As the Horn of Africa enters its sixth failed rainy season, the number of internally displaced people in Somalia has reached an all-time high with millions forced to leave their homes. Abdulkadir Zubeyr visited a camp for the displaced in Dolow, Somalia, and has this story narrated by Salem Solomon.
…
Month: March 2023
Republicans Assail New York Prosecutor Investigating Trump
Republican lawmakers on Monday assailed the New York Democratic prosecutor investigating former President Donald Trump in connection with his alleged $130,000 hush money payment to a porn star ahead of the 2016 election.
Three committee chairmen in the House of Representatives accused Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of prosecutorial misconduct and demanded that he provide them information and documents related to his investigation of Trump.
The former president said over the weekend that he expects to be arrested in the case on Tuesday, although the prosecutor has made no public announcement indicating whether Trump would be indicted or when. Trump called for protests if he is indicted, and New York officials have been coordinating with federal security agencies to handle any unrest near the courthouse in New York.
Trump would be the first former U.S. president ever charged with a criminal offense.
He also faces wide-ranging investigations by a Justice Department special counsel and a state prosecutor in the southern state of Georgia for his role in trying to upend his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden to stay in power.
Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith is also probing Trump’s role in fomenting the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol as lawmakers met to certify Biden’s victory and how Trump kept classified documents at his Florida estate after leaving office, rather than turning them over to the National Archives as he was required by law to do.
The New York probe stems from the $130,000 paid to adult star Stormy Daniels by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen to guarantee her silence just ahead of the 2016 election about the one-night sexual encounter she claims to have had with Trump, an allegation he has long denied. Cohen has said that Trump approved the payment and then reimbursed him, saying it was for legal expenses.
“You are reportedly about to engage in an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority: the indictment of a former president of the United States,” the Republican committee chairmen said in their letter to Bragg.
“This indictment comes after years of your office searching for a basis — any basis — on which to bring charges,” they added.
The letter was signed by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil.
Democrats rebuffed the criticism of the Trump investigation, with Representative Daniel Goldman saying on Twitter, “Defending Trump is not a legitimate legislative purpose for Congress to investigate a state district attorney.”
“Congress has no jurisdiction to investigate the Manhattan DA, which receives no federal funding nor has any other federal nexus,” said Goldman, who was lead counsel in a 2019 House impeachment of Trump.
Trump announced his intention to seek the 2024 Republican presidential nomination months ago and says he would keep campaigning even if he is charged with a criminal offense. Numerous national polls show him as the front-runner for the Republican nomination, although several other Republicans have either announced their own candidacies or said they are seriously considering a race against Trump.
Trump was impeached twice during his presidency, once in 2019 over his conduct demanding Ukraine investigate Biden, and again in 2021 over the attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters. He was acquitted by the Senate both times.
…
US Determines War Crimes Committed in Ethiopia Conflict
The United States has determined that members of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF), Eritrean Defense Forces, Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) forces and Amhara forces committed war crimes during the conflict in northern Ethiopia, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday.
Members of the ENDF, Eritrean forces, and Amhara forces also committed crimes against humanity, Blinken told reporters, including murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence and persecution.
Members of the Amhara forces committed the crime against humanity of deportation or forcible transfer and committed ethnic cleansing through their treatment of Tigrayans in the western Tigray, Blinken said.
The determination comes after the top U.S. diplomat’s trip to Ethiopia last week, where he praised progress in implementing a peace deal in the country but stopped short of re-admitting it to a U.S. trade program.
The Ethiopian government and forces from Tigray signed a cease-fire in November, ending a conflict that killed tens of thousands of people, left hundreds of thousands facing hunger and displaced millions.
Ethiopian government spokesperson Legesse Tulu did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Blinken’s remarks. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s spokesperson Billene Seyoum also did not respond to requests for comment.
Additionally, Ethiopian Army spokesperson Colonel Getnet Adane, Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel, TPLF official Getachew Reda, and Amhara regional government spokesperson Gizachew Muluneh did not respond to requests for comment.
Blinken, in his meeting with Abiy last week, discussed “the importance of accountability for the atrocities perpetrated by all parties during the conflict, as well as the need for an inclusive and comprehensive process of transitional justice,” the State Department said.
The United States was outspoken in its criticism of alleged atrocities by Ethiopian forces and their allies from Eritrea and the Amhara region during the Tigray war.
Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous nation and traditionally a U.S. ally in East Africa, accused Washington of meddling in its internal affairs and threatened to reassess the bilateral relationship.
It has denied the most serious allegations of human rights violations during the war.
…
Ukrainian Artists Document Horrors of War in Warsaw Exhibit
An art exhibit in Warsaw, Poland, brings together the works of Ukrainian artists who aim to document the brutality of Russian aggression. The exhibition is entitled “Ukraine. Under a Different Sky.” For VOA, Lesia Bakalets reports on the display at the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw. Elizabeth Cherneff narrates. Camera – Daniil Batushchak.
…
US, French Hostages in West Africa Released
U.S. hostage Jeffery Woodke has been released after more than six years in captivity in West Africa, White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan said Monday.
Woodke was kidnapped from his home in Abalak, Niger, where he was a humanitarian aid worker, by men who ambushed and killed his guards, forced Woodke into their truck at gunpoint and drove toward the border with Mali. The incident happened Oct. 14, 2016.
According to Niger’s interior minister, Hamadou Souley, Nigerien authorities secured Woodke’s release from Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, or JNIM, a terrorist group active in West Africa and the Sahel.
“The U.S. thanks Niger for its help in bringing him home to all who miss & love him,” Sullivan wrote in a tweet Monday, referring to Woodke. “I thank so many across our government who’ve worked tirelessly toward securing his freedom.”
Woodke’s wife, Els Woodke, told The New York Times that she was notified of his release and told he was in Niger’s capital city of Niamey.
A U.S. official confirmed that Woodke was in Niamey and said he was being medically evaluated. Another senior administration official briefing reporters said that the U.S. had not paid a ransom or made other concessions.
Separately, French journalist Olivier Dubois was also released following his kidnapping April 8, 2021 in Mali. Dubois posted a video on Twitter saying he was tired but felt fine.
Media rights group Reporters Without Borders issued a statement Monday, saying it was “overjoyed and hugely relieved” by Dubois’ release. The group had long campaigned for his release.
The developments come days after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Niger.
Some information from this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
VOA’s French to Africa service and Annika Hammerschlag contributed to this report.
…
US State Department Unveils 2022 Annual Human Rights Report
Russia’s armed forces have committed “numerous war crimes and other atrocities” since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, said a U.S. Department of State report that documents human rights practices around the world.
“There were credible reports of summary execution, torture, rape, indiscriminate attacks, and attacks deliberately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure by Russia’s forces in Ukraine, all of which constitute war crimes,” the State Department said in its 2022 annual human rights report, released Monday.
The annual report also underscored cases of forced deportation of civilians and children from Ukraine to Russia.
The report comes after the International Criminal Court issued warrants for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a Russian children’s rights official for their roles in alleged war crimes relating to the illegal transfers and deportations of children from occupied Ukrainian territories to Russia.
Moscow said the arrest warrants are outrageous and has dismissed the prospect of Putin going to trial. Russia does not recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction.
U.S. President Joe Biden and senior officials from his administration have accused Russia of committing war crimes and atrocities in Ukraine. In February, the State Department determined that members of the Russian forces and other Russian officials had committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
The report also highlighted concerns about continuing human rights abuses in Iran, China, Myanmar (formerly known as Burma,) Afghanistan, South Sudan, Syria and other authoritarian nations.
On Iran, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this year’s report documents in detail “the Iranian regime’s violent crackdown and its continued denial of the Iranian people’s universal human rights and fundamental freedoms, including freedoms of expression and religion or belief.”
The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the so-called “morality police” last September for an alleged dress code violation triggered peaceful protests across Iran.
While the Iranian government launched an investigation after the death of Amini, it focused on the acts of the protesters whom the government called “rioters” with no indication it would investigate the conduct of security forces, said the State Department report.
On the People’s Republic of China, Blinken said, “Genocide and crimes against humanity” continued to occur against predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups in China’s Xinjiang province.
These crimes include the arbitrary imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty of more than one million civilians, forced sterilization, coerced abortions, rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence, and persecution including forced labor and draconian restrictions on freedom of religion or belief, freedom of expression, and freedom of movement, according to the human rights report.
On Myanmar, the report said the military regime continues to use violence to brutalize civilians and consolidate its control, killing more than 2,900 people and detaining more than 17,000 since a military coup in February 2021.
The new report documents the status of respect for human rights and worker rights in 198 countries and territories. The State Department has issued its annual Country Report on Human Rights Practices for more than 40 years.
…
US: Sanctions on China’s New Defense Chief Not a Hurdle for Military Talks
U.S. officials said current sanctions on China’s new defense chief, Li Shangfu, will not prevent him from conducting official meetings with his American counterparts, nor is the U.S. government considering issuing an exemption for or waiving Li’s sanction designation.
The People’s Republic of China named General Li as its minister of national defense on March 12. The U.S. has not proposed a call between Li and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
In 2018, the U.S. sanctioned Li under the so-called Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) when he headed the Equipment Development Department of the Chinese military.
The sanctions were related to China’s purchase of ten SU-35 combat aircrafts in 2017 and S-400 surface-to-air missile system-related equipment in 2018, according to the State Department.
A State Department spokesperson told VOA that “CAATSA sanctions do not necessarily prohibit sanctioned persons from meeting with U.S. government officials.”
“Visa records are confidential under U.S. law. We therefore cannot discuss the details of individual visa cases,” said the spokesperson when asked if the existing sanctions would ban Li from traveling to the U.S. to conduct official meetings.
But to Beijing, seeing the United States lift the sanctions against Li as a goodwill gesture may be deemed a critical step to resuming military talks between the defense chiefs of the two nations.
Experts said sanctions should not be the reason against having deconfliction talks.
“Most of the meetings between our defense secretary and the Chinese defense minister recently have been conducted in third countries—for example, at the Shangri-La Dialogues in Singapore,” said Dennis Wilder, professor of Asian studies at Georgetown University, referring to Asia’s premier annual defense and security forum.
“In that case, there would be no reason not to have the meeting, even though [General Li] is under sanctions, because meeting in the third country makes those sanctions quite meaningless,” Wilder told VOA on Monday.
While General Li remains blocked from any U.S. property interests, financial transfers, payments or foreign exchange under U.S. jurisdiction due to current sanctions, President Joe Biden’s administration continues to seek open lines of communication with PRC military leaders to ensure competition does not spill into conflict, said a Pentagon spokesperson.
Secretary Austin “is able to engage in official United States government business” with General Li despite the sanctions, the spokesperson added.
The U.S. and Chinese militaries have had working level communications both in Washington and Beijing, but no leader-level military talks since November 2022 despite U.S. requests.
…
Homelessness Reduced by Half in Colorado Town
Judith Thompson sits straight and still in her chair, eyes bright, warming herself from the cold. In Mandarin, she tells VOA she taught English at the Southwestern University of Political Science and Law in Chongqing, China. But those days of doing missionary work with her husband of 49 years are long gone. “I’ve never been homeless before,” the American woman says. “It’s a whole new experience for me to adapt.”
Thompson has been staying at the Springs Rescue Mission since November. She is part of the homeless shelter’s Hope Program, which includes job training. Thompson plans to return to the mission field, in outreach. “I want to be God’s light to give people hope and encouragement.”
The Christ-centered rescue mission and similar groups have reduced homelessness by 50% in Colorado Springs. Mission president and CEO Jack Briggs credits the success to community partnership and treating all clients as humans. “It’s people. I think we miss that sometimes. People on the streets are people.”
Addicts welcome
To accomplish that, the mission meets people “where they are,” Briggs says. Those with legal issues and/or addictions can enter. The single entry to the shelter, called the welcome center, increases the safety and security that homeless people seek.
Visitors and clients walk through a metal detector, and personal items are run through a scanner. Officers employed directly by the shelter physically search clients before entry. All drugs, alcohol and weapons are removed and placed in a locker, should the client want them back upon exiting.
Anyone who enters can hear barking coming from the next room, the shelter’s kennel. Springs Rescue Mission does not want clients choosing between a roof over their head or their dog, oftentimes the only family they have.
Clients do agree, however, to part with their clothes, which in many cases are their only possessions. The shelter launders and folds them, then places them into one of 300 red lockers. “When we build that trust and a relationship, that’s the starting point to get better from the situation they happen to be in,” Briggs says.
200 loads of laundry
Thomas McDonald, who, with the mission’s help, recovered from addictions to alcohol and cocaine, coordinates the area that includes the showers and the laundry. McDonald says he manages 200 loads of laundry daily, which “helps keep me accountable for my actions.”
Clients typically spend time working and living outside the shelter before applying for a job at the mission. Community partners step in with job leads, and the mission helps 40 people a month get jobs. Briggs says that is only possible because of the rescue mission’s job training program.
“They aren’t work ready — they just aren’t. They’ve lost the skillset, they have lost the personal hygiene, they maybe have lost the motivation,” he says. Once they graduate, the mission vouches for them to liaisons in the community.
The mission boasts a dining hall that serves 500 meals daily — again, run by former clients. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when catering businesses around Colorado Springs lacked employees, the Springs Rescue Mission recognized the need and began a catering preparation business at the shelter.
Head Chef Matt De Laurell, a former methamphetamine and cocaine addict, explained, “We do everything from little picnics all the way up to big 1,000-people corporate events.” During COVID, they also supplied first responders with well-appreciated hot meals at the end of their 12-hour shifts.
USAF general to CEO
Jack Briggs was a retired U.S. Air Force major general when he was hired as president and CEO of Springs Rescue Mission. His military attention to detail is evident as he pulls out his cellphone and shows numerous statistics from the “client information gathering system.”
Unlike other shelters, Springs Rescue Mission has a full-time data analyst on staff. Says Briggs, “We gather all the data that we can at a macro level for the whole place. But then we can break it down by individuals … for care.”
Briggs says that the statistics show about 30% of his clients graduate with enough “skills, talent and capacity” to get jobs and live independently, but that recidivism after graduation lowers that number.
Jesus greets all
Religion is at the center of the nonprofit’s philosophy. An oversize bronze sculpture of Jesus wearing a crown of thorns stands above the courtyard, where clients quietly talk outdoors when the weather allows.
It wasn’t until the sculpture was in place two years ago during an $18 million renovation that Briggs realized Jesus’ index finger pointed to the enormous cross atop the welcome center.
A handwritten sign in the dining hall reads, “Need Prayer? Just ask, we would love to pray with you.”
Jack Briggs never shies away from crediting God for the rescue mission’s success.
“That’s the starting point of everything. When we focus on that, we tend to do good work. When we think it’s about Jack or this particular program or something like that, we tend to get off track.”
…
China’s Xi Visits Russia’s Putin in Rare Show of Support
Chinese President Xi Jinping begins a three-day visit to Moscow Monday seen as a rare show of support for Russian President Vladimir Putin, increasingly isolated over his war on Ukraine. The visit also comes at a time when Russia and China are eager to cooperate as each of them faces its own challenges with the West. Marcus Harton narrates this report from the VOA Moscow Bureau.
…
UNICEF: Tens of Millions of African Children Face Water-Related Threats
“Africa is facing a water catastrophe,” UNICEF Director of Programs Sanjay Wijesekera said in a statement Monday.
A new UNICEF report says 190 million children in 10 African countries are “at the highest risk” from three water-related threats and climate hazards.
The three threats, known collectively as WASH, are: inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene.
Many children in the affected countries do not have access to basic sanitation, according to the UNICEF analysis, whose findings are being released just days ahead of the U.N. 2023 Water Conference.
Water in the home is not available to nearly one-third of the children, while two-thirds do not have basic sanitation service. A quarter of the children lack an alternative to open defecation. Three quarters of the children cannot wash their hands because there is no soap and water in the home.
The countries affected by the water nightmare are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Somalia.
In addition, some of the countries and consequently their children, face yet another threat – instability and armed conflict.
“The loss of a child’s life is shattering for families. But the pain is intensified when it is preventable and caused by the lack of basic necessities many take for granted like safe drinking water, toilets, and soap,” said Wijesekera.
…
Red Cross Says Two Kidnapped Workers Released in Mali
Two International Committee of the Red Cross employees kidnapped in early March in northern Mali were released Sunday, the organization’s Malian branch announced.
“We confirm that the two ICRC employees kidnapped on March 4 between [the cities of] Gao and Kidal in northern Mali were released this evening,” it said on Twitter. “Our colleagues are well and have been released unharmed without conditions. We thank all those who contributed to their release.”
Mali has been gripped by a security and political crisis since 2012 when jihadist and separatist insurgencies broke out in the country’s north.
Jihadists affiliated with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have escalated their operations into central Mali, and the unrest has spread to neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso.
Thousands of civilians, police and troops have been killed across the region, and more than two million people have fled their homes.
The ICRC has been in Mali for over three decades. Its director of operations, Martin Schuepp, said last year that crime was rife in the country and posed a security challenge.
Security woes
Mali is ruled by a junta that last year forced France to remove troops deployed there a decade ago on an anti-jihadist mission.
In the absence of French troops, the junta has brought in Russia’s Wagner group to boost government forces.
With government control weak in some parts of the country, kidnappings have become common. Motives range from ransom demands to acts of reprisal.
A World Health Organization doctor was abducted in Mali in January and was freed in February.
In May, armed men kidnapped three Italians and a Togolese national in the country’s southeast.
…
EU Ministers Consider Ammunition Plan for Ukraine
European Union foreign and defense ministers are meeting Monday in Brussels as they work to finalize a multi-prong plan to supply Ukraine with ammunition and replenish their own ammunition stocks.
The $2 billion proposal also includes working to increase the EU’s production of ammunition in order to better secure long-term supplies.
Ukrainian officials have stressed the need for more ammunition aid from Western partners as Ukraine battles against a full-scale Russian invasion that began more than a year ago.
EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell has encouraged members to approve the plan, saying Ukraine needs deliveries of more artillery ammunition to happen faster.
Putin in Ukraine
The Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Russian-occupied Ukrainian port city of Mariupol late Saturday after a stopover in the Crimean Peninsula to mark the ninth anniversary of Moscow’s illegal annexation of the territory in 2014.
Video showed Putin chatting with residents after earlier visiting an art school and a children’s center in Crimea.
The visits came after the International Criminal Court Friday issued a warrant for Putin’s arrest on war crimes charges for Russia’s seizure of Ukrainian children during its 13-month invasion. Putin has not commented on the charges and the Kremlin has called the allegations “legally null and void.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has demanded Russia’s withdrawal from Crimea and all areas it has occupied in the eastern regions of Ukraine, but the ground war in Ukraine’s eastern regions has to a large degree stalemated, with neither side gaining much territory.
Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address Sunday that the warrant represented a turning point in the conflict, and that Russia would be held responsible “for every strike on Ukraine, for every destroyed life, for every deported Ukrainian child… And, of course, for every manifestation of destabilization of the world caused by Russian aggression.”
Putin’s visit to war-torn Ukraine was his first since the February 2022 invasion. Numerous Western leaders supporting Ukraine, including U.S. President Joe Biden, have visited Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital that Putin tried — and failed — to capture in the earliest weeks of the war.
Mariupol was one of the centers of fighting in the first months of the war, although when Russia took full control last May, only about 100,000 residents remained of the city’s prewar population of 450,000.
Some material in this report came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
…
Tear Gas, Arrests as Kenya Opposition Stages Protests
Kenyan riot police fired tear gas Monday to disperse demonstrators gathered in Nairobi for a day of action called by the opposition to protest the country’s punishing cost of living crisis, AFP correspondents said.
The government of President William Ruto has vowed to take a tough stance over the demonstrations, which opposition leader Raila Odinga vowed would go ahead despite not receiving police authorization.
Demonstrators also hurled rocks at anti-riot police outside government offices in the capital, while about two dozen people were arrested, including two opposition MPs, correspondents at the scene said.
“We will be here until they run out of tear gas,” said one protester, Markings Nyamweya, 27.
In one part of Nairobi’s biggest slum Kibera, demonstrators also set tires alight, AFP journalists said.
“I want Kenyans to come out in large numbers and show the displeasure of what is happening in our country,” Odinga, who narrowly lost last year’s election to Ruto, told supporters on Sunday.
Kenyans are suffering from surging prices for basic necessities, as well as a sharp drop in the local shilling against the U.S. dollar and a record drought that has left millions hungry.
“We came here peacefully but they tear gassed us,” said Charles Oduor, 21. “They lie to us every day. Where is the cheap maize flour they promised? Where are the jobs for the youth they promised? All they do is hire their friends.”
Nairobi police chief Adamson Bungei said Sunday that police received requests to hold two demonstrations only late Saturday and early Sunday, when normally three days’ notice is required for public rallies.
“For public safety, neither has been granted,” he said.
‘Skyrocketing’ cost of living
Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki warned Sunday that anyone inciting public disorder or disturbing the peace would be prosecuted.
“Day of showdown,” was the headline in Kenya’s The Standard newspaper on Monday.
Many businesses in Nairobi were shut ahead of the demonstrations, with some employers telling their staff to work from home.
Odinga said he called the demonstrations to protest the “skyrocketing” cost of living and the “stolen” election last August.
“Since Mr Ruto was sworn in six months ago, he has continued to run the country with a lot of contempt,” he said, highlighting the high cost of basics such as fuel, cooking oil, school fees and electricity.
Odinga, leader of the Azimio la Umoja party, has long protested that the August election was fraudulent and denounced Ruto’s government as “illegitimate”.
According to official results, Odinga — who was making his fifth bid for the presidency — lost to Ruto by around 233,000 votes, one of the closest margins in the country’s history.
The Supreme Court dismissed his appeals, with its judges giving a unanimous ruling in favor of Ruto, finding there was no evidence for Odinga’s accusations.
Ruto for his part declared that he would not be intimidated by the opposition demonstrations, saying: “You are not going to threaten us with ultimatums and chaos and impunity.”
“We will not allow that,” he said, calling on Odinga to act in a “legal and constitutional manner”.
…
Lawyers for Former US Marine Pilot Investigating Possible Entrapment by US and Australia
Daniel Duggan is wanted in the United States on charges including conspiracy to unlawfully export defense services to China and money laundering. Lawyers for the former U.S. marine, accused of helping to train Chinese military pilots, have said they are investigating whether he was ‘trapped’ by American authorities who are seeking his extradition from Australia.
Duggan had applied for an Australian government job in aviation that needed security clearance. That was initially granted but was revoked soon after he returned to Australia.
The former U.S. marine pilot’s lawyer, Dennis Miralis, believes the extradition request is politically motivated and says that his client could well have been entrapped.
“It is striking to us that a sequence of events like that could occur,” Miralis told reporters Monday outside the court in Sydney. “We are exploring at this stage whether or not he was lured back to Australia by the U.S., where the U.S. knew that he would be in a jurisdiction where he would be capable of being extradited back to the U.S.”
“That is a matter of grave significance,” Miralis said. “At this stage these are matters under investigation.”
Authorities in Washington have accused Duggan of training Chinese fighter pilots and believe he’s violated the arms export control act.
He was arrested last October in the Australian state of New South Wales and has recently been moved from a remand center in Sydney to a maximum-security prison.
His legal team has filed a submission to the U.N. Human Rights Commission claiming that his incarceration breaches the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The Australian government approved a request for his extradition almost three months ago.
The former marine airman is an Australian citizen who’s renounced his U.S. citizenship. He denies breaking any law and has said he was training civilian not military pilots.
Australia, the United States and Britain in recent months have launched a crackdown on former military pilots being recruited by China.
A magistrate in Sydney will decide if Duggan is eligible for extradition to the United States to face criminal charges. The case has been adjourned until May 1.
…
UBS Announces Credit Suisse Buyout to Calm Markets, but Asian Equities Sink
UBS is set to take over its troubled Swiss rival Credit Suisse for $3.25 billion following weekend crunch talks aimed at preventing a wider international banking crisis, but Asian equities sank Monday on lingering worries about the sector.
The deal, in which Switzerland’s biggest bank will take over the second largest, was vital to prevent economic turmoil from spreading throughout the country and beyond, the Swiss government said.
The move was welcomed in Washington, Frankfurt and London as one that would support financial stability, after a week of turbulence following the collapse of two U.S. banks.
After a dramatic day of talks at the finance ministry in Bern — and with the clock ticking towards the markets reopening on Monday — the takeover was announced at a news conference.
Swiss President Alain Berset was flanked by UBS chairman Colm Kelleher and his Credit Suisse counterpart Axel Lehmann, along with the Swiss finance minister and the heads of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) and the financial regulator FINMA.
The wealthy Alpine nation is famed for its banking prominence and Berset said the takeover was the “best solution for restoring the confidence that has been lacking in the financial markets recently”.
If Credit Suisse went into freefall, it would have had “incalculable consequences for the country and for international financial stability”, he said.
Credit Suisse said in a statement that UBS would take it over for “a merger consideration of three billion Swiss francs ($3.25 billion)”.
After suffering heavy falls on the stock market last week, Credit Suisse’s share price closed Friday at 1.86 Swiss francs, with the bank worth just over $8.7 billion.
UBS said Credit Suisse shareholders would get 0.76 Swiss francs per share.
“Given recent extraordinary and unprecedented circumstances, the announced merger represents the best available outcome,” Lehmann said.
Asian equities still fell in early trade Monday, with Hong Kong, Tokyo, Sydney, Seoul and Singapore all in the red.
Hong Kong’s monetary authority sought to calm jitters Monday morning, saying that “exposures of the local banking sector to Credit Suisse are insignificant”, as the bank’s assets make up “less than 0.5 percent” of the city’s banking sector.
Despite that, the city’s banking stocks tumbled: HSBC dropped six percent, Standard Chartered shed five percent and Hang Seng Bank gave up nearly two percent, in line with a global sell-off in the sector on worries about lenders’ exposure to bonds linked to Credit Suisse.
“Uncertainty could remain high for quite some time, even if recent bank support measures succeed,” said analyst Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management.
‘Huge collateral damage’ risk
Swiss Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter said that bankruptcy for Credit Suisse could have caused “huge collateral damage”.
With the “risk of contagion” for other banks, including UBS itself, the takeover has “laid the foundation for greater stability both in Switzerland and internationally”, she said.
The deal was warmly received internationally.
The decisions taken in Bern “are instrumental for restoring orderly market conditions and ensuring financial stability,” said European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde.
“The euro area banking sector is resilient, with strong capital and liquidity positions.”
U.S. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a joint statement: “We welcome the announcements by the Swiss authorities today to support financial stability.”
The sentiment was echoed by British Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt.
The Fed and the central banks of Canada, Britain, Japan, the EU and Switzerland announced they would launch a coordinated effort Monday to improve banks’ access to liquidity.
The SNB announced 100 billion Swiss francs of liquidity would be available for the UBS-Credit Suisse takeover.
Keller-Sutter insisted the deal was “a commercial solution and not a bailout”.
UBS chairman Kelleher said: “We are committed to making this deal a great success. UBS will remain rock solid.”
Job worries
The takeover creates a banking giant such as Switzerland has never seen before — and raises concerns about possible layoffs.
The Swiss Bank Employees Association said there was “a great deal at stake” for the 17,000 Credit Suisse staff, plus tens of thousands of jobs outside of the banking industry potentially at risk.
Like UBS, Credit Suisse was one of 30 worldwide Global Systemically Important Banks — deemed of such importance to the international banking system that they are colloquially called “too big to fail”.
But the markets saw the bank as a weak link in the chain.
Amid fears of contagion after the collapse of two U.S. banks, Credit Suisse’s share price plunged by more than 30% on Wednesday to a record low of 1.55 Swiss francs. That saw the SNB step in overnight with a $54-billion lifeline.
After recovering some ground Thursday, its shares closed down 8% on Friday at 1.86 Swiss francs, as it struggled to retain investor confidence.
In 2022, the bank suffered a net loss of $7.9 billion and expects a “substantial” pre-tax loss this year.
Credit Suisse’s share price has tumbled from 12.78 Swiss francs in February 2021 due to a string of scandals that it has been unable to shake off.
…
Higher Cancer Rates Found in Military Pilots, Ground Crews, Pentagon Study Finds
A Pentagon study has found high rates of cancer among military pilots and for the first time has shown that ground crews who fuel, maintain and launch those aircraft are also getting sick.
The data had long been sought by retired military aviators who have raised alarms for years about the number of air and ground crew members they knew who had cancer. They were told that earlier military studies had found they were not at greater risk than the general U.S. population.
In its yearlong study of almost 900,000 service members who flew on or worked on military aircraft between 1992 and 2017, the Pentagon found that air crew members had an 87% higher rate of melanoma and a 39% higher rate of thyroid cancer, while men had a 16% higher rate of prostate cancer and women a 16% higher rate of breast cancer. Overall, the air crews had a 24% higher rate of cancer of all types.
The study showed ground crews had a 19% higher rate of brain and nervous system cancers, a 15% higher rate of thyroid cancer and a 9% higher rate of kidney or renal cancers, while women had a 7% higher rate of breast cancer. The overall rate for cancers of all types was 3% higher.
There was some good news reported as well. Both ground and air crews had far lower rates of lung cancer, and air crews also had lower rates of bladder and colon cancers.
The data compared the service members with the general U.S. population after adjusting for age, sex and race.
The Pentagon said the new study was one of the largest and most comprehensive to date. An earlier study had looked at just Air Force pilots and had found some higher rates of cancer, while this one looked across all services and at both air and ground crews. Even with the wider approach, the Pentagon cautioned that the actual number of cancer cases was likely to be even higher because of gaps in the data, which it said it would work to remedy.
The study “proves that it’s well past time for leaders and policy makers to move from skepticism to belief and active assistance,” said retired Air Force Col. Vince Alcazar, a member of the Red River Valley Fighter Pilots Association, which had lobbied the Pentagon and Congress for help. Alcazar serves on the association’s medical issues committee.
The study was required by Congress in the 2021 defense bill. Now, because higher rates were found, the Pentagon must conduct an even bigger review to try to understand why the crews are getting sick.
Isolating potential causes is difficult, and the Pentagon was careful to note that this study “does not imply that military service in air crew or ground crew occupations causes cancer, because there are multiple potential confounding factors that could not be controlled for in this analysis,” such as family histories, smoking or alcohol use.
But aviation crews have long asked for the Pentagon to look closely at some of the environmental factors they are exposed to, such as jet fuels and solvents used to clean and maintain jet parts, sensors and their power sources in aircraft nose cones, and the massive radar systems on the decks of the ships they land on.
When Navy Capt. Jim Seaman would come home from a deployment aboard an aircraft carrier, his gear would reek of jet fuel, his widow, Betty Seaman, said. The A-6 Intruder pilot died in 2018 at age 61 of lung cancer. Betty Seaman still has his gear stored and it still smells of fuel, “which I love,” she said.
She and others wonder if there’s a link. She said crews would talk about how even the ship’s water systems would smell of fuel.
She said she and others have mixed feelings about finally seeing in data what they have suspected for years about the aviation cancers. But “it has the potential to do a lot of good as far as early communication, early detection,” she said.
The study found that when crew members were diagnosed with cancer, they were more likely to survive than members of the general population, which the study suggested was because they were diagnosed earlier due to regular required medical checkups and were more likely to be in better health because of their military fitness requirements.
The Pentagon acknowledged that the study had gaps that likely led to an undercount of cancer cases.
The military heath system database used in the study did not have reliable cancer data until 1990, so it may not have included pilots who flew early-generation jets in the prior decades.
The study also did not include cancer data from the Department of Veterans Affairs or state cancer registries, which means it did not capture cases from former crew members who got sick after leaving the military medical system.
“It is important to note that study results may have differed had additional older former service members been included,” it said.
To remedy that, the Pentagon is now going to pull data from those registries to add to the total count, the study said.
The second phase of the study will try to isolate causes. The 2021 bill requires the Defense Department not only to identify “the carcinogenic toxicants or hazardous materials associated with military flight operations,” but also determine the type of aircraft and locations where diagnosed crews served.
After her husband got sick, Betty Seaman asked him if he would have chosen differently, knowing his service might be linked to his cancer.
“I flat-out asked Jim. And he, without hesitation, said, ‘I would have still done it.'”
…
UK to Send Migrants to Rwanda Soon if Courts Agree
Britain’s government said Sunday that it could start deporting asylum-seekers to Rwanda in the next few months — but only if U.K. courts rule that the controversial policy is legal.
The Home Office said it was aiming to start flights “before the summer,” as Home Secretary Suella Braverman visited the east African country to reinforce the Conservative government’s commitment to the plan.
In the Rwandan capital, Kigali, she met with President Paul Kagame and Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta, visited accommodations intended to house deportees from the U.K. and laid a brick at another housing development for migrants. The project is expected to build more than 1,000 houses.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing firsthand the rich opportunities this country can provide to relocated people through our partnership,” Braverman said.
Biruta said Rwanda would offer migrants “the opportunity to build new lives in a safe, secure place through accommodation, education and vocational training.”
Rwandan government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo told reporters the country is ready to receive thousands of migrants from the U.K., saying she doesn’t consider living in Rwanda “a punishment.” She said Rwanda is determined to make the agreement a success.
The U.K. and Rwanda struck a deal almost a year ago under which some migrants who arrive in the U.K. in small boats would be flown to Rwanda, where their asylum claims would be processed. Those granted asylum would stay in Rwanda rather than return to Britain.
The U.K. government argues the policy will smash the business model of people-smuggling gangs and deter migrants from taking risky journeys across the English Channel.
More than 45,000 people arrived in Britain by boat in 2022, compared with 8,500 in 2020.
But the 140 million-pound ($170 million) plan is mired in legal challenges, and no one has yet been sent to Rwanda. In December, the High Court ruled the policy was legal, but a group of asylum-seekers from countries including Iran, Iraq and Syria has been granted permission to appeal.
Human rights groups cite Rwanda’s poor human rights record, and argue it’s inhumane to send people more than 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) to a country they don’t want to live in.
The government also has drafted legislation barring anyone who arrives in the U.K. in small boats or by other unauthorized means from applying for asylum. If passed by Parliament, the Illegal Migration Bill would compel the government to detain all such arrivals and deport them to their homeland or a “safe third country” such as Rwanda.
The U.N. refugee agency says the law breaches U.K. commitments under the international refugee convention.
Braverman faces criticism for inviting only selected media on her taxpayer-funded trip to Rwanda. Journalists from right-leaning outlets including The Times and The Telegraph newspapers and television channel GB News were invited, while the BBC and the left-leaning Guardian newspaper weren’t.
…
China Condemns British MPs for Ignoring Demand Not to Visit Taiwan
China’s embassy in Britain on Sunday condemned a visit this week by British lawmakers to Taiwan, saying they were insisting on visiting the island despite China’s strong opposition.
Taiwan’s Presidential Office said the group of six lawmakers from the British-Taiwanese All-Party Parliamentary Group would meet President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei on Monday.
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has been ramping up military, political and economic pressure to assert those claims.
A statement from China’s embassy in London said that the lawmakers have “insisted on visiting the Taiwan region of China despite China’s resolute opposition.”
This is a “gross interference in China’s internal affairs and a serious wrong signal to Taiwan independence separatist forces,” the embassy said.
“We want to tell the relevant British politicians that any act that harms China’s interests will definitely be vigorously countered by China,” it added, without elaborating.
Taiwan regularly hosts visiting foreign lawmakers, which China routinely condemns.
Taiwan’s government rejects China’s sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.
…
Gunmen Kill 9 Chinese at Mine in Central African Republic
Gunmen stormed a Chinese-operated gold mining site that had recently been launched in Central African Republic, killing nine Chinese nationals and wounding two others Sunday, authorities said.
However, the rebel coalition initially blamed by some for the attack put out a statement later in the day. Without providing evidence, it accused Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group of being behind the violence.
The attack early Sunday came just days after gunmen kidnapped three Chinese nationals in the country’s west near the border with Cameroon, prompting President Faustin Archange Touadera to plan a trip to China in a bid to reassure investors.
The assault on the Chimbolo gold mine began around 5 a.m. when the gunmen overpowered the site’s guards and opened fire, said Abel Matipata, mayor of the nearby town of Bambari, located 25 kilometers (16 miles) away. The mining site’s launch had taken place just days earlier, he added.
The bodies of the victims were brought to the capital, Bangui, later Sunday. Local authorities said they were pursuing the assailants but declined further comment. Residents said that the violence was the latest incident undermining confidence in security forces.
“The government is having difficulty proving its ability to protect Central Africans and foreigners living in the country,” said Ange Morel Gbatangue, a resident of Bambari.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but suspicion fell on the Coalition of Patriots for Change, or CPC, which is active in the area and regularly launches attacks on the country’s armed forces. The alliance of rebel groups is aligned with former President Francois Bozize.
Anselme Bangue, who supports the current president’s administration, called the attack on Chinese businessmen an act of “indescribable cowardice.”
“The CPC has not only slowed down the country’s economic momentum but is now attacking the foundation of development. This is unacceptable,” Bangue said.
However, CPC military spokesman Mamadou Koura said those allegations were false. He claimed without evidence that Russian mercenaries had planned the attack “with the goal of scaring Chinese who have been present long before the Russians settled in this part of the country.”
The shadowy Russian mercenary group was hired by Touadera to provide security and military training but has been accused by U.N. observers of committing human rights abuses including massacres.
Central African Republic remains one of the poorest countries in the world despite its vast mineral wealth of gold and diamonds among others. A myriad of rebel groups have operated with impunity across the embattled country over the past decade, thwarting mining exploration by foreign companies.
Many of those now operating in the country are Chinese-run and have faced security challenges. In 2020, two Chinese nationals died when local residents led an uprising against a Chinese-operated mine in Sosso Nakombo. And in 2018, three Chinese citizens were killed by angry community members after a local leader died in a boating accident while accompanying Chinese miners to a site.
…
Miami Beach Sets Spring Break Curfew After 2 Fatal Shootings
Miami Beach officials imposed a curfew beginning Sunday night during spring break after two fatal shootings and rowdy, chaotic crowds that police have had difficulty controlling.
The city said in a news release the curfew would be from 11:59 p.m. Sunday until 6 a.m. Monday, with an additional curfew likely to be put in place Thursday through next Monday, March 27. The curfew mainly affects South Beach, the most popular party location for spring breakers.
The release said the two separate shootings Friday night and early Sunday that left two people dead and “excessively large and unruly crowds” led to the decision. The city commission plans a meeting Monday to discuss potential further restrictions next week.
Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said in a video message posted Sunday that the crowds and presence of numerous firearms has “created a peril that cannot go unchecked” despite massive police presence and many city-sponsored activities meant to keep people busy.
“We don’t ask for spring break in our city. We don’t want spring break in our city. It’s too rowdy, it’s too much disorder and it’s too difficult to police,” Gelber said.
The latest shooting happened about 3:30 a.m. Sunday on Ocean Drive in South Beach, according to Miami Beach police. A male was shot and died later at a hospital, and officers chased down a suspect on foot, police said on Twitter. Their identities were not released, nor were any possible charges.
In the Friday night shooting, one male victim was killed, and another seriously injured, sending crowds scrambling in fear from restaurants and clubs into the streets as gunshots rang out. Police detained one person at the scene and found four firearms, but no other details have been made available.
Under the curfew, people must leave businesses before midnight, although hotels can operate later only in service to their guests. The city release said restaurants can stay open only for delivery and the curfew won’t apply to residents, people going to and from work, emergency services and hotel guests. Some roads will be closed off and arriving hotel guests may have to show proof of their reservations.
Last year, the city imposed a midnight curfew following two shootings, also on Ocean Drive. The year before that, there were about 1,000 arrests and dozens of guns confiscated during a rowdy spring break that led Miami Beach officials to take steps aimed at calming the situation.
…
US Support for Ukraine Strong, but Fractures Beginning to Surface
While American support for Ukraine is still strong, there are some fractures among members of the Republican and Democratic parties that are beginning to surface. And as VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias explains, those splits could deepen as other important policy decisions compete for attention with Ukraine. VOA footage by Saqib Ul Islam. Video editing by Marcus Harton.
…
Russia’s Asia Pivot Spurs Boom in Chinese Classes
Every Sunday, Chinese tutor Kirill Burobin begins work in the early morning and is kept busy until midnight.
As Russia seeks to tighten ties with China amid Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine, the number of Burobin’s students has tripled over the past year.
“Sunday is the busiest,” 20-year-old Burobin, who makes a good living with his online lessons, told AFP. “I have 16 hours of classes virtually without a break.”
The boom in demand for Chinese lessons in Russia illustrates the country’s pivot toward Asia as tensions build between Moscow and the West.
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s three-day visit to Russia beginning Monday aims to deepen what the two countries have called a “no-limits” relationship, which is increasingly important for Russia as its international isolation deepens.
Pummeled by multiple rounds of Western sanctions, Russia’s economic and technological development is becoming more dependent on China.
Natalia Danina, a manager at HeadHunter, the country’s top online recruitment company, said that last year there were nearly 11,000 vacancies requiring knowledge of the Chinese language, a 44% increase compared to 2021.
Over the same period, the number of jobs for Chinese speakers in Russia has doubled in sales, transport and logistics, said Danina, pointing to an “accelerated transition” to Chinese-made equipment and spare parts.
Demand for Chinese speakers in energy jobs has tripled, she added.
Just the start
Burobin, who also studies Eastern civilizations at a top Moscow university, said that he was happy to help his students learn more about “a whole new world.
“Russians are taking up Chinese because Beijing has become our main partner for decades to come,” he said. “And this is just the beginning.”
In August, Avito, Russia’s leading online classified ads platform, reported a 138% increase in requests for Chinese lessons in Moscow in one year.
The same figure stood at 350% for the far eastern city of Vladivostok.
The popularity of Chinese classes might be starting to catch up with demand for English lessons in the country.
Alina Khamlova, 26, who teaches both languages, said she had only three English language students this year, compared to 12 who are learning Chinese.
One of her students is Maria, a 22-year-old designer who dreams of traveling to China to make her clothes there because it is “cheaper than in Russia.”
Another student is a 25-year-old gym coach, Ivan, who wants to work in China because Europeans “are paid very well” there.
Khamlova also said that many young people in Russia hope to study in Chinese universities now that many European establishments had become “inaccessible to them.”
While English still retains a dominant position, the number of high school students who chose Chinese as a foreign language during their final school exams has doubled in one year to 17,000, according to the state education watchdog Rosobrnadzor.
No one will defeat us
Russia’s growing isolation from the West has prompted many language schools to revise their curricula and invite teachers of the Chinese language.
Founded in 2017, the ChineseFirst language center has seen twice as many registrations this year, said its co-founders, Wang Yinyu, 38, and his Russian wife Natalia, a 33-year-old Chinese speaker.
Wang’s family business is booming, and he is planning to open two new branches and a kindergarten in Moscow.
In Russia, “many companies have rushed to Chinese factories to order goods that have become unavailable in Russia due to sanctions,” he told AFP in Russian.
And Chinese entrepreneurs, who are interested in exporting to Russia, are looking for bilingual employees.
Wang is glad that China and Russia are becoming closer.
“China has powerful industry and Russia is rich in resources, which means that our two countries can build their own internal economy,” he said. “If we stand back-to-back, no one will defeat us.”
…
Niinisto: Sweden Security OK if Finland Joins NATO First
Sweden won’t be in a vulnerable security situation even if Finland joins NATO first, the Finnish president said Sunday, as both Nordic membership candidates negotiate bilateral military pacts with the United States.
“It is possible that Finland joins NATO before Sweden,” Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said in interview published by the Swedish public broadcaster SVT on Sunday. “Should we have refused Turkey’s offer to ratify? That sounds a bit crazy. It would have been a terribly difficult situation if we had said ‘no’ to Ankara.”
Niinisto referred to his Friday visit to Ankara where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his government would move forward with ratifying Finland’s NATO application, paving the way for the country to join the military bloc, but wouldn’t ratify Sweden’s bid before disputes between Ankara and Stockholm are solved.
Both Finland and Sweden applied to become NATO members 10 months ago in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, abandoning decades of nonalignment.
NATO requires the unanimous approval of its 30 existing members to expand, and Turkey and Hungary are the only countries that haven’t yet ratified the Nordic duo’s bids.
Should Sweden’s NATO membership talks with Turkey drag on for a long time, many Swedish security policy experts agree it would put Stockholm in a vulnerable military position in the Baltic Sea region.
Niinisto said that Finland, Sweden and Denmark are currently in separate talks with the United States on security matters to reach a bilateral military pact similar to what Norway has concluded with Washington before.
“I think that is a big change, almost bigger than NATO membership,” Niinisto said of the ongoing talks with the U.S. when asked what happens to Sweden’s security if talks to join NATO drag on. “It means a lot if we (Nordic countries) all have a direct and a quite similar (military) agreement with the United States.”
Since announcing their intention to join NATO in May 2022, Finland and Sweden pledged to enter the Western military alliance jointly at the same time.
Niinisto told SVT that the Nordic neighbors were determined to enter NATO “hand in hand as long as it is in our hands, but the ratification of Finnish NATO membership is in the hands of Turkey and Hungary.”
…
Somali Leaders Agree to Increase Troop Numbers
Somalia’s federal and regional leaders have agreed to increase the number of armed forces and police officers to meet security demands as African Union forces leave the country by the end of next year.
The leaders have agreed the number of national armed forces to be at least 30,000 soldiers and at least 40,000 police personnel, according to the agreement obtained by VOA Somali.
According to the agreement known as the “National Security Architecture” signed by Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre and the leaders of federal member states last week, the new number of armed forces do not include the navy, air force and special commando units trained by the United States and Turkey.
The agreement revises a 2017 deal between Somali leaders, which specified the number of military and police to be at least 18,000 and 32,000 respectively. The earliest age to register for the army will be 18 and 62 is the new retirement age.
According to the new agreement, the country’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) will continue to have special armed agents until current security conditions end. Federal member states, which currently have their own intelligence agencies and armed agents, will no longer have these agencies once the country is stabilized.
The new agreement also allows the number of custodial corps to be 5,300 — comprised of 4,500 federal and 800 prison guards.
Leaders of the Puntland semiautonomous region did not participate in the meeting held in the southwestern town of Baidoa between March 15 and 17. In January, Puntland leaders said they would govern their own affairs like an “independent government” until the federal constitution is completed.
Somali government officials said the new agreement is intended to prepare the country’s forces to take over security responsibilities from AU forces.
“The Somali government today is concentrating on transferring security responsibilities from ATMIS (African Union Transition Mission in Somalia) which have been in the country for not less than 15 years,” Kamal Dahir Hassan Gutale, national security adviser to Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre told VOA Somali.
“The target is that on December 2024 the last AU soldier will leave the country. This is important for Somalia meeting its security responsibilities.”
Gutale said paramilitary forces belonging to the regions will be used as stabilization and holding forces in areas captured from al-Shabab militants.
Immediately after the agreement was reached, Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud flew to Uganda to attend the graduation of newly trained soldiers.
Somalia’s national security adviser Hussein Sheikh-Ali confirmed to VOA in January that the government is training 3,000 soldiers in Uganda.
Ali also recently confirmed that troops from neighboring countries will participate in the next phase of military operations against al-Shabab.
Gutale told VOA that the new offensive will commence during Islam’s holiest month, Ramadan, which starts this Wednesday.
“There is a rigorous preparation by the Somali national armed forces and all other forces for large operations during Ramadan,” he said.
“God willing, we hope Somali forces will achieve [a] big victory.”
…