Month: May 2019

Burkina Faso Seeks Broad Sahel Anti-Terror Coalition

Posted on by SeeAF

The foreign minister of Burkina Faso called Thursday on the international community to consider creating a counterterrorism coalition, like the ones for Iraq and Afghanistan, to better combat terrorism in Africa’s Sahel region.

The region currently has the G5 Sahel Joint Force, which includes troops from Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.  Those troops are tasked with fighting threats from extremist and armed groups.  

 

But in the two years since its creation, the force has faced major delays and obstacles, including the car bombing of its headquarters.  

 

The U.N. says the force is now 75 percent operational, but that equipment and training shortfalls are slowing its progress toward full operational capacity.  

 

The Sahel also has 16,000 U.N. peacekeepers in Mali and 3,000 French troops based in Chad to help restore stability.  

 

But despite the presence of the three forces, Burkina Faso Foreign Minister Alpha Barry told the Security Council the situation caused by terrorism and intercommunal violence was worrisome and deteriorating.

“This threat is gaining ground,” he said through an interpreter. “It is no longer contained within the north of Mali, in the Burkina-based Sahel or far from the borders of Mauritania. It is spreading and taking other forms, whose consequences are equally dramatic.”

​Examples of threat

 

Barry noted the recent attacks on Christian churches in his country, an attack on Niger’s military this week that killed 28 soldiers, and the abduction and rescue operation of four foreign tourists in northern Benin to illustrate the scope of the threat.   

 

The minister said one of the main drivers of insecurity on the continent was the civil war in Libya, which is fueling terrorism and the proliferation of guns. 

 

He said the Sahel nations required greater assistance because the security challenges were likely to be long term.

 

“Regarding the urgency of the actions to be undertaken, the member states of the G5 Sahel cannot succeed alone,” he said. “It is, therefore, time for the international community to consider creating an international coalition to better tackle the phenomenon of terrorism in the G5 Sahel and throughout the rest of the Sahel.”  

Dozens of countries participated in the Afghanistan and Iraq coalitions.  They fought the Taliban in Afghanistan and al-Qaida in Iraq for many years and at the cost of thousands of lives and billions of dollars.
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Cameroon Villagers Arrest Suspected Separatists

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English-speaking Cameroonians, who say they are fed up with an ongoing separatist war, are taking matters into their own hands by arresting and handing over suspected separatist fighters to the military. Some residents also have created militias in their towns and villages as they voice frustration over the war that has killed close to 2,000 people.

In the English-speaking village of Pinyin, a man shouts alongside scores of people who voice jubilation over the arrest of four separatist fighters.

Among the residents is 45-year-old butcher Peter Ndifor, a village self-defense group member. Ndifor says he participated in the arrests because the situation has worsened by the day since the war started in 2017. He says people are dying and businesses are crumbling.

“At first, we used to slaughter about five, six cows a day, but presently now we slaughter just one or two and it does not get finished [we hardly sell all of it] again,” he said. “It [The crisis ] has affected my business a lot.”

The suspected separatists, armed with locally-made guns, were overpowered by the huge crowd that attacked their hideout. The four men did not shoot, but received severe beatings before they were handed to the military.

Separatists have said on social media that the arrested men are not their fighters. They say the armed men may either have been taking advantage of the fight to kidnap people for ransom or were sent by the government to disguise themselves as fighters in order to attack and give information to the military.

Cameroon’s unrest began in 2016 when English-speaking teachers and lawyers protested the growing dominance of the French language in the officially bilingual country.

The government responded with a crackdown and separatists began using weapons against the military, alleging that they were defending their people and fighting for their independence

Last week, attacks on suspected separatist fighters were reported in the English-speaking southwestern towns of Mutengene and Tiko.

Political analyst Gilbert Mbah says many people have voiced irritation with the war because there is no end in sight and conditions are worsening.

“The population is really fed up with it [the crisis],” he said. “Three years is not three days. The economy is really down. Children in the house, no food, no school, everything. I mean, it is really very bad.”

Cameroon has been using village militias on its northern border with Nigeria to fight Boko Haram terrorists with the hope the armed locals can prevent further attacks.

Paul Atanga Nji, Cameroon’s minister of territorial administration, says the government is relying on such groups to defend their communities from intruders.

“Look at what is happening in the far north region,” he said. “The vigilantic [self-defense] groups are very operational because there is that synergy between the vigilantic [self-defense] groups and the forces of law and order. When the suicide bombers are coming, they go and stop them. If we think that only the military can intervene, it becomes very difficult.”

The militias live on donations and expect support from the government. This was the case with village militias on Cameroon’s border with Nigeria.

Atanga Nji says the population should be watchful and collaborate with them, making sure that people with questionable character do not join them.

Cameroon’s English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions have been wracked with instability since fighting broke out. More than 1,800 people have been killed and a half-million internally displaced, according to the U.N.

A battle between the militias and the fighters in the English-speaking village of Mbot last week left two militias dead. Six suspected separatists also were killed.

The violence has also kept more than 600,000 children out of school and disrupted health care services as well as the economy.
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Saudi Arabia Accuses Iran of Ordering Drone Attack on Oil Pipeline

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Saudi Arabia’s deputy defense minister on Thursday accused Iran of ordering an attack on Saudi oil pumping stations that Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi militia has claimed responsibility for.

The attack “proves that these militias are merely a tool that Iran’s regime uses to implement its expansionist agenda,” tweeted Prince Khalid bin Salman, a son of King Salman.

“The terrorist acts, ordered by the regime in Tehran, and carried out by the Houthis, are tightening the noose around the ongoing political efforts.”

The Houthis, which have been battling a Saudi-led military coalition for four years, said they carried out Tuesday’s drone strikes against the East-West pipeline, which caused a fire but Riyadh said did not disrupt output or exports.

The head of the Houthis’ Supreme Revolutionary Committee denied that Iran directed the strike and said the movement manufactures its drones locally. Tehran also denies providing arms to the Houthis.

“We are not agents for anyone,” Mohammed Ali al-Houthi told Reuters. “We make decisions independently and do not take orders for drones or anything else.”

Other Saudi officials fired off similar tweets, ratcheting up pressure on the kingdom’s regional arch-enemy amid heightened tension between Washington and Tehran over sanctions and U.S. military presence in the Gulf.

“The Houthis are an integral part of the Revolutionary Guard forces of Iran and follow their orders, as proven by them targeting installations in the kingdom,” Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir tweeted.

The ambassador to Yemen followed up, writing that the Houthis had “made Yemen a platform for Iranian terrorism against Yemenis and their interests, and a tool to attack Saudi Arabia.”

Air strikes

Saudi Arabia’s main English newspaper called for “surgical strikes” against Iran.

“Our point of view is that they must be hit hard,” said an Arab News editorial. “We call for a decisive, punitive reaction to what happened so that Iran knows that every single move they make will have consequences.”

The coalition, which receives arms and intelligence from Western nations, carried out air strikes on Thursday in and around Yemen’s capital Sanaa, which the Houthis control.

The drone attack happened two days after four vessels, including two Saudi oil tankers, were damaged by sabotage off the coast of the United Arab Emirates. The other ships were a Norwegian-registered oil products tanker and a UAE-flagged bunker barge.

The UAE has not blamed anyone for that incident, which is being investigated and from which Iran has distanced itself.

On Wednesday, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said the UAE would show restraint and was committed to de-escalation. He declined to speculate about who was behind the attack near Fujairah emirate while the investigation was underway and due to be completed within days.

U.S. officials believe Iran encouraged the Houthis or Iraq-based Shi’ite militias to carry out the attack, two U.S. government sources have said. One source said Washington does not have evidence that Iranian personnel played any direct operational role.

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres has condemned the attacks and called for “maximum restraint” by all sides.

The attacks took place against a backdrop of U.S.-Iranian tension following Washington’s decision this month to try to cut Tehran’s oil exports to zero and beef up its military presence in the Gulf in response to what it called Iranian threats.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE back the sanctions against Iran, a fellow OPEC producer but regional foe.

Tehran has called the U.S. military presence “a target” rather than a threat, and said it would not allow its oil exports to be halted.

Iran’s foreign minister has said “extremist individuals” in the U.S. government were pursuing dangerous policies and Tehran is not seeking confrontation.

After a meeting on Thursday, Kuwait’s parliament chief said ministers had discussed preparations for any potential state of war, and he called the coming period “dangerous” and “uncertain”.
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‘I Hope Not,’ Trump Says on Possibility of War With Iran

Posted on by SeeEA

Michael Bowman and Shahla Arasteh contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump says he hopes the U.S. is not going to war with Iran amid rising tensions in the Middle East, as an Iran diplomat downplayed such prospects.

“I hope not,” Trump said when asked about the possibility of a conflict with Tehran as he began talks with Swiss President Ueli Maurer.  The U.S. and Iran do not have diplomatic ties but Switzerland represents U.S. interests in the Middle Eastern country.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders reiterated to reporters early Thursday that Trump wanted a “behavioral change” from Iran and would oppose any aggressive actions by the Islamic Republic.

Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Majid Takht-e-Ravanchi, downplayed that possibility, saying on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition Thursday that his country was not interested in escalating regional tensions. “If something goes wrong, everyone loses,” he said. But Ravanchi added, “It is our right to be prepared,” and “It is our right to defend ourselves.”

The diplomat accused the U.S. and regional countries of making “false allegations” about Iran.

 

A New York Times report, citing three U.S. officials, said Thursday that the White House escalated warnings after reviewing photographs of missiles on small vessels in the Persian Gulf that were installed by Iranian paramilitary forces. The report said the images fueled fears that Iranian forces would fire the missiles at U.S. naval ships.

Trump said Wednesday that there was “no infighting whatsoever” about his Middle East policies and that he was “sure that Iran will want to talk soon.”

Those remarks came in response to reports in the Times and The Washington Post about clashing opinions between those in his administration who see Iran preparing to attack U.S. forces, and other officials, including some from European allies, who argue Iran’s moves are defensive precautions in response to U.S. actions toward Iran.

Trump decided last year to withdraw from an international agreement limiting Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, and applied fresh actions to cut off Iran’s oil and banking sectors in an attempt to alter the Iranian government’s behavior.  

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Thursday that “the escalation by the U.S. is unacceptable and uncomfortable,” and that despite the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear deal, Iran was exercising “maximum restraint.”

The U.S. has ordered its non-emergency employees to leave the country’s embassy in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and its consulate in Irbil as the Trump administration warned of threats against American forces in the Middle East from Iran or Iranian-backed proxies.

The move sparked sharp reactions on Capitol Hill.

“There are only two reasons for ordering their departure: We have credible intelligence that our people are at risk or in preparation for military action in Iran,” said the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s top Democrat, Robert Menendez of New Jersey. “The Trump administration has not provided any information to this committee on the intelligence behind their decisions or what they plan to do in Iraq or Iran.”

Menendez demanded the officials bring panel members up to date on “any plans to go to war with Iran.”

Committee Chairman James Risch, an Idaho Republican, said he had been briefed on the unfolding situation in the Middle East and that a briefing of the full Senate was “in the works.”

The Pentagon has dispatched an aircraft carrier and nuclear-capable bombers to the region in the past few days, with a Patriot missile battery and a landing platform dock ship on the way. The Patriot system offers protection from aircraft and missiles, while the LPD carries Marines and the aircraft, hovercraft or boats needed to put them ashore to fight in distant places.

But a major U.S. ally in the region, the UAE, said it would show “restraint” in the face of Iranian aggression.

“We need to emphasize caution and good judgment,” UAE Foreign Affairs Minister Anwar Gargash said Wednesday. “It is easy to throw accusations, but it is a difficult situation. There are serious issues and among them is Iranian behavior.” 

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said his country agreed with the U.S. that Iran poses a heightened threat.  His comment Thursday came two days after a senior British officer in the U.S.-led military coalition fighting Islamic State in Syria said he had not seen an increased threat to his troops by Iranian-backed forces in Iraq or Syria. 

 

Maj. Gen. Chris Ghika’s statement to reporters contradicted the Trump administration, which has asserted for more than a week that it has detected potential Iranian threats against U.S. forces in the Middle East. 
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Sudanese Protesters Divided Over Barricade Removal Order

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Arguments, shouting matches, and physical tussles broke out late Wednesday among Sudanese protesters over the positioning of barricades surrounding a sit-in in the capital Khartoum, where thousands of demonstrators have camped since April 6.

The barricades, built from rock and twisted metal, protect the sit-in, which is intended to pressure the leaders of a military coup that ousted long-time dictator Omar al-Bashir on April 11.

The protesters have been demanding coup-leaders, known as the Transitional Military Council, hand over power to a civilian government.

But now the barriers have become the source of disagreement among the protesters and a target of violence.

On Monday night, 77 people were shot at the barricades — with four deaths, doctors said.

Protest leaders blamed Rapid Support Forces, a government-backed militia, for the violence.On Wednesday, eight people were wounded when RSF soldiers sprayed bullets at youth who refused to take down their barricades, protesters and a doctor said.

Also Wednesday, the Sudan Professionals Association, which leads the protest, ordered barricades pulled back to the original limits of the sit-in on April 6 in hopes of preventing further violence.

During the past week, the barricades had pushed west along major streets in downtown Khartoum, approaching the Presidential Palace and closing traffic on two major bridges over the Nile River.

Not all protesters agree with the order to pull back and give up ground, leading to what appears to be the first major disagreement within the months-long protest movement.

“They keep asking us to remove one barricade after another, and eventually it’ll reach the sit-in. These people shot at us earlier today. I haven’t even broken my [Ramadan] fast today protecting this barricade,” said 19-year-old Salah Jelani, who worked at an ice factory before joining the protesters at a barricade near Mek Nir Street. 

“Why don’t we just let them in if we’re going to remove road blocks?” he asked. “That way they can come all the way in and kill us all and the Bashir regime can come back and take power.”

Jelani said the roadblocks were especially important because Sudan’s army, which protected protesters against attacks by Bashir loyalists last month, would not intervene during the past week, when the RSF attacked.

“We stand with the SPA. We’re not against what they say,” he said. “But those barricades, we want them because when we were being attacked and went to the army for help, they said they needed orders to intervene. So we need those barricades.”

This week’s violence overshadowed what appeared to be progress in talks between Sudan’s ruling Transitional Military Council and protest leaders over formation of a government.

Talks on hold

Wednesday, the Military Council put the negotiations on indefinite hold. The two sides are at odds over whether civilians or the military should dominate the next government before fresh elections in three years.

Protester Senna Ibrahim Al-Hassan said they shouldn’t have to remove roadblocks.

“If the president wants these roadblocks removed, he should give us a civilian government. We deserve a civilian government. We can’t just remove the roadblocks and every two days be attacked.”

Further up the street, Iman Karoom, a mechanical engineer, said he understands his comrades’ concerns.

“These people have seen their brothers standing with them this morning get shot, so it’s natural to be against the roadblocks being removed,” he said.

But Karoom also expressed confidence that backing down was the right decision.

“Since April 6 we’ve done everything with instructions from the SPA,” he said. “We’ve managed to get into heavy militarized areas through their instructions and planning, so what we want to do is go as far as we can through their instructions. They’ve gotten us this far, they’re not going to let us down.”

RSF militia

Karoom added the bigger problem was the RSF militia, which has a reputation for indiscipline and is accused of committing mass atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur region.

They need to be reformed from the core if they’re going to be among us,” he said. “If not, then move them to the borders where they don’t get to interact with the general public.”

Ahmed Ali Habok, a communications engineer, voiced another reason for removing the roadblocks.

“It’s a good idea for the ones on Mek Nimr Street to be taken down, because Mek Nimr Street provides access to the hospital,” he said. “I’ve got family that needs to use it for the hospital. The barricades are not being taken down completely, but these have been removed for people to be able to move.”

Despite the opposition, most barricades beyond the April 6 limits had been dismantled by early Thursday. But protesters warned they could put them back up just as quickly if needed.

Saddiq Ahmed al-Saddiq, a trader, sat on a pile of bricks waiting to remove the barricade.

“We’ve reached 90% of what we want — there’s 10% left,” he said. “If we get the 10% we need, fantastic. If not, we will expand the roadblocks again even bigger than before.”

With talks on hold and the RSF still in Khartoum, protesters at the downsized sit-in will have to wait and see if their leaders made the right decision.
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Zarif: Iran Has Right to Respond to ‘Unacceptable’ US Sanctions

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Iran’s foreign minister on Thursday said sanctions imposed by the Trump administration are “unacceptable” but that his country is committed to an international nuclear deal that has steadily unraveled amid rising tensions.

On a visit to Tokyo, Mohammad Zarif defended Iran’s right to respond to the U.S. pullout from the nuclear deal last year and the imposition of sanctions.

“We believe that escalation by the United States is unacceptable and uncalled for. We have exercised maximum restraints,” he said. In other comments carried on the semi-official Mehr news agency, Zarif was quoted as saying “a multilateral deal cannot be treated unilaterally.”

Recent days have brought allegations of sabotage attacks targeting oil tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, a drone attack on a Saudi oil pipeline claimed by Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthi rebels, and the dispatch of U.S. warships and bombers to the region.

Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman tweeted Thursday that Tehran had ordered “the terrorist acts” on the pipeline.

“The attack by the Iranian-backed Houthi militias against the two Aramco pumping stations proves that these militias are merely a tool that Iran’s regime uses to implement its expansionist agenda in the region,” he wrote.

Iran has been accused by the U.S. and the U.N. of supplying ballistic missile technology and arms to the Houthis, which Tehran denies.

Saudi Arabia responded to Tuesday’s drone attack with a wave of airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen’s rebel-held capital, Sanaa. On Thursday, residents scrambled to pull 14 wounded people from the rubble of a building.

Fawaz Ahmed told The Associated Press he saw three bodies being retrieved from the rubble — a father, mother and child, all buried together. Yemen’s Health Ministry said the strikes killed six people, including four children, and wounded more than 40.

The ministry says 41 people were also wounded, including two women of Russian nationality.

A Saudi-led coalition has been at war with the Houthis since 2015, and carries out near-daily airstrikes. The drone attacks on the pipeline marked one of the rebels’ deepest and most significant strikes inside Saudi territory since the conflict began.

The Saudi-led coalition acknowledged in a statement it had struck a number of Houthi targets on Thursday, including what it said were weapons depots and military sites.

At the root of the recent spike in Persian Gulf tensions appears to be President Donald Trump’s decision a year ago to pull the U.S. from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, embarking on a maximalist sanctions campaign against Tehran to cripple the country’s economy.

In response, Iran’s supreme leader issued a veiled threat Tuesday, saying it wouldn’t be difficult for the Islamic Republic to enrich uranium to weapons-grade levels. He also said that while his country would not negotiate with the United States, Iran is not seeking war.

On Wednesday, the U.S. State Department ordered all nonessential government staff to leave Iraq, and Germany and the Netherlands both suspended their military assistance programs in the country in the latest sign of tensions.

The movement of diplomatic personnel is often done in times of conflict, but what is driving the decisions from the White House remains unclear. Iraq is home to powerful pro-Iranian militias, while also hosting more than 5,000 American troops. The U.S. military’s Central Command said its troops were on high alert, without elaborating.

Last week, U.S. officials said they had detected signs of Iranian preparations for potential attacks on U.S. forces and interests in the Middle East, but Washington has not publicly provided any evidence to back up claims of an increased Iranian threat.

A senior British officer in the U.S.-backed coalition fighting the Islamic State group appeared to push back against the U.S. claims, telling reporters earlier in the week that there’d been no increased threat from Iranian-backed forces in Iraq and Syria. Maj. Gen. Chris Ghika’s comments exposed international skepticism over the American military buildup.

Iran recently threatened it might resume higher enrichment by July 7, beyond the level permitted by the current deal between Tehran and world powers. The U.S. pulled out of the deal last year, re-imposing sanctions that penalize countries and global companies that do business with Iran.

Though Iran maintains its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, scientists say the time needed to reach the 90% threshold for weapons-grade uranium is halved once uranium is enriched to around 20%.

Late Wednesday, Anwar Gargash, the UAE minister of foreign affairs, said the Saudi-led coalition would “retaliate hard” for attacks on civilian targets, without elaborating.

However, he also said the UAE is “very committed to de-escalation” after the alleged sabotage of oil tankers off the country’s coast on Sunday. Gargash declined to directly blame Iran for the attack, though he repeatedly criticized Tehran.

In a joint letter to the U.N. Security Council, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Norway said that while the alleged sabotage targeted four ships, “the attacks damaged the hulls of at least three.” It did not elaborate. A U.S. official previously said all four ships sustained damage at or below their waterlines.

Meanwhile, the Qatar-funded satellite news broadcaster Al-Jazeera said Qatar is trying to “defuse escalating tensions.” It cited an anonymous official as saying that Qatar’s foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, had traveled to Tehran in recent days to speak with his Iranian counterpart, and that the U.S. was aware of the trip in advance.

Qatar hosts the forward headquarters of the U.S. military’s Central Command at its vast Al-Udeid Air Base. Several of the B-52 bombers ordered by the White House to the region amid the latest escalation between Washington and Tehran are stationed there.

Qatar has grown closer to Iran diplomatically over the past two years after four Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, cut ties to protest its regional policies.

 

 
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Biden Surging as Democratic Front-Runner for 2020

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Former vice president Joe Biden has surged into a big lead among the Democratic presidential contenders for 2020. The latest polls show Biden leading Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and a large, diverse field of Democratic White House hopefuls, in part because many Democrats see Biden as a strong challenger to President Donald Trump next year. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has more on the state of the Democratic primary race from Washington.
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Missouri is Latest US State to Approve Anti-Abortion Bill

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Missouri is the latest U.S. state to act in favor of a restrictive abortion ban bill, bolstering a national movement Republicans hope could lead to the revocation of the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion.

The Republican-led Senate in the midwestern U.S. state voted 24-10 early Thursday to ban abortions after eight weeks of pregnancy. The legislation includes exceptions for medical emergencies but not for pregnancies caused by incest or rape.

The state’s Republican-led House must approve the measure before it goes to Republican Governor Mike Parson for him to sign into law. Parson voiced support for the bill on Wednesday.

The Missouri senate’s passage of the bill came hours after Republican Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed into law a near-total ban on abortion.

“To the bill’s many supporters, this legislation stands as a powerful testament to Alabamians’ deeply held belief that every life is precious and that every life is a sacred gift from God,” Ivey said in a statement.

Lawmakers in the southeastern U.S. state had passed the legislation Tuesday, sparking a legal fight over a measure that becomes the nation’s most stringent abortion law.

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America vowed Wednesday to challenge the legislation in court. “We have no choice,” said president Leana Wen. “We are talking about the rights for generations to come.” 

The Republican-dominated Senate voted 25-6 to make performing an abortion at any stage of pregnancy a felony punishable by up to 99 years or life in prison for the abortion provider, although women seeking or undergoing an abortion would not be punished. The only exception would be when the woman’s health is at serious risk.

Senators rejected an attempt to add an exception for rape and incest. 

Supporters said the bill is designed to spark litigation that could lead to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion. 

“Roe v. Wade has ended the lives of millions of children,” said Alabama Republican Senator Clyde Chambliss. “This bill has the opportunity to save the lives of millions of unborn children.”

Other states

Emboldened by the Supreme Court’s new conservative justices, Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio and Georgia have approved bans on abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can occur in about the sixth week of pregnancy. And abortion opponents in several other states are seeking to challenge abortion access.

“This is a plan by the Republican Party, make no mistake, to overturn Roe v. Wade and turn back the clock on women’s reproductive civil and human rights,” U.S. Senator and Democratic presidential hopeful Kirsten Gillibrand said in an interview Wednesday on CNN.

Another Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden, said the current law should not be declared unconstitutional.

“Roe v. Wade is settled law and should not be overturned,” Biden said. “The choice should remain between a woman and her doctor.”

A Pew Research Center poll conducted late last year found that 58% of those surveyed said abortion should be legal in almost all cases while 37% said it should be unlawful.
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Sudanese Military Suspends Talks with Civilian Protest Leaders

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Sudan’s ruling military council has suspended talks with civilian protest leaders on a transitional government after at least eight people were wounded in an apparent clash with security forces in Khartoum on Wednesday.

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan announced Thursday that negotiations have been suspended for 72 hours in the aftermath of the shooting, which he blamed on protesters who had refused to remove barricades at key roads in the capital city. The barricades were first erected last month at the start of sit-ins that grew from street protests demanding the ouster of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir.

The military ended Bashir’s 30-year rule on April 11, but the sit-ins and barricades have remained, with protesters demanding the military hand over power to a civilian government.

Sudan’s Transitional Military Council and the civilian protest leaders had agreed on the main structure of a transitional government before the talks were suspended.

The deal called for a three-year transitional power-sharing agreement including three councils to run the government — sovereign, ministries, and legislative.The opposition Declaration of Freedom and Change Forces would hold two-thirds of the seats in the 300-seat parliament.

But there is no agreement yet on which side — civilians or the military — will have a majority in the ruling sovereign council until elections in 2022. 
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Venezuelan, Opposition Envoys in Norway for Talks

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Representatives of the Venezuelan government and the opposition are in Norway for talks on resolving the stalemate that has mired the South American nation in a political and economic crisis.

Venezuelan officials say Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez is representing President Nicolas Maduro, while lawmaker Stalin Gonzalez is leading the opposition delegation.

President Maduro said Rodriguez was on “a very important mission” abroad during a televised speech Wednesday, but did not provide any details.

The negotiations in Norway are being held after the military failed to heed a call April 30 by opposition leader and self-declared president Juan Guaido to rise up against Maduro. Guaido, the leader of the National Assembly, declared himself interim president earlier this year after the opposition-majority legislative body determined Maduro won another term in a fraudulent election.

The United States and about 50 other countries recognize Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate president. Venezuela has put the United States at odds with Russia, which has supplied military equipment to the Maduro regime, and Cuba, who the U.S. accuses of placing pro-Maduro troops on the ground in Venezuela.

Also on Wednesday, the United States has suspended all commercial flights between the U.S. and Venezuela.

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao says she, along with the secretaries of state and homeland security, has determined conditions exist in Venezuela “that threaten the safety or security of passengers, aircraft, or crew.”

Many international airlines, including those in the United States, have already stopped flying to and from Venezuela because of the political upheaval.
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German Biscuit Heiress Apologizes for Nazi Forced Labor Remarks

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The heiress of a German biscuit empire has apologized for comments that seemed to downplay the use of forced labor in Nazi Germany.

Verena Bahlsen, who is part owner of her father’s Bahlsen bakery, said she “deeply regrets” her remarks about the way the company treated those forced to work under Hitler’s regime.

“It was a mistake to amplify this debate with thoughtless responses. Nothing could be further from my mind than to downplay national socialism or its consequences,” Bahlsen said.

She said she recognizes the need to learn more about the company’s history.

Bahlsen told Germany’s Bild newspaper that the bakery treated forced laborers “well” during World War II and paid them as much as it paid German workers.

Many of the forced laborers were women from Nazi-occupied Ukraine.

Some in Germany have called for a boycott of Bahlsen products, including the famous Leibniz cookies.

German courts have thrown out compensation claims made by many former laborers because the statute of limitations had run out. But the company voluntarily paid more than $840,000 into a compensation fund in 2000.

Bahlsen was mocked earlier this month when she told a Hamburg business conference that she is happy to be part owner of a company because she wants to make money and buy yachts.
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Iran’s Oil Output Falls to Lowest Level in 5 Years, Study Shows

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Iran’s production of oil, its top revenue source, declined to its lowest level in more than five years as the U.S. prepared to unilaterally impose a total ban on Iranian crude exports, a new study shows. 

In a monthly report released Wednesday, the International Energy Agency said Iranian oil output was 2.6 million barrels a day in April, down 5% from March’s figure of 2.74 million barrels a day. April’s oil output figure was Iran’s lowest since September 2013. 

The Trump administration ended waivers it had granted to eight governments to keep importing Iranian crude earlier this month, requiring them to reduce such imports to zero from May 2 or face sanctions. Washington imposed sanctions on Iran’s crude exports last November, seeking to deprive Tehran of vital revenues to sustain what the U.S. says are malign Iranian behaviors. 

Iran has vowed to keep exporting oil in defiance of the U.S. sanctions. 

The Paris-based IEA, an intergovernmental agency that compiles data on international energy markets and advises governments on energy policy, also said Iranian oil production might shrink further this month to its lowest level in decades, as the U.S. begins enforcing its total ban on Iranian crude exports. 

In a publicly available summary of the report,  the IEA welcomed what it said were signals from other oil-producing nations that they will “step in to replace Iran’s barrels, albeit gradually in response to requests from customers.” 

“The IEA is reassured to see that the challenges posed by [various global] supply uncertainties are being managed and we hope that major players will continue to work to ensure market stability,” the IEA added. 

In a Tuesday interview with the Bloomberg news service, Samir Madani, co-founder of oil tanker tracking service TankerTrackers.com, said he had not observed any Iranian oil tankers departing Iran with new crude deliveries this month. But he said that he had spotted one tanker being loaded with crude for apparent storage at an Iranian port. 

This article originated in VOA’s Persian service. 
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Thousands Protest Against Cathedral Plan in Russian City 

Posted on by SeeEU

Several thousand people rallied Wednesday in Russia’s fourth-largest city as the showdown between authorities and activists protesting the plans to a build a cathedral in a local park entered its third day. 

 

Thousands gathered in a riverside park in Yekaterinburg in the evening. Some were on bicycles, more camped out on the grass, and others were walking their dogs. 

 

As night fell, protesters turned on their mobile phone lights and flashlights, chanting, “We stand for the park!”  

Security measures for what has largely been a peaceful protest were heightened on the eve of the rally, with hundreds of riot police deployed to the park.

Earlier, construction workers started building a new fence to replace the chain-link fence that protesters brought down a day earlier. 

 

Opponents of the cathedral, which is promoted by authorities and funded by the owners of two major local industrial giants, say the construction project smack in the city center would take away green and recreational space needed by residents of a city with 1.5 million people. 

 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters earlier Wednesday that the Kremlin had full trust in the local government to handle the protests, but he also decried the rallies, which he described as unsanctioned, illegal demonstrations. 

 

Hundreds of protesters stayed in the park well after midnight, facing several rows of riot police who were encircling the fence around the proposed construction site.
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Germany’s Merkel Welcomes European Unity Over Iran

Posted on by SeeEA

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says that Europe needs to “reposition” itself in a changing world and is welcoming European powers’ unity over Iran, a contrast with their deep divisions over the Iraq war 16 years ago.

Merkel said in an interview with Germany’s daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung released Wednesday that Europe needs “forward-looking” arguments and stressed that “simply pointing to seven decades of peace is no longer enough to justify Europe.”

Before European Parliament elections May 23-26, she said there is “no doubt that Europe needs to reposition itself in a changed world,” in which some post-World War II certainties no longer hold. 

Merkel acknowledged that Europe appears weak in the standoff over Iran because, with the dollar’s role as a leading global currency, it struggles to counter U.S. sanctions as it tries to salvage the nuclear deal with Tehran. But she said that Europe has also made progress.

“Germany, France and Britain are taking a different approach from the U.S. on the question of the Iran agreement,” she was quoted as saying. “For all our other differences, we even have common interests here with Russia and China.”

“That Europe is no longer divided on this important question as it was in the Iraq war is a value in itself,” Merkel added. Germany and France opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq in 2003, while countries including Britain and Poland supported Washington.

However, she added that Europe has a “realistic” assessment of its capabilities and “must strengthen them for the future.” She said it is making good progress on defense cooperation.

Populist parties 

Asked what effect global challenges from China, Russia and the U.S. are having on Europe, she said that they are making the EU find common positions, which is often difficult “but we succeed” — for instance in policy on Ukraine and Africa. She conceded that “our political strength doesn’t yet match our economic capabilities.” 

 

Next week’s EU elections are expected to boost populist parties at the expense of the political center. 

 

Asked how much populism the 28-nation EU can take before it collapses, Merkel said that “this is indeed a time when we have to fight for our principles and fundamental values.”

European leaders will decide “how far to let populism go, or whether we ultimately have the will to take on joint responsibility.”

“So far, we have always managed to do so,” she added. So as not to endanger Europe, she said, “everyone needs to put themselves in others’ shoes, to be willing to compromise, remain honest and always treat each other carefully.”
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FAA Grilled Again Over Boeing 737 MAX Crisis

Posted on by SeeUS

The head of the Federal Aviation Administration faced another grilling in Congress on Wednesday following revelations that pilots complained to Boeing about the 737 MAX in the aftermath of the Lion Air crash.

The hearing comes amid a near-constant trickle of news reports in recent weeks that have raised pointed questions about both Boeing’s and the FAA’s handling of an aircraft that has been grounded globally following two deadly crashes that left 346 dead.

News reports on the eve of the hearing chronicled a November 27 meeting after the Lion Air crash at which American Airlines pilots pressed Boeing for safety changes that could have temporarily grounded the plane.

Another report on Tuesday said the FAA did not independently evaluate the safety of a Boeing 737 MAX system implicated in the two deadly crashes, deferring to Boeing on key judgments.

In three-hour testimony, Acting FAA Administrator Daniel Elwell broadly defended the agency’s handling of the 737 MAX certification. Critics have accused the FAA of being too cozy with Boeing, inhibiting its ability to effectively regulate the company.

Elwell said the fact that there had been only one airline fatality in the United States over the last decade was evidence of a safety record “that is in many ways remarkable,” while adding “we know that our oversight approach needs to evolve.”

But the FAA chief, who hedged his criticism of Boeing over the disasters, faced plenty of tough questioning, including about the agency’s move to ground the 737 MAX only after virtually every other civil aviation authority had already taken the plane out of service.

Elwell said the US body acted only after “data” showed a connected between the October Lion Air crash and the March Ethiopian Airlines crashes.

“So the opposite of data is common sense,” said Representative Steve Cohen, a Tennessee Democrat.

“It just seems like common sense should have taken control,” he said “Data is fine but it’s something that’s right before your eyes.”

Key info ‘languished’

Lawmakers also pressed the FAA about revelations that Boeing knew that a sensor linked to a flight handling system did not work properly for more than a year before it notified the agency.

In both crashes, the system, called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, pointed the plane sharply downward based on a faulty sensor reading, hindering pilot control after takeoff, according to preliminary crash investigations.

The information “languished” at Boeing, Elwell acknowledged.

“I am not happy about a 13-month gap,” he said, adding that the agency would fix the issue.

Reports Tuesday in The New York Times and The Dallas Morning News recounted the November meeting at which pilots pressed Boeing to take more aggressive action to ensure the safety of the MCAS, complaining that information about the system was not included in training manuals.

Elwell said he first learned about a late-November American Airlines pilots meeting with pilot from news reports.

Elwell appeared to hedge when asked whether Boeing should have notified the FAA of the pilot concerns, saying “anytime a manufacture becomes aware of a critical safety issue, it should be made known to the FAA.”

Most of the toughest questions came from Democrats, with some Republicans on the panel expressing support for the FAA and for Boeing.

Representative Sam Graves, Republican of Missouri, said the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashes illustrated problems with pilot training and with the capacity of overseas regulators.

The FAA is still the “gold standard,” Graves said.

“What scares me is climbing on an aircraft or airline that is outside US jurisdiction. … It just bothers me that we continue to tear down our system based on what has happened in two other countries.”

Need for international coordination

The FAA is overseeing Boeing’s MCAS upgrade as both it and Boeing face federal investigations, including by the US Department of Justice.

Major US carriers have said they expect to resume flights on the 737 MAX in August but that timeframe is contingent on FAA approval of the upgrade.

The FAA has called a May 23 meeting of international civil aviation regulators to Texas to discuss the FAA’s process for clearing the 737 MAX to resume service.

Elwell said his hope was for better coordination in returning the 737 MAX to the skies than had been the case in grounding it, when global aviation authorities acted separately.

“There’s a perception of a crisis of confidence with the design of the plane and maybe wider,” Elwell said.

“It’s important that we are collaborative and act transparently,” he said. After the May 23 meeting, “my hope is that they have the confidence in our work to make their un-grounding as close to ours as possible.”
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White House Says Not Signing ‘Christchurch Call’ Against Online Extremism

Posted on by SeeUS

The United States will not join an international bid to stamp out violent extremism online, the White House said Wednesday, while stressing that Washington backs the initiative’s aims.

“While the United States is not currently in a position to join the endorsement, we continue to support the overall goals reflected” in the so-called “Christchurch Call,” the White House said.

The initiative is named after the New Zealand city where a far-right gunman massacred 51 people at two mosques in March while broadcasting his rampage live on Facebook. It has been spearheaded by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and France’s President Emmanuel Macron.

The White House said in a statement that the private sector should regulate its content, but also stressed the need to protect free speech.

“We continue to be proactive in our efforts to counter terrorist content online while also continuing to respect freedom of expression and freedom of the press,” it said.

“We encourage technology companies to enforce their terms of service and community standards that forbid the use of their platforms for terrorist purposes,” it said.

“Further, we maintain that the best tool to defeat terrorist speech is productive speech and thus we emphasize the importance of promoting credible, alternative narratives as the primary means by which we can defeat terrorist messaging.”

 

 

 
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Putin Says Iran Should Stay in Nuclear Deal

Posted on by SeeEA

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Iran should stay in the nuclear agreement and should not take the first step to withdraw.

Speaking at a press conference with Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen on Wednesday, May 15, Putin said if Iran takes the first step to leave the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), everyone will blame it for the collapse of the agreement.

“I have repeatedly said during the talks with our Iranian partners that, to my mind, it would be more expedient for Iran to remain in this agreement at whatever cost,” he said.

“The Americans withdrew,” he added. “The agreement is being destroyed, and European countries can do nothing to salvage it and cannot really work with Iran to compensate economic losses.”

However, Putin said “as soon as Iran takes its first reciprocal steps and says that it is leaving, everyone will forget by tomorrow that the U.S. was the initiator of this collapse. Iran will be held responsible, and the global public opinion will be intentionally changed in this direction.”

Russia and China are Iran’s diplomatic — and to an extent — economic allies. Russia and Iran also have been military allies in Syria, fighting side by side to help Bashar al-Assad to survive a nationwide insurgency.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met Putin a day earlier. They discussed a host of issues, including topics related to Iran. But it is not clear to what extent there was agreement between them.
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Elections in Malawi – Straight Talk Africa

Posted on by SeeAF

In this episode of Straight Talk Africa host Shaka Ssali discusses the upcoming elections in Malawi on May 21st. He is joined, from Lilongwe, by Sangwani Mwafulirwa Director of Media and Public Relations of the Malawi Electoral Commission and in studio by Janet Zeenat Karim, Former Diplomat with the Permanent Mission of Republic of Malawi at the United Nations and Limbani Kamanga, Program Manager of The Grassroot Project.
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US Orders Non-Emergency Staff to Leave Iraq Over Iran Tensions

Posted on by SeeUS

Shahla Arasteh and Carla Babb contributed to this report.

CAPITOL HILL — The United States on Wednesday ordered its non-emergency employees to leave Iraq, as American lawmakers worried openly about a potential march to war with Iran.

The drawdown of personnel at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad and America’s consulate in Irbil comes as the Trump administration warns of potential threats against American forces in the Middle East from Iran or Iranian-backed proxies.

The move sparked sharp reactions on Capitol Hill.

“There are only two reasons for ordering their departure: we have credible intelligence that our people are at risk – or in preparation for military action in Iran,” the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s top Democrat, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, said. “The Trump administration has not provided any information to this committee on the intelligence behind their decisions or what they plan to do in Iraq or Iran.”

Menendez demanded the Trump administration bring the panel’s members up to date on “any plans to go to war with Iran.”

The committee’s chairman, Republican James Risch of Idaho, said that he, personally, has been briefed on the unfolding situation in the Middle East and that a briefing of the full U.S. Senate was “in the works.”

The United States is not alone in curtailing activities in Iraq. Germany and the Netherlands say they are suspending military training operations in the country, although Berlin says it had no signals of its own that a threat against Western interests in Iraq was imminent. The Dutch government cited an unspecified security threat in curtailing its training operations.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday rejected a report that he is considering sending 120,000 troops to counter Iran, but didn’t rule out deploying “a lot more” soldiers in the future.

“I think it’s fake news,” Trump said of a New York Times report that the White House is considering a plan to send 120,000 troops to the region.

“Now, would I do that? Absolutely. But we have not planned for that,” Trump said.

The Pentagon has already dispatched an aircraft carrier and nuclear-capable bomber planes to the region in the last few days, with a Patriot missile battery and a landing platform dock ship on the way. The Patriot system offers protection from aircraft and missiles, while the LPD carries Marines and the aircraft, hovercraft, or boats needed to put them ashore to fight in distant places.

Meanwhile, a senior officer in the U.S.-led military coalition combating Islamic State said Tuesday he had seen no greater recent threat to its troops in Iraq or Syria from forces backed by Iran.

“There’s been no increased threat from Iranian-backed forces in Iraq and Syria,” British Maj. Gen. Chris Ghika told reporters at the Pentagon in a video conference from coalition headquarters in Baghdad. “We’re aware of their presence, clearly, and we monitor them, along with a whole range of others because that’s the environment we’re in.”

The statement was in contrast to comments from the Trump administration and the Pentagon, who have asserted for more than a week that they have detected potential Iranian threats against U.S. forces in the Middle East.

Such assertions face increasingly rigorous scrutiny from lawmakers.

“This seems like an escalation with no endgame,” Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said, describing the pressure campaign on Tehran as “ham-handed” [clumsy].

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, meanwhile, pressed a Pentagon official on the constitutionally-mandated steps for America to go to war.

“Do you believe the president has the authority to wage war with Iran without congressional authorization?” Paul asked at a Foreign Relations Committee hearing. “Can we have a full-scale waging of war with Iran without congressional authorization?”

“Only the Congress has the responsibility, the authority to declare war,” responded the Defense Department’s deputy undersecretary for policy, David Trachtenberg.

Right,” Paul said. “So the answer is [that] the president can’t do it.”
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Niger Loses 17 Soldiers in Ambush Near Mali Border

Posted on by SeeAF

A government spokesman in Niger says at least 17 Nigerien soldiers were killed and another 11 are missing after an ambush by unknown attackers Tuesday.

The attack took place near the village of Tongo Tongo in western Niger. It is in the Tillaberi region where attackers killed four U.S. special forces troops and four Nigerien soldiers in 2017.

A security source told the French news agency that Tuesday’s ambush is believed to be a terrorist attack.

A group affiliated with Islamic State took credit for the 2017 attack.

The area where Nigeria, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso come together is the scene of frequent militant activity. The Boko Haram group and a splinter group from Islamic State are headquartered in Nigeria and conduct cross-border attacks.
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Hope, Skepticism as Sudan’s Military, Opposition Reach Deal

Posted on by SeeAF

Sudan’s protest leaders and the Transitional Military Council have agreed on the main structure of a transitional government, a significant step forward in the weeks-long stand-off between the two sides. But they are yet to agree on the side that will have a majority in a new, transitional ruling council until the 2022 elections.

Protesters on Wednesday greeted the late-night deal with a mixture of hope and skepticism when the opposition Declaration of Freedom and Change Forces (DFCF) and Transitional Military Council made the announcement late Tuesday.

The two sides split the difference on a timeline for Sudan’s elections between the opposition’s demand for a four-year transition and the military’s wanting two years.

The power-sharing agreement includes three councils to run sovereign, ministries, and legislative body. The DFCF would hold two-thirds of the seats in the 300-seat parliament.

But there is no agreement yet on which side -— civilian or the military — will have a majority in the ruling sovereign council until elections in 2022.

Ruaa Obaid said she and fellow protesters are still waiting for an announcement on a final agreement, expected Wednesday night.

She said the agreement announced Tuesday was satisfying to some extent as it’s a good idea. But her hope is that things will progress further. She said protesters are awaiting the results and hope it’ll be satisfying for everyone.

The deal is the most significant step forward in Sudan’s weeks-long stand-off between thousands of protesters demanding civilian rule and the military.

An attack on the protesters’ sit-in around the Defense Ministry on Monday night left at least six people dead, dozens injured, and raised fears the talks might fall apart.

But protest leaders and the military were quick to say negotiations would continue and announced late Tuesday that a committee was set up to investigate the attack.

Nonetheless, protesters reinforced steel and rock walls around the sit-in, which started April 6 to demand former president Omar al-Bashir step down.

Even after the military ousted Bashir on April 11 from three decades in power, protests continued for civilian rule.

Sitting in a chair near newly-erected barricades, protester Othman Karrar warned a compromise with the military might not satisfy everyone.

He said people in the sit-in area, people are insisting on their full demands and that any compromise would be apportioning the power of the revolution.

He said his observation is that those young people won’t easily back down.

The first six months of the agreed transition are to be dedicated to seeking peace in areas of conflict in Sudan, such as war-torn Darfur, South Kordofan and the Blue Nile

Millions of people in Sudan have been affected by the conflicts and hundreds of thousands displaced.

Fighting erupted again in 2015 as Bashir’s forces tried to regain control of rebel-held territory three months before April elections.

Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and genocide in Darfur, but the military has refused to hand him over.
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Jerusalem Embassy Anniversary Marked with Trump Tweet, Arab Silence

Posted on by SeeEA

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday the transfer of the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem a year ago was the fulfillment of a key promise of his election campaign.

​“Today marks the one-year anniversary of the opening of the United States Embassy in Jerusalem, Israel,” Trump said in a celebratory tweet highlighting the move. “Our beautiful embassy stands as a proud reminder of our strong relationship with Israel and of the importance of keeping a promise and standing for the truth.”

Trump’s move of the embassy from the Israeli commercial hub of Tel Aviv to the seat of its government in Jerusalem, which he recognized as Israel’s capital in December 2017, was a major U.S. foreign policy shift cheered by the Jewish state. But, the transfer was opposed by leaders of Arab and other Muslim-majority nations who warned it would provoke regional violence and threaten international security. 

The U.S. embassy milestone drew no reported street protests or denunciations from leaders in the Middle East on Tuesday, one year after its opening on May 14, 2018. International media coverage of the anniversary was scant, with the Associated Press and the New York Times being the only major outlets to file a report specifically on the topic. 

Trump had made transferring the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem a key part of his foreign policy platform as a candidate for the 2016 presidential election, vowing to follow through on a move that several of his predecessors also had pledged to make as election candidates but declined to execute once in office. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu celebrated the anniversary by attending a ceremony at a Jerusalem hotel, organized by a prominent U.S. Christian evangelical pro-Israel activist who founded the Friends of Zion Museum in the Israeli city. Speaking to an audience that included U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, Netanyahu reiterated his view that Israel has had “no better friend in the White House” than Trump.

​Prior to the U.S. move, no other country had recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and placed its embassy there, preferring instead to wait for Israel and the Palestinians to resolve its status in a peace deal. Palestinians claim the predominantly Arab eastern sector of Jerusalem, captured by Israel from Jordan in 1967, as the capital of a future Palestinian state. Israel annexed that sector to what it called its “united and eternal” capital. 

Referring to Trump having broken the international consensus on Jerusalem, Netanyahu said: “Nobody moves the embassy, and nobody recognizes Jerusalem until someone comes, [someone] who is politically incorrect, brash and unabashed, and one day, out of the blue, says, ‘that’s right. Jerusalem is Israel’s capital and I recognize it’. And that is what President Donald Trump did.”

The Ramallah-based Palestinian government’s WAFA news agency posted a Tuesday report saying its longtime chief negotiator Saeb Erekat met an American delegation in Ramallah and criticized U.S. and Israeli policies as “consolidating the occupation and apartheid regime” – a reference to Israel. 

In another article published Tuesday, WAFA called the U.S. embassy move an “appalling” decision, noting that it happened on the same day as a deadly confrontation between Israeli forces and 40,000 Palestinian protesters in Gaza, which is ruled by the Hamas militant group. 

Urged by Hamas to protest the U.S. move and join a “March of Return” to Israeli territory the group claims as Palestinian, the demonstrators rallied near the border with Israel on May 14, 2018, with some approaching the fence, throwing stones, hurling firebombs and trying to breach it. 

Israeli snipers opened fire from the other side of the fence, killing about 60 Palestinians, including several children, and wounding hundreds. A Hamas official later said 50 of those killed were Hamas activists.

​Human rights groups accused Israel of violating international law by using lethal force against what they said were unarmed protesters. Israel said its forces opened fire to prevent a mass border breach by rioters and in response to a shooting attack by Hamas gunmen in the area. Washington said Israel had a right to protect its border. 

While Gazans have staged almost weekly and sometimes violent protests at the Israeli border and carried out several rounds of rocket strikes on Israel over the past year, there have been no similar and frequent mass anti-Israel protests or attacks originating in other Arab nations. 

“It just shows that the Arab world wants to move forward with Israel and toward peace,” said Elad Strohmayer, spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Washington, in a VOA Persian interview on Tuesday. “We had a historic visit of our prime minister to Oman [in October 2018] and we are looking forward to enhancing our relationship with the Arab world,” he said. 

Israel, which has peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, has been increasing its contacts with other Sunni Arab states who share its concerns about Shi’ite-majority Iran’s efforts to gain regional influence through support of proxy militias. 

Israeli leaders had expressed hope that more countries would follow the Trump administration in transferring their embassies to Jerusalem, but only Guatemala has done so and kept its mission in the city. Paraguay moved its embassy to Jerusalem in May 2018 but withdrew it in September. 

Leaders of some EU nations, Brazil and Australia have expressed interest in moving embassies to Jerusalem in the past year, but none have followed through. 

However, Hungary broke with a European Union consensus in March by opening a Jerusalem trade mission that it calls an extension of its embassy in Tel Aviv. It was the first European mission with diplomatic status to be opened in Jerusalem in decades. 

This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service. Afshar Sigarchi contributed from Washington.
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Border Wall Going Up in National Monument, Wildlife Refuge

Posted on by SeeUS

The U.S. government plans to replace barriers through 100 miles (161 kilometers) of the southern border in California and Arizona, including through a national monument and a wildlife refuge, according to documents and environmental advocates.

The Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday again waived environmental and dozens of other laws to build more barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Funding will come from the Defense Department following the emergency declaration that President Donald Trump signed this year after Congress refused to approve the amount of border wall funding he requested.

Barriers will go up at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, a vast park named after the unique cactus breed that decorates it, and Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, which is largely a designed wilderness home to 275 wildlife species. The government will also build new roads and lighting in those areas in Arizona.

Environmental advocates who have sued to stop the construction of the wall say this latest plan will be detrimental to the wildlife and habitat in those areas.

“The Trump administration just ignored bedrock environmental and public health laws to plow a disastrous border wall through protected, spectacular wildlands,” said Laiken Jordahl, who works on border issues at the Center for Biological Diversity.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment but has typically not said much about construction plans.

Crossings, drugs dwindle at national monument

At Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, row after row of cactuses decorate 516 square miles (1,336-square kilometers) of land that once saw so much drug smuggling that over half the park was closed to the public. But illegal crossings in that area dropped off significantly in the past several years, and the government in 2015 reopened the entire monument for the first time in 12 years.

While Arizona has seen an increase in border crossers over the last year, most are families who turn themselves in to Border Patrol agents. The number of drugs that agents seize in the state has also dropped significantly.

But the government is moving forward with more border infrastructure.

The waivers the department issued Tuesday are vague in their description of where and how many miles of fencing will be installed. The Center for Biological Diversity says the plans total about 100 miles (160 kilometers) of southern border in both Arizona and California, near Calexico and Tecate.

​From waist-high fence to 30-foot barriers

In Arizona, construction will focus on four areas of the border and will include the replacement of waist-high fencing meant to stop cars with 18- to 30-foot (9-meter) barriers that will be more efficient at stopping illegal crossings.

The government has demolished refuge land in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and construction is set to begin any day. On one section of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, crews have used heavy construction equipment to destroy a mix of trees, including mesquite, mulberry and hackberry. Those trees protect birds during the ongoing nesting season.

According to plans published last year, the cleared land will be filled in and a concrete wall will be installed, with bollards measuring 18 feet (5.5 meters) installed on top.

​One refuge off limits

After months of public outcry, Congress forbade U.S. Customs and Border Protection from building in the nearby Santa Ana wildlife refuge or the nonprofit National Butterfly Center. But it didn’t stop money from going to wall construction in other refuge lands, nor did it stop the government from building in otherwise exempted land because of the emergency declaration, said Marianna Trevino Wright, the butterfly center’s director.

“They’re going to have to protect us in every single spending bill going forward, and they have to protect us against the state of emergency,” Wright said. “And this administration has made it clear … that they don’t want any exemptions.”
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US House Democrats Probe Justice Department’s Handling of Police Shootings

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The Democratic-led U.S. House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday unveiled a probe of the Trump administration’s moves to curtail the federal government’s role in scrutinizing police shootings.

In a letter to Attorney General William Barr, Chairman Jerrold Nadler and other committee Democrats requested documents and updates on how the Justice Department has addressed shootings and other cases of excessive police force since President Donald Trump took office in early 2017.

The lawmakers cited statistics, including media reports, that show nearly 1,000 people were shot and killed by police in 2018 and that at least 265 others have met with the same fate this year. The numbers include cases of unarmed shooting victims that have drawn international criticism.

“Despite continuing concerns from civil rights and community-based organizations, the department has sharply curtailed its statutory role in identifying and eradicating civil rights abuses by law enforcement,” the lawmakers’ letter said. Justice Department officials were not immediately available to comment.

Among the documents sought by the Democratic lawmakers are memos written by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who implemented policies that critics say sharply curtailed the ability of Justice Department civil rights attorneys to rein in unconstitutional policing.

The lawmakers gave Barr until June 5 to comply with their request.
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