Month: April 2022

How France’s Presidential Election Could Impact Ukraine War 

Posted on by SeeEU

The capital of France may be thousands of miles from the battlefields of eastern Ukraine, but what happens in French voting stations this month could have repercussions there. 

Far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has close ties to Russia and wants to weaken the European Union and NATO, which could undercut Western efforts to stop Russia’s war on Ukraine. Le Pen is trying to unseat centrist President Emmanuel Macron, who has a slim lead in polls ahead of France’s April 24 presidential runoff election. 

Here are some of the ways the French election could impact the war in Ukraine: 

Arming Ukraine 

Macron’s government has sent 100 million euros worth of weaponry to Ukraine in recent weeks and said Wednesday it will send more as part of a Western military aid effort. France has been a major source of military support for Ukraine since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine and supported separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine. 

Le Pen expressed reservations Wednesday about supplying Ukraine with additional arms. She said, if she were elected president, she would continue defense and intelligence aid but would be “prudent” about sending weapons because she thinks the shipments could suck other countries into the war with Russia. 

Softening sanctions 

Le Pen’s campaign has successfully tapped into French voter frustration over rising inflation, which has worsened as a consequence of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine and the ensuing Western sanctions against Russia, a major gas supplier and trade partner for France and Europe. 

The European Union has been unusually unified in agreeing on five rounds of ever-tougher sanctions against Russia. If she became France’s president, Le Pen could try to thwart or limit additional EU sanctions since further action requires unanimous backing from the bloc’s 27 member nations. 

France is the EU’s No. 2 economy after Germany and key to EU decision-making. France also now holds the rotating EU presidency, giving France’s next leader significant influence. 

Le Pen is notably opposed to sanctions on Russian gas and oil. She also said in the past that she would work to lift sanctions imposed on Russia over its annexation of Crimea, and even recognize Crimea as part of Russia. 

Courting Putin 

Earlier in his first term, Macron tried reaching out to Putin, inviting him to Versailles and a presidential resort on the Mediterranean, in hopes of bringing Russia’s policies back into greater alignment with the West. 

The French president also sought to revive peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv over the long-running conflict in eastern Ukraine between the government and Russia-backed separatists. Macron visited Putin at the Kremlin weeks before Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine and has continued talking to the Russian leader during the war. At the same time, Macron has supported multiple rounds of EU sanctions. 

Le Pen’s party has deep ties to Russia. She met with Putin as a French presidential candidate in 2017 and has praised him in the past. She is warmly welcomed at Russian Embassy events in Paris, and her far-right party also got a 9 million euro loan from a Russian-Czech bank because she said French banks refused to lend the party money. 

Le Pen says the war in Ukraine has partly changed her mind about Putin, but she said Wednesday that the West should try to restore relations with Russia once the conflict ends. She suggested a “strategic rapprochement” between NATO and Russia to keep Moscow from allying too closely with China. 

Weakening NATO and the EU 

While Macron is a staunch defender of the EU and recently reinforced France’s participation in NATO operations in Eastern Europe, Le Pen says France should keep its distance from international alliances and strike its own path. 

She favors pulling France out of NATO’s military command, which would take French military staff out of the body that plans operations and lead to the country losing influence within the Western military alliance. 

France withdrew from NATO’s command structure in 1966, when French President Charles de Gaulle wanted to distance his country from the U.S.-dominated organization and reintegrated under conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2009. 

If it were up to her, Le Pen would reduce French spending on the EU and try to diminish the EU’s influence by chipping away at the bloc from within while no longer recognizing that European law has primacy over national law. 
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Family of Congolese Immigrant Killed in Traffic Stop Speaks Out

Posted on by SeeUS

Police in the U.S. state of Michigan say 26-year-old Congolese immigrant Patrick Lyoya was driving a car with license plates that didn’t match the vehicle, and that’s why he was pulled over. But what ensued was a deadly shooting of a Black man by a white police officer. Today, Lyoya’s family speaks out for the first time. Reporter Laurel Bowman has our story.

Warning: This video contains disturbing images and may not be suitable for all viewers.
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FDA Authorizes First Breath Test for COVID-19 Infection

Posted on by SeeUS

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday issued an emergency use authorization for what it said is the first device that can detect COVID-19 in breath samples.

The InspectIR COVID-19 Breathalyzer is about the size of a piece of carry-on luggage, the FDA said, and can be used in doctor’s offices, hospitals and mobile testing sites. The test, which can provide results in less than three minutes, must be carried out under the supervision of a licensed health care provider.

Dr. Jeff Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, called the device “yet another example of the rapid innovation occurring with diagnostic tests for COVID-19.”

The FDA said the device was 91.2% accurate at identifying positive test samples and 99.3% accurate at identifying negative test samples.

“InspectIR expects to be able to produce approximately 100 instruments per week, which can each be used to evaluate approximately 160 samples per day,” the agency said. “At this level of production, testing capacity using the InspectIR COVID-19 Breathalyzer is expected to increase by approximately 64,000 samples per month.”
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Amid Turkey’s Inflation Crisis, Smugglers Help Kurds Reach US Soil

Posted on by SeeEU

In early April, snow drifts still line the twisting tracks leading up to Ağcaşar village, high in the mountains of Erzurum province in eastern Turkey. Daily life has seemingly changed little over the centuries. Dried animal dung is used for heating and cooking. Many homes don’t have running water.

The village is strangely quiet. Local shepherd Burhan Özdemir is one of the few middle-aged men left in the village.

“All our friends are gone. Some sold their cows. Some sold their animals. They sold their land and most of them are gone,” Özdemir told VOA. “It’s only me left here with two or three of my friends, and we can’t leave because we don’t have money. Those who had money went to America.”

Amid an inflation crisis and soaring prices in Turkey, people in the poorest eastern regions of the country are struggling to make ends meet. Increasing numbers of men are paying smugglers to take them to the United States, where they hope to find well-paying jobs and a better life. Many are ethnic Kurds, who have long accused Ankara of discrimination.

Ağcaşar has seen an exodus of young and middle-aged men, driven by the lack of jobs, drawn by opportunities in America and facilitated by smuggling gangs that have recently moved into the village.

University student Ömer — who did not want to give his family name for security reasons — is preparing to travel to the U.S.

“I want to go to America because even if I finish my studies and have a profession, I will not have a good salary,” he told VOA. “Here the salary is $300 a month, but over there it is $3,000. My brother went there [to America] recently. He says that he is free there and everything is nice. He will work and send me money, and I will go, too.”

The smugglers have moved into the mountain villages from the province of Agri on the Iranian border, which is among the poorest regions of Turkey.

There are no official numbers, but it’s estimated that tens of thousands have left Agri in recent years for the U.S. and Canada.

Annual inflation in Turkey reached 61% in April, a 20-year high, driven by global price increases and a series of interest rate cuts by the Turkish government. The price of food in Turkey has jumped 70%, and transportation costs have risen by some 99%.

“The butchers have raised the price of meat. Bakeries have raised the price of bread. The poor cannot make a living,” Agri resident Haci Halis said.

Smugglers typically charge around $15,000, residents told VOA. This buys migrants a bus ticket to Ankara or Istanbul and a flight to Mexico.

They cross the border into the U.S., where most are detained as they await asylum claims. The Kurdish migrants frequently cite persecution in Turkey. The smugglers also offer to arrange migration lawyers in the U.S., at a cost of $300, residents said.

Grocery store owner Ali Çapkar told VOA his brother had left for the U.S. six months ago.

“For a better life and more money. Almost all of the young people are gone. From Agri, around 100 or 150 people go every day. People are hungry,” Çapkar said.

VOA’s Memet Aksakal contributed to this report.
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Britain to Send Migrants, Asylum-Seekers to Rwanda

Posted on by SeeEU

Britain will send migrants and asylum-seekers who cross the English Channel thousands of miles away to Rwanda under a controversial deal announced Thursday as the government tries to clamp down on record numbers of people making the perilous journey.

“From today … anyone entering the United Kingdom illegally, as well as those who have arrived illegally since January 1, may now be relocated to Rwanda,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a speech near Dover in southeastern England.

“Rwanda will have the capacity to resettle tens of thousands of people in the years ahead,” Johnson said.

He called the East African nation with a sketchy human rights record “one of the safest countries in the world, globally recognized for its record of welcoming and integrating migrants.”

Johnson was elected partly on promises to curb illegal immigration but has instead seen record numbers making the risky channel crossing.

He also announced that Britain’s border agency would hand responsibility for patrolling the channel for migrant boats to the navy.

More than 28,000 people arrived in Britain having crossed the channel from France in small boats in 2021.

Around 90% of those were male, and three-quarters were men between 18 and 39 years old.

‘Inhumane’

The Rwanda plan swiftly drew the ire of opposition politicians who accused Johnson of trying to distract from his fine for breaking coronavirus lockdown rules, while rights groups slammed the project as “inhumane.”

The United Nations’ refugee agency voiced its strong opposition, with Gillian Triggs, the UNHCR assistant high commissioner for protection saying, “People fleeing war, conflict and persecution deserve compassion and empathy. They should not be traded like commodities and transferred abroad for processing.”

European Commission spokesman Balazs Ujvari did not directly comment on the British decision but stressed that it “raises fundamental questions about the access to asylum procedures and protection in line with the demands of international law.”

Ghana and Rwanda had previously been mentioned as possible locations for the U.K. to outsource the processing of migrants, but Ghana in January denied involvement.

Instead, Kigali on Thursday announced that it had signed a multimillion-dollar deal to do the job, during a visit by British Home Secretary Priti Patel.

“Rwanda welcomes this partnership with the United Kingdom to host asylum-seekers and migrants and offer them legal pathways to residence” in the East African nation, Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta said in a statement.

The deal with Rwanda will be funded by the U.K. to the tune of up to $157 million, with migrants “integrated into communities across the country,” it said.

In Dover, where many migrants arrive after crossing the channel, some residents welcomed the announcement.

“They should be sent back, because it is not our responsibility,” said retiree Andy, 68.

“Our responsibility is to look after our own people, which we aren’t doing,” the heavily tattooed army veteran told AFP.

“I understand people escaping from repression, I do. But if they’re coming over here for one thing and that is money, to me, that is wrong.”

Backlash

Refugee Action’s Tim Naor Hilton accused the government of “offshoring its responsibilities onto Europe’s former colonies instead of doing our fair share to help some of the most vulnerable people on the planet.”

“This grubby cash-for-people plan would be a cowardly, barbaric and inhumane way to treat people fleeing persecution and war,” he said.

Nadia Hardman, refugee and migrant rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the plan would “complicate” the process for Syrians seeking refuge in the U.K.

“Syrian refugees are desperate to reach a place of safety,” Hardman told AFP.

“The U.K.’s agreement with Rwanda will only complicate this pursuit.

“They will arrive and expect to be treated according to the fundamental values the U.K. says it upholds, but will instead be transferred somewhere, miles away.”

Australia has a policy of sending asylum-seekers arriving by boat to detention camps on the Pacific island nation of Nauru, with Canberra vowing no asylum-seeker arriving by boat would ever be allowed to permanently settle in Australia.

Since 2015, the U.K. has “offered a place to over 185,000 men, women and children seeking refuge — more than any other similar resettlement schemes in Europe,” Johnson said.

According to the U.N. refugee agency, Germany received the highest number of asylum applicants (127,730) in Europe in 2021, followed by France (96,510), while the U.K. received the fourth largest number of applicants (44,190).
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Biden Mulls Sending Senior US Official to Ukraine 

Posted on by SeeUS

U.S. President Joe Biden said Thursday that he’s considering sending a senior U.S. official to Ukraine, a high-profile visit that would underscore Washington’s commitment to the besieged nation.

When asked whether he would dispatch an official, Biden replied, “We’re making that decision now.”

“Are you ready to go?” Biden joked to a reporter.

“Are you?” the reporter responded.

“Yeah,” the president said.

Earlier in the week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden did not have plans to visit Ukraine himself. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently made a surprise visit to Ukraine’s capital, as have other European leaders.

As fighting continued in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, the 50th day of Moscow’s invasion, Russia announced that the flagship of its Black Sea fleet, the Moskva, sank as it was being towed to port. The ship was heavily damaged by an onboard explosion, and the crew of about 500 sailors had been evacuated.

The Russian Defense Ministry blamed a fire that detonated ammunition on board the guided-missile cruiser, but Ukraine said it hit the ship in a missile attack.

“I cannot confirm the Ukrainian reports that it was hit by a missile,” said Pentagon press secretary John Kirby on Thursday. “But we are also not in a position to refute that it could have been a Ukrainian missile which struck the ship. We just don’t have perfect visibility on exactly what happened.”

Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said the vessel was badly damaged on Wednesday as a result of either “incompetence” or a successful attack by the Ukrainians.

“We’ve been in touch with the Ukrainians overnight, who said they struck the ship with anti-ship missiles,” Sullivan told an audience at the Economic Club of Washington. “We don’t have the capacity at this point to independently verify that, but certainly the way that this unfolded is a big blow to Russia.”

Meanwhile, the verbal duel continued to escalate between Moscow and Washington.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday warned European countries looking to replace energy purchases from Russia that it would be “quite painful for the initiators of such policies.”

The Russian leader said, “Supplies from other countries that could be sent to Europe, primarily from the United States, would cost consumers many times more” and would “affect people’s standard of living and the competitiveness of the European economy.”

The European Union is dependent on Russia for 40% of its natural gas and 25% of its oil.

And Russia said that if Finland and Sweden revoked their longtime neutral stance between Moscow and the West and joined the U.S.-dominated NATO military alliance, then Russia would move nuclear weapons closer to the two Northern European countries.

Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to flood Ukraine with weapons. Biden informed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday of a new $800 million U.S. arms shipment.

Later, in a statement, Biden said, “The Ukrainian military has used the weapons we are providing to devastating effect. The United States will continue to provide Ukraine with the capabilities to defend itself.”

The Pentagon said the new tranche of weaponry includes 500 Javelin missiles; 300 Switchblade drones; 300 armored vehicles; 16 helicopters; chemical, biological and nuclear protective gear; and 30,000 sets of body armor and helmets.

The U.S. is also providing an unknown quantity of anti-personnel munitions, which are configured to be only manually detonated.
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New Members of Somalia’s Parliament Sworn In

Posted on by SeeAF

More than 80% of Somalia’s new parliament members were sworn in Thursday, following repeated poll delays and an ongoing feud between the president and the prime minister.

The chairperson of the Somali Federal Election Committee, Muse Guelleh Yusuf, hailed the event, held at the heavily guarded Mogadishu airport compound, as “a major breakthrough in the Somali electoral process.”

“It was a historic breakthrough ending a long and exhausted electoral process that lasted nearly two years. Some 290 lawmakers have been sworn in today and the rest are expected to be sworn in in the coming days,” Yusuf said.

But, he added, “we are missing some 25 seats which remain unfilled in the Hirshabelle and Jubaland states.”

The oldest member of the new parliament, Abdisalan Dabana’ad, will informally serve as chairman until a speaker is elected. The legislature will begin its preparations for the elections of the speaker and then the president on Saturday.

Elections for lower and upper house lawmakers were scheduled to be completed before President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed’s term expired in February 2021. But the elections dragged on, delayed by political and electoral disputes at both the regional and national levels.

With the new parliament seated, Somali political observers are breathing a bit easier.

“This ends an electoral process that has dragged on for [too] long … largely due to the political dispute between President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed and his prime minister, Mohamed Hussein Roble. And now, as a new parliament is in place, I think it is a relief and it is a new dawn for Somalia politics,” Somali diplomat Shafic Yusuf Omar told VOA Somali.

The swearing-in followed months of international pressure to complete the elections and choose a new president.

The United States, which has funneled billions of dollars in aid to Somalia and whose troops support Somali government efforts to fight the militant group al-Shabab, had imposed sanctions and visa restrictions on unnamed Somali officials if they disregarded the election timetable.

Once completed, the new parliament — which contains 275 lower-house MPs and 54 from the upper house — will jointly elect a president.
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US Spy Chief Warns of Russia’s Nuclear Threats, ‘Potential Desperation’

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Russia’s nuclear saber-rattling has the attention of top U.S. intelligence officials, some of whom are expressing growing concern about the Kremlin’s willingness to unleash some of its nuclear arsenal as it faces “potential desperation” in Ukraine.

Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns warned Thursday that the world should not underestimate Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose appetite for risk has only grown “as his grip on Russia has tightened.”

“Given the potential desperation of President Putin and the Russian leadership given the setbacks that they’ve faced so far militarily, none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons,” Burns said during a speech to students at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, also known as Georgia Tech.

“We’re obviously very concerned,” he said, noting that Putin has an “almost mystical belief that his destiny is to restore Russia’s sphere of influence,” which includes bringing Ukraine under the Kremlin’s sway.

Russia first put its nuclear deterrence forces on high alert on February 27, just three days after sending troops into Ukraine, citing aggressive statements by NATO and economic sanctions from the West.

Another warning

On Thursday, one of Putin’s closest allies further warned that Russia would place nuclear warheads in the Baltics should Sweden and Finland decide to join the Atlantic alliance.

“There can be no more talk of any nuclear-free status for the Baltic — the balance must be restored,” said Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council.

Medvedev said Russia would place warheads in Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea that is 500 kilometers from Berlin and less than 1,400 kilometers from London and Paris.

Lithuania’s defense minister downplayed the Russian threat, calling it nothing new.

“Nuclear weapons have always been kept in Kaliningrad … the international community, the countries in the region, are perfectly aware of this,” Arvydas Anusauskas told Lithuania’s BNS news service.

‘Troubled’

Still, the U.S. spy chief Thursday warned that Russia’s nuclear threats bear watching.

“I have learned over the years never to underestimate Putin’s relentless determination, especially on Ukraine,” said Burns, who met with Putin in Moscow last November, hoping to dissuade the Russian leader from invading Ukraine.

“I was troubled by what I heard,” Burns said.

Despite his concern, the CIA director said U.S. intelligence has yet to see evidence Moscow is preparing to unleash any part of its nuclear arsenal.

“While we’ve seen some rhetorical posturing on the part of the Kremlin, moving to higher nuclear alert levels, so far we haven’t seen a lot of practical evidence of the kind of deployments or military dispositions that would reinforce that concern,” he said.

U.S. defense officials have previously described Russia’s decision to put its nuclear deterrence forces on high alert in February as “escalatory and unnecessary,” but say they have yet to see anything that would require a U.S. response.

“We’re obviously watching that very closely,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters during a briefing Thursday. “We have seen nothing in the space out there that has given us cause to change that [nuclear deterrence] posture in any tangible way.”

“It is not something that we take for granted,” he added.

The latest U.S. security package for Ukraine, approved Wednesday, includes gear designed to protect Ukrainian forces from nuclear, biological and chemical exposure.

Russian war crimes

During his speech Thursday, Burns warned “the last chapter in Putin’s war has yet to be written,” saying that Russia was unlikely to depart from its current, vicious strategies.

“I have no doubt about the cruel pain and damage that Putin can continue to inflict on Ukraine, or the raw brutality with which Russian force is being applied,” he said.

 

China

The U.S. spy chief also called out China as “a silent partner in Putin’s aggression” in Ukraine, adding that Beijing presents a threat to the United States and the West in its own right.

China “is our greatest challenge, in many ways the most profound test the CIA has ever faced,” Burns said. “As an intelligence service, we have never had to deal with an adversary with more reach in more domains.”

Some information for this report came from Reuters.
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Brit Convicted as ‘Beatle’ in Islamic State Beheadings Trial

Posted on by SeeUS

A jury convicted a British national Thursday for his role in an Islamic State group hostage-taking scheme that took roughly two dozen Westerners captive a decade ago, resulting in the deaths of four Americans, three of whom were beheaded. 

The jury deliberated for four hours before finding El Shafee Elsheikh guilty on all counts. Elsheikh stood motionless and gave no visible reaction as the verdict was read. He now faces up to a life sentence in prison. 

In convicting Elsheikh, the jury concluded that he was one of the notorious “Beatles,” Islamic State captors nicknamed for their British accents and known for their cruelty — torturing and beating prisoners, forcing them to fight each other until they collapsed and even making them sing cruel song parodies.  

Surviving hostages testified that the Beatles delighted themselves rewriting “Hotel California” as “Hotel Osama” and making them sing the refrain “You will never leave.” 

The guilty finding came even though none of the surviving hostages could identify Elsheikh as one of their captors. Although the Beatles had distinctive accents, they always took great care to hide their faces behind masks and ordered hostages to avoid eye contact or risk a beating. 

Prosecutors suggested in opening statements that Elsheikh was the Beatle nicknamed “Ringo” but only had to prove that Elshiekh was one of the Beatles because testimony showed that all three were major players in the scheme. 

Elsheikh, who was captured by the Kurdish-led Syrian defense Forces in 2018, eventually confessed his role in the scheme to interrogators as well as media interviewers, acknowledging that he helped collect email addresses and provided proof of life to the hostages’ families as part of ransom negotiations. 

But testimony showed that he and the other Beatles were far more than paper pushers. The surviving hostages, all of whom were European — the American and British hostages were all killed — testified that they dreaded the Beatles’ appearance at the various prisons to which they constantly shuttled and relocated. 

Surviving witness Federico Motka recounted a time in the summer of 2013 when he and cellmate David Haines were put in a room with American hostage James Foley and British hostage John Cantlie for what they called a “Royal Rumble.” The losers were told they’d be waterboarded. Weak from hunger, two of the four passed out during the hourlong battle. 

The convictions on all eight counts in U.S. District Court in Alexandria revolved around the deaths of four American hostages: Foley, Steven Sotloff, Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller.  

All but Mueller were executed in videotaped beheadings circulated online. Mueller was forced into slavery and raped multiple times by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi before she was killed. 

They were among 26 hostages taken captive between 2012 and 2015, when the Islamic State group controlled large swaths of Iraq and Syria. 

Defense lawyers acknowledged that Elsheikh joined the Islamic State group but said prosecutors failed to prove he was a Beatle. They cited a lack of clarity about which Beatle was which, and during the trial’s opening statement, they cited the confusion about whether there were three or four Beatles. 

Prosecutors said there were three — Elsheikh and his friends Alexenda Kotey and Mohammed Emwazi, who all knew each other in England before joining the Islamic State. 

Emwazi, who as known as “Jihadi John” and carried out the executions, was later killed in a drone strike. Kotey and Elsheikh were captured together in 2018 and brought to Virginia in 2020 to face trial after the U.S. promised not to seek the death penalty.  

Kotey pleaded guilty last year in a plea bargain that calls for a life sentence but leaves open the possibility that he could serve out his sentence in Britain after 15 years in the U.S. 
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Abortion Restriction Bill Signed by Florida Gov. DeSantis

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a 15-week abortion ban into law Thursday as the state joined a growing conservative push to restrict access ahead of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that could limit the procedure nationwide.

The new law marks a significant blow to abortion access in the South, where Florida has provided wider access to the procedure than its regional neighbors.

The new law, which takes effect July 1, contains exceptions if the abortion is necessary to save a mother’s life, prevent serious injury or if the fetus has a fatal abnormality. It does not allow for exemptions in cases where pregnancies were caused by rape, incest or human trafficking. Under current law, Florida allows abortions up to 24 weeks.

“This will represent the most significant protections for life that have been enacted in this state in a generation,” DeSantis said as he signed the bill at the “Nación de Fe” (“Nation of Faith”), an evangelical church in the city of Kissimmee that serves members of the Latino population.

DeSantis, a Republican rising star and potential 2024 presidential candidate, signed the measure after several women delivered speeches about how they chose not to have abortions or, in the case of one, regretted having done so.

Some of the people in attendance, including young children, stood behind the speakers holding signs saying “Choose life,” while those who spoke stood at a podium to which was affixed a sign displaying an infant’s feet and a heartbeat reading, “Protect Life.”

Debate over the proposal grew deeply personal and revealing inside the Florida legislature, with lawmakers recalling their own abortions and experiences with sexual assault in often tearful speeches on the House and Senate floors.

Elsewhere in the United States, Republican lawmakers have introduced new abortion restrictions, some similar to a Texas law that bans abortion after roughly six weeks and leaves enforcement up to private citizens, which the U.S. Supreme Court decided to leave in place.

Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt recently signed a bill to make it a felony to perform an abortion, punishable by up to a decade in prison. Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey in March signed legislation to outlaw abortion after 15 weeks if the U.S. Supreme Court leaves Mississippi’s law in place.

If Roe is overturned, 26 states are certain or likely to quickly ban or severely restrict abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a think tank that supports abortion rights. During debate of the Florida legislation, Republicans have said they want the state to be well placed to limit access to abortions if the U.S. Supreme Court upholds Mississippi’s law.
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Visual Explainer: Russia Sanctions

Posted on by SeeEU

Russia is facing economic sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine from dozens of countries. Here is a look at the efficacy of similar punitive measures applied to various countries in the past.
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WHO: COVID Cases, Deaths in Africa Drop to Lowest Levels Yet

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The number of coronavirus cases and deaths in Africa have dropped to their lowest levels since the pandemic began, marking the longest decline yet seen in the disease, according to the World Health Organization.

In a statement on Thursday, the U.N. health agency said COVID-19 infections due to the omicron surge had “tanked” from a peak of more than 308,000 weekly cases to fewer than 20,000 last week. Cases and deaths fell by 29% and 37% respectively in the last week; deaths decreased to 239 from the previous week.

“This low level of infection has not been seen since April 2020 in the early stages of the pandemic in Africa,” WHO said, noting that no country in the region is currently seeing an increase of COVID-19 cases.

The agency warned, however, that with winter approaching for Southern Hemisphere countries, “there is a high risk of another wave of new infections.” The coronavirus spreads more easily in cooler temperatures when people are more likely to gather in larger numbers indoors.

“With the virus still circulating, the risk of new and potentially more deadly variants emerging remains, and the pandemic control measures are pivotal to effective response to a surge in infections,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s Africa director.

Earlier this week, WHO said scientists in Botswana and South Africa have detected new forms of the omicron variant, labeled as BA.4 and BA.5, but aren’t sure yet if they might be more transmissible or dangerous.

To date, the new versions of omicron have been detected in four people in Botswana and 23 people in South Africa. Beyond Africa, scientists have confirmed cases in Belgium, Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom. WHO said there was so far no evidence the new sub-variants spread any differently than the original omicron variant.

Despite repeated warnings from WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus that the coronavirus would devastate Africa, the continent has been among the least affected by the pandemic.

In an analysis released last week, WHO estimated that up to 65% of people in Africa have been infected with the coronavirus and said unlike many other regions, most people infected on the continent didn’t show any symptoms.

Scientists at WHO and elsewhere have speculated that factors including Africa’s young population, the lower incidence of chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes and warmer weather, may have helped it avoid a bigger wave of disease.

Still, some countries have seen significant increases in the numbers of unexplained deaths, suggesting authorities were missing numerous COVID-19 cases.
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Special Shelter for Ukrainian Women, Children Set Up in Lviv

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After Russia invaded Ukraine, a Ukrainian NGO organized a shelter for displaced mothers in the western city of Lviv where a local businessman offered for his office space to be used for that purpose. Women with children stay there for a few days before continuing their journey to Spain. Anna Kosstutschenko has the story. VOA footage by Yuriy Dankevych. Video editor – Mary Cieslak.
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Pfizer-BioNTech Say COVID-19 Booster Protects Kids 5-11 Against Omicron

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U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer and its German COVID-19 vaccine partner, BioNTech, announced Thursday recent trials show booster doses of its vaccine effectively protect healthy children ages 5 to 11 from the omicron variant of the coronavirus.

In a press release, the companies say their phase-three trials examined data from 140 children ages 5 through 11 who received a booster dose approximately 6 months after the initial two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine regimen.

The companies report, while all participants demonstrated significant increased protection, 30 of the trial participants showed omicron-neutralizing antibodies increased by 36 times compared to those who only received the original two-shot dosage.

The companies say more than 10,000 children under the age of 12 have participated in clinical trials investigating the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine with no new safety concerns observed.

The studies have not been published or reviewed by independent scientists.

The companies plan to apply for U.S. Emergency Use Authorization of a booster dose in the 5-11 age group in coming days, with additional submissions to global regulatory agencies, including the European Medicines Agency, to follow.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) authorized a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children ages 12 to 15 and those aged 5 through 11 years who are immunocompromised. The FDA has also approved a third booster of the vaccine for people 50 and older.

Some information for this report was provided by the Associated Press and Reuters.
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Shoe Firm Aims to Capitalize on Kenya’s Culture of Elite Runners

Posted on by SeeAF

Kenyan entrepreneur Navalayo Osembo co-founded a footwear company six years ago with the dream of building on the country’s heritage of great runners such as Eliud Kipchoge and Wilson Kipsang. The vision was to manufacture high-quality running shoes in Kenya, as Hubbah Abdi reports from Nairobi. Carol Guensburg narrates the story. VOA footage by Amos Wangwa. Video editors – Betty Ayoub and Rob Raffaele. Omary Kaseko contributed.
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Humanitarians Cheer Generous Aid to Ukraine but Fear Cost to Other Crises

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International relief agencies say they welcome the global outpouring of aid for Ukraine since Russia’s invasion but worry that the crisis is diverting attention and finances from equally urgent humanitarian emergencies in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere. 

The vast scale of the refugee crisis has generated “an extraordinary response” in compassion and aid, an official with the international charity Save the Children said.  

“The level of both financial support that has poured into Save the Children, to other international NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) and U.N. agencies … support coming from the U.S. government, the solidarity, the flags waved the Ukrainian colors — I mean, it’s just an extraordinary level of support,” said Gregory Ramm, who oversees humanitarian response for the charity and is based in Washington.  

But “there are many crises that are neglected,” he added. “Right now, we have a world facing conflict, facing the climate crisis, COVID, and yet it is difficult to get the world’s attention to Sudan, to eastern Congo, to Yemen, to the Sahel, to those places where children are suffering in the same way that the children of Ukraine are suffering.”  

More than 4.6 million people have fled Ukraine following Russia’s February 24 invasion, and another 7.1 million have been internally displaced, the United Nations reports. Of the 11.7 million people who have been displaced inside or outside Ukraine, 7.5 million are children — and they’re among 190 million youngsters worldwide living “in areas of serious conflict,” Ramm said. 

The U.N. estimates 274 million people worldwide will need humanitarian aid this year, up from a record 235 million in 2021. The U.N.’s World Food Program, which had already cut back rations because of funding shortfalls, warned in late March that the crisis involving major grain producers Ukraine and Russia could trigger the worst global food crisis since World War II.  

‘Dramatic entry’ draws support 

Maurice Amollo, a Nigeria-based official with the humanitarian aid group Mercy Corps, also praised the “swift” response to the Ukrainian crisis and “the generosity in Europe and the United States and beyond.” But, he told VOA in a phone interview, “we are also getting a little concerned that resources and diplomatic support will inevitably be diverted away from millions of other deserving and vulnerable communities around the world into Ukraine.”  

For instance, Denmark announced that to fund the reception of fleeing Ukrainians, it would defer part of the development aid it had earmarked this year for the West African countries of Burkina Faso and Mali by 50% and 40%, respectively, according to Mercy Corps. VOA was not able to independently verify that information with Denmark’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  

Amollo attributed “big differences” in global response in part to the “dramatic entry” of the Ukrainian crisis as opposed to the “protracted and slow-onset crises” in Afghanistan or Somalia. International media attention, he said, has influenced the distribution of resources, “whether it is individuals or corporations or governments.” 

Devex, a media platform providing information on global development, said it had recorded more than $4 billion in various countries’ commitments to Ukraine, though not all of that amount was for humanitarian aid, nor did it include public giving. 

Disparities in aid response were the focus of a March 24 report by The New Humanitarian, an independent news site founded by the U.N.  

The report noted that the U.S. announced $1 billion in aid to European countries taking in refugees, on top of earlier contributions, and that other donor states had pledged $1.5 billion toward Ukraine-related humanitarian efforts at a funding conference earlier in March. It quoted U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric as saying, “This is among the fastest and most generous responses a humanitarian flash appeal has ever received.”  

The situation is quite different in Afghanistan, where an unprecedented 94% of its people say they are suffering, according to Gallup polling. The U.N. reported late last month that it has secured just 13% of the $4.4 billion needed for humanitarian aid in Afghanistan this year. 

Who donates and who doesn’t  

A VOA world map showing various countries’ humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine indicates no major contributions from any African nation — or from swaths of Latin America and Southeast Asia.  

Economics is one factor behind Africa’s absence as a donor, said Terence McNamee, a development and governance specialist in South Africa and a global fellow with the Washington-based Wilson Center’s Africa Program.  

“The pandemic has been absolutely brutal for African economies. There just isn’t the economic means to provide any kind of assistance at the moment,” he said.  

A second factor involves Africa’s complex historical relationships with both Russia and the West. The former Soviet Union supported liberation movements in African countries fighting to shake off the bonds of European colonial powers during the Cold War. More recently, Russia has continued to supply military training, weapons and support and expanded its economic investment in the continent.

“What that amazing map is not revealing is the extent of division within Africa that this conflict has opened up,” McNamee said, citing the U.N. General Assembly resolution demanding that Russia immediately halt its military operation in Ukraine. Put to a vote March 2, it passed with support from 141 countries.  

While more than half of Africa’s 54 countries backed the resolution, 20 abstained or did not vote, “which effectively is at least tacit support of Russia,” he said.  

He noted that most of the countries that abstained “are either hybrid regimes or authoritarian regimes with quite strong connections dating back to the Cold War and the Soviet era.”  

African countries were also divided on the April 7 U.N. General Assembly resolution to suspend Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council. The measure passed by a vote of 93-24, with 58 countries abstaining.  

Ebenezer Obadare, a senior fellow for Africa studies at the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations, also noted African governments’ reluctance to publicly denounce Russian aggression — and the West’s initial irritation “that African countries are not joining the fight” publicly in solidarity with Ukraine.  

A native Nigerian who lives just outside Washington, Obadare wrote a March blog post discouraging Western diplomats from taking African leaders for granted and emphasizing the need for finding common ground.  

As he later told VOA, “What people are saying in Africa is that it’s not OK to invade the territory of another country. We get it.” But, Obadare added, they’re also saying “that the West ought to live up to its moral rhetoric, that the West has not always done that. … Many of these countries think that they have legitimate grievances, that this is the time for them to also articulate those grievances and to talk about how shoddily they’ve been treated in the past by Western countries.”  

African donors help out 

Obadare emphasized that “it’s important to differentiate between the leadership in African countries and the people of Africa. … Ordinary people are in support of the people of Ukraine.”  

Some of that support is being channeled through Gift of the Givers Foundation, based in South Africa. It’s the continent’s largest nongovernmental disaster response and relief agency of African origin, said its founding director, Imtiaz Sooliman, drawing most of its funding from South African individuals, though at least a dozen corporate sponsors have joined amid the COVID-19 pandemic.  

“We help people unconditionally. … And we reach out wherever anyone needs help, anywhere in the world,” Sooliman told VOA.  

Since its Ukraine efforts began — initiated by a Ukrainian woman whose husband is in South Africa — donors have raised more than $100,000 and spurred an aid network reaching at least six Ukrainian cities including Kyiv, Kharkiv, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, Sooliman told VOA.  

In Ukraine, as in the 43 other countries where Gift of the Givers operates, it buys locally procured supplies such as food, diapers, medicine and clothing. In many countries, the organization also provides services such as health care, education and search-and-rescue disaster response.  

Gift of the Givers is also soliciting money to help African students in Ukraine and elsewhere to return to the continent.  

“This is a unique campaign because it’s Africa reaching out to Europe,” Sooliman said, noting that Africa often is seen as “a begging bowl, that we are always backward … that we can never do things ourselves.”  

Sooliman said he wants others “to realize that Africa can do something — that Africa is now helping Europe.”  

 
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EU Closes Loophole Allowing Multimillion-Euro Arms Sales to Russia

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The European Union has closed a loophole that allowed EU governments to export weapons worth tens of millions of euros to Russia last year alone despite an embargo which took effect in 2014 after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region.

EU countries last year sold to Russia weapons and ammunition worth 39 million euros ($42.3 million), according to the latest data made available by the EU Commission — up more than 50% from 2020, when sales were worth 25 million euros, a volume in line with previous years.

The EU had banned the export of arms to Moscow in July 2014 in reaction to Russia’s annexation of Crimea, but a clause in the sanctions permitted sales under contracts signed before August 2014.

Countries with large defense industries, such as France and Germany, were among the largest exporters.

The loophole has come under fire from some EU governments since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, which the Kremlin calls “a special military operation.”

In a bid to weaken the Kremlin’s war efforts in Ukraine, the EU has imposed five rounds of sweeping sanctions banning exports to Russia of a large variety of technology that could be used by the defense industry.

But EU governments failed to immediately agree to scrap the exemption on arms sales until last week, when the loophole was closed as part of the fifth package of EU sanctions, EU diplomats and officials told Reuters.

A legal text published on April 8 in the EU official journal deletes that exemption.

The EU Commission did not mention the closure of the loophole in its public communication about the fifth package of sanctions.

A spokesperson for the Lithuanian diplomatic mission to the EU said the exemption had been eliminated, but EU countries will be able to continue moving Russia-made weapons to Russia for repairs before they are returned to the EU.

The EU Commission, which is responsible for preparing sanctions, did not propose the amendment on closing the loophole as it was not clear whether it had the unanimous political backing of the 27 EU states, diplomats said.

But at a meeting last week, envoys agreed to amend the text after fresh criticism from some governments, including Poland and Lithuania, diplomats who attended the meeting said.
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Russia Says Black Sea Flagship Seriously Damaged

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Russia said Thursday the flagship of its Black Sea fleet had been seriously damaged and that all the crew evacuated following what Russia said was an explosion and what Ukrainian officials said was a missile strike.

The Russian defense ministry blamed a fire that detonated ammunition on board the guide-missile Moskva. It said the fire had been contained and the ship remained afloat.  The ministry added that the ship’s main weapons were not damaged and that efforts were being made to take the ship back to port.   

The governor of Odesa said two cruise missiles struck the ship.

The White House on Wednesday reinforced U.S. President Joe Biden’s surprise statement Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin may be committing genocide in Ukraine.

Biden also announced that Washington is sending another $800 million in weapons, ammunition and other assistance to Ukraine.

“The president was speaking to what we all see, what he feels is clear as day in terms of the atrocities happening on the ground,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said of the genocide remark.

“As he also noted yesterday, of course there will be a legal process that plays out in the courtroom, but he was speaking to what he sees, has seen on the ground, what we’ve all seen in terms of the atrocities on the ground.”

She added, “Regardless of what you call it, what our objective now is — as evidenced by the enormous package of military assistance we put out today — is to continue to help and assist the Ukrainians in this war, one where we see atrocities happening every single day.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected Biden’s description, saying, “We consider this kind of effort to distort the situation unacceptable. This is hardly acceptable from a president of the United States, a country that has committed well-known crimes in recent times.”

Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the new shipment in an hourlong phone conversation on Wednesday. He later said in a statement, “The Ukrainian military has used the weapons we are providing to devastating effect. The United States will continue to provide Ukraine with the capabilities to defend itself.”

New weapons, renewed Russian push

The Pentagon said the new tranche of weaponry includes 500 Javelin missiles, 300 Switchblade drones, 300 armored vehicles, 11 helicopters, chemical, biological and nuclear protective gear and 30,000 sets of body armor and helmets.

The U.S. is also providing an unknown quantity of anti-personnel mines, which are configured to be only manually detonated.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said U.S. defense officials want to deliver this equipment while Russia is regrouping its forces, including helicopters and artillery systems, in Belarus.

“They’re not fully up to readiness for this renewed push for they want to put in the Donbas,” he said. “We recognize that, and we’re taking advantage of every day, every hour to get this stuff there as fast as we can. … We have a good sense of Russian efforts to resupply and reinforce.”

Biden’s agreement to send more weapons to Ukraine, along with additional helicopters, came after a video appeal from Zelenskyy.

“Freedom must be armed better than tyranny,” the Ukrainian leader said. “Without additional weapons, this will turn into an endless bloodbath that will spread misery, suffering and destruction.”

Biden said the Western supply of arms to Ukraine “has been critical in sustaining its fight against the Russian invasion. It has helped ensure that Putin failed in his initial war aims to conquer and control Ukraine. We cannot rest now.”

Also Wednesday, the presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — all NATO countries bordering Russia — visited Kyiv to show support for Ukraine a day after Putin vowed to continue Moscow’s offensive against Ukraine until its “full completion.”

The leaders of the four countries, all worried that Russia could attack them if Ukraine were to fall, traveled by train to the Ukrainian capital to meet with Zelenskyy.

While failing to capture Kyiv and much of Ukraine, Russian forces have bombarded numerous cities, killed thousands of Ukrainian civilians and destroyed housing and hospitals.

United Nations humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths recently went to Moscow and Kyiv to seek a cease-fire. But U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters Wednesday it does not look like that is possible right now.

However, Guterres said there are “a number of proposals that were made, and we are waiting for an answer from the Russian Federation in relation to those proposals — including different mechanisms for local cease-fires, for corridors, for humanitarian assistance, evacuations and different other aspects that can minimize the dramatic impact on civilians that we are witnessing.”

Guterres said the U.N. also proposed the creation of a mechanism involving Russia, Ukraine, the U.N. and potentially other humanitarian entities, to help guarantee the evacuation of civilians from areas where fighting is going on and to guarantee humanitarian access.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Michigan Police Release Videos in Shooting Death of Black Man

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Police in the U.S. state of Michigan released videos Wednesday showing a police officer shooting a Black man dead after a traffic stop earlier this month.

Protesters gathered late Wednesday in the city of Grand Rapids to demand justice for Patrick Lyoya, a 26-year-old immigrant from the Democratic Republic of Congo, saying the shooting is the latest example of police violence against Black people in the United States.

The officer has not been publicly named and was placed on paid leave while authorities investigate the shooting.

Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom, citing the need for transparency, released the videos, which include those recorded by a passenger in Lyoya’s car, the officer’s body-worn camera, the officer’s patrol car and a doorbell camera.

The April 4 incident began with the officer stopping Lyoya due to a license plate not matching the car.

Videos show Lyoya stepping out of the car, and later trying to walk away as the officer attempted to handcuff him.  There was a short foot chase, leading to the officer and Lyoya wrestling on a lawn and fighting over the officer’s stun gun before the officer shot Lyoya.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Report: Black Americans Face Growing Racial Inequalities

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African Americans in the United States face an array of challenges, including barriers to building economic wealth, an erosion of voting rights, persistent inequalities along racial lines and disproportionate impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study issued this week reveals.

In its annual “State of Black America” report, the National Urban League, one of the nation’s leading civil rights organizations, found that while African Americans have experienced economic and health gains since 2005, they have fallen further behind white people in education, social justice and civil engagement.

“‘The State of Black America’ is a commentary on the state of the nation at large,” National Urban League President Marc Morial said.

The report’s 2022 Black-White Equality Index put Black Americans at 73.9% attainment relative to white Americans across five categories: economic status, health, education, social justice and civic engagement. The score showed a .2% improvement from the 2020 index, but nevertheless indicated that Black people lag significantly behind white people in key areas

For instance, the equality index noted a median household income for Black people at nearly $44,000, which was 37% less than that of white people, at nearly $70,000. The data indicate that Black people are also less likely to benefit from home ownership, which has fueled generational wealth among Americans.

“In that area of wealth, we’ve seen almost no change — none — since the civil rights days,” Morial said in an interview with The Associated Press. “The wealth disparity has gotten wider.”

The report also provided a snapshot of health care disparities. It showed life expectancy declined slightly for African Americans to 74.7, four fewer years than a white person. Researchers released other grim statistics indicating that Black women are 59% more likely to die as a result of bearing a child, and 31% more likely to die of breast cancer. And Black men were 52% more likely to die of prostate cancer than white men.

At the same time, the report noted some changing trends between 2020 and 2022. Black students are less likely to consider suicide relative to their white peers; the disparity in breastfeeding rates between Black women and white women declined; and more Black children had a regular place to receive health care.

Overall, however, African Americans have long tended to suffer worse health outcomes than white Americans, a disparity widely believed to have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers say it could take years to fully document the pandemic’s impact on Black America.

Criminal justice

The “State of Black America” study also highlighted racial inequalities in the U.S. justice system, finding that Black people were more than twice as likely as white people to experience use of force during police encounters. African Americans are three times more likely to be jailed if arrested, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice.

“The murder of George Floyd and the deaths of so many at the hands of police officials over the last several years has motivated a strong response to systemic racism within the criminal justice system, and that’s a good thing,” said Wade Henderson, interim president of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “The loss of the George Floyd Policing Act and the failure to get traction in Congress on that (police reform) issue was a profound disappointment.”

Voting rights

The report highlighted what it calls “The Plot to Destroy Democracy,” outlining voter suppression efforts and urging a national mobilization to protect and defend the constitutional right to vote.

A public opinion poll contained in the study found an overwhelming majority of Black Americans continue to believe strongly in the power of their vote concerning issues of social and racial justice.

Last year, 19 Republican-led state legislatures approved laws that imposed new voting requirements and/or limited the avenues and time frames for people to cast a ballot.

Republicans insist they seek only to prevent voter fraud and to ensure the integrity of elections. Democrats and voting rights groups counter that many of the measures contained in the new laws will disproportionately impact the ability of African Americans and other minority groups, as well as the poor, to vote.

“The burden of these laws with strict photo ID requirements, the elimination or restriction of Sunday voting, voting by mail, early voting, and the closing of polling locations overwhelmingly falls on Black voters,” said Morial.

Voting rights advocates have called on the Justice Department to ensure free and fair elections nationwide. However, the department has limited powers following a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2013 which dismantled part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that required states with a history of voting discrimination to get pre-approval from the Justice Department before changes are made to state election laws.

Historically, it has been left up to individual states to determine how to conduct elections. Republican lawmakers bristle at any suggestion of federalizing voting in America with uniform rules set in Washington.

“We are seeing more voter suppression efforts in our states,” said Melanie Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. “We will find ways to organize as best we can for the upcoming elections while we still fight for voting rights reforms.”
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US Set to Include Ukraine in G-20 Agenda

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The Biden administration appears set to include discussions of international economic repercussions of the Russian invasion and potentially Ukraine’s reconstruction as part of the November G-20 summit agenda, an idea that is likely to create further rift in the economic forum.

“It is not uncommon for events that are impacting the global community as Ukraine is, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, to play a central role at international forums,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told VOA during a briefing Wednesday. “And their economic recovery and rebuilding and reconstruction is going to be something that the global community is going to be involved in and address.”

In March, President Joe Biden said he wanted Russia removed from the Group of 20 largest economies or to have Ukraine be invited as an observer in the upcoming G-20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.

“The inclusion of Ukraine does not mean it’s only about the battle on the ground. We’re going to need to rebuild Ukraine,” Psaki added, noting that Ukraine has applied for membership in the European Union, which is part of G-20.

Responding to criticism that Western demands to exclude Moscow disrupt the summit’s agenda and create division in the group, Psaki said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown himself to be a “pariah in the world” and has “no place at international forums.”

Following its 2014 annexation of Crimea, Moscow was kicked out from the Group of Eight (G-8), now known as the Group of Seven (G-7). However, the G-20 is a much wider grouping with many more competing interests.

G-20 boycott

Biden has not said he would boycott the G-20 summit should Putin attend but insists the forum cannot be “business as usual.” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison have also raised concerns about Putin’s participation.

This puts Indonesian President Joko Widodo, as this year’s G-20 chair, in a tough position. He must prepare to host leaders of the 20 largest economies at a time when the world is technically still under a pandemic and attempt consensus on the world’s most pressing economic problems while navigating new geopolitical rivalries triggered by Putin’s war.

Middle-power members, including India, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and others, have their own agenda centered around post-pandemic recovery that do not align with the West’s focus of isolating Putin and helping Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“That’s all going to have to be renegotiated,” William Pomeranz, acting director of the Wilson Center Kennan Institute, told VOA. “Most of their members do not feel obliged to rebuild Ukraine.”

Gregory Poling, who researches U.S. foreign policy in the Asia Pacific at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told VOA’s Indonesian Service that while it is understandable that non-Western G-20 members are reluctant to have condemnation of Russia override the agenda, there is simply no possibility for Biden and other Western leaders to sit across Putin at the summit’s table.

Ultimately for Jakarta, it may boil down to whether they are willing to trade Putin’s attendance for several Western leaders’ absence, Poling said. And while Indonesian diplomats would have preferred quiet negotiations rather than public announcements from Western leaders, the tension was going to surface at some point.

“Indonesia was never going to disinvite Vladimir Putin without significant pressure and that pressure would have had to have been delivered publicly, sooner or later,” Poling said.

Jakarta’s dilemma

As a middle power struggling to recover from the pandemic, Indonesia is focused on using its G-20 presidency to create a conducive environment for emerging economies to excel and safeguard the forum from geopolitical rivalries that could further market uncertainties, Dinna Prapto Raharja, founder of the Jakarta-based think tank Synergy Policies, told VOA.

“His [Widodo’s] desire is mainly to make sure that (the) G-20 will be the forum that can sustain its mandate, which is the economic mandate,” Prapto Raharja said. “The scarcity of goods, the consequences of untenable rise of energy prices, the inability of emerging economies to get out from the COVID-19 crisis – this needs to be the agenda.”

Including Ukraine as an observer, as Biden has suggested, will complicate matters as Kyiv’s main interest is to secure assistance against Russian aggression and has nothing to do with G-20 goals, she said. However, Jakarta must prepare a contingent mechanism to allow views on Ukraine to be aired without disrupting the summit’s focus.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian public views Russia’s invasion of Ukraine partly through the lens of anti-West attitudes and skepticism of U.S. foreign policies. These sentiments have been magnified by pro-Putin propaganda pushed on social media.

“Our research shows 95% of TikTok users and 73% of Instagram users in Indonesia supports Russia after Zelenskyy said Ukraine needs assistance from NATO and the West,” Dudy Rudianto, founder of Jakarta-based data analysis firm Evello, told VOA’s Indonesian Service. This suggests Widodo may pay a political price should his government be seen as caving into Western demands to kick Putin out of the summit.

So far, Jakarta has neither revoked Putin’s invitation nor agreed to include Ukraine in the G-20 agenda. Earlier this month, a spokesman said the government is still considering different members’ points of views and will continue to focus on the three pillars of its G-20 presidency: global health architecture, sustainable energy transition and digital transformation.

As an informal grouping established in 1999 following a global economic crisis, the G-20 has no mechanism to expel a member, said Matthew Goodman, who holds the Simon Chair in Political Economy at CSIS.

“It doesn’t have a formal set of rules or even a really clear rationale for who’s in the group and who isn’t,” Goodman told VOA. “In practice, it would require all the other 19 countries to say, we don’t want that 20th country in the group.”

This is unlikely considering China’s position that Moscow is an important member of the forum, as well as other members’ reluctance to condemn Russia, including India, Brazil, South Africa and Saudi Arabia.

A National Security Council spokesperson told VOA that the U.S. will continue discussions with G-20 partners, including Indonesia.

“We will continue to explore participation as Putin’s war continues and we get closer to the G-20 Leaders’ Summit that is still over seven months away,” the spokesperson said.

Fractured support

While there has been solid backing from Europe and the G-7 for Biden’s efforts to hold Russia accountable, support beyond that has been more fractured.

Most notable is G-20 and Quad member, India. New Delhi, reliant on Moscow for military hardware, has abstained from various U.N. votes relating to the conflict.

India’s ambivalence on the Ukraine war is emblematic of Russia’s considerable influence around the world. Washington needs to be mindful of these geopolitical realities, analysts said.

“It’s not going to be as simple as showing the videos of the terrible actions in Ukraine and then the rest of the world will say – yes, Russia is committing war crimes and so forth and that we need to isolate it,” Pomeranz, of the Wilson Center, said.

The Biden administration must also take into account how the war in Ukraine could trigger nonaligned instincts.

“There is a danger if you have a zero-sum competition between these two blocs,” Stewart Patrick, director of the International Institutions and Global Governance Program at the Council on Foreign Relations, told VOA. He noted that many countries loathe their Cold War experience of being treated as pawns in global rivalries.

Perceptions about selectivity of U.S. foreign policy is also a factor, Patrick said. It is problematic for Washington to rally global support against Moscow in light of its own invasion on Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Trump administration’s recognition of Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights.

“I don’t have any updates on that front,” Psaki told VOA last month when asked if the Biden administration has plans to revoke the recognition.
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African States May Be Pushing to Revive Non-Aligned Movement, Analysts Say

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Some African nations’ repeated abstentions on U.S.-led resolutions condemning Russia could be a subtle signal for the revival of the Non-Aligned Movement at the United Nations, analysts say.

For years, the NAM had about 120 countries voicing a principle not to formally align with or against major power blocs.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the U.N. General Assembly has passed two nonbinding resolutions. For the first, half of the African Union member states abstained from voting — or simply withheld votes — to condemn Europe’s largest country.

Last week, the General Assembly voted to suspend Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council. Of the 58 nations abstaining, 24 were African, including Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt. Eight African states, including Algeria, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, were among those voting against the resolution.

Pauline Bax, the International Crisis Group’s deputy program director for Africa, said African nations were deeply concerned about food and fuel prices rising on the continent because of the conflict, and their posture regarding condemning Russia could point to their unhappiness about the global intergovernmental body’s inaction.

”It’s a way of saying they’re not going to choose sides in this war, and especially not if it’s going to be a cold war between the U.S. and the East,” Bax told VOA. “And abstaining is one way to send a message.”

Paul Ejime, a London-based international affairs analyst, suggested that a desire to protect sovereign national interests, as well as bilateral ties with Russia, might explain most African nations’ reluctance to vote on a resolution against the Kremlin.

”The U.N. needs to give Africa a bigger say,” Ejime said. “Fifty-four nations make up the continent of Africa, but they’re only being treated like unequal partners.”

Naureen Chowdhury Fink, executive director of the New York-based Soufan Center, said that because African nations have long ”been champions of the Non-Aligned Movement,” abstention seems ”a logical choice.”

”Food security has also been a concern for many states, and abstention may be a way to demonstrate an unwillingness to get involved in great power conflicts, especially when there are negative consequences for citizens at home,” Fink told VOA.

ICG’s Bax added that “repeat abstentions signal reliability, particularly important for states depending on Russia, or Russian actors, for preserving their security. To some audiences, the abstention also signals (an) unwillingness to be seen as an unquestioning or undisputed supporter of the West.”

Ejime suggested that sovereign African nations were likely using their U.N. votes to let the global community know that ”you can’t win a war with another war.”

African countries’ reactions to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “have ranged from solidly supporting Ukraine to condemning NATO’s response,” a new Gallup poll has found.

The poll found that “median approval of Russia’s leadership stood at 42% last year,” higher than the global median of 33% but lower than Africa’s approval ratings for leadership in the United States (60%), China (52%) and Germany (49%).

Gallup polling found that Africans’ more positive view of Russia peaked in 2011, with a 57% approval rating.
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After 20 Years, US Army Officer Reunites with Afghan Interpreter

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Since the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan last year, current and former U.S. service members have campaigned to get their Afghan interpreters to safety. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh, who reported from Afghanistan for the U.S. military in 2002, followed up on efforts led to a reunion.
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7 Police Officers, 4 Soldiers Die in Niger Attacks

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Seven Niger police officers and four soldiers were killed on Tuesday in two separate attacks near the country’s borders with Burkina Faso and Libya, the government said Wednesday.

Niger’s interior ministry said “unidentified armed bandits” attacked the Petelkole police station near Burkina Faso in western Niger and a military base in Djado in the country’s desert-covered far north.

Seven police officers died at Petelkole and 10 were injured, with four in a serious condition, the ministry added in a statement, in an attack that bore the hallmarks of jihadi assaults that have long plagued the area.

Six vehicles, including three belonging to police officers, were burned and the attackers made off with another three vehicles, the ministry said.

The statement added that shops and buildings home to businesses surrounding the police station were also set on fire.

In the second attack in Djado, the ministry said four soldiers died and another was injured, with two vehicles also taken away.

“Security measures have been immediately strengthened in the two areas,” the interior ministry said.

Other sources had earlier said seven police officers had died and 16 more had been injured in the Petelkole attack.

“The provisional toll of this attack is seven police officers dead and 16 wounded,” said a municipal official who visited the scene of the incident.

A local official had also told AFP that “heavily armed men” arrived “in large numbers” during their assault on the police station.

The Petelkole attackers, believed to be fighters of the Islamic State (IS) group in the region, seized three vehicles and torched several others, according to the city official.

The Petelkole attack took place in the Tera district of the Tillaberi region, a vast area on the borders of Burkina Faso and Mali, which is regularly targeted by jihadi groups affiliated with al-Qaida or the Islamic State group.

On March 16, at least 21 people, including two policemen, were killed in an attack by suspected jihadis on a bus and truck near the same police station, according to an official report.

In October 2021, three Nigerien police officers were killed and several others were injured, and in May 2017, two police officers and a civilian were killed in an attack on the same post.  

Niger’s vast and sparsely populated Djado region is not a jihadi target but is a corridor for trafficking people, weapons and drugs to Libya and Europe.  

The area is also home to gold mines that attract thousands of Nigeriens and nationals from neighboring countries.

Local authorities have recently denounced the “deterioration of the security situation” on major roads where armed gangs roam.

The unstable region of Tillaberi, around 100,000 square kilometers, in size, is in the so-called three borders area between Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali and has been the scene of several bloody attacks by jihadi movements since 2017.

Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum, in a new approach, has initiated dialogue with jihadi leaders in an attempt to keep the peace.

But the military response continues, with about 12,000 soldiers fighting in a dozen anti-jihadi operations, nearly half of them along the more than 1,400 kilometers of borders with Mali and Burkina Faso.
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