The new chief of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) says U.N. peacekeepers are being blocked from accessing some sensitive areas, despite an agreement by South Sudan’s government to cooperate with the mission. Nicholas Haysom was appointed by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres earlier this year to oversee the activities of 14,500 U.N. soldiers and 2,000 police in the country. In an exclusive interview with VOA’s “South Sudan in Focus” program, Haysom said U.N. peacekeepers are not able to patrol in Western Equatoria and Western Bahr El Ghazal states, due to a lack of consent from the South Sudan government.FILE – Chinese Peacekeepers of the UN Mission to South Sudan parade during the International Day of UN Peacekeepers in Juba, May 29, 2017.In September 2020, Chinese UNMISS troops were prevented from traveling to Lobonok village, east of the capital, Juba, where civilians were under attack from both government forces and the rebels of the National Salvation Front. The government of South Sudan and the U.N. signed a status of force agreement on August 8, 2011, to allow U.N. peacekeepers to operate in the country. The agreement requires South Sudan to give consent to peacekeepers for their activities. But Haysom said getting a consent from the host country is still problematic in some cases. ‘’This has been an issue we have been engaging with the host country for some time. We now have a situation where we can more or less reach about 90% of the country provided we follow a particular route, which is not a permit-based approach, but a notification approach,” he said. Intercommunal violence Despite the peacekeepers’ presence, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights warned earlier this year that internal communal violence is threatening to engulf parts of Central Equatoria, Jonglei, Warrap and Lakes states. South Sudan has also witnessed a recent spike in road ambushes by unidentified groups and fighting between government forces and rebels of the National Salvation Front in parts of the Central Equatoria state. Haysom said negotiations, not military intervention, is key to ending such violence in South Sudan. “Quite frankly, political agreements between communities are more effective than the guns and gun powder required to effect an end to intercommunal violence,” he said. The U.N. top diplomat in South Sudan said the U.N. Security Council directed the mission this year to develop a three year-strategic vision to prevent a return to civil war; to support durable peace at the local and national levels; to support inclusive and accountable governance and free and fair peaceful elections. Haysom said UNMISS is planning to step up patrols between Juba and Nimule to deter security threats on the main supply route linking South Sudan Uganda and Kenya. But he said protection of civilians is the responsibility of the state adding that the United Nations can only come in to fill a vacuum. “First of all, you would need to appreciate the responsibility for protecting civilians doesn’t rest with the UN. It rests with the host country,” he said. “A host country is expected to protect its own citizens. We play a supplementary role particularly it [state] is incapable or unable to do it.” Haysom said South Sudan’s leaders should work towards creating a national vision for achieving peace and prosperity. “You know, provided things move forward, the international community I think will increasingly engage and that would be an improvement. Provided things move forward, it will create an atmosphere in which we can build trust between the parties,” he said.
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Month: June 2021
Ethiopian Holy City Reels From Tigray Crisis
For Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, who comprise more than 40% of their country’s population and most of the people in the Tigray region, the city of Axum is the holiest of places.
They believe it to be home to the Ark of the Covenant, or the original Ten Commandments, and the birthplace of Ethiopian Christianity.
“I would die to protect this church,” said Alem Gebreslase, a 24-year-old parishioner, on Sunday at the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion, one of the oldest churches in Ethiopia and Axum’s center or worship. “But God will protect the Ark.” Worshippers gather outside a church complex in Axum, the holiest city for Orthodox Ethiopians, June 11, 2021. (Yan Boechat/VOA)In past years, pilgrims and tourists would flock to Axum to pray, visit historical sites and snap pictures. Last year, when the coronavirus pandemic swept the world, most stayed away. Then in November 2020, war broke out and visitors stopped coming almost completely.
The war, primarily between the Ethiopian National Defense Force and the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front, includes Eritrean forces fighting against the TPLF, and militias on both sides.
The violence began in November 2020 when TPLF forces attacked federal military bases in Tigray and Ethiopian forces swept through the region.
In the first month of conflict, Eritrean troops killed hundreds of civilians in Axum, according to Amnesty International. A father and his son go to the oldest church in Ethiopia to be blessed, in Axum, Ethiopia, June 13, 2021. (Yan Boechat/VOA)In Axum, locals described those early days of violence, with details varying from mass shootings to house-to-house raids. Consistent in every person’s story, however, were descriptions of so many bodies.
“Besides the soaring death toll,” Amnesty International said in a February statement, “Axum’s residents were plunged into days of collective trauma amid violence, mourning and mass burials.”
In recent months, Axum has quieted, with violence mostly taking place in the countryside. The city has also begun hosting different kinds of visitors. Families displaced by war in their villages and small towns have come in droves, crowding into empty schoolhouses and on the grounds of the church.
“The situation has become reversed,” said Aygdu, a 57-year-old Axum merchant who gave only his nickname for security reasons. “People were fleeing from the city to the countryside. Now they are fleeing from the country to the city.”At the oldest church in Axum, Ethiopians collect ashes from a pit fire that is believed to be blessed, in Axum, Ethiopia, June 11, 2021. (Yan Boechat/VOA)Along the roadsides in remote areas outside of Axum, hundreds of Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers could be seen in trucks, buses and cars over the weekend. In the city of Axum, Ethiopian federal forces patrolled the streets, enforcing a strict nightly curfew.
In the churchyard early Sunday, a mother of five begged for small amounts of money, saying she just arrived in Axum the day before, when troops entered her town.
“I have no other place to go,” she said.
A city strained
At a restaurant in town that serves traditional Ethiopian food, beers and sodas, Aygdu, the merchant, said the influx of displaced families has forced people to open their businesses, despite sporadic violence. Alem Gebreslase, a 24-year-old parishioner, says she would die to protect the Ark of the Covenant which is believed by the Orthodox Ethiopians to be in a church in Axum, Ethiopia, June 13, 2021. (Yan Boechat/VOA)The church and the schools appear crowded with displaced families, he said, but there are also many households hosting relatives, straining the budgets in a town that has been in economic free-fall for more than a year. Prices of basic food items have doubled, he added.
“We may feel it’s dangerous,” he explained, “But if we don’t open our shops, we may die from hunger.”
In the early days of conflict, locals say businesses, homes and public services were looted and hundreds of civilians were killed. Aygdu’s furniture supply store was looted along with his house, he said.
“Even my television and bed were taken,” he said.
Hospitals overwhelmed
Hospitals and health care centers across the region have also been looted, according to Axum University’s Referral Hospital’s administrative director, Zemichael Weldegebriel. Since the war began last November, the Axum University Referral Hospital has never stopped receiving battle-wounded patients, in Axum, Ethiopia, June 10, 2021. (Yan Boechat/VOA)“We are trying to support poor communities,” he said in his office on Thursday. “But the health care we can provide is not meeting their requirements.”
His hospital, which is supposed to take the worst cases from an area where 3.5 million people live, he said, is now taking every kind of case, because most local health care centers were either damaged or robbed until their cupboards were nearly bare.
People are still dying from war injuries, he added, but mortality rates have also gone up for people who have never been victims of bombs or bullets. More women are dying in childbirth, more children are malnourished, and more injuries and sicknesses are fatal because of late or substandard care, he said.
Essential medicines are missing and agents to conduct medical tests are largely not available, he explained. Free replacement medicine is provided by the federal government, but he said local supply centers are mostly out of stock.Nigusse Tadele, 29, woke up in a clinic after a bombing. He lost his toes and part of his ear, pictured in Axum, Ethiopia, June 10, 2021. (Yan Boechat/VOA)And the war wounded keep coming. “In seven months, we have never been out of patients,” he said.
In a ward filled with the wounded, Nigusse Tadele, 29, said he was hurrying out of the house as bombs drew nearer. A blast hit near him and his next memory was waking up at a clinic where his injured toes became infected before he could get to the hospital.
More than a month later, he has lost his toes and lays in a cot in Axum, waiting to recover and return to his work as a government agriculture worker, he said.
“They may suspect there are TPLF supporters in our village,” he said, considering why he was hit. “But I haven’t seen any military camp.”
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China Slams G-7 Statement Criticizing Human Rights Record
China has denounced the communique issued Sunday at the end of the G-7 summit that criticized Beijing over its human rights record.
The G-7 statement called on China to “respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, especially in relation to Xinjiang, and those rights, freedoms and high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong enshrined in the Sino-British Joint Declaration,” referring to the 1997 agreement that switched control of the financial hub from Britain to China.
Beijing is accused of committing serious human rights abuses against the minority Muslim Uyghur minority in Xinjiang, including the detention of more than one million Uyghurs into detention camps, widespread government surveillance and forced birth control.
The Chinese embassy in London issued a statement accusing the G-7 leaders of interfering in its internal affairs, and according to Reuters, vowed to “resolutely fight back against all kinds of injustices and infringements imposed on China.”
The statement also said an investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was first detected in China’s central city of Wuhan in late 2019, should not be “politicized” in response to the G-7’s demand for “a timely, transparent, expert-led, and science-based” second probe by the World Health Organization.
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US-Russian Leaders to Meet in Geneva Amid Bilateral Tensions
President Biden and Russian leader Vladimir Putin meet in Geneva on June 16 — for the first time since Biden took office in January. As Charles Maynes reports from Moscow, the two leaders are expected to discuss ways to normalize relations that have become increasingly tense.Camera: Ricardo Marquina Montanana
Produced by: Jason Godman
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COVID-19 Threatens Cambodian Dance Troupe’s Sacred Identity
For 14 years, a Khmer classical dance troupe in northern Cambodia has distinguished itself with its embrace of spirituality. But the impact of the coronavirus pandemic may end the troupe’s livelihood and spiritual identity, as VOA’s Chetra Chap reports.
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Australia Outlines Bold Moves to Ban Single-Use Plastic and Coffee Cups
Conservationists have praised efforts by Australian authorities to drastically reduce the amount of plastic waste and eliminate some disposable coffee cups. The New South Wales state government wants to ban many common plastic items, including straws, drinks stirrers and cutlery, as well as polystyrene cups in a bid to protect the environment and reduce waste. Lightweight plastic shopping bags could be eliminated within six months of new laws being passed. The reforms could be approved by lawmakers this year. Other products will be phased out at different times depending on the availability of, for example, paper and bamboo alternatives. Officials have estimated the measures will stop about 2.7 billion items of plastic from ending up in the environment and oceans over the next 20 years. New South Wales Environment Minister Matt Kean has warned that the world is on track to have more plastic in the ocean than fish by 2050. He told Australian television that the changes would help protect the community. “No-one wants to be wading through plastics when they go to the beach, let alone be consuming it in their food and water, and that is what we are doing at the moment. Every day in New South Wales people are consuming over 2,000 bits of plastic. That is the equivalent of a credit card of plastic they are ingesting every week and it is largely because of the pervasiveness of single-use plastics across our environment. So, we believe that we can do something about that. Do something about it where there are alternatives available and when it does not add to cost and that is what I am looking to see,” Kean said. In Western Australia, the state government has also announced ambitious plans to tackle waste. By the end of this year, it will ban a range of items, including single-use plastic bowls, plates, straws, polystyrene food containers and thick plastic shopping bags. Polystyrene packaging and takeaway plastic coffee cups and their lids will be outlawed in 2022. It is estimated that Australians throw out about a billion coffee cups each year. The World Wildlife Fund Australia said the state governments in New South Wales and Western Australia are in a “race to the top” in waste measures and that the reforms were “a terrific outcome for the environment.” But conservationists have warned that Tasmania and the Northern Territory were the only Australian jurisdictions “without a plan to ban problem single-use plastics.” Also, in a few weeks, it will be illegal for companies to export certain waste plastics from Australia under tough new rules.
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Exclusive: CENTCOM Head Says US Focused Only on Strikes in Afghan that Prevent Attacks on US, Allies Homeland
The United States is not planning to support Afghan forces with air strikes after the U.S. troops withdrawal is complete, and counterterrorism strikes in Afghanistan will be limited to instances when attack plans have been discovered to strike the U.S. homeland or the homelands of our allies, according to the top U.S. commander in the Middle East. “That would be the reason for any strikes that we do in Afghanistan after we leave, (it) would have to be that we’ve uncovered someone who wants to attack the homeland of the United States, one of our allies and partners,” Gen. Frank McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, told VOA in an exclusive interview as he traveled toward the region aboard a U.S. military plane. The general’s comments appear to refute a report by the New York Times that said the Pentagon is considering seeking authorization to carry out airstrikes to support Afghan security forces if Kabul or another major city is in danger of falling to the Taliban. McKenzie’s candid description of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan after its withdrawal coincides with a narrowing counter-terror offensive against Islamic State and al-Qaida as the Pentagon prioritizes competition with China and Russia. The general said his force size in the Middle East was now “closer to 40,000,” a significant reduction from 18 months ago, when that number was between 60,000-80,000 troops.Marine General Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, speaks with U.S. troops while visiting Forward Operating Base Fenty in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Sept. 9, 2019. Since President Joe Biden took office, he has ordered the full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and cut U.S. military support for the Saudi-led offensive against Iranian-back Houthi rebels in Yemen, all while the Pentagon has moved ships, weapons systems and troops out of other Middle East nations. McKenzie says the withdrawal from Afghanistan is a major event that has strained resources, not only across his command, but also across the U.S. Transportation Command, which helps shuttle U.S. military people and equipment to various locations across the globe. Those resources will continue to be strained, he tells VOA, as U.S. aircraft will fly from bases thousands of kilometers away in order to gather intelligence and surveillance and “keep the pressure up” on terrorists in Afghanistan. “It’s a long haul to get forces, aircraft into Afghanistan from over the horizon. We’ve said all along this is a very difficult thing to do. It’s not an impossible thing to do, and we’re working that right now,” McKenzie said. Plans ‘well advanced’ Experts and former commanders have raised concerns about the lack of details that have been associated with securing Afghanistan after the withdrawal.U.S. Marines watch during a change of command ceremony at Task Force Southwest military field, Helmand province, Afghanistan, Jan. 15, 2018. The final phase of ending U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan began May 1, 2021.“The plans are very well advanced,” McKenzie said, deferring to the Defense Department to release further information. Ret. Gen Joseph Votel, the former commander of CENTCOM, told VOA he has hoped to see a “more comprehensive plan for what this withdrawal would look like” in order to leave the government of Afghanistan and the Afghan forces “on the very best footing that we could.” He pointed to the 2011 withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq as a “much more deliberate approach” that left behind a large embassy and left a security cooperation element of special forces on the ground. “Those are the kinds of things that that I would be expecting to see. I think the challenge with this right now is we’re just not seeing a lot of details,” Votel added. According to McKenzie, the U.S. will help the Afghan air force, one of the country’s biggest advantages against the Taliban, maintain its aircraft through a combination of virtual advising from afar and flying parts in and out of the country. The method will undoubtedly slow the maintenance process, which could leave Afghan forces with limited air support. “Risk will be greater, significantly greater,” McKenzie acknowledged. There is also a complete plan to evacuate Afghans who helped the United States, should the need arise, although the size, scope and timing of the operation would come from the Department of State, he said. Turkey in the spotlight One post-withdrawal plan that does not appear to be finalized is how the Kabul airport will be secured. The airport serves both civilian and military aircraft. Several hundred troops from NATO ally Turkey have been defending the airport, but it is unclear whether they will remain once NATO withdrawals, stoking fear that diplomats will not be able to safely enter and exit Afghanistan. McKenzie said the U.S. military was still “in consultation with Turkish partners about the issue.” Biden is expected to meet with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Brussels on Monday to discuss the airport security dilemma. Reports have said Erdogan is looking for concessions in exchange for securing the airport, including an agreement from the U.S. that allows Ankara to keep and operate its Russian S-400 air defense system. The U.S. opposes Turkey’s acquisition and use of a Russian system alongside NATO weapons like the F-35 fight jet. Another major concern is how well the U.S. will be able to uncover terrorists plots in Afghanistan, the very plots its military is supposed to be preventing through airstrikes, without a military presence in the country. Bradley Bowman, a defense expert with the Washington-based think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies, criticized the pullout for reducing the United States’ capability to monitor and deter the approximately 20 terror groups in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. “Just because we leave and we say it’s over, it’s not over,” Bowman said. “The Taliban is interested, and al-Qaida’s interested in forever jihad, and they’re going to keep fighting.”
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Filmmakers Worry Hong Kong Film Censors Will Stifle Expression
Filmmakers are raising concerns about new guidelines for Hong Kong’s film censor that instruct them to ban movies deemed endangering national security. Last week, the Hong Kong government announced that amendments to the territory’s Film Censorship Ordinance could result in movies being banned as part of the Beijing-imposed national security law. The government statement said it is the “duty” of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Anders Hammer, director of “Do Not Split,” an Oscar-nominated documentary about the 2019 protests in Hong Kong speaks during an interview in Oslo, Norway, April 7, 2021.“These new film rules will make it even harder for local filmmakers to use their democratic rights to create art and challenge unjust power structures,” he told VOA. “This week, it’s two years since the pro-democracy protests started and it’s really sad to see another serious example of Beijing’s encroachment on Hong Kong’s civil liberties.” Hammer’s film was panned by Chinese film industry observers, who said the documentary was “full of biased political stances” and “lacks artistry,” according to China’s state-controlled media the Global Times. Since Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997, the city was supposed to continue to enjoy certain freedoms unseen in mainland China under a “one country, two systems,” an agreement lasting for 50 years. Despite those promises, critics have complained the city has become increasingly more aligned with China’s mainland model, which is governed by the Chinese Communist Party. After 2019’s pro-democracy protests, Beijing implemented the national security law for Hong Kong, which came into effect last year. Since then, dozens of pro-democracy activists have been arrested and jailed, while slogans have been banned and pro-democracy material has been removed from libraries. The new film censorship guidelines, Hong Kong authorities say, is “built on the premise of a balance between protection of individual rights and freedoms on the one hand, and the protection of legitimate societal interests on the other.” The new policy calls out for special scrutiny of documentaries, particularly about Hong Kong. “The local audience may likely feel more strongly about the contents of the film or be led into believing and accepting the whole contents of the film, and the effect on viewers would be more impactful,” the censor guidelines state. “The censor should carefully examine whether the film contains any biased, unverified, false or misleading narratives or presentation of commentaries, and the tendency of such contents to lead viewers to imitate the criminal or violent acts depicted.” In China, movies are heavily vetted, and censorship is common, with few Western productions made available to Chinese moviegoers. In March, Hong Kong’s largest TV network cancelled its broadcast of the Academy Awards for the first time in over 50 years, citing “commercial reasons.” The decision came as China requested media to lessen coverage of the awards after Hammer’s documentary received a nomination. China’s government was also displeased by the political views of Beijing-born director Chloe Zhao, who subsequently won the Best Director award for her movie Nomadland. Recently, organizers of the Fresh Wave International Short Film festival in Hong Kong pulled a screening of “Far From Home,” a short political film about Hong Kong following the 2019 anti-government protests. Reports say that censors didn’t approve the screening. Nick Liu, an independent filmmaker from Hong Kong and director of “Tomorrow Is Not Promised,” told VOA the new rules are not clear, making it hard for filmmakers who “don’t know what plot can or can’t show in the film.” An experienced member of the film industry in Hong Kong, who requested anonymity when discussing the national security law, told VOA that much depends on how the censors decide to apply the rules. Will authorities use the same standards on foreign films, he asked.
“Will a film like South Korea’s “1987” be banned just because it’s about political activism?”
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New Orleans Desperate as US Government Debates Action on Infrastructure
“It’s embarrassing,” Joe Frisard told VOA regarding the condition of infrastructure in his hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana. “We’re a major city that hosts Super Bowls, we’ve got an NFL team and an NBA team, and we put on major, world-class music festivals — but I don’t think you could find a six-block stretch of road here that doesn’t have something wrong with it.” Americans have been discussing infrastructure for the last several months as President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress attempt to pass a nearly $2 trillion bill that would address what politicians in both parties acknowledge is an aging network of roads, bridges and water systems badly in need of an upgrade. Among New Orleans locals, however, the state of the city’s infrastructure system has been a point of conversation for decades — as common as a discussion about favorite restaurants or the next festival on the calendar. Frisard pointed out a pothole two blocks from his house so large someone placed a child’s car into it. “This isn’t like a little remote control toy car, either!” he laughed, frustrated. “Look — it can fit a mini engine inside!” For New Orleanians like Frisard, sometimes all they can do is laugh. Residents often decorate the longtime potholes on their blocks, and social media accounts have been created to honor giant traffic cones placed in front of hazards or to advertise “waterfront property” when the city’s streets flood. “People have a sense of humor about it, but it’s not so funny when cars and homes flood during just an average summer rainstorm or when we have to boil our drinking water because our water system fails multiple times a year,” he said. “I mean, who else in America has to do this? Don’t we say we’re the richest country in the world? But we can’t provide safe drinking water?” he added. Crumbled infrastructure New Orleans has unique challenges that make maintaining the infrastructure especially difficult. Chief among those obstacles is that the city sits atop alluvial soil — land created by thousands of years of Mississippi River flooding. Each time the river overflowed its banks, more sediment was deposited, creating the land on which the city and its surrounding population centers now sit.
Unfortunately for New Orleans’ residents and government officials, alluvial soil is always shifting, helping to create the city’s infamous cracked roads and potholes. But damaged roads are far from New Orleans’ only infrastructure challenge. When President Biden visited the city last month to promote his infrastructure plan, city officials highlighted what many consider to be the city’s biggest infrastructure challenge. “We took him to our more-than-100-year-old sewerage and water board facility,” said Ramsey Green, deputy chief administrative officer for infrastructure in New Orleans. “This facility is charged with keeping our city’s residents safe from all of the flooding and other climate-related challenges we face today, but it was built when Woodrow Wilson was president.” Green and others toured the facility with President Biden. They explained how even though an improved levee system has helped mitigate the risk of water from outside flooding — as was the case during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 — their aged system still struggles with pumping out water from within during heavy rainfall. “It’s not that we’re seeing more rain now,” Green said when asked about the city’s pump system, “it’s that we’re seeing more condensed periods of rain. When you get 12 inches of rain in six hours, unless you’re on a mountaintop, you’re going to get some flooding.”
City officials say they need federal funding to help bolster the system. Green is hopeful the president’s infrastructure plan can do just that.
“We have a long list of green infrastructure projects that can help prevent future flooding by, for example, providing spaces in the city where excess water can be safely stored,” he said. “But then we also have pumps and pipes that are more than a century old that need to be replaced.” Less than a week after President Biden visited the city, a tornado struck. A series of repairs resulted in a drop in pressure that made the local water supply unsafe for drinking. For approximately two days, residents were instructed to boil all water in order to avoid ingesting dangerous bacterial contaminants.
“If we had invested in more reliable power sources, including solar power, then the boil-water advisory wouldn’t have occurred,” Green said. “And if we had invested in an improved pipe system, it wouldn’t have occurred either.” Competing definitions “In New Orleans, the issue is especially acute because so much of our city is below sea level,” said Joe Giarrusso III, one of seven elected officials on the New Orleans City Council. “But this issue of aging infrastructure is something Americans are facing all over the country. This is our chance to make some major improvements.” But those improvements are going to be costly. Giarrusso said just fixing all of New Orleans’ surface and subsurface infrastructure issues would cost about $9 billion. To pay for his plan, Biden has suggested raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%. According to an April poll by Morning Consult/Politico, nearly two in three voters said they support raising the corporate tax rate to pay for infrastructure improvement, including half of Republican voters with an opinion on the issue. Still, the tax increase remains a nonstarter for congressional Republicans. “This is not a partisan issue among voters because it’s something we can all agree on. It’s good for public safety, it makes our quality of life better and it will create jobs,” Giarrusso told VOA. But the plan has met some resistance from Republicans in Congress who believe Biden’s plan extends far beyond the scope of traditional infrastructure projects. “Only 5% of it is infrastructure,” Sen. John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, told reporters after the president’s visit. He said projects addressing bridges, water, ports and broadband should be the focus of the bill. “The rest is the Green New Deal, new welfare programs and reparations. Asking me to vote for this bill when it’s only 5% infrastructure and 95% noninfrastructure is like asking me to buy a car to get the cup holders.” But Democrats like Giarrusso say including initiatives that address affordable housing, and child and elderly care under the umbrella of infrastructure makes sense. “Giving people better housing is infrastructure,” he said. “These kinds of things are investments in our communities just as important as bridges and roads.” Passing a bill For an infrastructure bill to pass the evenly divided U.S. Senate, all Democrats must vote in favor, as well as at least 10 Republicans. That difficult scenario may have become a bit more likely Friday when a group of 10 Democrats and Republicans, including Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, put forward an infrastructure bill that would cost approximately $1 trillion. But getting colleagues to go along with their proposal remains a challenge. The draft bill focuses on traditional physical infrastructure and falls well short of the size of the president’s proposal. That could make it hard to convince enough Democrats, while the $1 trillion price tag is still large enough to make many Republicans hesitant. If Democrats are unable to pass a bill, they would still be able to execute the Biden plan through a process called budget reconciliation. This, however, would require all 50 Democratic senators to go along, and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has already expressed reservations. But Frisard, of New Orleans, doesn’t think regular Americans care how it gets done. He said the city deserves better. “You’d have a hard time finding a group of people prouder of their city than New Orleanians, which is amazing to me, because we put up with so much crap to live here,” he said. “I’m tired of having guests or tourists come into town, and I have to explain why we’re boiling our water or why the roads are so bad. This country has the money to fix this, and we deserve that.”
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Biden Prepares to Address Differences with Russia’s Putin
U.S. President Joe Biden’s summit this week with Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to focus on improving relations between Washington and Moscow over a host of issues, including cyberattacks from people operating from Russia. Michelle Quinn reports.Produced by: Barry Unger
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At Summit’s End, G-7 Leaders Call Out China, Russia
Leaders of the G-7 ended their three-day summit Sunday, committing to a series of actions to end the coronavirus pandemic, mitigate climate change and rebuild the global economy. The group named China and Russia as sources of global security and economic threats. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report from Brussels, the next leg of U.S. President Joe Biden’s European tour.
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American Actor Ned Beatty Dies at 83
Ned Beatty, the indelible character actor whose first film role as a genial vacationer raped by a backwoodsman in 1972’s “Deliverance” launched him on a long, prolific and accomplished career, has died. He was 83.Beatty’s manager, Deborah Miller, said Beatty died Sunday of natural causes at his home in Los Angeles surrounded by friends and loved ones.After years in regional theater, Beatty was cast in “Deliverance” as Bobby Trippe, the happy-go-lucky member of a male river-boating party terrorized by backwoods thugs. The scene in which Trippe is brutalized became the most memorable in the movie and established Beatty as an actor whose name moviegoers may not have known but whose face they always recognized.“For people like me, there’s a lot of ‘I know you! I know you! What have I seen you in?’” Beatty remarked without rancor in 1992.Beatty received only one Oscar nomination, as supporting actor for his role as corporate executive Arthur Jensen in 1976′s “Network,” but he contributed to some of the most popular movies of his time and worked constantly, his credits including more than 150 movies and TV shows.Beatty’s appearance in “Network,” scripted by Paddy Chayefsky an directed by Sidney Lumet, was brief but titanic. His three-minute monologue ranks among the greatest in movies. Jensen summons anchorman Howard Beale (Peter Finch) to a long, dimly lit boardroom for a come-to-Jesus about the elemental powers of media.“You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won’t have it!” Beatty shouts from across the boardroom before explaining that there is no America, no democracy. “There is only IBM and ITT and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today.”He was equally memorable as Otis, the idiot henchman of villainous Lex Luthor in the first two Christopher Reeve “Superman” movies and as the racist sheriff in “White Lightning.” Other films included “All The President’s Men,” “The Front Page,” “Nashville,” and “The Big Easy.” In a 1977 interview, he had explained why he preferred being a supporting actor.“Stars never want to throw the audience a curveball, but my great joy is throwing curveballs,” he said. “Being a star cuts down on your effectiveness as an actor because you become an identifiable part of a product and somewhat predictable. You have to mind your P’s and Q’s and nurture your fans. But I like to surprise the audience, to do the unexpected.”He landed a rare leading role in the Irish film “Hear My Song” in 1991. The true story of legendary Irish tenor Josef Locke, who disappeared at the height of a brilliant career, it was well reviewed but largely unseen in the United States. Between movies, Beatty worked often in TV and theater. He had recurring roles in “Roseanne” as John Goodman’s father and as a detective on “Homicide: Life on the Streets.”On Broadway he won critical praise (and a Drama Desk Award) for his portrayal of Big Daddy in a revival of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” a role he had first played as a 21-year-old in a stock company production. He created controversy, however, when he was quoted in The New York Times on the skills of his young co-stars, Ashley Judd and Jason Patric.“Ashley is a sweetie,” he said, “and yet she doesn’t have a lot of tools.” Of Patric, he remarked: “He’s gotten better all the time, but his is a different journey.” His more recent movies included “Toy Story 3” in 2010 and two releases from 2013, “The Big Ask” and “Baggage Claim.” He retired soon after.Ned Thomas Beatty was born in 1937 in Louisville, Kentucky, and raised in Lexington, where he joined the Protestant Disciples of Christ Christian Church. “It was the theater I attended as a kid,” he told The Associated Press in 1992. “It was where people got down to their truest emotions and talked about things they didn’t talk about in everyday life. … The preaching was very often theatrical.” For a time he thought of becoming a priest, but changed his mind after he was cast in a high school production of “Harvey.”He spent 10 summers at the Barter Theater in Abingdon, Virginia, and eight years at the Arena Stage Company in Washington, D.C. At the Arena Stage, he appeared in Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” and starred in Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman.” Then his life changed forever when he took a train to New York to audition for director John Boorman for the role of Bobby Trippe. Boorman told him the role was cast, but changed his mind after seeing Beatty audition.Beatty, who married Sandra Johnson in 1999, had eight children from three previous marriages.
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Junta Trial of Myanmar’s Suu Kyi to Hear First Testimony
The trial of ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi will hear its first testimony in a junta court Monday, more than four months after a military coup. Near daily protests have rocked Myanmar since the generals’ putsch removed her government in February, ending a 10-year experiment with democracy.The mass uprising has been met with a brutal military crackdown that has killed more than 850 people, according to a local monitoring group.The junta has brought an eclectic raft of charges against the Nobel laureate, from illegally accepting 11 kilograms of gold to breaking a colonial-era secrecy law.On Monday, her defense team will cross-examine witnesses over charges she improperly imported walkie-talkies and flouted coronavirus restrictions during last year’s elections that her National League for Democracy won in a landslide. Her lawyers — who have been allowed to meet with her just twice since she was placed under house arrest — have said they expect the trial to wrap up by July 26.Hearings for the case will take place every Monday.If convicted of all charges, Suu Kyi, 75, faces more than a decade in jail.”We are hoping for the best but prepared for the worst,” Khin Maung Zaw, one of Suu Kyi’s lawyers, told AFP ahead of the hearing in the capital Naypyidaw.A separate case is scheduled to start on June 15, where she is charged with sedition alongside ousted president Win Myint and another senior member of the NLD.Cloistered iconSuu Kyi spent more than 15 years under house arrest during the previous junta’s rule before her 2010 release.Her international stature diminished following a wave of military violence targeting Buddhist-majority Myanmar’s marginalized Muslim Rohingya community, but the coup has returned Suu Kyi to the role of cloistered democracy icon.On Thursday, she was hit with additional corruption charges of illegally accepting $600,000 in cash and around 11 kilos of gold.Her lawyer Khin Maung Zaw dismissed the new charges — which could see Suu Kyi hit with another lengthy prison term — as “absurd”.”There is an undeniable political background to keep her out of the scene of the country and to smear her prestige,” he told AFP last week.”That’s one of the reasons to charge her — to keep her out of the scene.”Myanmar has plunged into a “human rights catastrophe” since the coup, the UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet said Friday, adding that the military leadership was “singularly responsible” for the crisis.Bachelet also slammed the sweeping arrests in the country of activists, journalists and opponents of the regime, citing credible sources saying at least 4,804 people remain in arbitrary detention.Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing has justified his power grab by citing alleged electoral fraud in the November poll won by Suu Kyi’s NLD.The junta has previously said it would hold fresh elections within two years, but has also threatened to dissolve the NLD.
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Cameroon Aids CAR Citizens Displaced by Ongoing Post-Election Violence
Cameroon has offered huge consignments of food and mattresses to at least 3,000 displaced persons said to be in dire need on its eastern border with the Central African Republic. Most of the people, displaced by violence following December presidential elections in the CAR, say they lost everything and that ongoing unrest keeps them from returning home.
At least 700 displaced people from the Central African Republic turned out in Kentzou, an administrative unit on Cameroon’s eastern border with the CAR, Friday to receive assistance from the host country. One day earlier, Cameroon said it had sent a delegation led by Territorial Administration Minister Paul Atanga Nji to eastern Cameroon to help those displaced by the CAR crisis.
Nji visited several border villages and administrative units, including Kentzou and Garoua-Boulai. Nji said he distributed food and humanitarian assistance from the government of Cameroon. He said Cameroon decided to assist displaced persons after local government officials said the Central Africans were living in poverty.He said the government of Cameroon mobilized 17 trucks to transport and donate mattresses, blankets, buckets and food to at least 3,400 displaced people. He said President Paul Biya instructed him to tell the displaced persons to live in peace and respect Cameroon’s laws. He said Cameroon wants to know when the displaced will want to voluntarily return to the CAR.The violence that sparked the exodus involves armed groups and has been ongoing since Austin-Archange Touadera was reelected president in December. Much of the trouble is centered on border areas. It is suspected that fleeing rebels are among the displaced persons.
Nji said Cameroon was delighted that the items will improve the living conditions of the displaced persons until they go home. Donatien Barka, the mayor of Kentzou, however, said host communities have been reporting clashes with the displaced Central Africans and that the area is no longer secure. FILE – A woman who fled the violent rebellion in Central African Republic (CAR) sits with her family as they await their registration process, in the border town of Garoua-Boulai, Cameroon, Jan. 7, 2021.
Barka said between 2017 and 2020, some 32,000 people displaced by the fighting have sought refuge in Kentzou. He said the influx inundated the 28,000 inhabitants of Kentzou and that theft of food and cattle, and conflicts over lodging and farmlands were reported daily. He said Cameroon reinforced its military in Kentzou in January when rebels protesting the CAR leadership came to Kentzou illegally.
Barka said he did not have updated figures of the number of displaced people remaining in Kentzou because movement across the porous border is uncontrolled. He said when there is fighting in the CAR, people cross over to Cameroon. He said his wish is for the displaced persons to return to their country.
Martial Beti-Marace, the CAR’s ambassador to Cameroon, says peace is gradually returning to the CAR and civilians who fled fighting should agree to voluntarily return to their country.
Speaking from the CAR’s capital Bangui, he said democratic institutions are gradually being put in place after the December 27 elections in which a majority of CAR civilians chose Touadera as their president. He said a majority of civilians who fled bloody conflicts between government troops and rebels in the CAR have voluntarily returned and are living in peace in their towns and villages.
Beti-Marace said Cameroon and the CAR are both struggling to maintain a collective peace because a crisis in either country affects them both. He said Cameroon and the CAR are trying to convince displaced persons to return home and contribute to the development of their country.
Violence among armed groups since 2013 has forced close to a million Central Africans to flee to neighboring Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria.
Cameroon shares a 900-kilometer border with the CAR. Cameroon’s Territorial Administration Ministry says Cameroon has taken in and is home to more 300,000 displaced Central Africans.
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US, Russia Spar on Cyberattacks Ahead of Biden-Putin Summit
The United States and Russia sparred Sunday about responsibility for debilitating cyberattacks as U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin prepared for their summit in Geneva on Wednesday.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told ABC’s “This Week” show, “No responsible country should be in the business of harboring in any way criminal organizations engaged in cyberattacks, including ransomware.”Blinken said Biden “is going to make that very clear to President Putin. We are looking for Russian cooperation in dealing with these criminal organizations to the extent they’re operating from Russian territory.”Two key U.S. businesses, Colonial Pipeline Co., that transports fuel in the southeastern U.S., and the JBS meat production company, were targeted last month in cyberattacks believed to have originated in Russia, with both Colonial and JBS paying millions of dollars in ransom demands to restore their business operations, although U.S. law enforcement officials have recovered some of the money Colonial paid.FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin gives an interview in Sochi, Russia, in this undated photo released Oct.13, 2019. (Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via Reuters)Putin told the state TV channel Rossiya-1 on Sunday that Russia was willing to extradite cyber criminals on an equal basis with the U.S., although it was not clear what attacks on Russian corporate entities he was claiming had originated in the United States.The Russian leader said Moscow and Washington must “assume equal commitments” in transferring suspects, saying, “Russia will naturally do that but only if the other side, in this case the United States, agrees to the same and will also extradite corresponding criminals to the Russian Federation.”Biden said at a G-7 news conference in Britain that negotiation is possible but was skeptical that Putin’s behavior would change.State Department spokesman Ned Price said last week that the “issue of ransomware attacks” would be discussed at the Biden-Putin summit.”We have raised the issue of ransomware attacks with any number of countries and that includes Russia,” Price said.
Blinken told ABC that Biden hopes “to see if we can have a more predictable, stable relationship (with Russia), but equally to make clear that if Russia chooses to continue to act aggressively, to act recklessly, we’ll respond forcefully.” FILE – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 8, 2021.The top U.S. diplomat said he believes Biden will be meeting with Putin in a new position of strength after broad agreement on Western goals cemented at the weekend G-7 meeting of the leaders of the top industrialized countries and likely shared economic, military and security commitments at Monday’s NATO summit and U.S.-European Union talks on Tuesday.“We’re now coming off of G-7, we’ll be coming off of NATO, we’ll be coming off an EU meeting,” Blinken said. “Collectively, when our countries are actually working together, rolling in the same direction militarily, economically, diplomatically, politically, it’s an incredibly powerful force.”“We represent together more than 57% of the world’s GDP, and one of the things you may have noticed this week is there was a poll done across most of the countries that we’ll be working with this week; 75% now have confidence in President Biden and in American leadership,” Blinken said.“That’s up from 17% a year ago,” he said. “That means we’re in a much stronger position than we’ve been in recent years to have all of our countries working together in common cause, including dealing with the excesses of Russia.”The Russian leader told NBC News in an interview last week that Russia’s relationship with the United States has “deteriorated to its lowest point” in recent years, and belittled Biden’s background as a career politician in the U.S.Putin praised former U.S. President Donald Trump as an “extraordinary, talented individual,” while describing Biden as a “career man.” “He’s spent virtually his entire adulthood in politics. Just think of the number of years he spent in the Senate. A different kind of person,” Putin said.As Biden arrived last week in Britain for the G-7 summit, he said, “We’re committed to leading with strength, defending our values, delivering for our people.” Biden said that he was meeting with Putin to “let him know what I want him to know.”
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G-7 Communique Wide-Ranging, But Critics Find Shortcomings
U.S. President Joe Biden has declared that the G-7 summit was an “extraordinarily collaborative and productive meeting” that made progress on fighting the coronavirus pandemic, reviving the global economy and calling out China by name for its bad behavior. Speaking to reporters Sunday at the end of the gathering in Carbis Bay, England, Biden also praised agreements on tackling corruption, fighting ransomware and ending public finance for coal projects (but with no timeline agreement). U.S. President Joe Biden holds a news conference at the end of the G-7 summit, at Cornwall Airport Newquay, Britain, June 13, 2021.Leaders of the G-7 on Sunday signed the FILE – Global leaders pose for a group photo at the G-7 summit, in Carbis Bay, Britain.Heads of Britain, the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan — a grouping of the world’s wealthiest democracies known as the Group of Seven — were joined in their discussions on global health by leaders of South Korea, South Africa and Australia. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined virtually. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and leaders of other international organizations were also present. The conference demonstrated to his fellow G-7 leaders and the people of their countries that “America is back at the table,” said Biden, after the four years of the Donald Trump administration. “I think we’ve made some progress in reestablishing American credibility among our closest friends.” “The lack of participation in the past and full engagement was noticed significantly not only by leaders of those countries, but by the people in the G-7 countries,” added Biden during a news conference at Cornwall Airport Newquay. 1 billion vaccines G-7 leaders announced one billion doses of vaccines for the world, half of them from the United States. They committed to a series of actions to end the pandemic, and how to prevent a future one, including increasing global manufacturing capacity and improving early warning systems. G-7 Leaders Pledge More than 1 Billion COVID Vaccines Doses to Poorer Nations Leaders also called on China for several issues The World Health Organization has said as many as 11 billion doses are needed.“The result of this uninspiring summit will be a prolonged pandemic that costs more lives and livelihoods, not only across the world but in the G-7 countries themselves,” said Tom Hart, acting chief executive officer of the ONE Campaign, a global anti-poverty and health organization. “I think there’s a possibility over 2022, going into 2023 that we would be able to be in a position to provide another billion [doses] from the United States,” said Biden. Vaccine patent waiver The G-7 has been under pressure from humanitarian organizations and around 100 World Trade Organization member countries including the United States, to waive intellectual property protections of vaccine technology — the so-called WTO TRIPS waiver. The group, however, opted not to do so. Instead, it will support manufacturing in low-income countries through voluntary licensing and technology transfer to increase the global supply. “We will engage constructively with discussions” at the World Trade Organization on the role of intellectual property, according to the leaders’ statement. “This G7 summit will live on in infamy. Faced with the biggest health emergency in a century and a climate catastrophe that is destroying our planet, they have completely failed to meet the challenges of our times,” said Max Lawson, head of Inequality Policy at the Oxfam charity. Johnson and Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel “are insisting on defending the monopolies of pharmaceutical companies over people’s lives, which is completely inexcusable.” G-7 leaders pledged to “explore all options” to ensure that lowest income countries have access to vaccines, including “non-profit production, tiered and transparent pricing” and asking manufacturers to share ten percent of the doses produced with COVAX, the United Nations vaccine-sharing mechanism. G-7 and China Biden said he was pleased with the G-7 taking China to task. The last time the G-7 met there was no mention of China,” noted the U.S. president. “But this time there is mention of China. The G-7 explicitly agreed to call out human rights abuses, and Xinjiang and Hong Kong. China has harshly cracked down on mainly Muslim-minority Uyghurs in Xinjiang and repressed Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. The communique says the G-7 “will continue to consult on collective approaches to challenging non-market policies and practices which undermine the fair and transparent operation of the global economy. It also calls on Beijing “to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, especially in relation to Xinjiang and those rights, freedoms and high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong enshrined in the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law.” Biden, at the news conference, said “China has to start to act more responsibly in terms of international norms on human rights, and transparency.” The group announced a new infrastructure financing mechanism for low- and middle-income countries, called “Build Back Better World,” or “B3W,” designed to rival China’s Belt and Road Initiative—the global infrastructure development investment strategy central to Beijing’s foreign policy. The scope and source of the financing are still unclear. On Sunday China hit back, by saying that the days when global decisions were dictated by a “small group” of countries are long gone. Biden and Putin American reporters asked Biden several questions about this week’s scheduled meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, noting sanctions on Moscow have not changed the Russian leader’s behavior. “Autocrats have enormous power and they don’t have to answer to a public,” responded Biden. “And the fact is that it may very well if I respond in kind, which I will, that it doesn’t dissuade him, he wants to keep going.” Biden said he agreed with Putin’s assessment that relations between their two countries are at a low point. One area of possible agreement with Russia, however, according to the U.S. president would be mutual extraditions of cyber criminals who have targeted their respective nations — something Putin has said he favors. Shortcoming on climate action A failure by the G-7 to agree to firm deadlines for actions to combat climate change is being criticized by environmental organizations. Johnson rejects that assessment, telling reporters shortly before Biden spoke that much was actually achieved in this arena, adding, “I think it has been a highly productive few days,” noting the nations agreed to raise their contributions to meet an overdue annual spending pledge of $100 billion a year to assist poorer countries in reducing carbon emissions and coping with global warming. “We had hoped that the leaders of the world’s richest nations would come away from this week having put their money their mouth is,” said Catherine Pettengell, director at Climate Action Network, an umbrella group for advocacy organizations.Biden on Sunday evening headed to Brussels for two days of meetings in the days ahead with NATO and EU leaders before his much-anticipated talks with Putin on Wednesday in Geneva.
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Cameroon Albinos Ask for Greater Attention, Care
International Albinism Awareness Day on June 13 has been observed in Cameroon, with albinos asking for more government and community care and protection. Those living with this hereditary genetic condition that reduces melanin pigment in skin, hair and eyes, say stigma, violence, superstition and killing have greatly lessened, but abuses have not been eliminated.One hundred and sixty albinos and their family members assembled at the World Association for Advocacy and Solidarity of Albinos office in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, to mark International Albinism Awareness Day.Among them is 16-year-old albino Ronald Essi, who said he was abandoned because of his condition.Essi said he wants to become a police officer to defend his country Cameroon and punish civilians who abuse albinos’ rights. He said his mother abandoned him when he was two years old. He said his grandmother resisted family pressure to kill him. He said he has been living in the streets since 2015, when his grandmother died.Essi said a Catholic priest rescued him from the street and sent him to a school in Yaoundé.Essi is one of the about 2,200 albinos the government says live in Cameroon. This year Cameroon reported that prejudice and discrimination against albinos in employment and social life had lowered drastically. The government said hunting down albinos for their body parts has been eliminated from many communities. Witch doctors who claim that albinos bring wealth and good luck to people who have access to their body parts are disappearing. In many communities, albino babies are no longer considered signs of misfortune and buried alive or starved until they die.Jean-Jacques Ndoudoumou, the founding president of the World Association for Advocacy and Solidarity of Albinos, says albinos are gradually being accepted by communities.He said the association he leads is happy, as people are increasingly accepting albinos as normal human beings. He said many albinos have graduated from universities and are using the knowledge they acquire to contribute to developing Cameroon. He said complaints of stigma and violence on albinos have greatly declined and there are now marriages between albinos and people without the condition.Ndoudoumou said his association has instructed all its members to continue teaching people albinos are normal human beings who need special assistance. Gregoire Amindeh is member of The Association for the Promotion of the Rights of Albinos.Amindeh said that although Cameroon’s government has done a lot, albinos still urgently need special reading glasses and handheld magnifiers to stop their high school dropout rate from low vision. He said they need subsidies to be treated in hospitals since their skin is extremely sensitive to the sun and can develop cancer. He said skin cancers remain a major cause of death in African albinos.Pauline Irene Nguene, Cameroon’s minister of social affairs, says albinos are placed in the group of people with special protection needs. She said Cameroon ensures the socio-economic integration and protection of albinos, and immediately intervenes to protect albinos whenever cases of abuse are reported.She said in 2020, staff of her ministry visited more than a hundred villages where abuses of the rights of albinos were reported. She said civilians in the villages were taught in their local languages to respect the health, education and social rights of albinos. She said the government has continued to lobby for private enterprises, schools and outside organizations not to reject albinos looking for positions in their institutions.Nguene said 60 government offices created in Cameroon’s administrative units receive complaints and immediately help albinos in need.International Albinism Awareness Day is observed by the United Nations on June 13 every year. This year’s theme, “Strength Beyond All Odds,” according to the U.N. highlights the achievements of people with albinism all over the world.
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G-7 Leaders Pledge More than 1 Billion COVID Vaccines Doses to Poorer Nations
G-7 leaders have wrapped up their summit in Carbis Bay, England, pledging more than one billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to poorer nations and calling out China on several issues. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters the doses would come both directly and through COVAX, the U.N.-backed program delivering vaccines to low- and middle-income countries. A communique issued at the end of the summit said G-7 leaders “will promote our values, including by calling on China to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, especially in relation to Xinjiang and those rights, freedoms and high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong enshrined in the Sino-British Joint Declaration,” the G-7 said. Beijing is accused of committing serious human rights abuses against the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang as well as committing abuses in Hong Kong. For years, Beijing has come under strong international criticism from the West and many Muslims for its treatment of Uyghurs, which includes widespread government surveillance and abuses including forced birth control. Human rights groups say China has sent more than a million Uyghurs to detention camps. China says the compounds are “vocational education centers” intended to stop the spread of religious extremism and terrorist attacks. Additionally, Beijing has urged the West to stop interfering in what it terms the internal affairs of Hong Kong. A national security law took effect in Hong Kong in June 2020 following pro-democracy protests in 2019. G-7 leaders also called for more investigations regarding the origins of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. “We also call for a timely, transparent, expert-led, and science-based WHO-convened Phase 2 COVID-19 Origins study including, as recommended by the experts’ report, in China,” the G-7 said. Some information in this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
VOA’s Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.
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Zimbabwe Reimposes a Lockdown to Contain Rising Coronavirus Cases
Zimbabwe’s government on Monday is reintroducing a lockdown as a way to contain rising coronavirus cases in the southern African nation.
Announcing the 12-hour curfew Saturday night on national television, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga said complacency had resulted in a recent spike in cases of the coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 disease.
“Our vaccination against in COVID-19 is going on very well,” he said. “The country is however experiencing a surge in cases. The last seven days has seen 596 new cases and 26 deaths, as compared to the same period in May last year where we had 132 cases and six deaths.” Chiwenga, who doubles as Zimbabwe’s health minister, said all gatherings except for funerals would be banned comes Monday. Only 30 people would be allowed at funerals. He did not indicate when the new measures would be reviewed. Itai Rusike, head of nonprofit Community Working Group on Health in Zimbabwe, commended the government for tightening the lockdown to avoid a “pending third wave disaster.”
“Yes, this may look a bit draconian, but the measures are still necessary if we are to save lives. It is important that the people of Zimbabwe should embrace these measures. It is also important for Zimbabweans that are eligible for vaccination to come forward and willingly get vaccinated if the country is to move forward towards achieving herd immunity of vaccinating at least 60% of the population which translates to about 10 million Zimbabweans,” he said.FILE – People walk through the entrance gate of Wilkins Hospital in Harare, Zimbabwe’s main COVID-19 inoculation center. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)Zimbabwe’s vaccination effort against the infection has recently been hit by shortages of the shots. But officials say the country still has stocks of the 1.7 million vaccines it has received from China, Russia and India since February. Last week, Zimbabwe received 25,000 Sputnik V doses from Russia. That was a few days after it rejected Johnson & Johnson vaccines from the African Union, financed by the African Export-Import Bank. Zimbabwe has 39,852 confirmed coronavirus infections and 1,632 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University, which tracks the global outbreak.
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Rash of Mass Shootings Stirs US Fears Heading into Summer
Two people were killed and at least 30 others wounded in mass shootings overnight in three states, authorities said Saturday, stoking concerns that a spike in U.S. gun violence could continue into summer as coronavirus restrictions ease and more people are free to socialize.The attacks took place late Friday or early Saturday in the Texas capital of Austin, Chicago and Savannah, Georgia.In Austin, authorities said they arrested one of two male suspects and were searching for the other after a shooting early Saturday on a crowded pedestrian-only street packed with bars and restaurants. Fourteen people were wounded, including two critically, in the gunfire, which the city’s interim police chief said is believed to have started as a dispute between two parties.No arrests were reported by late Saturday in the two other shootings.In Chicago, a woman was killed and nine other people were wounded when two men opened fire on a group standing on a sidewalk in the Chatham neighborhood on the city’s South Side. The shooters also got away and hadn’t been identified by mid-afternoon Saturday.In the south Georgia city of Savannah, police said one man was killed and seven other people were wounded in a mass shooting Friday evening, police said. Two of the wounded are children — an 18-month-old and a 13-year-old. Savannah’s police chief, Roy Minter, Jr., said the shooting may be linked to an ongoing dispute between two groups, citing reports of gunshots being fired at the same apartment complex earlier in the week.“It’s very disturbing what we’re seeing across the country and the level of gun violence that we’re seeing across the country,” he told reporters Saturday. “It’s disturbing and it’s senseless.”The attacks come amid an easing of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in much of the country, including Chicago, which lifted many of its remaining safeguards on Friday.Many hoped that a spike in U.S. shootings and homicides last year was an aberration perhaps caused by pandemic-related stress amid a rise in gun ownership and debate over policing. But those rates are still higher than they were in pre-pandemic times, including in cities that refused to slash police spending following the death of George Floyd and those that made modest cuts.“There was a hope this might simply be a statistical blip that would start to come down,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum. “That hasn’t happened. And that’s what really makes chiefs worry that we may be entering a new period where we will see a reversal of 20 years of declines in these crimes.”Tracking ups and downs in crime is always complicated, but violent crime commonly increases in the summer months. Weekend evenings and early-morning hours also are common windows for shootings.Many types of crime did decline in 2020 and have stayed lower this year, suggesting the pandemic and the activism and unrest spurred by the reaction to Floyd’s death didn’t lead to an overall spike in crime.According to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University, only three mass shootings occurred at public places — the lowest total for that category in a decade — out of 19 total mass shootings in 2020.The database tracks all mass killings including shootings, defined as four or more people dead not including the perpetrator.According to that definition, there have been 17 mass killings, 16 of those shootings, already this year, said James Alan Fox, a criminologist and professor at Northeastern University.The Gun Violence Archive, which monitors media and police reports to track gun violence, defines mass shootings as those involving four or more people who were shot, regardless of whether they died. Overall, according to its database, more than 8,700 people have died of gun violence in the U.S. this year.The GVA also found that mass shootings spiked in 2020 to about 600, which was higher than in any of the previous six years it tracked the statistic. According to this year’s count, there have been at least 267 mass shootings in the U.S. so far, including the latest three overnight Friday into Saturday.“It’s worrisome,” Fox said. “We have a blend of people beginning to get out and about in public. We have lots of divisiveness. And we have more guns and warm weather. It’s a potentially deadly mix.”
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Britain’s Raab Says EU Should Stop Treating N. Ireland as ‘Separate Country’
British foreign minister Dominic Raab criticized the European Union on Sunday for treating Northern Ireland as if it were a separate country rather than part of the United Kingdom, and said that approach was causing damage to the British province.”Various EU figures here in Carbis Bay, but frankly for months now and years, have characterized Northern Ireland as somehow a separate country and that is wrong. It is a failure to understand the facts,” he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr program.Raab made his comments amid a dispute between Britain and the European Union over the interpretation of the Northern Ireland protocol, the element of the Brexit divorce deal that relates to trade in the province.Britain’s Telegraph newspaper reported that French President Emmanuel Macron had suggested Northern Ireland was not part of the United Kingdom during his meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson at Group of Seven summit in Carbis Bay in southwest England.”It is a failure to understand the facts. It is a failure to appreciate what speaking around Northern Ireland in those terms and approaching the issue of the Northern Ireland protocol in those terms does, causes damage to businesses from both communities and that creates deep consternation,” Raab said.”We wouldn’t talk about Catalonia and Barcelona or Corsica in France, in those ways,” he added.Asked if Britain and the EU were heading for a trade war, Raab said the bloc needed to allow the free flow of trade between Britain and Northern Ireland. “If the Commission and the EU stick to that, indeed mark the words of President Macron, we can find a pragmatic way through,” he said.”What we cannot have is a lopsided approach, built on some of the flawed assumptions … and which have very real effects for the communities on all sides in Northern Ireland.”
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Gas Explosion in Central China Kills at Least 12
At least 12 people were killed and 39 seriously injured Sunday after a gas line explosion tore through a residential neighborhood in central China.Responders to the early morning blast in the Hubei province city of Shiyan sent more than 150 people to hospital, according to a statement on the city’s official social media channel.The statement said rescue efforts were continuing but gave no word on the cause of the explosion.Stall keepers and customers buying breakfast and fresh vegetables at a food market were the major victims when the explosion hit shortly after 6 a.m., according to state media reports.Images showed rescuers climbing over broken concrete slabs to reach those trapped inside.The blast appeared similar to one that occurred in the northeastern port of Qingdao in 2013, in which 55 people were killed when underground pipelines ripped open following a leak.The Shiyan explosion came a day after eight people died and three others were injured when toxic methyl formate leaked from a vehicle at a chemical handling facility in the southwestern city of Guiyang.Frequent deadly accidents are usually traced to weak adherence to safety standards, poor maintenance and corruption among enforcement bodies. Those responsible are often handed harsh punishments, but high demand and the desire for profits often trump such concerns.Among the worst accidents was a massive 2015 explosion at a chemical warehouse in the port city of Tianjin that killed 173 people, most of them firefighters and police officers. The blast was blamed on illegal construction and unsafe storage of volatile materials.
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Spain’s Right Rallies Against Plan to Pardon Catalan Separatists
Right-wing protesters hit the streets of Madrid on Sunday to denounce controversial Spanish government plans to offer pardons to the jailed Catalan separatists behind the failed 2017 independence bid.The mass protest, which is scheduled to start at midday (1000 GMT), will up pressure on Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez who has called for understanding over the planned gesture that has dominated political debate for weeks and reactivated the controversy over Catalan separatism.”I understand there may be people who could have objections over this decision that the government may take, given what happened in 2017,” he said on Wednesday during an official visit to Argentina.”But I ask for your trust. I ask for understanding and for magnanimity because the challenge facing all of us — to promote coexistence — is worth it.”Although Sanchez’s left-wing government has not said anything concrete on the matter, all indications suggest the pardons will be granted before the summer break.But the proposal has generated a huge backlash from the right-wing opposition, which has accused the minority government of caving in to pressure from separatist parties, on whose support it partially depends.”Sanchez is planning pardons to legitimize an ongoing crime… (in) a historic error that won’t solve anything, only to keep his government from going under,” said opposition leader Pablo Casado, head of the right-wing Popular Party (PP).Spain’s Supreme Court has also opposed the move to offer clemency to those convicted over their role in an illegal referendum and a short-lived declaration of independence, saying it saw “no evidence or indication of remorse” from the prisoners to justify any such pardon.The Supreme Court convicted 12 Catalan separatists for their role in the crisis, with nine of them handed jail terms of between nine and 13 years in October 2019.Junqueras’ letterThe prisoner serving the longest sentence of 13 years is Oriol Junqueras, head of the ERC (the Republican Left of Catalonia) which is a key parliamentary ally for Sanchez’s government.In a letter published on Monday, Junqueras signaled support for the idea of a pardon from Madrid after previously rejecting the idea out of hand, also admitting that the separatists had made errors back in 2017.”We must be mindful of the fact that our response was also not seen as fully legitimate by part of society,” he wrote.He also expressed support for a Scottish-style referendum carried out in agreement with Spain — an option which Madrid is not willing to discuss.”All separatist leaders are aware this will be a very costly decision for the Socialists because most Catalans are in favor of the pardons but most Spaniards are against,” said Ana Sofia Cardenal, a political scientist at Catalonia’s Open University.But hardline separatists, among them the JxCat party of ex-Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont who fled Spain to avoid prosecution after the 2017 independence bid, have not given up on unilateralism, and have repeatedly demanded an amnesty for the prisoners — which is not on the table.At Sunday’s gathering, Spain’s right-wing opposition will seek to rally those who still feel infuriated by the crisis of 2017 under a huge Spanish flag in Madrid’s Plaza de Colon (Colombus Square).It was here that thousands of people gathered in February 2019, two days before the start of the separatists’ trial.Although the organizers have said no political leaders will be allowed up to the podium on Sunday, Cardenal believes it would be a mistake for opposition leader Casado to even attend the rally.”If this decision to grant pardons manages to really steer (the Catalan crisis) towards dialogue, it could benefit Sanchez and harm Casado, who has aligned himself with Vox on this issue,” he said, referring to the ultra-right-wing faction led by Santiago Abascal.
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4 Afghans Get 10-Year Jail Terms for Greek Migrant Camp Fire
A Greek court on Saturday sentenced four Afghan asylum-seekers convicted of starting fires that burnt down Europe’s largest migrant camp last year to 10 years in prison each.The court in Chios found the defendants guilty of arson while their lawyers denounced a “lack of sense of fairness.”No one died in the fires.The lawyers told AFP they had immediately filed for an appeal after the sentence was handed down.The young Afghans were taken to the court handcuffed and were expected to return to the Avlona jail outside Athens, where they were held before the trial.In March, two other Afghan youths were detained in the same facility for five years in connection with the case.The Moria camp on the Aegean island of Lesbos housed more than 10,000 people before it was destroyed by two fires in September 2020.Media were not allowed inside the courtroom at the end of the trial due to coronavirus precautions.Around 20 people, mainly members of foreign solidarity groups, gathered outside the court meanwhile to call for the defendants to be freed.Defense lawyers said the Afghans did not get a fair trial.They said three had documents showing they were under 18 at the time of arrest but were not recognized as minors.The prosecution is based in large part on the testimony of another Afghan asylum-seeker who identified the six as the perpetrators.But according to defense lawyers, the witness was not in court Friday and did not appear for the trial in March as he could not be located.The defendants claim they were targeted by the witness, an ethnic Pashtun, as all six are Hazara, a persecuted minority in Afghanistan.Other witnesses for the prosecution were police officers, firefighters called to the scene in September 2020 and staff from the European Asylum Service and nongovernmental groups who worked at the camp.Built in 2013 to hold up to 3,000 people, the Moria camp was overwhelmed in 2015 as a huge wave of people began arriving on small boats from nearby Turkey.The camp — home to asylum-seekers from the Middle East, Africa and South Asia seeking a better life in the European Union — quickly became a byword for squalor and violence.The two fires broke out on Sept. 8 and 9 as tensions soared amid the coronavirus pandemic.Witnesses told AFP a dispute had broken out as 200 migrants refused to quarantine after either testing positive for COVID-19 or coming into contact with someone infected.Around 13,000 asylum-seekers, among them families with children, pregnant women and people with disabilities, had to sleep in the open for a week after the camp was destroyed.Authorities have since built a temporary camp on Lesbos that hosts about 6,000 people.The EU has allocated $336 million to build a new permanent camp on Lesbos, and for similar facilities on the islands of Chios, Samos, Kos and Leros.Around 10,000 asylum-seekers are currently living on these five Aegean islands, the vast majority of them hoping to settle elsewhere in the EU.
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