Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations again condemned the violence in Myanmar, triggered by the military junta’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy opponents. At a summit in Jakarta, Indonesia, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sought support to counter China’s support for the junta and Beijing’s aggression in the South China Sea. VOA Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
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Month: July 2023
African Clerics: Muslim Women Leadership Fine Under Islamic Teachings
YAOUNDE, Cameroon — Leaders from 25 Muslim-majority countries in Africa meeting in Cameroon on Friday called for an end to the exclusion of women from political, social, economic and religious issues in the name of Islamic teachings.
The more than 300 clerics, Islamic scholars and researchers at the U.N. conference on Islam, Women’s Empowerment and Peace Building said they were launching a campaign in Africa to counter stereotypes that impede the emancipation of Muslim women.
The consensus of the conference was that Muslim women are the most affected by conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa and should take lead roles in communities and decision-making.
Mamadou Lamine Diallo, a Muslim scholar and researcher at the Lansana Conte University in Guinea Conakry, said the campaign will begin in communities where some Muslim leaders teach and practice concepts that are strange to Islam. Diallo said teachings that girls should be given to marriage in their teens, and that women should leave social, economic and political activities to men, are misleading.
He said that in the Quran, Prophet Muhammad, who is the founder of Islam, established complete equality between men and women. He said the fact that Muhammad’s first wife, Khadija, was a highly respected business leader who traded in furniture, pottery and silks, is an indication that women should not be excluded from political, social, economic and religious issues in the name of Islamic teachings.
Some ideas called outdated
Diallo said the idea that women should be allowed to carry out only domestic chores and farm work is an outdated African practice. He said Boko Haram has been using female suicide bombers since 2010 with false promises that when a woman dies while fighting for Islam, she immediately goes to heaven.
Clerics said Muslim women constitute a majority of those enduring unprecedented levels of sexual violence, increased food insecurity and displacement. Muslim women are the largest group of the 3 million people displaced by Boko Haram terrorism in Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger, according to the clerics.
Maryam Amsha, a female Muslim leader in Bambari, a commercial town in the Central African Republic (CAR), said exclusion makes Muslim women ignorant of their roles in building peace in that country.
“It will be an abuse of democratic norms if a majority of the more than 51% of CAR’s 900,000 Muslims who are women do not take part in expected elections because they have been taught to avoid politics,” Amsha said.
She said she is “inviting imams to make sure that Muslim women are taking part in negotiations to end a decade of political tensions and develop CAR.”
Presidential elections in 2025
The Central African Republic will hold presidential elections in 2025. Amsha said a president elected by a majority of civilians, including women, will be a major step to peace. CAR descended into chaos after longtime leader Francois Bozize was overthrown in 2013 by a predominantly Muslim rebel alliance called Seleka.
Cameroonian Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute, who chaired the conference, said that if not stopped, some religious beliefs will slow Africa’s development.
“Culture is an important lever of people’s development,” Ngute said. “In this context, it is essential that women in general and those from the Islamic tradition in particular, see it as an instrument of personal development. That is why the government [of Cameroon] trains citizens who are rooted in their culture, respectful of the general interest and open to the world.”
The Muslim leaders said that if Africa provided greater impetus to Muslim women, high levels of poverty would be reduced, and several million people would free themselves from the bondage of slavery caused by erroneous beliefs about Islam.
Participants at the conference came from countries including Nigeria, Morocco, Libya, Algeria, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Egypt, Tunisia, Mauritania, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Guinea Conakry, Niger and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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ICC Confirms $30 Million Reparations in DR Congo Warlord Case
The International Criminal Court on Friday confirmed a more than $30 million reparations package for thousands of victims of Democratic Republic of the Congo warlord Bosco Ntaganda, including former child soldiers.
Named “the Terminator” for his reign of terror in the vast African country in the early 2000s, Ntaganda was jailed for 30 years in 2019 for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Judges afterward awarded $30.3 million in reparations, but last year ordered a review, saying the number of victims was unclear.
But on Friday “the chamber unanimously assesses Mr. Ntaganda’s liability for reparations at USD $31,300,000,” the Hague-based court said in a statement.
Although Ntaganda is liable for the payment, the ICC found that he did not have the funds, which would now be paid from the Trust Fund for Victims at the ICC.
Judges asked court officials to “continue exploring whether Mr. Ntaganda possessed any undiscovered assets” and monitor his finances “on an ongoing basis.”
Judges added that based on available information, there were an estimated 7,500 direct and indirect victims of violent attacks, as well as 3,000 direct or indirect victims of crimes against child soldiers.
No financial amounts were given for specific victims, but payment would include about $11 million in socioeconomic support and $5 million for mental care resulting from “psychological harm” suffered during the attacks.
Rehabilitation of former child soldiers was estimated at roughly $4,000 per person.
The ICC in 2021 upheld a 30-year sentence on appeal for war crimes against Ntaganda.
“The chamber reiterates that Mr. Ntaganda’s conviction is final and his liability to repair the harm caused to the victims of his crimes is under no discussion,” the judges stressed in Friday’s order.
“The chamber will continue striving to advance these reparation proceedings in the most efficient and effective manner possible … ensuring that the victims of his crimes receive the reparations they are entitled to, and for which they have waited for more than two decades, without further delay,” they said.
The Rwandan-born Ntaganda, 49, was convicted of 18 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, sexual slavery, rape and using child soldiers.
Ntaganda was the first person to be convicted of sexual slavery by the court.
Many of the other charges related to massacres of villagers in the mineral-rich Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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House Passes Defense Spending Bill That Limits Abortion, Halts Diversity Efforts
The House passed a sweeping defense bill Friday that provides an expected 5.2% pay raise for service members. But the bill strays from traditional military policy with Republican additions that block abortion coverage, diversity initiatives at the Pentagon and transgender care that deeply divided the chamber.
Democrats voted against the package, which had sailed out of the House Armed Services Committee on an almost unanimous vote weeks ago before being loaded with the GOP priorities during a heated late-night floor debate this week.
The final vote was 219-210, with four Democrats siding with the GOP and four Republicans opposed. The bill, as written, is expected to go nowhere in the Democratic-majority Senate.
Efforts to halt U.S. funding for Ukraine in its war against Russia were turned back, but Republicans added provisions to stem the Defense Department’s diversity initiatives and to restrict access to abortions. The abortion issue has been championed by Senator Tommy Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama, who is singularly stalling Senate confirmation of military officers, including the new commandant of the Marine Corps.
“We are continuing to block the Biden administration’s ‘woke’ agenda,” said House lawmaker Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican.
Turning the must-pass defense bill into a partisan battleground shows how deeply the nation’s military has been unexpectedly swept into disputes over race, equity and women’s health care that are driving the Republican Party’s priorities in America’s widening national divide.
During one particularly tense moment in the debate, Democratic lawmaker Joyce Beatty of Ohio, a former chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, spoke of how difficult it was to look across the aisle as Republicans chip away at gains for women, Black people and others in the military.
“You are setting us back,” she said about an amendment from lawmaker Eli Crane, an Arizona Republican, that would prevent the Defense Department from requiring participation in race-based training for hiring, promotions or retention.
Crane argued that Russia and China do not mandate diversity measures in their military operations and neither should the United States.
“We don’t want our military to be a social experiment,” he said. “We want the best of the best.”
When Crane used the pejorative phrase “colored people” for Black military personnel, Beatty asked for his words to be stricken from the record.
Friday’s vote capped a tumultuous week for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, as conservatives essentially drove the agenda, forcing their colleagues to consider their ideas for the annual bill that has been approved by Congress unfailingly since World War II.
“I think he’s doing great because we are moving through — it was like over 1,500 amendments — and we’re moving through them,” said House lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia. She told reporters she changed her mind to support the bill after McCarthy offered her a seat on the committee that will be negotiating the final version with the Senate.
Democrats, in a joint leadership statement, said they were voting against the bill because Republicans “turned what should be a meaningful investment in our men and women in uniform into an extreme and reckless legislative joyride.”
“Extreme MAGA Republicans have chosen to hijack the historically bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act to continue attacking reproductive freedom and jamming their right-wing ideology down the throats of the American people,” said the statement from House lawmakers Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Katherine Clark of Massachusetts and Pete Aguilar of California.
The defense bill authorizes $874.2 billion in the coming year for defense spending, keeping with President Joe Biden’s budget request. The funding itself is to be allocated later, when Congress handles the appropriation bills, as is the normal process.
The package sets policy across the Defense Department, as well as in aspects of the Energy Department, and this year focuses particularly on the U.S. stance toward China, Russia and other national security fronts.
Republican opposition to U.S. support for the war in Ukraine drew a number of amendments, including one to block the use of cluster munitions that Biden just sent to help Ukraine battle Russia. It was a controversial move because the weapons, which can leave behind unexploded munitions endangering civilians, are banned by many other countries.
Most of those efforts to stop U.S. support for Ukraine failed. Proposals to roll back the Pentagon’s diversity and inclusion measures and block some medical care for transgender personnel were approved.
GOP Representative Ronny Jackson of Texas, who served as a White House physician, pushed the abortion measure that would prohibit the defense secretary from paying for or reimbursing expenses relating to abortion services.
Jackson and other Republicans praised Tuberville for his stand against the Pentagon’s abortion policy, which gained prominence as states started banning the procedure after the Supreme Court decision last summer overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade law.
But it’s not at all certain that the House position will stand as the legislation moves to the Senate, which is preparing its own version of the bill. Senate Democrats have the majority but will need to work with Republicans on a bipartisan measure to ensure enough support for passage in their chamber.
Democratic members of the House Armed Services Committee, led by lawmaker Adam Smith of Washington state, dropped their support because of the social policy amendments.
Smith lamented that the bill that the committee passed overwhelmingly “no longer exists. What was once an example of compromise and functioning government has become an ode to bigotry and ignorance.”
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US Takes Custody of Suspected Russian Agent From Estonia
The United States took custody Friday of a Russian national extradited from Estonia and suspected of being an intelligence agent as the Biden administration pursues possible prisoner exchanges for U.S. detainees in Russia.
Vadim Konoshchenok was arrested in Estonia late last year as he sought to cross the border into Russia carrying semiconductors and U.S.-made ammunition for sniper rifles, according to charges filed against him.
He is alleged to be a central figure in a seven-person smuggling ring, which included five Russians and two Americans who operated “under the direction of Russian intelligence services” to obtain U.S. electronics and other goods restricted by U.S. export controls.
U.S. officials said more than 450 kilograms of U.S.-origin ammunition was interdicted or seized from Konoshchenok’s operation.
He faces up to 30 years in prison for conspiracy, violation of export controls, smuggling and money laundering.
Konoshchenok “allegedly provided cutting edge, American-developed technologies and ammunition to Russia for use in their illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine,” said the Justice Department’s Andrew Adams.
Konoshchenok’s extradition to the United States comes as Washington seeks to negotiate the return of U.S. citizens held by Moscow.
They include Paul Whelan, a corporate security official convicted in a Russian court of espionage, and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who is facing charges of espionage.
The United States denies either was involved in spying but has been in negotiations to see if they could be swapped for Russians that it holds.
“I’m serious about a prisoner exchange,” Biden said Thursday in Finland.
“I’m serious about doing all we can to free Americans who are being illegally held in Russia or anywhere else for that matter. And that process is underway,” he said.
Last December, the United States traded jailed Russian arms smuggler Viktor Bout for U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, who was jailed in Russia months earlier on drug charges.
In April 2022, Russia released Trevor Reed, a former Marine imprisoned two years earlier for assaulting Russian police officers.
At the same time, the United States freed a Russian pilot jailed for drug trafficking.
The U.S. also holds Alexander Vinnik, a Russian money launderer extradited from Greece last year, and Vladimir Dunaev, a malware and ransomware hacker extradited from South Korea in 2021.
And Washington is seeking the extradition from Brazil of Sergey Cherkasov, an alleged Russian spy who attended graduate school in Washington under deep cover.
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UN Weekly Roundup: July 8-14, 2023
Editor’s note: Here is a fast take on what the international community has been up to this past week, as seen from the United Nations perch.
Guterres writes to Putin about grain deal
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sent a letter Tuesday to Russian President Vladimir Putin outlining a proposal aimed at removing hurdles affecting financial transactions through the Russian Agricultural Bank, while allowing for the continued flow of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea grain deal. The deal could expire on July 18 if Moscow decides to pull out, as it has repeatedly said it is not benefiting enough from the nearly year-old initiative.
Food security report shows unprecedented hunger
Hopes of ending hunger by the end of this decade have all but evaporated as multiple crises — climate change, the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, conflicts, including the war in Ukraine — have pushed more than 122 million people into hunger since 2019 to reach an unprecedented high of 735 million.
Russia uses veto to block aid to millions of Syrians
On Tuesday, Russia vetoed the continuation of a U.N. aid operation that is a lifeline to more than 4 million Syrians living in areas outside government control. U.N. aid trucks stopped rolling through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing between Turkey and northwest Syria at midnight on Monday when the Security Council authorization expired. On Thursday, the Syrian government announced it would allow the U.N. to use Bab al-Hawa for six months – removing the need for council authorization. Not everyone was pleased. Some aid groups and Western diplomats said this would mean that control of the crossing (and the aid that goes through it) would now shift from a neutral party – the United Nations – to the Syrian government, which is responsible for much of the suffering in northwest Syria. The U.N. says it is studying the Syrian offer and, as of Friday, had not moved any aid through the crossing.
Global public debt hit $92 trillion in 2022
The secretary-general warned Wednesday that nearly 40% of the developing world is in serious debt, as public debt reached a record $92 trillion last year. “Some 3.3 billion people — almost half of humanity — live in countries that spend more on debt interest payments than on education or health,” Guterres said, calling for reform of the international financial system.
Rights chief slams Russia’s ‘costly, senseless’ war in Ukraine
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a costly, senseless war that has killed or injured thousands of civilians and violated the human rights of millions. Turk presented an oral update on the situation in Ukraine and Crimea on Wednesday to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.
In brief
— The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said Thursday that his office is investigating reports that at least 87 people were found in a mass grave in Sudan’s West Darfur state. The U.N. human rights office said the dead, including women and children, were found outside El Geneina and included members of the Masalit ethnic group. The U.N. said there is credible evidence that Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces and an allied militia were responsible for the killings.
— The U.N. children’s agency said Friday that in the first six months of this year, approximately 11,600 children are believed to have made the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe and nearly 300 have died. Both figures are double those from the same time last year, making the Mediterranean one of the deadliest migration routes in the world for children. UNICEF said the deaths are preventable and called for safe, legal and accessible pathways for children to seek protection and reunite with their family members.
— It is possible to end AIDS by 2030 if countries demonstrate the political will to invest in prevention and treatment and adopt nondiscriminatory laws, UNAIDS said in a report Thursday. Of the estimated 39 million people living with HIV globally, 29.8 million are receiving lifesaving antiretroviral therapy. UNAIDS says prevention and treatment must be scaled up and sustainable and adequate funding is needed.
— A peacekeeper from Rwanda was killed Monday when his patrol came under attack by an armed group in the Haute-Kotto prefecture in the northeastern Central African Republic. Sergeant Eustache Tabarao, 39, was on his second deployment to the C.A.R. with the U.N. Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission known as MINUSCA.
— The United States officially rejoined the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on Monday. Under the Trump administration, Washington pulled out of UNESCO, citing what it said was its anti-Israel bias and need for reform. In June, the U.S. informed the Paris-based organization that it wanted to rejoin as a full member and would pay about $619 million in arrears over several years. On June 9, members voted 132 in favor and 10 against to readmit the United States. Washington’s return will boost UNESCO’s bottom line, as it funds 22% of the organization’s regular budget.
Good news
Preparatory work for the transfer of a million barrels of oil from the decaying floating supertanker FSO Safer onto a rescue vessel off the coast of Yemen in the Red Sea has begun, the United Nations said Monday. The transfer should start next week and be completed by early August, allaying fears of a potentially catastrophic oil spill.
Next week
On July 18, the U.N. Security Council will hold its first meeting on artificial intelligence. While the technology has the potential to benefit humanity, experts are also raising alarm about grave potential dangers. The council will hear from briefers, including Guterres and two AI experts, on how to harness international cooperation for its safe and responsible use.
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Long Flight to the Women’s World Cup? US Players Have a Plan for That
The U.S. national team, like most of the rest of the field, faces a long flight to the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Already seasoned travelers, the American players have strategies for wiling away the time. And they’ll certainly need those tactics: The flight to New Zealand, where they’ll spend the group stage of the tournament, is 12 hours. Midfielder Andi Sullivan plans on napping, while defender Emily Fox intends to keep with a soccer theme and finally watch “Ted Lasso.”
Midfielder Andi Sullivan plans on napping. Defender Emily Fox intends to keep with a soccer theme and finally watch “Ted Lasso.”
The U.S. national team — like most of the rest of the field — faces a long flight to the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Already seasoned travelers, the Americans have strategies for wiling away the time. And they’ll certainly need those tactics: The flight to New Zealand, where they’ll spend the group stage of the tournament, is 12 hours.
“I need suggestions!” midfielder Kristie Mewis exclaimed about the shows she plans to download for the flight. “Honestly, I’m rewatching ‘Suits’ right now. I love ‘Suits.'”
Once they get there, the players will retreat into a self-imposed bubble where they shut out the noise and the distractions for some seven weeks. Most stay off of social media platforms for the duration.
Forward Trinity Rodman, making her World Cup debut, is taking the advice of the veterans. Rodman’s dad is former NBA star Dennis Rodman, so she gets a lot of attention just because of her name.
“They have been very open about making sure you have entertainment and ways to distract yourself outside of your phone and social media, because I do think with social media you can get consumed by it and you can definitely get sucked up in it,” Rodman said. “But I think finding those ways to isolate yourself, finding hobbies in the hotel room: Coloring, journaling, reading, Fortnite. I’m a bit of a gamer so that has definitely helped me to just like relax.”
The United States plays Wales in a send-off match on Sunday in San Jose, California. That same night, they’ll fly to training camp in New Zealand.
The World Cup kicks off July 20. The United States opens with a game against Vietnam on July 22.
your ad hereAl-Shabab Kills Police Officers, Teacher in Northeastern Kenya
Suspected al-Shabab militants killed two police officers and a teacher early Friday morning in an attack on the Wargadud police camp in the Mandera South area, in Kenya’s northeast, Kenyan authorities say.
The militants also carjacked a police vehicle and destroyed two communications towers.
Security officials declined VOA’s request for a comment. However, Mandera South Member of Parliament Abdul Haro confirmed the incident.
“I can confirm last night there was a terror attack in my constituency in a place called Wargadud and there are some casualties. Also, there was another attack a few kilometers away in a place called Iresuki and a probing attack in Elwak,” Haro said.
The incidents took place as Kenya’s defense secretary, Aden Duale, is touring the northeastern region to meet security officials and residents. Addressing residents in the border town of Diif, in Wajir County, Duale said Kenya will fight militants within and outside Kenya to secure its territory.
“We will fight al-Shabab along our borders. We will fight and take the war to them in Somalia because Kenya has a moral responsibility to bring peace and stability along the countries in the horn of Africa,” Duale said.
Last week, Kenyan security forces killed 23 suspected al-Shabab militants during an ambush at the Orgene area, in Kenya’s Mandera County. The encounter also left six Kenyan soldiers dead and eight others injured.
Duale said Kenya will use all possible means to flush terrorists and their sympathizers from the region.
“I’m talking to the leadership of al-Shabab, wherever you are: prepare yourself. We will use our land forces, we will use our air force, we will use our navy, we will use our special forces to hunt you down,” Duale said.
Earlier this year, Kenya announced plans to reopen its border with Somalia that has been closed for over a decade, but has now suspended those plans following increased attacks by the militant group.
The militant group has in the past carried out a spate of attacks in Kenyan cities and towns in an attempt to drive Kenya to withdraw its troops from African Union-led peacekeeping forces in Somalia.
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Russian Nuclear Subs’ Absence from Celebration Likely Due to Maintenance, Availability Concerns, British Ministry Says
LATEST DEVELOPMENT:
- France has posthumously awarded the Legion of Honor, the country’s highest award, to Arman Soldin, an Agence France-Presse journalist who was killed in Ukraine.
“Through his strength of character, his journey and his drive,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a letter to AFP, Arman Soldin “embodied your editorial staff’s passion — a passion to convey the truth, tell stories and gather testimonies.”
The British Defense Ministry said Friday in its daily report on Ukraine that Russia’s recent announcement that the nuclear-powered submarines of Russia’s Northern Fleet will not participate in the Navy Day fleet review in St. Petersburg on July 30 is “likely primarily due to” maintenance and availability concerns.
However, the ministry also said there is also “a realistic possibility that Internal security concerns since Wagner Group’s attempted mutiny have contributed to the decision.”
Russian attacks killed at least three Ukrainian civilians and wounded another 38, Ukraine’s presidential office reported Thursday.
The government in Kyiv said Russian forces targeted 13 cities and villages under Russian control in the partially occupied eastern Donetsk region with air attacks, missiles and heavy artillery.
In the Zaporizhzhia region, also partly Russian occupied, Ukraine said 21 people were injured by drone debris on Wednesday and that fires broke out in Kherson after Russian shelling.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said their air defenses shot down 20 Iranian-made drones fired by Russia that targeted the Kyiv region. But they said wreckage from the drones fell on four districts of the capital early Thursday, hospitalizing two people with shrapnel wounds and destroying several homes.
The interior ministry said firefighters extinguished a blaze in a 16-story apartment building and another fire in a nonresidential building. Debris also smashed into the front of a 25-story apartment building.
The latest wave was the third consecutive night in which the drones were used in attacks on Kyiv.
Elsewhere, Ukraine said one of its missile strikes killed a senior Russian officer, Lt. Gen. Oleg Tsokov, who was leading Moscow’s forces against Kyiv’s recent counteroffensive in southern Ukraine.
Ukraine said Tsokov was killed when the Ukrainian military struck the city of Berdyansk on Tuesday with British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles. Russia’s defense ministry has not reported Tsokov’s death.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters
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India’s Modi Guest of Honor at France’s Bastille Day Parade
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the guest of honor at this year’s Bastille Day celebration Friday in Paris.
Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron will watch the spectacle together as French and Indian soldiers march down the Champs Elysee.
French-manufactured Rafale fighter jets that India purchased a few years ago will also participate in a flyover of the Arc de Triomphe.
Modi’s guest of honor status in the annual event marking France’s national holiday comes after India’s recent approval to purchase 26 Rafale jets and three Scorpene-class submarines from France for India’s military.
Macron said Thursday at a dinner for Modi held at the Elysee Palace that India is “a giant in the history of the world that will have a determining role in our future” and “is also a strategic partner and friend.”
Meanwhile, also on Thursday, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for “human rights to be integrated into all areas of the EU-India partnership, including in trade.” The resolution called on member states “to systematically and publicly raise human rights concerns” at the highest level.
In addition, an assortment of personalities urged Macron, in a commentary in Le Monde, not to forget Modi’s dismal human rights record and to “encourage Prime Minister Modi to end repression of the civil society, assure freedom of major media (outlets) and protect religious liberty.”
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Why US Cities Are Hiring Night Mayors to Govern After Dark
New York is famous for being the city that never sleeps, but officials in the Big Apple, and other major U.S. urban centers, only recently woke up to the need to give nightlife the respect it deserves rather than treat it like a nuisance that must be contained.
“Nightlife contributes $35 billion in economic activity in New York City’s economy and supports nearly 300,000 jobs, and $700 million in local tax revenues,” says José Soegaard, deputy director of the city’s Office of Nightlife, which was created about five years ago. “We see the Office of Nightlife as a necessary lifeline to serve the industry… and the work that we’ve been doing since has really set out to fill that void.”
Including New York, 15 cities around the United States, including Washington, Pittsburgh, Orlando and New Orleans, have created “night mayor” positions to provide a liaison between local government and nightlife businesses. Most night mayors do not have regulatory authority.
It’s a trend that started overseas. More than 50 cities around the world, including Amsterdam, Paris, London and Berlin, have night mayors.
“It’s a paradigm shift in how we view nightlife. In general, nightlife has been seen as a liability or a sector that needs heavy regulation,” says Salah Czapary, informally known as the night mayor of Washington, although his actual title is director of the Mayor’s Office of Nightlife & Culture. “That shift has seen nightlife, and the cultural economy, more as an asset that needs to be elevated, that needs to be regulated within reason, that needs policies and practices that support its growth.”
Washington’s nightlife industry brings in $7.1 billion in annual revenue, contributing $562 million in annual tax revenue to the city. The industry also provides about 65,000 jobs.
The Office of Nightlife & Culture, which was created in 2018, also focuses on issues including the needs of night-shift workers, noise and trash complaints, permitting challenges, and late-night transportation.
“The nightlife economy, the cultural economy, can be a second economy for cities,” Czapary says. “But that economy operates generally when the government is closed and so there was a need to have an advocate and a liaison for the nightlife, the cultural economy, the hospitality industry, in general, within government to further policies that benefit that sector.”
The position of night mayor is currently vacant in New York City, but the Office of Nightlife there continues to provide constituent services to the mostly small- and medium-sized businesses that dominate nightlife, helping them navigate the city’s bureaucracy and agencies.
“We created free mediation services for nightlife establishments and their neighbors to help resolve quality-of-life disputes before enforcement becomes necessary,” Soegaard says. “Typically, we’re talking about things related to sound, or perhaps line management, or when the trash goes out on the curb. … There’s all kinds of different ways where what goes on in, and around, an establishment might have impacts on someone who lives upstairs, next door, across the street.”
The city of Orlando in Florida hired a night mayor after experiencing issues in its central business district in the evening and overnight hours.
“There was a lot of crowding and congestion, particularly traffic at 2 a.m., when the bars close and people head home. There was a lot of inefficiency,” says Dominique Greco, Orlando’s first night mayor. Her official title was “nighttime economy manager,” a position she held for four years, until March 2021.
“It was surprising to me how little the authorities, the municipality, knew about the nightlife world and what happens in their downtown at night, and how best to be more progressive and more proactive on it,” Greco says.
Under her leadership, Greco says Orlando became the first city in the country to create rideshare hubs in the downtown entertainment area.
“Ultimately organized with Uber and Lyft, the rideshare giants, to pull people out of the district,” she says. “Then we could make more traffic flow and people could have security and proper lighting.”
Jess Reia, an assistant professor of data science at the University of Virginia, was a member of the night council in Montreal, Canada, from 2020 to 2022, where Reia worked on data research and nighttime governance policies. Reia says it’s about time that American cities shift the perception of nightlife from a liability to an asset.
“This is more of a global movement, and I’m very happy to see that the United States is finally catching up,” Reia says. “Having a night mayor is a way of saying we care about our citizens during the 24-hour cycle. We want to have more vibrant nightlife. We want to have less conflict at night.”
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Zuma’s Prison Release Ruled Unlawful
South Africa’s Constitutional Court has ruled that former President Jacob Zuma’s early release from prison because of claimed medical conditions was unlawful.
In 2021, Zuma was released from prison less than eight weeks after beginning a 15-month sentence for contempt of court. That came after he refused to testify in an anti-corruption inquiry conducted while he was in office.
Zuma’s medical parole was granted by the prison service, led by Arthur Fraser, an ally of the former president.
It was not immediately clear after the ruling Thursday whether the former president’s return to prison was imminent.
More than 300 people died in riots sparked by Zuma’s arrest.
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US Lawmakers Say China Using Coercive Business Practices for Economic Advantage
U.S. lawmakers Thursday charged the Chinese Communist Party is using coercive economic practices to achieve worldwide dominance over the United States.
The accusations came at a hearing of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party days after U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with Chinese officials in Beijing to discuss the nations’ economic relationship.
Yellen said that while the United States was taking targeted national security actions, “a decoupling of the world’s two largest economies would be disastrous for interests for both countries and destabilizing for the world, and it would be virtually impossible to undertake. We want a dynamic and healthy global economy that is open, free and fair.”
Diplomatic relations between the two countries have been tense since the U.S. downed a Chinese spy balloon earlier this year. Witnesses told the House panel Thursday U.S. companies are facing increasing threats operating inside China.
“There’s no such thing as a private company in China, a raft of legislation like the updated counterespionage law, the data security law, the anti-foreign sanctions law has codified what was always true. China reserves the right to swipe any data, to seize any assets and take IP that it wishes,” committee Chairman Mike Gallagher said.
According to committee members, China’s restrictive environment is resulting in a so-called “brain-drain” of its own business people, turning China into the top country in the world for the departure of wealthy individuals, fleeing what they fear is the Communist Party’s ability to arbitrarily seize assets.
Witnesses testified the environment in China is becoming increasingly restrictive for American companies and individuals.
“In the last few months, PRC authorities are now charging any domestic or foreign businessperson with espionage simply for providing any services using PRC information to grant or give to third-country-based customers,” Piper Lounsbury, chief research and development officer at Strategy Risks, a risk management firm for companies doing business in China, said.
“The crackdown on consulting businesses, the enhanced data, secrecy laws and the flow of PRC information just highlight the negative symmetry that we have with China. This means that even companies now can’t even do due diligence in advance of any sort of business transaction,” Lounsbury, said.
The Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry pushed back against criticism of its business practices Monday in response to a U.S. State Department travel advisory issued this month warning Americans citizens of the “risk of wrongful detention.”
“China is a country under the rule of law. The decision of relevant departments to carry out security review of foreign companies according to law is based on laws and facts. China welcomes citizens and enterprises from all over the world to visit China and do business in China, and protects their safety and legitimate rights and interests in China, including freedom of exit and entry,” said Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the ministry.
Witnesses, though, told the committee told lawmakers that American businesses face a restrictive environment led from the top down by President Xi Jinping, potential intellectual property theft and the constant threat of seized assets.
“The issue is how much do I need to lose to have access to the market, so it’s a balancing act,” said Desmond Shum, a businessman whose ex-wife, Whitney Duan, was arrested by the Chinese. Shum, the author of Red Roulette: An Insider’s Story of Wealth, Power, Corruption and Vengeance in Today’s China, told U.S. news program 60 Minutes that he and his then-wife participated in corrupt business practices in China.
In its latest report to Congress in 2022, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, set up by Congress in 2000 to monitor and report on the national security implications of the U.S.-China economic relationship, as well as make recommendations, said U.S. businesses and investors are reevaluating their reengagement in China.
“China has subverted the global trade system and moved further from the spirit and letter of its obligations under its WTO accession protocol,” the report said. “China’s subsidies, overcapacity, intellectual property theft, and protectionist nonmarket policies exacerbate distortions to the global economy. These practices have harmed workers, producers, and innovators in the United States and other market-based countries.”
The commission went on to say the United States’ ability to overcome harmful trade practices was undermined by the lack of a coherent strategy.
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Justice Department Urges Judge to Reject Delay of Trump Classified Documents Trial
The Justice Department urged a judge Thursday to reject Donald Trump’s efforts to postpone his classified documents trial, saying there was no basis for an “open-ended” delay sought by the former president’s lawyers.
Federal prosecutors last month proposed a December 11 trial for Trump, who is charged with 37 felony counts related to the mishandling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, though the actual date will be up to the judge.
Trump’s lawyers countered this week with a request for an indefinite delay. They did not propose a specific date but said the case concerned novel legal issues and that proceeding with a trial within six months was “unreasonable” and would “result in a miscarriage of justice.”
On Thursday, prosecutors on special counsel Jack Smith’s team responded by asking U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to not postpone the trial beyond the December date they recommended.
They rejected the idea that any of the legal arguments the defense intends to raise requires the trial to be delayed. They said they’ve already turned over significant amounts of evidence, including grand jury transcripts and unclassified witness statements, and that in the next week they will produce additional witness statements for interviews conducted through June 23 — or two weeks after the indictment was returned.
Though the defense lawyers had said a continuance was necessary because they hadn’t yet received classified evidence, prosecutors noted that as of Thursday afternoon, only two of the attorneys on record had submitted an application for a security clearance that even would enable them to access such evidence. Later Thursday, Trump’s lawyers submitted a filing stating, “Counsel has completed all outstanding applicant tasks required to obtain the requisite security clearances in this matter with one exception.”
Defense lawyers had also argued that Trump’s busy campaign schedule in pursuit of the 2024 Republican nomination needed to be taken into account in scheduling a trial. But prosecutors said that, too, was not a basis for an indefinite delay.
“Many indicted defendants have demanding jobs that require a considerable amount of their time and energy, or a significant amount of travel,” they wrote.
The Justice Department also disputed the suggestion that an impartial jury could not be selected before the election.
“Our jury system relies on the Court’s authority to craft a thorough and effective jury selection process, and on prospective jurors’ ability and willingness to decide cases based on the evidence presented to them, guided by legal instructions from the Court,” the prosecutors wrote.
“To be sure,” they added, “the Government readily acknowledges that jury selection here may merit additional protocols (such as a questionnaire) and may be more time-consuming than in other cases, but those are reasons to start the process sooner rather than later.”
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In Interview, Putin Says He Offered Wagner Fighters Chance to Keep Serving
Russian President Vladimir Putin offered mercenary fighters with the Wagner Group the opportunity to remain serving together in Russia after their revolt, he said in an interview published late Thursday.
Putin, interviewed by the Russian daily Kommersant, said this was one of several offers he made at a meeting with around three dozen fighters and Wagner founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, late last month, five days after Wagner staged the abortive revolt against Russia’s military hierarchy.
Under the offer, the fighters would stay under their current commander, who the newspaper identified only by his call sign of “Grey Hair.”
Putin also said it was up to Russia’s government and parliament to work out a legal framework for private military formations.
Kommersant said Putin spoke of meeting 35 Wagner fighters and Prigozhin in the Kremlin and offering them options for the future, including remaining under their commander of 16 months.
“All of them could have gathered in one place and continued their service,” Kommersant quoted the president as saying. “And nothing would have changed. They would have been led by the same person who had been their real commander all that time.”
As Putin is the army’s commander-in-chief, he seemed to be implying that they would remain within the Russian military, although he did not say that explicitly.
“Many of them nodded when I said this,” Kommersant quoted Putin as saying.
However, Prigozhin disagreed, it reported.
“Prigozhin … said after listening: ‘No, the boys won’t agree with such a decision,” Kommersant quoted Putin as saying.
Wagner fighters played a key role in the Russian army’s advance into eastern Ukraine and were the driving force in the capture in May of the city of Bakhmut after months of battles.
But Prigozhin constantly accused the military of failing to back his men, and Wagner fighters unhappy with the Defense Ministry’s conduct of the war took control of the southern city of Rostov-on-Don on June 23 and began moving toward Moscow.
They halted their advance the next day after being offered a deal under which they could resettle in Belarus, along with Prigozhin. Any notion of pressing charges against Prigozhin was dropped.
Putin told the newspaper there was no possibility of Wagner remaining in its current form.
“Wagner does not exist,” Putin told Kommersant. “There is no law on private military organizations. It just doesn’t exist.”
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China’s Huawei Launches Innovation Center in South Africa
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday welcomed the opening of a new Huawei Innovation Center in Johannesburg, praising the Chinese company for its “confidence in the South African economy and its potential.”
Ramaphosa said that adopting Huawei’s new technologies would help Africa “leapfrog into the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”
Huawei was sanctioned in the United States in 2019 by then-President Donald Trump over concerns that Beijing was trying to monopolize networks and possibly use them for espionage. The company, however, already has a huge digital foothold in most of Africa, much of which struggles with low connectivity.
Ramaphosa attended the center’s launch, alongside Chinese Ambassador Chen Xiaodong and the president of Huawei sub-Saharan Africa, Leo Chen.
“For South Africa, expanding digital infrastructure is one of the primary engines of economic growth. The development of information technology is key to the competitiveness of our economy,” Ramaphosa said, after touring the facility and watching presentations by Huawei employees.
Pretoria and Beijing have strong relations, with the latter having supported the fight against apartheid in South Africa. Additionally, both countries are members of the BRICS group of emerging nations. BRICS encompasses Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
Ramaphosa quoted China’s leader in his address, saying, “President Xi Jinping described science and technology as ‘a primary productive force, talent as a primary resource, and innovation as a primary driver of growth.’ This is a sentiment that we share.”
He said the innovation hub would now focus on knowledge and skills transfer as well as cultivating local talent through various programs. He also said it would be focusing on the development of small, micro- and medium enterprises, known as SMMEs.
According to a Huawei statement, Ambassador Chen said the innovation center showed “the Chinese private business sector and players are ready to stand by South Africa’s side to accelerate the 5G application.”
For his part, Leo Chen said, “We’ve been encouraged by the South African government’s strong vision for the digital economy. South Africa is becoming a role model for the continent, as well as the global stage, in fields such as 5G deployment and 5G-driven industrial digital transformation.”
While South Africa is the continent’s most industrialized country, it is suffering high rates of unemployment. Ramaphosa said he hoped the Huawei Innovation Center would help launch new local information and communication technology, or ICT, enterprises to help with job creation.
The president added that he welcomed plans for Huawei to invest in data centers and cyber security industries in Africa.
US concerns
Earlier this year, a group of U.S. lawmakers criticized Pretoria for its ties to Beijing, including its use of Chinese tech. Telkom, South Africa’s partly state-owned telecom operator, launched its 5G network throughout the country last year using Huawei technology.
China has been expanding its “Digital Silk Road,” a part of its wider Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, in sub-Saharan Africa, where less than 30% of people use the internet. Huawei subsidiaries own up to 70% of all 4G networks across the region.
In 2022, Ethiopia celebrated the launch of a 5G network powered by Huawei in Addis Ababa.
Washington has been playing catch-up to China in Africa, announcing last year that U.S.-backed telecom company Africell had invested to deliver a 5G network in Angola.
China’s foreign ministry has regularly criticized U.S. officials’ warnings to Africa against relying on Chinese technology.
“Chinese companies including Huawei have conducted mutually beneficial cooperation with many countries in Africa and the world beyond, contributed to the improvement and development of the countries’ communications infrastructure, provided advanced, quality, safe and affordable services for the local people and won great support,” a ministry spokesman said last year.
And earlier this year, the ministry accused the U.S. of “technological hegemony” in its bans on Huawei.
The Chinese Embassy in Pretoria did not respond to a VOA request for comment.
Iginio Gagliardone is an associate professor of media and communications at Johannesburg’s University of the Witwatersrand and author of the book China, Africa and the Future of the Internet. The professor said he didn’t think South Africa or other African states were choosing China over the West when it came to new technologies.
Asked why South Africa and other Global South countries don’t necessarily share Washington’s aversion to Chinese tech, Gagliardone said, “Because they see any provider of technology as a way to get to a specific vision.”
Huawei recently partnered with South African company Vuma to provide higher speeds for fiber internet.
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International Criminal Court to Investigate Report of Sudan Mass Grave
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said Thursday that his office is investigating reports that at least 87 people were found in a mass grave in Sudan’s West Darfur state.
“If this oft-repeated phrase of ‘never again’ is to mean anything, it must mean something here and now for the people of Darfur that have lived with this uncertainty and pain and scars of conflict for two decades,” Prosecutor Karim Khan told the U.N. Security Council.
In 2005, the council referred the situation in Sudan’s Darfur region to the Hague-based tribunal. An investigation was opened into the reported crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Several individuals have been indicted by the court, including former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted from power in 2019. The ICC has issued two arrest warrants for al-Bashir on charges including genocide and war crimes, but he is still at large.
Khan said the ICC has ongoing authority to investigate crimes committed in Darfur and is looking at violence committed there since fighting erupted on April 15 between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Security Forces. There have been numerous reports of violence against civilians, especially in the West Darfur capital of El Geneina.
“The investigations that we are looking at encompass also many allegations in West Darfur — looting, extrajudicial killings, burning of homes. And also allegations in North Darfur,” he said.
The U.N. human rights office said earlier Thursday that the dead were found outside El Geneina and included members of the Masalit ethnic group. The bodies of seven women and seven children were among those found in the grave. Local residents said they were forced to bury the bodies June 20-21.
The U.N. said there was credible evidence that Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces and an allied militia were responsible.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk condemned the killings and called for a “prompt, thorough and independent investigation.”
In an interview Thursday with VOA at the White House, officials said they were “deeply troubled” by the report.
“This is completely unacceptable, and the United States will be obviously taking this up with our allies and partners and with the U.N.,” said John Kirby, director of strategic communications for the National Security Council.
“But we condemn it. It’s completely horrendous and unacceptable, and the Rapid Support Forces, they need to be held to account for this.”
Paris Huang, White House correspondent for VOA’s Mandarin Service, contributed to this report.
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Biden Ends Europe Trip With ‘Absolute Guarantee’ of Transatlantic Ties
President Joe Biden wrapped up his European trip in Finland, meeting with NATO’s newest member and other Nordic leaders as conflict in Ukraine casts a pall over the continent’s future. VOA White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara reports from Helsinki.
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Iran’s Raisi Visits Fellow Outlier Zimbabwe Ahead of Key Vote
Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Thursday urged nations targeted by Western sanctions to band together as he hosted the leader of fellow international outlier Iran.
President Ebrahim Raisi arrived for the last leg of the first Africa tour by an Iranian leader in 11 years, a trip aimed at easing the Islamic republic’s international isolation.
Raisi is the highest-profile leader to visit Zimbabwe in the thick of an election campaign for a closely watched August 23 presidential and parliamentary vote.
“It is critically important that we, the victims of Western sanctions, are talking to each other … that we show them that we’re united,” Mnangagwa told a press briefing after talks with Raisi.
“I am happy you have come to show solidarity,” Mnangagwa told Raisi on arrival, calling him “my brother.”
Mnangagwa, 80, who is seeking reelection in what analysts predict will be a tense ballot, has long blamed his country’s dire economic straits on sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union.
Western countries retort that the measures target specific individuals accused of graft and human rights abuses rather than the whole country.
Africa has emerged as a diplomatic battleground, with Russia and the West trying to court support for their respective positions on Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The war has had a devastating economic impact on the continent, sending food prices soaring.
Western powers have also sought to deepen trade ties with Africa, along with India and China.
‘Continent of capacities, potentials’
Hundreds of people waving Zimbabwean and Iranian flags had gathered at Robert Mugabe International Airport in Harare during the morning to greet Raisi.
Many were from the southern African country’s Muslim community, including women wearing headscarves and schoolchildren holding welcome banners.
The two leaders signed “a record” 12 agreements on energy, telecommunications and other topics, Mnangagwa said.
These will help Zimbabwe access innovation and technology from Iran and envisage the creation of a tractor factory to support agricultural mechanization, he added.
Raisi’s visit comes with Iran stepping up diplomacy to reduce its isolation and offset the impact of crippling sanctions reimposed since the 2018 withdrawal of the United States from a painstakingly negotiated nuclear deal.
Raisi has already been to Kenya and Uganda this week, holding talks with his counterparts William Ruto and Yoweri Museveni.
On Thursday, Raisi described Africa as “the continent of capacities and potentials,” adding that stronger cooperation would benefit “the advancement” of both parties.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani has described Raisi’s continental tour as “a new turning point” that could bolster economic and trade ties with African nations.
He also said on Monday that Tehran and the three African countries shared “common political views.”
Melody Muzenda, a spokeswoman for Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF Party, said the visit “shows we have good relations with other countries.”
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African Leaders at Business Summit Call for Extension of Trade Deal With US
Leaders at the U.S.-Africa Business Summit in Botswana have urged renewal of the long-standing Africa Growth Opportunities Act (AGOA).
The trade deal gives some African countries preferential or even tax-free access for their exports to the U.S. market. The agreement is due to expire in 2025, and African delegates at the summit want the deal renewed.
Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi, addressing delegates gathered in Gaborone for the summit, led the pleas to Washington to renew the arrangement.
Since it was put into place in 2000, AGOA has been credited with creating more than 46,000 jobs in Africa and bolstering exports to the U.S.
“It is also our earnest hope that in consonance with the letter and spirit of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, the Biden administration will renew the African Growth and Opportunity Act initiative, which expires in 2025,” he said. “The AGOA renewal now, with expanded mandates, will give a strong signal and confidence to the markets and serve as a catalyst for Africa’s industrialization and inclusion into the global value chains.”
Florie Liser, chief executive and president of the Corporate Council on Africa, which organizes the U.S.-Africa Business Summit, said there is a need to examine AGOA in light of an agreement known as the African Continental Free Trade Area.
“A lot has changed” in Africa and beyond since AGOA came into being, she said. “The advent of the African Continental Free Trade Area is fostering much closer economic and commercial integration on the continent, which will spur the creation of regional and continental value chains and increase value added across key sectors. In many ways, the question is how best we can support this development.”
The Atlantic Council Africa Center produced a report titled The Future of U.S.-Africa Trade and Investment, which analyzes the future of the AGOA. The report was issued Wednesday at the U.S.-Africa Business Summit.
Frannie Leautier, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and the report’s lead author, said, “On extending or renewing AGOA, the idea is to realize the potential of AGOA for long-term development through greater certainty, planning and skilled up support for capacity development and investment flow. The first [recommendation] is straightforward: just extend it. The second one is to provide longer-term certainty about AGOA eligibility, because investors are waiting for that. Nobody is going to invest now if they think AGOA is not going to be extended.”
Not all African countries benefit from AGOA. Some, like Ethiopia, Mali and Guinea, were barred because of coups and human rights violations. South Africa’s eligibility is being reviewed over the alleged sale of arms to Russia.
Meanwhile, Scott Nathan, chief executive of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, who is leading the U.S. government delegation at the summit, pledged continued support for Africa.
“[The] United States is focused on what we will do with African nations and people, and not for African nations and people,” he said. “We work to deepen and understand our partnership, amplify African voices and support the empowerment of Africans.”
The summit has drawn more than 1,300 delegates, including leaders from Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Niger and Zimbabwe.
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Top General’s Dismissal Reveals New Crack in Russian Military Brass
A Russian general in charge of forces fighting in southern Ukraine has been relieved of his duties after speaking out about problems faced by his troops, a move that reflected new fissures in the military command following a brief rebellion by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Major General Ivan Popov, the commander of the 58th army in the Zaporizhzhia region, which is a focal point in Ukraine’s counteroffensive, said in an audio statement to his troops released Wednesday night that he was dismissed after a meeting with the military brass in what he described as a treacherous stab in the back to Russian forces in Ukraine.
Popov said the military leadership was angered by his frank talk about challenges faced by his forces, particularly the shortage of radars tracking enemy artillery, which resulted in massive Russian casualties.
“The top officers apparently saw me as a source of threat and rapidly issued an order to get rid of me, which was signed by the defense minister in just one day,” he said. “The Ukrainian military has failed to break through our army’s defenses, but the top commander hit us in the rear, treacherously and cowardly beheading the army at this most difficult moment.”
Popov, who uses the call name “Spartacus,” addressed his troops as “my gladiators” in the audio message released by retired Gen. Andrei Gurulev, who commanded the 58th army in the past and currently serves as a lawmaker. The 58th army consists of several divisions and smaller units.
The 48-year-old Popov, who has risen from platoon commander to lead a large group of forces, has encouraged his soldiers to come directly to him with any problems — an easygoing approach that contrasted sharply with the stiff formal style of command common in the Russian military. Russian military bloggers say he’s widely known for avoiding unnecessary losses — unlike many other commanders who were eager to sacrifice their soldiers to report successes.
“I faced a difficult situation with the top leadership when I had to either keep silent and act like a coward, saying what they wanted to hear, or call things by their names,” Popov said. “I didn’t have the right to lie for the sake of you and our fallen comrades.”
Many military bloggers argued that Popov’s dismissal eroded troop morale at a time of relentless Ukrainian attacks. One blogger, Vladislav Shurygin, said it has dealt a “terrible blow to the entire army,” while another, Roman Saponkov, described it as a “monstrous terror attack against the army’s morale.”
In a sign that many in Russian officialdom share Popov’s criticism of the military leadership, Andrei Turchak, the first deputy speaker of the upper house of parliament and head of the main Kremlin party United Russia, strongly backed the general, saying that “the Motherland can be proud of such commanders.”
Andrei Kartapolov, a retired general who heads the defense affairs committee in the lower house, also said the Defense Ministry should deal with the issues raised by Popov.
News of Popov’s dismissal added to the blow that Russian troops received when another senior officer, Lieutenant General Oleg Tsokov, was killed Tuesday by a Ukrainian missile strike.
Popov’s remarks about the need to rotate his exhausted troops that have been fighting the Ukrainian counteroffensive since early June, reportedly angered General Staff chief General Valery Gerasimov, who shrugged them off as panicky and promptly ordered his dismissal.
Gerasimov was shown meeting with military officers Monday in a video released by the Defense Ministry, the first time he was seen since last month’s abortive rebellion by Prigozhin, who had demanded his ouster.
Pro-Kremlin political analyst Sergei Markov noted that Popov’s statement echoed criticism of the top brass by Prigozhin. However, he added that the general’s statement wasn’t a rebellion, but instead a call for intervention by President Vladimir Putin.
“Such public disputes at the top of the Russian army isn’t a show of force,” he said.
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Biden: Talks Underway With Russia on Freeing US Journalist
U.S. President Joe Biden said Thursday that talks are underway with Russia to free Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been held in a Moscow jail for more than 100 days on an espionage charge that he denies.
The Kremlin earlier this month said it was open to another prisoner swap with the U.S., one that would free Gershkovich, possibly in exchange for Vladimir Dunaev, a Russian in U.S. custody on cybercrime charges. But Moscow said the negotiations must be carried out in secret.
Biden, speaking at a news conference in Finland, made clear that the U.S. is interested.
“I’m serious on a prisoner exchange,” the U.S. leader said. “And I’m serious about doing all we can to free Americans being illegally held in Russia or anywhere else for that matter, and that process is underway.”
Gershkovich was arrested on espionage charges in the city of Yekaterinburg while on a reporting trip. A Moscow court recently upheld a ruling to keep him in custody until August 30.
Russia has said an exchange could not occur until the charges against him have been adjudicated, but no trial date has been set.
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Al-Shabab Attacks Somali Base Handed Over by AU Forces
Al-Shabab fighters have attacked a Somali military base handed over by Kenyan forces late last month as part of an African Union troop drawdown.
Somalia regional officials said early Thursday the base in Geriley village in the Gedo region, about 12 kilometers from the Kenya border, was captured by militants.
Ibrahim Guled Adan, the district commissioner of El-Wak town, which Geriley falls under, told VOA Somali the militants seized the base after a firefight with Jubaland regional paramilitary forces.
Adan said four people — three soldiers, including two officers, and a civilian — were killed in the attack by al-Shabab.
“Today there was a fighting in Geriley between the anti-peace elements and the paramilitary forces,” he said.
He said the administration is planning to recapture Geriley.
“We are in an urgent meeting,” he said.
Geriley was handed over by African Union forces on June 29 as part of the publicized drawdown of 2,000 soldiers ahead of a full withdrawal by December 2024. The base was handed over to Somali regional forces.
Al-Shabab attempted to take over the base on July 4 but was repulsed by the regional forces.
The capture of Geriley could pose a security threat to Kenya because it’s close to the border. Al-Shabab attacks in the northeastern and coastal regions of Kenya have increased recently.
Meanwhile, the Jubaland regional intelligence agency said that security forces conducted an operation in the vicinity of Welmarow village on Wednesday evening, killing 17 al-Shabab militants.
The agency published purported photos of the dead militants.
Without providing evidence, the agency alleged that some of the militants killed in the operation included Kenyans and Ethiopian al-Shabab fighters.
Somali troops and al-Shabab militants already clashed twice this week in the Welmarow area.
On July 11, several regional forces were killed in an al-Shabab suicide car bomb while they conducted an operation. Two days earlier, Somali troops were conducting an operation when al-Shabab militants engaged them, an incident which prompted a request for air support by the Somali government.
The U.S. military in Africa then carried out three airstrikes, killing 10 al-Shabab militants.
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Refugees Married to Kenyan Citizens Seek Citizenship Rights
Rights groups in Kenya are campaigning for refugees married to Kenyans to obtain citizenship. The Kenyan Constitution allows foreign nationals married to Kenyans to register for citizenship after seven years of marriage. But they must have residency status to apply, and this policy locks out refugees. Juma Majanga reports from the Dadaab refugee camps
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