Month: June 2019

Russia Denies Trump Tweet Saying It Informed Him of Venezuela Pullout

Posted on by SeeEU

Russia has denied it informed U.S. President Donald Trump that it is pulling defense personnel out of Venezuela, contradicting a comment by the U.S. leader.

“I was surprised when I read this. We did not notify anyone. He apparently read an article in The Wall Street Journal,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on June 4 referring to a June 3 tweet by Trump.

Trump in March said Russia “has to get out” of the South American nation after it landed planes carrying supplies and technical advisers to help President Nicolas Maduro amid an uprising.

The United States is seeking the ouster of Maduro, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as thousands of Venezuelan citizens take to the streets to protest his regime.

Trump on June 3 tweeted that Russia had informed the United States “that they have removed most of their people from Venezuela.”

His tweet came a day after The Wall Street Journal, citing an unnamed source close to the Russian Defense Ministry, reported that Moscow had pulled out many defense advisers from the country.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said that Russia had not informed the United States of any such withdrawal, adding that Russian specialists continue to work in the South American country.

However, neither Lavrov nor Peskov addressed whether the number of Russian advisers in Venezuela has decreased significantly.

The Wall Street Journal reported on June 2 that Russian state defense contractor Rostec had reduced its staff in Venezuela from about 1,000 several years ago to “just a few dozen.”

Rostec, which trains Venezuelan troops to use Russian weapons, is pulling personnel due to a drop in military contracts “and the acceptance” that Maduro’s regime doesn’t have the money to pay for its services, The Wall Street Journal reported.

However, Rostec said the paper’s description of a massive withdrawal of Russian personnel was “overstated by tenfold.”

The Russian state-owned corporation said its technical advisers come and go all the time as demanded by service contracts and that some advisers had recently left after completing work on airplanes.

The State Department declined to comment on whether it has information that Russia is cutting back its presence in Venezuela. The Pentagon did not immediately reply to a request by RFE/RL for comment.
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China’s Xi: Iran Tensions Worrying, Calls for Restraint

Posted on by SeeEA

A rise in tensions in the Middle East owing to U.S. pressure on Iran is worrying and all parties need to exercise restraint, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Russian media ahead of a visit to the country.

Tensions between Iran and the United States have escalated in the past month, a year after the United States pulled out of a deal between Iran and global powers to curb Tehran’s nuclear program in return for lifting sanctions.

Washington reimposed sanctions last year and tightened them sharply at the start of last month, ordering all countries to halt imports of Iranian oil. It has also hinted at military confrontation, sending extra forces to the region to counter what it describes as Iranian threats.

Xi told TASS news agency and Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper that because of the “extreme pressure” Washington has put on Tehran and the unilateral sanctions, tensions have continued to rise in the Middle East.

“The development of the situation is worrying,” Xi said, according to a transcript published by China’s Foreign Ministry ahead of his arrival in Russia on Wednesday.

The Iran nuclear deal should be fully implemented and respected, as it is of crucial importance for peace and stability in the Middle East and non-proliferation, Xi added.

“China and Russia’s views and positions on the Iran nuclear issue are highly aligned, and both hope that all relevant parties remain rational and exercise restraint, step up dialogue and consultations and lower the temperature on the present tense situation,” he said.

China has been angered by U.S. threats against countries and companies that violate U.S. sanctions by importing Iranian oil.

China and Iran have close energy ties.

Xi did not directly address the oil sanctions issue, but appeared to allude to them by saying: “China will continue to firmly safeguard its own legitimate and lawful rights and interests.”
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VOA Interview: Freedom House Report

Posted on by SeeEA

A new Freedom House report says press freedom is deteriorating worldwide. VOA’s Ramon Taylor spoke to Sarah Repucci, the Senior Director for Research and Analysis for Freedom House about the report. Below is an an edited transcript.

Q: According to the report, press freedom is deteriorating worldwide; worsening for Not Free states (Eurasia + Middle East/North Africa) combined with a negative trend among Free States, notably across Europe. Can you expand on these overall findings, and its impact on the state of democracy in those countries?

A: So we’ve been tracking a decline in global press freedom for a decade. And this has tracked very closely with an overall decline in political rights and civil liberties around the world. The declines in press freedom, as you mentioned, are primarily in Europe, which are among the best performing countries in the world and in Eurasia and MENA (Middle East and North Africa), which are among the worst. So we’re seeing it at the two ends of the spectrum. It’s especially concerning, not just because press freedom is a fundamental freedom in itself, but because of its implications for democracy. On the other hand, we do see some signs of hope and some signs of a rejuvenation of the media in countries that have had a turning point. And so you can definitely see that press freedom cannot be repressed forever. And there are always people who are fighting to bring it back.

Q: Are we seeing more of the same tactics of the past (e.g. violence, harassment); or are there more nuanced efforts to undermine journalistic independence? And how do those tactics differ from Eurasia & MENA vs areas with generally more freedom, such as in European countries?

A: It’s very different at the two ends of the spectrum. So at the lower end of the spectrum, we’re seeing very familiar tactics: arrests of journalists, threats to their safety, repressive laws, defamation laws that criminalize free speech. But at the top end of the spectrum we are really seeing a lot of new tactics. These are democratically elected leaders who then manipulate the media in ways that are very subtle that enable them to take control of the message that is getting to the population. 

Q: Specific examples of countries engaging in these tactics more recently?

A: The kind of the classic examples of these countries would be Hungary, which has been doing this for a few years now. And Serbia also in Europe. Both those countries just dropped to partly free in our freedom in the world survey and have been at the forefront of new tactics for repressing the media. But we’re also seeing this in democracies around the world, in India and Israel …and also here in the United States. 

Q: Here in the United States, which you call “the world’s leading democratic power,” you do mention “unusual pressure.” What’s the growing concern here, and is there any silver lining, given its high global press rating?

A: Ultimately here in the United States we have very robust protections for free speech. Our Constitution and the Supreme Court have upheld this for decades. But the kinds of attacks that we’re seeing from the Trump administration are new and are very worrying. These are verbal attacks on journalists, threats to change libel laws, threats against individual media outlets. And this is part of what appears to be a trend of undermining the respect that the government has for the role that the media as opposed to play in holding leaders to account. Certainly there is a lot of optimism in this country. I mean the mainstream media, the major news media have been really strong in pushing back against these attacks and in continuing to publish information that holds leaders to account. But the concern is that norms may be changing and that it will be difficult to get back to where we were before.

Q: Would you consider this unchartered territory; U.S. legal protections on steady ground?

A: So the legal protections are absolutely, they’re still there. And I don’t want to say that this is the worst moment of U.S. press freedom because we’ve been through many, many trying times. But it is definitely new in the postwar post -World War II era. And it’s also because it does appear to be part of this global trend of right-wing populist leaders who come to power and attack the media. It’s a concern that it will have long-term effects here in the United States and also on the ability of the U.S. to be a leader in setting an example around the world.

Q: How much of independent news media’s problems in the west are due to the internet’s erosion of its independent business model? More news organizations are struggling to make money, continuing a long-running trend. Can independent, truth-seeking journalism exist without a viable business model to sustain it?

A: It’s a really good question. I mean, certainly the financial strain that media in western countries have been undergoing now for more than a decade has laid the groundwork for many outlets to go out of business and much less local journalism than there was before. But social media have also been a huge opportunity for new forms of expression and new ways for people to publish information and distribute it. And so it’s a two-sided coin and we can’t wholly say that the Internet is the downfall of the news media.

Q: What is the role of social media in improving or deteriorating press freedom? On the one hand, the report notes that social media has played an outsized role in countries like Venezuela, Armenia and Sudan in providing free expression in repressive environments. On the other hand, disinformation continues to persist on platforms with large audiences, including WeChat and WhatsApp. Do you see these tools as more of an opportunity, or a liability?

A: So it’s true that both of these things are happening. We’re seeing the internet and social media being used in really innovative ways, especially in countries that have a highly repressive media environment and where people have to be innovative in order to get information out there. I think Venezuela is a prime example. And then we’re also seeing it being manipulated and taken advantage of in order to spread misinformation, often by governments themselves. And the fact that social media are called out as being a problem in free expression, that’s often because these same governments that want to repress journalists are using the spread of disinformation as an excuse to do so. So, we are continuing to see people fighting back against this and we’re also continuing to see a more nuanced understanding of how we can regulate social media. This is still evolving. We haven’t found the answer yet, but I do think that we will come out to a place where we can embrace these technologies for the good that they can bring.

Q: Your report focuses extensively on China, tracing how Beijing is trying to export its media narrative through official state organs, signing partnerships with affiliates, and so forth. What’s the trouble you’re seeing there?

A: So what we’re seeing is that China is not only repressing the media at home, which we’ve been seeing for many years, and they continue to find new ways to censor and to shut down information. But increasingly they are exporting their model of media repression to other countries. And they’re doing it in three main ways: 1) They’re doing it by exporting their message and finding friendly outlets that will publish and broadcast that message. 2) They’re doing it by putting pressure on journalists, but also diplomats and media owners in countries to censor, basically on Beijing’s behalf. 3) And they’re also getting involved in the media markets of these countries. For instance, in Africa, they own cable television and other news outlets, which they can then use to promote their message or have a more catered version of what they want distributed.

Q: China’s involvement has grown at the same time that private and publicly funded journalism in the west is shrinking. What’s the future of international news? Do you see state-backed agencies becoming a major part of international news coverage for many people?

A: It’s certainly true that as Western governments have had to withdraw their global image of a free press, China is filling that gap, and that is very problematic for free media around the world. I certainly think that China’s model of a state-centric media is, that is the one that they are exporting. But I don’t know if that means that there is a global trend towards more state media. I think what we need to see is more support from western governments for independent media of all kinds, and support for outlets that can distribute information in the face of this rise of China. 

Q: What are the main challenges for free media in Georgia? As the recent FH country report said “democratic trajectory showed signs of improvement but the progress has stagnated in recent years.” What contributed to this stagnation and where does Georgia stand in this regard in the region?

A: Georgia is actually a good performer among its neighbors. It’s the best in the caucuses. It’s actually the best in Eurasia as a whole in our ratings. But it does face a lot of challenges and it is sort of an average performer globally. I think the two main challenges that we’re seeing in Georgia are the influence of oligarchs in the political process and the fact that these unelected individuals are having sway over the political process. And secondly, the rule of law and a lot of legislative and executive interference in the judicial system, which doesn’t allow it to function as an independent institution. 

Q: And Serbia — same question re: challenges there, and factors that have contributed to its designation? (report notes that an environment of intimidation and harassment inhibits journalists’ day to day work).

A: So in Serbia we’re really seeing the prime example, along with Hungary, of a country that has a democratically elected leader who has now used his position of power to take control of the media and to broadcast the message that supports him remaining in power. So we’re seeing a lot of intimidation, verbal intimidation of journalists; not so much physical intimidation, although there has been some, a feeling that journalists cannot count on the protection of the government for them to do their jobs. Also, a lot of regulatory pressure, using government advertising to reward friendly outlets and to financially punish critical outlets. We’re also seeing, so Serbia has very robust laws that meet international standards as an EU candidate, but it then uses the laws that it has to punish journalists, for instance, through crippling defamation lawsuits that are civil in nature, but financially burdensome.

Q: Just as freedom of the press can deteriorate, you do mention some encouraging examples of democratic progress that have seen parallel gains in media environments (Ethiopia, Malaysia, Armenia, Ecuador, Gambia). Where are we seeing these improvements, and is there any one lesson we can take away from these examples?

A: So we’re definitely seeing parallel improvements in the countries where we’re seeing democratic progress. We’re also seeing progress in the independence and the freedom for the media. And that is yet another indication of the importance of free media for freedom in the political process, but also the way that the media will spring to life when there is a political opening. And the examples that you cite are all great examples of places where we’ve seen this. We’re not seeing regional trends at this point. It’s sort of too soon to say that this is going to be the reversal of the downward trend that we’re seeing, but we definitely have a lot of hope in those places and hope that it will spread to some of the countries like Sudan and Algeria, in Venezuela, where the population is really fighting right now.

Q: Anything to add?

A: I think that the main thing that I would emphasize is that the importance of free media really is because of the ability that it gives the population to hold their leaders to account. And that’s why the decline in press freedom is so dangerous for democracy as a whole, and we hope that these positive trends will pick up, but we do have very grave concerns at this time.
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Iran Recommits to Khomeini’s ‘Resistance’ on Death Anniversary, But at What Cost?

Posted on by SeeEA

This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service. Katherine Ahn contributed from Washington.

Iran has marked the 30th anniversary of the death of the leader of its Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, by recommitting itself to pursue his bedeviled path of “resistance” against enemies. 

Khomeini died of cancer on June 3, 1989, 10 years after leading a revolution that replaced Iran’s monarchy with an enduring theocracy that has become embroiled in regional conflicts, struggled economically under U.S. sanctions and faced more than a year of nationwide anti-government protests. 

“In face of hardships, obstacles and tyrannical systems, Imam Khomeini manifested the power of resistance to the entire world,” his successor as supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told a crowd of thousands who gathered for a Tuesday memorial ceremony at Khomeini’s mausoleum in southern Tehran. “The enemy failed to disrupt [Khomeini’s] calculating capabilities, which were based on the statements of the true religion of Islam.”

Khomeini, born in central Persia in 1902, in about 1922 moved to the Shiite holy city of Qom, where he became a prominent Islamic scholar and outspoken critic of Iran’s monarch, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. Sent into exile by the shah in 1964, Khomeini spent 14 years in Turkey, Iraq and France before returning to Iran in February 1979 to lead the overthrow of the shah who fled the country weeks earlier. 

Khomeini’s decade long rule as Iran’s supreme leader was marked by repression of his political opponents and his stewardship of a brutal 1980-88 war with Iraq. Millions of mourners gathered in Tehran for his funeral on June 4, 1989, the same day that a clerical body named Khamenei as his successor.

Thirty years later, Khomeini’s image is pervasive in Iranian society, with his portrait adorning buildings, public squares and banknotes. 

“His legacy is very much alive,” said Clifford May, an American journalist who covered the 1979 revolution from inside Iran and now serves as president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based institute. In a VOA Persian interview aired Tuesday, May said Ayatollah Khamenei and Iran’s other senior officials are disciples of Khomeini, committed to continuing his revolution.

​“This revolution was meant to establish a state that would have the clerisy, the ayatollahs as its ruling class because they understood Sharia law,” May said. “Khomeini very much disliked democracy. He considered it a form of prostitution in which politicians buy their voters.”

Khomeini instituted the principle of Velayat-e Faqih (the guardianship of the jurist), under which the nation’s power is placed in the hands of a supreme spiritual leader. He agreed to the existence of elected institutions such as the presidency and parliament but retained authority over them. 

May said another feature of Khomeini’s legacy is the Islamic Revolution’s goal of spreading itself beyond Iran’s boundaries.

“It was a revolution in Iran, not an Iranian revolution,” he said. “It is meant to establish Islamic power throughout the world and bring down America. That is why they say ‘death’ to America and what they see as the crusader Zionist or Judeo-Christian powers of the world.”

Iran long has spread its influence in parts of the Arab world by providing weapons and funds to proxies such as Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza. All three groups share the ambition of Iran’s rulers to destroy Israel, their main regional foe. 

Tehran also has intervened in civil wars in Iraq and Syria in recent years, by sending Iranian troops and Shiite militiamen from various nations to fight Islamic State militants and prop up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an Iranian ally. The United States has accused Iranian forces of supplying weapons also to Houthi rebels in Yemen, although Tehran has insisted it provides the Houthis only moral support. 

Shiite-majority Iran’s involvement in Middle East conflicts has irked Sunni Arab-led nations who have vowed to resist what they see as an Iranian pursuit of regional hegemony. Some of those nations have been developing informal ties with Israel as they seek its support in countering Iran. 

Iranians opposed to spending national resources on foreign conflicts denounced that practice during anti-government street protests that swept Iran from late December 2017 to early January 2018. The demonstrators also denounced Iranian rulers and business leaders whom they accused of oppression, corruption and mismanagement. Nationwide protests have continued over the past year, but sporadically and on a smaller scale. 

Iran also has seen its currency slump and its inflation and unemployment rates soar under U.S. sanctions re-imposed by the Trump administration last year. Washington has said it is trying to pressure Tehran into ending perceived malign behaviors, including a suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons. Tehran has said its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes. 

May said the Islamic republic founded by Khomeini still is a powerful force in the region, but is suffering.

“I think [Iran’s] young people would like a better, freer life and believe they could have it, either if this government would change direction, or if they had a very different [kind of] government,” he said. “But I think this regime also knows very well how to deal, in a tough way, with threats [to its authority].”
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US House Votes to Protect ‘Dreamer’ Immigrants

Posted on by SeeUS

The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday passed legislation to end the threat of deportation that has long hung over undocumented immigrants known as “Dreamers” who entered the United States when they were children.

By a vote of 237-187, the Democratic-controlled House approved the legislation despite opposition from the White House, which said the move would “reward illegal immigration.”

Only seven Republicans voted for the bill.

There have been no signs that the Republican-controlled Senate would consider the House bill, likely leaving this Democratic initiative to be fought over during the 2020 presidential and congressional election campaigns.

Earlier in his administration, Republican President Donald Trump said he wanted to help Dreamers, many of whom were very young when they arrived in the United States with their parents.

But following a series of failed negotiations, Trump mainly has focused on clamping down on immigration and building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to keep out undocumented immigrants from Central America and other countries.

The Democratic bill would shield an estimated 2 million Dreamers from deportation if they meet certain criteria, and put them on a path to U.S. citizenship.

Some of these immigrants have had temporary protections under a program put in place in 2012 by then-President Barack Obama.

Trump’s move to end that program is being challenged in court.

Referring to the young immigrants, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said during debate of the bill: “Many did not even know they were not born here and were not American citizens until they found they could not get a drivers license or in-state tuition rates for college.”

The House bill also would protect from deportation another 460,000 immigrants who have been legally staying in the United States under a temporary protection program aimed at countries suffering from natural disasters, wars and other traumas.

Trump has been phasing out this program.

In its statement threatening a presidential veto, the White House said that legislation to protect Dreamers would have to be coupled with other immigration provisions. These include tightening U.S. asylum law, providing money to build a border wall, and encouraging the immigration of high-skilled workers rather than relatives of immigrants already in the United States.

Those ideas have drawn opposition from many Democrats and immigration advocacy groups.
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Trump Administration Ban on Cruises to Cuba Creates Chaos for US Travelers

Posted on by SeeUS

The Trump administration banned cruises to Cuba under new restrictions on U.S. travel to the Caribbean island imposed on Tuesday to pressure its Communist government to reform and stop supporting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The tightening of the decades-old U.S. embargo on Cuba will further wound its crippled economy, as well as hurt U.S. travel companies that had built up Cuban business during the brief 2014-2016 detente between the old Cold War foes.

The State Department said the United States will no longer permit visits to Cuba via passenger and recreational vessels, including cruise ships and yachts, as well as private and corporate aircraft.

The U.S. Commerce Department told Reuters the ban would be effective from Wednesday, giving cruise lines no grace period to change destinations and creating confusion among cruise passengers.

“Please tell me that my cruise to Cuba (in 18 days) is still going to be a cruise to Cuba,” beseeched Matthew Watkins on Twitter.

Royal Caribbean Cruises announced that ships sailing Wednesday and Thursday would no longer stop in Cuba and it would provide updates on future cruise destinations.

Carnival Corp said it would have additional information in “the very near future.” Norwegian Cruise Line likewise said it was monitoring the situation.

The United States will also no longer allow so-called group people-to-people educational travel, one of the most popular exemptions to the overall ban on U.S. tourism to Cuba. Travel experts said some groups may get around that by instead using one of the 11 other categories still allowed.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump had announced the new restrictions in April as part of its rollback of the U.S.-Cuban detente under former President Barack Obama and its broader battle against socialism in Latin America.

Cuba experts say the Trump administration appears to be partly eyeing the presidential elections next year, with the key swing state of Florida home to many Cuban-American exiles who welcome the harder line on Havana.

“The Administration has advanced the President’s Cuba policy by ending “veiled tourism” to Cuba and imposing restrictions on vessels,” said a tweet from Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton, who has led the U.S. campaign against what he has called the “troika of tyranny” of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. “We will continue to take actions to restrict the Cuban regime’s access to U.S. dollars.”

Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel said the island would not be intimidated. “They have not been able to asphyxiate us, they will not be able to stop us, we will continue to live and we will conquer,” he wrote on Twitter.

Many analysts have said the Trump administration is pursuing a failed policy of trying to overthrow Cuba’s government through sanctions, which has served only to give Havana an excuse for its own economic failings over the past 60 years and a pretext to clamp down on domestic opposition.

This is the second time the Trump administration has tightened U.S. travel restrictions on Cuba. While the measures are designed to hit government coffers, they are also hurting Cuba’s fledgling private sector, which the United States has said it wants to support.

“This is another hard blow,” said Miguel Ãýngel Morales, owner of La Moneda Cubana, a restaurant in Old Havana. “Around 50% of our business comes from the cruise ships.”

Strangling the economy

The Trump administration is hitting the two areas of the economy, tourism and investment, that have helped Cuba keep the economy afloat even as it has faced declining Venezuelan aid and exports in recent years.

Last month, the administration allowed U.S. lawsuits against foreign companies for the use of property confiscated after Cuba’s 1959 revolution, a move that will likely dampen future foreign investment.

Meanwhile, U.S. travel to Cuba had boomed in recent years after Obama loosened restrictions, allowing the re-establishment of regular commercial flights and cruise services.

The United States became the second-largest source of travelers to the island after Canada, with a majority arriving on cruises ships.

According to the Cuban government, 257,500 U.S. citizens, not including those of Cuban origin, visited Cuba from January through March, with 55% arriving on cruise ships.

But critics of the Cuban government said much of this travel was not for educational but rather for recreational purposes, which contradicted the ban on tourism.

“He thinks we are just coming here as a tourist but you are learning so much. It’s ridiculous we won’t be able to come anymore,” said Cheryl Kolar, 68, a retired nurse who had traveled to Havana by cruise ship.

“Cuba is the only country we are not allowed to go to. We can go to Russia, but for some reason Trump has something against Cuba.”
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As Protests Rage, Trump Commits to ‘Phenomenal’ Deal with Britain

Posted on by SeeUS

Roderick James contributed to this report.

LONDON — President Donald Trump deployed a mix of diplomacy and barbs in his joint news conference with British Prime Minister Teresa May in London Tuesday.

Trump said the U.S. is committed to a “phenomenal trade deal” with Britain as the country prepares to leave the European Union.

“There is tremendous potential in that trade deal, probably two and even three times of what we’re doing right now,” Trump said.

Trump said he saw “no limitations” on future intelligence-sharing, despite disagreements over the threat posed by Chinese tech giant Huawei.

“We have an incredible intelligence relationship, and we will be able to work out any differences,” Trump said.

He also praised May, who is stepping down as Conservative Party leader on Friday, saying she has “done a very good job.”

But Trump described opposition Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has been critical of Trump, as a “negative force,” and said he would not meet with him during his visit. Trump also renewed his criticism of London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who wrote in The Observer newspaper that welcoming Trump for a state visit was “un-British.

Chances of trade deal slim

May said she supported a bilateral trade deal. She praised the economic and trade relations between the countries as one that “helps to ensure there are jobs that employ people here in the U.K. and in the United States, that underpins our prosperity, and our future.”

But analyst Jacob Parakilas of Chatham House said the chances of achieving that trade deal anytime soon is slim.

He said with Brexit still uncertain, there was a pretty limited chance of anything substantive emerging, as well as “the inability to determine what a future U.S.-U.K. trade relationship will look like” without the resolution to the question of whether the U.K. will remain in the customs union or the single market with the European Union.

Where are the protests?’

While Trump and May held their joint press conference, protesters flooded the streets a block away.

They had various messages for the U.S. leader, including protesting his policies on the environment and climate change.

They also protested what they see as Trump’s attacks on values they uphold.

“Values like respect for other people, tolerance, nondiscrimination,” said Londoner Christine Fuchs. “Now, our government turns around and hosts someone with full stage honors, who stands against all those values.”

Women groups, some wearing red outfits similar to those in the hit TV series “The Handmaid’s Tale,” also protested what they view as the administration’s attacks on reproductive rights.

Though they focused on different causes, they were united in their rejection.

“My biggest problem with Trump is just the hate within him, and the fact that he can bring that hatred out in other people,” said Ethan Holden of Bournemouth.

Trump dismissed the protests as “fake news” and said he felt only “tremendous love” from the British people.”And even coming over today, there were thousands of people cheering,” he said. “Where are the protests? I don’t see any protests.”

There appeared to be fewer protesters compared to the more than 100,000 who protested Trump on his visit here last year. Organizers point to the fact that it’s the middle of the work week, and blamed the weather, which drizzled for much of the day.

Support for Johnson, meeting with Farage

Trump, who has publicly backed former Foreign Minister Boris Johnson to replace Prime Minister May, predicted an agreement for Britain to leave the EU “will happen and that it should happen.” He said he thought Brexit was going to happen “because of immigration, more than anything else.”

Further wading into Britain’s divorce from the EU, Trump met with Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage,a strong critic of May, at the U.S. ambassador’s residence.

On Wednesday, Trump will continue his trip with D-Day commemoration ceremonies in both Britain and France, with a stop in Ireland.
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Ebola Cases Soar Past 2,000 in Democratic Republic of Congo

Posted on by SeeAF

More than 2,000 cases of the Ebola virus have hit the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to the nation’s health ministry. The 1,346 deaths make it the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak in history.

On Monday, the Ministry of Health said 539 people have been cured of the virus. 

The ministry update says the fight against the deadly virus is being helped by improved security and a containment of the disease. 

“While threats against the response remain high, the reduction in targeted attacks has allowed teams to catch up with the spread of the epidemic. However, the security situation remains volatile and unpredictable,” it read. 

According to AFP, five aid workers have been killed by local militia forces.

Health officials wrote, “The epidemic continues to be contained geographically, thus protecting the rest of the country and neighboring countries. To date, no cases of Ebola have crossed the borders of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the epidemic has not spread to the most risky major urban centers, namely Goma, Bunia and Kisangani.”

The Ministry of Health identified virus surveillance, infection prevention, and a high community death rate as continuing challenges. 

Meanwhile, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies say officials should “reset” the nation’s Ebola response in light of the dramatically rising number of cases. 

The IFRC urged community partners to take the lead in handling the problem.

“This outbreak will only end when communities are engaged and leading the response efforts themselves,” the release concluded.

Attacks from local militias and distrust of health workers have complicated the response to the disease. 

The International Rescue Committee writes that aid workers should be willing to put their lives on the line and build relationships with local communities in order to deal with the Ebola epidemic in DRC.

“Many patients can be cautious and reticent when they find out they’re being screened for Ebola because of fear of the unknown and a process that can be intimidating. That’s why it’s important to engage with the patients, comfort them, and address their fears while providing care.”

The current outbreak is the 10th in DRC’s history. The worst outbreak in West Africa lasted from 2014 to 2016, killing 11,310 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
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Khartoum Tense as Sudan Activists Reject Military Election Plan

Posted on by SeeAF

The impasse over Sudan’s political future deepened Tuesday as pro-democracy activists rejected a plan by military leaders to hold elections within nine months.

Tension in the streets of the capital, Khartoum, remained high a day after security forces stormed the activists’ main protest site outside the Defense Ministry in central Khartoum, breaking up an eight-week-old sit-in and killing at least 35 people.

Journalist Mangu Ugale in Sudan said the pro-military Rapid Support Forces militia — which carried out Monday’s attack — is now guarding government installations and keeping civilians away from the buildings.

Normal life in the capital is paralyzed, he said.

“So on the street you could see a lot of gathering. Young people especially are gathering on the junctions and on the main streets … just to try to monitor the situation, how it goes,” Ugale told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus.

A spokesman for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the U.N. is watching the situation “with great and increasing concern.”

“We again remind the Transitional Military Council of its duty to ensure the security and safety of citizens in Sudan and urge all parties to act with utmost restraint,” Stephane Dujarric told reporters Tuesday. “It’s very important excessive force not be used.”

The U.N. Security Council is due to discuss the situation in Sudan Tuesday during a closed-door session at the request of Britain and Germany.

Next steps uncertain

Monday’s raid capped a breakdown of relations between the military and the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), an alliance of protesters and opposition parties.

In a televised address Tuesday, the head of the ruling Transitional Military Council said the council was canceling its previous agreement to form an interim government with the FFC.

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said a new government will immediately be formed and will rule until elections are held within the next nine months.

A spokesman for the Sudanese Professional Association — the leader of Sudan’s recent pro-democracy protests — quickly rejected that plan.

“We have no choice but to continue our protests and civil disobedience until the fall of the military council,” Mohammed Yousef al-Musfafa told the Associated Press.

Protest groups and opposition parties have been demanding that the Transitional Military Council, which took power after the army overthrew longtime-president Omar al-Bashir on April 11, hand power to a civilian-led authority.

Talks on the proposed interim government broke down over which side would have ultimate decision-making authority.

Monday ‘massacre’

The Sudanese Professionals Association accused security forces of carrying out a “massacre” outside the Defense Ministry on Monday.

With batons in hand, Sudanese forces in police and military uniforms surrounded the protesters and began forcing them to leave. Explosions and heavy machine gunfire were heard, and video on several media outlets showed Sudanese forces beating protesters lying face down on the ground.

Protesters say the Rapid Support Forces and paramilitary units also surrounded two Khartoum hospitals.

Witnesses say by mid-afternoon on Monday, the protest site had been cleared.

The top U.S. diplomat to Africa, Tibor Nagy, condemned what he called the brutal and coordinated attack and said any future government in Sudan must include the main opposition coalition.

Transitional Military Council spokesman Shams El din al-Kabashi said the forces only targeted what he called “dangerous groups” that infiltrated the protesters in the sit-in area.

General Burhan said the military will investigate Monday’s violence, but he blamed protest leaders for prolonging the crisis by refusing to come to an agreement on an interim government.
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Cameroon Villagers Flee Lion Attacks Amid Human-Wildlife Conflict

Posted on by SeeAF

Villagers in southern Cameroon are relocating following a series of lion attacks on their livestock. Cameroon authorities and wildlife conservationists are warning about the growing threat to endangered animals from human-wildlife conflict.

Forty-five-year-old rancher Ali Sambo, his wife, and three children fled their village of Djole on Saturday after lions attacked.

He said the lions killed 53 of their cows within two weeks in the villages of Adimbi, Djole and Djinga. He said he does not know how many he alone has lost.

Sambo is among dozens of people who fled to Ntui, a village 30 kilometers away on the outskirts of Yaounde.Cattle ranchers like Sambo, who have been losing their livestock to lions, fear that if they and their families remain in their villages, they could be next.

Sambo voices a common view among ranchers that the lions should be killed as the animals have devastated their livelihoods.

Kizito Ombgwa, a forest rancher deployed by Cameroon wildlife officials to the area, says their first mission is to make sure the population is safe. But he said the lions should also be secured and returned to their natural habitat.

He said the villagers should remain calm, avoid being isolated, and desist from coming out to fight back when the lions attack.

He said they suspect the lions came from overcrowded reserves like the Benoue, Kalfou, or Waza wildlife parks in northern Cameroon for greener pastures. He added it is also possible they came in from neighboring Gabon as some lions did in 2014.

Donnacien Oum, the highest ranking government official where the lions have been attacking, said authorities are prepared to compensate ranchers who lost their cattle.

But he said the population, especially cattle ranchers, should be patient. He said the civil protection department of Cameroon’s Ministry of Territorial Administration is preparing to compensate all those who have lost their livestock

Habitats under attack

Wildlife conservation groups say as the animals attack people and their property, so too are people attacking the animals and their habitats.

Increased population pressure and deforestation has transformed parts of Cameroon’s wildlife parks to farms and villages, leading to human-wildlife conflicts over living space and food.

Save the Cameroon Forest’s wildlife conservation expert Rigobert Bihina said communities need better incentives for development that also involve wildlife conservation.

He said the government and its development partners should pay particular attention to people who live in villages surrounding national parks. He said they can prevent destruction of animal habitats by funding revenue-generating activities like promoting agriculture and aquaculture and providing drinkable water.

In 2014, elephants and hippopotamuses killed several people and destroyed farms after being pushed out of Kalfou Park in northern Cameroon.

Southern Cameroon’s Campo Ma’an National Park in 2010 reported that elephants, monkeys, gorillas and other animals had shifted their migration because of commercial palm oil and rubber plantations.
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Sudan’s Ruling Military Leaders Call for Elections Within Nine Months

Posted on by SeeAF

Sudan’s ruling military council says it is canceling its previous agreement with civilian protesters following Monday’s attack by security forces on a protest site in Khartoum that left at least 30 people dead.

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the Transitional Military Council, announced Tuesday in a televised address that it will hold elections within the next nine months. General Burhan said the elections would organize under regional and international supervision.

Monday’s raid on the protest site outside the Defense Ministry capped a breakdown of relations between the military and the Alliance for Freedom and Change, a coalition of protesters and opposition parties. The two sides had been negotiating over the makeup of a transitional government following the military’s ouster of President Omar al-Bashir in April, after mass protests against his autocratic rule.

The parties had agreed to form an interim government that would rule Sudan for three years before handing over power to a permanent civilian government. But the talks broke down last month over differences on the leadership of the transitional government.

​Details of the raid

On Monday, with batons in hand, Sudanese forces dressed in police and military uniforms surrounded protesters near the military headquarters and began forcing the demonstrators to leave. Explosions and heavy machine gunfire were heard, and video on several media outlets shows Sudanese forces beating protesters lying face down on the ground. Protesters say rapid response forces and paramilitary units surrounded two Khartoum hospitals.

Witnesses say that by mid-afternoon on Monday, the area had been cleared. The protesters had been staging the sit-in since April at the start of the negotiations.

The Central Committee of Sudan Doctors, which is close to Sudan’s protest movement, said Tuesdaythe death toll has risen to 35 with many more injured.

Transitional Military Council spokesman Shams El din Al Kabashi said the forces only targeted what he called“dangerous groups” that infiltrated the protesters in the sit-in area.

In a statement released by his spokesman in New York, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned Monday’s attack in Khartoum. 

“The Secretary-General reminds (Sudan’s) Transitional Military Council of its responsibility for the safety and security of the citizens of Sudan,” the spokesman said. “He urges all parties to act with utmost restraint.”

Guterres also called for unimpeded access for first responders at the sit-in site and in hospitals where the wounded are treated, and called on Sudanese authorities to conduct an independent investigation and hold people accountable for the deaths.

U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet also condemned the attack and urged the security forces to stop immediately.

“Those exercising their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression must be protected, not targeted or detained,” Bachelet said in a statement. “This is a fundamental tenet of international human rights law.”

The U.S. embassy in Khartoum tweeted that the attacks on protesters “must stop.” 

​The British embassy condemned the attack and called it an “outrageous step that will only lead to more polarization and violence.”

The Declaration of Freedom and Change Forces — a coalition of political parties leading the protest — issued a statement calling on all demonstrators to continue with “the revolution.” Protesters later blocked roads leading into and out of Khartoum. 

Protest organizers have suspended further talks with the Transitional Military Council and called for civil disobedience across the country until the military hands over power to civilians.

The organizers also say in the statement that security forces who killed protesters must be brought to justice.
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After Day of Pomp, May Hosting Trump for Talks

Posted on by SeeUS

British Prime Minister Theresa May is hosting U.S. President Donald Trump for a series of meetings Tuesday in London on his second day of a state visit.

The two leaders are scheduled to go before reporters for a joint news conference after their talks.

Trump and his wife Melania will then have dinner with Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.

Monday was a day full of pomp and circumstance with Britain’s Queen Elizabeth greeting President Trump and Melania after they arrived at Buckingham Palace by helicopter. After a welcoming ceremony that included a 41-gun salute, the Trumps had a private lunch with the queen and a tour of the palace art gallery.

​The rest of the day included inspecting the Guard of Honor formed by the Grenadier Guards, a tour of historic Westminster Abbey, tea with Prince Charles at his London home, Clarence House.

But the highlight of the day was the white-tie-and-tiaras state banquet at Buckingham Palace. Besides the queen and her husband Prince Philip, other royals in attendance included Prince Charles and Camilla, and Prince William and his wife, Kate, Duchess of Cambridge. 

Also at the dinner were Trump’s four adult children — Donald Trump Jr.; Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner; Eric Trump and his wife, Lara; and Tiffany Trump.

Trump said in his toast that the liberation of millions from tyranny in World War II “forever sealed” the bond between Britain and the United States. 

In her toast, the queen said, “Tonight, we celebrate an alliance that has helped to ensure the safety and prosperity of both our peoples for decades, and which I believe will endure for many years to come.”

​Noticeably absent from the Trumps’ day was Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, the American-born wife of Prince Harry who is on maternity leave after giving birth to a son last month. She had been critical of Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. 

Trump’s visit comes as Britain is in the midst of political turmoil, as May is scheduled to resign on Friday after failing to complete Britain’s exit from the European Union.

That process will be inherited by her successor, with no clear path to a resolution among sharply divided parties.

Trump has publicly backed former Foreign Minister Boris Johnson, and told reporters late Sunday he may meet with Johnson and pro-Brexit politician Nigel Farage while he is in London.

​What is certainly not on his agenda is a meeting with London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who wrote in The Observer newspaper that welcoming Trump for a state visit is “un-British.”He cited Trump’s sharing of tweets from a “British far-right racist group,” the president’s rejection of scientific evidence of climate change, and Trump “trying to interfere shamelessly” in the race to replace May.

When asked if he would be open to meeting with Khan, Trump said Sunday, “No, I don’t think much of him.”

Upon landing in London, Trump continued his attack on Khan, calling him a “stone cold loser” who “has been foolishly ‘nasty’ to the visiting President of the United States, by far the most important ally of the United Kingdom.” 

Trump’s trip will also include D-Day commemoration ceremonies in both Britain and France, and a stop in Ireland.
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Mexico Warns US Tariff Would Hurt Both Nations

Posted on by SeeUS

Michael Bowman contributed to this report.

Mexico warned Monday that President Donald Trump’s threatened new tariff on its exports to the United States would hurt both countries’ economies and cause even more Central American migrants to travel through Mexico to reach the United States.

At the start of talks in Washington, Mexican officials said they could only go so far in meeting Trump’s demand to block migrants’ passage through Mexico to avert Trump’s imposition of a 5% tariff next week. The officials specifically ruled out a “third safe country” agreement requiring U.S. asylum-seekers to first apply for refuge in Mexico.

​”There is a clear limit to what we can negotiate, and the limit is Mexican dignity,” Mexico’s ambassador to the United States, Martha Barcena, said.

Barcena added that U.S. tariffs “could cause financial and economic instability,” reducing Mexico’s capacity to address the flow of migrants and “offer alternatives” to people fleeing Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

Mexican officials contended that an additional quarter million migrants could try to reach the U.S. if the tariff is imposed, on top of the tens of thousands already reaching the southern U.S. border each month.

Trump showed no sign of softening his demand as he tweeted during a visit to London.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador remained confident the two sides would reach an agreement, telling reporters Monday that he was optimistic.

He said his government would not engage in confrontation, and would always defend those who migrate out of necessity due to violence or a lack of food or job opportunities. He also remained positive that no matter what happens in the dispute with the United States, Mexico has “exception, extraordinary,” people and can push through any adversity.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard are due to hold further talks about the dispute on Wednesday.

U.S. lawmakers returning to Washington after a weeklong congressional recess sharply criticized Trump’s latest tariff tactic aimed at a major U.S. trading partner.

“This (tariffs) is not a popular concept,” Republican Sen. John Cornyn said of public opinion in Texas, which he represents. “Mexico is our biggest export market.”

Another Republican, Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, expressed concerns that trade friction could harm a newly negotiated free trade pact between the United States, Mexico and Canada.

“I’m not a big advocate of tariffs, and I’d like to get the USMCA agreement approved,” Blunt told VOA. “I don’t see how the addition of a tariff (on Mexican goods) right now helps make that happen.”

“Mexico is a critical trading partner of the United States,” Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland said. “You put up barriers, it’s going to end up costing us jobs, and it’s going to cost consumers.”

Cardin added that Trump’s threatened tariff “would be counterproductive,” as far as boosting U.S. border security.

“If we need cooperation on the southern border, they (Mexican officials) are not going to give us cooperation. Why bother if we’re going to have an antagonistic relationship?” Cardin said.
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Iran Sends Journalist to Notorious Prison, Jails Another for 2 Years

Posted on by SeeEA

This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service.

Iran has taken new steps against two detained journalists who covered domestic labor unrest and government corruption, sending one to a notorious women’s prison and sentencing another to a two-year jail term.

Two human rights groups said Iranian journalist Sepideh Ghaliyan, who covered labor issues in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, was transferred to Qarchak women’s prison near Tehran on Monday.

She previously had been detained in Tehran’s Evin prison and prior to that, in Ahvaz, where authorities arrested her last November as she attended a protest by workers demanding unpaid wages from the Haft Tapeh sugar cane factory, 100 kilometers to the north. She was accused of committing a national security offense in connection with that protest.

​The New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) posted a tweet saying Ghaliyan had been transferred from Evin to Qarchak prison but did not disclose its source for the information. “Instead of dealing with her complaints of being tortured [in custody], Iranian authorities have sent her to a prison known for its mistreatment of inmates,” CHRI’s tweet said.

Iran’s Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) also reported, without attribution, Ghaliyan’s transfer in a Monday web post. There was no comment about her case in state media.

Ghaliyan and one of the labor activists detained at the November protest, Ismail Bakhshi, were released in December but rearrested in January after both said on social media that they had been abused in jail.

A day before rearresting Ghaliyan and Bakhshi, Iranian authorities used state television to broadcast a report in which the two confessed to having ties to foreign activists seeking to overthrow Iran’s Islamist rulers. Rights groups said the confessions were made under duress.

​London-based rights group Amnesty International has documented cases of what it calls “appalling ill-treatment” of female prisoners at Qarchak. It has said inmates at the site, which used to be a chicken farm, are held in overcrowded and unhygienic conditions, without access to safe drinkable water, decent food, medicine and fresh air.

In a move against the second Iranian journalist, an Iranian court imposed a two-year prison sentence on Masoud Kazemi on Sunday, according to his lawyer, Ali Mojtahedzadeh. Authorities arrested Kazemi, a former reporter for prominent reformist newspaper Shargh, on May 22 as he attended a Tehran court hearing related to his initial six-day detention last November. 

Before his November arrest, Kazemi had tweeted about alleged corruption at the Iranian Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade. He had most recently served as chief editor of Iran’s Sedaye Parsi monthly political magazine.

A Sunday report by Iranian state news agency IRNA quoted Mojtahedzadeh as saying the court sentenced Kazemi to two years in prison on charges of spreading anti-government propaganda and insulting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other officials.

The defense lawyer said the court also banned his client from working in the media for two years. All Iranian journalists must have a government permit to work for a licensed news outlet in the country.

Mojtahedzadeh also told IRNA that the court cleared his client of colluding against national security, a new charge that the presiding judge had filed at the May 22 hearing.

The judge used that additional charge to justify raising Kazemi’s bail tenfold to 10 billion rials, or $237,000 based on Iran’s official exchange rate, a price far above the means of a typical Iranian journalist. IRNA said Mojtahedzadeh expressed hope that the court would reduce Kazemi’s bail and enable his release, pending an appeal of the two-year sentence to a higher court.

​Mojtahedzadeh declared his intention to defend Kazemi in a higher court in a Sunday tweet, saying he also communicated that intention in writing to Iranian judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists issued a Monday statement strongly condemning the sentencing of Kazemi.

“With this heavy prison sentence, Iran’s [Islamic] Revolutionary Guard Corps is clearly signaling that any journalist who reports on government corruption will face a similar fate,” said CPJ Deputy Executive Director Robert Mahoney. “Masoud Kazemi is a journalist informing Iranian citizens, not a criminal undermining state security. He should be released immediately.” 

 
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Perk Up: California Says Coffee Cancer Risk Insignificant

Posted on by SeeUS

California officially gave its blessing to coffee Monday, declaring the beverage does not pose a “significant” cancer risk.

The rule, proposed a year ago by regulators, means coffee won’t have to carry ominous warnings that the beverage may be bad for you.

The state took the rare move after a Los Angeles judge found Starbucks Corp. and other companies failed to show that benefits from drinking coffee outweighed risks from a byproduct of the roasting process.

That ruling put the industry in jeopardy of hefty civil penalties and in the position of either developing a process to remove the chemical or warning consumers about the risk of cancer. 

The chemical in question, acrylamide, is on a list that California says causes cancer, though other groups classify it as a “probable” carcinogen.

Under a law passed more than three decades ago by California voters, products that contain chemicals that cause cancer or birth defects must warn consumers about those risks.

The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, which implements the law, concluded there was no significant risk after a World Health Organization review of more than 1,000 studies and found inadequate evidence that coffee causes cancer. Further, it concluded coffee reduces the risk of some types of cancer. 

“Coffee is a complex mixture of hundreds of chemicals that includes both carcinogens and anti-carcinogens,” said Sam Delson, a spokesman for the agency. “The overall effect of coffee consumption is not associated with any significant cancer risk.”

 It was the first time the state has declared such a brew of chemicals safe despite the presence of carcinogens, Delson said.

The coffee industry cheered the rule.

“This is a great day for science and coffee lovers,” said William Murray, president and chief executive of the National Coffee Association USA. 

“With this news, coffee drinkers around the world can wake up and enjoy the smell and taste of their coffee without hesitation.”

The Council for Education and Research on Toxics, which successfully sued the coffee industry in a case that has dragged on more than eight years in Los Angeles Superior Court, will challenge the validity of the state’s regulation in court, said attorney Raphael Metzger.

Metzger, who represents the small nonprofit in its lawsuit against Starbucks and about 90 coffee companies, said the regulation was adopted in violation of state law and disregards the statutes the agency is supposed to implement. He said the regulation can’t be applied retroactively to nullify the judge’s ruling.
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Rights Groups Worried About Zimbabwe Crackdown Against Activists

Posted on by SeeAF

Rights organizations in Zimbabwe are concerned about what they say is a crackdown against opposition activists by the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa. They cite the recent arrest of seven activists who were detained when they returned home from a conference in the Maldives. 

Makomborero Haruzivishe leaves Zimbabwe’s maximum security prison where he was visiting the seven detained activists who are being held on treason charges. He is a family friend of one of them, 37-year-old Tatenda Mombeyarara.

“It’s a baseless charge. It’s a charge that they are using to crack down on human rights defenders and civil society in Zimbabwe,” Haruzivishe said. “But the reality on the ground is that the economy is in tatters. Tempers within the country are high, so the government throws fear into people, to pacify them. They are going for opposition people. They are going for leading civic organizations in order to pacify them in case of any peace mass action.”

 

On Monday, Zimbabwe’s justice minister, Ziyambi Ziyambi, told VOA that he would not comment on the seven activists, as their case was now in court.

The seven were arrested last month on arrival at Harare International Airport on their return from attending a workshop in the Maldives. The government says the workshop taught them tactics to overthrow President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government — an offense which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison in Zimbabwe.

Haruzivishe said nothing much has changed since Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s regime ended in 2017.

“Change is there, but is for the worse, to be honest,” Haruzivishe said. “In the Mugabe era, we were more of a police state. But now, we are under a military state. If you check on the charges, they are being accused of being trained in small arms — that’s a military intelligence operation where you give people military-linked charges so that you can deal with them in military manner.”

Kumbirai Mafunda  from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights is hopeful that the high court will release the activists on bail later this week. 

“We believe that these people did not commit any crime or offense according to Zimbabwe law,” Mafunda said. “They enjoy several of their fundamental rights. We believe that this is one of the several cases which we have seen (for) a couple of years which we have seen the government going down on the work of civil society.”

Arresting opposition activists was a common tactic used by Mugabe during his 38 years in power.  Human rights groups want to see the charges against the seven activists now in jail dropped.

 

 

 
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Syrian Government Bombs Market, Ignoring Trump Warning

Posted on by SeeEA

Government forces in Syria have bombed a market in the country’s northwest, killing at least four civilians, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump demanded Syria, Russia and Iran stop “bombing the hell out of Idlib province in Syria.”

The airstrike Monday hit a public market in the town of Maaret al-Naman in Idlib province, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Video of the aftermath of the bombing shows residents along with the opposition Syrian Civil Defense forces looking for victims under the rubble of damaged market stalls and buildings.

Trump said in a late Sunday tweet that the bombings by Syrian forces are “indiscriminately killing many innocent civilians.”

“The world is watching this butchery. What is the purpose? What will it get you? STOP!” he wrote.

Trump, in comments to reporters at the White House Sunday, also noted his call last year for Syria and its allies to avoid an all-out offensive in Idlib due to humanitarian concerns.

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed similar sentiment in late April, but his government has also warned that the presence of militants in Idlib was undermining attempts to end Syria’s eight-year conflict.

The Kremlin reiterated Monday that the Russian army is only targeting “terrorists” in Syria’s Idlib region.

Idlib is in northwestern Syria along the Turkish border.  It is the last major part of Syria still controlled by rebels trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

Rebels and their families who surrendered other parts of Syria under the threat of a bloody offensive have crowded into Idlib looking for safety.

The rebels, who still hold the province, have so far refused to give up. Syrian and Russian forces and, as Trump says, “to a lesser extent” Iran, have sharply increased their bombardment and rocket attacks on Idlib.

The surge in violence comes months after Turkey, Russia and Iran agreed on a cease-fire plan under which Turkey would try to curb militant behavior in Idlib.  Turkey is concerned that a major offensive there could send people fleeing across the border into Turkey, which is already hosting 3.6 million Syrian refugees.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said last week the latest violence against Idlib has killed about 950 people.

On Sunday, the Observatory says a car bomb in the pro-Turkish rebel-held city of Azaz killed at least 14 people and wounded more than 20.

Witnesses told the monitor the bomb went off as people were leaving a mosque after evening prayers and meal breaking the daily Ramadan fast.

No one has claimed responsibility for the blast, which also burned or blew out the windows of more than a dozen nearby stores.

The area has been the target of several other recent terrorist bombings.

Azaz is the main city in the part of Aleppo controlled by pro-Turkish rebels, who drove out Islamic State while keeping Kurdish forces out of the area as well.

 
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Cameroon Government Denies Separatists Blew Up Lone Refinery

Posted on by SeeAF

Cameroon has increased troops around its lone oil refinery, after a weekend explosion caused a shutdown of the facility. But the government denies separatist fighters were responsible and says there will be no shortages of petroleum products.

Christine Enanga, a 21-year old trying to buy cooking gas from a supplier in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde, worries that in days ahead she may not be able to find the commodity.

“I came to buy four bottles of [cooking] gas,” she said, “but they told me they could not sell four, that they could only sell two because other people are buying and I know there would be serious scarcity in Cameroon.”

Drivers are also buying and stocking fuel. The scare was sparked after a storage tank exploded Saturday night at Cameroon’s only oil refinery in the town of Limbe, in the Southwest region.

The blast caused a fire that damaged parts of the refinery and shut down output. No lives were lost.

Cameroon’s Trade Minister Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana said there will be no shortages and no price increases of petroleum products.

He said Cameroon two years ago found itself in a similar difficult situation, when the national refinery shut down its doors for eight months for rehabilitation. He said shortages in supply were minimal because imports were increased without increasing prices.

He urged people to remain calm.

Rebels fighting to separate the English-speaking parts of Cameroon from the Francophone majority claimed responsibility for the explosion on social media. They said the refinery was attacked because English speakers benefit very little from the company.

Government spokesperson Rene Emmanuel Sadi said proceeds from the company are used to develop all of Cameroon and refuted claims that the  explosion was perpetrated by secessionist fighters. He said early investigations indicate it was an accident.

He said details of the accident that blew up parts of the refinery will be made public soon. He added that the military has been deployed to make sure the refinery and its equipment are totally protected.

The refinery, which is almost entirely state-owned, supplies 2.2 million tons of crude a year to Cameroon and countries of the region including Togo, Nigeria, and Ghana.
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Attorney, Rights Defender Sentenced to 30 Years, Flogging in Iran

Posted on by SeeEA

An Iranian lawyer has been jailed for 30 years after setting up a channel on the popular social media platform Telegram, highlighting human rights abuses in the Islamic Republic.

Amir Salar Davoudi was convicted by a revolutionary court for “propaganda against the state” and “insulting officials” and is set to be flogged 111 times.

According to his lawyer Vahid Farahani, Davoudi was also accused of “collaborating with an enemy state” after giving an interview to Voice of America Persian-language television.

Speaking to the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran in April, Farahani warned his client was accused of “forming a group to overthrow the state.”

Davoudi’s wife, Tannaz Kolahchian, who is also a lawyer, tweeted that his sentence was “unfair” but added that her husband would not be appealing.

The Islamic Penal Code would require a 15-year mandatory sentence for having started the Telegram channel.

Called “Without Retouch”, Davoudi used the channel as a platform to highlight human rights abuses.

Exiled Iranian lawyers have signed an open letter denouncing Davoudi’s “outrageous ruling that completely derides all principles of the legal counsel in Iran”.

The letter called Davoudi “one of the most honorable lawyers across Iran”.

“He has been convicted merely for defending victims of the judiciary and security agents, political prisoners and the oppressed, as well as audaciously criticizing the corrupt, cruel and inefficient political and judicial system in Iran,” the letter said.

It was signed by Hossein Ahmadi Niaz, Massoud Akhtari Tehrani, Mohammad Mostafaei and Mehrangiz Kar.

Agents of the judiciary’s security and intelligence center arrested Davoudi, who counted a number of political prisoners among his clients, in November.

Security agents also searched Davoudi’s home and office and confiscated his belongings. He had been taken in for questioning on previous occasions and warned not to inform the public about politically sensitive cases, according to the Center for Human Rights in Iran.

Davoudi is the third renowned defense lawyer currently behind bars in Iran for performing his legal work.

Prominent defense attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh is currently serving a 38-year prison sentence that has received international condemnation.

Fellow defense attorney and civil rights activist Mohammad Najafi is serving a three-year prison sentence but faces a total sentence of 19 years.

In addition to defense attorneys being detained in Iran for peacefully doing their jobs, other detainees held on politically motivated charges are being forced to choose their counsel from a list of state-approved lawyers.
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Pompeo Voices Skepticism About US Mideast Peace Prospects

Posted on by SeeEA

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is voicing skepticism about the prospects for the Trump administration’s long-delayed Israeli-Palestinian peace plan even before it is disclosed.

The top U.S. diplomat told a closed-door meeting with Jewish leaders last week that he understands why “people think this is going to be a deal that only the Israelis could love” and that there are “no guarantees” that the U.S. will succeed in brokering a peace agreement to end decades of conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians.

In an audio recording of the private meeting obtained by The Washington Post, Pompeo said that “one might argue” that the plan, called the “deal of the century” by the administration of President Donald Trump, is “unexecutable” and might not “gain traction.”

“It may be rejected. Could be in the end, folks will say, ‘It’s not particularly original, it doesn’t particularly work for me,’ that is, ‘It’s got two good things and nine bad things, I’m out,’” Pompeo told the Jewish leaders.

Still, Pompeo expressed hope that Mideast leaders will not dismiss the yet-to-be-disclosed peace plan without considering it.

“The big question is can we get enough space that we can have a real conversation about how to build this out,” he said.

There is no timetable for release of the plan, partly being crafted by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a White House adviser who has traveled extensively in the Mideast to meet with leaders there about the U.S. peace efforts.

The U.S. is planning to unveil an economic investment proposal for the Israeli-controlled Palestinian territories later this month at a conference in the Bahraini capital, Manama. But it does not plan to simultaneously offer a plan to resolve the more difficult political and territorial issues in the region.

Palestinian leaders have rejected attending the Bahrain meeting and often derided the U.S., long an Israeli ally, as an honest peace broker in the region.

“This has taken us longer to roll out our plan than I had originally thought it might — to put it lightly,” Pompeo told the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, a New York-based group.

In an interview Monday with the Sinclair Broadcast Group, Pompeo pushed back against the idea that the United States, even with its long support of the Jewish state, cannot play a key role in forging a peace pact.

“I could see how someone might be concerned that a plan that this administration put forward might, uh — without knowing the true facts of what is contained in the plan — they might perceive that it was going to be fundamentally one-sided.” Pompeo said.

“And I was — I was articulating that there because it is just simply not true,” he said of the comments he made to the Jewish leaders. “I think there will be things in this plan that lots of people like, and I am confident … there will be something in there that everyone will find, [be] concerned with. Our idea is to present a vision and to continue to work towards a very, very difficult situation’s conclusion.”

Pompeo said the U.S. has “a deep, long relationship with Israel, an important relationship with Israel. And the president’s made very clear that that’s important to this administration, to have that important political, economic, and security relationship with Israel.”

But he acknowledged, “We’ve struggled more with respect to the Palestinians. We’ve watched their terror activity in the Gaza Strip and we’ve pushed back against it. We’ve watched Iran underwrite some of that and we’ve pushed back against that.”

 
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NATO Ready to Welcome North Macedonia as 30th Member

Posted on by SeeEU

NATO is ready to welcome North Macedonia as its 30th member, after the country ended a decades-long dispute with Greece, alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg said Monday.

Stoltenberg spoke after meeting the country’s top leaders in the capital, Skopje, on the last day of a two-day visit accompanied by 29 ambassadors to the alliance’s top decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council.

In February, Skopje signed a protocol that could see the former Yugoslav republic become the alliance’s 30th member if the move is ratified by all 29 NATO allies.

The signing was made possible after Skopje and Athens settled a decades-old dispute through a compromise that changed Macedonia’s name to the Republic of North Macedonia, thus allaying Greek fears of any claim to its region of Macedonia.

Fourteen NATO members have ratified the Accession Protocol. North Macedonia can join once the remaining 15 also do so.
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US 2020 Hopeful Cory Booker Rolls Out Iowa Steering Committee

Posted on by SeeUS

Democratic White House hopeful Cory Booker is rolling out his Iowa steering committee, a team of activists and operatives that features party powerbroker Jerry Crawford, who played a key role in each of Bill and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaigns in the state.

Crawford, a Des Moines-area attorney who also played leading roles on Al Gore and John Kerry’s campaigns, said he’s been courted by multiple campaigns but told The Associated Press in an interview he’s backing Booker because of the New Jersey U.S. senator’s positive message.

“I’m very much drawn to his passion for civility and his determination to pursue healing,” Crawford said.

Crawford is among 10 Iowa activists, operatives and elected officials who plan to provide strategic advice and operational support to Booker’s campaign as part of his Iowa steering committee, being rolled out Monday. The group includes four other previously unannounced endorsers: former Iowa state House minority leader Rep. Mark Smith and city councilmembers Dale Todd, of Cedar Rapids, and Mazahir Salih and Bruce Teague, both of Iowa City. Booker’s campaign said it hopes all three will help organize African American support for him in their respective cities.

The other five steering committee members are state Reps. Amy Nielsen and Jennifer Konfrst; Iowa Democratic Party central committee members Landra Jo Reece and Melinda Jones; and former American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees political director Marcia Nichols, all of whom previously expressed their support for Booker.

“From local activists to council members and state representatives, these individuals have been on the forefront of standing up for their communities,” Booker said in a statement.

Crawford, whose weekend conversation with the AP was interrupted by a call from Booker, said he plans to be in touch with the Booker campaign multiple times a week and has already begun efforts to convince other major Iowa political players to get on board with the campaign. Besides gathering support for the candidate over the next nine months, Booker’s team sees the members of his steering committee as key forces on caucus night, the kind of voices who could win over persuadable caucus-goers in key precincts.

With at least 50 staffers on the ground, Booker’s Iowa team is widely seen inside the state as one of the strongest and most seasoned, behind only Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s in numbers. But thus far, Booker’s staffing strength hasn’t translated to support in the polls: Booker still draws only low single-digit support in nationwide and state surveys.

Booker’s staff and advisers dismiss the polls as too early to be predictive and argue that the senator is running more of a slow burn-style campaign that will ensure he has the operation in place to harness any momentum in the fall if he does catch fire — and enough resources to sustain it through the caucuses and beyond.

“This is a horrible time to be one of the front-runners,” Crawford said, noting that early Iowa front-runners “don’t do very well, historically speaking.”

Crawford said he expects to see Booker surge around Thanksgiving, but right now, “Cory’s exactly where you want to be.”

 
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Iraq Sentences Last 2 French IS Members to Death

Posted on by SeeEU

An Iraqi judicial official says a Baghdad court has sentenced to death two more French nationals convicted of being members of the Islamic State group.

 

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the two are Murad Mohammed Mustafa , 41, and Bilal Abdel-Fattah, 32.

 

They are among 12 French IS members who were arrested by the U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and transferred from Syria to Iraqi custody in January.

 

None of the death sentences have yet been carried out, but France is intensifying diplomatic efforts to spare its citizens from execution.

 

Abdel-Fattah and Mustafa are the final French nationals to be tried in Iraq. The other 10 have all received death sentences.

 

 
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Russia Requires Tinder to Provide Data on Its Users

Posted on by SeeEU

Dating app Tinder is now required to provide user data to Russian intelligence agencies, the country’s communications regulator said Monday.

The app was included on a new list of online services operating in Russia that are required to provide user data on demand to Russian authorities, including the FSB security agency.

Russia adopted a flurry of legislation in recent years tightening control over online activity. Among other things, Internet companies are required to store six months’ worth of user data and be ready to hand them over to authorities.

The communications regulator said Monday that Tinder had shared with them information about the company and that it is now on the list of online apps and websites that are expected to cooperate with the FSB.

Russian authorities last year issued an order to ban messaging app Telegram after it refused to provide the user data as required by the Russian law.

Tinder was not immediately available for comment.

 
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