bigger stakes.

Washington’s goal for the talks Feb. 27-28 is for North Korea to agree give up its nuclear weapons. North Korea frames the issue more broadly, seeking a removal of the “nuclear threat” from U.S. military forces in South Korea.

Host Vietnam hopes to boost its diplomatic leverage against its powerful neighbor, China, which contests waters in the South China Sea claimed by Hanoi.

But Vietnam’s history as a U.S. adversary that transitioned on its own terms to a dynamic free-market economy under a communist political system suggests a larger meaning for the summit.

“By choosing Vietnam, the two leaders send a strong strategic message to the world that they are willing to make a breakthrough decision to turn an enemy into a friend and together make the world a better place, following the example of the U.S.-Vietnam relationship,” said Le Hong Hiep, a research fellow at the ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.

A fresh, secure stage

America’s past military involvement in Vietnam, whether it’s seen as tragic or noble, provides a historically dramatic stage for Trump to again draw attention to his foreign policy accomplishments.

As a single-party communist state, Vietnam boasts tight political control and an efficient security apparatus, and successfully hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings in 2017, and the regional edition of the high-powered World Economic Forum last year, both in the central coastal city of Danang.

“Like Singapore, where they met last time, Vietnam is a very secure place,” said Murray Hiebert, senior associate of the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “Vietnam’s security police are able to keep away crowds of the curious and keep journalists in designated areas.”

Trump’s attendance at the 2017 APEC meeting means “he’s familiar with the country and has good rapport with its leaders,” Hiebert said.

Communist ties

This is friendly turf for Kim. Even though North Korea has remained mired in Cold War isolation while Vietnam’s postwar path led toward integration with the globalized economy, the two communist countries share a history of anti-imperialist struggle and ambivalent relations with common neighbor China.

“Vietnam and North Korea have long had fraternal communist ties, so North Korea is familiar with the country and its officials. North Korea would also feel confident that Vietnam’s security apparatus could secure Kim’s protection,” Hiebert said.

There’s also the bonus that a flight from Pyongyang to a meeting in Vietnam is roughly two-thirds of the six-hour flying time to Singapore, and none of it over hostile territory.

A forward-looking North Korea might learn something from Vietnam’s impressive economic growth due to “bold economic reforms, proactive integration into the world economy, and excellent partnerships with strategic partners, with the U.S. and South Korea among the most important ones,” said Vu Minh Khuong, associate professor at Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a similar point when he visited Hanoi last July after two days of talks in North Korea.

“The leaders of Vietnam realized their country could reform, it could open up and build relationships without threatening the country’s sovereignty, its independence, and its form of government,” he said in a speech to Hanoi’s business community. “I have a message for Chairman Kim Jong Un: President Trump believes your country can replicate this path. It’s yours if you’ll seize the moment.”

What Vietnam gains

“Vietnam is locked in a pretty intense rivalry with China in the South China Sea, so Hanoi is looking for regional and international diplomatic support as a hedge against Beijing, and hosting a summit like this would certainly strengthen its international profile,” said CSIS scholar Hiebert.

In particular, helping Washington achieve its Korean policy goals could help fulfill Vietnam’s desire for closer relations with the U.S., both to encourage trade and investment and serve as a strategic counterweight to China.

Trump’s abandonment of the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade group dampened hopes for a takeoff in trade, and Vietnam’s poor human rights record, especially its harsh repression of political dissidents, has hurt chances for closer security links.

However, intense media coverage of the summit would attract significant international attention from tourists and investors, said research fellow Hiep.
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Senior Somali Military Officer Killed in Roadside Bombing

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A senior Somali military commander was killed in a powerful roadside explosion near the capital, Mogadishu, Tuesday just two months after his several other senior officers were killed in the same area by an improvised explosive device (IED), military officials confirmed to VOA Somali.

Colonel Abdisalam Sheikh Aden died after his vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device shortly after leaving a military base in Dhanane, on the southern outskirts of Mogadishu. 

Aden was deputy commander of the 12th April Division, one of the biggest military sectors in Somalia. A second officer, Colonel Abdirahman Jimale Muse, who was in charge of the finances for the first battalion of Somali army, was also killed in Tuesday’s explosion.

The death of the two officers came exactly two months after two senior military commanders including Aden’s predecessor were killed by IED in the same vicinity. The explosion on Dec. 6 killed the commander of the 12th April Division, General Omar Aden Dhabad “Omar Dhere,” and his deputy general, Abdi Ali Jamame. 

The al-Shabab militant group claimed responsibility for the attack.

​Tuesday’s attack came as the U.S. military increased airstrikes against al-Shabab. The U.S. military has reported carrying out two new strikes against the group. The first strike took place on Feb. 3 in the Gandarshe area, not far from the location of Tuesday’s IED attack, 30 kilometers south of Mogadishu. The second strike occurred in the vicinity of Leego town in Lower Shabelle region, about 120 kilometers west of Mogadishu.

U.S. Africa Command did not report any casualties suffered by al-Shabab but said no civilians were either killed or injured.

“These precision airstrikes support Somali partners’ ongoing efforts to reduce al-Shabab safe havens, degrade the terrorists’ infrastructure, and destroy terrorist equipment,” said the statement by Africa Command.

The latest two strikes bring the total number of airstrikes against al-Shabab this year to 11. Last year the United States carried out 47 strikes, all of them against al-Shabab.
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Zimbabwe President Invites Opposition for Talks As Teachers Strike

Posted on by SeeAF

Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa invited opposition leaders to a meeting on Wednesday to draw up terms for a national dialogue, they said, following a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests.

More than 20 politicians who contested July’s presidential election were invited, two of whom – Lovemore Madhuku and Noah Manyika – said they would attend. It would be the first meeting between Mnangagwa and opponents since he took power from Robert Mugabe in November 2017.

Manyika however said he believed conditions were not yet right for meaningful dialogue, which could only happen if hundreds of people detained during the crackdown were released and soldiers withdrawn from streets and checkpoints.

“It can only take place if, as the president promised upon his return from his overseas trip, the heads of those who have been responsible for brutalizing citizens roll,” Manyika said.

On Tuesday, a nationwide strike by public sector teachers for better pay got off to a patchy start, as some stayed at home while others attended school but did not teach amid fears of further intimidation.

The president hiked fuel costs by 150 percent last month and immediately traveled abroad, triggering unrest that drew a violent response from security forces and eventually persuaded him to cut short his foreign tour.

On his return home, Mnangagwa promised action against brutality by police and troops and called for a national dialogue.

There was no immediate comment on Tuesday’s invitation from Mnangagwa or his spokesman.

Nelson Chamisa, who heads the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party and who counts Manyika among his allies, could not be reached for comment.

The MDC believes Zimbabwe is reverting to the authoritarian rule that characterized the regime of long-time leader Mugabe, and says the election that confirmed Mnangagwa as president in July was rigged, an allegation the judiciary rejected.

‘Report all intimidation’

The southern African nation is mired in an economic crisis marked by soaring inflation and shortages of cash, fuel and medicines.

Many government workers are demanding wage rises and payments in dollars to compensate.

On Tuesday the striking Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA), the biggest teaching union, said most of its members had stayed at home but that security agents had gone to some schools taking details of absent teachers.

The union accused authorities of spreading fake news to discourage teachers from going on strike after state media reported that the stoppage had been called off.

“Report all forms of intimidation, we are building a dossier of such,” ZIMTA said in a notice to members.

Cabinet ministers declined to answer questions on the strike at a media briefing in Harare.

In schools around the center of the capital, most teachers appeared to have turned up for work, but some were not taking lessons, witnesses said.

In a classroom at a primary school in Harare’s Mbare township, a Reuters photographer saw one teacher eating from her lunch box in class while pupils sat quietly.

Zimbabwe has more than 100,000 public-sector teachers.
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