Hungary’s prime minster said Wednesday after hosting a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that good relations with Russia are a necessity because of his country’s geographical location.Analysts see Prime Minister Viktor Orban as Putin’s closest ally in the European Union and Hungary has long advocated for the end of sanctions against Russia for actions in Ukraine, saying they hurt the Hungarian economy. Trade between Hungary and Russia increased in 2018 for the first time since sanctions were put in place.”It’s a simple geographical fact: No country can change its address,” Orban said during a news conference with Putin about Hungary’s need to cooperate with Russia. “Every country is located where God created it. For Hungary, it means being in a Moscow-Berlin-Istanbul triangle.”A convoy transporting Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives in central Budapest, Hungary, Oct. 30, 2019.Orban mentioned Hungary’s membership in the European Union and NATO but said that it did “not rule out establishing political cooperation with Russia on certain issues.”Orban said Hungary, which depends greatly on Russian gas and oil, was trying to cooperate with Russia on issues like preventing migration to Europe, stabilizing the Middle East and aiding Christian communities around the world.TurkStream gas pipeline Orban also said it was a priority for his country to join the TurkStream gas pipeline to increase supply routes to Hungary for Russian gas.Putin said that Russia expects to complete construction of the TurkStream pipeline to Turkey this year and build extensions to Bulgaria and Serbia the following year. He added that an extension to Hungary could be built quickly, and Orban welcomed the prospect.Putin pointed to Hungary’s role as a top customer for Russian natural gas and as a key transit hub.”Russian gas supplies to Western Europe go via Hungary, and its underground depots allow serving European customers when consumption peaks,” Putin said. “We view Hungary as a priority partner in the distribution of Russian natural gas in Europe.”Protecting ChristiansThe Russian leader also praised Orban for organizing a meeting with representatives of Christian communities from the Middle East, saying that Russia sees the protection of Christians in Syria and other conflict areas as a top priority.
“The Middle East is the cradle of Christianity, and Christians are in peril there, facing persecution, being killed, raped and robbed. Russia will do everything to protect Christians in the Middle East. We must help them restore and preserve their holy sites, preserve their congregations,” he said.Putin added that the Russian military in Syria is also helping restore mosques and assisting Jewish communities.Speaking later at a meeting with Christian leaders from the Middle East, Putin said, “We are concerned with a massive exodus of Christians from the Middle East.””We are watching what’s happening to the Christians in the Middle East with tears in our eyes,” Putin said.
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Month: October 2019
Islamic State Promises Big Announcement
One of the Islamic State terror group’s media divisions is promising supporters that a major announcement is on the way — the first of its kind since the death of its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in a U.S. raid on Sunday.
IS’s Al-Furqan Foundation started promoting the announcement at midday Wednesday.
“Coming Soon … By the Willingness of Allah the Almighty,” the announcement said, without sharing details. In first significant announcement since Baghdadi’s death ISIS teases a forthcoming release from its Al Furqan media foundation- the media wing responsible for the most important releases (such as the Baghdadi video and audio earlier this year) pic.twitter.com/9PASdNIPI3— jihadoScope (@JihadoScope) October 30, 2019The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist communications, said supporters quickly began distributing the poster on social media platforms, with some expressing hope that Baghdadi was still alive while others were preparing to celebrate his martyrdom.
IS official media operatives have been issuing their usual news updates on operations in Syria, Iraq and around the world, but they have been silent so far about the fate of Baghdadi, who was killed by U.S. special forces in a raid on a compound in Barisha in Syria’s Idlib province.
U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed Baghdadi’s death in a White House speech the same day. U.S. officials also confirmed the death of IS spokesman Abu Hassan al-Muhajir in a follow-on operation a day later in Jarablus, near Syria’s border with Turkey. Impact of killings
Trump and U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper have described the death of Baghdadi and one of his top lieutenants as a significant blow to the terror organization, while promising to hunt down other top officials. FILE – Islamic State’s Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi purportedly appears for the first time in five years in a propaganda video in an undisclosed location, in this undated TV grab taken from video released April 29 by Al-Furqan media.But a top counterterrorism official Wednesday warned that the impact, while significant, might be limited.
“It’s absolutely fair to say it will be a morale hit,” Russell Travers, acting director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, told lawmakers.
“Nevertheless, the ideology continues, the resonance continues, and that is a strategic concern for us,” he said, adding that when it comes to IS leadership, “it’s a deep bench” and that a new leader most likely will be announced in the coming days or weeks.
“This is a bureaucracy that’s pretty good at doing succession planning,” Travers said.
Travers, testifying before the House Homeland Security Committee along with the director of the FBI and the acting director of the Department of Homeland Security, further warned that IS remained a capable and potent organization.
He said the terror group still commanded at least 14,000 fighters across Syria and Iraq, many of them operating in diffuse and clandestine cells that continue to launch attacks. EscapeesThose numbers also could get a boost from IS fighters who escaped from makeshift prisons run by the formerly U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, most of them getting free during the initial days of Turkey’s military incursion in northeastern Syria.
“Our expectation is that the vast majority of the individuals who escaped, more likely than not, were Syrian and Iraqi, and will be looking to stay in the region. “They will be incorporated into the ISIS insurgency in all likelihood, and we could well see them serve as suicide bombers,” Travers said, using an acronym for the group.
U.S. counterterrorism officials also expressed concern that some of them could be used in renewed attacks on the SDF-run prisons, as well as on displaced- persons camps housing tens of thousands of IS wives, children and other family members.
In the last message before his death, Baghdadi last month called on IS followers to free members of the group who had been captured or imprisoned. FILE – Men claimed by Syrian Democratic Forces members to be Islamic State fighters are taken prisoner after SDF advanced in Manbij, Aleppo governorate, Syria, May 31, 2016.”For your brothers and sisters, make [an] effort in saving them and destroying the gates that imprison them,” Baghdadi said in the Sept. 16 audio recording.
“I assume that we will see some of that,” Travers said Wednesday. “Those prisons are vulnerable.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray also warned of indications that IS was preparing to make increased use of women and children.
“We know that ISIS has started to take advantage of women in operational planning and trying to recruit youth, some of them in these displacement camps,” Wray said. “That’s going to present all kinds of problems for us and our partners.”
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Startup Pushes Cleaner Cooking Fuel for Nairobi Homes
Most residents of Nairobi do their cooking on stoves powered by firewood, charcoal or kerosene. The stoves emit smoke and fumes that contribute to deadly respiratory diseases, and release harmful carbon emissions into the atmosphere. But now, a small start-up company is offering Nairobi residents an alternative source of energy that makes cooking both cleaner and safer. For VOA, Mohammed Yusuf reports.
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Jordanian Man Sentenced for Role in US-Mexico Smuggling Ring
A Jordanian man who pleaded guilty to helping several Yemeni men cross the Mexican border into the U.S. was sentenced to three years in prison this week.Earlier this year, Moayad Heider Mohammad Aldairi, 31, admitted to transporting at least six people 400 kilometers — about four and a half hours driving distance — from Monterrey, Mexico, to the border city of Piedras Negras, according to a U.S. Justice Department statement Tuesday announcing Aldairi’s sentence. It was there, in late 2017, that he directed the men to cross the Rio Grande into the U.S. near Eagle Pass, Texas.
He gave several of them construction hard hats and reflective vests so they would “blend in after crossing,” according to DOJ.
Aldairi was one of several people paid to aid in the smuggling process, court documents show.U.S. police arrested him in July 2018, when he arrived at JFK airport in New York.Jordanian Arrested for Allegedly Smuggling Yemenis into US
A federal judge has ordered a Jordanian national to remain behind bars on charges he tried to smuggle six Yemenis into the United States.
Agents arrested Moayad Heider Mohammad Aldairi on Saturday when he arrived at JFK airport in New York.
Aldairi, who lives in Monterrey, Mexico, was allegedly part of a scheme to smuggle six Yemenis across the Mexican border into Texas for a fee.
The Justice Department has not said where the Yemenis are now, who they are, or the reason they wanted to enter the U.S…
The Yemeni-smuggling ring is part of a new pattern at the border: While the majority of people apprehended after entering the U.S. without authorization at the southern border are Central American, a growing number are coming from countries outside the Americas.
In August, for example, a Bangladeshi man based in Monterrey, Mexico, pleaded guilty to participating in a similar enterprise. And in April, a U.S. judge in Puerto Rico sentenced an Indian man for his role in leading a smuggling ring that extended from South Asia to the Caribbean, and onto Florida.Indian National Sentenced for Role in US Human Smuggling Ring
Convicted human smuggler Yadvinder Singh Bhamba is headed to a U.S.
CBP data released this week shows the agency apprehended 77,276 people during Fiscal Year 2019 from countries other than El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, totaling 9% of all apprehensions.
In Fiscal Year 2017, they accounted for 4.3%, according to a VOA analysis of CBP data.Yemen is one of the countries affected by U.S. President Donald Trump’s travel ban, which went into effect in late 2017. Since then, visas to Yemeni nationals plummeted, according to a recent analysis by the news site Quartz of U.S. State Department data, as conflict in the Middle Eastern country grinds on toward the five-year mark.
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S. Africa Police Evict Protesting Asylum-Seekers, Arrest 100
South African police on Wednesday arrested about 100 foreign nationals occupying an office building in Cape Town as part of a sit-in protest against xenophobia.
Hundreds of asylum-seekers have been camping at U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) offices in Pretoria and Cape Town since Oct. 8. The sit-in overflowed into the building housing the U.N.’s Cape Town office, prompting the landlord to successfully apply for their eviction.
“About 100 people have been arrested after they failed to heed the call to disperse,” the police said in a statement. “Police are … executing a court order to evict about 300 refugees and asylum-seekers who have been occupying the building.”
Relocation soughtThe foreigners, mainly from other African nations, say they are fed up with experiencing poor treatment and discrimination. They have asked the United Nations to relocate them to another country, claiming they no longer feel safe in South Africa after a surge of xenophobic attacks last month.
Clashes broke out with the police as protesters refused to move from the Waldorf Arcade, a 12-story block of offices in Cape Town’s central business district. They banged on pots and plastic bottles, chanting “xenophobia government” and “police xenophobia.”
“South Africa you [are] killing refugees,” said a slogan painted on a white banner. Police fire a water cannon at refugees evicted from a protest against xenophobia outside the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees offices in Cape Town, South Africa, Oct. 30, 2019.Police fired water guns and stun grenades to disperse the crowd.
The situation became more subdued after the arrests. Waldorf Arcade was cordoned off and protesters started moving their belongings to a nearby church.
‘Peaceful resolution’
The U.N. called on the protesters to “respect the laws” and “return peacefully to their residences.”
“UNHCR has been engaging with the refugees and asylum-seekers since the onset of the protests,” the agency said in a statement, adding that resettlement was “only available for a limited number of very vulnerable refugees.”
Instead, the agency encouraged asylum-seekers to “participate in constructive dialogue” and find “peaceful resolution.”
South Africa is home to 268,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, according to government statistics. They are mainly from Somalia, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Progressive policies
The country boasts some of the world’s most progressive asylum policies, allowing foreigners to apply for refugee status within the country itself and to work during the process.
But the U.N. has voiced concern about the more than 50,000 pending asylum claims, the largest number in sub-Saharan Africa.
Rights groups say the number of people granted refugee status has remained unchanged for the past decade, suggesting an intentional culling of foreign national acceptance.
As the continent’s most industrialized economy, South Africa is also a magnet for migrants seeking better jobs.
Seen as competing with locals for work, foreigners are often the first to come under fire when South Africa’s chronic unemployment and inequality boils into resentment.
Xenophobic violence left at least 62 dead in 2008. Seven people were killed in 2015, and 12 died in the latest spate of attacks this year, most of them South African. The incidents occurred mainly in the Johannesburg area.
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Syria’s Warring Parties Meet to Draft New Constitution
Syrian government and opposition delegates have begun meeting to draft a new constitution as a prelude to U.N.-supervised elections for their war-torn country.After nearly nine years of war, U.N. mediator Geir Pedersen calls the meeting of Syria’s arch-enemies an historic moment. At the official launch of the Syrian Constitutional Committee, he welcomed members with words of encouragement and urged them to strive for a durable solution to years of division and suffering. He said the first gathering of the committee of 150 government, opposition and civil society members brings together diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds, as well as a wide spectrum of political leanings. Pedersen added the varied composition of views and beliefs presents difficulties as well as opportunities for meaningful change. “I know that it is not easy for all of you to be here together in this room, and I respect that… But the fact that you are here today sitting together face-to-face ready to start a dialogue and negotiations, is, I believe, a powerful sign of hope for Syrians everywhere, both inside and outside the country,” Pedersen said. The United Nations reports hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in Syria’s long-running civil war. It says 6.7 million people have fled as refugees to other countries and 6.2 million are displaced within Syria.Pedersen said it will be difficult to reconcile so many divergent views, especially when the risks and dangers of military escalation in Syria remain a daily threat. He advised patience and steadfastness, and promised U.N. help to facilitate the process every step along a difficult path.His words were greeted with professions of good will from the warring parties. Syrian government co-chair of the committee Ahmad Kuzbari noted that a constitution is the cornerstone and solid building block on which states are built.He said his delegation is prepared to consider possible amendments to Syria’s existing constitution. But he added that the process must safeguard the country’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, with no outside interference in internal affairs.Opposition co-chair Hadi Albahra said Syrians seek a nation that respects all people, without discrimination. He said the only victory that is worth having is one based on justice and peace, not on one side winning the war. Such a victory, he warned, is not sustainable.
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Hundreds of Migrants in Libya Flee Detention, Cite Hunger
Hundreds of migrants have fled a detention center in coastal Libya and crowded overnight around a U.N. facility, saying they were denied food for weeks.
Around 450 people left Abu Salim detention center late Tuesday. Two of the migrants, as well as activists, said they were forced to beg for money from families to pay police to buy them food. Those who couldn’t pay went hungry.
The migrants spoke Wednesday on condition of anonymity, fearing for their safety. They walked about 90 minutes through the city of Tripoli, according to Tarik Lamloum, a Libyan activist.
The U.N. refugee agency says the facility is already overcrowded, with about half the 800 people inside arriving informally, including many from another detention center that was hit last summer by an airstrike. The Libyan government agency that runs the detention centers blocked the migrants from entering, the U.N. said.FILE – An African migrant fills an empty bottle with leaking water from the roof of a barrack in a detention center for illegal migrants in Abu Salim district on the outskirts of Tripoli, LIbya, Nov. 29, 2013.The government-linked centers for migrants are rife with abuse and many, especially those in Tripoli, get caught in the crossfire of the country’s civil war. With increased fighting and reports of torture, Europe’s policy of supporting the Libyan coast guard as it intercepts people fleeing Libya has come under growing criticism.Jean-Paul Cavalieri, the U.N. refugee agency’s chief of mission in Libya, said there was no space for more people inside the facility and that officials were on site to offer options.”The current situation reflects the dire situation faced by many refugees and asylum-seekers in Libya,” he said in a statement.
The migrant who spoke with AP said U.N. officials advised the group to return to Abu Salim or another detention center and warned them they would not be allowed inside like those who fled the Tajoura center after the airstrike.Separately, a group of smugglers and 14 Egyptian migrants were detained Tuesday in the northern Libyan city of Sirte, before embarking on their journey to Europe, according to Taha Hadid, a spokesman for the Sirte Protection Force.
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NATO Chief Calls For Russian Troop Withdrawal From Ukraine
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has welcomed the withdrawal of Ukrainian and Russia-backed separatist forces from a frontline area in eastern Ukraine, but reiterated calls for Moscow to “withdraw all their troops.””We welcome all efforts to reduce tensions,” Stoltenberg said during a visit to the Ukrainian port city of Odesa on Wednesday, adding that “there is a long way to go because there are still cease-fire violations.””NATO states very clearly that Russia has a special responsibility to… withdraw all their troops, all their officers” from eastern Ukraine, he added.Stoltenberg’s comments come a day after Ukrainian government troops and the separatists started a disengagement process in the town of Zolote in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk.Ukrainian armed forces have been fighting the separatists in Luhansk and the neighboring Donetsk region in a conflict that has killed more than 13,000 people since April 2014.Under a deal reached earlier this month to end the five-year conflict, the sides agreed to start withdrawing from their positions in Zolote and the nearby town of Petrivske.Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystayko voiced hope on October 29 that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy would meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, next month for peace talks mediated by the leaders of France and Germany, in what is known as the Normandy format.Putin’s aide Vladislav Surkov also welcomed steps to resume the disengagement of forces in eastern Ukraine, telling the TASS news agency: “If everything works out in Zolote, similar procedures in Petrivske should follow immediately. And after that, preparations may begin for another Normandy Quartet summit.”On October 30, Stoltenberg and the ambassadors from NATO’s top decision-making body – the North Atlantic Council – arrived in Odesa for a two-day trip, and visited four vessels – from Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, and Spain – that are conducting patrols in the Black Sea.Meeting with Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Stoltenberg highlighted the Western military alliance’s “support for Ukraine’s ambitious reforms, including in defense and security,” according to a NATO statement.”The visit today sends a clear message that NATO stands in solidarity with Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said.
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2 US Diplomats: Trump Viewed Ukraine as Corrupt
Two career U.S. diplomats are testifying Wednesday during the impeachment inquiry targeting President Donald Trump that the president held a deeply negative view of Ukraine as a corrupt country that complicated diplomatic efforts to bolster Washington’s relations with Kyiv and support its fight against Russian separatists in the eastern part of the country. Catherine Croft, who was working as a Ukraine specialist on the National Security Council at the White House, testified to impeachment investigators that in 2017 she worked on Trump’s plan to provide Ukraine with an anti-tank missile system and also staffed his meeting with then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly.”Throughout both, I heard — directly and indirectly — President Trump describe Ukraine as a corrupt country,” she said in prepared testimony.Catherine Croft, a specialist on Ukraine with the State Department, arrives for a closed-door deposition at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Oct. 30, 2019.During her time as a national security aide, Croft also said she received multiple unexplained calls from Robert Livingston, a former U.S. Republican lawmaker turned lobbyist, telling her that Marie Yovanovitch, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, should be fired. She said Livingston characterized Yovanovitch as an “Obama holdover” from the administration of former President Barack Obama and “associated with George Soros,” a longtime supporter of liberal causes and U.S. Democrats opposed to Trump.”It was not clear to me at the time — or now — at whose direction or at whose expense Mr. Livingston was seeking the removal of Ambassador Yovanovitch,” Croft said.The Trump administration earlier this year recalled Yovanovitch months before her tour was up and dismissed her. She has told the impeachment inquiry that she was fired because of “unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives.”AccusationsTrump’s dealings with Ukraine are at the center of the impeachment inquiry launched by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, whether he temporarily withheld $391 million in military aid to Ukraine until he got investigations to help him politically.The lawmakers are considering Trump’s late July request to the current Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, that he launch investigations of any involvement Ukraine had in efforts to thwart his 2016 election and probe the actions of one of Trump’s leading 2020 Democratic challengers, former Vice President Joe Biden, and the work of his son, Hunter Biden, as a board member of Burisma, a Ukrainian natural gas company.Trump has described the call with Zelenskiy as “perfect,” and denied there was a quid pro quo involving the military assistance to Kyiv in exchange for the political investigations. But on Tuesday, Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, another National Security Council aide, told the impeachment investigators he was so troubled by Trump’s call for Ukraine to investigate a U.S. citizen, Biden, that he alerted his superiors.The White House last month released a rough transcript of the Trump-Zelenskiy call, but Vindman told the investigators there were missing elements in the transcript that involved references to Biden and Burisma, the energy company where Hunter Biden worked.Christopher AndersonA second career diplomat, Christopher Anderson, testified Wednesday that late last year when Russia escalated the conflict with Kyiv by seizing Ukrainian military vessels heading to a Ukrainian port in the Sea of Azov, his colleagues at the State Department “quickly prepared a statement condemning Russia,” but that “senior officials in the White House blocked it from being issued.”In another episode, Anderson said he and others supported efforts to get the White House to improve relations with Ukraine. But Anderson said he was “cautioned” by then-national security adviser John Bolton that Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who had been delegated by Trump to oversee Ukraine affairs, “was a key voice with the president on Ukraine, which could be an obstacle to increased White House engagement.”On Twitter, Trump continued to assail the impeachment investigation……the call with the Ukrainian President was a totally appropriate one. As he said, “No Pressure.” This Impeachment nonsense is just a continuation of the Witch Hunt Hoax, which has been going on since before I even got elected. Rupublicans, go with Substance and close it out!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) In order to satisfy Republican concerns, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, leader of the Democratic House majority, will hold a vote on a resolution Thursday spelling out the rules for the inquiry.It would give the Republican minority equal opportunity to question witnesses, ask for written testimony, and subpoena witnesses and records.Pelosi says she wants to “eliminate any doubt” about the process, although Republicans say the vote is merely an attempt to justify the “sham” behind closed-door hearings that have already been held.
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Chile Cancels APEC, COP25 Amid Ongoing Protests
White House officials were caught by surprise with Chile’s announcement it is cancelling two summits, including one President Donald Trump was to attend next month where he was to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders.Chilean President Sebastian Pinera announced Wednesday that due to continuing anti-government protests in Santiago, his country will no longer host the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in mid-November as well as the COP25 climate summit in early December.“This has been a very tough decision,” Pinera told reporters, saying it was “based on the wise principle of common sense.”As president, Pinera added, he “must always put his compatriots above all else.”A wet anti-government protester dries his clothes by standing close to a burning street barricade, after police used a water cannon to disperse demonstrators in Santiago, Chile, Oct. 29, 2019.His main concern, Pinera explained “is reestablishing public order, our citizens’ safety and social peace along with pushing through a social agenda to respond to the main demands of our citizens.“As of now, it appears APEC will not occur in Chile, and it’s our understanding the organization does not currently have a secondary site prepared,” says White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley. “We’re awaiting potential information regarding another location.”Some White House officials learned of the cancellation from reporters’ tweets and it is not know whether Pinera informed Trump before he spoke to reporters in Santiago.Trump has repeatedly said he expected to use the APEC summit as a venue to sign “phase one” of a bilateral trade agreement with the Chinese president.“We look forward to finalizing Phase One of the historic trade deal with China within the same time frame, and when we have an announcement, we’ll let you know,” states Gidley.Protests in Chile began October 18 over a 4% increase in subway fares in Santiago have spread across the nation, inflamed by the frustration of ordinary Chileans who feel they have been left out of the prosperity of Latin America’s wealthiest country. Clashes broke out between protesters and security forces on Monday – the same day President Pinera replaced eight cabinet members in an attempt to tame the country’s political crisis. While most of the protests have been peaceful, some have turned violent, leaving at least 20 people dead.The protesters are seeking improved economic equality in the country, as well as reforms in the pension and medical systems.Pinera, a center-right billionaire, last week offered a host of proposals to try to calm the protesters, including a raise in the minimum wage and pensions as well as lower prices for medicines and public transportation.
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Denmark Allows Russia-Germany Gas Pipeline
Denmark said Wednesday it is giving permission for a joint German-Russian underwater gas pipeline to be laid to through its territory, in a blow to the United States, which had fiercely opposed the project.
The decision by the Danish Energy Agency to approve the Nord Stream 2 pipeline’s route is a victory for the governments of Russia and Germany, which had staunchly supported it.
The plan to transport natural gas about 1,200-kilometers (746-miles) through the Baltic Sea from Russia to Europe has come under fire from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration and several European countries, who argue it could increase Europe’s dependence on Russia for energy.
The Danish government agency said it had granted a permit “to construct a section of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipelines on the Danish continental shelf southeast of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea.”
“We are pleased to have obtained Denmark’s consent,” said Samira Kiefer Andersson, a representative for Nord Stream 2 AG, the company that manages the project. “We will continue the constructive cooperation with Danish authorities to complete the construction of the pipeline.”
She said preparatory work and the pipelay will start in coming weeks.
The U.S. government, which wants to sell its liquefied natural gas to Europe, has threatened sanctions against companies involved in the undersea pipeline.
In Russia, Konstantin Kosachev, head of the foreign affairs committee in the upper house of the Russian parliament, noted that the permission was issued despite the “powerful pressure” of the project’s foes “from Ukraine to Poland to America.”
A refusal to allow the pipeline’s construction would have “inflicted serious losses to European companies without any real reason,” Kosachev wrote on Facebook. “It looks like the project could be completed within months.”
While the pipeline is wholly owned by Russian gas giant Gazprom, half of the project’s 8 billion-euro ($8.9 billion) cost is covered by five European energy and chemicals companies including Shell, BASF and ENGIE.
Germany, Europe’s biggest economy and the world’s biggest importer of natural gas, already relies heavily on Russian gas. So far, Chancellor Angela Merkel has deftly kept the pipeline off the table while imposing sanctions against Russia for its actions in Ukraine.
Asked whether any political obstacles to the project remain after the Danish decision, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said: “We have always said that there is a political dimension to Nord Stream 2, and we have always said that gas transit through Ukraine must have a future.”
Seibert noted that Merkel discussed the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin two days ago, and said Germany continues to support three-way talks between Russia, Ukraine and the European Commission on gas transit.
In Denmark, a left-wing party that supports the minority Social Democratic Party government said the decision was “disastrous for the climate and the European energy policy.”
“In light of the climate crisis, Nord Stream 2 is a blatantly stupid decision,” said Mai Villadsen, a member of the Red-Green Alliance. “It makes no sense to approve a huge new gas pipeline without assessing the consequences for the climate.”
The Nord Stream 2 pipeline starts in Russia and passes through Finnish, Swedish, Danish and German marine areas before going ashore at the German coast. It can transport 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.
Russia, Finland, Sweden and Germany earlier issued permits.
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Drug Addiction Rises in Myanmar’s Kachin State
In Myanmar’s Kachin State, eight years of conflict and displacement has caused some civilians to turn to drugs as authorities struggle to control and rehabilitate heroin and amphetamine addicts, both in the refugee camps and cities across the state. Users and officials tell of the struggles – both on and off the battlefield. Steve Sandford filed this report for VOA
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UK’s Brexit Deal Estimated to Cost Almost $100 Billion
A respected British think tank slammed Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal on Wednesday, concluding that the economy would be 3.5% smaller compared with staying in the European Union.The study by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research says the agreement would deliver a 70 billion-pound ($90 billion) blow to the U.K. Researchers said that the outlook is clouded by political and economic uncertainty.“We would not expect economic activity to be boosted by the approval of the government’s proposed Brexit deal,” the group said.The researchers based their prediction on the assumption that the U.K. would leave the bloc with a free trade agreement with the EU after a transition lasting until 2021 while negotiating new deals with other nations. It said that higher “barriers to goods and services, trade and restrictions to migration,” would force the economy to slow.As politicians squabble over how and when Britain will leave the EU, Brexit is reshaping the economy. Initially planned for March, Brexit was pushed back to Halloween and now is not likely to happen before January. Companies are meanwhile shifting investments, creating new supply chains and stockpiling goods to mitigate any damage that would occur from leaving the EU, with or without a deal.The NIESR estimated that the economy was 2.5 % smaller than it would have been had Britain not voted in 2016 to leave the European Union.The British government says it plans a different scenario than the one considered by the think tank.“We are aiming to negotiate a comprehensive free trade agreement with the European Union, which is more ambitious than the standard free trade deal that NIESR has based its findings on,” the Treasury department said in a statement.The research suggested a no-deal Brexit would cause an even greater loss to the economy, with a 5.6% blow to GDP.Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesman Tom Brake said the figures “come as no surprise”.“The Tories’ obsession with Brexit at any cost puts our future prosperity at risk,” he said. “It is unconscionable that any government would voluntarily adopt a policy that would slow economic growth for years to come.”
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US Scales Back Attendance at East Asia Summit
President Donald Trump’s new national security advisor will represent the United States at the East Asia Summit, the White House said Tuesday, the lowest-level official to lead the Washington delegation since it was first invited to the regional forum.With Trump embroiled in an impeachment inquiry, the muted presence at the November 3-4 summit in Bangkok is sure to renew charges that the United States is not focused on Asia at a time that China’s clout is growing.The White House said that Robert O’Brien, who took over the position in September from the hawkish John Bolton, would lead a U.S. delegation that will include Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who will also travel separately to Indonesia and Vietnam.Despite Trump’s non-attendance, he is expected to go the following week to a separate summit of the Pacific Rim-wide APEC bloc in Santiago, Chile.The East Asia Summit concept was promoted for years by Malaysia’s veteran Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, an outspoken proponent of the continent’s future who envisioned an eventual bloc akin to the European Union.But the United States was controversially excluded from the inaugural summit in Kuala Lumpur in 2005, drawing widespread commentary in Asia that Washington was too preoccupied with the Middle East.After President Barack Obama vowed to pivot US attention toward Asia, the United States — as well as Russia — were invited as full participants in the summits starting in 2011.Obama attended each year except 2013, when he was fighting congressional Republicans over a government shutdown and sent secretary of state John Kerry instead.Trump flew to the Philippines for his first East Asia Summit in 2017 but, with the session running late, he left early and ended a 12-day trip to Asia, with then secretary of state Rex Tillerson taking his place.Last year, Vice President Mike Pence attended the summit in Singapore, where he described China’s militarization of the dispute-rife South China Sea as “illegal and dangerous” and vowed to stand by US allies in the region.Trump has said that he plans to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping to seek headway in a trade war at the November 16-17 APEC summit in Chile, to which Russian President Vladimir Putin has also confirmed his attendance.
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UK’s Party Leaders Brace for Brexit Election
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn were set to trade barbs over Brexit and public spending Wednesday when they face off in Parliament for the last time before a Dec. 12 general election.The House of Commons on Tuesday approved an early election in hopes of breaking the deadlock over Britain’s departure from the European Union. While Johnson’s Conservative Party has a wide lead in opinion polls, analysts say the election is unpredictable because Brexit cuts across traditional party loyalties.Johnson and Corbyn will trade carefully crafted quips when they face off in their regularly scheduled question-and-answer session. This will be the last episode of Prime Minister’s Questions before Parliament is suspended for the election.Johnson has told Conservative lawmakers this will be a “tough election.”After three years of inconclusive political wrangling over Brexit, British voters are weary and the results of an election are hard to predict.The House of Commons voted 438-20 on Tuesday night, with dozens of lawmakers abstaining, for a bill authorizing an election on Dec. 12. It will become law once it is approved Wednesday by the unelected House of Lords, which doesn’t have the power to overrule the elected Commons.The looming vote comes two and a half years before the next scheduled election, due in 2022, and will be the country’s first December election since 1923.Meanwhile, the Brexit conundrum remains unsolved, and the clock is ticking down to the new deadline of Jan. 31.“To my British friends,” European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted Tuesday.
“The EU27 has formally adopted the extension. It may be the last one. Please make the best use of this time.”
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Fear in Uganda’s Gay Community after Death Penalty Threat, Arrests
Last week, a Ugandan minister attempted to reintroduce a revoked 2014 law allowing capital punishment for people convicted of gay sex. Meanwhile, police arrested 16 activists on suspicion of homosexuality, which is illegal in Uganda and punishable with up to life in prison. The government’s renewed anti-gay focus has led a long-castigated and already fearful community to lie low, with some LGBT people forced into hiding.Twenty-one-year-old Shamim Pretty, not her real name, has taken shelter in a Kampala safe space for the past three years.Pretty says that when she was 16, her mother kicked her out of the house and called the police – because she, Pretty, is transgender.“When they took me to the police, my mother was there waiting for me. They really mistreated me. There was an officer who was very homophobic. He got a hold of me and beat me up. He called in the media and, in front of the press, they took my clothes off,” Pretty said.LGBT support group Icebreakers Uganda set up the safe house in 2012, just one year before lawmakers voted to increase the punishment for homosexuality from life in prison to death.Under Western pressure, Uganda in 2014 overturned the Anti-Homosexuality Act.But gay sex remains illegal and members of the LGBT community are routinely harassed and shunned in a country where many revile homosexuality.Elvis Ayesiga is the programs director at Icebreakers Uganda.“Evicting you, you don’t have anywhere to go, you don’t have money for rent, you don’t have what, so we offer space here, usually for one month, so that you go back on your feet as you look for money to go and rent somewhere else,” Ayesiga said.Earlier this month, Uganda’s ethics minister, Simon Lokodo, announced the bill would be reintroduced – raising fears of renewed attacks on the gay community.Pepe Julian Onzima works with Sexual Minorities Uganda.“Already, most (gay) people do not have homes, they do not have education, they are not employed, they are homeless. So, when something like this comes, it threatens even the little safety that they had,” Onzima said.A Ugandan government spokesman denied any plan to reintroduce what some call the “Kill the Gays” bill.Even so, the LGBT community sees an ominous sign in the arrest of 16 gay activists who simply possessed condoms and anti-HIV medicines.Zallen, not the person’s real name, is a gay Ugandan.“You’re out and then you’re thinking, yeah, I’m letting loose. Before you know it, you want to dance in a certain kind of way. And then, boom, you’re thinking, or wait, you have to control yourself. You do not know who is watching, or who will get offended by the way you’re really having a good time or whatever. So, it’s…you have to be on the cautious side all the time,” Zallen said.
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Africa’s Only Wheelchair Rugby League Battles It Out
South Africa is home to one of the world’s top rugby’s teams. It’s also home to Africa’s only national league of wheelchair rugby. But while wheelchair rugby is an amateur sport with limited resources, there is no shortage of dedication and determination.The finals of the South African Wheelchair Rugby League mean the country’s best players literally get to crash things out on the court.As a boy, Okkie Anker of Pretoria dreamed of becoming part of South Africa’s top rugby team, the Springboks. But he broke his neck during a high school match in 2011. Now, he considers himself honored to have played twice for the Wheelboks, South Africa’s national wheelchair rugby team, and face off rugby’s famous pregame challenge ritual.“From the first day, I was just loving the game, and the contact and the adrenalin that pumps is almost the same than normal rugby. We faced the haka two times in 2013 and three times in 2015. … It was a great experience to still face the haka and then sing the national anthem,” Anker said.Leratho Netchane is not only taking the lead during warmup, she became Africa’s first female wheelchair rugby player 12 years ago. After taking some time off, she’s back, playing with the Mustangs of Bloemfontein in the Free State Province and encouraging the next generation of players.“With the limited resources that we have, we are trying. And I believe that the Lord is going to take us where we need to go, because now whatever we do, especially as a team, we’re not doing it only for ourselves,” Netchane said.Playing wheelchair rugby is pricey. An imported, specialized high-performance wheelchair alone costs just over 8,000 U.S. dollars. But former Wheelbok and Mustang player, Jared McIntyre, developed a beginner’s wheelchair that costs about one-fifth the price of imported ones.“If we have the means to … as I mentioned, as in South Africa, create awareness amongst the sport with cost-effective chairs, we can just as well do it in other countries. And one of these days, you know, have more African countries competing against each other,” Mcintyre said.South Africa’s wheelchair rugby team hasn’t competed internationally since 2015 because it’s been simply too expensive.South Africa Wheelchair Rugby Vice President David Jacobs says despite the cost, they’re working to develop the sport across Africa.“With our affiliation to the South African Rugby Union and the other rugby unions in South Africa, we’re now slowly starting to create further awareness. And once that awareness got a good foundation, we’ll then look at rolling that out into the rest of Africa into the rugby-playing countries of Africa,” Jacobs said.After plenty of sweat, the Mustangs lifted the trophy for the fourth time running in this year’s South African Wheelchair Rugby League.Finances permitting, South Africa Wheelchair Rugby hopes to compete internationally again next year.
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Experts Question Trump’s Focus on Syrian Oil Fields
U.S. President Donald Trump has made protecting Syria’s oil reserves a top priority, and is deploying U.S. troops to the oil fields even as he pulled American forces out of the border area with Turkey, clearing the way for a Turkish military assault earlier this month on the Kurds. Senior administration officials say the U.S. wants to keep the oil fields from falling back into the hands of Islamic State militants. But as VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports, experts question Trump’s focus on the oil fields.
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China Slashes US Investments
China’s direct investment in the U.S. has slowed to a trickle, dropping by 80% from 2016 to 2018, according to New York-based research provider Rhodium Group. Among the hardest-hit sectors are real estate and hospitality, with Chinese investors no longer scrambling to buy prime properties in cities such as New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles.Chinese real estate investment in the U.S. tripled from 2015 to 2016, reaching a record $16.5 billion. In contrast, not one real estate and hospitality investment reached more than $100 million during 2018, the Rhodium Group found. Chinese developer Oceanwide Holdings’ U.S. footprint includes prime properties in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Construction reportedly has been suspended on one of the towers at the San Francisco Oceanwide Center, while construction has come to a standstill at the Los Angeles Oceanwide Plaza.“The skylines are no longer filled with cranes, really supplied by Chinese investments coming over here in the downtown region,” said Stephen Cheung, president of World Trade Center Los Angeles and executive vice president of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation. “What we’re worried about [is] the construction that’s already here that cannot be finished because of the financing situations,” Cheung said.Construction work stalledThe billion-dollar Oceanwide Plaza is located in a prized location near the Los Angeles convention center and the complex where the Lakers and Clippers play basketball. Construction stalled in January for the condo, hotel and retail space, and Cheung said he has seen very little activity since then.The standstill at Oceanwide Plaza is but one sign of a sharp drop in capital flowing from China at a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing. Overall, direct foreign investment between the two superpowers peaked in 2016 to a record $60 billion, then dropped drastically, according to the Rhodium Group.One reason for the decline is a change in China’s monetary policy.“There were the currency controls out of China, where a lot of companies were parking money. I think it was probably to get money out of China into a safe investment. And at the end of the day, the Chinese cracked down,” said Dale Goldsmith, a land use lawyer and managing partner at Armbruster Goldsmith & Delvac LLP.“The Chinese companies couldn’t get the money out of China even though they committed to certain projects. So certain projects here we’ve seen stalled,” Cheung said.Another reason for the drop in direct Chinese investment is increased vigilance by a federal watchdog organization, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The Rhodium Group estimates the committee’s scrutiny has led Chinese investors to abandon more than $2.5 billion in U.S. deals.A relatively strong U.S. economy is another factor.“The dollar has been very strong, making investment a lot less attractive for the Chinese and in the states. On top of it, you’d have skyrocketing construction costs,” Goldsmith said.To top it all off, a trade war persists between the U.S. and China, sowing uncertainty in an already challenging investment climate.“As the tension is escalating, I think a lot of the Chinese companies are wary in terms of whether they should enter the U.S. market,” Cheung added.Southeast Asia gainsThe trade war is creating another trend: to avoid high tariffs, international companies are moving manufacturing out of China and into Southeast Asian countries.US-China Trade War is Good News for Some CountriesTeaser DescriptionThe continuing trade war between the U.S. and China may be causing businesses in both countries extreme anxiety, but the trade dispute is good news for businesses in other countries as many companies have or are moving their manufacturing away from China. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has the details on why Vietnam is attractive to one company in Southern California.In some countries, such as Vietnam, the trade war is creating new wealth.To offset a potentially negative impact of the trade war in a country such as Indonesia, Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat, a research associate at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance in Jakarta, advised in an op-ed he co-authored in that Indonesia increase its direct foreign investment. In Los Angeles, Cheung said he is seeing a “massive influx” of interests from Southeast Asian countries.“Vietnam is now looking very carefully into the Los Angeles region, given the Southern California region has such a large Vietnamese population,” he said. “We’re also working with our partners in Singapore and Indonesia and Thailand to really expand those opportunities, because we have been dependent on China for such a long time.”We really have to look for alternate solutions as this trade war continues, that trade tension continues, and investment is slowing down significantly,” Cheung added.So long as economic tensions remain high between Washington and Beijing, Los Angeles and other U.S. cities will have to look elsewhere for investment capital.
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Southeast Asian Leaders Seen Siding with China’s Despite Maritime Dispute
Ten Southeast Asian heads of state will hold their landmark annual meeting next week, and four are enmeshed in a maritime sovereignty dispute with their more powerful neighbor China. But the event is widely expected to produce a statement that avoids condemning Beijing.That’s because those leaders, even in Vietnam and the Philippines where frustration is running high this year after a series of incidents, hope China will eventually sign a code of conduct aimed at preventing maritime accidents and because some of the 10 countries need Chinese economic aid, scholars say.Heads of state from the 10 countries, who will convene October 31-November 4 at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, will probably issue a statement that avoids fingering China directly and instead plays up common values, the experts believe.“The summit itself is very cautious,” said Carl Thayer, emeritus professor of politics at The University of New South Wales in Australia. “I expect a boilerplate, ‘freedom of navigation, settle matters peacefully.’”Spirit of cooperation despite hostilitiesASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam dispute with Beijing’s Communist leadership parts of the South China Sea, a 3.5 million-square-kilometer waterway that’s rich in fisheries and fossil fuel reserves. China has taken a lead over the past decade by landfilling small islets for military use.A Chinese survey ship spent months this year in waters where Vietnam is looking fuel under the sea. Chinese coast guard ships patrolled Malaysian-claimed waters for 258 days over the year ending in September, one think tank found. In early 2019, hundreds of Chinese boats surrounded disputed islets occupied by the Philippines.But ASEAN’s 2019 chair Thailand hopes to “disarm” China, Thayer said. Thai officials may have worked behind the scenes to pick friendly wording for any summit statements next week, he said.FILE – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, meet at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, Aug. 29, 2019.However, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte takes a friendly view toward China, landing his country pledges of $24 billion in Chinese aid and investment. China agreed this year to explore jointly with the Philippines for undersea oil and take just 40% of any discoveries.“For the Philippines, there’s already agreement to go ahead with a joint exploration, so I don’t think the Philippines would want to be seen as an unfriendly country towards China,” said Eduardo Araral, associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s public policy school.The Philippines will instead hope ASEAN focuses its 2019 statement on speeding up the code of conduct, Araral said. A June 9 collision between Philippine and Chinese vessels added impetus to signing the code.Elsewhere around the sea, China with the world’s second largest economy is helping Brunei’s economy diversify away from selling oil. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad joined a Chinese Belt and Road Initiative summit earlier this year, meaning his country would be in line for Chinese infrastructure aid.
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Papadopoulos Seeks California Seat Left Vacant by Rep. Hill
George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign aide who was a key figure in the FBI’s Russia probe, filed paperwork Tuesday to run for the U.S. House seat being vacated by Democrat Katie Hill.Papadopoulos didn’t immediately comment, but on Sunday he tweeted, “I love my state too much to see it run down by candidates like Hill. All talk, no action, and a bunch of sellouts.”Hill, whose district covers Los Angeles County, announced her resignation on Sunday amid an ethics probe into allegations she had an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.She’s admitted to a consensual relationship with a campaign staff member, but denied one with a congressional staff member, which would violate U.S. House rules. She’s called herself the victim of revenge porn by an abusive husband she is divorcing.Papadopoulos, meanwhile, was a key figure in the FBI’s Russia probe into ties between Russia and the Trump campaign.The FBI’s counterintelligence investigation that later became the Mueller probe was triggered, in part, from a tip from an Australian diplomat who had communicated with Papadopoulos. Papadopoulos told the diplomat, Alexander Downer, in May 2016 that Russia had thousands of stolen emails that would be potentially damaging to Hillary Clinton.His lawyers have sought a pardon from the president, though Papadopoulos contends that’s unlikely to come to fruition.In the last few months, he’s been working on a working on a documentary series with his wife about their interactions with the special counsel’s team. He’s also on the board of advisers for a medical marijuana company that is hoping to help use cannabis to combat the opioid epidemic.Papadopoulos was the first of five Trump aides to plead guilty as part of Mueller’s investigation. He wants the government to declassify material, including authorizations by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that he contends could prove he was unlawfully targeted.Attorney General William Barr appointed a U.S. attorney who is conducting a criminal investigation examining origins of Mueller’s probe. The current investigation is examining what led the U.S. to open a counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign and the roles that various countries played in the U.S. probe. Prosecutors are also investigating whether the surveillance and intelligence-gathering methods used during the investigation were legal and appropriatePapadopoulos enters a field of at least three other Republicans and one Democrat. The other Republicans are Navy veteran Mike Garcia, bank executive Angela Jacobs Underwood and Mark Cripe, who works for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Former Republican Rep. Steve Knight, who lost the seat to Hill in 2018, is also considering running.The seat was the last Los Angeles County seat to be held by Republicans before Hill’s victory and was one of seven Democrats flipped last year.State Assemblywoman Christy Smith is the only Democrat in the race so far. She quickly criticized Papadopoulos on Tuesday.”If he pled guilty to lying to the FBI – how do we know he’ll tell us the truth?” Smith tweeted. “We deserve someone from our community serving as our voice – not (Trump’s) wannabe political hack!”A special election to fill Hill’s seat cannot be set by Gov. Gavin Newsom until she officially leaves Congress, which she has not done. It’s possible there is no special election, depending on how long she waits to leave office. That would make the next election for the seat in November 2020.
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China Warns US that Criticism Over Uighurs Not ‘Helpful’ for Trade Talks
The United States and 22 other countries at the United Nations pushed China on Tuesday to stop detaining ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims, prompting China’s U.N. envoy to warn it was not “helpful” for trade talks between Beijing and Washington.China has been widely condemned for setting up complexes in remote Xinjiang that it describes as “vocational training centers” to stamp out extremism and give people new skills. The United Nations says at least 1 million ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims have been detained.”It’s hard to imagine that on the one hand you are trying to seek to have a trade deal, on the other hand you are making use of any issues, especially human rights issues, to blame the others,” China’s U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun told reporters.He said there was “progress” in the trade talks. But he said of the U.S. criticism of China at the United Nations: “I do not think its helpful for having a good solution to the issue of trade talks.”U.S. and Chinese negotiators are working to complete the text of an interim trade agreement for U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to sign at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Chile on Nov. 16-17.A U.S. administration official said on Tuesday it might not be completed in time for signing in Chile, but that does not mean the accord is falling apart.When asked if the statement criticizing China could affect trade talks, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Kelly Craft said: “I would be standing here regardless if it was China or wherever it is, wherever there are human rights abuses we would be here in defense of those that are suffering.”Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Karen Pierce delivered a joint statement to the 193-member U.N. General Assembly’s human rights committee on behalf of 23 states including the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden.”We call on the Chinese government to uphold its national laws and international obligations and commitments to respect human rights, including freedom of religion or belief, in Xinjiang and across China,” Pierce said.The group of states pushed China to urgently implement recommendations by independent U.N. experts on the situation in Xinjiang, “including by refraining from the arbitrary detention of Uighurs and members of other Muslim communities.”They also called on countries not to send refugees or asylum seekers back if they could face persecution, Pierce said.’Remarkable achievements’Zhang described the accusations against Beijing as baseless and a “gross interference in China’s internal affairs and deliberate provocation.”Separately, Belarus U.N. Ambassador Valentin Rybakov addressed the General Assembly rights committee on behalf of 54 countries, including China, Pakistan, Russia, Egypt, Bolivia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Serbia.He praised Beijing’s respect and protection of rights while dealing with counterterrorism and deradicalization in Xinjiang and its commitment to openness and transparency by inviting diplomats, journalists and officials to the region.”Now safety and security have returned to Xinjiang and fundamental human rights of people of all ethnic groups there are safeguarded,” Rybakov said. “We commend China’s remarkable achievements in the field of human rights.”The statements follow a similar move at the U.N. Human Rights Council in July when 22 states – including the United States and Britain – wrote a letter calling on China to halt its mass detentions. In response, Saudi Arabia, Russia and more than30 other countries wrote a rival letter that commended China’s rights record.Asked by Reuters last month if U.S. criticism of China’s policies on Xinjiang and Hong Kong political protests could affect trade talks, China’s state councillor and foreign minister, Wang Yi, said: “We hope trade talks can have a loose and good foreign environment.”China dislikes public criticism and met some foreign envoys before the latest session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, which began last month. Chinese human rights academics also defended Beijing’s policies in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong during a briefing with reporters at China’s U.N. mission in New York last week.The United States led more than 30 countries at an event on the sidelines of the annual U.N. gathering of world leaders last month in condemning what it called China’s “horrific campaign of repression” against Muslims in Xinjiang. China denounced the event.
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Bosnia Faces Outflow of Military Personnel Over Low Wages
Bosnia is facing an outflow from its politically sensitive multi-ethnic armed forces (OSBiH) due to the failure of political institutions to approve adequate funding, the Balkan country’s military commissioner warned on Tuesday.The formation of the OSBiH in 2005, assisted by NATO and the EU peacekeeping force EUFOR, has been hailed as the country’s biggest achievement since the end of Bosnia’s war in the 1990s, uniting former foes and promoting national stability. So far this year around 450 people, including those employed in civilian roles, have left the 11,000-strong armed forces, according to the defense ministry, though it noted many had retired, died or changed jobs.”The system is collapsing from within because status issues are not being resolved and the politicians are not interested to solve them,” Bosko Siljegovic, the parliament’s military commissioner, told Reuters on the margins of an international conference.The OSBiH, which brings together Bosniaks, Bosnian Serb and Bosnian Croat elements, is under the supreme command of the country’s tripartite inter-ethnic presidency and the national parliament.For years the force has been praised as the prime example of reconciliation, but its dwindling appeal among the young is shown by a drop in applicants for each job to two from 13 previously.”Low salaries are the main problem, they are lower than in regional police forces or state services of the same rank,” said Siljegovic. “That is why we have a major outflow of soldiers and officers from the OSBiH.”Salaries of soldiers, which previously stood at around 400 euros a month, have been cut to about 300 euros. Lower-ranking army officers are paid around 400 euros and mid-officers around 550 euros.Legislation proposing a wage rise has been blocked in the national parliament, which has not been convening due to bickering over the formation of a cabinet after last October’s national election.Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, who is serving as a Serb member in Bosnia’s three-man presidency, has questioned the role of the OSBiH in Bosnia’s autonomous Serb-dominated region, calling for a stronger regional police force instead.
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UN Chief is Blunt: Women Remain Excluded from Peace Tables
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was unusually blunt on Tuesday: Women are still excluded from many peace negotiations nearly two decades after the U.N. adopted a landmark resolution calling for women to be included in decision-making positions at every level of peacemaking and peace-building.The U.N. chief told the Security Council that sexual and gender-based violence remain weapons of war, a growing number of armed groups promote male superiority and misogyny as part of their core ideology, and women and girls continue “to pay the consequences of conflict.”And Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, head of UN Women, told the council that “violent misogyny is on the rise,” with record levels of political violence targeting women.Guterres and Mlambo-Ngcuka stressed the stark contrast between support from the U.N.’s 193 member states for the resolution adopted in 2000 on women, peace and security and the reality for women caught in conflict in 2019.”The correlation between gender inequality and a society’s propensity for civil or interstate conflict is now well established,” the executive director of UN Women said. “And yet, we still live in a world that tolerates and excuses women’s continued exclusion from peace and political processes and institutions.”Mlambo-Ngcuka said an independent assessment commissioned by UN Women at Guterres’ request last year on progress in implementing recommendations from the 2000 Security Council resolution and two follow-up resolutions found only half were implemented or progressing – “and 10 percent had either gone backwards or were not progressing at all.”From 1990 to 2018, she said, “less than 20 percent of peace agreements included provisions addressing women or gender, and last year none of the agreements reached in U.N.-led processes did.”For all ongoing peace processes, Mlambo-Ngcuka said, “fewer than 8 percent of agreements reached contained gender-related provisions, down from 39 percent in 2015.”The Security Council meeting began with the unanimous adoption of a resolution urging all countries to implement the provisions of all previous resolutions “by ensuring and promoting the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in all stages of peace processes.” It urges that this be done both in delegations of parties negotiating agreements “and in the mechanisms set up to implement and monitor agreements.”Alaa Salah, a 22-year-old Sudanese university student studying architectural engineering who joined successful protests that ended the country’s dictatorship, told the council how women and men were tear-gassed and arrested, and how both sexes faced sexual harassment and were raped.She said women were key members in helping shape the Declaration of Freedom and Change – “a roadmap for Sudan’s transition from military to civilian rule.” But she said only one woman participated in talks with the military.”Now, unsurprisingly, women’s representation in the current governance structure falls far below our demand of 50 percent parity and we are skeptical that the 40 percent quota of the still-to-be formed legislative council will be met,” she said.Speaking on behalf of a coalition of Sudanese women’s civil and political groups and the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security, Salah urged the Security Council to press the transitional government and parties “to support the full, equal and meaningful participation of women” in all peace processes, as well as accountability and an end impunity.South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor, whose country holds the council presidency and chaired the meeting, said: “The time for change has arrived.”
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