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Month: July 2022
US Military Bases Honoring Confederate Figures Slated to Get New Names
As a young Black officer, Troy Mosley arrived at Fort Benning in Georgia in 1995 where he eventually took command of a 300-person company at the age of 31. The irony of leading hundreds of troops at a world premier military base named in honor of a Confederate officer who fought to defend slavery was not lost on him.
“It was kind of a peace offering to the defeated Confederates that we will allow you all to have some dignity and some honor in noble defeat,” says Mosley, now a retired lieutenant colonel and author. “But what it said to me as a Black American and a Black army officer was that my inclusion was not as meaningful or as important, and therefore, I was an American by grace only, but not really welcome at the table.”
More than 20 years later, Fort Benning is among nine military installations in the American South, all named after officers who fought against the United States in the Civil War, that is likely to be renamed. A congressionally mandated commission has proposed new names for the bases.
Fort Benning would become Fort Moore, named after Lieutenant General Hal Moore, who served in Korea and Vietnam, and his wife, Julia, an advocate for military families. During the selection process, some pushed to rename Fort Benning after Roscoe Robinson Jr., the first African American four-star general, who served in Korea and Vietnam. Mosley thinks the naming commission steered away from that to avoid potential pushback.
“There are elected officials that criticize the military for being ‘a woke organization,’” says Mosley, who is president of a group called Citizens Against Intolerance. “I think that a lot of that criticism comes from elected officials who’ve never served a day in the military, and they don’t understand that the military has the structure, the bones, of America’s greatest meritocracy. You have people from all walks of life who come together for a shared belief in a system of governance, and they’re willing to put their lives on the line to defend that.”
The proposal would rename the Army installations for a diverse group of people including women, African Americans, a Latino and a Native American.
Fort Lee, Virginia, named for General Robert E. Lee, commander of Confederate troops, would become Fort Gregg-Adams in honor of retired Lieutenant General Arthur Gregg, who served in Korea and Vietnam, and Lieutenant Colonel Charity Adams, who served in World War II. Both are African American.
Fort Hood, Texas, named after Confederate General John Bell Hood, would be renamed Fort Cavazos, after Richard E. Cavazos, the first Hispanic American four-star general.
Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia, named for Confederate General Ambrose Powell Hill, would become Fort Walker, in honor of Dr. Mary Walker, the Army’s first female surgeon who received the Medal of Honor for her Civil War service.
Fort Pickett, Virginia, named for George Pickett, a Confederate major general, would be renamed Fort Barfoot, after Technical Sergeant Van T. Barfoot, a Native American who received the Medal of Honor after fighting off Germans during World War II.
“I think the military is trying to show that the new names reflect military values, and one of those values is diversity and unit cohesiveness; that we have people of all kinds serving in the military,” says Jeff South, retired associate professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, “and that having bases named just after white men, especially white men who fought against freedom for African Americans and against the U.S. Army itself, is offensive on several levels.”
Other Defense Department properties named after Confederate figures could also be changed. The commission is reviewing the names of more than 750 military assets, including streets and signs, to see if they should also be changed.
The renaming commission’s final report is due to be presented to Congress in October. In keeping with the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, the defense spending legislation that created the panel, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin must implement the recommendations by January 2024.
“There is some thinking that Congress might get cold feet, especially after the midterm elections, depending on who controls the House and Senate,” South says. “So, it’s not quite a done deal yet. But because it was a bipartisan vote earlier, the thinking is that Congress will go ahead and affirm what the renaming commission has proposed.”
For his part, Mosley says he’s proud of the military for recognizing the strategic, operational and practical importance of diversity.
“We can’t stay the same and become better simultaneously. Improvement requires change, and I think that the changes that the military has embraced to become a more inclusive organization only serves to make them better,” he says. “And I think that in doing so, they will not only make for a more lethal and more effective armed service, but they will also establish themselves as an institution for other organizations to emulate.”
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Central African Republic Experiencing Unprecedented Levels of Food Insecurity
The World Food Program warns the Central African Republic is facing unprecedented levels of food insecurity due to conflict, population displacement, widespread poverty, and underemployment.
WFP officials say they anticipate a sharp increase in commodity prices this year and extending well into 2023. They say the price of rice is expected to rise by 30%, wheat flour by 67%, and vegetable oil by a staggering 70%.
That, they note, will make staple food products unaffordable for millions of people, leading to more hunger and more distress as people are forced to resort to extreme measures to put food on the table.
WFP spokesman Tomson Phiri says 2.2 million people are food insecure in C.A.R.
“The figure might not shock you out of your seats but when you look at the population size, that is nearly half the population of the Central African Republic,” said Phiri. “And the country now joins the league of nations, such as Afghanistan, Yemen, South Sudan with the highest proportion of acutely food insecure.”
As less food becomes available, Phiri says more children will suffer from malnutrition.
UNICEF says the number of severely acutely malnourished children under age five is expected to rise in the country by 10% this year to 69,000. Children suffering from the condition are at risk of dying if they do not get the right medical and nutritional care.
Phiri says the WFP is struggling to provide the food and specialized treatment needed by children, women, and other vulnerable people in the C.A.R. and a lack of money is hindering those efforts.
“Our costs of operating are skyrocketing,” said Phiri. “The United Nations World Food Program is appealing urgently for $68.4 million. Without immediate funding, food and nutrition insecurity will only increase for millions of people.”
Phiri says the challenges facing the C.A.R. are well documented and pre-date the crisis in Ukraine. But noting the impact of the war on rising commodity and fuel prices, he says humanitarian assistance will be required well beyond this year and into 2023.
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NATO Signs Accession Protocols for Finland, Sweden
NATO members on Tuesday signed the accession protocols for Finland and Sweden to join the military alliance.
Both countries submitted their applications in May, breaking longstanding non-aligned stances in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“This is a good day for Finland and Sweden, and a good day for NATO. With 32 nations around the table, we will be even stronger and our people will be even safer as we face the biggest security crisis in decades,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.
He added that “NATO’s door remains open to European democracies who are ready to and willing to contribute to our shared security.”
With the accession protocols signed, each of NATO’s 30 member countries now have to ratify them according to their individual national procedures.
Both Finland and Sweden have a history of working with NATO as partner countries, including attending NATO meetings and participating in military exercises.
“As a future member of the alliance, Sweden will contribute to the security of all allies,” Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said at the start of Tuesday’s meeting.
Finland’s Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said his country looks forward to working with NATO allies to safeguard a “secure and prosperous Euro-Atlantic region.”
“Together we are stronger in defending the rules-based international order and the principles of democratic freedom and rule of law,” Haavisto said.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters
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Russia Turns Focus to Ukraine’s Donetsk Province
Britain’s defense ministry said Tuesday it expects Russia to use the same tactics it employed to seize virtually all of eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk province as it pushes to control Donetsk province and reach its stated goal of holding the entire Donbas region.
“The battle for the Donbas has been characterized by slow rates of advance and Russia’s massed employment of artillery, levelling towns and cities in the process,” the ministry said in a statement. “The fighting in Donetsk Oblast will almost certainly continue in this manner.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared victory Monday in Luhansk province as Ukrainian troops retreated from their last stronghold in the city of Lysychansk.
Ukraine said Russian forces are now trying to advance on Siversk, Fedorivka and Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, about half of which is controlled by Russia.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported to Putin in a televised meeting Monday that Russian forces had taken control of Luhansk. In turn, Putin said that the military units “that took part in active hostilities and achieved success, victory” in Luhansk, “should rest, increase their combat capabilities.”
Ukraine’s Luhansk governor, Serhiy Haidai, told the Associated Press on Monday that Ukrainian forces had retreated from Lysychansk to avoid being surrounded.
“There was a risk of Lysychansk encirclement,” Haidai said, explaining that Ukrainian troops could have remained a while longer but would have potentially sustained too many casualties.
“We managed to do centralized withdrawal and evacuate all injured,” Haidai said. “We took back all the equipment, so from this point, withdrawal was organized well.”
Haidai told the Reuters news agency that there was nothing critical in losing Lysychansk, and that Ukraine needed to win the overall war, not the fight for the city.
“It hurts a lot, but it’s not losing the war,” he said Monday.
The Ukrainian General Staff said that Russian forces, aside from pushing toward Siversk, Fedorivka and Bakhmut, are also shelling the key Ukrainian strongholds of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, deeper in Donetsk.
Ukrainian authorities said that on Sunday, six people, including a 9-year-old girl, were killed in the Russian attack on Sloviansk, and another 19 people were wounded. Kramatorsk was also shelled Sunday.
The British Defense Ministry intelligence briefing Monday called the conflict in Donbas “grinding and attritional” and said it is unlikely to change in the coming weeks.
The Russian army has a massive advantage in firepower, military analysts say, but not any significant superiority in the number of troops. Ukraine is hoping to counter the Russian onslaught in Donbas with the ongoing resupply of munitions from Western nations, including the United States.
Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address Monday that his country needs economic aid to start rebuilding, even as fighting continues.
“The restoration of Ukraine is not only about what needs to be done later after our victory, but also about what needs to be done right now. And we must do this together with our partners, with the entire democratic world,” he said.
Earlier Monday, Zelenskyy spoke via video at a conference in Lugano, Switzerland, focusing on what it will take to rebuild Ukraine.
“Reconstruction of Ukraine is not a local task of a single nation,” he said. “It is a common task of the whole democratic world.”
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told the two-day conference, which began Monday, that Ukraine’s recovery was “already estimated at $750 billion.”
The conference brings together leaders from dozens of countries as well as international organizations and the private sector.
Also Monday, Zelenskyy met with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, who traveled to Kiev to show support for Ukraine.
Bach vowed that the Ukrainian flag would “fly high” at the 2024 Games in Paris and said the IOC would triple its funding for Ukrainian athletes to ensure they could compete.
Zelenskyy said 89 athletes and coaches have died in the war with Russia.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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Griner Asks for Biden’s Help in Russia Release
U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking him to “do all you can” to bring home her and other Americans detained in Russia.
Griner’s representatives shared parts of the letter Monday.
“As I sit here in a Russian prison, alone with my thoughts and without the protection of my wife, family, friends, Olympic jersey, or any accomplishments, I’m terrified I might be here forever,” Griner wrote.
Griner was arrested in February on charges of possessing cannabis oil. Her trial began last week and is set to resume Thursday.
U.S. National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said Monday that Griner is being wrongfully detained and that the Biden administration “continues to work aggressively — using every available means — to bring her home.”
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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‘Person of Interest’ Arrested in Deadly Shooting of Fourth of July Parade Near Chicago
Police in the midwestern U.S. state of Illinois have captured a man they have labeled a “person of interest” in Monday’s deadly shooting attack on an Independence Day parade.
Twenty-two-year old Robert E. Crimo III (the Third) was taken into custody hours after a brief car chase just outside of Highland Park, a wealthy suburb of Chicago, where six people were killed and more than 30 others wounded when a gunman opened fire on parade goers from the rooftop of a building along the route.
Police said five people died at the scene, while another person died at a nearby hospital. The Mexican Foreign Ministry says one of those killed was a Mexican national.
A doctor at a Highland Park hospital says they received 26 wounded people from the parade between eight and 85 years of age.
Cellphone video captured scores of people running from the scene in panic as the sound of rapid gunfire echoed loudly off nearby buildings. Lawn chairs, baby strollers, portable food containers and other objects were scattered along the parade route, abandoned by people who ran for cover.
U.S. President Joe Biden issued a statement saying he and his wife, first lady Jill Biden, were “shocked by the senseless gun violence that has yet again brought grief to an American community on this Independence Day.”
The Highland Park shooting occurred more than a week after President Biden signed the first major federal gun violence bill passed by Congress in decades. The bipartisan compromise bill was passed after two mass shootings in May, including a racist attack that left 10 people dead at a grocery store in a black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York, and a rampage at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 schoolchildren and two teachers dead.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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On Independence Day, Biden Seeks to Project Optimism
U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden celebrated July Fourth on Monday, offering a message of optimism and unity at a time when polls suggest most Americans believe the country is heading in the wrong direction and political polarization is a top concern.
“America is always becoming, always on the move, always a work in progress,” Biden said alongside the first lady in remarks during an Independence Day BBQ celebration with military families at the White House. “Progress. Forward motion. The creation of possibilities, the fulfillment of promises,” he added.
Biden suggested that better days lay ahead even as he acknowledged the struggles Americans are going through under the country’s high inflation.
“Our economy is growing but not without pain,” he said.
Americans are increasingly pessimistic about the economy. In an AP-NORC poll released Wednesday, 79% described the economy as poor, including 90% of Republicans and 67% of Democrats.
Overall, the poll showed 85% of American adults say that the country is headed in the wrong direction, including 92% of Republicans and 78% of Democrats — the highest number among Democrats since Biden took office.
“After doing the hard work of laying the foundation for a better future, the worst of our past has reached out and pulled us back on occasion,” Biden said, alluding to the recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the federal constitutional right for women to have abortions.
“That freedom has been reduced, that rights we assumed we’re protected are no longer,” he said, calling it a reminder of the “ongoing battle for the soul of America.”
While the ruling does away with nearly half a century of Supreme Court precedent, conservative Justice Samuel Alito wrote that the long-standing principle of adherence to precedent is “not a straitjacket” and that Roe was “egregiously wrong and deeply damaging.”
“I know it can be exhausting and unsettling,” Biden said. “But tonight, I want you to know that we’re going to get through all of this.”
A poll by Reuters/Ipsos released Wednesday showed that Americans from Biden’s own party, Democrats, are increasingly dissatisfied following the Supreme Court’s decision on abortion, with 62% of Democrats saying the country is heading in the wrong direction, up from 49% the week before. The level of Republican dissatisfaction went down to 86%, down slightly from 94% a week earlier.
As polarization ranked third across a list of 20 issues that are of top concerns of Americans, according to the latest FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos poll, Biden sought to rally Americans to unite.
“We’ve been tested before, just as we’re being tested today,” he said. “But we’ve never failed because we have never walked away from the core beliefs and promises that define this nation.”
The first couple later watched fireworks displays from their residence balcony, while below them hundreds of military family members and administration staff enjoyed the show from blankets and picnic tables on the White House lawn.
Another mass shooting
Independence Day celebrations in the United States were marred by a shooting Monday at a parade in the Midwestern city of Highland Park in the state of Illinois that left at least six people dead.
Biden did not directly address the shooting in his remarks.
“Y’all heard what happened today,” he said. “But each day we’re reminded there’s nothing guaranteed about our democracy. Nothing guaranteed about our way of life. We have to fight for it.”
Later in the evening, the president led a brief moment of silence in honor of the victims.
Authorities said a 22-year-old man named as a person of interest in the shooting was taken into police custody Monday evening after an hours-long manhunt.
Gunfire broke out just 10 minutes after the parade began about 10 a.m. Monday in the city of 30,000, about 40 kilometers north of Chicago. Police said 30 other people were hospitalized after the shooting.
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US Navy Offers Cash for Tips to Seize Mideast Drugs, Weapons
The U.S. Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet is starting to offer rewards for information that could help sailors intercept weapons, drugs and other illicit shipments across the region amid tensions over Iran’s nuclear program and Tehran’s arming of Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
While avoiding directly mentioning Iran, the 5th Fleet’s decision to offer cash and other goods for actionable intelligence in the Persian Gulf and other strategic waterways may increase pressure on the flow of weapons to the Houthis as a shaky cease-fire still holds in Yemen.
Already, the Houthis have threatened a new allied task force organized by the 5th Fleet in the Red Sea, though there’s been no attack by the Iranian-backed forces on the Navy in the time since.
Meanwhile, the 5th Fleet says it and its partners seized $500 million in drugs alone in 2021 — more than the four prior years combined. The 5th Fleet also intercepted 9,000 weapons in the same period, three times the number seized in 2020.
“Any destabilizing activity has our attention,” Commander Timothy Hawkins, a 5th Fleet spokesman, told The Associated Press. “Definitely we have seen in the last year skyrocketing success in seizing both illegal narcotics and illicit weapons. This represents another step in our effort to enhance regional maritime security.”
The 5th Fleet’s new initiative launches on Tuesday through the Department of Defense Rewards Program, which saw troops offer cash and goods for tips on the battlefields in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere after al-Qaida launched the September 11, 2001, attacks. Since ground fighting has largely halted across the region, the 5th Fleet decided to use the program as it patrols the waterways of the Middle East.
Hawkins said operators fluent in Arabic, English and Farsi would man a hotline, while the Navy also would take tips additionally online, in Dari and Pashto. Payouts can be as high as $100,000 or the equivalent in vehicles, boats or food for tips that also include information on planned attacks targeting Americans, Hawkins said.
It’s unclear whether the 5th Fleet’s uptick in seizures represents a return to shipping after the coronavirus pandemic or an increase overall in the number of illicit shipments in the region. Traffickers typically use stateless dhows, traditional wooden sailing craft common in the Mideast, to transport drugs and weapons.
One destination for weapons appears to be Yemen. The Houthis seized Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in September 2014 and forced the internationally recognized government into exile. A Saudi-led coalition armed with U.S. weaponry and intelligence entered the war on the side of Yemen’s exiled government in March 2015. Years of inconclusive fighting has pushed the Arab world’s poorest nation to the brink of famine. A truce that began around the holy Muslim month of Ramadan appears for now to still be holding.
Despite a United Nations Security Council arms embargo on Yemen, Iran long has been transferring rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, missiles and other weaponry to the Houthis. Though Iran denies arming the Houthis, independent experts, Western nations and U.N. experts have traced components back to Iran.
Asked about whether new seizures could increase tensions with Iran, Hawkins listed the weapons and drugs the Navy hoped to intercept under the program.
“That’s what we’re after,” the commander said. “That’s not in the interest of regional stability and security.”
Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment. The U.S. Navy and Iran continue to have tense encounters in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes.
The rewards program marks the latest initiative under 5th Fleet Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, who also launched a drone task force last year amid tensions with Iran.
Cooper’s other effort, the Red Sea task force, has drawn criticism from the Houthis in the past. The rebel group, which has repeatedly denied being armed by Iran, did not respond to a request for comment on the new Navy program.
However, Ali al-Qahom, a Houthi official, tweeted last week that the rebels are monitoring increased U.S. activity in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf waters.
“Because of this, defense and confrontation options are open,” he said. “They and their diabolical projects have no place” in the region.
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Congo and Rwanda to Meet for Talks Amid Tensions Over Rebels
Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi will meet his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, for talks in Angola this week, officials said Monday.
There were no details on what they would discuss, but the neighbors have been at diplomatic loggerheads since a surge of attacks in eastern Congo by the M23 rebel group — which Kinshasa accuses Kigali of backing.
Rwanda denies supporting the rebels and has, in turn, accused Congo of fighting alongside insurgents — a faceoff that has raised fears of fresh conflict in the region.
The meeting is likely to take place on Tuesday or Wednesday in Angola’s capital, Luanda, according to the officials — two of them from Congo and one Rwanda — who did not wish to be named.
Earlier on Monday, Kagame said he did not mind Rwanda being excluded from a regional military force set up in April to fight rebels in east Congo, removing a potential stumbling block to the initiative.
Congo had welcomed the plan but said it would not accept the involvement of Rwanda.
“I have no problem with that. We are not begging anyone that we participate in the force,” Kagame told Rwanda’s state broadcaster in a wide-ranging interview.
“If anybody’s coming from anywhere, excluding Rwanda, but will provide the solution that we’re all looking for, why would I have a problem?” Kagame said.
At the end of March, the M23 started waging its most sustained offensive in Congo’s eastern borderlands since capturing vast swaths of territory in 2012 and 2013.
Rwanda accuses Congo’s army of firing into Rwandan territory and fighting alongside the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, an armed group run by ethnic Hutus who fled Rwanda after taking part in the 1994 genocide.
Recent attempts to stop the violence militarily have proven unsuccessful, and in some cases backfired, security analysts and human rights groups say.
Despite billions of dollars spent on one of the United Nations’ largest peacekeeping forces, more than 120 rebel groups continue to operate across large swaths of east Congo almost two decades after the official end of the central African country’s civil wars.
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Joey Chestnut Is Chomp Champ Again in July 4 Hot Dog Contest
Frankfurter-munching phenom Joey “Jaws” Chestnut put a protester in a chokehold while gobbling his way to a 15th win Monday at the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest, powering down 63 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes at the annual exhibition of excess.
In a decisive chow-down comeback, women’s record-holder Miki Sudo downed 40 wieners and buns to win the women’s title after skipping last year’s frank fest because she was pregnant.
A spectator wearing a Darth Vader mask rushed the stage, momentarily disrupting the competition. Chestnut put the protester in a brief chokehold before contest officials hurried over and escorted the intruder away.
Another protester in a white storm trooper mask sneaked behind the competitors and hoisted a sign saying, “Expose Smithfield’s Deathstar.” Smithfield manufactures Nathan’s hot dogs.
After the altercation, Chestnut went back to the task at hand: devouring more hot dogs.
Monday marked the contest’s return to its traditional location outside Nathan’s flagship shop in Brooklyn’s Coney Island neighborhood. The event was relocated in 2020 and last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s beautiful to be back here,” Chestnut told ESPN and a throng of spectators after his feat, which the 38-year-old managed while wearing a surgical boot because of a leg injury.
“It hurts, but I was in the zone for a little bit. I was ignoring it,” said Chestnut, but the pain eventually slowed his pace in the 10-minute competition.
Last year, the Westfield, Indiana, resident topped his own record by consuming 76 franks and buns.
Sudo, of Tampa, Florida, set the women’s record at 48 1/2 wieners and buns in 2020, before taking last year off while expecting. She and Nick Wehry — a fellow competitive eater whom she met through the Nathan’s contest in 2018 — welcomed son Max on July 8, 2021.
From dad’s arms, the baby watched his 36-year-old mother notch her eighth Nathan’s win. She told ESPN afterward that she hoped he would someday take a message away from it.
“I want to set an example,” she said, “to do things that you love and push yourself to your absolute limits and, when things get difficult, to still give it a try. And, you know, you might actually just come out victorious.”
Sudo then took over parenting duties while Wehry tried for the men’s title.
In conjunction with the spectacle, Nathan’s donates 100,000 franks to the Food Bank for New York City.
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Ethiopian Prime Minister Reports Massacre in Oromia Region
Ethiopia’s leader reported a massacre Monday allegedly by rebels in a restive region where a rebel group opposed to his government is accused of targeting civilians amid fighting with government troops.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office didn’t provide fatality figures, but the Amhara Association of America told The Associated Press, quoting sources on the ground, that it believes 150 to 160 people may have been killed in the attacks.
The AP wasn’t able to independently verify casualty figures by the association, which said ethnic Amhara people were targeted and that the killings started early in the day.
“Shene group members fleeing from attacks by (government) security forces are inflicting danger on citizens in West Wellega,” Abiy said in a tweet Monday, adding that operations are under way to chase the rebels. “Citizens in the Oromia region’s Qellen Wellega area have come under a massacre.”
The prime minister’s announcement came three weeks after hundreds of civilians belonging to the Amhara community were killed in the same region in attacks blamed on the OLA, which the government refers to as Shene. The rebel group denied that accusation, instead accusing government forces and a local militia of carrying out the attacks.
Phone communication with the remote area has been cut since midday.
The killings will pile pressure on Abiy’s government to do more to protect civilians as a wave of ethnic unrest persists in Africa’s second-most-populous country. Attacks targeting minorities living across the country have increased in recent years because of political, historical and ethnic tensions.
Ethnic Amhara, the second-largest ethnic group in Ethiopia but a minority in other regions, have been targeted repeatedly.
Several dozen were killed in attacks in the Benishangul Gumuz and Oromia regions over the past three years alone. Last month, witnesses told the AP that more than 400 civilians were killed in a June 18 attack against ethnic Amhara in the Oromia region’s Tole area.
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Splintered Ukrainian City Braces for New Battle With Russia
A group of young off-duty Ukrainian soldiers gathered at a military distribution center to enjoy a rare respite from the fighting that has again engulfed their fractured home in eastern Ukraine.
As they shared jokes and a pizza, artillery explosions could be heard a few kilometers away — a reminder of the looming battle that threatens to unfold here in the city of Slovyansk, which was occupied by Russian proxy fighters in 2014.
“Everyone knows that there will be a huge battle in Slovyansk,” said one of the soldiers, who could not be named for security reasons.
Now, eight years after their city was last occupied, the war has returned. Slovyansk could become the next major target in Moscow’s campaign to take the Donbas region, Ukraine’s predominantly Russian-speaking industrial heartland.
Russia’s defense minister said Russian army forces and a separatist militia on Sunday captured the city of Lysychansk and now control all of eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk province.
Slovyansk, located 70 kilometers (43 miles) to the west in Donetsk province, came under rocket attacks Sunday that killed an unspecified number of people, Mayor Vadym Lyakh said.
Another soldier interviewed earlier by The Associated Press, a 23-year-old accountant who joined up when the invasion began, said Ukrainian forces simply do not have the weapons to fight off the superior arsenal of the approaching Russian army.
“We know what’s coming,” he said with a sad smile.
These soldiers were still teenagers when pro-Russian separatists captured and held the town for three months. The brief occupation in 2014 terrorized Slovyansk, where dozens of officials and journalists were taken hostage, and several killings took place.
Fierce fighting and shelling broke out when the Ukrainian army laid siege to the city to recapture it.
“Actually, the war never left Slovyansk. It didn’t leave people’s heads,” said Tetiana Khimion, a 43-year-old dance choreographer who converted a fishing store into a hub for local military units.
“On the one hand, it is easier for us because we know what it’s like. On the other hand, it is more difficult for us since we’ve been living like this for eight years in a suspended condition.”
Slovyansk is a city of splintered loyalties. With a large retired population, it is not uncommon to hear older residents express sympathy toward Russia or nostalgia for their Soviet past. There is also distrust of the Ukrainian army and government.
After a recent shelling of his apartment block, one resident named Sergei said he believed that the strike was launched by Ukraine.
“I’m not pro-Russian, I’m not pro-Ukrainian. I am somewhere in between,” he said. “Both Russians and Ukrainians kill civilians — everyone should understand that.”
On Thursday, a group of elderly residents couldn’t hide their frustration after a bomb blast slashed open their roofs and shattered their windows.
Ukraine “says they are protecting us, but what kind of protection is this?” asked one man, who did not provide his name.
After 2014, Khimion said, it became easier to know “who is who” in Slovyansk. “Now you can easily see: These people are for Ukraine, and these people are for Russia.”
She said not enough was done after 2014 to punish people who collaborated with Russian proxies to prevent a repeat of the situation.
“That is why we cannot negotiate, we need to win. Otherwise it will be a never-ending process. It will keep repeating,” she said.
The mayor of Slovyansk reflects the city’s new trajectory. Taking his cues from Ukraine’s wartime leader, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Vadym Lyakh has decorated his office with Ukrainian flags, anti-Russian symbols, portraits of national poets — even a biography of Winston Churchill.
But before 2014, Lyakh was part of a political party that sought closer ties with Russia. He said while pro-Moscow sentiment in the city has faded — in part because of the horrors witnessed in 2014 — there are still “people who are waiting for the return of the Russian troops.”
As the front line moves closer, attacks on the city intensify. Three-quarters of its pre-war population has fled, but the mayor said too many residents are still in Slovyansk, including many children. He encouraged them to evacuate while he spends his days coordinating humanitarian aid and strengthening the city’s defenses.
Lyakh said he cannot allow himself to relax, even for a few minutes.
“It is emotionally difficult. You see how people are dying and being harmed. But nevertheless, I understand that this is my job.”
More and more, Lyakh is among the first responders at the scene of bombardments. Associated Press journalists following the mayor recently witnessed what authorities described as a cluster bomb attack on a residential area. One person was killed and several others wounded.
The mayor says that shelling now occurs at least four or five times a day, and the use of cluster munitions increased in the past week. Although he remains optimistic that Ukrainian forces can keep the enemy at bay, he is also clear-sighted about his options.
“Nobody wants to be captured. When there is an imminent danger of the enemy troops entering the city, I will have to go,” he said.
One morning last week, Lyakh paid a visit to an apartment building that was shelled overnight. Most of the windows were blown out, doors were broken wide open, and a power line was severed.
The same building was bombed in 2014, leaving a gaping hole on the sixth floor, and many residents suffered broken bones.
Andrey, a 37-year-old factory worker who has lived in the building for 20 years, recalled the bombing and occupation. He said separatist forces “did and took what they liked.”
People in his circle have different opinions about Russia.
“Those who have suffered understand what this ‘Russia world’ means: It means broken houses, stolen cars and violence,” he explains. “There are those who miss the Soviet Union, who think we are all one people, and they do not accept what they see with their own eyes.”
In the eight years since the separatists retreated, he said, life markedly improved in Slovyansk.
The statue of Vladimir Lenin that once stood in the central square has been removed. Water and power supplies were renovated. New parks, squares and medical facilities were built.
“Civilization was returned to us,” Andrey said.
At a military distribution hub where they go to unwind, the young soldiers talk wistfully about their lives before the invasion.
“I had a great car, a good job. I was able to travel abroad three times a year,” said the former accountant, who plans to stay in Slovyansk with the others to defend the city. “How can we let someone just come and take our lives away from us?”
Khimion’s husband is on the front lines, and she put her teenage daughter on a train to Switzerland as soon as the invasion began.
“I have been deprived of everything — a home, husband, child — what should I do now?” she asks. “We are doing everything we can to stop (the offensive), to keep it to a minimum … But to be afraid is to abandon this place.”
At the entrance to the city, a monument bearing Slovyansk’s name is riddled with bullet holes from 2014. It has been painted over several times. It now bears the national colors of Ukraine, and a local artist has painted red flowers around each perforation.
Residents of Slovyansk wonder — some with hope, many in fear — if the sign will soon be painted yet again, in the red, white and blue of the Russia flag.
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Top General Says Military to Leave Sudan Political Talks
Sudan’s leading general said Monday the country’s military will withdraw from negotiations meant to solve the ongoing political crisis after a coup last year, allowing civil society representatives to take their place.
In televised statements aired on Sudan’s state television, General Abdel-Fattah Burhan also promised that he would dissolve the sovereign council that he leads after a new transitional government is formed. The council has governed the country since the military took power in a coup last year.
Since the coup, the U.N. political mission in Sudan, the African Union and the eight-nation east African regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development have been trying to broker a way out of the political impasse. But talks have yielded no results so far. Pro-democracy groups have repeatedly said they will not negotiate with the military, and they have called for it to immediately hand the reins to a civilian government.
Burhan did not specify any dates or who would replace the military at the negotiating table. After the ruling council is dissolved, he said, the army and the powerful paramilitary known as the Rapid Support Forces will be placed under a new governing body responsible for the country’s defense and security.
Sudan has been plunged into turmoil since the military takeover upended its short-lived transition to democracy after three decades of repressive rule by former strongman Omar al-Bashir. The military removed al-Bashir and his Islamist-backed government in a popular uprising in April 2019.
Burhan’s statements come after a deadly week for the country’s pro-democracy protesters. On Thursday, nine people were killed and at least 629 injured by security forces in anti-military demonstrations, according to the Sudan’s Doctors Committee, which has tracked protest casualties.
Sudanese military authorities have met the near-weekly street protests since the coup with a crackdown that has so far killed 113 people, including 18 children.
Western governments have repeatedly called on the generals to allow peaceful protests but have also angered the pro-democracy movement for engaging with the leading generals.
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Watchdog: Tigray Violence Overshadows That in Ethiopia’s Oromia
The Tigray conflict in Ethiopia’s north is overshadowing a “persistent cycle of violence” against civilians by security forces and armed groups in the Oromia region, Human Rights Watch said Monday.
The New York-based watchdog said it had documented serious abuses in Ethiopia’s most populous region, including in western Oromia, where an “abusive” government campaign against an armed rebel group had trapped civilians in the crossfire.
This violence has persisted for years without redress while global attention has centered on Tigray, where major combat between federal forces and rebels from the region exploded in November 2020.
“Well before the conflict in northern Ethiopia, there has been widespread impunity for ongoing rights abuses in Ethiopia’s Oromia region, including in areas already suffering from conflict,” HRW said in a statement.
“Many of these abuses still persist and require urgent international attention.”
This culture of impunity “has only emboldened unaccountable security forces and done nothing to prevent further harm,” it said.
Access is restricted to western Oromia, where Ethiopia’s armed forces have been countering a rebellion by the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) for years.
But summary executions and arbitrary detentions by government forces have still been documented there, HRW said, as have abductions and killings of local leaders and government officials by armed groups.
In June, hundreds of people, mostly from the Amhara ethnic group, were massacred by gunmen in the western Oromia village of Tole.
Local authorities said the OLA was responsible, but the rebels denied any role and blamed a pro-government militia.
Earlier that month, government forces were accused of summarily executing suspected OLA collaborators in the capital of the neighboring Gambella region following an attack on the city.
Oromia was the scene of deadly violence after the murder in June 2020 of Hachalu Hundessa, a popular Oromo singer who gave voice to the frustrations felt by many in the region.
More than 160 people were killed in street demonstrations following his death while Oromo political leaders and opposition activists were rounded up and detained in a sweeping government crackdown.
Many were later released, but some remained in detention despite court orders for their release, HRW said.
“Ethiopia’s government and its partners should no longer ignore the mounting tragedies affecting families throughout Oromia. There is a deep need for structural reforms of the abusive security apparatus and for social repair,” HRW said.
“The government can start by facilitating credible independent investigations into the serious abuses by its own forces and by armed groups, as communities demanded.”
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Six Dead, 24 Wounded in Shooting at Chicago-Area July 4 Parade
At least six people died and 24 were wounded in a shooting at a July Fourth parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, and officers are searching for a suspect who likely fired on the festivities from a rooftop, police said Monday.
Highland Park Police Commander Chris O’Neill, the incident commander on the scene, urged people to shelter in place as authorities search for the suspect.
Lake County Major Crime Task Force spokesman Christopher Covelli said at a news conference that the gunman apparently opened fire on parade-goers from a rooftop using a rifle that was recovered at the scene. He didn’t know which building.
Covelli said police believe there was only one shooter and warned that he should still be considered armed and dangerous.
Police have not released any details about the victims or wounded.
The parade began around 10 a.m. but was suddenly halted about 10 minutes later after shots were fired. Hundreds of parade-goers — some visibly bloodied — fled the parade route, leaving behind chairs, baby strollers, plush toys, bicycles and blankets.
Police told people, “Everybody disperse, please. It is not safe to be here.”
Highland Park Police said in a statement early Monday afternoon that five people had been killed and 19 people were taken to hospitals. Those numbers were revised soon after at the news conference.
Video shot by a Chicago Sun-Times journalist after the gunfire rang out shows a band on a float continuing to play as people ran past, screaming.
Gina Troiani and her son were lined up with his day care class ready to walk onto the parade route when she heard a loud sound that she believed was fireworks — until she heard people yell about a shooter.
“We just start running in the opposite direction,” she told The Associated Press.
Her 5-year-old son was riding his bike decorated with red and blue curled ribbons. He and other children in the group held small American flags. The city said on its website that the festivities were to include a children’s bike and pet parade.
Troiani said she pushed her son’s bike, running through the neighborhood to get back to their car.
In a video that Troiani shot on her phone, some of the kids are visibly startled at the loud noise and scramble to the side of the road as a siren wailed nearby.
It was just sort of chaos,” she said. “There were people that got separated from their families, looking for them. Others just dropped their wagons, grabbed their kids and started running.”
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said in a tweet that he is “closely monitoring the situation in Highland Park” and that Illinois State Police are assisting.
Debbie Glickman, a Highland Park resident, said she was on a parade float with co-workers and the group was preparing to turn onto the main route when she saw people running from the area.
“People started saying, ‘There’s a shooter. There’s a shooter. There’s a shooter,'” Glickman told AP. “So, we just ran. We just ran. It’s like mass chaos down there.”
She didn’t hear any noises or see anyone who appeared to be injured.
“I’m so freaked out,” she said. “It’s just so sad.”
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Putin Declares Victory in Ukraine’s Luhansk Province
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared victory Monday in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk province as Ukrainian troops retreated from their last stronghold in the city of Lysychansk.
Moscow’s forces immediately turned their attention to fighting in the adjoining Donetsk province. It is part of the industrialized Donbas region Putin has sought to take control of during his invasion of Ukraine, now in its fifth month, after failing earlier to topple the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy or capture the capital, Kyiv.
Ukraine said Russian forces are now trying to advance on Siversk, Fedorivka and Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, about half of which is controlled by Russia.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported to Putin in a televised meeting Monday that Russian forces had taken control of Luhansk. In turn, Putin, said that the military units “that took part in active hostilities and achieved success, victory” in Luhansk, “should rest, increase their combat capabilities.”
Ukraine’s Luhansk governor, Serhiy Haidai, told the Associated Press Monday that Ukrainian forces had retreated from Lysychansk to avoid being surrounded.
“There was a risk of Lysychansk encirclement,” Haidai said, saying that Ukrainian troops could have remained a while longer but would have potentially sustained too many casualties.
“We managed to do centralized withdrawal and evacuate all injured,” Haidai said. “We took back all the equipment, so from this point withdrawal was organized well.”
The Ukrainian General Staff said that Russian forces, aside from pushing toward Siversk, Fedorivka and Bakhmut, are also shelling of the key Ukrainian strongholds of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, deeper in Donetsk.
Ukrainian authorities said that on Sunday, six people, including a 9-year-old girl, were killed in the Russian attack on Sloviansk and another 19 people were wounded. Kramatorsk was also shelled Sunday.
The British Defense Ministry intelligence briefing Monday called the conflict in Donbas “grinding and attritional,” and said it is unlikely to change in the coming weeks.
Military analysts said the Russian army has a massive advantage in firepower, but not any significant superiority in the number of troops. Ukraine is hoping to counter the Russian onslaught in Donbas with the ongoing resupply of munitions from Western nations, including the United States.
Zelenskyy acknowledged the Ukrainian withdrawal from Lysychansk during his nightly video address late Sunday but vowed that the country’s forces will fight their way back.
“If the command of our army withdraws people from certain points of the front where the enemy has the greatest fire superiority, in particular this applies to Lysychansk, it means only one thing: We will return thanks to our tactics, thanks to the increase in the supply of modern weapons,” Zelenskyy said.
“The fact that we protect the lives of our soldiers, our people, plays an equally important role. We will rebuild the walls, we will win back the land, and people must be protected above all else,” Zelenskyy said.
Luhansk Governor Haidai told the Reuters news agency there was nothing critical in losing Lysychansk, and that Ukraine needed to win the overall war, not the fight for the city.
“It hurts a lot, but it’s not losing the war,” he said Monday.
Recovery plan
Switzerland is hosting a conference Monday and Tuesday focusing on what it will take to rebuild Ukraine.
The meeting in Lugano brings together leaders from dozens of countries as well as international organizations and the private sector.
Ukraine’s ambassador to Switzerland, Artem Rybchenko, said the conference would help produce a roadmap for his country’s recovery.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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Pope Denies Resignation Rumors, Hopes to Visit Kyiv, Moscow
Pope Francis has dismissed rumors he plans to resign anytime soon, and says that he hopes to visit Moscow and Kyiv after traveling to Canada later this month.
Francis also told Reuters in an interview published Monday that the idea “never entered my mind” to announce a planned retirement at the end of the summer, though he repeated he might step down some day as Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI did in 2013.
He revealed that his knee trouble, which has caused him to use a wheelchair for over a month, was caused by a “small fracture” that occurred when he stepped awkwardly while the knee ligament was inflamed.
He said it is “slowly getting better” with laser and magnet therapy.
Francis was due to have visited Congo and South Sudan this week but had to cancel the trip because doctors said he needed more therapy. He said he was on board to travel to Canada July 24-30 and said he hoped to visit Russia and Ukraine sometime thereafter.
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Aid Flows into Tigray Region as Ethiopia’s Humanitarian Truce Holds
A senior UNICEF official says humanitarian aid is flowing into previously inaccessible areas in northern Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region. He says lifesaving aid is reaching hundreds of thousands of people in need thanks to the government’s humanitarian truce with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.
Researchers at Ghent University in Belgium estimate as many as half a million people have died from war, starvation, and other indirect causes in Tigray. This, since Ethiopian military forces invaded the region November 4, 2020, in response to attacks by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.
In an interview with VOA from his office in Addis Ababa, UNICEF’s representative in Ethiopia, Gianfranco Rotigliano, says there has been a change since the government truce was declared in March. He says 170 trucks rolled into previously blockaded areas in April and expects that number to increase to more than 1,000 trucks a month.
Rotigliano describes the needs as immense. He says more than five million people in Tigray require international aid, as well as an additional seven million people in the conflict-affected Amhara and Afar regions.
“We have great needs in terms of repairing infrastructures that were looted, that were destroyed… and the, you know the lack of supplies in certain areas makes it also very difficult for children to get health services, to get immunization. Many schools are closed so children cannot go to school and there are more risks for exploitation and sexual abuse in the region,” he said.
UNICEF estimates nearly 400,000 children in northern Ethiopia are malnourished. It says 80,000 severely malnourished children have been treated for this life-threatening condition this year, compared to 36,500 during the same period last year, indicating a seriously deteriorating situation.
Rotigliano tells VOA priority needs include food, seed, and fertilizers, as well as cash to pay civil servants, doctors, nurses, and other essential workers who receive no salary. He says another critical issue is fuel, which is in short supply.
“This is a big problem because fuel is not an issue of Ethiopia. It is a global issue. As you know, with the war in Ukraine, the price of fuel has gone up and the actual supply of fuel has decreased. So, this is a big issue that we have, that we are facing now,” he said.
Rotigliano warns the distribution of lifesaving aid to millions of people in Tigray will be severely affected if fuel supplies run out.
U.N. agencies estimate 100 trucks carrying food, medicine, non-food items and fuel must arrive in Tigray every day to meet the region’s humanitarian needs.
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US Travel Soars Over Fourth of July Weekend
Americans are hitting the roads and skies in numbers not seen since before the pandemic to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
The mass of travelers for the holiday, also known as Independence Day, is testing airlines and airports, which have struggled to keep up with demand.
Hundreds of flights were canceled Friday and thousands more were delayed, according to the flight tracking site, FlightAware.
More than 2.4 million travelers got an early start to the weekend, making their way through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints. That surpassed levels from before the pandemic in 2019 and was 13.8% higher than the number of travelers last year, according to TSA data.
Travel by car is also expected to be heavy.
The auto membership group, AAA, predicts 47.9 million people will travel 50 miles or more from home over the holiday weekend. That is slightly less than the number of travelers in 2019 but comes despite near-record high gas prices.
Last year’s Fourth of July holiday was expected to coincide with a turning point in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, however new surges of the virus at that time put a damper on the celebrations in some locations.
This year, most places in America have lifted COVID restrictions and federal airline regulations allow for mask-free travel.
The uptick in travel and vacations has left airlines struggling to keep up. Many encouraged their workers to quit or take early retirement in the early days of the pandemic when travel virtually came to a halt. Now they are having difficulty hiring and training new workers and many airlines have cut their summer schedule to try to prevent the chaos of last-minute flight cancelations.
About 3.55 million Americans are expected to fly this holiday weekend, AAA said.
While travel is heavy during the Fourth of July holiday, many more Americans stay home and enjoy backyard barbecues, picnics and neighborhood parades.
The holiday celebrates the country’s independence from Britain on July 4, 1776, when delegates from the 13 U.S. colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence, announcing the severing of ties with Britain.
Fireworks are one of the hallmarks of Independence Day celebrations, with thousands of communities across the nation organizing annual displays, including one of the largest displays set off in Washington, the nation’s capital.
Each state has its own laws governing fireworks sales and use, but many also allow individuals to set off fireworks in their own backyards.
Some information in this report comes from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Russia Not Wishing US Happy Independence Day
Russia said Monday it will not be sending kind words to mark the Independence Day holiday in the United States.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that congratulations “can hardly be considered appropriate” and cited what he called the “unfriendly policies” of the United States.
The U.S. has opposed Russia’s war in Ukraine, sending weapons and helping train Ukrainian forces while also leading efforts to impose sanctions against Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated previous U.S. leaders on the holiday, including former Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted his wish of “peace and prosperity” to U.S President Joe Biden and the American people on Monday.
“I appreciate the leadership assistance of the United States in Ukraine’s defending of common values — Freedom, Democracy and Independence,” Zelenskyy wrote.
Some information for this report came from Reuters.
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ECOWAS Lifts Sanctions on Mali, Burkina Faso
African leaders have lifted economic sanctions on Mali.
The move by the leaders of the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, on Sunday, came after Mali’s military leaders submitted a proposal for a transition to democracy within 24 months and published a new electoral law.
Mali received tough sanctions from ECOWAS after the junta did not follow through with previous plans for democratic elections.
The sanctions have resulted in Mali defaulting on millions of dollars of debt.
Sanctions on Burkina Faso were also lifted at the meeting in Accra, after junta leaders promised to restore constitutional order in 24 months.
Some information in this report came from Reuters.
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Australia to Boost Military Aid to Ukraine
Anthony Albanese made a surprise visit to Ukraine Sunday after attending the NATO summit in Madrid. The Australian prime minister lit a candle for civilians buried in a mass grave in the town of Bucha, near the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, where Russian soldiers are accused of committing atrocities. He said Australia shared the community’s desire to seek justice for the victims.
Albanese also went to Irpin, another town scarred by war, where he spoke to reporters as he saw the devastation.
“Here we have what is clearly a residential building, another one just behind it, brutally assaulted,” he said. “This is a war crime. It is devastating. These are livelihoods and indeed lives that have been lost.”
Albanese also met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Australia is sending more military aid to Ukraine, including more than 30 additional armored vehicles and drones.
Canberra is also imposing additional sanctions and travel bans on 16 Russian government ministers and oligarchs and ending Australian imports of Russian gold.
Michelle Grattan, chief political correspondent for The Conversation, an online news service, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that Prime Minister Albanese’s visit to Ukraine was significant.
“I think it is very important visit because it does underline the solidarity that Australia is showing in this situation, terrible situation.” said Grattan. “I think that people will welcome this new commitment that the prime minister has made of military equipment.”
The Australian government is also considering reopening its embassy in Ukraine.
Albanese joins a long list of world leaders who have visited the country since the Russian invasion began in February.
He entered Ukraine from Poland, traveling on an armored train. He was shadowed by Ukrainian special forces. Several thousand Ukrainian refugees have been granted temporary asylum in Australia.
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Ukraine Says Turkey Detained Russian Ship Carrying Ukrainian Grain
Ukraine’s Ambassador to Turkey said Turkish customs officials have detained a Russian cargo ship carrying grain shipped from a Russian-occupied area of Ukraine.
Ambassador Vasyl Bodnar said Sunday the ship was at the entrance of Turkey’s Karasu port, and that Ukraine hoped Turkish officials would confiscate the grain.
Ukraine has accused Russia of stealing grain from territories it has taken over since launching its war in Ukraine in late February.
Ukraine had previously asked Turkey to detain the Russian-flagged Zhibek Zholy cargo ship, according to an official and documents viewed by Reuters.
Russia denies the allegations.
Some information for this report came from Reuters.
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