A Tanzanian woman is traveling around Africa showcasing her soccer ball juggling skills as a way to feed her family. Her video clips have gone viral on social media and captivated the hearts of many people in the continent and beyond. This month, one of her clips caught the eye of U.S. president Donald Trump who tweeted “Amazing!” Lameck Masina caught up with her in the Malawi capital, Lilongwe, and filed this report.
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Month: March 2019
Lull in Fighting Lets Islamic State Families Flee, Fighters Surrender
Hundreds of Islamic State fighters and family members fled the northeastern Syrian village of Baghuz, taking advantage of a pause in ferocious fighting with the U.S.-backed forces that have surrounded the last patch of the terror group’s self-declared caliphate.
Officials with the Syrian Democratic Forces, Kurdish militias and human right monitors confirmed the exodus late Monday, though the number of fighters and civilians varied.
Monitors with the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said about 150 IS fighters surrendered to the SDF, part of a group of about 400 people that left the ever-shrinking enclave on the banks of the Euphrates River.
The observatory said by the end of the day, as many as another 1,200 people had left.
One official with the YPG, a Kurdish militia that has supported the U.S.-backed offensive on Baghuz, told VOA many of the fighters and family members came from Central Asian countries, such as Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. But the official said he did not know how many more fighters or civilians were still hiding in tunnels underneath the village.
SDF and coalition officials have described the tunnel system, which could extend for more than 2 kilometers, as complex, parts of it laden with explosives and booby traps as the dwindling number of IS fighters make their last stand.
Initial estimates from both the coalition and the SDF put the number of IS fighters in Baghuz at about 300, with officials warning they were some of the most dedicated and hardened fighters the terror group had to offer. Since then, though, hundreds of IS fighters have surrendered, though officials suspect many more remain.
Prior to the pause in fighting late Sunday, the fighting had been intense. SDF and coalition officials said IS used a combination of car bombs, suicide bombers and human shields to hold the advancing forces at bay.
But by late Monday, the YPG’s Zana Amedi tweeted that IS control had been contained to a collection of about a dozen houses clustered near the banks of the Euphrates River.
“However, some Daesh still remain in tunnel network under the camp,” he warned, using an Arabic acronym for the terror group.
The U.S.-backed SDF began their final assault on the last remnant of the Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate late Friday, surrounding the village of Baghuz with about 15,000 troops and with the backing of U.S. and coalition airpower.
SDF commanders said they gave the go-ahead for their final offensive only after more than 13,000 people had evacuated Baghuz, saying they were convinced that all civilians had left the city.
Only coalition officials began expressing concern Sunday that IS fighters were making extensive use of women, children and possible hostages as human shields.
“We’re slowing down the offensive in #Baghouz due to a small number of civilians held as human shields by Daesh,” Mustafa Bali, a spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces, announced on Twitter late Sunday.
Still, he warned that the reprieve would not last long.
“We assert that the battle to retake the last ISIS holdout is going to be over soon,” he wrote, using another acronym for the terror group.
A coalition official told VOA Monday that the SDF was “working diligently” to get any remaining civilians out of harms way, but admitted the number of civilians still hiding with IS fighters or being held against their will, was not known.
The United Nations has said that of the estimated 13,000 civilians who evacuated Baghuz in the week preceding the SDF offensive, as many as 90 percent of them were women and children under the age of 5.
Sirwan Kajjo contributed to this report.
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Lull in Fighting Lets Islamic State Families Flee, Fighters Surrender
Hundreds of Islamic State fighters and family members fled the northeastern Syrian village of Baghuz, taking advantage of a pause in ferocious fighting with the U.S.-backed forces that have surrounded the last patch of the terror group’s self-declared caliphate.
Officials with the Syrian Democratic Forces, Kurdish militias and human right monitors confirmed the exodus late Monday, though the number of fighters and civilians varied.
Monitors with the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said about 150 IS fighters surrendered to the SDF, part of a group of about 400 people that left the ever-shrinking enclave on the banks of the Euphrates River.
The observatory said by the end of the day, as many as another 1,200 people had left.
One official with the YPG, a Kurdish militia that has supported the U.S.-backed offensive on Baghuz, told VOA many of the fighters and family members came from Central Asian countries, such as Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. But the official said he did not know how many more fighters or civilians were still hiding in tunnels underneath the village.
SDF and coalition officials have described the tunnel system, which could extend for more than 2 kilometers, as complex, parts of it laden with explosives and booby traps as the dwindling number of IS fighters make their last stand.
Initial estimates from both the coalition and the SDF put the number of IS fighters in Baghuz at about 300, with officials warning they were some of the most dedicated and hardened fighters the terror group had to offer. Since then, though, hundreds of IS fighters have surrendered, though officials suspect many more remain.
Prior to the pause in fighting late Sunday, the fighting had been intense. SDF and coalition officials said IS used a combination of car bombs, suicide bombers and human shields to hold the advancing forces at bay.
But by late Monday, the YPG’s Zana Amedi tweeted that IS control had been contained to a collection of about a dozen houses clustered near the banks of the Euphrates River.
“However, some Daesh still remain in tunnel network under the camp,” he warned, using an Arabic acronym for the terror group.
The U.S.-backed SDF began their final assault on the last remnant of the Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate late Friday, surrounding the village of Baghuz with about 15,000 troops and with the backing of U.S. and coalition airpower.
SDF commanders said they gave the go-ahead for their final offensive only after more than 13,000 people had evacuated Baghuz, saying they were convinced that all civilians had left the city.
Only coalition officials began expressing concern Sunday that IS fighters were making extensive use of women, children and possible hostages as human shields.
“We’re slowing down the offensive in #Baghouz due to a small number of civilians held as human shields by Daesh,” Mustafa Bali, a spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces, announced on Twitter late Sunday.
Still, he warned that the reprieve would not last long.
“We assert that the battle to retake the last ISIS holdout is going to be over soon,” he wrote, using another acronym for the terror group.
A coalition official told VOA Monday that the SDF was “working diligently” to get any remaining civilians out of harms way, but admitted the number of civilians still hiding with IS fighters or being held against their will, was not known.
The United Nations has said that of the estimated 13,000 civilians who evacuated Baghuz in the week preceding the SDF offensive, as many as 90 percent of them were women and children under the age of 5.
Sirwan Kajjo contributed to this report.
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UN Rights Experts: Saudi Laws Stifle Dissent, Women Activists
Saudi Arabia is using its counterterrorism laws to silence activists, including women, in violation of international law guaranteeing freedom of speech, United Nations human rights experts said Monday.
The kingdom’s public prosecutor has begun preparing the trials of detainees, identified by watchdog groups as women’s rights activists, after completing its investigations, state news agency SPA said Friday.
A panel event entitled “Saudi Arabia — Time for Accountability” was held Monday on the sidelines of the U.N. Human Rights Council.
The Saudi counterterrorism law and other regulations are “unacceptably wide and unacceptably vague,” said Fionnuala Ni Aolain, U.N. special rapporteur on protecting human rights while countering terrorism.
“It includes people who are engaged in promoting or inciting sit-ins, protests, meetings or group statements. Anyone who harms the unity or stability of the kingdom by any means. These are notoriously slippery terms,” she said.
“These laws are used to directly attack and limit the rights of prominent human rights defenders, religious figures, writers, journalists, academics, civil activists and all of these groups have been targeted by this law,” Ni Aolain said.
Michel Forst, U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, said he has been in touch with the Riyadh government for the past year since its “crackdown.”
“Worrisome for me is the targeting of women human rights defenders,” he said.
These concerned not just women involved in the right to drive movement, “but also all kinds of women,” Forst said, adding: “All arrests involved incommunicado detention at undisclosed locations.”
Abdulaziz M.O. Alwasil, Saudi ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, told the Human Rights Council last Friday: “The kingdom heeds in its measures all international and national standards related to human rights.”
Terror suspects
Its counterterrorism measures are based not only on security measures, but take into account legal and other necessary aspects to deal with terror suspects, he said.
At Monday’s panel, Saudi and other campaigners called on the kingdom to release defenders whom they said were unjustly held, naming rights lawyer Walid abu al-Kahir, poet Ashraf Fayadh and women including Loujain al-Hathloul and Israa al-Ghomgham.
“Some are leaders of famous campaigns like the right to drive and abolishing male guardianship. These attacks are designed to mute their voices and dismantle the movements in the country,” said Zaynab al-Khawaja of the Gulf Center for Human Rights.
Facing torture
Issuing her group’s report on alleged torture in Saudi Arabia, she said: “We highlight some of the torture methods that are being used in Saudi Arabia — electrocution, flogging, sometimes whipping, on the thighs for example, sexual assault where some women human rights defenders have been stripped, have been groped, have been photographed naked, some while handcuffed, and others while blindfolded.”
Omaima al-Najjar, a Saudi blogger living in exile since fleeing the kingdom, voiced concern for at least 18 women she said had been charged.
“It is important to remember that while so many women for example now can drive, women who campaigned for driving are still in prison. While so many women can finally vote, or women can finally go to the cinemas, a lot of the activists who called for those reforms are still in prison,” she told Reuters. “I’m concerned that those women, if there is no international pressure, will end up spending the rest of their lives in prison, if not executed.”
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UN Rights Experts: Saudi Laws Stifle Dissent, Women Activists
Saudi Arabia is using its counterterrorism laws to silence activists, including women, in violation of international law guaranteeing freedom of speech, United Nations human rights experts said Monday.
The kingdom’s public prosecutor has begun preparing the trials of detainees, identified by watchdog groups as women’s rights activists, after completing its investigations, state news agency SPA said Friday.
A panel event entitled “Saudi Arabia — Time for Accountability” was held Monday on the sidelines of the U.N. Human Rights Council.
The Saudi counterterrorism law and other regulations are “unacceptably wide and unacceptably vague,” said Fionnuala Ni Aolain, U.N. special rapporteur on protecting human rights while countering terrorism.
“It includes people who are engaged in promoting or inciting sit-ins, protests, meetings or group statements. Anyone who harms the unity or stability of the kingdom by any means. These are notoriously slippery terms,” she said.
“These laws are used to directly attack and limit the rights of prominent human rights defenders, religious figures, writers, journalists, academics, civil activists and all of these groups have been targeted by this law,” Ni Aolain said.
Michel Forst, U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, said he has been in touch with the Riyadh government for the past year since its “crackdown.”
“Worrisome for me is the targeting of women human rights defenders,” he said.
These concerned not just women involved in the right to drive movement, “but also all kinds of women,” Forst said, adding: “All arrests involved incommunicado detention at undisclosed locations.”
Abdulaziz M.O. Alwasil, Saudi ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, told the Human Rights Council last Friday: “The kingdom heeds in its measures all international and national standards related to human rights.”
Terror suspects
Its counterterrorism measures are based not only on security measures, but take into account legal and other necessary aspects to deal with terror suspects, he said.
At Monday’s panel, Saudi and other campaigners called on the kingdom to release defenders whom they said were unjustly held, naming rights lawyer Walid abu al-Kahir, poet Ashraf Fayadh and women including Loujain al-Hathloul and Israa al-Ghomgham.
“Some are leaders of famous campaigns like the right to drive and abolishing male guardianship. These attacks are designed to mute their voices and dismantle the movements in the country,” said Zaynab al-Khawaja of the Gulf Center for Human Rights.
Facing torture
Issuing her group’s report on alleged torture in Saudi Arabia, she said: “We highlight some of the torture methods that are being used in Saudi Arabia — electrocution, flogging, sometimes whipping, on the thighs for example, sexual assault where some women human rights defenders have been stripped, have been groped, have been photographed naked, some while handcuffed, and others while blindfolded.”
Omaima al-Najjar, a Saudi blogger living in exile since fleeing the kingdom, voiced concern for at least 18 women she said had been charged.
“It is important to remember that while so many women for example now can drive, women who campaigned for driving are still in prison. While so many women can finally vote, or women can finally go to the cinemas, a lot of the activists who called for those reforms are still in prison,” she told Reuters. “I’m concerned that those women, if there is no international pressure, will end up spending the rest of their lives in prison, if not executed.”
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Dutch Recall Envoy From Iran in Murder Plot Row
The Netherlands said Monday it has recalled its ambassador from Tehran after Iran expelled two Dutch diplomats in a dispute over an alleged plot to assassinate regime opponents.
Dutch authorities accused Iran in January of involvement in the murder of two dissidents on Dutch soil in 2015 and 2017, and the European Union slapped sanctions on Tehran over the killings.
Foreign Minister Stef Blok said in a letter to parliament that the government “has decided to recall the Netherlands’ ambassador to Tehran for consultations” over the row.
Iran’s decision to expel the Dutch officials — which was not previously announced in public — was “not acceptable and is negative for the development of the bilateral relationship,” Blok said.
He said Iran’s move was itself a tit-for-tat response to the Netherlands’ expulsion of two Iranian embassy workers in June 2018 “due to strong indications from (Dutch intelligence) that Iran has been involved in the liquidations on Dutch territory of two Dutch people of Iranian origin.”
Tehran had informed Dutch authorities of the decision to expel the two diplomats on February 20 and they were deported back to the Netherlands on Sunday, Blok said.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi confirmed the expulsion of the two Dutch diplomats in what he called a “retaliatory” move.
“Two of the diplomats of the Netherlands embassy in Tehran were considered undesirable elements in the framework of a retaliatory measure and were asked to leave the country” on March 3 and 4, he said on the ministry’s Telegram channel.
The Dutch had also summoned the Iranian ambassador over the issue, Blok said.
Dutch police have previously named the two murder victims as Ali Motamed, 56, who was killed in the central city of Almere in 2015, and Ahmad Molla Nissi, 52, murdered in The Hague in 2017.
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Dutch Recall Envoy From Iran in Murder Plot Row
The Netherlands said Monday it has recalled its ambassador from Tehran after Iran expelled two Dutch diplomats in a dispute over an alleged plot to assassinate regime opponents.
Dutch authorities accused Iran in January of involvement in the murder of two dissidents on Dutch soil in 2015 and 2017, and the European Union slapped sanctions on Tehran over the killings.
Foreign Minister Stef Blok said in a letter to parliament that the government “has decided to recall the Netherlands’ ambassador to Tehran for consultations” over the row.
Iran’s decision to expel the Dutch officials — which was not previously announced in public — was “not acceptable and is negative for the development of the bilateral relationship,” Blok said.
He said Iran’s move was itself a tit-for-tat response to the Netherlands’ expulsion of two Iranian embassy workers in June 2018 “due to strong indications from (Dutch intelligence) that Iran has been involved in the liquidations on Dutch territory of two Dutch people of Iranian origin.”
Tehran had informed Dutch authorities of the decision to expel the two diplomats on February 20 and they were deported back to the Netherlands on Sunday, Blok said.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi confirmed the expulsion of the two Dutch diplomats in what he called a “retaliatory” move.
“Two of the diplomats of the Netherlands embassy in Tehran were considered undesirable elements in the framework of a retaliatory measure and were asked to leave the country” on March 3 and 4, he said on the ministry’s Telegram channel.
The Dutch had also summoned the Iranian ambassador over the issue, Blok said.
Dutch police have previously named the two murder victims as Ali Motamed, 56, who was killed in the central city of Almere in 2015, and Ahmad Molla Nissi, 52, murdered in The Hague in 2017.
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McConnell: Senate Has Enough Votes to Reject Trump Wall Emergency
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell acknowledged Monday that opponents of President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency along the U.S.-Mexico border have enough votes in the Republican-led Senate to prevail on a resolution aimed at blocking the move.
McConnell, who fell in line behind Trump despite his own misgivings about the declaration, said Trump will veto the resolution and that it’s likely to be sustained in Congress. McConnell’s remarks in his home state came after fellow Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul became the latest GOP lawmaker to say he can’t go along with the White House on the emergency declaration.
“I think what is clear in the Senate is there will be enough votes to pass the resolution of disapproval, which will then be vetoed by the president and then, in all likelihood, the veto will be upheld in the House,” McConnell told reporters.
Besides Paul, other Republican senators who have announced they’ll defy Trump on the issue are Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. With those four, and assuming that all 47 Democrats and their independent allies go against Trump, that would give opponents 51 votes — just past the majority needed.
The Democratic-led House recently voted to upend Trump’s declaration, which he declared to circumvent Congress and funnel billions of extra dollars to erecting his proposed border wall.
Asked Monday if the Senate can try to amend the resolution, McConnell said senators have been consulting with the parliamentarian about “what options there are, if any.”
McConnell, who has worked closely with Trump on the tax system overhaul, the selection of conservative judges and other issues, acknowledged he had counseled the president against making the declaration. The Senate leader said he’s worried Trump’s move would set a precedent for future Democratic presidents to make such a declaration for their own purposes.
“That’s one reason I argued, obviously without success to the president, that he not take this route,” McConnell said.
Many lawmakers opposed to the emergency declaration say it tramples Congress’ constitutional power to control spending. They also are concerned Trump would siphon money from home-state projects to barrier construction.
McConnell didn’t comment Monday on Paul’s position on the declaration. At a GOP dinner this past weekend in Kentucky, Paul said: “I can’t vote to give the president the power to spend money that hasn’t been appropriated by Congress.
“We may want more money for border security, but Congress didn’t authorize it. If we take away those checks and balances, it’s a dangerous thing,” Paul added, according to the Bowling Green [Ky.] Daily News.
Under the declaration, Trump would divert $3.6 billion from military construction to erect more border barriers. He’s invoking other powers to transfer an additional $3.1 billion to construction. Lawsuits have been filed aimed at derailing the declaration, which could at least prevent Trump from getting the extra money for months or more.
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US: Gulf Countries Helped Ease India-Pakistan Tensions
The United States says it used its allies across the world, particularly those in the Gulf, to help defuse tensions between India and Pakistan, after military skirmishes between the nuclear-armed neighbors last week raised fears of a war.
“We instructed numerous embassies, including in the Gulf, to weigh in on both sides,” a senior administration official told VOA on condition of anonymity.
“I think the Saudis were particularly helpful,” the official added, as Pakistani officials acknowledged the role of Middle Eastern countries in resolving the crisis. Pakistani Information Minister Fawad Hussain Chaudhry told the Saudi-based Arab News that the crown princes of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates played a “commendable” role during the crisis, adding that other Muslim countries had also been a “great help.”
Multiple other countries and international organizations, including the United Nations and the European Union, also worked to calm the situation after India and Pakistan appeared to be inching toward a military conflict.
The South Asian neighbors, once united as British India, have already fought three wars since their independence in 1947. Two of those wars were fought over the disputed Kashmir region that both sides claim. The U.N. considers the area disputed territory, the fate of which should be decided by locals through a plebiscite. Until the dispute is resolved, both India and Pakistan control a part of Kashmir, with a Line of Control, or LoC, running through the middle as the de-facto border.
The latest crisis started after Pakistan-based group Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, at a place called Pulwama, that killed more than 40 security personnel. Pakistan denied involvement in the attack and offered cooperation in investigating the incident.
India, however, accused Pakistan of harboring terrorist groups that frequently target India. Last Tuesday, Indian fighter planes entered Pakistani territory to target what they said were JeM training camps in a strike India called “non-military” and “preemptive” against future attacks.
Pakistan denied any camps existed at the site. Locals dismissed Indian claims of killing hundreds of militants and said only one man was wounded.
A day later, Pakistan responded to what it said was a violation of its air space. Pakistani military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor said Pakistani fighter planes locked onto Indian military targets, but deliberately avoided them and fired on open ground instead, in order to avoid an escalation of tensions but also to send a message to India to not violate Pakistani territory again.
In an aerial dogfight that ensued, an Indian MiG-21 jet took a hit and the pilot was captured by Pakistani forces.
The pilot was later returned to India in what Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said was a “gesture of peace,” helping to de-escalate the situation.
The international community welcomed the act but continued to press Pakistan to take meaningful action against militants operating on its soil.
On Monday, Pakistani Information Minister Chaudhry told the Reuters news agency the country was going to take such action. Pakistani media also reported through its sources that action against militant outfits seemed imminent.
Chaudhry, however, maintained that his country had nothing to do with the Pulwama attack and the decision to take action against these groups had been made well before the incident.
Prime Minister Khan says Pakistan is already taking action against any militant outfits to comply with the requirements of the Financial Action Task Force, an international body that monitors terrorism funding. The FATF has Pakistan on its watch list. In its last report issued in February, the task force said Pakistan has improved but needed further steps to curb funding for terrorism-related activities.
Pakistan’s government has issued a new order that a foreign office press release said will “streamline the procedure for implementation of Security Council Sanctions against designated individuals and entities.”
your ad hereWhere’s the Beef? US, Britain Clash Over Post-Brexit Trade Deal
Sharp differences have emerged between the United States and Britain over farming standards and practices in any post-Brexit trade deal.
The trans-Atlantic allies have already begun exploratory talks on a trade agreement after Britain’s EU exit, which is scheduled for March 29. Britain, however, is resisting U.S. demands to open its markets to agricultural products currently banned under EU law.
The most widely-cited example is Europe’s import ban on American “chlorinated chicken” — carcasses that have been washed using chlorine to remove harmful bacteria like E. coli and salmonella. Europe says an over-reliance on chlorine lowers overall production and hygiene standards in poultry farming, a claim the United States disputes.
The EU has also banned the import of beef from American cattle that have been treated with artificial growth hormones. The bloc says that one commonly used hormone may cause cancer and concludes there is not enough scientific data on the other hormones to approve their use for public consumption.
Washington has made it clear any trade deal with Britain after Brexit must see these measures dropped.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, former Republican Congressman Darrell Issa, said recently that the millions of Britons visiting the United States every year enjoy perfectly safe food.
“We’d like to have that arrangement being one in which in Britain you can choose to have American chicken, American beef, or other agricultural products just as you could when you come to the United States,” he told VOA. “It is a key lynchpin of an agreement. Financial, manufacturing and agriculture has to be free and fair.”
Issa added that President Trump is committed to sealing a trade deal with Britain after Brexit, and that it could “be the next NAFTA”, referring to the North American Free Trade Agreement between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Writing in Britain’s The Telegraph newspaper Saturday, America’s ambassador to Britain, Woody Johnson, attacked what he called “myths” over U.S. farming and alleged they are part of a protectionist agenda.
Britain has repeatedly pledged that it will not lower food standards after Brexit. Responding to Ambassador Johnson’s comments, Britain’s international trade minister, Liam Fox, said London would hold its ground.
“Will we accept things that we believe are against the interests of our consumers or our producers? No we won’t. It’s a negotiation,” Fox told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show Sunday.
The dispute over American beef and poultry is also influencing debate over the Irish border, a key stumbling block in Britain’s attempt to secure an EU exit deal.
Britain and Europe want to avoid border checks between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, an EU member state. Ireland’s prime minister, Leo Varadkar, recently expressed fears that the border could open a back door into the EU.
“If at some point in the future the United Kingdom were to allow chlorinated chicken or beef with hormones into their markets, we wouldn’t want that coming into our markets or the European Union as well,” Varadkar told reporters.
The United States says a trade deal would deliver huge benefits in sectors like financial services. Britain, meanwhile, is keen to bolster its post-Brexit credentials as a global trading power.
Far away from the skyscrapers of New York or London, it is farming that could prove the biggest barrier to any agreement.
your ad hereEU Faces Security Challenges in Migration Control
The bombing of a barracks housing 250 Spanish soldiers in Mali was narrowly averted last week when vans containing about a ton of explosives were stopped short of the gates by guards firing machine guns.
“If the truck bomb had gone off inside the compound, it would have been a catastrophe,” said the commander of the Spanish light infantry battalion, Lt. Col. Jose Leyra.
The incident highlights how Spain’s increasing role in European efforts to stabilize the Sahel — a primary route for African migrants attempting to reach Europe — is exposing its personnel and assets to attacks by Islamist militants and tribally based insurgents.
The Spanish unit is one of many conducting EU security missions in Sahel countries used as travel routes by African migrants from war-torn areas such as Somalia and Burkina Faso, where a Spanish priest working on relief programs was assassinated last week.
EU analysts say that further deterioration of the security situation in the Sahel, which is Africa’s poorest region, could increase illegal migration to Europe and destabilize wealthier countries in western and northern Africa.
On Friday, Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrel announced plans for EU investment in Africa, which he said presents “more opportunities than risks.” But an EU threat assessment seen by VOA says that criminal and militant groups could undermine development projects in the sparsely populated Saharan countries that were once Spanish and French colonies.
“Crisis and conflicts in Africa are provoking mass migration that could seriously affect Spain, which is the EU country closest to Africa,” said Raimundo Robredo, a senior official in Spain’s Foreign Ministry’s Africa desk. Strengthening the capacity of local governments to manage the migrant flow and control vast territorial frontiers is a priority for Spain and other southern European nations, he said.
Italy’s closure of ports to ships carrying migrants from Libya has shifted migrant routes westward to Spain, where illegal immigration has grown 170 percent over the past year. Spain is easily reached by small boats launched from the coasts of Morocco and Algeria.
To reach the coasts, however, migrants must travel through thousands of miles of desert, through Algeria, Mali and Mauritania.
A Spanish Civil Guard general, Francisco Espinosa, heads a $45 million EU project to train company-sized Rapid Intervention Surveillance and Investigation Groups (GARSI) in Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Senegal.
Their mission is to bolster frontier controls and target human trafficking, organized crime and terrorist networks that currently control parts of the region.
Select African recruits learn precision shooting and methods of locating and disposing of IEDs, as well as communications and mobility techniques, according to officials managing the program at its center in Madrid.
“Until now, frontier controls in the Sahel were largely limited to static border posts. GARSI is trained to improvise zone controls as migrant routes shift around,” according to a senior officer of the Civil Guard, who requested his name not be used.
GARSI information systems are enhanced with satellite links, and the teams are also trained in investigative methods to identify and break up human trafficking crime gangs, according to a Spanish officer who has coordinated support for the program with other European security services.
Italy’s Carabinieri, Portugal’s Republican Guard and France’s National Gendarmerie are also mentoring GARSI teams. Special operations units such as the French GIGN have been deployed on the ground, according to EU official reports that point to an expanding European security presence throughout the Sahel.
Spanish security officials say that “effective cooperation” is going on with security services in Senegal and Mauritania, which have made progress in controlling migration. But the situation shows signs of deteriorating in other countries, according to EU reports.
Leyra said in an interview for El Pais newspaper that there are “grave structural problems” in the way, including the presence of al-Qaida and interethnic conflicts, which make it “enormously costly to make the slightest progress.”
Massive anti-government protests that broke out in Algeria last week may create yet another source of instability.
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French Algerians Protest Against Bouteflika Re-Election Bid
Protests are continuing in Algeria against another term for ailing leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika — and despite reports he’s promised not to serve his full time if reelected in April. Demonstrations mobilized tens of thousands across Algeria — as well as Algeria’s diaspora in former colonial power France.
Roughly 6,000 people crammed the Place de la Republique in downtown Paris on Sunday, chanting and brandishing signs like ‘basta!’ — or enough — and ‘president not found’ — in reference to 82-year-old President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who is confined to a wheelchair and rarely seen in public.
Algerian Houda Omerani said Bouteflika has served his time. Five terms is too much. It’s time for change.
Her friend Yasmine Bouaouiche said Algerians aren’t just protesting another presidential run. The whole power system has to change. But people don’t want to return to the bloodshed and violence of 1991.
The popular protests in Algeria, some of the biggest in decades, have taken both the government and experts by surprise. And they have been largely peaceful. Nobody wants a repeat of the 1990s civil war that began with a 1991 legislative election in which an Islamist party won.
There’s another difference. Like other recent uprisings, this one is largely driven by social media.
“All the calls for the protests were on social media. And also social media played a main role to keep it peaceful, because people are spreading this message and enforcing (it),” said Algerian blogger Kamel Labid.
Labid traveled from London to join the Paris demonstrations. Like others, he agrees there are few existing alternatives to Algeria’s current government. The political opposition is aging and weak.
“But Algeria has 40 million people. So we can get younger people, people who can lead the country,” he said.
That may include some among Algeria’s sizable diaspora in France, estimated at between one and two-million people. French Algerian Madjid Messaoudene is a municipal councilor in the Paris suburb of Saint Denis.
Messaoudene said he’s proud to be both French and Algerian. It gives him hope to see the massive mobilization in his parents’ homeland — with a single objective, he says: to topple the system.
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At Least 14 Dead as Storms, Possible Tornados Hit Deep South
A sheriff confirmed at least 14 people were killed by a possible tornado in Alabama on Sunday as severe storms destroyed mobile homes, snapped trees and left a trial of destruction and weather warnings extending into Georgia, Florida and South Carolina.
Dozens of emergency responders rushed in to assist in Lee County, Alabama, after what appeared to be a large tornado struck Sunday afternoon as part of a powerful storm system raking the Southeast.
“I can say that at this time we have 14 confirmed fatalities,” Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones told WRBL-TV. “And again the search continues. We still have some people that are reported missing.”
Authorities warned that the death toll could rise further as search efforts continued in the small community of Beauregard and surrounding areas. Jones said the storm’s path of destruction stretched for miles (kilometers) through his rural county, and in places was about a fourth of a mile (0.4 kilometers) wide. He didn’t have an immediate account of how many were believed missing.
Several people in Lee County were taken to hospitals, “some of them with very serious injuries,” Jones said.
Rita Smith, spokeswoman for the Lee County Emergency Management Agency, said about 150 first responders were assisting in the storm’s aftermath.
Multiple homes were destroyed or damaged in Beauregard, about 60 miles (95 kilometers) east of Montgomery, Smith said.
“We’ve still got people being pulled out of rubble,” Lee County Coroner Bill Harris told Al.com on Sunday evening. “We’re going to be here all night.”
The sheriff and coroner did not immediately return phone messages from The Associated Press.
No deaths had been reported Sunday evening from storm-damaged Alabama counties outside Lee County, said Gregory Robinson, spokesman for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency. But he said crews were still surveying damage in several counties in the southwestern part of the state.
Radar and video evidence showed what looked like a large tornado crossing the area near Beauregard shortly after 2 p.m. Sunday, said meteorologist Meredith Wyatt with the Birmingham, Alabama, office of the National Weather Service.
Numerous tornado warnings were posted across parts of Alabama, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina on Sunday afternoon as the powerful storm system raced across the region.
In rural Talbotton, Georgia, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of Atlanta, a handful of people were injured by either powerful straight-line winds or a tornado that destroyed several mobile homes and damaged other buildings, said Leigh Ann Erenheim, director of the Talbot County Emergency Management Agency.
Televised broadcast news footage showed smashed buildings with rooftops blown away, cars overturned and debris everywhere. Trees all around had been snapped bare of branches.
“The last check I had was between six and eight injuries,” Ereheim said in a phone interview. “From what I understand it was minor injuries, though one fellow did say his leg might be broken.”
She said searches of damaged homes and structures had turned up no serious injuries or deaths.
Henry Wilson of the Peach County Emergency Management Agency near Macon in central Georgia said a barn had been destroyed and trees and power poles had been snapped, leaving many in the area without power.
Authorities said a tornado was confirmed by radar in the Florida Panhandle late Sunday afternoon.
A portion of Interstate 10 on the Florida Panhandle was blocked in one direction for a time in Walton County in the aftermath, said Don Harrigan, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Tallahassee.
“There’s a squall line moving through the area,” Harrigan told AP. “And when you have a mature line of storms moving into an area where low level winds are very strong, you tend to have tornadoes developing. It’s a favorable environment for tornados.”
The threat of severe weather was expected to continue into Sunday evening. A tornado watch was in effect for much of eastern Georgia, including Athens, Augusta and Savannah. The tornado watch also covered a large area of South Carolina, including the cities of Charleston and Columbia.
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British PM May Promises $2 billion Fund for Brexit-Backing Towns
British Prime Minister Theresa May will on Monday set out plans for a $2.11 billion (1.6 billion pound) fund to help to boost economic growth in Brexit-supporting communities, particularly in the north of England.
The “Stronger Towns Fund,” details of which appeared in newspapers last month, is seen by many as part of May’s efforts to win support for her Brexit deal from opposition Labour lawmakers who represent areas that voted strongly in favor of leaving the European Union.
Britain is due to leave the bloc at the end of the month and May, whose exit deal with Brussels was rejected by a large majority of lawmakers in January, has promised parliament will get to vote on a revised deal by March 12.
The government said the fund would be targeted at places that had not shared fairly in the country’s prosperity and would be used to create new jobs, help to train people and boost economic activity.
“Communities across the country voted for Brexit as an expression of their desire to see change; that must be a change for the better, with more opportunity and greater control,” May said in a statement.
“These towns have a glorious heritage, huge potential and, with the right help, a bright future ahead of them.”
The opposition Labour Party’s finance spokesman, John McDonnell, said the fund was “Brexit bribery.”
“This towns fund smacks of desperation from a government reduced to bribing Members of Parliament to vote for their damaging flagship Brexit legislation,” he said in a statement.
One billion pounds has already been allocated, with more than half going to towns across the north of England. A further 600 million pounds will be available for communities around the country to bid for, the government said.
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US Closes Jerusalem Consulate, Demoting Palestinian Mission
The United States has officially shuttered its consulate in Jerusalem, downgrading the status of its main diplomatic mission to the Palestinians by folding it into the U.S. Embassy to Israel.
For decades, the consulate functioned as a de facto embassy to the Palestinians. Now, that outreach will be handled by a Palestinian affairs unit, under the command of the embassy.
A statement released Sunday the the U.S. State Department said, “This decision was driven by our global efforts to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our diplomatic engagements and operations. It does not signal a change of U.S. policy on Jerusalem, the West Bank, or the Gaza Strip.
“As the President has stated, the United States continues to take no position on final status issues, including boundaries or borders. The specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem are subject to final status negotiations between the parties. The Administration remains fully committed to efforts to achieve a lasting and comprehensive peace that offers a brighter future to Israel and the Palestinians,” the statement continued.
The symbolic shift hands authority over U.S. diplomatic channels with the West Bank and Gaza to ambassador David Friedman, a longtime supporter and fundraiser for the West Bank settler movement and fierce critic of the Palestinian leadership.
When first announced by U.S. Secretary Mike Pompeo in October, the move infuriated Palestinians, fueling their suspicions that the U.S. was recognizing Israeli control over territories that Palestinians seek for a future state.
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US Shutters Its Consulate in Jerusalem, Angering Palestinians
The United States is shutting down its consulate in Jerusalem, which served the Palestinians, and will merge its entire diplomatic mission to the new embassy starting Monday.
“It does not signal a change of U.S. policy on Jerusalem, the West Bank, or the Gaza Strip,” the State Department said in a statement released Sunday. “This decision was driven by our global efforts to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our diplomatic engagements and operations.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the move in October. It infuriated the Palestinians who see closing the office that served them and moving it to the embassy as another sign of the Trump administration’s pro-Israel bias.
Senior Palestinian Saab Ekekat called the decision “the final nail in the coffin” for the U.S. as a Middle East peacemaker.
But, as the State Department said, the move changes nothing and said the “efficiency and effectiveness” of its critical work helping all in Israel will be enhanced by a larger team of diplomats.
Palestinians were outraged when the U.S. moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, calling it a recognition of the city as the capital of a Jewish state.
The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. They say Jerusalem’s status should be determined by peace talks.
The State Department said President Donald Trump takes no position on final status issues and remains fully committed to efforts toward a lasting peace between Jews and Palestinians.
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Rand Paul Becomes 4th Republican to Oppose Trump Emergency Declaration
U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky has become the fourth Republican to vow to oppose President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration to build a wall along the southern U.S. border, likely giving the Senate enough votes to pass a resolution blocking it.
“I can’t vote to give the president the power to spend money that hasn’t been appropriated by Congress,” Paul told guests at a GOP dinner at Western Kentucky University, according to the Bowling Green Daily News.
Paul joins Republicans senators Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina in his opposition. If all 47 Senate Democrats vote as expected, the Senate has enough votes to pass a resolution with 51 votes.
Thirteen Republicans in the House joined Democrats last week to pass a resolution to block Trump’s emergency declaration. If it passes the Senate, the resolution will go to the president, who has promised to veto it.
Neither chamber has enough votes to overturn a veto by Trump — two-thirds of each chamber is needed to overturn a veto.
Trump made the declaration in February after Congress approved just $1.375 billion for border security, far short of the $5.7 billion he had sought.
He plans to divert about $6.2 billion to build his long-promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. He is seeking to use $3.6 billion from military construction, $2.5 billion from a Defense Department drug interdiction program, and $600 million from a Treasury Department drug forfeiture program, in addition to the money from Congress.
“We’re being invaded by drugs, by people, by criminals, and we have to stop it,”Trump has said in justifying the action.
While some Republicans support the action, others have rejected it.
“What we see happening along the border – the amount of drugs, the amount of deaths in America, the human trafficking that’s coming across, the overwhelming problem there. So the president has the authority to do it,” Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy said.
But Senator Collins calls the president’s move “ill-advised precisely because it attempts to shortcut the process of checks and balances by usurping Congress’ authority.”
VOA’s Michael Bowman contributed to this report.
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US: Diplomats Have Visited With Detainee in Saudi Arabia
U.S. diplomats have visited with a dual U.S.-Saudi national believed to have been tortured during his detention in Riyadh, National Security Advisor John Bolton said Sunday.
Walid Fitaihi, a Harvard-trained doctor who opened a hospital in Saudi Arabia in 2006, was detained in November 2017 along with other prominent Saudis as part of what the government said was a corruption crackdown. After being held at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Riyadh for a week, Fitaihi later told a friend he was dragged into a room where he was slapped, blindfolded, stripped to his underwear and bound to a chair, where he was shocked with electricity for an hour.
Little has been known about his fate since then, but Bolton told CNN, “As of this moment, my understanding is we’ve had what’s called consular access, meaning American diplomats in Saudi Arabia have visited with him.”
But he said, “Beyond that, we don’t really have any additional information at this point.”
Fitaihi’s lawyer, Howard Cooper, told the U.S. State Department in January that Fitaihi has been held in a Saudi prison where “he has been permitted little contact with the outside world.”
Cooper said in his letter, “It is believed that Dr. Fitaihi has been and is tortured at least psychologically during his imprisonment.”
The attorney said his family has been able to visit him occasionally, as well as talk to him on the phone. But Cooper said “he has physically deteriorated” and that he appears to be “emotionally broken.”
Fitaihi was one of about 60 people held for prosecution during the crackdown that included the arrests of 200 prominent Saudis, detentions seen by outsiders as solidifying the rule of Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia.
The New York Times said the reason for Fitaihi’s detention is unclear. It said the friend who relayed information about Fitaihi’s mistreatment said he mostly was questioned about a relative by marriage who also had been detained.
Fitaihi’s detention is occurring at a time when President Donald Trump has struggled to answer criticism from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers that he has done little to hold Prince Mohammed accountable for the killing inside Riyadh’s consulate in Istanbul of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, a U.S. resident who wrote opinion articles in The Washington Post that were critical of Mohammed.
Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a White House Middle East adviser, met with Saudi officials last week, the first such meeting since Khashoggi was killed by Saudi agents in October.
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Body of Infant Recovered After Deadly Somalia Attack
Somali authorities say the body of a seven month-old boy has been recovered the rubble three days after an al-Shabab attack killed at least 25 people in Mogadishu last Thursday.
The boy identified as Munasar Mohamed, was with his mother who worked at a beauty salon on Maka al-Mukarama road when the militants detonated a powerful car bomb as part of a complex attack involving suicide bombers
The blast brought down multi-story buildings and destroyed structures alongside the busy road.
The owner of the beauty salon, who didn’t want to be named for fear of her safety, said there were 16 people in her salon when the explosion went off just after 8pm on Thursday.
She said they helped the injured before security forces arrived to evacuate them. The boy was the only person in the group who didn’t make out of the building.
After finial searches the boy couldn’t be located. His body was finally discovered on Sunday after rescuers viewed CCTV footage showing the boy’s last movements and location in the building.
The owner said the boy has been in the salon with his mother since he was born. “His mom was working at my beauty salon since he was born,” she said.
The beauty salon owner said she knows more than 10 people from nearby shops who died in the explosion.
Mogadishu’s ambulances services which evacuated the dead and wounded recorded 25 deaths and 131 people injured. Of the injured, 21 are females.
During the attack al-Shabab constantly claimed that their fighters targeted one of the biggest hotels known as Maka Al-Mukarama but it became clearer that the militants entered a two-story building next to the hotel. Whether that was intentional or the militant missed their target is not clear.
In a statement on Sunday, al-Shabab claimed they killed 45 government officials in the hotel. Al-Shabab also falsely claimed that no civilians were killed.
Security sources say all but two of the victims were civilians. The two were security personnel deployed to participate in the operation to end the militants’ siege.
Information Minister Dahir Mohamud Gelle said al-Shabab has no regard for the safety of any human being regardless of age and field of work.
“You are not safe from al-Shabab if you are young, elderly, civilian or soldier,” he said. “Whether you are walking in the street or in your home, you are not safe from al-Shabab. They have no regard for you whether you are fighting against them or not.”
Al-Shabab has conducted similar deadly attacks in the capital for years now, but successive governments have not yet succeeded in finding a strategy to stop the militant group.
your ad hereDutch Husband of Shamima Begum Wants to Take her Home
The Dutch man who married a British teenager after she ran away to join the Islamic State group says he wants to return home to the Netherlands with Shamima Begum and their newborn son.
Yago Riedijk, 27, told the BBC from a Kurdish-run detention center that he met Begum within days of her arrival in Syria when she was 15. He said in an interview aired Sunday that the marriage was “her own choice.”
When asked if marrying a 15-year-old was appropriate, he said: “To be honest, when my friend came and said there was a girl who was interested in marriage, I wasn’t that interested because of her age, but I accepted the offer anyway.”
Riedijk says that while he fought for IS, he now rejects the group and tried to leave it.
Begum fled east London with two other friends to travel to Syria to marry IS fighters in 2015 at a time when the group’s online recruitment program lured many impressionable young people to its self-proclaimed caliphate.
Begum, now 19, resurfaced at a refugee camp in Syria and recently told reporters she wanted to come home. But her apparent lack of remorse has triggered criticism in Britain and the family has expressed its own shock at her lack of repentance.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid has revoked her citizenship — even while saying he wouldn’t make a decision that would render a person stateless. Her family has insisted she isn’t a dual citizen. The case will be argued in the courts.
Although it’s unclear if Begum has committed a crime, her comments — and those of her husband — throw into sharp relief larger questions about how Western societies will deal with others who joined IS, but want to return to their home countries now that the extremist group is on the verge of collapse.
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Nigeria Court Says Extradition of Cameroon Separatists ‘Illegal’
A Nigerian court has condemned as “illegal and unconstitutional” the arrest and deportation of Cameroonian separatists who had applied for asylum in Nigeria, their lawyers said Sunday.
In January 2018, Nigeria arrested and sent back 47 anglophone separatists who had fled Cameroon following a crackdown by the authorities.
The move was denounced by UNHCR, the U.N. refugee agency, which said most of them had filed asylum claims. It accused Nigeria of breaching international agreements.
“Justice Chikere declared the arrest and detention of the 12 applicants illegal,” said a statement from Nigerian law firm Falana & Falana, referring to a ruling issued last week in the capital Abuja.
“Consequently, Justice Chikere declared the deportation of the applicants illegal and unconstitutional, awarded (compensation) to each of them and ordered the federal government to ensure that they are brought back to Nigeria forthwith.”
Among the 12 Cameroonian claimants in this case was separatist leader Julius Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, president of the self-declared “Republic of Ambazonia”. He and his supporters were among those arrested by Nigerian intelligence agents on January 9, 2018.
Nigerian officials sent the group back to Cameroon a few weeks later on January 26.
For months, the 47 have been held in isolation at a high-security facility at police headquarters in Yaounde, Cameroon’s capital.
In December, a military court in Yaounde opened a trial against Ayuk Tabe and nine others for “terrorism” and “secession”.
Just before the start of that trial, Ayuk Tabe was transferred to a lower security prison in the capital where he can receive visits.
The next hearing is scheduled for March 7. Defense lawyers have already argued before the court that the defendants should be returned to Nigeria.
During last week’s hearing in Abuja, defense lawyer Femi Fakana had argued that the arrest and detention of refugees and asylum seekers constituted a breach of Nigeria’s constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
The judge agreed, saying the expulsion of the group was in “utter violation” of legal obligations which ban Nigeria “from expelling or deporting refugees” from the country.
He ordered the government to ensure they were brought back to Nigeria, and that their fundamental rights were respected.
Mark Bareta, one of the leading advocates of the anglophone separatist cause, welcomed the Nigerian court ruling.
English-speaking Cameroonians “are happy that at least in Nigeria there is an independent judiciary,” he wrote on his Facebook page, which has more than 100,000 followers.
They were hoping that the Nigerian government would respect this legal ruling, he added.
Clashes between the armed forces and separatists take place almost daily in the two Anglophone regions on the western flank of Cameroon.
Resentment there at perceived marginalization by the French-speaking majority boiled over into an armed uprising in late 2016, prompting a harsh government crackdown.
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Anger in Eastern DRC as 6 More Die in Goma Shootings
Bandits shot dead six people in eastern DR Congo overnight, sparking angry protests by residents who blockaded the main street running through Goma city on Sunday, officials said.
“We have just recovered the bodies of five civilians and a soldier who were killed” during an overnight gun battle, the city’s deputy prosecutor Claver Kahasa told AFP.
“Armed bandits came into Goma to the Ndosho neighborhood and have left the town bereaved by shooting dead five civilians,” said city mayor Timothee Muissa Kiense.
Since the start of the year, at least 25 people have been killed in a string of shootings in Goma by unidentified gunmen, often referred to as bandits.
“The population is very clearly angry, there is a lot of tension,” said the mayor, whose city is the capital of North Kivu province and home to one million people.
Residents furious at the ongoing violence ravaging the country’s east blocked off the main road leading to the western Ndosho district, halting traffic, an AFP correspondent said.
For Marrion Ngavho, a local civil society leader, the gunmen were “enemies of peace.”
“Five civilians killed, it’s just too much. If the authorities are not able to keep us safe, then they should resign,” he said.
The incident occurred just hours after a group of newly-elected regional MPs met with local officials, the police and the army to discuss the growing insecurity in the city.
“It is unacceptable that they can continue to kill people like that in Goma,” MP Jean-Paul Lumbulumbu, who was leading a group of lawmakers, told AFP.
North Kivu, which borders Uganda and Rwanda, has been gripped by violence for decades, with numerous militia groups and armed gangs roaming the province and fighting for control of territorial and natural resources.
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Israeli Leader Condemns Attack on French Synagogue Memorial
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned an attack on a Holocaust memorial in the French city of Strasbourg.
Netanyahu on Sunday condemned the “horrific, anti-Semitic” defacing of a monument marking the site of a synagogue destroyed by the Nazis in 1940.
French police on Saturday launched an investigation the incident, in which a heavy memorial stone was moved off its base in the eastern city. The incident comes amid a rise in anti-Semitic attacks in France in recent months, including spray-painting of swastikas on around 80 Jewish gravestones last month.
Netanyahu called upon “all leaders of enlightened countries to join in denouncing it in a systematic and continuous fashion. The first way to combat anti-Semitism is to denounce, to condemn it unequivocally.”
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