Month: March 2022

Macron Dismisses Putin Demand for Gas Payments in Rubles

Posted on by SeeEU

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday dismissed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demand for Europe to pay for gas in rubles as he accused Moscow of trying to sidestep sanctions over its war on Ukraine.

Macron told journalists after an EU summit in Brussels that the Russian move “is not in line with what was signed, and I do not see why we would apply it.”

Putin made the demand this week as Moscow struggles to prop up its economy in the face of debilitating sanctions imposed by the West over his invasion of Ukraine.

Macron said that “we are continuing our analysis work” following the Kremlin’s maneuver.

But he insisted “all the texts signed are clear: it is prohibited. So European players who buy gas and who are on European soil must do so in euros.”

“It is therefore not possible today to do what is requested, and it is not contractual,” he said.

The French leader said he believed Moscow was using the step as “a mechanism to circumvent” EU sanctions against it for the assault on Ukraine.

Major gas buyer Germany has denounced the move and Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday reiterated that the contracts clearly stipulated how the gas should be paid for.

Europe is scrambling to reduce its reliance on Russian gas. It continues to funnel hundreds of millions of euros each day to Moscow in energy payments, which are currently outside the scope of the sanctions.

Some EU nations have called for the bloc to ban Moscow’s key energy exports, but the move has so far been stymied by countries including Germany that remain too wary of the cost of cutting the cord.
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Foo Fighters Drummer Taylor Hawkins Dead at 50

Posted on by SeeUS

Taylor Hawkins, for 25 years the drummer for Foo Fighters and best friend of frontman Dave Grohl, has died during a South American tour with the rock band. He was 50.

There were no immediate details on how Hawkins died, although the band said in a statement Friday that his death was “tragic and untimely loss.”

Foo Fighters had been scheduled to play at a festival in Bogota, Colombia, on Friday night. Hawkins’ final concert was Sunday at another festival in San Isidro, Argentina.

“His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever,” said a message on the band’s official Twitter account that was also emailed to reporters. “Our hearts go out to his wife, children and family.”

Police vehicles, an ambulance and fans were gathered outside the hotel in northern Bogota where Hawkins was believed to have been staying.

“It was a band I grew up with. This leaves me empty,” Juan Sebastian Anchique, 23, told The Associated Press as he mourned Hawkins outside the hotel.

Authorities in Colombia have not commented on Hawkins’ death. The U.S. Embassy in Bogota expressed its condolences in a tweet.

After Grohl, Hawkins was the most recognizable member of the group, appearing alongside the lead singer in interviews and playing prominent, usually comic, roles in the band’s memorable videos and their recent horror-comedy film, Studio 666.

Hawkins was Alanis Morrissette’s touring drummer when he joined Foo Fighters in 1997. He played on the band’s biggest albums including One by One and On Your Honor, and on hit singles including My Hero and Best of You.

In Grohl’s 2021 book The Storyteller, he called Hawkins his “brother from another mother, my best friend, a man for whom I would take a bullet.”

“Upon first meeting, our bond was immediate, and we grew closer with every day, every song, every note that we ever played together,” Grohl wrote. “We are absolutely meant to be, and I am grateful that we found each other in this lifetime.”

It’s the second time Grohl has experienced the death of a close bandmate. Grohl was the drummer for Nirvana when Kurt Cobain died in 1994.

Tributes poured out on social media for Hawkins on Friday night.

“God bless you Taylor Hawkins,” Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello said on Twitter along with a photo of himself, Hawkins and Jane’s Addiction singer Perry Ferrell. “I loved your spirit and your unstoppable rock power.”

“What an incredible talent, who didn’t also need to be so kind and generous and cool but was all those things too anyway,” tweeted Finneas, Billie Eilish’s brother, co-writer and producer. “The world was so lucky to have his gifts for the time that it did.”

Born Oliver Taylor Hawkins in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1972, Hawkins was raised in Laguna Beach, California. He played in the small Southern California band Sylvia before landing his first major gig as a drummer for Canadian singer Sass Jordan.

Hawkins told The Associated Press in 2019 that his early drumming influences included Stewart Copeland of The Police, Roger Taylor from Queen, and Phil Collins, who he said was “one of my favorite drummers ever. You know, people forget that he was a great drummer as well as a sweater-wearing nice guy from the ’80s, poor fella.”

When he spent two years in the mid-1990s drumming for Morrissette, he was inspired primarily by the playing of Jane’s Addiction’s Stephen Perkins.

“My drums were set up like him, the whole thing,” Hawkins told the AP. “I was still sort of a copycat at that point. It takes a while and takes a little while to sort of establish your own sort of style. I didn’t sound exactly like him, I sound like me, but he was a big, huge influence.”

He and Grohl met backstage at a show when Hawkins was still with Morrissette. Grohl’s band would have an opening soon after when then-drummer William Goldsmith left. Grohl called Hawkins, who was a huge Foo Fighters fan and immediately accepted.

“I am not afraid to say that our chance meeting was a kind of love at first sight, igniting a musical ‘twin flame’ that still burns to this day,” Grohl wrote in his book. “Together, we have become an unstoppable duo, onstage and off, in pursuit of any and all adventure we can find.”

Hawkins first appeared with the band in the 1997 video for Foo Fighters’ most popular song, Everlong, although he had yet to join the group when the song was recorded. He would, however, go on to pound out epic versions of it hundreds of times as the climax of Foo Fighters’ concerts.

In another highlight of the group’s live shows, Grohl would get behind the drums and Hawkins would grab the mic to sing a cover of Queen’s Somebody to Love.

“The best part of getting to be the lead singer of the Foo Fighters for just for one song is I really do have the greatest rock ‘n’ roll drummer on the planet Earth,” Hawkins said before the song in a March 18 concert in Chile.

Grohl can be heard telling him to shut up.

Hawkins also co-starred in Foo Fighters’ recently released horror-comedy film, Studio 666, in which a demonic force in a house where the band is staying seizes Grohl and makes him murderous. Hawkins and the other members of the band are killed off one by one. The premise came out of their work on their 10th studio album at a home in Los Angeles.

He also drummed and sang for the side-project trio Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders. They released an album, Get the Money, in 2006.

Hawkins is survived by his wife Alison and their three children.
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US States Seek to Ease Inflation Burden with Direct Payments

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With inflation raging and state coffers flush with cash, governors and lawmakers across the U.S. are considering a relatively simple solution to help ease the pain people are feeling at the gas pump and grocery store — sending money.

At least a dozen states have proposed giving rebate checks of several hundred dollars directly to taxpayers, among them California, Kansas and Minnesota. Critics, including many Republican lawmakers, say those checks won’t go far enough given the pace of inflation and are pushing instead for permanent tax cuts.

A proposal from Maine Gov. Janet Mills is among the most generous in a state where the cost of food and fuel has skyrocketed in recent months. The Democratic governor wants to send $850 to most residents as part of the state’s budget bill.

The rebate “will help Maine people grapple with these increased costs by putting money directly back into their pockets,” Mills said.

But Wendell Cressey, a clamdigger in Harpswell, said the soaring cost of fuel for people in his business means the check will provide just temporary relief.

“It might help a little, but it would have to be a lot more because we’re paying for gas. Most of us have V-8 trucks,” Cressey said. “I just don’t think it’s going to help as much as they think it is.”

In addition to the direct rebates, lawmakers and governors across the country are considering cuts to sales taxes, property tax relief and reducing or suspending state gas taxes.

The proposals come at a time when many states actually have too much money on their hands because of billions of dollars in federal pandemic aid and ballooning tax revenue. It’s also happening as the war in Ukraine has compounded soaring prices for fuel and other essentials.

It’s also no coincidence that the relief is being floated during an election year, said Mark Brewer, a political science professor at the University of Maine. Maine’s governor’s race is one of many closely watched contests at the state level this year.

“There’s some real policy reason to do this,” Brewer said. “But at the same time, it’s also clear that this is an election year, and in an election year there are few things as popular as giving voters what voters see as free money from the state.”

The states are moving toward sending people money as consumer inflation has jumped nearly 8% over the past year. That was the sharpest spike since 1982.

Inflation boosted the typical family’s food expenses by nearly $590 last year, according to the Penn Wharton Budget Model, a project of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School. Overall, the average family had to spend $3,500 more last year to buy the same amount of goods and services as they purchased in previous years.

In New Mexico, some have questioned whether Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s plan for a $250 rebate goes far enough given how much consumer prices have risen.

Wayne Holly and his wife, Penny, were among the small business owners in the state who were forced to shut their doors early in the COVID-19 pandemic because of the governor’s public health orders.

Their T-shirt and screen-printing business narrowly weathered that storm but is now feeling the pinch again as the cost of materials skyrockets and customers look to keep their own bank accounts from being drained.

“Do we get customers who are angry and irate because things have changed? Yes, we sure do,” Wayne Holly said. “Do we get customers who say ‘I never used to pay that before?’ I say ‘Yeah, I’ve never paid $4.50 for a gallon of gas.'”

The rebate plan in New Mexico, and concerns about how much it will help, reflects a growing trend among states as they try to find some relief for their residents amid criticism that they could do more.

Many states are awash with record amounts of cash, due partly to federal COVID-19 relief funding. Measures enacted by presidents Donald Trump in 2020 and Joe Biden last year allotted a combined total of more than $500 billion to state and local governments. Some of that is still sitting in state coffers waiting to be spent.

Those federal pandemic relief laws also provided stimulus checks to U.S. taxpayers, which helped boost consumer spending on goods subject to state and local sales taxes. From April 2021 to January 2022, total state tax revenues, adjusted for inflation, increased more than 19% compared to the same period a year earlier, according to a recent Urban Institute report.

“Overall, the fiscal condition of states is strong, and much better than where we thought states would be at the start of the pandemic,” said Erica MacKellar, a fiscal policy analyst at the National Conference of State Legislatures.

That’s given state officials greater confidence to consider tax rebates or direct payments to residents. But some financial experts are urging caution, noting that inflation also could drive up state expenses and wages.

“State legislatures should not rush into enacting permanent tax cuts based on what very well might be temporary growth in real revenues,” Lucy Dadayan, senior research associate at the Urban Institute, wrote in a recent analysis.

The relief plans vary by state. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, released a plan for spending the state’s budget surplus that included a proposal for income tax rebate checks of $1,000 per couple. In California, Democratic lawmakers have released separate proposals to send rebates of $200 to $400 to each taxpayer, while Gov. Gavin Newsom said he wants to distribute fuel debit cards of up to $800 to help ease the burden on residents paying the highest gas prices in the nation.

Democratic governors in other states have proposed other approaches. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is seeking a one-time property tax subsidy for lower-income homeowners and renters.

In Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker has proposed halting a 2.2-cent increase in the motor fuel tax, suspending a 1% grocery sales tax for a year and providing a property tax rebate of up to $300.

New Jersey got out front early. Gov. Phil Murphy and the Democrat-led Legislature included cash checks of up to $500 to about 1 million families as part of a budget deal last year, when the governor and lawmakers were up for election.

The state’s rosy financial picture, fueled by healthy tax receipts and federal funds — as well as higher taxes on people making $1 million — has continued this year. But Murphy’s fiscal year 2023 budget doesn’t call for additional cash rebates.

Proposals for relief haven’t gone so smoothly in other states. Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican, has proposed returning half of a $90 million surplus in the state Education Fund to the state’s property taxpayers with a check of between $250 and $275, but the Democrat-controlled Legislature has shown little interest.

“Typically, when you overpay for something, you get some of that money back,” Scott said when he made the proposal earlier this month.
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Grapes of Wrath: Australian Winemakers’ Loss in China is South Africa’s Gain

Posted on by SeeAF

It’s really just a case of wine-wine diplomacy. South African vineyards, buoyed by the trade row between Beijing and Canberra, have seen their exports to China more than double and are even producing wines specifically for the Chinese palate. 

 

After China slapped a 212% tariff on Australian wines following a diplomatic spat over the origins of COVID-19 in 2020, winemakers in the rolling green vineyards of the bucolic Western Cape knew they could take advantage of the gap in the market. 

 

“Australia was exporting $1 billion worth of wine to China in 2019, with a dominant market share of around 40% of all imported wine, there is obviously a big gap to fill and the South African category has benefitted,” Marcus Ford, Asia market manager for Wines of South Africa, which represents all local wine exporters, told VOA. 

 

“So our exports to China have doubled over that period and the momentum looks to be strong,” he added, noting that last year South Africa shipped 458 million rand ($31 million) worth of wine to China, a 59% increase on the previous year.

Catering to the Chinese palate 

Matthew Karan, who is South Africa’s biggest beef exporter, is now also exporting wines, which, as he noted, go well with a good steak. Karan’s AM Vineyards make their own blend, catering specifically to Chinese appetites. 

 

“We go through a rigorous to and fro with China to make sure our product is for their taste,” Karan told VOA, adding that the Chinese prefer their wine low in tannins and usually favor red wines, red being a lucky color in Chinese culture. 

 

Morné Le Roux, general manager for Swartland Winery, which also exports to China, agreed, saying Chinese wine connoisseurs prefer mainly dark red wines like “Pinotage, Merlot, Cab Sauv and Cab Sauv/ Merlot,” in an email to VOA. 

 

“They do not like screw caps, only wine with corks in,” he added, also noting the packaging is of great importance with “red, black, gold and silver in the labels” preferred and green to be avoided. 

 

However, tastes are changing, and the Chinese market is still quite young, according to Shanghai-based Ford, who said the country went from importing six million 9-litre cases of wine in 2001 to 60 million in 2018 — a tenfold increase in less than two decades. 

 

“In the north of China, which has a relatively robust appetite for alcohol and strong alcohol, there’s a preference for rich heavy red wines, and in the south there’s more openness to lighter styles and white wines … and there’s a younger generation who’ve embraced white wines, sparkling wines,” he said. 

But Yang Lu, China’s first and only master sommelier, said it is hard to generalize about a “Chinese palate” for a country of over a billion people. 

 

“I don’t think there’s actually a Chinese palate exists, China is so huge, you know the taste of people, just like the Chinese food are so diverse,” he told VOA from Shanghai. 

 

As for the future for South African wines on the market, “one of the really positive things that has happened in the past six months is some of the really big international retailers like Sam’s Club and Walmart have taken on new South African listings,” Ford said. That means they are being stocked more widely and smaller retailers may copy the bigger ones. 

 

Chinese wine market trends 

There are two main demographics of Chinese who are now getting into South African vintages, Ford explained. First, a very wealthy elite that started drinking only the most expensive Bordeaux and Burgundy for about $1,000 a bottle but are now exploring wines from other countries and looking for less expensive bottles of around $100. 

 

“Then you’ve got curious consumers who’ve started on inexpensive French wines and had their experiences with Chile and Australia, and you know South Africa is very much on the radar for their next port of call,” he added. 

It’s not all smooth sailing for South Africa though, le Roux of Swartland Winery said. “The potential in the market is very big, but building a brand is not easy. Most Chinese clients want their own label and want to be selling exclusively.” 

 

“In China specifically, South African (wine) doesn’t command the respect we think it’s due,” Karan noted. 

 

The pandemic and the future 

The pandemic has also caused difficulties, Ford admitted, though prices have stayed much the same. Restrictions and lockdowns mean there has been less demand, with restaurants and supermarkets shuttered and people staying home. 

 

“I think the biggest impacts in the short term at least will be supply chain problems with ports and customs facilities and those sorts of things being impacted, so there’ll be some disruption, from a logistics perspective,” said Ford. 

 

Despite some hurdles ahead, sommelier Lu thinks the popularity of South African wines will continue to grow. 

 

“We just reached a stage that the … general public were looking for more diversity and naturally being one of the most important wine-producing countries in the world, South Africa came into the picture,” he said. 

 

But also, he noted, wines from the Cape are not only high quality, they’re also affordable. 

 

“The wine consumer now they’ve become more savvy, they’re looking for a wine that can really give a bang for their bucks.” 

 
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Racial Justice Activists Awarded $14 Million In Landmark Case Against Denver Police

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A federal court jury Friday awarded $14 million to a dozen activists who sued Denver police, claiming excessive force was used against peaceful protesters during racial injustice demonstrations following the death of George Floyd in 2020.

The city of Denver has previously settled several civil complaints stemming from the police response to the Floyd protests, but the lawsuit decided Friday was the first such case in the nation to go to trial, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents several of the plaintiffs.

The verdict, delivered after about three hours of jury deliberations, capped a three-week trial in U.S. District Court in Denver.

The lawsuit, filed in June 2020, led a federal judge to issue a temporary injunction barring police in Denver from using tear gas, plastic bullets, flash-bang grenades and other “less-than-lethal” force unless approved by a senior officer in response to specific acts of violence.

The death of Floyd, an unarmed Black man, during his arrest in Minneapolis by a white officer kneeling on his neck, ignited a wave of protests against police brutality and racial injustice in the summer of 2020 in cities across the country, including Denver.

While the lawsuit brought by Denver activists acknowledged that some protesters engaged in lawless behavior, it said the vast majority were peaceful and accused police of engaging in heavy-handed riot-control tactics without issuing clear warnings and orders to disperse.

The largest individual award, $3 million, went to Zachary Packard, who was struck in the head by a projectile fired from a police shotgun. He suffered a broken jaw and skull, two fractured spinal discs and bleeding in his brain, the lawsuit said.

“There is a widespread custom and practice of violence and aggression against protesters,” plaintiffs’ lawyer Tim Macdonald told jurors.

A lawyer defending the city, Lindsay Jordan, argued that police had to make split-second decisions in a chaotic situation. Some protesters, Jordan said, started fires and broke windows in the state Supreme Court building and a nearby museum.

“When justifiable anger turns to violence and destruction, it’s the responsibility of police to intervene as a matter of public safety,” she said.

In a statement issued following the verdict, the city’s Department of Public Safety, which oversees the police department, said officers had made mistakes, but the protests were “unprecedented” in scope.

“The city had never seen that level of sustained violence and destruction before,” the statement said.

The city has already implemented policy changes in the aftermath of the protests, the department said, including enhanced officer training for crowd management, eliminating the use of some “less-than-lethal” weapons and new guidelines for the use of pepper spray.
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Latest Developments in Ukraine: March 26

Posted on by SeeEU

Full developments of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine   
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Ukrainian Exiles Grateful, Worried About Families Left Behind

Posted on by SeeEU

The United Nations says more than 3.5 million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion started a month ago, and Thursday the Biden administration promised to accept 100,000 Ukrainians displaced by the war in the United States.  Mike O’Sullivan reports from Tijuana, Mexico, where many Ukrainians are arriving to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. They welcome the news but are worried about family members left behind.
Camera: Mike O’Sullivan
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Biden Praises Western Unity on Visit to Poland-Ukraine Border

Posted on by SeeUS

After the intense diplomacy of NATO, G-7 and European Union summits in Brussels, U.S. President Joe Biden travelled to Poland on Friday to witness firsthand the humanitarian impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Henry Ridgwell reports from Warsaw.
Camera: Henry Ridgwell
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West Africa Bloc Maintains Sanctions Against Mali

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West Africa’s regional bloc on Friday said it would maintain sanctions on Mali over the military rulers of the Sahel country delaying a return to civilian rule after a coup.

At the end of a summit in Ghana, the Economic Community of West African States also issued warnings to the juntas that recently seized power in Guinea and Burkina Faso.

ECOWAS said military leaders in Guinea should provide “an acceptable timeline for transition” by the end of April, or it would slap punitive measures on the government and the National Transition Council.

The bloc added in a statement that if Burkina Faso’s junta did not free former president Roch Marc Christian Kabore from house arrest by Thursday, “individual sanctions” would also ensue.

The talks in the Ghanian capital, Accra, came three months after the bloc placed tough sanctions on Mali.

They had opened “behind closed doors between heads of state,” Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop tweeted earlier in the day.

The leader of Mali’s junta, Assimi Goita, was invited to the summit, according to an ECOWAS document seen by AFP.

But it was unclear at the opening if he was in attendance, physically or virtually.

The summit came about a week after an ECOWAS envoy for Mali traveled to Bamako, but the talks on restoring civilian rule were inconclusive.

The 15-nation bloc is pushing for Mali’s military, which seized power in 2020, to stage elections within 12-16 months.

But strongman Goita has so far defied international pressure to hold elections.

Four coups since 2020

On Thursday, the court of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) ordered the suspension of the Mali sanctions.

It was unclear whether the ruling would lead to the immediate lifting of the sanctions.

ECOWAS and UEMOA both applied economic and diplomatic sanctions on Mali in January after the junta had proposed staying in power for up to five years.

Mali’s junta views the sanctions as illegal and vowed to challenge them in international courts.

Much of Mali, a vast nation of 21 million people, is plagued by a jihadist conflict that first emerged in 2012 and spread to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Goita seized power in Mali in August 2020, then installed an interim government led by civilians.

But in May 2021, he deposed those civilian leaders — in a second coup. He was later sworn in as interim president.

In September last year in Guinea, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya ousted elected president Alpha Conde, who had provoked mass protests by seeking a controversial third term in office.

And Burkina Faso’s Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba toppled Kabore in January following two days of army mutinies amid frustration with the jihadist conflict.

ECOWAS has suspended the membership of the three countries.
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 ‘Troika’ Says South Sudan’s Clashes Could Spread Violence

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The United States, the United Kingdom and Norway — known as the Troika — have condemned the South Sudan People’s Defense Force (SSPDF) for attacking SPLA-In Opposition military bases in parts of the Upper Nile region.

“Incidents such as these and the resulting cycles of revenge attacks risk greater violence in the country. They also illustrate the destabilizing and pernicious effects of incentivized defections, as these are often followed by armed clashes,” said Tom Carter, a British Embassy spokesperson in Juba, reading from the Troika statement released by the U.S. Embassy.

The three countries said they are also concerned about reported attacks against cantonment sites and training centers for a unified South Sudanese army. They say the violence betrays a lack of political will to create a unified force, one of the key aspects of the 2018 peace agreement.

The Troika said it regrets the decision by the SPLM/A-IO to withdraw its participation from the security mechanisms and urged all parties to recommit to the peace deal, Carter said.

“We call on the government of South Sudan to exercise leadership and oversight of the nation’s security forces to maintain discipline and compliance with the peace agreement,” Carter said, quoting from the Troika statement.

On Tuesday, the SPLM/A-IO (South Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-In Opposition), a principal signatory to the peace deal, declared it had pulled out from security mechanism talks as well as the Revitalized Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (R-JMEC).

The decision came following repeated military attacks by SSPDF forces on the group’s military bases in parts of Upper Nile state and “inconsistencies” in attending mechanism meetings and implementing resolutions, according to Colonel Lam Paul Gabriel, the SPLA-IO spokesperson.

Gabriel said the SPLM/A-IO sees little reason to participate in “non-productive meetings” where issues are raised but not resolved.

“What we are seeing is really war which is being put on our table, yet we are here to implement a peace agreement. We cannot continue to be attacked every single day, yet we are here in Juba implementing peace together. It doesn’t show any meaning,” Gabriel told South Sudan in Focus.

SSPDF spokesperson Major General Lul Ruai Koang Wednesday denied the SSPDF launched attacks on SPLA-IO military bases. He said the fighting in Upper Nile erupted after SPLA-IO forces killed an SSPDF officer on March 20.

“[The officer’s] colleagues responded to the gunshots, and they discovered it was their colleague that was shot dead and then skirmishes started towards the direction of Jekou and while they were fleeing, they were being engaged in running battles, so fighting started at Turouw and spread to Jekou,” General Koang told South Sudan in Focus.

Koang said the SPLA-IO “was totally responsible for starting it.”

The Troika called on peace monitors to investigate those who orchestrated such attacks.

Wednesday, R-JMEC expressed concern with the SPLM/A-IO’s withdrawal from the meetings of the security mechanisms for the peace deal, which it called an integral component of the deal’s transitional security arrangements. The body also raised concerns over the reported clashes between the factions.

Carter said that with less than a year to go before the end of South Sudan’s transitional period, “whole-hearted commitment is critical” to getting key agreement provisions past the finish line.
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US Announces Sanctions on Six Nigerians

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The U.S. government on Friday announced it was sanctioning six Nigerians for their support of the terrorist group Boko Haram.

They are alleged to have “materially assisted, sponsored or provided financial, material or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Boko Haram,” according to a State Department press release.

The sanctioned will have access to assets in the U.S. restricted or blocked. U.S. companies will also be restricted from doing business with those sanctioned.

Boko Haram was officially designated a foreign terrorist group on November 14, 2013.

According to the State Department, the group is “responsible for numerous attacks in the northern and northeastern regions of the country, as well as in the Lake Chad Basin in Cameroon, Chad and Niger that have killed thousands of people since 2009.”

The United Nations says the Boko Haram conflict, which started 13 years ago in northeast Nigeria, has killed more than 350,000 people and displaced 2 million across Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
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UN Weekly Roundup: March 19-25, 2022

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Editor’s note: Here is a fast take on what the international community has been up to this past week, as seen from the United Nations perch.

Russia further isolated in General Assembly vote

Russia found itself further isolated in the international community on Thursday, when the U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in support of a resolution demanding Moscow immediately stop its war against Ukraine. In a 140-5 vote with 38 abstentions, nations adopted the text, put forward by Ukraine and backed by more than 80 countries, that also demands the protection of all civilians and civilian infrastructure, humanitarian and medical personnel, and journalists.

Humanitarian truce declared in northern Ethiopia

This week, the federal government of Ethiopia declared a unilateral humanitarian cease-fire in northern Ethiopia, where it has been fighting the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) since November 2020, resulting in a grave humanitarian crisis. The Tigrayans responded that they were open to an immediate cessation of hostilities if their humanitarian needs were met. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the development on Friday, saying it should lead to improvements on the ground, where a de facto government blockade on the TPLF’s stronghold of Tigray has left more than 5 million people in dire need of humanitarian assistance. The conflict has spread to the neighboring Amhara and Afar regions, leaving an additional 4.2 million people in need of aid.

Taliban break promise to allow all Afghan girls back to school

Guterres expressed “deep regret” after the Taliban announced this week that secondary education for girls had been suspended until further notice, breaking a pledge to allow them back to go back to school March 23. He urged Taliban authorities to open schools for all students without further delay. The U.N. Security Council was also being briefed on the situation late Friday by the head of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan. Ten of the 15 council members called the development “a profoundly disturbing setback” in a joint statement ahead of the discussion.

In brief

— UNICEF and the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, said this week that 4.3 million children — more than half of Ukraine’s child population — have been displaced because of Russia’s invasion of the country. More than 1.8 million are refugees, and 2.5 million are internally displaced. Overall, 10 million people have been forced to flee their homes in Ukraine, of which about 6.5 million are internally displaced and 3.7 million people are now refugees. Some 13 million people are believed to be stranded in conflict-affected areas.

— Guterres said Tuesday that the war in Ukraine was “unwinnable” and that it was time the parties negotiated a cease-fire. He told reporters at U.N. headquarters that “continuing the war in Ukraine is morally unacceptable, politically indefensible and militarily nonsensical.

— Late Friday, the Security Council will discuss North Korea’s launch this week of a massive new intercontinental ballistic missile. It was North Korea’s fourth ICBM test, and its first since 2017. The launch was a violation of several council resolutions.

Quote of note

“Should we take food from the children who are hungry to give to the starving?”

— World Food Program chief David Beasley this week on the impact of a shortage of billions of dollars in funding for several major humanitarian crises.

Next week

On March 31, the United Nations will host a pledging conference for Afghanistan. Some $4.4 billion is needed to assist millions of Afghans who are facing acute hunger due to drought and a dire economic crisis. With the world’s attention focused on Ukraine, humanitarians worry about funding shortages for Afghanistan and other nations in crisis.

In memoriam

On Wednesday, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright died of cancer at age 84. Before rising to that role, she was President Bill Clinton’s ambassador to the United Nations from 1993 to 1997. Guterres offered his condolences on her passing, saying she was his “dear friend” and “a trailblazer, a role model, and a champion of multilateral action and international cooperation.” He also spoke of her as one of the “most influential U.S. foreign policy leaders of her time.” Learn more about her life and career:
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Irish Official Removed From Northern Ireland Stage After Security Alert

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Police in Northern Ireland said they removed Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney from an event in Belfast on Friday because of a security concern. 

Coveney was delivering a speech at a peace process event in the city when the alert was sounded, and the event venue was evacuated. 

In a statement posted to its Twitter account, Police North Belfast had declared a “security alert” during the event. Local media reported the incident involved a van that had been hijacked at gunpoint, with the driver forced to drive to the parking lot of the venue where Coveney was speaking.  

Organizers of the event told the Reuters news service a suspicious device was found in the van. Local media reports say the van was found abandoned in the parking lot with the driver inside unharmed. It is unclear what happened to the assailant. Police reportedly remained at the scene and urged the public to avoid the area. 

Coveney, who reportedly had been speaking about the importance of reconciliation in Northern Ireland, was about five minutes into his remarks when he was interrupted. 

A Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Coveney was taken to a safe location. From his Twitter account, Coveney thanked police for their work and said he was “saddened and frustrated that someone has been attacked & victimised in this way and my thoughts are with him and his family.” 

The incident comes three days after Britain lowered its Northern Ireland-related terrorism threat level for the first time in more than a decade, with police saying operations against Irish nationalist militants were making attacks less likely. 

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

 
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Nigerians Trapped in Ukraine’s Kherson Take Huge Risks in Bid to Leave

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Lizzy Ogaji browses through her phone for an update on the war in Ukraine, hoping for positive news, but finding little to lift her hopes.

She said her brother’s one of many Nigerian students trapped in Kherson, a Ukrainian city on the Black Sea occupied by invading Russian forces. She said he tried to escape the war-torn city this week but was turned around by the Russian military.

She’s scared for his safety.

“I am worried, like seriously worried, because each time I tune to the television, seeing the headlines and the news, in short my heart aches,” Ogaji said.

Kherson fell to Russian forces on March 3, days after the invasion started, trapping hundreds of international students like Ogaji’s brother in the city.

For three weeks now, they have been living in extremely cold bomb shelters with limited access to food, medicine and the internet.

Nigerian authorities have promised to evacuate the students but said that can only happen with a cease-fire in place.

Many students have been making individual escape attempts despite the high risks. Jerry Kenny, who mobilized a pack of foreign nationals trapped in Kherson, made it out days ago.

Kenny said they were living in very deplorable conditions.

“We ran out of food, water and I was out of cash,” Kenny said.

Some of the students escaping Kherson recently have been receiving aid and direction from nonprofit groups trying to evacuate foreign nationals from the city.

Danielle Onyekwere is a co-founder of the U.S.-based Diaspora Relief, a nonprofit organization started to help evacuate foreign nationals from Ukraine. She said without the cease-fire, evacuations in Kherson are risky and expensive.

“Right now, we’re not going off of any safe corridor, there’s no humanitarian corridor as of this time,” Onyekwere said. “What we’re going off with is just routes that we know locals have taken that they made it. So it’s still a risk on its own but it’s just like, why not try than still stay stranded there while we’re waiting on negotiations, especially if things are getting worse.”

But while Ogaji’s brother remains stuck in Ukraine, she communicates with him daily and said it gives her family hope.

“He never showed any negative feeling of the situation in Ukraine, he always encourages me, he’ll say, ‘Don’t worry sister I’ll be fine.’”

No one knows if a cease-fire will be agreed to anytime soon. For now, an escape attempt might be his only chance to leave Kherson.
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US Announces More Sanctions on Myanmar Military 

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The U.S. government Friday announced sanctions on five people and five entities connected to Myanmar’s military.

Those sanctioned include a military unit, arms dealers, military leaders, and companies and individuals working in the defense sector.

“As we approach one year since the horrific violence perpetrated by the Burmese military on Armed Forces Day 2021, in which more than 100 people were killed, the United States is imposing sanctions on five Burmese individuals and five entities in response to the regime’s brutal crackdown against the people of Burma,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. 

 

“Since the February 2021 military coup, the military regime has only intensified its violent crackdown and killed more than 1,700 people, including women, children and aid workers,” he added.

The sanctioned will have access to assets in the U.S. restricted or blocked. U.S. companies will also be restricted from doing business with those sanctioned.

The move followed the U.S. designation of the Myanmar government’s treatment of the Rohingya Muslim minority as genocide earlier this week.

The government of Myanmar has already been sanctioned by the U.S. and other countries over the treatment of Rohingya Muslims as well as over the military coup in February 2021. 
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Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas Released from Hospital

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The U.S. Supreme Court Friday announced Justice Clarence Thomas has been released from a Washington hospital where the court said he was being treated for flu-like systems for the past week.

In a statement Sunday, the court said the 73-year-old Thomas had been admitted to Washington’s Sibley Hospital, where he underwent tests, was diagnosed with an infection, and was treated with intravenous antibiotics. The statement said the infection was not COVID-19 but gave no other details.

Thomas’ release comes as his wife, conservative activist Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, finds herself mired in controversy regarding the 2020 U.S. presidential election and former U.S. president Donald Trump.

Late Thursday The Washington Post and CBS News released weeks of text messages from 2020 that were reportedly sent from Virginia Thomas to then Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, urging him to work to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

The series of texts – 29 in all – were sent beginning November 10, 2020, three days after the election.

Among the messages Virginia Thomas texted to Meadows was one that read, “Help This Great President stand firm, Mark!!! … You are the leader, with him, who is standing for America’s constitutional governance at the precipice. The majority knows Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History.”

The messages were among more than 2,300 Meadows provided to the U.S. House of Representatives select committee that is investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The Washington Post report says that, while the messages do not directly reference Justice Thomas or the Supreme Court, they reveal how Virginia Thomas used her access to Trump’s inner circle to promote the president’s strategy to overturn the election results — and how receptive Meadows was to her efforts.

Meadows’s attorney, George Terwilliger III, said he nor the former White House chief of staff would comment on the texts, but added “nothing about the text messages presents any legal issues.” Virginia Thomas did not respond to media requests for comment.

Some information for this report was provided by the Associated Press, and Reuters.
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UN: Russian Military Attacks on Ukrainian Civilians Violate International Humanitarian Law

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U.N. human rights monitors in Ukraine are condemning the use of explosive weapons and indiscriminate attacks by Russian military forces on civilians and civilian infrastructure as a probable violation of international humanitarian law.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine one month ago the United Nations human rights office reports at least 1,035 civilians have been killed and some 1,650 injured. It says it is difficult to get an accurate count on the number of casualties during a brutal, ongoing war.

However, what is certain is that the death toll and human suffering in cities, towns, and villages across Ukraine is increasing day after day. The head of the human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner, says the biggest area of concern is the wide use of explosive weapons in populated areas.

Speaking on a video link from the western Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod, Bogner says Russian military forces have widely used missiles, heavy artillery shells, rockets, and other explosive weapons, as well as airstrikes in or near populated areas.

“Private houses, multi-story residential buildings, administrative buildings, medical and education facilities, water stations, electricity systems have all been destroyed on a massive scale, with disastrous effects on civilians and their human rights, including their rights to health, food, water, education and housing.”

Bogner confirms the use of cluster munitions by Russia and says monitors are looking into allegations of their use by Ukrainian armed forces. She says the attacks cause immeasurable suffering and may amount to war crimes.

“Since the 24th of February, we have received allegations of Russian forces shooting at and killing civilians in cars during evacuations, without taking feasible precautions or giving effective advance warning. We are also following up on other allegations that Russian forces have killed civilians, including during peaceful assemblies.”

Bogner says monitors are looking into allegations that thousands of people who have fled the city of Mariupol and other areas have been forcibly deported to the Russian Federation and, supposedly, are being held hostage by Russian authorities. She says U.N. monitors so far have not been able to verify whether Ukrainian civilians who have gone to Russia have been forcibly moved there.
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Ghana President and Ministers Lower Wages in Cost-Cutting Moves

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Ghana’s president, Nana Akufo-Addo, and his ministers reduced their wages by 30 percent amid a raft of other measures to cut expenditures in the wake of rising fuel prices caused mainly by the Ukraine crisis.

In a much anticipated address to the nation, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said the government hoped to save around $400 million through measures, which include the immediate suspension of foreign travel by government appointees, except for critical missions, and the purchase of imported vehicles.

He said the government has no option but to respond to developments on the global market to save the economy.

“It is important to stress, right from the onset, that the difficulties we are facing in Ghana are not peculiar to Ghana. Governments in both developed and developing countries are busily coming out with various prescriptions to bring their economies back on track, after the devastating impact of COVID-19 which distorted global supply chains, and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.”

In response, the opposition led by Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu told the media at a press conference that the president’s measures are populist and inadequate to cushion Ghanaians from hardship.

“He is lost touch with reality,” Iddrisu said. “He’s not in tune with the state of the Ghanaian economy. Our economy today is one that reflects nothing less than a cost-of-living crisis and a cost of doing business crisis, both for citizens and for businesses who are unable to cope with the measures so announced by the minister for finance. We do not find his proposed measures adequate enough.”

For his part, economist Patrick Asuming told VOA News that cutting expenses is a good move, but it is insignificant to achieve any long-term impact on the economy.

“I believe in medium to long term solutions,” he said. “I think we’re in crisis and we need to fight the fire. But beyond stabilizing the currency over the next few months or the rest of the year, some things will have to give. Also, it’s not enough to say ‘I’m going to do all these cuts to government sector workers and political appointees till the rest of the year.’ I think we need more substantial reforms.”

In the weeks or months ahead, Ghanaians will be looking to see how the measures will affect the economy and also ease the high cost of living.
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Ukraine Tactics Disrupt Russian Invasion, Western Officials Say

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Western defense officials say Ukraine has been employing agile insurgency tactics to disrupt Russia’s invasion, and in the suburbs northwest and east of Kyiv, to push their adversaries back.  

 

Hitting and ambushing Russian forces behind the contact lines with fast-moving units, often at night, has proven among its most effective field tactics and is adding to the logistical missteps the Russians still have not been able to overcome, military strategists say. They add that the tactics are also demoralizing Russian troops. 

 

“They’re doing a tremendous job,” said Colonel John Barranco of the Atlantic Council, a New York-based think tank.  

“The Ukrainians have developed a very competent military with good leadership at the lower level and they’re motivated. And this is why, when I looked at the Russian forces deployed for the invasion, I thought, this doesn’t seem like a well thought-out effort.” 

Barranco, who oversaw the U.S. Marines’ initial operations in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks and served two tours in Iraq, said Russia miscalculated the resilience and capability of Ukrainian ground forces and the determination the Ukrainians would show in defending their territory. He said when he analyzed Russian forces arrayed along Ukraine’s borders in February, before the invasion, he discounted the likelihood of a full-scale offensive.  

 

“It seemed like the Kremlin attack plan might have been written in 2014. The Ukrainians have spent eight years building up their military and training,” he said. Barranco credited training the Ukrainians have received since 2014 by U.S. National Guard units from California and other states in small-unit tactics for some of Ukraine’s battlefield successes. 

 

 

In the past 48 hours, Russian forces have struggled to maintain offensive actions northwest and east of Kyiv and have lost ground, with Ukrainian ground forces reoccupying territory they had lost, according to the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces. Ukrainians say they have now managed to encircle the Russian-occupied towns of Bucha, Irpin and the village of Hostomel northwest of Kyiv.  

Earlier this week, the Ukrainians retook the strategically located village of Makariv outside Kyiv. Much of the success rests with the Ukrainians targeting Russia’s already challenged supply lines.  

 

Britain’s Defense Ministry said the Ukrainians will likely continue to target logistical assets in Russian-held areas, forcing the Russians to “prioritise the defence of their supply chain and deprive them of much needed resupply.” 

 

British defense officials also confirmed Friday that Ukraine has reoccupied towns east of Kyiv. “Ukrainian counter-attacks, and Russian Forces falling back on overextended supply lines, has allowed Ukraine to re-occupy towns and defensive positions up to 35 kilometers east of Kyiv,” they said in a public intelligence update.  

 

“In the south of Ukraine, Russian Forces are still attempting to circumvent Mykolaiv as they look to drive west toward Odesa, with their progress being slowed by logistic issues and Ukrainian resistance,” they added.

 

Russian forces also appear to be preparing defensive positions around Kyiv, ready for a war of attrition. Earlier this week VOA reported that satellite imagery released by Maxar Technologies, a space technology and earth-observation company, appeared to show Russians soldiers building protective dirt berms near the villages of Ozera, Zdvyzhivka and Berestyanka, northwest of Kyiv, and around Antonov Air Base. 

 

The berms are likely being built to guard against Ukrainian counterattacks, Western officials said. 

 

“The Ukrainians know their territory — they know their ground. They’ve thought about this for a long time, and they are outperforming the Russians at the small-unit level,” Barranco told VOA.  

 

He and other military analysts said the Ukrainians are using a variety of tactics to push the Russian forces onto the back foot.  

Among them are setting up so-called kill boxes, or defined target areas, and then drawing their foes into them; unleashing highly focused and ferocious attacks on isolated Russian troops; creating fallback routes after ambushes as they set up a subsequent attack; and striking mechanized units when they are stalled. 

 

Another advantage the Ukrainians are exploiting is competent leadership by noncommissioned officers (NCOs), the officials say, which is also consistent with U.S. military doctrine and training. 

 

“The U.S. puts a lot of focus on building a professional, noncommissioned officer corps of corporals and sergeants who understand the big picture and are given the delegated authority to make decisions on the battlefield as they lead their units,” Barranco said.  

 

“Junior officers are also taught to work closely with professional NCOs. The Russian military has acknowledged they have a problem with poorly trained NCOs and have started an NCO academy because they realize they do not have good leadership at the lower levels,” he added. 

 
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Ethiopia, Tigray Rebels Declare Humanitarian Truce So Millions Can Get Aid

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The Ethiopian government and rebels in the embattled Tigray region have declared a truce to allow humanitarian aid to reach millions in need. Food, water and medicine in the northern region have been limited for months due to the ongoing conflict and accusations that both sides are blocking roads.

Some aid organizations are still studying the government’s statement on the cease-fire in the Tigray region to determine how much access they will have.

In a statement to VOA, Oxfam International Country Director Gezahegn Kebede Gebrehena called on all warring parties to honor the truce and allow aid agencies unfettered access to the communities.

However, Hassan Khannenje, the head of the Horn Institute for Strategic Studies, does not believe the government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF, will give aid groups a free hand.

Both sides, he says, may fear exposing human rights abuses.

“They may be afraid in certain instances the humanitarian organization may have access to evidence of the crimes that were committed during the war, and so I do not think they are going to have a free access to every part they want or to every human who is going to be in need. But to the extent they will have some access is positive,” Khannenje said.

The Ethiopian government launched a military operation against the TPLF rebel group in November 2020. The 16-month conflict has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people, and displaced millions.

The conflict spread to other parts of the country and at one point, rebel groups threatened to march to the capital to topple Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government.

Obang Metho, a social justice activist, welcomes the temporary halt to the conflict.

“There are so many people who are suffering not only in Tigray region but throughout Ethiopia in Afar region, Amhara region,” Metho said. “Those people definitely need assistance. So the truce is not only what is happening in the Tigray region alone. I think what is happening in Ethiopia. I hope that it will lead to helping people.”

Khannenje says the pressure exerted on the Ethiopian government and rebel groups has paid off.

“In part, it’s in response to the growing calls by the international community, especially the West, to allow humanitarian access to the Tigray region,” he said. “It is also partly informed by the growing confidence of the Abiy Ahmed government to contain the Tigray. They no longer see them as an existential threat like they saw them a couple of months ago.”

The aid groups estimate at least 9.4 million people in Ethiopia need urgent humanitarian aid after fleeing their farms and homes due to conflict.
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Spanish-Language Reporter Facing Deportation Gets Asylum

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A Spanish-language reporter who had been facing deportation since his arrest while covering an immigration protest in Tennessee has been granted asylum in the U.S., his lawyers said Thursday.

In a phone conversation with The Associated Press, Manuel Duran said an immigration court in Memphis granted him asylum, four years after he was arrested while doing his job for a Spanish language news outlet.

“I’m very happy for this victory after so much time fighting for this case to be resolved. I’m very emotional,” Duran, 46, said in Spanish. “My family is celebrating with me. We didn’t think it would happen because it was a difficult case.”

A native of El Salvador, Manuel Duran had fought for asylum since he was arrested while covering a rally protesting immigration policies in Memphis on April 3, 2018. Protesters had blocked a street in front a downtown courthouse to mark the 50th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination on April 4.

Protest-related charges were subsequently dropped, but Duran was picked up by immigration agents after he was released from jail and detained. Memphis police denied that Duran was targeted because of coverage that had been critical of law enforcement.

Duran had been held in facilities in Louisiana and Alabama until he was released from an Alabama detention center in July 2019 on a $2,000 bail set by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta had granted Duran an indefinite stay from deportation as his case was argued. The Southern Poverty Law Center and Advocates for Immigrant Rights had helped represent him.

“The positive resolution of my case today is a triumph in the fight to defend the First Amendment,” Duran said in a statement released by the center. “This victory is dedicated to all the journalists being persecuted in this moment, because no journalist should have to fear to do their job.”

Casey Bryant, executive director for Advocates for Immigrant Rights, said the immigration judge in Duran’s case “noted that the First Amendment is one of the most cherished rights of this nation and thanked Manuel for his bravery in daring to report corruption in El Salvador.”

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had said Duran was taken into custody because he had a pending deportation order from 2007 after failing to appear for a court hearing. Duran had said he did not receive a notice to appear in court with a time and date on it. Immigration activists and journalism organizations spoke out against his detention.

The Board of Immigration Appeals had reopened Duran’s case. Lawyers sought asylum, arguing that conditions had worsened for journalists in El Salvador and he could be in danger if he returns. The immigration board acknowledged that conditions for reporters had worsened in Duran’s home country since his initial deportation order.

The National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, Associated Press Media Editors and other groups had filed amicus briefs on Duran’s behalf, the Southern Poverty Law Center said.

In a statement, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, a Memphis Democrat whose office was in contact with Duran and government officials since he was arrested, praised the court’s decision and Duran’s “commitment to the principles of a free press.”
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Peace Corps Volunteers Returning Overseas after Pandemic Hiatus

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U.S. Peace Corps volunteers are returning to overseas service for the first time since the start of the pandemic, which halted the agency’s volunteer work and resulted in a global evacuation of personnel in March 2020. Now, as they return to work, volunteers aim to contribute to the global COVID-19 response. Saqib Ul Islam talked with volunteers about what motivates them.
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US, European Commission Affirm Commitment to Deter Putin as Biden Visits Poland

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U.S. President Joe Biden arrived in Poland Friday, after meeting in Brussels with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

 

Watch: President Biden Receives a Briefing on the Humanitarian Efforts for Ukraine

Biden and von der Leyen announced formation of a joint task force to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels.

Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin has used the profits from its energy sales “to drive his war machine” in Ukraine. Biden said he wanted “to make it clear that the American people would not be part of subsidizing Putin’s brutal, unjustified war against the people of Ukraine.”

“We are determined to stand up against Russia’s brutal war,” von der Leyen said. “This war will be a strategic failure for Putin.”

The United States is providing Europe with 15 billion cubic meters of liquid natural gas this year.

In Poland, Biden will go to the eastern town of Rzeszów, near the border with Ukraine. Poland, a NATO ally, has taken in millions of Ukraine refugees.

Late Thursday, Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency said that Ukraine told the agency that Russian forces were shelling Ukrainian checkpoints in the city of Slavutych, where many people live who work at the nearby Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. This is putting them at risk and preventing further rotation of personnel to and from the site.

Earlier Thursday, Biden said there would be a Western military response if Russia uses chemical weapons in Ukraine.

“It would trigger a response in kind,” Biden replied to a reporter’s question during a news conference. “Whether or not you’re asking whether NATO would cross (into Ukraine to confront Russian forces), we’d make that decision at the time.”

He also said at NATO headquarters that Russia should be removed from the Group of 20 major economies and that Ukraine be allowed to attend G-20 meetings.

Biden confirmed the issue was raised during his meetings with other world leaders Thursday as they marked one month since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Asked whether Ukraine needs to cede any territory to achieve a cease-fire with Russia, Biden responded, “I don’t believe that they’re going to have to do that,” but that is a decision for Kyiv to make.

At his news conference, Biden said the United States is committing more than $1 billion in humanitarian assistance “to help get relief to millions of Ukrainians affected by the war in Ukraine.”

“With a focus on reuniting families,” the United States will welcome 100,000 Ukrainians and invest $320 million to support democratic resilience and defend human rights in Ukraine and neighboring countries, the president said.

NATO also announced Thursday that the defense alliance would bolster its capabilities after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had called on the organization’s leaders to provide more weaponry to his country “without limitations” as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its second month.

Zelenskyy’s appeal came as Biden met with NATO leaders to discuss their short- and long-term response to the Russian invasion.

Addressing the summit via video, Zelenskyy said his military needed fighter jets, tanks, and improved air and sea defense systems, as he warned Russia would attack NATO member Poland and other Eastern European countries.

“Russia has no intention of stopping in Ukraine,” he declared. “It wants to go further. Against Eastern members of NATO. The Baltic states. Poland, for sure.”

A White House statement issued Thursday said that “between now and the NATO summit in June, we will develop plans for additional forces and capabilities to strengthen NATO’s defenses.”

A Biden administration official told reporters that Zelenskyy did not reiterate on Thursday his demand for a no-fly zone, which NATO previously rejected on the grounds it would lead to direct conflict between NATO and Russia.

NATO members said in a joint statement after the summit that they would “accelerate” their commitment to invest at least 2% of their national budgets on the alliance, allowing for a significant strengthening of its “longer term deterrence and defense posture.”

The alliance also vowed to “further develop the full range of ready forces and capabilities necessary to maintain credible deterrence and defense.”

In addition to participating in the NATO talks, Biden met Thursday with G-7 leaders and the European Council.

The White House on Thursday announced a new round of sanctions targeting 48 Russian state-owned defense companies and more than 400 Russian political figures, oligarchs and other entities — an action Biden said was being done in alignment with the European Union.

Britain said Thursday its new package of sanctions includes freezing the assets of Gazprombank, a main channel for oil and gas payments, as well as Alfa Bank, a top private lender in Russia. Oil tycoon Evgeny Shvidler, Sberbank CEO Herman Gref and Polina Kovaleva, stepdaughter of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, are among individuals sanctioned.

China has criticized the sanctions imposed on Russia and has drawn warnings from Biden about not helping Russia evade the measures.

Asked about his recent phone discussion on the topic with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Biden said he had made clear to Xi “the consequences of him helping Russia,” but, he noted, “I made no threats.”

Chief National Correspondent Steve Herman, National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin and U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.

Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Tigray Rebels Agree to ‘Cessation of Hostilities’

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Tigrayan rebels agreed to a “cessation of hostilities” on Friday, a new turning point in the nearly 17-month war in northern Ethiopia following the government’s announcement of an indefinite humanitarian truce a day earlier.

The rebels said in a statement sent to AFP early Friday that they were “committed to implementing a cessation of hostilities effective immediately,” and urged Ethiopian authorities to hasten delivery of emergency aid into Tigray, where hundreds of thousands face starvation.

Since war broke out in November 2020, thousands have died, and many more have been forced to flee their homes as the conflict has expanded from Tigray to the neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar.

Thursday, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government declared a surprise truce, saying it hoped the move would ease humanitarian access to Tigray and “pave the way for the resolution of the conflict” in northern Ethiopia.

It called on the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) to “desist from all acts of further aggression and withdraw from areas they have occupied in neighboring regions.”

The rebels in turn urged “the Ethiopian authorities to go beyond empty promises and take concrete steps to facilitate unfettered humanitarian access to Tigray.”

The conflict erupted when Abiy sent troops into Tigray to topple the TPLF, the region’s former ruling party, saying the move came in response to rebel attacks on army camps.

Fighting has dragged on for over a year, triggering a humanitarian crisis, as accounts have emerged of mass rapes and massacres, with both sides accused of human rights violations.

More than 400,000 people have been displaced in Tigray, according to the UN.

The region has also been subject to what the UN says is a de facto blockade.

The United States has accused Abiy’s government of preventing aid from reaching those in need, while the authorities in turn have blamed the rebels for the obstruction.

Nearly 40 percent of the people in Tigray, a region of six million people, face “an extreme lack of food”, the U.N. said in January, with fuel shortages forcing aid workers to deliver medicines and other crucial supplies on foot.

Ceasefire efforts

Western nations have been urging both sides to agree to a ceasefire, with the U.S., the European Union, the UK and Canada hailing the truce declaration.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States “urges all parties to build on this announcement to advance a negotiated and sustainable ceasefire, including necessary security arrangements.”

“The #EU welcomes the declaration of a humanitarian truce by the Gov of #Ethiopia and the statement on cessation of hostilities by the Tigrayan Authorities”, the EU delegation to Ethiopia said on Twitter.

Washington angered Ethiopia’s government by removing trading privileges for the country over rights concerns during the war, but has stopped short of imposing sanctions in hopes of encouraging a ceasefire.

The new U.S. special envoy for the Horn of Africa, David Satterfield, visited Ethiopia this week to meet the African Union’s envoy to the region Olusegun Obasanjo, government and UN officials, as well as representatives of humanitarian groups.

Diplomats led by Obasanjo have been trying for months to broker peace talks, with little evident progress so far.

Analysts said the truce was an important step but urged the government to follow up the announcement with action and ease humanitarian access to Tigray, where hundreds of thousands are living in famine-like conditions, according to the U.N.

“The unconditional and unrestricted delivery of aid could also help create enough trust to pave the way for ceasefire talks and, eventually, dialogue,” said William Davison, the International Crisis Group’s senior analyst for Ethiopia.

Aid shortages

More than nine million people need food aid across Afar, Amhara and Tigray, according to the UN’s World Food Program.

But humanitarian organizations have been forced to increasingly curtail activities because of fuel and supply shortages.

“WFP operations in the Tigray region have ground to a halt, with only emergency fuel stocks and less than one percent of the required food stocks remaining,” the agency said this week.

The government previously declared a “unilateral ceasefire” in Tigray in June last year, after the TPLF mounted a shock comeback and retook the region from federal forces before expanding into Amhara and Afar.

But fighting intensified in the second half of 2021, with the rebels at one point claiming to be within 200 kilometers of the capital Addis Ababa, before reaching a stalemate.
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