Month: April 2022

Darfur Protesters Outside ICC Trial Demand Bashir’s Handover

Posted on by SeeEU

About 30 Sudanese citizens living in Europe demonstrated Friday outside the International Criminal Court in The Hague, demanding that Sudanese officials surrender more individuals accused of committing atrocities in Darfur.

The ICC’s trial of suspected Janjaweed militia leader Ali Kushayb got underway this week, with Kushayb pleading not guilty to 31 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including rape, torture, pillaging and murder.

Darfur human rights activist Amaat Sefeldin, who traveled from Germany to The Hague to attend the protest, told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus that she wanted Sudanese officials to turn over former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who was in power during the campaign that killed more than 200,000 people in Darfur nearly 20 years ago.

“We are demanding the handover of all criminals, especially Bashir, the president, and Raheem Muhammad Hussein, and Mohammad Harun and others,” she told VOA. “And we would also demand for the court to try the other criminals, because the genocide in Darfur and the crimes committed in Sudan are not done by those few people. It’s a long list of people who committed crimes. They have committed war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur since 2003.”

In 2012, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Abdel Raheem Muhammad Hussein, former minister of defense and Bashir’s special representative in Darfur. In 2007, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Ahmad Muhammad Harun, former Sudan minister of state for the interior.

The protesters praised the ICC for putting Kushayb on trial. It’s the first trial for anyone accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the Darfur conflict, which began in 2003 with a rebellion by armed groups against Bashir’s government.

Kushayb was a reputed leader of pro-government Janjaweed militia members who attacked and burned numerous villages in Darfur as part of attempts to crush the rebel groups.

Call for others’ trials

“Sudanese are in support of the trial and accountability for crimes committed in Darfur, but in general for crimes committed in Sudan,” said another protester, Neimat Ahmadi, president of the Darfur Women Action Group. “They also want to raise concern about the ongoing violence against protesters and the escalation of violence in areas like Darfur, South Kordofan, the Blue Nile.”

“Our message is also to the international community that it is important to try Kushayb, but it is more important to pursue others who have been indicted by the International Criminal Court and be brought to face the court,” Neimat told VOA.

Maisa Altyayib, a member of the Sudanese diaspora who also attended the protest, said she wanted to see the “real criminals” brought to justice in The Hague.

“Not only Kushayb — he only executed orders given to him. The real criminals are in Khartoum and we will not be satisfied until they are brought here to the ICC. So Kushayb is only the beginning of achieving justice,” Altyayib told VOA.

South Darfur-based human rights lawyer Abdulbasit Al Haj said the Kushayb trial should lead prosecutors to more evidence of crimes committed by former officials.

“This trial also should identify individuals who have been involved in funding and supplying the Janjaweed militia with the logistic process in Darfur,” Al Haj told South Sudan in Focus, adding “they are crimes that have touched the humanity around the world.”

However, another Sudanese human rights expert, who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals from security operatives, said she did not think the government was willing to hand over others accused of war crimes because they include current top officials who took power in last year’s military coup.

“I don’t think they will hand them [over],” the expert said. “I don’t think they will hand [over] anyone. Now, after the coup that took place, I don’t see it happening at all.”

Army ties seen protecting Bashir

Sudanese political analyst and researcher Jahid Mashamoun told South Sudan in Focus he believed military leaders running Sudan would never turn over Bashir.

“I doubt it,” he said.  “Omar Bashir, he hails from the army, so handing him over to a foreign judiciary, that tarnishes the image or integrity of the armed forces.”

The ICC indicted Bashir in 2009 over alleged atrocities committed by his government. He remains imprisoned in Khartoum after being found guilty on corruption charges.

The U.S. State Department also praised the opening of Kushayb’s ICC trial, noting it was the first against “any senior leader for crimes committed by the Bashir regime and government-supported forces following the genocide and other atrocities in Darfur.” The statement added, “This trial is a signal to those responsible for human rights violations and abuses in Darfur that impunity will not last in the face of the determination for justice to prevail.”

Carol Van Dam contributed to this report, which originated in VOA’s English to Africa Service.
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‘Real Change’: Biden Lauds Confirmation of Supreme Court Selection Jackson

Posted on by SeeUS

President Joe Biden on Friday celebrated the confirmation of his nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court – what he called “a moment of real change” in American history – during an outdoor event at the White House with political allies.

Jackson, a federal appellate judge, was confirmed to the lifetime post by the Senate on Thursday on a 53-47 vote in a milestone for the United States and a political victory for the Democratic president. Jackson, 51, will replace the retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, 83, on the liberal bloc of a court with a 6-3 conservative majority.

“We’re going to look back and see this is a moment of real change in American history,” Biden said at an event on the White House South Lawn under sunny skies on a mild spring day in the U.S. capital, with a row of American flags gently fluttering in the background.

Jackson, given a standing ovation by the audience, thanked Biden and said “it is the greatest honor of my life” to be standing there after confirmation. Jackson said she will rule independently on the high court “without fear or favor” and with an eye toward upholding the rule of law.

The outdoor setting was chosen in part as a nod to COVID-19 safety, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said, amid a rise in cases in the Washington region and a raft of top Democrats in Biden’s inner circle contracting the coronavirus.

Black women are a key Democratic constituency and helped propel Biden to the party’s presidential nomination in 2020 with a victory in its pivotal South Carolina primary.

Biden made a campaign promise to name a Black woman to the nation’s top judicial body. When Jackson replaces Breyer when he departs at the end of the court’s current term – usually in late June – she would become the 116th justice to serve on the high court. To date, all but three have been white, with two Black members, including current Justice Clarence Thomas, and one Hispanic, current Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

“When I made the commitment to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court, I could see this day,” Biden said. “I could see it as a day of hope, a day of promise, a day of progress.”

Biden said he knew that his Supreme Court nominee would be put through a painful and difficult confirmation process.

“What Judge Jackson was put through was well beyond that – it was verbal abuse, the anger, the constant interruptions, the most vile, baseless assertions and accusations. In the face of it all, Judge Jackson showed the incredible character and integrity she possesses – poise,” Biden added.

During her confirmation hearings last month, some Republican senators pursued hostile lines of questioning including accusing her of being too lenient as a trial judge in sentencing child pornography offenders.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who became the first Black woman to hold that post after Biden selected her as his 2020 election running mate, at the ceremony noted that Jackson’s confirmation also means that four women will be serve together on the Supreme Court for the first time.

Biden has been suffering in opinion polls, with high inflation and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushing geopolitical concerns to the fore. Jackson’s confirmation – overcoming Republican opposition – could be a needed jolt to excite Black voters and other left-leaning constituents ahead of the November 8 midterm elections in which Democrats risk losing control of one or both chambers of Congress.

A Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll completed on Tuesday showed that Biden’s public approval rating inched higher this week to 45%, up 3 percentage points amid stronger support from within his Democratic Party. In the poll, Biden’s job approval among minorities was 53%.

Among those invited to the event were members of Jackson’s family, U.S. senators who voted to confirm her, Democratic House of Representatives leaders, labor figures and advocacy groups.

There is increasing concern about COVID-19 in Washington. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tested positive on Thursday morning after appearing with Biden at crowded indoor events on Tuesday and Wednesday. Commerce Department Secretary Gina Raimondo and House Democrat Adam Schiff also got positive results back in recent days.

The White House said it is taking measures to protect Biden.

“It is possible he will test positive for COVID at some point,” White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said on CNN, noting the availability of vaccines and antiviral medications. “We have treatments. So, people are out living their lives and certainly the president of the United States is doing that.”

Biden, 79, tested negative following his interaction with Pelosi.

The decision to hold the event outside comes after former President Donald Trump’s nomination ceremony for his Supreme Court appointee Amy Coney Barrett turned into a COVID-19 super-spreader event, affecting many top Republicans who attended. During his four years in office, Trump was able to appoint three justices, who together moved the court rightward.
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US Drug Overdose Deaths Soar

Posted on by SeeUS

As the U.S. tries to emerge from the hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic, health experts and law enforcement officials are concerned about another health crisis: a sharp rise in the number of drug related overdoses attributed to fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued a bulletin earlier this week to federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies warning of a nationwide spike in fentanyl-related mass-overdose events.

Already this year, numerous mass overdose events have resulted in dozens of overdoses and deaths,” said DEA Administrator Anne Milgram in an email statement to VOA.

Fentanyl-related mass overdose events are characterized as three or more overdoses occurring close in time and at the same location.

In February, five people died in an apartment outside Denver from overdoses of fentanyl mixed with cocaine. In another case, five West Point Military Academy cadets survived after overdosing on fentanyl-laced cocaine while on spring break in Florida last month. At least seven American cities have seen an increase in drug-related overdoses resulting in 29 deaths, according to the DEA.

“Drug traffickers are driving addiction, and increasing their profits, by mixing fentanyl with other illicit drugs. Tragically, many overdose victims have no idea they are ingesting deadly fentanyl, until it’s too late,” said Milgram.

Law enforcement officials believe the problem has grown worse since the government released figures last year indicating more than 105,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in the 12-month period ending in October 2021. Sixty-six percent of those deaths were related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“This is a very historic time. We have never had the amount of death and destruction than we are seeing now,” said Dr. Rahul Gupta, director of the White House office of National Drug Control Policy, last month.

Health officials say powerful synthetic opioids such as fentanyl can be up to 100 times more potent than morphine. Researchers say taking just two milligrams of fentanyl can kill a person.

U.S. law enforcement agencies seized nearly 10 million fentanyl pills last year, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. There have also been numerous news reports of large seizures by state and local police in the last two months.

“Fentanyl has flooded the market across the country,” said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, speaking on CNBC. “It has contaminated other drugs such as heroin, many illicit drugs including illicit prescription medication.

Overdose deaths were already increasing in the months preceding the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. But the latest data show a sharp rise during the pandemic. Last year, the United States suffered more fentanyl-related deaths than gun- and automobile-related deaths combined.

Minority drug overdoses soar

The rise in opioid related overdoses has impacted many communities. Opioid deaths among African Americans and other minority groups continue to rise. U.S. researchers found overdose deaths jumped nearly 49% among Black people in the United States from 2019 to 2020, compared with a 26% increase among white people. Overdose deaths among Native Americans and Alaska Natives were 31% higher than among white adults, according to research from UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine.

Law enforcement groups note that, compared to other drugs, fentanyl is inexpensive, with one pill costing just a few dollars. The price makes it a popular drug among low-income minority groups.

“We know the COVID-19 pandemic hit Black Americans especially hard, and that the risk of a drug overdose is strongly linked to many of the damaging financial, health and social effects of the pandemic that were disproportionately borne by Black people,” said Linda Richter, vice president for prevention research at the Partnership to End Addiction.

“Even before the pandemic, Black Americans had less access to the resources and support that prevent and treat addiction, and reverse a drug overdose,” Richter said in an interview with HealthDay News.

Causes of the drug crisis

A variety of factors have contributed to America’s growing opioid crisis. Law enforcement agencies point to an increasing flow of illicit drugs and fentanyl smuggled through the southern border with Mexico.

The chemicals used to make the synthetic opioid are being shipped largely from China to Mexico, where huge quantities of illicit fentanyl are produced in labs before being smuggled into the U.S.

Strong law enforcement efforts to crack down on the abuse of prescription opioids like oxycodone are believed to have shifted demand to heroin and fentanyl. The growing availability of those drugs helped fuel higher usage — and addiction — rates among Americans.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed about 2,700 cases in 2021 involving crimes related to the distribution of fentanyl and other synthetic drugs, up nearly tenfold from 2017.

“Fentanyl poisonings are at an all-time high,” said Sheriff Mike Milstead of Minnehaha County, South Dakota. “These are not isolated incidents. These are happening in every state and every county in America, leaving behind grieving families. Let us be clear, these poisonings are part of a strategic maneuver by drug cartels, and it must be stopped.”

Some Republican officials have been critical of the federal government’s efforts to stop fentanyl from entering the country through the porous U.S.-Mexico border.

In Texas, National Guard units were deployed to the border region with a mission that includes stopping the flow of fentanyl from Mexico. State leaders are also calling for tougher penalties for convicted drug dealers. “This is not a fentanyl overdose, this is poisoning by fentanyl, which we want to make a murder crime in the state of Texas,” said Governor Greg Abbott at a news conference last month.

More government funding

The Biden administration has stressed treatment and prevention and proposed $42.5 billion in federal spending to address the ongoing opioid crisis.

The proposal released last month includes $21.1 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services to support prevention and treatment efforts. It would increase funding for interdiction efforts as well as addiction treatment centers in rural areas.

If approved by Congress, $80 million would be set aside for helping children impacted by the opioid crisis.

“This budget supports the Biden administration’s ongoing work to expand access to evidence-based treatment,” said Dr. Gupta, the White House official. “We want to further reduce the flow of illicit drugs like fentanyl from entering our communities and prevent overdoses.”
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Amid Russia-Ukraine War, Turkey Worries About Floating Mines in Black Sea

Posted on by SeeEU

As Turkish military dive teams this week safely defused their third floating naval mine in Turkish waters since March 26, some maritime experts said the explosives still pose a threat to Istanbul’s Bosphorus Strait.

On March 19, Russia’s FSB intelligence service said 420 naval mines were drifting freely in the Black Sea after breaking loose in a storm. The FSB says Ukrainian forces set the mines, but Ukrainian authorities dismissed that accusation as disinformation.

Ukrainian authorities accused Russia of planting the naval mines in the Black Sea and using them as “uncontrolled drifting ammunition.”

“If these mines were broken loose as claimed, the risk continues even in the Bosphorus [Strait],” Bora Serdar, a retired staff colonel from the Turkish Naval Forces, told VOA. “It wouldn’t be a surprise if at least a few mines went in the strait.”

A regional threat

On March 26, Turkey, a NATO member, detected the first stray mine on the Black Sea coast of Istanbul near its Bosphorus Strait. The second one was found off the coast of Igneada, near the Bulgarian border, on March 28.

Turkish authorities announced Turkish Underwater Defense teams safely detonated both mines.

“Our mine hunter vessels and naval patrolling ships are all vigilant,” Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on March 29, adding that Turkey is working on identifying the source of floating naval mines.

The Bosphorus Strait connects the Black Sea with the Marmara, the Aegean, and the Mediterranean seas and runs through Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul. It is a major shipping route for Black Sea countries.

Besides Turkey, Romania neutralized a mine on March 28 after fishermen first spotted it and reported it to the naval forces.

On Thursday, defense ministers of Turkey, Bulgaria, Georgia, Poland, Romania, and Ukraine met virtually at Turkey’s request to discuss the threat.

“The importance of cooperation in the Black Sea for peace, calm, and stability, including the fight against the mines, was emphasized at the meeting,” Turkish Defense Minister Akar said in a statement.

Propaganda wars

Some analysts argue that the stray mines in the Black Sea are part of propaganda wars between Russia and Ukraine.

“I think these stray mines are part of a Russian operation to create some confusion,” said Yoruk Isik, Istanbul-based geopolitical analyst and head of the Bosphorus Observer consultancy.

“Russia may have dropped a few naval mines around the Bosphorus, perhaps from somewhere close to Bulgaria, to reach the strait,” he told VOA.

According to Isik, Russia’s motivations include distracting observers from its actions in Ukraine as several countries, including the United States and Germany, accused Russian forces of committing war crimes.

Isik says that Russia also might have used the naval mines to put Kyiv in “a difficult position in the international arena as the stray mines would appear as [though] Ukraine is hindering international trade” in the Black Sea.

On the other hand, some experts think that Ukraine might have used the naval mines to prevent Russia’s actions and bring more international actors into the war, including Turkey.

Turker Erturk, a former Turkish Naval Academy commander, says that Moscow’s war plans included an amphibious operation near Odesa.

“Russia would never choose anything that would limit this operation,” Erturk told VOA. 

Ukraine’s primary goal of setting mines afloat, he speculated, would be to show that safe navigation in the Black Sea has disappeared.

“The stray mines would create a perception that there is no safe passage in the Bosphorus, an international waterway. What would this perception inevitably trigger? It would trigger an international naval force under the auspices of NATO, EU, or U.N. to go to the Black Sea,” Erturk said.

“This would lead to the ‘de facto’ violation of the Montreux Convention. It looks like a provocation to me,” Erturk added.

NATO’s London-based Shipping Centre — the official link between NATO and international merchant shipping — released an advisory Monday saying, “the threat of additional drifting mines cannot be ruled out.”

A United Kingdom Ministry of Defense intelligence update on April 3 also warned that mines in the Black Sea “pose a serious risk to maritime activity.”

“Though the origin of such mines remains unclear and disputed, their presence is almost certainly due to Russian naval activity in the area and demonstrates how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is affecting neutral and civilian interests,” the UK intelligence update said.

Turkey has control of the passage of naval vessels through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits under the 1936 Montreux Convention.

Fishing

On March 26, Turkey’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry banned fishing at night until further notice.

Fishermen say that because they are concerned about the floating mines, they assign one person to the front of their boat for mine control.

“We fear that the stray mine will hit us,” Recep Koc, who has worked as a fisherman for 38 years in Istanbul’s Sariyer district, told VOA.

“While we were watching our boat so that nothing would wrap around its propeller, we are now trying to pay attention to the mines if they crash or explode,” Koc added.
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Africa Urged to Use Good Governance, Inclusion to Fight Violent Extremism

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A top U.S. military commander says African countries dealing with violent extremism need to enact good governance, a stronger rule of law and inclusion of marginalized communities if they want to promote stability.  

 

Africa has seen an increase in terror groups operating across the continent in recent years. Al-Shabab in East Africa, al-Qaida and Islamic State affiliates expanding in the Sahel, and Boko Haram around the Lake Chad Basin are among the most prominent.  

The head of the U.S. military’s Special Operations Command Africa, Rear Admiral Jamie Sands, said on April 3 that African countries need better governance and greater cooperation if they are to stop the threat of terrorism.  

“No nation can solve this challenge or this problem alone,” he said. “Partnerships are key. Prevention of extremism through governance reforms and progress is an easier path than fighting established violent extremists through kinetic activity. Values matter. Transparency, accountability and inclusion are key as we move forward. International investment is critical, and this investment must be paired with security, good governance and aid.” 

Terrorist activity has displaced at least 33 million people continent-wide and contributed to political instability in countries like Mali, Burkina Faso and Somalia.  

Sands said violent extremism erodes the relations between a government and its citizens. 

“The lack of security combined with, in some regions, a perception of disadvantagement that takes place between the government and the population, really form to create an environment where the population loses faith in the government and either decides deliberately to overthrow the government through a coup or, as we saw in some – in one country, Burkina Faso, we think it was a mutiny that turned into a coup,” he said. 

In January 2022, Burkina Faso’s military removed the president and suspended the constitution. Military officers said rising extremist violence and the deterioration of security forced them to seize power from the civilian-led government. 

 

Militant groups have especially thrived in neglected border areas, where governments have little presence and communities on both sides of the border fight for whatever resources are available in the area. 

 

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says 40 percent of violent events and deaths occur within 100 kilometers of a border between two African countries. 

 

Simiyu Werunga, head of the Geneva Center for Africa Security, said the lack of cooperation between African governments is a key driver of terrorism on the continent. 

“What we lack in Africa is serious mechanism government-to-government to deal with these issues and deal with it for good,” he said. “In West Africa, we have the Sahel region. The Sahel has its own grouping, and ECOWAS has its own grouping, but they don’t seem to be working together. This gives these organizations space to create themselves and counter what governments are doing by creating more splinter groups to spread the chaos and make it difficult for governments to deal with them.”

Sands said the U.S. government will help mend broken relations between governments and communities, and encourage good governance as the best way of defeating terrorism. 
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Russia Expels 45 Polish Embassy and Consulate Staff in Retaliatory Move

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Russia has declared 45 Polish embassy and consulate staff “persona non grata” in retaliation for Warsaw’s expulsion of 45 Russian diplomats from Poland, Moscow’s foreign ministry said Friday. 

Poland said in March that the 45 Russian diplomats were suspected of working for Russian intelligence. 

 
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UN: More Aid Needed to Handle Ukraine Displacement Crisis

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The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR says it is beefing up its humanitarian aid operation for millions of Ukrainians forced to flee their homes in the face of intensified fighting and increased brutality by Russia’s military forces.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that began February 24 has triggered one of the fastest-growing displacement and humanitarian crises in the world.  UNHCR says the carpet bombing of Ukrainian cities and towns, and the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure have caused more than 4.2 million Ukrainians to flee as refugees to neighboring countries.  An additional 7.1 million people are displaced inside Ukraine.

The UNHCR says it is increasing aid both inside and outside Ukraine to keep pace with the burgeoning needs of the displaced. Agency spokesman Matthew Saltmarsh said reception and collective centers are being expanded to receive more internally displaced people.  

While the distribution of life-saving aid is being increased, he noted delivering aid remains challenging in places of active fighting. Nevertheless, he said aid workers continue to try to reach besieged areas, such as Mariupol and Kherson.

“The latest such convoy was on the sixth of April, where UNHCR was among those carrying aid to Sievierodonetsk in Luhansk (region), eastern Ukraine,” said Saltmarsh. “For weeks, people there have endured relentless shelling and shortages of basics like water, gas, and electricity. Our team was able to deliver solar lamps, blankets, hygiene kits, baby formula and tarpaulin sheets.”  

Saltmarsh said most Ukrainians fleeing the country head for Poland, which has welcomed more than 2.5 million refugees since the start of the war.

“While the pace of arrivals is slowing, overall flows continue given the ongoing hostilities,” he said. “UNHCR staff have observed that newly arrived refugees are coming from various parts of the country, including the east, with some reporting having spent weeks hunkering down at home or in shelters in dire conditions.”

Saltmarsh said the UNHCR’s initial response to refugee needs has been eclipsed by the new, more horrifying realities in Ukraine. He said the agency’s appeal on March 1 for $550.6 million is now seen as insufficient to deal with the crisis. He said a new, more comprehensive response plan will be revealed later this month.
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UN Demands Access to Site of Alleged Massacre in Mali

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The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali, known by its French acronym MINUSMA, has demanded the country’s military government grant it access to the village of Moura, where rights groups and witnesses say the Malian army and Russian mercenaries killed hundreds of civilians during an anti-terrorism operation in late March.

The top U.N. envoy in Mali, El-Ghassim Wane, told the U.N. Security Council Thursday that Mali’s military government has so far denied the request.  

Wane said in the statement MINUSMA was only allowed to fly over the site on April 3 and that it was “imperative” that authorities give access to the site, in line with its mandate. 

In a press release Thursday, MINUSMA repeated “deep concern at the allegations of serious violations of human rights and of international humanitarian law” in Moura.

Mali’s army on April 1 claimed to have killed 203 “terrorists” during the late March operation.  

However, Human Rights Watch, in a report Tuesday, cited witnesses saying Mali’s army and foreign fighters identified as Russians killed 300 civilians, some of them suspected Islamic fighters.

Bamako claims Russia sent military “instructors” to Mali to help with its fight against Islamist insurgents.

But European governments and the United States say the Russians are with the Kremlin-linked Wagner Group of mercenaries, which U.N. experts accuse of numerous abuses, from Syria to the Central African Republic.

VOA spoke to a man, who for security reasons did not wish his name be used, who was detained with others in Moura for five days during the operation.  

He said he witnessed “white soldiers” who spoke neither French nor English sorting men into groups.

He said he then saw Malian armed forces execute about 12 to 15 of the men.

Moura residents told VOA that while some extremists were likely among those killed, the vast majority were innocent villagers.   

Mali’s military tribunal has said it is investigating the events in Moura. 

The U.N. mission in Mali in past investigations has found that civilians are often wrongly targeted as militants.  

MINUSMA investigators a year ago found that a French airstrike on the central village of Bounty, Mali, killed 19 people – 16 of them civilians.
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Cameroon Says Separatists Abduct Women Protesting Fighters’ Abuses

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Anglophone Cameroonian separatists have abducted at least a dozen people who were protesting what they said are the rebels’ brutality and crimes. The separatists claim the government of the majority French-speaking country paid the protesters to discredit the separatists, which authorities deny. 

A video widely circulated on social media shows suspected separatists forcing a man and 11 women to confess that the government paid women in Oku, an English-speaking western town, to conduct street protests of fighters’ alleged abuses.  The man has bruises all over his face and the women look tired. They were among several hundred people who protested in Oku.

The suspected separatists say within the past two weeks, similar protests took place in Njikejem, Manchock, Ngemsibaa and Elak, farming and cattle ranching villages in Cameroon’s English-speaking North-West region.

The Cameroon military said the video was taken by separatist fighters in Elak on April 6, and that 14 women were abducted, not just the 11 shown. They did not offer information on the missing three.

Capo Daniel, deputy defense chief of the Ambazonia Defense Forces, one of Cameroon’s separatist groups, said those abducted were hired to discredit separatists by government officials and members of the local elite who support Cameroon’s central government in Yaoundé. 

“The group of people you see in that video are individuals that were arrested [abducted] by our forces in Oku,” he said. “The man you see in front is the ringleader. Twelve persons were arrested, four of them have been released, eight of them are going through interrogations, and anybody who is found guilty of collaborating with an alien and foreign government that is occupying our territory will have to face the consequences of his actions.”

Capo said a few fighters found guilty of abusing civilians’ rights were punished but gave no further details. He also said Cameroon’s military abuses the rights of civilians more than the separatists do.

The military has always denied it abuses civilians’ rights.

Government officials in the North-West region deny the women were paid to protest and discredit separatist fighters.

The government said similar protests took place this week in Mbalangi, a village in the English-speaking South-West region, where the military said four women were abducte, but did not say whether they had regained their freedom.

Fifty-six-year-old farmer Ngale Dorothy took part in the Mbalangi protest. She told local media that people are angry about crimes committed against women, especially separatist fighters’ widows.

She said scores of men have been killed by separatist fighters in Mbalangi village, and that the fighters rape girls and widows, and harass civilians who do not give money to show support for the separatist fight. She said the Cameroon military should protect Mbalangi villagers from heinous crimes committed by fighters.

Separatists have been fighting to carve out an independent English-speaking state in majority French-speaking Cameroon since 2017. 

Human Rights Watch, in a report in August, accused both the military and the armed separatists of abusing civilians’ rights in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions. The organization stressed the urgent need to protect communities at risk and to hold those responsible for abuses to account. 

The United Nations says at least 3,300 people have been killed and 750,000 internally displaced during the years of separatist violence.
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Russian Airstrike Hits Ukraine Train Station

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Ukrainian state railway officials say more than 30 people were killed and 100 were wounded Friday in a Russian rocket attack on a railway station in east Ukraine that was being used to evacuate civilians.

Two rockets are said to have struck the station in Kramatorsk.  Reuters reports that the governor of the Donetsk region said thousands of people were at the station trying to leave for safer areas.  

The European Union formally enacted more sanctions on Russia Friday, as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell traveled to Kyiv in a show of support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The new measures include bans on the importation of coal, wood and chemicals and a block on all transactions with four Russian banks.

Russian troops in Ukraine have fully withdrawn from northern Ukraine to Belarus and Russia, Britain’s Defense Ministry said Friday.  The intelligence update said some of the forces likely will be deployed to east Ukraine to fight in the Donbas, a Ukrainian region bordering Russia.  

Late Thursday Zelenskyy said the situation in the town of Borodianka is worse than that in Bucha. Borodianka is about 60 kilometers northwest of Kyiv. Zelenskyy said “it is significantly more dreadful there.  Even more victims from the Russian occupiers.”

Stories of atrocities inflicted on northern Ukrainians by the Russians have emerged, prompting more countries to expand and further tighten sanctions on Russia.     

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Thursday that more credible reports of Russian atrocities against Ukrainian civilians are coming out of the war-ravaged country and vowed that “one day, somehow, there will be accountability” for Moscow.

The top U.S. diplomat, after meeting with an array of NATO and allied foreign ministers in Brussels, said, “The revulsion at what the Russian government is doing is palpable.”

Russia has denied killing civilians in Bucha.  

Blinken said the U.S. and its NATO allies remain wholly committed to supplying Ukraine with more arms to defend itself against Russia.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba welcomed new Western sanctions against Russia but called for further measures, including a full embargo on Russian oil and gas sales, blocking all Russian banks from the SWIFT banking system and closing ports to Russian vessels and goods.  

Japan is expelling eight Russian diplomats and trade officials.  A Japanese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman called Russia’s actions in Ukraine “categorically unacceptable” and said the action was taken “as a result of the country’s comprehensive judgement.”

There is a mounting death toll from the six-week-long war, including Ukrainian civilians and fighters from both sides.  

“We have significant losses of troops, and it’s a huge tragedy for us,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the British channel Sky News in an interview.

VOA’s Patsy Widakuswara and Masood Farivar contributed to this report.

Some information for this report came from Reuters.
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Kansas Researcher Convicted of Illegally Hiding Ties to China

Posted on by SeeUS

A researcher was convicted Thursday of illegally concealing work he was doing for China while employed at the University of Kansas.

But U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson continues to weigh a defense motion to dismiss the case against Feng “Franklin” Tao of Lawrence, Kansas. Robinson on Monday asked the attorneys to submit their arguments in writing, with the trial to proceed while she weighs the issue.

Jurors found him guilty of three counts of wire fraud and one count of false statements for not disclosing on conflict-of-interest forms that he had been named to a Chinese talent program, the Changjiang Professorship, on grant applications. As part of that program, he traveled to China to set up a laboratory and recruit staff for Fuzhou University, telling the University of Kansas he was in Germany instead.

Prosecutor Adam Barry described it as “an elaborate lie” to defraud the university, the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation.

But defense attorney Peter Zeidenberg argued that Tao was merely “moonlighting” and stressed throughout the trial that Tao remained such a prolific researcher that the University of Kansas honored him in April 2019 — just months before his arrest. He contended that Tao completed all the research he received grants to conduct and said his work in China wasn’t against the rules because he wasn’t paid for it.

Zeidenberg also noted that Tao listed his affiliation with both schools in some papers, suggesting he wasn’t hiding it.

The case against Tao was part of what the Justice Department called its China Initiative, an effort created in 2018 to crack down on trade secret theft and economic espionage. The department in February ended the initiative following public criticism and failed prosecutions, though officials say they still intend to pursue the threat from China.

Tao, who was born in China and moved to the U.S. in 2002, began working in August 2014 at the University of Kansas’ Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis, which conducts research on sustainable technology to conserve natural resources and energy.

With Robinson still awaiting written arguments, no sentencing date has been set. Tao faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000 on the wire fraud counts, the Department of Justice said in a news release.

“While we are deeply disappointed with the jury’s verdict, we believe it was so clearly against the weight of the evidence we are convinced that it will not stand,” Zeidenberg said, noting that all the agencies listed as victims “said they were fully satisfied with the work Dr. Tao did on their grants.” 
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Major Outage Forces Puerto Rico to Close Schools, Offices

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More than a million customers in Puerto Rico remained without electricity on Thursday after a fire at a main power plant caused the biggest blackout so far this year across the U.S. territory, forcing it to cancel classes and shutter government offices. 

The blackout also left nearly 170,000 customers without water, forced authorities to close some main roads and snarled traffic elsewhere across the island of 3.2 million people, where the roar of generators and smell of diesel filled the air. 

“We urge you to stay home, if possible,” said Puerto Rico Justice Secretary Domingo Emanuelli, who is serving as interim governor since Governor Pedro Pierluisi is on an official trip in Spain. 

Those who could not afford generators and have medical conditions such as diabetes, which depends on refrigerated insulin, worried about how much longer they’d be without power. Owners of shuttered businesses also wondered when they could reopen. 

Long lines formed at some gas stations as people sought fuel for generators. Others tried to charge their cellphones at businesses in scenes reminiscent of the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, which struck as a Category 4 storm in 2017. 

Frustration and anger grew throughout the day as officials warned the outage could stretch into Friday. 

“No one can say exactly when” power would be fully restored, said Kevin Acevedo, a vice president of Luma, the company that took over transmission and distribution from Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority last year. “We have to be realistic. The system is complex, delicate.” 

As of late Thursday afternoon, crews had restored power to some 500,000 customers out of nearly 1.5 million. 

Officials in at least one city distributed food to hundreds of elderly people as well as ice to those whose medication must be kept cool. 

“This is horrible,” said Luisa Rosado, a mother of two who lives in the San Juan neighborhood of Río Piedras. 

She said she and her husband had sacrificed their savings to install a solar electricity system at their home after Hurricane Maria, which left them with at least partial power following the blackout. 

She said her neighbors had been outraged by recent increases in power bills, which were already higher than in most U.S. states. 

“To increase bills when you don’t provide a perfect service … the level of impunity is absurd,” Rosado said. 

Luma said the blackout could have been caused by a circuit breaker failure at the Costa Sur generation plant — one of four main plants on the island. But company officials said the exact cause of the interruption is unknown. 

“It’s going to require an exhaustive investigation,” Acevedo said, adding that the equipment whose failure sparked the fire had been properly maintained. 

Officials said at least three generation units were back online by Thursday, with crews working to restore more. 

Luma CEO Wayne Stensby called it a “very unusual” outage that “clearly indicates the fragility of the system.” 

The outage occurred two months before the Atlantic hurricane season starts, worrying many about the condition of Puerto Rico’s electrical grid. 

“Yes, the system is fragile, no one is denying that, but we’re prepared,” Acevedo said. 

Police officers were stationed at main intersections to help direct traffic on Thursday while health officials checked in at hospitals to ensure generators were still running. 

The outage further enraged Puerto Ricans already frustrated with an electricity system razed by Hurricane Maria in 2017. Emergency repairs were made at the time, but reconstruction efforts have not yet started, and power company officials blame aging, ill-maintained infrastructure for the ongoing outages. 

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency said late Thursday that it approved nearly $9.5 billion to Puerto Rico’s power company in September 2020 to rebuild the island’s electrical grid, but that it has yet to receive any transmission and distribution projects for evaluation and approval of construction funds. 

A series of strong earthquakes that struck southern Puerto Rico where the Costa Sur plant is located also had damaged it. 

The Electric Power Authority is also trying to restructure $9 billion worth of public debt to emerge from a lengthy bankruptcy. The company has struggled for decades with corruption, mismanagement and a lack of maintenance. 

In June last year, a large fire at a substation in the capital of San Juan left hundreds of thousands without power. Another fire at a power plant in September 2016 sparked an island-wide blackout. 

 
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Istanbul Businesses Suffer Heavy Losses Because of Ukraine War

Posted on by SeeEU

Stores in Istanbul, once filled with Russian and Ukrainian shoppers, are now experiencing hard times because of the war in Ukraine. The conflict is also causing prices for food and fuel in Turkey to rise. VOA’s Behzod Muhammadiy reports from Istanbul.
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In Northern Ivory Coast, Fulani Men Say They Are Being Persecuted by Security Forces

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As Ivory Coast beefs up its border security with Burkina Faso, ethnic Fulanis say they are being labeled as Islamist militant supporters and persecuted by security forces. Rights groups warn the heavy-handed tactics could backfire, providing fertile recruiting ground for the insurgents. Henry Wilkins reports from Kong, Ivory Coast.
Camera: Henry Wilkins
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Macron Fights to Keep Lead Ahead of Sunday’s Presidential Voting in France

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Voters in France head to the polls Sunday for the first of a two-round election that could see centrist President Emmanuel Macron become the first French leader to win a second term in nearly two decades. For VOA, Lisa Bryant reports from Paris.
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AG: Fine Trump $10K a Day for Failing to Turn Over Evidence

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New York’s attorney general asked a court Thursday to hold former President Donald Trump in contempt and fine him $10,000 per day for failing to comply with a subpoena for documents in her ongoing civil investigation into his business practices.

Attorney General Letitia James argued in court papers that Trump should be fined “a sum sufficient to coerce his compliance” after he missed a March 31 court-imposed deadline to turn over the documents.

Trump is in the process of appealing a February court ruling forcing him to answer questions under oath in the civil investigation but has not appealed a ruling establishing the deadline for him to provide documents, James said.

A message seeking comment was left with Trump’s lawyer.

James, a Democrat, has said that her investigation into the Republican former president’s business practices uncovered evidence that he may have misstated the value of assets like golf courses and skyscrapers on financial statements for more than a decade.

Her office has said it is seeking Trump’s testimony and documents as it works to determine whether the misrepresented values shown to lenders, taxing authorities and other business interests constituted fraud and, if so, who committed that fraud.

Last week, in a related matter, a judge ordered weekly progress reports from a digital forensics company that Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, hired to provide evidence to James’ office, which had raised concerns that the process was playing out slower than expected. The company must turn over all requested evidence by April 22, the judge said.
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US Women Try to Convince Taliban That Banning Girls From Secondary School Was ‘Very Bad Decision’

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Seven American women from various organizations visited Kabul last week despite a State Department advisory warning U.S. citizens against traveling to Afghanistan because of “civil unrest, armed conflict, crime, terrorism, kidnapping and COVID-19.”

The group, including one from a female-led grassroots organization called Code Pink, spent a week in meetings with Taliban officials, local people and women’s rights activists. They said they returned home “disappointed.”

“The purpose [of the trip] originally was to celebrate the opening of the girls’ schools,” Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink who was with the group, said in a phone interview from her home in San Francisco.

But two days before traveling to Afghanistan, the group was informed that the Taliban, contrary to earlier assurances, had unexpectedly extended their ban on secondary schools for girls.

“We debated whether we should still go and decided it was important to show our support for the girls and try to do whatever we could to persuade the Taliban that that was a very bad decision,” Benjamin said.

Benjamin said Taliban officials told the group during the visit that the school ban was temporary.

“There was so much heartbreak among the young women that we met with,” Benjamin said. “They told us about how their hopes and dreams had been dashed, and how disappointed they were that they weren’t able to join with their brothers, and how important education is to them.”

The school ban has received universal condemnation, including among Islamic scholars inside and outside Afghanistan, who have called on Taliban leaders to reopen schools for girls.

Extreme poverty

Afghanistan has been grappling with massive hunger impacting about 94% of its estimated 36 million people, aid agencies say.

During their weeklong trip, the women witnessed the poverty on Kabul’s streets.

“We saw signs of severe economic distress from malnourished children and very needy people at food distribution sites. … We saw women waiting for bread in bread lines and just signs of economic distress everywhere,” said Kelly Campbell, co-founder of September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows.

To avert the looming humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, the United Nations has called for $4.4 billion in aid for 2022. But donors have pledged only $2.4 billion.

While the United States has been the largest humanitarian donor to Afghanistan with a commitment of $512 million to the U.N. appeal, the women said the U.S. can and should do more to alleviate Afghan suffering.

“The U.S. spent $300 million a day for 20 years on war and occupation, and yet hasn’t even spent the equivalent of two days on the humanitarian appeal,” Benjamin said.

The U.S. war in Afghanistan, which lasted almost two decades, cost more than $2.3 trillion, according to research by the Watson Institute at Brown University.

Frozen Afghan funds

In the aftermath of the Taliban’s takeover of power in August 2021, the U.S. government imposed a freeze on more than $7 billion of Afghanistan’s financial reserves in New York.

The funds are also sought by a group of 9/11 victim families through a lawsuit filed in New York that blames the Taliban for the terrorist attacks in the U.S. in 2001.

In February, President Joe Biden signed an executive order that split the Afghan funds — $3.5 billion to be released to an Afghan humanitarian trust fund and the other half to be held until the lawsuit is settled.

“These funds do not belong to 9/11 families. They don’t belong to the U.S. They don’t belong to the Taliban. They belong to the people of Afghanistan,” said Campbell, who lost a family member in the 9/11 attacks in New York. She added that the freezing of funds has contributed to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

Campbell said her organization has 275 active members, all family members of those killed in the 9/11 attacks, who strongly oppose the lawsuit filed by another group of 9/11 victim families.

“I haven’t spoken to a single 9/11 family member who’s excited about taking funds from starving Afghan people,” Campbell said.

Campbell and Benjamin said they would like to travel to Afghanistan in the future but until then will advocate for better U.S. policies toward the war-torn country.

“I don’t think a failed state in Afghanistan is in the interests of the United States or the world community. We’ve already seen the results in the past,” Benjamin said.

“We have a lot of interesting information to share with our own government,” said Campbell.
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Russian Nobel Laureate Muratov Doused With Red Paint by Unknown Attacker

Posted on by SeeEU

Dmitry Muratov, the editor-in-chief of one of Russia’s leading independent newspapers, Novaya Gazeta, said he was attacked by an assailant who threw a mixture of red paint and acetone on him.

Muratov, co-winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize with Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, was on a train bound from Moscow to Samara on Thursday when the attack occurred.

A photo of Muratov posted by the newspaper on Telegram showed his head, shirt, hands and arms covered in red paint.

Muratov said the attacker shouted, “Muratov, here’s to you for our boys.”

He told the new European edition of Novaya Gazeta about the attack, saying that his eyes were burning badly.

Novaya Gazeta, a leading independent Russian newspaper, suspended operations last month after it said it received warnings from Russian authorities.

The newspaper said it had been warned twice by Roskomnadzor, meaning the state communications regulator was open to pursuing closure of the independent outlet through legal action.

Earlier on Thursday, journalists from Novaya Gazeta who fled Russia amid the ongoing crackdown on independent reporting said they have launched a new media outlet that aims to cover news and developments in Russia and around the world in Russian and several other languages.

Kirill Martynov, the former editor of Novaya Gazeta’s unit on political issues, will be the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta Europe, the publication said in a statement on its website.

“We know that we have readers around the world who are waiting for verified information,” the statement said.

“That is why we, Novaya Gazeta journalists who were forced to leave their country because of a de facto occupational ban being put into effect, are pleased to announce that we have launched Novaya Gazeta Europe — an outlet that shares our values and standards.”

The statement did not say where the newspaper would be based.

Russia has placed strict limits on how media can describe the war Moscow launched in Ukraine. According to the regulator, media must follow official government communications only for what Moscow calls a “special military operation.” Usage of the words “war” or “invasion” with regard to the fighting in Ukraine is banned.

In early March, President Vladimir Putin signed into law legislation that punishes those who distribute what is deemed “false information about the Russian Army” in their reports about Ukraine with a prison sentence of as much as 15 years.

Several other Russian media outlets have already opted for suspending operations rather than face heavy restrictions on what they can report, and the Kremlin has also blocked multiple foreign news outlets, including RFE/RL.
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China’s Tolerance for Russia Comes at Cost to Relations With EU

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China’s patience with Russia over the war in Ukraine has set back its prized ties with the European Union despite tentative gains late last year, analysts say.

At the first European Union-China summit in nearly two years, on April 1, the EU warned China against supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine or interfering with international sanctions against Moscow. During the two-hour video event, EU officials asked China, as a U.N. Security Council member, to push Russia to end the war.

China has cast itself as a neutral nation toward the war while sustaining close economic and strategic ties with Russia.

“This contributes to the European Union’s collective irritation at China for supporting what looks like flagrant violation of international law,” said Alan Chong, associate professor at the Singapore-based S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

Russia began its invasion of Ukraine on February 24 and continues to pound the neighboring country despite talks and economic sanctions against Moscow by Western governments.

In October, Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke with two high-level officials in Europe to try to improve relations. Although the two sides reached no substantive agreements, they spoke cordially after the EU froze an investment deal with Beijing in early 2021 and sent a parliamentary delegation to Taiwan. China considers self-ruled Taiwan part of its territory.

China was hoping then to build trade and investment ties with individual European countries as the Asian power grappled with a half-decade of acrimony with its old Cold War rival the United States, analysts told VOA last year.

Sino-European ties “marginally” improved after the October event, and China regarded the EU as the “more acceptable” face of the West compared with the United States, Chong said. He said certain leaders in the 27-nation EU bloc had become more “pragmatic” toward China.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine has set back China’s search for friends in Europe, said Sean King, senior vice president with the New York-based political consultancy Park Strategies. “It’s a new day in Europe and not a welcome one for authoritarians Putin and Xi,” he said.

China’s trade curbs last year against Lithuania resurfaced as a thorny Sino-EU issue on April 1, as did market access for European companies.

EU member Lithuania offended Beijing by letting Taiwan use its name on a de facto embassy in the European country.

European leaders see Chinese action against Lithuania as undermining their unity as a bloc and “coming at the cost of values” such as democracy, said Stephen Nagy, senior associate professor of politics and international studies at International Christian University in Tokyo. China had retaliated against the Czech Republic in 2020 over its own close ties with Taiwan.

“The economic coercion against Lithuania and Czech are both examples of China really bullying European member states,” Nagy said.

At the summit, EU leaders again raised issues over China’s treatment of its own ethnic minorities, including the Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region.

On the economic side, EU leaders talked to China April 1 about making their relationship “fairer,” creating a “level playing field,” and rebalancing “bilateral trade and investment relations,” European Council President Charles Michel said after the summit.

European leaders resent the Chinese government’s ownership stake in major companies and the subsidies offered them, said Jayant Menon, visiting senior fellow with the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute’s Regional Economic Studies Program in Singapore. They also see China as not “open” enough with data transfers and the digital economy, he added.

“Those are the things [where] I think generally China is often tagged as being problematic in the world trade arena, and I think it would certainly be picked up by the Europeans as well,” Menon said.

China is still the EU’s No. 1 trading partner and the source of billions of dollars per year in direct investment. But their issues have “stalemated” after eight years of talks toward an EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, said Chen Yi-fan, assistant professor of diplomacy and international relations at Tamkang University in Taiwan. Talks were iced last year.

The agreement would tackle market openness and any forced transfers of technology targeting European investors.

China sounded conciliatory after last week’s summit. The EU and China must “take the lead in defending the international system with the U.N. at its core” and defer to international law, Beijing’s official Xinhua News Agency said Monday. China will “stay committed to deepening reform and further opening up” its markets, Xinhua added, quoting Xi.
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Analysts Warn Tunisia Risks Drifting Back to Pre-Revolutionary Era

Posted on by SeeAF

Political analysts say a quest for ever-greater power by Tunisian President Kais Saied risks sending the nation back to pre-revolutionary times of “strongman” rule.

On Wednesday, Saied announced changes regarding the coming legislative elections. Tunisians will now vote for individuals instead of lists in a two-round ballot. He also indicated there would be changes to the Independent Electoral Commission, which he said would supervise the election but not with its ”current composition,” Reuters reported.

In late March, Saied, 64, dissolved parliament after legislators defied his warning and blocked emergency powers that he granted himself in a bid to take hold of the executive and judiciary, a move criticized as a coup. Saied’s government described the parliamentary session as ”illegal” and said it would launch investigations into those who participated.

Analysts question whether there is any group capable of pushing back against Saied’s power grab.

“It is hard to pinpoint any single group with the necessary wherewithal and support” to challenge Saied, said Emiliano Alessandri of the Washington-based Middle East Institute. He said that included opposition parties, which he said suffer from a lack of legitimacy stemming from what he called questionable conduct in recent years.

Pressure from citizenry

But, he said, the overall political environment may trigger a public response to Saied.

”In my view, pressure will build up not because of some political initiative, but when ordinary citizens will see that some of their basic needs – including a better economy and accessible prices – remain unattended to even in the context of the new course. When this happens – and it will not take too long – now-discredited actors will be able to gather fresh new support,” he told VOA.

Last July, public fury over poverty, corruption and handling of the pandemic sparked mass protests in this North African nation. Subsequently, Saied suspended parliament and ousted his prime minister and other officials while granting himself extraordinary powers.

In a Facebook post on March 30, Saied said his decision to dissolve parliament was to ”protect the government, the institution and the Tunisian people.” He said this at a meeting with the National Security Council shortly after dissolving the legislature.

Aymen Zaghdoudi at the Institute of Press and Information Sciences in the Tunisian capital, Tunis, told VOA the unilateral posture of the Tunisian president was like that of an ”autocratic leader.”

”Media freedoms are dwindling, freedom of peaceful assembly is being restricted, and the civil space continues to be narrow. We have seen bloggers, lawyers in jail, and they were prosecuted by military courts, and prosecuting civilians in front of military justice is one of the symbols of dictatorship,” he said.

December elections

Saied has set December 17 for legislative elections. Zaghdoudi said per the country’s constitution, snap elections must be held within 45 to 90 days, noting that Saied’s resolve to adhere to an election date more than seven months from now is unlawful.

”This means he [Saied] will not respect the constitution, but he will follow his own path,” Zaghdoudi said.

Ahead of that parliamentary election, Tunisia will hold a constitutional referendum on July 25. Zaghdoudi said about 70% of Tunisians stand with the president. “This is where he gets his legitimacy,” the analyst said.

According to Zaghdoudi, events in other nations have made Tunisians wary of foreign interference. He said Saied thrives on these sentiments to ”adopt any unilateral decision despite opposition from the major political and economic elites.”

He added that ”to build a solid democracy for the future, we must hold an honest national dialogue that includes all political forces in Tunisia to agree on badly needed economic, political and social reforms.”

This story originated in VOA’s English to Africa Service.
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Health Care Under Threat in Ukraine 

Posted on by SeeEU

U.N. health officials warn that more people in Ukraine will start dying from chronic diseases and preventable illnesses than from war injuries the longer the conflict goes on.

The World Health Organization said Thursday that health workers in Ukraine were continuing to deliver care in the face of unimaginable human suffering and in areas of total devastation.

WHO is calling on Russia to enact an immediate cease-fire and to grant unhindered access of humanitarian assistance for those in need.  Despite the many constraints, officials said they had been able to deliver 185 tons of medical supplies to the hardest-hit areas in the country and had reached half a million people with trauma and surgical support and primary health care.

Hans Henri Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, is in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv.  He said the escalating war was obstructing efforts to provide medication and treatment to the sick and wounded.

“As of today, WHO has verified 91 attacks on health,” he said. “Routine immunization coverage for polio and measles is below the threshold for population immunity.  Fifty percent of Ukraine’s pharmacies are presumed closed, and 1,000 health facilities are in proximity to conflict areas or in changed areas of control.”

No care for new babies

Kluge added that roughly 80,000 babies would be born in the next three months. He said they would be missing out on pre-natal and post-natal care because of the war.  He said attacks on hospitals, ambulances and medical personnel were a breach of international humanitarian law and must stop.

Heather Papowitz, WHO’s incident manager in Ukraine, said war is a risk to public health.

“With the destruction of health facilities, the lack of access to health facilities, people on the move, people living in shelters and basements and crowded together puts everybody at risk for infectious diseases. … So, all of these put the most vulnerable at risk, which are the elderly, the children and the pregnant women,” she said.

Papowitz said these risks for those migrating continue through their journey and into other countries of asylum.

The latest figures from the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights put the number of civilian casualties in Ukraine at nearly 3,840, including 1,611 killed. The U.N. migration and refugee agencies said 7.1 million people had been displaced inside Ukraine and another 4.2 million people had fled to neighboring countries in search of refuge.
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Russia Suspended From UN Human Rights Body

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The U.N. General Assembly voted Thursday to suspend Russia from the body’s Human Rights Council over atrocities it has been accused of committing in Ukraine.

In a vote of 93 to 24 with 58 abstentions, the assembly suspended Russia for its “gross and systematic violations of human rights” and violations of international law committed against Ukraine.

The resolution requires a two-thirds majority to be adopted; the abstentions are not counted.

“We view voting to suspend a state’s Human Rights Council rights as a rare and extraordinary action,” Ukrainian envoy Sergiy Kyslytsya said ahead of the vote.

“However, Russia’s actions are beyond the pale — Russia is not only committing human rights violations, it is shaking the underpinnings of international peace and security.”

Forty-seven countries are on the Geneva-based Human Rights Council. They are elected in secret ballot votes by the General Assembly. Russia is currently serving a three-year term that was due to expire on December 31, 2023.

Kyslytsya noted that April 7 is when the Rwandan genocide is commemorated, and said those massacres were due in large part to a lack of international action and failure by the United Nations to respond to warnings from the ground.

“On this day of grievances and bearing its own tragedy of thousands of Ukrainians killed by the Russian invaders, Ukraine stands together with Rwanda and calls to reaffirm our pledge to never forget and to never allow the recurrence of genocide, which was a result of the international community’s indifference,” the Ukrainian envoy said.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy admonished the U.N. Security Council in a video address for its inaction in stopping Russia’s war against his country. He called for Moscow to face accountability for crimes it has carried out there.

The United States led the move to suspend Russia and was joined by more than 60 countries in co-sponsoring the resolution.

“The country that’s perpetrating gross and systematic violations of human rights should not sit on a body whose job it is to protect those rights,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Brussels. “Today, a wrong was righted.”

“Unprecedented, historic vote,” U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told VOA after the vote. “We suspended a permanent member of the Security Council off of the U.N. Human Rights Council. We sent a strong message of support to the Ukrainians. We sent a strong message about human rights.”

She said the suspension is effective immediately.

Watch Margaret Besheer’s full interview:

Russian dismissals

Russia has repeatedly dismissed accusations of abuses and atrocities, saying they are either “fake news” or the Ukrainian side committed them to make them look bad.

Following the vote, Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Gennady Kuzmin, said Moscow had taken its own decision to end its membership in the Human Rights Council and did not want to remain with Western states whom he accused of carrying out or abetting human rights abuses of their own.

“The sincere commitment of Russia to promoting and protecting of human rights does not make it possible for us to remain a member of an international mechanism that has become an enabler of the will of the above-mentioned group of countries,” Kuzmin said.

“You do not submit your resignation after you are fired,” Ukraine’s envoy told reporters in discussing Russia’s withdrawal.

This is only the second time the General Assembly has suspended a Human Rights Council member. It last happened in March 2011, when Libya was undergoing a brutal crackdown by then-dictator Moammar Gadhafi in a bid to suppress Arab Spring protests. He was ousted from power and later killed. Libya’s membership was restored eight months after its suspension, after a new government was installed.

Authority to investigate

The Human Rights Council has the authority to set up commissions of inquiry, fact-finding missions and investigations into rights abuses and has done so in many countries, including Syria, Myanmar and North Korea.

Last month, the council decided to establish an independent international commission of inquiry to investigate alleged violations and abuses in the context of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Three human rights experts have been appointed to collect and preserve evidence and testimony for any future legal proceedings.

Some countries that either voted against suspending Russia or abstained said they believed the move was premature and prejudges the outcomes of the commission of inquiry.

China, which had abstained in earlier assembly votes condemning Russia’s invasion and on the humanitarian consequences of the war, chose Thursday to side with Moscow and voted against the resolution.

“Such a hasty move at the General Assembly, which forces countries to choose sides, will aggravate the division among member states and intensify the contradictions between the parties concerned,” Ambassador Zhang Jun said. “It is like adding fuel to the fire, which is not conducive to the de-escalation of conflicts, and even less so to advancing the peace talks.”

Reluctance on suspension

Even some countries that have been vocal in condemning the war were not comfortable suspending Russia from the Human Rights Council, such as Mexico, which abstained.

“Yes, there is a commission of inquiry. We want to see the result of that commission of inquiry, but do we have to sit and continue to watch the carnage, watch the horror of Bucha happen over and over again, while Russia is sitting on the Human Rights Council?” Thomas-Greenfield told VOA.

Since its creation in 2006, the Human Rights Council has come in for frequent criticism because of the abhorrent rights records of some of its members. Currently, China, Eritrea, Pakistan and Venezuela are among its members.

The council has also been criticized for its focus on Israel. In 2018, the Trump administration left the body, calling it a “cesspool of political bias.” The Biden administration returned last year. Blinken said at the time that when the council works well, it shines a spotlight on countries with the worst human rights records.
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Senate Confirms Jackson to US Supreme Court, 53-47

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The U.S. Senate confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court on a vote of 53-47.

The Senate voted Thursday afternoon to make Jackson, 51, the first Black woman to serve on the court and only the third Black justice in the court’s history.

Democrats have a tie-breaker majority in the evenly divided 100-member Senate, and three Republicans — Senators Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney — had all said they would vote to approve Jackson’s nomination.

Jackson will join three women currently serving — Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett — marking the first time the court has had four women at the same time.

President Joe Biden nominated Jackson to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer. She will take her seat this summer, when Breyer retires.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press
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Fishy Business: Report Details Chinese Fleet’s Illegal Operations in West Africa  

Posted on by SeeAF

It’s the classic postcard image of Ghana: brightly colored, narrow wooden fishing boats pulling into the dock of seaside village, bringing in the daily catch. But increasingly this way of life is under threat, with a new investigation showing how Chinese vessels engaged in illegal fishing are depleting stocks, sometimes even selling the fish back to the local communities whose livelihoods and food security have been undermined.

China is the world’s biggest fish producer and has the largest distant-water fleet (CDWF) — officially 2,701 vessels but likely thousands more — many of which engage in high instances of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, according to an NGO, the Environmental Justice Foundation.

The group’s report this week found that some 90% of Ghana’s industrial trawl fleet is actually owned by Chinese corporations using local “front” companies to register as Ghanaian and get around the law.

“EJF has identified continuous instances of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and human rights abuses associated with the CDWF in West Africa, especially Ghana, where Chinese companies use elaborate schemes to hide the ultimate beneficial ownership of their so-called Ghanaian domestic vessels. These schemes include joint ventures, shell companies and subsidiaries,” it said.

While the CDWF also operates in waters off Asia and elsewhere, its activities in Africa account for 78.5% of its approved offshore fishery projects, EJF found when analyzing data from the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

CDWF bottom-trawlers catch an estimated 2.35 million tons of fish a year in West Africa, accounting for 50% of China’s total distant water catch and worth some $5 billion.

China’s gain is often to the detriment of countries like Ghana, Sierra Leone, the Gambia, Senegal and Guinea-Bissau, EJF says, with the highest number of illegal fishing incidents reported in the West African region between 2015 and 2019.

“Illegal fishing and overcapacity in the Ghanaian trawl sector is having catastrophic impacts on coastal communities across the country,” EJF’s Chief Operating Officer Max Schmid told VOA by phone, with some 80-90 percent of local fishers in Ghana reporting a decline in income over the last five years.

Women — who are usually responsible for processing and selling the local catch — are often hit hardest by the loss of income, turning to transactional sex, according to EJF, a phenomenon locally dubbed “fish for sex.”

Meanwhile, locals working on the Chinese trawlers often experience human rights abuses, with ten Ghanaians interviewed by EJF saying that they had all “experienced or witnessed physical abuse by Chinese captains.”

It’s also becoming more and more common for the Chinese vessels to catch small pelagic fish, which are the main population caught by small-scale fishers, and then sell them back to communities for profit, the organization found.

In Ghana, neither the Navy nor the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development responded to emailed request for comment.

The Chinese Embassy in Accra did not answer phone calls from VOA or respond to emailed requests for comment.

However, China has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, with one article in the state-affiliated Global Times newspaper last year “refuting Western media rumors of “China’s illegal fishing” and saying Beijing had introduced moratoriums on squid fishing and had in fact, “tightened its oversight of deep-sea fishing vessels in recent years.”

Another piece in the paper said “the country has done more than any other to protect the sea’s environment and resources.” Separately, China’s state news agency Xinhua has pointed to Chinese-funded developments, such as a new fishing port complex in Ghanaian capital Accra, saying it will “greatly improve the working and living conditions for local fishermen.”
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