A pandemic has blanketed the planet. Economies have cratered. Across the world, people are scared, anxious and unsteady about the future. And you want to talk about climate change? Yes, say African leaders. Now. African heads of state met virtually this week to make a push for the global community to do more to fight climate change in Africa, arguing that this environmental crisis could — and in fact, is — making the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic worse in the developing world. They are pushing a bold, multibillion dollar plan ahead of a vital climate conference planned for later this year. FILE – Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta speaks in Nairobi, Sept. 26, 2020.It is hardly news that the pandemic has dealt a body blow to the developing world, said Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. But, he said, it has affected everything. “Africa is one of the most vulnerable continents to climate change and climate vulnerability — a situation that unfortunately has been aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said, speaking via videoconference Tuesday. “Multiple systemic shocks are now simultaneously threatening African communities and a health crisis, an economic crisis, a food security crisis have all been compounded by this subject that we are continuously debating — that of the climate change crisis. The impact, therefore, of the COVID-19 pandemic on Africa social-economic development has been devastating.” FILE – Gabon’s President Ali Bongo Ondimba is seen in Libreville, Gabon, Jan. 13, 2017.Or, as President Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon put it, in an evocative, poetic way that will seem familiar to residents of this vast continent that is larger than the combined landmass of the United States, China and Brazil: “Every day, the thunderstorms seem more violent. Flooding is more frequent and droughts more severe. Around the world, forests are razed. Crops are failing, people are being forced to flee their homes, becoming climate refugees. Sea levels are rising, potentially drowning cities and even entire countries. The oceans are turning to acid. And salt is penetrating croplands, causing further serious challenges to food security. Ladies and gentlemen, excellencies, Africa contributed just 3 percent of global emissions, but we are the continent which will pay. Indeed, which is already paying the biggest price.” FILE – Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, speaks in Geneva, Switzerland, Jan. 18, 2021.What does this have to do with the pandemic? Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director of the World Health Organization, draws that line clearly. Although the continent has reported a relatively low number of cases compared to other regions, it has seen the world’s slowest rollout of vaccination campaigns. “The health sector is one of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and the key priority sector for adaptation,” he said. “Despite this, only 0.5 percent of multilateral climate finance is currently spent on health protection. Financing the overall health response to the pandemic and the climate crisis is essential to save lives and drive a social and economic recovery.” FILE – African Development President Akinwumi Adesina gives a press conference in Ouagadougou, Sept. 13, 2019.These leaders are pushing the global community to put their money behind their commitment, with this plan, laid out by African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina. “Our goal is to mobilize $25 billion for climate adaptation for Africa,” he said. “The African Adaptation Acceleration Program will build on what is working and speed up the actualization, the African Adaptation Initiative of the African Union.” That is not an abstract plan, he said. It translates to the following tangible steps: digital climate information and advisory services for 30 million farms. A plan to build more resilient infrastructure in cities and rural areas. Greater involvement from the private sector. Greater emphasis on green investments. More jobs in climate-resilient fields for young people. It is ambitious, big and bold — from a continent that is all of those things. African leaders will take this to the floor of the 26th U.N. climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland, in November.
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Month: April 2021
US Exercise Focuses on Role of Police, Courts in West Africa Counterterrorism
About 80 law enforcement and judiciary officers participated in last week’s inaugural West Africa Joint Operations regional exercise — a small figure compared to the thousands of personnel who sometimes take part in military-led counterterrorism exercises. But this modest exercise could have a big impact against terrorism, said Julie Cabus, deputy assistant secretary and assistant director of the training directorate in the U.S. Bureau of Diplomatic Security. For this exercise, Cabus said, trainers and participants examined the complex systems of courts and law enforcement in several West African countries to learn how to fairly, quickly and justly prosecute terror cases. “We focused on gathering timely, accurate evidence while working with judicial authorities to ensure adherence to local laws,” she said. “Goals of the exercise included enhancing the investigative capacity and capability of units focused on terrorism cases in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, ensuring investigations adhere to the rule of law and the principles of human rights, and facilitating regional cross-border cooperation by sharing best practices.” Cabus’s agency is responsible for securing diplomacy and protecting the integrity of U.S. travel documents. Because of its global mandate, the service has the largest geographic reach of any U.S. federal law enforcement agency, with more than 270 offices outside of the U.S. And Michael C. Gonzales, deputy assistant secretary of the Bureau of African Affairs, says these small, targeted efforts form an important part of the State Department’s counterterrorism strategy in West Africa’s Sahel region, which include the countries who participated in the exercise: Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, All three of those nations have seen a rise in terrorist activity in recent years. “Addressing the challenges in the Sahel will require security interventions,” he said. “But ultimately, the answer to the challenges of the Sahel lies in addressing the crisis of legitimacy and delivering governance and services to marginalized communities. And so this West African joint operation exercise that we saw last month is a really good example of the U.S. partnering with our partner countries in the region to develop their capacity so that they can gain greater confidence of their public by effectively delivering accountability and follow up to the security threats that are posed to communities.” Cabus added that her bureau has been asked to look at running a similar exercise in Southern Africa, in the coastal nation of Mozambique, where violent extremists linked to Islamic State militants have recently stepped up their deadly attacks.
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Myanmar Security Forces Kill 11 Protesters in Kalay
Myanmar security forces killed at least 11 civilians and wounded at least 10 others Wednesday when they fired on government protesters in the northwestern town of Kalay, according to reports received by VOA’s Burmese service. One protest organizer told the service that troops tasked with removing barricades set up by the protesters opened fire indiscriminately on the demonstrators, who are demanding that Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government be returned to power. The organizer said an undetermined number of protesters, some armed with homemade weapons, were arrested in the town known for fiercely resisting government forces. Video of the pre-dawn attack included the sounds of gunfire and grenade explosions. Social media posts said rocket-propelled grenades were fired. A young man who lives in Kalay and who escaped arrest told VOA the security forces fired at least 20 rocket-propelled grenades to destroy the barricades and fired bullets at the protesters. FILE – Pallbearers carry the coffin of a protester who was shot dead on March 28 amid a crackdown by security forces on demonstrations against the military coup, during the funeral in Kale, March 29, 2021, in this picture from Facebook.Protesters in Kalay, who had previously armed themselves with homemade hunting rifles and established neighborhood strongholds, inflicted casualties on security forces during a March 28 assault on the town and nearby villages, according to the Myanmar Now news service. The demonstrators, who have organized what they call the Kalay Civil Army, inflicted more casualties on junta forces in the following days, the online news site reported. The March 28 attack occurred one day after government troops killed more than 110 civilians throughout the Southeast Asian country, the highest one-day death toll since the February 1 military coup that ousted the democratically elected government. Protests around the countryRegular anti-government protests continued in other cities and towns Wednesday, including in Bago, northeast of Yangon, where a resident confirmed to VOA that government forces killed two men and injured five others. One person was killed in a protest crackdown in Monywa, the capital of the Sagaing region, and another was killed in the town of Nyaung Shwe in the southern Shan State, VOA confirmed. At least nine arrests were reported in the southern city of Dawae. FILE – Protesters demonstrate against the military coup in Monywa, Sagaing region, in this photo taken and received from an anonymous source via Facebook on April 3, 2021.Nearly 600 civilians, including dozens of children, have been killed by government troops and police since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Of the 3,500 people who have been arrested, 2,750 are still detained, AAPP said. The National League for Democracy, led by Suu Kyi, had governed Myanmar since its first open democratic election in 2015, but the military contested last November’s election results, claiming widespread electoral fraud, largely without evidence. Suu Kyi and President Win Myint were detained in the February coup. Martial law has been imposed in townships across Myanmar. Calls for restraintOn April 1, the U.N. Security Council repeated its call for the immediate release of all detainees in Myanmar, including Suu Kyi and Win Myint, and an end to violence. In a statement, the council expressed its deep concern for the “rapidly deteriorating situation” in Myanmar and strongly condemned the use of lethal force by security forces and police against peaceful pro-democracy protesters and the deaths of hundreds of civilians, including women and children. The council also called on the military “to exercise utmost restraint” and on all sides “to refrain from violence.”The Security Council also reiterated the need for full respect for human rights and the pursuit of “dialogue and reconciliation in accordance with the will and interests of the people of Myanmar.”
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West Darfur Tribal Clash Death Toll Rises to 87
The death toll from inter-communal clashes in Sudan’s West Darfur state has climbed to 87, with 191 people injured, according to the United Nations. Thousands have fled the state capital, El Geneina, where fighting has raged for several days between Arab militia and Masalit tribesmen. About 3,300 people fled the neighborhoods of Hay Al Jabal, Al Jamarik, Althawra and Tadamon to nearby mosques and public buildings, the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. Some civilians fled to neighboring Chad.
The OCHA statement said urgent medical assistance is needed as hospitals in El Geneina are understaffed and operating under a power blackout, with no running water and shortages of drugs.Video posted from El Geneina on Monday and Tuesday showed fires burning across the town. Several hospitals were destroyed by rocket-propelled grenades, and one RPG smashed into a U.N. compound. Eyewitnesses said armed militiamen burned down the Abu Zar camp for the internally displaced. Tribal Clashes Kill More Than 50 in Sudan’s West Darfur StateViolence between Arab and Masalit tribes began a few days ago in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur stateEl Geneina is a regional hub for aid delivery and the suspension of humanitarian operations will have repercussions across the state. All humanitarian operations have been suspended until the security situation improves, said OCHA. At a virtual briefing Tuesday, U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric praised Sudan’s transitional government for the security measures it has taken to contain the violence in West Darfur state. Sources in El Geneina said relative calm returned to the town by Tuesday afternoon, although markets remained closed and roads into and out of the city were blocked. “The secretary-general’s special representative for the country, Volker Perthes, welcomed the decision by the country’s Security and Defense Council to declare a state of emergency to contain the situation in West Darfur,” said Dujarric.Hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people across the state will be affected by the destruction and massive displacement, said Dujarric.“Due to the violence, the delivery of aid to West Darfur has been suspended and humanitarian flights have been cancelled, preventing aid from reaching 700,000 human beings. Humanitarian partners have been providing food, health, sanitation and protection to people in and around El Geneina,” said Dujarric.The United Nations is calling on donors to provide $2 billion to help displaced and vulnerable people in Darfur as well as those in other parts of the country. Conflict between the Masalit and the Arab communities started in mid-January, soon after the United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission, UNAMID, withdrew from Darfur.The January fighting led to the displacement of more than 109,000 people, according to the U.N. Most internally displaced persons are sheltering in schools and health facilities in El Geneina. An estimated 10,000 IDPs are displaced in four villages outside of the town, said the U.N.
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Pakistan, Russia Agree to Boost Military Cooperation Against Terror, Sea Piracy
Russia reaffirmed Wednesday it will enhance security cooperation with Pakistan by strengthening the South Asian nation’s “potential” to fight terrorism, which is to include supplying Islamabad with the “relevant military” hardware. “We believe this [cooperation] serves interests of all states of the region,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters in the Pakistani capital before concluding his landmark two-day official visit.In his talks with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Lavrov said the two countries agreed to increase the frequency of their joint military drills and maritime exercises to fight terrorism and piracy.Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, April 7, 2021.Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, April 7, 2021.The chief Russian diplomat last visited Pakistan in 2012, and the ensuing years saw a marked improvement in Moscow’s otherwise strained and mistrustful relations with Islamabad.The distrust stemmed from Islamabad’s decision to side with the U.S.-backed Afghan armed resistance of the 1980s that forced Moscow to withdraw Soviet occupation forces from Afghanistan. Afghan peace Lavrov said Wednesday that Russia and Pakistan are working closely to help in peace-building efforts in neighboring Afghanistan. He said both sides agreed to “further facilitate” a deal through an “inclusive political dialogue to put an end to the civil war” between Afghan’s warring parties in the conflict-torn country.”We are, just like our Pakistani partners, seriously worried about the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, and by the rise of terrorist activities and the march of ISIL (an acronym for Islamic State) in north and east of the country,” Lavrov said.Moscow maintains contacts with the Afghan government and the Taliban waging a deadly insurgency against the U.S.-backed Kabul administration.Russia has hosted several Afghan peace meetings in recent months, with envoys of Kabul and the Taliban among the attendees. 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 latest gathering happened last month in Moscow, where senior diplomats from the United States, China and Pakistan also were in attendance, together with representatives of the Afghan adversaries. Qureshi, while speaking alongside Lavrov, described the March 18 Moscow meeting as “successful” and said he discussed with his Russian counterpart the possibility of arranging another such conference to further the Afghan peace process.Islamabad traditionally also maintains close ties with the Taliban and has long been accused by Kabul of sheltering insurgent leaders on Pakistani soil.Pakistan rejects the charges and is credited with bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table for peace talks with Washington that culminated in a landmark agreement in February 2020. US-Taliban deal President Joe Biden’s new administration, however, has been reviewing the U.S.-Taliban deal, which requires all American and NATO-led foreign troops to leave Afghanistan by May 1. The reassessment stems from concerns the Taliban have not eased violence, and hostilities will intensify if international forces withdraw from the country in the absence of a political deal between warring Afghans. Biden said last month it will be tough for the U.S. to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by May 1 for logistical reasons, prompting the Taliban to threaten they would resume attacks on foreign troops in the country if Washington fails to honor the deal. Gas pipeline Lavrov and Qureshi both reported Wednesday that construction by Russia of a 1,100-kilometer gas pipeline will begin soon in Pakistan. The pipeline, linking the southern port city of Karachi to the eastern city of Lahore, will cost an estimated $2 billion and is expected to transport up to 12.4 billion cubic meters of gas annually.”We are making necessary efforts to start the construction of the north-south gas pipeline — the flagship project in the energy sector,” the Russian foreign minister said. “We hope that all remaining technical issues will be agreed upon in the very near future.”The project, officials say, will open a fast-growing gas market for Russian energy companies.The steady growth in bilateral ties saw trade between Russia and Pakistan last year hitting an all-time high of $790 million, an increase of 46 percent, mainly due to large supplies of Russian wheat to help Islamabad bridge its domestic shortfalls.FILE – A shipment of Russia’s Sputnik COVID-19 vaccine arrives at Kosice Airport, Slovakia, March 1, 2021.Qureshi said Islamabad also intends to buy about 5 million doses of the Russian-developed Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine to boost Pakistan’s efforts with its recently launched program to inoculate its population against the pandemic. Lavrov said Russia also will look into a request put forward by Pakistan to help the country ultimately manufacture the vaccine. Before departing Pakistan, the Russian foreign minister also met with Prime Minister Imran Khan and the country’s military chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa.Khan reaffirmed Pakistan’s resolve to “expeditiously conclude the requisite legal process” for the gas pipeline project and begin work as quickly as possible, the prime minister’s office said in a statement.”Pakistan values its relations with Russia and reciprocates the desire for enhanced bilateral military cooperation,” a military statement quoted Bajwa as telling Lavrov.”We have no hostile designs toward any country and will keep on working toward a cooperative regional framework based on sovereign equality and mutual progress,” the Pakistani army chief asserted.
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Medical Workers in War Against COVID Look Back at 2020
At the beginning of the pandemic, VOA’s Nina Vishneva met with doctors and nurses in New York City to talk about their experience fighting COVID-19. A year later, she got to see some of them again. Anna Rice narrates the story.Camera: Alex Barash, Natalia Latukhina
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EU-Turkey Meeting Turns Awkward as Von der Leyen Left Without Chair
Talks to warm relations between the European Union and Turkey in the Turkish capital, Ankara, got off to an awkward start Tuesday when one of the EU leaders – the only woman in the room – was left without a chair.
In video of the meeting, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Europe Council President Charles Michel are seen being greeted warmly by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as they arrived for the talks.
The two leaders were then led into an ornate meeting room, where the three stood side by side and posed for pictures. But when it came time to sit, there were only two chairs, in which the two men sat. On the video, von der Leyen can be heard saying “Hmm” or “Ehm,” and was offered a seat on a couch to the side of other two leaders.
A former German defense minister, von der Leyen leads the European Commission. Michel, a former Belgian prime minister, leads the bloc’s executive wing and represents the leaders of the 27 individual member nations of the EU in negotiations. They are equals in rank and status.
The incident did not go unnoticed. From his Twitter account, German European Parliament Member Sergey Lagodinsky referenced von der Leyen’s non-verbal reaction, writing “’Ehm’ is the new term for ‘that’s not how EU-Turkey relationship should be,’” followed by the hashtags “#GiveHerASeat #EU #Turkey #womensrights.”
Lagodinsky is chairman of the legislature’s delegation to a joint EU-Turkish parliamentary committee.
Dutch EU parliament member Sophie in ‘t Veld on her Twitter account, posted a picture of previous EU meetings in which the leaders, all men, were seated next to one another, in equivalent chairs. She said, “And it wasn’t a coincidence. It was deliberate.” She also questions why Michel took his seat without a word or gesture to von der Leyen.
Von der Leyen herself did not directly reference the incident following the talks, only expressing concern about Turkey’s record on human rights, particularly women’s rights.
But during an EU Commission briefing Wednesday in Brussels, spokesman Eric Mamer said the commission president was surprised. He said she should have been offered the same seating arrangement as the other two leaders. But he was quick to add that von der Leyen “chose to prioritize substance over questions of form or protocol.”
Tuesday’s talks were intended to improve relations between Turkey and the EU that have been strained since a coup attempt in 2016 prompted a crackdown on civil rights in the country.
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‘Cambodia Burning’ Documentary Shows Unfettered Logging Impact on Forest Ecosystem
“Cambodia Burning,” a documentary by filmmaker Sean Gallagher, throws light on the effect Cambodia’s unfettered logging has had on the country’s forest ecosystem. VOA’s Penelope Poulou spoke to the award-winning filmmaker
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Cameroon Dialysis Patients Protest Poor Treatment, Equipment Shortage
Scores of Cameroonians with kidney failure and their relatives have blocked traffic since Monday around a Yaoundé hospital to protest a shortage of dialysis treatment. Cameroon authorities blame administrative procedures and coronavirus disruptions for slowing the import of dialysis machines and medicines. Traffic was at a standstill in Yaounde’s Melen neighborhood this week as hundreds of patients with kidney failure, and their relatives, protested a halt to treatment at the Yaoundé University Teaching Hospital. Among the kidney patients who sat or lay on the road in front of the hospital is 54-year-old Emmanuel Pierre Essi. He says their protest began on Monday after at least seven kidney patients died within three weeks due to lack of treatment. People living with kidney failure being treated at Yaoundé University Teaching Hospital. (Moki Edwin Kindzeka/VOA)Essi says he and many of his peers may die after missing at least six sessions of hemodialysis for the past two weeks. He says the Yaoundé University Teaching Hospital has only five hemodialysis machines for over 160 patients. Essi says old age and overuse have crumbled the machines and patients who need four hours of dialysis per session, now take seven hours to filter and purify their blood in the dialysis machine. He says kidney patients also lack hemodialysis kits and dialysis fluid. Cameroonian health officials are pleading with the patients to halt their protest while the government tries to fix the problems. The government says that since the coronavirus pandemic began last year, it has been unable to import dialysis equipment and medicine from suppliers abroad due to travel restrictions and the economic slowdown. Felicien Ntone, deputy director of the Yaoundé University Teaching Hospital, says kidney patients who become critical will be transferred to other dialysis centers. (Moki Edwin Kindzeka/VOA)The hospital’s deputy director, Felicien Ntone, says officials are trying to secure the equipment needed for dialysis treatment. He says Cameroon and its suppliers in Europe and China are examining the best possible ways to speed the shipment of dialysis kits and dialysis machine spare parts to Cameroon. Ntone says the government has agreed to urgently release funds for the purchase of hemodialysis kits. Ntone says kidney patients who become critical will be transferred to other dialysis centers.He says hospitals are negotiating with the government to allow the buying of medicines and equipment without passing through a long procurement process. Meanwhile, on the third day of the demonstration, some of the protesters are refusing to back down. Yaoundé University student Donald Yaje’s parent has kidney failure. Yaje vows to keep protesting until the government provides the needed treatment. “We cannot be indifferent while our relatives are dying,” he said. “We want the government to look for a way of importing equipment instead of always complaining that the coronavirus has [imposed] restrictions to the shipment of goods from Europe. They should not forget kidney patients while struggling to stop corona.” Patients undergoing dialysis treatment at Yaoundé University Teaching Hospital. (Moki Edwin Kindzeka/VOA)Cameroonian health authorities say the country has about 2,500 patients with acute kidney infections, up from 400 in 2012. There are about seven towns in Cameroon with dialysis centers, with five dialysis machines at each. Yaoundé has two such centers — the largest with 20 dialysis machines. But health authorities acknowledge they are often not working as a result of overuse and poor power supply.
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China Warns Washington Not to Boycott Winter Olympics
China’s government warned Washington on Wednesday not to boycott next year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing after the Biden administration said it was talking with allies about a joint approach to complaints of human rights abuses.
A Foreign Ministry spokesperson rejected accusations of abuses against ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region. He warned of an unspecified “robust Chinese response” to a potential Olympics boycott.
“The politicization of sports will damage the spirit of the Olympic Charter and the interests of athletes from all countries,” said the spokesperson, Zhao Lijian. “The international community including the U.S. Olympic Committee will not accept it.”
Human rights groups are protesting China’s hosting of the games, due to start in February 2022. They have urged a boycott or other measures to call attention to accusations of Chinese abuses against Uyghurs, Tibetans and residents of Hong Kong.
The U.S. State Department suggested an Olympic boycott was among the possibilities but a senior official said later a boycott has not been discussed. The International Olympic Committee and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee have said in the past they oppose boycotts.
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Amazon CEO Bezos Endorses US Corporate Tax Increase
Amazon.com Inc. supports an increase in the U.S. corporate tax rate as part of an infrastructure overhaul, Jeff Bezos, chief executive of the largest U.S. retailer, said on Tuesday after facing withering criticism from the White House, Congress and on social media. “We support the Biden Administration’s focus on making bold investments in American infrastructure,” Bezos said in a blog post. “We recognize this investment will require concessions from all sides — both on the specifics of what’s included as well as how it gets paid for (we’re supportive of a rise in the corporate tax rate).” The largest online U.S. retailer, which has been widely criticized in recent years for paying little or no U.S. federal income tax, did not endorse raising rates to a specific figure. The White House did not immediately comment. Biden’s infrastructure plan proposes increasing the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21% and would revise the tax code to close loopholes that allow companies to move profits overseas.In this Oct. 1, 2020, photo an Amazon worker wears a mask and gloves as he delivers boxes downtown Los Angeles.Biden said last week Amazon was one of 91 Fortune 500 companies that “use various loopholes where they pay not a single solitary penny in federal income tax,” in sharp contrast to middle-class families paying over 20% tax rates. Bezos is stepping down from the CEO role during third quarter of 2021. After paying no federal income tax in 2017 or 2018, Amazon reported a $162 million current U.S. federal tax liability for 2019 and $1.835 billion U.S. federal tax liability for 2020. Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, and Republican lawmakers cut the corporate rate to 21% in 2017 from 35%. Trump repeatedly promised to tackle the nation’s crumbling infrastructure during his presidency but never delivered on that. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the largest U.S. business group, last month called Biden’s proposed hike in corporate taxes “dangerously misguided” and warned it would “slow the economic recovery and make the U.S. less competitive globally.” In June 2019, Biden named Amazon and said no company making billions in profits should pay a lower tax rate than firefighters and teachers.
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China Sentences Two Ex-Xinjiang Officials to Death on Separatism Charges
Two former government officials in China’s northwest region of Xinjiang have been sentenced to death on charges involving separatism.Wang Langtao, the vice president of Xinjiang’s higher people’s court, told reporters Tuesday that Sattar Sawut and Shirzat Bawudun have both been granted a two-year reprieve on their sentences. Such sentences are usually commuted to life imprisonment.Sattar Sawut, a former education official, has been convicted of incorporating ethnic separatism violence, terrorism and religious extremism into Uyghur-language school textbooks. UN Human Rights Group ‘Deeply Concerned’ Over China’s Treatment of UyghursThe group is calling for unhindered access to conduct investigations and encouraging business to scrutinize their supply chains for evidence of forced labor products; China denies the allegations of rights violationsShirzat Bawudun, a former head of Xinjiang’s regional justice department, has been convicted of colluding with members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which has been listed as a terrorist group by the United Nations, as well as carrying out “illegal religious activities at his daughter’s wedding.”Beijing has launched a sweeping security campaign in Xinjiang that has led to the detention of more than one million minority Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other minority Muslim groups in Xinjiang. The Chinese government says the detainees are taught job skills and deradicalized from anti-Beijing sentiments, a stance strongly disputed by the United States, which has denounced the treatment of the Uyghurs as genocide. China’s Treatment of Uighurs is Genocide, Canadian Parliament Says The move puts pressure on Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to follow suitA State Department spokesman said Tuesday the United States will hold talks with allies about a possible boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing over China’s treatment of the Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic minority groups in Xinjiang, as well as its stifling of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.US, EU, Britain, Canada Impose Sanctions on Chinese Officials Over Uyghurs China promptly retaliates with sanctions on European officials
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As Vietnam Joins Opposition to Chinese Activity near Reef in Disputed Sea, China Expected to Withdraw
Vietnam has joined the Philippines in vocally opposing a Chinese fishing fleet’s long stay at an unoccupied reef in a disputed Asian sea, and analysts say China is expected to back away and avoid a bigger dispute – but only for now. A Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman in Hanoi said March 25 the “activities of Chinese ships…seriously violate Vietnam’s sovereignty.” A Vietnamese coast guard vessel was moored near Whitsun Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands last week, the Marine Traffic website showed. Philippine defense officials began in early March asking that the Chinese ships leave. Manila’s Department of National Defense said March 28 a Philippine navy coast guard vessel and military plane were monitoring the reef.Chinese ‘Flotilla’ in Contested Waters Further Sours Once-Upbeat RelationsManila concerned over presence of 220 finishing boats near a reef in the Spratly Islands, demands their removalChina would withdraw without a statement, probably citing the weather as a cause, said Collin Koh, a maritime security research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. But it could easily return as part of a longer-term plan to control the now unoccupied islet as it has done to control other features in the sea, he said. “Right now, you have the Vietnamese, you have the Filipinos now chiming in on this issue,” Koh said. “At least if you raise it in the public and capture the attention of the public, it would actually very likely force China to sort of roll back eventually, but the only thing is that even if the Chinese roll back now, there will be chances that they will return anyway.” Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam dispute all or part of Beijing’s claims to about 90% of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea that’s prized for natural resources including fisheries. China has the strongest armed forces among the six claimants, prompting others to look toward the United States for support. Beijing has slowly occupied contested islets since the 1950s, sometimes with reclaimed land. Today its holdings support airstrips, hangars and radar systems. Chinese officials cite historical usage records to defend their access to the sea including tracts inside the 370-kilometer-wide exclusive economic zones of other countries. “The continued presence of Chinese maritime militias in the area reveals their intent to further occupy features in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea),” Philippine national defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said in a Facebook post Sunday. He said 44 fishing boats remained at Whitsun despite calm weather over the weekend. The defense chief said China had “done this before” at Scarborough Shoal and Mischief Reef, two other islets in the disputed sea. Whitsun technically could be landfilled for development too, Koh said. The Philippines protested China’s first structures on Mischief Reef in 1994 and 1995 and China waited another four years to add to its development there, sparking more fire from Manila. The reef supports Chinese aircraft hangars today. Chinese vessels occupied Scarborough Reef northwest of Manila in 2012 during a long standoff with the Philippines. They eventually took control of the prime fish-spawning shoal. Some scholars say Philippine leaders protested loudly over the past month because they remember what happened to the other two islets. “I think the Philippines learned a lesson from Scarborough Shoal, from Mischief Reef,” said Alexander Vuving, a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii. China for now intends to negotiate with Southeast Asian countries over a maritime code of conduct on how to handle any mishaps in the contested sea. Chinese officials hope more broadly to gain favor so rival claimants avoid turning again toward China’s superpower rival the United States for help. To aggravate Southeast Asian states now would frustrate these goals, Koh said.China Uses Money, Diplomacy to Push Back Against US in Southeast Asia Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has held eight meetings year-to-date with counterparts in Southeast Asian countriesPhilippine President Rodrigo Duterte has sought friendly links with China since he took office in 2016 but his armed forces and much of the public remain distrustful. Duterte’s predecessor won a world court arbitration case in 2016 against the legal basis for China’s maritime claims but China rejected the ruling. His government filed the suit in 2013. Vietnam has been particularly outspoken against China over the maritime dispute since the 1970s and vessels from the two sides have gotten into several clashes, some deadly. China has said the fishing boats moored near Whitsun have been there seeking shelter from dangerous weather. “It’s just like a push-and-pull tactic by the Chinese government,” said Nguyen Thanh Trung, Center for International Studies director at University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City. “If they see a strong protest, then they will step back a little bit, but they will get back again.” The strength of the Philippine protest alongside Vietnam’s will blunt any immediate ambitions China has for Whitsun Reef, Vuving forecast. “They will pull back and wait for the international storm to subside and wait for a little time when the international community looks elsewhere and then they would stealthily come back again,” Vuving said. “China is playing the long game.”
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Chauvin was Taught to Defuse Crises, Police Trainer Testifies
Testimony in the U.S. trial of Derek Chauvin, the police officer charged in the death of George Floyd, continues Wednesday with a Los Angeles police sergeant called upon to answer questions about the use of force. Jody Stiger told the court in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Tuesday that after reviewing video of Floyd’s arrest last year, he believes “the force was excessive.” Stiger said officers were justified in using force initially as Floyd resisted their efforts to put him into a police car, but that once Floyd was on the ground and stopped resisting, the officers “should have slowed down or stopped their force as well.” In other testimony Tuesday, Minneapolis Police Sergeant Ker Yang said Chauvin took a 40-hour course on crisis intervention. Yang, who is in charge of training officers to handle crises, said Chauvin was trained in techniques to de-escalate such situations. Yang was the latest of several Minneapolis police officers to testify as prosecutors aim to prove that Chauvin failed to follow training when he pinned his knee on the back of Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes.The trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin, April 6, 2021. Yang said the training Chauvin and other officers received helped them make decisions involving people in crisis, including those suffering from mental health issues and the effects of drug abuse. “When we talk about fast-evolving situations…a lot of the time we have the time to slow things down and reevaluate and reassess and go through this model,” Yang said. Prosecutor Steve Schleicher said Chauvin attended a course on how to defuse crises in 2016. Chauvin, who is white, was a 19-year police veteran until he was fired. He has pleaded not guilty to murder and manslaughter charges in the case being heard by a racially diverse 12-member jury. Chauvin’s lawyer contends that Floyd, an African American, died from underlying health issues and that Chauvin followed his police training in the way in which the 46-year-old Floyd was arrested. Yang’s testimony came one day after Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo testified that Chauvin did not follow his police department’s policy when he pinned Floyd to the street. Kneeling on Floyd’s neck after he was handcuffed and subdued is not the department’s policy or training, Arradondo said, “and it is certainly not part of our ethics or our values.” The chief said officers are trained to try to de-escalate a situation and to minimize or avoid the use of force whenever possible. They also receive first-aid training, he said, adding, “And so, we absolutely have a duty to render that.” Arradondo, the city’s first Black police chief, fired Chauvin and three other officers the day after Floyd’s death. Arradondo later described Floyd’s death last May as “murder.” The first week of the trial was dominated by emotional testimony from eyewitnesses who watched as Chauvin pinned Floyd to the ground even as Floyd repeatedly gasped that he could not breathe. The May 25 incident last year triggered widespread protests against police treatment of minorities in the United States and around the world. The Hennepin County medical examiner’s office said that Floyd died of “cardiopulmonary arrest, complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression.” A summary report listed fentanyl intoxication and recent methamphetamine use under “other significant conditions” but not under “cause of death.” Shortly before the trial started, the city of Minneapolis paid $27 million in damages to Floyd’s relatives.
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Sudan’s Cabinet Votes to Remove Anti-Israel Law
Sudan’s Cabinet approved a bill Tuesday that will roll back a 63-year-old law that strained relations between the country and Israel, according to a statement. The decision aimed at repairing diplomatic and trade ties with the Jewish state comes months after both countries struck a peace deal. Sudan joins the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco in repealing the law that barred Arab nations and allies from doing business with Israel. Last year, Egypt and Jordan were the only Arab countries that recognized Israel. Before then, serious sanctions that included hefty fines and jail terms were handed down to those who defied the law. Despite shifting positions, other Arab countries will not recognize Israel until the Jewish state reaches an agreement with its neighbors, especially Palestinians. In the statement, the Sudanese Cabinet echoed a “firm position on the establishment of a Palestinian state within the framework of a two-state solution.” Sudan’s change of heart can also be attributed to a deal it struck with the U.S. government under the Trump administration that will see it removed from a blacklist of nations suspected of sponsoring terrorism.President Donald Trump wraps up a phone call with the leaders of Sudan and Israel as Cabinet officials and advisers applaud in the Oval Office of the White House, October 23, 2020.Mass protests in 2019 forced former President Omar al-Bashir to end his 30-year Islamic rule, during which the African country took a strong stance against Israel. The new transitional government charts a new path of restoring ties with the international community, however, as part of its efforts to resuscitate the economy and ensure development. That decision seems to be paying off as the country received many diplomatic visits, particularly from Israel. Reuters reports that Israeli Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen, who visited Khartoum, said the move to recognize Israel is a “necessary step toward the signing of a peace accord between the countries.” The bill still needs to receive the backing of Sudan’s ruling sovereign council before the order goes into effect.
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US Immigration Courts Brace for Flood of Asylum Claims
U.S. immigration courts, already swamped with a backlog of 1.3 million cases, are ill-prepared to handle a crush of new asylum claims filed by a rising number of people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, especially children traveling alone, current and former immigration judges told VOA.The sharply increasing number of migrants arriving at the border, including more than 170,000 in March alone, is the highest level since 2006, FILE – Minors lie inside a pod at the Donna Department of Homeland Security holding facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in Donna, Texas, March 30, 2021.”The backlog has grown,” said Jeffrey Chase, a former immigration judge and senior legal adviser at the Board of Immigration Appeals. He added there are two ways to handle the situation.”The response to this usually is: Hire more judges. And I think the response should be: Let’s be smarter about who we put into court and how we prioritize the cases and how we handle the cases,” Chase told VOA.The FILE – Migrants are detained by a U.S. Border Patrol agent after crossing the Rio Bravo River to turn themselves in to request asylum in El Paso, Texas, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, March 29, 2021.A recent TRAC report concluded that even if the administration of President Joe Biden halted immigration enforcement entirely, “it would still take more than Biden’s entire first term in office — assuming pre-pandemic case completion rates — for the cases now in the active backlog to be completed.” Judges to the border Under former President Donald Trump, additional immigration judges were hired. Even so, the backlog of cases grew markedly during Trump’s time in office.Meanwhile, the Trump administration, like the Obama administration that preceded it, dispatched immigration judges to courts near the U.S.-Mexico border, Marks noted.”The prioritization of sending judges to border courts ended up leaving our interior courts underutilized and not able to process the cases that had been pending in the system for long periods of time,” she said.Adding to the congestion was a 2018 directive by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to reopen hundreds of thousands of immigration cases the courts had previously closed and rein in judges’ discretion to close future cases. Court staffing and independenceU.S. lawmakers of both parties have long argued in favor of expanding immigration courts to reduce the case backlog. Meanwhile, immigration judges, backed by dozens of immigrant and human rights advocacy groups, are asking Congress to pass legislation making the immigration court system an independent entity insulated from the immigration agenda of any given administration.”Our organization has long advocated that the immigration court system be taken out of the Department of Justice, and restructured, like the Article 1 [federal] tax courts,” Marks said.Aaron Hall, an immigration lawyer in Denver, Colorado, said the immigration court system is currently subject to the whims of whichever party controls the executive branch. But he added that making the courts independent is not enough. “We still have 1.3 million people in the system,” he said. “There’s no way to both respect due process and push all these cases through in any kind of timely manner. The resolution needs to be immigration reform.”Having an independent immigration court system is better than having [the courts] in the Department of Justice, but what really needs to change is our [immigration] law,” Hall added.While the Biden White House has criticized Trump’s handling of immigration cases, the new administration has yet to announce concrete measures to reform the immigration court system or take a position on calls to make it independent from the Justice Department.
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Kerry Urges Global Cooperation, Including From China, on Climate Change
John Kerry, in Asia on his first trip as the special presidential envoy for climate, is urging cooperation between the U.S. and China, and everyone else, on climate change because “no one nation can solve this problem by itself — impossible. Each of us needs everybody else at the table to make this happen.” FILE – Then-Secretary of State John Kerry, left, talks with China’s Special Representative on Climate Change Xie Zhenhua prior to the opening of the COP21 conference in Le Bourget, Dec.12, 2015.Former U.S. Secretary of State Kerry will not meet China’s climate czar Xie Zhenhua on this outing, although the two know each other from previous interactions. Xie is a central figure in Beijing’s plan to eliminate carbon emissions by 2060 and its chief negotiator at the 200-country-strong FILE – Then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden looks at an array of solar panels during a tour at the Plymouth Area Renewable Energy Initiative in Plymouth, N.H., June 4, 2019.Biden is planning a two-day virtual summit with world leaders on April 22 and 23. The White House website says: “The Leaders’ Summit on Climate will underscore the urgency — and the economic benefits — of stronger climate action. It will be a key milestone on the road to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) this November in Glasgow.” Biden’s recent $2 trillion infrastructure proposal includes an investment of $35 billion into clean technologies and $174 billion on overhauling the country’s electrical vehicle market. Meanwhile, China’s investment in clean energy reached $83.4 billion in 2019. “The magnitude of the challenge is the most difficult problem facing both; the financial costs and disruption to people’s lives involved in changing Chinese and U.S. energy policies is enormous,” said the Hudson Institute’s Weitz. Obstacles to climate partnershipBut sharp differences on human rights and trade are creating obstacles for possible cooperation on climate issues between the two superpowers. “China and the U.S. are entering into an era of increasingly open competition, criticism, and rivalry in a variety of spheres — economic, diplomatic, technological, and possibly military — which make any kind of cooperation harder to achieve,” Carsten Vala, a political science professor at Loyola University Maryland, told VOA Mandarin. “The toughest things are, no doubt, China’s increasing assertiveness in international relations,” he said. “That stance derives from the Chinese Communist Party leadership’s belief that it handled the COVID-19 pandemic better and survived the global economic slowdown better than Western countries, along with projections that its economy is predicted to rival that of the United States in the next two decades.” This has made China’s top leaders “less willing to compromise,” he added. Turner, of the Wilson Center, agreed. “The Chinese and U.S. administrations are navigating some tough disagreements on trade and human rights, etc., which does not leave much political space for climate collaboration/diplomacy,” she said. Yet she pointed out that Chinese-U.S. cooperation on climate and clean energy is not accomplished only by the national governments because “there is still subnational, research, and NGO climate collaboration happening between the two countries.”
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Zimbabwe Court Jails Opposition Activist for Blowing Whistle During Protest
Zimbabwe’s main opposition party says the government is again cracking down on critics with a prison sentence given to 28-year old Makomborero Haruzivishe. A court found him guilty of inciting violence, but rights groups say the real aim is to intimidate protesters demanding more financial support for the poor. Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare. Camera: Blessing Chigwenhembe
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World Powers, Iran Hold ‘Constructive’ Talks on Reviving Nuclear Deal
Iran and world powers held what they described as “constructive” talks on Tuesday and agreed to form working groups to discuss the sanctions Washington might lift and the nuclear curbs Tehran might observe as they try to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.European intermediaries have started shuttling between Iranian and U.S. officials in Vienna as they seek to bring both countries back into compliance with the accord, which lifted sanctions on Iran in return for curbs to its nuclear program.Former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018, prompting Iran to steadily overstep the accord’s limits on its nuclear program designed to make it harder to develop an atomic bomb — an ambition Tehran denies.Tuesday’s talks included a meeting of the remaining parties to the original deal — Iran, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia — in a group called the Joint Commission, chaired by the European Union. The United States did not attend.Protestors of an Iranian opposition group are sent away near the Grand Hotel Wien where closed-door nuclear talks with Iran take place in Vienna, Austria, April 6, 2021.While neither Washington nor Tehran say they expect any quick breakthroughs from the talks, both they and the EU described the early exchanges in positive terms.”Constructive Joint Commission meeting. There’s unity and ambition for a joint diplomatic process with two expert groups on nuclear implementation and sanctions lifting,” EU chief coordinator Enrique Mora said on Twitter.”I will intensify separate contacts here in Vienna with all relevant parties, including US,” he added.The two expert-level groups have been given the task of marrying lists of sanctions that the United States could lift with nuclear obligations Iran should meet, and reporting back on Friday, when the Joint Commission will meet again.”The talks in Vienna were constructive … our next meeting will be on Friday,” Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi told Iranian state television.”It is a welcome step, it is a constructive step, it is a potentially useful step,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters in Washington, even as he repeated the U.S. expectation that the indirect talks would be “difficult.”A resolution of the nuclear issue could help ease tensions in the Middle East, notably between Iran and Israel, as well as with U.S. Sunni Arab allies such as Saudi Arabia, who fear the possibility of Shi’ite Iran obtaining nuclear weapons.In a possible sign of such strains, an Iranian cargo ship came under attack in the Red Sea, Al Arabiya TV reported, citing unnamed sources, and semi-official Iranian news agency Tasnim said the vessel was targeted by a limpet mine.Al Arabiya cited its sources as saying the ship was attacked off Eritrea and was affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards but gave no evidence to support the assertion.Speaking on condition of anonymity, U.S. officials told Reuters the United States did not carry out such an attack.
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Tribal Clashes Kill More Than 50 in Sudan’s West Darfur State
Authorities in Sudan say at least 50 people are dead and more than 100 others injured after three days of clashes between ethnic groups in West Darfur. Sudan’s military has vowed to restore peace to the region.The clashes between Arab and Masalit tribes began a few days ago in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state.The government declared a state of emergency in West Darfur Monday after the clashes continued for a third day.The Committee of West Darfur Doctors confirmed the death toll and called on the government to secure access for the committee to collect full figures.According to Khalid Shogar of Committee of West Darfur Doctors, the committee counted 50 people killed in the violence, with the death toll reaching 132 people. Others killed and injured the committee couldn’t count as a result of access being restricted due to the bad security situation, he added.The fighting started when two young men from the Masalit tribe were killed Saturday. Militia fighters from Masalit and Arab tribes fought in El Geneina, using heavy weapons and vehicles.Sudan’s Security and Defense Council accused unnamed armed militias of fueling the conflict.Defense Minister Major General Yassin Ibrahim said the government is taking steps to end the fighting. Yassin said all of the security apparatuses have been authorized to resolve the tribal conflicts. He said a higher committee will be formed from local councils to deal with all of the breaches in the peace agreements. He said a third decision is to implement laws for security forces to help control the fighting in legal ways, along with a monopoly in weapons usage by the government, and continued weapon collection from the citizens.The conflict in Darfur broke out in 2003 when the government of then-President Omar al-Bashir empowered Arab militias to fight rebel groups.The conflict resulted in the killing of hundreds of thousands of civilians and the displacement of more than two million people.The transitional government that followed Bashir’s ouster in April 2019 signed peace agreements with rebel groups.Earlier this year, the conflict between Arab and non-Arab tribes in El Geneina flared up again, resulting in the death of 129 people and the displacement of 108,000.Political analyst Abbas Mohamed worries renewed violence in Darfur could undermine the peace process in Sudan.He said six months after the signing the peace agreement it became so obvious that the difficulties of sustaining peace were not only in the details but embodied in the resurgent tribal conflict in Darfur. Those epicenters of violence, he said, could undermine the peace process and prevent the U.N. peacekeeping mission from protecting civilians. The International Criminal Court in The Hague has charged Bashir with war crimes and crimes against humanity for his treatment of civilians in Darfur. Bashir is in a Khartoum prison after a Sudanese court convicted him of corruption in late 2019.
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Biden Accelerates Deadline for Opening COVID-19 Vaccinations
Every adult in the United States will be eligible within two weeks to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday, moving up by two weeks the previous May 1 deadline for open season for inoculations. “No more confusing rules. No more confusing restrictions,” said Biden, at the White House, announcing that by May 19 everyone “18 or older will be eligible to be vaccinated.” The president’s announcement comes amid a fourth surge of COVID-19 cases in the country with an increase in infections among young adults. “We aren’t at the finish line,” Biden cautioned. “We still have a lot of work to do. We’re still in a life and death race against this virus.” With progress against the coronavirus stalling in the United States, the president earlier Tuesday afternoon visited a pop-up inoculation site, 12 kilometers south of the White House, where he highlighted the push for intensified vaccinations. U.S. President Joe Biden puts his hand on a man’s shoulder during a visit to a coronavirus disease vaccination site at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia, April 6, 2021.”When you go home, get all your friends, tell them get a shot when they can,” Biden said to those inside a chapel of the Virginia Theological Seminary waiting to be vaccinated. Over the past week, new coronavirus cases are up 7% compared to the previous seven-day period. Hospitalizations have increased 3%, while deaths from the coronavirus are reported to be down slightly to about 800 fatalities per day. The rise in infections is blamed on the loosening of mask wearing mandates, higher attendance at public events, increased domestic travel and the emergence of more contagious variants of the virus. “They are more virulent,” Biden said at the inoculation site of the new COVID-19 strains. “They are more dangerous, but the vaccines work on all of them.” The White House and health officials are struggling to keep prominent the message of continued vigilance after a tiring 13 months of life restrained by and fear of the coronavirus. “It is very difficult for people to keep two notions in their minds at the same time. The vaccinations are good, they’re protecting a lot of people, but I still have to be wearing my mask and being very careful — social distancing,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. “We need to ask people to do that for a few more months.” As with nearly all states, Virginia had previously announced that everyone, age 16 and older, would become eligible for shots by about the middle of this month, ahead of the previous deadline set by the White House. But in the northern part of the state, an affluent region that is home to many federal government workers, the supply of COVID-19 vaccinations has been outstripped by demand. “In order to succeed and be able to meet the governor’s goal, we’re going to need dramatically more doses coming to Northern Virginia,” said Jeff McKay, the chairman of the county board in Fairfax County, the state’s most populous jurisdiction. Meanwhile, in Virginia, a tier of essential workers labeled 1c — a diverse group including restaurant workers, garbage haulers, hair stylists, lawyers and accountants — has been eligible for vaccinations in rural districts, but not yet in the most populated area in the north.Throughout the Washington region, many doses have been reserved for hard-to-reach and vulnerable patients while others who were willing to get inoculated immediately found themselves unable to get vaccinated. A person receives a dose of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine at a vaccination center in Chinatown, in Chicago, Illinois, April 6, 2021.Having enough vaccine for all American adults eligible within weeks for inoculations is one achievement — getting those reluctant to have the shot put into their arms is another hurdle, a problem known as vaccine hesitancy. “All of us as individuals need to reach out to people who are hesitant in any way that we can, and then listen to what those person’s concerns are, respond to them to try and make them comfortable and reassure that vaccination is safe,” Schaffner, a past president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, told VOA. More than 150 million shots have been administered in the United States, according to the White House, which states that “nearly a third of the total U.S. population and about 40% of the adult population has received at least one dose, and nearly one-fifth of the total population is fully vaccinated” with one of the three vaccines that have been granted emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration. The new eligibility date in two weeks will give all adults a chance then to schedule appointments for their shots at community health centers, pharmacies, drive-through vaccination sites in parking lots and elsewhere. The coronavirus has killed more than 555,000 people in the United States and sickened nearly 30.8 million, the highest reported number by any country. “This has been a long and difficult journey for the American public,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters earlier Tuesday, cautioning against mass public gatherings. “We need to hang together. We need to remain vigilant.” The United States “pretty soon” will have enough doses to share with the rest of the world, Biden said to inoculators during his visit the Virginia vaccination site. “We need to solve it around the world,” explained the president. “You can’t build a wall or a fence high enough to keep out the virus.” Other countries have appealed for help from Washington for doses of the vaccine, but the Biden administration has repeatedly stated its initial priority is making sure Americans get inoculated. VOA’s Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report.
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US Won’t Commit to NATO Membership for Ukraine
The United States reaffirmed its commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity Tuesday but stopped short of publicly backing Kyiv’s call for a quicker path to membership in NATO. “We’ve long been discussing that aspiration with Ukraine,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters when asked about Ukraine’s latest push to join the Western military alliance. “We are strong supporters of them,” she added. “But that is a decision for NATO to make.” Ukraine, along with the U.S. and other Western allies, has been expressing growing concern about Russian troop movements in recent days along the Ukrainian border that some see as an attempt to intimidate Kyiv. In calls earlier Tuesday with both NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged the alliance to send Moscow a message by allowing Ukraine to finally join. “Reforms alone will not stop Russia,” Zelenskiy tweeted following the call with Stoltenberg. “@NATO is the only way to end the war in #Donbas,” he said, referring to the region in eastern Ukraine, parts of which are held by Russian-backed separatists. “Ukraine’s MAP (Membership Action Plan) will be a real signal for Russia,” Zelenskiy added. U.S. defense officials Tuesday declined comment on Ukraine’s request for NATO membership, though they expressed continued concern about Russia’s actions. “We continue to see Russian forces arrayed along the border with Ukraine, in Crimea specifically, more toward the southeast,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters, calling the Russian movements concerning. “We call on Russia to make their intentions more clear as to what they’re doing with this array of forces along the border,” Kirby said. “We continue to call for the cease-fires that were called for by the Minsk Agreement … and to bring the temperature down,” he said. Ukraine says shelling by pro-Russian forces in Donbas has killed 24 soldiers this year and eight in just the past two weeks. Russia has denied that its military movements pose a threat to Ukraine. During a visit to India Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described recent statements by Kyiv as worrisome and said Russia had reached out to other European countries. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also accused Kyiv of seeking to further destabilize the situation. “So far we’re not seeing an intention by the Ukrainian side to somehow calm down and move away from belligerent topics,” Peskov said. The separatists in Donbas have been fighting with Ukrainian forces since Russia seized the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. The U.S. and other Western countries accuse Russia of arming the separatists and of sending Russian troops to aid their efforts. Information from Reuters was used in this report.
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South Sudan Archbishop Dies; Remembered as Promoter of Peace
The retired Catholic archbishop of South Sudan, Paulino Lukudu Loro, died Monday in Nairobi at the age of 80. The archbishop served for 30 years and was hailed by many in South Sudan for his efforts to promote peace during the country’s long civil war.The Reverend Father Samuel Abe, spokesperson for the Catholic Archdiocese of Juba, said Archbishop Loro was rushed to Kenya’s capital last month when his condition started deteriorating.“First of all, last Saturday he had a very severe stroke which affected his dying and so it escalated into instability of his blood pressure and today the pressure just went down, and it is the cause of the death; primarily it is the stroke on his head,” Abe said.Abe said Loro’s death has left a great void, because he was a key player in advising political leaders on how to achieve peace in South Sudan.“It’s very clear as a peacemaker, a man of peace, he always advises people to take the interest of the country above our personal and our individual interests,” Abe said. “And so, his words are still I think in our minds, his words are still with us and it’s up to us to put all his endeavors (and) his initiatives into practice, especially the political leaders, (and) the religious leaders of this country.”Abe said he wished Loro had witnessed peace in South Sudan before his death but noted that people are still fighting and still dying.Eli Joseph, youth chairperson at St. Kizito Parish, said Loro played a significant peacemaking role among various factions during the years when South Sudan was fighting for its independence from Sudan.During South Sudan’s more recent civil war, Simon Gore, youth coordinator at St. Theresa Cathedral, said he remembers Bishop Loro for his boldness in telling the truth to the warring leaders.“The peace process, he was not favoring any side, when he feels that there is slowness in implementation, he approached both of the partners and aired out his voice, and the right thing that they should be doing in order for his flocks not to suffer,” Gore said.Loro was appointed archbishop of Juba on February 19, 1983, and served in this office until his retirement last year.Archbishop Stephen Ameyu announced a four-day mourning period due to Loro’s death. It is not clear when Loro will be buried.
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Floyd Trial: Chauvin Was Taught to Defuse Crises, Police Trainer Testifies
The Minneapolis policeman in charge of training officers to handle crises testified Tuesday that the officer charged in the death of George Floyd took a 40-hour course on crisis intervention. Sergeant Ker Yang told jurors on day seven of officer Derek Chauvin’s trial that Chauvin was trained to identify crises and use techniques to deescalate them. Yang was the latest of several Minneapolis police officers to testify as prosecutors aim to prove that Chauvin failed to follow training when he pinned his knee on the back of Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes. Yang said the training that Chauvin and other officers received helped them make decisions involving people in crisis, including those suffering from mental health issues and the effects of drug abuse. “When we talk about fast-evolving situations … a lot of the time we have the time to slow things down and reevaluate and reassess and go through this model,” Yang said. Prosecutor Steve Schleicher said Chauvin attended a course on how to defuse crises in 2016. Chauvin, who is white, was a 19-year police veteran until he was fired. He has pleaded not guilty to murder and manslaughter charges in the case being heard by a racially diverse 12-member jury. Chauvin’s lawyer contends that Floyd, an African American, died from underlying health issues and that Chauvin followed his police training in the way in which the 46-year-old Floyd was arrested. FILE – In this image from video, witness Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo testifies in the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis, Minnesota, April 5, 2021.Yang’s testimony came one day after Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo testified that Chauvin did not follow his police department’s policy when he pinned Floyd to the street. Kneeling on Floyd’s neck after he was handcuffed and subdued is not the department’s policy or training, Arradondo said, “and it is certainly not part of our ethics or our values.” The chief said officers are trained to try to deescalate a situation and to minimize or avoid the use of force whenever possible. They also receive first-aid training, he said, adding, “And so, we absolutely have a duty to render that.” Arradondo, the city’s first Black police chief, fired Chauvin and three other officers the day after Floyd’s death. Arradondo later described Floyd’s death last May as “murder.” Earlier, the jury heard testimony from the Minneapolis hospital emergency room doctor who pronounced Floyd dead. Dr. Bradford Langenfeld testified Monday that Floyd most likely died from oxygen deprivation, supporting the prosecution’s murder case.Langenfeld, who tried to revive Floyd, said he surmised that Floyd most likely died of suffocation. Langenfeld, testifying at the start of the second week of the trial, said Floyd’s heart had stopped by the time he was brought to the hospital. The doctor said paramedics told him they had already tried for about 30 minutes to revive Floyd. But he was not told of any other efforts by police to resuscitate him after Floyd was arrested on suspicion of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill at a convenience store. FILE – In this image from video, Dr. Bradford Wankhede Langenfeld, the doctor who pronounced George Floyd dead, testifies, April 5, 2021, in the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis.Langenfeld said that based on the available information he was given, death by asphyxiation was “more likely than the other possibilities.” The first week of the trial was dominated by emotional testimony from eyewitnesses who watched as Chauvin pinned Floyd to the ground even as Floyd repeatedly gasped that he could not breathe. The May 25 incident last year triggered widespread protests against police treatment of minorities in the United States and around the world. On cross-examination, Eric Nelson, Chauvin’s attorney, asked Langenfeld whether some drugs can cause oxygen deprivation. The doctor acknowledged that fentanyl and methamphetamine, both of which were found in Floyd’s body, can do so. In testimony later that day, Arradondo agreed when Schleicher said that some people become more vulnerable when under the influence of drugs or alcohol. “It’s recognizing that when we get the call from our communities, it may not often be their best day, and they may be experiencing something that’s very traumatic,” the chief said. The Hennepin County medical examiner’s office said that Floyd died of “cardiopulmonary arrest, complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression.” A summary report listed fentanyl intoxication and recent methamphetamine use under “other significant conditions” but not under “cause of death.” Shortly before the trial started, the city of Minneapolis paid $27 million in damages to Floyd’s relatives.
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