Month: February 2024

IRC Suspends Red Sea Route for Sudan Aid Amid Rising Cost, Risks

Posted on by SeeAF

nairobi, kenya — Getting humanitarian supplies to millions of Sudanese affected by the country’s more than 10 months of conflict is getting expensive and risky because of attacks on Red Sea shipping by Houthi rebels based in Yemen.

The International Rescue Committee said this week that its logistics partner would now bypass the Red Sea route and deliver supplies through Jebel Ali port in the United Arab Emirates on the eastern side of the Arabian Peninsula. It said the new route would raise transportation costs by more than 40 percent.

Sally Anyanga, who works with the IRC, said the new route will also increase the shipping time for supplies, from approximately two weeks to more than a month.

“The alternative routes involve longer transportation distances, leading to increased transit times and causing delays in delivering critical aid to those in need, making our operation very challenging and also expensive at the same time,” Anyanga said. “We’re not able to get pharmaceuticals on time that are used by our health team.”

According to aid agencies, more than 25 million people in Sudan need humanitarian support in the wake of the war between Sudan’s armed forces and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that broke out in April 2023.

For security reasons, most aid agencies have moved their operations to Port Sudan, where they are able to receive and supply aid to the needy.

Anyanga said it is critical that humanitarian aid be allowed to enter Sudan through all available routes.

“But ultimately, what the people of Sudan need most is peace, lasting peace, because for the last several months we have seen that civilians have been a target,” she said. “More than 13,000 have been killed. We’ve also seen aid workers being a target. And so we need to make an end to all this and to ensure that aid reaches the people in need on time.”

Humanitarian agencies, experts and some government officials in eastern Africa have expressed concern about the Houthi attacks on ships, saying the attacks affect the security and economic situation of the countries that rely on that route to receive goods.

U.S. and British forces have targeted Houthi positions to try to deter attacks, but the group continues to launch rockets and raids on ships, hampering the free flow of goods and services.

Edgar Githua, a lecturer at the U.S. International University-Africa who specializes in international relations, peace and conflict, told VOA a global effort is needed to stop Houthi attacks before they make the situation worse for many countries.

“The international community needs to deal with the Houthi rebels, who have now turned to blatant piracy in the name of supporting [Hamas in] the Israel-Palestinian conflict,” Githua said. “But now they are hijacking ships and creating a logistical nightmare. So, I think there needs to be a huge response, because it will not only affect the humanitarian crisis, it will affect food prices, it will affect so many things that are attached that rely on the logistical support of that corridor. So the international community needs to just step up.”

Late Tuesday, the U.S. military reported shooting down five Houthi drones in the Red Sea. The U.S. Central Command said the drones had presented a threat to merchant and naval vessels in the region.
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Chad Sets Presidential Election for May 6, Months Earlier Than Planned

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Yaounde, Cameroon — Chad’s electoral commission made a surprise announcement Tuesday that presidential elections to end three years of military rule in the central African country will take place May 6, several months earlier than planned.

In making the announcement, the commission said the elections will mark a return to constitutional order and the end of General Mahamat Idriss Deby’s transitional period, now in its third year.

The 37-year-old became leader of Chad’s Transitional Military Council in April 2021 after his father, Idriss Deby Itno, died while fighting northern rebels. The rebels said they wanted to end the older Deby’s 31-year rule. 

The younger Deby took over from his father and promised to head an 18-month transitional council but in October of 2022, he dissolved the council and declared himself interim president. 

It is not yet known how many candidates will run in the May 6 polls. But last month, Chad’s former ruling Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS party) said that Mahamat Idriss Deby will be the party’s nominee.

A group of Chadian opposition leaders met Monday, before the elections date was disclosed, to select a candidate. They too decided to support Deby. 

Takilal Ndolassem, the president of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Chad, took part in Monday’s meeting and spoke to VOA by phone from N’djamena.

Ndolassem said 127 opposition leaders who attended Monday’s meeting in N’djamena decided to convene another meeting Friday because many other opposition leaders have indicated that they want to join the coalition that supports Deby as a presidential candidate. He said Deby has maintained the peace in Chad by disarming rebel groups and providing basic needs, including water, education, food and sources of livelihoods to millions of suffering civilians in a majority of Chad’s towns and villages.

On Wednesday, Chad’s state TV reported that Deby was on a tour of eight of Chad’s 23 provinces, including Logone-Occidental, Logone-Oriental, Mandoul, Mayo-Kebbi-Est and Mayo-Kebbi-Ouest. State TV did not give a reason for his visits.

Not all opposition leaders are supporting Deby. Gilbert Ratou Barka, the president of the opposition Artisans for a New Chad, or ARNT, has also declared that he will run in the May 6 elections. He said it is unfortunate that Deby is visiting some regions of Chad to begin campaigning before official campaigns are launched.

Barka said ARNT wants Deby to respect the electoral calendar and stop the illegal campaign he wants to launch. He said Deby did not visit civilians since the food crisis, rebel attacks on communities, floods and humanitarian disasters caused by climate shocks and armed conflicts became acute within the past three months. Barka said Deby is manipulating civilians to maintain his grip on power.

Campaigning for the first round of the presidential election is scheduled to begin on April 14 and end on May 4.

Deby, in a message broadcast on Chad’s state TV Wednesday, said elections will be free, fair and transparent.

Barka said he is surprised that the elections body scheduled the polls for May 6 when Deby had said earlier they would be in October, shortly before the mandate of the transitional government ends on October 10.
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McConnell to Step Down as US Senate Republican Leader in November

Posted on by SeeUS

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell’s said on Wednesday he would step down from his leadership role, leaving a power vacuum atop the party he has piloted for nearly 17 years, more than any other party leader in the chamber’s history. 

“I turned 82 last week. The end of my contributions are closer than I prefer,” McConnell said on the Senate floor, his voice breaking with emotion. “Father Time remains undefeated. I’m no longer the young man sitting in the back hoping colleagues remember my name. It’s time for the next generation of leadership.” 

The Kentucky lawmaker’s departure will remove a central character in negotiations with Democrats and the White House on spending deals to keep the federal government funded and avert a shutdown. 

It will also mark the step back of an orderly counterpart to the tumultuous approach of Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, and the hardline House Freedom Caucus ahead of the November election for president, the full House of Representatives and a third of the Senate. 
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Chad Announces May 6 Presidential Election, Months Earlier Than Projected

Posted on by SeeAF

Yaounde, Cameroon — Chad’s electoral commission made a surprise announcement Tuesday that a presidential election to end three years of military rule will take place May 6, several months earlier than planned.

The election will mark a return to constitutional order and the end of General Mahamat Idriss Deby’s transitional period in the Central African country, the commission said.

The 37-year-old Deby became leader of Chad’s Transitional Military Council in April 2021 after his father, Idriss Deby Itno, died while fighting northern rebels. The rebels said they wanted to end the older Deby’s 31-year rule.

The younger Deby took over and promised to head an 18-month transitional council, but in October 2022, he dissolved the council and declared himself interim president.

It is not yet known how many candidates will run in the May 6 polls. But last month, Chad’s former ruling Patriotic Salvation Movement party, or MPS, said that Deby will be the party’s nominee.

A group of some 127 opposition leaders met Monday, a day before the elections date was disclosed, to select a candidate. They, too, decided to support Deby.

Takilal Ndolassem, president of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Chad, took part in Monday’s meeting and spoke to VOA by phone from N’djamena. He said Deby has maintained peace in Chad by disarming rebel groups and providing basic needs, including water, education, food and jobs, to millions of suffering people.

Not all opposition leaders support Deby. Gilbert Ratou Barka, president of Artisans for a New Chad, or ARNT, has declared he will run in the May 6 election.

On Wednesday, Chad’s state TV reported that Deby was on a tour of eight of Chad’s 23 provinces, including Logone-Occidental, Logone-Oriental, Mandoul, Mayo-Kebbi-Est and Mayo-Kebbi-Ouest. The report did not give a reason for his visits.

Barka accused Deby of campaigning before official campaigns are launched.

Campaigning for the first round of the presidential election is scheduled to begin April 14 and end May 4. Barka said ARNT wants Deby to respect the electoral calendar and stop what he called an illegal campaign.

Deby had not visited civilians since the food crisis, rebel attacks on communities, floods and other humanitarian disasters within the past three months, Barka said.

By visiting now, Deby is manipulating civilians to maintain his grip on power, Barka said.

Deby, in a message broadcast on Chad’s state TV Wednesday, said elections will be free, fair and transparent.
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Hunter Biden Appears for Deposition, Says He Did Not Involve His Father in His Business

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WASHINGTON — Hunter Biden appeared Wednesday on Capitol Hill for a closed-door deposition with lawmakers, a critical moment for Republicans as their impeachment inquiry into his father and the family’s business affairs teeters on the brink of collapse.

“I am here today to provide the committees with the one uncontestable fact that should end the false premise of this inquiry: I did not involve my father in my business,” Hunter Biden said in an opening statement obtained by The Associated Press.

The deposition could mark a decisive point for the 14-month Republican investigation into the Biden family, which has centered on Hunter Biden and his overseas work for clients in Ukraine, China, Romania and other countries. Republicans have long questioned whether those business dealings involved corruption and influence peddling by President Joe Biden, particularly when he was vice president.

Yet after conducting dozens of interviews and obtaining more than 100,000 pages of documents, Republicans have yet to produce direct evidence of misconduct by the president. Meanwhile, an FBI informant who alleged a bribery scheme involving the Bidens — a claim Republicans had cited repeatedly to justify their probe — is facing charges from federal prosecutors who accuse him of fabricating the story.

Despite the stakes of their investigation, it remains unclear how much useful information Republicans will be able to extract from Hunter Biden during the deposition. He is under federal investigation and has been indicted on nine federal tax charges and a firearm charge in Delaware, which means he could refuse to answer some questions by asserting his Fifth Amendment rights.

The task of interviewing Hunter falls primarily to Reps. James Comer and Jim Jordan, the GOP chairmen leading the impeachment investigation. They first subpoenaed Hunter Biden in November, demanding that he appear before lawmakers in a private setting. Biden and his attorneys refused, warning that his testimony could be selectively leaked and manipulated. They insisted that Hunter Biden would only testify in public.

On the day of the subpoena, Hunter Biden not only snubbed lawmakers waiting for him in a hearing room — he did also while appearing right outside the Capitol, holding a press conference where he denounced the investigation into his family.

Both sides ultimately agreed in January to a private deposition with a set of conditions. The interview with Hunter Biden will not be filmed and Republicans have agreed to quickly release the transcript.

“Our committees have the opportunity to depose Hunter Biden, a key witness in our impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden, about this record of evidence,” Comer, chair of the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement to The Associated Press. “This deposition is not the conclusion of the impeachment inquiry. There are more subpoenas and witness interviews to come.”

Hunter will be the second member of the Biden family questioned by Republicans in recent days. They conducted a more than eight-hour interview last week with James Biden, the president’s brother. He insisted to lawmakers that Joe Biden has “never had any involvement,” financially or otherwise, in his business ventures.

Looming large over the interview are developments on the other side of the country in Nevada, where federal prosecutors this month indicted an FBI informant, Alexander Smirnov, who claimed there was a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving the president, his son Hunter and a Ukrainian energy company. Prosecutors in court documents assert that Smirnov has had “extensive and extremely recent” contact with people who are aligned with Russian intelligence.

Smirnov’s attorneys have said he is presumed innocent.

Republicans pressed the FBI last summer over the informant’s claims, demanding to see the underlying documents and ultimately releasing the unverified information to the public. The claim was cited repeatedly in letters that House Republicans sent to impeachment witnesses.

Many GOP lawmakers say they have yet to see evidence of the “high crimes and misdemeanors” required for impeachment, despite alleged efforts by members of the Biden family to leverage the last name into corporate paydays domestically and abroad.

But the Republican chairmen leading the impeachment effort remain undeterred by the series of setbacks to their marquee investigation. Jordan, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said last week that the informant’s indictment “does not change the fundamental facts” that the Biden family tried to benefit off the family name in several overseas businesses.

And Comer told Fox News on Tuesday that Smirnov was never “a key part of this investigation.”

Both Comer and Jordan have insisted for the past year that their investigation and inquiry is focused solely on Joe Biden and what actions, if any, he took while as vice president or president to benefit his family. But at nearly every turn, their probe has had a consistent and heavy focus on Hunter Biden. Several lines of inquiry have been opened into Hunter’s international business affairs, his artwork sales and even his personal life and on-and-off battle with addiction.

Meanwhile, Hunter Biden has no shortage of legal headaches off Capitol Hill as he faces criminal charges in two states from a special counsel investigation. He’s charged with firearm counts in Delaware, alleging he broke laws against drug users having guns in 2018, a period when he has acknowledged struggling with addiction. Special counsel David Weiss filed additional charges late last year, alleging he failed to pay about $1.4 million in taxes over three years.

He has pleaded not guilty in both cases.
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Biden Issues Executive Order to Better Shield Americans’ Sensitive Data From Foreign Foes 

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Washington — President Joe Biden on Wednesday is signing an executive order aimed at better protecting Americans’ personal data on everything from biometrics and health records to finances and geolocation from foreign adversaries like China and Russia.

The attorney general and other federal agencies are to prevent the large-scale transfer of Americans’ personal data to what the White House calls “countries of concern,” while erecting safeguards around other activities that can give those countries access to people’s sensitive data.

The goal is to do so without limiting legitimate commerce around data, senior Biden administration officials said on a call with reporters. 

Biden’s move targets commercial data brokers, the sometimes shadowy companies that traffic in personal data and that officials say may sell information to foreign adversaries or U.S. entities controlled by those countries.

Most eventual enforcement mechanisms still have to clear complicated and often monthslong rulemaking processes. Still, the administration hopes eventually to limit foreign entities, as well as foreign-controlled companies operating in the U.S., that might otherwise improperly collect sensitive data, the senior officials said.

Data brokers are legal in the U.S. and collect and categorize personal information, usually to build profiles on millions of Americans that the brokers then rent or sell.

The officials said activities like computer hacking are already prohibited in the U.S., but that buying potentially sensitive data through brokers is legal. That can represent a key gap in the nation’s national security protections when data is sold to a broker knowing it could end up in the hands of an adversary — one the administration now aims to close with the president’s executive action.

“Bad actors can use this data to track Americans, including military service members, pry into their personal lives, and pass that data on to other data brokers and foreign intelligence services,” the White House wrote in a fact sheet announcing the move. “This data can enable intrusive surveillance, scams, blackmail, and other violations of privacy.”

The order directs the Department of Justice to issue regulations that establish protections for Americans’ sensitive personal data, as well as sensitive government-related data — including geolocation information on sensitive government sites and members of the military. 

The Justice Department also plans to work with Homeland Security officials to build safety standards to prevent foreign adversaries from collecting data. It will further attempt better checks to ensure that federal grants going to various other agencies, including the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, aren’t used to facilitate Americans’ sensitive data flowing to foreign adversaries or U.S. companies aligned with them.

The senior administration officials listed potential countries of concern as China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela. But it is China — and TikTok, which has over 150 million American users and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese technology firm ByteDance Ltd. — that U.S. leaders have been most vocal about.

Rep. Mike Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican who chairs the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, recently noted, “There’s no such thing as a private business in China.”

The senior administration officials stressed that the executive action was designed to work in conjunction with legislative action. So far, however, numerous bills seeking to establish federal privacy protections have failed to advance in Congress.

Wednesday’s move follows Biden’s executive order on artificial intelligence last fall that seeks to balance the needs of cutting-edge technology companies with national security and consumer rights.

That sought to steer how AI is developed so that companies can profit without putting public safety in jeopardy, creating early guardrails meant to ensure that AI is trustworthy and helpful, rather than deceptive and destructive.
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Out-of-Control Wildfires Scorch Texas Panhandle, Pause Work at Nuclear Weapons Facility

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Judge Rules Prince Harry Was Not Unfairly Stripped of UK Security Detail after He Moved to US

Posted on by SeeEU

London — Prince Harry was not improperly stripped of his publicly funded security detail during visits to Britain after he gave up his status as a working member of the royal family and moved to the U.S., a London judge ruled Wednesday.

Justice Peter Lane said in the High Court that the decision to provide security to Harry on a case-by-case basis was not unlawful, irrational or unjustified.

The Duke of Sussex claimed he and his family were endangered when visiting the U.K. because of hostility toward him and his wife on social media and relentless hounding by news media.

His lawyer argued that the government group that evaluated Harry’s security needs acted irrationally and failed to follow its own policies that should have required a risk analysis of the duke’s safety.

A government lawyer said Harry had been treated fairly and was still provided protection on some visits, citing a security detail that guarded him in June 2021 when he was chased by photographers after attending an event with seriously ill children at Kew Gardens in west London.

The committee that made the decision to reject his security request considered the wider impact that the “tragic death” of his mother, the late Princess Diana, had on the nation, and in making its decision gave greater weight to the “likely significant public upset were a successful attack” on her son to happen, attorney James Eadie said. 

Harry, 39, the younger son of King Charles III, has broken ranks with royal family tradition in his willingness to go to court to challenge both the government and take on tabloids in his effort to hold publishers accountable for hounding him throughout his life.

The lawsuit was one of six cases Harry has brought in the High Court. Three were related to his security arrangements and three have been against tabloid publishers for allegedly hacking phones and using private investigators to snoop on his life for news stories.

In his first case to go to trial, Harry won a big victory last year against the publisher of the Daily Mirror over phone hacking allegations, winning a judgment in court and ultimately settling remaining allegations that were due to go to trial. While the settlement was undisclosed, he was to be reimbursed for all his legal fees and was due to receive an interim payment of 400,000 pounds ($505,000).

He recently withdrew a libel case against the Daily Mail over an article that said he tried to hide his efforts to continue receiving government-funded security. Harry dropped the case after a judge ruled he was more likely to lose at trial because the publisher could show that statements issued on his behalf were misleading and that the February 2022 article reflected an “honest opinion” and wasn’t libelous.

Harry failed to persuade a different judge last year that he should be able to privately pay for London’s police force to guard him when he comes to town. A judge denied that offer after a government lawyer argued that officers shouldn’t be used as “private bodyguards for the wealthy.” 
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Pope Francis Taken Briefly to Rome Hospital After Weekly Audience 

Posted on by SeeEU

Vatican City — Pope Francis, who has been suffering from the flu, was brought to a hospital in central Rome after the papal audience on Wednesday, arriving at the Gemelli Hospital on Tiber Island in a small white Fiat 500 and leaving again under escort in the same car after a short period. The Vatican had no immediate comment.

The 86-year-old pope was pushed in a wheelchair into the audience hall at the Vatican earlier in the day, appearing weary as he dropped heavily into his seat. In recent weeks he has walked the short distance to his chair, but he has been struggling with mild flu symptoms the past week.

The pope also canceled appointments Saturday and Monday due to the flu, but appeared as usual for the Sunday blessing from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square.

Last week, Francis coughed repeatedly during Ash Wednesday services that he presided over at a Roman church, and opted not to participate in the traditional procession that inaugurates the church’s Lenten season.

This time of year in 2020, just as the coronavirus pandemic was starting to hit Italy, Francis also suffered a bad cold that forced him to cancel several days of official audiences and his participation in the Vatican’s annual spiritual retreat. The Vatican had already scrubbed the retreat for this year in favor of personal spiritual exercises.

The Argentine pope had part of one lung removed as a young man because of a respiratory infection, and in 2021 had a chunk of his colon removed because of an intestinal inflammation. He has been using a wheelchair and cane since last year because of strained knee ligaments and a small knee fracture that have made walking and standing difficult.

The Pope used his brief words at the end of Wednesday’s audience to mark the 25th anniversary of the ratification of the Anti-Personnel Mines Convention, expressing his “closeness to the numerous victims of these insidious devices that remind us of the dramatic cruelty of war.”

He also appealed for peace in the Middle East, Ukraine and prayed for the victims of attacks in Burkina Faso and Haiti.

At the end of the audience, the pope spent about an hour greeting the faithful from his wheelchair, stopping to talk, bless babies and exchange gifts.
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Zimbabwe Court Sentences Opposition Leader for Insulting Russian Businesswoman

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Harare, Zimbabwe — A court in Zimbabwe has sentenced an opposition leader to six months in prison or a $300 fine for verbally assaulting a Russian businesswoman.

Magistrate Vongai Guwuriro ruled that Tendai Biti, a former Zimbabwean finance minister, must pay the fine or go to prison, ending a four-year legal battle between Biti and Tatiana Aleshina, who court papers said was a Russian investor.

Biti paid the fine.

Alec Muchadehama, Biti’s attorney, told reporters outside the Harare magistrate’s court Tuesday that Biti would appeal the sentence and conviction.

“Both myself and Tendai Biti are extremely disappointed with the conviction, but I am not surprised that it came to that [conviction],” he said. “This is why we are going to appeal to the High Court, we have various grounds, which we will outline in our grounds of appeal.”

The state prosecutors accused Biti of calling Aleshina “stupid” and pointing at her in 2020. Biti denies the charge of verbal assault.

Aleshina said the ruling was a victory for women.

“Zimbabwe has got justice, even if it has taken long four years. But I learned a lot. I realized if we women can’t stand for our rights, justice will not be revealed,” she said. “And I have nothing to do with Tendai Biti, or anyone, but let him learn good lessons – respect women, and respect not only women, but everyone in this country.”

Aleshina’s supporters outside the court said Biti should have been given a no-fine option and sent to prison, while Biti’s supporters said the punishment for calling someone “stupid” was unfair.

Agnes Togarepi said Biti was innocent.

“How many times do you call someone ‘stupid’ or even ‘idiot’? Is it a crime to point at someone?” she asked.

Biti is vice president of Citizens’ Coalition for Change, Zimbabwe’s main opposition party.

His colleague Job Sikhala, who spent nearly two years in jail, was given a nine-month suspended sentence if he pays a $500 fine by March 4. He was convicted of publishing falsehoods.
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North Korean Missiles Used by Russia Against Ukraine Are Products of Sanction Loopholes

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Washington — The discovery of a North Korean missile in Ukraine that had more than 200 components from U.S. and European companies revealed loopholes that North Korea uses to evade sanctions, said analysts.

North Korea is operating its arms factories at full capacity to supply Russia with weapons needed to fight Ukraine, said South Korean Defense Minister Shin Wonsik at a news briefing on Monday.

South Korea estimates Pyongyang sent about 6,700 containers to Russia since September, Shin said, according to South Korean media.

The U.S. puts the number even higher, estimating that North Korea delivered more than 10,000 containers of munitions or munition-related materials to Russia since September.

The U.S. announced the estimates on Friday as it issued sanctions against more than 500 individuals and entities in Russia.

North Korean weapons have been turning up on the Ukraine battlefield since December, according to the Security Service of Ukraine. It said on Thursday that Russia has fired at least 20 North Korean missiles at Ukraine since then, adding that the missiles had killed or injured civilians.

Russia denied any military or technical cooperation with North Korea during a Jan. 26 news briefing conducted by Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.

VOA contacted the North Korean mission at the United Nations in New York City for comment but received no response.

Investigators determined a missile recovered on Jan. 2 in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, was made with components from U.S. and European companies, according to a report by the U.K.-based investigative group Conflict Armament Research (CAR), first reported by CNN on Feb. 20.

The CAR report found that of the 290 components from the North Korean missile that were examined, about 75% originated with U.S.-based companies. About 16% of the components were linked to European companies.

The report said more than three quarters of the components were produced between 2021 and 2023 and that the missile could not have been made before March 2023. The report said, however, CAR “will not identify the companies linked to their production.”

U.N. member states have been banned from exporting materials and technologies that North Korea could use to make ballistic missiles since the Security Council passed Resolution 1718 in 2006.

Experts said U.S. companies whose parts ended up in the North Korean missile probably did not know the identity of the end user.

Aaron Arnold, a former member of the U.N. Panel of Experts for North Korea’s sanctions, said, however, that the discoveries show “how porous Western export control systems can be.”

Arnold, who is currently a senior associate fellow at Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies at the Royal United Service Institute, told VOA via email on Friday that some of the items that ended up in the North Korean missile are items that can be used to make weapons as well as commercial goods.

“While I can’t say for sure in this particular case, some of the micro-electronics are dual use, meaning, they could be commonplace and used in other commercial applications,” Arnold said. “Some of the Western micro-electronics found in Russian drones, for example, are also used in refrigerators.”

Bruce Klingner, senior research fellow for Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation, emailed VOA on Monday that in addition to dual-use items, “the focus on sanctions enforcement should be on more important components.”

Such components could include “non-domestic electronic components” that the CAR report said were found in the North Korean missile.

Arnold and other experts said North Korea’s practice of using third-party countries to smuggle banned items makes it difficult to detect components headed into the country. But they said it is possible to use established procurement networks to track components back from the missile to identify intermediaries.

Anthony Ruggiero, senior fellow and sanctions expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said in a telephone interview with VOA on Friday, “Part of the biggest challenge is going after those who help North Korean sanctions evasion.”

He continued, “China, Russia, North Korea, Iran — these countries are experts in avoiding U.N. and U.S. sanctions. They are smart enough not to use their names and avoid any suggestion that it’s Russia or North Korea or Iran or China trying to buy these items. Part of the challenge is to lift that veil.”

Joshua Stanton, an attorney based in Washington who helped draft the Sanctions and Policy Enforcement Act in 2016, said via email these discoveries could be “an opportunity for the Commerce Department to trace North Korea’s procurement networks from each component through its supply chain and put the middlemen on its entity list.”
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Biden to Republican Lawmakers: Consequences of Not Passing Ukraine Aid ‘Dire’

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The $95 billion foreign aid package approved by the U.S. Senate this month remains stalled in the Republican-majority House of Representatives, jeopardizing the delivery of $60 billion in aid to Ukraine to help it defeat Russia. Congressional leaders met with U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday to discuss the impasse. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson has more.
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Top Lawmaker Warns US ‘Less Prepared’ for Election Meddling

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washington — The United States might not be ready for the onslaught of disinformation and cyberattacks expected to hit the country ahead of this year’s presidential elections, according to a top U.S. lawmaker.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner told a cybersecurity conference in Washington that despite efforts by various U.S. government agencies to protect against election meddling, there are still gaps, especially when it comes to foreign influence campaigns.

“I worry that we are less prepared for foreign intervention in our elections in 2024 than we were in 2020,” he told the Trellix Cybersecurity Summit.

He added that the prevalence of artificial intelligence could also make Russia’s efforts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election look “like child’s play.”

Top U.S. law enforcement and cybersecurity officials have repeatedly voiced confidence in their ability to protect the nation’s voting infrastructure from attacks from any number of U.S. adversaries.

“Americans can be confident in our election system and our democracy,” FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers last month, backed by the leaders of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the National Security Agency.

But officials have expressed concerns about influence operations, especially from Russia, China and Iran, designed to exploit existing U.S. domestic political divisions.

Warner on Tuesday said he believes that is where Washington election defenses are most vulnerable, citing a court ruling that has prohibited social media companies from sharing information about potential foreign influence operations with the FBI or CISA.

“That ought to scare the hell out of all of us,” he said, adding that voter susceptibility may be at an all-time high.

“We’ve got a whole lot of more Americans in 2024, unfortunately, that are more willing to believe or have less faith in our system to start with,” Warner said.

Warner’s warning about Russian election meddling echoes comments by White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

“There’s plenty of reason to be concerned,” Sullivan told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “There is a history here in presidential elections by the Russian Federation, by its intelligence services.”

Those concerns, however, have riled some lawmakers and conservative commentators, who argue the White House is trying to resurrect what they call the “Russia hoax” — the narrative voiced by many Democrats that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election to help former President Donald Trump win.

Warner, talking to reporters, dismissed such arguments.

“Anyone who doesn’t think the Russian intel services have and will continue to interfere in our elections … I wonder where they’re getting their information to start with,” he said in response to a question from VOA.

In a declassified intelligence report on the U.S. 2022 elections, released late last year, the National Intelligence Council assessed with high confidence that Russia, along with China and Iran, ran operations that sought to influence the outcomes.

“The Russian Government and its proxies sought to denigrate the Democratic Party before the midterm elections and undermine confidence in the election, most likely to undermine U.S. support for Ukraine,” the report said.

China targeted a “handful of midterm races involving members of both U.S. political parties,” it added.

Both Russia and China have previously denied allegations of running influence operations aimed at U.S. elections.
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Senegal Panel Suggests Delayed Election Be Held in June

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DAKAR, SENEGAL — Senegal’s national dialogue commission will propose a delayed presidential election be held on June 2 and recommend President Macky Sall remain in office until his successor is sworn in, commission member Ndiawar Paye said on Tuesday.  

The West African nation, set to become an oil and gas producer by the end of the year, was thrown into an unprecedented political crisis after Sall postponed the election initially scheduled for February 25. 

The proposed date follows two days of talks organized by Sall to ease tensions. His and parliament’s failed bid to postpone the February 25 poll by 10 months sparked unrest and warnings of democratic backsliding in one of coup-hit West Africa’s more stable democracies. 

The recommendation will be sent to Sall, who will make the final decision, Paye told Reuters. 

Speaking by phone, he said it was not known whether Sall would accept the recommendation, but his decision could come on Tuesday or Wednesday. 

The talks in the capital, Dakar, were boycotted by many of the opposition, some of whom want the vote to be held before Sall’s mandate expires on April 2. 

Paye said the commission agreed that early June was the most feasible time for the vote. 

“The month of May has a number of religious festivals, so the elections could not be held then,” he said. 

It was not immediately clear how the opposition would respond to the proposed date. Its successful legal challenge of the original postponement led the top constitutional authority to rule the delay unlawful and ask Sall to find a new date as soon as possible. 
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Kenyan Communities Embrace Alternative Crops to Ease Human-Wildlife Conflict

Posted on by SeeAF

nairobi, kenya — Kenyan communities near Tsavo National Park are seeing a rise in human-wildlife conflict, impacting their lives and income. Communities near the park complain of animal attacks and crop destruction, exacerbating poverty. The group Five Talents Kenya is helping the affected communities to reduce the conflicts, in part by introducing alternative crops that animals are less likely to eat.

In mid-2023, Kenya’s Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife disbursed $6.2 million as compensation to victims of human-wildlife conflict, covering deaths, injuries, and crop and livestock losses.

According to the Kenya Wildlife Service, the government faces additional pending claims of more than $39 million due to human-wildlife conflicts.

Obadia Mwakireti, a farmer in Taita Taveta County, has lost maize and sorghum crops to elephants and other animals from Tsavo National Park. To survive, the 52-year-old farmer shifted to planting alternative crops.

“I have lost a lot of money farming these other crops and we were not being compensated for our loss other than getting [told] sorry,” Mwakireti said. “But now it’s better, I am farming sunflowers. I harvest and press the oil and sell it.”

Other farmers have turned to growing sunflowers and green gram and surrounding their fields with thick Kei Apple hedges to deter animal intrusion.

Kenya’s population growth has exacerbated human-wildlife conflicts, aggravated by the lack of a comprehensive land use policy.

Five Talents Kenya, working with the U.S. Agency for International Development, has initiated programs supporting communities near Tsavo National Park.

Peter Mghendi, the organization’s head, says the group is targeting people from Kitui, Makueni and Taita Taveta counties with programs aimed at reducing tension between communities and wildlife and improving people’s income.

Mghendi said the 3,600 people the group is targeting are members of thriving savings and credit associations, and involved with climate-smart agriculture.

“They will also be linked to markets that they are part of,” he added. “Their leadership is part of the Tsavo conservation area that are contributing to policy matters on conservation.”

Philip Muruthi, vice president of conservation science and planning at the African Wildlife Foundation, said there is a pressing need to manage the conflicts between communities and animals.

“The issue is how can we live with wildlife positively? And I think although it’s a major issue, the battle is not lost,” he said. “We have to be intentional in managing that wildlife. … There are many mechanisms which can be applied including land use planning, compensation. There are better husbandry techniques, better cropping systems.”

Reducing human-wildlife conflict is a crucial matter for communities living near national parks. According to available data, between 2017 and 2020, 388 Kenyans were killed by wild animals and nearly 2,100 were injured.
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US Treasury Secretary Stresses ‘Urgent’ Need to Allocate Russian Assets to Ukraine

Posted on by SeeUS

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Russia Jails Rights Campaigner Orlov for 2-1/2 Years

Posted on by SeeEU

MOSCOW — Veteran human rights activist Oleg Orlov was sentenced on Tuesday by a Moscow court to two and a half years in prison after he was found guilty of discrediting Russian’s armed forces in a trial that has been condemned by international observers as politically motivated.

Orlov, 70, has served for more than two decades as one of the leaders of rights group Memorial. It won a share of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, a year after being banned and dissolved in Russia.

Memorial said Orlov was handcuffed after the verdict, and the court ordered him to be taken immediately into custody.

In his closing remarks to the trial on Monday, Orlov decried the “strangulation of freedom” in Russia, which he referred to as a “dystopia.”

The case against him stemmed from an article he wrote in 2022 in which he said Russia under President Vladimir Putin had descended into fascism.

He was initially fined $1,628 by a district court last year, but a retrial was ordered and prosecutors sought a jail sentence of two years and 11 months.

The U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Russia, Mariana Katzarova, called Orlov’s trial “an orchestrated attempt to silence the voices of human rights defenders in Russia.”

Memorial, founded in 1989, has documented human rights abuses from the time of Soviet leader Josef Stalin to the present and defended freedom of speech, with a focus on identifying and honoring individual victims.
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Nigerian Government, Union Workers Launch Strike Over Inflation

Posted on by SeeAF

Abuja, Nigeria — Nigeria’s government and union workers began a new nationwide strike Tuesday that threatened to shut down key services while people are angry about soaring inflation and growing economic pain. 

Since assuming office in Africa’s most populous country last year, President Bola Tinubu has enacted policies that include doing away with fuel subsidies and unifying the country’s multiple exchange rates, leading to a devaluation of the naira against the dollar. 

Gasoline prices have more than doubled and inflation has shot up as a result, reaching close to 30% last month, the highest in nearly three decades, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. 

“We are hungry. There is nobody that doesn’t know this,” said Joe Ajaero, president of the Nigerian Labor Congress. 

Others said the protest was the only way to get the government’s attention. 

“Things are getting out of hand,” said Christian Omeje, a shop owner in the capital, Abuja. “Prices keep soaring, the aid the government said it would dole out has not been provided.” 

This is just the latest strike action. In October, government labor unions reached a deal with the government to end strikes in return for monthly stipends and subsidies to cushion the blow of the new policies. Still, the unrest continued. 

Unions say the government has failed to deliver on promises that included a monthly wage increase of approximately $20 for all workers for six months and payments of approximately $15 for three months to millions of vulnerable households. 

A pledge to roll out gas-powered buses for mass transit last year also failed to materialize. 

Most services appeared to continue Tuesday with a reduced workforce. 
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