Month: June 2023

US Migrant Deaths, DACA Hearing, Asylum Top Week’s Immigration News 

Posted on by SeeUS

Editor’s note: Here is a look at immigration-related news around the U.S. this week. Questions? Tips? Comments? Email the VOA immigration team: ImmigrationUnit@voanews.com.

Texas County’s Heat, Brushy Terrain Deadly for Border-Crossing Migrants

The U.S. Border Patrol has recorded more than 8,000 migrant deaths along the U.S.-Mexico border since 1998. VOA immigration reporter Aline Barros visited a South Texas county with a high number of migrant deaths.

Federal Judge Hears DACA Case; Ruling Months Away

The future of a federal policy that protects from deportation hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. as children is in federal court. U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen heard arguments Thursday in Texas v. United States, a case brought by nine Republican-led states aimed at halting the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. He is to decide on the legality of the DACA rule issued by the Department of Homeland Security in 2022 that tried to fortify the program and correct Hanen’s earlier objection to DACA. VOA immigration reporter Aline Barros reports.

US Expands Slots for Asylum App at Land Crossings as Demand Overwhelms Supply

U.S. authorities on Thursday expanded slots to seek asylum at land crossings with Mexico through a mobile app for the second time in less than a month, seeking to dispel doubts it isn’t a viable option. There are now 1,250 appointments daily at eight land crossings, up from 1,000 previously and 740 in early May. The Associated Press reports.

Seeking Asylum and Work, Migrants Bused Out of NYC Find Hostility

Before he left Mauritania, the West African nation of his birth, Mohamed thought of New York as a place of “open arms,” a refuge for immigrants fleeing dire circumstances. Mohamed is one of about 400 international migrants the city has been putting up in a small number of hotels in other parts of the state this month to relieve pressure on its overtaxed homeless shelter system. Some of the relocated asylum-seekers say they now regret leaving the city, pointing to a lack of job opportunities and resources to pursue their asylum cases, as well as a hostile reception. The Associated Press reports.

52 Documentary: During the past decades, many Iranian LGBTQ+ refugees made Turkey their new home and found a community. Leo, a gender-fluid belly dancer, is one of these asylum-seekers. She performs and teaches dancing by night and regularly attends protests in Istanbul in front of the Iranian Consulate. Despite the Islamic Republic’s ban on women dancing publicly, Leo’s made a thriving career out of her passion, in Turkey.

Immigration around the world

Anti-Refugee Rhetoric, Forced Deportations of Syrians Increase in Lebanon

As many as 1.5 million Syrian refugees have fled death and destruction engulfing their homeland by crossing into Lebanon. Their presence has drawn more hostility from Lebanese since the country’s economic crisis came to a head in 2019. Dale Gavlak reports from Jordan.

‘Nothing Left’: Refugees Describe City Demolished by Fighting in West Darfur

Intercommunal violence and fighting between Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in West Darfur state have intensified in recent days, according to reports. Witnesses who escaped the city of Geneina say their hometown is being ripped apart. Henry Wilkins reports from Adre, Chad.

Cholera Catastrophe Looming at Kenya Refugee Camp, Aid Group Warns

Health care providers in Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp say an ongoing cholera outbreak is becoming a looming catastrophe. Doctors Without Borders has described the six-month-long cholera outbreak as the worst yet, amid an influx of new refugees from Somalia. Produced by Victoria Amunga

Call for Better Mental Health Support for Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh, After Cyclone Mocha

On a cold evening, after completing her maghreb (post-sunset) prayer, a woman holds her children close to keep them warm with her threadbare scarf. They sit huddled together outside a now-dilapidated shelter made of bamboo sticks and plastic sheets — their home. Shielded from her children’s gaze, the mother of two lets tears slip down her face. Produced by Sarah Aziz.

Relocated Refugees in Malawi Decry Dehumanizing Conditions

In Malawi, hundreds of people who were forcibly relocated to the country’s only refugee camp are complaining of poor conditions with no food, clean water or shelter. The U.N.’s refugee agency and the World Food Program say they cannot cater to the needs of those at the highly congested camp because of funding shortfalls. Produced by Lameck Masina.

News Brief

— After 32 years of service to the United States Border Patrol, Chief Raul L. Ortiz announced his retirement. “Chief Ortiz tackled some of the biggest challenges the Border Patrol has had to face. He managed the critical transition out of the COVID-19 pandemic and into the enforcement of our traditional immigration authorities under Title 8 of the United States Code,” Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas wrote in a statement.
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Biden Signs Debt Ceiling Legislation

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U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law on Saturday legislation that suspends the U.S. government’s debt limit through January 2025 and avoids a potentially disastrous default just days before the government runs out of cash to pay its bills.   

His signature came with two days to spare: the Treasury Department had said the government wouldn’t have enough money to pay all of its bills by Monday. 

The White House said the signing was done in private and announced it in an emailed statement. In the statement, Biden thanked congressional leaders. 

The Fiscal Responsibility Act is the result of weeks of tough negotiations between Democrats and Republicans. 

“No one got everything they wanted but the American people got what they needed,” Biden said of the debt ceiling legislation. “We averted an economic crisis and an economic collapse.” 

The bill allows the government to continue to borrow more money over the next 19 months to meet its obligations, exceeding the current $31.4 trillion debt limit.    

The Senate voted Thursday night 63-36 in support of the measure.  The bill passed the House of Representatives on a 314-117 vote Wednesday night. 
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Pope Warns of Corruption Risk in Missionary Fundraising After AP Probe

Posted on by SeeEU

Pope Francis warned the Vatican’s missionary fundraisers Saturday not to allow financial corruption to creep into their work, insisting that spirituality and spreading the Gospel must drive their operations, not mere entrepreneurship. 

Francis made the comments in a speech to the national directors of the Vatican’s Pontifical Mission Societies, which raise money for the Catholic Church’s missionary work in the developing world, building churches and funding training programs for priests and nuns. Deviating from his prepared remarks, Francis appeared to refer to a recent Associated Press investigation into financial transfers at the U.S. branch of the Pontifical Mission Societies: The former head oversaw the transfer of at least $17 million from a quasi-endowment fund and donations into a nonprofit and private equity fund that he created and now heads. The initiatives provide low-interest loans to church-run agribusinesses in Africa. 

“Please don’t reduce POM to money,” Francis said, referring to the Italian acronym of the Pontifical Mission Societies. “This is a medium, a means. Does it require money? Yes, but don’t reduce it, it is bigger than money.” 

He said if spirituality isn’t driving the Catholic Church’s missionary efforts, there is a risk of corruption. 

“Because if spirituality is lacking and it’s only a matter of entrepreneurship, corruption comes in immediately,” Francis said. “And we have seen that even today: In the newspapers, you see so many stories of alleged corruption in the name of the missionary nature of the church.” 

The Vatican has said it is seeking clarity on the transfers at the U.S. branch, which appear to be fully legal since the previous board approved them. The AP investigation uncovered no evidence of corruption, though a legal investigation commissioned by the branch’s new national director, Monsignor Kieran Harrington, suggested the former head may have omitted information, or glossed over Vatican concerns, in his presentations to the board that ultimately approved the transfers, officials said. 

The legal review determined that the transfers were approved in ways consistent with the board’s powers and bylaws at the time, the society said in a statement to the AP. After the review, Harrington replaced the staff and board of directors who approved the transfers, and overhauled its bylaws and statutes, to make sure nothing like it ever happens again. 

In emailed comments responding to questions from the AP, the former head of The Pontifical Mission Societies in the U.S., the Rev. Andrew Small, strongly defended the transfers and investments as fully approved and consistent with the mission of the church and the organization. 

He acknowledged Harrington’s new administration reflected the Vatican’s “skepticism” about the social justice nature of his nonprofit Missio Corp., and private equity fund, in that they focused on food security, as opposed to the traditional idea of “evangelization” that is the primary and stated mission of The Pontifical Mission Societies. 

“I didn’t agree with the apartheid between pastoral and humanitarian work of the church then and I don’t in my current position,” Small said in an email response April 26. “On the ground in Africa, these distinctions aren’t relevant as they try to find income to survive.” 

Small is now the No. 2 at the Vatican’s child protection advisory board, which Francis created to provide a response to the clergy sexual abuse scandal. He did not respond to further questions from the AP Saturday about Francis’ comments. 

Small’s boss as head of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley, also did not respond to questions from AP about the transfers or the implications for the commission, which is itself raising money for its child protection programs. 

O’Malley spokesman Terrence Donilon said Thursday and Friday that the cardinal was travelling this weekend and unavailable to comment. 

In a message to members of the commission last week after the AP story was published, O’Malley said he was aware of Small’s work when he was national director of The Pontifical Mission Societies “and have come to know the work he did in developing Missio Invest.” 

“Adverse media attention is never easy, whatever its motivation. However, I have said publicly and frequently that, at least in terms of sexual abuse in the church, the media has played a vital role in helping, or maybe shaming, the church into being more open and transparent in its work as well as its commitment to improving its handling of cases and its welcome and care of victims and survivors,” O’Malley wrote in the message seen by the AP. 

“We will continue to monitor the situation and respond accordingly,” O’Malley said, adding his appreciation for the commission’s “great progress” in signing recent agreements with Vatican offices and local churches on collaborations. 
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Mixed Review on Plastic Pollution Ban Talks in Paris

Posted on by SeeEU

Green and other groups have given mixed reviews to the sometimes-rocky talks on eradicating plastic pollution, which ended Saturday in Paris with an agreement to write the first draft of a groundbreaking global treaty.

The deal reached after five days of negotiations in the French capital sees a rough-cut “zero draft” produced before representatives of 175 countries next meet in Nairobi in November — with goals for a legally binding ban in force by 2025.

“It will happen, it must happen, because we all don’t want plastic pollution in our territories, or in the oceans or anywhere,” Jyoti Mathur-Filipp, executive secretary of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) on Plastic Pollution told VOA, calling last year’s agreement on the legislation “historic.”

But environmentalists and other activists offered a fractured reaction to the talks, criticizing alleged stalling tactics deployed by a handful of countries, including petroleum-rich Saudi Arabia and Russia, and intervention by industry members.

“We have seen the negative consequences of continued plastic and fossil fuel industry presence and (the) influence on negotiations, including procedural delays and distractions, as well as discussion of false solutions,” said Jen Fela, of the U.S.-based Plastic Pollution Coalition.

Still, the global environmental group, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) cited “tangible progress” nonetheless.

“After a week of negotiations, the world is one step closer to the unmissable opportunity of a global treaty to end the plastic pollution criticism,” said WWF special envoy Marco Lambertini.

Wrong direction

A century after their birth, plastics derived from fossil fuels have been key to major developments like space travel – but they have also spawned massive pollution.

In many developing countries especially, with low collection and recycling rates, plastic litters streets, tangles trees and chokes beaches. Millions of tons of plastic spill into oceans yearly, killing marine life and traveling far from its origins via ocean currents.

Microplastic particles have been detected in seemingly pristine environments and in the placentas of unborn babies. Plastic also contributes to climate change.

Alarmingly, annual plastics production — which more than doubled in 20 years to 460 million tons — is expected to almost triple by 2060, according to the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

“Production and consumption are rapidly growing, we’re designing products for being thrown away or being burnt in the environment,” WWF Global Plastics Policy Manager Eirik Lindebjerg said in an interview. “It’s accelerating in the wrong direction.”

Still, he said, some things are heading in the right direction. A growing number of plastics-related businesses are explicitly calling for global regulations to harmonize standards. The European Union and countries like Rwanda and Bangladesh have banned single-use plastics.

Similarly, single-use plastics will be outlawed at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, with reusable cups and other items favored, in a broader effort to slash the event’s carbon footprint.

“There are things happening, but in a fragmented way and most countries aren’t doing enough,” Lindebjerg added. “That’s what this treaty is about — to bring countries together and have everyone on board to have joint regulations.”

Next steps

What will go into the draft plastics treaty remains unclear.

A so-called High Ambition Coalition of governments led by Norway and Rwanda wants to ban plastic pollution completely by 2040 and limit if not eradicate particularly problematic chemicals going into them, along with high-risk plastic products.

While the U.S. is not a coalition member, officials have said they share its goals — but favor countries developing their own action plans to meet them. Activists like the Plastic Pollution Coalition are urging the U.S. to take a stronger stance at the talks.

Meanwhile, green groups point to the limits of recycling — an option pushed by U.S. and other oil producing countries, among others. Instead, environmentalists are calling for finding plastic alternatives and changing consumption and production habits.

“Once you put rules in place, there are lots of interesting solutions that are ready to be scaled up,” Lindebjerg said.

Some green activists worry that countries and industries with a vested interest in plastic production will unduly influence the treaty’s content — and that Indigenous and other affected groups have not had enough voice.

INC’s Mathur-Filipp disputed that assessment when it came to participation by non-governmental groups. She said it was up to official delegations to decide their makeup. She also defended the slow start to the Paris talks, citing the importance for disparate groups to air their positions and “build trust.”

“Now there is compromise, willingness to speak and listen to each other,” she added. “We have moved forward. We have made progress.”
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Native American News Roundup May 28-June 3, 2023

Posted on by SeeUS

Here are some of the Native American-related news stories that made headlines this week:

Tribes fear pending Supreme Court ruling could upend sovereignty

Native Americans are watching the U.S. Supreme Court for a decision in the case Brackeen v. Haaland, which will decide the fate of the 40-year-old Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).

Congress passed ICWA in 1978 to stop the large-scale removal of Indian children from their families and their placement in non-Native homes, as this was widely viewed as an attack on tribal sovereignty and a continuation of federal assimilation policies.

Ahead of ICWA’s passage, Calvin Isaac, former chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw who died in 2020, argued before the House Subcommittee on Indian Affairs that “many of the individuals who decide the fate of our children are, at best, ignorant of our cultural values and at worst, have contempt for the Indian way and convinced that removal, usually to a non-Indian household or institution, can only benefit an Indian child.”

In 2016, three sets of non-Native foster and prospective adoptive parents, along with the states of Texas, Indiana and Louisiana, took the federal government to court, arguing that the law discriminates based on race and that child welfare should be a matter for states and not the federal government to decide.

The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case last November and is expected to rule in the coming weeks.

Read more:

Remembering fallen Native American service members

May 29 was Memorial Day, a day to remember those Americans who have died serving their country.

Levi Rickert, a citizen of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation in Kansas and founder/editor of Native News Online, marked the occasion by reflecting on Native Americans’ long and proud tradition of military service.

Among those who have paid the ultimate price is U.S. Army Specialist Lori Ann Piestewa, a citizen of the Hopi Nation, who died when her convoy was ambushed in Nasiriyah, Iraq, on March 23, 2003. She is remembered as the first female soldier to die in Iraq and the first Native American woman to die serving her country.

Native Americans and/or Alaska Natives have served in every U.S. war and conflict since the American Revolution, and as Rickert notes, have the highest record of military service per capita of any other racial or ethnic group in the U.S.

Read more:

U.S. Postal Service commemorates legendary Ponca leader

The U.S. Postal Service has released a postage stamp honoring Ponca Tribe Chief Standing Bear, one of the nation’s most important civil rights figures.

He saw his tribe through their forced removal in 1877 from homelands in Nebraska to Indian Country [present-day Oklahoma]. His daughter Prairie Flower died along the way, and within a year, a third of the tribe died of disease and starvation, including his son Bear Shield, whose dying wish was to be buried back home.

Standing Bear honored that wish but was arrested for leaving Oklahoma. He sued the federal government for his freedom, arguing before the court, “I am a man. The same God made us both.”

In a landmark ruling on May 12, 1879, Judge Elmer S. Dundy declared for the first time that an Indian was a person within the meaning of U.S. law and therefore deserved all legal protections.

Learn more in the video below:

Indian? Native American? What to call America’s first peoples?

Oklahoma TV station KSWO this week posed that question to two tribal leaders.

“There’s a lot of terms that have been bounced around, and you’ll never find any universal acceptance from that from anybody because it’s just too complex,” Kiowa Tribe Chairman Lawrence SpottedBird said.

Comanche Nation Vice Chairman Dr. Cornel Pewewardy said he prefers Nʉmʉnʉʉ “the People,” which is what the Comanche people have always called themselves.

But how to refer to America’s original populations generally?

“Indian” was the name that explorer Christopher Columbus gave the people he encountered, assuming he had landed in India. Many Native Americans continue to use the term, as it was the legal term used in treaties with the federal government.

“Indigenous” is a word with different definitions. For some, it refers to an ethnic culture that has never migrated away from its homeland and is neither a settler nor a colonizer.

The United Nations defines “Indigenous” as the descendants of those who inhabited a country or region at the time of conquest or colonization by another group.

And some tribes find the term offensive, believing it carries negative implications.

Several years ago, VOA asked Chase Iron Eyes, a Hunkpapa Lakota activist from the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota.

“Call me whatever you want, as long as you do it with respect,” he answered.

See more:

 
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Fighting Worsens in Sudan Despite US Sanctions

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Shelling rocked greater Khartoum on Friday as fighting between Sudan’s warring generals intensified, despite U.S. sanctions imposed after the collapse of a U.S.- and Saudi-brokered truce.

Witnesses reported “artillery fire” in eastern Khartoum and around the state television building in the capital’s sister city Omdurman, just across the Nile.

For nearly seven weeks, fighting between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has gripped Khartoum and the western region of Darfur, despite repeated efforts to broker a humanitarian cease-fire.

The army announced it had brought in reinforcements from other parts of Sudan to participate in “operations in the Khartoum area.”

Sudan analyst Kholood Khair said the army was “expected to launch a massive offensive” to clear the paramilitaries from the city’s streets.

Washington slapped sanctions on the warring parties Thursday, holding them both responsible for provoking “appalling” bloodshed.

The U.S. Treasury placed two major arms companies of the Sudanese Armed Forces, Defense Industries System and Sudan Master Technology, on its blacklist.

It also placed sanctions on gold mining firm Al Junaid Multi Activities Co and arms trader Tradive General Trading, two companies controlled by RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo and his family.

The State Department meanwhile imposed visa restrictions on both army and RSF officials, saying they were complicit in “undermining Sudan’s democratic transition.” It did not name them.

Washington announced Friday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken will next week travel to Saudi Arabia where he will discuss “strategic cooperation on regional and global issues.”

His trip follows efforts by both countries to broker a durable cease-fire in Sudan.

Shot while fleeing

Analysts question the efficacy of sanctions on Sudan’s rival generals, both of whom amassed considerable wealth during the rule of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir, whose government was subjected to decades of international sanctions before his overthrow in 2019.

So far neither side has gained a decisive advantage. The regular army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has air power and heavy weaponry, but analysts say the paramilitaries are more mobile and better suited to urban warfare.

After the army announced it was quitting the cease-fire talks on Wednesday, troops attacked key RSF bases in Khartoum.

One army bombardment hit a Khartoum market, killing 18 civilians and wounding 106, a committee of human rights lawyers said.

The army will want to make “some military gains before committing to any future talks in order to improve their bargaining position”, said Khair, founder of Khartoum-based think tank Confluence Advisory.

On Friday, the army said it was “surprised” by the U.S. and Saudi decision to “suspend the talks” without responding to an army proposal.

After its own representatives decided to “suspend the negotiations,” they had “remained in Jeddah with the hopes that the mediators will take a fair and more effective position that will guarantee commitment” to the cease-fire, an army statement said.

Since fighting erupted on April 15, more than 1,800 people have been killed, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.

The U.N. says 1.2 million people have been displaced within Sudan and more than 425,000 have fled abroad.

Conditions are especially dire in Darfur, where those fleeing the violence told Doctors Without Borders (MSF) of “armed men shooting at people trying to flee, villages being looted and the wounded dying” without access to medical care, the aid group said Friday.

UN mission renewed

Later Friday, the U.N. Security Council extended for just six months the global body’s political mission in Sudan, after Burhan accused its envoy, Volker Perthes, of stoking conflict.

The mission was previously renewed for one-year durations, its newly shortened time frame underscoring the country’s delicate situation.

When the fighting began, Perthes had been focused on finalizing a deal to restore Sudan’s transition to civilian rule, which was derailed by a 2021 coup by Burhan and Daglo.

Growing differences between them were supposed to be ironed out in U.N.-backed talks on the day they turned Khartoum into a war zone.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres repeated his “full confidence” in Perthes. Several other Council members also voiced support for the envoy.

“There needs to be regional and continental leadership to resolve this” conflict, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s William Carter said.

Current council president the United Arab Emirates and its three African members — Gabon, Ghana and Mozambique — “have exceptional leverage on whichever direction the Council takes on this issue,” he wrote on Twitter.

The 15 council members also resolved to “condemn the attacks against the civilian population,” U.N. personnel and humanitarian actors, as well as the looting of humanitarian supplies.

Some 25 million people — more than half Sudan’s population — are now in need of aid and protection, according to the U.N.

Aid corridors that had been promised as part of the abortive humanitarian truce never materialized, and relief agencies say they have managed to deliver only a fraction of the needs.

Humanitarian agencies have repeatedly warned of the rainy season set to start this month, when the already difficult conditions “will worsen and rivers will flood, complicating movement and supplies,” said MSF’s emergency coordinator Christophe Garnier.
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Latest in Ukraine: Zelenskyy ‘Strongly Believes’ Counteroffensive Will Be Successful

Posted on by SeeEU

Latest developments:

Britain’s Defense Ministry said Saturday in its daily intelligence update on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that Russia’s VDV or airborne forces have assumed “an increasingly important role” in Bakhmut. While the VDV’s pre-invasion elite status is now “much degraded,” the entire Russia force will likely be “less flexible” in reacting to operational challenges because of the VDV’s deployment to Bakhmut.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that joining NATO is the best security guarantee for Ukraine but acknowledged that “it would be impossible” for his country to join the alliance before the war ends. In a joint briefing in Kyiv with Estonian President Alar Karis, Zelenskyy said Ukrainians “will not pull any NATO country into a war."
The U.S. State Department said it is revoking the visas of Russian nuclear inspectors, denying pending applications for new monitors and is canceling standard clearances for Russian aircraft to enter U.S. airspace due to Russia's “ongoing violations” of the last arms control treaty remaining between the two countries.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin escalated his feud with Moscow’s military brass by alleging that Russian forces were given orders to blow up his men by planting anti-tank mines in areas that could only be targeting Wagner mercenary forces. "It was not necessary to plant these charges in order to deter the enemy,” he said. “Therefore, we can assume that these charges were intended to meet the advancing units of Wagner," he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukraine is ready to launch a counteroffensive against Russia.

In a Wall Street Journal report published Saturday, the Ukrainian leader said, “We strongly believe that we will succeed.”

“I don’t know how long it will take,” he said, “but … we are ready.” He said he wished he had more Western weapons, “but we can’t wait for months,” but Zelenskyy did not reveal a date for the counteroffensive.

In addition, Zelenskyy said he is a bit apprehensive about the outcome of the U.S. presidential election in 2024 because a less supportive administration could win.

Meanwhile, in his daily speech, the Ukrainian president addressed the need for a stronger air defense system through further development, supply and production of the “necessary missiles” in Ukraine. “The Ukrainian air shield must continuously have all it needs. We are engaged in the coalition of Patriot systems and the coalition of modern fighters — actively every day,” he said.

Regarding the long-awaited F-16 fighter jets, U.S. Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said they won’t be ready for Ukraine’s upcoming counteroffensive.

Upon his arrival in France earlier this week, Milley said “everyone recognizes Ukraine needs a modernized air force,” but regarding the delivery of F-16s, “it’s going to take a considerable amount of time.”

At a Friday news conference, Zelenskyy also commented on Ukraine’s coming counteroffensive, saying it is “not a movie” and adding that it is not easy to publicly describe how it will unfold.

“The main thing is for Russia to see it, and not only see it, but feel it. Specifically, we are talking about the forces that have occupied our territory,” he added. The Ukrainian president said liberating Ukrainian territories is the main goal of the counteroffensive, and that when that starts to occur, “you will understand what is happening.”

Blinken: Russian pullout required

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that a “just and lasting” peace deal in Ukraine must include the withdrawal of Russian troops for all Ukrainian-held territories.

“A cease-fire that simply freezes current lines in place and enables [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to consolidate control over the territory he seized and then rest, rearm and reattack: That is not a just and lasting peace,” Blinken said.

Speaking in Helsinki, the capital of Finland, NATO’s newest member, Blinken said such a violation of the United Nations Charter would send Moscow and “other would-be aggressors around the world” the wrong message.

Blinken added that the United States will encourage peace efforts by other nations as long as they uphold the U.N. Charter and Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence.

New START nuclear treaty

The Biden administration is retaliating after Russia suspended the New START nuclear treaty. The State Department announced Thursday it is revoking the visas of Russian nuclear inspectors, denying pending applications for new monitors and canceling standard clearances for Russian aircraft to enter U.S. airspace.

The State Department said it was taking those steps and others in response to Russia’s “ongoing violations” of New START, the last arms control treaty remaining between the two countries.

“The United States is committed to full and mutual implementation of the New START treaty,” it said. “Consistent with that commitment, the United States has adopted lawful countermeasures in response to the Russian Federation’s ongoing violations of the New START treaty.”

Russia suspended its participation in the New START treaty in February in a move that the U.S. said was “legally invalid.”

Allowing inspections of weapons sites and providing information on the placement of intercontinental and submarine-based ballistic missiles and their test launches are critical components of New START, which then-Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev signed in 2010.

Some information in this article came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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How Turkey’s Erdogan Has Maintained a Tight Grip on Power

Posted on by SeeEU

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a populist with increasingly authoritarian tendencies, is scheduled to take the oath of office and start his third presidential term Saturday following his latest election win.

Erdogan, who has led Turkey as prime minister or president for 20 years, prevailed in a runoff race last weekend despite the country’s ongoing economic crisis and his government’s criticized response to a February earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people.

Known as “reis,” or “the chief,” among his fans, the 69-year-old Erdogan already is the longest-serving leader in the Turkish republic’s history. His reelection to a five-year term that runs until 2028 extends his rule into a third decade, and he could possibly serve longer with the help of a friendly parliament.

Here is a look at Erdogan’s career and some of the reasons for his political longevity.

IT’S NOT THE ECONOMY

Many experts agree that Turkey’s severe economic woes result from Erdogan’s unorthodox fiscal policies — most notably, depressing interest rates against rampant inflation despite the warnings of economists. However, the majority of voters — he received 52% of the runoff vote — did not seem to hold it against him.

Erdogan’s endurance amid a cost-of-living crisis — inflation in Turkey hit a staggering 85% in October before easing to 44% in April — might have resulted from many people preferring stability over change as they struggle to pay skyrocketing prices for rent and basic goods.

The president has demonstrated an ability to turn the economy around in the past. And he has never shied away from spending and deploying government resources to his political advantage.

Over the past two decades, his government has spent lavishly on infrastructure to please constituents. In the period leading up to last month’s parliamentary and presidential elections, he increased wages and pensions to cushion the blow from inflation and disbursed electricity and gas subsidies.

One point of pride for many voters is Turkey’s ballooning military-industrial sector. Throughout the campaign, Erdogan frequently cited domestically made drones, aircraft and a warship touted as the world’s first “drone carrier.”

ON THE WORLD STAGE

Erdogan has swayed many Turks to his side with the way he navigates the world stage. Supporters see in him a leader who has shown that Turkey can be a major player in geopolitics while displaying an independent streak as it engages with the East and West.

Turkey is a key NATO member because of its strategic location at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, and it controls the alliance’s second-largest army. During Erdogan’s tenure, the country has proven to be an indispensable and, at times, troublesome NATO ally.

The Turkish government has held up Sweden’s entry into NATO and purchased Russian missile-defense systems, prompting the United States to oust Turkey from a U.S.-led fighter jet project. Yet, together with the United Nations, Turkey brokered a vital wartime deal that allowed Ukraine to resume shipping grain through the Black Sea to parts of the world struggling with hunger.

Erdogan has hailed his reelection, which came as the country prepares to mark the centenary of the republic, as the start of the “Century of Turkey.”

A RETURN TO ISLAMIC ROOTS

Erdogan has cultivated deep loyalty from conservative and religious supporters by elevating Islamic values in a country that was defined by secularism for nearly a century.

He has curbed the powers of the military, which frequently meddled in civilian politics whenever the country began deviating from secularism. He lifted rules that barred conservative women from wearing headscarves in schools and government offices.

He also reconverted Istanbul’s landmark Hagia Sophia into a mosque, meeting a long-time demand of Turkish Islamists. The Byzantine-era cathedral first became a mosque after the conquest of Constantinople but had served as a museum for decades.

More recently, he has slammed LGBTQ+ rights, suggesting they pose a threat to the traditional, conservative notion of what constitutes a family.

TIGHT CONTROL OVER MEDIA

During his decades in power, Erdogan consolidated control over the media.

A majority of Turkish news outlets are now owned by conglomerates loyal to him. He has used his position to silence criticism and to disparage the opposition.

International election monitors observed that both the first round of the presidential election on May 14th and the May 28th runoff were free but not fair.

While voters in the second round had a choice between genuine political alternatives, “biased media coverage and a lack of a level playing field gave an unjustified advantage to the incumbent,” said Farah Karimi, a coordinator for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Erdogan’s opponent in the runoff election, opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, had promised to undo the president’s economic policies and to put Turkey back on a democratic path by ending crackdowns on free speech.
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California’s Ravidassia Community Wants Caste Bias Outlawed

Posted on by SeeUS

In California, members of an under-the-radar, minority religious community are stepping into the public eye to advocate for making the state the first in the nation to outlaw caste bias.

They are the Ravidassia — followers of Ravidass, a 14th century Indian guru who preached caste and class equality. There are about 20,000 members of the community in California, most of them in the Central Valley.

Guru Ravidass belonged to the lowest-rung of the caste system formerly considered untouchable and also known as Dalit, which means “broken” in Hindi. Today, many Ravidassia members share that caste identity, but they are hesitant to make that widely known, fearing repercussions for being exposed to the larger community as “lower-caste.”

Members of the Fresno Ravidassia community say publicly championing the anti-caste bias legislation is worth the risk, noting that fighting for equality is part of their history and their spiritual DNA.

The faith itself emerged in response to the societal exclusion of the lowest caste members, including persistent roadblocks to landownership, said Ronki Ram, professor of political science at Panjab University in Chandigarh, India. Caste-based discrimination was outlawed in India in 1947.

WHO WAS GURU RAVIDASS?

Ravidass was an Indian guru, mystic and poet who was one of the most renowned figures in the North Indian bhakti movement, which placed love and devotion to god above all and preached against the caste system. Ravidass was born in the 14th century in a village near Varnasi, India, to a family of cobblers and tanners who belonged to the then-untouchable or leather-working caste known as “chamars.” The Guru Granth Sahib, which is the sacred text of Sikhism, bears 40 verses or shabads of Ravidass.

RAVIDASSIA TEMPLES

A Ravidassia place of worship is called a sabha, dera, gurdwara or gurughar, which could all be translated as temple. Adherents cover their heads and remove their shoes before entering the prayer hall or place of worship. In California Ravidassia temples, the Guru Granth Sahib is the focal point of the prayer hall. The temples serve a post-worship meal as Sikh gurdwaras also do, which is known as langar. Ravidassia temples often display idols and/or pictures of Guru Ravidass in the prayer halls.

THE RAVIDASSIA IDENTITY

Professor Ronki Ram says the Ravidassia identity is challenging to pin down because it “cannot be compartmentalized.”

“More recently, they have been trying to carve out a separate identity for themselves,” he said. “But, they also follow Sikh traditions.”

Many male Ravidassia members wear long hair in a turban and carry Sikh articles of faith such as the kada or bracelet, kangha or wooden comb and kirpan, the sheathed, single-edged knife. Many men and women in the community also have Sikh last names — Singh and Kaur.

Ram points out that idols and images of Ravidass, however, can only be seen in a Ravidass temple. In addition, the community celebrates the birthday of their guru, which typically falls in February. Many Ravidass temples also observe the birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar, the Indian Dalit rights icon whose given name was Bhimrao.

The faith also has followers who are Hindu and those who are from different parts of India. Ravidassia community members in California are largely of Punjabi descent.

THE COMMUNITY’S RELATIONSHIP WITH SIKHISM

The Ravidassia community’s relationship with Sikhism is “flexible and nuanced,” said Sasha Sabherwal, assistant professor of Anthropology and Asian Studies, Northeastern University.

“It’s not an either-or relationship,” she said. “It’s a much more complex idea of what their faith means for them. Some (Ravidassia temples) may be autonomous spaces. But, in many cases, it’s blended or overlapping rather than something entirely independent. There is still a commitment to this larger Sikh project.”

Sabherwal said the path to unity may lie in making “meaningful structural changes.”

“The issue is that often, caste is not even acknowledged as a problem,” she said.
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Strong US Jobs Report Cheers Biden, Raises Questions for Fed

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The labor market in the United States continued to defy expectations in May, adding 339,000 new jobs. The figure was far above what economists had expected and signals that ongoing efforts to cool the economy and lower inflation are having, at best, only mixed success.

The increase in jobs came along with steadily rising wages. The figures released Friday show a 4.3% year-over-year increase in workers’ pay. The new jobs were also spread over various sectors of the economy, with professional services, government, health care, construction and transportation all showing significant increases.

The data also showed an upward revision of previous estimates of job growth for March and April, indicating another 93,000 jobs were added over those months.

“For all the talk of recession coming, you’d never know it by looking at the job market,” Greg McBride, senior vice president and chief financial analyst for Bankrate.com told VOA. “Another month of strong payroll growth, upward revisions to both March and April, and payroll growth that tended to be concentrated in higher paying jobs. You don’t see that very often … and that speaks to the robustness of the labor market.”

Unemployment ticks up

Counterintuitively, the Labor Department also reported an uptick in the unemployment rate from 3.4% to 3.7%. The number remains near historic lows, and it is not uncommon for the unemployment rate to increase even as the number of jobs increases. This is because the “establishment” survey, which the government uses to count jobs, and the “household” survey, which it uses to measure unemployment, are different.

The disparity was largely because many people previously listed as self-employed are now seeking work in the regular workforce, temporarily skewing the unemployment figures.

The numbers point to an American economy that has remained resilient through a period of sharp interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve, which has raised rates from near zero to between 5% and 5.25% in the 14 months since March 2022.

The aim of the Fed’s rate hikes has been to lower inflation, which spiked in 2022, hitting an annual rate of 9.1% in June of last year.

The rate of inflation has slowed markedly since then, to 4.9% in May, the latest data available. That figure is still outpacing wage growth, which leaves many workers feeling as though they are losing ground even with higher take-home pay.

Unalloyed good news

Joseph E. Gagnon, a senior fellow with the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told VOA that while there were many nuances to the report, one piece of what he called “unalloyed good news” is that the U.S. labor force is continuing to grow.

Friday’s data showed a seasonally adjusted U.S. labor force of 168.8 million, well above pre-pandemic levels, which Gagnon said is good for the economy as a whole and for those concerned about inflation.

“It means people are getting more income and more employment opportunities,” Gagnon said. “But it also means that there’s less inflation pressure, because if there’s more workers out there, they can produce more, and that can actually hold prices down.”

Biden celebrates

In Washington, Democrats and Republicans elected to view the jobs report through their preferred lenses.

In a statement released after the report, President Joe Biden celebrated the news, while noting that he had recently negotiated a deal with Republicans in the House of Representatives to raise the nation’s debt ceiling and avoid the potential for a catastrophic default on the nation’s debts.

“We have now created over 13 million jobs since I took office,” he said. “That is more jobs in 28 months than any President has created in an entire 4-year term.”

He added, “In short, the Biden economic plan is working. And due to the historic action taken by Congress this week, my economic plan will continue to deliver good jobs for the American people in communities throughout the country.”

GOP counters

Republicans were quick to point out that the rosy jobs report belies the fact that many Americans continue to feel that they are struggling economically.

“Real wages are down as 60 percent of workers report living paycheck-to-paycheck and 83% say the economic situation of the nation is negative,” the Republican National Committee tweeted. “Biden’s inflation is killing the financial well-being of American families.”

The Republicans’ claim that the strong economy is not benefiting all Americans appears to have some resonance with the public. On Tuesday, The Conference Board, which tracks consumer sentiment, reported that its consumer confidence index had dropped from 103.7 to 102.3 in May. (The Conference Board uses a scale that sets consumer confidence measured in 1985 as 100.)

“Consumer confidence declined in May as consumers’ view of current conditions became somewhat less upbeat while their expectations remained gloomy,” Ataman Ozyildirim, senior director of economics at The Conference Board, said in a statement.

Ozyildirim reported that consumers’ experience of the economy seems to be at odds with official numbers. Survey respondents estimated job availability to be lower than the government reports it to be and said that they expect higher inflation over the next six months, even as the official rate falls.

Impact on Fed

It is unclear, at this point, how the larger than expected jobs numbers for last month will affect the thinking of policymakers at the Federal Reserve, who had been signaling that they might be prepared to pause interest rate increases while they assess the impact current rates are having on inflation.

The Fed has been attempting to engineer what economists call a “soft landing.” That is, policymakers are attempting to slow the economy enough to push inflation down to a more manageable level, but not so much that the country is tipped into a recession. One expected effect of a cooling economy was supposed to have been slower, or even negative, job growth.

Gagnon said that it’s possible the central bank might consider another small rate increase this month but said much of the urgency that marked large rate increases a year ago no longer applies.

“I think the Fed is not in an ideal place, but it’s not horrible,” he said. “It can be patient, or slow. It’s a close call as to whether they might want to raise rates a bit more, but I don’t see the urgent need that we had a year ago of raising 75 basis points every meeting. We’re not there now.”
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US Defense Secretary, at Asian Security Summit, Urges Dialogue with China

Posted on by SeeUS

U.S Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Saturday that dialogue between the United States and China is essential to avoiding miscalculations that could lead to conflict, adding he was deeply concerned by Beijing’s unwillingness to engage in crisis management between the two militaries.

“We do not seek conflict or confrontation,” Austin said in his address at the Shangri La Dialogue, Asia’s top security summit, in Singapore.

“But we will not flinch in the face of bullying or coercion,” he added.

Austin’s remarks were likely aimed at China.  China Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu had refused Austin’s requests to meet this week at the summit. However, the two did shake hands on the summit’s sidelines Friday.  The Pentagon said the two defense officials did not have a “substantive exchange.”

“I am deeply concerned that the PRC has been unwilling to engage more seriously on better mechanisms for crisis management between our two militaries,” Austin said in his speech, using the abbreviation for the People’s Republic of China.

There are several issues that the U.S. and China do not agree on, including territorial disputes regarding the South China Sea and an alleged spy balloon that was shot down by a U.S. fighter plane after the balloon floated across the United States.

Perhaps the most vexing is the issue of Taiwan, a self-governing island that China claims as its own and that it wants to bring under its rule.  China has become increasingly aggressive with its moves against Taiwan, setting up a situation that could resemble Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

That similarity was not lost on Austin, who said Saturday, “how dangerous our world would become if big countries could just invade their peaceful neighbors with impunity.”  He said the United States is “determined to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and so are a number of countries around the world.”

China’s defense minister delivers his address to the summit Sunday. 
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Biden Delivers Oval Office Remarks on US Avoiding Default

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President Joe Biden delivered remarks Friday evening on the Fiscal Responsibility Act, bipartisan legislation achieved following weeks of tough negotiations that suspends the government’s debt limit and avoids a potentially disastrous default. For the first time Biden spoke from the Oval Office, signifying the occasion’s importance. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report.
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Russia Says Ukrainian Artillery Fire Kills 4 on Border Regions

Posted on by SeeEU

The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said four people were killed Friday in two separate Ukrainian shelling attacks on towns near the border, while officials in nearby regions reported overnight drone attacks.

Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram that shelling had struck the town of Maslova Pristan, some 15 kilometers from Ukraine’s northern Kharkiv region, and that fragments had struck passing cars.

“Two women were traveling in one of them. They died from their injuries on the spot,” he said.

Gladkov later said two people had been killed and six injured when rockets hit the town of Sobolevka, 125 kilometers to the southeast of the first incident. The victims had been standing outside close to residential buildings, he said.

Sobolevka is 14 kilometers from the border with Ukraine. Russian officials have in recent days reported intensified attacks from northern Ukraine.

Pro-Ukrainian forces have repeatedly shelled the town of Shebekino over the past week, Russian officials said. All road and rail travel in the district had been suspended until June 30, Gladkov said.

More than 2,500 people were being evacuated from the Shebekino area, he said, given that it was not safe to be there.

The governor of the Bryansk region, north of Belgorod, said four homes had been damaged by shelling, while the head of neighboring Kursk region said some buildings had been damaged in an overnight drone attack.

Long-range drones also hit two towns in the Smolensk region overnight, the local governor said.

Reuters could not independently verify the reported attacks.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces had repelled on Thursday three cross-border attacks by what it said were Ukrainian “terrorist formations” into the Belgorod region.

Ukraine denies its military is involved in the incursions and says they are conducted by Russian volunteer fighters.
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British Teen in Terrorism Case to Serve at Least 6 Years

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A teenager reported to British anti-terror authorities by his mother was jailed for life Friday. Matthew King, 19, will serve a minimum term of six years for plotting a terror attack on police officers or soldiers.

In what was the first terror sentencing in England and Wales to be televised, the judge praised King’s mother for taking her suspicions to the Prevent counterterrorism program.

“She took the very bold step of alerting Prevent when she had concerns for her son,” Judge Mark Lucraft said during sentencing at the central criminal court in central London. “That cannot have been an easy thing to do in the first place, and in my view she absolutely did the right thing.”

In January, King pleaded guilty to the preparation of terror acts between Dec. 22, 2021, and May 17, 2022.

King, who was radicalized online during the coronavirus pandemic, had expressed a desire to kill military personnel as he prepared to stake out a British Army barracks in east London. He also expressed a desire to travel to Syria to join so-called Islamic State.

His desires were thwarted when his mother reported him. Authorities were also tipped off through an anti-terror hotline after he posted a video on a WhatsApp group in April 2022.

The judge found that King was a dangerous offender who carried a risk of future harm to the public, despite claims by his lawyer that the defendant was on the path to deradicalization.

“It is clear that you are someone who developed an entrenched Islamist extremist mindset, extreme anti-Western views and that you intended to commit terrorist acts both in the U.K. and overseas,” the judge said.

King could be out in five years. He has already spent 367 days in prison, which will be taken into account and deducted from the length of time he has to serve.
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UN Calls for Immediate Cease-Fire in Sudan, Path to Renewed Democratic Transition Talks

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The U.N. Security Council called Friday for an immediate cease-fire in Sudan to be followed by a permanent halt to hostilities and fresh efforts to reach a lasting democratic political settlement in the conflict-wracked country.

The U.N.’s most powerful body strongly condemned all attacks on civilians since fighting between rival generals vying for power broke out in mid-April.

The conflict has led to hundreds of civilian deaths and the flight of almost 1 million people from their homes to try to escape the violence, according to the U.N.

The press statement from the council was issued ahead of a vote later Friday to extend the U.N. political mission in the country for six months, instead of a year, to give the council time to consider its future.

On Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres asked to brief the council behind closed doors for only the fifth time since he took office in January 2017 about the impact of the ongoing conflict on the U.N. mission known as UNITAMS. It was established by the council on June 3, 2020, to provide support to Sudan during its political transition to democratic rule.

After his briefing, the U.N. chief told the 15 council members it’s up to them to decide whether to continue the political mission to Sudan or whether “it’s time to end it.”

After the ouster of Sudanese strongman Omar al-Bashir in 2019, Sudan embarked on a shaky democratic transition led by civilian and army leaders. But the generals seized complete power in a coup in October 2021, before turning against each other.

Sudanese leader General Abdel-Fattah Burhan and General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, who heads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), agreed to restore the transition but clashed over the terms of the RSF’s merger into the army, a disagreement that exploded into open conflict on April 15.

A week ago, Burhan demanded in a letter to Guterres that the U.N. special envoy to Sudan, Volker Perthes, be removed, saying his approach in pre-war talks between the generals helped inflame the conflict and accusing him of “being partisan.” The U.N. chief was “shocked” by the letter.

After Wednesday’s meeting, Guterres said he reaffirmed to the council “my full confidence in Volker Perthes.”

In Friday’s statement, the Security Council reaffirmed support for UNITAMS, which Perthes leads, and underlined the need “for strengthened international coordination and continued collaboration.”

Late Thursday, the United States and Saudi Arabia announced that they were suspending peace talks with representatives of the two generals that had been taking place in the Saudi city of Jeddah since late May. Sudan’s military had suspended its participation in the talks Wednesday, citing “repeated violations” by RSF forces of a U.S.-Saudi brokered humanitarian cease-fire, including their continued occupation of hospitals and other civilian infrastructure in the capital, Khartoum. The RSF said it “unconditionally backs the Saudi-U.S. initiative.”

The U.S.-Saudi joint statement said the talks were being suspended “as a result of repeated serious violations of the short-term ceasefire and recent ceasefire extension” on Monday.
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Two More Oath Keepers Sentenced in Storming of US Capitol

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Two Florida men who stormed the U.S. Capitol with other members of the far-right Oath Keepers group were sentenced to prison Friday for seditious conspiracy and other charges, the latest in a historic string of sentences in the January 6, 2021, attack. 

David Moerschel, 45, a neurophysiologist from Punta Gorda, and Joseph Hackett, 52, a chiropractor from Sarasota, were convicted in January alongside other members of the anti-government group for their roles in what prosecutors described as a violent plot to stop the transfer power from former President Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 election. 

Both men were among the lower-level members charged with seditious conspiracy. Moerschel was sentenced to three years in prison and Hackett got three and one-half years. 

All told, nine people associated with the Oath Keepers have been tried for seditious conspiracy and six were convicted of the rarely used Civil War-era charge in two separate trials, including the group’s founder, Stewart Rhodes. He was sentenced last week to 18 years in prison — a record for a January 6 defendant. Three defendants were cleared of the sedition charge but found guilty of other January 6 crimes. 

Helped gather guns

Moerschel and Hackett helped amass guns and ammunition to stash in a Virginia hotel for a so-called “quick reaction force” that could be quickly shuttled to Washington, prosecutors said. The weapons were never deployed. Moerschel provided an AR-15 and a Glock semiautomatic handgun and Hackett helped transport weapons, prosecutors said. 

On January 6, both men, dressed in paramilitary gear, marched into the Capitol with fellow Oath Keepers in a military-style formation, charging documents stated. 

“The security of our country and the safety of democracy should not hinge on the impulses of madmen,” Justice Department prosecutor Troy Edwards said. 

Moerschel told the judge he was deeply ashamed of forcing his way into the Capitol and joining the riot that seriously injured police officers and sent staffers running in fear. 

“When I was on the stairs, your honor, I felt like God said to me, ‘Get out here.’ And I didn’t,” he said in court, his voice cracking with emotion. “I disobeyed God, and I broke laws.” 

Moerschel, who monitored surgical patients under anesthesia before his arrest, was later fired and now works in construction and landscaping. A former missionary, he is married with three children. 

Hackett similarly said he remembered feeling horrified as he stepped foot in the Capitol that day: “I truly am sorry for my part in causing so much misery,” he said. 

He originally joined the group after seeing vandalism at a commercial area near his house during the summer of 2020, when protests of police brutality were common, his attorney Angela Halim said. “He did not join this organization because he shared any beliefs of Stewart Rhodes,” she said. 

Still, he later attended an “unconventional warfare” training session, and in the lead-up to January 6 he repeatedly warned other Oath Keepers about “leaks” and the need to secure their communications, and later changed his online screen names, authorities have said. 

“Taken together, his messages show he perceived the election as an existential threat,” said prosecutor Alexandra Hughes. 

How the chiropractor and father ended up storming the Capitol, though, is “hard to wrap one’s head around,” said U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta. The group’s increasingly heated online conversations and false claims of a stolen election “can suck you in like a vortex and make it very difficult to get out.” 

No ‘vengeful’ sentencing

Neither man was a top leader in the group, and both left shortly after January 6. Both sentences were far lower than the 12 years prosecutors sought for Hackett and 10 for Moerschel. 

Moerschel was in the Capitol for about 12 minutes and didn’t do anything violent or scream at police officers, Mehta noted. He also handed his guns over to the police. 

“Sentencing shouldn’t be vengeful; it shouldn’t be such that it is unduly harsh simply for the sake of being harsh,” said the judge, who also imposed a three-year term of supervised release for both men. 

Moerschel’s attorneys had asked for home confinement, arguing that he joined the Oath Keepers chats shortly before the riot and was not a leader. 

“He was just in the back following the crowd,” attorney Scott Weinberg told the judge. 

Defense attorneys have long said there was never a plan to attack the Capitol and the prosecutors’ case was largely built on online messages cherry-picked out of context. 

The charges against leaders of the Oath Keepers and another far-right extremist group, the Proud Boys, are among the most serious brought in the Justice Department’s sprawling riot investigation. Prosecutors have also won seditious conspiracy convictions in the case against former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio and three other group leaders in what prosecutors said was a separate plot to keep Trump in the White House. 
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US: Tanks, F-16s Part of Long-Term Aid for Ukraine, Not Upcoming Offensive

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America’s top military officer says training for Ukrainian forces on advanced U.S. Abrams tanks has started, but those weapons crucial over the long term in trying to expel Russia from occupied territory will not be ready in time for Kyiv’s imminent counteroffensive. 

The tank training got underway as the United States and its allies began to work out agreements to train Ukrainians on F-16 fighter jets, another long-sought advanced system. Those aircraft would be part of a security plan to deter future attacks, U.S. Army General Mark Milley said late Thursday as he arrived in France. 

“Everyone recognizes Ukraine needs a modernized air force,” said Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. “It’s going to take a considerable amount of time.” 

The intent is to provide capabilities for Ukraine in the mid- to long term, said Nicolas Vaujour, a vice admiral who is chief of operations of France’s Joint Staff and spoke to reporters traveling with Milley. 

Milley said detailed planning on the size of F-16 training classes, the types of flying tactics and locations for training was being worked out among the U.S. and allies such as the Netherlands and Britain that have pledged to provide the American-made F-16s. The United States has not said whether it will directly provide jets, but President Joe Biden has said the U.S. will support F-16 training as part of the coalition. 

As those logistics are figured out, the Abrams tank training is moving ahead. 

About 200 Ukrainian soldiers began an approximately 12-week course in Germany over the past weekend where they are learning how to maneuver, fire and conduct combined arms operations with the advanced armored system. An additional 200 troops are receiving training on tank fueling and fuel truck maintenance. 

The U.S. training schedule is timed to get the troops up to speed on the systems before 31 of the 70-ton Abrams tanks the Biden administration has promised to Ukraine are scheduled to arrive this fall. Those tanks will make up part of a force of about 300 tanks in total pledged by Western allies, including Challenger tanks from the United Kingdom, Leopard 2 tanks from Spain and Germany, and light tanks from France. 

The U.S. and its allies balked for months at providing such tanks, citing the significant maintenance and fueling challenges the systems require. Abrams tanks can burn through fuel at a rate of at least 2 gallons per mile (4.7 liters per kilometer), whether the tank is moving or idling. That means a constant supply convoy of fuel trucks must stay within reach so the tanks can keep moving forward. 

As with the recent decision on F-16 training, the U.S. approval to send its own Abrams systems was a necessary part of the allies’ negotiations on tanks for Ukraine so that no Western nation would be providing the systems alone, possibly incurring direct retaliation from Russia. In January, the Biden administration reversed course and agreed that Ukraine would get the tanks. 

Milley is in France to mark the 79th anniversary of D-Day, which launched the allies’ World War II massive ground counteroffensive to push back Nazi forces in Europe. The war involved some of the largest armored battles in modern history, including a major Soviet counteroffensive against the Nazis in 1943 along the Dnieper River, the same edge along which tens of thousands of Ukrainian and Russian forces are now entrenched. 

“You can look back to World War II and some of the biggest armored battles that were ever fought in history were fought, basically, in parts of Ukraine,” Milley told reporters traveling with him. “So, tanks are very important, both to the defense and the offense, and upgraded modern tanks, the training that goes with it, the ability to use them, will be fundamental to Ukrainian success.”
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Nigeria’s Main Labor Federation to Strike Over Fuel Subsidy Removal

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Nigeria’s main labor union said Friday it plans to go on strike from Wednesday to protest a tripling of fuel prices in what would be the first big test for new President Bola Tinubu after he scrapped a costly fuel subsidy. 

The price increase has led to a sharp rise in transport fares and Estonian ride-hailing and food delivery startup Bolt said it had hiked its prices in Nigeria, citing increased operating costs due to higher fuel prices. 

Nigeria’s fuel subsidy cost the government billions of dollars annually but was popular as it helped keep prices low in Africa’s biggest oil producer, which is still grappling with high poverty rates among residents. 

The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics says 63% of people living in Nigeria are poor while the World Bank said in a report last year that as many as four in 10 Nigerians live below the national poverty line. 

The government said lifting the subsidy — which caused prices to rise to 557 naira per liter from 189 naira at the petrol pumps — will help alleviate a government funding crisis. 

But Nigerian Labor Congress (NLC) president Joe Ajaero, after an emergency meeting of the union’s executive council in Abuja, said the state oil company NNPC should reverse the price hike. 

“The Nigeria Labor Congress decided that if by Wednesday next week that NNPC, a private limited liability company that illegally announced a price regime in the oil sector, refuses to revert itself for negotiations to continue, that the Nigeria Labor Congress and all its affiliates will withdraw their services and commence protests nationwide until this is complied with,” Ajaero said. 

In 2012, a wave of strikes ensued when Nigeria tried to introduce a similar measure, with authorities eventually reinstating some subsidies. Tinubu, then in the opposition, was among those who opposed ending the subsidies. 

On Friday, the president said Nigeria needs to review its minimum wage of 30,000 naira ($65).  

“We need to do some arithmetic and soul searching on the minimum wage,” he told the ruling party state governors at his offices in Abuja, adding that revenue collection should be strengthened. 
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History Has Been Unexpected Casualty of Russia’s War   

Posted on by SeeEU

Elizabeth Abosch was in Moscow working on her dissertation when Russia invaded Ukraine last February.

What struck the American doctoral candidate the most about the Moscow suburb where she lived at the time was how “everyone was going on as normal,” she told VOA. “For the most part, I really felt safe.”

“It was like nothing had happened at all. And so that was eerie. Whereas I was constantly in this emotional fight-or-flight state,” she said.

Working on a dissertation in the country that Abosch had devoted her career to was a long time coming. At first, leaving seemed out of the question.

“I was really in denial for about a week, a week and a half, because I thought this would be over very quickly,” she said. But by the beginning of March, Abosch knew she had to leave.

A student at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, Abosch is among many Western scholars in the field of Russian and Soviet studies whose careers and lives have been upended by the war in Ukraine.

The war has made it nearly impossible for Western researchers to travel to Russia, multiple academics told VOA.

That limited access has the potential to impede the West’s understanding of Russia for years, they said, and it may also be an indirect boon to Russian propaganda.

Russia’s Washington embassy did not reply to VOA’s email requesting comment.

Abosch, who studies the history of song in the Soviet Union, said she can still conduct research from outside the country. But for others, on-the-ground access is a necessity.

Hiroaki Kuromiya, professor emeritus at Indiana University in Bloomington, said access to Russia “has been absolutely critical” for his research.

“Without access to Russian scholars and the Russian archives, much of my scholarly work over the past three decades would have been simply impossible,” he told VOA.

Now based in Massachusetts, Kuromiya is the author of books including Freedom and Terror in the Donbas: A Ukrainian-Russian Borderland, 1870s–1990s and The Voices of the Dead: Stalin’s Great Terror in the 1930s.

“Few Western scholars have dared to travel to Russia since February 2022 for obvious reasons of safety,” he said.

Kuromiya was among 500 Americans whom Russia banned from entering the country in mid-May. Former U.S. President Barack Obama, VOA acting director Yolanda Lopez, and several journalists and lawmakers were also on the list.

“I was prepared for this eventuality. Although it’s a pity that I can no longer work in the Russian archives, I continue to pursue my academic research in many different venues,” he said.

Kuromiya said he felt proud that Moscow banned him from entering the country.

“I must have gotten something right in my work,” he said. “Being banned from entry into Russia as a result is a trifle for me in the face of today’s monumental events.”

But outright bans against scholars like Kuromiya are relatively rare. A combination of other factors makes it difficult to travel to Russia, academics said.

Western institutions don’t want to fund research trips to Russia, and academics are concerned about sanctions. Personal safety is another issue, and it has also become risky for Russian universities to sponsor Western academics.

“This is very clearly going to have a profound impact on the type of projects people do,” a U.S.-based historian of Stalinism told VOA. He requested anonymity for fear of potential repercussions for his extended family in Russia.

Ironically, the historian said, most of the formal barriers to academic access to Russia are coming from the West.

The Kremlin would probably welcome foreign academics who are friendly to Moscow, he said. “Now would be a great time to be a useful idiot because they [the Russian government] would be very happy to point out, ‘See, we’re open for business,’” the historian said.

There’s a risk, Abosch said, that limited research access to Russia may contribute to a void in the West’s understanding of the country. Russian propaganda, always plentiful, may fill the vacuum, she said.

“I think it certainly helps Russian propaganda. I think a goal of this kind of obstacle would definitely be to create separate spheres of discourse,” Abosch said. Without Western academics studying Russia on the ground, “it would be easier for the government to fix its own narrative,” she added.

For years, the Kremlin has engaged in rewriting or distorting the country’s history, particularly about World War II, to maintain a hold on power and justify acts of aggression like the 2014 annexation of Crimea and the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, historians and analysts have said.

“The devil works hard, but Russia works harder laundering its historical reputation,” Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon, a doctoral candidate at the University of Pennsylvania, told VOA.

The plight of foreign scholars parallels that of foreign reporters, according to Anastasia Edel, a Russian-born American writer who teaches history at the University of California at Berkeley.

Since the war, dozens of foreign correspondents have left Russia over safety concerns — and for good reason.

Evan Gershkovich, an American Wall Street Journal reporter, has been detained for over two months on accusations of espionage — charges that he, his employer and the U.S. government vehemently deny.

Blocked or limited access makes it harder for reporters and scholars to document what’s happening in Russia and to provide audiences with an alternative to Russian disinformation, according to Edel.

“It’s going to be particularly bad for citizens of Russia because they just won’t have any alternative sources beyond the Kremlin propaganda,” Edel said.

“My big concern is we’re going to go backwards in our understanding of modern Russia,” St. Julian-Varnon said.

Kuromiya shared a similar view, saying that “the current situation is having a very negative impact on our understanding of Russia.”

“Like many governments, Russia seeks to control truth, while scholars are dedicated to revealing truth,” he said.
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Pakistan Allows Barter Trade with Iran, Afghanistan, Russia

Posted on by SeeEU

Pakistan has authorized barter trade with Iran, Afghanistan and Russia on specific goods, including petroleum and gas, to bypass Western sanctions on those countries and ease pressure on its declining foreign exchange reserves.

The Ministry of Commerce said Friday that its order, the Business-to-Business Barter Trade Mechanism 2023, “shall come into force at once.”

Pakistan, a country of about 230 million people, is scrambling to manage a balance of payments crisis and rein in skyrocketing inflation.

This week, the country’s central bank reported that its foreign currency reserves had fallen to just over $4 billion, barely enough to cover one month’s imports. Inflation hit an unprecedented annual rate of nearly 38% last month, official data showed.

The barter trade mechanism lists 26 commodities that Pakistani state and privately owned entities can export to Afghan, Iranian and Russian markets. In exchange, they can import crude oil, liquid natural gas, liquid propane gas, chemical products, fertilizers, fruits, wheat, industrial machinery and vegetables from the three countries.

Although the United States has designated third-party sanctions on those buying Iranian oil, it might overlook a barter deal.

Pakistan is set to receive its first shipment of Russian discounted crude oil later this month. Islamabad, which has shared few details on the deal with Moscow, has not clarified how payment would be made.

State Minister for Petroleum Musadik Malik said Islamabad would buy only Russian crude oil, not refined products, under the deal, saying purchases could rise to 100,000 barrels per day if the first transaction goes smoothly.

“The [100,000 tons of] Russian oil will reach Pakistan by the end of the first week or at the beginning of the second [week] in June,” he told reporters last week.

Last month, Pakistan and Iran jointly inaugurated the first of the six border markets the countries are building to enhance bilateral trade cooperation.

The Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association complained last month that up to 35% of the diesel sold in the country had been smuggled from Iran. The countries share a nearly 900-kilometer border. Pakistan has fenced most of that frontier to deter illegal movement in either direction.

Despite the fencing, regional traders and residents allege smuggling, particularly of petroleum products, is facilitated by Iranian and Pakistani border guards, charges officials in both countries reject.

Pakistan’s bilateral trade with Afghanistan, especially the import of Afghan coal, has dramatically increased since the Taliban seized control of the landlocked neighboring country in August 2021. The two countries conduct trade mostly in cash while using a barter mechanism for certain goods.

The hardline de facto Afghan authorities’ return to power prompted Western nations to terminate all economic assistance for the largely aid-dependent nation and impose banking sector sanctions, effectively blocking Afghanistan from conducting regular trade with other countries.

This article contains content from Reuters.
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US Confident in Its Nuclear Stockpile, White House Official Says  

Posted on by SeeUS

The United States says it does not plan on building more nuclear weapons to counter threats from Russia, China and a growing number of adversaries who have or who could soon have nuclear capabilities.

Instead, Washington plans to modernize its existing nuclear arsenal and continue to invest in cutting-edge technologies to keep adversaries in check, according to White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan. He said the administration also would keep open the possibility of talks to prevent a new nuclear arms race.

“The United States does not need to increase our nuclear forces to outnumber the combined total of our competitors in order to successfully deter them,” Sullivan told an audience in Washington on Friday.

“Effective deterrence means that we have a better approach, not a more approach,” he said during a speech to the Arms Control Association. “We believe in the current context we have the number and type of capabilities today that we need.”

Sullivan’s comments came as both Russia and China have either rejected or ignored calls for arms control and nuclear talks despite growing tensions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in February that he was suspending Moscow’s participation in the New START treaty, calling the deal absurd given U.S. and Western military aid to Ukraine. None of that aid has involved nuclear weapons.

The deal, signed in 2010, limits the U.S. and Russia to 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads each while providing for each country to inspect the other’s nuclear sites.

The U.S. military, meanwhile, estimates China has more than 400 nuclear warheads and is poised to have 1,500 warheads by 2035.

U.S. officials have also raised concerns about Beijing’s refusal to agree to arms control talks.

Sullivan, however, said the U.S. holds out some hope that such talks are possible, and that Washington was ready to talk separately to both Moscow and Beijing “without preconditions.”

He also noted that while Russia suspended its participation in the New START treaty, it has also said it is willing to abide by some of the treaty’s key tenets, “indicating a potential willingness to continue limiting strategic nuclear forces through 2026.”

And Sullivan said there is precedent for such talks despite tensions and conflicts elsewhere, such as in Ukraine.

“I can’t predict exactly what Vladimir Putin will do,” he said. “But there is a track record of our two countries being capable of engaging in these kinds of discussions in a way that serves our respective national interest and the broader common interests.”

As for China, Sullivan urged leaders in Beijing to engage with the U.S. on arms control.

“The very first thing that is necessary is for us to get this conversation going in a real way,” he said. “The PRC could make the bold decision to engage directly with the United States in discussions of strategic stability and nuclear risk, and that it would be the responsible thing to do for the benefit of our two countries and, as I said before, for the benefit of the wider world.”

But whether Chinese leaders will see the need for such discussions remains to be seen.

“They’ve not been willing to talk,” John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, said in a press call Friday in response to a question from VOA.

“They’ve not been willing to engage in a meaningful way with arms control,” he added. “That doesn’t mean that we’re not going to continue to make the case that it’s important.”

China’s military, in particular, has repeatedly ignored or denied requests for calls by U.S. defense officials, though other high-level meetings have taken place.

Sullivan met with a senior Chinese official in Vienna in early May, with the U.S. describing the discussion as “candid, substantive and constructive.”

 

There were also high-level talks last month between U.S. and Chinese intelligence officials, with CIA Director William Burns traveling to Beijing.

Burns “emphasized the importance of maintaining open lines of communication in intelligence channels,” a U.S. official told VOA, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the spy chief’s travel.

Burns’ trip was first reported by the Financial Times. 

VOA White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report.
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Justice Department Says It Won’t Charge Pence Over Handling of Classified Documents

Posted on by SeeUS

The Department of Justice has informed former Vice President Mike Pence ‘s legal team that it will not pursue criminal charges related to the discovery of classified documents at his Indiana home.

The department sent a letter to Pence’s attorney Thursday informing his team that, after an investigation into the potential mishandling of classified information, no criminal charges will be sought. A Justice Department official confirmed the authenticity of the letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press.

The news comes days before Pence is set to launch his campaign for the Republican nomination for president in Iowa Wednesday — a race that will put him in direct competition with his old boss, former President Donald Trump.

No evidence has ever emerged to suggest that Pence intentionally hid documents from the government or even knew they were in his home, so there was never an expectation that he would face charges.

But that decision and timing were nonetheless welcome news for the former vice president and his political team as he prepares to enter the crowded GOP primary field and contrast himself with Trump.

Attorney General Merrick Garland had named a special counsel to oversee the Justice Department’s investigation into the discovery of hundreds of documents with classified markings at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home just three days after the former president formally launched his 2024 campaign — an acknowledgment of the high political stakes. A special counsel was also put in place to investigate classified documents found at President Joe Biden’s home in Delaware and at an unsecured office in Washington dating from his time as vice president.

About a dozen documents with classified markings were discovered at Pence’s home in January after he asked his lawyers to perform a search of his vice-presidential belongings “out of an abundance of caution” after the Biden discovery. The items had been “inadvertently boxed and transported” to Pence’s home at the end of the last administration, Pence’s lawyer, Greg Jacob, wrote in a letter to the National Archives.

The FBI then discovered an additional document with classified markings at the Indiana house during its own search the following month.

Pence has said repeatedly that he was unaware of the documents’ existence, but that “mistakes were made ” in his handling of classified material.

Beyond Pence, the two Justice Department special counsels are continuing to investigate the handling of classified documents by both Trump and Biden.

The status of the Biden documents investigation is unclear, but the Trump investigation has shown signs of winding down. Prosecutors appear close to a decision on whether to bring criminal charges against the ex-president or anyone else.

The team led by special counsel Jack Smith has brought a broad cross-section of witnesses before a federal grand jury investigating Trump, including former and close aides to Trump. The investigation has centered on not only whether Trump illegally possessed roughly 300 documents marked as classified but also on whether he obstructed government efforts to secure their return.

The Biden and Pence matters have always stood apart, factually and legally, from the Trump investigation because in both of those cases, aides proactively disclosed the discovery of classified documents to the Justice Department and facilitated their return.

Trump resisted months of demands to return classified documents taken with him from the White House to his Florida residence after the end of his term. After coming to suspect that more classified documents remained at the property, despite a subpoena and a visit by investigators, the FBI returned last August with a search warrant and recovered about 100 additional documents marked as classified, including at the top-secret level.

Trump insists he did nothing wrong.
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Senegal Deploys Army as Dakar Braces for More Unrest

Posted on by SeeAF

Army troops were deployed to parts of the Senegalese capital Dakar on Friday as the city braced for more unrest after a jail sentence for opposition leader Ousmane Sonko sparked one of the deadliest days of violence in the country’s recent memory.

Nine people were killed in clashes between riot police and Sonko supporters on Thursday after he was sentenced to two years for corrupting youth. The opposition says the verdict, which could prevent Sonko from running in elections next year, was politically motivated.

Security forces patrolled streets, which were quiet on Friday but strewn with burned cars, rocks and broken glass and lined with damaged residences and businesses. Large groups of students were bused out of the university campus.

The army was deployed to reinforce security, government spokesperson Abdou Karim Fofana said.

Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar was the epicenter of Thursday’s violence, with protesters setting buses alight and throwing rocks at riot police, who responded by firing tear gas.

One student, Alioune Ndiaye, said he planned to travel hundreds of miles to his home in eastern Senegal to escape the violence.

“Yesterday was difficult and violent,” he said, heading for the campus gate with a backpack full of belongings. The bitter stench of tear gas still hung in the air.

“My main concern is that the school year could be canceled.”

Thursday’s riot was the latest bout in months of protests in Senegal, long considered one of West Africa’s strongest democracies, sparked by Sonko’s court case but also over concerns that President Macky Sall will try to bypass the two-term limit and run again in February elections.

Sall has neither confirmed nor denied this.

Sonko’s PASTEF party has called in a statement for citizens to “stop all activity and take to the streets.”

Internet cuts

Several social media and messaging platforms were still restricted on Friday as the government sought to limit online communications. Authorities in Dakar outlawed motorbikes for the next two days.

Normal life resumed tentatively in the Ouakam neighborhood. Shops reopened and people queued for bread.

A gang had tried to pillage shops in the area, said Mouhamad Diouf, a business owner. He and others defended their stores before security forces intervened.

“We thought they were going to burn down the shop,” said Diouf, 40.

Sonko, 48, was accused of raping Adji Sarr, a woman who worked in a massage parlor in 2021, when she was 20, and making death threats against her.

A criminal court cleared Sonko of rape, but found him guilty of an offense described in the penal code as immoral behavior towards individuals younger than 21.

He denies wrongdoing.

Many, especially the young, strongly support him. Cheikh Hann, a tailor, predicted that the unrest would continue.

“Young people are motivated, they will not let this go,” he said. “The government cannot eliminate opponents.”
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Cameroon Officials Say Prominent Traditional Ruler Freed After 18 Months of Separatist Captivity

Posted on by SeeAF

A prominent traditional leader in Cameroon’s troubled Northwest region has been freed after 18 months of being held captive by separatists. Government officials say Cameroon’s military rescued Fon Kevin Shumitang in battles with separatist fighters, but the fighters insist that they set the traditional ruler free.

Cameroon government officials say the central African state’s military freed Shumitang from a separatist camp in Bui, in the Northwest region on Thursday morning.

Government officials say several fighters were killed in the encounter but gave no further details.

Deben Tchoffo, the governor of the region, says the traditional leader’s release shows authorities are gradually restoring order after years of separatist unrest.  

“I would like to congratulate military men that carried out the operation, said Tchoffo. “They have been able to take back the Fon of Bambalang. Indeed, it is coming to confirm that things are coming back bit by bit normally in almost all the major parts on the Northwest region.”

Tchoffo says Shumitang will be presented to civilians at his palace after undergoing a medical examination. 

Images shared on social media and broadcast over local TV stations showed Shumitang unkempt but not looking thin or unhealthy.  

Shumitang was kidnapped from his palace in the town of Bambalang by separatist fighters led by self-proclaimed General No Pity on December 7, 2021, according to the military.

The military says it took a long time to free Shumitang because the government wanted him alive.

Capo Daniel is leader of the Ambazonia Peoples Rights Advocacy Platform, one of Cameroon’s separatist groups. 

He says the separatists released Shumitang after five months of negotiations.

“The Cameroon government arrested 15 family members of No Pity and transferred them to Yaounde,” said Daniel. “Both of them were used to pressurize No Pity to come to a compromise to release the Fon of Bambalang. That is exactly what happened. There was no military operation. The Fon was released and then handed over to the Cameroon authorities.

Daniel says the separatists expect officials to release No Pity’s family members in the days ahead as agreed during negotiations.

Cameroon’s military says the allegation that Shumitang’s release was negotiated is unfounded. 

The government has not said whether No Pity’s relatives were arrested to force the self-proclaimed general to release Shumitang.

Shumitang is the president of the Northwest region’s House of Chiefs and vice President of the Northwest Regional Assembly. Both structures are elected organs that discuss community development. 

Shumitang was elected during Cameroon’s first-ever regional elections in 2020. Separatists say he was abducted for participating in the House of Chiefs, a structure they say does not represent the aspirations of English speakers.

Cameroon’s English-speaking separatists launched their rebellion in 2017 after what they say was years of discrimination by the country’s French-speaking majority.

The conflict has killed more than 6,000 people and displaced more than 760,000 others, according to the International Crisis Group. 
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