The African Development Bank held a virtual conference this week focused on solar energy in the Sahel region.Experts at the African Energy Market Place (AEMP) forum say the vast semi-arid region separating the Sahara Desert on the north and tropical savannas on the south has high solar energy potential, but poor infrastructure and funding remain challenges. Maman Sambo Sidikou, executive secretary of the G5 Sahel, speaking in Abuja, said the countries — which include Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger — are not exploiting solar energy as they should. With a cumulative gross domestic product close to $53 billion, and a large part of the territory benefiting from stable and consistent sunshine, the G5 Sahel is the ideal region to demonstrate the power of solar energy, Sidikou said. ChallengesHowever, installing solar energy requires not just solar panels, but batteries, inverters, and power regulators, and maintaining and repairing the network requires the knowledge of skilled technicians.This is a challenge in the Sahel, where infrastructure is lacking. Grégoire Gailly, who manages the Green Business Area program at Geres, a non-governmental organization working to battle climate change and global warming, said there are a lot of solar energy products that have been distributed in the past few years but the quality is not always there.And sometimes, he added, it’s the installation that is not well done because some electricians are not trained in these techniques. Access to the necessary materials can also be difficult, particularly in rural areas. In addition, the upfront costs keep solar energy financially inaccessible to most of the population. Power outagesYanick Kemayou, the founder of Kabakoo Academies, a learning space in Bamako, Mali, knows firsthand the benefits of solar energy. The building that is home to Kabakoo was intentionally built in one of Bamako’s poor, dense neighborhoods, in order to be accessible to all of the population. But in poor neighborhoods, Kemayou explained, power outages are even more frequent than elsewhere. Kabakoo Academies is now 100 percent powered by solar power. “When we started Kabakoo, we were actually on the grid,” Kemayou said. “But we realized that we had productivity losses up to 70% in the rainy season, because like six to seven out of 10 scheduled activities, scheduled workshops, boot camps, would have to be canceled because of power outages.” Electric power outages are a major problem in all of the G5 Sahel countries. Generators However, for those with the means to pay for solutions, solar power is not yet widely accepted as a viable solution to frequent power cuts.Many prefer to buy generators which, like investments in solar energy, are costly. “Why are people nowadays in Bamako, in Mali, still buying generators? This is a big question, and I have to admit I don’t have the answer,” Kemayou said. “I would love to have the answers. It seems that the population, the people here would know that solar energy exists.” Aside from the challenges inherent in establishing a network of solar energy, most of the countries that make up the G5 Sahel have also been struggling with an ongoing Islamist insurgency. Mali is facing political instability, with former president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita ousted in an August coup. This year’s AEMP focus on the Sahel was in the context of the African Development Bank’s desert-to-power initiative. The program’s goal is to develop 10 gigawatts of solar energy and supply 250 million people with green, clean electricity by 2025.
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Month: December 2020
US Proclamation Giving Morocco Sovereignty Over Disputed Region Draws Backlash in Africa
African analysts have expressed concern and alarm about the sudden U.S. announcement recognizing Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara. The statement was made by U.S. President Donald Trump after Morocco agreed to normalize relations with Israel, but analysts on the continent say it risks upending a delicate situation that both the African Union and the United Nations have spent decades trying to resolve.
US Brokers Deal Establishing Ties Between Morocco, Israel Agreement also sees US recognize Moroccan sovereignty over disputed Western Sahara U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement was made as night fell over the African continent on Thursday, and the initial reaction among political analysts and activists was one of stunned, utter disbelief. Those views hardened Friday as the continent’s top diplomatic body, the African Union, said nothing about Trump’s statement and its possible impact. */
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Embed” />CopyListenUnited States issues proclamation on Western SaharaUnited States issues proclamation on Western Sahara“It is a very contentious issue, but one just wonders why the president of the United States should continue to wade into such matters about the sovereignty of African states, even in the dying embers of his own tenure as the president of the United States,” said Sarfo Abebrese who heads the Coalition of Supporters’ Unions of Africa, which promotes African cooperation.In a proclamation, Trump said the U.S. believes that recognizing Morocco’s claim over the Western Sahara region is the “the only basis for a just and lasting solution to the dispute.” He continued, “The United States believes that an independent Sahrawi State is not a realistic option for resolving the conflict and that genuine autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the only feasible solution.” He urged the parties to negotiate “using Morocco’s autonomy plan as the only framework to negotiate a mutually acceptable solution.”Morocco annexed the former Spanish colony in 1975. When the AU’s predecessor, the Organization of African Unity, admitted Western Sahara in 1984 as a member state, Morocco quit the organization. Morocco rejoined the AU only in 2017. The AU and the U.N. have spent decades trying to reconcile the situation in the territory, where the pro-independence Polisario Front has long clamored for recognition. The U.S. is the first Western power to officially side with Morocco, in exchange for a restoration of relations between Israel and Morocco, also announced Thursday. Of course, says Ryan Cummings, head of Signal Risk, a political and security risk management firm, it’s much more complicated than that. The coastal territory sits smack on top of a growing Islamist movement in Africa’s Sahel region. And the leader of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara is a man named Abu Walid al-Sahrawi. As his name indicates, he is from the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which is the official name of Western Sahara. UN: No Quick, Easy Solution to Western Sahara Conflict
A second round of U.N.-mediated talks aimed at solving the Western Sahara conflict has ended with no resolution, but with an agreement by the Moroccan and the Polisario Front delegations to meet again.Getting parties in a dispute that has lasted 43 years to agree to keep talking is an achievement itself, albeit a small one. The U.N. mediator, former German President Horst Koehler, said there was still a lot of work ahead in the effort to end the conflict."Nobody should expect a quick outcome, because…
Could that turn this situation from contentious to dangerous? For now, Cummings doesn’t think so. “There might be extremist groups within Morocco, within Western Sahara, that might potentially be aggrieved and look to lash out against this,” said Cummings. “But, you know, really influencing the terrorism dynamic within Morocco — I just don’t see that happening. Yes, it could kind of radicalize more Sahrawis to potentially join extremist movements. But again, these extremist movements are not directing their core focus or operational capabilities to Morocco. They’re conducting the insurgencies well outside of the country and outside of the region.”Abebrese, whose group is campaigning against what is shaping up to be an unopposed re-election by AU Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat, said he isn’t surprised by the AU’s silence. “One would expect that the African Union Commission itself will be more proactive in delivering on its mandate on such weighty issues,” said Abebrese. “But alas, with a leader as inept and as clueless as Faki Moussa Mahamat, who is more concerned about running unopposed for a second four year term, why wouldn’t the likes of Trump have a field day wading into our affairs in such a manner?”Activist Daniel Mwambonu, who heads the Global Pan-Africanism Network, told VOA via WhatsApp that the U.S. proclamation is “a big blow to democracy and undermines the effort that the United Nations is making to resolve the conflict.”“I appeal to the African Union to step up so that there is no further escalation of the conflict and ensure that the United States respects the sovereignty of Africa as it determines its own issues, and also respects the decisions made by the United Nations so that the people of Western Sahara can be given the right to determine their destiny,” said Mwambonu.As the business day ended Friday at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, the continental body kept its silence.
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Uganda Issues New Directives for Foreign Journalists
Human rights activists are denouncing a new Ugandan directive to scrutinize journalists working for foreign media.On Thursday, Paul Ekochu, the chairman of the Ugandan government’s Media Council, said journalists working in the country for foreign outlets must register anew and submit to a vetting process, or risk having criminal charges brought against them.Ekochu argued the scrutiny is needed if journalists’ security is to be guaranteed. He recalled all the accreditation cards possessed by journalists working for foreign media, saying new ones with security features will be issued after reporters re-register. “In the next seven days, all media practitioners in these media houses and in the country are registered with the media council and issued with the relevant press tag, which will allow them access, coverage of public events, state events and in particular, these elections,” he said, referring to the January 14 presidential election. Ekochu said those who do not comply may face criminal penalties. “Two, it’s a criminal offense under the law to do what you have been told to practice without a certification when you have been informed you should certify yourself,” he said. “Three, it’s again a criminal offense to disobey a lawful order.” Growing concernLiam Taylor, who co-chairs the Foreign Correspondents Association of Uganda, said journalists are increasingly concerned about the arbitrary, ambiguous and ever-changing rules the Ugandan state is imposing, saying the rules interfere with their work. “Coming just weeks before elections, this is very worrying indeed,” Taylor said. “That’s a disturbing precedent. And, we are not asking for any special treatment. All we want is the right to do our work.” Local journalists are also required to apply for renewal of their press passes by the end of the year. Robert Sempala, National Coordinator of the Human Rights Network for Journalists in Uganda, said these are moves by the government to prevent journalists from reporting on some presidential candidates. “The timing, who gives seven days to accredit journalists nationally? Who does that if it is well intentioned? But also, to create this feeling of fear, that you have an accreditation that is newly issued so you have to be extremely careful,” Sempala said. Call for protectionMuthoki Mumo, the Sub Saharan representative for the Committee for Protection of Journalists, noted that the new guidelines are disingenuous and do not focus on journalists’ safety despite the Media Council’s claims. “Identifying them differently is not the solution here,” she said. “Stop obstructing the work of journalists, start protecting journalists, investigate attacks on journalists. Holding those who’ve attacked journalists, whether they are security personnel or members of the public, accountable is the solution to the issue of safety of journalists on the campaign trail.” The new guidelines come just days after accredited journalists working for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation were deported from Uganda.
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With Trade Dipping, Turkey Works to End Isolation
Turkish exporters say they have become a casualty of what analysts describe as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s aggressive foreign policy. Turkey’s relations with its Saudi partners suffer as a result of Ankara’s push to exert its influence in the Mediterranean and in Africa. Exporters say they are being shut out of Middle Eastern markets — prompting Turkey to start changing its approach.Turkish companies like industrial boilermaker Erensan are paying a heavy price for Turkey’s strained relations across the Middle East and North Africa, says Erensan’s CEO Ali Eren.”We shifted, so to speak, from the Middle East,” said Eren. “With Saudi Arabia also not good relations, Egypt not good relations, so we shifted a little bit to the East to Indonesia for example and to Bangladesh which turned out to be good markets for us as well. But it’s not automatically done because we have to work first to get into the market.” FILE – Couple walks along Istiklal Street at the popular touristic neighbourhood of Beyoglu after a partial weekend curfew started during the COVID-19 outbreak in Istanbul, Turkey, Nov. 21, 2020.Reports of a Saudi trade boycott has hit Turkey’s massive textile industry, which supplies many of the big international brands. Egypt has sided with Saudi Arabia in a growing, bitter rivalry.International relations expert Emre Caliskan at the University of Oxford says Turkey sees Riyadh as thwarting its efforts to penetrate North African markets.”Turkey wants to be an economic player in the region. Turkey has an export orientated economy,” said Caliskan. “So whenever Turkey started have a better relationship with some countries this could be Morocco and Algeria. They always found a country trying to position itself towards Saudi Arabia.People wearing masks for protection against the spread of coronavirus, walk in the Spice Market, or the Egyptian Bazaar, in Istanbul, Nov. 17, 2020.”The Turkish leadership and the Saudis felt the need to reassess the situation and to be able to start a dialogue in their interest as you said, maybe it could be the start of a normalization of relations with Cairo, why not?,” he said.With Ali Eren’s boiler business is still counting the cost of Turkey’s regional isolation, Eren welcomes talk of a rapprochement.”Egypt has been a loss for us, but we are not worried it’s going to come back on us again because politics change,” said Eren.For exporters like Eren who are also reeling from the pandemic, repairing ties with the Saudis cannot come soon enough.
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Biden, Harris Jointly Named Time Magazine’s ‘Person of the Year’
Time magazine has jointly named President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris its 2020 “Person of the Year.”
Time’s editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal says Biden and Harris won the honor for “changing the American story, for showing that the forces of empathy are greater than the furies of division, for sharing a vision of healing in a grieving world.”
Felsenthal notes, “Every elected President since FDR has at some point during his term been a Person of the Year, nearly a dozen of those in a presidential election year. This is the first time we have included a Vice President.”
Time’s other Person of the Year candidates were President Donald Trump; frontline health care workers and Dr. Anthony Fauci; and the movement for racial justice.
Time named Trump Person of the Year for 2016, the year he won the presidency, writing that Trump had “upended the leadership of both major political parties and effectively shifted the political direction of the international order.”
Also Thursday, Time named the Korean boy band BTS its Entertainer of the Year and named Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James its Athlete of the Year.
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‘A New Beginning’: Relief, Hope as Britain Begins Mass Coronavirus
British health officials are warning that people with a “significant history” of allergic reactions should not receive the new coronavirus vaccine that was rolled out in a mass vaccination program Tuesday, pending investigation of two adverse reactions. Britian is the first western country to begin the mass vaccinations, as Henry Ridgwell reports from London.Camera: Henry Ridgwell
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US Executes Man After Supreme Court Denies Stay
The U.S. Justice Department Thursday carried out the latest execution of a federal prisoner undertaken during the presidential transition period, something unprecedented in modern times.The execution of Brandon Bernard by lethal injection was the ninth death penalty sentence carried out by federal authorities after an almost 20-year hiatus of the practice. Further executions are expected in the waning days of the Trump administration.Bernard, 40, was a gang member convicted in the grisly 1999 killing of two youth ministers in Texas. The U.S. Supreme Court denied a stay of execution for the prisoner, who was a teenager when he committed the crime.Several jurors from Bernard’s 2000 trial objected to the execution and asked the administration to show mercy.Next month, the U.S. is scheduled to execute Lisa Montgomery, the only woman on death row. Montgomery strangled a pregnant woman and cut out her unborn child. The child survived the ordeal and is now a teenager.Last month, the U.S. executed a 49-year-old man, Orlando Cordia Hall, for his role in the kidnapping and murder of a 16-year-old girl.A Gallup poll earlier this year found Americans divided on capital punishment, with 55% favoring putting convicted murderers to death and 43% opposed.President-elect Joe Biden has indicated he favors ending the death penalty.
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Countdown Begins for Final US Approval of First COVID-19 Vaccine
The countdown has begun for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s anticipated final approval of a coronavirus vaccine developed by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech, shown to be 95% effective in preventing COVID-19.The FDA is widely expected to authorize emergency use of the vaccine – possibly later Friday or Saturday – after a special panel of the agency voted for its approval Thursday.The decision came as the United States recorded a one-day record of deaths from the coronavirus, with more than 3,100 lives lost in a single day earlier this week.As of Thursday evening, the U.S. had recorded 15.5 million cases and more than 291,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data.Of the 22 people on the FDA panel, 17 voted in favor of authorizing the vaccine, four voted no and one abstained on the question: “Based on the totality of scientific evidence available, do the benefits of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine outweigh its risks for use in individuals 16 years of age and older?”The four panelists who dissented largely expressed concern about giving the vaccine to 16- and 17-year-olds. Teens younger than 18 were represented in small numbers in studies for the vaccine, and during the hours of deliberations, some scientists worried the effects on this age group weren’t known well enough.The vaccine was approved after hours of deliberation on topics including allergic reactions to the vaccine recorded in Britain this week.The FDA panel’s recommendation was hailed by President-elect Joe Biden.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 7 MB480p | 10 MB540p | 13 MB720p | 23 MB1080p | 52 MBOriginal | 66 MB Embed” />Copy Download Audio“Today’s recommendation by FDA’s Advisory Committee that an Emergency Use Authorization be issued for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is a bright light in a needlessly dark time,” Biden said in a statement Thursday.”The integrity of science led us to this point,” the statement went on, expressing gratitude to the scientists and others who worked on the vaccine.The U.S. government will immediately ship 6.4 million doses of the vaccine across the country, with front-line health care workers receiving top priority for the first inoculations.The U.S. military will also prioritize its health care workers for its initial allocation of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which will be just under 44,000 doses.A Pentagon spokesperson told reporters Wednesday that the military will start inoculations “within a day or two” after the FDA approves the emergency use authorization. The vaccinations will be voluntary at first but could become mandatory once the vaccine is fully licensed.The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has jumped to the front of the line in the global effort to develop a vaccine against the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Britain became the first Western nation to begin mass inoculations of the drug on Tuesday, just days after the government’s medical regulatory agency approved the drug.
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Australia Abandons COVID-19 Vaccine Trials After False Positive HIV Results
Clinical trials of a COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Australia’s University of Queensland in partnership with biotech company CSL have been abandoned after participants returned false positive HIV test results. The treatment was a key part of Australia’s response to the pandemic, and the government had signed a deal to buy 51 million doses.Vaccines typically take years of painstaking research to develop, but COVID-19 has sent scientists around the world racing to find an effective treatment.The Australian government was no different, but it has announced the sudden termination of clinical trials of a vaccine being developed at the University of Queensland.A small component of the experimental drug was derived from the human immunodeficiency virus, also known as HIV. It is used to give the vaccine stability, helping it to recognize and then neutralize the coronavirus. Some participants recorded false positive HIV test results. Researchers have stressed that the treatments are harmless and do not expose patients to the risk of disease.Biotech giant CSL, which has worked alongside the university team in Queensland, has insisted the vaccine had a “strong safety profile.”Phase one clinical trials involving 216 people began in July. Phases two and three have been canceled.The University of Queensland vaccine was one of four potential coronavirus treatments secured by the Australian government for potential use next year, including the Oxford University-AstraZeneca drug.“At no stage we believed all four of those vaccines would likely get through that process,” said Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. “If that had occurred that would have been truly extraordinary based on the process of vaccine development not only in this country but anywhere else. So, that is why we spread our risk. The advice we have received is that the University of Queensland vaccine will not be able to proceed based on the scientific advice and that will no longer feature as part of Australia’s vaccine plan.”Morrison said the decision to end the trial should give “Australians great assurance that we are proceeding carefully” toward a COVID-19 vaccine.But some experts fear it could damage public confidence in the inoculation program.The government has said Australia’s vaccine agreements will be enough to cover the entire population of 25 million people, even if one or two candidates proved unsuccessful.Australia has recorded 28,000 coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, and 908 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
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Hong Kong Media Tycoon Jimmy Lai Charged Under Security Law
Hong Kong’s political crackdown continued Friday as Jimmy Lai, media tycoon and founder of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, was charged under the new national security law for “foreign collusion.”“After an in-depth investigation by National Security Department of Hong Kong Police, a 73-year-old man was charged with an additional offense of ‘Collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security,’” a police statement read. Lai is due to appear in West Kowloon Magistrates Court Saturday morning.Lai was first arrested under the national security law on suspicion of foreign collusion in August, but after 40 hours in custody, he was released on bail.Lai was arrested again December 2 for a separate offense – not under the national security law – this time over alleged fraud. He has been in custody since being denied bail. Lai is appealing this decision.Friday’s new charges are likely to shatter his chances of being granted a successful appeal, as the national security law allows authorities to hold defendants without bail.Hong Kong dissident Nathan Law, now in self-exile in the United Kingdom following the implementation of the law, called Lai’s case “extremely outrageous.”“Jimmy is definitely targeted because he has been an important figure for the democratic movement. I believe the charges are targeting his speeches in the media,” Law told VOA.Avery Ng, chairman of the League of Democrats in Hong Kong, said Lai is a “top priority on the Chinese Communist Party’s to-lockup list.”“The government is just trying to keep finding excuses to lock up Jimmy for as long as they can. Remember, Jimmy will be spending months in prison without a single conviction,” Ng told Voice of America.“The true meaning of ‘further investigation’ is ‘tailor-made persecution,’” Ng added.Lai spoke out in June, hours before the new security law came into effect, saying that those within the pro-democracy movement will have to “stand firm” in the face of Beijing’s political crackdown.“This national security law has done great damage to the whole democratic movement. Definitely, we will become a smaller group. However small we are, we have to stand firm and be prepared to go to prison, in turns. We have to keep the backbone of the democratic movement, this is our aim,” Lai said.In more breaking news in the city, Hong Kong teenage activist Tony Chung was found guilty Friday on two charges of unlawful assembly and desecrating China’s national flag.The conviction comes only a week after prominent pro-democracy activists Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow and Ivan Lam were sentenced to jail as pro-Beijing authorities target dissidents within the city.Tony Chung, 19, is the former convenor of local pro-democracy activist group Studentlocalism. He was convicted for throwing China’s national flag to the ground and unlawful assembly during a protest outside Hong Kong’s Legislative Council in May 2019. Chung had pleaded not guilty to the charges.However, Magistrate Peony Wong who was ruling over Chung’s case at Eastern Magistrates Court said Chung was throwing the Chinese flag “in an open manner” adding “the defendant walked back and jumped to throw the flag which made more people able to see what he did. “The defendant had deliberately desecrated the flag,” the magistrate added.Throughout the court proceedings, Chung appeared fairly relaxed, often glancing over his supporters in a packed out courtroom. As the judge announced the verdict, Chung was escorted from the dock. He then turned to his supporters in the public seating area and shouted: “HongKongers, hang in there!”Chung spoke to Voice of America in October about his pending charges and admitted his lawyer had told him he was “likely to face jail,” even if he pleaded guilty. Unlawful assembly and desecrating the national flag are punishable with a maximum sentence of three years in prison. Chung will be sentenced December 29.Chung made headlines in July, as he was the first political figure to be arrested for violating the national security law on suspicion of secession. He was released on bail without being charged.On October 27, though, the Hong Kong police national security unit arrested Chung after he allegedly tried to seek asylum at the U.S Consulate. He was later charged under the national security law on four charges including secession, money laundering and conspiracy to publish seditious material. He has been in custody on those charges since, with a court hearing set for January.“I am more concerned about the National Security Law because it is not the same as the common law in Hong Kong, it is closer to the [Mainland] Chinese law,” Chung said in October. Joseph Cheng, political analyst and former professor at the City University of Hong Kong, said the national security saw is an “instrument of suppression.”“Police now tend to make arrests first, then engage in further investigations to introduce more serious charges. These arrests usually mean detention without bail,” Cheng said.
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Americans May Get First Vaccines This Weekend
A US government advisory panel on Thursday recommended emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, which meant Americans could begin being vaccinated as soon as this weekend. Earlier this week, the country recorded its highest death toll from COVID-19, with more than 3,100 deaths in a single day. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has the story.
Producer: Kim Weeks
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EU Leaders Agree to Reduce Emissions After All-night Talks
European Union leaders reached a hard-fought deal Friday to cut the bloc’s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by the end of the decade compared with 1990 levels, avoiding a hugely embarrassing deadlock ahead of a U.N. climate meeting this weekend.Following night-long discussions at their two-day summit in Brussels, the 27 member states approved the EU executive commission’s proposal to toughen the bloc’s intermediate target on the way to climate neutrality by mid-century, after a group of reluctant, coal-reliant countries finally accepted to support the improved goal.Five years after the Paris agreement, the EU wants to be a leader in the fight against global warming. Yet the bloc’s heads of states and governments were unable to agree on the new target the last time they met in October, mainly because of financial concerns by eastern nations about how to fund and handle the green transition.But the long-awaited deal on a massive long-term budget and coronavirus recovery clinched Thursday by EU leaders swung the momentum.Large swaths of the record-high 1.82 trillion-euro package are set to pour into programs and investments designed to help the member states, regions and sectors particularly affected by the green transition, which are in need of a deep economic and social transformation. EU leaders have agreed that 30% of the package should be used to support the transition.
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US, Allies to Raise Human Rights in North Korea at UN Security Council
Nearly half the 15-member U.N. Security Council plan to raise the issue of rights abuses in North Korea during a closed-door meeting on Friday — a move likely to anger Pyongyang — after Russia and China objected to a public briefing, diplomats said.The United States, Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, the Dominican Republic and Estonia told council colleagues they will raise the implications of North Korea’s “ongoing human rights violations against its people on international peace and security,” according to an email seen by Reuters on Thursday.They had initially requested a public briefing on the issue by U.N. human rights officials, but diplomats said Russia and China had objected. The Chinese, Russian and North Korean U.N. missions did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Between 2014 and 2017 the Security Council held annual public meetings on human rights abuses in North Korea.In 2018 the council did not discuss the issue amid now failed efforts by North Korea leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump to work toward Pyongyang’s denuclearization.Last year at least eight council members pushed for a meeting on human rights abuses, sparking Pyongyang to warn it would consider such a move a “serious provocation” to which it would “respond strongly.”But the United States, which was the monthly council president at the time, instead convened a meeting on the threat of escalation by North Korea amid growing tensions between Pyongyang and Washington.North Korea has repeatedly rejected accusations of human rights abuses and blames sanctions for a dire humanitarian situation. Pyongyang has been under U.N. sanctions since 2006 over its ballistic missile and nuclear programs.A landmark 2014 U.N. report on North Korean human rights concluded that North Korean security chiefs — and possibly leader Kim himself — should face justice for overseeing a state-controlled system of Nazi-style atrocities. The United States blacklisted Kim in 2016 for human rights abuses.
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When and Which COVID-19 Vaccines Are Likely to be Available in Asia
Trial data from Pfizer Inc with partner BioNTech SE, Moderna Inc and AstraZeneca Plc has shown their experimental vaccines are effective in preventing novel coronavirus infection.While regulatory processes are underway, few Asian countries expect to receive significant amounts of the vaccines initially. Here are estimated distribution time lines, supply deals announced and clinical trials being held in the region.AustraliaThe country has secured around 140 million doses: 53.8 million from AstraZeneca, 51 million from Novavax Inc, 10 million from Pfizer, and 25.5 million from distribution program COVAX.It expects delivery of 3.8 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine in January and February next year and plans to begin inoculations in March.ChinaChina has not announced supply deals with Western drug makers, which instead have partnered with private companies in the country.AstraZeneca’s vaccine may be approved in China by mid-2021 and its Chinese partner Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products Co Ltd plans annual production capacity of at least 100 million doses by the end of this year.For the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, a unit of Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co Ltd plans a Phase II trial.Tibet Rhodiola Pharmaceutical Holding Co is bringing in Russian vaccine candidate Sputnik V and plans early and mid-stage trials in China.China has also approved three vaccine candidates developed by Sinovac Biotech Ltd and state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) for emergency use, and Sinopharm hopes its two candidates will get conditional approval for general use this year.JapanJapan has deals to buy 120 million doses from Pfizer/BioNTech in the first half of next year and 120 million from AstraZeneca – the first 30 million of which will be shipped by March 2021 – and 250 million from Novavax.It is also in talks with Johnson & Johnson and has a deal with Shionogi & Co Ltd.Experts said vaccine makers would need to conduct at least Phase I and II trials in Japan before seeking approval for use.South KoreaThe country has deals to buy 20 million doses each from AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna and another 4 million doses from Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen, enough to cover up to 34 million people.It will procure additional doses for 10 million people through COVAX.Inoculation is likely to start in the second quarter of next year to allow time to observe possible side effects.IndiaThe head of the Serum Institute of India, which makes the AstraZeneca vaccine, said on Nov. 23 the positive late-state trial result of the candidate will allow it to seek emergency use approval by year-end, before securing approval for full introduction by February or March.India also expects a government-backed vaccine to be launched as early as February. It is also conducting a late-stage trial of Sputnik V.TaiwanTaiwan aims to secure around 15 million doses initially, both via the COVAX scheme and by direct purchases from manufacturers, and may buy an additional 15 million doses.The government has said it hopes to begin vaccinations in the first quarter next year.MalaysiaThe Southeast Asian nation has agreed to buy 12.8 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, becoming the first country in the region to announce a deal with the U.S. drug maker after some expressed reservations over the need for the ultra-cold storage that the vaccine requires.Pfizer will deliver the first batch of 1 million doses in the first quarter of next year.The PhilippinesThe archipelago announced a deal on Nov. 27 for 2.6 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and is discussing a possible 1 million more, covering about 1% of a population of 108 million people.It is also seeking 20 million to 50 million doses from Sinovac and is in talks with others, including Pfizer.Vaccine makers can seek approval from Philippine regulators even if no clinical trial is conducted in the country.IndonesiaSoutheast Asia’s most populous country has secured 125.5 million doses from Sinovac, 30 million from Novavax, is in talks with AstraZeneca and Pfizer to buy 50 million doses each, and expects to get 16 million from COVAX.Indonesia is testing Sinovac’s vaccine and preparing mass vaccination for medical staff and other frontline workers to start as soon as late January.VietnamA government official said COVAX vaccines would cover only 20% of the population and the country is likely to have a chance to secure separate deals soon, as demand is very high.BangladeshBangladesh signed a deal with India’s Serum Institute to buy 30 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.It also expects to receive 68 million doses from global vaccine alliance GAVI at a subsidized rate, a senior health ministry official said.
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At-Home Test Kits: New Tools to Close the COVID-19 Testing Gap
Getting a COVID test can mean long lines and delayed results. Matt Dibble looks into recent breakthroughs that may have more of us performing a test at home.
Camera: Matt Dibble Producer: Matt Dibble
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Top US Negotiator on North Korea Blames Pyongyang for Deadlock
The outgoing U.S. point man on North Korea admitted Thursday that the Trump administration had not achieved what it sought with Kim Jong Un, but blamed Pyongyang for squandering the opportunity for progress.Talks over the North’s nuclear arsenal have been stalled since early last year when a summit in Hanoi between President Donald Trump and leader Kim collapsed over what the North would be willing to give up in exchange for a loosening of sanctions.Trump’s extraordinary and headline-grabbing engagement with Kim had been “ambitious and bold,” said U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun, who has led denuclearization talks with Pyongyang, but had “yet to deliver the success we hoped for.””You might wonder if I am disappointed that we did not accomplish more over the past two years. I am,” he added on his official last visit to Seoul.But he blamed Pyongyang for the failure, saying that “much opportunity has been squandered by our North Korean counterparts over the past two years,” he told the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, a South Korean think tank.They “too often have devoted themselves to the search for obstacles to negotiations instead of seizing opportunities for engagement,” he added.FILE – North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un walks with U.S. President Donald Trump at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore, in this picture taken June 12, 2018, and released from North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency.The historic first meeting between Trump and Kim in Singapore in June 2018 produced only a vaguely worded pledge about denuclearization, and their second summit in Vietnam eight months later was intended to put flesh on those bones but broke up without agreement.The U.S. insisted from the beginning that Pyongyang must be “ready to make progress on denuclearization” for economic sanctions relief and security guarantees, Biegun said.Washington did not expect the isolated North to “do everything before we do anything,” he continued, but he insisted Pyongyang had to agree to “lay out a road map for action” and “where that road map ultimately leads” in denuclearization.The outgoing negotiator, who is respected across the political aisle in divided Washington, offered to share his “experience, recommendations and perhaps a little hard-earned wisdom” with his successor under the incoming administration of Joe Biden.”The war is over; the time for conflict has ended,” he added. “If we are to succeed, we must work together.”
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Nigeria Warns of Possible New COVID-19 Wave
Nigeria may be on the verge of a second wave of COVID-19 infections, the health minister warned Thursday, as another official said the country expects to roll out a vaccine by April next year.Osagie Ehanire, speaking at a news conference in the capital, Abuja, said 1,843 cases were recorded last week compared with 1,235 two weeks before that.”We may just be on the verge of a second wave of this pandemic,” he said. His comments came a day after South Africa said it had officially entered a second wave.Ehanire, in a weekly briefing by Nigeria’s COVID-19 task force, said the rise in cases was mostly driven by an increase in infections within communities and, to a lesser extent, by travelers entering Nigeria.He said he had ordered the reopening of all isolation and treatment centers that had been closed because of falling patient numbers.Nigeria, with a population of about 200 million people, has had more than 71,000 confirmed cases and nearly 1,200 deaths as of Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University data.Looking ahead to a vaccine, Faisal Shuaib, executive director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), said Nigeria planned to access one through the COVAX initiative backed by the World Health Organization.”We are on course to access safe and efficacious COVID-19 vaccines in the first quarter of 2021,” he said.The health minister later in the briefing said Nigeria hoped to start with at least 20 million doses from the COVAX facility, initially covering health care workers and vulnerable people who would be most at risk if infected, such as the elderly.On Thursday, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged rich countries that have ordered more COVID-19 vaccines than they need to consider distributing excess doses to Africa.
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Somalia’s Indirect Election Delayed by Political Standoff
There are more than 10 candidates in Somalia’s indirect presidential elections, in which four big clans and other minority tribes choose members of parliament that will decide on the country’s next head of state.The opposition accuse President Mohamed Abdullahi Faramaajo of bypassing the electoral law by stacking the poll committee with his allies. The committee coordinates the parliamentary elections before the presidential poll.Abdirahman Abdishakur, one of the key opposition figures, told VOA News that the president put members of the National Intelligence Agency, known as NISA, on the committee.“Our concern is about how the committee was made of and we have some of the members, or the majority of the members, are from the NISA [The National Intelligence Agency], some of them are from civil service and some of them are known supporters of the current president, Faramaajo,” Abdishakur said.The international community, including the United States, has raised concerns about the political standoff in a country that is already facing threats from armed group al-Shabab.Donald Yamamoto, the new U.S. ambassador to Somalia, speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa, Dec. 8, 2017. Yamamoto has over 20 years of experience in Somalia and the East Africa region.U.S. official offers warningAmbassador Donald Yamamoto warned the opposition groups against subverting the election process.“The opposition must reaffirm that there no parallel process, there is no delay, there is no change to [the] September 17 consensus agreement,” Yamamoto said. “The U.S. and all the donor communities and partners are concerned about the electoral impasse.”The United States’ recent announcement that it will withdraw its 700 troops who help the Somali security agencies battle al-Shabab has further threatened Somalia’s already fragile stability.Stronger leadership neededAbdirashid Hashi, an analyst at the Heritage Institute for Policy Studies, says the Somali government needs to show stronger leadership.“They are responsible for the security and well-being and political stability of the country, and they need to just sit with their colleagues. People they [are] arguing with are their predecessors — former presidents are [the] ones that are actually leading the opposition groups,” Hashi said.Citizens like student Shafi Yusuf hope there will be a peaceful poll where the outcome will be accepted by all sides in the race.He said we need free and fair elections in which results are accepted by all citizens, like previous transparent poll processes, with the winner supported by the whole political spectrum.Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble pledged his administration will address all concerns raised about the elections, which are scheduled for February.
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FDA Panel Recommends Approval of First COVID-19 Vaccine
After nine hours of deliberation Thursday, a special panel of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved for emergency use a coronavirus vaccine developed by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech. The decision was made as the U.S. continues to confirm record numbers of coronavirus cases. As of Thursday evening, the U.S. had recorded 15.5 million cases and more than 291,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Of the 22 people on the special panel of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 17 voted yes, four voted no and one abstained on the question: “Based on the totality of scientific evidence available, do the benefits of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine outweigh its risks for use in individuals 16 years of age and older?” With the recommendation of the emergency use authorization by the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, the FDA will likely give its final consent as early as Friday or Saturday. The U.S. government will immediately ship 6.4 million doses of the vaccine across the country, with front-line health care workers receiving top priority for the first inoculations. The U.S. military will also prioritize its health care workers for its initial allocation of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which will be just less than 44,000 doses. A Pentagon spokesman told reporters Wednesday that the military will start inoculations “within a day or two” after the FDA approves the emergency use authorization. The vaccinations will be voluntary at first but could become mandatory once the vaccine is fully licensed. Thursday’s meeting was held a day after the United States recorded more than 3,000 COVID-19 deaths in a single day for the first time in the nearly yearlong pandemic. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has jumped to the front of the line in the global effort to develop a vaccine against the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Britain became the first Western nation to begin mass inoculations of the drug on Tuesday, just days after the government’s medical regulatory agency approved the drug. VOA’s Richard Green and Esha Sarai contributed to this report.
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US Sends Bombers to Middle East as Signal to Iran
The U.S. military dispatched two B-52H bombers from the United States to the Middle East on Thursday as part of an ongoing effort to deter Iran from potential attacks amid increased risk in the region, according to a senior U.S. military official.“The flight was not about any offensive action; it was about deterring Iran from acting out,” the senior U.S. military official told VOA on condition of anonymity, adding that the military had seen “troubling indicators in Iraq” recently that Iran or Iranian-backed proxy forces might be planning attacks.Those indicators, coupled with the ongoing reduction of U.S. troop numbers in Iraq and the upcoming anniversary of the U.S. strike that killed Iranian elite Quds force commander Qassem Soleimani, create an “above average” risk for miscalculation by Iran, the senior U.S. military official said.The two B-52H bombers departed from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana and did not drop bombs during their “short-notice” mission.Rather, the mission to the region was designed to both deter aggression and reassure allies, according to a statement from U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East.Demonstration of security commitment”The ability to fly strategic bombers halfway across the world in a nonstop mission and to rapidly integrate them with multiple regional partners demonstrates our close working relationships and our shared commitment to regional security and stability,” CENTCOM chief General Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie said in the statement.Last month, the Pentagon announced it would withdraw 500 American troops from Iraq before next year’s U.S. presidential inauguration.Tensions have remained high between the U.S. and Iran over the past year.Last December, the U.S. military said the Iranian-backed proxy group Kataib Hezbollah had launched a rocket attack against a base in Kirkuk, killing a U.S. contractor. The U.S. responded with a series of retaliatory strikes, culminating in January with the killing of Soleimani, who oversaw activities of various militias in Iraq, as well as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, Kataib Hezbollah’s founder.That same month, Iran responded with a missile attack on Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq, which houses U.S. and international troops. No U.S. troops were killed or faced immediate bodily injury during the assault, but more than 100 troops sustained concussions and traumatic brain injuries.Subsequent U.S. retaliatory strikes in March destroyed five Kataib Hezbollah weapons depots in Iraq.
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UK’s Johnson: ‘Strong Possibility’ Brexit Talks Will Fail
With a chaotic and costly no-deal Brexit three weeks away, leaders of both the European Union and United Kingdom saw an ever liklier collapse of trade talks Thursday, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson even spoke of a “strong possibility” of failure. Both sides told their citizens to brace for a New Year’s shock, as trade between the U.K. and the European mainland could face its biggest upheaval in almost a half century. Johnson’s gloomy comments came as negotiators sought to find a belated breakthrough in technical talks, where their leaders failed three times in political discussions over the past week. Facing a Sunday deadline set after inconclusive talks between EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Johnson on Wednesday night, both sides realized their drawn-out four-year divorce might well end on bad terms. FILE – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomes British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Brussels, Belgium, Dec. 9, 2020.”I do think we need to be very, very clear: There is now a strong possibility — a strong possibility — that we will have a solution that is much more like an Australian relationship with the EU,” Johnson said, using his phrasing for a no-deal exit. Australia does not have a free trade deal with the 27-nation EU. “That doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing,” Johnson added. On the EU side, reactions were equally pessimistic. “I am a bit more gloomy today, as far as I can hear,” Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said at an EU summit where von der Leyen briefed the 27 leaders on her unsuccessful dinner with Johnson. FILE – Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Lofven speaks during a news conference updating on the coronavirus situation, at the government headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden, Nov. 3, 2020.”She was not really confident that all difficulties could be resolved,” said David Sassoli, president of the EU parliament that will have to approve any deal brokered. A cliff-edge departure would threaten hundreds of thousands of jobs and cost tens of billions of dollars in commerce. To prepare for a sudden exit on January 1, the EU on Thursday proposed four contingency measures to make sure that at least air and road traffic would continue as smoothly as possible for the next six months. It also proposed that fishermen should still have access to each other’s waters for up to a year, to limit the commercial damage of a no-deal split. The plans depend on the U.K. offering similar initiatives. The move was indicative of how the EU saw a bad breakup as ever more realistic. FILE – Fishermen empty a fishing net aboard the Boulogne-sur-Mer based trawler “Nicolas Jeremy” in the North Sea, off the coast of northern France, Dec. 7, 2020. French fishermen net a quarter of their northeastern Atlantic catch in British waters.Johnson warned that “yes, now is the time for the public and businesses to get ready for January 1, because, believe me, there’s going to be change either way.” For months now, trade talks have faltered on Britain’s insistence that as a sovereign nation it must not be bound indefinitely to EU rules and regulations — even if it wants to export freely to the bloc. That same steadfastness has marked the EU in preserving its cherished single market and seeking guarantees against a low-regulation neighbor that would be able to undercut its businesses. After Johnson’s midnight return to London, reactions were equally dim there. U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the Sunday deadline was a “moment of finality” — though he added “you can never say never entirely.” FILE – British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab speaks at a press conference at the State Department in Washington, Sept. 16, 2020.In four years of talks on the U.K.’s departure terms and a future trade relationship, such self-imposed deadlines have been broken repeatedly since Britain voted to leave the EU. January 1 is different because the U.K. has made the 11-month transition since its January 31 official departure legally binding. “There are big ideological, substantive and policy gaps that need to be bridged,” said Mujtaba Rahman, Europe managing director for the Eurasia Group. “They’re so far apart and the time is so limited now.” A no-deal split would bring tariffs and other barriers that would hurt both sides, although most economists think the British economy would take a greater hit because the U.K. does almost half of its trade with the bloc. Months of trade talks have failed to bridge the gaps on three issues — fishing rights, fair-competition rules and the governance of future disputes. While both sides want a deal, they have fundamentally different views of what it entails. The EU fears Britain will slash social and environmental standards and pump state money into U.K. industries, becoming a low-regulation economic rival on the bloc’s doorstep — hence the demand for strict “level playing field” guarantees in exchange for access to its markets.
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Turkey Looks to End Isolation, Boost Economy
Turkish exporters are being shut out of Middle Eastern markets because of growing pushback by Saudi Arabia and Egypt in response to what some describe as Turkey’s aggressive foreign policy. But with a COVID-ravaged economy, Ankara is looking for a diplomatic reset, as Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
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Accepting Nobel Peace Prize, UN World Food Program Warns of ‘Hunger Pandemic’
The head of the United Nations’ World Food Program (WFP) has warned that 270 million people face starvation around the globe. WFP Executive Director David Beasley spoke Thursday at a ceremony held virtually as he accepted the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the agency.“This Nobel Peace Prize is more than a thank you. It is a call to action,” Beasley said. “Because of so many wars, climate change, the widespread use of hunger as a political and military weapon, and a global health pandemic that makes all of that exponentially worse, 270 million people are marching toward starvation.” He also said, “Out of that 270 million, 30 million depend on us 100% for their survival.”Instead of the traditional Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo, Beasley accepted the prize in Rome, headquarters of the WFP. He said the world had the wealth and resources to tackle global hunger.“We stand at what may be the most ironic moment in modern history. On the one hand, after a century of massive strides in eliminating extreme poverty, today those 270 million of our neighbors are on the brink of starvation. That’s more than the entire population of western Europe. On the other hand, there’s $400 trillion of wealth in our world today. Even at the height of the COVID pandemic, in just 90 days an additional $2.7 trillion of wealth was created and we only need $5 billion to save 30 million lives from famine. What am I missing here?” Beasley said.In 2019, the WFP provided assistance to almost 100 million people in 88 countries. The Norwegian Nobel committee said in addition to combating hunger, the WFP had contributed to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected places and was a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict over its 60-year history.The WFP’s regional director for Eastern Africa, Michael Dunford, said the organization was delighted to win the prize after a tough year.“This has been a tremendous boost,” Dunford said. “2020 as you know has been one of the most difficult years. COVID has been yet another shock in addition to some of the worst flooding in eastern Africa, in addition to a locust plague of biblical proportions, and unfortunately, and this is the biggest concern, conflict and insecurity in so many of the countries that we’re operating in.”Dunford says the prize is a tribute to the WFP staff who risk their lives “…working in some of the most difficult locations in the world, in sub-offices deep in the field, be it either in Somalia or in South Sudan. And really, people who have to put their lives on the line to be able to support people who cannot feed themselves.”The World Food Program has also coordinated medical logistics during the coronavirus pandemic. The WFP executive director warned that a failure by the international community to address the needs of those affected by the outbreak would cause what he called a “hunger pandemic” that would dwarf the death toll caused by the virus.WFP staff are expected to travel to Oslo at a later stage to deliver the traditional Nobel lecture. The remaining Nobel awards for medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and economics have also been moved online.The ceremonies are held annually on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who founded the awards in his will.
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Expert: No Evidence UAE Drones Are Being Used in Ethiopia’s Tigray Conflict
Forces in Ethiopia’s Tigray region have accused the federal government of partnering with the United Arab Emirates to use weaponized drones stationed in Eritrea. A security analyst tells VOA the drones are in an Eritrean port city but there is no evidence they are being used in the Tigray conflict.Wim Zwijnenburg, a humanitarian disarmament project leader for PAX, an organization studying conflict worldwide and research on the use of military technologies, has been studying satellite imagery collected by the U.S. company Planet Lab. He determined that drones operated by the UAE are stationed at the Eritrean port city of Assab. The 20-meter wingspan Chinese-made drones known as the Wing Loong II are capable of dropping bombs or shooting missiles.“It’s true that there are Emirati drones based in Eritrea,” Zwijnenburg told VOA via Skype. “However, the next question is whether they have been used in Ethiopia. And, in that regard, we couldn’t find any indication that the Emiratis would fly drones in Ethiopia.”Fresh reports this week suggest that Eritrean troops are involved in the conflict in the Tigray region. Citing five unnamed diplomats, Reuters reported this week that “evidence of Eritrean involvement cited in the U.S. view of the month-long war includes satellite images, intercepted communications and anecdotal reports from Tigray region.” The report comes after repeated claims by the Tigrayan side of the use of UAE military drones by the Ethiopian military.Tigrayan politician Getachew Reda tweeted last month that Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed “is now enlisting the support of UAE drones based in Assab in his devastating war against the people of Tigray.” A regional media outlet, Tigray TV, reiterated the claim on its Facebook account, saying “highly sophisticated weaponry, which included drones and other technologies that cannot be found on the African continent, were extensively used when attacking the people of Tigray.”Ethiopia said it has conducted “targeted strikes” against strategic targets in the Tigray region. Major General Yilma Merdasa, chief of the Ethiopian Air Force, told VOA Amharic the air force is attacking with warplanes, missiles and UAV’s, unmanned aerial vehicles. He added: “We have trained and armed ourselves and we are doing the work from the center [from Ethiopia] and other assertions are deception. We are destroying the enemy with a force we built ourselves.”Zwijnenburg noted that Ethiopia has the fourth largest air force in Africa, flying MiG-23 and Sukhoi-27 jet fighters. He said mobile phone video uploaded to Facebook appears to show fighter jets flying over the city of Mekelle in northern Ethiopia.“We could not find any indication that those drones have been used by the Ethiopian Air Force but only found indications that piloted aircraft jet fighters have carried out targeted strikes,” he said. “So, in that sense, it’s good to look at the statements made and fact-check those with what we know from the ground and from open-source information and satellite imagery.”Claiming victory, the federal government said the Tigray incursion is a limited military action against some members of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) after it attacked a military base. But the TPLF calls it a war against Tigray, one that its forces continue fighting.UAE drones involved in LibyaThere is precedent for the UAE piloting weaponized drones on the African continent. According to the U.N., the UAE has conducted drone strikes in favor of the Libyan National Army led by rebel General Khalifa Hafter, while Turkey has conducted drone strikes in support of Libya’s Government of National Accord.“States have an interest in drones because it removes the risk from the pilot, they’re relatively cheap and they can stay over a large area for a long time,” Zwijnenburg said. “Making them very, sort of, a seductive way to use lethal force in operations where you otherwise wouldn’t expose your own troops to risk because [they] could have been killed.”The militaries of Nigeria and Algeria also operate armed drones, Zwijnenburg said. The U.S. has operated drone bases in Niger and in Somalia in recent years, and previously had one in southern Ethiopia that was shut down in 2016.Any outside drone intervention in the Tigray conflict is not likely to slip by unnoticed by international observers, Zwijnenburg says.“Our concern,” he says, “is that this could lower the threshold for the use of lethal force in disputed areas or conflict disputes, [where] military drones are operated in those kinds of proxy wars or shadow wars, in areas where we don’t have access to, where it’s hard to control, to fact check claims they make.”
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