Month: June 2023

8 Killed, 10 Abducted by Islamic Extremists in Northeastern Nigeria

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Islamic extremists killed eight farmers and abducted 10 in an attack in northeastern Nigeria, officials said Friday — the latest in a volatile region that is a key part of the country’s breadbasket and where militants have threatened food supplies. 

The farmers were ambushed in the bush in the Borno state’s Mafa district Thursday. The attackers slit their throats, authorities said. 

Babagana Zulum, the state governor, said the attack was an attempt to “sabotage the successes of the government” as it struggles to have those displaced in Borno return to their villages and rebuild their lives. 

He said the security forces need to rise to the challenge but also urged residents to take individual precautions. 

“We must rise to our responsibility and address the situation,” Zulum said. “I’ve told the people to be resilient, and they should be security-conscious and avoid remote locations.” 

Islamic extremist rebels launched an insurgency in Borno in 2009 to establish their radical interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia, in the region. At least 35,000 people have been killed and more than 2 million displaced because of the violence by the militant Boko Haram group and a breakaway faction backed by the Islamic State group. 

Borno’s farming communities have been frequently targeted in recent months, raising fears of extreme hunger as U.N. agencies continue to warn of famine. 

On Friday, local villagers are mourning the slain farmers while also decrying inadequate security measures in remote and volatile areas. 

Modu Ibrahim, a resident, said there were no security forces where the farmers’ bodies were found. The extremists spared one teenager whom they asked to “deliver the message” about the attack to other villagers, Ibrahim said. 

The Islamic insurgency in the northeast has also overstretched Nigeria’s security forces as they continue to battle other crises across the country, including continuing clashes between nomadic cattle herders and farming communities in northwest and central regions of the West African nation.
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Russia to Azerbaijan: Unblock Road Between Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh 

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Russia urged Azerbaijan to fully unblock the Lachin corridor on Friday, the only road that links Armenia with the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave where more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians live and rely on it for vital supplies. 

Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but its inhabitants are predominantly ethnic Armenians. The enclave broke away from Baku’s control in a war in the early 1990s. 

After heavy fighting and a Russian-brokered cease-fire, Azerbaijan in 2020 took over areas that had been controlled by ethnic Armenians in and around the mountain enclave, and Baku is now pushing for ethnic Armenian government and military structures to be dissolved and for the population to accept Azerbaijani passports. 

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement on Friday that the entrance to the corridor had been blocked by Azerbaijan in a move she said increased tensions at a time when Baku and Armenia are trying to agree to a peace treaty.  

There have been reports that the road was totally closed after June 15, when shots were fired in an incident in which the South Caucasus countries said in separate statements that one Azerbaijani and one Armenian border guard had been wounded. 

“Such steps lead to increased tension and are not conducive to maintaining a normal atmosphere around the ongoing process of normalizing relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia with Russian assistance. We call on Baku to unblock the Lachin corridor in its entirety,” said Zakharova.  

Baku has denied imposing a blockade but has said it has taken what it called “relevant measures to investigate the reasons for this provocation, as well as to ensure the security of the border checkpoint.”  

Azerbaijan in April established a checkpoint at the entrance to the corridor following months of disruption caused by people who called themselves Azerbaijani environmental activists, a step it said was essential due to what it cast as Armenia’s use of the road to transport weapons. 

Ruben Vardanyan, a billionaire banker who was a top official in Karabakh’s separatist government until February, on Thursday accused Baku of trying to “ethnically cleanse” the enclave by imposing what he called a goods and energy blockade — allegations that Azerbaijan denies. 

Azerbaijan’s foreign minister told Reuters in an interview that Baku was rejecting a demand from Armenia to provide special security guarantees for the enclave’s ethnic Armenians ahead of a new round of peace talks, saying they were sufficiently protected.
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Indian PM Modi Wraps Up Washington Trip With Appeal to Tech CEOs 

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with U.S. and Indian technology executives in Washington on Friday, the final day of a state visit where he agreed to new defense and technology cooperation and addressed challenges posed by China. 

U.S. President Joe Biden rolled out the red carpet for Modi on Thursday, declaring after about 2-1/2 hours of talks that their countries’ economic relationship was “booming.” Trade has more than doubled over the past decade. 

Biden and Modi gathered with CEOs including Apple’s Tim Cook, Google’s Sundar Pichai and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella. 

Also present were Sam Altman of OpenAI, NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, and Indian tech leaders including Anand Mahindra, chairman of Mahindra Group, and Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, the White House said. 

“Our partnership between India and the United States will go a long way, in my view, to define what the 21st century looks like,” Biden told the group, adding that technological cooperation would be a big part of that partnership. 

Observing that there were a variety of tech companies represented at the meeting from startups to well established firms, Modi said: “Both of them are working together to create a new world.” 

Modi, who has appealed to global companies to “Make in India,” will also address business leaders at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. The CEOs of top American companies, including FedEx, MasterCard and Adobe, are expected to be among the 1,200 participants.  

Not ‘about China’ 

The backdrop to Modi’s visit is the Biden administration’s attempts to draw India, the world’s most populous country at 1.4 billion and its fifth-largest economy, closer amid its growing geopolitical rivalry with Beijing. 

Modi did not address China directly during the visit, and Biden mentioned China only in response to a reporter’s question, but a joint statement included a pointed reference to the East and South China seas, where China has territorial disputes with its neighbors. 

Farwa Aamer, director for South Asia at the Asia Society Policy Institute, in an analysis note described that as “a clear signal of unity and determination to preserve stability and peace in the region.” 

Alongside agreements to sell weapons to India and share sensitive military technology, announcements this week included several investments from U.S.-firms aimed at spurring semiconductor manufacturing in India and lowering its dependence on China for electronics. 

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the challenges presented by China to both Washington and New Delhi were on the agenda but insisted the visit “wasn’t about China.” 

“This wasn’t about leveraging India to be some sort of counterweight. India is a sovereign, independent state,” Kirby said at a news briefing, adding that Washington welcomes India becoming “an increasing exporter of security” in the Indo-Pacific. 

“There’s a lot we can do in the security front together. And that’s really what we’re focused on,” Kirby said.  

Some political analysts question India’s willingness to stand up to Beijing over Taiwan and other issues, however. Washington has also been frustrated by India’s close ties with Russia while Moscow wages war in Ukraine.  

Diaspora ties 

Modi attended a lunch on Friday at the State Department with Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Asian American to hold the No. 2 position in the White House, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. 

In a toast, Harris spoke of her Indian-born late mother, Shyamala Gopalan, who came to the United States at age 19 and became a leading breast cancer researcher. 

“I think about it in the context of the millions of Indian students who have come to the United States since, to collaborate with American researchers to solve the challenges of our time and to reach new frontiers,” Harris said. 

Modi praised Gopalan for keeping India “close to her heart” despite the distance to her new home, and he called Harris “really inspiring.” 

On Friday evening, Modi will address members of the Indian diaspora, many of whom have turned out at events during the visit to enthusiastically fete him, at times chanting “Modi! Modi! Modi!” despite protests from others. 

Activists have called for the Biden administration to publicly call out what they describe as India’s deteriorating human rights record under Modi, citing allegations of abuse of Indian dissidents and minorities, especially Muslims. Modi leads the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and has held power since 2014. 

Biden said he had a “straightforward” discussion with Modi about issues including human rights, but U.S. officials emphasize that it is vital for Washington’s national security and economic prosperity to engage with a rising India. 

Asked during a rare press conference on Thursday what he would do to improve the rights of minorities including Muslims, Modi insisted “there is no space for any discrimination” in his government.
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US Files First-Ever Charges Against Chinese Fentanyl Manufacturers

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The U.S. Justice Department on Friday filed criminal charges against four Chinese chemical manufacturing companies and eight individuals over allegations they illegally trafficked the chemicals used to make fentanyl, a highly addictive painkiller that has fueled the opioid crisis in the United States.

The indictments mark the first time the United States has sought to prosecute any of the Chinese companies responsible for manufacturing the precursor chemicals used to make the painkiller.

Antony Blinken, who earlier this week made the first visit to China by a U.S. secretary of state in five years, said he made clear that the United States needed much greater cooperation from China on stemming the flow of fentanyl.

During the visit, China and the United States agreed to stabilize their intense rivalry so that it did not veer into conflict, but they failed to produce any breakthrough. The mood quickly soured again after U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday referred to Chinese leader Xi Jinping as a dictator.

The companies at the heart of the three separate indictments are accused of selling precursor chemicals to the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico, which in turn has flooded the United States with the drug.

The case comes two months after the Justice Department charged leaders of the cartel with running a fentanyl trafficking operation fueled by Chinese chemical companies. Those accused include three sons of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the onetime Sinaloa Cartel leader now imprisoned in the United States.

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, the department’s No. 2 official, said on Friday the cases “break new ground by attacking the fentanyl supply chain at its origin.”

“Fentanyl poses a singular threat, not only because the smallest doses can be lethal, but because fentanyl does not occur in nature. It is entirely man-made,” she added.

The Chinese Embassy did not respond to a request for comment.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan announced the unsealing of an indictment charging the China-based chemical company Hubei Amarvel Biotech and its executives Qingzhou Wang, 35, Yiyi Chen, 31, and Fnu Lnu, also known as Er Yang, with fentanyl trafficking, precursor chemical importation and money laundering offenses.

Undercover Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) sources posing as fentanyl manufacturers met with Wang and Chen earlier this year and agreed to buy 210 kilograms of fentanyl precursors in exchange for payment in cryptocurrency, authorities said. The DEA retrieved the chemicals from a Los Angeles warehouse in May.

Wang and Chen were arrested by DEA agents on June 8 and ordered detained by a federal magistrate judge in Honolulu, Hawaii, on June 9 until they can be transported to New York to appear before the judge handling the case.

Yang remains at large.

In the Eastern District of New York, meanwhile, prosecutors announced the unsealing of two more indictments against three other Chinese companies and individuals accused of conspiring to manufacture and distribute fentanyl in the United States.

Prosecutors said the companies — including one called Hebei Sinaloa Trading Co — advertised precursor chemicals on social media platforms in Mexico and the United States and used false customs forms and mislabeled packages to ship the chemicals by boat and air.
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Somalia Appeals for Removal of Arms Embargo 

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Somalian President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has urged the U.N. Security Council to lift an arms embargo on the nation, saying it no longer serves its purpose.

Some analysts, however, say Somalia is still struggling to ensure arms meant to provide security don’t end up in the hands of terrorists.

Mohamud told the Security Council on Thursday that his government had put in place sufficient measures to counter the illicit flow of arms. He said the government had established legislation to control the possession, manufacture, storage and use of firearms.

“I implore you distinguished delegates to support our call for the complete lifting of the arms embargo in Somalia,” he said. “By doing so, you will empower us to assert our sovereignty, effectively combat terrorism and build a peaceful and prosperous future for our nation.”

He noted the situation in Somalia had improved significantly, adding the Somalia of 2023 is not that of 1992, when the Security Council imposed the arms embargo.

Call for international help

Mohamed El-Amine Souef, chief of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), echoed calls to lift the embargo. He noted there was a need for concerted international efforts to protect gains made over the years and ensure sustained pressure against al-Shabab.

“We must support SSF [Somalia Security Force] leadership, hold liberated areas and take over FOBs [forward operating bases],” he said. “These forces require resources to fight al-Shabab and stabilize newly liberated areas. This calls for the lifting of the arms embargo on Somalia.”

Somalia is in the middle of a military operation against al-Shabab. The federal government has said it is on course to launch the second phase of the offensive dubbed Operation Black Lion. Unlike the first phase, which involved the Somali army and clan militia, the second phase will enlist the support of additional troops from Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti following an agreement among the countries in January.

Matt Bryden, chairman of Sahan, a policy and security research organization on the Horn of Africa, said that while the lifting of the embargo would be a positive step for Somalia as it tries to affirm its sovereignty, there is no concrete evidence it will change the security dynamics in the country.

“It’s not clear that lifting the arms embargo would actually change the situation or allow the government to improve its military position,” he said. “There are already exemptions for the government to receive military assistance, and there are only a few remaining restrictions on the types of weapons that it can procure.”

Skepticism on lifting embargo

Bryden said the Somali government couldn’t afford high-caliber weapons, even if the embargo was lifted. He added that despite the expression of opposition to the embargo by countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia, they remain apprehensive that weapons could still fall into the wrong hands. He noted that even at the Security Council, where Africa is represented by three countries, the position of the African Union is still against the removal of the embargo.

“I think the concerns of regional countries, the neighbors, Somalia’s neighbors, about lifting the arms embargo are principally that the federal government doesn’t control either the land borders or the maritime borders of Somalia,” he said. “And so, there is a concern that weapons would continue to enter Somalia freely, as they do even under the terms of the arms embargo.”

Samira Gaid, an independent security analyst in Mogadishu, told VOA the removal of the arms embargo was more critical at the moment, as Somalia battles al-Shabab militants.

“The country is in war against a terror group. It needs all the capacities that it can achieve to take on this group and fight this group and eliminate it from Somali territory,” she said. “So, the prevailing situation, really security situation, argues for a lifting of this arms embargo.”

But Gaid said the Security Council was not likely to lift the embargo soon. She argued that unless a clear road map was developed between Somalia and the council, the embargo would still be in place for some time.

Political questions

Analysts also have raised concerns about political disputes in Somalia and how they could work against an appeal for the lifting of the arms embargo.

Ismail Omar Dalmar, a political analyst with Linking Governance, a policy strategy consultancy in Mogadishu, said that while Mohamud has expressed a political will, political disputes, especially in Puntland and Somaliland, could undermine the president’s plea to the Security Council.

The council imposed the embargo on Somalia in 1992 following the collapse of the central government and subsequent civil war. In March 2013, the council, through Resolution 2093, relaxed the embargo to allow the Somali government to acquire a specific caliber of weapons for the development of its security forces and protection of its citizens.

The embargo, now in its third decade, has been described as the longest-running arms restriction in the history of the Security Council.
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Carter Center Celebrates Elimination of Trachoma in Mali

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In May, the World Health Organization certified that the countries of Benin and Mali eliminated trachoma as a public health problem, the fifth and sixth African countries to do so. As VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports, while the Carter Center is celebrating the milestone in Mali, its work in eliminating and eradicating trachoma in Ethiopia, Niger, South Sudan and Sudan continues.
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UN Says 37 Migrants Missing After Shipwreck Between Tunisia, Italy

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Thirty-seven migrants are missing after their boat capsized between Tunisia and the Italian island of Lampedusa, the International Organization for Migration said on Friday, citing an account by four survivors of the shipwreck.

The United Nations agency said the survivors, all from sub-Saharan Africa, arrived on Lampedusa late on Thursday, having been rescued by another vessel.

The survivors told the IOM they left the Tunisian port of Sfax heading for Italy with 46 people aboard, but their boat capsized in strong winds.

They recounted that five of their fellow travelers were picked up by another boat, while 37 are missing and feared dead, including seven women and a child, an IOM spokesman in Italy told Reuters.

Earlier, the U.N.’s High Commission for Refugees gave a similar account of the same incident, but said 40 people were believed to be missing, rather than 37.

There has been a surge in migration across the Mediterranean from Tunisia this year after a crackdown by Tunis on migrants from sub-Saharan Africa living in the country illegally and reports of racist attacks amid an economic downturn.

At least 12 African migrants were missing and three died after three boats sank off Tunisia, a judicial official said on Thursday, while the country’s coast guard rescued 152 others.

It was not immediately clear if the four survivors who recounted their story to the IOM were on one of these three boats.
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Carter Center Celebrates Trachoma Elimination Milestone in Mali 

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The Carter Center was already a decade into its fight against Guinea worm globally when former President Jimmy Carter and his nonprofit took on another neglected tropical disease in the African nation of Mali.

“From 1996 to 1998, it was estimated about 85,000 to 90,000 people would go blind from trachoma,” said Kelly Callahan, director of the Carter Center’s trachoma control program. “Twenty-five[%] to 50% of the children between the ages of 1 and 9, in all areas of Mali, suffered from the beginning stages of this disease.”

It was a statistic Callahan said troubled Carter.

“The Hilton Foundation asked President Carter and the Carter Center if we would be willing to consider working on sanitation and water to combat this disease called trachoma in Mali and Niger,” she said. The nonprofit foundation has been working to prevent avoidable blindness for more than 20 years.

The Carter Center set a goal of eliminating the disease in both countries. Trachoma can be transmitted through infected discharge from the eyes and nose.

“This disease is preventable,” Callahan explained to VOA during a recent Skype interview. It is “a bacterial infection that stems from access, or lack of access, to water and sanitation, poor living conditions, socioeconomically stressed populations.”

Since 1998, the Carter Center and its partners have funded and staffed programs with host nations to develop widespread strategies to treat and prevent infections, even during Mali’s recent armed conflict and continuing instability.

In May, the World Health Organization certified that the countries of Benin and Mali had eliminated trachoma as a public health problem. Six countries in Africa have reached that milestone.

The Carter Center believes its program in Mali has helped avert blindness in more than 5 million people, and the antibiotics used to combat trachoma also help prevent infant mortality, the center said.

“The elimination of trachoma as a public health problem is no less than Herculean,” Callahan told VOA.

Sadi Moussa, the Carter Center’s senior representative in Mali who spoke to VOA via Skype, said he believed the success of his organization’s program to eliminate trachoma could boost efforts to combat other neglected tropical diseases, like Guinea worm.

“Working in an unstable country like this is really challenging for everyone,” Moussa said. “This will also help us with donors to show them that we are serious in what we are doing, and we can convince them to get more resources.”

While Carter has retired from public life and is receiving hospice care at his home in Plains, Georgia, Callahan said the center keeps him up to date on the status of its health programs, including recent developments in Mali.

“We heard that President Carter was thrilled beyond belief, so we’re very excited that he knows,” Callahan said, adding that while Mali’s elimination milestone is important, the Carter Center’s work in Africa is far from over.

“Currently, we work in five countries, including Mali. Those countries have the worst known trachoma in the world and are also areas of severe challenges and insecurity and are areas of conflict,” she said.

The World Health Organization said trachoma remains in 23 countries throughout Africa, with approximately 105 million people on the continent living in areas at high risk for infection. 
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Experts, Activists Review Tumultuous Year Since US Court Ruling on Abortion

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Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed a woman’s federal right to an abortion. Since then, U.S. states have decided on the regulations governing the procedure, and the issue has become even more politically crucial in U.S. campaigns and elections. VOA’s Laurel Bowman reports.
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Ukrainian Graduates Can Take Final State Exam Abroad

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Poland hosts about half a million school-aged Ukrainian refugee children. Many high school graduates outside their homeland choose to take Ukraine’s final state exam, which is mandatory for applying to Ukrainian universities and sometimes accepted by European ones. After the war started, the test was held in Ukraine and locations abroad. Lesia Bakalets has the story from Warsaw, Poland. Video: Daniil Batushchak 
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Cameroon Widows Protest Government Neglect, Plead for Assistance

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In Cameroon, hundreds of women made widows by the country’s separatist conflict are protesting what they call the government’s lack of support. The widows say they have been left vulnerable to violence and abuse in the conflict, which has claimed more than 6,000 lives, and they are struggling to support their families.

The song “Veuve” in the French language, which translates to widow in English, by Cameroonian singer Giselle Otabela, blasts through speakers at a courtyard in the Yaounde 3rd district council in Cameroon’s capital.

Otabela sings that conflicts are increasing the number of poor and desperate widows in Cameroon.

The Cameroon Anglophone Crisis Widows Association says it organized a 1-kilometer peace walk to protest the Cameroon government’s neglect of widows.

Thirty-six-year-old Asu Ebangha is the president of the Widows Association and says several hundred widows agreed to come out and make their voices and grievances heard on International Widows Day on June 23.

“I am a widow, and I champion the course for widows. The widows are so poor, they are maltreated, they cannot take care of their children and it is a whole lot of trauma,” said Ebangha. “You will not be happy to see your children moving around from door to door, begging for food, begging for clothes. They can’t go to school and all of this.”

Ebangha said she lost her husband in 2019 during violent clashes between Cameroon government troops and separatist fighters in Menji, an English-speaking southwestern town. She says she escaped to Yaounde with her three children and was homeless for six months before the Catholic Women Association gave her a room for lodging.

Ebangha said several hundred displaced widows are homeless and hungry.

Since 2017 Cameroon’s military has been battling separatists fighting to carve out an independent, English-speaking state from Cameroon and its French-speaking majority.

The International Crisis Group estimates that six years of fighting has killed about 6,000 people and displaced more than 750,000.

Cameroon also is facing Boko Haram attacks that began in Nigeria’s Borno state in 2009 before spreading to neighboring countries, including Cameroon, Chad, and Niger.

The United Nations says the Islamist insurgency has left more than 36,000 people dead, mainly in Nigeria, and displaced 3 million.

The Global Fund for Widows, or GFW, says that because of the crises, several thousand of Cameroon’s estimated 800,000 widows are at an increased risk of violence, discrimination, ill health and rights abuses.

Marie Therese Abena Ondoua is Cameroon’s minister of Women’s Empowerment and the Family. She says the government is assisting widows but state resources are limited.

“We should really do everything to improve their well-being. After the husband’s departure [death], she should not suffer,” said Ondoua. “When you have rampant poverty, things are even worse, but the widows should know that when they ask for help, our services do their best to give assistance to those widows, and we work with the civil society because the government cannot do it all [alone].”

Ondoua says civilians should stop disinheritance, discrimination and other .harmful

traditional practices targeting widows. He said harmful widowhood rites, including forcing women to sleep with the corpses of their late husbands and to drink water used in bathing the bodies as a sign they did not kill their spouses, should be stopped.

The GFW says the average Cameroonian widow registered with its local partner has three children, with some having as many as 12. The GWF says widows are in unthinkable situations because they face extreme poverty, starvation and a lack humanitarian aid.
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Four Ukrainians Intern at New York’s Metropolitan Opera

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The Metropolitan Opera in New York not only organizes concerts and campaigns to support Ukraine but also has offered four Ukrainians an internship. Iryna Solomko has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.
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Libya Arrests 50 Chinese Nationals in Crackdown on Crypto Mining

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Libyan authorities have dismantled a crypto mining operation in the country’s west, the prosecution in Tripoli said Thursday, adding that 50 Chinese nationals had been detained.  

Interior ministry agents searching a farm in Zliten, some 160 kilometers east of the capital, found “minors exploiting significant material capacity to generate virtual currencies with the help of 50 Chinese nationals” who were taken into custody, prosecutors said in a statement.  

A video shared on the Facebook page of the Tripoli prosecutor’s office showed several structures without any windows but dozens of industrial fans, with large quantities of computers and hardware.  

On Wednesday, prosecutors announced authorities had dismantled another illegal crypto-mining farm in the port city of Misrata, adding it was operated by 10 Chinese nationals.  

Such sites, which normally operate around the clock, require strong servers, a stable internet connection and expensive equipment.  

But war-ravaged Libya experiences regular power cuts and irregular internet speeds.  

According to tech watchdog Digiconomist, mining for bitcoin — the world’s most popular cryptocurrency — requires about 1,150 kWh of electricity.  

Many countries worldwide have banned crypto mining including China, which had been a global leader in manufacturing virtual currency before forbidding it in June 2021.  

Libya’s central bank banned any transaction in cryptocurrency in 2018, pending legislation to regulate its use in the North African country which is divided between two rival administrations.
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Amnesty Accuses Spain, Morocco of Covering Up Racist Border Practices

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Saturday marks the anniversary of an attempt by approximately 2,000 sub-Saharan African migrants and refugees to cross over from Morocco to Spain. At least 37 people died in the attempt, and 76 are still unaccounted for.

Amnesty International Friday accused Morocco and Spain of conducting a cover-up of their racist practices at the border.

The group said Spain failed to open an independent investigation after Spanish prosecutors dropped their investigation because they said they had not found any criminal misconduct by Spanish security forces. Morocco never opened a probe, the group said.

“At the Moroccan side of the border, and as a result of the cooperation between the two countries, Moroccan authorities continue preventing Black sub-Saharan Africans from reaching Spanish territory to apply for asylum at the border post,” AI said in a statement.

“What happened in Melilla is a salutary reminder that racist migration policies aimed at fortifying borders and restricting safe and legal routes for people seeking safety in Europe have real and deadly consequences,” Amnesty International Secretary-General Agnès Callamard said in the statement. “It is hard to escape the racialized element of what happened in Melilla and the dehumanizing way in which Black people are treated at Europe’s borders, when they are living, missing or dead.”

The organization said 22 bodies from the incident remain in a morgue in Morocco.
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Latest in Ukraine: Zelenskyy Warns About Russian Attack on Ukraine’s Nuclear Facility

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Latest developments:

Ukraine's military said early Friday that air raid alerts had been sounded throughout the country.
A joint statement issued by U.S. President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Marendra Modi said Thursday that both leaders "have expressed their deep concern over the conflict in Ukraine and mourned its terrible and tragic humanitarian consequences." The statement also said Biden and Modi, who is in Washington on a state visit, have, in connection with Ukraine, called for "respect for international law, principles of the UN charter, and territorial integrity and sovereignty."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there was fierce fighting along the front lines but that his forces were advancing in southern Ukraine and holding defensive lines in the eastern part of the country.
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said the safety and security situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is "extremely fragile" following the destruction of the nearby Kakhovka dam. He called on all sides in the conflict to act to adhere to principles to prevent a nuclear accident.   

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday he believes Russia may be preparing for an attack on Ukraine’s nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest nuclear facility.

“Full de-occupation of the Zaporizhzhia NPP is a must,” the president said in his daily address.   “Anyone who turns a blind eye to Russia’s occupation of such a facility, to Russia’s mining of the territory and facilities of the nuclear power plant, is actually contributing not only to this Russian evil, but also to terror in general.”

Zelenskyy warned about the dire consequences of such an attack. “Obviously, radiation does not ask who is neutral and can reach anyone in the world,” the Ukrainian leader said.

Russian officials said Thursday that overnight airstrikes by Ukrainian forces damaged a bridge linking the Crimean Peninsula to the Kherson region of southern Ukraine.

The Chongar bridge is one of the few routes Russian forces use to move between Crimea and other parts of Ukraine under Russian control. Russia has occupied Crimea since annexing it in 2014 in a move rejected by most of the international community.

The Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti reported that investigators said four missiles were fired at the bridge and that the remains of one of them showed markings of being French-made. Vladimir Konstantinov, chairman of Crimea’s parliament, said damage to the bridge was not severe and likely could be repaired within several days.

As is often the case, Ukraine did not confirm responsibility for the attack, with a defense spokesman saying only, “If the stars are lit, it means it was done for a reason, right? We can only say that there will be a continuation.”

Russia and Ukraine control different parts of Kherson province, a focus of fighting during Kyiv’s counteroffensive aimed at recapturing Russia-held territory.

Overall, the counteroffensive appears to be slow-moving. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that Ukraine’s army had advanced seven kilometers and had retaken territory that included eight villages during the last two weeks.

“As the president of Ukraine [Volodymyr Zelenskyy] said yesterday, the counteroffensive is not a Hollywood movie. It’s not easy walk,” Shmyhal told reporters at a Ukraine Recovery Conference in London.

“The counteroffensive is a number of military operations,” he said. “Sometimes it’s offensive, sometimes it’s defensive. Sometimes it could be tactical pauses. Unfortunately, during our preparation for this counteroffensive, Russians were preparing too. So, there is so much minefields, which really make it slower.”

“We [do] not bring our people into the fire of this war as Russians (are) doing. … We will do very smart offensive operations and because of this it will take time,” the prime minister said. “We all should have patience and we will see results.”

EU sanctions

The European Union Wednesday imposed new sanctions against Russia for its war against Ukraine, targeting countries where businesses have used loopholes in previous sanctions to continue to trade with Russia, effectively supporting President Vladimir Putin’s 16-month invasion.

The 27-nation EU had previously imposed 10 rounds of sanctions against Russian companies, while freezing assets and imposing travel bans on more than 1,000 officials.

The new sanctions are aimed at keeping key war-related materials and goods from reaching Russia via nations that trade with the EU but have also maintained a business-as-usual relationship with Moscow.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, head of the EU’s executive arm, said the new sanctions will “deal a further blow to Putin’s war machine with tightened export restrictions, targeting entities supporting the Kremlin.”

“Our anti-circumvention tool will prevent Russia from getting its hands on sanctioned goods,” she said.

Aside from sanctions against Iranians alleged to be supplying drones to Russia, it is the first time that the EU has targeted trade via other countries.

The new package will also target 71 individuals and 33 entities in relation with the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Also included is a prohibition to accessing ports in the EU by vessels engaged in ship-to-ship transfers when there is a suspicion that a boat is not respecting the ban on importing seaborne Russian crude oil and petroleum products into the bloc. In addition, the package extends the suspension of the broadcasting licenses in the EU of five Russian media outlets under state control.

NATO expansion

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday encouraged Turkey to support ratifying Sweden’s accession to NATO.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Blinken expressed support for Sweden to be admitted at this time during talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on the sidelines of a Ukraine recovery conference in London.

Sweden and Finland applied for membership in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Finland officially joined in April, but Sweden’s accession has been held up by Turkey’s objections to what it said was a lack of action by Sweden against groups that Turkey considers terrorists.

With three weeks until NATO leaders gather for a summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, Sweden expressed hope that it will be able to join the alliance.

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom told Reuters that Turkey’s parliament should begin the process of ratifying Sweden’s NATO bid.

Sweden has carried out a number of reforms, including a new anti-terror law, as part of an agreement struck with Turkey last year to address security concerns.

“Our judgment is that we have done what was expected of us. Now it is time for the Turkish parliament to start the ratification process,” Billstrom told Reuters on the sidelines of a meeting in parliament.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Experts: Fragile US-China Thaw Unlikely to Ease Seoul-Beijing Tension 

Posted on by SeeUS

A fragile thaw in U.S.-China relations is unlikely to significantly reduce tensions between Seoul and Beijing, experts said.

Stalled talks between the world’s two biggest economies were revived when Washington and Beijing agreed over the weekend to maintain high-level communication channels and to stabilize relations that had hit a low point after a suspected Chinese spy balloon flew across the continental U.S.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday at a news briefing that his trip to Beijing on June 18-19 represented “progress.”

But Seoul’s close alignment with the U.S. on policies aimed at countering what both see as China’s challenges to a democratic values-based international system has made Beijing increasingly antagonistic toward its neighbor.

Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming on June 8 openly criticized Seoul, saying placing “wrong bets” in the U.S.-China rivalry would lead to “many difficulties” for South Korea.

South Korea’s First Vice Foreign Minister Chang Ho-jin summoned Xing a day later and expressed strong dissatisfaction over his remarks.

“The South Korean government has made known several times that its position in seeking South Korea-China bilateral relations is based on mutual respect, and China should also put efforts toward that direction,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jung Hyung-kwon told VOA’s Korean Service in a phone interview on Tuesday.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington told VOA’s Korean Service on Wednesday that any response to Seoul’s comments should be requested from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a news briefing on June 13 “there is no point in making an issue” out of Xing’s remarks. He said, “A sound and steady China-ROK relationship serves the common interests of both sides.” South Korea’s official name is the Republic of Korea.

‘Premature’ to expect improvements

Daniel Russel, who served as the assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs during the Obama administration, said, “It’s premature to conclude that Blinken’s trip will produce a sustained improvement in the U.S.-China relations, let alone have an impact on the ROK-China relations.”

Russel said that “Washington’s partners seem to value” its efforts to reduce escalating tensions and “are confident about Washington’s resolve to push back against coercive and destabilizing behavior” of China.

Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs, visited Seoul on Wednesday to explain, as a member of the delegation, Blinken’s two-day meetings in Beijing.

Kritenbrink told Deputy Foreign Minister Choi Youngsam that the U.S. sought to maintain high-level communication channels with China to prevent any miscalculation from leading to an unwanted conflict.

He said the U.S. planned to continue its close cooperation with its allies including South Korea to defend a free and open Indo-Pacific and the rules-based international order.

South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Chang Ho-jin, who also met with the assistant secretary of state, said Kritenbrink’s Seoul visit demonstrated close Washington-Seoul relations.

Dennis Wilder, senior director for East Asia affairs at the White House’s National Security Council during the George W. Bush administration, said diplomatic ties between Washington and Beijing were renewed a bit but still fragile. Military tensions remain high, with the Chinese military “aggressively monitoring U.S. air and naval activities in international waters near China’s coast,” he said.

In this context, he said, he does “not have a great deal of hope” that Beijing will become “less belligerent in its approaches to the Yoon administration” as “China is adamantly opposed to many of the policies of the Yoon government.”

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said in April that the Taiwan issue was not simply a matter between China and Taiwan and that he opposed changing the status quo in Taiwan by using force.

China considers self-governing Taiwan as part of its territory and has ramped up its disruption of international navigation in the Taiwan Strait. On June 8, more than 35 Chinese military aircraft made incursions into the Taiwanese air defense zone, prompting the island’s military to activate its defense system.

China also has repeatedly intruded into South Korea’s air defense zone without warning. On June 6, South Korean jets chased away four Chinese and Russian military aircraft from its air defense zones.

The incident followed what the U.S. military said was an “unsafe” maritime move by a Chinese warship that came close to colliding with a U.S. destroyer exercising a freedom of navigation transit in the Taiwan Strait on June 3.

In a news conference on Monday, Blinken said that “China has not agreed” to restore military-to-military channels of communications that would help to avoid miscalculations leading into clashes.

Concerned by China’s increasingly aggressive military actions, the U.S. has been urging its allies and partners, including South Korea, to restrict the sale of high-end semiconductors that China can use to advance its military.

“Washington does not expect them to stop taking advantage of business opportunities in China,” Wilder said.

“That said, in those areas of emerging technologies where Washington is trying to halt leakage of key components, such as high-end semiconductors, the United States will want its allies and partners to be alert to any attempts by companies within their border to violate the restrictions.”

Blinken said in an interview with CBS News on Monday that the U.S. was not “trying to hold China back economically,” as that would be “profoundly against our own interests.”

However, he said, “it’s not in our interest to provide” or “sell” to China “sensitive technology that China is using to advance its own very opaque nuclear weapons program, to build hypersonic missiles, to create technology that can be used for repressive purposes.”

Kim Hyungjin contributed to this report.
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SCO Members Lack Unity on Taliban Terrorism Concerns

Posted on by SeeEU

Frustration with the rising threat of terrorism emanating from Afghanistan emerged at a meeting this week of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a defense and economic alliance platform consisting of China, Russia, India, Iran and five other Asian states.

Russia and Tajikistan say Afghanistan, which holds an uncertain observer status in the SCO following the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, has become a breeding ground for regional terrorist groups.

“According to our information, terrorist groups such as al-Qaida, Hizb ut-Tahrir, the Islamic Movement of Eastern Turkistan, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, TTP, Jamaat Ansarullah are currently present in Afghanistan and pose serious threats to neighboring countries,” said Amirbeg Begnazarov, a representative of Tajikistan, at an event Wednesday jointly hosted by the SCO and the United Nations.

He said his nation was “very concerned about the concentration of different terrorist groups next to our borders that we’ve never had before [and it] is increasing day by day.”

Russia’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, recently said that the Taliban’s return to power had bolstered terrorist organizations operating in Afghanistan, a charge echoed by other highly placed Russians.

Vladimir Voronkov, a former Russian diplomat who now heads the U.N. Office of Counter-Terrorism, said this week that Afghanistan had become “an epicenter for the dissemination of terrorism” under the Taliban.

Unlike Russia, China has refrained from making such blistering allegations against the Taliban and has instead actively engaged the isolated Islamist regime.

“Afghanistan is at a critical phase of transitioning from chaos to order,” Zhang Jun, the Chinese permanent representative at the U.N., told a Security Council meeting on Afghanistan on Wednesday.

Zhang said the international community should engage with de facto Taliban authorities and help the country achieve stability and economic prosperity.

Domestic vs. regional concerns

Russia cautiously welcomed the Taliban’s return to power following the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

Shy of a formal recognition, Russia has handed over the Afghan Embassy in Moscow to the Taliban. It maintained its diplomatic mission in Kabul until September, when it was attacked.

Ten people, including two Russian Embassy staff, were killed and several others injured in the suicide attack claimed by the Islamic State extremist group.

The attack prompted Russia to shut its diplomatic mission in Afghanistan, warning about increased terrorism risks originating from the landlocked nation and threatening its Central Asian neighbors where Russian troops are stationed.

Within SCO members, “differing threat perceptions of particular extremist or separatist groups, political sensitivities and sovereignty concerns, as well as lack of genuine trust among member states, make concrete counterterrorism cooperation very difficult — besides some limited information sharing,” Jiayi Zhou, an expert at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, told VOA.

While Russia is more vocal about terrorism threats it perceives from the Islamic State group, some SCO members see threats from other militant groups allegedly based in Afghanistan, experts say.

“The trust deficits and divergences within the SCO have resulted in most member countries using bilateral channels to establish ties with the Taliban for geostrategic, geoeconomics and individual security guarantees,” said Ayjaz Ahmad Wani, a researcher at the Observer Research Foundation, an Indian policy institute.

Pakistan has followed the Chinese lead even while officials say Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, a militant group seeking to overthrow the government in Islamabad, has intensified terrorist attacks from its purported havens inside Afghanistan.

Last month, at the 5th China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue in Islamabad, the parties agreed to promote trilateral cooperation in security, development and political fronts.

“The SCO as a regional security platform has largely been ineffective,” said Zhou, adding that member states have pursued different security and political priorities since the inception of the organization more than two decades ago.

Toppled from power in 2001 by a U.S.-led coalition for their alleged support for international terrorism, the Taliban, even after recapturing power in 2021, face terrorism sanctions from many countries.

Taliban leaders maintain that they host no terrorist group and do not threaten the security of any nation.
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South Kordofan Residents Flee as New Front in Sudan War Develops

Posted on by SeeAF

Residents of the city of Kadugli in southwestern Sudan began fleeing the city Thursday as tensions escalated between the army and a powerful rebel group, threatening to open another area of conflict in the country’s ongoing war, witnesses said.

Mobilization around Kadugli, capital of South Kordofan state, and an escalation of fighting in Darfur come after nearly 10 weeks of fighting focused in the capital, Khartoum, between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The United States and Saudi Arabia adjourned talks they had been facilitating in Jeddah, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Molly Phee said at a congressional hearing in Washington.

“The format is not succeeding in the way that we want,” she said, after a series of violated ceasefire agreements.

Since mid-April the war has uprooted more than 2.5 million people from their homes and threatened to destabilize neighboring countries suffering from a combination of conflict, poverty and economic pressures.

In the fighting between the army and the RSF, army air strikes on Thursday morning hit areas of southern Khartoum and Omdurman, and the RSF responded with anti-aircraft weaponry, residents said.

Escalation in the west

The army on Wednesday accused the SPLM-N rebel group led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu, which controls parts of South Kordofan state, of breaking a long-standing cease-fire agreement and attacking an army unit in the city. 

The army said it had fought back the incursion but sustained losses. 

South Kordofan has Sudan’s main oil fields and borders West Darfur State as well as South Sudan.  

The SPLM-N, which has strong ties to South Sudan, also attacked the army in the South Kordofan city of al-Dalanj on Wednesday, as did the RSF, residents said. 

Residents of Kadugli said the army had redeployed forces to protect its positions in the city Thursday, while the SPLM-N was gathering in areas on the outskirts.  

There were electricity and communications outages as well as dwindling food and medical supplies, they said.  

The war has also brought an eruption of violence in Darfur, with the West Darfur city of El Geneina worst hit. 

In Al Fashir, capital of North Darfur, the army and the RSF clashed violently, including around the main market, after having deployed across the city Thursday, witnesses said.

Nyala, capital of South Darfur and one of Sudan’s largest cities, has also seen clashes between the army and RSF in recent days, amid electricity and communications blackouts. Both cities had been relatively calm after locally negotiated truces.
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Mali Rebels Warn UN Peacekeeping Departure Will Kill Peace Deal 

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The departure of a U.N. peacekeeping mission from Mali will strike a “fatal blow” to a peace accord and threaten stability across the region, a coalition of armed groups in the north of the country has warned. 

But Mali’s junta has asked the peacekeeping force, known as MINUSMA, to leave “without delay,” a demand that followed years of fraying relations between the U.N. and Bamako’s military leadership. 

“The departure of MINUSMA without a credible alternative would constitute a threat to security in Mali and the whole region,” the coalition, called the Permanent Strategic Framework for Peace, Security and Development (CSP-PSD), said in a statement on Wednesday. 

A spokesman for the junta did not respond to a request for comment. 

It is not clear if or when MINUSMA will leave. The force has been in the West African country since 2013 after a Tuareg-led separatist insurgency was hijacked by Islamist groups that have gone on to kill thousands of people and control large parts of northern and central Mali.

MINUSMA has struggled to contain the Islamist violence, but it has played a role in placating the separatists, who halted their offensive in 2015 with the Algiers Accord. 

Still, the signatories have been at odds with the junta that consolidated power in two coups in 2020 and 2021. In December, CSP-PSD pulled out of talks, saying it would come back to the table only in a neutral country under international mediation. 

MINUSMA’s mandate runs out on June 30, and it was in talks to extend it before Mali’s announcement. Security experts say an orderly departure of 13,000 troops and equipment could take a year at least. 

There are fears the country – which has burned bridges with Western allies since the coups and turned to Russian private military contractor Wagner Group for help – could slide deeper into chaos if separatist sentiments resurge.
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Big Names in Fashion, Tech, Entertainment Attend DC Dinner for India’s Modi

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Titans of business, fashion, entertainment and more made the guest list for Thursday’s big White House dinner in honor India’s Narendra Modi, with the likes of designer Ralph Lauren, filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan and tennis legend Billie Jean King rubbing shoulders with tech leaders from Apple, Google and Microsoft. 

Shyamalan powered past reporters as he arrived, declaring it was “lovely” to be at the White House. Lauren revealed he’d designed first lady Jill Biden’s off-shoulder green gown for the occasion, calling her style “chic and elegant.” And violinist Joshua Bell, part of the after-dinner entertainment, said the evening was a “little different than anything I’ve done before.” 

“I’ll skip out and practice for half an hour” during dinner, he reported. 

Saris and sequins were prominent among those attending the splashy event, with a guest list of about 400 names heavy with prominent Indian Americans. Politicians of both parties also made the cut, notably including Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise. 

Other notables on the guest list included social media influencer Jay Shetty, big Democratic donors including Florida lawyer John Morgan and civil rights activist Martin Luther King III. The CEO contingent included Apple’s Tim Cook, Google’s Sundar Pichai and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella. 

Guests were to dine on a plant-based menu of millet, mushrooms and strawberry shortcake, catering to the vegetarian tastes of the prime minister. For guests wanting something more, there was roast sea bass available on request. 

Despite deep differences over human rights and India’s stance on Russia’s war in Ukraine, President Joe Biden extended to Modi the administration’s third invitation for a state visit. It included the state dinner, a high diplomatic honor that the U.S. reserves for its closest allies. 

Biden hopes all the pomp and attention being lavished on Modi — from the thousands who gathered on the White House lawn to cheer his arrival in the morning to the splashy dinner at the end of the day — will help him firm up relations with the leader of a country the U.S. believes will be a pivotal force in Asia for decades to come. 

Guests were riding trolley cars down to a pavilion erected on the White House south grounds decorated in the green and saffron colors of India’s flag. 

Despite concerns about backsliding on democracy in India, Representative Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said she was attending to send the message that the nation of 1.4 billion people is important and “we must call out some of the real issues that are threatening the viability of democracy in all of our countries.” 

A group of more than 70 lawmakers, organized by Jayapal, wrote to Biden this week urging him to raise concerns about the erosion of religious, press and political freedoms with Modi. 

Jayapal, who praised Modi’s leadership skills, told The Associated Press earlier that Modi “has the ability to move India and the people in his party back to the values that we have held so dear as a country.” 

Pichai said he looked forward to the dinner as “an exciting time for U.S.-India relations.” 

“I think we have two countries which have a lot of shared foundations, large democratic systems and values,” Pichai said earlier Thursday in an interview. He cited technology as one area of mutual interest between the nations. “So I think it’s an exciting opportunity. I’m glad there is a lot of investment in a bilateral relationship.” 

Jill Biden enlisted California-based chef Nancy Curtis to help in the kitchen. Curtis specializes in plant-based cooking and said the menu “showcases the best of American cuisine seasoned with Indian elements and flavors.” She said she used millet because India is leading an international year of recognition for the grain. 

The dinner featured a salad of marinated millet, corn and compressed watermelon, stuffed Portobello mushrooms and saffron risotto, and a strawberry shortcake infused with cardamom and rose syrup. 

Lotus flowers, which are native to Asia and featured in Indian design, were visible throughout the pavilion, along with saffron-hued floral arrangements that differed from table to table. 

“We hope guests feel as if someone has set that table just for them — because we have,” the first lady said as she and her staff previewed the setup. 

After-dinner entertainment was from Bell; Penn Masala, a South Asian a cappella group founded by students at the University of Pennsylvania; and the U.S. Marine Band Chamber Orchestra. 

India was last honored with a state visit in 2009, when President Barack Obama pulled out all the stops for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. More than 300 guests attended what was the first big social event of the new administration. 

But it made headlines worldwide after a celebrity-seeking husband and wife were admitted, even though they were not invited, and were able to interact with both leaders. 

The embarrassing episode led the White House and U.S. Secret Service, which protects the president and the executive mansion, to overhaul its clearance and security procedures. 

 
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Biden Doubles Down on Xi Dictator Comment

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President Joe Biden on Thursday doubled down on comments he made earlier this week likening Chinese President Xi Jinping to a dictator.

Asked about the comments during a joint press conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House, Biden said his blunt statements regarding China were “just not something I’m going to change very much.”

He made another indirect criticism of the Chinese system of government, saying that a fundamental reason he believes the U.S.-China relationship is not in the same place as the U.S.-India relationship “is that there’s an overwhelming respect for each other because we’re both democracies.”

He downplayed the impact of his words on already tense U.S.-China ties and said he still expected to meet with Xi soon.

On Wednesday, a senior administration official said in a statement sent to VOA, “It should come as no surprise that the president speaks candidly about China and the differences that we have. We are certainly not alone in that.”

At a California fundraiser for his 2024 presidential campaign on Tuesday, Biden said Xi was taken by surprise when a suspected Chinese spy balloon drifted across the continental United States before the U.S. military shot it down in February.

“That’s what’s a great embarrassment for dictators, when they didn’t know what happened,” Biden said. “When it got shot down, he was very embarrassed. He denied it was even there.”

Biden’s “splashy designation of Xi as a dictator” just days prior to extending the honor of an official state visit to Modi was well-timed, said Michael Butler, associate professor of political science at Clark University.

While the Modi visit is “clearly indicative of the Biden administration’s grand strategy to court India as a counterweight to China,” the president’s remark can be seen “both as an attempt to highlight Indian democracy as well as, more cynically, to soft-pedal Modi’s prominent assaults on it,” Butler said.

China responds

China’s Foreign Ministry hit back at the dictator remark, saying Biden’s comment had “seriously violated China’s political dignity and amounted to public political provocation.”

“The relevant remarks by the U.S. side are extremely ridiculous and irresponsible. They seriously violate basic facts, diplomatic protocol and China’s political dignity,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at her Wednesday briefing. “China is strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposed to this.”

The press is usually forbidden from recording a U.S. president’s fundraising events, but the White House provided a transcript of Biden’s remarks.

The comments were especially notable as they were made a day after Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing to try to repair bilateral relations that have hit a historic low. Washington postponed Blinken’s visit, originally scheduled for February, after the balloon was destroyed.

While Blinken’s visit failed to produce any major breakthrough, he and Xi agreed to stabilize the U.S.-China rivalry so it does not veer into conflict.

The State Department rejected the notion that Biden’s comments were counterproductive to his top diplomat’s efforts.

“We will continue to responsibly manage this relationship, maintain open lines of communication with the PRC, but that, of course, does not mean we will not be blunt and forthright about our differences,” department spokesperson Vedant Patel said in his briefing Wednesday.

“We have been very clear about the areas in which we disagree, including the clear differences we see when it comes to democracies and autocracies,” he added.

Biden’s comments brought renewed focus on the balloon incident that administration officials have sought to put behind them since the president signaled a thaw in relations in May, following a meeting between White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and top Communist Party diplomat Wang Yi.

Domestic pressure

Biden is facing domestic pressure from Republicans in Congress who have sought to portray his administration as weak on China and have characterized efforts to mend ties with Beijing as tantamount to appeasement.

“The Biden administration is holding back U.S. national security actions to chase fruitless talks with the CCP,” Representative Michael McCaul, Republican chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.

Last week a group of Republican senators sent a letter to Biden urging a public accounting of his administration’s assessment of the suspected spy balloon and expressing frustration with its “failure to confront China’s brazen threats to America’s security and sovereignty.”

“Republicans won’t let it go because it provides them with extra ammunition,” said Michael Swaine, a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. “You’ve got sniping going on in the party, people in Congress who think they know better about how to manage the relationship, when they don’t,” he told VOA.

Rising tensions

The bitter rhetoric shows how challenging it is to bring down tensions and jump-start communications between the two rivals.

“If the engagements we’re seeing are then followed by such direct criticisms from very senior officials, I think the Chinese side is going to ask what the point of the engagement is in the first place,” said Zack Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

“I do think there’s going to be probably some pretty difficult conversations between Beijing and Washington over the next few days and the next few weeks,” Cooper told VOA.

Moscow also condemned Biden’s comments. On Wednesday, the Kremlin said the comments reflected the U.S. administration’s “unpredictable” foreign policy.

“This is a very contradictory manifestation of U.S. foreign policy, which points to a significant element of unpredictability,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
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Georgian President Pardons Country’s Only Jailed Journalist

Posted on by SeeEU

Greeted by cheering crowds and surrounded by journalists, including from his own station, one of Georgia’s most prominent journalists walked out of prison Thursday hours after being granted a presidential pardon.

President Salome Zurabishvili announced Thursday evening that she had pardoned journalist Nika Gvaramia, founder of pro-opposition broadcaster Mtavari Arkhi.

Gvaramia, who also is a former member of parliament, has been in prison since May 2022.

 

Zurabishvili announced the pardon in a televised press conference. Later on Twitter, she said:

 

In May 2022, a court convicted Gvaramia of abuse of power related to his work in 2019 as the director of a separate broadcaster, Rustavi 2. He was sentenced to 3½ years in jail. The sentence made him the only journalist detained in Georgia over his work.

The Georgian Supreme Court rejected Gvaramia’s appeal on Monday.

Gvaramia’s wife, Sofia Liluashvili, told VOA she was “very excited” about the pardon.

“Now, I just don’t know what to do. Only thing I know is I am very, very happy,” she told VOA late Thursday evening while waiting for her husband outside the prison in Rustavi, Georgia.

Liluashvili was at home with friends and her daughter when the president announced the pardon on television.

“To tell the truth, at that moment, I don’t even remember what happened,” Liluashvili said.

After calling her two sons to tell them the news, one of Liluashvili’s friends drove her to the prison, which is outside the capital, Tbilisi.

“I was not in a condition to drive because I was very much excited,” Liluashvili said.

Liluashvili said she was grateful for the local and international support for her husband’s release.

Some critics have said that Gvaramia’s imprisonment was part of an attempt by the pro-Russian faction of Georgia’s government to derail the country’s European Union candidacy.

Earlier this year, the country’s embassy denied that was the case in response to a question from VOA.

“Georgia has a free, independent and pluralistic media environment,” the Georgian Embassy told VOA.

A September 2022 poll from the National Democratic Institute found that 75% of Georgians support EU membership.

The EU has said Georgia needs to improve its press freedom record before its candidacy can be approved. Gvaramia’s release became viewed as a prerequisite for Georgia’s EU membership.

“Nika’s freedom means a lot for [the] Georgian people,” his wife said. “This is a very important step for Georgia’s democracy.”

Two days before the pardon, the U.S Embassy in Tbilisi published a statement saying it was “deeply concerned” about the case.

William Courtney, senior fellow at the RAND Corporation think tank, wrote on Twitter, “President Salome Zurabishvili’s pardon helps protect democracy in Georgia, but the Prime Minister and the government continue to weaken it.”

Press freedom groups have welcomed Gvaramia’s release.

“We are thrilled that Nika Gvaramia has been pardoned. He should never have been jailed, and his continued imprisonment stood at odds with the country’s purported commitment to press freedom,” Gulnoza Said, who covers Georgia at the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement.

Gvaramia’s colleagues celebrated his pardon as well. Journalist Eka Kvesitadze, who worked with Gvaramia at Mtavari Arkhi, told VOA Thursday evening, “It is an extraordinary feeling.”

“Big joy and big relief,” she added. “Tomorrow will be a different day for all of us.”

VOA’s Georgian Service contributed to this report.
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No Breakthrough in EU-Hosted Kosovo, Serbia Emergency Talks

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The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo made no breakthrough Thursday in EU-hosted emergency talks aimed at defusing tensions around their border. The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said they agree on the need for early elections amid fears of a return to open conflict.

Serbia and its former province of Kosovo have been at odds for decades. Their 1998-99 war left more than 10,000 people dead, mostly Kosovo Albanians. Belgrade has refused to recognize Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence.

“I think the two leaders understand the severity of the situation,” Borrell said after hours of talks each with Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. The two refused to meet face-to-face in Brussels but held separate talks with Borrell.

Borrell conceded that they have “different interpretations of the causes and also the facts, consequences and solutions.”

Tensions flared anew last month after Kosovo police seized local municipality buildings in northern Kosovo, where Serbs represent a majority, to install ethnic Albanian mayors who were elected in a local election that Serbs overwhelmingly boycotted.

Serbia has put its troops on the border on the highest state of alert amid a series of recent clashes between Kosovo Serbs on one side and Kosovo police and NATO-led peacekeepers on the other. In recent weeks, NATO has sent in reinforcements.

The tensions persisted last week with three stun grenades explosions near Kosovo police stations in the north of the country, while Kosovo Serbs staged protests in front of municipality buildings.

Borrell said the EU has repeatedly called on the two sides to help restore calm and return to the negotiating table.

“So far all we have been witnessing is just the opposite,” he said, reading a written statement to reporters.

On the positive side, Borrell said, “we agreed on the need for new elections and discussed in detail the modalities and the steps on how to get there.”

Reporters were not permitted to ask Borrell questions to understand what those plans might involve.

Vucic appeared downbeat. He was unable to say what steps, if any, might be taken in the days and weeks ahead to calm things down. He said that Serbs in Kosovo no longer want to live under “Kurti’s terror,” and that no face-to-face talks are likely anytime soon.

Vucic told reporters that he would not walk away from any talks but said that in his meeting with Borrell and his team, “I also warned that Serbs are in very tough position and do not want to endure the terror they have been forced to endure so far.”

“There is an open [man] hunt for the Serbs every day,” Vucic added. He said that EU officials “have done all in their power but how things will develop depends much less on Borrell than on those who are not interested in de-escalation.”

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg vowed that the alliance’s peacekeepers “will continue to act impartially.”

“We have increased our presence and will continue to take all necessary measures to ensure a safe and secure environment and freedom of movement for all communities in Kosovo,” Stoltenberg said.

Just four months ago, Borrell indicated things seem promising. He exited talks with Vucic and Kurti to announce that Serbia and Kosovo had given their tacit approval to a EU-sponsored plan to end months of political crises and help improve their ties longer-term.

But the deal unraveled almost immediately as both leaders appeared to renege on commitments that Borrell suggested they had made.
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Modi Tells US Lawmakers US-India Partnership Is Strong

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told U.S. lawmakers Thursday the United States-India partnership is bound by the shared values of respecting debate and equality in a democracy.

“The U.S. is the oldest and India the largest democracy,” Modi said, addressing a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress. “Our partnership augurs well for the future of democracy.”

U.S. lawmakers hailed Modi’s address as a key opportunity to forge closer ties between the United States and India, even as concerns remain about Modi’s human rights record.

“Our partnership — which spans trade, innovation, technology and security — has never been closer, stronger or more important. From this solid foundation, anything is possible. I look forward to increased economic and national security ties between our two great nations,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said in a statement following the address.

Modi told U.S. lawmakers that India’s rapidly growing economy was driven by women-led development and the technological innovations of the younger generation. He also said bloodshed and suffering in Ukraine must be put to an end and emphasized the importance of “a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific, connected by secure seas.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said a in statement after meeting with Modi, “India and the United States share more than robust trade and basic values. We share an interest in keeping the Indo-Pacific free and open, and we face common challenges. India understands China’s belligerent behavior firsthand.”

Pauses in Modi’s speech were greeted by enthusiastic chants of “Modi, Modi, Modi,” from visitors filling the upper galleries of the House of Representatives chamber. The most sustained applause from members of Congress followed Modi’s acknowledgment of Vice President Kamala Harris’ Indian heritage.

Modi is the only Indian prime minister to address a joint meeting of Congress twice. His last speech to Congress was in 2016. He was denied a visa to visit the United States on the basis of human rights concerns in 2005 under the administration of President George W. Bush.

Earlier this week, 70 members of Congress signed on to a letter urging Biden to raise key human rights concerns in his meetings with Modi, citing 2022 U.S. State Department reports on a rise in religious intolerance and a tightening of controls on political expression.

“We want a close and warm relationship between the people of the United States and the people of India. We want that friendship to be built not only on our many shared interests but also on shared values,” said the letter, led by Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen and Democratic Representative Pramila Jayapal.

“We do not endorse any particular Indian leader or political party — that is the decision of the people of India — but we do stand in support of the important principles that should be a core part of American foreign policy,” the letter read in part.

Before Modi’s speech, Democratic Representative Jim Costa told VOA that while the U.S. and India have strong bilateral relations, human rights remain a source of concern.

“Many of us have been concerned by what we would call backsliding on the part of India as they become more ultranational and in their adherence to democratic principles to talk about freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the important ability to demonstrate, and to make your views known without being punished,” Costa said.

Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar announced in a tweet on June 20 that she would not attend the speech.

“Prime Minister Modi’s government has repressed religious minorities, emboldened violent Hindu nationalist groups, and targeted journalists/human rights advocates with impunity,” she said.

Omar said she would instead hold a briefing “to discuss Modi’s record of repression and violence.”

Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib also announced she would not attend the speech. Both women are Muslims.

Democratic Senator Mark Warner and Republican Senator John Cornyn, co-chairs of the Senate India Caucus, introduced legislation earlier this week that if passed would add India to the list of favored nations for U.S. arms sales.

“It’s also more important than ever — in the face of rising global authoritarianism — that we respect and reaffirm the shared values that form the foundations of our respective nations, such as democracy, universal human rights, tolerance and pluralism, and equal opportunity for all citizens,” Warner said in a statement following the speech.

Tabinda Naeem contributed to this report.
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