Month: October 2022

British PM Liz Truss Resigns After Just Six Weeks in Office

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British Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned Thursday after just 44 days in office, prompted by an economic plan that sent financial markets into a tailspin, led to shake-ups in her Cabinet and divided her ruling Conservative Party.

She is the shortest-serving prime minister in British history. 

In comments delivered at a podium in front of the prime minister’s residence at No. 10 Downing Street in London, Truss said that while she set out a vision for a “low tax, high growth economy,” she recognized she could not deliver the mandate on which she was elected by the Conservative Party.

Truss said she will serve until a replacement is selected. Graham Brady, chairman of the Conservative Party’s special parliamentary body, the 1922 Committee, told reporters that party leadership has indicated it could conduct a ballot and conclude an election as early as October 28, and possibly have a new prime minister in place by October 31.

The 1922 Committee is made up of Conservative Party members of parliament and has the power to force a prime minister from within the party to resign. 

Analysts suggest former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak, who lost to Truss in the last leadership contest in August, is the leading candidate to replace her.

In an interview, opposition Labor Party leader Keir Starmer referred to the situation in the ruling Conservative — or Tory Party — as a “soap opera” and called for an urgent general election “so the public can make their minds up about this utter chaos.”

In a statement issued by the White House, U.S. President Joe Biden thanked Truss for her partnership “on a range of issues, including holding Russia accountable for its war against Ukraine.” He later reiterated that point to reporters as he left the White House and expressed confidence “the British are going to solve their problem.”

Truss succeeded Boris Johnson in September after he resigned following a series of scandals, including holding gatherings in violation of his government’s COVID-19 restrictions.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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Africa Lags Behind Rest of World in COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage

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The World Health Organization warns Africa’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has stagnated, putting the continent’s 1.2 billion people at higher risk for this ever-evolving virus.

New numbers from the WHO show a significant decline in new vaccinations, with immunization rates dropping by more than half between July and September.

At this rate, WHO officials say most countries in Africa will miss the global goal of vaccinating 70 percent of their populations by the end of the year.

Despite this setback, WHO says modest progress is being made towards vaccinating high-risk population groups, particularly the elderly. In other good news, the agency reports over the past 12 weeks, Africa has recorded the lowest case numbers since the start of the pandemic, adding that deaths remain low across the region.

WHO regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, says in many ways, Africa is a victim of its own success.

“It is important to note that vaccine supply is no longer problematic; countries are now receiving about double the number of doses per 100 people than at the end of last year…Unfortunately, as vaccines have helped avert serious COVID-19 illness, hospitalization and death, people are less fearful, and so also less willing to get vaccinated,” said Moeti.

Several African countries have defied the statistics and racked up vaccination

successes. WHO reports Liberia now has joined Mauritius and Seychelles in reaching more than 70 percent coverage and Rwanda is on target to join them soon.

Liberia’s Health Minister, Wilhelmina Jallah, explains how her country achieved this milestone.

“The magic bullet was decentralization, making sure each county ran their own vaccination campaign and the participation of all the health care workers and the vaccinators and the support from all of the partners…And making sure that the vaccines were available. That is key to success,” said Jallah.

Aurelia Nguyen is special adviser to GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance. She says GAVI so far has supplied 670 million doses to Africa. She says vaccines will continue to be sent to Africa for as long as the pandemic continues and poses a threat.

“We have enough doses to go around. We are especially determined to make sure the vulnerable groups are protected. And so elderly health care workers, primary series but also boosters,” Nguyen said. “And this is the only way that we are going to be able to ensure that lives are saved and that the health systems hold strong if we have a new variant or a surge.”

More than 250,000 people in Africa have lost their lives to COVID-19. WHO officials say high vaccination coverage in populations reduces the spread of the virus, helps prevent new variants from emerging and saves lives.
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Paradise Untouched: Could Ecotourism Replace Guinea’s Mining Industry?

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With its lush forests, abundant waterfalls and flamboyant birds, Guinea is the type of tropical paradise that draws tourists. But the West African country has few visitors and earns almost all its foreign revenue from mining, which can damage that environment. Now some are working to change that.

Guinean tour guide Mohammed Camara balances precariously on a slippery rock as water gushes around him and the three foreigners he’s leading on a hike. Below, the water slices through the cliff making way for a spectacular view of the forest.

He dreams of there one day being a boardwalk that spans the top of the waterfall so his clients don’t have to slip and slide to reach the view. Guinea’s government is more focused on developing the country’s mining industry than on creating ecotourism projects, he says.

“When people talk about mines, everyone talks about Guinea. But when people talk about tourism we don’t talk about Guinea,” Camara said. “And yet there is great potential for tourism in this country that could employ more people than mines and bring in much more money.”

Guinea is the world’s second largest producer of bauxite, the primary ore used to produce aluminum. The country is also rich in iron ore deposits as well as other minerals such as gold and diamonds.

Mining comprises about 25 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product, yet Guinea remains one of the poorest countries in the world with more than half the population living below the poverty line.

A 2018 report by Human Rights Watch found Guinea’s mining industry had destroyed ancestral farmlands, polluted water sources and blanketed villages and crops in dust. The environmental destruction of bauxite mining can be so severe it led Malaysia to implement an export ban in 2016.

François Kieffer is the operations manager for Belgian development agency Enabel in Guinea.

In September he helped launch an ecotourism project in Kindia – a forested region about 130 kilometers from Conakry with a high potential to attract tourists.

The project is focused on the construction of facilities that make sightseeing more accessible, such as boardwalks and trail signs, as well as the training of tour guides.

Kieffer said he hopes the projects will provide an alternative to environmentally destructive practices beyond mining, such as slash and burn agriculture and charcoal production.

“Today, human activity puts a lot of pressure on the environment and we realized that it’s the local people who are the first victims of these types of activities,” he said. “The potential for tourism here is incredible.”

Sites such as the breathtaking Mount Gangan and the pristine swimming holes beneath Kilissi Falls are largely unknown outside of Guinea.

From 2010 to 2017, the country saw an average of just 65,000 tourists per year – one-sixteenth the number who visited neighboring Senegal.

Sekou Camara is a local development officer in Guinea’s Linsan sub-prefecture.

“In Kindia, there are a lot of sites that are beloved by the locals. But because those sites aren’t developed, people are afraid to go,” said Sekou Camara, a local development officer in Guinea’s Linsan sub-prefecture. “If we succeed in developing them, Kindia could become attractive. But for now people are prioritizing the mines.”

He motions to the waterfalls plunging down the verdant face of Mount Gangan. That could be Guinea’s crown jewel, he says.
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UK PM Truss Resigns: Who Could Replace Her?

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Liz Truss said on Thursday she was resigning as British prime minister just six weeks after she was appointed. 

A leadership election will be completed within the next week to replace Truss, who is the shortest-serving prime minister in British history. George Canning previously held the record, serving 119 days in 1827 when he died. 

Given the divisions in the party there is no obvious candidate and any replacement would face a country likely heading into a recession. Leading names are below: 

Rishi Sunak 

Britain’s former finance minister was the most popular candidate among Conservative lawmakers at Westminster in a leadership contest earlier this year but, after getting through to a run-off against Truss, he lost out in a vote involving some 170,000 party members who made the final decision. 

Many members were angry when Sunak quit in July, helping to trigger a rebellion that eventually brought down former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. They also ignored his warning that markets could lose confidence in Britain if Truss delivered her unfunded tax cuts. 

Betting exchange Betfair puts Sunak as the favorite to replace Truss, but those lawmakers who remain loyal to Johnson would most probably oppose that move. 

Sunak is “certain to stand” for the leadership, according to the Telegraph. 

Penny Mordaunt 

A former defense secretary, Mordaunt was a passionate supporter of leaving the European Union who only just missed out on the final two-place run-off in the recent leadership challenge. 

Mordaunt won plaudits for her performance in parliament on Monday, when she defended the government even as it reversed most of its policies. 

One lawmaker has described Mordaunt as having “broad appeal,” referring to her ability to find friends in the various tribes of the party. 

Mordaunt is believed to be in the running to become the next prime minister, Sky News reported. 

Boris Johnson 

Former prime minister Johnson is expected to stand in the Conservative Party leadership contest, the Times reported. 

Johnson, once a journalist, has loomed large over British politics ever since he became London Mayor in 2008. After causing trouble for leaders such as David Cameron and Theresa May, he finally became prime minister in 2019 and went on to win a landslide election victory. 

Johnson was the face of the Brexit vote and won votes in parts of the country that had never voted Conservative before. But he was forced out by a string of scandals. 

Some closest to him say at the moment he is more interested in making money on the speech circuit than returning to frontline politics. 

Jeremy Hunt 

After Truss’s economic program collapsed and she fired her finance minister, she turned to Hunt, a former health and foreign minister, to put things right. 

A series of confident performances on television and in the House of Commons, as he ripped up Truss’s economic manifesto, have already led to some Conservative lawmakers referring to Hunt as the “real prime minister.” 

He has insisted he does not want the top job, despite entering two previous races to become prime minister, including in 2019 when he lost out in the final round to former prime minister Boris Johnson. Hunt does not have the obvious support of a large group of lawmakers in parliament. 

The BBC and other outlets said he was not considering running. 

Kemi Badenoch 

After losing out in the previous leadership contest, where she won support on the right wing of the Conservative party, Badenoch was appointed a cabinet minister by Truss. 

A source close to Badenoch said: “The Party must unite around a new leader who restores trust in politics and delivers good government for the British people. Kemi is in conversations with colleagues about how best to achieve this.” 

The trade secretary, born in London to Nigerian-origin parents, has said Britain has been falsely criticized as oppressive to minorities. She has also opposed gender-neutral toilets as causing a “significant disadvantage” to women. 

Suella Braverman 

Braverman, who resigned less than 24 hours ago as home secretary after criticizing Truss, is “widely expected to stand” to be the leader of the Conservatives, the Guardian reported, adding that an adviser to her declined to say if she plans to run. 

Braverman, born to parents of Indian origin, wants to reduce overall migration into Britain and has said the country has too many low-skilled migrant workers and very high numbers of international students. 

She previously served as a Brexit minister and has advocated for Britain pulling out of the European Court of Human Rights. She was also a leadership contender in the previous contest, winning the backing of prominent anti-EU campaigner Nigel Farage. 

Braverman quit as interior minister on Wednesday, saying she had to go after she breached government rules but said in a critical resignation letter that she had concerns over the direction of Truss’s government.  

Ben Wallace 

Britain’s defense secretary is one of the few ministers to have emerged from recent political turmoil with his credibility enhanced. Wallace, a former soldier, was defense minister for both Johnson and Truss, leading Britain’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Popular with party members, he surprised many earlier this year when he said he wouldn’t run for the leadership, saying he wanted to focus on his current job. He told the Times newspaper this week that he still wanted to stay as defense secretary. 

 
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Fight Over Slain Reporter’s Files Going to Nevada High Court

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A judge blocked Las Vegas police, prosecutors and defense attorneys Wednesday from accessing a slain investigative journalist’s cellphone and electronic devices over concerns about revealing the reporter’s confidential sources and notes.

Then she backed away from the case, citing an immediate appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court.

“I don’t think I have jurisdiction anymore,” Clark County District Judge Susan Johnson told attorneys for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, county prosecutors, defense attorneys, and lawyers representing the Las Vegas Review-Journal and dozens of media organizations. “Let’s see what the Supreme Court says.”

The judge pointed during a brief hearing to her restraining order, issued minutes earlier, and acknowledged the fast track taken on a question that all sides agree needs a state high court ruling.

Her order blocks immediate review by police of six devices that attorneys for the newspaper expect contain source names and notes compiled by reporter Jeff German before he was killed Sept. 2 in a knife attack outside his home.

Police and prosecutors want to comb the records for additional evidence that Robert “Rob” Telles, a former Democratic elected county official, fatally stabbed German in response to articles German wrote that were critical of Telles and his managerial conduct.

Telles’ court-appointed public defenders want to learn whether other people had a motive to kill German.

The police department, the Clark County district attorney’s office and Telles’ defense lawyers jointly sought the appeal.

The newspaper, backed by organizations including The Associated Press and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, maintains that police should not have the devices at all. It argues that confidential information, names and unpublished material are protected from disclosure under strict state law, federal privacy statutes and constitutional First Amendment safeguards.

Telles, 45, was Clark County public administrator, overseeing an office that handles assets of people who die without a will or family contacts. He was arrested Sept. 7 and remains jailed without bail pending a preliminary hearing on murder and other charges.

He lost his party primary for reelection in June and was stripped by a court order last month of his elected position.

Telles was suspended Wednesday from practicing law by a state high court order citing pending disciplinary proceedings against him by the State Bar of Nevada. The order noted that Telles has been charged with murder and “appears to have transferred significant funds” from his law practice trust accounts.

Authorities say surveillance video, Telles’ DNA on German’s body and evidence found at Telles’ home connect him to German’s killing.

Attorney Matthew Christian, representing the police department, said the investigation can’t be completed until detectives review all possible evidence pertinent to the case.

Johnson previously acknowledged that because it is rare for a U.S. journalist to be killed because of their work, there was little legal precedent for her to follow to allow investigators to access German’s files.

A proposal that might have had the judge appoint an independent panel to review the records collapsed because the newspaper doesn’t want Las Vegas-area investigators who may have been sources for, or the subject of, German’s work involved in the process.

German, 69, spent 44 years reporting on organized crime, government corruption, political scandals and mass shootings, first at the Las Vegas Sun and then at the Review-Journal. He was widely respected for his tenacity and confidential contacts in police, court and legal circles.
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New Forward Party Takes Centrist Stance in US Politics

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When Americans go to the polls on November 8, they’ll likely be choosing between candidates of the Democratic and Republican parties. Some ballots, however, will include political hopefuls from so-called third parties. As VOA’s chief national correspondent Steve Herman reports from Elizabeth, New Jersey, these parties have traditionally had little luck. But one new party is hoping to shake up the US system. Camera: Aaron Fedor
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Liz Truss To Quit as UK Prime Minister Next Week

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Liz Truss said on Thursday she was resigning as British prime minister just six weeks after she was appointed, brought down by an economic program that sent shockwaves through financial markets last month and divided her Conservative Party.

Speaking outside the door of her Number 10 Downing Street office, Truss accepted that she could not deliver the promises she made when she was running for Conservative leader, having lost the faith of her party.

A leadership election will be completed within the next week to replace Truss, who is the shortest serving prime minister in British history. George Canning previously held the record, serving 119 days in 1827 when he died.

“I recognize though, given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party. I have therefore spoken to His Majesty the King to notify him that I am resigning as leader of the Conservative Party,” she said.

Earlier, Conservative Party officials had gathered at Downing Street while a growing number of her own lawmakers called on her to quit.

Appointed on Sept. 6, Truss was forced to sack her finance minister and closest political ally, Kwasi Kwarteng, and abandon almost all her economic program after their plans for vast unfunded tax cuts crashed the pound and British bonds. Approval ratings for her and her Conservative Party collapsed.

On Wednesday she lost the second of the government’s four most senior ministers, faced laughter as she tried to defend her record to parliament and saw her lawmakers openly quarrel over policy, deepening the sense of chaos at Westminster.

New finance minister Jeremy Hunt is now racing to find tens of billions of pounds of spending cuts to try to reassure investors and rebuild Britain’s fiscal reputation as the economy heads into recession and with inflation at a 40-year high.
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EU Sanctions Iranian Entities for Drone Deliveries

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The European Union agreed Thursday to impose new sanctions on entities supplying Iranian drones to Russia that were used to strike Ukraine.

The Czech presidency of the European Union announced the agreement in a tweet Thursday, saying it came after three days of talks with EU ambassadors and would go into effect Thursday afternoon.

It said the EU was freezing assets of three individuals and one entity “responsible for drone deliveries.”

It added that the EU was also prepared to extend sanctions against four Iranian entities that were previously sanctioned.

Russian forces have intensified their use of airstrikes during the past week that Ukrainian officials have identified as utilizing Iranian-made drones laden with explosives that are crashed into their targets.

Iran has denied supplying the drones to Russia and Russia has denied using them in Ukraine. 
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Nigerian Firm Says It Can’t Ship Natural Gas After Flooding

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A major Nigerian energy company says it cannot deliver natural gas as promised in its contracts after deadly flooding hindered its operations, raising concerns about whether Africa’s largest economy can meet increased local and international demands during an energy crisis provoked by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Nigeria LNG Limited, or NLNG, declared a “force majeure” this week, meaning it is unable to fulfill its contractual obligations to supply the fuel used around the world to generate electricity, heat homes and run factories after flooding led to a “significant disruption of gas supply.” About 3.8% of global monthly supply could be affected, risking higher prices, Rystad Energy said.

The NLNG is a joint venture between the Nigerian government, which is the majority shareholder, and energy giants including London-based Shell and Italy’s Eni. With capacity to produce over 20 million tons of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, per year, it is Nigeria’s largest gas firm, but its production capacity was only at 68% because of oil theft and pipeline vandalism that has plagued the country.

As Europe faces an energy crisis after Russia sharply reduced natural gas flows during the war in Ukraine, Nigeria and other African countries have agreed to work toward helping meet the European Union’s need for increased gas supplies. Nigeria has Africa’s largest natural gas reserves, but its capacity to meet such demands has come under question, even as European storage levels have managed to reach 92% ahead of the winter heating season and gas prices have fallen lately.

Flooding this year — the worst in a decade — has killed more than 600 people, displaced 1.3 million and “aggravated what was already a bad situation” for the national gas company, said Toyin Akinosho, a Nigeria energy consultant.

Floodwaters also have submerged many of the riverside communities in the oil-rich Niger Delta region where Nigeria’s crude oil facilities are located, threatening the operation of local and international oil companies. Nigeria is a member of the OPEC oil cartel that produces crude for world markets.

Akinosho expressed doubts about how quickly the disruption could be addressed to allow Nigeria to resume shipping gas to the EU, which gets 14% of its LNG imports from the African nation, as well as other buyers in North America, the Middle East and Asia.

Analysts fear that if the disruption in gas supplies persists, it would cause a further decline in government earnings at a time when Nigeria faces a cash crunch caused by declining crude production over the years.

The force majeure may “cause the NLNG markets to tighten further” before winter, when it faces higher demands for gas, said Olufola Wusu, an oil and gas expert who was part of a team that helped review Nigeria’s national gas policy.

“The chances are that if we are unable to meet local demand, it is highly unlikely that we will have sufficient gas to export. And it means that some of our customers may be forced to seek LNG from other suppliers,” Wusu said.

A spokesperson for Timipre Sylva, Nigeria’s petroleum minister, declined to speak on the issue, and the gas company did not immediately respond to questions about its options for addressing the flooding.
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Ukraine Restricting Power Use After Russian Attacks

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Ukraine is restricting power use Thursday in response to Russian attacks that damaged parts of the country’s electrical infrastructure.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged people to conserve energy in an address late Wednesday.

He said the government was working to create “mobile power supply points for critical infrastructure in cities and villages.”

Ukraine’s power grid operator said supply restrictions would be in place from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m., and that as colder months approach, it may need to take such steps again in the future.

Drone controversy

Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council met Wednesday in a private meeting at the request of the United States, Britain and France to discuss the issue of Russia using Iranian-made drones in its war in Ukraine.

Washington, London and Paris say Tehran’s supplying of these unmanned aerial vehicles to Russia is a violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, which allows for transfers of restricted items to or from Iran only when approved on a case-by-case basis by the Security Council. No such approval has been sought.

“We had a very clear indication that the drones have been delivered from Iran to Russia and they have been used in Ukraine,” France’s ambassador Nicolas de Riviere told reporters as he left the meeting. “This is a violation of Resolution 2231.”

“We anticipate this will be the first of many conversations at the U.N. on how to hold Iran and Russia accountable for failing to comply with U.N. Security Council-imposed obligations,” said Nate Evans, spokesperson for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.

“As was outlined during today’s meeting, there is ample evidence that Russia is using Iranian-made UAVs in cruel and deliberate attacks against the people of Ukraine, including against civilians and critical civilian infrastructure,” he added, “in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.”

Ukrainian officials have said drones used in waves of attacks during the past week, including on the capital, Kyiv, were Iranian-made Shahed-136 attack drones that Russia used to carry explosives and crash into their targets.

Iran’s U.N. ambassador told reporters that his government categorically rejects the “unfounded and unsubstantiated claims,” which he said are part of a disinformation campaign against his government.

“It is disappointing to pursue their political agenda, these states are trying to launch a disinformation campaign against Iran and make misleading interpretation of the Security Council Resolution 2231 in order to wrongly establish a link between their baseless allegation against Iran with this resolution,” Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said.

Russia’s deputy U.N. envoy told reporters that the allegations are “baseless,” there have been no arms transfers in violation of the resolution and no Iranian drones were supplied to Russia for use in Ukraine.

“I would recommend that you do not underestimate the technological capabilities of the Russian drone industry,” Dmitry Polyanskiy said. “I can tell you we know what we do, and we know how to do it.”

Ukraine’s foreign ministry said that in the past week alone, more than 100 Iranian-made drones have slammed into power plants, sewage treatment plants, residential buildings, bridges and other targets in urban areas.

U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this article. Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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US Considering Joint Weapons Production with Taiwan

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The U.S. government is considering a plan to jointly produce weapons with Taiwan, a business lobby said Wednesday, an initiative intended to speed up arms transfers to bolster Taipei’s deterrence against China.

U.S. presidents have approved more than $20 billion in weapons sales to Taiwan since 2017 as China has ramped up military pressure on the democratically governed island Beijing claims as its own territory.

But Taiwan and the U.S. Congress have warned of delivery delays because of supply chain difficulties and backlogs caused by increased demand for some systems due to the war in Ukraine.

“It’s right at the beginning of the process,” Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, which counts numerous U.S. defense contractors as members, said of the plan.

Hammond-Chambers said it was yet to be determined which weapons would be considered as part of the effort, though it would likely focus on providing Taiwan with more munitions and long-established missile technology.

But he cautioned that any such move would require weapons makers to obtain co-production licenses from the State and Defense departments. Hammond-Chambers added there could be resistance within the U.S. government to issuing co-production licenses due to uneasiness about approving critical technology for a foreign platform.

“It’s a piece of the puzzle, not a game changer,” Hammond-Chambers told Reuters after Japan’s Nikkei newspaper first reported on the plan, citing three unidentified sources.

Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment, but reiterated that Taiwan-U.S. relations were both “close and friendly.”

Possibilities would include the United States providing technology to produce weapons in Taiwan, or producing the weapons in the United States using Taiwanese parts, the Nikkei report added.

Asked about the effort, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said: “The United States is looking at all options to ensure the rapid transfer of defensive capabilities to Taiwan.”

“The United States’ swift provision of Taiwan defensive weaponry and sustainment via Foreign Military Sale and Direct Commercial Sale is essential for Taiwan’s security and we will continue to work with industry to support that goal,” the spokesperson said.

News of the plan came after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a forum at Stanford University on Monday that “Beijing was determined to pursue reunification (with Taiwan) on a much faster timeline,” though he did not specify a date.

China’s leader Xi Jinping said on Sunday that China would never renounce the right to use force over Taiwan, but that it would strive for a peaceful resolution.

Taiwan’s presidential office said this week Taiwan would not back down on its sovereignty and would not compromise on freedom and democracy, but that meeting on the battlefield was not an option.

U.S. officials have been pushing Taiwan to modernize its military so it can become a “porcupine,” hard for China to attack.

U.S. officials have criticized Beijing for using a visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in August as a pretext to change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait by ramping up nearby military drills.
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State Department Recap: Oct. 12-19, 2022

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Here’s a look at what U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other top diplomats have been doing this week:

US–Russia–Ukraine

The United States said Russian President Vladimir Putin was resorting to “desperate tactics” after Putin declared martial law Wednesday in four partially occupied regions of Ukraine that Russia claims as its own.

Putin said at an online session of his Security Council on Wednesday that he signed a decree declaring martial law in Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, which Russia illegally annexed last month.

“Crimea, Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia are Ukrainian sovereign territory, and any claim that Russia makes over these territories is illegitimate,” State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said during Wednesday’s briefing.

The State Department also said Iran violated a U.N. Security Council resolution by supplying drones to Russia. The U.S. would support Ukraine’s decision to cut diplomatic ties with Iran in that regard.

On Friday, Blinken announced $725 million in additional U.S. military assistance for Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s deadly missile attacks on civilians across the country.

US–Haiti

The United States will announce as soon as this week sanctions on Haitian individuals involved in criminal gang operations that are blocking supplies as the Caribbean nation battles an outbreak of cholera. The State Department previewed its plan to impose visa restrictions on current and former Haitian officials involved in gangs and their immediate family members.

Meanwhile, U.S. and Canadian military on Saturday delivered tactical and armored vehicles and other supplies to the Haitian National Police to help combat criminal gangs that have worsened a humanitarian crisis in Haiti.

Blinken said Washington is accelerating the delivery of additional humanitarian relief to Haiti amid the Haitian government’s appeal for help during a national crisis.

US–China–Taiwan

Blinken said the People’s Republic of China poses a challenge to the United States’ national interests in the coming years as China’s Communist Party Congress is poised to hand a third, five-year term to CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping.

“We’ve seen a very different China emerge in recent years under Xi Jinping’s leadership. It is more repressive at home. It’s more aggressive abroad,” Blinken said. But despite “the emergence of clearly adversarial aspects” between the U.S. and China, he said, there are also “cooperative aspects” in the bilateral relationship, such as fighting climate change and promoting global health.

Blinken said the PRC is seeking to bring Taiwan under Beijing’s control “on a much faster timeline,” possibly by force.

Meanwhile, the State Department reaffirmed its commitment to provide Taiwan with defense equipment under the Taiwan Relations Act to ensure the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.

“The U.S. is looking at all options on the table to ensure that the rapid transfer of defense capabilities to Taiwan can take place as swiftly as possible, and consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act,” State Department deputy spokesperson Patel said during a Wednesday briefing.

US–Iran

The U.S. said it stands with the “brave women of Iran” amid the biggest wave of demonstrations in years after the death of a young woman arrested by the country’s morality police. On Friday, Blinken met with a group of Iranian women to express support. They included Nazanin Boniadi, an Iranian-born actress and human rights advocate, as well as writer Roya Hakakian and gender equality activist Sherry Hakimi.

“We continue to find ways to respond to the Iranian government’s state-sponsored violence against women and crackdown on its people. Today, I met with civil society partners to discuss what more the U.S. can do to support the people of Iran, particularly its brave women and girls,” Blinken wrote in a tweet.

Sports diplomacy

This week, the U.S. State Department announced seven Sports Envoy programs around the world — including in Mexico, Ivory Coast, Trinidad and Tobago, Albania, Montenegro, Tajikistan and Brazil — to strengthen people-to-people ties through sports diplomacy.

The State Department has recruited Sports Envoys in collaboration with American professional sports leagues such as the NBA and the NFL, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committees, and national sports federations.
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Botswana Farmers Welcome Lifting of EU Beef Export Ban

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Cattle farmers in Botswana, one of Africa’s top beef exporters to the European Union, have welcomed renewed beef exports to Europe. The move follows a two-month ban that followed an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease and the culling of thousands of cows.

Botswana officials on Monday said the August outbreak near the border with Zimbabwe has been brought under control, although a ban on cattle from the area remains in place.

Due to tough restrictions, beef exports to the European Union had been suspended because of the outbreak in August.

But farmers like Bathusi Letlhare said they are now relieved following Monday’s announcement of the partial lifting of the ban.

“It is a welcome development because the EU is one of the main markets for our beef,” Letlhare said. “They pay good prices, and this, in turn, benefits farmers a lot. It is always bad when we have an FMD outbreak and the market has to be closed.”

Letlhare added that the frequent outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease have had an adverse impact on the economy.

“I can say 80 percent of households have livestock, and when FMD breaks out and certain markets are closed, it becomes a big challenge to farmers,” Letlhare said. “Farmers cannot move cattle to markets, and there is no income to farmers, and the whole economy is affected.”

Letlhare felt the impact, too.

“I run a butchery, and for 10 days we were not selling beef,” Letlhare said. “And you can imagine the money we lost.”

Botswana’s acting director of veterinary services Kefentse Motshegwa said strict export requirements will be followed. This includes placing cattle in holdings approved for EU export for a period of 40 days before slaughter.

Beef exports will only be allowed from seven of the country’s 19 agricultural zones.

Andrew Seeletso of the Botswana National Beef Producers Union said although meat from other agricultural zones remained banned, the partial resumption of beef exports is welcome.

“It is better than nothing,” he said. “We are hoping that soon enough, the rest of the country will be allowed to sell beef for the EU market. But overall, we are very excited. It’s a good development, and we support it.”

In September, Botswana partially resumed the beef trade, including live cattle sales to neighboring countries, but there was no export to the EU.

The country enjoys duty- and quota-free access to the European market.
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White House Pushes Back Concerns That Ukraine Support Is Waning

Posted on by SeeEU

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pushed back against growing concerns that Republican lawmakers would not keep aid flowing to Ukraine should they retake control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the November midterm election.

“The United States has provided Ukraine with robust bipartisan support,” she told reporters Wednesday. “We will continue to work with Congress as we have these past several months on these efforts and support Ukraine for as long as it takes.”

The United States has authorized more than $60 billion in aid to Ukraine, with more than $17 billion in security assistance disbursed since the war began in February.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, however, indicated that aid could slow down should the chamber be controlled by Republicans. 

On Tuesday, McCarthy told Punchbowl News that with a recession coming, Americans are not going to write “a blank check” to Ukraine. “They just won’t do it. … It’s not a free blank check,” he said.

Ukrainians, still reeling from Russian drone and missile attacks on their capital, Kyiv, and other cities, leaving much of the country without power, are closely following the U.S. midterm election process, said Olena Shuliak, chairwoman of Ukraine’s ruling Servant of the People Party.

“Our people die every day. Every day, we stand defending democracy in the whole world,” she told VOA Ukrainian. “You can see what is happening daily with the shelling and destruction of our houses and killing of our people — you can’t decrease the support only to increase it.”       

Observers say that with rising isolationist tendencies in the Republican Party, some worry that aid to Ukraine would wane, particularly for humanitarian and economic needs. There is less concern for U.S. security assistance, however, considering Republicans generally support the military industrial complex, said Kristine Berzina, a senior fellow for security and defense policy at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

“What is the desperate need from Europeans right now in Ukraine and all across the [NATO] eastern flank? It is the need for weapons systems, everything from ammunition to very sophisticated weapon systems like HIMARS [High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems], drones,” Berzina told VOA. “The defense budgets are increasing so significantly in Europe that the increase in defense spending is outpacing what is available on the shelf.” 

In May, Congress voted for more than $40 billion in new military and humanitarian assistance, with 57 House Republicans voting against the package. 

Focus on China 

Looming recession aside, some Republican lawmakers have signaled that the U.S. should instead focus more on the threat of China’s military buildup. 

“There are a lot of members that want to see more accountability in the Department of Defense and more of a focus on the threats that are out there,” House Minority Whip Steve Scalise told reporters last month. “China is moving very aggressively to build up a naval fleet, and right now our naval fleet is in decline.”

Berzina said the conflict in Ukraine is a testing ground not only of the West’s technological warfare capabilities but of its commitment to defend a partner against an aggressor. 

The competitive military environment in Ukraine is giving defense companies reason to innovate and invest in weapon technologies, many of which are being tested on the Ukrainian battlefields.

“That’s going to be important should there be a conflict with China in the future,” she said.

China, she added, is also learning from the West’s reaction to Moscow’s expansionist ambitions.

“Any kind of permissibility in Ukraine also has implications,” she said. “How tough is the U.S. going to be when it comes to Taiwan?” 

Some Republican lawmakers have also cited a need for greater oversight of the aid being sent to Ukraine and complained that the U.S. is shouldering more of the financial burden than other NATO members.

Observers say that stopping U.S. support for Ukraine would wipe out Kyiv’s gains on the battlefield and could alter the course of the war. 

“Is it better to have an investment in Ukraine defense right now before you have to defend half of the European continent?” Berzina asked. “So there’s a fiscally conservative argument to stopping it now before the problem becomes so big that the U.S. has to put more money into it in much bigger places.”

Tatiana Koprowicz contributed to this report.
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New York City Opens Tent Shelter for Hundreds of Migrant Men 

Posted on by SeeUS

New York City on Wednesday opened an emergency tent shelter to alleviate some of the strain the city has felt recently from the steady stream of migrants who have arrived on buses sent by officials in Texas and other Southern U.S. states. 

The Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center on Randall’s Island, east of Manhattan, will be the temporary home for 500 single migrant men who arrived in the city after their long journeys that began in Venezuela and other places south of the U.S. border.  

“The history of this country has always been tied to welcoming those who are fleeing harm,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a video on Wednesday about the facility.  

“New York City has always been a role model on how to effectively use our infrastructure to address a crisis and make sure we treat people in a humane way, and that is what we have done,” he added.  

The need for the facility comes as the most populous city in the United States continues to receive buses full of migrants from Texas and other Southern states as part of a high-profile campaign by governors to put a spotlight on the record crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border.  

Two weeks ago, Adams declared a state of emergency in response to the influx, saying the city had received more than 17,000 migrants since April.  

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who is seeking a third term in November’s U.S. midterm elections, has bused more than 3,000 migrants to New York City while El Paso, which sits across the border from Juarez, Mexico, has bused roughly 7,000 migrants to New York City since late August.  

City officials on Tuesday said during a news conference that the facility would consist of a dining area, showers, laundry machines and phones that migrants can use to connect with loved ones.  

“We needed a different type of operation that gave us the time and space to welcome people, to provide them a warm meal, a shower, a place to sleep and to understand their medical needs,” Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol said. 
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After $60 Billion Authorized, Is US Support for Aid to Ukraine Waning?

Posted on by SeeUS

Some Republican lawmakers are questioning the amount of U.S. aid to Ukraine, citing the looming recession, the need for greater oversight and the competing security concerns from China. With polls predicting Republicans will win control of the House in the midterms, White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara looks at how that might affect U.S. support for Ukraine in the future. Tatiana Koprowicz contributed.
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Al-Shabab Attacks Key Bridges in Somalia, Kills at Least 21 People

Posted on by SeeAF

At least 21 people were killed in two separate bombings in the central Hirshabelle state of Somalia, officials said.

A powerful car bomb exploded in Jalalaqsi town when soldiers operating a security checkpoint intercepted a vehicle. The checkpoint is near local government buildings and a military base belonging to African Union peacekeepers from Djibouti.

“At around 2:30 p.m., a vehicle arrived at the checkpoint, one of the soldiers collecting taxation pointed a gun and stopped it,” said Mire Hussein Siyad, deputy district commissioner of Jalalaqsi.

“When the gun was pointed at [it], the vehicle exploded,” Siyad told VOA Somali.

He said Wednesday’s explosion killed at least 15 people, including the town’s two civilian leaders, Mayor Adan Mohamed Isse and Mohamed Nur Agajof Dabaashe, the district commissioner. Dabaashe was recently replaced as Jalalaqsi commissioner, but he had not handed over responsibility yet, Siyad said.

Other victims included soldiers at the checkpoints and civilians including street vendors. The explosion destroyed a building near the checkpoint where the local officials were based. Siyad said two AU peacekeepers were injured in the attack.

Siyad said the target was the town’s main bridge.

Meanwhile, six other people including four civilians were killed a separate explosion, when a three-wheeled motorcycle with explosives attached, struck the Bulobarde town bridge. The important bridge links Somalia’s south and central regions. Pictures taken by the witnesses show the explosion partially damaged the bridge.

The district commissioner of Bulobarde, Ahmed Mahad Nur, told VOA Somali that two men riding the motorcycle drove it onto the bridge. He said one of the men jumped off before the explosion while the second one detonated the explosive-laden motorcycle and died in the blast.

Nur said the man who jumped was shot and killed by security forces. He said troops seized two other motorcycles laden with explosives.

The officials said the two explosions were coordinated and intended to destroy the two bridges.

“They wanted to bring down the two bridges at the same time,” Siyad said.

“It’s the most crucial bridge between the central and southern regions,” said Nur.

Nur vowed the local government will rebuild the damaged bridge.

The al-Shabab militant group immediately claimed responsibility for the two attacks.

Bulobarde and Jalalaqsi in the Hiran region (Hirshabelle state) have been the focal point of efforts to mobilize the local population against al-Shabab.

Somali army spokesperson General Abdullahi Ali Anod on Tuesday reported that government forces and local fighters are completing preparations for new operations against al-Shabab in Hirshabelle, and in Southwest, Galmudug and Jubaland states. He said the operations could start within a “week or weeks.”

Al-Shabab has threatened clans mobilizing against them with violence.
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Malawi Finds Mass Grave of Suspected Ethiopian Migrants

Posted on by SeeAF

Malawi has discovered a mass grave in the north of the country containing the remains of 25 people suspected to be migrants from Ethiopia, police said Wednesday. 

“The grave was discovered late on Tuesday, but we cordoned it off and started exhuming today. So far, we have discovered 25 bodies,” police spokesman Peter Kalaya told AFP. 

Police were alerted by villagers in the Mzimba area, about 250 kilometers north of the capital, Lilongwe, who stumbled onto the grave while collecting wild honey in a forest. 

“We suspect that they were illegal migrants who were being transported to South Africa via Malawi,” he said.  

He added that evidence gathered from the site indicated the victims were Ethiopian males ages 25 to 40 years.  

The decomposing bodies were exhumed and taken to a morgue for autopsies. 

The bodies appear to have been buried “probably not more than a month” ago, he said. 

Malawi is a popular route for illegal immigrants from East Africa being smuggled to South Africa, the continent’s most industrialized country and a magnet for poor migrants from elsewhere on the continent. 

Kalaya said that between January and September this year, authorities intercepted 221 illegal immigrants, 186 of whom were Ethiopians. 
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Canadian High Court Weighs Immigration Agreement with US

Posted on by SeeUS

Canada’s highest court is deliberating whether to overturn a nearly 20-year-old immigration agreement with the United States on the grounds that asylum-seekers cannot safely be returned to Canada’s southern neighbor.

Canadian immigration experts have argued before the Supreme Court of Canada that the Safe Third Country Agreement should be repealed because of what they describe as “unconscionable”  conditions that migrants face when returned to the United States.

The agreement was signed in 2002 and went into effect in December 2004. In it, the United States and Canada agreed to turn back travelers at legal land crossings who claim asylum or refugee status in one country after having been in the other.

Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees, is one of the groups fighting the agreement in the Supreme Court.

“What the evidence shows and what we hear from people who’ve experienced it, as well as independent investigations of the situations, is that it is really very abusive conditions of detention, where people spend long periods in conditions that are really atrocious,” she said to VOA.

Advocates for scrapping the agreement say it violates Canada’s constitutionally guaranteed rights to “life, liberty and the security of the person” by forcing asylum-seekers back into what they describe as deplorable conditions in immigration detention facilities in the United States. They say it could also result in migrants being sent back to countries where they could be persecuted.  

Asked to comment on conditions in U.S. detention centers, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson told VOA that the agency “is firmly committed to the health and welfare of all those in its custody.”

In an emailed statement, the spokesperson said, “All people in ICE custody receive medical, dental, and mental health intake screening within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility” and that “ICE annually spends more than $315 million on the spectrum of health care services provided to people in ICE custody.”

As of October 14, 28,067 people were being held in ICE detention centers.

US detention inspection

While U.S. officials maintain that detainees are well treated, immigration lawyers and advocates in the U.S. have for years criticized detention conditions for immigrants in the United States.  

The Immigrant Defense Project and the Center for Constitutional Rights in February published a report in which five people shared their experiences in the U.S. immigration detention system. They said conditions in the detention facilities “inflict harm and break people’s spirits.”

In September, federal investigators published the results of an unannounced inspection at the privately owned and operated Torrance County Detention Center in Estancia, New Mexico, where an earlier report from the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general recommended that all of the detainees be moved to another facility because of unsatisfactory conditions. The center is typical of U.S. immigration facilities, the report’s authors said.

The Canadian side

Canadian government lawyers defended the Safe Third Country Agreement before the Supreme Court, maintaining that the agreement is constitutional and allows for exceptions in cases where refugees would face harm. They also asked that any ruling striking down the pact be suspended for a year so the government can formulate an alternative.

That makes sense to Vancouver-based immigration lawyer and policy analyst Richard Kurland, who said in an interview he believes Canada should end the agreement but there needs to be something to replace it.

The 2002 agreement was prompted “by the idea that people were trampling into Canada after failing their refugee claims [in] the United States and just bilking Canada for government proceeds,” he said. “So, the public did not like that. The political solution was to discuss that Safe Third Country Agreement.”

A peculiarity of the agreement is that it was written in such a way that it applies only at legal border crossing points. That means that asylum-seekers who sneak across the nearly 9,000-km-long border can remain in Canada to have their claims processed.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police stopped 23,348 refugee status claimants in the first eight months of this year, a six-year high. That is 13% more than in all of 2017, when such crossings started to be counted.

Since February 2017, a total of 67,805 refugee claims were made by people crossing between border posts. Of those, 28,332 claims were accepted and 19,646 were rejected.

Jamie Liew, an associate law professor at the University of Ottawa and a practicing immigration attorney, says the recent increase in crossings may be the result of the easing of many border restrictions imposed to fight COVID-19.

“I imagined that the pandemic might have played a role given that the border was largely closed to a lot of people and the ability to move across the border was more difficult,” Liew said. 

There is no indication when the Supreme Court of Canada will render a decision. At 8,891 kilometers, the U.S.-Canada border is the longest undefended international boundary in the world. 
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Energy Agency: CO2 Emissions Rise in 2022, but More Slowly

Posted on by SeeEU

The International Energy Agency said Wednesday that it expects carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels to rise again this year, but by much less than in 2021 due to the growth in renewable power and electric cars.

Last year saw a strong rebound in carbon dioxide emissions — the main greenhouse gas responsible for global warming — after the global economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

The Paris-based IEA said CO2 emissions from fossil fuels are on course to rise by almost 1% in 2022 compared to the previous year. That’s nearly 300 million metric tons of CO2 more than in 2021, when the burning of gas, oil and coal released about 33.5 billion tons of CO2.

“This year’s increase is driven by power generation and by the aviation sector, as air travel rebounds from pandemic lows,” the agency said.

While coal emissions grew 2% as countries that previously imported natural gas from Russia scrambled for other energy sources, this didn’t outweigh the expansion of solar and wind power, which saw a record rise in 2022.

Oil use also increased as pandemic-related restrictions eased, resulting in more people commuting to work and a rise in air travel.

“The rise in global CO2 emissions this year would be much larger — more than tripling to reach close to 1 billion tons — were it not for the major deployments of renewable energy technologies and electric vehicles around the world,” it said.

Emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases need to decline drastically in the coming decades to keep global temperatures from rising beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit), the ambitious threshold agreed in the 2015 Paris climate pact. Scientists say there is little room left for maneuver because temperatures have already risen by about 1.2 Celsius (2.2 Fahrenheit) compared to pre-industrial times.

A report published Wednesday by the environmental think tank World Resources Institute found countries’ current plans for cutting emissions would see them decline just 7% by 2030 from 2019 levels. The group said emissions would need to drop by 43% over that period to meet the Paris goal.

Stepping up global efforts to reduce emissions will be one of the topics at next month’s United Nations climate meeting in Egypt.
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EU Lawmakers Award 2022 Sakharov Prize to ‘Brave Ukrainian People’

Posted on by SeeEU

The European Parliament (EP) has awarded its 2022 Sakharov Prize to “the brave people of Ukraine” in their battle against Russia’s unprovoked invasion in late February.

The EP said in a statement Wednesday that the award went to “brave Ukrainians, represented by their President [Volodymyr Zelenskyy], elected leaders, and civil society.”

“This award is for those Ukrainians fighting on the ground. For those who have been forced to flee. For those who have lost relatives and friends. For all those who stand up and fight for what they believe in. I know that the brave people of Ukraine will not give up and neither will we,” European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said in the statement.

The annual prize is named after the Soviet physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov and was established in 1988 by the European Parliament to honor individuals and organizations defending human rights and fundamental freedoms.
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Hollywood’s Anna May Wong to Become First Asian American on US Currency

Posted on by SeeUS

The U.S. Mint will feature an Asian American on its currency for the first time when it issues a coin next week engraved with the image of actress Anna May Wong, who worked in Hollywood during a time of open racism and stereotyping.

A quarter-dollar coin featuring a profile of Wong with her signature bangs and long fingernails will begin circulating on Tuesday as part of the American Women Quarters Program, the U.S. Mint said in a statement.

“Along with the hard work, determination and skill Anna May Wong brought to the profession of acting, I think it was her face and expressive gestures that really captivated movie audiences, so I included these elements,” said Mint designer Emily Damstra, who helped create the coin.

Wong was born in 1905 in Los Angeles as Wong Liu Tsong. She was cast in her first role as an extra in the film “The Red Lantern” in 1919 at age 14 and her first leading role in 1922 in the “The Toll of the Sea.”

She went on to appear in more than 60 films including one of the first movies made in Technicolor. She became the first Asian American lead actor in a U.S. television show for her role in “The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong” in 1951.

Despite her success, Wong faced anti-Asian discrimination and racism in Hollywood where she was typecast, underpaid and passed up for leading roles, forcing her to go to Europe to act in films, and to London and New York to perform in theater. Wong died in 1961.

“The fifth coin in our American Women Quarters Program honors Anna May Wong, a courageous advocate who championed for increased representation and more multi-dimensional roles for Asian American actors,” Mint Director Ventris Gibson said.

Author and civil rights champion Maya Angelou and astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman to go into space, have also been honored with coins in the series.
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Majority Union Signs Deal to End South Africa’s Freight Transport Strike 

Posted on by SeeAF

The state-owned company that runs South Africa’s freight rail and port systems is a step closer to ending a strike that has idled imports and exports for nearly two weeks. The union that represents a majority of workers from Transnet has signed a three-year wage deal to end the work stoppage. Not everyone is happy about the move.

The agreement is aimed at ending the walkout which began October 6 and cost the country $44 million a day.

Cobus van Vuuren is the general secretary of the majority United National Transport Union, or UNTU, which signed the multi-year agreement with Transnet. He says the deal is binding on all workers since it represents more than half of the company’s 40,000 unionized workers.

Van Vuuren made his comments as the South African Trade and Allied Workers Union, or SATAWU, the minority union in the dispute, said it would still picket and has consulted lawyers. Vân Vuuren explained his group’s position.

“Unfortunately, we don’t always see eye-to-eye because our philosophies and values both differ. And our understanding of the impact of a protracted strike and the effect that that can have on the greater economy and potential job losses that the economy can suffer is maybe not necessarily shared by SATAWU,” he said.

He added that SATAWU has the right to continue with the industrial action but their strike is now unprotected and they are exposing their members to disciplinary action, which could include dismissal.

Anele Kiet, the deputy secretary-general of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union, says the majority union betrayed them.

“Even during the last negotiations, they left SATAWU and went to sign an agreement behind our back,” he said.

SATAWU has been holding out for an inflation-related increase. In July, South Africa’s inflation rate was at 7.8%, the highest in 13 years. UNTU settled for 6% as well as medical and housing allowance increases.

SATAWU also says it wants a no retrenchment (reduction) clause in the wage agreement.

UNTU’s van Vuuren says his union decided not to insist on that because Transnet gave guarantees that it will follow the legal procedures for retrenching (reducing) staff – should it be necessary.

He shed light on how Transnet, which like most state-owned enterprises in South Africa is battling financially, can afford the increases.

“So as far as what we have been informed,” he said. “Their customers especially in the ports has [sic] come on board. They have offered Transnet assistance through a [sic] extra charge which they are willing to pay on every container that is off-loaded or dealt with or processed. And the number that we have been told is R148 [$8.00] per container and taking into consideration that there’s millions of containers that is [sic] off-loaded during the year, you times that by R148, it does come to a substantial amount.”

He also says his union is concerned about intimidation of workers.

“Thus far for today we have not had any reports or any incidents that have been reported with regards to intimidation and violence,” he said. “We have however expressed our concern to Transnet with regards to this potential existing and we trust that Transnet will do anything in their power to make sure that our members can report to work safely… so that productivity can continue to resolve the backlog that exists currently.”

Meanwhile, South African politician Michael Bagraim, the labor spokesperson in parliament for the main opposition Democratic Alliance, praised UNTU and says he hopes the other union will come around.

“It is an enormous relief in that if this carried on for another few weeks, it would’ve crippled the entire economy,” he said.

Lumkile Mondi, economist and lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, acknowledges that a big part of the work force is still missing.

“The challenge is that they won’t be as efficient given the SATAWU workers that are absent,” he said.

SATAWU’s Kiet said the leadership of the union was heading to the country’s main port in Durban for talks with other members Wednesday on the legal opinion they have received. He said for now, they remain on strike.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged all parties to act in the best interest of the country.
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Feeling Water Pressure in Zimbabwe’s Capital Region

Posted on by SeeAF

In Zimbabwe’s capital region, a swelling population is taxing the water supply. That supply is further strained by a failing infrastructure vulnerable to contamination and by political infighting that blocks improvements. The burden of finding clean water often falls to women, as Keith Baptist reports from Harare. Camera: Kumbulani Zamuchiya
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