A massive and long-awaited new translation of Mein Kampf — peppered with scholarly commentary to explain Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s disjointed, hate-filled manifesto — has been released in France. The project has been controversial, but supporters say it could serve as a warning against rising acts of hate and antisemitism today.The book is a recast translation of Mein Kampf, or My Struggle, Hitler’s 1925 manifesto detailing how he became antisemitic, his ideology and his plans for Germany. The recast is 1,000 pages and costs more than $120. Adolf Hitler’s name and face do not appear on its plain white cover. The new edition by French publisher Fayard — titled Putting Evil in Context: A Critical Edition of Mein Kampf — does not aim to be a bestseller. French bookstores cannot stock copies, which are available by order only. All proceeds will go to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation. Historian Christian Ingrao, part of the academic team involved in the Fayard edition, told French radio the book aims to desacralize Hitler’s work that has attracted a kind of fetishism. It aims to offer an unvarnished take on the Nazi leader’s writing, which Ingrao and others say is repetitive, rambling and riddled with mistakes. Translator Olivier Mannoni called Hitler’s manifesto an “incoherent soup.” The translation is accompanied by lengthy historians’ notes and annotations that make up most of the book. Germany and Poland have published similar scholarly translations in recent years. In France, the first edition of Mein Kampf came out in 1934, and attempted to improve on Hitler’s writing. By that time he was chancellor of Germany, where his book had become a bestseller. Hitler’s rule saw Europe plunged into World War II — and the Holocaust that killed roughly six million Jews, including more than 70,000 from France. Today, antisemitism is again on the rise across Europe, watchdog groups say. So is the far right. While printed copies of Mein Kampf have stagnated worldwide, digital editions have surged in recent years, although publishers point to a mix of reasons. Last year, Amazon banned most editions of the book from its site. Ninety-six-year-old Holocaust survivor Ginette Kolinka speaks to French school groups about her memories. She told French radio she never read Mein Kampf — mostly, she says, because she had other books to read. But she says young people need to read everything — good and bad — to form opinions for themselves, and eventually understand tolerance. The Fayard translation project has been controversial. A few years ago, far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon called it “morally unacceptable.” Since then, it has been endorsed by several prominent Jewish figures, including Nazi hunter Serge Klarsfeld. France’s Grand Rabbi, Haim Korsia, told VOA that Klarsfeld’s support for the translation shaped his own views. His argument: You can’t reproach the world for not having read Hitler’s writings nearly a century ago — which forecast the horror the Nazi leader was preparing — and then tell people today not to read this new translation, which could help prevent hatred, prejudice and antisemitism from reappearing.
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Month: June 2021
Building a New Life After Domestic Violence Family Tragedy
In 2008, a family murder-suicide horrified Detroit. Two decades later, one of the surviving daughters is telling her story of survival and efforts to help others. Burim Goxhuli has the story.Camera: Burim Goxhuli
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Turkey Launches Probe into 1996 Killing of Journalist
An Istanbul prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday it launched an investigation into the murder of a Turkish Cypriot journalist 25 years ago, after a mob leader said last month the killing was ordered by a former Turkish minister.
Convicted gang leader Sedat Peker’s uncorroborated allegations on YouTube of extrajudicial killings in the 1990s have placed the unsolved murders of hundreds of people during that decade back on the agenda in Turkey.
In a video viewed by 17 million Turks, Peker said he tasked his brother to kill journalist Kutlu Adali in 1996 upon the orders of a former minister.
Peker said his brother Atilla was not able to carry out the killing, although Adali was shot dead shortly afterwards in July 1996.
Atilla Peker was briefly detained nine days ago, a few hours after his brother’s video was released.
Istanbul Anadolu prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday that it had launched a new investigation into Adali’s murder based on an application for the probe by Atilla Peker that “included various claims”.
It said efforts were being made to obtain information and documents from Turkish Cypriot judicial authorities regarding the killing, in addition to collecting potential evidence in Turkey.
It said a detailed statement would be taken from Atilla Peker.
An initial investigation at the time of Adali’s murder did not uncover who was responsible. The European Court of Human Rights fined Turkey in 2005 for a failure to carry out an “adequate and effective investigation into the circumstances surrounding the killing”.
Sedat Peker, 49, rose to prominence in the 1990s as a gangland figure and was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2007 for crimes including forming and leading a criminal gang.
He has said he is now in Dubai, although Reuters has not been able to verify his whereabouts. The eight videos he has so far uploaded have been viewed more than 70 million times in total.
Peker’s accusations against current and former government officials also include rape, drug trafficking and covert arms deliveries.
President Tayyip Erdogan and Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, one of the people Peker has targeted so far, have strongly rejected the accusations. Soylu said the accusations were a plot against the country.
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Cameroon Clears Illegal Miners from Border Village after Landslide Kills 27
Cameroonian authorities say they are deporting more than 1,000 illegal gold miners on the country’s eastern border with the Central African Republic after 27 miners died in May due to landslides. Those being expelled include 400 Central Africans and Senegalese in the village of Kambele.At least 300 illegal miners were forced by Cameroonian police and military to sit on the floor at the Kambele market square on Tuesday night this week. Among them are Cameroonians, Central Africans and Senegalese. Alfred Kamoun is a 31-year-old father of two from the neighboring Central African Republic. He says he was forced out of a mining site called Boukarou in Kambele village. He says he and his two brothers will no longer be able to raise $50 each night from digging and selling gold. He says while at the mining site they could dig at least 7 grams of gold each night. Kamoun says his son will no longer be paid $4 every night for supplying water to wash gold. Kambele is a village in Batouri, an administrative unit located about 700 kilometers from Cameroon’s eastern neighbor, CAR. On Monday local authorities at Batouri said 27 illegal gold miners died in Kambele village in May. Auberlin Mbelessa, mayor of Batouri says an emergency crisis meeting recommended the deportation of at least 1,000 civilians from the risky mining area. He says no one can be indifferent when civilians are dying in gold mines, yet thousands of people continue to rush to mining sites which from every indication are dangerous. He says while deporting the illegal gold miners, rescue workers and Cameroon military will also search to remove corpses and save the lives of people who may still be trapped in the collapsing mines. Cameroon said it deployed its rescue workers, military and police to Kambele to clear the area of illegal miners and make sure foreign illegal miners either obtain their residence and mining permits or leave. The military is prohibiting miners from visiting risk zones where trenches dug to harvest gold are collapsing. Baba Bell, traditional ruler of Kambele says some civilians may have drown in trenches filled with water from heavy rains. He says every year during the rainy season as from the months of April, so many gold mines collapse leaving many people severely wounded or dead. He says a majority of the victims are unemployed Cameroonian youths who flood his village in search of opportunities. He says several hundred foreigners from Congo Brazzaville, Central African Republic, China and Senegal are in his village. Hilaire Kembe is a Cameroon illegal gold miner at Kembele village. He says it is impossible to know the exact number of dead or wounded people in May in Kambele.He says miners do not report when they discover fresh corpses and human bones at mining sites because of fear that they will be held for several weeks at police posts for interrogations. He says several hundred villagers and foreign miners whose identities are unknown prefer digging for gold at night when Cameroon police and military retire to their barracks. He says it is difficult to know when the night miners are buried by collapsing soils. Cameroon says some of the illegal miners are displaced persons fleeing the conflict in CAR and fleeing from Boko Haram terrorist groups on its northern border with Nigeria. Some are escaping from the Anglophone separatist fighters in the country’s English-speaking western regions. The government has always prohibited unauthorized people from digging in the area. But many youths ignore the order saying that they are unemployed.
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Meat Producer JBS Back Online After Cyberattack
Meatpacking giant JBS says it has made “significant progress” in resolving a cyberattack that affected its operations in North America and Australia.
JBS USA’s CEO, Andre Nogueira, said he expected “the vast majority of our beef, pork, poultry and prepared food plants” to be operational Wednesday.
“Our systems are coming back online and we are not sparing any resources to fight this threat. We have cybersecurity plans in place to address these types of issues and we are successfully executing those plans,” Nogueira said in a statement.
JBS said its Canadian beef facility had already resumed production, and that the attack did not impact its operations in Mexico or Britain.
The company also said it was not aware of customer, supplier or employee data being compromised.
“I want to personally thank the White House, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Australian and Canadian governments for their assistance over the last two days,” Nogueira said.
White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday that JBS told the administration it received a random demand from a criminal organization likely based in Russia.
“The White House is engaging directly with the Russian government on this matter and delivering the message that responsible states do not harbor ransomware criminals,” Jean-Pierre said.
Australian Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said plants in New South Wales and Victoria states were back operating on a limited basis Wednesday, and that JBS hoped to resume work in Queensland state on Thursday.
Littleproud also said Australian officials would be meeting with U.S. officials to discuss the situation on Wednesday.
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Millions of Asia Refugees Missing Out on COVID-19 Vaccines, UN Says
The U.N. refugee agency warns a severe shortage of COVID-19 vaccines in Asia-Pacific is putting the lives of refugees and asylum seekers at risk as this deadly disease continues to spread like wildfire throughout the region. These countries have pledged to include refugees and asylum seekers into their COVID-19 vaccination programs. However, there are not enough vaccines to go around, so marginalized groups are among the last to benefit from these schemes. In the past two months, the World Health Organization has recorded some 38 million COVID-19 cases and more than half a million deaths in the Asia-Pacific region, the largest increase globally. UNHCR reports refugees who live in overcrowded, unsanitary settings are especially vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19. Spokesman Andrej Mahecic says there has been a huge increase in the number of cases among Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh since April. He notes nearly 900,000 refugees are living in this densely populated camp, the largest in the world.”As of 31 May, there have been over 1,188 cases confirmed among the refugee population, with more than half of these cases recorded in May alone,” said Mahecic. “We have also seen a worrying increase in the number of COVID-19 cases among refugees and asylum-seekers in Nepal, Iran, Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.” Even as much of the world appears to be recovering from the pandemic, aid agencies report fragile health systems in many countries in the region are struggling to cope with the recent surge of cases. They say help is needed to address the scarcity of hospital beds, oxygen supplies and other essential health facilities and services. Mahecic says efforts are under way to mitigate the spread of the virus, but preventive measures must be bolstered with intensified vaccinations. He says some refugees, including in Nepal, have received their first vaccine dose with supplies provided by WHO’s COVAX vaccination-sharing facility.”Among the Rohingya refugees in camps in Bangladesh, not a single vaccine has been administered yet given the scarcity of supplies in the country,” said Mahecic. “The current delays in vaccine shipments, brought about by limited supplies to COVAX, mean that some of the world’s most vulnerable people remain susceptible to the virus.” The UNHCR is appealing for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines to save lives and curb the devastating impact of the virus in the Asia-Pacific region. It is urging the wealthier countries to donate surplus doses to COVAX for distribution in the poorer countries.
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Melbourne Extends COVID-19 Lockdown for Another Week
Authorities in Australia’s southern state of Victoria have extended a one-week lockdown for its capital, Melbourne, to contain the spread of a new COVID-19 outbreak. The lockdown was initially imposed across the entire state last week after health officials detected a highly infectious variant of the coronavirus that was rapidly spreading across Victoria state. The latest outbreak has been linked to an overseas traveler who became infected with a variant first detected in India during his mandatory hotel quarantine phase. FILE – A mostly-empty city street is seen on the first day of a seven-day lockdown as the state of Victoria looks to curb the spread of a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Melbourne, Australia, May 28, 2021.Health officials announced six new locally acquired COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing the total number of confirmed infections to 60. “If we let this thing run its course, it will explode,” Victoria state Acting Premier James Merlino told reporters in Melbourne. “We’ve got to run this to ground because if we don’t, people will die.” Although Melbourne’s 5 million residents will remain under strict restrictions until June 10, the lockdown measures have been lifted for residents in regional Victoria, with limits on public and private gatherings and restaurant capacity. The new lockdown is the fourth one imposed on Melbourne and Victoria state since the start of the pandemic. The most severe period occurred in mid-2020, which lasted more than three months as Victoria was under the grip of a second wave of COVID-19 infections that killed more than 800 people. Moderna seeking full FDA authorization
In the United States, Moderna said Tuesday it is seeking full authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its COVID-19 vaccine for adults 18 years old and older. The Moderna two-shot vaccine is one of three coronavirus vaccines the FDA authorized for emergency use in the United States, playing a major role in the steadily declining number of new infections in the country. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say more than 150 million doses of the Moderna vaccine have been distributed since the emergency use authorization was granted last December. FILE – A nurse draws a Moderna coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine, in Los AngelesModerna announced last week that it will apply for emergency use authorization this month to administer the vaccine to young people after discovering it was safe and effective for children between 12 and 17 years old. If approved, it will join the two-shot vaccine developed by Pfizer and Bio N Tech that was authorized for use in 12 to 15 years old last month. Brazil to host soccer tournamentBrazil confirmed Tuesday that it will host the troubled Copa America soccer tournament despite warnings of an upcoming new wave of new infections. President Jair Bolsonaro said the tournament, which will take place from June 13 to July 10, will be held in the capital Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro, Cuiaba and Goiania. The tournament’s organizers, the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL), announced Monday it was moving the upcoming event to Brazil due to a surge of new COVID-19 infections in Argentina, which was co-hosting the tournament with Colombia, which is unable to stage the tournament because of massive anti-government street protests. Scientists in Brazil are concerned about hosting a tournament in a nation with a more transmissible COVID-19 variant, with many predicting another wave of the disease to hit the country in a matter of weeks. The opposition Workers Party has filed an injunction with the Brazilian Supreme Court to block the tournament. FILE – Demonstrators shouts slogans during a protest against the government’s response in combating COVID-19, demanding the impeachment of President Jair Bolsonaro, in Rio de Janeiro, May 29, 2021.President Bolsonaro has come under heavy criticism for his apparently dismissive attitude toward the pandemic, and is the subject of a congressional investigation over his government’s management of the crisis. Brazil trails only the United States and India in the total number of coronavirus cases with more than 16.6 million, and is second only to the U.S. in deaths at more than 465,199, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
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Life Returning to Normal as Countries Ease COVID Restrictions
On Tuesday, Italy lifted restrictions on indoor dining, Germany downgraded the coronavirus risk level from very high to high, and Israel lifted almost all pandemic restrictions. More from VOA’s Mariama Diallo.
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Biden Admin Halts Oil Drilling in Alaska Wildlife Refuge
US President Joe Biden’s administration announced Tuesday it was halting petroleum development activity in the Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, reversing a move by former president Donald Trump to allow drilling. The Interior Department said it was notifying firms of the freeze, pending a comprehensive environmental review that will determine whether leases in the area known as ANWR should be “reaffirmed, voided or subject to additional mitigation measures,” the agency said in a statement. The announcement deals a blow to the long-contested quest of oil companies to drill in the sensitive territory. The push for development picked up momentum after Trump announced the leasing plan last November shortly after losing reelection to Biden. At a lease sale in January over some 1.6 million acres, US officials auctioned off 11 oil tracts. Major oil companies sat out the bidding, and nine of the leases went to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, a state agency, while two went to small companies. Biden had promised to protect ANWR during the presidential campaign. White House climate advisor Gina McCarthy noted Biden’s promise and said the move reflected his belief that “national treasures are cultural and economic cornerstones of our country,” according to a White House statement. Biden “is grateful for the prompt action by the Department of the Interior to suspend all leasing pending a review of decisions made in the last administration’s final days that could have changed the character of this special place forever,” McCarthy added. Environmentalists have long argued that safeguarding ANWR is critical to protect polar bears and other vulnerable wildlife and for indigenous populations that hunt caribou in the region. But the oil industry has long sought to drill in the area, which is thought to potentially hold billions of barrels in oil. Key Alaska lawmakers such as Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, have strongly backed development. The Alaska Wilderness League, which had joined other environmental groups in litigation against the Trump administration’s development efforts, applauded the Biden administration’s action. “Suspending these leases is a step in the right direction,” said Kristen Miller, acting executive director for the Alaska Wilderness League. Continued threat”There is still more to be done. Until the leases are canceled, they will remain a threat to one of the wildest places left in America,” Miller said. “Now we look to the administration and Congress to prioritize legislatively repealing the oil leasing mandate and restore protections to the Arctic Refuge coastal plain.” But the American Petroleum Institute said the oil industry knows how to develop responsibly and that the decision will cost Alaska jobs and tax revenue. “Policies aimed at slowing or stopping oil and natural gas production on federal lands and waters will ultimately prove harmful to our national security, environmental progress and economic strength,” API official Kevin O’Scannlain said. “At a time of economic recovery, this action only serves to withhold the good-paying jobs and economic revenue that safe and responsible oil and gas development would provide to local Alaskan communities.” The Biden administration’s move on ANWR comes only days after it sanctioned another Trump administration plan on oil development in Alaska, involving a ConocoPhillips project in Alaska’s North Slope in the former Naval Petroleum Reserve.
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Greece, Germany Kick Off EU Vaccination Travel Certificates
Greece, Germany and five other European Union nations introduced a vaccination certificate system for travelers on Tuesday, weeks ahead of the July 1 rollout of the program across the 27-nation bloc.The other countries starting early were Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Croatia and Poland, according to the European Commission.Greece, which depends heavily on tourism, has been pressing for the commonly recognized certificate that uses a QR code with advanced security features. The certificates are being issued to people who are fully vaccinated, as well as those who have already contracted the virus and developed antibodies, and others who have had a PCR test within the last 72 hours.The documents will have both digital and paper forms. They’ll be free of charge, distributed in the national language plus English and be valid in all the bloc’s countries.”EU citizens are looking forward to traveling again, and they want to do so safely. Having an EU certificate is a crucial step on the way,” EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said.Greece’s digital governance minister, Kyriakos Pierrakakis, said easier travel will open up within the EU as nations adopt the new verification standard.”What will happen is that countries will stop issuing certificates using their own convention and adopt the common convention. That will simplify things considerably, because you can imagine the number of bilateral agreements that would otherwise need to be worked out,” Pierrakakis told private Skai television.Kyriakides said in the next few weeks, all EU nations need to “fully finalize their national systems to issue, store and verify certificates so the system is functioning in time for the holiday season.”Countries will be allowed to add extra vaccines to their individual entry list, including those that have not been formally approved for use across the EU.The EU Commission believes that people who are vaccinated should no longer have to be tested or put into quarantines, regardless of where they are traveling to or from, starting 14 days after receiving their second shot. Member countries, however, have not yet endorsed that recommendation.
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Biden Honors Tulsa Massacre Victims
President Joe Biden was in Oklahoma Tuesday, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to commemorate the anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, the destruction in 1921 of a prosperous Black community by a white mob that left up to 300 people dead and thousands homeless. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report.
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NBA Stars Urged to End China Endorsements, Warned About Forced Labor
Members of a U.S. congressional commission on Tuesday called on American basketball stars to end endorsements of Chinese sportswear firms that use cotton grown in China’s Xinjiang region, warning against complicity in forced labor they say takes place there.In a letter to the National Basketball Players Association, the chairs of the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China said more than a dozen NBA players had deals with the China-based ANTA, Li-Ning and Peak sportswear firms prior to the publication of recent Western media articles saying the companies had backed continued use of Xinjiang cotton.Dyed cotton is piled at a Huafu Fashion plant, as seen during a government organized trip for foreign journalists, in Aksu in western China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, April 20, 2021.”Players have continued to sign new deals with Anta Sports,” the letter from Senator Jeff Merkley and Representative Jim McGovern added.”We believe that commercial relationships with companies that source cotton in Xinjiang create reputational risks for NBA players and the NBA itself,” they said, noting that the U.S. government had determined China was committing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and that the U.S. had barred cotton imports from the region.”The NBA and NBA players should not even implicitly be endorsing such horrific human rights abuses,” the letter said.It said reporting since 2018 had revealed that authorities in Xinjiang had systematically forced minority Muslims to engage in forced labor and that there was credible evidence forced labor existed in Xinjiang cotton production.The letter, the text of which was provided to Reuters, said Anta, Li-Ning and Peak had publicly embraced Xinjiang cotton, “likely making them complicit in the use of forced labor.”The NBPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China’s Washington embassy called allegations of forced labor “an outrageous lie.””The attempt by certain forces in the U.S. and elsewhere to mess up Xinjiang and contain China will never succeed. The rock they are lifting will end up hitting their own toes,” it said in an email response to questions.The NBA’s standing in China, its most important overseas market, deteriorated sharply after late 2019, when then-Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey expressed support for pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and Beijing’s state television pulled NBA games off its channels.The NBA said last July it was reevaluating its training program in China following allegations of abuse of young players by local staff and harassment of foreign staffers in Xinjiang.The NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, subsequently said in September that the NBA’s long-standing engagement in China continued to have a “net positive” impact on the mutual understanding between the United States and the Communist nation.
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Life Getting Back to Normal as Countries Ease COVID Restrictions
On Tuesday, Italy lifted restrictions on indoor dining, Germany downgraded the coronavirus risk level from very high to high, and Israel lifted almost all pandemic restrictions. More from VOA’s Mariama Diallo.
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US Meat Giant Tyson Foods to Launch Plant-based Food in Asia-Pacific
U.S. meat processor Tyson Foods Inc. will launch its plant-based food in select Asia-Pacific markets starting this month, as it looks to cash in on the burgeoning demand for meat substitutes in the region its rivals have set out to capture. Impossible Foods Inc., Nestle SA and Beyond Meat Inc. have already entered Asia with their plant-based meat products, expecting rising demand for the protein from consumers conscious about health, animal welfare and the environment. Retail sales of meat substitutes in Asia-Pacific reached $16.3 billion in 2020 and are expected to exceed $20 billion by 2025, according to data provided by Euromonitor to Tyson Foods. “The Asian market is a natural fit for this category with traditional plant-based products like tofu already entrenched in the culture,” Tan Sun, president of Tyson Foods Asia-Pacific, said in a statement. Tyson Foods, the biggest U.S. producer of animal meat by sales, said on Tuesday it would first roll out plant-based nuggets, strips and bites in Malaysia under its First Pride brand, with a view to expand into other markets. The Jimmy Dean sausage-maker launched its plant-based products late last year from its Raised & Rooted brand in Europe.
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At Tulsa Centennial, Biden Unveils Steps to Narrow Racial Wealth Gap
On Tuesday, Joe Biden became the first sitting American president to commemorate the anniversary of the destruction of a prosperous Black community by a white mob that left up to 300 people dead and 10,000 homeless. “Just because history is silent, it doesn’t mean that it did not take place,” Biden said in remarks to survivors of the massacre and their families at the Greenwood Cultural Center. “Some injustices are so heinous, so horrific, so grievous, they can’t be buried, no matter how hard people try.” A hundred years ago on May 31 and June 1, Greenwood, a neighborhood including what was then known as Black Wall Street, was looted and burned to the ground by Tulsa’s white residents with support from the virtually all-white Tulsa Police Department. The massacre was triggered by accusations that a 19-year-old Black man had assaulted a 17-year-old white girl in an elevator. Michelle Brown-Burdex, program coordinator of the Greenwood Cultural Center, speaks as she leads President Joe Biden on a tour of the center to mark the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre, June 1, 2021, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.For decades after the massacre, the violent attack was covered up and not well known nationally. But as the national conversation increasingly focused on the issue of systemic racism and police violence, the incident has received more attention in the media and pop culture. Biden met with three surviving members of the massacre — Viola “Mother” Fletcher, Hughes “Uncle Red” Van Ellis and Lessie “Mother Randle” Benningfield Randle — who are all now over 100 years old. Survivors and siblings Viola Fletcher and Hughes Van Ellis listen as U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the centennial anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre during a visit to the Greenwood Cultural Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, June 1, 2021.”My fellow Americans, this was not a riot. This was a massacre,” Biden said, after leading a moment of silence for the victims. The president announced steps to narrow the racial wealth gap. His administration plans to invest tens of billions of dollars in disadvantaged communities, expand federal contracting with minority-owned businesses, and repeal two Trump-era rules that restrict fair housing practices. The Tulsa massacre’s centennial came just over a year since the death of George Floyd, a Black man, at the hands of a white police officer — an event that triggered the Black Lives Matter movement in the U.S. and around the world. For months, Republicans and Democrats have struggled to reach consensus on police reform legislation activists have pushed since Floyd’s death. Activists said Biden’s visit serves to communicate the history and reality of the oppression of African Americans. “And, really, the erasure of black wealth and an all-out racial domestic terrorist attack within this country,” said Steve Phillips, founder of the political media organization Democracy in Color and author of the book Brown Is the New White. “People need to know that that is part of what this country’s history has been.” But Phillips said the steps the Biden administration is taking to address the racial wealth gap is not nearly enough to address a problem. In the century since the massacre in Tulsa, Black Americans continue to be discriminated in housing, banking, education and employment. FILE – Crowds of people watch fires during the Tulsa Race Massacre in Tulsa, Okla., on June 1, 1921. (Department of Special Collections, McFarlin Library, The University of Tulsa via AP)The legislation, first introduced in 1989, would establish a commission to examine slavery and discrimination in the United States from 1619 to the present and recommend appropriate remedies. “What is owed to African Americans who did the labor to pick the cotton that got sold that made America wealthy?” Phillips said. “And that we’ve been locked out of for most of the country’s history from participating in the economic largesse?” The Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act was introduced again by Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, a Texas Democrat, in January 2021. Lee said the descendants of slaves continue to suffer from the legacy of that brutal system. Voting rights Biden’s visit comes as many conservative states, including Texas, are pushing for voting legislation that supporters say would reduce fraud. Critics, however, see it as undermining Black and other minority voters. The president criticized those state laws in his remarks. “This sacred right is under assault with incredible intensity like I’ve never seen,” he said. Biden said he will “fight like heck” for the Senate to pass the For the People Act, a federal voting-rights bill passed by the House of Representatives in March that would counteract many of the voting restrictions passed by Republican-controlled state legislatures. Republicans have called the bill a “power grab.” Vice President Kamala Harris will lead the administration’s efforts on voting rights, Biden said.
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Seattle Man Arrested Trying to Join Islamic State Terror Group
A 20-year-old Seattle man is facing a terrorism-related charge after he was arrested while trying to board a flight to join the Islamic State (IS) group, the U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday.Elvin Hunter Bgorn Williams was arrested Friday at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport as he checked in for a flight to Cairo, Egypt, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle.The complaint said members of a Seattle-area mosque who had been trying to de-radicalize Williams told the FBI that he continued to espouse violence and extremism.Williams made an initial video appearance in court Tuesday on a charge of providing material support to a terrorist organization. Corey Endo, an assistant federal public defender, was appointed to represent Williams, who was ordered detained pending further proceedings. Endo declined to comment after the hearing.The complaint described Williams as “self-radicalized” and said he first came to the FBI’s attention when he was 16. That’s when administrators at his high school reported that he was telling others he wanted to join IS and that the fatal terrorist attack on an Ariana Grande concert in England was justified by the way the singer dressed.At the time, his mother told the FBI that Williams had been kicked off social media for his pro-IS posts and that she cut off the internet service at their home to keep him from accessing extremist websites, the complaint said.Last November, a member of the mosque, which is not identified in court papers, contacted the agency to report concerns about Williams, FBI Special Agent David Narrance wrote in the complaint. As an act of charity, the mosque had been looking after him in an attempt to de-radicalize him — helping to give him a place to live, food and tuition for a semester of college.Members of the mosque also gave him a cellphone and a laptop in hope that the items would help him find a job, the complaint said. But they also made clear he would have to abandon IS if he wanted help.A member of the mosque, after seeing Williams using the phone to watch IS-related videos and engage in extremist online chats, demanded the phone back, Narrance wrote. Members of the mosque reviewed the phone and were disturbed by what they found: graphically violent videos, including beheadings by IS militants, and bomb-making instructions.The FBI opened an investigation and enlisted the help of several confidential informants, including some who messaged with Williams about his plans and others who posed as IS recruiters. In messages cited in the complaint, Williams discussed his willingness to become a martyr, his preference for fighting in the desert over the jungle, his fervent wish to behead someone — and his concern that he would be arrested at the airport.He spent much of this year working and saving up for travel expenses, the complaint said. He received his passport on May 6.”This defendant proved persistent in his efforts to join ISIS — speaking with enthusiasm about acts of horrific bloodshed in the Middle East and here at home,” Tessa Gorman, acting U.S. attorney for western Washington state, said in a news release. “I want to commend those citizens who contacted law enforcement — including his family and faith community — expressing concerns about the defendant’s radicalization.”When he was arrested, the complaint said, Williams agreed to speak with investigators. The complaint quotes him as saying that he intended to become an “executioner” or a “machine-gunner.””It doesn’t matter what you guys do to me. I get rewarded for it,” Williams said, according to the complaint. He added: “I want to die. We love our deaths more than you love your lives.”
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Belarus Arrest Chills Democratic Activists, Spurs Calls for Harsher Sanctions
The Belarusian democratic opposition and some Western governments are calling for harsher sanctions against Alexander Lukashenko’s regime following the forced diversion in late May of an international airliner to arrest a Belarusian dissident blogger on board. Analysts warn if there is not a strong response, other authoritarian governments around the world might resort to the same tactic to arrest dissidents. VOA’s Igor Tsikhanenka has more.Produced by: Ihar Tsikhanenka
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EU Reaches Deal on Tax Transparency for Multinational Firms
European Union government and Parliament negotiators reached a deal Tuesday on rules that will force large multinational companies to disclose how much revenue and tax they pay in the 27-nation bloc and how much they pay in countries considered tax havens by the EU. The new law, proposed by the European Commission in 2016, is part of the EU’s efforts to fight tax avoidance by large international companies at a time when the EU badly needs cash to finance an economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the new law, multinational corporations with a turnover of more than $916 million annually in two consecutive years will have to declare profits, tax and number of employees in EU countries and in countries on the EU list of noncooperative jurisdictions. But data on tax paid in other countries outside the EU and not on the tax havens blacklist will only be given in aggregated form, as EU governments did not want to agree to a more detailed country-by-country breakdown. The Oxfam charity group criticized that, saying many of the world’s tax havens were not on the EU list of noncooperative jurisdictions and therefore would avoid scrutiny. “Transparency for only the 27 EU member states and the 21 currently blacklisted or greylisted jurisdictions means keeping corporate secrecy for over three out of four of the world’s nearly 200 countries,” the Oxfam charity group said. “EU legislators have granted multinational corporations plenty of opportunities to continue dodging taxes in secrecy by shifting their profits to tax havens outside the EU, like Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Switzerland,” Oxfam’s tax expert Chiara Putaturo said. She said the deal also offered companies a reporting exemption for commercially sensitive information for five years, providing a way to avoid disclosure, and noted the large turnover requirement would exclude up to 90% of multinationals. But some members of the European Parliament who negotiated the deal said it would still help make the tax system fairer. “These tax transparency measures will help to ensure that multinational companies pay their fair share and can bring some fairness to how they operate,” said Ernest Urtasun, Greens MEP of the Parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee. According to the Tax Justice Network think tank, EU countries are responsible for 36% of tax lost globally to corporate tax abuse, costing countries worldwide over $154 billion every year as profits are shifted to low tax jurisdictions like Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The text of the agreement must now go through formal adoption in two European Parliament committees and the Parliament’s plenary, and in the Council of EU governments.
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Ethiopian PM’s Claim About Building 100 New Dams Provokes Egyptian Ire
Egyptian media broadcast an angry statement by Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Hafez criticizing Ethiopian Prime Minister Abi Ahmed’s declaration about building “100 new small and medium-sized dams” on waterways across his country during the next year.Hafez indicated the plan is “a sign of Ethiopia’s ill intentions” regarding the conflict over filling the Renaissance Dam, which has caused a casus belli with both Egypt and neighboring Sudan. Hafez added that Ethiopia must “coordinate such plans with its neighbors before causing them damage.”FILE – Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 24, 2019.Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi visited Djibouti last week, insisting during a press conference he was still hoping to negotiate a diplomatic solution to the conflict with Ethiopia over filling the dam.Sissi said he discussed the Renaissance Dam situation, which affects the interests of the entire region, and the need for a fair and balanced agreement over filling and operating the dam, as soon as possible. He noted Egypt’s refusal of the effort of any party to impose its own plan that doesn’t meet the interests or rights of countries whose interests are affected.Egyptian political sociologist Said Sadek said the issue of Ethiopia filling the Renaissance Dam for a second year, starting in July, has provoked the wrath of the Egyptian public.”Public opinion is very angry and is pushing the government to react to the provocation of Ethiopian politicians and media, who are always speaking in a very provocative way against the Egyptian people and the Egyptian government,” Sadek said.He went on to say that Egyptian opposition forces — based mostly outside the country — were calling for protests over what they claimed was the government’s “mishandling” of the crisis.Sadek added that Egyptian officials were perplexed over the unwillingness of influential foreign powerbrokers like the EU, the United States and the African Union to use their influence to reach a diplomatic solution to the crisis.Paul Sullivan, a professor at the U.S. National Defense University in Washington, tells VOA that Ethiopia’s construction of the GERD [Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam] is “inflaming enough, [but] building [100 more] dams creates greater incitement and is an accelerating aggression.”He goes on to stress that “Egypt will need to respond,” and “if Ethiopia wants peace, they are giving indications of just the opposite. If this comes to war,” he argues, “all will lose and massively.” He said a “reasonable settlement” would be ideal, but that things “seem to be going in the opposite direction.”The Egyptian military has been conducting maneuvers with a number of regional countries in recent days, including Sudan, in order to show its readiness in the event a conflict erupts.
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Belarus Opposition Activist Stabs Himself in Court Hearing
A Belarusian opposition activist stabbed himself in the throat with a pen during a court hearing in Minsk on Tuesday to protest what he claimed were threats from authorities to arrest his family members and friends if he did not plead guilty to organizing protests against the country’s authoritarian ruler, President Alexander Lukashenko.Footage from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty showed Stsiapan Latypau lying limp on a bench in the defendant’s cage after his self-inflicted wounding as guards tended to him.The video showed him being carried unconscious from the courthouse on a stretcher, his neck wrapped in a white cloth, and put into an ambulance.The Viasna human rights center in Belarus said Latypau was put into an induced coma. His lawyer declined to comment on his condition.Before he stabbed himself, Latypau climbed on the bench in the cage and claimed investigators had told him, “If I don’t plead guilty, they will open criminal cases against my family and neighbors.”Latypau has been held since September 2020 on various charges, including accusations that he staged actions violating the public order in last summer’s vast protests against Lukashenko. The street demonstrations occurred after the strongman claimed a sixth presidential election victory with 80% of the vote.If convicted, Latypau faces up to 10 years in prison.Latypau’s apparent attempted suicide is the latest incident with links to protests against Lukashenko. Last week, an opposition politician died in prison under unclear circumstances, while a teenager under investigation for protesting committed suicide by throwing himself from a 16-story building. “This is the result of state terror, repressions, torture in Belarus,” wrote Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya, an opposition leader. “We must stop it immediately!” Many governments, except Russia, a close ally of Belarus, condemned Lukashenko last month after he diverted a Ryanair jetliner flying over Belarus and carrying Raman Pratasevich, a Belarusian activist who had fled the country in 2019 and had since lived in exile.Pratasevich and his companion, Sofia Sapega, were arrested when the flight landed in Minsk on the purported claim of a bomb aboard the aircraft, although no explosive was found.In response, European countries stopped flying over Belarus, depriving Minsk of overflight revenue, and blocked flights by Belavia, the Belarusian state air carrier, from landing in European cities.Lukashenko met with Russian President Vladimir Putin late last week to shore up support with his government’s key foreign ally. On Tuesday, Lukashenko announced Belarus would soon open direct flights with Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula Russia annexed in 2014, although Western governments do not recognize Moscow’s claim to the territory.
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WHO Approves Chinese-Made COVID Vaccine for Emergency Use
The World Health Organization has granted emergency approval for the use of a Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccine for adults 18 and older.
The U.N. health agency approved a vaccine Tuesday made by Sinovac Biotech, a Chinese biopharmaceutical company. It was the second time the WHO approved a vaccine made by a Chinese company on an emergency basis.
The WHO said data submitted by Sinovac indicated that two doses of the vaccine prevented symptoms from developing in just over half of those who received vaccinations. The agency also said it could not estimate the efficacy of the vaccine in people over 60 because few people in that age group participated in trials.
The WHO’s decision makes another vaccine available for use in poorer countries through COVAX, an international program that distributes vaccines to developing nations, many of them impoverished.
But COVAX’s distribution efforts have been slowed after its largest vaccine supplier in India said it was forced to stop supplying vaccines until the end of the year because of sharp rises in infections in the country.
Last month, the agency approved for emergency use a vaccine made by Sinopharm, a Chinese state-owned pharmaceutical company. Other vaccines approved on an emergency basis by the WHO were manufactured by AstraZeneca, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer-BioNTech.
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Biden Honors Tulsa Race Massacre Victims
President Joe Biden is in Tulsa, Oklahoma Tuesday, the 100th anniversary of the 1921 massacre that decimated a Black community. More than 300 people were killed and hundreds of homes and businesses were destroyed after a white mob attacked the neighborhood.WATCH LIVE Biden will tour the Greenwood Cultural Center and give a speech there to mark the 100th anniversary.
On the flight to Tulsa, a White House spokeswoman said the president plans “to shine a light on what happened, and to make sure America knows the story in full.” She said Biden will say that Americans need to know the country’s history of slavery and racial and housing discrimination.
Earlier, the White House said it is launching efforts “to help narrow the racial wealth gap and reinvest in communities that have been left behind by failed policies.” It said the government would pump new money into programs to expand homeownership and support small business ownership in communities of color and disadvantaged communities.
To this day, what happened in Tulsa is an episode in the country’s fraught history over racial violence that many Americans have little awareness of, even as the country grapples with a current-day racial reckoning to confront accusations of police abuse of minorities, racial economic inequity and contentious debates over newly enacted voting restrictions that critics say are aimed at curbing the turnout of Black and Hispanic voters to limit their influence.FILE – This photo provided by the Department of Special Collections, McFarlin Library, The University of Tulsa shows crowds of people watching fires during the Tulsa Race Massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma, June 1, 1921.There appear to only be three remaining survivors, all centenarians, of the destruction of the prosperous Tulsa community known as Black Wall Street. The racial attack occurred four decades before the often-violent Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s that secured voting rights for Black Americans even as the debate continues now over voting access.
As Biden arrives in the city of 400,000 in the southwestern United States for the commemoration of the horrors of May 31-June 1, 1921, a new museum is opening to chronicle what occurred. But questions remain over whether to pay reparations — and how much — to the remaining survivors and descendants of the assault and how to search the unmarked, suspected burial grounds for those killed in the massacre.
One of the survivors, Viola Fletcher, 107, recently appeared before a congressional panel in her first trip to Washington to make the case for reparations while recounting her memories from the attack on her neighborhood when she was a 7-year-old girl.
“On May 31, of ‘21, I went to bed in my family’s home in Greenwood,” she said. “The neighborhood I fell asleep in that night was rich, not just in terms of wealth, but in culture … and heritage. My family had a beautiful home. We had great neighbors. I had friends to play with. I felt safe. I had everything a child could need. I had a bright future.”
“Within a few hours,” Fletcher said, “all of that was gone.”Tulsa Race Massacre survivors Viola Fletcher, left, and Lessie Benningfield Randle, right, listen during a rally marking the massacre’s centennial commemorations, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, May 28, 2021.“The night of the massacre, I was awakened by my family,” she recalled. “My parents and five siblings were there. I was told we had to leave and that was it. I will never forget the violence of the white mob when we left our home. I still see Black men being shot, Black bodies lying in the street. I still smell smoke and see fire. I still see Black businesses being burned. I still hear airplanes flying overhead. I hear the screams.”
Fletcher, her brother, Hughes “Uncle Red” Van Ellis, who is 100, and a third survivor, Lessie Benningfield Randle, 106, are the lead plaintiffs in a reparations lawsuit filed last year against the city of Tulsa, Tulsa County, the state of Oklahoma and the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce. They contend that the defendants are responsible for what happened during the massacre.
“I have lived through the massacre every day,” Viola Fletcher told the congressional panel. “Our country may forget this history, but I cannot. I will not. And other survivors do not. And our descendants do not.”
A hundred years ago, Greenwood — the Black Tulsa neighborhood that includes the area known as Black Wall Street — was burned to the ground and the virtually all-white Tulsa Police Department joined in the attack, deputizing white mobs and providing them with arms. The massacre was triggered by accusations that a 19-year-old Black man had assaulted a 17-year-old white girl in an elevator.
Numerous reports of the time described white policemen with badges setting fires and shooting Black people as part of the Greenwood invasion. A man looks at a Black Wall Street mural in the historic Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma, May 27, 2021, ahead of centennial commemorations of the Tulsa Race Massacre.But the violence of 1921 was largely ignored for decades if not forgotten. Then-Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan stood in Greenwood in 2013 and apologized for the department’s role.
“I can’t apologize for the actions, inaction or derelictions of those individual officers and their chief,” Jordan said. “But as your chief today, I can apologize for our police department. I am sorry and distressed that the Tulsa Police Department did not protect its citizens during the tragic days in 1921.”
The commemoration of the events of 100 years ago, however, has been caught up in the disputes of 2021.
The Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission abruptly canceled a “Remember and Rise” concert “due to unexpected circumstances.” Singer John Legend had been scheduled to perform and a keynote speech by voting rights activist Stacey Abrams was planned.
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt was ousted from the centennial commission after he signed legislation that would prohibit public school teachers from teaching about “critical race theory” that recounts the 17th century history of slavery in what more than a century later became the United States.
Greenwood Rising, a new museum to commemorate the 1921 massacre, is opening this week, but some in Tulsa are denouncing the commission and instead focusing on the remaining survivors and descendants of the attack. As Biden visits, the city is resuming its excavation of a suspected mass grave where victims of the massacre are believed to be buried.FILE – In this photo provided by the McFarlin Library at the University of Tulsa, two armed men walk away from burning buildings as others walk in the opposite direction, during the Tulsa Race Massacre, June 1, 1921, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.The extent of reparations remains paramount to remembering the massacre. Oklahoma state Senator Kevin Matthews, who chairs the centennial commission, told reporters last week that lawyers for the survivors had initially sought $100,000 each and a $2 million donation to a reparations fund, which the commission had agreed to. But he balked at what he said were later demands for $1 million for each survivor and a $50 million for the fund, although the survivors’ lawyers disputed his claims.
“There was never a non-negotiable demand for $50 million dollars,” the lawyers said. “The non-negotiable issues were that the fund would provide direct financial support to survivors and descendants and that the fund would be administered by descendants and North Tulsa community members, and the fund be held in a Black bank.”
Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said the city has been working with Oklahoma and federal officials to make sure “people who want to participate in activities and mourn this event, the worst event in our city’s history, feel comfortable being in public doing that with different groups coming to town.”
“It’s the classic case of hope for the best and prepare for the worst,” said Bynum, who reopened the search for mass graves from the massacre.
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Somali Journalists Launch ‘Disinformation Lab’ to Combat Spread of Fake News
The Federation of Somali Journalists has launched a campaign to combat the spread of false information, fake news, hate speech and propaganda. The federation says Somalia is already seeing a huge spike in social media misinformation campaigns ahead of elections expected before the end of July.The country’s chronic internal conflict and political instability has made Somalia a fertile ground for the spread of misinformation. The growing number of young Somalis who connect and share news on social media platforms has become a prime target for this tide of fake news.One example is a news headline that said the Somali Parliament wanted to oust the prime minister after he objected to a term extension for President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo. It later turned out to be fake news.Somalia Leaders Agree to Hold Election Within 60 DaysThe agreement was signed by Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble and the leaders of five regional statesTo curb the growing challenge for media workers in the country, the Federation of Somali Journalists has launched what it calls a Disinformation Lab to combat the spread of lies, myths and distortions ahead of upcoming elections.The lead researcher and director of the lab, Mohamed Abdimalik, says they will give journalists the necessary skills and knowledge to detect fake news during polls.“The lab’s researchers will support journalists with digital tools, training and other resources to detect, analyze and flag false election-related news in real-time fashion,” Abdimalik said. “In a fragile environment where trust is so low, safeguarding the election process from fake news is as crucial as saving the country from descending into civil war again.”Journalists, key bloggers and social media influencers in Somalia say there is a need for extra caution during the presidential and parliamentary election process.”As journalists, bloggers and social media influencers, we have extra responsibility, especially during elections, to inform the public about the crucial process,” said Hassan Osman Istiila, a journalist in Somalia. “Thus, we need to be very careful not to run news that (is) not verified, because it will be irresponsible. Better late news than fake news.”The Somali government, which has a poor record when it comes to press freedom in the country, says it will play its part in reducing fake news during the polls by giving access to journalists in the voting centers so they can get firsthand information.Abdirahim Isse Adow, who is the director of media training at the Ministry of Information, says the ministry will also boost awareness campaigns about fake news through state media and in collaboration with civil society groups and religious leaders.Meanwhile, Somali political leaders have appealed to the media to perform their duties professionally and responsibly as the Horn of Africa nation gears up for what promises to be a competitive presidential election.
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Testimony Concludes on Alleged Atrocities Under Gambian Ex-Dictator Jammeh’s Rule
Gambia’s truth commission has wrapped up more than two years of public hearings into alleged human rights violations committed during the 22-year rule of former dictator Yahya Jammeh.
A steady parade of witnesses concluded their testimony Friday, delivering accounts of arbitrary arrests, torture, corruption and summary executions, in some cases with the victims’ bodies fed to crocodiles.
Jammeh took power in a 1994 military coup, controlling the tiny West African nation until losing the presidency to Adama Barrow in a December 2016 election. Jammeh, now 56, fled with his wife into exile in Equatorial Guinea.
Barrow’s government set up the independent Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission, which began the hearings in January 2019 and heard from 392 witnesses. The commission is expected to submit a report to the president in July. Barrow then will have six months to implement the commission’s recommendations.
“The testimonies heard during the 871 days of public hearings brought pain and bewilderment,” said Lamin Sise, the commission’s chairman.
Arbitrary arrests, unlawful detention and killings, torture, enforced disappearances and sexual violence allegedly committed by Jammeh and accomplices “achieved the desired effect of instilling fear among the Gambian population,” Sise said. “It also gave them time and space to pillage the country’s resources.”
Commissioners visited a crocodile pond that Jammeh ran in his native village of Kanila. They were presented with evidence that the animals were fed people, including babies, who were killed for ritual purposes.
The commission also investigated abuses including the 2005 slaughter of roughly 50 African migrants. Lead counsel Essa Faal said that, based on testimony and other evidence, he calculated that 214 people died at the hands of Jammeh and his accomplices.
Soldiers accused of coup attempts under Jammeh’s rule were summarily executed, student protesters were massacred, and journalists were killed or exiled, said those offering testimony, which included some perpetrators.
Human Rights Watch noted, in a May 24 report, that three of Jammeh’s alleged accomplices “already have been detained and are facing trial abroad under the legal principle of universal jurisdiction.”
It said Michael Sang Correa faces trial in the United States and Bai L. in Germany, where suspects’ full names are not disclosed because of privacy rules. Both were members of Jammeh’s elite guard, called the “junglers.” Ousman Sonko, the former interior minister, faces trial in Switzerland.
The truth commission cannot convict, but it could recommend criminal charges against Jammeh and others, according to Agence France-Presse. The commission is expected to recommend steps for accountability, with proposals focusing “on the possibility of a “hybrid” court with Gambian and international staff operating within the Gambian judicial system,” Human Rights Watch said.
Faal said if Jammeh is not prosecuted in Gambia, he could be held to account elsewhere, including in the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
This report originated in VOA’s English to Africa Service.
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