Global pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions are just a fraction of what’s needed to prevent catastrophic global warming. That’s the warning from the United Nations, ahead of the critical COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow, Britain next week – where world leaders will try to agree on further action to combat global warming. Henry Ridgwell looks at what is at stake ahead of the meeting.
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Month: October 2021
UN: More Than 100,000 Somalis Displaced by Fighting in Central Galmudug Region
United Nations officials say more than 100,000 people are displaced in central Somalia following days of fighting between the government forces and a group opposing the region’s local administration.
The clashes that began last week in Gurieel town in Somalia’s Galmudug federal state are reported to have killed at least 120 people, most of them soldiers or fighters.
The fighting is between government forces and their former ally, Islamist group Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama’a. Gurieel is the second largest town in Galmudug state and both sides want control of the town ahead of parliamentary elections.
Speaking at a virtual conference Tuesday, James Swan, the U.N. representative in Somalia, called for an end to the fighting.
“We are concerned that this is a distraction from other critical priorities, namely the completion of the electoral process and a continuation of the fight against al-Shabab,” Swan said. “As a consequence, we would certainly welcome efforts by the parties to this conflict to pause on the ongoing hostilities and explore opportunities for talks or dialogue that might allow for peaceful resolution of the situation without further suffering of the people.”
Mohamed Ayoya, UNICEF’s country representative in Somalia, says the aid agencies are struggling to provide humanitarian assistance to the population in the area.
“Our assessment so far has shown that 20,000 households have been displaced and that’s more than 100,000 people,” he said. “The problem is that getting access to people with the service we can offer at the time is extremely complicated and difficult. So as we speak, we on the ground, we have partners trying to provide the services in terms of water and sanitation, hygiene but also food.”
The aid agencies said health centers have been damaged in the conflict, reducing people’s ability to access health care.
The U.N. also said a local humanitarian organization was targeted while doing their work, and one of its workers was killed.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said 7.7 million Somalis will be in need of assistance in 2022, as conflict, unpredictable weather patterns and diseases continue to disrupt people’s lives.
Delayed elections
In recent months, Somalia has been locked in political crisis due to delays in elections, caused by threats from al-Shabab militants and disagreements over the process.
Swan says the postponements contribute to the overall state of distress in the country.
“These delayed elections are occupying such a central place in the attention of the leadership of the country at this time that, unfortunately, it is causing other critical priorities to be deferred,” he said. “We can look across the board at the development agenda, additional work to be done in the security sector. We can look at longer-term state-building priorities around the constitution, around establishing the rule of law institutions, judicial institutions.”
In hopes of ending the Galmudug conflict, Somali opposition groups have urged the government to stop sending reinforcement troops to the town.
your ad hereUS Civil Rights Pioneer Seeks Expungement of ’55 Arrest Record
Months before Rosa Parks became the mother of the modern civil rights movement by refusing to move to the back of a segregated Alabama bus, Black teenager Claudette Colvin did the same. Convicted of assaulting a police officer while being arrested, she was placed on probation yet never received notice that she’d finished the term and was on safe ground legally.
Now 82 and slowed by age, Colvin is asking a judge to end the matter once and for all. She wants a court in Montgomery to wipe away a record that her lawyer said has cast a shadow over the life of a largely unsung hero of the civil rights era.
“I am an old woman now. Having my records expunged will mean something to my grandchildren and great grandchildren. And it will mean something for other Black children,” Colvin said in a sworn statement.
Her attorney, Phillip Ensler, said the statement will be filed Tuesday with legal documents to seal, destroy and erase records of her case.
Colvin left Alabama at age 20 and spent decades in New York, but relatives always worried what might happen when she returned for visits since no court official ever said she had finished probation, according to Ensler.
“Her family has lived with this tremendous fear ever since then,” he said. “For all the recognition of recent years and the attempts to tell her story, there wasn’t anything done to clear her record.”
Currently living in Birmingham before a move to stay with relatives in Texas, the octogenarian Colvin will make her request to a juvenile court judge oddly enough since that’s where she was judged delinquent and placed on what, for all practical purposes, amounted to a lifetime of probation, Ensler said.
The city bus system in Montgomery, like the rest of public life across the Deep South, was strictly divided along racial lines in the 1950s. Blacks had to use one water fountain while whites used another; the front of a bus was for white people; Black riders were required by law to move to the back.Parks, a 42-year-old seamstress and activist with the NAACP, gained worldwide fame after refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man on Dec. 1, 1955.
Her treatment led to the yearlong Montgomery Bus Boycott, which propelled the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. into the national limelight and often is considered the start of the modern civil rights movement.
A 15-year-old high school student at the time, Colvin got fed up and refused to move even before Parks.
A bus driver called police on March 2, 1955, to complain that two Black girls were sitting near two white girls and refused to move to the back of the bus. One of the Black girls moved when asked, a police report said, but Colvin refused.
The police report said Colvin put up a struggle as officers removed her from the bus, kicking and scratching an officer. She was initially convicted of violating the city’s segregation law, disorderly conduct and assaulting an officer, but she appealed and only the assault charge stuck.
The case was sent to juvenile court because of Colvin’s age, and records show a judge found her delinquent and placed her on probation “as a ward of the state pending good behavior.” And that’s where it ended, Ensler said, with Colvin never getting official word that she’d completed probation and her relatives assuming the worst — that police would arrest her for any reason they could.
Ensler said it’s “murky” as to whether Colvin is actually still on probation, but she never had any other arrests or legal scrapes. She even became a named plaintiff in the landmark lawsuit that outlawed racial segregation on Montgomery’s buses. Still, Colvin said, the trauma endured, particularly for relatives who constantly worried that police were out to get her.
“My conviction for standing up for my constitutional right terrorized my family and relatives who knew only that they were not to talk about my arrest and conviction because people in town knew me as ‘that girl from the bus,'” she said.
The chief court clerk in Montgomery County did not return a phone message about Colvin’s request, and Ensler said it was uncertain when a judge might rule.
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NYC Police Union Sues to Block COVID Vaccine Mandate
New York City’s largest police union filed a lawsuit Monday against Mayor Bill de Blasio’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccination order for all city employees.
The Police Benevolent Association, which represents about 24,000 rank-and-file officers, asked the state Supreme Court to block the mandate because it does not give officers the option of being tested weekly instead of being vaccinated.
The suit was filed in Staten Island, one of New York’s five boroughs, or autonomous districts, is home to many police officers and, according to The New York Times, has a vaccination rate that is short of the citywide average.
Mayor de Blasio issued an order last week that all of New York City’s 160,000 municipal employees show proof of having gotten at least one COVID-19 shot by Monday, November 1, or be placed on unpaid leave. At least 70% of New York City employees have already received at least one dose.
The city’s Law Department said the new mandates are “lawful and keep New Yorkers safe.”
“Every effort to stop the city’s vaccine mandates has failed in court, and we believe this suit by the PBA will meet the same fate,” a statement said.
Several hundred police officers, firefighters and other city employees marched across the iconic Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall Monday to protest the mayor’s vaccine mandate. Municipal employees in a handful of other U.S. cities and states have spoken out in opposition of vaccine mandates imposed by mayors and governors.
Some information for this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters.
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Protests Continue in Sudan after Military Seizes Power from Ruling Transitional Government
The United Nations Security Council is set to hold a closed-door meeting Tuesday to discuss the military overthrow of Sudan’s transitional government.
Demonstrators remained in the streets of Sudan’s capital Khartoum to protest Monday’s arrest of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and other officials of the ruling Sovereign Council.
Military chief General Abdel-Fattah Burhan declared a national emergency hours after the takeover and announced the end of the joint civilian-military council, which had run the country since August 2019, shortly after the ouster of longtime autocratic President Omar al-Bashir.
In a televised address, General Burhan said he dissolved the council and the government due to “political quarrels that were threatening the security of the country” and announced that a “new government of technocrats will soon be appointed.”
He pledged the military would turn over power to a civilian government in July 2023 when general elections will be held.
The Sudan Doctors Committee said at least four people were killed and at least 80 people injured on Monday when security forces opened fire on demonstrators in Khartoum.
Despite the violence, protesters were on the streets of Khartoum again Tuesday, condemning the coup and shouting “no to military rule.”
The U.S. Embassy in Sudan has warned Americans in the country to shelter in place.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the African Union, and the Arab League were among those expressing alarm and dismay Monday at the latest events in Sudan and called for the country to stay on a path toward civilian rule.
The White House said it was “alarmed” by the developments, while the U.S. State Department said it was suspending $700 million in financial assistance to the country.
A joint statement issued by the United States, Britain and Norway through the State Department condemned the coup and called on the security forces to immediately release all those people who are “unlawfully detained.”
“The actions of the military represent a betrayal of the revolution, the transition, and the legitimate requests of the Sudanese people for peace, justice and economic development,” the statement read.
Prime Minister Hamdok, an economist and diplomat who has worked for the U.N., was named the country’s transitional prime minister in August 2019. The transition won strong support from Western countries, including the United States, which removed Sudan from its state sponsors of terrorism list.
But Hamdok faced stiff resistance from elements of Sudan’s military. On September 21, forces still loyal to al-Bashir used tanks to block a key bridge and attempted to seize power. The coup was put down, and dozens of soldiers were arrested.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets last week to voice concern about the prospect of a return to military rule.
“This country is ours, and our government is civilian,” protesters chanted.
Some information in this report also came from the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence-France Presse.
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US National Security Advisor Met Representatives of Myanmar’s Shadow Gov’t
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met on Monday with representatives of Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG), set up by opponents of army rule, the White House said late on Monday.
In the virtual meeting, Sullivan reiterated continued U.S. support for the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar and discussed ongoing efforts to restore the country’s path to democracy with NUG representatives Duwa Lashi La and Zin Mar Aung, the White House said in a statement.
Sullivan expressed concern over the military’s violence and said, “the U.S. will continue to promote accountability for the coup”, according to the White House.
Protests and unrest have paralyzed Myanmar since the Feb. 1 coup, with the military accused of atrocities and excessive force against civilians. The junta blames the unrest on “terrorists” allied with the shadow government.
Recognizing Myanmar’s junta as the country’s government would not stop growing violence, the outgoing United Nations special envoy on Myanmar said earlier on Monday.
Sullivan expressed particular concern over the recent arrest of pro-democracy activist Ko Jimmy and noted the United States will continue to advocate for his release, according to the statement.
Sullivan and the NUG officials also discussed the COVID-19 pandemic in Myanmar and ongoing U.S. efforts to provide humanitarian assistance directly to the people of Myanmar, the statement added.
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Orthodox Patriarch Praises Biden After Meeting
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians, resumed a busy American visit Monday after an overnight hospital stay, meeting with President Joe Biden after earlier meetings with the Turkish ambassador and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
He said at the White House later Monday that he was abundantly satisfied with his visit, praising Biden as a “man of faith, and man of vision.”
“We cannot allow any short-sighted political agendas to interfere with our relationships, that are through, and in, Christ Jesus, the Lord and Savior of the world.” he said.
While Bartholomew’s visit was expected to draw attention to the plight of the small Orthodox Christian minority in his homeland of Turkey, he took a diplomatic tone at an earlier breakfast meeting hosted by Turkish Ambassador Hasan Murat Mercan, according to remarks released by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.
Bartholomew said his mission as patriarch “is purely spiritual and demonstrates how Turkey can be – not only an inclusive society, but a bridge-builder between East and West.” He called the ambassador’s welcome an example of mutual “dialogue and respect.”
The remarks did not refer to ongoing sore points such as the Turkish government’s closure of an Orthodox seminary on the Turkish island of Halki 50 years ago.
Blinken, however, “reaffirmed that the reopening of the Halki Seminary remains a continued priority” according to State Department spokesperson Ned Price’s summary of their meeting later Monday.
“They discussed the U.S. commitment to supporting religious freedom around the world and opportunities to work with the Orthodox Christian community worldwide on issues of shared concern, as well as with religious minorities in Turkey and the region,” Price said.
Blinken also praised the “remarkable leadership” Bartholomew, sometimes known as the “green patriarch,” has shown in calling for solutions to the climate crisis.
Bartholomew also said Monday he’d join with Pope Francis and the leaders of other major religions around the world to call on the global community to facilitate COVID-19 vaccinations for the world, especially for poor countries.
Bartholomew, 81, was released from a Washington hospital Monday morning after an overnight stay early in his 12-day visit to the United States. He was brought to George Washington University Hospital on Sunday night after he felt “unwell” due to the long flight on Saturday and the busy schedule of events, according to the Greek Orthodox archdiocese. The hospitalization was recommended by his doctor “out of an abundance of precaution,” the archdiocese said.
Bartholomew is the patriarch of Constantinople, based in Turkey. He is considered first among equals among Eastern Orthodox patriarchs, which gives him prominence but not the power of a Catholic pope. He does oversee Greek Orthodox and some other jurisdictions, although large portions of the Eastern Orthodox world are self-governing under their own patriarchs.
The patriarch “is feeling well and is ready to continue” his official visit Monday, according to a tweet from Archbishop Elpidophoros of the U.S. archdiocese, who was part of the delegation meeting with Biden today.
Bartholomew on Monday also gave a speech via videoconference for the Museum of the Bible in Washington, which he was originally scheduled to visit in person.
In the evening, he was scheduled to attend a dinner at Georgetown University hosted by its president, John DeGioia, and Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Washington, D.C.
On Thursday, he is scheduled to receive an honorary degree from the University of Notre Dame in an event highlighting efforts to improve Orthodox-Catholic ties, centuries after the two churches broke decisively in 1054 amid disputes over theology and papal claims of supremacy. And on Nov. 2, he is scheduled to preside at a door-opening ceremony at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine in New York City. The shrine replaces a church destroyed during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the adjacent World Trade Center.
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Uganda Police Investigate Bus Explosion That Killed 1 Person
Ugandan police are investigating an explosion on a long-distance bus that killed one person Monday, the second fatal blast in less than 48 hours in the East African country.
The bus was traveling from the capital, Kampala, to the western part of Uganda.
The cause of the blast was not immediately known. Police said in a statement they dispatched bomb experts to the scene in central Uganda.
Initially, police had said two people on the bus were killed but later said there had been one death, without explaining the revision. They made no mention of injuries, but the Red Cross, which sent ambulances, said at least one person was injured in the leg.
On Saturday, a bomb explosion at an eatery in a busy Kampala suburb killed one person. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for that attack.
The extremist group said in a statement late Sunday that it detonated an explosive device at the eatery allegedly “frequented by elements and spies” with Uganda’s government.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni described Saturday’s explosion as an apparent terrorist act.
Museveni said three people entered the eatery where pork is grilled and left a plastic bag with contents that later exploded. Police have not announced any arrests.
The British government updated its travel guidance for Uganda this month to say extremists “are very likely to try to carry out attacks.”
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Parts of Russia’s Space Agency Off Limits in New Security Order
Journalists who cover Russia’s space program say they may adopt a more cautious approach to their reporting after several aspects of Roscosmos were effectively declared off limits.
A Federal Security Service (FSB) order, which took effect October 11, lays out information that it says could be used to threaten national security if received by foreign organizations or citizens.
The order doesn’t directly mention news gathering and is not a blanket ban on coverage of Roscosmos, but in a digital age where reporting is shared online or via social media, journalists say they could risk being in violation of the order.
It is also a provision of Russia’s foreign agent law, which brings further implications for media.
Spanning 60 types of information, the FSB details content from military, intelligence and space programs that it says could be used to threaten security. At Roscosmos, those topics include financial details, project timelines and some of its space programs; information about plans and restructuring at the space agency; and details on new technologies and materials.
Roscosmos did not respond to a request for comment on how the new order could affect foreign and domestic reporting and referred VOA to the FSB.
The FSB did not respond to VOA’s request for comment.
Reporting restrictions
Independent journalists and media analysts describe the order as a “tightening of the screw” and say it will make it harder to report in a transparent and independent way on the space program.
Alexander Khokhlov, a space and science reporter who contributes to media outlets including TV Rain and Meduza, says the new measures may limit his coverage.
As a precautionary measure, Khokhlov said, he may have to focus only on news coming from Western agencies and companies.
“I rarely cover the topics listed in the FSB’s order; however, their formulation is rather broad. I will further refrain from writing and commenting on the Roscosmos’ activity,” said Khokhlov, who is also member of the Northwestern Federation of Cosmonautics of Russia.
“I might as well focus on covering SpaceX and its gradual progress toward building a colony on Mars,” Khokhlov said, referring to the private space program founded by U.S. entrepreneur Elon Musk.
Khokhlov, who has reported on Russia’s space missions and the rise of the private space sector in the U.S., said the regulations could limit what science journalists can cover.
Describing it as “yet another step toward the information vacuum in the field of cosmonautics in Russia” Khokhlov said, “The risks are already obvious for those trying to present an alternative point of view.”
He cited the large number of journalists labeled as foreign agents in the past year.
As of October 15, the Ministry of Justice website lists 32 news outlets and 56 journalists who fall under the designation of foreign agent, including independent networks that are part of the U.S. Agency for Global Media.
Those added to the Russian Justice Ministry list must label all content, including news reports and personal social media posts, as content produced by a foreign agent. Individuals have to send in detailed reports of their finances. Failure to comply can result in fines and possibly criminal charges.
“It is a heavy legal and financial load for those (journalists) with the possibility for fines and even felony charges,” Khokhlov said.
Russia amended its existing foreign agent law in 2017, in response to the U.S. ordering news groups funded by Moscow to register under the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Since then, Russia has used the designation against independent media, civil society organizations and even an election-monitoring group, in a move that critics say is aimed at punishing and discrediting critical and opposition voices.
Analyst Bach Avezdjanov, who until last year was a program officer for Columbia University’s Global Freedom of Expression program in New York, has been closely monitoring the impact of the law on the country’s independent press.
The FSB’s list “threatens further the already restricted information environment in Russia,” Avezdjanov told VOA.
“The Russian government does not hide its intent to arbitrarily designate anyone who collects, researches or reports for academic, journalistic or other purposes, information about Russia’s military and space program,” he said.
Avezdjanov said that regulations could be used to block reporting on allegations of corruption and mismanagement.
He cited an internal audit at the space agency that appeared to show corruption or mismanagement, which resulted in a loss of billions of rubles, and led to criminal cases.
But under paragraph 37 of the new FSB order, which bans information about financial or economic problems, such information “can no longer reach the eyes and ears of foreigners,” he said.
“In effect, the law built a new iron curtain around certain types of information,” Avezdjanov said.
This story originated in VOA’s Russian Service.
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Orthodox Patriarch Released from Hospital, Set to Meet Biden
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians, was released from a Washington hospital Monday morning after an overnight stay early in his 12-day visit to the United States.
Bartholomew, 81, was scheduled to meet with President Joe Biden later Monday at the White House, and also to meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The patriarch “is feeling well and is ready to continue” his official visit Monday, according to a tweet from Archbishop Elpidophoros of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.
Bartholomew is the patriarch of Constantinople, based in Turkey. He is considered first among equals among Eastern Orthodox patriarchs, which gives him prominence but not the power of a Catholic pope. He does directly oversee Greek Orthodox and some other jurisdictions, although large portions of the Eastern Orthodox world are self-governing under their own patriarchs.
Bartholomew was brought to George Washington University Hospital on Sunday night after he felt “unwell” due to the long flight here on Saturday and the busy schedule of events, according to the Greek Orthodox archdiocese. The hospitalization was recommended by his doctor “out of an abundance of precaution,” the archdiocese said.
Making the latest of several trips to the country during his 30 years in office, Bartholomew is expected to address concerns ranging from a pending restructuring of the American Greek Orthodox archdiocese to his church’s minority status in his homeland, Turkey. His schedule Monday includes a visit to the embassy of Turkey in Washington.
Also on Monday, Bartholomew is scheduled to give a speech via videoconference for the Museum of the Bible in Washington, according to the latest schedule released by the archdiocese. An earlier version of his schedule included an in-person visit.
In the evening, he is scheduled to attend a dinner at Georgetown University hosted by its president, John DeGioia, and Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Washington, D.C.
On Thursday, he is scheduled to receive an honorary degree from the University of Notre Dame in an event highlighting efforts to improve Orthodox-Catholic ties, centuries after the two churches broke decisively in 1054 amid disputes over theology and papal claims of supremacy. And on November 2, he is scheduled to preside at a door-opening ceremony at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine in New York City. The shrine replaces a church destroyed during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
your ad hereSudanese Protesters Take to Streets After General Declares State of Emergency
Sudanese protesters demonstrated into the night Monday after the military seized power in an apparent coup.
Security forces opened fire on protesters earlier Monday, killing three demonstrators, according to the Sudan Doctors Committee. The group said at least 80 people have been injured.
Sudan’s military chief, General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, declared a nationwide state of emergency Monday and announced the end of a joint civilian-military council that ran the country for the past two years.
The general made a televised address after military forces arrested Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and other officials of the Sovereign Council.
Burhan said he dissolved the council and the government due to “political quarrels that were threatening the security of the country” and announced that a “new government of technocrats will soon be appointed.”
Journalist Michael Atit, who is in the Sudanese capital, told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus that thousands of protesters flooded the streets of Khartoum following reports of Hamdok’s arrest. Atit reported hearing gunfire and seeing tires burned in the streets.
Atit said most telecommunications in Khartoum have shut down, including the internet and radio stations. Only a state-owned television station was on the air, broadcasting patriotic music.
U.N. Special Representative for Sudan, Volker Perthes, said the military “took control of Khartoum, closing the entrances and the bridges, and closing down the airport and also taking control of state TV.”
He briefed reporters in New York virtually from Khartoum, saying that as night fell in the city, he could see from his location barricades still burning and could hear occasional gunshots. He described the situation as “fluid.”
The events were a sharp turnaround from what many had hoped would be a transition toward a civilian-led, democratic government in Sudan, where former President Omar al-Bashir ruled with an iron fist during 30 years of rule that ended with his ouster by the military in April 2019.
“Those in support of a military takeover will argue that this is a ‘correcting’ of the path of the revolution, but I think many who have had their hearts set on a transfer of power to a full civilian rule will see this definitely as a setback,” said Isma’il Kushkush, an independent journalist and former East Africa reporter for The New York Times.
“I see this as a setback for the transition into a democracy,” Kushkush told VOA.
Hamdok, an economist and diplomat who has worked for the U.N., was named the country’s transitional prime minister in August 2019. The transition won strong support from Western countries, including the United States, which removed Sudan from its state sponsors of terrorism list.
But Hamdok faced stiff resistance from elements of Sudan’s military. On September 21, forces still loyal to al-Bashir used tanks to block a key bridge and attempted to seize power. The coup was put down, and dozens of soldiers were arrested.
U.S. embassy, AU Commission react
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the African Union, and the Arab League were among those expressing alarm and dismay Monday at the latest events in Sudan and called for the country to stay on a path toward civilian rule.
The White House said it was “alarmed” by the developments, while the U.S. State Department said it was suspending $700 million in financial assistance to the country.
“In light of these developments, the United States is pausing assistance from the $700 million in emergency assistance appropriations of economic support funds for Sudan,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.
“We reject the actions by the military and call for the immediate release of the prime minister and others who have been placed under house arrest. The actions today are in stark opposition to the will of the Sudanese people and their aspirations for peace, liberty and justice,” said principal deputy White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
The U.S. Embassy in Khartoum warned Americans in the city to shelter in place.
The U.N. Security Council is set to meet Tuesday to discuss the situation.
Last week, thousands of protesters took to the streets to voice concern about the prospect of a return to military rule.
“This country is ours, and our government is civilian,” protesters chanted.
‘Major blow’ to democracy in Sudan
The Sudanese Professionals Association, an organization made up of trade unions instrumental in organizing the protests, called on the public Monday to go out and occupy the streets to protect the transitional government.
“It is a major blow to the democratic experiment in Sudan,” said Cameron Hudson, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center, an expert on Sudan and a former White House Africa director.
The apparent coup comes a day after U.S. Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman concluded two days of meetings in Sudan to underscore U.S. support for Sudanese democracy.
Hudson said Feltman received assurances from military leaders that they were committed to the work of the transitional government.
“The U.S. has invested more diplomatically in Sudan than almost anywhere else in the world in trying to prove that countries can move from autocracy to democracy,” Hudson told VOA. “This is a setback to transitions in Chad, Mali and Guinea where the stakes are high, but which had not received nearly as much U.S. diplomatic attention as Sudan.”
Kushkush said there had been other attempts at military intervention leading up to the coup Monday. However, despite earlier coup attempts and support for a military takeover, Kushkush said, there were also thousands of Sudanese in several cities and throughout the diaspora voicing support of the democratization process.
“From Day One of [the ousting of] al-Bashir, the greatest fear that many Sudanese had was that the fate of the Sudanese revolution will be similar to that of the similar uprisings in the region and perhaps that the greatest fear is unfolding as we speak,” Kushkush said.
U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer, Michael Atit of VOA English to Africa’s South Sudan in Focus radio program, and Salem Solomon contributed to this report. Some information in this report also came from Agence-France Presse.
your ad hereSudan’s Apparent Coup Shakes Up Tenuous National and Regional Stability
Monday’s apparent military coup in Sudan crippled the nation’s leadership and could have sweeping regional implications, including inflaming already bitter disputes among Sudan’s neighbors, analysts say.
“I would say key in today’s considerations really are questions of the ongoing conflict between Egypt and Ethiopia and Sudan over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam,” said Jonas Horner, a senior analyst and Sudan expert at the International Crisis Group.
The longstanding dispute over Ethiopia’s hydroelectric dam stems from Ethiopia’s insistence on building and filling the dam to help alleviate poverty in the country, and Egypt and Sudan’s opposition to it, Horner said.
Egypt favors military rule in Sudan, while Ethiopia will likely back a civilian transition in hopes that the potential for improved relations will move the needle on the dam, Horner told VOA.
“Egypt is very keen to see a military dispensation in Sudan because they believe that they will take care of their interests best when it comes to representing Egyptian concerns over the dam,” Horner said.
The coup in Sudan could also affect Ethiopia’s ongoing crisis in the Tigray region, which is spreading and has seen a recent escalation. The Ethiopian government may have cause to worry if the Sudan military remains in power, Horner said.
“The concern is that the military, if it is indeed in the ascendancy and there is no mediation from civilians, that they will more robustly perhaps support the Tigrayans as they fight against the central government in Addis Ababa,” he said.
The United Nations and the African Union condemned the military takeover. The Norwegian Refugee Council issued a statement Monday appealing to Sudan’s rulers to protect civilians and keep commitments to allow humanitarian aid to reach millions of people affected by war.
Monday’s military takeover was triggered by a fear that the military was losing control over Sudan’s Sovereign Council as the deadline for transfer to civilian rule was approaching, analysts said.
Khartoum was in political and social chaos after Sudan’s military chief, Lieutenant General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, declared a state of emergency and dissolved the joint civilian-military council that has run the country for the past two years.
Protesters took to the streets, derisively chanting Burhan’s name and singing Sudan’s national anthem.
Medical sources say dozens of people have been injured in the protests, and at least seven people died in clashes with security forces in Khartoum amid an internet and telecommunications shutdown.
With Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and other officials of the ruling Sovereign Council in detention, the future of the nation’s leadership is in turmoil.
“I think the thing that the military was most fearful of losing (was) control of the Sovereignty Council — the executive authority in the country,” said Cameron Hudson, a senior fellow at the U.S.-based Atlantic Council’s Africa Center.
Internal pressure from hundreds of thousands of protesters who came out from different towns across Sudan in recent weeks demanding civilian rule made Sudan’s top military leader feel “under siege,” Hudson said.
“This is a reaction internally to release the pressure that they were feeling,” Hudson told VOA.
The coup seems to have the backing of the Sudan Armed Forces and a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces under General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, some analysts said.
But Hudson warned that the army might be divided on this.
“What we don’t know and what we should be fearful of is there are divisions within the military, especially in the younger ranks, the lower ranks of the military,” he said. “We should not be surprised if we see a counter coup of some kind of younger military officers who push back against what happened.”
The military takeover looks hurried and poorly planned, according to Hudson, and may have dangerous consequences, including street violence, which escalated Monday.
“It’s a very dangerous situation, because you have the military trying to assert its control, and now you have people taking to the streets in protest,” he said.
Sudan’s neighbors are watching closely, possibly fearing a spillover effect, Horner said.
“There are plenty of autocratic governments that are in Sudan’s immediate neighborhood and then even across the Red Sea and elsewhere, too, who will concern themselves with what inspiring effect a successful civilian transition might have to their own populations,” he said.
VOA’s Kathleen Dawson contributed to this report.
your ad hereInternational Community Condemns Apparent Military Coup in Sudan
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for the “immediate” release of Sudan’s detained leaders following an apparent military coup.
“There must be full respect for the constitutional charter to protect the hard-won political transition,” Guterres wrote on Twitter, referencing the landmark power-sharing agreement that Sudan’s military and civilian leaders signed in 2019 after months of deadly protests.
His remarks came as military forces Monday arrested Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and other officials. Lt. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan also declared a state of emergency and announced the dissolution of a joint civilian-military council, known as the Sovereign Council, that has run the country for the past two years.
In a lengthier statement issued through a spokesperson, U.N chief Guterres said, “Sudanese stakeholders must immediately return to dialogue, and engage in good faith to restore the constitutional order and Sudan’s transitional process.”
White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, speaking on Air Force One, said the United States is deeply alarmed at the reports of the military takeover.
“We reject the actions by the military and call for the immediate release of the prime minister and others who have been placed under house arrest. The actions today are in stark opposition to the will of the Sudanese people and their aspirations for peace, liberty and justice,” she said.
“The United States continues to strongly support the Sudanese people’s demand for a democratic transition in Sudan and will continue to evaluate how best to help the Sudanese people achieve this goal,” Jean-Pierre added.
The Sudanese Professionals Association, a group consisting of trade unions, called on the public Monday to occupy the streets to protect the transitional government. The association was instrumental in organizing protests that led to the 2019 deal.
Separately, the Arab League and Egypt echoed remarks calling for political agreements to be upheld, as did the African Union.
“The Chairperson calls for the immediate resumption of consultations between civilians and military … The Chairperson reaffirms that dialogue and consensus is the only relevant path to save the country and its democratic transition,” African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat said in a statement.
Detained Prime Minister Hamdok, an economist and diplomat who has worked for the U.N., was named the transitional prime minister in August 2019. The interim government took power following the ouster of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir, who was arrested during widespread street protests. The country is preparing for elections late next year and, under the constitution, Hamdok is forbidden from running.
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In Face of Hack Attacks, US State Department to Set Up Cyber Bureau
The U.S. State Department plans to establish a bureau of cyberspace and digital policy in the face of a growing hacking problem, specifically a surge of ransomware attacks on U.S. infrastructure.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price said a Senate-confirmed ambassador at large will lead the bureau.
Hackers have struck numerous U.S. companies this year.
One such attack on pipeline operator Colonial Pipeline led to temporary fuel supply shortages on the U.S. East Coast. Hackers also targeted an Iowa-based agricultural company, sparking fears of disruptions to Midwest grain harvesting.
Two weeks ago, the Treasury Department said suspected ransomware payments totaling $590 million were made in the first six months of this year. It put the cryptocurrency industry on alert about its role fighting ransomware attacks.
your ad here‘Unite the Right’ Rally’s Planners Accused in Civil Trial
The violence at the white nationalist “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville in 2017 shocked the nation, with people beaten to the ground, lighted torches thrown at counterdemonstrators and a self-proclaimed Hitler admirer ramming his car into a crowd, killing a woman and injuring dozens more.
The driver of that car is serving life in prison for murder and hate crimes. Now, more than four years later, a civil trial will determine whether the neo-Nazis and white supremacists who organized the demonstrations should be held accountable, as well.
Jury selection began Monday for the trial in U.S. District Court in Charlottesville, which is expected to last a month.
The lawsuit was funded by Integrity First for America, a nonprofit organization formed in response to the violence in Charlottesville with the goal of disarming the instigators of violence through litigation.
It accuses some of the country’s most well-known white nationalists of orchestrating a “meticulously planned conspiracy” to commit violence against Blacks, Jewish people and others based on race, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation. A firestorm erupted after then-President Donald Trump failed to strongly denounce the white nationalists, saying there were “very fine people on both sides.”
Hundreds of white nationalists descended on Charlottesville on August 11 and August 12, 2017, ostensibly to protest city plans to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
The nearly two dozen defendants include: Jason Kessler, the rally’s main organizer, who terms himself a “white civil rights” leader; Richard Spencer, who coined the term “alt-right” to describe a loosely connected band of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and others; and Christopher Cantwell, a white supremacist who became known as the “crying Nazi” for posting a tearful video when a warrant was issued for his arrest on assault charges for using pepper spray against counterdemonstrators.
The plaintiffs include four people who were hurt when James Alex Fields Jr. rammed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters.
The case is built on a vast collection of chat room exchanges, social media postings and other communications in which the defendants use racial epithets and discuss plans for the demonstrations, including what weapons to bring.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs are relying on a 150-year-old law passed after the Civil War to shield freed slaves from violence and protect their civil rights.
Commonly known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, the law contains a rarely used provision that allows private citizens to sue other citizens for civil rights violations. To win a judgment, the plaintiffs must prove the defendants conspired to commit racially motivated violence and planned it in advance — and that the plaintiffs were injured as a result.
“It’s the only case that really takes on the leadership and organization of the white supremacist movement,” said Karen Dunn, one of the lead attorneys in the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys say they’ve amassed 5.3 terabytes of digital communications by the defendants, including many on the online platform Discord initially leaked by Unicorn Riot, a left-leaning media collective.
The lawsuit alleges there were “countless exhortations to violence” on Discord, including one by a defendant who allegedly wrote, “I’m ready to crack skulls,” and another who wrote, “It’s going to get wild. Bring your boots.”
A third allegedly wrote, “There is rapidly approaching a time when in every white western city, corpses will be stacked in the streets as high as men can stack them.”
But the white nationalists named as defendants claim talk of weapons and combat was meant only in the event they had to defend themselves from counterprotesters. They argue their communications are protected by the First Amendment.
“You can say any nasty thing you want about any person or group you want and that is protected by the First Amendment. That is not me saying that, that’s the Supreme Court,” said W. Edward ReBrook IV, an attorney for Jeff Schoep, the former longtime leader of the neo-Nazi group the Nationalist Socialist Movement and one of the defendants.
Spencer, whom the Southern Poverty Law Center calls “a suit-and-tie version of the white supremacists of old,” joined fellow white nationalists at the University of Virginia on August 11. Participants carried tiki torches and marched to a statue of Thomas Jefferson, chanting “Jews will not replace us.”
The plaintiffs allege the defendants and their co-conspirators surrounded counterprotesters, kicked and punched people and climbed atop the statue, yelling “Hail Spencer!” “Hail Victory!” Spencer told the crowd, “We own these streets!”
Spencer, who is representing himself at trial, told The Associated Press he did not help plan the event and took no part in any conspiracy to commit racially motivated violence. He said he is looking forward to telling his story to the jury, noting emotions still run high over the events in Charlottesville.
“I feel also that people don’t have a sense of closure about Charlottesville, so in some way, they want to achieve a certain kind of purging a bad feeling. They want to engage in what is effectively scapegoating,” Spencer said.
Elizabeth Sines, the lead plaintiff, said she’s still haunted by the violence she saw that weekend, including Fields plowing his car into the crowd.
“It has changed who I am forever,” Sines said in a statement released by her attorneys. “The organizers of the Unite the Right rally robbed me of my ability to feel safe, feel secure, feel at ease — even in my own home.”
The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages and a judgment that the defendants violated the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights.
your ad hereGerman Court Sentences Islamic State Member to 10 Years in Prison
A German woman received a 10-year prison sentence Monday for allowing a young Yazidi girl, who was being kept as a slave in Iraq by the woman and her husband, to die of thirst in the hot sun.
German authorities said the 30-year-old convert to Islam, identified only as Jennifer W., was a member of Islamic State in Iraq.
The Higher Regional Court convicted the defendant on charges including membership in a terrorist organization abroad, aiding and abetting attempted murder, attempted war crimes and crimes against humanity.
According to German news agency dpa, federal prosecutors accused Jennifer W. of letting the 5-year-old Yazidi girl die after the woman’s husband, an Islamic State fighter, chained the girl in a courtyard unprotected from the heat. Prosecutors said the defendant’s husband was punishing the girl for wetting her mattress.
Islamic State views the minority Yazidis as heretics. In 2014, IS fighters killed scores of Yazidi men in Iraq during an onslaught on the Yazidi town of Sinjar. IS also enslaved thousands of women and girls in acts that amounted to genocide, according to the United Nations.
Judge Joachim Baier said the child was “defenseless and helplessly exposed to the situation,” adding that the defendant “had to reckon from the beginning that the child, who was tied up in the heat of the sun, was in danger of dying.”
German media reported that the defendant, who is from Lohne in Lower Saxony, was raised as a Protestant but converted to Islam in 2013. She traveled to Iraq through Turkey and Syria in 2014 to join Islamic State, according to The Associated Press.
According to prosecutors, Jennifer W. was a member of IS’s armed “morality police” in 2015 and patrolled public parks in Fallujah and Mosul for women who did not conform to the group’s strict dress and conduct codes, AP reported.
The defendant was taken into custody in 2016 while trying to renew her identity papers at the German Embassy in Ankara, after which she was deported to Germany.
Prior to her sentencing, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office demanded that she serve a life sentence, while the defense asked for a maximum of two years in prison.
Some information for this story comes from The Associated Press and Reuters.
your ad hereFacebook Whistleblower Presses Case with British Lawmakers
Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen told British lawmakers Monday that the social media giant “unquestionably” amplifies online hate.
In testimony to a parliamentary committee in London, the former Facebook employee echoed what she told U.S. senators earlier this month.
Haugen said the media giant fuels online hate and extremism and does not have any incentive to change its algorithm to promote less divisive content.
She argued that as a result, Facebook may end up sparking more violent unrest around the world.
Haugen said the algorithm Facebook has designed to promote more engagement among users “prioritizes and amplifies divisive and polarizing extreme content” as well as concentrates it.
Facebook did not respond to Haugen’s testimony Monday. Earlier this month, Haugen addressed a Senate committee and said the company is harmful. Facebook rejected her accusations.
“The argument that we deliberately push content that makes people angry for profit is deeply illogical,” said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Haugen’s testimony comes as a coalition of new organizations Monday began publishing stories on Facebook’s practices based on internal company documents that Haugen secretly copied and made public.
Haugen is a former Facebook product manager who has turned whistleblower.
Earlier this month when Haugen addressed U.S. lawmakers, she argued that a federal regulator was needed to oversee large internet companies like Facebook.
British lawmakers are considering creating such a national regulator as part of a proposed online safety bill. The legislation also proposes fining companies like Facebook up to 10% of their global revenue for any violations of government policies.
Representatives from Facebook and other social media companies are set to address British lawmakers on Thursday.
Haugen is scheduled to meet with European Union policymakers in Brussels next month.
Some information in this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters.
your ad hereUS to Reopen Air Borders for Fully Vaccinated Visitors
The United States will soon reopen its air borders for fully vaccinated foreign visitors who have one of three approved COVID-19 vaccines or who can present a negative COVID-19 test within 24 hours of travel, the White House announced Monday.
The new rules take effect Nov. 8, and “only limited exceptions” will be allowed, senior Biden administration officials said during a background briefing with reporters. Those include vaccine exemptions for travelers from about 50 countries with exceptionally low vaccination rates, which include some of the world’s poorest nations, many of those in Africa. Children under the age of 18 are also exempt from the vaccine requirement at this time, but will still have to present a negative test.
Accepted vaccines only include the three approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration:: Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson.
Exemptions will include “certain COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial participants, those with medical contraindications to the vaccines, and those who need to travel for emergency or humanitarian reasons,” the White House said. Additionally, those who are granted an exception must agree to be vaccinated in the U.S. if they intend to stay for more than 60 days.
“The new system also includes enhanced testing requirements, strengthening contact tracing, as well as masking,”a senior administration official said. ”These are strict safety protocols that follow the science and public health to enhance the safety of Americans here at home, and the safety of international air travel.”
In 2019, nearly 80 million international visitors came to the U.S., according to data from the U.S. Travel Association. That figure cratered in early 2020, when the pandemic hit and the administration of former President Donald Trump imposed restrictions that barred tens of thousands of travelers from most of the world.
Unvaccinated air passengers — including unvaccinated U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents — will now need to provide a negative test within one day of departure. Children under two years old will not need to test, and accommodations will be allowed for people who have documented their recovery from the virus within the last 90 days.
your ad hereCoalition: Kenyan Police Involved in Dozens of Killings; Security Forces Deny
The Missing Voices coalition, consisting of 16 civil rights groups whose mission is to end disappearances and killings in Kenya, met Sunday with mothers of victims and other survivors of police abuse in Nairobi. The coalition also launched “They Were Us,” a book on the subject. The coalition said it documented 119 police killings and 23 enforced disappearances between January and September 2021. Police deny the accusations.
Forty-eight-year-old Lilian Njeri’s son and two others were killed in May 2018, allegedly by police in the Kiamaiko area of Nairobi.
“After the killing of my son, I wanted to commit suicide. My other son asked me who would take care of him if I killed myself. I drank a lot. Since I joined the women’s network whose children were killed, it helped me heal and defend others,” she said.
The mother of two said she reported the matter to the Independent Police Oversight Authority, or the IPOA, a body mandated to check on the work of the police. The IPOA advised Njeri to file the case with the other two victims, in hopes of bolstering the investigation and getting convictions. However, Njeri says she is still looking for one of the mothers.
In September, five officers were charged in Nairobi with murder over the death of a man killed in September 2018. The man was arrested for possessing illegal alcohol and IPOA investigators concluded that he died of multiple injuries inflicted with blunt force. The court ordered the officers involved to be held until December 6.
Last month, the chairperson of IPOA, Anne Makori, told Kenyan editors the court is handling 98 cases of police abuses against the public. Since 2010 IPOA said there have been eight police convictions.
The Missing Voices consortium, a group investigating unlawful killings, said 167 people were killed or disappeared in 2020.It says 157 of those deaths were as a result of police killings.
Kenya’s police spokesperson Bruno Shioso says these allegations are unfounded.
“It’s wrong to say police have killed youths because we don’t have that data, that information. These are wild allegations but when you tell them to come forward and bring proof or something tangible about nobody comes. So, it is very hard for us to react to something without any evidence. But we tell people if they are sure the police are complicit in any criminal undertaking let them come forward, let them make a formal report to us and we pick it from there if they can’t come to us, they can go to the oversight authorities,” he said.
Aileen Wanjiku works with Missing Voices, the organizer of Sunday’s book launch, shining a light on the stories of police victims. She told VOA most families have yet to see justice for the deaths of their loved ones.
“There is a challenge and problem even getting investigated, just pushing it in a court is an issue and when we get to court, there is that delayed justice… So, the reason many of these cases haven’t been investigated, pushed or documented it’s because a lot of witnesses don’t want to come forward because the protection of witnesses is lacking significantly. So, you see cases where witnesses are killed for coming forward,” said Wanjiku.
Josephine Akoth, 50, is one of those featured in the 64-page book. Her son, Sylvester Onyango, disappeared in August 2015. The mother of six recalls that on the day he vanished, massive police operations were taking place in the Dandora area, an eastern suburb in Nairobi, and its surroundings where he worked as a public bus driver.
Akoth says she has gone through a lot, and she is requesting the government to help her search for her son and to help her know whether he is alive or dead. She says even if he has died, she would like to know where he was killed. At least she can collect the remains and bury them, she says.
Last month, 16 mutilated bodies were retrieved in Garissa County from the River Tana, the longest river in the country. Hundreds of families went to the area in hopes of identify the remains of missing loved ones.
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Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast Explores Political Polarization, Social Divisiveness
“Belfast”, a film drama by acclaimed actor and director Kenneth Branagh, chronicles the beginnings, in 1969, of the thirty-year political and sectarian violence in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles. Penelope Poulou reports.
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Noted Russian Investigative Journalist Added to ‘Wanted List’
For the world watch section of VOA’s Press Freedom page.
Noted Russian journalist Sergei Reznik, who specializes in anti-corruption investigations, has been added to the Interior Ministry’s wanted list.
Reznik’s name was added to the wanted list over the weekend, local media reported. He is thought to be living outside of Russia.
No details for his placement on the list were provided, though some media reports cited law enforcement sources as saying that Reznik is wanted for the alleged “justification of Nazism.”
The accusation stems from unspecified social-media posts that appeared on accounts suspected of being connected to him, they added.
In 2013, Reznik, who is from the Rostov region, was sentenced to 18 months in prison on charges of bribery and publicly insulting an official representative of the authorities. Later, he was sentenced to another 18 months in prison after a court found him guilty of false denunciation.
Reznik maintained his innocence and continued to work as an investigative journalist after serving the prison terms.
He says that a total of seven criminal cases have been opened against him with all of the alleged victims being prosecutors, judges, or police officials.
He also claims that over the past year, 15 statements from people in the Krasnodar region were submitted to the police and the prosecutor’s office against him and three of his colleagues.
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In Madagascar, a Climate Victory
Madagascar is known for its rich and diverse wildlife, but experts say forest degradation is a growing threat to both animals and humans. As Anne Nzouankeu reports from Madagascar’s Tsitongambarika Forest, there are success stories thanks to reforestation efforts meant to reverse the effects of climate change.
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Americans Consider COVID-19 Vaccine Boosters While Employers Roll Out Mandates
Millions of people in the United States are gearing up to get COVID-19 booster shots amid ongoing controversy over vaccine mandates. Michelle Quinn reports.
Produced by: Mary Cieslak
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Calls to Ban Guns on Movie Sets Grow After Baldwin Shooting
Calls were growing Sunday to ban the use of firearms in movie-making, as Hollywood struggled to come to terms with Alec Baldwin’s fatal on-set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
A memorial service will be held Sunday for 42-year-old Hutchins, who was struck in the chest when Baldwin fired a prop gun during the filming of the low-budget Western “Rust.” She died shortly after the incident Thursday in New Mexico.
Director Joel Souza, 48, who was crouching behind her as they lined up a shot, was wounded and hospitalized, then released.
Police are still investigating the shooting, which sparked intense speculation on social media about how such an accident could have occurred despite detailed and long-established gun safety protocols for film sets.
A petition on the website change.org calling for a ban on live firearms on film sets and better working conditions for crews had gathered more than 18,000 signatures by Sunday afternoon.
“There is no excuse for something like this to happen in the 21st century,” says the text of the petition launched by Bandar Albuliwi, a screenwriter and director.
Dave Cortese, a Democrat elected to the California Senate, put out a statement on Saturday saying, “There is an urgent need to address alarming work abuses and safety violations occurring on the set of theatrical productions, including unnecessary high-risk conditions such as the use of live firearms.”
He said he intends to push a bill banning live ammunition on movie sets in California.
The hit Los Angeles police drama “The Rookie” decided the day after the shooting to ban all live ammunition from its set, effective immediately, according to industry publication The Hollywood Reporter.
But some industry professionals said the use of weapons on film was not the problem.
Movie armorer SL Huang, writing on Twitter, said she had worked on hundreds of film sets without incident, thanks to the stringent safety protocols and the built-in redundancies.
“A tragedy happening in this particular way defies everything I know about how we treat guns on film sets,” she wrote. “My colleagues and I have been trying to figure out how this could happen when following our basic safety procedures and we keep ending at a loss.
“Which implies… that very basic, very standard safety procedures may not have been followed. And that nobody shut the production down when they weren’t,” Huang wrote.
Baldwin, who has spoken of his heartbreak after the killing, is cooperating with the police investigation.
The probe has focused on the specialist in charge of the weapon and the assistant director who handed it to Baldwin, according to an affidavit seen by AFP.
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