The home of a key Togo opposition candidate was surrounded by security forces just hours after polls closed Saturday in elections widely expected to see President Faure Gnassingbe claim a fourth term in power. Troops could be seen outside the house of Agbeyome Kodjo, considered an important challenger in the electoral race, as the government confirmed the move and said it was for “his own safety.” “We are largely in the lead everywhere. My house is surrounded by soldiers,” Kodjo told AFP. Security forces were blocking all access to the property in the capitalm Lome, according to AFP journalists at the scene, while military roadblocks were being put up in the city. Calm during votePolls closed earlier Saturday in an election that was initially reported to be calm with a moderate turnout, although many voters had vowed not to take part in an election they described as neither free nor fair. Gnassingbe has led the West African country of 8 million people since 2005 following the death of his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, who ruled with an iron fist for 38 years. Kodjo, who served as prime minister under Gnassingbe’s father, is seen as a potential dark horse after winning the backing of an influential former Catholic archbishop. The Togo security minister, Yark Damehame, said both Kodjo’s home and that of the former archbishop had been surrounded as a precaution. “We have received reports that he is at risk of an attack on his house by unruly individuals, but I cannot tell you from which side,” he said.
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Month: February 2020
Afghan Truce Worry: One Militant Could Threaten Peace Process
Hopes for ending America’s longest war hinge on maintaining a weeklong fragile truce in Afghanistan that U.S. officials and experts agree will be difficult to assess and fraught with pitfalls. What if one militant with a suicide vest kills dozens in a Kabul market? Or, if a U.S. airstrike targeting Islamic State insurgents takes out Taliban members instead, does that destroy the deal? The agreement, which took effect Friday, calls for an end to attacks around the country, including roadside bombings, suicide attacks and rocket strikes by the Taliban, Afghan and U.S. forces. But in a country that has been wracked by violence for more than 18 years, determining if the agreement has been violated will be a tough task. And there are other groups and elements in the country that would love to see the deal fall through. “The reason this is a challenge is this is a very decentralized insurgency,” said Seth Jones, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and an Afghanistan expert. “There are going to be a lot of opportunities for any militia commander, element of the Taliban, the Haqqani network and other local forces who don’t want to see a deal, to conduct violence.” The Haqqani network is an insurgent group linked to the Taliban. Quick analysis is vitalAccording to one defense official, any attack will be reviewed on a “case-by-case” basis. And much will depend on how well U.S. military and intelligence officials in Afghanistan can quickly determine two things: who was responsible for the attack and whether any blame can be traced to the Taliban, particularly the group’s leaders who have been participating in the negotiations. The Taliban issued a statement late Friday saying their military council had instructed commanders and governors to stop all attacks against foreign and Afghan forces. The council has a web of commanders and shadow governors across the country. U.S. officials have made it clear that “spoilers” — such as militants associated with the Taliban who are not in favor of the peace talks — could launch an attack in a deliberate attempt to prevent them from happening. Jones said the U.S. military has tried to get a good layout of where all the insurgent groups are operating so it will be able to determine where any attack comes from and who likely was responsible. And U.S. military officials said they were prepared to make quick assessments. Vendors and shoppers fill a bazaar in Kabul, Afghanistan. Feb. 22, 2020. A temporary truce between the United States and the Taliban took effect Friday, setting the stage for the two sides to sign a peace deal next week.If successfully implemented, the weeklong “reduction in violence” agreement, which began at midnight Friday local time (1930 GMT), will be followed by the signing of a peace accord on February 29. That accord would finally wrap up the 18-year war and begin to fulfill one of President Donald Trump’s main campaign promises: to bring U.S. troops in Afghanistan home. The U.S. will continue to have surveillance aircraft and other assets overhead to monitor events and help to determine who is responsible for any attack. Communications channelOne senior U.S. official also said that the U.S., Afghans and Taliban will have a channel through which they will be able to discuss any issues that arise. Another U.S. official said that communications between the groups will allow the Taliban, for example, to quickly deny involvement with an attack. But in all cases, officials said the U.S. military — led by General Scott Miller in Afghanistan — will be responsible for investigating incidents and figuring out who is at fault. The officials all spoke on condition of anonymity. Once Miller reaches a conclusion, officials said it will be up to the White House and State Department to determine whether an attack constitutes a violation of the truce and if it is enough to affect the peace deal. The Pentagon has made it clear that U.S. troops may continue to conduct operations against Islamic State and al-Qaida militants as needed. But officials also noted that all sides want the peace agreement to be successful, so they will try to avoid anything that might scuttle it. The Pentagon has said for months that it is poised to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan from the current number of more than 12,000 to 8,600. That reduction is likely to be triggered once the peace agreement is finalized, but officials said Friday that it could take several months for any troop cuts to begin. Jones expressed some skepticism, saying the Taliban have expressed little interest in laying down arms or integrating into a government run by someone other than themselves. Months of talksThe agreement mapping out a plan for peace follows months of negotiations between the U.S. and the Taliban that have broken down before. Both parties, however, have signaled a desire to halt the fighting that began with the U.S. invasion after the September 11, 2001, attacks by Osama bin Laden’s Afghanistan-based al-Qaida network. The only other cease-fire the Taliban had agreed to was for three days in 2018 over the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr. Then fighting ceased completely and Taliban and Afghan security forces were even filmed taking selfies together and laughing. The Taliban military leaders chastised its fighters at the end of the cease-fire for their frolicking with the enemy.
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US Pressures Spain on Chinese Tech Firms
The U.S. government warned Spain this week about the security risk inherent in opening its fifth-generation communications networks to Chinese mobile technology providers. In meetings Thursday and Friday, U.S. officials warned Spanish officials and telecommunications executives that the U.S. could stop sharing sensitive information with Spain if the Chinese firms reportedly involved in 5G technology were not excluded from local markets. Robert Strayer, U.S. deputy assistant secretary for cyber and international communications and information policy, told reporters at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid that 5G pioneer Huawei was under the control of the Chinese government.Defense implications “We cannot put our important information at the risk of being accessed by the Chinese Communist Party,” Strayer said, stressing that technology developed by Huawei to accelerate connections between billions of objects has inevitable defense implications. Huawei offers better 5G network equipment at lower prices than its competitors, according to telecommunications analysts. U.S. efforts to restrict the company’s access to major international markets have been rebuffed by allies in Europe and Asia. The U.K. announced in late January that it would allow Huawei to equip parts of its 5G networks. Similar decisions have been made by Germany and other EU governments. FILE – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo walks on the tarmac as he leaves Germany after taking part in the 56th Munich Security Conference in Munich, southern Germany, Feb. 15, 2020.At an international security conference in Munich last week, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for the creation of a Western alliance against China aimed at blocking cyberespionage. “In recent years, we have witnessed an intense communications campaign to raise consciousness over the interference of the People’s Republic of China in companies that manufacture telecommunications equipment,” said Javier Cremades, a Spanish lawyer specializing in cybersecurity. ‘Criminalizing’ competitionCremades said Chinese laws allow official access to all information handled by technology firms. That provision, however, does not extend to European affiliates or commercial activity outside China, he said, adding that U.S. accusations against China might be aimed at “criminalizing” the competition in the rivalry with Beijing to control the world’s phone technology market. Spokesmen from the U.K.’s National Cyber Security Center said it was “feasible” to implement security measures to separate “high-risk vendors” from sensitive data and functions, although it could require design restrictions that may slow 5G network performance. U.S. officials said other European and Asian firms that have been cleared to operate in American markets, including Sweden’s Ericsson and South Korea’s Samsung, offer 5G technology as advanced as China’s. Spain’s biggest telecommunications companies, including Telefonica and Vodafone, say they have taken steps to reduce Chinese input for their core systems of future data management in mobile telephones, according to the newspaper El Mundo. But U.S. appeals to European countries to restrict access to Chinese tech giants come at a sensitive moment in transatlantic commercial relations. Serious disagreement over European Union efforts to impose a new tax on American high-tech providers has already shaken the telecommunications sector. U.S. diplomats have threatened to retaliate against Spain and other countries for imposing taxes that target American firms that operate a majority of Europe’s digital networks. U.S. President Donald Trump “cannot become a boss who tells European countries what they can do in the EU,” said Spain’s Treasury Minister Maria Jesus Montero, who defends the tax as a way of protecting local competitors. Spain has a had a close commercial and military relationship with the U.S. since the middle of the last century. But the influence of China has grown recently, with nearly 50% of Spain’s national debt now owned by Chinese banks.
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Erdogan to Hold Syria Summit With Russia, France and Germany
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday said he would hold a summit with the leaders of Russia, France and Germany on March 5 to discuss the situation in Syria’s last rebel enclave of Idlib.”We will come together on March 5 and discuss these issues,” Erdogan said in a televised speech, following a phone call on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and his tele-conference with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.The Turkish leader did not say where the summit would be held but his announcement comes a day after Macron and Merkel called for a four-party Syria summit also involving the Russian leader. A months-long offensive by Russia-backed Syrian troops against rebels backed by Turkey in northwest Idlib has seen close to one million civilians flee the violence.The two European Union heavyweights on Friday “expressed their willingness to meet President Putin and Turkish President Erdogan to find a political solution to the crisis,” the chancellor’s office said.Russia on Wednesday objected to the U.N. Security Council adopting a statement that would have called for a cease-fire in Idlib, diplomats said, after a tense closed-door meeting.Turkey, which has threatened an “imminent” operation in Idlib after its troops have come under intense fire from regime forces, has given Damascus until the end of this month to drive back its army positions.Syrian regime fire has killed 17 Turkish personnel this month alone, sparking a war of words between Ankara and Moscow, a key Damascus ally.
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EU Searches for Way Forward After Budget Deadlock
European Union leaders are still seeking a compromise on their next seven-year, trillion-plus-dollar budget. But they ended two days of talks so divided they couldn’t set a date for their next meeting.European unity over Brexit was nowhere to be seen during this first meeting since Britain’s departure from the EU. Leaders of the 27 remaining members ended budget talks Friday acknowledging the gridlock.The tone was set by the EU’s most powerful members. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the differences were too big to overcome, while French President Emmanuel Macron said the deadlock was deeply regrettable. “We don’t need Britain to show disunity,” he added.But inaugurating the annual agricultural fair in Paris Saturday, Macron underscored just why the divisions remain so strong. He told French farmers he remained firm in defending the EU’s biggest budget item — agricultural subsidies — of which France is a top beneficiary.These kinds of no-go zones are being staked out by other member states. Poorer, mostly eastern European nations and five countries that currently get rebates want a more generous budget. Meanwhile the so-called frugal four, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden, don’t want the budget to exceed one percent of the bloc’s gross national income.At the same time, the EU’s new executive arm has outlined ambitious new goals — including achieving zero greenhouse emissions by 2050. Those also will need funding — or risk being scaled down. Then there’s the $65 billion budget hole left by Britain’s departure, which needs filling.Yet EU leaders say they are confident a compromise will be struck.European Council President Charles Michel says the bloc has no choice but to reach a decision. The question is when. Analyst Marta Pilati, of the Brussels-based European Policy Center research group, says the longer talks drag on, the more likely EU-funded programs will be affected next year.”The first consequence of non-agreement is … that we have a delay in implementation, which in practice means that the EU will not be able to disburse funding to the programs so that they can start in January, but maybe that will happen in March and April next year,” Pilati said.The current budget expires in December. After EU leaders reach agreement on the next one, the European Parliament will need to ratify it, which also promises to be complicated.
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South Sudan’s Rivals Form Unity Government Aiming to End War
South Sudan opened a new chapter in its fragile emergence from civil war Saturday as rival leaders formed a coalition government that many observers prayed would last this time around.
A day after President Salva Kiir dissolved the previous government, opposition leader Riek Machar was sworn in as his deputy, an arrangement that twice collapsed in fighting during the conflict that killed nearly 400,000 people.
Kiir declared “the official end of the war, and we can now proclaim a new dawn.” Peace is “never to be shaken ever again,” the president said, adding that he had forgiven Machar and asking for Machar’s forgiveness, to applause. He called on their respective Dinka and Nuer ethnic groups to do the same.
The world’s youngest nation slid into civil war in 2013, two years after winning a long-fought independence from Sudan, as supporters of Kiir and Machar clashed. Numerous attempts at peace failed, including a deal that saw Machar return as vice president in 2016 — only to flee the country on foot months later amid fresh gunfire.
Intense international pressure followed the most recent peace deal in 2018. Pope Francis in a dramatic gesture kissed the feet of Kiir and Machar last year to coax them into putting differences aside. Saturday’s ceremony began with a presentation to them of that photo as a reminder.
Exasperation by the United States, South Sudan’s largest aid donor, and others grew as Kiir and Machar in the past year pushed back two deadlines to take the crucial step of forming the coalition government. But with less than a week before the latest deadline Saturday, each made a key concession.
Kiir announced a “painful” decision on the politically sensitive issue of the number of states, and Machar agreed to have Kiir take responsibility for his security. On Thursday, they announced they had agreed to form a government meant to lead to elections in three years’ time — the first vote since independence.
“Finally, peace is at our doorstep,” a reporter with the U.N.-backed Radio Miraya declared from Bor in long-suffering Jonglei state. In Yambio, youth with flags were reported in the streets. “I rejoice with the South Sudanese, especially the displaced, hungry and grieving who waited so long,” the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, tweeted.
Hugs and applause followed Machar’s swearing-in. He vowed to South Sudanese to work together “to end your suffering.”
And both he and Kiir thanked the pope for his gesture. “We are proud to report to him that we have also reconciled,” Kiir said. “We were greatly humbled and challenged” by him, Machar said.
Even as citizens breathed a careful sigh of relief, aid groups, analysts and diplomats warned of major challenges ahead. In a likely sign of caution, no heads of state aside from Sudan’s leader, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, attended the swearing-in.
“While much work remains to be done, this is an important milestone in the path to peace,” the U.S. Embassy said in a message of congratulations.
Tens of thousands of rival forces still must be knitted together into a single army, a process that the U.N. and others have called behind schedule and poorly provisioned.
And observers have stressed that this new government must be inclusive in a country where fighting has often occurred along ethnic lines and where several armed groups operate. Not all have signed on to the peace deal.
Kiir and Machar have said outstanding issues will be negotiated under the new government.
Other vice presidents named by Kiir on Friday include Taban Deng Gai, a former ally of Machar who switched to the government side and last month was sanctioned by the U.S. over involvement in serious human rights abuses. Another is Rebecca Garang, the widow of John Garang, who led a long fight for independence from Sudan.
The humanitarian community, which has seen more than 100 workers killed since the civil war began, hopes the new government will lead to far easier delivery of food and other badly needed support as roughly half of South Sudan’s population of 12 million remain hungry. Some 40,000 are in famine conditions, a new report said Thursday, and now a major locust outbreak in East Africa has arrived.
Another more than 2 million people fled South Sudan during the civil war, and Kiir has urged them to come home.
The U.N. Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan warns that serious abuses continue. “Civilians are deliberately starved, systematically surveilled and silenced, arbitrarily arrested and detained and denied meaningful access to justice,” its latest report said Thursday. It said scattered deadly violence, the use of child soldiers and sexual violence imperil the fragile peace.
The Sentry, an investigative team that has alleged corruption among some South Sudanese officials, urged the international community to keep up pressure.
“Years of conflict have bred deep distrust among South Sudan’s politicians, heightening the potential for a return to civil war,” it said Friday. “The ability to hold South Sudan’s politicians accountable throughout the process, rather than waiting until it is too late, is essential to the survival of the peace agreement.”
As some analysts said the threat of further sanctions pushed Kiir and Machar to make peace once more, envoys from neighboring Sudan, Kenya and Uganda in remarks after the swearing-in called for the lifting of existing sanctions, to applause.
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Thailand’s Neighbors Denounce Court’s Opposition Party Ban
Thailand’s neighbors in Southeast Asia are condemning Bangkok for dissolving an opposition party Friday, which critics view as the latest sign democracy is in retreat in the region.The Constitutional Court in Thailand has ordered the Future Forward Party to disband after ruling it violated campaign finance laws, which the party has called trumped up political charges. The court decision, which effectively returns Thailand to a two-party system of red shirts versus white shirts, was swiftly condemned by officials around the region.”The Future Forward Party is the latest in a long line of opposition political parties in Thailand to be banned,” according to Francisca Castro, a member of the House of Representatives in the Philippines. “It is increasingly apparent that any party that seeks to threaten the military and the establishment’s political hegemony will not be tolerated.”She said the ruling proves the Thai military has not surrendered some of its power for the sake of democracy as it had promised to do.The military took over the government in a coup in 2014 and did not hold a political election again until 2019. The poll was supposed to pave the way for Thailand to return to representative democracy, but election observers said it was rigged in favor of the military.Despite the slim odds, the Future Forward Party formed in 2018 and garnered 6 million votes in 2019, becoming known for its gesture of dissent, the three-finger salute taken from the dystopian Hunger Games books and movies.The Thai court also said the party’s leaders were banned from politics for 10 years.Future Forward Party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, center, speaks during a press conference after a Thailand’s Constitutional Court ordered his party dissolved, in Bangkok, Thailand, Feb. 21, 2020.”The penalty seems wholly disproportionate to the infraction,” said Abel Da Silva, a member of Parliament in Timor-Leste. He noted that Future Forward appeared to be “singled out” because it was a threat to the ruling party.The court decision is just one more example of governments in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations abusing the law to silence dissent, according to the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights advocacy group. It referred to this latest move as a pattern of “lawfare,” where authorities use the judiciary to go after political opponents.”The pattern can be witnessed in Cambodia, where the only viable opposition party, the Cambodia National Rescue Party, has been dissolved, and its members and activists are facing spurious charges,” the advocacy group said in a statement. It also pointed to the Philippines, where outspoken politicians, particularly those “who have been critical of President [Rodrigo] Duterte’s war on drugs are either in jail or are facing a raft of questionable criminal charges.”The move against Future Forward has triggered criticism inside Thailand as well. The Bangkok Post called it a “dagger to democracy,” writing in an editorial it would foster resentment among voters, particularly the young generation that tends to favor the new party.Bangkok’s skyline is seen from one of the city’s rooftops. A decision by Thailand’s Constitutional Court to ban the opposition Future Forward Party has dented optimism that democracy was returning to the military-run country.Thailand previously has had vigorously contested democratic elections, in contrast to many of its neighbors. Laos, Vietnam, and Singapore are generally dominated by a single party. The military remains in power in Myanmar, and Malaysia, for the first time in half a century, has had only one new party come to power, in 2018.Harvard University political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt argue, however, the 2014 coup that toppled Shinawatra Yingluck, who was then Thailand’s first female prime minister, brought the country into the authoritarian ranks of such nations as Hungary, ruled by Viktor Orban, and Egypt, led by Abdel Fattah al-Sissi.In their 2018 book How Democracies Die, Levitsky and Ziblatt cite the coup in Thailand, along with democratic abuses in places like Turkey and Poland. “There is a mounting perception that democracy is in retreat all over the world.”
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Group of Ethiopian Refugees Voluntarily Return Home From Kenya Camp
A first group of 76 Ethiopian refugees have voluntarily returned home from Kenya’s sprawling Kakuma camp this week. The U.N. refugee agency, which has organized this voluntary repatriation operation with the support of the U.N. Migration Agency, says it expects to help thousands more to return to the homes they fled many years ago.The majority of refugees who have returned are from Ethiopia’s Somali region. Many have been living in exile for up to 12 years. The U.N. refugee agency reports more than half of those returning in this first transport were women and children, including some who have been born and reared in the Kakuma refugee camp.UNHCR spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo told VOA the refugees have fled persecution and instability in their country. But conditions have changed. She said an increasing number of Ethiopian refugees have been asking the agency for help to voluntarily return home. She noted that for the refugees being able to return home after years in exile is a momentous occasion”It means that conditions have changed and that you are ready to go back home and return back to your country, to your communities. So, it is quite a big occasion. It is very significant. We know that there are many protracted refugee crises where many refugees do not have the chance to be able to return. So, this is something — a very big milestone for these refugees.” Mantoo added that the UNHCR expects to repatriate more than 4,000 other Ethiopian refugees from Kenya and 500 from Djibouti this year. She attributed the surge in the numbers of those wishing to return home voluntarily to recent reforms in Ethiopia, which have improved the human rights and political situation in the country.The UNHCR is providing the returnees with travel money to get them back home after they arrive in Ethiopia. They also will receive cash assistance to help them reintegrate into their home communities.
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In Togo, Voters Head to the Polls
Voters in Togo are going to the polls Saturday to cast their ballots in a presidential election.Political observers say incumbent president Faure Gnassingbe will likely be the winner. His family has ruled the West African nation for more than 50 years.Gnassingbe took over Togo’s top position in 2005, following the death of his father, Eyadema, who had ruled for nearly 40 years.Gnassingbe was instrumental in enacting constitutional changes last year that would limit presidents in the deeply impoverished country to two five-year terms.The constitutional changes are not, however, retroactive and Gnassingbe could be in office until 2030.In the lead up to the vote, the president promised to improve the country’s health, education and agricultural sectors.Jean-Pierre Fabre, opposition presidential candidate of the National Alliance for Change, casts his vote during the presidential election in Lome, Togo, Feb. 22 2020.Six challengers are facing off against Gnassingbe, including Jean-Pierre Fabre who came in second in elections in 2010 and 2015.The opposition has not backed any of the candidates, in an attempt to force a second round of voting.Togo faced major protests from the opposition in 2017 and 2018 that were effectively squashed by the government.
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Coronavirus Surges in South Korea as Authorities Grapple With Response
The coronavirus continued to spread rapidly in South Korea on Saturday, with the country reporting its largest single-day spike in confirmed infections since the outbreak began.The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 229 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of South Korean infections to 433.That is a drastic increase from four days ago, when there were only 31 confirmed infections. South Korea now has the highest number of cases outside of China and a cruise ship off the coast of Japan.Authorities are vowing more effective containment efforts, even as protesters in Seoul on Saturday defied a local government ban on large rallies.Wearing masks and chanting anti-government slogans, hundreds of mostly older conservative protesters packed tightly into a square in Seoul’s central Gwanghwamun district, where feisty protests are held nearly every weekend.Medical workers wearing protective gear carry a patient infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus at a hospital in Chuncheon, Feb. 22, 2020.Confusing messages
Police warned protesters they could be fined up to $2500 for violating the ban, but made no attempts to disperse the crowd. At one point, Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon pleaded with protesters to go home, saying they posed a risk to public safety.”It can not only hurt you, but also impact the safety and health of your neighbors,” Park said, according to the Yonhap news agency.But some of the protesters told VOA they believed the virus could not spread among crowds, as long as they were gathered outside — an incorrect notion that may have stemmed from comments by a protest leader, as reported by CNN.Against the city government’s order, the Christian opposition group is going ahead with their weekend rally. The leader told the congregation, “I spoke to a doctor. His case study shows that you can’t catch virus outside.” FILE – A man wearing a mask to prevent contracting the coronavirus walks past a branch of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony in Daegu, South Korea, Feb. 21, 2020.China still epicenter
The highly contagious virus, which causes a pneumonia-like respiratory illness known as COVID-19, has killed more than 2,300 people and infected more than 75,000 worldwide. Nearly all of the infections have been in China, where the virus originated.So far, only two coronavirus patients have died in South Korea. But with the number of virus cases having nearly doubled for four consecutive days, many fear the worst is yet to come.Most of the South Korean infections have been in the southeastern city of Daegu and the nearby county of Cheongdo.In Seoul, which has seen a smaller surge of new infections, virtually all commuters on public buses and trains wore masks and exchanged nervous glances if someone sneezed or coughed.Police officers wearing face masks stand guard during a rally in downtown Seoul, South Korea, Feb. 22, 2020. South Korea on Saturday reported a six-fold jump in viral infections in four days to 433.”It looks like a scene from a disaster movie,” said Choi In-woo, a 20-year-old freshman university student in the Gwanghwamun neighborhood of the Jongno district, which reported the most new cases in the capital this week.”I’m really scared if it lasts longer,” said Choi, whose university has canceled orientation for the spring semester.
Many conservative forces have called on the government to further tighten restrictions on the entry people from China. An editorial this week in the conservative Chosun Ilbo compared the government’s efforts to trying to “catch flies with the windows wide open.”There are concerns that fears of the virus are becoming entangled with anti-China sentiment. Some restaurant owners in Seoul placed “no Chinese” or “no foreigners” signs outside their businesses. A delivery drivers’ union requested its members not be required to take food to neighborhoods with large Chinese populations. And a petition with over 700,000 signatures is calling for the government to ban entry to Chinese nationals.But authorities say the virus has now begun spreading locally among people with no links to China.This handout picture taken Feb. 19, 2020, by Daegu Metropolitan City Namgu shows workers in protective suits spraying disinfectant in front of the Daegu branch of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in the southeastern city of Daegu, South Korea.Religious groupMore than half of the infections are linked to a fringe religious congregation in the southeastern city of Daegu, where a 61-year-old woman who tested positive for the virus had worshiped.The Shincheonji Church of Jesus the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony was founded in 1984 by Lee Man-hee, who is revered by his followers as a messiah. The group claims to have approximately 200,000 followers in South Korea.The Yonhap news agency reported that the virus may have spread more easily at the religious gatherings, since its adherents sit close together on the floor and often place their hands on one another.Lee, the leader of the group, has said the virus is the “work of the devil.” He has also temporarily closed all his churches, saying members should instead watch services on YouTube.Lee Juhyun contributed to this report.
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Study: Symptom-free Wuhan Woman Infects 5 Relatives with Coronavirus
A 20-year-old Chinese woman from Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, traveled 400 miles (675 km) north to Anyang where she infected five relatives, without ever showing signs of infection, Chinese scientists reported Friday, offering new evidence that the virus can be spread asymptomatically.The case study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, offered clues about how the coronavirus is spreading and suggested why it may be difficult to stop.“Scientists have been asking if you can have this infection and not be ill? The answer is apparently, yes,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, who was not involved in the study.China has reported a total of 75,567 cases of the virus to the World Health Organization (WHO) including 2,239 deaths, and the virus has spread to 26 countries and territories outside of mainland China.Medical workers in protective suits attend to a patient inside an isolated ward of Wuhan Red Cross Hospital in Wuhan, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak, in Hubei province, China, Feb. 16, 2020.Researchers have reported sporadic accounts of individuals without any symptoms spreading the virus. What’s different in this study is that it offers a natural lab experiment of sorts, Schaffner said.“You had this patient from Wuhan where the virus is, traveling to where the virus wasn’t. She remained asymptomatic and infected a bunch of family members and you had a group of physicians who immediately seized on the moment and tested everyone,” he said.According to the report by Dr. Meiyun Wang of the People’s Hospital of Zhengzhou University and colleagues, the woman traveled from Wuhan to Anyang on Jan. 10 and visited several relatives. When they started getting sick, doctors isolated the woman and tested her for coronavirus. Initially, the young woman tested negative for the virus, but a follow-up test was positive.All five of her relatives developed COVID-19 pneumonia, but as of Feb. 11, the young woman still had not developed any symptoms, her chest CT remained normal and she had no fever, stomach or respiratory symptoms, such as cough or sore throat.Scientists in the study said if the findings are replicated, “the prevention of COVID-19 infection could prove challenging.”Key questions now, Schaffner said, are how often does this kind of transmission occur and when during the asymptomatic period does a person test positive for the virus.
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Backpackers to Boost Australian Bushfire Recovery
Australia hopes visa changes will encourage foreign backpackers to join the mammoth bushfire recovery effort. The working vacationers would be allowed to stay longer under new rules if they help in disaster-hit areas.The scale of Australia’s recovery from the bushfire crisis is immense. Since July, almost 16 million hectares of land have been scorched. Lives and livelihoods have been lost, along with thousands of homes.The government says overseas backpackers will be crucial in helping to rebuild homes, roads and farms, as well as helping with demolition, land clearing and repairing railways.Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge says young foreign travelers have a big part to play in the recovery effort.“There is so much work to do,” Tudge said. “We need all hands on deck and that includes the international backpackers who we know want to make their contribution as well.”FILE – A bushfire burns in Bodalla, New South Wales, Jan. 25, 2020. Wildfires destroyed more than 3,000 homes and razed more than 10.6 million hectares (26 million acres) since September.Temporary visa changes will make it easier for working vacationers to stay longer in Australia if they work or volunteer in a disaster area. The measures have gone down well.“I think it is wonderful because Australia needs this thing to reforest all the bushfires,” one backpacker said.“I am thrilled,” a woman added. “I think it is a great idea. I just wished it would have happened sooner whether it is planting trees, helping the animals, something like that.”Australia’s working holiday visa program gives young people between the ages of 18 and 30 the chance to take up short-term employment for up to three years.The scheme is popular with travelers from many countries, including Britain, Taiwan, Germany, South Korea and France.
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Is America Ready to Elect a Gay President?
Pete Buttigieg, the first openly gay U.S. presidential candidate to mount a major campaign, has emerged as one of the leaders in the Democratic Party’s early nomination contests.While Buttigieg’s sexual orientation has not been a major issue in the Democratic race, many believe it would become a point of contention if he won the nomination to face President Donald Trump in November.For his part, Buttigieg neither trumpets nor hides his sexuality. On the campaign trail, he speaks of being gay in terms of family values, emphasizing he is in a loving, committed same-sex marriage, and what his candidacy says about inclusion and equality in America today.“One of the best things about this campaign has been being able to meet, especially young people who don’t always know if their family or their community has a place for them or their country. And being able to insist, the fact that I’m standing here, that, yes you do [have a place],” Buttigieg said recently at a Democratic town hall in Las Vegas, Nevada.WATCH: Is America Ready to Elect a Gay President?Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
Democratic U.S. presidential candidate and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg waves to the crowd with his husband, Chasten, at his New Hampshire primary night rally in Nashua, N.H., Feb. 11, 2020.LGBTQ is an inclusive designation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other sexual orientations.It was less than five years ago that the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in a ruling that dramatically advanced LGBTQ rights in America. Over the past two decades, public support for same-sex marriage, seen as an indicator of acceptance of the LGBTQ community as a whole, has flipped from 60% opposition to more than 60% approval.Activist groups like the LGBTQ Victory Fund, Imse said, have helped get “Pete’s race off the ground” by providing financial backing, volunteers and visibility in LGBTQ media outlets.Casting himself as a moderate, Buttigieg earned the most pledged delegates and finished second in the voting in the Iowa caucuses behind progressive Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. In the New Hampshire primary, Buttigieg came in second, while former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumed front-runner, fell to fourth and fifth place, respectively, in the two contests.Protesters with Black Lives Matter protest a visit by Democratic presidential candidate and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, during a visit to A Bridge Home Project homeless shelter in Los Angeles, Jan. 10, 2020.However, as the race shifts to states with large African American and Latino populations, it is unclear if Buttigieg can maintain his momentum, and whether his sexual orientation will cost him votes.A Feb. 17 ABC/Washington Post national poll has Buttigieg trailing with only 9% support, far behind Sanders, who has 32%, Biden, with 16%, and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a late comer to the race, with 14%.Buttigieg has struggled to gain support from minority voters. In a Washington Post/Ipsos poll of African American voters taken in January, he had the highest unfavorable rating among the candidates.The same poll showed 40% of African American respondents saying they are reluctant to vote for a gay man.Michael Fauntroy, who teaches political science at Howard University in Washington, downplayed Buttigieg’s sexuality as disqualifying and said, “most voters do not place as high priority on this” as they do on larger issues like health care and jobs. Buttigieg’s newcomer status in national politics better explains his challenge to connect with minority voters, Fauntroy said.“I think the bigger issue, as it pertains to African Americans and Latinos, is the fact that they just don’t know him relative to the other candidates,” Fauntroy said.Buttigieg’s sexuality did not pose an insurmountable obstacle in 2015, when he won reelection for mayor of South Bend, Indiana, a city with a significant African American population. Buttigieg got 74% of the vote.Mayor Pete Buttigieg talks with an AP reporter as he walks in downtown South Bend, Ind., Jan. 10, 2019.“If African Americans were sort of disproportionately inclined to not vote for somebody who is gay, you would think that would have shown up there as well,” said David Barker, director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University in Washington.Looming attacksSo far, Buttigieg’s sexual orientation has not proved divisive within the Democratic Party, which touts support for greater diversity and counts minorities as key components of a broad coalition. Outside the party, however, he already has drawn fire for his sexuality.Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, whom the president recently awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, provided a taste of negative attacks that could await Buttigieg. During a recent radio program, Limbaugh contrasted Trump, whom he called “Mr. Man,” with Buttigieg’s same-sex marriage, and said Americans are “still not ready to elect a gay guy kissing his husband on the debate stage [as] president.”Some observers say such comments may resonate with social conservatives but could alienate moderates who have supported Trump.“I think any effort like that, on the part of Rush Limbaugh or others, is likely to engender sympathy [for Buttigieg] among mainstream middle-class, suburban soccer moms,” Barker said.Responding to Limbaugh, Buttigieg contrasted his union with his husband, Chasten, to those of Trump, who has married three times and was reported to have paid hush money to an adult film star to remain silent about an alleged affair during the 2016 campaign.Each of the Democratic candidates running this year, Barker said, “has something about their demographic profile that makes them out of the ordinary,” be that age, gender, religion or sexuality.While these issues can be exploited by the opposition, none should pose an insurmountable barrier if the party comes out in force to vote for the eventual nominee, he said.
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Democratic Presidential Candidates Compete in Nevada Caucus
Voters in the Western U.S. state of Nevada gather for caucuses at 250 locations Saturday to have their say in who will be the Democratic Party’s nominee to oppose Republican President Donald Trump in the November national election.Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is the favorite in Nevada, where public opinion polls showed him with a clear lead above the next tier of candidates.Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., walks onstage to speak at a campaign event at Springs Preserve in Las Vegas, Feb. 21, 2020.Sanders is looking to build on the early momentum his campaign has experienced with strong finishes in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary earlier this month.The same is true for former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who was atop the race in Iowa along with Sanders and finished a close second in New Hampshire.Slightly ahead of Buttigieg in polls, but seeking a strong Nevada result after slower starts in the early voting states are former Vice President Joe Biden and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.Bloomberg joins frayDemocratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, center, meets with supporters at a rally, Feb. 21, 2020, in Las Vegas.In early October, Biden and Warren were together leading national polls in the Democratic race. But they experienced a drop in support as Sanders moved in front and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined the competition with hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising that propelled him to strong polling numbers.According to polls, the other major contenders in Nevada are Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and billionaire Tom Steyer.Klobuchar surprised in New Hampshire with a third-place finish, afterward celebrating her campaign as an underestimated one that has “beaten the odds every step of the way.”Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.,speaks during a town hall, Feb. 21, 2020, in Las Vegas.Big early turnoutDemocrats are hoping the Nevada caucus process goes more smoothly than the one in Iowa, where a problem with a new smartphone app and clogged phone lines caused long delays in reporting any results. After the counting stretched on for days, Iowa state party chairman Tony Price resigned.Officials in Nevada are expressing confidence in the systems they have place, with state party chief William McCurdy telling reporters, “We will be successful.”“We’ve done a lot of work here, and what happened in Iowa will not be in Nevada,” McCurdy said. “As soon as we heard what was happening on the ground in Iowa, we put our heads down and we got to work, and we made sure that we put together a process, and allowed for the training for our volunteers and our precinct chairs to have the ability to feel confident.”One factor that may help in Nevada is that the state allowed early voting this year, drawing a large number of people over four days.The Nevada State Democratic Party said nearly 75,000 people participated in the early voting. That compares to about 84,000 people who took part in the Democratic primary in 2016.Democratic presidential candidate former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg meets with people after a roundtable event with Nevada environmental activists and Native American leaders, Feb. 21, 2020, in Las Vegas.McCurdy said the party was “really thrilled for the turnout.”Delegates apportionedThe caucus process works differently from the national presidential election in which voters pick only one candidate to support.At the caucuses, voters make their initial candidate choice, after which officials tally up the results and disqualify those candidates who do not meet a required threshold. Those whose candidates were tossed from the race then have the opportunity to move to another candidate and be counted among their supporters in the final results.Unlike many of the states in the national election, the state primary and caucus contests award delegates to candidates on a proportional basis, so even coming in second or third can be valuable in amassing the support needed to march to an eventual victory at the Democratic Party’s national convention in July.Nevada has 36 pledged delegates at stake Saturday.So far, Buttigieg leads the race with 22 delegates from Iowa and New Hampshire, followed by Sanders with 21; Warren, eight; Klobuchar, seven, and Biden, six.More diverse electorateThe Nevada caucus is an opportunity for those who have support among a more diverse electorate to make up ground after competing in two states that are overwhelmingly white. Nevada’s population is about 29% Hispanic, 10% African American and 10% Asian.After a primary election in the Southern state of South Carolina February 29, the race will accelerate.March 3 brings voting in 14 states, including delegate-rich California and Texas, along with the U.S. territory American Samoa and Democrats voting abroad. A total of 1,357 pledged delegates are at stake that day.To clinch the nomination, a candidate needs to earn 1,991 pledged delegates.Republicans will officially select their candidate, the incumbent Trump, at their convention in August.
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Trump Expects Massive Crowds in India But No Big Trade Deal
U.S. President Donald Trump will visit India early next week to meet his counterpart, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Both sides are already managing expectations by saying they will not be signing a big trade deal. Still, the visit will be full of pomp and circumstance, with Trump already touting the massive crowds expected to turn up for him. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara takes a look at what we can expect in this meeting between leaders of the world’s two most populous democracies.
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Cyberthefts Help North Korea Offset Revenue Lost to Sanctions
North Korea made up nearly $2 billion of revenue it lost from sanctions by conducting cyberthefts from financial institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges, an expert said. The government’s engagement in illicit cyberoperations such as thefts has been “undercutting the effectiveness of sanctions,” said Troy Stangarone, senior director of the Korea Economic Institute. North Korea lost approximately $1.5 billion to $2 billion annually from 2018 to 2019 because of sanctions, said Stangarone, who estimated the figures by comparing export revenues, mostly from China, before and after major export sanctions were imposed on North Korea in 2016. Beginning that year, the U.N. Security Council passed several resolutions banning North Korea from exporting commodities, such as coal, textiles and seafood, that became key sources of income supporting its nuclear weapons program. FILE – The U.N. Security Council votes on a sanctions resolution against North Korea, Aug. 5, 2017.According to a FILE – A photo illustration of the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange website.He said the international community has yet to put in place “firm measures” that would limit North Korea’s “ability to exploit things like cryptocurrency.” Stangarone said that although banks have “more robust systems in place to prevent theft, it doesn’t mean that they are invulnerable.” On Wednesday, a State Department spokesperson told VOA’s Korean service that it is “deeply concerned about the DPRK’s malicious cyber activities, which pose a significant threat to the United States and the broader international community.” The DPRK stands for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Quoting from the 2019 World Threat Assessment published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the spokesperson said, “North Korea continues to use cyber capabilities to steal from financial institutions to generate revenue.” According to a report issued by the Massachusetts-based cybersecurity firm Recorded Future’s Insikt Group last week, internet use by North Korean senior leadership to conduct cyberattacks has soared 300% since 2017. The report, How North Korea Revolutionized the Internet as a Tool for Rogue Regimes, said the regime has grown sophisticated in masking its illicit virtual activities. “North Korea has developed an internet-based model for circumventing international financial controls and sanctions regimes imposed on it by multinational organizations and the West,” the report said. Insikt Group said North Korea’s large-scale cryptocurrency theft took place on South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges. Inside target networkTo conduct online banking theft, the report said, “Attackers likely spent anywhere from nine to 18 months inside a target network conducting further reconnaissance, moving laterally, escalating privileges, studying each organization’s specific SWIFT instances and disabling security procedures.” Although North Korea has turned increasingly to cryptocurrency theft because of its less regulated system, Stangarone said, “because the value of cryptocurrency is highly volatile, it is less useful for Pyongyang than its cyberattacks on banks.” In 2016, North Korea made off with $81 million from Bangladesh’s central bank by exploiting the bank’s SWIFT interbanking system, according to cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab, as reported by Reuters.Baik Sung-won contributed to this report, which originated in VOA’s Korean service.
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Report Due Soon on Probe of Missing Sudanese Protesters
The last time Raouda Abdul Gadir Bakhit saw her son Fadul was a few days before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Fadul, 26, was one of thousands of young people joining a monthslong sit-in outside Sudan’s army headquarters in Khartoum, demanding democracy. When Ramadan ended June 3, though, Sudan’s security forces violently broke up the sit-in, and Fadul disappeared. Bakhit, 64, said she didn’t know why Fadul was the only one to go missing among his colleagues, friends and neighbors, because a lot of them were going back and forth to the sit-in. FILE – People take part in a rally condemning the deadly June crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Khartoum, Sudan, July 18, 2019.The Sudanese Doctors Committee said that as troops cleared the protest area, they killed at least 100 protesters and injured 400. The group said 40 bodies were pulled from the Nile River, where security forces had dumped them. Sudanese authorities said 87 people were killed. Bakhit’s son wasn’t the only protester who went missing. An investigative committee formed by the main protest group, the Sudanese Professional Association, located 15 of the missing, five of whom were dead, SPA spokesman Mohamed Nagi Alasam said. The other 10 had been tortured, he said, and some have wounds or physiological problems. He said they planned to give testimony but would first undergo intensive treatment. Eight months later, at least 25 of the missing protesters have not been found. Relatives of the missing fear their bodies may have been lost in the Nile River or disappeared by security services. FILE – A victim of a gunshot wound sustained in the crackdown on Sudanese protesters is seen inside a ward receiving treatment in a hospital in Khartoum, Sudan, June 7, 2019.Sudan’s transitional government formed an investigative committee to track down the missing. Fadia Khalaf Allah, a member of that committee, said four more protesters had gone missing since December. Khalaf said the committee was doing its best to find the missing people. There have been more opportunities recently to enter morgues, she said, and DNA tests are being used to try to identify bodies there. Relatives of the missing, like Bakhit, can only hope and pray that their loved ones have gone into hiding or are being held by security. She believes deeply that Fadul is alive but detained, she said. He would never disappear from home this whole time, she said. “If he died, for sure we would know. I pray for him every night.” Relatives hope to get some answers when the committee releases a report next month.
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Weinstein Jury Indicates It Is Split on Most Serious Counts
The jury in Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial indicated Friday that it is deadlocked on the most serious charges against the once powerful Hollywood mogul, but the judge told the panel it must keep working. In a note to the judge late in the fourth day of deliberations, jurors asked if it was permissible for them to be hung on one or both counts of predatory sexual assault while reaching a unanimous verdict on the other charges. Weinstein’s lawyers said they would accept a partial verdict, but prosecutors said no and Judge James Burke refused to allow it. He sent jurors back to deliberate for a few more minutes before letting them go home for the weekend. They’ll resume Monday morning. It is not uncommon for a jury to have difficulty initially in reaching a unanimous verdict, and it is not uncommon for a jury to believe that they will never be able to reach a unanimous verdict, Burke said, reading instructions to the jurors. But after further deliberations, most jurors are able to reach a unanimous verdict.'' Jurors' requestThe jury posed its deadlock question in hypothetical fashion, writing:We the jury request to understand if we can be hung on [Count] 1 and/or [Count] 3 and unanimous on the other charges? Thank you.” One reason for that phrasing could be that the verdict sheet, which lays out the charges, doesn’t include instructions for what to do if they can’t agree on a particular count, only how they’re supposed to proceed once they’ve reached a verdict of guilty or not guilty. The way the sheet is designed, jurors are supposed to first reach a unanimous verdict on the predatory sexual assault counts, which carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, before they can even consider the other three counts. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., foreground right, accompanied by Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi, leaves the courtroom after Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial adjourned for the day, in New York, Feb. 21, 2020.Law professor Cheryl Bader said the note suggests the jury is split on a key aspect of both predatory sexual assault counts — Sopranos actress Annabella Sciorra’s allegations that Weinstein attacked her in the mid-1990s — and that it is in unanimous agreement on the allegations by two other women — an aspiring actress who says he raped her in March 2013 and a former film and TV production assistant, Mimi Haleyi, who says he forcibly performed oral sex on her in March 2006. Weinstein has maintained any sexual encounters were consensual. The Associated Press has a policy of not publishing the names of people who allege sexual assault unless those people give their consent. It is withholding the name of the 2013 rape accuser because it isn’t clear whether she wishes to be identified publicly. Direction was ‘not unusual’It's not unusual for the judge to have them keep deliberating and not just give them a pass at the first sign of trouble, said Bader, a former federal prosecutor who teaches at Fordham University School of Law. The defense said speculating on the verdict at this point would be premature and a mistake.'' In all, Weinstein, 67, is charged with five counts stemming from the allegations of Sciorra, the aspiring actress and Haleyi. To convict Weinstein of a predatory sexual assault charge, jurors must agree on two things: that Weinstein raped or forcibly performed oral sex on Sciorra, as she alleges, and that he committed one of the other charged offenses. The predatory sexual assault charge requires prosecutors to show that a defendant committed a prior rape or other sex crime, but it doesn't have the statute of limitation constraints that would bar Sciorra's allegations from consideration on their own. Since getting the case Tuesday, jurors have been focusing a lot of attention on Sciorra, who testified nearly a month ago and was the first accuser to do so in the closely watched #MeToo trial. Sciorra testimonyThey started the day Friday by listening to a reading of her cross-examination and follow-up questioning by prosecutors. About 90 minutes into the reading, the jurors notified the judge they hadheard enough” and resumed their deliberations. Earlier in their deliberations, jurors looked at emails that Weinstein sent regarding Sciorra, including ones to the private Israeli spy agency he allegedly enlisted to dig up dirt on would-be accusers as reporters were working on stories about allegations against him in 2017. Defense attorney Donna Rotunno returns to the Harvey Weinstein rape trial courtroom after a break, in New York, Feb. 21, 2020.Sciorra, now 59, told jurors how Weinstein showed up unexpectedly at the door of her Manhattan apartment before in late 1993 or early 1994 before forcing her onto a bed and assaulting her. Bader said she was surprised the jury appears to be struggling with Sciorra, because she was a much cleaner witness than the other alleged victims, who admitted to having non-forced sex with Weinstein and staying in touch with him after their alleged assaults. Sciorra went public in a story in The New Yorker in October 2017 after one of the few people she says she told about the incident, actress Rosie Perez, got word to reporter Ronan Farrow that he should call her. Sciorra’s allegations weren’t part of the original indictment when Weinstein was arrested in May 2018, but after some legal shuffling they were included in an updated one last August. Annabella was brought into this case for one reason and one reason only,'' defense attorney Donna Rotunno said in her closing argument last week.She was brought in so there would be one witness who had some star power, one witness you may recognize and one witness whose name may mean something.”
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Thai Court Dissolves Pro-Democracy Opposition Party
Thailand’s Constitutional Court on Friday ordered the dissolution of the country’s most vocal pro-democracy party, the Future Forward Party, after determining it took an illegal loan, an action expected to strengthen the hand of the pro-military government at the opposition’s expense.The court also banned 16 of the Future Forward Party’s top executives, most of them serving lawmakers, from politics for the next 10 years.The party has denied any wrongdoing and decried the case as politically motivated.ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, a group of former and serving lawmakers from across Southeast Asia, urged Thai authorities to end what it called the harassment of the country’s pro-democracy parties and activists.”The Future Forward Party is the latest in a long line of opposition political parties in Thailand to be banned. It is increasingly apparent that any party which seeks to threaten the military and the establishment’s political hegemony will not be tolerated,” Francisca Castro, a member and lawmaker from the Philippines, said in a statement.Supporters give presents to Future Forward Party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit as he arrives to give a speech, at the party’s headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand, Feb. 21, 2020.Future Forward has been in the cross-hairs of Thailand’s politically powerful military since a 2019 general election campaign that saw the novice party slamming the junta that took power in a bloodless coup five years earlier. Coupled with a progressive platform and a charismatic, young leader in auto-parts billionaire Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the party came out of the poll a strong third.But with the help of a senate handpicked by the junta, a formula for allocating lower house seats favorably adjusted by a junta-appointed election commission, and promised cabinet posts for allies, the military’s proxy party, Palang Pracharath, managed to cobble together a majority coalition that chose the prime minister, junta leader Prayut Chan-ocha.FILE – Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha gestures while speaking to media members at the Government House in Bangkok, June 6, 2019.Future Forward has been the sharpest thorn in his government’s side ever since, pushing for a popularly elected senate, an end to military conscription and a cut in defense spending. It rallied the opposition bloc to push for an investigation of the military’s many diktats during the junta years and alone opposed — unsuccessfully — the transfer of two army units to the direct command of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, who has backed Prayut’s rule.The effort earned Future Forward and its leaders more than 20 lawsuits, including one that forced Thanathorn out of his elected seat for owning shares in a media company while campaigning, an allegation he denies.It also earned the party an especially strong following among young voters weary of Thailand’s cycle of coups — two since 2006, 13 since becoming a constitutional monarchy in 1932.Its court-ordered demise spells more trouble for the country’s already-turbulent politics, said Joshua Kurlantzick, a senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations, a U.S.-based research group.”I think there will be significant anger among younger people, who are getting increasingly furious not only with the political stasis, and with their voices not being heard, but with the poor economy for them,” he said.”Thai youths are getting bolder in standing up to the military, the monarchy, and the system generally. This combination of sclerotic politics and empowered young people does not bode well for the future of Thai politics.”By banning Future Forward’s executives from politics for the next decade, Friday’s court order will boost the ruling bloc’s position in the lower house, where it has been clinging to a razor-thin majority since the election.New party?Future Forward says it plans to set up a new party to which its rank-and-file representatives can migrate.The government will be hoping to pick off at least some of them, too, said Prajak Kongkirati, a political science professor at Thailand’s Thammasat University.A supporter of Future Forward Party cries at the party’s headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand, Feb. 21, 2020.”That’s the intention of the government,” he said. “They believe that by dissolving the party, some party members, some MPs who [are] not strongly committed to the party will … abandon the party and join [some] other party on the government side.”But Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political analyst and lecturer at Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University, said Future Forward’s voters will stay loyal.”I think the Future Forward base is very deep, and it’s broadening. And the fact that Thanathorn is still out and about and he’s still … reaching out to the different bases and broadening his party, I think that the movement behind Future Forward will certainly be sustained. The name may change, but the movement will stay,” he said.The analyst added: “A lot of these younger people, they are sick and tired of the Thai conflict over the last 15 years. And they’ve seen two military coups that have put the same people in power. They have seen several elections that have gone nowhere. So I think a lot of these people are … trying to take back their country.”Anticipating the court’s action, Future Forward drew thousands of supporters to a rally in downtown Bangkok in December to denounce the government. But analysts do not expect an immediate return to the sometimes violent mass protests that have periodically rocked the Thai capital over the past few decades.FILE – Supporters react at a sudden, unauthorized rally by the progressive Future Forward Party in Bangkok, Thailand, Dec. 14, 2019.Kurlantzick said countries doing business in Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy were watching developments closely but growing inured to the turmoil.”There is a degree of understanding, especially among foreign companies, that Thailand has had a long period of unrest, and that’s certainly not good, but it’s just become a part of business life in the kingdom. Long term, that’s not going to help investment from Western companies, but it’s sort of being priced in for now,” he said.Thailand has also been a close military ally of America in a part of the world where the U.S. is competing fiercely with China for influence. Though U.S. arms sales to the country tailed off in the wake of the 2014 coup, they have picked up since last year’s election.Kurlantzick does not expect the detente to end just yet.”The White House has generally wanted to push a policy of boosting ties with Thailand, and I think — while Future Forward’s ban might lead to some consternation in Congress and some in the administration — it will not stop arms sales,” he said.Case against Future Forward The case against Future Forward stemmed from a pair of loans Thanathorn had extended to his fledgling party worth a combined $6 million to see it through the election campaign.In its complaint to the court, the Election Commission claimed the loan broke articles of Thailand’s law on political parties that make no mention of loans as a legitimate source of revenue and cap an individual’s donations within 12 months at about $320,000. As a consequence, the commission reasoned, Future Forward also broke another article of the law that bars parties from accepting donations, assets or other benefits from illegitimate sources and which includes dissolution as punishment.Future Forward said the loans were above board and should not count as either a donation or revenue.Advisers to the Election Commission seemed to agree.According to local media, leaked commission records showed that two panels the election body set up to probe the case had recommended dropping it, reasoning that loans are not income.
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Reduction-in-Violence Deal Begins in Afghanistan
U.S. and Afghan officials have announced a reduction-in-violence agreement with the Afghan Taliban, in which both sides agree to stop offensive battles against each other. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb maps out the road ahead.
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Sanders Condemns Any Russian Influence in Election
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is condemning any Russian efforts to interfere in the 2020 U.S. election. The Vermont senator issued a statement immediately after The Washington Post reported U.S. officials told Sanders that Russia was trying to help his campaign. The statement did not confirm the report. Sanders wrote: “I don’t care, frankly, who Putin wants to be president. My message to Putin is clear: Stay out of American elections, and as president I will make sure that you do.” Sanders continued: “Unlike Donald Trump, I do not consider Vladimir Putin a good friend. He is an autocratic thug who is attempting to destroy democracy and crush dissent in Russia. Let’s be clear, the Russians want to undermine American democracy by dividing us up and, unlike the current president, I stand firmly against their efforts, and any other foreign power that wants to interfere in our election.”
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Somali President Signs Historic Election Bill Into Law
Somalia’s president, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, has signed legislation that will allow ordinary Somalis to vote in parliamentary elections for the first time.The president signed the bill into law Friday, two weeks after the upper house of parliament approved the bill. The lower house passed it in December.Previously, elections took place under the 4.5 system, in which elders from four major clans and smaller ones chose delegates to vote for leaders.Under the new system, Somalis will vote directly for parties, with parliamentary seats being allocated according to the final tallies. Members of parliament will then elect the president and prime minister. The prime minister must come from the majority party in parliament.Major logistical hurdlesSomalia faces major logistical hurdles that must be cleared before elections can become reality. Parts of the country are controlled by Islamist militant group al-Shabab, and relations between the federal government and local administrations are often tense.The president was nevertheless optimistic at the signing ceremony, which was attended by Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire, Deputy Prime Minister Mahdi Guleid and the speakers of both houses of parliament.”This night marks a historic night for our nation, because after nearly 50 years, our republic and our beloved citizens will have the chance to execute their democratic rights for one man, one vote in the forthcoming 2021 elections,” he said at the presidential residence, Villa Somalia.“No one has a special status and it will be the time for everyone to seek a mandate from the people based on their performance,” he added.Speech targets young peopleThe president, widely known as Farmajo, urged young people to embrace a democratic system in a statement issued by his office.“To our citizens, the people of Somalia, especially our youth who make a large percentage of our population, the power to vote for your candidate of choice is in your hands,” he said. “Let’s keep away from tribalism and divisive politics. We are on a democratic path to move our nation away from selfish interests, bloodshed and loss of property.”
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Greece Scraps Asylum Requests for Migrant ‘Troublemakers’
Greece says it will deport “migrant troublemakers” to their homelands in a bid to combat rising crime and surging migration inflows that have reached a breaking point for the refugee-swollen country.The announcement by Public Order Minister Michalis Chrisochoidis follows the recent deadly shooting of a 23-year-old Afghan man in a heated standoff with a rival Pakistani gang in central Athens. It also follows violent clashes between police and thousands of asylum seekers who took to the streets of Lesbos earlier this month to protest living conditions on the island’s overcrowded camp, and tougher asylum regulations enforced by the new conservative government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis.Greek Public Order Minister Michalis Chrisochoidis, arrives to participate on the first cabinet meeting of the new government, in Athens, on July 10, 2019.“These troublemakers and criminal offenders have no place in Greece,” Chrysochoidis said. “They have chosen the wrong country and society to behave criminally against.”“Rest assured,” he told Apotipomata, a leading current affairs program, “that migrant troublemakers will be hunted down and forced to leave.”More than 100 migrant arrests have been made in the past days in Athens alone. An additional 40 asylum seekers have been rounded up in Lesbos, the start of what authorities call sweeping operations to crack down on rival ethnic groups’ criminal activities, including sex trafficking and drug trafficking, while waiting for their asylum requests to be processed.“For years,” Chrysochoidis said, “there was no real attempt to penalize them. They would be rounded up, detained and then released, allowing them to resume their criminal conduct while waiting for their asylums to be processed.”Now, under new legislation adopted by the government, offenders will instantly be stripped of their asylum rights and detained until deportation, in closed facilities on a host of Greek islands.“You cannot expect a country to be rewarding criminal offenders and troublemakers with asylum,” Chrysochoidis said.Riot police scuffle with migrants during a protest in Mytilene port on the northeastern Aegean island of Lesbos, Greece, on Feb. 4, 2020.Nearly 60,000 migrants and refugees illegally crossed to the Greek islands from Turkey last year, roughly double the rate recorded in 2017 and 2018, according to the U.N. refugee agency. The dramatic rise adds to more than 100,000 asylum seekers already in the country, mainly on the Greek mainland, waiting for their legal claims to be processed, with a backlog expected to last more than five years.Mitsotakis’ government surged to power in July vowing to combat rising crime and enforce a tougher stance on migration. That position includes plans to set up a floating barricade off the coast of Lesbos and reject 95% of asylum claims. Officials say it is a bid to sift through some 75,000 requests in fast-track procedures intended to ease overcrowded camps on five Greek islands at the forefront of Europe’s lingering refugee crisis.State data released this week showed authorities approving 79 of a total of 1,881 cases reviewed in the last month alone.Children play next to the fence of the Moria migrant camp on the island of Lesbos, Greece, Feb. 18, 2020.The government’s hardened stance has stoked concerns by human rights and aid organizations that say the new fast-track asylum rules would allow only days for requests to be reviewed — a process that ordinarily requires months to be fairly considered.Aid works and charity groups have urged the government to ease overcrowded conditions at islands camps, adding that asylum procedures must be fair.”The government must urgently implement its plan to move people to the mainland, improve conditions and enforce a fast and fair asylum procedure,” said Boris Cheshirkov, a spokesperson for UNHCR Greece. He said it was also important for other regions in the country to accept migrants and that the EU should re-open an ill-fated relocation scheme.Meanwhile, residents of refugee-swollen islands are voicing anger over the government’s intention to set up new camps there, to serve as migrant holding centers.Locals on the islands of Lesbos, Chios, Kos, Samos and Leros warn that their economies have already been shattered by the migration crisis with the business of many hotels and restaurants falling off by more than 50% in recent years.A new camp for migrants with a capacity of 1200 people is pictured in Zervou, on the island of Samos on Feb. 21, 2020.Tensions with the local communities are expected to heighten in the coming weeks as the government plans to use emergency legal powers to requisition large swathes of forest land on the five islands to create the contentious detention centers as it also speeds up deportations.Greece has been grappling with rising tides of illegal migration since the summer, receiving the biggest inflow in four years, or since the EU signed a landmark accord with Turkey to stem a mass migration move of some 1.2 million mainly Syrian refugees to Europe.While the 2016 deal has helped dramatically decrease illegal arrivals by as much as 97%, the contentious measures now adopted by the new government underscore how four years since the landmark EU agreement deal, Greece still remains ground zero for Europe’s migration crisis.“We’re changing the rules,” Chrysochoidis said. “And it’s not out of spite or because of some racist belief. We finally have to defend out people from the fallouts of this crisis.”
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Thousands Fleeing Escalating Violence in Africa’s Sahel Region
The U.N. refugee agency says more than 700,000 people in Africa’s Sahel region have fled attacks by militants and armed groups in the last 12 months, a 10-fold increase compared to January 2019.Violence and mass displacement have become a way of life for millions of people in four of the Sahel’s most seriously affected countries — Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. The number of displaced people within the region keeps growing as attacks by Islamist militants and other armed groups increase.Burkina Faso is the epicenter of the violence. The U.N. refugee agency says recent attacks by militants on civilians and local authorities in the sprawling country are forcing more than 4,000 people on average to flee their homes every day in search of safety.UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic says an estimated 150,000 people have fled in the last three weeks.”People fleeing violence report attacks on their villages by militant groups, killing, raping and pillaging. Terrified of these attacks, residents have left everything behind to find safety… We and our partners are facing severe challenges in accessing and responding to the needs of the internally displaced people and refugees scattered throughout the Sahel region, as attacks against civilians grow in number and frequency,” Mahecic said. The UNHCR says more than 4,400 refugees from Niger have arrived in Mali, fleeing a recent string of attacks. It says a similar wave of violence has prompted an estimated 11,000 people to flee unsafe border areas. The same phenomenon is occurring in Mali and Mauritania. Militant attacks are internally displacing civilians there or forcing them to flee to other countries in a region that essentially knows no borders. Mahecic said survivors of attacks throughout the region need safety, shelter, food, water and other essentials, as well as psycho-social support for those who have fled or witnessed atrocities.He said his agency is planning to ramp up its humanitarian response to deliver on these needs. He added the UNHCR will launch an appeal to international donors for support in the coming weeks.
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