While people in South Sudan have enjoyed independence for the past 10 years, one longstanding problem – food insecurity – still hangs over the world’s newest nation despite vast areas of arable land.A World Food Program report published in June said 60% of South Sudan’s population – 7.2 million people – faced food insecurity in the second quarter of 2021. And the nation remains dependent on other countries for 80% of its food supply, according to South Sudan Chamber of Commerce Chairperson Laku Lukang.“Most of the food items such as tomatoes and cabbage come from Uganda. Since independence we don’t have factories and industries for producing cooking oil, sugar,” Lukang told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus. He added, Many people think oil is the only source of money but instead we need to use the oil money to buy tractors and produce enough food and also export (farm products).Diverting oil profits to support agriculture is also a priority of James Boboya, a policy analyst with the Juba-based Institute for Policy and Research.“The way to go,” he said, “is for the government of South Sudan to tarmac the road to agriculture producing areas such as Yei, Yambio, and Eastern Equatoria so that farmers can bring produce to market.”However, inter-communal clashes, competition among different groups over farmland and water, and floods make it difficult for South Sudan to produce enough food to meet its needs.FILE – Two-year-old Akon Morro, who is anemic and suffers from edema due to malnutrition, sits on the floor of a feeding center in Al Sabah Children’s Hospital in the capital Juba, South Sudan, Dec. 3, 2020.That point is underscored by 43-year-old subsistence farmer and widow Rose Nyoka. “When we go to the bush to farm, we are arrested and chased out,” she told South Sudan in Focus. “What we want is let the government open its eyes on us, the farmers, because we are depending on our farming for our livelihoods and now if we don’t cultivate, we are forced to buy food items from outside the country.”Another significant factor in South Sudan’s food insecurity is the 2013 to 2018 conflict between South Sudanese political forces and its continued fallout.“We have virgin land with productive soil and the products brought from Uganda can be produced here at a cheaper cost but the war stopped this,” said Faustine Amba, Yei-based NGO Mugwo Development Organization program manager.Amba said the lack of agricultural production denies the government much-needed internal tax revenue. “The government needs money through taxes from the people but if the common men are poor and hungry, the government can also be poor and hungry in terms of resources,” he said.A farmer in South Sudan’s Yei River County, Felix Dara, said the food insecurity problem and the agricultural sector are not getting enough attention and help from the government.He said officials need to prioritize the building of roads and storage facilities, and also help farmers obtain modern equipment and machinery.“Our farmers are not supported and that is a reality,” he said. “We cannot talk about food security when we are using ordinary hoes. How can we do massive production when the government has not set funds to stimulate food production?”A local NGO, the Mission to Alleviate Suffering in South Sudan, said it distributed tools and seeds to more than 100,000 small farmers in the nation’s Central Equatoria and Northern Bahr el Ghazal states.But, the NGO’s executive director, Dara Elisa, said despite those efforts, food insecurity still looms over many in the nation.South Sudan’s minister of agriculture and food security, Josephine Lagu, said the key to improving food security is the full implementation of South Sudan’s revitalized peace agreement. Easing conflict, she says, will enable more money to be diverted from security to agriculture.She said more funding is needed to spur production in areas such as Aweil of Northern Bah eel Ghazal state, Nzara of Western Equatoria state, and Terekeka of Central Equatoria state – areas which traditionally supplied rice, maize, and sugarcane.Lagu notes that the government in Juba is working with the World Bank and other international financial institutions to expand the nation’s agricultural production, which she says should be a focus of a wide range of society.“It’s indeed important as a country,” she said, “to invest in agriculture – we want farmers, families, organized forces, and churches to get involved in food production so we can stop importing food.”Ten years into independence, South Sudan remains hungry. Now, many observers say, the nation must focus on agricultural development so its people can build other sectors of its economy. But first comes food, and for now, that’s not always certain.
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Month: July 2021
Greece Still Hopes to Halt German Submarine Deal with Turkey
The Greeks are redoubling a monthslong diplomatic effort to persuade Germany to stop selling submarines to Turkey, saying that the planned sale of a half dozen subs will shift the balance of naval power in the eastern Mediterranean.Greece and Turkey have been locked in a quarrel about the territorial status of Mediterranean real estate and waters — and more important, the oil and gas reserves beneath them. The energy potential of the eastern Mediterranean has raised the stakes and drawn in neighboring powers.Turkey has said it will keep up energy exploration in the contested eastern Mediterranean waters, where last August a pair of Greek and Turkish frigates collided during a volatile naval standoff, bringing the two NATO members near to a military clash.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday, during a tour of Turkey’s northwestern Black Sea province of Sakarya: “Whatever our rights are, we will take them one way or another. And we will carry out our oil exploration operations in the eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus, and all those seas.”The first of six German-designed submarines destined for Turkey was floated from its dock earlier this year and is scheduled to join the Turkish fleet next year. Five other Reis-class subs are to follow over the next few years in a deal worth around $4 billion.Greece asked the European Union last month to impose an arms embargo on Turkey, but Germany, Spain and Italy rebuffed the request.’Proactive’ foreign policy“Greece is entangled in the remarkably swift geopolitical changes in the eastern Mediterranean,” according to Vassilis Ntousas, a senior international relations policy adviser at the Foundation for European Progressive Studies, a think tank in Brussels.“Athens has responded to the region’s explosive mix of competing maritime interests, energy claims and military exercises by pursuing an increasingly proactive foreign policy,” he added. In a paper published last week he said, “Greece has reached out to [EU] member states that traditionally take a more conciliatory approach to Turkey – such as Spain, Italy and Malta.”Naval tensions have subsided recently in the eastern Mediterranean, where Greece and Turkey are also in a long-standing dispute over the status of Cyprus, following several rounds of face-to-face talks between the Turkish and Greek foreign ministers. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Erdogan also met on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Brussels in June with both committing not to hold naval exercises the next few months.Greece Warns Turkey it Will Push for Sanctions if Tensions PersistThe two age-old foes and NATO allies exchange barbs ahead of a key summitKathimerini, the Greek daily newspaper published in Athens, said Erdogan “appeared eager not to stoke tension,” adding, “A calm tourist season is as important for Turkey as it is for Greece. On top of that, Erdogan wants to smooth relations with the European Union and the U.S.”Erdogan has irritated NATO allies by buying Russian surface-to-air missiles and intervening in Syria and Libya.But behind the scenes both Greece and Turkey have been maneuvering to strengthen their diplomatic positions — as well as their militaries. “Turkey’s president is trying to sound more helpful to the West. But his broader policy objectives have not changed,” according to Dimitar Bechev, author of a forthcoming book on Erdogan.’Charm offensive’He said Erdogan has been engaged in “a charm offensive over several months” aimed at rekindling his relations with the West and the Biden administration. The Turkish president met the U.S. leader last month.”The overtures towards Biden are broadly in line with Erdogan’s wish to ‘have his cake and eat it.’ That is, he wants to retain reasonably good relations with the U.S., despite the toxic anti-Americanism pervading Turkish media and the public at large, and to cling on to NATO, while at the same time teaming up with Russia on issues where their interests coincide,” he added in a commentary for the Royal United Services Institute, a British defense think tank.And Turkey, NATO’s second-largest military, has been on a buying spree — as has Greece.Greece announced in December that it was doubling its annual defense spending to $6.6 billion, and it signed a $3 billion deal in January with France to buy 18 Rafale warplanes, 12 of them used.Turkey is awaiting completion of a light aircraft carrier designed by Spain.The German-designed submarines are equipped with air-independent propulsion, or AIP, allowing them to go without the air supply normally needed by diesel engines. They can stay underwater for three weeks with little noise emission. Naval experts say they are well-suited for the shallow waters of the eastern Mediterranean and could be armed with medium-range anti-ship missiles.Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias expressed his profound disappointment last month when Germany’s ruling coalition blocked efforts in the German parliament by opposition lawmakers to stop the submarine sales. “Both Prime Minister Mitsotakis and I have numerous times spoken to almost everyone in Germany about the necessity to keep the balance in the Aegean,” Dendias told reporters. He warned that the submarine deal risked shifting the balance in the Aegean Sea in favor of Ankara.
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Uganda Loses 37 Health Workers to COVID-19
Uganda saw an increase in deaths among health care workers last month just as COVID-19 cases increased. Sixteen doctors died of the disease, while others are in intensive care. Uganda Medical Association believes more than 100 health workers have died in the country because of the coronavirus pandemic since March of last year.Dr. Mukuzi Muhereza, the association’s secretary general, said that number rose sharply last month.“The biggest bit was the last two weeks when we lost 16. Some people are in intensive care and we are holding our fingers. And 14 were active clinicians and most likely got it from the hospitals.” The death of 16 doctors coincides with a general rise in COVID-19 cases last month before the country instituted lockdown restrictions.On July 5, Uganda registered 425 new cases, bringing the cumulative number to 84,979. More than 2,000 Ugandans have died of COVID-19.According to investigations by the Ministry of Health, a total of 37 doctors have died of COVID during the pandemic. It says they all had underlying health conditions like diabetes and hypertension, or had not been vaccinated, or were of advanced age.However, Ministry of Health spokesman Emmanuel Ainebyoona acknowledges that doctors and other health care workers in hospitals face elevated risks due to lack of protective gear and medical gloves.He also said the government has been slow to give workers in COVID-19 units their extra pay for enduring risky conditions.“Yes, there might always be delays. But these delays are sometimes not within our controls because they are based on availability of resources. But, we are doing our best as government. That’s why the Director General gave a guidance on double masking. And also, we commit to ensuring health workers always have what to use in the COVID treatment units and our health facilities,” he said. Last week, the head of the ministry’s medical supplies agency, Dr. Moses Kamabare, said the increased number of infections has temporarily overwhelmed the ministry’s ability to deliver personal protective equipment to all hospitals that need it.Kamabare said expanded deliveries will begin next week.
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White House Suggests Reconsidering Marijuana Rules for Athletes
The White House suggested Wednesday that officials should consider changing marijuana use rules after American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson had been banned from representing the United States in the Summer Olympics.
The 21-year-old athlete had dominated the 100-meter trials but later accepted a one-month suspension from competing after testing positive for marijuana use.
The ban has drawn widespread criticism, with many Black activists in particular noting that marijuana is not a performance-enhancing drug and that the policy has disproportionately affected Black athletes.
“We know the rules are where they are. Maybe we should take another look at them,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told CNN Wednesday.
“We certainly have to respect the role of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and the U.S. Olympic Committee and the decisions they make,” she said.
“But it is sad, and we do wish her luck and look forward to seeing her running, running as the fastest woman in the world, and for years to come.”
USA Track & Field on Tuesday declined to select her for the U.S. relay team, which will compete in Tokyo a few days after her suspension is set to expire.
USATF has said that it is sympathetic to Richardson’s “extenuating circumstances” but that it is beholden to rules set by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
“So while our heartfelt understanding lies with Sha’Carri, we must also maintain fairness for all of the athletes who attempted to realize their dreams by securing a place on the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team,” a USATF statement read.
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Collapsed Florida Condo Death Toll Reaches 46
Search crews at the site of the Florida condominium collapse pulled another 10 bodies from the rubble on Wednesday, increasing the official death toll to 46, although another 99 people remain unaccounted for. No survivors have been found since the earliest hours after half of the building inexplicably tumbled to the ground early on June 24. The other half of the building was imploded last Sunday, giving searchers new pathways to look for victims and recover bodies they had previously been unable to access for fear the structure would topple on them. Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah says 32 of the victims have been identified. Rescue workers are seen after the managed demolition of the partially collapsed complex in Surfside, Florida, July 6, 2021.The search crews in South Florida were expected to get a break from hazardous weather conditions Wednesday as Tropical Storm Elsa tracked up the western shores of Florida, away from the condo collapse in the Surfside community on the eastern coast of the state. The search had to be halted for about two hours Tuesday due to lightning and high wind gusts from the storm. Workers are continuing to go through the pile of rubble, a process officials called delayering, as they search for people and any evidence to help explain why the 12-story building partially collapsed without warning. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Alan Cominsky said Tuesday that 112 metric tons of debris had been removed from the site. Police are cataloguing and storing the material in a secure location in order to aid with their ongoing investigation into what happened. Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett has pledged that the search operation will go on “until everybody is pulled out of that site.” He praised the search crews for their work amid dangerous conditions. “They truly have performed way above and beyond the call of duty,” Burkett told reporters. This report includes information from the Associated Press and Reuters.
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UN Official Says Myanmar at Risk of Civil War as Despair Rises
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet warns Myanmar could plunge into war as despair among the civilian population rises in the wake of the military coup in February. Bachelet’s report is being discussed as part of a special interactive dialogue on Myanmar at the U.N. Human Rights Council.
More than five months have passed since Myanmar’s military leaders derailed the country’s fragile democracy. Bachelet says what began as a coup by the Myanmar military has rapidly morphed into an attack against the civilian population.
She says nearly 900 people have been killed and some 200,000 forced to flee from increasingly violent military raids on neighborhoods and villages. She warns the widespread and systematic assaults against civilians risk sparking a broader civil war. She says despair is rising.FILE – United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet looks on after delivering a speech on global human rights developments during a session of the Human Rights Council, in Geneva, June 21, 2021.“Some people, in many parts of Myanmar, have taken up arms and formed self-protection groups. These newly formed armed opposition groups have launched attacks in several locations, to which the security forces have responded with disproportionate force. I am concerned that escalation in violence could have horrific consequences for civilians,” she said.
Bachelet noted the coup has exacerbated several long-running conflicts in Myanmar’s borderlands. She said fighting has resumed in Kachin, Kayin and northern Shan States. She added Chin and Kayah States, which have been largely peaceful in recent years, have taken up arms again.
The High Commissioner warned Myanmar’s political crisis has evolved into a multi-dimensional human rights catastrophe. This, she said, is causing inestimable suffering for the population and is devastating prospects for sustainable development.
Bachelet is calling on the international community to pressure the military to stop attacking its people and to return the country to democracy. She noted 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, known as ASEAN, drew up a possible road map for addressing the crisis in Myanmar when they met in late April.
“ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus is an important starting point for the way forward, but I urge swift action to advance this process before the human rights situation in the country deteriorates further. This should be reinforced by Security Council action. I urge all states to act immediately to give effect to the General Assembly’s call to prevent the flow of arms into Myanmar,” Bachelet said.
Myanmar is not participating in this debate because the United Nations Credentials Committee has not yet decided who is the legitimate government and should hold the U.N. seat. The choice is between the deposed democratically elected government or Myanmar’s ruling military junta, which seized power in a February 1 coup d’etat.
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Hundreds of Women and Girls Brutalized by Soldiers in Tigray War
Hundreds of women and girls in Ethiopia’s Tigray region have reported brutal rapes at the hands of soldiers in a war that is still ongoing, despite last week’s government troop withdrawal. As VOA’s Heather Murdock reports from Mekelle, the rape victims who come forward say they are only a small percentage of the women and girls who have been brutalizedCamera: Yan Boechat, Producer: Marcus Harton
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Forced Labor Rising in Malaysia’s Rubber Glove Factories, Study Shows
The increased demand for rubber gloves amid the global coronavirus pandemic has worsened conditions for migrant workers in Malaysian factories that provide much of the world’s supply of the protective wear, according to a new study by British researchers. Drawing heavily on migrant workers from lower-income Asian countries, Malaysia churns out roughly two-thirds of the disposable rubber gloves sold worldwide, including to Britain’s National Health Service. Factories have seen demand soar over the past year and a half, earning their owners record profits. Malaysia’s glove factories have been plagued by reports of abusive working conditions for years, with grueling hours for minimum wage, cramped and dingy dorms and gruesome injuries. The research by the U.K.-based Modern Slavery & Human Rights Policy & Evidence Center, pulled from surveys with some 1,500 workers, says the pandemic has made conditions worse. Its findings were revealed in a report titled, FILE – The exterior of a workers’ hostel for Top Glove, the world’s largest glove maker, is seen through barricade amid the COVID-19 outbreak in Meru, Selangor state, Malaysia, Nov. 24, 2020.”This is a sector where labor issues, forced labor is endemic. It’s entrenched, it’s longstanding, and the pandemic has seen some of those indicators worsen, in part because of the health and safety issues connected to COVID-19 and in part because of the pressures placed on production by the increased global demand for gloves,” said Newcastle University professor Alex Hughes, who led the British research. Toil and trouble Workers told the research team that the combination of mounting orders and fewer employees, owing to international travel restrictions that made it tougher for factories to fill vacancies, piled pressure on them to work harder, faster and longer. The pandemic also made already congested conditions in the workers’ dormitories, some cramming in 30 or more people to a room, all the more dangerous. Those close quarters were the breeding ground for a spike in COVID-19 cases late last year and for Malaysia’s worst wave of infections up to that point. “The fact that you’ve got workers, and actually a significant proportion of workers, not able to take their days off, I think that is a massive issue,” said Hughes. “The congested accommodation is another one — congested accommodation anyway, but under a pandemic situation is hugely problematic.” FILE – A worker inspects disposable gloves at the Top Glove factory in Shah Alam on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, August 26, 2020.The Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association, which represents the country’s glove factory owners, declined VOA’s request for an interview for this story. Responding to the recent downgrade in the U.S. trafficking report, though, Malaysia’s human resources minister, Saravanan Murugan, said in a written statement on Monday the government was striving to improve working conditions for migrant workers. He said officials would be reviewing the fees charged by middlemen who find them the jobs and will finalize an action plan to tackle forced labor by year’s end. ‘I have no choice’ Prominent labor rights advocate Andy Hall, who keeps in regular contact with Malaysia’s migrant workers, agreed that the levels of forced labor in the country’s glove sector were on the rise overall, despite improvements at some factories. “We’ve seen so many of the workers in the industry during the COVID working every single day, so they’ve been working in excess of what’s allowed under Malaysian law and definitely what’s allowed under international standards,” he said. FILE – A worker collects rubber gloves at Top Glove’s factory in Klang, outside Kuala Lumpur, March 11, 2008.The ILO’s Hours of Work Convention recommends no more than 56 hours of work per week. Hall said most of the migrant workers in Malaysia’s glove factories are the main breadwinners for their families back home and often eager to work extra hours. But he added that those who do try to turn down a company’s call for overtime, either on top of a 12-hour shift or on an owed day off, can face consequences. “If you go and you say, ‘Look, I don’t want to do overtime today,’ the company will say, ‘Well fine, but we’re not going to give you overtime for the rest of the month. So, either you do it or you don’t do it, but if you don’t do it today then we won’t give you it [overtime] for the next month,'” said Hall. One assistant supervisor on an assembly line said turning down a call for overtime at his factory could get them fined, demoted or even fired. Speaking to VOA on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, the 27-year-old, from Bangladesh, said his company expects production line workers to take off no more than two days a month and will dock them about $25 for every day extra. As a supervisor, he could fare worse. “As a supervisor I have to go. If I don’t go, I could lose my job or my position as supervisor, so I have no choice,” he said. When the pandemic arrived in Malaysia early last year, he said the company also bumped its workers’ daily shifts up to 13 or 14 hours but brought them back down to the usual 12 toward the end of the year — but only after auditors showed up and told management to cut back. “It’s not by law, it’s not by contract; it’s their rules. They have more orders, so that’s why they do it,” he said.
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Massive Soil Mound on Slope Seen as Worsening Japan Mudslide
The mudslide that destroyed dozens of homes in a Japanese seaside resort, killing at least seven people, started from an area with a history of land alternations and a massive soil mound there broke off and amplified the damage, officials said Wednesday. They say, however, more investigation and analysis are needed to determine if the mound of soil was the primary cause of the disaster in Atami, where on Wednesday, hundreds of rescue workers and dogs cautiously searched for the missing inside homes destroyed and filled with mud. Twenty-seven people still could not be reached and were possibly hit by the mudslide Saturday, according to Shizuoka prefecture and Atami city officials. Determining the numbers was difficult because many Atami residences are second homes or vacation rentals. The mud exposed after the slide ripped into streets and homes was distinctively black, showing it contained large amounts of the abandoned soil from the area where land alterations had been made. The mound of soil was inadequately built and accounted for about half the volume of the preceding or subsequent landslide, Shizuoka prefecture vice governor Takashi Namba said after an initial rough assessment. “We can at least say that the severity of the disaster was amplified by the more than 50,000 tons of the soil mound that had been sitting there,” said Namba, a former land ministry bureaucrat and a civil engineer. He noted the area had other land alterations and development, including a solar power generation complex, deforestation, a land development for housing complex and apparently illegal industrial waste dumping. He said geological details suggest the solar complex and housing development were not the cause of the mudslide, though further examination is needed. The mound had been there since 2010 or even earlier and contained plastic and other waste, suggesting it was a waste dump rather than for development, Namba said. He also believes it was built poorly, without adequate drainage in a location rich with groundwater. Officials are also checking ownership changes related to the mound and other projects. An assessment is planned of other land developments around the country, land ministry officials said. The landslide occurred after days of heavy rain in Atami, which like many seaside towns in Japan is built into a steep hillside. The town has a registered population of 36,800 and is about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Tokyo. The disaster is an added challenge for Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga as authorities prepare for the Tokyo Olympics, starting in about two weeks. Japan is still struggling with the coronavirus pandemic. Early July, near the end of Japan’s rainy season, is often a time of deadly floods and mudslides, and many experts say the rains are worsening due to climate change.
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Sydney to Remain in Coronavirus Lockdown for a Third Week
Officials in Australia’s New South Wales state have ordered a week-long extension of Sydney’s strict coronavirus lockdown as the city of five million residents struggles to contain an growing outbreak of the delta variant of COVID-19.The latest lockdown was imposed on June 26 after a Sydney airport limousine driver who had been transporting international air crews tested positive for the variant. More than 300 people have since been infected.The outbreak has grown to more than 300 people, including 27 new cases reported Wednesday.“This delta strain is a game-changer,” New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney. “We don’t want to be in a situation where we are constantly having to move between lockdown, no lockdown, lockdown, no lockdown.”Australia has been largely successful in containing the spread of COVID-19 due to aggressive lockdown efforts, posting just 30,861 total confirmed cases and 910 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. But it has proved vulnerable to fresh outbreaks due to a slow rollout of its vaccination campaign and confusing requirements involving the two-shot AstraZeneca vaccine, which is the dominant vaccine in its stockpile.The new extension for Sydney is set to expire July 16.South Korea is also undergoing a new wave of COVID-19 infections, with authorities reporting 1,212 new cases on Wednesday, its highest one-day total since Christmas Day, when 1,240 new infections were reported. The 1,212 new cases, the majority from heavily populated Seoul, marks a huge jump from the previous three days, when more than 700 new cases were reported each of those days.Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said officials will maintain current social distancing rules in Seoul for another week, including a ban on private gatherings of five or more people.President Moon Jae-in has also ordered the military, police officers and other civil servants to take part in an extensive contact tracing effort.Health experts say a premature easing of social distancing guidelines, despite a steady increase in new cases, led the public to become complacent and lower its guard.South Korea and Israel reached an agreement for an even swap of COVID-19 vaccines as both countries seek to jump-start their vaccination campaigns.The deal calls for Israel to send 700,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to South Korea later this month, with South Korea sending back an equal amount of the Pfizer vaccine it has already ordered as soon as September.“This is a win-win deal,” Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a written statement Tuesday.As many countries ease pandemic restrictions amid rising vaccination rates, Bangladesh and Russia both broke one-day COVID-19 records.Moscow announced it would ease travel restrictions on Russians who had been vaccinated as it also reported over 700 deaths from COVID-19 — a one-day record for the country — on Tuesday.Some 140,000 Russians have died from the virus, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. But observers say the death toll is believed to be much higher.Bangladesh reported 11,525 positive cases Tuesday, the highest one-day case number since the beginning of the pandemic. The country also saw 163 deaths in the past 24 hours, the government reported.The country shares a border with India, where the more contagious and serious delta variant emerged. Health experts in Bangladesh believe infection and death numbers are likely higher.More than 184.6 million people have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic in late 2019, including 3.9 million fatalities, the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center figures. The United States has 33.7 million confirmed infections, followed by India with 30.6 million and Brazil with 18.8 million. The U.S. leads with 605,905 deaths, with Brazil second with 526,892 and India with 404,211.More than 3.2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered.This report includes information from the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Tropical Storm Elsa Dumps Heavy Rains on Florida’s Western Coast
Tropical Storm Elsa brought heavy rain to the U.S. state of Florida on Wednesday with forecasters expecting the center of the storm to make landfall along the state’s Gulf Coast and move inland during the day.The storm, which had briefly strengthened to hurricane status late Tuesday, weakened some overnight, with the U.S. National Hurricane Center saying it was once again at tropical storm strength and due to weaken further after landfall.Forecasters expect the center of Elsa to stay near the coast in the coming days as the storm moves north over the states of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia.Most areas along Florida’s Gulf Coast are expected to receive 7 to 15 centimeters of rain, along with the added flooding threat of storm surge. Tornado watches have also been issued.President Joe Biden has already approved a disaster declaration to help speed federal aid to those in Florida impacted by the storm.Elsa is the first storm to reach hurricane strength during this year’s Atlantic hurricane season.
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US Finalizes Ban on Belarus Travel Over Forced Landing
The Transportation Department issued a final order Tuesday that blocks most travel between the United States and Belarus, underscoring Washington’s concern about the recent forced landing of a passenger jet to arrest a dissident Belarussian journalist.The order, which was requested by the State Department, bars airlines from selling tickets for travel between the two countries, with exceptions only for humanitarian or national security reasons.The Transportation Department proposed the ban last week and said Tuesday that it received no objections. There are no direct passenger flights between the U.S. and Belarus.In May, Belarussian officials ordered a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius, Lithuania, to land in Minsk, where authorities removed journalist Raman Pratasevich from the plane and arrested him. Pratasevich faces a possible 15-year prison term.President Joe Biden has called the forced diversion an “outrageous incident” and joined others in calling for an international investigation.
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US Announces Vaccine Donations to Vietnam, Guatemala
The Biden administration announced shipments of millions of Moderna vaccine donations for Guatemala and Vietnam on Tuesday, after pledging to donate 4 million doses to Indonesia last week. But overall, the U.S. fell short of its target of sending 80 million doses to countries in need by the end of June. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report on the challenges facing the U.S. effort to help vaccinate the world.
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UN Alarmed at Eswatini Protest Violence
The U.N. voiced alarm on Tuesday at the eruption of deadly violence during protests in Eswatini, calling for an independent investigation into all alleged rights abuses, including by law enforcement. The U.N.’s rights office said there were claims that security forces had engaged in “disproportionate and unnecessary use of force” after being sent to quell protests that escalated last week. Spokeswoman Liz Throssell told reporters in Geneva there were claims police had used live ammunition, and she also highlighted reports of looting and vandalism by protesters. “Although the situation is now reported to be calm, we remain concerned at the potential for further unrest,” she said. The protests in the tiny landlocked southern African country, formerly known as Swaziland, first erupted in May following the death of a 25-year-old law student, allegedly while in police custody. But after protesters in Africa’s last absolute monarchy ramped up their campaign for political reform last week, the government deployed the army to disperse the crowds. Unverified videos have emerged of beatings by security forces. Local civil society and opposition groups have claimed several dozen were killed. In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for both sides to address their differences “through inclusive and meaningful dialogue.” Amnesty International accused the security forces of a “frontal attack on human rights” and alleged at least 20 people had been killed. The government said it has not received an official report of any deaths. Throssell urged security forces to minimize any use of force during protests. “We also call on the government to ensure that there are prompt, transparent, effective, independent and impartial investigations into all allegations of human rights violations,” she said.
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Egypt, Sudan Oppose Ethiopia Filling Nile Dam
Egypt and Sudan have rejected Ethiopia’s initiative to start without prior agreement the second phase of filling its controversial Nile dam, an operation that risks escalating tension ahead of a Security Council meeting Thursday. Egypt announced Monday evening that it had been informed by Addis Ababa of the start of the second phase of filling the dam, built by Ethiopia upstream of the Nile. And on Tuesday, Sudan said it received the same notification. But Ethiopia has not officially confirmed this operation on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which has long been the subject of conflict with Egypt and Sudan who fear for their water resources. An Ethiopian official only said on condition of anonymity that the operation would take place “in July and August” and that adding water was a natural process especially during the summer rainy season. Egypt “firmly rejects (this) unilateral measure,” Egyptian Irrigation Minister Abdel Aty said in a statement, denouncing “a violation of the law and international standards that regulate construction projects on shared basins of international rivers.” In Khartoum, the foreign ministry also denounced a “flagrant violation of international law” and described the Ethiopian initiative as “risk and imminent threat.” Draft resolutionTwo days before the Security Council meeting on this issue, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Choukri met his Sudanese counterpart Mariam al-Mahdi in New York. They expressed in a statement their “strict rejection” of the filling initiative and called on the Security Council to “support their position on a binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam.” The Security Council meets at the request of Tunisia, a non-permanent member of the Council and representative of the Arab world, on behalf of Egypt and Sudan. Ethiopia is opposed to this meeting but is expected to attend. Tunisia has given its 14 Security Council partners a draft resolution calling for an end to the filling of the reservoir, diplomatic sources learned on Tuesday. In this draft, obtained by AFP, the Security Council asks “Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to resume their negotiations (…) in order to finalize, within six months, the text of a binding agreement on the filling and management of the GERD.” The objective is to “guarantee Ethiopia’s capacity to produce hydroelectricity from GERD while avoiding inflicting significant damage to the water security of downstream states,” the text specifies. This text provides that the Security Council also demands “the three countries to refrain from any declaration or measure likely to jeopardize the negotiation process.” France, which chaired the Security Council in July, had previously considered that the capacity of the U.N. body to find a solution to the conflict was limited, this file being rather managed by the African Union. Uncompromising line?Ethiopia, which said it had operated the first phase of filling in the summer of 2020, had announced that it would proceed to the second phase in July, with or without an agreement. The dam is considered vital to meeting the energy needs of its 110 million people. The completion of the dam is also a political priority for the Ethiopian prime minister, after months of war in Tigray, says Costantinos Berhutesfa Costantinos, professor at the University of Addis Ababa. “It is a factor of unity for the Ethiopians in the midst of all these ethnic conflicts and it is therefore important for the country and its leaders to complete the dam on schedule,” he continues. Egypt lamented that the negotiations have been deadlocked since April and accused Ethiopia of having “taken an uncompromising line,” reducing the chances of reaching an agreement. Sudan hopes the dam will regulate its annual flooding but fears adverse effects without agreement. Egypt, which is 97% dependent on the river for its water supply, sees it as a threat to its resources. Costantinos believes that “on the contrary, it will have a positive impact because it will prevent flooding in Sudan and this water will be available to them. It will not be retained permanently.” The mega-dam, with a total capacity of 74 billion cubic meters of water, has been built since 2011 in northwestern Ethiopia, near the border with Sudan, on the Blue Nile, which joins the White Nile in Khartoum to form the Nile. With an announced electricity production capacity of nearly 6,500 megawatts, it could become the largest hydroelectric dam in Africa. The renewed tension created by the filling of the dam between Khartoum and Addis Ababa adds to other thorny issues that have poisoned relations between the two neighboring countries. The war in Tigray at the end of 2020 in northern Ethiopia prompted some 60,000 people to flee to Sudan, which was already in the throes of economic difficulties. And a decades-old border dispute, linked to Ethiopian farmers who had settled in Sudanese territory, remains potentially active.
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Blinken Meets Uyghurs, Seeks Advice on Handling China
Secretary of State Antony Blinken met virtually on Tuesday with Uyghur Muslims who were detained in camps in China’s Xinjiang region to hear about their experiences and seek advice on how best to pressure China to halt repression there. The State Department said Blinken wanted to hear directly from the seven former detainees, relatives of others and advocates about conditions that they and the Uyghur community more broadly face. “The secretary thought it important to meet with these individuals to hear firsthand their stories, to hear firsthand their impression of the ongoing atrocities in Xinjiang and the internment of a million Uyghurs,” department spokesperson Ned Price said. “Also, it’s an opportunity for these participants to offer any recommendations they may have.” FILE – Demonstrators hold a protest in front of the State Department to urge the U.S. and the international community to take action against China’s treatment of the Uyghur people, May 5, 2021.China has come under severe international criticism and sanctions for detaining more than 1 million Uyghurs and other minorities for political reeducation in Xinjiang. Price said the meeting showed continuity in American policy on the matter between the widely divergent Biden and Trump administrations. Both administrations have termed the campaign in Xinjiang a “genocide” and slapped sanctions on China for human rights abuses. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met several times with Uyghur ex-detainees during his tenure as America’s top diplomat. “America has spoken out very clearly and consistently about the abuses, about the atrocities, about the ongoing genocide that is taking place in Xinjiang,” Price said. “And, as we deem appropriate, I suspect we’ll be employing additional tools going forward to hold to account those officials responsible for what has taken place there.” Since the Trump administration, the U.S. has steadily ramped up pressure on China on a number of fronts, notably over repression in Xinjiang and a clampdown on political dissent and human rights in Hong Kong. Actions have included travel bans, financial sanctions and commercial restrictions on Chinese imports to the U.S.
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Dutch Crime Reporter De Vries Shot on Amsterdam Street, Police Say
Celebrity crime reporter Peter R. de Vries, known for his work in exposing the Dutch underworld, was shot and seriously wounded on a street in Amsterdam, police said Tuesday. “Peter R. de Vries was shot down in Lange Leidsedwarsstraat,” police said in a statement, referring to a street near one of the city’s largest public squares, where he had been in a television studio earlier in the evening. He was taken to a nearby hospital in “serious condition,” the police said, calling for eyewitnesses to come forward. Police had cordoned off the area as crowds gathered near the site where the incident took place. De Vries won an international Emmy Award in the current affairs category in 2008 for his work investigating the disappearance of teenager Natalee Holloway in Aruba in 2005. FILE – Dutch crime reporter Peter R. de Vries arrives for a live TV show in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Jan. 31, 2008.An alleged shooter was arrested shortly afterward, the newspaper Algemeen Dagblad reported, citing anonymous sources. Police said that they could neither confirm nor deny that report but that they expected to update the public later Tuesday evening. Prime Minister Mark Rutte was expected to make a statement after meeting with leading law enforcement officials in the wake of the shooting, news agency ANP reported. Dutch broadcaster RTL said that de Vries had just left its studio in downtown Amsterdam and that one of the shots hit him in the head. Amsterdam’s Parool newspaper published an image of the scene that showed several people gathered around a person lying on the ground. De Vries, 64, is a celebrity in the Netherlands, as both a frequent commentator on television crime programs and an expert crime reporter with sources in both law enforcement and the underworld. De Vries is known in the Netherlands for investigative work on countless cases, notably following the 1983 kidnapping of beer magnate Freddy Heineken. De Vries had been subjected to threats from the criminal underworld in connection with several cases. In 2013, Willem Holleeder, the Heineken kidnapper, was convicted of making threats against de Vries. Holleeder is currently serving a life sentence for his involvement in five murders. In 2019, Ridouan Taghi, currently on trial for murder and drug trafficking, took the unusual step of making a public statement denying reports that he had threatened to have de Vries killed. De Vries has been acting as a counselor, but not lawyer, to a state witness identified as Nabil B. testifying in the case against Taghi and his alleged associates. Nabil B.’s previous lawyer was shot and killed on an Amsterdam street in September 2019.
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Biden Warns Unvaccinated They Are Putting Communities at Risk
As 10 U.S. states see a spike in coronavirus cases, President Joe Biden warned on Tuesday that “millions of Americans are still unvaccinated and unprotected and, because of that, their communities are at risk.”In his latest broadcast appeal for people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, the president said the delta variant of the virus, which is more transmissible and potentially more dangerous, is already responsible for half of the cases in many parts of the country. The states of Kansas and Missouri, in particular, are reporting double-digit percentage surges in infections due to the delta variant.FILE – U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, left, speaks with workers at a pop-up COVID-19 vaccine clinic outside the Carpenters International Training Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, July 3, 2021.To respond to further outbreaks anticipated among the unvaccinated, Biden said the federal government is mobilizing COVID-19 surge response teams, staffed with experts from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other agencies. Those teams will help states with “particular problems [to] prevent, detect and respond to the spread of the delta variant among unvaccinated people in communities with low vaccination rates,” Biden said in a speech from the White House South Auditorium. “We can’t get complacent now,” the president warned. Vaccine skepticsShortly before Biden spoke, the leader of the opposition Republicans in the U.S. Senate, Mitch McConnell, said in Kentucky, where only about 43% of residents are fully inoculated, “there’s no good reason not to get vaccinated.” Targeting his remarks at vaccine skeptics, McConnell said while the vaccines do not guarantee one will not get infected from COVID-19 “it almost guarantees you don’t die from it if you get it.” FILE – John Rogers receives a second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in Taylorsville, Ky., June 17, 2021.Vaccine hesitancy, especially among Republicans, is blamed for the Biden administration falling short of its goal to have 70% of American adults at least partially inoculated against COVID-19 by July 4. Only 45% of Republican have received their first dose, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. Some minority groups are also lagging in getting vaccinated. The president on Tuesday said that within a few days there will be “160 million fully vaccinated Americans, up from roughly 3 million when we took office five months ago.” According to the CDC, about 67% of Americans had received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 47% had received two doses just prior to the Independence Day holiday. There is a stark regional contrast in vaccination rates. In the Northeast, more than half of adults are fully vaccinated. By contrast, Southern states are performing poorly. In Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, 35% or less of adults have received full doses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If not in all parts of the United States, there is a desperate demand for those doses in other countries. Donating vaccinesBiden’s administration on Tuesday announced shipments of Moderna vaccine doses to Guatemala and Vietnam after it fell short of its target of donating 80 million doses to the rest of the world by the end of June. All the doses have been allocated, but there have been logistical challenges, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said when asked on Tuesday about the shortfall. FILE – Health workers wait for their turn as Vietnam starts its official rollout of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for health workers, at Hai Duong Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Hai Duong province, Vietnam, March 8, 2021.”Sometimes we have to work through legal barriers, we have to work through regulatory barriers. There are issues as it relates to materials needed to distribute these vaccines. And there are also even transportation issues with refrigeration needed as well,” Psaki said during the daily White House briefing prior to the president’s remarks. “Countries need to be ready to receive them on the ground. And there is no past precedent for this. So, there are certainly lessons that we have learned,” she said. At a time when vaccine supplies are still limited, there is a need to “figure out what we have excess supply of and how quickly we can export those doses. And in many cases, they may be mRNA vaccines like Pfizer or Moderna, as opposed to the Johnson & Johnson, or even AstraZeneca, that we have some supply of in the U.S. even though it’s not authorized here yet,” said Dr. Krishna Udayakumar, director of the Global Health Innovation Center at Duke University. “There’s a huge amount of country-level planning and country ownership that’s required for this to be successful.” The 80 million doses pledged by the United States out of the 1 billion promised by the Group of Seven nations will be inadequate for global demand. Only about 1% of the population in Africa has received any doses, according to the World Health Organization. “We have locked up in the United States and the G-7 and other EU countries the global supply of the very thing to end this pandemic,” said Tom Hart, acting chief executive officer of the ONE campaign, a group fighting extreme poverty and preventable disease. “We need 11 billion doses to reach global herd immunity,” Hart added.Patsy Widakuswara at the White House contributed to this report.
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Two of Three Children in South Sudan Face ‘Desperate’ Humanitarian Crisis: UNICEF
UNICEF says 4.5 million children in South Sudan face a humanitarian crisis and the organization needs more money to help.
The announcement comes on the 10th anniversary of the country’s independence.
The “hopes that independence would bring a new dawn for the country’s children have faded,” UNICEF said in a press release.
The group cites conflict, flooding, droughts and deepening economic woes for the problems, adding that a recent peace agreement has only “partially been implemented” and has not improved the situation for children.
UNICEF says it needs $180 million to help the most vulnerable children in South Sudan.
“If we, as a humanitarian community, do not receive sufficient funding, the reality for children and families is that no help will be coming,” said UNICEF South Sudan Representative Andrea Suley.
UNICEF says 8.3 million people in South Sudan need humanitarian support, which they say is even higher than during the 2013-2018 civil war.
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A Bittersweet Return to Normalcy for Some Istanbul Residents
With infection rates falling and vaccination numbers rising, Turkey has lifted nearly all COVID restrictions and is seeking a return to normalcy after several months of lockdown measures. Dorian Jones reports for VOA from Istanbul.
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Russia Battles New Surge in COVID Cases
Russian authorities say the country is facing a surge in new coronavirus infections. And, as Charles Maynes reports from Moscow, that has prompted a renewed effort to convince a skeptical public that the time to get vaccinated is now.Camera: Ricardo Marquina Video editor: Rob Raffaele
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Before COVID Vaccines, China Used Pandas to Aid Diplomatic Efforts
Long before China began using N95 masks and COVID-19 vaccines as part of its diplomatic efforts, it used pandas. The furry bears have been used by China to generate goodwill with other countries for more than 1,000 years.
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Tropical Storm Elsa Churns Toward Florida West Coast
The western coast of the U.S. state of Florida is bracing for the arrival Wednesday of Tropical Storm Elsa after dumping heavy rain on Cuba and pounding the Florida Keys.
Worsening weather conditions in southern Florida fueled by Elsa are hindering the search for survivors of the partial collapse of a residential building that workers fully demolished on Sunday.
The National Hurricane Center said late Tuesday morning that Elsa is expected to “move near or over portions of the west coast of Florida later today through tonight” before making landfall Wednesday morning “along the north Florida Gulf coast.”Tropical Storm Elsa, Back Over Water, Takes Aim at Florida In addition to damaging winds and heavy rains, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said the peninsula was in danger of life-threatening storm surges, flooding and isolated tornadoes
A hurricane watch was in effect late Tuesday morning along a 290 kilometer stretch of the Gulf Coast from Egmont Key in the Tampa Bay region to the Steinhatchee River, the NHC said.
Forecasters expect Elsa to slowly strengthen through Tuesday night and be at near-hurricane strength before making landfall in Florida, after which it is expected to weaken as it moves inland. Elsa had maximum sustained winds of 95 kilometers per hour late Tuesday morning.
Rainfall was expected Tuesday in the Florida Atlantic coast town of Surfside, where the residential building collapsed on June 24, killing at least 32 people. More than 100 others are still missing.
The NHC also warned that Elsa could bring life-threatening storm surges, flooding and isolated tornadoes.
“The combination of a storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline,” the NHC said.
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South Sudan’s Oil Industry Remains Dependent on Foreign Help
Ten years after becoming the world’s newest nation, South Sudan is struggling with how to advance, fund and staff a potentially lucrative oil sector that could provide a much-needed economic foothold in the impoverished country.
After South Sudan’s independence, most of what used to be Sudan’s largest oil fields became located in South Sudanese territory. The new nation has lacked the expertise and money, though, to keep much of the oil pumping, and it has become largely dependent on foreign help.
South Sudan ranks third in oil reserves in Sub-Saharan Africa with roughly 3.5 billion barrels produced annually. Still, 90% of the gas and oil reserves are untapped, and the government recently said it will begin a licensing bidding process to foreign investors to increase production and revenues.
Oil fields were destroyed during the civil war and industry figures show the sector went from producing 350,000 barrels per day to 150,000 barrels.
South Sudan has largely employed Chinese and Malaysian engineers to produce and export the country’s crude to Sudan, where it is processed and sent on to the international market.
The South Sudan government says it lost more than $4 billion to some 500 oil companies in unpaid taxes since 2011, and the government has enacted measures to recover the money.
South Sudan Petroleum Minister Kang Puot Chol insists his country’s reliance on foreign manpower is hindering South Sudan’s path toward full independence.
“Economic freedom is the most difficult,” Chol told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus. “I will be so happy to see the South Sudanization of the oil sector, and we cannot do it without manpower.”
When South Sudan took control of the oil fields a decade ago, only a few local engineers worked in them, said Awuou Daniel Chuang, South Sudan’s undersecretary for the petroleum ministry.
The government has worked steadily to increase employment of locals, he said.
“Over the years, we were able to accumulate knowledge and experience and today we have a good number of engineers, although most of them are fresh and have not enough experience,” Chuang said,
Chuang said there are enough South Sudanese engineers employed in the oil sector.
But a recent study by The Sudd Institute, a Juba-based independent research group, said a significant number of South Sudanese working for oil companies are not qualified for the jobs. FILE – A worker walks by an oil well at the Toma South oil field in Ruweng state, South Sudan, Aug. 25, 2018.“We don’t have a system that identifies people on the basis of competency,” said Nhial Tiitmamer, the institute’s director of environment and natural resources. “The data we have will show you somebody who is not supposed to work in that position doing that position.”
Only 26% of the national workforce employed in the oil and gas sector are engineers, geologists, and scientists, according to the institute study, leaving a wide gap between local and foreign expertise.
Some South Sudanese petroleum engineers complain that despite being qualified for jobs at oil rigs and oil exploration sites, they are not offered employment at production sites run by oil consortiums operating in the country.
John Mayom Akech, 34, who studied petroleum engineering at Uganda’s Makerere University, said he has applied for jobs in South Sudan’s oil industry for four years with no success.
“It is surprising that the most needed skills in the sector are being ignored and most of my colleagues are loitering in the streets as we talk,” he said.
Mayom said when he registered for petroleum-related courses at Makerere University, he was fairly confident that he would secure a well-paying job in oil-rich South Sudan after completing his studies.
But nepotism and tribalism dominate decisions on who gets hired in South Sudan, he said.
“In South Sudan there is this saying that it is not all about what you know,” he said. “So, it is very difficult if you have the qualification and you don’t have the connection.”
The government’s Chuang said companies often recruit people with whom they are familiar.
“If you have somebody who is working in the oil field or in the oil company, he may help you to get employed,” he said. “I think these things are there, nobody can deny them. But still, whenever recruitment is done, interviews are done, and the best are selected based on that.”
The Sudd Institutes’ Tiitmamer said authorities should stop giving preferential treatment in the oil sector and start hiring the most qualified personnel. He says the country would benefit if it could manage its oil and gas sector without foreign hands.
“It is costing us a lot of money to pay foreigners,” said Tiitmamer.
Chol Garang Reu, 33, is a South Sudanese chemical engineer, who works at the Crude Oil Central Processing Facility in El-Jebeleen near the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.
Reu is one of six South Sudanese citizens who received scholarships from the Malaysian oil company Petronas in 2011 to study several courses related to crude oil engineering at a Malaysian university. The scholarships were intended to help build the capacity of South Sudanese so that eventually a homegrown workforce can take over the production and export of South Sudan’s crude.
“We are ready and South Sudanese engineers are ready,” he said of leaving Sudan for his homeland.
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