The head of a Serbian investigative news outlet being attacked for its work uncovering corruption says his country needs to do more to protect media. During a visit to the U.S., Stevan Dojcinovic, editor in chief of the Crime and Corruption Reporting Network (KRIK), met with journalist rights organizations and investigative outlets to discuss recent attacks on his news website and the overall situation for press freedom in Serbia. KRIK has been subject to a smear campaign by pro-government media as well as some politicians in recent months, who falsely accuse it of having links to the head of an organized crime group.FILE – Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic addresses the media in Belgrade, Serbia, June 21, 2020.Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and his culture minister have both called for an end to the harassment, with Vucic saying “no one has the right to threaten journalists.” The attacks reflect a wider decline in Serbia’s press freedom rankings. Reporters Without Borders ranks the country at 93 out of 180 countries, where 1 is the most free, in its annual press freedom index. In its 2020 Freedom in the World Report, Freedom House said the government has “steadily eroded political rights and civil liberties, putting pressure on independent media, the political opposition and civil society organizations.” The “abusive language, intimidation and slandering campaigns” that seek to portray KRIK and others as being associated with criminal groups were also condemned by the European Parliament. In an interview with VOA Serbian, the award-winning Dojcinovic discussed the challenges for Serbia’s media and what he believes can be done to protect media freedoms in his country. “It seems to me that, for the first time, clear and powerful messages have been sent that this must stop. The government has to respect the media,” Dojčinović said, adding that it was a good sign that the “world is aware and wants to react” to what has been happening. Following are excerpts from a VOA interview with Dojčinović. Questions and answers have been translated and edited for length and clarity. VOA: On several occasions, President Vucic has called on members of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) to stop attacking KRIK in public. Have Vucic’s calls helped stop the attacks? Stevan Dojcinovic: I think that he can stop the pro-government media and members of the National Assembly from attacking us. The attacks continued, even after his calls, so it doesn’t seem to really work. Immediately after the president’s address, [Aleksandar] Martinović, [the head of SNS in Serbia’s National Assembly] accused us of laundering money. They just keep going. VOA: Why do you think that is the case? SD: I don’t think the pro-government media, tabloids and [members of Parliament] do anything that isn’t approved from the top — by the president or the people close to him. That’s how things work in Serbia. I think they are allowed to attack us. The reason for it is because of our job. Because we are engaged in investigative journalism. We investigate corruption, alleged links by state officials to crime and corruption, which the authorities do not like. That’s why they use pro-government media to incriminate us. It is not how things should work. VOA: You have said those behind the campaign against KRIK are being allowed to attack the outlet. Who do you believe provides that approval? SD: I think it is clear that pro-government media in Serbia is releasing content that the government orders them to publish. I suppose that the president does not have to do it personally. Influential associates around him have the power to delegate topics that pro-government media and tabloid press may or may not publish. And I think this is very clear. VOA: In 2020, KRIK’s fact-checking portal Raskrinkavanje found that five of Serbia’s daily papers published 1,172 headlines containing false news. The majority of Serbians consume media from these sources. What can be done to prevent the spread of false news? SD: The audience should not be held responsible. The problem is in the establishing and financing of tabloid newspapers and magazines. These papers are cheap to buy, which is why they can reach a huge number of people. The papers can sell for low prices because they receive large amounts of money through the state financing media projects. Raskrinkavanje has found that the tabloid newspapers producing the most fake news get the most money through financing by the state, or advertising from state-owned companies. In my opinion, this is what needs to be changed about Serbia’s media scene. VOA: How can this issue be resolved? SD: The government is the only party capable of doing that. But it won’t because the pro-government media are in its service. The European Union, which is interested in resolving issues around Serbia’s judiciary and media scene, could have influence. I hope that more pressure will be put on it. One of the major concerns is media ownership: the significant presence of the government in the ownership structure of many media, and the influence ruling parties have on both state and private-owned media outlets. Political influence and concentration distort the media market. The lack of plurality can be detected in television and radio, but also with the printed press. An investigative project by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) and Reporters Without Borders reached the same conclusion. This article originated in VOA’s Serbian Service.
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Month: April 2021
Security Issues to Top Biden-Suga Summit Agenda, Says Tokyo’s Envoy
The need for a stronger U.S.-Japanese alliance and a “free and open” Indo-Pacific region will be top issues at Friday’s Washington summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, according to Japan’s ambassador to the United States.Japan is “honored” that Suga will be the first foreign leader to hold a face-to-face meeting with Biden since the latter took office, Ambassador Koji Tomita said in written replies to questions from VOA. He predicted a warm personal rapport between the two leaders, both of whom hail from humble childhoods.Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga speaks during a press conference at the prime minister’s official residence in Tokyo, March 18, 2021.Tomita said Japan is “very encouraged” by Biden’s active engagement in the Indo-Pacific region, citing last month’s virtual Quad Summit in which Biden hosted the leaders of Japan, Australia and India.“The international order is being challenged in various ways, so we hope to continue having specific discussions on the ways that Japan and the U.S. can take initiative in realizing our shared vision,” he added.The Japanese envoy said he sees similarities between the two leaders. Suga, like Biden, is “a leader who did not inherit a political support network and had to build up his career through politics by themselves,” he said.The Japanese prime minister is known to have grown up on a strawberry farm in rural Japan, whereas Biden hails from Scranton, Pennsylvania, known historically as a coal mining center.“Suga’s strength is that he understands the life of ordinary citizens and feels their joy and pain,” Tomita said. “These shared personal traits will lead to a solid rapport, which will allow them to tackle the tough questions that they must face together.”FILE – In this Aug. 23, 2011, Vice President Joe Biden, center left in a dark suit, has a light moment with survivors of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami during his visit to Natori.Tomita said many Japanese remember the warmth Biden showed when he visited their country after a devastating earthquake in 2011. “I was actually there for that visit, and I greatly appreciated the way that he consoled victims and gave them a sense of hope,” the ambassador said.On the policy front, Tomita said Japan fully supports the multilateral approach the Biden administration has touted, as well as the U.S. president’s efforts “associating climate policy with economic growth realized through new investment, job expansion and innovation.”But topping the agenda for the White House meeting will be discussions about a coordinated strategy to strengthen the formal alliance between the two countries, he said, noting that “the security environment in the (Pacific) region has become increasingly severe.”It has been widely reported that Japan has taken a more proactive approach to regional security and on issues concerning human rights in China than in past years.In explaining the new posture, Tomita said, “As the strategic environment around Japan has become increasingly complex and uncertain, we need to utilize an increasingly complex set of policy responses, using everything in our diplomatic and security toolkits.”A Chinese military plane H-6 bomber flies through airspace between Okinawa prefecture’s main island and the smaller Miyako island in southern Japan, photo taken Oct. 27, 2013.China’s growing economic and military influence “is an important part of this changing landscape,” Tomita said, while quickly adding that “our approach, including our growing partnership with the Quad, is not directed toward any specific country.”Japan’s “strategic goal has always been to maintain the peace and prosperity of the entire region. In this regard, the importance of the Japan-U.S. alliance has never been greater,” Tomita said.“Japan places importance on multilateralism and aims to realize a ‘united world’ that collectively tackles challenges facing the international community,” he added.While subsequent U.S. administrations have described China under Communist Party rule as by turns an “adversary” and a “competitor,” Japan prefers to not label Beijing, at least for now.“While China is a growing topic in Washington, D.C., these days, I can assure you that as a country situated nearby, China is always a big presence for Japan,” Tomita said.“With the world’s second largest economy, and a population of 1.4 billion, I think that China actually has the capacity and the responsibility to make positive contributions to efforts to solve global issues.”
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US Further Punishes Russia for Cyberattacks, Election Meddling
The United States cannot allow a foreign power to intervene with impunity in American elections, President Joe Biden said Thursday, after he took action to punish Russia for that and a major cyberattack. “Today I’ve approved several steps, including expulsion of several Russian officials, as a consequence of their actions,” Biden said at the White House. “I’ve also signed an executive order authorizing new measures, including sanctions to address specific harmful actions that Russia has taken against U.S. interests.” Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures during a meeting via video conference at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, April 15, 2021.Biden said he told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call earlier this week that he could have gone further but chose to be proportionate and does not seek to escalate tensions between Washington and Moscow. “If Russia continues to interfere with our democracy, I’m prepared to take further actions to respond,” he added. Thirty-two entities and individuals linked to Moscow are being sanctioned for disinformation efforts and interference in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Ten personnel from Russia’s diplomatic mission in Washington were expelled, including ”representatives of Russian intelligence services,” according to the White House. The Biden administration is formally blaming the SVR, the external intelligence agency of Russia, for the massive cybersecurity breach discovered last year involving SolarWinds, a Texas-based software management company that allowed access to the systems of thousands of companies and multiple federal agencies. The Russian flag flutters on the Consulate-General of the Russian Federation in New York City, April 15, 2021.The Russian spy agency reacted by calling the accusation “nonsense” and “windbaggery.” The Russian Foreign Ministry said it told U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan that the new sanctions are a serious blow to bilateral relations and that Moscow’s response to them will follow soon. The Foreign Ministry, in a statement, added that it was entirely inappropriate for Washington to warn Moscow against further escalation. Besides Thursday’s widely anticipated moves by the Biden administration, ”there will be elements of these actions that will remain unseen,” said a senior U.S. official speaking to reporters on condition of not being named. Biden, during his seven minutes of remarks in the East Room on Thursday afternoon, said he believed he and Putin would meet for a summit this summer somewhere in Europe. At that meeting, the president said, the two countries “could launch a strategic stability dialogue, to pursue cooperation in arms control and security,” as well as address such issues as reining in nuclear threats from Iran and North Korea, the coronavirus pandemic and “the existential crisis of climate change.” Congressional reaction U.S. Representative Adam Schiff, who heads the House Intelligence Committee, said the president’s actions demonstrate the United States ”will no longer turn a blind eye to Russian malign activity.” But Schiff, in a statement, predicted sanctions alone will not be enough to deter Russia’s misbehavior. Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., looks on before a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 15, 2021.”We must strengthen our own cyber defenses, take further action to condemn Russia’s human rights abuses, and, working in concert with our allies and partners in Europe, deter further Russian military aggression,” Schiff said. “I am glad to see the Biden administration formally attributing the SolarWinds hack to Russian intelligence services and taking steps to sanction some of the individuals and entities involved,” said Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner. “The scale and scope of this hack are beyond any that we’ve seen before and should make clear that we will hold Russia and other adversaries accountable for committing this kind of malicious cyber activity against American targets.” Numerous Republican members of Congress, while praising the president’s action, are calling for more measures — particularly to halt the controversial Nord Stream 2 project. “If the Biden administration is serious about imposing real costs on the Putin regime’s efforts to undermine U.S. democratic institutions and weaken our allies and partners, then it must ensure the Russian malign influence Nord Stream 2 pipeline project is never completed,” House Foreign Affairs Committee lead Republican Michael McCaul said in a statement. FILE – Workers are seen at the construction site of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, near the town of Kingisepp, Leningrad region, Russia, June 5, 2019.Nord Stream 2 is a multibillion-dollar underwater gas pipeline project linking Russia to Germany. Work on the pipeline was suspended in December 2019 after it became a source of contention between Russia and the West. Nord Stream officials said Russia resumed construction on the gas pipeline in December. The United States has opposed the joint international project because of possible threats to Europe’s energy security. Nord Stream 2 is intended to double the annual gas capacity of an existing Nord Stream pipeline. “Nord Stream 2 is a complicated issue affecting our allies in Europe,” Biden replied to a reporter following his speech. He said that he has been opposed to the project for a long time and it is “still is an issue that is in play.” US sanctions Biden’s administration had already sanctioned seven Russian officials and more than a dozen government entities last month in response to Russia’s treatment of opposition leader Alexey Navalny. The U.S. actions taken Thursday expanded prohibitions on primary market purchases of ruble-dominated Russian sovereign debt, effective June 14. “There’s no credible reason why the American people should directly fund Russia’s government when the Putin regime has repeatedly attempted to undermine our sovereignty,” said a senior administration official in explaining the move. ”We’re also delivering a clear signal that the president has maximum flexibility to expand the sovereign debt prohibitions if Russia’s malign activities continue or escalate.” Russia has largely ignored previous U.S. sanctions, which were narrower and primarily targeted individuals. “These are ’unfinished business’ sanctions that telegraph the Biden administration’s more forceful approach to dealing with Russia. The measures are dialed to make good on Biden’s promise to significantly impose costs on Russia without provoking a downward spiral in relations,” said Cyrus Newlin, associate fellow with the Europe, Russia and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. A street sign marking Boris Nemstov Plaza is seen at the entrance of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Washington, April 15, 2021.”I think we could continue to see targeting against the Russian intelligence agencies, potentially against Russian government figures and their families, which is something that many sanctions experts have been pushing for,” according to Nina Jankowicz, a Wilson Center disinformation fellow. ”This is only the tip of the iceberg of the full range of responses available to the U.S. government, both public and nonpublic, that we can take in response to Russia’s malicious cyberactivity.” “The economic consequences for Russia will be fairly minor: The Russian financial system is much more insulated from sanctions than it was in 2014, and new restrictions on sovereign debt don’t extend to secondary markets. I suspect Moscow will respond reciprocally with diplomatic expulsions, but preserve political space for a bilateral summit, which the Kremlin places high value on,” said Newlin, of CSIS. “The Biden administration has reserved more punishing sanctions options in the event of further Russian aggression in Ukraine,” Newlin added. ”These could be an expansion of sovereign debt restrictions to secondary markets or measures targeting Russian state-owned companies and banks. Against the backdrop of Ukraine, today’s measures also serve as a warning shot.” Jankowicz said she agreed with that assessment, noting ”the timing of this is pretty significant, because we’ve seen a buildup of Russian troops along the Ukrainian border, the most significant buildup since 2014.” According to Andrea Kendall-Taylor, senior fellow and director of the Transatlantic Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, this package of sanctions does not really relate to what is going on with Ukraine. She terms it the Biden administration’s way of wrapping up unfinished business with other issues, allowing a pivot ”to a more proactive, future-oriented relationship with Russia.” VOA’s Katherine Gypson and Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report.
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UN: Hunger, Rape Rising in Ethiopia’s Tigray
The U.N. humanitarian chief warned Thursday that an already dire situation in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region is getting worse five months into the conflict, with hunger and sexual violence rising and no sign of an Eritrean troop withdrawal.Mark Lowcock told a closed-door meeting of the U.N. Security Council that his office is starting to receive reports of people starving to death, according to a copy of his remarks seen by VOA.”We received the first report this week of four internally displaced people dying from hunger. I then received a report just this morning of 150 people dying from hunger in Ofla woreda [district] — just south of Mekelle,” Lowcock told council members. “This should alarm us all. It is a sign of what lies ahead if more action is not taken. Starvation as a weapon of war is a violation.”Mekelle is the capital of Tigray. The region has been the epicenter of hostilities since November, when fighters from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) attacked federal government army bases in the region, prompting Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to launch a military offensive to push the group out. Since then, thousands of civilians in the region have been killed.Abandoned villagesLowcock said that as of the end of March, Ethiopia’s Bureau of Labor and Social Affairs estimates that 1.7 million people in Tigray have been displaced from their homes.FILE – A woman leans on the wall of a damaged house that was shelled as federal-aligned forces entered the city, in Wukro, north of Mekelle, capital of Tigray. The region has been beset by hostilities since November.”Since then, hundreds of thousands have been fleeing from Western Tigray — and still are — with many villages having been abandoned entirely,” he said.Lowcock said aid workers are having difficulty reaching the needy and vulnerable, as “the vast majority” of Tigray is completely or partially inaccessible to aid workers, either because of fighting or denial of access.The outbreak of hostilities began around harvest season, and it follows a severe locust infestation. Food insecurity is growing, and next season’s food supply is also under threat if fighting does not stop in time for farmers to plant.The United Nations estimates that at least 4.5 million of Tigray’s nearly 6 million people need humanitarian aid. The Ethiopian government has put the figure even higher — at 91% of the population.Despite obstacles and danger, humanitarians have been able to reach more than 1.7 million with some form of emergency assistance.Next week, the U.N. will appeal for $1.5 billion to assist 16 million people in Ethiopia this year.No sign of withdrawalOn March 26, Abiy said Eritrea had agreed to withdraw its forces from Tigray, but Lowcock told council members there is no evidence this has happened.”Unfortunately, I must say that neither the U.N. nor any of the humanitarian agencies we work with have seen proof of Eritrean withdrawal,” he said. “We have, however, heard some reports of Eritrean soldiers now wearing Ethiopian Defense Force uniforms.”The U.S. ambassador issued a statement following the closed-door meeting, noting credible reports that Eritrean forces are changing into Ethiopian military uniforms “in order to remain in Tigray indefinitely.””The Eritrean government must withdraw its forces from Ethiopia immediately,” Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.FILE – A Tigrayan woman who says she was gang-raped by Amhara fighters speaks to doctor-turned-refugee Tewodros Tefera at the Sudanese Red Crescent clinic in Hamdayet near the Sudan-Ethiopia border, eastern Sudan, March 23, 2021.Reports of atrocitiesLowcock said humanitarian workers continue to report new atrocities committed by Eritrean forces. Most alarming, he said, are the widespread reports of rapes and gang rapes against civilians.Diplomats said the U.N. humanitarian chief recounted the horrific story of one survivor, who hid in the forest with her family for six days. During that time, she gave birth to a baby who died a few days later. Her husband was killed. And while she tried to get her remaining children to safety, she encountered four Eritrean soldiers who raped her in front of her children all night and into the following day.”The majority of rapes are committed by men in uniform,” Lowcock told council members. “Cases reported have involved the Ethiopian National Defense Force, Eritrean Defense Forces, Amhara Special Forces, and other irregular armed groups or aligned militia.”During a Wednesday meeting of the Security Council that focused on the issue of sexual violence in conflict, many council members expressed concern about reports coming from Tigray and called for independent, credible investigations to be conducted to hold perpetrators accountable.The U.N. official whose office monitors and works to prevent sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Patten, told that meeting that more than 100 allegations of rape have been recorded since November.”It may be many months before we know the full scale and magnitude — the extent and impact — of these atrocities,” she said.Patten noted health care workers are documenting new cases of rape and gang rape daily, “despite their fear of reprisals and attacks on the limited shelters and clinics still in operation.”
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Kidnap Victims Need Aid Beyond Rescue, Experts Say
In Nigeria’s restive northern region, kidnappings have become all too common, with schoolchildren among the primary targets.Federal and state governments say they focus on ensuring abductees’ safe release and return, but a chorus of health experts and others say support for those abductees shouldn’t end there.Victims need specialized physical and psychological rehabilitation to reintegrate into their communities and to overcome stigma, independent experts working with the Yetunde Odugbesan-Omede, a political scientist who has studied corruption, discourages paying ransom to kidnappers.The possibility of payment has created “a conducive environment for this [kidnapping] to fester,” Yetunde A. Odugbesan-Omede, professor of global affairs and politics at Farmingdale State College in New York, told VOA.Odugbesan-Omede, a native Nigerian who also does research on corruption, said some young people have resorted to kidnapping for money because they can’t find legitimate work.“Some of these abductors, unfortunately, go into these trades out of greed,” she said. “Many of them go out of just simple need of survival.”Nigeria’s jobless rate reached 33.3% in the fourth quarter of last year, Bloomberg News reported in March, citing National Bureau of Statistics figures. The oil-rich country’s economy — Africa’s largest — reeled as global oil prices plunged last year amid the coronavirus pandemic.Both state and federal governments allegedly have paid ransoms to secure hostages’ release.Buhari warned against ransom payments in a tweet February 26, saying that “state governments must review their policy of rewarding bandits with money and vehicles.”State Governments must review their policy of rewarding bandits with money and vehicles. Such a policy has the potential to backfire with disastrous consequences. States and Local Governments must also play their part by being proactive in improving security in & around schools.— Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) February 26, 2021 That same day, armed men kidnapped the 279 female students from a boarding school in Zamfara state’s Jangebe village. The schoolgirls were freed by their captors several days later, and authorities denied paying a ransom.In addition to discouraging payments, Odugbesan-Omede urged increasing security around schools and providing 24-hour surveillance to deter kidnappings.This report originated in VOA’s English to Africa Service.
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US Renews Call for All Nations to Raise Climate Ambitions
The United States is renewing a call that all nations including the U.S. and China “must raise their ambitions” on carbon neutrality, as officials from the world’s two largest emitters held talks in Shanghai on Thursday.U.S. officials and analysts say Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry’s consultations with his Chinese counterparts this week are paving the way for next week’s virtual Leaders Summit on Climate, but caution against a quick breakthrough.“We must insist Beijing do more to reduce emissions and help tackle the worldwide climate crisis,” said a State Department spokesperson who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity.The spokesperson added China “is not yet on a path that will allow the world to meet the Paris Agreement’s goal of holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius.”“Of course, it’s not going to be easy,” said Jane Nakano, a senior fellow in the Energy Security and Climate Change Program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).Nakano said Thursday that many countries, not just the U.S., “are hoping to see much more clear articulation [on] how China plans on reducing its emissions level.”In Beijing, officials gave few details on Kerry’s talks with China’s special envoy on climate change, Xie Zhenhua.”I don’t have any information to offer,” Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Thursday.Chinese President Xi Jinping is among the 40 world leaders invited to attend the climate summit on April 22-23.The invitation comes as relations between Beijing and Washington are at their most strained for decades because of clashes over Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the South China Sea, regional security and China’s economic coercion of U.S. allies.In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Kerry said the U.S. is not wrapping the climate issue into talks on other topics that the U.S. and China disagree on.”We’re not trading something to do with the planet and health and security for something else that’s more of a political or ideological difference or a practical difference in the marketplace,” said Kerry.Some analysts say the Biden administration is so far separating its concerns about climate change from the region’s key issues such as China’s reported human rights violations and increasing territorial aggression.“I see no evidence of” the U.S. compromising its geopolitical competition with China while seeking a cooperation on climate change, said Mike Green, senior vice president for Asia and Japan Chair at CSIS and a former White House National Security Council staffer.Green said he is not ruling out a possible pull-aside virtual meeting between Biden and Xi.“We have a big agenda with China,” Green said Thursday. “My guess is probably that there will be a pull-aside” virtual meeting in a businesslike fashion.
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US Allies Confirm Troop Withdrawal from Afghanistan
U.S. allies including Britain have announced they too will begin pulling their troops out of Afghanistan, following Washington’s announcement it intends to withdraw all American armed forces personnel by September 11 – the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.Camera: Henry Ridgwell Produced by: Henry Ridgwell, Rod James
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US Allies Announce Afghanistan Troop Withdrawal
U.S. allies have announced they will begin pulling troops out of Afghanistan following Washington’s confirmation that it intends to withdraw all its armed forces by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, which triggered the U.S.-led invasion.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Kabul Thursday for talks with the Afghan government following the announcement. “We’ve achieved the objective we set out nearly 20 years ago. We never intended to have a permanent military presence here,” Blinken told reporters at the U.S. embassy in Kabul.“The threat from al-Qaida in Afghanistan is significantly degraded. Osama bin Laden has been brought to justice. After years of saying that we would leave militarily at some point, that time has come. But even when our troops come home, our partnership with Afghanistan will continue,” Blinken said.Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, center right, walks with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, at the Sapidar Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, April 15, 2021.Britain, which has 750 troops in Afghanistan as part of the NATO mission to train Afghan forces, confirmed it would begin withdrawing from the country next month.Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said in a statement Thursday, “The people of Afghanistan deserve a peaceful and stable future. As we draw down, the security of our people currently serving in Afghanistan remains our priority and we have been clear that attacks on Allied troops will be met with a forceful response. The British public and our Armed Forces community, both serving and veterans, will have lasting memories of our time in Afghanistan. Most importantly we must remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, who will never be forgotten.”Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
FILE – Relatives of three Czech soldiers, who were killed by a suicide bomber in eastern Afghanistan, mourn at the Vaclav Havel Airport in Prague, Czech Republic, Aug. 8, 2018.Among Afghans, the withdrawal of foreign troops provokes mixed feelings. “What we saw during the Taliban, it doesn’t even exist in my memory anymore. I don’t want to think about it because our country is moving toward development, it is moving toward peace,” said Mohammad Karim, a kite maker from Kabul.Fellow Kabul resident Sayed Ahad Azizi also hopes for more stability. “Peace is the only thing that all people want but if foreign troops stay here, the realization of peace in Afghanistan will be impossible,” he said.The Afghan withdrawal is a watershed moment for Afghanistan – and for the West, said Norman. “The initial mission was simply to rout out al-Qaida which have had a haven in Afghanistan under the Taliban. And that mission kind of changed and grew over time to be one of deposing the Taliban, trying to help Afghanistan transition to a more equal democracy et cetera. And I think Western powers, and the U.S. in particular, is seeing the limits of that kind of engagement.”The U.S. and its allies will reflect on what has been achieved in two decades of conflict. For Afghanistan, the fight for democracy and freedom is far from over.
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Minneapolis Officer Declines to Testify in His Defense in Floyd Case
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination Thursday and did not testify in his defense in the death last year of a Black man, George Floyd, whom Chauvin pinned down on a city street by pressing his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes.Chauvin, 45, is facing murder and manslaughter charges in the high-profile case that triggered worldwide protests against police abuse of minorities. He told trial Judge Peter Cahill he had extensively discussed whether to testify with his attorney, Eric Nelson, but decided on his own not to.He accepted Cahill’s offer to read a standard legal instruction to the 12-member jury that it should not draw any implication from Chauvin’s decision not to testify.Defense restsThe defense wrapped up its case Thursday shortly after Chauvin expressed his decision. It was the first time that Chauvin, who is white and was a 19-year veteran of the Minneapolis police force before he was fired in the aftermath of Floyd’s death, had spoken at the three-week trial.The jury will hear closing arguments Monday and then begin deliberations.Chauvin’s decision to not testify was perhaps not surprising. If he had given his explanation of why he held down Floyd, 46, who was already handcuffed, he also would have subjected himself to a pointed cross-examination from prosecutors who could have asked him detailed questions about his actions last May 25 and reviewed videos of the incident.Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill discusses motions before the court, April 15, 2021, in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis.In another development, Cahill rejected an attempt by prosecutors to introduce new evidence to show that the carbon monoxide level in Floyd’s blood was normal. Such evidence has been available for weeks but was not introduced earlier during the 11 days the prosecutors presented their case.The prosecutors wanted to use the information to rebut testimony Wednesday from defense witness David Fowler, a pathologist and former Maryland chief medical examiner, who suggested carbon monoxide might have contributed to Floyd’s death since he was lying on the ground near the exhaust pipe of a police cruiser.Cause of deathThe cause of Floyd’s death is in question at the trial, with prosecutors claiming Chauvin violated his police training by pinning down Floyd and effectively killed him by blocking his air passage.The defense contends Floyd died from a heart attack brought on by high blood pressure and underlying drug use, not from the way Chauvin arrested him on suspicion of passing a counterfeit $20 bill.Cahill warned prosecutors he would declare a mistrial if a rebuttal witness they called for testimony Thursday “even mentions” the existence of any previously undisclosed tests showing that Floyd had a normal amount of carbon monoxide in his blood.In this image from video, Dr. Martin Tobin testifies as Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill presides before the court, April 15, 2021, in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis.The witness, pulmonologist Martin Tobin, told the jury, without mentioning the specific tests in question, that he did not believe any carbon monoxide in Floyd’s body was as high as Fowler suggested was possible.Fowler had testified that Floyd’s heart condition and drug use played a “significant” role in his death, as the defense continued to try to raise doubt about the prosecution’s claim that the policeman alone was responsible for Floyd’s death.High blood pressureFowler told the jury that Floyd’s blood pressure was “out of control” when Chauvin restrained him.A medical technician testified this week that Floyd had very high blood pressure of 216 over 160 during the incident that led to his death, which Fowler said was “much higher than I would expect.”Fowler said traces of fentanyl and methamphetamine in Floyd’s blood system, as well as his possible “carbon monoxide poisoning” from the exhaust fumes of the police vehicle that Floyd was lying against, also could have contributed to his death.Defense attorney Nelson has tried to undercut prosecution testimony and evidence that Chauvin asphyxiated Floyd by restricting the air passage in Floyd’s neck as he repeatedly gasped that he could not breathe.Prosecution witnesses earlier in the trial said Chauvin violated his police training in the way he restrained Floyd and that he killed Floyd by pinning him down for more than nine minutes, continuing even after Floyd appeared to have stopped breathing.Chauvin has pleaded not guilty to murder and manslaughter charges. If convicted, he could face years in prison. Three other former police officers who played various roles in detaining Floyd are awaiting trial in the case, but their charges could be dropped if Chauvin is acquitted.
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US Secretary of State Visits Afghanistan to Discuss Troop Withdrawal
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken carried American assurances to Afghanistan during an unannounced visit Thursday to discuss the coming withdrawal of all 2,500 U.S. troops by September 11.Blinken sought to reassure Afghan officials that the U.S. would still be committed to the country where U.S. troops have been stationed since 2001, following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on September 11 of that year.“I wanted to demonstrate with my visit the ongoing commitment of the United States to the Islamic republic and the people of Afghanistan,” Blinken told Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the presidential palace in Kabul. “The partnership is changing, but the partnership itself is enduring.””We respect the decision and are adjusting our priorities,” Ghani told Blinken, expressing gratitude for the sacrifices of U.S. troops.Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, right, meets with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, center, and their delegations, at the Sapidar Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, April 51, 2021.At a news conference later in the day, Blinken said the U.S. would work to prevent another terrorist attack from emanating from Afghanistan.“We will be repositioning the tools and assets that we have to guard very carefully against the possible reemergence of other threats from Afghanistan,” he said. “And we’re confident that we have the means to do so.“In addition, the Taliban did make a commitment in the agreement that it reached with the United States last year to prevent the reemergence of al-Qaida here in Afghanistan as well. We will hold them to that commitment.”During the Trump administration, the U.S reached an agreement with the Taliban to withdraw U.S. troops by May 1. Biden’s pushing the deadline back by months angered the insurgent group.FILE – Taliban political deputy Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, center, arrives with other members of the Taliban delegation for an Afghan peace conference in Moscow, Russia, March 18, 2021.The Taliban issued their formal response to Biden’s troop drawdown plans Thursday, criticizing the United States for delaying its departure.The insurgent group declared the U.S. move a “clear violation of the Doha agreement and noncompliance with its commitment.” It urged Washington and its allies to withdraw all their forces from Afghanistan by May 1 in line with the U.S.-Taliban pact.”Now as the agreement is being breached by America, it in principle opens the way for the Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate [Taliban fighters] to take every necessary countermeasure, hence the American side will be held responsible for all future consequences, and not the Islamic Emirate.”No good choices seenSome analysts view Biden’s decision as the best of an array of bad options.”There’s probably no option that significantly reduces the level of violence. There’s also probably no option on the table to build the Afghanistan that the United States probably had in mind when they invested more than a trillion dollars in the war,” said University of Chicago assistant professor Austin Wright, whose research focuses on insurgents and Afghanistan.But some lawmakers and human rights advocates have been critical of the move, saying Afghans will suffer the consequences.“My views are very pessimistic,” Naheed Farid, a member of the Afghan parliament, told reporters. Farid, along with a half-dozen civic leaders, met with Blinken at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.FILE – NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg holds up a ministerial statement on Afghanistan as he attends a media conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels, April 14, 2021.On Wednesday, NATO announced it was also withdrawing its 7,000 troops from the country, saying they would be leaving over the next months.Biden made his announcement in a televised speech Wednesday, saying the war “was never meant to be a multigenerational undertaking.”No justification leftHe said the United States could no longer justify staying there two decades after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.”We went to Afghanistan because of a horrific attack that happened 20 years ago,” Biden said at the White House. ”That cannot explain why we should remain there in 2021.”Over the course of the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, more than 2,200 U.S. troops have been killed and over 20,000 have been wounded. It is estimated that the U.S. has spent over $1 trillion on the war, America’s longest.According to the World Bank, more than half of Afghans live on less than $1.90 a day. It is also considered one of the worst countries for women’s rights, according to the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security.
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Cambodia Launches Lockdown in Capital as COVID-19 Outbreak Spreads
Cambodia began a coronavirus lockdown Thursday in Phnom Penh and a satellite district of the capital in a bid to contain a spike in coronavirus cases in a country that up until recently had largely managed to contain infections.
Under the lockdown, which Prime Minister Hun Sen announced late Wednesday, most people are banned from leaving home except for going to work, to buy food or for medical treatment.
Police manning checkpoints Thursday in Phnom Penh asked motorists to show work documents and identity cards in order to pass, television footage on local media showed.
In a voice message posted on his official Facebook page, Hun Sen warned that Cambodia was on the brink of “death valley” and urged people to work together to avoid calamity.
“The purpose of the lockdown is to combat the spread of COVID-19 and this closure is not a way to make people die or suffer,” he said.
The Southeast Asian country still has one of the world’s smallest coronavirus caseloads, but an outbreak that started in late February saw cases spike almost 10-fold to 4,874 within two months and the first deaths recorded with 36 fatalities.
Hours before the lockdown, Hun Sen’s message was leaked on social media, prompted panic buying of food and other goods in shops by residents in Phnom Penh and the nearby Takhmau area, where a lockdown also has been imposed.
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Turkish Writer Altan Released From Prison: Lawyer
Turkish journalist and writer Ahmet Altan was released from prison on Wednesday, his lawyer said, after the top appeals court overturned a verdict against him following a ruling by a European court that his rights had been violated.
The 71-year-old Altan has been in prison in western Istanbul since September 2016, on charges related to an attempted coup in July 2016.
He was detained over allegations that he disseminated subliminal messages related to the coup attempt during a TV program, as well as articles he had written criticizing the government.
He denied the charges, which he and his lawyer said were politically motivated.
Altan’s case was one of those considered to be symbolic of the crackdown on dissent under President Tayyip Erdogan following the attempted coup. Ankara says the measures were necessary given the security threats facing Turkey.
He was sentenced to life in jail in 2018 without parole for attempting to overthrow the constitutional order but the ruling was overturned by the Court of Cassation, the top appeals court.
Altan was then re-tried and sentenced to more than 10 years for aiding a terrorist organization. He was briefly released due to time served but re-arrested after the prosecutor objected.
Altan was released again on Wednesday due to time served after the Court of Cassation overturned the second ruling, his lawyer Figen Calikusu said.
“This has been a judicial persecution that went on for longer than four years and seven months. Ahmet Altan was held with a completely empty file,” she said.
“He was considered the perpetrator of the coup attempt for articles he wrote,” Calikusu added.
His case will now return to the lower court, which could decide to resist the ruling by the Court of Cassation but Calikusu said she expected Altan to be acquitted.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Tuesday that Altan’s right to liberty and security, as well as his freedom of expression had been violated since he was accused without reasonable suspicion.
Nacho Sanchez Amor, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkey, welcomed the ruling by the Court of Cassation, adding that all charges should be dropped.
Turkey accused Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen of orchestrating the coup. Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999, denies involvement.
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Japan’s Suga Faces Tough Balancing Act Between US, China
When Japan’s prime minister visits the White House Friday, China is likely to be high on the agenda. U.S. officials hope the visit demonstrates a greater willingness for the alliance to counter Beijing. For Tokyo, though, it’s a careful balancing act, as VOA’s Bill Gallo reports from Seoul, South Korea.Produced by: Henry Hernandez
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France Advises Citizens to Leave Pakistan for Security Reasons
France advised its citizens and companies Thursday to temporarily leave Pakistan, citing “serious threats to French interests” in the South Asian nation.The move follows violent protests this week across large parts of Pakistan by activists of the radical Islamist party Tehreek-i-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), which has been demanding that Islamabad expel the French ambassador over the publishing of anti-Islam cartoons in France.“Due to the serious threats to French interests in Pakistan, French nationals and French companies are advised to temporarily leave the country,” France’s embassy said in an email to its estimated 500 citizens in living in Pakistan. “The departures will be carried out by existing commercial airlines,” it said.Police officers guard a road blocked with shipping containers, near the French consulate, in Karachi, Pakistan, April 15, 2021.There was no immediate reaction by Pakistan’s foreign ministry.Pakistani officials said Wednesday that three days of clashes between TLP supporters and police killed two law enforcement personnel and wounded nearly 600 others, including dozens of protesters.The unprecedented attacks against police prompted the Pakistani government to declare the TLP a banned organization under the country’s anti-terrorism laws. TLP members took to the streets in major cities Monday, shortly after authorities in the eastern city of Lahore detained their leader, Saad Rizvi. They blocked highways across major cities, paralyzing business and daily life.Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, left, and Religious Affairs Minister Noor-ul-Haq Qadri, give a press conference addressing anti-France violence, in Islamabad, April 15, 2021.Pakistani Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Thursday said police and paramilitary forces had dispersed the protesters in most, but not all, places.Ahmed defended Rizvi’s arrest, saying Rizvi was planning to lead a march on Islamabad to besiege the capital in connection with the TLP’s demand for the expulsion of the French ambassador. The interior minister dismissed the demand as illegitimate, saying entities like the TLP cannot be allowed to dictate terms to the Pakistani state.The TLP has risen to prominence in Pakistan in recent years. Along with demonstrations against France, the party has pressured the Pakistani government into not repealing or reforming the country’s harsh blasphemy laws, which critics say often are used to intimidate religious minorities and settle personal disputes.
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US Expels Russian Diplomats, Imposes New Round of Sanctions
The Biden administration on Thursday announced the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats and sanctions against nearly three dozen people and companies as it moved to hold the Kremlin accountable for interference in last year’s presidential election and the hacking of federal agencies.
The actions, foreshadowed for weeks by the administration, represent the first retaliatory measures announced against the Kremlin for the hack, familiarly known as the SolarWinds breach. In that intrusion, Russian hackers are believed to have infected widely used software with malicious code, enabling them to access the networks of at least nine agencies in what U.S. officials believe was an intelligence-gathering operation aimed at mining government secrets.
Besides that hack, U.S. officials last month alleged that Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized influence operations to help Donald Trump in his unsuccessful bid for reelection as president, though there’s no evidence Russia or anyone else changed votes or manipulated the outcome.
The measures announced Thursday include sanctions on six Russian companies that support the country’s cyber activities, in addition to sanctions on 32 individuals and entities accused of attempting to interfere in last year’s presidential election, including by spreading disinformation.
The 10 diplomats being expelled include representatives of Russian intelligence services, the White House said.
The White House also said Biden was using diplomatic, military and intelligence channels to respond to reports that Russia encouraged the Taliban to attack U.S. and allied troops in Afghanistan based on the “best assessments” of the intelligence community.
Reports of alleged “bounties” surfaced last year, with the Trump administration coming under fire for not raising the issue directly with Russia. The White House did not publicly confirm the reports. “The safety and well-being of U.S. military personnel, and that of our allies and partners, is an absolute priority of the United States,” the White House said Thursday.
It was not immediately clear what, if any, other actions might be planned against Russia. Officials had previously said they expected to take actions both seen and unseen.
The sanctions, presumably intended to send a clear retributive message to Russia and to deter similar acts in the future, are certain to exacerbate an already tense relationship between the U.S. and Russia.
President Joe Biden told Putin this week in their second call to “de-escalate tensions” following a Russian military buildup on Ukraine’s border, and said the U.S. would “act firmly in defense of its national interests” regarding Russian intrusions and election interference.
In a television interview last month, Biden replied “I do” when asked if he thought Putin was a “killer.” He said the days of the U.S. “rolling over” to Putin were done. Putin later recalled his ambassador to the U.S. and pointed at the U.S. history of slavery and slaughtering Native Americans and the atomic bombing of Japan in World War II.
It remained unclear whether the U.S. actions would actually result in changed behavior, especially since past measures by the U.S. have failed to bring an end to Russian hacking. The Obama administration expelled diplomats from the U.S. in 2016 in response to interference in that year’s presidential election. And though Trump was often reluctant to criticize Putin, his administration also expelled diplomats in 2018 for Russia’s alleged poisoning of an ex-intelligence officer in Britain.
U.S. officials are still grappling with the aftereffects of the SolarWinds intrusion, which affected agencies including the Treasury, Justice, Energy and Homeland Security departments, and are still assessing what information may have been stolen. The breach exposed vulnerabilities in the supply chain as well as weaknesses in the federal government’s own cyber defenses.
The actions would represent the second major round of sanctions imposed by the Biden administration against Russia. Last month, the U.S. sanctioned seven mid-level and senior Russian officials, along with more than a dozen government entities, over a nearly fatal nerve-agent attack on opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his subsequent jailing.
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Japanese PM Faces Tough Balancing Act Between US, China
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Friday will become the first foreign leader to visit the White House since U.S. President Joe Biden took office.The meeting underscores the importance of the U.S.-Japan alliance, especially as the countries’ shared rival, China, grows in strength and aggressiveness.Since taking office last year, Suga’s government has at times taken a slightly more critical stance toward China, calling out Beijing’s human rights abuses and incursions into disputed areas of the East and South China seas.It represents a slight recalibration of Japan’s relationship with China, its longtime rival and largest trading partner. However, many analysts expect Suga to refrain from overly antagonizing Beijing during his meeting with Biden.“There is unease in some Japanese policy circles about being too forward-leaning in countering China and sacrificing the carefully orchestrated rapprochement initiated a few years ago,” said Mireya Solis, who focuses on East Asia at the Brookings Institution, a Washington D.C.-based research and analysis organization.Ahead of Suga’s visit, China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry warned Japan against “being misled by some countries holding biased views against China.” Earlier this month, China also sent a naval strike group near Okinawa, where the U.S. has troops — a signal Beijing is prepared to counter the U.S.-Japan alliance.Japan hosts approximately 55,000 U.S. troops. The two sides routinely describe their alliance as the “cornerstone” of peace and stability in Asia.Biden, who took office in January, has focused on revitalizing the U.S.-Japan alliance, as well as U.S. involvement in multilateral institutions, which were often criticized or shunned by former U.S. President Donald Trump.Koji Tomita, Japan’s ambassador to the United States, said Tokyo “fully supports President Biden‘s resolve to revert to multinationalism and to restore leadership in the international community.”In an interview with VOA, Tomita also said it is critical to take a multilateral approach toward China.“We are seeking a stable relationship with China, but at the same time, will continue to be very clear about our concerns,” he said.Specifically, Tomita mentioned Beijing’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims, its abuses against pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, and its unfair trade practices.“From Japan’s perspective, it is particularly troubling to see their maritime practices which attempt to unilaterally change the status quo in the region,” he added.Japan’s new approachTaiwan — the self-ruled island that China views as its own — has emerged as another flashpoint. Some Japanese leaders have suggested cooperating more closely with the United States to discourage China’s intimidation of Taiwan.James D.J. Brown, an associate professor at Temple University in Tokyo, said Suga likely feels pressure from the parts of Japanese society and political circles that sympathize with Taiwan.“I think that if [Suga] is seen as avoiding taking a tough stance on China, he might have to worry not only about getting criticism from the United States but also potentially from within his own party,” Brown said.There’s a limit to how far Suga will go in criticizing China, though, Brown said.“So I think overall Japan is … deeply uncomfortable with being urged to take a stronger stance” against China, he said.“They’re very happy in Tokyo for the United States to do that, but they’re reluctant to do so themselves because they recognize that China both economically, militarily, has a lot of ways and a lot of leverage that they can use to make things very uncomfortable for Japan.”However, Japan’s new approach is encouraging to many U.S. lawmakers, who have become increasingly hawkish on China. Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty, who until 2019 was ambassador to Japan, said he believes U.S. allies are beginning to see the threat posed by China.“I think what’s happening is the rest of Asia is seeing this. I think the rest of Asia is going to be drawn toward our model. That’s my hope,” Hagerty told VOA.“I want to see us bring them all into the fold and demonstrate that our democratic values, and that our free-market principles are the best possible posture to undertake,” he added.Natalie Liu contributed to this report
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UN Envoy: South Sudan has Potential, Needs to Hold Elections
David Shearer said Wednesday he’s leaving the top U.N. job in South Sudan convinced the world’s youngest nation has the potential to become a tourist destination to rival any country in East Africa and the oil and mineral riches to spur economic progress — if it can eliminate corruption and establish a transparent and open government.As the country approaches its 10th anniversary of independence from Sudan on July 11, it has a transitional government in place following a 2018 peace agreement, and a 2020 cease-fire. Shearer said in an interview with The Associated Press that though “it’s all moved too slowly,” it’s now time to focus on elections “and have a legitimate, popularly elected government.”That needs to be the rallying cry as we go forward — to bring everybody on board and to put pressure on the government to actually speak up and hold those elections,” he said. “That doesn’t mean to say winner needs to take all, because that can create all sorts of problems. But we do have to allow people to have their say in what comes next.”There were high hopes for peace and stability once South Sudan gained its long-fought independence from Sudan. But the country slid into ethnic violence in December 2013 when forces loyal to President Salva Kiir, a Dinka, started battling those loyal to Riek Machar, his former vice president who belongs to the Nuer people.Numerous attempts at peace failed, including a deal that saw Machar return as vice president in 2016 only to flee months later amid fresh fighting. The civil war has killed nearly 400,000 people and displaced millions.Intense international pressure followed the most recent peace deal in 2018, and in February 2020 a coalition government led by Kiir, with Machar as his deputy, was formed.’Huge animosities’As U.N. special representative for South Sudan, Shearer was head of the largest U.N. peacekeeping mission, with over 14,000 troops and 1,500 police, and in charge of political dealings as well. He was a former member of New Zealand’s parliament and has held a variety of U.N. posts including in Iraq from 2007-09.Looking back on why an oil-rich country born with high expectations has ended up in such a dire situation, Shearer said that after independence “the elites” — the generals during the war who found themselves in government — had “huge animosities” toward each other and struggled to be on top.He said transforming the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, which became the ruling party of the new country, into a state is still in progress.”They’re thinking as a movement: How can we continue to hold power as we move forward? And that’s a very big difference … (from) the strategic vision of, where is South Sudan going to be in five, 10 years time?” he said.’A step along the way’Shearer said another key issue is that financial resources coming to the government “are siphoned off by these very people (the elites), and there is very little understanding of where the money’s going.” It’s not going to services for the people of South Sudan and there’s problems with holding the government accountable, he said.Looking ahead, Shearer said the peace agreement ends with elections, though “I don’t believe that’s the end of the peace process — that’s a step along the way.”To hold elections, the appointed legislature, which hasn’t met, needs to approve a constitution and electoral legislation, he said.There also has to be some serious messaging between now and the election “to make sure that although one person will be president, everybody else will have a role to play,” he said.Shearer said Kiir and Machar “are working together,” though they are still rivals, and he expects both to run for president.The U.N. Security Council has asked for a feasibility study due in mid-July on holding elections.The U.N. envoy said there were growing voices for election preparations to begin but the bottom line was there was stability now in the country.”The conflict that’s happening now is at a much smaller level,” he said. “It’s intercommunal, it’s resource related, it’s tribal, often started by leaders. But it’s much less than it was three years ago.”He shared his vision of what South Sudan should like like in five or 10 years: “What I’d really like to see is a government that is transparent and open with its finances, where it’s starting to take its own responsibility providing services, and it’s turning around with the confidence to say to the international community: `You don’t need your peacekeepers here. We need development, people to help us with our development and our economic progress, and we need you to transition and the rest of you guys need to start thinking about moving out,'” Shearer said.He said the potential in South Sudan is immense. “If you had stability, you would have a tourist industry that could rival any of the countries in east Africa — the Nile, the animals, and its extraordinary,” and the country also has fertile soil, oil, teak and minerals.”It’s all there, it just needs good governance. So that would be what I wish for more than anything else,” Shearer said.
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Colorful Coffins Lighten Mood at New Zealand Funerals
When the pallbearers brought Phil McLean’s coffin into the chapel, there were gasps before a wave of laughter rippled through the hundreds of mourners.The coffin was a giant cream doughnut.”It overshadowed the sadness and the hard times in the last few weeks,” said his widow, Debra. “The final memory in everyone’s mind was of that doughnut, and Phil’s sense of humor.”The doughnut was the latest creation by Phil’s cousin Ross Hall, who runs a business in Auckland, New Zealand, called Dying Art, which custom builds colorful coffins.Other creations by Hall include a sailboat, a firetruck, a chocolate bar and Lego blocks. There have been glittering coffins covered in fake jewels, a casket inspired by the movie The Matrix, and plenty of coffins depicting people’s favorite beaches and holiday spots.”There are people who are happy with a brown mahogany box and that’s great,” said Hall. “But if they want to shout it out, I’m here to do it for them.”The idea first came to Hall about 15 years ago when he was writing a will and contemplating his own death.”How do I want to go out?” he thought to himself, deciding it wouldn’t be like everyone else. “So I put in my will that I want a red box with flames on it.”Six months later, Hall, whose other business is a signage and graphics company, decided to get serious. He approached a few funeral directors who looked at him with interest and skepticism. But over time, the idea took hold.Hall begins with special-made blank coffins and uses fiberboard and plywood to add details. A latex digital printer is used for the designs. Some orders are particularly complex, like the sailboat, which included a keel and rudder, cabin, sails, even metal railings and pulleys.This photo provided by Ross Hall, shows caskets shaped as Lego and a space ship in Auckland, New Zealand, on Feb 25, 2021. (Ross Hall via AP)Depending on the design, the coffins retail for between about 3,000 and 7,500 New Zealand dollars ($2,100 and $5,400).Hall said the tone of funerals has changed markedly over recent years.”People now think it’s a celebration of life rather than a mourning of death,” he said. And they’ve been willing to throw out stuffy conventions in favor of getting something unique.But a doughnut?Debra McLean said she and her late husband, who was 68 when he died in February, used to tour the country in their motorhome, and Phil loved comparing cream doughnuts in every small town, considering himself something of a connoisseur.He considered a good doughnut one that was crunchy on the outside, airy in the middle, and definitely made with fresh cream.This photo provided by Ross Hall shows a cream doughnut-shaped coffin for the funeral of Phil McLean outside a church in Tauranga, New Zealand, on Feb 17, 2021. (Ross Hall via AP)After Phil was diagnosed with bowel cancer, he had time to think about his funeral and, along with his wife and cousin, came up with the idea for the doughnut coffin. Debra said they even had 150 doughnuts delivered to the funeral in Tauranga from Phil’s favorite bakery in Whitianga, more than 160 kilometers away.Hall said his coffins are biodegradable and are usually buried or cremated along with the deceased. The only one he’s ever gotten back is his cousin’s, he said, because he used polystyrene and shaping foam, which is not environmentally friendly.Phil was switched to a plain coffin for his cremation, and Hall said he’ll keep the doughnut coffin forever. For now, it remains in the back of his white 1991 Cadillac hearse.As for his own funeral? Hall said he’s changed his mind about those red flames. He’s emailed his kids saying he wants to be buried in a clear coffin wearing nothing but a leopard-pattern G-string.”The kids say they’re not going,” he said with a laugh.
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UN Security Council to Meet on Tigray
A new meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Tigray in Ethiopia, where fighting continues, will be held Thursday at the request of the United States, AFP learned Wednesday from diplomatic sources.This session will be held behind closed doors, like the last meeting, which was held on March 4. At the time, China and Russia opposed the adoption of a unanimous declaration calling for an “end to violence” in Tigray. Beijing and Moscow consider the armed conflict in Tigray since the beginning of November an “internal affair.”On Thursday, the 15 members of the council are expected to hear a briefing on the situation by U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock, while the obstacles to the delivery of aid to the populations have not ceased, according to the U.N.In early March, Lowcock demanded that Eritrea withdraw its troops from Tigray in the first recognition by a U.N. official in New York of Eritrea’s involvement in the fighting.The Eritrean army has been accused by the U.N. services in Geneva of atrocities in Tigray that are likely to constitute “war crimes and crimes against humanity.” Asmara dismissed the charges.At the beginning of November, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced the dispatch of the federal army to Tigray to arrest and disarm the leaders of the TPLF (Front for the Liberation of the People of Tigray), whose forces are accused by Addis Ababa of having carried out attacks against military camps of the federal forces. At the time, Abiy assured the U.N. Secretary-General that the operation would be completed in a few weeks. In early April, however, he indicated that the Ethiopian army continued to fight in Tigray, where the rebels had adopted, according to him, “guerrilla” tactics.It is not known how many Eritrean soldiers are still in the region and whether some have indeed left in recent weeks, as Abiy claims.
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NYC: Birthplace of the Coffee-To-Go Culture?
When Americans think of coffee culture, they usually think of Seattle, the home of Starbucks. But some say New York City may have a better claim as the U.S. center of coffee culture. Nina Vishneva examined that part of the city’s history, in this story narrated by Anna Rice.
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Defense Pathology Expert says George Floyd Died from Multiple Factors
The killing of a Black motorist during a police traffic stop earlier this week has raised tensions in the U.S. state of Minnesota, which is preparing for an outcome in former police officer Derek Chauvin’s murder trial. VOA’s Jesusemen Oni has more.
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Biden Announces End to ‘America’s Longest War’
President Joe Biden announced his plan to withdraw all 2,500 American troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, months later than the May 1 deadline that the Trump administration and the Taliban agreed on last year. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report.
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Russia Targets Student Magazine With Raids, Criminal Charges
Russian authorities on Wednesday charged four editors of an online student magazine with encouraging minors to take part in illegal activity for a report about the nationwide protests supporting jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny.All four were ordered by a court not to leave their residences for the next two months and were banned from using the internet and communicating with anyone other than immediate family, lawyers and law-enforcement agencies.The charges, which carry a potential sentence of three years in prison, come amid heightened pressure on independent news media.Police raided the Moscow apartments of the four DOXA magazine editors as well as the apartments of two of the editors’ parents and the magazine’s offices before taking the editors in for questioning, according to DOXA and a human rights group involved in their defense. DOXA said the actions were connected to a video the magazine ran about the protests calling for Navalny’s freedom, which took place throughout the country on two consecutive weekends in January, among the largest shows of defiance in a decade.The video talked about the pressure that school and university students faced before the protests and described threats of expulsion, which it said were unlawful, for participating in the demonstrations.Russia’s media and internet watchdog Roskomnadzor demanded that DOXA delete the video. The magazine complied, but filed a lawsuit contesting the order.DOXA said Wednesday that the video contained “no calls for unlawful actions — we were saying that young people shouldn’t be afraid to express their opinion.””The pressure the journalist community has faced recently is unprecedented, but we won’t stop our work. We will continue to cover what’s important for young people and will continue to stand up for their rights,” the magazine’s statement read. Navalny’s chief strategist, Leonid Volkov, faces similar charges, although he left Russia in 2019. On Wednesday, he expressed “unconditional respect and support” on Facebook for the four DOXA editors: Armen Aramyan, Natalya Tyshkevich, Vladimir Metelkin and Alla Gutnikova.As the four appeared one-by-one in front a judge on Wednesday evening, dozens of supporters gathered near the courthouse in central Moscow. Some carried banners saying “We are DOXA” and “Get your hands away from DOXA.” Navalny, who is President Vladimir Putin’s most visible foe, was arrested on Jan. 17 upon returning to Russia from Germany, where he had spent five months recovering from nerve-agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin. He was later sentenced to about 2 1/2 years in prison on the grounds that his long stay in Germany violated terms of a suspended sentence on a previous conviction for financial misdeeds. The crackdown on DOXA came several days after police searched the apartment of a prominent investigative journalist, Roman Anin, chief editor of the Vazhniye Istorii website. The website said the raid was likely linked with a 2016 story Anin wrote for the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta that alleged a lavish super-yacht belonged to Igor Sechin, head of Russian state oil company Rosneft.Novaya Gazeta was ordered to retract the story as a result of a civil court case, but a criminal case on the matter has been pending for years.”Coverage of some important issues — protests, corruption, and so on — is perceived as hostile criminal activity, so none of the journalists who honestly do their job can feel safe now,” said Damir Gainutdinov of the Agora human rights organization that is providing legal support to three of the DOXA editors.
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Sources: US Set to Slap New Sanctions on Russian Officials as Soon as Thursday
The United States will announce sanctions on Russia as soon as Thursday for alleged election interference and malicious cyber activity, targeting several individuals and entities, people familiar the matter said.The sanctions, in which 30 entities are expected to be blacklisted, will be tied with orders expelling about 10 Russian officials from the United States, one of the people said.The White House, the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Treasury Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.The action will add a new chill to the already frosty relations between Washington and Moscow, which has tested the West’s patience with a military buildup near Ukraine.The wide-ranging sanctions would come in response to a cybersecurity breach affecting software made by SolarWinds Corp. that the U.S. government has said was likely orchestrated by Russia. The breach gave hackers access to thousands of companies and government offices that used the company’s products.Microsoft President Brad Smith described the attack, which was identified in December, as “the largest and most sophisticated attack the world has ever seen.”The United States also intends to punish Moscow for alleged interference in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. In a report last month, U.S. intelligence agencies said Russian President Vladimir Putin likely directed efforts to try to swing the election to then-President Donald Trump and away from now-President Joe Biden.Washington’s expected action is likely to exacerbate tensions in a relationship that slumped to a new post-Cold War low last month after Biden said he thought Putin was a “killer.”In a call on Tuesday, Biden told Putin that the United States would act “firmly” to defend its interests in response to those actions, according to U.S. officials’ account of the call.Biden also proposed a meeting with Putin “in a third country” that could allow the leaders to find areas to work together.In the past few weeks, Washington and its NATO allies have been alarmed by a large build-up of Russian troops near Ukraine and in Crimea, the peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.”The hostility and unpredictability of America’s actions force us in general to be prepared for the worst scenarios,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters last week, anticipating the new sanctions.
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