Chinese authorities have warned Australia not to interfere in the case of a Chinese-Australian writer who has been formally arrested in China on suspicion of spying. Yang Hengjun, who was born in China but is an Australian citizen, has been held in Beijing since January. Australia has become increasingly critical of China’s treatment of him in recent months. Yang Hengjun has been under investigation for allegedly harming China’s national security, but Australian officials have been told he is now suspected of espionage. The former Chinese diplomat has been detained in Beijing without access to family or lawyers since January.In a strongly worded statement, the Australian government says the writer is being held in “harsh conditions” and it has “serious concerns for his welfare.” Foreign minister Marise Payne said that if the Sydney-based academic was “being held for his political beliefs, he should be released.”Alex Joske, from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, says other western powers should intervene on his behalf .“Countries like the UK, Canada, the U.S. and the E.U. all have a stake in this. They all have a duty to try to protect the rights of the people who are being oppressed by totalitarian states and trying to make sure that the rule of law is being upheld,” said Joske.It’s thought Yang migrated to Australia in the early 2000s. The writer has been a vocal critic of Chinese authorities, and was arrested earlier this year on a rare trip back home.Yang’s wife Yang Ruijian has been granted permanent residency by Australia, but China has prevented her leaving the country.A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman insisted the writer was being processed in accordance with the law. He said Beijing was strongly dissatisfied with Australia’s comments on his detention and called on it not to interfere in the case.Media reports have suggested that if convicted Yang could face a long prison term or perhaps the death penalty.
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Month: August 2019
Economic Worries Cloud Trump Re-Election Hopes
President Donald Trump’s path to re-election next year seems to be getting more complicated. Trump continues to boast about a strong economy despite warnings from a number of economists that the U.S. may be headed for a recession in 2020. And the president must now fend off a primary challenge from within his own party from conservative radio talk show host and former congressman, Joe Walsh. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has more on the president’s re-election prospects from Washington.
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Nigeria’s Plan for Cattle Herders Triggers Some Negative Reactions
Nigeria’s government for years has been seeking a lasting solution to the conflict between farmers and herders over grazing lands, a conflict that has claimed thousands of lives. The country’s middle belt region is most affected by the dispute, but recently the government introduced a settlement plan for herders aimed at ending the clashes. But the settlements, known as RUGA in Hausa, are meeting some resistance.For Haruna Isah, it’s a daily struggle to keep his father’s herd well-fed. He gets up early to find a few good grazing spots around the city center of Nigeria’s capital. When he ventures out, he often has to share spots with other herders and says he can get in trouble when his cows stray into farmland.”Sometimes, we have a problem with the farmers when the cows enter their farm and destroy the crops. The farmers seize our tools and sometimes our herds until we pay some ransom to get them back,” Isah said.The conflict between cattle herders and farmers in Nigeria dates back decades. Population growth, urbanization and desertification triggered by increasing climate change have escalated the conflict. More than 3,600 people have been killed in clashes over grazing land between 2015 and 2018, and thousands more have been displaced.The government says establishing cattle settlements, or RUGAs, for the herders will address the issue.Garba Abari is director general of Nigeria’s national orientation agency.”What it is intended to do is purely to find a way of mitigating the movement of pastoralists,” Abari said.But the government plan has met with stiff resistance, especially from eastern and southern Nigeria where residents like Ben Ejiofor say they will not give up their lands for these settlements.”It’s not a scheme that can help the country. Already we have RUGAs that are existing, but those RUGAs are being abandoned. What happened to the initial RUGAs that we have? These are questions Nigerians should keep asking,” Ejiofor said.The pilot phase of the government’s cattle settlement plan provides for six settlements per state. These settlements will be equipped with schools and hospitals for herders and their families. Nana Bashir of the Farmers Association of Nigeria says the group hopes to see this plan put an end to the crisis or reduce it significantly to enable farmers to return to their farms.”We need peace, we the farmers. If there’s no peace, we cannot farm, and if we don’t farm, we cannot produce food for Nigerians to eat,” Bashir said. For now, Nigerian authorities have suspended the plan temporarily to continue discussions with stakeholders. While that happens, herders like Haruna will have to make do feeding their cattle, even if they create a public nuisance.
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Women In Power Give Minorities a Voice in New Sudan
In a solemn ceremony on August 21 in Khartoum, Sudan, 11 people placed their hands on Korans to be sworn in to lead the country.The group, known as the sovereign council, will guide Sudan during a transitional period following 30 years of autocratic rule by Omar al-Bashir. The moment was historic for many reasons, including the group’s composition — the council includes two women.The representation raises expectations that women will be granted additional rights and minority groups of all types will be given a voice in a new Sudan. “The Sovereign Council is the culmination of the people’s quest for equality and justice,” said Ayesha Musa Saeed, a member of the council, following the ceremony.In an interview with VOA’s South Sudan in Focus, Raja Nicola Issa Abdul-Masseh, a member of the sovereign council and a member of Sudan’s Christian minority, said the process will be slow but the new leaders are determined.*/
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Embed” />CopyAfricaSouth Sudan in FocusSouth Sudan in Focus audio player.“We shall try to rebuild our country, we shall try to rebuild our economy, we shall begin to stop all the armed movements and work for peace and justice for all Sudanese on an equal basis regardless of race or religion or any political opinion or any affiliation,” she said. “What happened in 30 years cannot be rebuilt in three years. But we shall try our best to do whatever we could.” A long historyWomen have long played a role in Sudanese politics and protest movements. During the country’s 1964 revolution, when students stood up to a military regime, women were among those protesting on the frontlines. “For their participation in that revolution, they were really a small minority at that time as far as the politicized elements, and low and behold, the revolution that we sought was limited or confined from changing the government from military to civilian proved to be a social revolution,” said Abdullahi Ibrahim, professor emeritus at the University of Missouri. Ibrahim participated in the 1960s revolution and ran for president against Bashir in 2010. He said the revolution in the 60s was the earliest movement that guaranteed basic rights. “Women were given the vote for the first time. Young people, 18 years of age, were given the vote for the first time. Before it was 22 and above.”In subsequent years, women joined the judicial system and were given the right to vote. In 1965, Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim became the first woman elected to parliament in Sudan and one of the first on the African continent. “There are many, many women in the Sudan who have been very prominent. They played a very important role,” said Abdullahi Gallab, a professor from Arizona State University originally from Sudan. “Actually, one of the very important things was that women established [was] a union, Women’s Union, a long time ago. I think one of the earliest in the Middle East and Africa. So there is a history in Sudan of prominent women assuming very important positions.”But over the decades of Bashir’s rule, women’s rights eroded in some areas and did not advance in others. Laws restricted women’s dress and required them to seek approval from a male relative to marry. Although one-quarter of the parliament was reserved for female members, they were often viewed as being tokens with little power.A new eraIn December 2018, when protests against Bashir’s rule began, women were at the forefront. The protests were organized by the Sudanese Professionals Association, a group of doctors, health workers and lawyers. But the symbol of the revolution became a young woman, Alaa Salah, who stood on top of a vehicle, leading chants. “People insisted and they encouraged each other to continue, led by the Sudanese Professional Association and the umbrella of freedom and change forces — the will of the Sudanese people themselves,” said Nuha Zein, a Sudanese visiting professor at Rice University, speaking to VOA’s Africa News Tonight. “They really are now very aware of their rights, about their strength to change their destiny in Sudan.” Today, hopes are resting with women such as Ayesha Musa Saeed, an educator and longtime women’s rights activist named to be one of six civilians on the sovereign council. “She’s a highly respected lady, and she has been — she devoted all her life in activism including women and actually she closed her opening speech … after the sermon by saying that ‘I represent all the women of Sudan.’” Gallab said. “So that is Ayesha. She has been always devoting her own time and energy for women’s issues and for education.”The other woman on the council, Raja Nicola Issa Abdul-Masseh, is a Coptic Christian. Some observers hope she can be a voice for the many ethnic and religious minorities who were persecuted under Bashir. “This is a new phase of Sudan’s history,” Dr. Farah Ibrahim Mohamed Alagar, chair of the Blue Nile Forum, told VOA’s Daybreak Africa. “With the nomination of this lady, Sudan is respecting the diversity — Muslims, Christians, non religions — they’re all Sudanese components and have a right to participate.”
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Ukrainian Artist Gives Color To Brooklyn
Just across the East River from Manhattan, Brooklyn has a thriving local art scene. One of the borough’s most interesting artists is Misha Tyutyunik, known as MDot, who has found some interesting places to display his work. Nina Vishneva met with the artist. Anna Rice narrates her story.
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Macron Says Europe Should Reach Out to Russia
French President Emmanuel Macron says the European continent will never be stable and safe if its relationship with Russia is not resolved. Speaking to foreign diplomats following the end of the G-7 summit which France hosted, Macron acknowledged that some allies will reject any talks with Russia because of its aggression in Ukraine. During the G-7 summit, U.S. President Donald Trump pushed for readmission of Russia into the elite group from which it was expelled after the 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
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New DRC Cabinet Prompts Accusations that Kabila’s Regime Still Holds Power
As the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s new president unveils his coalition government, opposition members are complaining about being left out. On Monday, President Felix Tshisekedi announced his cabinet, seven months after winning a contested election that landed him in the country’s highest office. The 65-member cabinet includes 23 appointees from Tshisekedi’s Direction for Change Party and 42 from former President Joseph Kabila’s Common Front for Congo coalition. But members of the DRC’s numerous other political parties are warning that the cabinet gives too much power to allies of the former president and not enough to opposition voices. Emery Kalwira, president of the opposition group Congolese Coalition, said that Tshisekedi’s predecessor, Kabila, maintains the majority of the seats in the government and doesn’t want to leave power. “He is [Kabila] still the main leader of the DRC and Tshisekedi isn’t the real president,” he told VOA’s Daybreak Africa radio program. “That is why we want to call all the people to get up and to put them out and to begin a good transition with our popular salvation authority.”*/
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Embed” />CopyListenDaybreak AfricaDaybreak Africa audio player.In January, Tshisekedi took office, despite critics saying the election he won was rigged. Now opposition voices are accusing the new president of being a puppet.“You know that Kabila is controlling the two parliamentary senate and the parliament and the biggest majority from the government composition is from him. That shows that … Congolese people will still be suffering, and that’s why we say Mr. Kabila must go out. Because Tshisekedi is not the real president,” Kalwira added. But Abraham Lukabwanga, president of the press to Tshisekedi, told VOA that the 76% of the cabinet are new to the government in an interview with Africa News Tonight. “Those are people that have never been into politics. They never had the position, so this can lead to a really big change,” he said.*/
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Embed” />CopyListenAfrica News TonightAfrica News Tonight audio player.Lukabwanga stressed that the cabinet is diverse and includes representatives of all 26 of DRC’s provinces, including women and young people who previously did not have a voice in government. He said they are determined to address pressing issues in the country, including corruption and an ongoing Ebola outbreak. “What you’ve seen the last 48 hours since the government has been published is the joy of, the satisfaction of, I may say, the majority of people who are happy to say that now we do have a government. It’s time to work. We don’t have time to waste,” he said.
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‘Now or Never’: Hong Kong Protesters Say They Have Nothing to Lose
Exasperated with the government’s unflinching attitude to escalating civil unrest, Jason Tse quit his job in Australia and jumped on a plane to join what he believes is a do-or-die fight for Hong Kong’s future.The Chinese territory is grappling with its biggest crisis since its handover to Beijing 22 years ago as many residents fret over what they see as China’s tightening grip over the city and a relentless march toward mainland control.The battle for Hong Kong’s soul has pitted protesters against the former British colony’s political masters in Beijing, with broad swathes of the Asian financial center determined to defend the territory’s freedoms at any cost.Faced with a stick and no carrot – chief executive Carrie Lam reiterated on Tuesday protesters’ demands were unacceptable – the pro-democracy movement has intensified despite Beijing deploying paramilitary troops near the border in recent weeks.”This is a now or never moment and it is the reason why I came back,” Tse, 32, said, adding that since joining the protests last month he had been a peaceful participant in rallies and an activist on the Telegram social media app. “If we don’t succeed now, our freedom of speech, our human rights, all will be gone. We need to persist.”Since the city returned to Chinese rule in 1997, critics say Beijing has reneged on a commitment to maintain Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedoms under a “one country, two systems” formula.Opposition to Beijing that had dwindled after 2014, when authorities faced down a pro-democracy movement that occupied streets for 79 days, has come back to haunt authorities who are now grappling with an escalating cycle of violence.”We have to keep fighting. Our worst fear is the Chinese government,” said a 40-year-old teacher who declined to be identified for fear of repercussions. “For us, it’s a life or death situation.”‘If we burn, you burn’What started as protests against a now-suspended extradition bill that would have allowed people to be sent to mainland China for trial in courts controlled by the Communist Party, has evolved into demands for greater democracy.”We lost the revolution in 2014 very badly. This time, if not for the protesters who insist on using violence, the bill would have been passed already,” said another protester, who asked to be identified as just Mike, 30, who works in media and lives with his parents.He was referring to the 79 days of largely peaceful protests in 2014 that led to the jailing of activist leaders. “It’s proven that violence, to some degree, will be useful.”Nearly 900 people have been arrested in the latest protests.The prospect of lengthy jail terms seems to be deterring few activists, many of whom live in tiny apartments with their families.”7K for a house like a cell and you really think we out here scared of jail,” reads graffiti scrawled near one protest site.HK$7,000 ($893) is what the monthly rent for a tiny room in a shared apartment could cost.The protests pose a direct challenge to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, whose government has sent a clear warning that forceful intervention to quell violent demonstrations is possible.Some critics question the protesters’ “now or never” rallying cry, saying a crackdown by Beijing could bring an end to the freedoms in Hong Kong that people on the mainland can only dream of.The campaign reflects concerns over Hong Kong’s future at a time when protesters, many of whom were toddlers when Britain handed Hong Kong back to Beijing, feel they have been denied any political outlet and have no choice but to push for universal suffrage.”You either stand up and pull this government down or you stay at the mercy of their hands. You have no choice,” said Cheng, 28, who works in the hospitality industry.”Imagine if this fails. You can only imagine the dictatorship of the Communists will become even greater … If we burn, you burn with us,” he said, referring to authorities in Beijing.”The clock is ticking,” Cheng added, referring to 2047 when a 50-year agreement enshrining Hong Kong’s separate governing system will lapse.’Not China’As Beijing seeks to integrate Hong Kong closer to the mainland China, many residents are recoiling.A poll in June by the University of Hong Kong found that 53% of 1,015 respondents identified as Hong Kongers, while 11% identified as Chinese, a record low since 1997.With the prospect of owning a home in one of the world’s most expensive cities a dream, many disaffected youth say they have little to look forward to as Beijing’s grip tightens.”We really have got nothing to lose,” said Scarlett, 23, a translator.As the crisis simmers, China’s People’s Liberation Army has released footage of troops conducting anti-riot exercises.But graffiti scrawled across the city signals the protesters’ defiance.”Hong Kong is not China” and “If you want peace, prepare for war” are some of the messages.Tse said he believes violence is necessary because the government rarely listens to peaceful protests.”Tactically I think we should have a higher level of violence,” he said. “I actually told my wife that if we’ll ever need to form an army on the protester side I will join.”
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Are Water Shortages Driving Migration? Researchers Dispel Myths
Water scarcity is one factor driving millions of people from their homes each year but is often not the only reason why they move, researchers told an international conference on Tuesday.In most cases, other economic and social problems like conflict, corruption or a lack of jobs contribute to the decision to leave, they said.They warned against over-simplifying the links between water and migration, and said many of those who do move – at least partly because of water-related pressures such as floods, droughts and pollution – may not travel far.”International migration is very expensive and very risky and it lies beyond the reach of many of the poorest people who are most vulnerable to water security and drought,” said Guy Jobbins of the London-based Overseas Development Institute.Those who suffer water-related shocks to their livelihoods – losing animals or crops – “are less likely to have the funds to start again in South Africa or France”, he told an audience at World Water Week in Stockholm.Conversely, there was some evidence to suggest that people who have better access to secure, affordable water are more likely to have enough financial resources to migrate, he added.Although much is made of international migration, most movement related to water is inside countries, often from one rural place to another, said Sasha Koo-Oshima, deputy director of land and water at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.FILE – Newly-arrived women who fled drought queue to receive food distributed by local volunteers at a camp for displaced persons in the Daynile neighborhood on the outskirts of the capital Mogadishu, in Somalia, May 18, 2019.Three out of four of the world’s poor live in rural areas and rely heavily on agricultural production, with food insecurity, water contamination and drought forcing people from their homes – especially the young, she added.Efforts should be stepped up to prevent water scarcity and make it profitable for young people to stay on rural land, she said.But if people do leave, “it is not necessarily a negative phenomenon”, as humans have always moved in search of a better life, she added.Refugee scapegoatsResearchers also called for a more sophisticated analysis of how mass migration impacts on water supplies.In Jordan – the world’s second most water-scarce country, according to Hussam Hussein, a Middle East water researcher at Germany’s University of Kassel – a large influx of refugees from Syria, after civil war broke out there in 2011, led to tensions with their host communities, especially in cities.Jordan hosts about 750,000 Syrians, the vast majority in urban areas, according to the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR). But contrary to public discourse, their presence is not the main cause of the country’s water shortages, said Hussein.”When we look at the numbers, the impact of refugees is not as important as unsustainable use (of water) in the agricultural sector,” he said.Mismanagement of water resources, leaks, illegal wells and intensive farming made up the majority of water losses in parched Jordan, he added.In war-torn Syria, water scarcity and climate-related events such as drought had been a “trigger” for the conflict but not a primary cause, said Fatine Ezbakhe of the Mediterranean Youth for Water Network.Instead a lack of water amplified political instability and poverty that fueled migration and unrest, she added.Now improvements to water supplies could be used to persuade people to return home, she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.”If we actually invest in water, we could… try to make people go back and restart (in) the rural areas they left in the first place,” she said.
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US Military Approves Border Wall Expansion
U.S. President Donald Trump’s border wall is expanding.Secretary of Defense Mark Esper recently approved another 32 kilometers (20 miles) of barriers for the United States’ southern border with Mexico, a defense official has confirmed to VOA.The official said Esper is using an expected surplus to build the additional barrier. To date, nearly 250 kilometers of the barrier wall have been funded by shifting military funds originally marked for other purposes.A divided U.S. Supreme Court in July allowed the administration to start using disputed Pentagon funds to construct more than 100 miles of fencing along the border.The justices lifted a lower court freeze that was designed to block $2.5 billion in spending while lawsuits by the Sierra Club and another advocacy group went forward. Those cases may still go trial.The Pentagon had previously approved the reprogramming of funds into its counter-drug account, which is authorized to spend money on border barrier construction in order to block potential drug smuggling corridors.In May, Acting Secretary of Defense Pat Shanahan confirmed the transferred Pentagon funds included money the Pentagon was saving for training Afghanistan security forces. At the time, he added he would not reprogram any more money for the border wall.A defense official told VOA Tuesday that in addition to the Afghan training money, funds were also reprogramed to the border wall from personnel and recruiting, upgrades to the E-3 aircraft and Minuteman III, and from lower-than-negotiated contract savings for air launch cruise missiles and Predator Hellfire missiles.
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Biden: Racism in US is Institutional, ‘White Man’s Problem’
Racism in America is an institutional “white man’s problem visited on people of color,” Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday, arguing that the way to attack the issue is to defeat President Donald Trump and hold him responsible for deepening the nation’s racial divide.Taking aim at incendiary racial appeals by Trump, Biden said in an interview with a small group of reporters that a president’s words can “appeal to the worst damn instincts of human nature,” just as they can move markets or take a nation into war.Biden is leading his Democratic challengers for the presidential nomination in almost all polls, largely because of the support of black voters. He has made appealing to them central to his candidacy and vowed to make maximizing black and Latino turnout an “overwhelming focus” of his effort. The interview, more than an hour long, focused largely on racial issues.”White folks are the reason we have institutional racism,” Biden said. “There has always been racism in America. White supremacists have always existed, they still exist.” He added later that in his administration, it would “not be tolerated.”By highlighting the nation’s racial tensions and placing blame on Trump, Biden is showing that he, too, is willing to make race a core campaign issue, but from the opposite perspective of the president. Turnout and enthusiasm among black voters will be critical for the Democratic nominee, notably to try to reclaim states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. He also emphasized a crossover appeal to both black voters and non-college-educated white voters.To accentuate his appeal to black voters, Biden said that he will advertise in black publications and engage with cultural institutions like the black church, black fraternities and sororities, and historically black colleges.”The bad news is I have a long record. The good news is I have a long record,” Biden said when asked about his enduring support among black voters. “People know me — at least they think they know me. I think after all this time, I think they have a sense of what my character is, who I am.””I’ve never, ever, ever in my entire life been in a circumstance where I’ve ever felt uncomfortable being in the black community,” he added, suggesting that his familiarity was not matched by many of his competitors.While he did not specify to whom he was referring, Biden said he believes there are “assertions and assumptions” made about black voters that he believes are inaccurate, and he said that “a lot of people haven’t spent much time in the community.”Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks during a candidates forum at the 110th NAACP National Convention, July 24, 2019, in Detroit.Without mentioning her by name, Biden also referenced California Sen. Kamala Harris’ attack on him during the first presidential debate on the issue of busing as a solution to school desegregation.”All I know is I don’t think anybody in the community thinks I am — what’s the phrase?” Biden asked, paraphrasing Harris’ comment that “I know you’re not a racist, Joe.””I don’t think anyone thinks that about me,” Biden said.Biden was also asked whether he would select a woman or person of color as his running mate should he become the nominee. He said that while he would “preferably” do so, he is ultimately seeking a partner on the ticket who is “simpatico with what I stand for and what I want to get done.””Whomever I pick would be preferably someone who was of color and who was of a different gender, but I’m not making that commitment until I know that the person I’m dealing with I can completely, thoroughly trust, is authentic, and is on the same page.”Looking ahead to the next Democratic debate in Houston in September, he said that he understands why he has a target on his back but cautioned that Democrats “shouldn’t be forming a circular firing squad and shooting” because it only helps Trump.Trump’s reelection campaign dismissed Biden’s accusation that Trump had inflamed racial tensions in the country.”Having moved on from the Russia Hoax, Democrats are now employing the oldest play in the Democrat playbook: falsely accusing their opponent of racism, extending it even to the President’s supporters. Calling half the country racist is not a winning strategy,” said Tim Murtaugh, the Trump campaign’s communications director.Biden also said that the Democratic field would narrow and allow for more meaningful exchanges. In the current crowded field, he said it’s difficult to have any meaningful debate at all, calling it a “non-debate debate.”Biden, who has been attacked most forcefully by Harris, said that he believed “those who made the most direct attacks on one another haven’t really benefited much by it at the end of the day.”
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Namibia Considers Withdrawal from Wildlife Convention Unless Rhino Trade Eased
Namibia is considering withdrawing from the rules that govern the global trade in endangered species, after countries voted last week to reject proposals to relax restrictions on hunting and exporting its white rhinos.Namibia has the second largest population of white rhinos after South Africa. It wants to allow more trophy hunting of rhinos and export of live animals, arguing that the funds it would raise would help it to protect the species.But countries that are party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) voted last week against downgrading Namibia’s white rhinos from appendix I, the list of species threatened with extinction, to appendix II, a list of species with looser protections.Minister of Environment and Tourism Pohamba Shifeta said in Geneva on Tuesday that Namibia would convene a meeting with other Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states to consider withdrawing from CITES.”We had several submissions from SADC for downlisting our white rhino from appendix I to appendix II, but there are some who feel that Namibia’s population is still small and we contested that Namibia’s population is the second largest in the world,” said Shifeta.The Namibian government estimated its white rhino population at 1,037 in 2017/2018. The white rhino populations of South Africa and eSwatini, formerly Swaziland, are already in appendix II.”If CITES does not really help us to conserve our wild animals but frustrating those that are doing good I think there is no need for us to stay in CITES,” said Shifeta.Botswana’s environmental and conservation minister Kitso Mokaila said that he was greatly disappointed by the outcome.Mokaila said people in SADC countries have sacrificed to protect wild animals.”They don’t plough, they don’t rear cattle or sheep or goats because wildlife destroys our livelihood,” said Mokaila.Countries on Thursday also voted overwhelmingly to regulate international trade in giraffes, an endangered species, overcoming objections by southern African states and drawing praise from conservationists.
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3 European Nations Condemn North Korea’s Missile Launches
Three important U.S. allies on Tuesday condemned the “repeated provocative launches” of ballistic missiles by North Korea, saying they violate U.N. Security Council resolutions banning any such activity.
The United Kingdom, France and Germany issued a joint statement after a closed council briefing by U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo that they requested because of serious concerns at the series of missile launches in recent weeks by North Korea.The three European council members urged North Korea “to engage in meaningful negotiations with the U.S.,” as President Donald Trump and its leader Kim Jong Un agreed to on June 30 at their meeting in the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas.FILE – President Donald Trump meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea, June 30, 2019.”Serious efforts by North Korea to re-engage diplomatically and make progress on denuclearization are the only way to guarantee security and stability on the Korean peninsula and in the region,” their statement said.The three countries stressed that “international sanctions must remain in place and be fully and strictly enforced until North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs are dismantled.”Many diplomats and analysts credit 11 rounds of increasingly tougher U.N. sanctions, which have sharply cut North Korea’s exports and imports, with helping promote the thaw in relations between North Korea and South Korea, and the two summits between Trump and Kim.But negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea have been at a standstill since the second Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi in February broke down over what the United States described as excessive North Korean demands for sanctions relief in exchange for only a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.Trump reactionThe statement by the U.S. allies was not joined by the United States or other members of the 15-nation Security Council — and it was at odds with Trump’s comments downplaying the recent launches.In Saturday’s latest launch, North Korea said Sunday that Kim Jong Un supervised the test-firing of a “newly developed super-large multiple rocket launcher.” It appeared to be another demonstration of the North’s expanding weapons arsenal apparently aimed at increasing its leverage ahead of a possible resumption of nuclear talks with the United States.Trump responded to the launch saying, “Kim Jong Un has been, you know, pretty straight with me. … He likes testing missiles but we never restricted short-range missiles. We’ll see what happens.”Recent testsMost of the North Korean weapons tested in recent weeks have shown short-range flight distances. This suggests that North Korea still doesn’t intend to lift its self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests, which would certainly derail negotiations with Washington.Britain, France and Germany said “it is vital that the Security Council shows unity in upholding its resolutions,” which have imposed increasingly tougher sanctions on North Korea in an effort to rein in its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.They blamed “the North Korean regime … for the current dire situation of its people” and stressed that making progress on denuclearization is also the only way to guarantee “a brighter future for the people of North Korea.”
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South Sudan’s Ambassador Meets With Parents of Slain Journalist
The parents of Christopher Allen, a freelance journalist killed two years ago while covering fighting between government and rebel forces in South Sudan, met with the country’s ambassador to the United States on Monday. The meeting in South Sudan’s Washington Embassy was the first time the family has spoken to any South Sudanese official, despite having written letters to President Salva Kiir and the former foreign minister. John Allen and Joyce Krajian, the British-American journalist’s parents, brought a letter to the embassy addressed to South Sudan’s ambassador, Philip Jada Natana. FILE – An undated photo of reporter Christopher Allen.The About two dozen people gather for Christopher Allen’s two-year memorial, outside the South Sudanese embassy in Washington, Aug. 26, 2019. (A.Bior/VOA)Jada met with the family for about 10 minutes in the embassy lobby. While he offered condolences to Allen’s parents, he distanced the government from any responsibility for his death.”We tried as a government to investigate, but the fact remains that for a long time, we were not able to complete the investigation,” he told them. Allen entered South Sudan through its southern border without proper documents, Jada said. “He didn’t come through the main town and through the main airport. Because then that becomes our responsibility once he enters,” he said. Calls to investigateAdotei Akwei, Amnesty International’s deputy director of advocacy and government relations, said he thinks the South Sudanese government “doesn’t feel obligated” to investigate and is “determined to prevent any narratives that they don’t like coming up.” “There is not going to be any change in this behavior,” Akwei said. “So, they don’t want any questions, and they are not going to investigate.”Courtney Radsch, CPJ’s advocacy director, said her organization will not back down from demanding an independent investigation.”Justice looks like an investigation, a meaningful investigation, into who was responsible and then how to prevent future killings like that,” she said. “We know that there are journalists killed in crossfire. This was a very complicated case, and you certainly cannot achieve any form of justice if you don’t have the basic facts about what happened. So, the first step toward any form of justice is an investigation.”
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Italy Close to New Government as Trump Backs Conte’s Return as PM
The two parties trying to form a new Italian government appeared close to a coalition deal Tuesday, cheering financial markets as well as U.S. President Donald Trump, who said he hoped Giuseppe Conte would be reinstated as prime minister.The role of Conte has been a sticking point in the negotiations between the 5-Star Movement, a member of the outgoing coalition, and the opposition Democratic Party (PD), which has been resisting his reappointment.”Starting to look good for the highly respected Prime Minister of the Italian Republic, Giuseppi (sic) Conte,” Trump said on Twitter. “A very talented man who will hopefully remain Prime Minister.”After setbacks early Tuesday, the roller-coaster talks between the anti-establishment 5-Star and the center-left PD appeared to be back on track later in the day, with upbeat comments from both sides prompting a strong market rally.FILE – Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini meets journalists at the end of a security conference in Castel Volturno, southern Italy, Aug. 15, 2019.Italian 10-year bond yields fell to three-year lows and the spread between German Bunds narrowed to below 182 basis points, the tightest since May 2018.Investors betting Italy can avoid a snap election are concerned that it would be won by Matteo Salvini’s hard-right League party, which would put the country on a collision course with the European Union over expansionary government spending.”Our work is continuing in a fruitful way,” the PD’s Senate leader Andrea Marcucci told reporters in brief comments after an evening meeting with 5-Star officials.Deputy PD leader Paola De Micheli said the two sides had “analyzed points for the basis of a common program,” while 5-Star’s Senate chief Stefano Patuanelli reported a “good climate” and said contacts would continue Wednesday.The parties are due to report back to President Sergio Mattarella on Wednesday from 1400 GMT. If no deal has been sealed, he will name a caretaker government and call elections.Conte, who belongs to no party but is close to 5-Star, resigned last week after League chief Salvini declared his 14-month coalition with 5-Star was dead, seeking to trigger elections and capitalize on his surging popularity.The move has not gone to plan, as 5-Star and the PD seek to form a coalition of their own, pushing the League into opposition.Fight over jobsEarlier Tuesday the PD/5-Star talks seemed to have run into trouble, with the two sides fighting over key jobs as well as being at loggerheads over Conte’s role.FILE – 5-Star leader and Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi di Maio presents his EU election program in Rome, Italy, May 2, 2019.The PD accused 5-Star of undermining the formation of a new cabinet by demanding the interior ministry for its leader, Luigi Di Maio. 5-Star denied this, and the parties canceled a scheduled meeting.Despite the later upbeat comments, tensions persist and surprises are possible.The PD says Di Maio is insisting on keeping the role of deputy prime minister that he held in the outgoing government, something it considers unacceptable if Conte is to stay on as premier.It remains to be seen if the exchanges are merely tactics to secure the upper hand in negotiations over cabinet jobs, or whether they have the potential to scupper an accord between the two parties which have always been bitter adversaries.The picture is complicated by deep internal divisions in both parties, each one split between leadership factions that want a deal and others that would prefer to risk an election.Di Maio was absent at the start of an evening meeting of all the 5-Star lawmakers. The great majority favors an accord with the PD rather than a snap election which would probably see many lose their seats less than 18 months into this parliament.Meanwhile, Salvini continues to demand elections, and is likely to be disappointed by Trump’s endorsement of Conte, especially as the populist League chief has always expressed his admiration for the U.S. president.Opinion polls suggest the League has lost 3-7 percentage points since collapsing the government, though it remains easily the most popular party, followed by the PD and 5-Star.
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‘I Will Not Let Him Win’: Epstein Victims Testify Weeks After His Suicide
A succession of women who say Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused them voiced anger and defiance in a packed New York courtroom Tuesday, expressing raw emotions during a dramatic hearing less than three weeks after the financier killed himself while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.”He showed the world what a depraved and cowardly human being he was by taking his own life,” one of the women, Sarah Ransome, said at the hearing before U.S. District Judge Richard Berman.”I will not let him win in death,” another woman, Chauntae Davies, told the court. Federal prosecutors appeared at the hearing to ask the judge to formally dismiss their case against Epstein. Berman explained why he gave the women and their lawyers an opportunity to address the court.”The victims have been included in the proceeding today both because of their relevant experiences and because they should always be involved before, rather than after, the fact,” Berman said at the outset of the hearing.Virginia Giuffre, an alleged victim of Jeffrey Epstein, leaves after the hearing in the criminal case against Epstein, at Federal Court in New York, Aug. 27, 2019.Epstein, who once counted U.S. President Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton as friends, was arrested on July 6 and pleaded not guilty to federal charges of sex trafficking involving dozens of girls as young as 14.The 66-year-old was found dead Aug. 10 in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Lower Manhattan. An autopsy concluded that he hanged himself.Prosecutors accused Epstein of arranging for girls to perform nude “massages” and other sex acts, and paying some girls to recruit others, from at least 2002 to 2005. Some of the women said he raped them.”The fact that I will never have a chance to face my predator in court eats away at my soul,” said Jennifer Araoz, another of the women.”I feel very angry and sad that justice has never been served in this case,” Courtney Wild, another accuser, told the hearing.Davies told the court Epstein hired her to give massages.She said Epstein raped her the third or fourth time they met on his private island and continued to abuse her.Berman ordered prosecutors and defense lawyers for Epstein to appear in court after the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office said it wanted to dismiss the indictment against the financier in light of his jail cell death.’Curious’ deathDuring the hearing, attorney Brad Edwards, who represents women who say they were sexually abused by Epstein, said the financier’s “untimely death” was “curious,” adding: “More so, it makes it absolutely impossible for the victims to ever get the day in court that they wanted, and to get full justice. That now can never happen.”At the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey said the law required the dismissal of the case in light of Epstein’s death, but said the government’s investigation was ongoing.Gloria Allred, representing alleged victims of Jeffrey Epstein, walks with Teala Davies and an unidentified women and baby after the hearing in the criminal case against Epstein, at Federal Court in New York, Aug. 27, 2019.”Dismissal of this indictment as to Jeffrey Epstein in no way prohibits or inhibits the government’s ongoing investigation into potential co-conspirators,” Comey said.Epstein’s death has triggered investigations by the FBI, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, which runs the detention facility.Epstein’s arrest in New York came more than a decade after Epstein avoided being prosecuted on similar federal charges in Florida by striking a deal that allowed him to plead guilty to state prostitution charges.That deal, which has been widely criticized as too lenient, resulted in Epstein serving 13 months in a county jail, which he was allowed to leave during the day on work release.Brittany Henderson, a lawyer with Edwards’ firm, read a statement from another victim, Michelle Licata.”I was told then that Jeffrey Epstein was going to be held accountable, but he was not,” she said of the earlier investigation. “The case ended without me knowing what was going on. … I was treated like I did not matter.”Civil lawsuitsMultiple women have filed civil lawsuits against Epstein’s estate since his death, saying he abused them and seeking damages. Some have alleged the abuse continued after his plea deal and even while he was on work release from his previous jail sentence.Just two days before his death, Epstein signed a will placing all of his property, worth more than $577 million, in a trust, according to a copy of the document seen by Reuters.Another woman, who chose not to give her name, told the hearing that Epstein’s death must be investigated.”We do need to know how he died. It felt like a whole new trauma. … It didn’t feel good to wake up that morning and find that he allegedly committed suicide,” she said, holding back tears.Another unnamed woman said she came to New York to become a model and was victimized by Epstein.”I’m just angry,” she said, “that he’s not alive to have to pay the price for his actions.”
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Puerto Rico Under Hurricane Watch as Tropical Storm Dorian Nears
Ken Bredemeier and Chris Hannas contributed to this report.Puerto Rico, which is still struggling to recover from a 2017 storm, is under a hurricane watch as Tropical Storm Dorian makes its way toward the U.S. territory.Forecasters expect Dorian to be near hurricane strength Wednesday night when it passes over western and central Puerto Rico.Puerto Rican Governor Wanda Vazquez has declared a state of emergency, warning of possible landslides, flash floods, and power outages.Thousands of homes still lack roofs and kilometers of roads are still a wreck from Hurricane Maria — the powerful storm that tore across Puerto Rico in 2017, devastating the island and killing as many as 3,000 people.As of late Tuesday, Tropical Storm Dorian was about 130 kilometers west of Dominica with top sustained winds at 85 kilometers per hour.The storm lashed the Windward Islands on Tuesday, dumping as much as 20 centimeters of rain on St. Lucia, Martinique, and St. Vincent.Forecasters believe Dorian could threaten the U.S. mainland in Florida by the weekend as a minimal hurricane, packing winds of at least 112 kilometers per hour.
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Russia Denies Visas to Two US Senators, Amid G-7 Tensions
Republican and Democratic U.S. senators said Russia refused to grant them visas for a visit to Moscow next week, amid disagreement within Washington and among U.S. allies over whether the country should be readmitted to the Group of Seven.Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said on Tuesday that Russia denied him a visa. Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican, said on Monday that his visa request had been denied, which he called “a petty affront.”FILE – US Senator Ron Johnson listens Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade, Serbia, Feb. 18, 2018.President Donald Trump said last week it would be appropriate to let Russia return to the G-7 group of advanced industrialized countries, telling reporters that former Democratic President Barack Obama had wanted Russia out of what used to be the G-8 but he thought it was “much more appropriate” to include the country.Other G-7 countries have objected.Murphy and Johnson are Senate Foreign Relations Committee members and have pushed for sanctions. Another Republican, Senator Mike Lee, was issued a visa and intended to visit Russia, a spokesman for Lee said.”With the collapse of recent arms control agreements and significant domestic opposition to Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian rule, this is potentially a perilous moment for our two nations’ fragile relationship, and it’s a shame that Russia isn’t interested in dialogue,” Murphy said in a statement.The Russian embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment. But it tweeted a statement saying Johnson had not applied for a visa at the embassy. The tweet also called Johnson “russophobic” and scoffed at his saying he wanted to restore direct dialogue with Russian parliamentarians.While it had been unusual for U.S. lawmakers to be denied travel visas, Russia has done so several times in recent years, especially those who have pushed for sanctions against Moscow over its aggression toward Ukraine and interference in U.S. elections.And Israel this month barred two Democratic lawmakers, U.S. Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, shortly after Trump called on his ally not to let them in.Separately, senior Democratic senators said on Tuesday they had written to Trump expressing strong opposition to readmitting Russia to the G-7, citing its invasion of Crimea.The letter was signed by Senators Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, as well as Jack Reed, Bob Menendez and Mark Warner, the top Democrats on the Armed Services, Foreign Relations and Intelligence committees, respectively.
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US on Hong Kong Protests: ‘No More Violence on Both Sides’
VOA Mandarin Service, Ken Bredemeier, Chris Hannas and Megan Duzor contributed to this article.The United States is calling for calm on all sides in Hong Kong, as protests took a violent turn in recent days and U.S. officials noted signs of softening among Hong Kong government and pro-democracy demonstrators.Hong Kong police fired volleys of tear gas to break up anti-government protests on Saturday, as protesters threw petrol bombs and bricks.”We can’t sit quiet for more violence,” a senior State Department official told VOA on Tuesday.“No more violence on both sides,” either from the police or from the protesters, said the official. “Certainly, not any large-scale response through violence.”Protesters use bamboo sticks as they face riot police during a protest in Hong Kong, Aug. 25, 2019.After several weeks of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, the unrest shows no immediate sign of stopping. But the U.S. official says he sees some encouraging signs.“We have seen that (Hong Kong Chief Executive) Carrie Lam has been able to have talks on discussing the protesters’ five demands. Looks like she’s looking to address at least two of them right now. [We] start to see some softening on both sides, and our hope is that all of this resolves peacefully,” the official said. “There’s got to be some accommodation there.”Oct. 1 marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of People’s Republic of China. As the Beijing government is marking the notable date on the political calendar, the senior U.S. administration official says Washington hopes Chinese leaders “can resolve this in a way that takes care of the interests and the concerns of the people in Hong Kong who are used to a democratic process or used to being able to having their voices heard.”In Beijing, China voiced “strong dissatisfaction” Tuesday with a joint statement by G-7 leaders calling for Hong Kong’s autonomy in line with Britain’s handover of control of the territory to Beijing in 1984.FILE – Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang speaks during a media briefing in Beijing in this July 17, 2019, image from video.The leaders of the industrialized nations at their just-completed summit called for calm in the wake of 12 weeks of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, but Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang accused them of “meddling” and “harboring evil intentions.”At a news briefing in Beijing, Geng said, “We express our strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition to the statement made by the leaders of the G-7 summit on Hong Kong affairs.”He added, “We have repeatedly stressed that Hong Kong’s affairs are purely China’s internal affairs and that no foreign government, organization or individual has the right to intervene.”The Chinese statement came as Lam reiterated her tough stance against protesters, even as she said she met with a group of young people on Monday about the demonstrations. It was unclear whether any of the group included protesters who demand reforms to adhere to the “one country, two systems” framework called for in the 1984 agreement to maintain Hong Kong’s semiautonomous status.A new survey released by the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute indicated Lam’s popularity stands at about 25%.Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam holds a news conference, Aug. 27, 2019.The demonstrators have contended that Lam has ignored their demands for the complete withdrawal of an extradition bill that would have allowed criminal suspects to be sent to Mainland China for trial, an independent inquiry into alleged excessive use of force by police against protesters and democratic elections.”It is not a question of not responding,” Lam said. “It is a question of not accepting those demands.”She added, “If violence continues, the only thing that we should do is to stamp out that violence through law enforcement actions.”Lam said it would be inappropriate for the government to accept the demands of protesters who resort to violence and harassment.After her news conference, the University of Hong Kong’s mosaic Lennon Wall commemorating the 2014 pro-democracy Umbrella Movement was vandalized.One senior-level student criticized Lam’s call for dialogue, telling VOA’s Mandarin Service, “She needs to display that she is sincere to talk to the society, not just invite so-called ‘young people’ to have a closed-door discussion. I mean, on what grounds can those young people she chose … represent Hong Kong protesters?”Lam has made few public comments through several months of demonstrations that began with a call for stopping the extradition bill and expanded to include demands for full democracy.Protesters have plans to continue the demonstrations, which represent the biggest threat to peace in the Asian finance center since Britain handed over control of Hong Kong to China in 1997. The protesters say they are demonstrating against what they see as an erosion of rights.Police arrested more than 80 people during protests Saturday and Sunday that included clashes with police officers.
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Ex-diplomats Urge Trump to Pressure Poland on Rule of Law
Almost two dozen Polish former ambassadors are telling U.S. President Donald Trump that Poland’s democracy is at risk, and urging him to use an upcoming visit to pressure the country’s populist government to respect human rights and stop flouting the constitution.“Mr. President, you are coming to a country where the rule of law is no longer respected,” the Conference of Ambassadors of the Republic of Poland wrote in an open letter posted on its website late Monday.Trump is to arrive Saturday in Warsaw to attend ceremonies Sunday marking the 80th anniversary of the start of World War II, which began with Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939. More than 40 other world leaders will also attend.The 23 former ambassadors, some of whom have had multiple postings abroad and also held government positions at home, are also urging Trump to stop sowing divisions within the European Union and NATO, reminding him that Poland — a country in a difficult geographic position — depends on those alliances for its security and long-term survival. “An isolated Poland, surrounded by enemies, conflicted with its neighbors and, as was the case before World War II, reliant solely on geographically distant alliances, is on course to another catastrophe,” they say.Several critics hit back at the ex-diplomats, depicting them as frustrated former elites who cannot accept their loss of privilege and are disloyal to the nation.One commentator, sociologist and diplomat Ryszard Zoltaniecki, told the right-wing news portal wPolityce that “they cannot accept the fact that other, new people have the right to create Polish foreign policy” and that they “slander Poland in the international arena.”U.S. President Donald Trump, left, waves along with Poland’s President Andrzej Duda, as U.S. First Lady Melania Trump, left and Poland’s first lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda, right, stand by, in Krasinski Square, in Warsaw, Poland, July 6, 2017.It will be Trump’s second visit to Poland, where a nationalist right-wing government that shares his anti-migrant views welcomed him enthusiastically in 2017. Then, Trump gave a speech praising Poland as a defender of Western civilization, without mentioning democracy or concerns voiced often by the European Union that the young democracy was veering off course.At the time, the government was moving to restrict judicial independence, a process that picked up speed after Trump’s visit. His forthcoming visit follows recent revelations that the justice ministry encouraged an online hate campaign against judges who have been critical of the government.It also comes as the ruling party, Law and Justice, and the country’s powerful Catholic church have been depicting gays and lesbians as threats to Polish society and to families.That appears to be a campaign ploy ahead of parliamentary elections on Oct. 13 to appeal to the conservative heartland in a country where many people cling to their traditional Catholic values and feel that they are under attack from EU membership and liberal Western mores.“The division of powers is being dismantled and the independent judiciary is being destroyed. Human rights are curtailed, and the growing repression of political opponents and various minorities, be they ethnic, religious or sexual, is not only tolerated by the government, but even inspired by it,” the ex-ambassadors wrote. “Your powerful voice calling for tolerance and mutual respect, as well as compliance with the provisions of the Constitution and other laws, may have historical significance.”The ruling party has repeatedly denied accusations of violating democracy, noting that it came to power in free elections and that it still enjoys the approval of many Poles. It is by far the most popular party in the country, approval that is partly explained by generous welfare policies for families and farmers.The Conference of Ambassadors is made up of 41 ex-ambassadors who are concerned the current government is eroding democracy and hurting the country’s position on the global stage. It was formed in 2017, two years after Law and Justice took power, and some of its members were fired by the party.
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Namibian Refugees Refuse to Leave Botswana
More than 800 Namibian refugees in Botswana have vowed to stay put despite a court ruling saying they must return to their country, 20 years after fleeing following a secessionist uprising.Felix Kalula and hundreds of other Namibian refugees fled to Botswana in 1999, after violent clashes with Namibian government forces broke out over the disputed Caprivi strip, which wanted to secede from the rest of the country.The Namibian and Botswana governments say it is safe for the refugees to return home, and the migrants have until Aug. 31 to leave. But Kalula says the issues that made them flee have not been resolved.”Some of our colleagues are still in prison since 1999, and many of them died in prison,” he said, adding that refugees have been asking for dialogue with the Namibian government, but the opportunity has not been afforded.Kalula was a member of the secessionist party, the United Democratic Party, which remains banned in Namibia as the Caprivi residents were willing to use force to gain independence.FILE – Two bodies of rebel insurgents lie in a street after sporadic gunfire in the Caprivi strip, Namibia, Aug. 3, 1999.He says they are not prepared to return, and the Botswana government will have to forcibly remove them.”We have informed the government of Botswana that we are not going to surrender through voluntary repatriation back to Caprivi, or Namibia as they call it, but we would rather be deported,” he said.Another Namibian refugee, John Shamdo, agrees the situation back home remains unsafe.”We live in fear that once we are repatriated back home, we shall be killed because of our political beliefs,” Shamdo said.There should be a referendum to resolve the Caprivi strip dispute, he added, urging the international community to intervene.Annette Toyano has been living at the Dukwi Refugee Camp in Botswana since 1998, and dreads going back home. “Now we are saying, if it is to die, we are going to die. We are not going to opt for repatriation to go back home, because at home, it is not safe,” she said.Rights group Amnesty International has urged the Botswana government not to repatriate the refugees, and instead is calling for dialogue.Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi recently told his Namibian counterpart, Hage Geingob, that Botswana revoked the refugees’ status, as the country deemed it fit for their return.
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Bolton: No Need For Zelenskiy to ‘Rush’ Into Action On Donbas
U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton says there is no need for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to “rush” into any course of action regarding Russia’s involvement with separatist forces in eastern Ukraine.”I think, from the perspective of a new government in Ukraine, President Zelenskiy would be well-advised to look at how to unfold a strategy of dealing with the Russians very carefully,” Bolton told RFE/RL in a wide-ranging interview on August 27 in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.“I don’t think there is any reason to rush it into one course of action or another…. I think working this through over a period of time makes sense for the new government in Ukraine.””I don’t suppose that the Europeans are going to have a solution that is readily apparent,” he added in reference to the so-called Normandy format of negations aimed at ending the Ukraine conflict.More than 13,000 people have been killed in eastern Ukraine after Russia-backed separatists took up arms against government forces in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in April 2014.After being elected in April this year, Zelenskiy called for a four-way meeting with fellow Normandy format participants Russia, Germany, and France to revive peace talks with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.Moscow has said there is interest in renewing peace discussions, but it did not specify a time frame.On August 26, French President Emmanuel Macron said the Normandy format leaders will hold a summit next month.”We think that the conditions exist for a useful summit,” Macron said at the end of a Group of Seven (G7) meeting in the southwestern French coastal resort of Biarritz.Asked if Washington would want to join in Normandy format talks, Bolton did not answer directly, but said there is “significant American interest” in existing issues between Kyiv and Moscow.”I think that is why we should consider, if President Zelenskiy wants us to be involved [in talks with Russia], whether we should do it.”Black Sea buildupBolton also voiced U.S. concern about Russia’s military buildup in the Black Sea, including in Crimea, which has been unlawfully annexed by Moscow from Ukraine.”The Black Sea has a number of NATO allies that also are part of it,” Bolton said, adding, “We expect to see access across the Black Sea maintained for all the littoral states and other traders who use the Black Sea.”He said the United States was monitoring Russian activities in other parts of the world as well.”The same is true of the Baltic; the same is true in the Arctic. And these are issues that we have had some difficult discussions with the Russians on, as in many other areas where they are trying to intrude beyond where they have a legitimate interest to be.”Bolton’s visit is the first to Ukraine by a top U.S. official since Zelenskiy’s election in April. He is scheduled to meet with the Ukrainian leader on August 28, according to local media reports.Upon his arrival, Bolton told reporters that “for me, this is an opportunity to talk about some priorities we have and really also, because of the new administration here, to hear their priorities.”Bolton added that a meeting between President Donald Trump and Zelenskiy could happen when the U.S. leader travels to Poland early next month.Minsk TripMeanwhile, the presidential administration in neighboring Belarus said on August 27 that Bolton will travel to Minsk for talks with President Alyaksandr Lukashenka later in the week, without giving an exact date.Bolton’s trip to Minsk, which has not been confirmed by U.S. officials, would mark the highest-level U.S. government visit to Belarus in the past 20 years.The government of another former Soviet republic, Moldova, said earlier that Bolton would visit its capital, Chisinau on August 29.Bolton’s Eastern European tour will most likely irritate Moscow, which has been trying to restore its influence over former Soviet republics in recent years.
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Trump Assails Critics Over His G-7 Performance
President Donald Trump is fuming over mainstream U.S. news coverage of his attendance at the G-7 in France and defending his preference to host the leaders’ summit next year at one of his private resorts in the state of Florida.Much of the news and editorial coverage of the U.S. president at the summit in Biarritz, which ended Monday, has not cast Trump in a good light, spotlighting misstatements, perceived gaffes and lack of cooperation with the other world leaders on critical issues such as the environment.“The pity of the entire Group of 7 show was that it was part of a new normal in which the world’s major liberal democracies basically accept that they are out of sync with the president of the nation that should be leading their efforts to manage the world and its resources wisely and responsibly, but isn’t,” according to the editorial board of The New York Times, one of the newspapers delivered every morning to Trump’s desk.Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler wrote that during the president’s lengthy news conference at the conclusion of the G-7 meeting, Trump “made numerous false, misleading or inaccurate statements on a variety of issues.”Trump, who has repeatedly criticized both leading newspapers for its coverage of him, declared Tuesday morning on Twitter, “The G-7 was a great success for the USA and all. LameStream Media coverage bore NO relationship to what actually happened in France – FAKE NEWS. It was GREAT!.”The G-7 was a great success for the USA and all. LameStream Media coverage bore NO relationship to what actually happened in France – FAKE NEWS. It was GREAT!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) World leaders attend a session on climate change, in Biarritz, France, Aug. 26, 2019, on the third day of the annual G-7 Summit. The empty chair was reserved for U.S. President Donald Trump.Trump is also facing criticism for calling for Russia to be readmitted to the leaders’ summit without pre-conditions.“No other members of the group have proposed bringing Russia back into the fold, and as he suggested it — and they resisted — Trump underlined his isolated status,” Michael D’Antonio, author of the book “The Truth about Trump,” wrote in an opinion piece published on the website of CNN, another media entity Trump has frequently labeled “fake news.” Four Democratic Party senators on Tuesday sent Trump a letter expressing their strong opposition to having Russian President Vladimir Putin sitting along with the leaders of the group of industrialized democracies.“Readmitting Putin’s Russia to the G-7 would be contrary to our values and a clear abdication of the United States’ responsibilities as the world’s leading democracy,” concludes the letter signed by Jack Reed, Charles Schumer, Robert Menendez and Mark Warner.Trump told reporters Monday in Biarritz that next year’s G-7 summit, hosted by the United States, might be held at his private resort in Doral, Florida.FILE – A frame from video shows the Trump National Doral, in Doral, Florida, June 2, 2017.The president noted, among other attributes, the resort’s closeness to Miami’s international airport and its ample ballrooms and parking.Walter Shaub, former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, said the president pushing his own property for the event “raises the very real possibility that a corrupting influence tainted the procurement process.”Former Republican senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum called the president’s promotion of one of his private properties “inappropriate.”Trump “doesn’t do himself any good by doing things like this,” Santorum said on CNN. “Please, Mr. President. Stop. Please.”Subsequent media reports about the resort being a potential summit site pointed to a January 2017 Miami Heraldarticle about a settlement between the Trump National Doral Miami golf resort and a business traveler who had sued, alleging his upper body was devoured by voracious bedbugs.Trump also had a response to that on Tuesday.“No bedbugs at Doral. The Radical Left Democrats, upon hearing that the perfectly located (for the next G-7) Doral National MIAMI was under consideration for the next G-7, spread that false and nasty rumor. Not nice!” Trump tweeted.No bedbugs at Doral. The Radical Left Democrats, upon hearing that the perfectly located (for the next G-7) Doral National MIAMI was under consideration for the next G-7, spread that false and nasty rumor. Not nice!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 27, 2019
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Sudanese Activists Say Tribal Clashes Killed 37 in Port City
An eastern Sudanese port city remained volatile Tuesday after tribal clashes last week killed at least 37 people, including a child, activists said.The fighting in Port Sudan, in the Red Sea province, erupted last Thursday between the Bani Amer tribe and the displaced Nuba tribe.The Sudan Doctors Committee said late Monday at least 17 people of the 37 were killed by gunshots. More than 200 were wounded, including children.The clashes came just days after the formation of a power-sharing government by the pro-democracy movement and the generals who overthrew the country’s longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir.Sudan’s new joint military-civilian council on Sunday declared a state of emergency in Port Sudan, deployed troops to the area and sacked the provincial governor and its top security official.The state-run news agency said 700 troops with 100 vehicles arrived in Port Sudan to enforce security in the city.Maj. Gen. Bashir al-Mahdi said security in the Red Sea province was stable and that the dispute between the two tribes “is being settled peacefully,” according to the SUNA report.Activist Thouiba al-Gallad said dozens of houses were burned in the violence in Port Sudan, 825 kilometers (512 miles) east of the capital, Khartoum. The clashes subsided after authorities declared a state of emergency and deployed more troops in the streets on Monday.“There are lots of weapons,” said al-Gallad, warning that new fighting could flare up anytime.Rebel groups in the Nuba Mountains and eastern Sudan condemned the violence, saying the clashes were “disgrace to the Sudanese revolution.”The dispute between the two tribes — mainly over water but also other resources — started in May in the eastern city of al-Qadarif, where seven people were killed, before it flared up again last week in Port Sudan.
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