Robert Mugabe, who ruled the southern African nation of Zimbabwe for 37 years following the end of white minority rule in 1980, has died. He was 95 years old. Some hailed Mugabe as a liberation hero, but others say he destroyed the economy of what was once Africa’s breadbasket, rigged elections and terrorized his people for decades. VOA’s Anita Powell looks at his life and legacy.
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Month: September 2019
Dorian Bashes US Carolinas After Pounding Bahamas
Hurricane Dorian has hit the Southeastern U.S. states of North and South Carolina, bringing tornadoes and flooded roads.“We know we’re in for a long night and we’ll be eager to see the sunshine in the morning,” North Carolina’s Governor Roy Cooper told the Atlanta-based cable news network, CNN.Dorian is moving with maximum sustained winds of 155 kilometers per hour.The National Hurricane Center says “slow weakening” is expected of Dorian “during the next few days.” The center says Dorian is expected to remain “a powerful hurricane as its center moves near the coasts of South and North Carolina.”Forecasters do not expect Dorian to make a direct landfall Friday but will instead skirt the North Carolina coast, bringing life-threatening storm surges to North Carolina and southern Virginia before moving away from land.A couple embraces on a road destroyed by Hurricane Dorian, as they walk to the town of High Rock to try to find their relatives in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian, in Grand Bahama, Bahamas, Sept. 5, 2019.A potent stormDorian will remain a potent storm straight into the weekend, however, with tropical storm warnings posted as far north as Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, according to the National Hurricane Center.The Canadian Hurricane Center has issued a hurricane watch for all of Nova Scotia.Thousands of people in the Bahamas have begun the long, painful struggle to rebuild their lives following Hurricane Dorian.International search-and-rescue teams are spreading across Abaco and Grand Bahamas islands looking for survivors.Late Thursday, the death toll in the Bahamas had risen to 30.Bahamian Health Minister Duane Sands told the Associated Press he expects that number to become “significantly higher.”The French news agency AFP reported teams of men in masks and white protective suits were seen placing bodies enclosed in green body bags onto a flatbed truck.Homes have been transformed into matchsticks.“It’s hell everywhere,” said Brian Harvey, a Canadian who was on his sailboat when Dorian hit.A man carries boxes outside a looted supermarket after Hurricane Dorian hit the Abaco Islands in Marsh Harbour, Bahamas, Sept. 5, 2019.The U.S. Coast Guard and British Royal Navy have ships docked off the islands, and the United Nations is sending eight tons of ready-to-eat meals and satellite communications equipment.The Royal Caribbean and Walt Disney cruise lines, which usually carry happy tourists to Bahamian resorts, are instead using ships to deliver food, water, flashlights and other vital aid.Hampton University, a historically black college in Virginia, has offered free classes and room and board to students from the University of the Bahamas for the current fall semester.After the fall semester, any students who remain will be charged the regular rates.
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Families: ‘We Didn’t Get Justice Today’ in California ‘Ghost Ship’ Fire
A jury Thursday didn’t convict two men charged after flames tore through a party at a San Francisco Bay Area warehouse that had been converted into a mazelike artist space, stunning families of the 36 victims who had opposed a deal that would have put the pair behind bars.Jurors acquitted Max Harris of involuntary manslaughter but said they could not agree on whether to convict or acquit Derick Almena after deliberating over a two-week period.As the judge declared a mistrial, sobs and gasps erupted from family and friends of the victims who packed the courtroom for the emotional three-month trial. The men were accused of filling the building in Oakland with so much clutter that it trapped people at an electronic music party nearly three years ago.The Ghost Ship Warehouse after a fire that swept through the Oakland, Calif., building in this Dec. 3, 2016 photo..Mazelike building“I’m in shock,” said David Gregory, whose 20-year-old daughter Michela perished in the fast-moving fire. “We were hoping for justice, but we didn’t get justice today.”Michela Gregory and her 22-year-old boyfriend, Alex Vega, died when fire roared through the so-called Ghost Ship warehouse, which had been illegally converted into a live-work space for artists and held events.The building was packed with furniture, extension cords and other flammable material but had only two exits and no smoke detectors, fire alarms or sprinklers, prosecutors say.The blaze killed many young people trapped on the illegally constructed second floor. Prosecutors said the victims received no warning and had little chance to escape down a narrow, ramshackle staircase.Plea deal rejectedAlmena, 49, and Harris, 29, had pleaded no contest to manslaughter and were set to be sentenced last year to nine and six years in prison, respectively. But a judge threw out their pleas last year after many of the victims’ families objected.Vega’s mother, Mary, was angry about Thursday’s outcome but didn’t regret the plea agreement being tossed. She said she was glad that Harris served more than two years behind bars awaiting trial.“It’s something. Doesn’t matter, it’s not going to bring my son back,” Mary Vega said.Mary and Alberto Vega, relatives of Ghost Ship victim Alex Vega, embrace after a jury did not convict master tenant Derick Almena and acquitted Max Harris of involuntary manslaughter that killed 36 people in 2016, in Oakland, Calif., Sept. 5, 2019.Emotional tollProsecutors acknowledged the emotional toll of the trial on the victims’ loved ones and said they would meet with families and others to evaluate their next steps in the case against Almena. He remains in custody and is to be in court again Oct. 4.One of Almena’s attorneys, Brian Getz, broke into tears, while another, Tony Serra, said he was pained and anguished but vowed to win the case.“In the next trial, we’ll do better,” Serra said. “It may be hung again, or he may be acquitted, but we’re not going to lose.”Almena, 49, was the master tenant of the warehouse and Harris, 29, acted like a manager by collecting rent and settling household disputes, prosecutors said.In closing arguments, Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Autrey James said the men didn’t obtain permits because they didn’t want inspections and they violated the fire code by refusing to install safety devices.The defendants argued that city workers were to blame for not raising concerns about fire hazards and said the fire was arson. Investigators have never found its cause, meaning arson cannot be ruled out.
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South Africans and Others Take Stock Amid Violence
South Africa has begun assessing the toll of the week’s anti-immigrant violence, which, according to authorities, has claimed 10 lives, injured scores more, incited fear, hobbled business activity, and strained relations with other African countries. In a televised address Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa denounced the attacks that began Sunday, mobilized by South African truckers and others who contend that immigrants have taken job opportunities from the native-born. Individuals have been attacked, and homes and businesses ransacked or even ruined. South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa speaks during a session of the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town, South Africa, Sept. 5, 2019.”No amount of anger and frustration and grievance can justify such acts of wanton destruction and criminality,” the president said. “There can be no excuse for the attacks on homes and businesses of foreign nationals, just as there can be no excuse whatsoever for xenophobia or any form of intolerance.” Ramaphosa said two of the 10 dead were foreign nationals, though he did not disclose their country of origin. He also said 423 people had been arrested in the country’s northeastern Gauteng province, where both Johannesburg and the capital city, Pretoria, are located. Police patrols remained on high alert.In the Democratic Republic of Congo, people broke windows at the South African consulate, looted stores in the city of Lubumbashi and protested outside the country’s embassy in the capital, Kinshasa, the French news agency AFP reported. Fraying tiesIn Nigeria, security has been heightened around South African diplomatic missions and South African-owned businesses following demonstrations and apparent retaliatory attacks. On Wednesday, Pretoria temporarily shuttered its missions in Lagos and Abuja, seeking to protect staff and visitors.Telecom operator MTN closed stores in Nigeria after several attacks; likewise, grocer Shoprite Holdings halted operations at some of its stores at home as well as in Nigeria and Zambia.There are other signs of fraying relations between the continent’s two economic powerhouses. Nigeria, which has the larger population and economy, on Wednesday recalled its ambassador to South Africa, Kabiru Bala.Suleiman Dahiru, a former Nigerian envoy to Sudan, said the move indicated “a serious break in diplomacy.” He chided South Africa’s leader, saying Ramaphosa should have spoken out sooner and deployed security forces to halt anti-immigrant troublemakers.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari also registered his concern by sending an envoy to Pretoria, and by not sending a delegation to the World Economic Forum on Africa, a three-day event concluding Friday. The leaders of Rwanda, the DRC, and Malawi also declined to participate.Opposed to illegal immigrantsMeanwhile, in South Africa, a member of a group that helped initiate the anti-immigrant protests says talks are scheduled for Sunday with Police Minister Bheki Cele in Johannesburg. Cele’s office has not confirmed that meeting.The South African, who requested anonymity in order to speak more freely, said he belongs to the All Truck Drivers’ Foundation, which organized protests along with the group Mzansi Wethu. He said the two groups would continue to “peacefully” visit workplaces to eject migrants working without proper documents.”We are not encouraging anyone to attack these foreigners, but we want all foreigners working here illegally to leave the country,” he said, vowing the action would continue “until the government prevents people from coming here illegally.” ‘I’m so traumatized’Meanwhile, some immigrants expressed anxiety about remaining in the country.Emmanuel Manyere, a 45-year-old commercial truck driver from Zimbabwe, said he lost all his possessions during a home invasion Monday in Jeppestown, a Johannesburg suburb. “They took whatever they wanted and they burned everything — things like my refrigerator, radio, TV. And when I came from work, I found nothing,” said Manyere, who blamed a South African gang that claims foreigners take jobs and sell dangerous drugs to locals.A mob armed with spears, batons and axes run through Johannesburg’s Katlehong Township during anti-foreigner violence, Sept. 5, 2019.Manyere said his relatives, including five children, want him to return to them in Zimbabwe. For now, he’s staying with a friend. “As Africans, you can’t go back home without something” for the family, he said. “If I can raise some money, I’m thinking of going back home. I’m so traumatized.”Zimbabweans, seeking ways to compensate for the tanking economy at home, represent the largest group of migrants in South Africa.Somali native Ahmed Hussein also is unnerved. For a decade, he has sold groceries, clothes and electronics from his small shop near the edge of Johannesburg. He said he and three other Somalis and several others closed themselves in the shop when protesters arrived earlier this week.
“Then, hundreds of protesters attacked us at the same time and broke the doors. We couldn’t protect our properties, but we managed to run and save our lives,” Ahmed said. “We lost between and $80,000 and $90,000 worth of properties and goods, and some cash.”Another Somali trader, Mohamed Abndullaahi Diriye, said attackers looted and burned his store near Pretoria. “They also burned a truck we used to use to transport the goods,” he said, saying he lost merchandise worth close to $200,000. “Some of my colleagues were also injured in the attack but survived.”Diriye’s next move is unclear. “We came here as refugees when we fled from Somalia. We settled in, started businesses and had a better life until now, but the situation is now even worse than in Somalia,” he said. “The only option is to appeal to the Somali government to intervene in the situation and talk to the South African government.” Low-level anti-immigrant violence is a persistent threat in South Africa, peaking in 2008 with a series of attacks that left 67 people dead.
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US Stocks Soar After Announcement of New Trade Talks With China
U.S. markets soared Thursday on news the United States and China have agreed to hold new trade talks.
The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 372 points. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was also up more than 1 percent, while the Nasdaq composite rose nearly 2 percent.
New tariffs on U.S. and Chinese imports and uncertainty about whether there would be another high-level meeting have rattled investors’ nerves in recent months.
China announced early Thursday that Washington would host new senior-level talks in early October.
Beijing’s commerce ministry said Vice Premier Liu He, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin agreed to the meeting during a phone call.
The trade representative’s office did not give a date, saying only that there would be a meeting in “the coming weeks.”
Both sides will hold deputy-level talks this month, which China said would “lay the groundwork for meaningful progress.” There have been no top-level talks between the U.S. and China since July.
In the meantime, both sides continued their tit-for-tat trade war this week.
President Donald Trump imposed 15% tariffs on about $112 billion worth of Chinese goods this past Sunday, meaning U.S. shoppers can look for higher prices on some foods, sports equipment, sportswear, musical instruments and furniture.
China has countered with tariffs as high as 10% on U.S. goods including corn, pork, marble and bicycle tires.
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8chan Owner Pledges Changes in House Testimony About Links to Mass Shootings
8chan, the online message board linked to several recent mass shootings, plans to restrict parts of the website during a “state of emergency,” site owner Jim Watkins told a U.S. House panel in a written statement. Watkins completed his closed-door deposition Thursday, said Representative Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat who chairs the Homeland Security Committee, and Ranking Republican Mike Rogers of Alabama. The panel last month subpoenaed the American living in the Philippines to answer its questions about whether the website “amplifies extremist views, leading to the radicalization of its users.” Watkins “provided vast and helpful information to the committee about the structure, operation and policies of 8Chan and his other companies. We look forward to his continued cooperation with the committee as he indicated his desire to do so during today’s deposition,” they said in a joint statement. “If 8chan comes back online, it will be done when 8chan develops additional tools to counter illegal content under United States law,” Watkins said in the statement released by his lawyer. “If 8chan returns, staff would implement a way to restrict certain parts of the website during a state of emergency, in which case any board in question would be put in a read-only mode until it would be deemed safe enough to enable posting again,” it said. 8chan owner Jim Watkins (YouTube).Critics last month pressed tech companies to shun 8chan, which in its Twitter profile describes its location as “The Darkest Reaches of the Internet” and has become a hotbed for white extremist content. Thompson and Rogers said last month that the shooting deaths of 22 people at an El Paso Walmart store was “at least the third act of supremacist violence linked to your website this year.” The El Paso gunman allegedly posted a four-page statement on 8chan before his attack, while the site was also apparently used this year by the shooters who attacked two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, and a synagogue in Poway, California, lawmakers told Watkins in a letter last month. Benjamin Barr, a lawyer for Watkins, said in a statement to the committee, that “8chan has never tolerated illegal speech and has a consistent track record of working with law enforcement agencies when appropriate.” Watkins said 8chan “has worked responsibly with law enforcement agencies when unprotected speech is discovered on its platform. No single platform can sensibly prevent all hateful, illegal or threatening speech — it can only act in due time to remove it.” The company did remove some posts soon after mass shootings in Texas, California and New Zealand, he said. But Watkins added, “my company has no intention of deleting constitutionally protected hate speech. I feel the remedy for this type of speech is counter speech, and I’m certain that this is the view of the American justice system.” The message board has been voluntarily down since late August.
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Observers Cry Foul Over Kyiv’s Release of Key Witness in Flight MH17 Probe
This story originated in Last week, a Ukrainian court released Vyshinsky on his own recognizance as he awaits trial on charges of high treason that were brought against him in 2018.Tsemakh’s release also comes a day after a group of 40 members of the European Parliament wrote a letter urging Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy not to include Tsemakh in any deal, calling him a “key suspect” in the missile launch that killed all 298 Flight MH17 passengers and crew, most of whom were Malaysia-bound Dutch nationals.Officials from an international Dutch-led investigation have voiced concerns that transferring Tsemakh to Russian soil will make it impossible to question him about the case.Peace vs. prosecutionInternational observers such as Activists of Ukrainian nationalist groups protest a court decision to release on bail Volodymyr Tsemakh, suspected of involvement in the downing of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in 2014, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sept. 5, 2019.Security analyst Christo Grozev, with research group Bellingcat, first reported that Tsemakh might be released as part of the prisoner exchange. Grozev says Kremlin demands for Tsemakh’s release are part of a broader effort to delegitimize the MH17 investigation.”It’s not going to change the amount of evidence the investigation team has gathered — the proof will still be there — but there will be significant damage done to the perceived legitimacy of the court procedures, or at least that’s what the Kremlin will try to argue,” Grozev told VOA.Without an indicted suspect or witness to take the stand in a Netherlands courtroom, Grozev said, Russia won’t need to send a legal team, giving the court procedures the appearance of a one-sided case.Three Russians and a Ukrainian were indicted over the downing of flight MH17, and court proceedings in the Netherlands are scheduled for March. But the four suspects most likely will be tried in absentia.Although Tsemakh was not one of the four indicted, Grozev calls him the only person who had been in Ukrainian custody and who could firmly link high-ranking Russian military personnel to the 2014 disappearance.”A lot of (valuable information) is already objectively there, but he can provide information about the chain of command, which is something that is not completely clear to the investigation,” Grozev said. “He can provide information about who were the people that allowed for this to happen, allowed for the [Russian-made] Buk [anti-aircraft missile system] with a crew to be handed over.”He would have provided confirmation about the people that were members of this crew,” Grozev added, explaining that individual soldiers would not be indicted.”The Dutch investigators will be looking for the chain of command, people who gave the instructions, and not the soldiers.”Threats and denialsRussia has always denied responsibility for shooting down the commercial passenger flight and claimed last year that the Buk missile came from Ukrainian army arsenals, but never provided solid evidence.FILE – Wreckage of the MH17 airplane is seen after the presentation of the final report into the crash of July 2014 of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine in Gilze Rijen, the Netherlands, Oct. 13, 2015.The MH17 investigation team, made up of detectives and prosecutors from the Netherlands, Malaysia, Australia, Belgium and Ukraine, last year said that it was convinced that the Buk missile system used to shoot down flight MH17 came from a Russian army brigade.The Netherlands and Australia have said they hold Moscow responsible for providing the Buk missile system.Conflict between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed forces has killed an estimated 13,000 people in eastern Ukraine since 2014. Although a cease-fire deal ended major conflict there in 2015, small-scale clashes still occur regularly.The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) apprehended Tsemakh on June 27 in the Donetsk regional city of Snizhne, which is held by Moscow-backed separatists and is 20 kilometers from the Russian border.According to the Dutch-led investigation, the Buk missile was fired six kilometers south of Snizhne.TV footage obtained by Current Time, a Russian-language network run by VOA and Radio Free Europe, showed Tsemakh claiming that he was in charge of an anti-aircraft unit and that he helped hide the missile system in July 2014.He also shows the interviewer where the Boeing-777 civilian airliner went down.
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Sudan Forms First Cabinet Since Fall of Bashir
Sudan’s prime minister announced on Thursday the formation of the first government since the overthrow of long-term ruler Omar Hassan al-Bashir in April. The government was formed as part of a three-year power-sharing deal signed last month between the military and civilian parties and protest groups. Abdalla Hamdok announced the names of 18 ministers in the new cabinet and said he would name two more later. “[The new government] will start its work immediately in a harmonious and collective way,” Hamdok told a press conference in Khartoum on Thursday evening. “Today, we start a new phase in our history.” The new government is an important step in transition away from nearly 30 years under Bashir, when Sudan was afflicted by internal conflicts, international isolation and deep economic problems. Military-civilian frictionHowever, the months since Bashir’s fall have been marked by tension between the powerful security forces and civilian groups that are pushing for democracy, reform and justice for those killed during crackdowns on protests. The announcement of the cabinet had been held up by haggling over positions. Most of the 18 ministers announced on Thursday were approved
earlier in the week. They include Asmaa Abdallah, who becomes the country’s first female foreign minister, and Ibrahim Elbadawi, a former World Bank economist who will serve as finance minister. Madani Abbas Madani, a leader of the civilian coalition that negotiated the transition deal with the military, will be minister of industry and trade. General Jamal Omar, a member of the Transitional Military Council that took over from Bashir, was appointed defense minister.
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Activists See European Shortfalls in Battling Domestic Violence
The stories are haunting: A young woman beaten by her partner before being set on fire in front of her 7-year-old daughter. A photo of a smiling scientist whose body is stuffed into a suitcase that is dumped into a river.
These are just two examples in France of so-called femicides — women killed by their partners or family members. The country’s 101st case this year happened Sunday, when a 92-year-old woman was beaten to death by her husband.
Now, the government is declaring war on domestic violence, announcing measures this week ranging from planned legislation to allow electronic tagging of suspected perpetrators to designation of millions of dollars to build more emergency shelters for victims.
“For centuries, women have been buried under our indifference, our denial, our incapacity to face this horror,” Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said at a summit in Paris kicking off weeks of national consultations on the subject.
With an average of one woman killed every three days, France has a femicide rate that is among Europe’s highest, according to available data from the Eurostat statistical agency. But domestic violence remains widespread across the region, activists say, and other governments have yet to sound the alarm. A woman holds a victim’s picture as she marches with other women denouncing violence against women, on the opening day of a multiparty debate on domestic violence, in Paris, Sept. 3, 2019.A European issue
“One in three women over [age] 15 experiences physical or sexual violence in her life,” said Irene Rosales, policy and campaigns officer for the Brussels-based European Women’s Lobby, which represents more than 2,000 NGOs across the European Union. “This is a European issue, and it has to be addressed at a European level.”
In a number of countries, data on femicides are spotty or nonexistent, she said, suggesting governments are not treating the phenomenon with the seriousness it deserves. The region also lacks comparable benchmarks to track progress, Rosales added.
Moreover, roughly half a dozen EU countries have yet to ratify the Istanbul Convention, a key international treaty to combat violence against women.
“They’re stuck in negotiations on ratifying it,” said Rosales, “which shows there’s no political will to implement and be serious about it.”
European Commission spokesman Christian Wigand said some EU countries have been slow to ratify the treaty because of “misunderstandings and misconceptions” that need to be worked on. But he said Europe’s executive arm has prioritized raising awareness about domestic violence, earmarking millions of dollars for the cause in recent years.
“There has been progress,” he said.
Bright spots
Activists also point to bright spots. Spain — which has recorded more than 1,000 femicides in two decades — is training hundreds of judges on gender violence. Other countries, including Belgium and Sweden, have embedded consent-based definitions of rape in their legal codes. Even so, Sweden and several other Nordic countries have legal loopholes making it difficult to report and punish sex crimes, according to an April Amnesty International report. Badges showing an emergency phone number created to fight domestic violence are pictured, Sept. 3, 2019, at the hotel Matignon, the French prime minister’s official residence in Paris, at the outset of a multiparty debate on domestic violence.In France, the government’s new campaign against domestic violence has drawn kudos from some quarters. Family members of victims praised Philippe this week for putting words to unspeakable crimes. But others are disappointed at the modest funding announced to date.
“We came, we saw and we were super disappointed,” said feminist Caroline de Haas, who attended the government summit. “We expected unprecedented mobilization against women-based violence. Major overarching policies. And especially, we expected financing — and that’s not the case.”
Activists like Rosales also hope for more action from Brussels. Incoming European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, Germany’s onetime family minister, has proposed adding violence against women to a list of EU crimes.
“That’s something we are really going to follow and try to make a reality,” Rosales said, “and hold her accountable.”
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Farms Destroyed As Ghana Tries to Raise Cocoa Incomes
Ghana, famous for its cocoa, supplies about 20 percent of the world’s market. This year, the government announced plans to raise cocoa incomes, but cocoa bean farms are being destroyed, with or without the farmers’ consent, as landlords end their leases early in favor of other crops, development or mining. Farmer Ama Serwah supported her children and grandchildren by growing cocoa and other crops on leased land. This month, a bulldozer cleared the land, as well as the livelihood of Serwah’s family. Farmers believe the land was cleared to make way for a cattle farm.Cocoa farmer David Servor looks at the land that once held his cocoa farm, which was recently destroyed, in Asikesu, Ghana. (S. Knott/VOA)In Asikesu, a cocoa-growing region of Ghana, hectares of cocoa trees like Serwah’s have been destroyed. Farmers like Serwah have toiled for years growing their crops, on land they do not own or have much control over.Serwah says the compensation she received was not enough and now she does not know how she will feed her family.Another farmer, David Servor, also surveys land he once farmed, using the profits to help pay his children’s school fees. Now, he has been told to leave his home.”About two weeks now I have not had sleep,” he said. “Thinking, thinking, thinking, because all what I have done in my lifetime has gone forever. And it’s like I’m alive but I’m dead.”Ghana’s cocoa industry is regulated by a government body that sets the price the growers earn from their beans.Asikesu is a cocoa-growing region in Ghana, but farmers who do not own the land they farm are losing their land to other developments. (S. Knott/VOA)Earlier this year, Ghana added a $400 “living income differential” fee per ton of cocoa beans sold on the market, with the aim of improving livelihoods for farmers.The president of the Concerned Farmers Association, Nana Oboadie Opambour Boateng Bonsu, says ensuring a sustainable future for Ghana’s cocoa farmers means protecting the crop on which they rely.”This is a serious challenge and it’s something that we have been fighting for for so long, but it seems the government has put wax in its ears because government is not all that serious about this cocoa issue,” Bonsu said.Farmers losing their land is a major problem, Ghana’s cocoa regulator says, and often the ownership structure of land is the issue, where farmers lease land from chiefs who later take it back when enticed by other developments.While the regulatory agency works with chiefs to combat the practice, it does not have the right to tell landowners what to do with their property. However, officials say it offers legal representation to farmers to address compensation rates.
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Cameroon Villagers Say Chinese Miners Are Ruining Local Environment
Villagers near Meiganga, a town in northern Cameroon, are protesting against Chinese gold miners for allegedly ruining their land. The villagers say they are poorer than before the Chinese arrived, with their farms and forests now destroyed. Area cattle ranchers and farmers say that if nothing is done to save them from Chinese miners, famine may strike their locality soon. Their spokesman, rancher Mamoudu Poro, 54, says the miners destroy farms and do not bother to cover holes and trenches they dig on roads and ranches before leaving. He says they want the Chinese to build the roads they destroyed and fill the trenches they dug, give them electricity and at least a school and a market before leaving. A village settlement near Meiganga, Cameroon. (M. Kindzeka/VOA)Until 2014, Meiganga and surrounding villages cultivated maize, beans and groundnuts and produced cattle for markets in Cameroon, Nigeria and the Central African Republic.
Then, 300 new mining sites producing gold, zinc, nickel and other materials were discovered in the region. Among the explorers were Chinese companies.
More than a hundred of the companies’ miners work in and around Meiganga. They use tractors and equipment that clean stones and sift soil, allowing them to detect gold faster than locals who use manual tools. Locals are paid about $2 per day to work at the Chinese mining sites.
Cameroon’s minister of mines, Gabriel Dodo Ndoke, says the complaints of the villagers are legitimate. He says he has asked the companies to respect the terms of their contract with the government. Gabriel Dodo Ndoke, Cameroon’s minister of mines. (M. Kindzeka/VOA)Ndoke says the population suffers as a result of environmental degradation and does not benefit as expected because their mineral resources are exploited in a disorganized manner. He says he has given instructions to all exploitation companies to make sure they respect environmental laws and stop destroying farms and cattle ranches, which for now are the only sources of earnings for the people of the area.
Officials with the China Mining Company in Meiganga declined to be interviewed about the allegations. However, company official Hu Long said the firm has assisted communities by providing aid to hospitals and building or refurbishing schools when solicited. He says the company also employs about 100 youths. Mining operations have found gold, zinc, nickel and other materials in the Meiganga, Cameroon, area. (M. Kindzeka/VOA)This is not the first time Cameroonian villagers have protested against alleged exploitation by the Chinese. In 2016, residents of eastern Cameroon had conflicts with small-scale Chinese gold miners who had been there for six years. The local miners said the Chinese had taken away their livelihoods and were not living up to promises to develop the area.
Cameroon has not officially announced how much it gains from the mining business but says it contributes a significant amount to the country’s gross domestic product.
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Pope Stresses Hope, Peace, Reconciliation in Divided Mozambique
Hope, peace, and reconciliation were the three main pillars of Pope Francis’s message to lawmakers and youth Thursday during his first papal visit to Mozambique.Thousands of young Catholics packed a Maputo stadium to hear that message in a nation that, for decades, has struggled with conflict.The pontiff was greeted Wednesday night by President Filipe Nyusi, who is running for re-election in October in a contentious poll in which rival parties have already begun to sling mud at each other.Pope Francis waves to wellwishers as he leaves after a meeting at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in the capital Maputo, Mozambique Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019.But on Thursday, the Pope did not pander to Mozambique’s leadership when pointing out their higher responsibility to honor a recent peace deal. Both sides in the peace talks have recently accused the other of violating the fragile deal, signed in August.“As we know, peace is not merely absence of war but a tireless commitment — especially on the part of those of us charged with greater responsibility — to recognize, protect and concretely restore the dignity, so often overlooked or ignored, of our brothers and sisters, so that they can see themselves as the principal protagonists of the destiny of their nation,” Francis said.Papal visits always come with plenty of pomp. The pope was greeted throughout with dancing, music, red carpets, bands and even some plentifully plumed peacocks at the presidential palace.But those who came to hear him say they took deep meaning from his words. Thirty-four-year-old civil society campaigner Brenda Campos says she took to heart his entreaties for Mozambicans to look beyond their differences.Nuns take photos as Pope Francis presides over a meeting at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, in Maputo, Mozambique, Sept. 5, 2019.“His key message is that diversity is important, that you need to be united, even though we have diversity in our country,” she told VOA. “It doesn’t matter. We have to have unity if we want to reconcile, if we want peace, if we want to view the better Mozambique.”The pope will leave for Madagascar on Friday, and from there, to Mauritius. But Mozambicans say his message will linger here for a long time.Maputo resident and seminary student DeClerk Nazare, 24, says the pontiff gave him a lot of material on which to reflect, spiritually and academically. But, he said, on this colorful, triumphant day, it all came down to one thing.“Everyone is happy with the visit of the Holy Father in Mozambique,” he said.
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Trump Creates Storm of His Own With Repeated Claims of Hurricane Threat to Alabama
U.S. President Donald Trump has put himself in the eye of a storm over his comments about the path of a hurricane.
Most of Trump’s recent tweets about Hurricane Dorian, now lashing the eastern U.S. seaboard, have focused on the southern state of Alabama – which weather forecasters say was never in the storm’s direct path.
The president, however, has been arguing otherwise and hurling his “fake news” invective at media pointing out the discrepancy.
Even network television forecasters and government meteorologists – who typically eschew being drawn into political controversies – have firmly rebutted the president.
Trump remains obdurate.
“Alabama was going to be hit or grazed, and then Hurricane Dorian took a different path (up along the East Coast). The Fake News knows this very well. That’s why they’re the Fake News!” said the president in his latest tweet about the matter, adding more fuel to the storm of controversy.Alabama was going to be hit or grazed, and then Hurricane Dorian took a different path (up along the East Coast). The Fake News knows this very well. That’s why they’re the Fake News!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2019Trump faced further media mockery after he displayed an old National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hurricane forecast map in the Oval Office on Wednesday that had been altered with a pen to extend the projected path of the hurricane into southern Alabama.
Some news reports quoted anonymous White House officials saying the president himself had made the alteration with a “Sharpie” felt marker.White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham countered by tweeting an image of a hurricane map on the CNN network that had Alabama mistakenly labeled as Mississippi, a neighboring state.“Hi @CNN, I know you guys are busy analyzing lines on a map, but perhaps you use your time to study up on U.S. geography?,” she wrote.Hi @CNN, I know you guys are busy analyzing lines on a map, but perhaps you use your time to study up on U.S. geography? pic.twitter.com/kVgifHfPK4— Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) September 5, 2019CNN responded on Twitter to the White House Press Secretary Thursday afternoon.”Thanks, Stephanie. Yes we made a mistake (which we fixed in less than 30 seconds). And now we are admitting it. You all should try it sometime.”Thanks, Stephanie. Yes, we made a mistake (which we fixed in less than 30 seconds). And now we are admitting it. You all should try it sometime.— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) September 5, 2019Trump, later on Wednesday, was questioned by reporters about the change to the chart he had displayed.“In all cases, Alabama was hit — if not lightly, in some cases pretty hard. Georgia, Alabama — it was a different route. They actually gave that a 95 percent chance probability,” responded the president.
Pressed about the hand-drawn ‘Sharpie’ extension, Trump replied: “I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.”
Subsequent newscasts pointed out that altering a U.S. government weather forecast is a federal crime.
The manipulated map, which made #sharpiegate a trending topic on Twitter and generated satirical memes, also became fodder for TV comedians late Wednesday.
“I’m impressed that Trump can locate Alabama on a map,” Trevor Noah said on Comedy Central’s ‘Daily Show.’ “But still, the president of the United States just changed a map with a Sharpie to make himself look right, and he thought we wouldn’t notice.”
“Before I did that, it was a Category 5,” said The Late Show’ host Stephen Colbert on CBS, mimicking Trump. “Now, she’s a Category 10.”
On ABC, Jimmy Kimmel remarked, “Not only do we have fake news, we now have fake weather, too.”
Meanwhile, Dorian has taken a northward turn, hugging the Atlantic Coast and battering the Carolinas with storm surge flooding, damaging winds and tornadoes.
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Will Boris Johnson’s Election Gamble Pay Off?
No one has ever seen the like before in modern times. Britain’s storied Parliament has made plenty of history over the centuries — from the rhetorical clashes between the great Victorian rivals William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli to William Wilberforce’s campaign to prohibit British ships trafficking in slaves to the Americas.The chamber of the House of Commons echoed with Winston Churchill’s resounding wartime speeches galvanizing the British to stay the course in the fight of the nation’s life against Adolf Hitler.“Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous states have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail,” he told the Commons on June 4, 1940, days after the British forces were plucked from the beaches of Dunkirk.Britain’s opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn poses with members of his shadow cabinet following their meeting in Salford, Britain, Sept. 2, 2019.On Wednesday, Johnson accused opposition parties of running scared. But according to the leader of Britain’s main opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, Johnson’s ballot offer was “a bit like an offer of an apple to Snow White from the Wicked Queen… offering the poison of a no-deal [Brexit].”For all of Johnson’s taunts about opposition parties being afraid of how British voters will judge them, the truth is there isn’t a sitting lawmaker who’s not fearful of what an election may hold.Despite the opposition parties seeing off Johnson’s bid midweek to hold an election on October 15, a snap poll is only weeks away. Once the legislation blocking a no-deal Brexit has received the queen’s assent, the opposition parties will lift their bar on an election.Can Johnson win it?Few pollsters are ready to hazard a firm prediction; many see a hung parliament as the most likely outcome. Johnson’s game plan is to focus on voters who want to leave the EU. His mass expulsion of rebel lawmakers was carried out to kill off the idea that the Conservatives are not fully committed to Brexit.Speaking in the Commons after his expulsion from the Conservatives, Ken Clarke said it was clear that Johnson would campaign on the basis that he’s been thwarted by “wicked continental politicians and by MPs in the House of Commons who have no sense of the true national interest.” In other words, an election couched in terms of the “people versus parliament” with Johnson casting himself as the hero, the only one ready to act on the will of voters as expressed in the 2016 Brexit referendum.Johnson’s advisers say he has no choice but to take that approach. Their biggest fear is that the newly-minted Brexit party of Nigel Farage, the flamboyant Euroskeptic, will end up depriving Johnson of an electoral victory by splitting the pro-Brexit vote. Farage has urged Johnson to enter into an electoral pact with him. The Brexit party stormed to victory in the European parliamentary elections in May, topping the poll.Farage says if Johnson doesn’t agree to a pact, pro-EU opposition parties will emerge stronger from a snap election as a result of the fratricidal fight between the Brexit party and the Conservatives. Johnson has rejected calls for a pact with Farage, saying he doesn’t believe in doing such election deals.A pact with the Brexit party may be a step too far for many old-fashioned Conservative voters and constituency parties, some of which have expressed strong disapproval of the expulsion of Soames, Clarke and Hammond along with a bevy of other former ministers, which in effect has been a purge of the moderate wing of the party.Some local Conservative chairmen compare the mass expulsion to the previous biggest split to hit the party when in 1846 more than 200 Conservatives abandoned Robert Peel and voted against him to maintain tariffs. The Conservatives were in the wilderness of political opposition after that for three decades.Some pro-Johnson Conservatives say Johnson has done enough already to clip the wings of the Brexit party. Johnson, they say, is deft at connecting with “Middle England” — with the tweed-wearing middle-class Conservative faithful in the rural shires of the country, who are incensed that Britain has not already left the EU.He will be able, they contend, to match the blustery Farage for campaigning nous.“He has squeezed the Brexit party vote enough to lock them out of contention from winning any seats themselves,” according to Alex Dawson, a former Downing Street adviser. He says the pro-EU vote looks more endangered, split as it is between Labour and the Liberal Democrats.But writing in The Times newspaper Thursday, Dawson, who worked on the last three general elections, warns “these contests are always easier on paper than they are in practice, and they never go as you expect.” He says tactical voting can upset the best laid plans as it did in elections in 2015 and 2017.Some pollsters agree with him, saying anti-Brexit and anti-Conservative voters are shrewd enough to decide on who is the most likely candidate between the Labour and Liberal Democrat ones on offer in their districts to defeat the Conservative candidate.FILE – President Donald Trump talks to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House, Aug. 9, 2019, in Washington.Johnson’s camp says tactical voting won’t be enough to deny Johnson a win. His loyalists say he’s eager to remake the Conservative party much as U.S. President Donald Trump has refashioned the Republican Party, and they are buoyed by opinion polls, which, on average, put him eight points ahead of Labour.But Britain appears to be moving into a multi-party electoral universe — the duopoly of the Conservatives and Labour may be over. In Scotland, the Scottish Nationalist Party is riding high in the polls and could well claim half a dozen of the seats the Conservatives will be defending north of the border.And the Liberal Democrats, who’ve been enriched by Conservative and Labour defectors, are in a much stronger position than two years ago and turning themselves into an inclusive rallying point for voters fed up with both Labour and the Conservatives.Pollster John Curtice believes that unless Johnson scoops up all the pro-Brexit vote then the election engineered by Johnson “might prove to have been too much of a gamble after all.”
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Trump Insists Iran Wants to Negotiate with US
Despite tensions between the United States and Iran, President Donald Trump says a negotiated solution is possible. Trump told reporters Wednesday that Iranians “want to talk” and make a deal. His remarks came a day after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said his country will never negotiate with the U.S. but may consider multilateral talks if Washington removes all sanctions imposed on Iran. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports Washington announced new measures against Tehran Wednesday.
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China Urges Release of Huawei Exec With New Canadian Envoy
China urged Canada to “reflect on its mistakes” and immediately release a detained Huawei executive in comments Thursday on the appointment of a new Canadian ambassador to the country.Relations between China and Canada were severely damaged when Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei and the daughter of its founder, was arrested at Vancouver’s airport last Dec. 1 at the request of the U.S.“At present, China-Canada relations are facing serious difficulties,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a daily briefing. “We urge the Canadian side to reflect on its mistakes, take seriously China’s stern position and concerns, and immediately release Meng Wanzhou and let her return safely.”Geng said China hopes the new envoy, Dominic Barton, can play an active role in returning ties to a “normal track” and take China’s concerns seriously. He said Canada is responsible for the current tensions.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau fired previous Ambassador John McCallum after he said it would be “great” if the U.S. dropped its extradition request for Meng. She is wanted by the U.S. on fraud charges and is currently under house arrest in her multi-million dollar Vancouver home.In apparent retaliation less than two weeks after her arrest, China detained two Canadians on suspicion of stealing state secrets. Former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor have been denied access to lawyers and their family members since Dec. 10.China has also placed restrictions on various Canadian exports to China, including canola and meat. In January, China handed a death sentence to a convicted Canadian drug smuggler in a sudden retrial.Barton, former global managing director of consulting firm McKinsey & Co., worked in Asia for 12 years and served on the board of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. He also was an adjunct professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, according to online biographies.China has also appointed a new envoy to Canada, Cong Peiwu. Cong previously headed the foreign ministry’s office on North American affairs.
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US Woman Arrested at Manila Airport With Baby Hidden in Bag
An American woman who attempted to carry a 6-day-old baby out of the Philippines hidden inside a sling bag has been arrested at Manila’s airport and charged with human trafficking, officials said Thursday.They said Jennifer Erin Talbot was able to pass through the airport immigration counter on Wednesday without declaring the baby boy but was intercepted at the boarding gate by airline personnel.Talbot, from Ohio, was unable to produce any passport, boarding pass or government permits for the baby, airport officials said.Clad in an orange detainee shirt and in handcuffs, Talbot, 43, was presented to reporters in Manila on Thursday. She kept her head low and appeared at times to be on the verge of tears. She did not issue any statement.Talbot had planned to board a Delta Air Lines flight to the United States with the baby, airport officials said.“There was really an intention to hide the baby,” immigration official Grifton Medina said by telephone.After discovering the baby, airline staff called immigration personnel, who arrested Talbot at the airport. She was later turned over to the National Bureau of Investigation and the baby was given to government welfare personnel.The investigation bureau said Talbot presented an affidavit at the airport, allegedly from the baby’s mother, giving consent for the baby to travel to the U.S., but it had not been signed by the mother.Officials said no government travel approval had been issued for the baby, prompting them to file human trafficking charges against her. The charges carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.U.S. Embassy officials have been notified of her arrest.Officials are searching for the baby’s parents, who have been charged under a child protection law.
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British PM Boris Johnson’s Brother Resigns from Parliamentary and Ministerial Posts
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered yet another blow Thursday when his brother announced his resignation as a junior minister and from parliament.Jo Johnson tweeted his resignations were due to conflicts between between family and Britain.”In recent weeks I’ve been torn between family loyalty and the national interest — its an unresolvable tension & time for others to take on my roles as MP (Member of Parliament) & Minister,” he said.It was not immediately clear if Jo Johnson would leave parliament immediately or not seek reelection.His resignation follows his brother’s recent expulsion of 21 lawmakers from the Conservative Party, which remains divided over the prime minister’s strategy to withdraw from the European Union on October 31 with or without an agreement.Britain’s Minister for Exiting the European Union Stephen Barclay speaks during debate in the House of Commons in London, Sept. 4, 2019.Boris Johnson was dealt another setback Wednesday when the House of Commons voted in favor of a measure forcing the government to ask the EU to delay Brexit another three months if there is no exit deal by Johnson’s October 31 deadline.This was Johnson’s third major Brexit defeat in two days.The measure now goes to Parliament’s upper chamber, the House of Lords, where pro-Brexit lawmakers are planning to defeat it by filibustering.A number of Conservatives joined opposition lawmakers Tuesday in voting to seize the Brexit matter from Johnson.Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks in in the Parliament in London, Britain, Sept. 3, 2019, in this still image taken from Parliament TV footage.The prime minister says lawmakers have taken away his ability to be able to negotiate with the EU.”It’s therefore a bill without precedent in the history of this house, seeking as it does to force the prime minister with a pre-drafted letter to surrender in international negotiations,” Johnson said Wednesday.”I refuse to do this…this house has left no other option than letting the public decide who they want as prime minister.”Johnson says he will propose October 15 as the date for a new election, but it is uncertain whether the motion will pass. He would need the backing of two-thirds of Britain’s 650 members of Parliament to trigger a poll.U.S. President Donald Trump expressed confidence in Johnson, saying Wednesday “he knows how to win.” He added, “Don’t worry about him. He’s going to be ok.”British economists say leaving the EU without a deal would create havoc to the British economy and possibly bring on a recession.Anti-Brexit protesters demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament in London, Sept. 4, 2019.Even if lawmakers succeed in thwarting Johnson, the Brexit endgame is far from over. An election sometime this year may be the most likely outcome of the arcane parliamentary maneuvers this week, one that could see Britain’s storied Conservative Party split, with several former ministers, including a former deputy prime minister, forming a breakaway independent Conservative Party.It isn’t often that opposition parties seek to avoid a general election, but Monday Johnson’s rivals met and agreed to make as their priority the passing of legislation to prevent a so-called no-deal Brexit, rather than trying to oust the country’s minority Conservative government and trigger an election.Pro-EU lawmakers, and others who fear the economic damage of a no-deal Brexit, say Johnson could subsequently shift the election to after Oct. 31, the date for Britain to leave the EU without a deal. That would snatch from the Commons the chance to thwart him by asking Brussels to extend the so-called Article 50 deadline set for Britain to relinquish membership of the EU.Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labor Party who previously had wanted an early election, has also signed on to the unity move by the other opposition parties and Conservative rebels, saying, “We are working together to stop this government crashing out on the 31st of October.”
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Native American Hemp Growers Hope to Cash In on Super Plant
The 2018 Farm Bill legalized industrial hemp and gave Native American tribes, as sovereign entities, the same rights as states to control and regulate its production. This month, tribal farmers across the nation will harvest their first legitimate crop, hoping to cash in on a global market worth billions of dollars. But whether their product will make it to market this year is still up in the air.In early June, Oglala Lakota tribe member Alex White Plume gathered together three generations of his extended family to plant their first-ever legal industrial hemp crop on land he owns on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.After Photo shows Oglala Lakota hemp growers Alex and Debra White Plume standing in their hemp field on the Pine Ridge Reservation, S.D., August 29, 2019.In 1970, the federal government banned the growing of industrial hemp, once a legal crop in the U.S. The Controlled Substances Act made no distinction between hemp, an agricultural product, and marijuana, a drug. Telling the differenceBoth hemp and marijuana are varieties of the cannabis plant. While they may look and smell alike, they differ chemically. Marijuana (Cannabis indica) contains as much as 20% or 25% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the chemical that induces a “high.” Hemp (Cannabis sativa) contains less than .3 percent THC. One of the most versatile plants on the planet, hemp’s seeds, fibers and oils can be used to make health supplements, paper, fabric, biodegradable plastic, biofuels and even In this file photo, a young girl rides her bike on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwestern S.D. on Tuesday , Jan. 10, 2006. At least 60% of Pine Ridge homes are substandard, lacking electricity, running water or sewage systems. (AP Photo…The 2014 Farm Bill loosened restrictions, allowing hemp to be grown for research purposes only in states that made it legal. The new law allowed Indian tribes to partner with various states or universities to cultivate hemp on tribal land.In mid-December 2018, Congress passed an Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, right, looks over a pack made of hemp with Rob Bondurant, left, and Mark Galbraith of Osprey Packs of Cortez, Colorado, in the company’s exhibit at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market in Denver, Colorado, June 19, 2019.“So, Alex White Plume is in the limbo stage right now,” she said. “Alex is growing — and please put this in quotes — ‘against legal advice.’” Marks admits the USDA faces challenges, the greatest of which is coming up with a nationwide THC testing standard. Currently, several tests have been developed, but they vary in reliability, and an inaccurate result could force the grower into destroying his entire crop.This week, White Plume says his plants will have fully matured, and he’s planning to take a sample of his crop to a testing facility six hours away in Boulder, Colorado. If his plants test within legal limits and the weather — of late unpredictable — holds, his harvest could yield 2,700 kilos of product.With the price of hemp across the country at about $85 a pound, he and his family stand to gain — or lose — a lot.Either way, White Plume said he’s turning over the hemp growing to his grandson next year.“I’m just getting too old,” he laughed.
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MH17 Suspect to be Released
A court in Kyiv has released Volodymyr Tsemakh, a suspect in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) five years ago, as Russian President Vladimir Putin said a prisoner swap with Ukraine is nearing completion.The Kyiv Court of Appeal handed down the ruling on Thursday, saying Tsemakh should be released immediately on his own recognizance.A Ukrainian national, Tsemakh reportedly oversaw an air-defense unit among Russia-backed separatists in a town near where the jet came down.An international Dutch-led investigation has already concluded that the commercial airliner was shot down by a Russian-made Buk missile that was fired in territory held by Moscow-backed separatists and has said it would like to question Tsemakh over the tragedy.The ruling comes amid talks between Moscow and Kyiv on a prisoner swap that unconfirmed reports have said includes Tsemakh.FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at a meeting with members of the Security Council in the Kremlin in Moscow, Aug. 23, 2019.Speaking in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok, Putin said an agreement on a prisoner exchange “is near.””We are finalizing our negotiations on an exchange. I believe it will be rather large-scale, and that would be a good step forward towards normalization [of relations with Ukraine],” Putin said while attending the Eastern Economic Forum.
Sailors Detained
Kyiv is seeking the return of 24 sailors detained by Russia last year off annexed Crimea, as well as filmmaker Oleh Sentsov and others whom rights groups and the government in Kyiv say are “political prisoners” in Russia.Tsemakh’s release also comes a day after a group of 40 members of the European Parliament wrote a letter urging Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy not to include the suspect in any deal.The letter said Tsemakh is a “key suspect” in shooting down of flight MH17, which killed all 298 people on board.Officials from an international Dutch-led investigation have already voiced concerns that transferring Tsemakh to Russian soil will make it impossible to question him in the case.“While we understand the context within which such negotiations are taking place and the diplomatic efforts by the Ukrainian authorities to this end, Mr. Tsemakh is a suspect in the criminal investigation related to the downing of flight MH17 and his availability and testimony before the Joint Investigation Team is thus of the utmost importance for an effective prosecution by the countries involved,” the letter states.FILE – People attend a ceremony marking the fifth anniversary of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 plane crash near Hrabove in Donetsk Region, Ukraine, July 17, 2019.Investigators maintain the missile used to down MH17 belonged to a Russian military unit and that it was transported from and back to Russia after being used.Three Russians and a Ukrainian were indicted over the downing of MH17, and court proceedings in The Netherlands are scheduled for March. But the four suspects most likely will be tried in absentia.Russia called the charges against the country’s citizens “absolutely unfounded” and said the investigators based their findings on “dubious sources of information,” accusing them of rejecting evidence the Kremlin has provided.Moscow has also aired its own theories on the shoot-down but never provided solid evidence.Tsemakh is not one of the four indicted.The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) apprehended him on June 27 in the Donetsk regional city of Snizhne, which is held by Moscow-backed separatists and is 20 kilometers from the Russian border.According to the Dutch-led investigation, the Buk missile was fired six kilometers south of Snizhne.TV footage obtained by Current Time showed Tsemakh claiming that he was in charge of an anti-aircraft unit and that he helped hide the missile system in July 2014.He also shows
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Hong Kong Protesters Keep Up Pressure, Despite Extradition Bill Withdrawal
Hong Kong’s embattled chief executive Carrie Lam may hope the withdrawal of a hated extradition bill will help the semi-autonomous Chinese city move forward from three months of major protests.But if the initial reaction from activists, scholars and other Hong Kong residents is any indication, the protests may not go away any time soon, with protester demands having long ago expanded to include broader democratic reforms.Lam on Wednesday announced the formal withdrawal of the extradition bill, a move she said was intended to “fully allay public concerns” after having earlier only suspended the proposal. But while the withdrawal essentially amounts to an admission that the extradition bill was a mistake, it seems few in Hong Kong see the move as a major concession.“I haven’t heard anyone say they will stop protesting because of the withdrawal,” said Wilson Leung, who helped found the Hong Kong-based Progressive Lawyers Group. “Because a lot of the anger is now over police brutality and overreach.”Women pay their respects to the protesters who were injured during clashes with the police by placing flowers outside Prince Edward station, in Hong Kong, Sept. 4, 2019.Months of protests, strikesSince early June, Hong Kong has seen mass peaceful protests, widespread strikes, and occasional smaller groups of protesters who have clashed with police and attacked government symbols. The immediate cause of the protests was the extradition proposal. The legislation, if passed, would have allowed some criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial.Hong Kongers feared the bill would expose them to China’s politicized court system, where a trial virtually always results in a conviction.But the protests underscored broader concerns about encroaching Communist Party influence in Hong Kong ahead of 2047, when a deal between China and Britain, Hong Kong’s former colonial power, is set to expire. Many feel Beijing’s “One Country, Two Systems” model, which allowed Hong Kong freedom of speech and the rule of law, has already hopelessly eroded.By failing to make any major concessions at the outset, and instead responding violently to the protests, Hong Kong and Beijing authorities helped ensure the movement expanded and took on loftier goals, analysts say.
Hong Kong’s Tradition of Protest video player.
Riot police officers search people and their belongings, after an anti-extradition bill protest, at Po Lam Mass Transit Railway station, in Hong Kong, Sept. 5, 2019.‘Too little, too late’“The concession made by Carrie Lam was too little too late,” said Willy Lam, a political analyst with the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “It should not have much impact on the situation in Hong Kong. The wave of protests will likely continue.”The Chinese Communist Party may view the move as a major concession, since this is the “first time in many years that Beijing has needed to admit a mistake,” said the analyst Lam. “This is an open and full-fledged admission that the introduction of the extradition bill was a mistake.”“However, most Hong Kong people have decided they want Beijing to honor the agreement with the British to grant Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy and also to allow Hong Kong a faster pace of democratic reforms,” he said. “These are conditions which Beijing has refused to grant.”Protesters hold a vigil for democracy in Hong Kong in front of the Chancellery in Berlin, Sept. 5, 2019.On Thursday, the Beijing-friendly chief executive insisted the withdrawal decision was made by her — not mainland leaders. That assertion comes after several reports suggested Chinese leaders were guiding the official response to the protest movement.She also acknowledged that the protests have now made it “obvious to many of us that the discontentment in society extends far beyond” the extradition bill and covers “political, economic and social issues.”Only 40 out of 70 members of Hong Kong’s legislature are elected by popular vote. The chief executive is chosen by an election committee that is heavily weighted toward Beijing.Beijing has given no signs it will make democratic concessions. Instead, authorities in Hong Kong last week rounded up major pro-democracy figures. In total, more than 1,000 people have been arrested during the 13 weeks of protests.Protesters also say they cannot afford to give in, especially since the demonstrations have exposed deeper problems beyond the extradition bill.Pro-democracy activists Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow leave the Eastern Court after being released on bail in Hong Kong, Aug. 30, 2019.Joshua Wong, a prominent pro-democracy activist who last week found himself in legal trouble yet again for participating in unauthorized anti-government protests, warned against being “deceived by the Hong Kong and Beijing government.”“They have conceded nothing,” he said in a tweet, adding: “A full-scale clampdown is on the way.”
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Hong Kong’s Tradition of Protest
Nearly three months of protests have rocked Hong Kong amid a harsh police crackdown, widespread arrests, and fears of suppression by Beijing. On Wednesday, Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam announced plans to withdraw a controversial extradition bill that sparked the unrest, but pro-democracy activists are pressing for more. Mike O’Sullivan reports on how the current demonstrations are the latest in a long history of protest in the Chinese semi-autonomous region.
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Bahamas PM: ‘No Efforts Spared’ in Hurricane Dorian Response
Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis is pledging to do whatever is necessary to carry out rescue and recovery efforts after Hurricane Dorian devastated the Caribbean archipelago.Thursday will likely bring more grim news as people get a better look at what the storm left behind after spinning over Grand Bahama and Abaco islands for nearly two days with flooding rains and storm surge, as well as winds of up to 195 kilometers per hour.Minnis said at a Wednesday news conference the confirmed death toll was at 20 on Abaco Island, and that officials expected the number to rise.“As prime minister, I assure you that no efforts will be spared in rescuing those still in danger, feeding those who are hungry and providing shelter to those who are without homes,” he said at a Wednesday news conference. “Our response will be day and night, day after day, week after week, month after month until the lives of our people return to some degree of normalcy.”A hotel room in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian on the Great Abaco island town of Marsh Harbour, Bahamas, Sept. 4, 2019.Speaking to the magnitude of the challenge the Bahamas faces, Minnis called it “one of the greatest national crises in our country’s history.”Entire villages are gone and beaches usually packed with tourists are instead covered with parts of buildings, destroyed cars, and the remains of people’s lives.“Right now there are just a lot of unknowns,” Bahamian lawmaker Iram Lewis said, adding, “We need help.”U.S. President Donald Trump has sent the Coast Guard and urban search and rescue teams to help. The British Royal Navy, Red Cross, and United Nations are also rushing in food, medicine and any kind of aid that may be needed.The White House says Trump spoke to Prime Minister Minnis Wednesday, assuring him the United States will provide “all appropriate support,” and sent American condolences to the Bahamian people for the destruction and loss of life.A man searches for his wife in the Marsh Harbour Medical Clinic in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian on the Great Abaco island town of Marsh Harbour, Bahamas, Sept. 4, 2019.U.N. Humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock was in Nassau Wednesday meeting with Minnis. Lowcock says 20% of the Bahamian population has been affected and 70,000 people need food.“Nothing of this sort has been experienced by the Bahamas before,” Lowcock said, adding that he is immediately releasing $1 million from the U.N. central emergency fund for water, food, shelter and medical services.Dorian, again a Category 3 storm, is moving up the southeastern coast of the United States with potent strength as it drops heavy rain and threatens coastal areas with what the U.S. National Hurricane Center says is “life-threatening storm surge with significant coastal flooding.” It had maximum sustained winds of 185 kilometers per hour Thursday morning.Those threats will endure for the next few days with forecasters expecting the center of the storm to move near or over the coast of South Carolina on Thursday and the coast of North Carolina on Friday before accelerating off to the northeast as Dorian weakens.
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Kenyan Farmers Benefit from Insured Loans
Kenyan farmers hope to benefit from insured loans that will help them purchase farm inputs and seeds. Unlike other commercial bank loans, the Risk Contingent Credit Scheme, which is a brainchild of Washington-based IFPRI, aims to cushion farmers from huge losses accrued from crop failures because of climate change. Sarah Kimani has more from Machakos, Kenya.
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