The message from Mariupol, Ukraine’s besieged port city on the Sea of Azov, was stark. “We’re still holding on,” a resident, Ihor, concluded his brief 34-word message
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Month: March 2022
Brent Crude Up $10, Shares Sink as Ukraine Conflict Deepens
The price of oil jumped more than $10 a barrel and shares were sharply lower Monday as the conflict in Ukraine deepened amid mounting calls for harsher sanctions against Russia.
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1,100 Homes Evacuated as Firefighters Battle Florida Fires
Huge wildfires in the Florida Panhandle forced veterans in a nursing home to evacuate Sunday alongside residents of more than 1,000 homes in an area still recovering from a Category 5 hurricane three years ago.
Firefighters battled the 9,000-acre (about 3,642 hectare) Bertha Swamp Road fire and the 841-acre (340-hectare) Adkins Avenue fire, which have threatened homes and forced residents of at least 1,100 houses in Bay County, Florida to flee over the weekend. The Adkins Avenue fire destroyed two structures and damaged another 12 homes late Friday.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called the larger Bertha Swamp Road fire “a big boy,” at a news conference in Panama City on Sunday afternoon. “It’s moving very quickly.”
On Sunday, a third fire developed, forcing the evacuation of a 120-bed, state-operated nursing home in Panama City. Public transit was being used to move the residents at the Clifford Chester Sims State Veterans’ Nursing Home. Buses also were on standby in case the 1,300 inmates at the nearby Bay County Jail needed to be evacuated to other facilities.
Hurricane Michael in 2018 left behind 72 million tons of destroyed trees that have provided fuel for the Bay County wildfires, according to the Florida Forest Service. The hurricane was directly responsible for 16 deaths and about $25 billion in damage in the U.S.
Local authorities say they don’t know when residents will be able to return to their homes. The county opened a shelter at the Bay County Fairgrounds for displaced residents.
“I know there has been frustration with people not being able to get back into their homes,” said Bay County Sheriff Tommy Ford. “But we have had things that have popped up on a minute’s notice and really caused problems. As soon as we can, we will let people go back.”
The Adkins Avenue fire has been burning in Bay County since Friday, forcing the evacuation of at least 600 homes, and it was 35% contained Sunday. Fire officials initially said it was 1,400 acres (567 hectares) but adjusted the size downward Sunday afternoon.
The much-larger Bertha Swamp Fire started in neighboring Gulf County on Friday but spread to Bay and Calhoun counties Saturday, forcing the evacuation of scores of more homes. It was 10% contained as of Sunday.
“It’s just hard to believe that something could be that big,” said Brad Monroe, chief of Bay County Emergency Services. “If you fly around it, it’s just incredible. It’s hard to comprehend how big, strong and fierce this fire is.”
Florida Forest Service helicopters had dropped more than 103,000 gallons (about 468,000 liters) of water on the Adkins Avenue fire since Friday, and 25 bulldozers had been deployed to plow fire lines. Firefighters from all over Florida were deployed to the county to battle the blazes.
“Unfortunately, what we have going on today is almost a carbon copy of yesterday’s weather,” Joe Zwierzchowski, a spokesman for the Florida Forest Service, said Sunday morning. “We are looking at high, sustained winds of 10 to 15 (16 to 24 kilometers) miles per hour, gusting up to 20 to 25 miles (32 to 40 kilometers) per hour. So that’s going to make it a very dynamic situation.”
Currently, there are nearly 150 wildfires burning more than 12,100 acres (about 4,900 hectares) throughout Florida, and the state is only at the very beginning of its wildfire season.
“It is incredibly dry throughout the state and typically we see this kind of activity in the months of April and May,” Zwierzchowski said. “Seeing it in early March really gives us an indication of what the fire season is going to be like.”
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UN: 1.5 Million Refugees From Ukraine Worst Post-WWII Crisis
The Ukrainian father of two took off with a sprint when he saw the GPS coordinates from his wife’s cellphone draw nearer to the border crossing into Poland.
Yevgen Chornomordenko had been waiting for 11 days on the Polish side of the border for his wife, Alina, and two children to arrive from the Ukrainian capital, which had woken up to Russian shelling Feb. 24.
War had broken out at home just days after his arrival in the Polish city of Wroclow, near Germany, for a job installing solar panels.
“I never believed war would start,” Chornomordenko said, as he checked the GPS position of his arriving family.
Nearby, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, visited the same Medyka border crossing, proclaiming the number of refugees leaving Ukraine the fastest-growing humanitarian crisis in Europe since World War II. In just 11 days, 1.5 million people had sought safety in neighboring countries.
Just moments after the U.N. official spoke, Chornomordenko’s wife and two children made the crossing themselves, in a small white Kia, which Alina had driven across Ukraine from Kyiv, in normal times an eight-hour drive.
He lifted 4-year-old son David onto his shoulders, and cradled the baby, 8-month-old Sofia, in his arms, looking lovingly at the tiny face, murmuring, “so beautiful.”
“I am so grateful,” he said.
Asked if he would return to Ukraine to fight, Chornomordenko said that for now his priority was to find a safe place for his family to stay. He remains worried about his brother, a charity worker, and retired parents back in Kyiv, trading frequent messages with them as he awaited his family.
“I feel pity for the situation. I know it is very difficult for the people that are still there,” he said.
The flow of refugees continued unabated Sunday, even as humanitarian corridors meant to ease the flight of refugees collapsed as quickly as they were agreed upon inside Ukraine.
Grandi said the humanitarian corridors also were critical to allowing basic goods to arrive to those in need and to evacuate the most vulnerable.
“But what is needed really is a cease-fire, the end of hostilities, because that’s the only way to stop this tragedy,” Grandi said.
The sentiments were echoed by Pope Francis, who made a powerful appeal for peace at the Vatican Sunday, imploring “an end to the armed attacks, and that negotiations prevail.”
In a highly unusual move, the pontiff said he had dispatched two cardinals to the war-ravaged country, signaling that the “Holy See is ready to do everything in the service of this peace.”
“In Ukraine, rivers of blood and tears are flowing,” the pope said during his traditional Sunday blessing. “This is not just a military operation, but a war that is spreading a lot of destruction and misery. The victims continue to become more numerous, just like the people who are fleeing.”
One 11-year-old boy made it all the way to Slovakia from the city of Zaporizhzhia, the site of Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant taken by Russian troops that caught fire after a building was hit with a projectile. The boy’s frightened mother sent him on the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) journey alone by train to find relatives, staying behind to care for her sick mother who can’t be moved.
“He came with a plastic bag, passport and a telephone number written on his hand, all alone,” according to a statement by Slovakia’s Interior Ministry, who hailed the boy as “a true hero.”
Volunteers took care of him, took him to a warm shelter and gave him food and drinks, and later reunited him with family in Bratislava.
In a video provided by Slovak police, the mother thanked the Slovak government and police for taking care of her son.
“People with big hearts live in your small country. Please, save our Ukrainian children,” said the mother, identified as Yulia Volodymyrivna Pisecka.
In Romania, Ukrainian refugees gathered at the Saints Peter and Paul Christian Orthodox Church in Suceava, to pray for peace. They were welcomed by Rev. Mihai Maghiar who is himself, Ukrainian-Romanian.
“The first thing that we do as servants of the Church is talk to them, help them trust again, and understand that life doesn’t end at the Ukrainian border, or any other border,” said Maghiar, who has seen many refugees come by his church since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Oksana Oliinykova sought strength in the church. She is bringing her daughter to the Netherlands, where friends have offered her a place to say. But a journalist who has covered the brutalities of war, Oliinykova is planning to go back to Ukraine, where her father and son remained to fight.
“And we can’t help with anything. It’s scary. It’s scary to understand that our boys, who go to fight have nothing. We can’t provide bulletproof vests and helmet(s),” she said.
Text messages from friends tell her just how desperate the situation at home has become. “Please help!” they ask. “We are without electricity for three days. The (Russians) are close, we can’t leave, we don’t even have blankets, we can’t feed our children,” they write.
For now, Oliinykova prays.
“As a Christian it’s very hard for me to hate,” said Oliinykova, who said she has relatives in Russia.
“And I know that they are also shocked. I don’t know how could I hate them. They are also sending young boys (to the war). How to get through all of this?” she asked. “I think we need less hate and more love.”
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Libya Oil Production Falls After 2 Crucial Fields Shut Down
Libya’s national oil company said Sunday that an armed group has shut down two crucial oil fields, causing the country’s daily production of oil to drop by 330,000 barrels.
The state-run National Oil Corporation said the group closed pump valves at the Sharara field, Libya’s largest, and el-Feel, effectively stopping production in both areas. Before the shutdown, Libya’s production of oil was at around 1.2 billion barrels per day.
Company head Mustafa Sanallah announced a force majeure, a legal maneuver that lets a company get out of its contracts because of extraordinary circumstances.
He said the closures cost Libya more than $160 million ($34.6 million) per day in lost revenues.
Sanallah said the NOC has urged public prosecutors “to take deterrent measures” and reveal “the planners, executors and the beneficiaries” of the shutdown. The same militia disrupted oil production at both fields in 2014 and 2016, he added.
An oil official in the capital Tripoli said the militia that shut down the fields is from the mountainous town of Zintan, around 136 kilometers (over 84 miles) southwest of Tripoli.
Tribal leaders in the area were negotiating with the militia leaders to allow the resumption of oil production, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.
The shutdown came as the Russian invasion of Ukraine has shaken markets worldwide, causing crude oil prices to soar above $115 per barrel.
Libya has the ninth-largest known oil reserves in the world, and the biggest oil reserves in Africa.
The dizzying developments in Libya’s oil fields have come amid a mounting standoff between two rival governments which threaten to again drag the country into chaotic infighting.
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Crisis in Ukraine Drives Food Prices Higher Around World
The impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — a country long known as the “breadbasket of Europe” because of the prodigious amounts of wheat, corn and other cereal grains that it produces — will extend far beyond Europe, wreaking havoc on global food supplies, experts from aid agencies say.
Ukraine produces 16% of the world’s corn, and Ukraine and Russia combined produce 29% of the wheat sold on world markets. Much of what they export goes to Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, and with virtually no cargo moving out of either county’s Black Sea ports, prices for the staple foods are spiking. Still unknown is whether an enduring war in Ukraine will damage this year’s harvest or prevent the sowing of crops for the next growing season.
Preexisting food crisis
Globally, food prices were already at a 10-year high before Russia invaded Ukraine, according to the United Nations World Food Program. Since Feb. 25, the day after Russia launched its full-scale invasion, wheat futures have risen by as much as 40% and corn futures by as much as 16%.
Because the war is already disrupting global fuel supplies — a problem that will worsen dramatically if sanctions on Russia are expanded to cover its energy exports — higher transportation costs are contributing to the rise in prices.
“We’re already facing a hunger crisis globally that we haven’t seen, at least this century,” Jordan Teague, an interim director for the charity group Bread for the World, told VOA.
“This is yet one more example of conflict generating hunger around the world, and the world just can’t sustain this,” said Steve Taravella, a senior spokesperson for the U.N. WFP. “We’ve got Yemen, we’ve got South Sudan, we’ve got Afghanistan. A significant amount of WFP resources is devoted to addressing hunger caused by man-made conflicts around the world, and this is just one more on top of that,” he told VOA.
Areas of concern
Teague said that while multiple countries are facing serious food shortages, her group is particularly concerned about several in the Middle East and East Africa, all of which rely on imports from Ukraine and Russia.
In Yemen, she said, tens of thousands of people are experiencing famine and another 16 million are facing a food crisis and in danger of famine. Even before the current crisis, she said, price inflation, currency depreciation and depleted foreign reserves had left Yemen struggling to import food.
Similarly, Lebanon, which, Teague said, imports about 60% of its wheat from Ukraine, is having difficulty buying enough food. More than one-third of the population there is already food insecure, and that doesn’t count the thousands of refugees displaced by the conflict in Syria, who are largely dependent on humanitarian assistance.
Ethiopia, currently locked in a brutal civil war, also faces a hunger crisis that the Ukraine conflict is likely to make worse. The country relies on imports for about 25% of its wheat, Teague said.
UN to continue aid
Ukraine is the WFP’s largest supplier of wheat and split peas, two key staples it uses to feed the hungry, Taravella said. However, while the shortages caused by the Ukraine conflict will increasingly strain his organization’s ability to deliver food to the more than 135 million people it serves around the world, the WFP’s programs will continue to operate.
“Because we have supply chain expertise and we have, for years, developed strategies for making sure we can get commodities into hard-to-reach countries in difficult times, we have other sources,” he said. “I’m not concerned that WFP won’t be able to find wheat or split peas or other things that we rely on Ukraine for. What we’re concerned about is what we and others will have to pay for them, because prices are going to go up.”
The agency might be forced to reduce the per-person ration of food it provides, he said. “It will cost us more, which will mean we may have to cut rations. Those are very real implications,” he said.
Ukraine food situation shaky
Within Ukraine, the fighting appears not to not have cut off food supplies, but media reports indicate that stores are finding it increasingly difficult to remain open.
Fozzy Group, the country’s largest supermarket chain, continued to operate most of its stores this week, even in cities such as Kharkiv and Kyiv, which are facing direct attacks from Russian troops. Stores have had to close on an ad hoc basis, sometimes with little notice, when managers determine that the risks of remaining open are too great.
According to the news agency Interfax-Ukraine, a group of retail outlets and the country’s Ministry of Digital Transformation have created an online map that indicates whether a grocery store is open and its hours of operation.
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Sanctioning Russia Curtails North Korea’s Hard Currency Intake
As international sanctions on Moscow have triggered a decrease in the ruble’s value, North Korean workers in Russia are struggling to meet the remittance quotas set by Pyongyang, according to multiple sources in Russia and official North Korean documents obtained by VOA’s Korean Service.
North Korea is believed to use the hard currency to fund development of its weapons.
North Koreans working at Pyongyang’s entities and front companies contracted with enterprises in Russia are paid in rubles. As of 2020, there were 1,000 North Koreans working in Russia, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Because the regime prefers dollars to rubles, the North Koreans convert their rubles before remitting them to Pyongyang. The sharp drop of the ruble has slashed the amount of dollars North Korean workers can send back to Pyongyang. When Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, $1 was worth 84.05 rubles. On March 4, $1 was worth 106.47 rubles.
VOA’s Korean Service is in regular contact with several sources in Russia who are familiar with the situation of North Korean workers there. Only the most trusted North Koreans are allowed to work in Russia and elsewhere outside their country.
Workers are “feeling extreme pressure from their supervisors” at North Korean enterprises operating in Russia, said one source who said the workers fear further devaluation of the ruble and are in a panic-driven rush to convert rubles to dollars.
The service has verified the credibility of the sources in Russia and to protect their identities, cannot reveal further information about them. The sources provided several documents including the list of monthly remittance quotas and instructions for meeting them.
Devalued ruble
The ruble plunged below $0.01 in value this week after the U.S. and European countries imposed sanctions against Russia on Feb. 26 to financially isolate and punish Moscow for invading Ukraine.
Included in the sanctions was a ban on several Russian banks from accessing the SWIFT global bank payment system.
Eager for foreign currency, Pyongyang has long dispatched North Korean workers to Russia to make money. The U.S. estimated 30,000 were in Russia before the U.N. issued sanctions in December 2017 banning countries from authorizing work permits to North Koreans. Many remain in Russia and work using student or travel visas.
North Koreans work in various sectors but most are employed on construction or logging projects.
From January to August 2022, each North Korean construction worker was expected to remit $6,500 in dollars, according to a monthly list of quotas set by Pyongyang and obtained by VOA’s Korean Service.
That was equivalent to 710,000 rubles using the current exchange rate of 110 rubles per dollar. In October 2021, $6,500 was equivalent to 460,000 rubles when the exchange rate was 70 rubles per dollar.
This means North Koreans must now earn 30% to 40% more to fulfill the required remittance quotas.
North Korea “doesn’t need rubles and requires the payments in dollars only,” said a source. “It won’t reduce the quota amounts that were ordered to be submitted unconditionally” despite the ruble’s fall.
A copy of a document obtained by VOA’s Korean Service included instructions for workers to meet quotas “unconditionally.”
In addition to the money destined for Pyongyang, each worker must earn approximately 30,000 rubles per year to pay to Russian universities to obtain a student visa.
Financial pressure
In December, the U.S. ostracized Moscow-based university European Institute Justo and its provost for sponsoring student visas for North Korean workers whose income the Treasury Department said supported Pyongyang’s weapons program.
Additionally, the SWIFT ban on Russian banks restricted North Korean workers from sending money to Pyongyang. The dollar-based SWIFT global messaging network is used by more than 11,000 financial institutions in 200 plus countries to send and receive information about cross-border transactions.
North Korean workers in Russia now “can’t send money” using their old method, said Heo Kang Il, a former manager of a North Korean restaurant in China, who spoke with VOA’s Korean Service.
Heo said North Korean entities in Russia used to deposit their earnings to North Korean banks operating secretly in Russia. Then the banks would wire the money to a global online payments system using online accounts created under pseudonyms in China. From there, the money was sent to Pyongyang.
VOA’s Korean Service contacted the North Korean mission to the U.N. to obtain Pyongyang’s position on the economic impact the drop in the ruble’s value is expected to have on Pyongyang but did not get a reply.
William Brown, a former CIA analyst who closely monitors the North Korean economy, said difficulties faced by heavily sanctioned countries like North Korea and now Russia could lead them to forge closer trade and financial relations.
“They are going to create a sort of an island of sanctioned countries – North Korea, Russia now, and Iran,” said Brown.
“So the more this island gets bigger, the more they’ll trade and invest within that group,” he said. “In the Cold War era, we didn’t do much business with any of the bloc [made of] China, Russia, Eastern Europe, all those countries. There were essentially two separate financial systems. They did a lot of trade finance amongst themselves.”
Bradley Babson, a former World Bank adviser and current advisory council member of the Korea Economic Institute of America, said Pyongyang will now forge even closer economic ties with its top trading partner China.
The North Koreans “are going to have to rely almost entirely on China for whatever economic benefits that they can get out of opening up their trade relationship and whatever remittances they might be able to receive from North Koreans working in China as opposed to Russia.”
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Ukraine Set to Get More Military, Humanitarian Aid from US
A day after many of them spoke with Ukraine’s president, U.S. lawmakers are pledging to provide additional military aid to Kyiv as the government there continues to fight for its survival amid the invasion by Russia.
Congress will soon approve emergency funding, putting “$10 billion into both defensive equipment for Ukraine, but also humanitarian assistance to get civilians out,” said Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, on “Fox News Sunday.”
Despite generally bipartisan and robust support for Kyiv, members of the U.S. Congress are drawing the line at another Ukrainian request: a no-fly zone for the country’s airspace to deter Russian aerial attacks.
That would mean “World War III,” Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida told ABC’s “This Week” program Sunday. “I think there are a lot of things we can do to help Ukraine protect itself… but I think people need to understand what a no-fly zone means.”
Another senator, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a Democrat, expressed a less strict stance.
“I would take nothing off the table,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Murphy, a Democrat, commented on Fox News: “If I were President Zelenskyy, I would be asking for a no-fly zone. The problem is, there is no such thing as a no-fly zone over Ukraine.”
U.S. President Joe Biden is in regular contact with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, about Ukraine’s request for more fighter jets, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“Yes, we’re talking very actively about this, looking at what we could do to backfill Poland, if it chooses to send the MiGs and the SU planes that it has to Ukraine, how we can help by backfilling what they’re giving to the Ukrainians,” Blinken, in Moldova, told “Meet the Press.”
Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, in an interview with Fox News on Sunday renewed her nation’s appeal for the United States to provide it with anti-aircraft weapons and other military aid, saying “we should treat Russia as a terrorist state.”
Zelenskyy said Russia is planning to bombard the port city of Odessa. Zelenskyy said in a televised statement Sunday that if that occurs, it “will be a war crime … a historic crime.”
Zelenskyy spoke in Russian for part of the statement, urging Russians to choose between life and slavery in “the time when it is still possible to defeat evil without irreparable losses.”
The United States has “seen very credible reports of deliberate attacks on civilians which would constitute a war crime,” Blinken told CNN’s “State of the Union” show. “We’ve seen very credible reports about the use of certain weapons.”
There must be an investigation into whether Russia is committing war crimes in Ukraine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a CNN interview Sunday.
“Putin must be tried for war crimes — and I urge my colleagues to support my resolution to hold him accountable for the crimes he’s committed against humanity,” tweeted Rep. Adriano Espaillat of New York, a Democrat. “History will remember.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday contended his military campaign in Ukraine was proceeding as planned and will not end until the Ukrainians stop fighting.
In a phone call with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who appealed for a cease-fire, Putin expressed readiness for dialog with Ukraine and foreign partners but any attempt to draw out negotiations would fail, according to a Kremlin statement.
Putin’s remarks came as efforts at an evacuation effort for the bombarded port city of Mariupol failed for a second consecutive day.
“Amid devastating scenes of human suffering in Mariupol, a second attempt today to start evacuating an estimated 200,000 people out of the city came to a halt. The failed attempts yesterday and today underscore the absence of a detailed and functioning agreement between the parties to the conflict,” said the International Committee of the Red Cross in a statement.
Pope Francis made his strongest statement yet on Sunday about the conflict.
“In Ukraine, rivers of blood and tears are flowing. This is not just a military operation but a war which sows death, destruction and misery,” the pontiff said in his weekly address to a crowd in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City.
Along with its European partners, Washington is considering a ban on Russian oil, confirmed the U.S. secretary of state.
“We are now in very active discussions with our European partners about banning the import of Russian oil to our countries, while of course, at the same time, maintaining a steady global supply of oil,” Blinken said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Some lawmakers want the White House to do more to increase domestic production as oil prices surge and Americans pay more to fuel their vehicles.
“President Biden would rather import oil from our adversaries in Russia, Iran and Venezuela than increase U.S. energy production at home,” tweeted Rep. Greg Murphy of North Carolina, a Republican, saying the energy security for the country equates to national security.
VOA State Department Bureau chief Nike Ching, National Security correspondent Jeff Seldin, Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb, Istanbul foreign correspondent Heather Murdock, White House correspondent Anita Powell, and senior diplomatic correspondent Cindy Saine contributed to this report.
Some information for this report came from The Associate Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
your ad hereMalawi Moves to Reduce Rise in Pangolin Trafficking
Trafficking in pangolins continues to rise in Malawi as the country registers a drop in ordinary wildlife crime, such as trafficking in elephant tusks and rhino horns. Wildlife authorities say pangolin-related arrests in Malawi more than tripled between 2019 and 2020. Police in Malawi say a month rarely passes with no pangolin-related arrest. Authorities fear this may lead to extinction of the endangered mammals.
The latest is the arrest last Thursday of five people in Mangochi district, in the south of Malawi after they were found selling a live pangolin.
“The four suspects are Malawian while their accomplice is a well-known businessman from Pakistan,” said Ameena Tepani Daudi, who speaks for the police in the district. “The five were arrested at the Pakistan national’s house following a tip from members of the community. We found all of them in a bedroom while negotiating about selling price. And the pangolin was found hidden in a sack bag.”
Daudi said via a messaging app that suspects are expected in court soon.
“All suspects have been charged with illegal possession of specimens of listed species which contravenes section 110(b) of National Parks and Wildlife Act. And they will appear before court, possibly next week,” she added.
Police say the incident is among many pangolin-trafficking arrests in recent years.
Last year’s report by Lilongwe Wildlife Trust says Malawi is a range state for the Temminck’s ground pangolin, the only pangolin species found in southern Africa, now threatened with extinction.
Brighton Kumchedwa, the director of Malawi’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife, says the increase in pangolin trafficking is not surprising, considering recent research estimating that global pangolin populations have declined by 80% in the last 20 years.
“For Malawi, we can speculate that a shift from ivory trafficking to pangolin is because, one, the size of a pangolin is so small, easy to conceal but also it is fetching a reasonable amount of money on a black market. But also the existence in the country of foreign nationals that eat pangolin pangolins as delicacy, but also use of scales in medicine, that’s why an increase in pangolin trafficking,” he said.
Kumchedwa says last week’s arrest of a Pakistani national in connection with pangolin trafficking confirms that the presence of some foreign nationals, particularly from Asia is fueling trafficking in pangolin.
Kumchdewa says strategies are in place to prevent possible extinction of the endangered mammals in Malawi and these include stiffer penalties to perpetrators.
According to the revised anti-wildlife-trafficking law in Malawi, perpetrators caught in possession of live pangolins or any of their derivatives face a prison sentence of up to 30 years, with no option for a fine.
“But also we have our own investigation unit, which is helping quite a lot, because it is largely intelligence-led law enforcement. But also, more than that, is how the courts have indeed applied the law. They are giving custodial sentences. We are seeing people taken to jail for seven years, five years found in possession of a pangolin,” he said.
Kumchedwa asked Malawians to be more patriotic and help the government by reporting to authorities about people involved in illegal pangolin trade, as well as in other protected animals.
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UN Asking for $205 Million for Northern Ethiopian Displaced
The U.N. Refugee Agency, UNHCR, is appealing for $205 million for assistance to more than 1.6 million people displaced by conflict in northern Ethiopia.
The conflict, which began 16 months ago in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray region has spread to the neighboring Amhara and Afar regions. This has resulted in a humanitarian crisis for more than 2 million people forced to flee their homes.
The U.N. Refugee Agency says most of the victims are displaced inside Ethiopia, while nearly 60,000 have fled to neighboring Sudan. UNHCR spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo said all are in desperate need of support.
“Civilians, including refugees and internally displaced people have been displaced, amid widespread reports of gender-based violence, human rights abuses, loss of shelter and access to basic services, and critical levels of food insecurity. … Several camps and settlements hosting Eritrean refugees have been attacked or destroyed, further displacing tens of thousands within Ethiopia,” she said.
Ethiopia launched its military offensive in Tigray on November 4, 2020, to oust the Tigray People’s Liberation Front from its northern stronghold. The U.N. says 40% of Tigray’s population of 6 million suffers from acute hunger, with 400,000 on the verge of famine.
Eritrea, which supports the government, reportedly has attacked several camps in Tigray housing tens of thousands of Eritrean refugees.
Mantoo said funds from the appeal will help provide protection and humanitarian assistance to those affected by continuing violence inside Ethiopia.
“At least 60,000 internally displaced households will be assisted with shelter and emergency relief items. We will establish additional protection desks, adding to the more than 60 that have already been set up, to identify people with specific needs and to refer survivors of gender-based violence to services. And we will support the reintegration of 75,000 displaced families, who wish to return to their homes,” she said.
Mantoo said UNHCR will provide protection and assistance to the thousands of Ethiopian refugees who have fled to eastern Sudan. Critical aid, she said, includes construction of shelters and strengthening health care and education. She said the agency will scale up psychosocial and mental health support to the severely traumatized.
She adds $16 million is being set aside for any potential influx of Ethiopian refugees into neighboring Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia, and South Sudan.
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Blinken Pledges US Support to Moldova Amid Refugee Influx from Ukraine
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has pledged Washington’s support to Moldova, a small, Western-leaning former Soviet republic that is contending with an influx of refugees from neighboring Ukraine.
Moldova says that more than 230,000 refugees have crossed its border with Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on February 24. At least 120,000 of them remain in the country, officials said.
Moldova is appealing for international assistance in dealing with the refugees, while also seeking security reassurances against potential Russian aggression.
Speaking alongside Moldovan President Maia Sandu in Chisinau on March 6, Blinken said that the United States supported Moldova’s aspirations to join the European Union but that the process would be decided by the EU.
Moldova formally applied to join the European Union on March 3. The move was likely to anger Russia, which has an estimated 1,500 troops based in the breakaway region of Transdniester in Moldova’s east.
Sandu said that there had not yet been any indication that the Russian soldiers in Transdniester had changed posture but stressed that it was a concern given what is happening in Ukraine.
“This is a subject of high vulnerability and we watch it carefully,” Sandu said. “In this region now there is no possibility for us to feel safe.”
Blinken said the United States was providing $18 million over the next few years to “strengthen and diversify” Moldova’s energy sector. Moldova depends heavily on Russian gas.
Information from AFP and AP was used in this report.
your ad hereUN Agency Calls for End to Discrimination Against Third-Country Nationals Fleeing Ukraine
The International Organization for Migration or IOM is calling on governments to stop discriminating against third-country nationals trying to flee conflict in Ukraine to neighboring countries.
Nearly 1.4 million Ukrainian refugees have so far reached Poland, Moldova, Hungary, and other European countries, this according to the latest figures from the U.N. Refugee Agency.
Among them are more than 78,800 third-country nationals — migrant workers and students in Ukraine when Russia invaded.
Paul Dillon, a spokesman for the U.N. migration agency, says these third-country nationals, from dozens of countries, face discrimination and other problems as they try to escape.
“We are, of course, deeply concerned about the plight of these people and the verified reports we have received of discrimination, violence and xenophobia directed at them in the course of their journeys both on the Ukrainian side and on the other sides of the borders,” he said.
Dillon said IOM is in touch with the authorities in Ukraine and in other countries about these allegations. He calls on governments to investigate reports of discrimination, physical assaults, and other misconduct.
He also calls on countries to act to ensure those fleeing conflict, including third-country nationals, are treated humanely, and granted access to, and protection on, their territories.
“We are now looking at roughly 138 countries represented amongst those who have left Ukraine. So, clearly this issue of the third-country nationals and their ongoing needs and their continuing needs is going to be one of the things that we will be addressing in the weeks to come,” he said.
Dillon said dozens of countries have contacted IOM asking for help in returning their people home safely.
The U.N. migration agency is appealing for $350 million to respond to the accelerating needs of the Ukrainian crisis on both sides of the border. It says the money will assist thousands of people displaced inside Ukraine, as well as those who have fled to neighboring countries.
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Pakistan Vows Neutrality in Ukraine Crisis, Insists Ties with US on Track
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi dismissed suggestions his country’s “neutral” stance in the Russia-Ukraine conflict is straining Islamabad’s relationship with the United States or the West at large, in an interview Sunday with VOA.
The South Asian nuclear-armed Muslim country has resisted Western pressure to condemn Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, instead advocating dialogue and diplomacy to end the crisis.
Pakistan has argued that it needs to step back from global bloc politics to improve ties with all countries, including Russia, and to tackle its own domestic economic challenges.
“We do not want to be part of any camp. We have paid a price for being in camps. That is why we are very carefully treading. We don’t want to compromise our neutrality, and that’s why we abstained,” Qureshi told VOA.
“The only sensible course is a diplomatic solution,” Qureshi stressed, while speaking by phone from southern Sindh province, where he was attending a political rally of his ruling Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaaf party.
Pakistan, a key non-NATO ally of Washington, abstained last week from voting from both a U.N. Security Council resolution “deploring” Russia’s aggression against its neighbor and a General Assembly vote condemning the invasion. So did 34 other nations, including India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Western diplomatic missions in Pakistan on the eve of the General Assembly vote had collectively urged the host country to denounce Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and support international calls for Moscow to immediately stop the war.
Qureshi said that claims that his country has put itself in “Russia camp” were “false” and “misreading” of Islamabad’s stated neutrality in respect to the Ukraine crisis.
“I think our relationship with the United States is a good one. We consider the United States an important partner and we would like continued support from the U.S.,” he noted.
“I have asked for a call with [U.S.] Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken and I was told that he is traveling for the next seven days. But I would be more than happy explain Pakistan’s perspective [on Ukraine] to him,” Qureshi added.
He also contradicted reports that Pakistan’s diplomatic tensions with Washington have increased in the wake of last month’s visit by Prime Minister Imran Khan to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Khan was already in Moscow when Putin ordered his military to attack Ukraine. But the trip reportedly did not go down well in Washington.
“We have briefed the government of Pakistan on the impact that Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine could have on regional and global security,” a State Department spokesperson was quoted on Saturday as telling Pakistani English-language Dawn newspaper.
Qureshi-Lavrov talk
Qureshi said he spoke to Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov by telephone Saturday and “underlined” Islamabad’s “concern at the latest situation in Ukraine.” He told VOA Lavrov conveyed to him that Moscow was not “averse to the idea of negotiations” with Kyiv “on reaching some sort of a conclusion.”
The chief Pakistani diplomat said his Russian counterpart had “noted” that a “positive outcome” of two rounds of talks with Ukrainian officials was the agreement on establishing a “humanitarian corridor” to allow residents from two Ukrainian cities that were surrounded by Russian forces to evacuate. Qureshi and Lavrov spoke before Russian forces attacked the evacuation corridors.
“We are ready for the third round of talks. Our people are there. In fact, we are waiting for the Ukrainian representatives to come and begin the talks,” Qureshi quoted Lavrov as telling him.
Khan has defended his trip to Moscow, the first by a Pakistani prime minister in 23 years, saying his country’s economic interests required him to do so.
The Pakistani leader avoided criticizing Putin in a statement issued after his meeting with the Russian president. The statement said Khan “regretted the latest situation between Russia and Ukraine and that Pakistan had hoped diplomacy could avert a military conflict.”
Islamabad sided with Washington during the Cold War and played an instrumental role in arming and training U.S.-funded Afghan resistance in the 1980s to the decade-long Soviet occupation of neighboring Afghanistan.
However, Pakistan’s traditionally uneasy relationship with the United States has lately come under increased pressure over allegations that covert support from the Pakistani military helped the Taliban to sustain their insurgency against U.S.-led international forces in neighboring Afghanistan for 20 years and retake power last August. Pakistan rejects those allegations.
Russia and Pakistan, once bitter adversaries, have in recent years moved to restore ties, that analysts say is an outcome of the South Asia country’s frosty relations with the United States.
“A leader of lesser mettle would have thought of abandoning the visit and plunging back into a past of adversity,” Raoof Hasan, a special assistant to Khan on Information, wrote in an article published Friday on the prime minister’s landmark visit to Moscow.
“Instead of backing off, Prime Minister Khan used the opportunity to reiterate his deep belief in peaceful resolution of conflicts,” Hasan said in the commentary published by The News, a local newspaper.
For their part, U.S. officials maintain they view their “partnership with a prosperous, with a democratic Pakistan as critical” to Washington’s interests. They say the United States is Pakistan’s largest trade partner and it considers the South Asian nation “an important regional” country.
U.S. officials acknowledge that Pakistan continues to play a crucial role in assisting international efforts aimed at evacuating Afghans at risk since the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan. A dialogue between Washington and Islamabad is also taking place on how to jointly counter terrorism threats emanating from Afghan soil.
Pakistani officials say Khan is preparing to make “important visits” to Western countries after hosting a meeting of foreign ministers of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Islamabad later this month. But they have not yet disclosed further details about the expected visits.
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Moldova Asks US for More Support as Refugee Numbers Surge
Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita urged the United States on Sunday to provide more humanitarian support as the number of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine to the small European country hit 120,000.
At the beginning of a meeting with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, she said her country of 2.6 million, one of Europe’s poorest, was straining under the weight of those fleeing Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
“As of this morning, we had more than 230,000 people who have crossed the border from Ukraine, and 120,000 stayed in Moldova. 96,000 of them are Ukrainian citizens. For a small country like Moldova, proportionately, this is a very large number,” she told Blinken.
“Everybody has come together to host, to provide shelter, to provide food, to provide assistance to those who are fleeing war,” she said.
“But we will need assistance to deal with this influx, and we need this quickly,” she added.
Blinken, on the third stop of a trip in Europe to shore up unity against the Russian attack, said Moldova “can count on us across the board” for support.
“We admire the generosity, the hospitality, the willingness to be such good friends to people who are in distress. And indeed we want to do everything we can to help you deal with the burden this is imposing.”
In Poland on Saturday, Blinken said the White House was seeking $2.75 billion in funds for humanitarian support related to the war, which has already driven more than one million people from Ukraine.
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Fleeing Sanctions, Oligarchs Seek Safe Ports for Superyachts
The superyacht Dilbar stretches nearly 140 meters in length. It has two helipads, berths for more than 130 people and a 25-meter swimming pool that itself can accommodate another superyacht.
Dilbar was launched in 2016 at a reported cost of more than $648 million. Five years later, its purported owner, the Kremlin-aligned Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, was already dissatisfied. He sent the vessel to a German shipyard last fall for a retrofit reportedly costing several hundred million dollars.
Dilbar was in drydock on Thursday when the United States and European Union announced economic sanctions against Usmanov — a metals magnate and early investor in Facebook — over his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and in retaliation for the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We are joining with our European allies to find and seize your yachts, your luxury apartments, your private jets,” President Joe Biden said during his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, addressing Russian oligarchs. “We are coming for your ill-begotten gains.”
Seizing the behemoth boats could prove challenging. Russian billionaires have had decades to shield their money and assets in the West from governments that might try to tax or seize them.
Several media outlets reported last week that German authorities had impounded the Dilbar. But a spokesperson for Hamburg state’s economy ministry told The Associated Press no such action had yet been taken because it had been unable to establish ownership of the yacht.
Dilbar is flagged in the Cayman Islands and registered to a holding company in Malta, banking havens where the global ultra-rich often park their wealth.
Working with the U.K.-based yacht valuation firm VesselsValue, the AP compiled a list of 56 superyachts — generally defined as luxury vessels exceeding 24 meters in length — believed to be owned by a few dozen Kremlin-aligned oligarchs. The yachts have a combined market value estimated at more than $5.4 billion.
The AP then used two online services — VesselFinder and MarineTraffic — to plot the last known locations of the yachts as relayed by their onboard tracking beacons.
Many are anchored in the Mediterranean and Caribbean. But more than a dozen were underway or had already arrived in remote ports in small nations such as the Maldives and Montenegro, potentially beyond the reach of Western sanctions. Three had gone dark, their transponders last pinging just outside the Bosporus in Turkey — gateway to the Black Sea and the southern Russian ports of Sochi and Novorossiysk.
Graceful, a German-built Russian-flagged superyacht believed to belong to Putin, left a repair yard in Hamburg, Germany, on Feb. 7, two weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine. It is now moored in the Russian Baltic port of Kaliningrad, beyond the reach of Western sanctions imposed against him this past week.
French authorities seized the superyacht Amore Vero on Thursday in the Mediterranean resort town of La Ciotat. The boat is believed to belong to Igor Sechin, a Putin ally who runs Russian oil giant Rosneft, which has been on the U.S. sanctions list since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
The French Finance Ministry said in a statement that customs authorities boarded the 88-meter Amore Vero and discovered its crew was preparing for an urgent departure, even though planned repair work wasn’t finished.
The 65-meter Lady M was seized by Italian authorities Friday while moored in the Riveria port town of Imperia. In a tweet announcing the seizure, a spokesman for Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said the yacht was the property of sanctioned steel baron Alexei Mordashov, listed as Russia’s wealthiest man with a fortune of about $30 billion.
But Mordashov’s larger superyacht, the 141-meter Nord, was safely at anchor on Friday in the Seychelles, a tropical island chain in the Indian Ocean not under the jurisdiction of U.S. or EU sanctions. Among the world’s biggest superyachts, Nord has a market value of $500 million.
“No, no self-respecting Russian oligarch would be without a superyacht,” said William Browder, a U.S.-born and now London-based financier who worked in Moscow for years before becoming one of the Putin regime’s most vocal foreign critics.
Russian metals and petroleum magnate Roman Abramovich is believed to have bought or built at least seven of the world’s largest yachts, some of which he has since sold off to other oligarchs.
Dennis Cauiser, a superyacht analyst with VesselsFinder, said the escalating U.S. and EU sanctions on Putin-aligned oligarchs and Russian banks have sent a chill through the industry, with boatbuilders and staff worried they won’t be paid. It can cost upwards of $50 million a year to crew, fuel and maintain a superyacht.
Most of the Russians on the annual Forbes list of billionaires have not yet been sanctioned by the United States and its allies, and their superyachts are still crushing the world’s oceans. The 72-meter-long Stella Maris, which was seen by an AP journalist docked this past week in Nice, France, is believed to be owned by Rashid Sardarov, a Russian billionaire oil and gas magnate.
The crash of the ruble and the tanking of Moscow stock market have depleted the fortunes of Russia’s elite. Cauiser said he expects some oligarch superyachts will soon quietly be listed by brokers at fire-sale prices.
On Thursday, the U.S. Treasury Department issued a new round of sanctions that included news release citing Usmanov’s close ties to Putin and photos of Dilbar and the oligarch’s private jet, a custom-built 64-meter Airbus A340-300 passenger liner.
“I believe that such a decision is unfair and the reasons employed to justify the sanctions are a set of false and defamatory allegations damaging my honor, dignity and business reputation,” Usmanov said in a statement issued through the website of the International Fencing Federation, of which he has served as president since 2008.
Abramovich has not yet been sanctioned. Members of the British Parliament have criticized Prime Minister Boris Johnson for not going after Abramovich’s U.K.-based assets, which include the professional soccer club Chelsea. Under mounting pressure, the oligarch announced this past week he would sell the $2.5 billion team and give the net proceeds “for the benefit of all victims of the war in Ukraine.”
Meanwhile, location transponders showed the 162-meter Solaris — launched by Abramovich in 2010 with an undersea bay that reportedly holds a mini-sub – was moored in Barcelona, Spain, on Saturday. Abramovich’s $600 million Eclipse, eight stories tall and on the water since last year, set sail from St. Maarten late Thursday and is under way in the Caribbean Sea, destination undisclosed.
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Harvard Senior’s Disney-Inspired Korean Musical a Hit Online
Disney has done the frozen Nordic princess, the Chinese warrior princess and many others in between. But a Korean princess? Not so much.
Harvard University student Julia Riew has set out to fix that. The 22-year-old Korean American senior wrote “Shimcheong: A Folktale” — a full-length musical inspired by a Korean folktale with a decidedly Disney movie vibe — as her senior thesis.
She’s been releasing snippets of it on TikTok since January, and has quickly amassed a passionate following with the short videos that show her transforming into an animated Disney princess as she belts out her songs.
Riew has even sparked interest from Hollywood and theater producers, while supporters have taken to creating visuals and animations to help bring her story to life.
“It honestly still feels like I’m dreaming,” she said recently. “It’s been heartwarming to see the reaction, especially among the Korean American community.”
Riew, who grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, before her family moved to New York City and then Connecticut, hopes the musical follows the same trajectory of others successfully workshopped and crowdsourced on TikTok in recent years.
“Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical” debuted in 2020 as a benefit concert featuring Adam Lambert, Wayne Brady and other stars after the idea percolated for months on the social media platform among musical theater fans and out-of-work performers.
Last year, the female duo known as Barlow & Bear went viral on TikTok with a song inspired by the soapy Netflix period drama “Bridgerton.” That led to “The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical,” a 15-song album now up for a Grammy — a first for a TikTok collaboration.
Riew’s musical draws on the Korean folktale “The Blind Man’s Daughter,” about a young woman who tries to restore her blind father’s sight but ends up in the faraway Dragon Kingdom.
In Riew’s version, the young Shimcheong spends years growing up in the magical realm before setting out on an epic journey home. Along the way, truths are revealed, obstacles are overcome and there’s no shortage of laughs and catchy songs.
If that sounds like the plot for many of Disney’s most beloved works, that’s the point, says Riew, who grew up on a steady diet of Disney and Broadway soundtracks and began writing her own songs and musicals at a young age.
“What stood out to me is that it’s a story about a young woman who goes on an adventure,” she explains. “There aren’t too many stories in Korean folklore about women, especially ones where they go on adventures.”
Disney has historically struggled to reflect the diversity of its audience, falling back on stories featuring predominantly white characters and stereotypical depictions of non-white cultures, says Jana Thomas, a media and communications professor at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, who researches social media and has also written about representation in Disney films.
But the entertainment giant has responded to calls for more representative works and found success, from 2016’s Moana to Coco, Soul, Raya and the Last Dragon, and last year’s hit Encanto, she said. Turning Red, an animated film Disney’s Pixar studios is set to release next week, features a teenage Chinese-Canadian protagonist.
“Julia’s use of TikTok to build a fanbase and attract the attention of Disney was a well-executed move,” Thomas adds. “She used a social media platform preferred by a user demographic that support her goal to increase representation within media and entertainment. I’d love to see Julia’s story be an example for others who want to maximize the proactive and positive power of social media.”
Spokespeople for Disney didn’t respond to an email seeking comment this week. But even if the film studio doesn’t come calling, Riew is optimistic Shimcheong will live on after she graduates and embarks on a career as a musical composer and lyricist. She’s already hired an agent to help navigate some of the early discussions.
“It seems at this point the project will be moving forward,” she said. “Not sure yet if that means as a stage production, as an indie film or something else, but there definitely has been some interest.”
Riew says she’s long toyed with the idea of a musical drawing from her Korean heritage but only seriously started working on it after the coronavirus pandemic hit and she ended up moving back home because campus was shuttered.
Riew admits she struggled at times to write the story and questioned if it was appropriate for her, as a third generation Korean American, to tell it.
“There were moments where I tried to quit, when I felt like I was a fake Korean,” she said. “But I realized over the process that we can only really represent our own story, and that’s totally okay. There’s no such thing as one way to be Korean.”
Putting the videos up on TikTok hasn’t just helped generate buzz for the project — it’s also helped her refine it.
Riew says she changed the character of Lotus, Shimcheong’s sidekick and the story’s comic relief, from a dragon to a gumiho — a mythical nine-tail fox in Korean folklore — based on feedback from supporters.
“It’s been reinvigorating,” she said of putting out her work to the sometimes critical eye of social media. “It’s been eye-opening to realize how many people would love to see this come to fruition.”
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Cameroon Urges Civilians Not to Flee After Separatist Bomb Kills 7
Cameroon has sent military and senior civilian officials to ask residents not to flee from Ekondo Titi, an English-speaking western town where anglophone separatists this week killed seven people, including the most senior administrative official, the mayor and traditional ruler. The government says hundreds of civilians are fleeing to safer locations.
In a video, armed men identifying themselves as Ndian warriors brandish assault rifles and pledge total allegiance to what they say is their fight for the independence of Cameroon’s English-speaking western regions.
In the video, widely circulated on social media platforms including Facebook and WhatsApp, they display two assault rifles, an undisclosed amount of money and Cameroonian military uniforms.
They say the rifles, money and uniforms belonged to Cameroonian military and government officials they killed Wednesday in Ekondo Titi — a district in Ndian, an administrative unit in Cameroon’s English-speaking South-West region.
The main speaker in the video claims to be field marshal of anglophone separatists. He says fighters are developing a new modus operandi in their battle to achieve independence for Cameroon’s English-speaking western regions.
He says besides eliminating government troops, fighters have decided to target and kill all civilian workers representing Cameroon’s central government in the English-speaking western regions. He says those posted by the central government in Yaoundé should resign or refuse to work in English-speaking towns and villages.
Cameroon’s military said the video is that of fighters who killed seven people and government troops in Ekondo Titi this week.
A government release read Friday on Cameroon state radio, CRTV, said Paul Timothee Aboloa, highest government official and representative of President Paul Biya in Ekondo Titi, was among the officials killed by fighters.
The release said Nanji Kenneth, mayor of Ekondo Titi, and Ebeku William, the Ekondo Titi president of Cameroon’s ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement party, also died.
The Cameroon government Friday said hundreds of civilians, especially government workers, have escaped from Ekondo Titi since Wednesday’s separatist bomb attack.
Bernard Okallia Bilai is the governor of the South-West region, where Ekondo Titi is located. He said he was sent to Ekondo Titi on Friday to ask frightened residents to stop fleeing. Bilai spoke via a messaging app.
He said he is at the head of a delegation of top government and military officials, politicians and clerics sent to Ekondo Titi by Biya. He said the delegation is telling people of Ekondo Titi who are going through terrifying moments that Biya and government troops will crush separatists who do not surrender.
Bilai said civilians should be vigilant and report suspects and strange people in the towns and villages to government troops or administrative officials.
Officials reported in November that a separatist attack on a school in Ekondo Titi killed four students and a teacher. Hundreds of teachers and students stopped going to school.
Timothe Abolo, before he died in Wednesday’s attack, said enough security measures had been taken to protect schools, teachers, students and government workers from further attack.
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Ukrainian Woman Weds Chicago Fiancé Ahead Of Return Home
When Russia invaded her home country of Ukraine, Maria decided she had to get there and help defend it — even if it meant leaving her fiancé behind in Chicago days after getting married.
Maria and her fiancé, David, married Saturday before about 20 people in the backyard of an Oak Park home — the venue offered last minute after Maria asked for advice in a neighborhood Facebook group. The couple met last year and got engaged in October.
On Monday, she plans to fly to Poland, then make her way to the Ukrainian border, ultimately aiming to volunteer to fight for her home country.
“People are running out of there and she is running in,” said a friend at the wedding, Pamela Chinchilla of Lombard.
Seven guests at the wedding brought medical supplies, masks and other items for Maria to take to Ukraine. People hugged each other, and Maria at one point spoke with family members in Odesa.
Maria, who asked that her last name not be published because she fears for her family’s safety in Ukraine and the U.S., said she lived with her parents in Kyiv until 1991 when the family moved to Poland.
For Maria, a previous marriage ended in divorce. She met her ex-husband while studying music in Austria and more than 20 years ago they moved to his hometown of Chicago — which has the second-largest Ukrainian-born population among U.S. cities.
Since the war began, she used messages and calls through Facebook to keep in touch with her parents, who have been sheltering in a parking garage during attacks on Ukraine’s largest port city of Odesa. But she said she has been unable to reach cousins in Kyiv in recent days.
Three days into the invasion, Maria made up her mind to return to Ukraine, determined to find some way to be useful. She said she doesn’t have medical or military training but worries that a Russian takeover of Ukraine will embolden the country to threaten more places around the world.
“I have to go,” Maria, 44, said. “I can’t do protests or fundraising or wave flags. We’ve done this since 2015, Ukrainians, and I just can’t do it anymore.”
Her fiancé refused to stay behind despite Maria’s resistance to him accompanying her. But since David first needs to apply for a passport, she plans to leave Monday and wait in Poland before crossing the border.
“He knows how stubborn I am and knew he’d have no chance to convince me otherwise,” Maria said.
David, 42, said he feels a responsibility to do what he can to keep her safe.
“Because complacency and compliance are pretty much the same thing,” he said. “And you can only turn a blind eye to people being bullied for so long. And if it happens to them, it might be you next.”
He also asked that his last name not be published to avoid endangering Maria’s family.
Ukraine’s forces are outnumbered and outgunned, but their resistance did prevent a swift Russian victory. Ukrainian leaders called on citizens to join in guerrilla war this week as Russian forces gained ground on the coast and took over one major port city.
Associated Press reporters at the border checkpoint in Medyka in southeastern Poland found Ukrainians lining up to return from other countries in Europe in recent days in response to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s call for volunteers to come assist the country’s military.
The White House has since urged Americans not to travel to Ukraine, but Maria and David said that didn’t change their plans.
The couple had planned to be married at a courthouse on March 5, a nod to Maria’s grandmother’s birthday.
After deciding they would try to reach Ukraine, they accepted the offer to hold a backyard celebration. They also asked people to purchase items needed by Ukrainian troops through an Amazon list that includes rain ponchos, medical supplies and boots rather than wedding gifts.
Maria said she’s not certain what she will have to do after arriving at the Polish border with Ukraine; friends who live near border crossings have told her it’s taking days to get through. Her parents also questioned her decision to volunteer, she said, because they don’t want to be worried about her safety on top of their own.
“If the army doesn’t take us, we’ll be as close as possible,” Maria said Wednesday. “There’s always a need for volunteers. I’m pretty strong, I’m not afraid of blood, I’m good under pressure.”
Natalia Blauvelt, a Chicago immigration attorney who has assisted dozens of clients trying to help family leave Ukraine and Russia in recent weeks, said she hasn’t heard of others seeking to get into Ukraine in order to join the country’s defense.
But she advised that anyone considering it contact the Ukrainian Embassy in the U.S. and speak with an immigration attorney to talk through plans for returning to the U.S.
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Latest Developments in Ukraine: March 6
Full developments of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine
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Somalia’s Worst Drought in Decades Escalates
Somalia is in the middle of its worst drought in decades, with millions of people in need of aid and thousands on the brink of starvation. The United Nations estimates 4.3 million Somalis are affected by the drought and more than half-a-million displaced.
Baidoa already hosts over 400,000 internally displaced Somalis but more people affected by drought are flocking to the town every day in search of food, water, and shelter.
Somalia’s Southwest State is one of the areas worst hit by a record drought not seen in decades.
Forty-seven-year-old Ali Adan Hassan’s livestock died in the drought, and in late February his family of seven ran out of food.
A blockade by al-Shabaab insurgents made it impossible for aid to reach his district in the Bakok region. So Hassan set out on foot to Baidoa, a journey that took two weeks.
He said his family didn’t have a car or money to pay for a donkey cart, so they trekked more than 200 kilometer for 15 days to reach Baidoa. During the journey, he said, his wife and 3-year-old child died from hunger and thirst. He had to bury them along the way.
Baidoa is battling water shortages and an influx of villagers like Hassan, fleeing drought and starvation.
Single mother Mumino Moalim Osman, 40, lives in one of the Baidoa’s internally displaced persons camps with her 10 children. Her husband died seven years ago.
She told VOA they arrived in late February after walking for two weeks from Bokoro village.
They had a mother camel for milk, said Osman, but it died and only the baby camel remains.
She feeds the baby camel the same tea she gives her children, said Osman. The camel is her life, said Osman, and it must survive.
Adan Farah is an adviser for U.K.-based aid group Save the Children. She told VOA millions of Somalis are in dire need.
“According to rapid needs assessment conducted by Save the Children, 3.9 million people across Somalia are not able to access food, in which 1.8 million people are facing severe food insecurity,” she said. “The ongoing drought has plunged the majority of the population into food insecurity. The key drivers of acute food insecurity in Somalia include the combined effects of consecutive seasons of poor and erratic rainfall distribution and conflict.”
Daud Adan Jiran, Somalia director for the U.S.-based aid group Mercy Corps, recently visited Baidoa and met with displaced families.
“Somalia’s situation is deteriorating,” he said. “There is a severe water and food shortage. Most of these communities’ primary source of income is livestock, which has died. Crops have failed, so there is no food. Families have depleted what little reserves they had. If we don’t get rain in April, we may be on the verge of a repeat of the 2011 famine disaster.”
The U.N. says the 2010-12 famine, at the time the first in nearly a decade, killed a quarter-million Somalis, half of them children under the age of 5.
Baidoa community activists Nadeef Abdishakur Mohamed told VOA there is still time to prevent another famine.
“The government and humanitarian agencies must act now to avert a crisis similar to the famine of 2011,” Mohamed said. “As someone who is working with the people on the ground, I am here to tell everyone that it’s not too late to provide. They can provide emergency water trucking, medicine for the dehydrated and malnourished, and fodder for the livestock of nomads. They cannot liquidate their livestock assets to buy food and water for themselves, let alone for the animals. Some people will even pay you to take the livestock off their hands, that’s how bad the situation has gotten.”
Somalia in late November declared a state of emergency over the drought and appealed for international assistance.
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Iran to Answer UN Nuclear Questions as Deal Talks Near End
Iran has agreed to supply answers long sought by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, Tehran and the U.N. agency said Saturday, as talks in Vienna over its tattered atomic deal with world powers appear to be coming to an end.
A joint statement by Mohammad Eslami, the head of the civilian Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, and Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy, came hours after the two met in Tehran.
It envisions the issue of the discovery of uranium particles at former undeclared sites in the country being wrapped up by June — a move that is separate from the talks over the nuclear deal but could help push them to a conclusion.
But meanwhile, Russia’s foreign minister for the first time linked American sanctions on Moscow over its war on Ukraine to the ongoing Iran nuclear deal talks — adding a new wrinkle to the delicate diplomacy.
Grossi said in Tehran that “it would be difficult to believe or to imagine that such an important return to such a comprehensive agreement like the (nuclear deal) would be possible if the agency and Iran would not be seeing eye to eye on how to resolve these important safeguards issues.” Safeguards in the IAEA’s parlance refer to the agency’s inspections and monitoring of a country’s nuclear program.
Grossi for years has sought for Iran to answer questions about human-made uranium particles found at former undeclared nuclear sites in the country. U.S. intelligence agencies, Western nations and the IAEA have said Iran ran an organized nuclear weapons program until 2003. Iran long has denied ever seeking nuclear weapons.
Eslami said the men had reached an “agreement” that would see Iran “presenting documents that would remove the ambiguities about our country.” He did not elaborate on what the documents would discuss.
The later joint statement said that Eslami’s agency will by March 20 give the U.N. nuclear watchdog “written explanations including related supporting documents to the questions raised by the IAEA which have not been addressed by Iran on the issues related to three locations.”
Within two weeks, it said, the IAEA will review that information and submit any questions, and within a week of that the two agencies will meet in Tehran to address the questions.
Grossi will then aim to report his conclusions by the time the IAEA board of governors meets in June.
The nuclear deal saw Iran agree to drastically limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of crushing economic sanctions. But a 2018 decision by then-President Donald Trump to unilaterally withdraw America from the agreement sparked years of tensions and attacks across the wider Middle East.
Today, Tehran enriches uranium up to 60% purity — its highest level ever and a short technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90% and far greater than the nuclear deal’s 3.67% cap. Its stockpile of enriched uranium also continues to grow, worrying nuclear nonproliferation experts that Iran could be closer to the threshold of having enough material for an atomic weapon if it chose to pursue one.
Undeclared sites played into the initial 2015 deal as well. That year the IAEA’s then-director-general also came to Tehran and visited a suspected weapons-program site at Parchin. Inspectors also took samples there for analysis.
Grossi’s inspectors also face challenges in monitoring Iran’s current advances in its civilian program. Iran has held IAEA surveillance camera recordings since February 2021, not letting inspectors view them amid the nuclear negotiations.
In Vienna, negotiators appear to be signaling a deal is near — even as Russia’s war on Ukraine rages on. Russia’s ambassador there, Mikhail Ulyanov, has been a key mediator in the talks and tweeted Thursday that negotiations were “almost over.” That was something also acknowledged by French negotiator Philippe Errera.
“We hope to come back quickly to conclude because we are very, very close to an agreement,” Errera wrote Friday on Twitter. “But nothing is agreed until EVERYTHING is agreed!”
British negotiator Stephanie Al-Qaq simply wrote: “We are close.”
But comments Saturday by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for the first time offered the suggestion that the Ukraine war — and the stinging sanctions that Americans and others have put on Moscow — could interfere.
“We need guarantees these sanctions will in no way affect the trading, economic and investment relations contained in the (deal) for the Iranian nuclear program,” Lavrov said, according to the Tass news agency.
Lavrov said he wanted “guarantees at least at the level of the secretary of state” that the U.S. sanctions would not affect Moscow’s relationship with Tehran. There was no immediate American response to Lavrov’s comments.
Meanwhile on Saturday, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard unveiled what it described as two new underground missile and drone bases in the country. State TV said the bases contained surface-to-surface missiles and armed drones capable of “hiding themselves from enemy radar.”
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Mastercard, Visa Suspend Operations in Russia After Invasion
Mastercard and Visa are suspending their operations in Russia, the companies said Saturday, in the latest blow to the country’s financial system after its invasion of Ukraine.
Mastercard said cards issued by Russian banks will no longer be supported by its network and any Mastercard issued outside the country will not work at Russian stores or ATMs.
“We don’t take this decision lightly,” Mastercard said in a statement, adding that it made the move after discussions with customers, partners and governments.
Visa said it’s working with clients and partners in Russia to cease all Visa transactions over the coming days.
“We are compelled to act following Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and the unacceptable events that we have witnessed,” Visa Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Al Kelly said in a statement.
The twin suspensions were announced within 16 minutes of each other, and they followed a private video call earlier in the day between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine and U.S. lawmakers. During that conversation, Zelenskyy “asked us to turn off MasterCard and Visa for Russia,” Rep. Brad Sherman, a Democrat from California, tweeted. “I agree,” he added, before Mastercard and Visa made their announcements.
Earlier in the week, Visa and Mastercard had announced more limited moves to block financial institutions from the networks that serve as arteries for the payments system. Russian people have already been hit hard by heavy sanctions and financial penalties imposed by the U.S. government and others.
Since the invasion of Ukraine, the value of the Russian currency, the ruble, has plunged by more than a third to a record low. That’s pushing up inflation for Russian households, and all the fear has helped cause long lines at ATMs.
Many other companies around the world have also made moves to increase the financial pressure on Russia and its people because of its attack on Ukraine. Some are selling their stakes in Russian companies, such as energy giant BP, while others like Harley-Davidson halted product shipments to the country.
“This war and the ongoing threat to peace and stability demand we respond in line with our values,” Visa’s Kelly said.
The moves by Mastercard and Visa could make real differences to their bottom lines. Russia accounted for 4% of all of Visa’s net revenue in its last fiscal year, including money made from domestic and cross-border activities. Ukraine accounted for about 1%, Visa said in a filing with U.S. securities regulators this week.
Mastercard said in its own filing that about 4% of its net revenues during 2021 came from business conducted within, into and out of Russia. Another roughly 2% was related to Ukraine.
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American Basketball Star Brittney Griner Arrested in Russia on Drug Charges
WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner was arrested last month at a Moscow airport after Russian authorities said a search of her luggage revealed vape cartridges.
The Russian Customs Service said Saturday that the cartridges were identified as containing oil derived from cannabis, which could carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The customs service identified the person arrested as a player for the U.S. women’s team and did not specify the date of her arrest. Russian media reported the player was Griner, and her agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, did not dispute those reports.
“We are aware of the situation with Brittney Griner in Russia and are in close contact with her, her legal representation in Russia, her family, her teams, and the WNBA and NBA,” Kagawa Colas said Saturday. “As this is an ongoing legal matter, we are not able to comment further on the specifics of her case but can confirm that as we work to get her home, her mental and physical health remain our primary concern.”
On Saturday, the State Department issued a “do not travel” advisory for Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine and urged all U.S. citizens to depart immediately, citing factors including “the potential for harassment against U.S. citizens by Russian government security officials” and “the Embassy’s limited ability to assist” Americans in Russia.
Griner, who plays for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, has played in Russia for the last seven years in the winter, earning over $1 million per season — more than quadruple her WNBA salary. She last played for her Russian team UMMC Ekaterinburg on Jan. 29 before the league took a two-week break in early February for the FIBA World Cup qualifying tournaments.
More than a dozen WNBA players were playing in Russia and Ukraine this winter, including league MVP Jonquel Jones and Courtney Vandersloot and Allie Quigley of the champion Chicago Sky. The WNBA confirmed Saturday that all players besides Griner had left both countries.
The 31-year-old Griner has won two Olympic gold medals with the U.S., a WNBA championship with the Mercury and a national championship at Baylor. She is a seven-time All-Star.
“Brittney Griner has the WNBA’s full support and our main priority is her swift and safe return to the United States,” the league said in a statement.
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China Boosts Military Spending Amid Ukraine Uncertainties
China has decided to raise its defense spending by 7.1%, which is the largest increase since 2019. The rise is significant because the country’s economy is expected to grow this year at the lowest level in decades at 5.5%.
China’s defense spending is being carefully watched around the world in view of the atmosphere of political uncertainties caused by the Ukraine war. China has refused to pick sides or condemn the Russian attack. Some experts believe China will look for opportunities to invade Taiwan. Beijing regards Taiwan as a rogue province and has often indicated plans to take it over by force.
“While the world’s attention is diverted to Ukraine, an escalation across the Taiwan Straits, in the South China Sea and along the disputed Himalayan borders with India cannot be ruled out,” Mohan Malik, visiting fellow at the Washington-based Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies (NESA) told VOA.
“For the Indo-Pacific, this is indeed the decade of living dangerously,” he said.
China will spend $229.47 billion on defense this year, according to estimates presented to the National People’s Congress, the Chinese parliament, by the country’s premier, Li Keqiang. Its defense budget rose 6.8% in 2021 and 6.6% in 2020.
Analysts said that the actual expenditure will be in the region of $270 billion, and a lot more would be spent on military-related infrastructure, like border roads that are shown under non-defense headings in the budget.
“We will enhance military training and combat readiness, stay firm and flexible in carrying out our military struggle, and safeguard China’s sovereignty, security and development interests,” Li said.
Making a strong case for the higher defense expenditure, Li said, “Government at all levels must give strong support to the development of national defense and the armed forces, so unity between the military and government and between the military and the people will remain rock solid.” He emphasizes the need to modernize the military’s logistics and build a modern weaponry and equipment management system.
China, which has two aircraft carriers, plans to invest in two more. It has engaged in a sea rivalry with the U.S. Navy, which has 11 of them. The U.S.-China rivalry is evident because the U.S. sent aircraft carrier strike groups and amphibious groups into the South China Sea 13 times last year, according to Beijing-based research group the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative.
The Reuters news agency quoted Fu Qianshao, a retired Chinese air force equipment specialist, as saying, “Equipment is needed to fill performance gaps, and aircraft carriers, large warships, stealth fighters, third and fourth generations of tanks are expensive.”
Analysts said China is now forced to spend more on defense-related research and development because the U.S. is cutting off the flow of technology and there are similar actions in some European countries.
China may also reconsider planned arms purchases from Russia, including the proposed acquisition of Ka-52 attack helicopters, because the performance of Russian weapons in Ukraine has reportedly disappointed many arms experts.
A major area of focus is China’s military behavior in its neighborhood. Most of the country’s neighbors, including countries around the South China Sea, feel threatened by the rise in the strength of the People’s Liberation Army, which represents the land army, the navy and the air force.
Malik said China now spends more on its military than the combined military expenditures of Russia, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, India and Australia. That is significant because China is engaged in military disputes with Japan and India and wants to take over Taiwan.
“The growing power gap and military buildup in Asia doesn’t bode well for regional peace and stability at a time of heightened tensions over unresolved territorial and maritime disputes,” he said.
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