Month: April 2024

North Korea officials visit Iran in rare public trip

Posted on by SeeEA

SEOUL, South Korea — A North Korean delegation led by the cabinet minister for international trade is visiting Iran, the North’s official media said on Wednesday in a rare public report of an exchange between the two countries believed to have secret military ties.

The minister for external economic relations, Yun Jong Ho, left Pyongyang on Tuesday by air leading a ministry delegation to visit Iran, the North’s KCNA news agency said. It gave no other details.

North Korea and Iran have long been suspected of cooperating on ballistic missile programs, possibly exchanging technical expertise and components for their manufacture.

Iran has provided ballistic missiles to Russia for use in its war with Ukraine, Reuters reported in February.

North Korea is also suspected of supplying Russia with missiles and artillery, although both countries have denied the allegation.

Yun has previously worked on the country’s ties with Syria, according to South Korean government database.

Yun has been active in the country’s increasing exchanges with Russia, earlier this month leading a delegation to visit Moscow, according to KCNA.
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UN: Guns fueling rape of children, women in war zones

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UNited Nations — Actor and U.N. Goodwill Ambassador Danai Gurira told diplomats Tuesday that finding a child to sexually abuse in a conflict zone can cost less than one dollar. She urged policymakers to curb the illicit flow of weapons as one way to prevent these crimes.

“Eighty cents. When was the last time you handled 80 cents?” the Zimbabwean American actor and playwright asked Security Council members.

“Paid for something that was all that it cost? It is not even enough to buy a packet of gum in this day and age, but it can buy you a child to rape at a so-called maison de tolérance in a camp for internally displaced people in Eastern DRC [Democratic Republic of Congo].”

The United Nations recorded 3,688 verified cases of rape, gang rape and abductions in conflict zones in 2023 — an increase of 50% over 2022. About 70% to 90% of such incidents involved small arms and light weapons. Nearly all the victims were women and girls. Many survivors of sexual violence do not come forward, so the U.N. says this is just a fraction of the real numbers.

“The actors committing sexual violence at such high rates in Sudan, the DRC, Ethiopia or Haiti are armed to the teeth, flagrantly violating arms embargoes,” an angry Gurira said. “We hear so much about disruptions to the global supply chain, but the weapons keep flowing.”

Women and young girls suffered from rape and sexual violence at the hands of at least 58 state and nonstate armed groups in 21 conflict areas around the world last year, Pramila Patten, the U.N. Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, told the council.

“We cannot condemn the perpetrators of sexual violence in our speeches while continuing to fund and arm them through our supply chains,” she said of the ease of access to weapons.

She said her office’s latest report highlights an “unprecedented level of lethal violence” used to silence rape survivors.

“In 2023, reports of rape victims being subsequently killed by their assailants surfaced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Myanmar, demonstrating the need to strengthen forensic capabilities, investigations and accountability processes that ensure the protection of victims and witnesses,” Patten said.

She said those who assisted survivors often suffered retaliation.

“Armed actors threatened health care workers in Sudan, and reprisals against human rights defenders were reported in South Sudan, the DRC and elsewhere,” Patten said.

Niemat Ahmadi, founder and president of the Darfur Women Action Group, told the council that the year-old war between rival generals in Sudan has unleashed devastating suffering on women.

“Women and girls have been raped multiple times, sometimes in front of their fathers, husbands and sons in an effort to break their will and destroy their dignity,” she said. “These women and girls have no protection, no access to humanitarian or medical assistance, and nowhere to turn for help.”

She said with health care in a state of collapse and humanitarian aid obstructed, it is very difficult for survivors to access reproductive health and other critical services.

“We hear that there are less than a dozen obstetricians and gynecologists left working in Khartoum,” Ahmadi said. “Further, the fear of retaliation for speaking up has made it impossible for many survivors to come forward.”

Fears are growing of a new battle in Sudan’s war, with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) reportedly either close to El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur where their rival Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) are positioned, or already inside its eastern and northeastern neighborhoods. More than 800,000 civilians are in the city.

After the council meeting, Ahmadi told VOA that if an attack happens, the result will be “devastating atrocities,” because the people have nowhere to escape.

“I hope that policymakers, member states of the Security Council, the United States government, will take a step to exercise pressure over the warring parties to stop the attack on El Fasher and stop the attack in Sudan and Darfur everywhere, so vulnerable people can receive humanitarian assistance,” she said.

In the early 2000s, Darfur saw large-scale ethnic violence, crimes against humanity and genocide when Arab “Janjaweed” militias targeted the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic African groups. The Janjaweed fighters are part of the RSF.
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Generative AI threatens voter confidence in what’s real   

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Artificial intelligence surrounds U.S. political life, from fundraising to campaign advertising. Some lawmakers are looking to better police the use of generative content in this year’s presidential election as they say it threatens voter confidence in what is real. VOA correspondent Scott Stearns reports.
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Channel tragedy spotlights Britain’s Rwanda migrant law

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London — French authorities say a 7-year-old girl was among five migrants who drowned in the English Channel on Tuesday just hours after British lawmakers voted through legislation aimed at deterring asylum-seekers from making the crossing.

Local officials said the inflatable dinghy carrying some 112 people hit a sandbank after leaving a beach near the village of Wimereux.

“A few hundred meters from the shore, the engine stopped, and several people fell into the water,” said Jacques Billant, prefect of the French Pas-de-Calais region.

“Despite this complex and delicate situation, 57 people who were still in the inflatable boat remained on board. Not willing to be rescued, they managed to restart the engine and decided to continue their sea route towards Britain,” Billant told reporters.

Such is the determination of the migrants to reach British shores. Over 6,300 people have made the journey across the English Channel in small boats so far this year.

The tragedy happened early Tuesday morning, a few hours after British lawmakers passed legislation that the government hopes will allow it to deport asylum-seekers arriving in small boats across the English Channel to Rwanda for processing.

The migrants would be processed in the African state and have no right to return to Britain, even those granted refugee status.

The legislation effectively orders the courts to ignore existing British laws or international treaties that could block the deportations. Britain’s Supreme Court ruled the policy was illegal in November 2023, as there was a risk that refugees could be sent from Rwanda back to their countries of origin. It is unclear if further legal challenges could delay the flights.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the prospect of being sent thousands of kilometers away to Rwanda will deter migrants from making the journey to Britain.

“The first flight will leave in 10 to 12 weeks. Now, of course, that is later than we wanted. But we have always been clear that processing will take time,” Sunak said Monday evening after the legislation passed.

The government argues the policy is moral, as it aims to end the dangerous journeys operated by people smugglers. But both the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the High Commissioner for Human Rights have called for Britain to rethink the legislation.

“By shifting the responsibility for refugees, reducing the U.K. courts’ ability to scrutinize removal decisions, restricting access to legal remedies in the U.K. and limiting the scope of domestic and international human rights protections for a specific group of people, this new legislation seriously hinders the rule of law in the U.K., and it sets a perilous precedent globally,” Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said at a news briefing Tuesday in Geneva.

Under the deal, Britain pays Rwanda at least $458 million over five years, with extra payments on top worth tens of thousands of dollars for each migrant sent to the country. The opposition Labour Party has called it an “expensive gimmick” that won’t work.

The passing of the legislation after years of wrangling and court battles is being seen as a political victory for Sunak. Whether the policy deters migrants from making the deadly journeys across the English Channel remains to be seen.

Migrant support groups dispute Sunak’s claims that the policy will stop the boats.

“We will not see the boats stop because of this [Rwanda policy]. We will see more deaths, we will see more dangerous risks being taken,” Kay Marsh of the migrant charity Samphire told Reuters.
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South Korea’s Yoon reaffirms commitment to foreign policy agenda

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washington — The South Korean government says it will push ahead with its foreign policy agenda despite a crushing defeat in parliamentary elections at the hands of a liberal opposition party that promises to push back against President Yoon Suk Yeol’s foreign and security policies.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Tuesday that the Yoon government will press on with its security cooperation with the U.S. and Japan in bilateral settings and in a trilateral framework.

Seoul will “cooperate closely” with the U.S. and Japan to carry out agreements made at a trilateral Camp David summit in August, the spokesperson said in an email to VOA’s Korea Service. Those policies were developed in response to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.

The spokesperson said the Yoon administration will also “continue to strengthen its partnership” with countries in the Indo-Pacific region “to support universal values that include freedom, democracy, the rule of law, and human rights.”

The ruling People Power Party (PPP) lost the general election on April 10, securing only 108 seats in the 300-seat National Assembly.

The opposition Democratic Party (DP) won 175 seats but fell short of securing the 200 or more needed for a supermajority that would have allowed them to advance bills for passage without the PPP. Four independent parties secured the rest of the seats.

Bruce Klingner, senior research fellow for Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation, said, “The opposition party is expected to step up its criticism of Yoon’s foreign policies since it favors a more accommodating stance toward Pyongyang and Beijing, resistance to improving relations with Japan and greater independence from U.S. policies.”

Klingner, who served as the CIA’s deputy division chief for Korea from 1996 to 2001, continued, “But such policies have less public support due to the failed U.S. and South Korean summits with North Korea in 2018-19, Pyongyang’s rejection of all requests for dialogue and escalating provocations.”

North Korea said through its state-run KCNA on Tuesday that it had conducted its first nuclear counterattack simulation drills.

The DP mounted criticism against the Yoon administration on Sunday for what it described as China exclusionary policies. It urged the administration to “abandon its biased foreign and security policies,” said a report by The Korea Herald based in Seoul.

The Rebuilding Korea Party, a DP partner that won 12 seats in the National Assembly, slammed Yoon for what it called his “one-sided foreign policies centered on the U.S. and Japan,” according to the report.

On Friday, Yoon called DP leader Lee Jae-myung and proposed to meet with him for the first time since he took office in May 2022, according to South Korean media. Lee lost the presidential election to Yoon nearly two years ago. The presidential office told the press on Saturday the details and time of their meeting are undetermined.

Evans Revere, a former State Department official with extensive experience negotiating with North Korea, said, “The Democratic Party, together with its opposition partners, may try to use its budget-setting and investigatory powers in the National Assembly to slow or otherwise limit the ruling party’s ability to easily pursue its foreign policy and national security agenda.”

He continued, “The DP may also try to use dialogue with the ruling party and the Blue House [former presidential residence] to express a willingness to compromise on domestic economic and social legislation in return for changes to President Yoon’s foreign policy agenda.”

He added, “But President Yoon’s commitment to his foreign policy agenda is highly principled and deeply felt, and it seems unlikely that he would yield to such an opposition party.”

At a conference that Yoon hosted Monday in Seoul for South Korean diplomats assigned overseas, he described the administration’s “global pivotal state diplomacy” as the country’s “signature policy.” He credited the policy for key achievements such as an upgrade in the country’s alliance with the United States and normalization of relations with Japan.

Yoon has pursued his vision for the country to become the “global pivotal state” since taking office in 2022. It calls for South Korea to promote freedom, democracy and the rules-based international order.

Robert Rapson, who served as charge d’affaires and deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul from 2018 to 2021, said it remains to be seen whether the DP and its affiliates can force adjustments on external issues such as Japan, China and North Korea, as well as economic security policy.

“But they plan to give it a try, it seems.”

VOA’s Kim Hyungjin contributed to this report.
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Malawi takes steps to end poverty among women and girls

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blantyre, malawi — Malawi and its development partners are trying something new to help the country’s most vulnerable women and girls get out of extreme poverty. Besides enhancing their socio-economic status, a new three-year program will strengthen their resilience to crises, shocks and disasters.

The U.N children agency, UNICEF, the European Union and the Irish government say more than 20% of Malawi’s 19.6 million people live in extreme poverty.

They said Tuesday women head over 75% of all families living in poverty amid violence and harmful practices that undermine their participation in economic activities.

The new Gender Empowerment and Resilience program is expected to benefit more than 500,000 people in nine districts, giving them access to social services and cash transfers.

The districts are Mzimba, Ntcheu, Balaka, Chikwawa, Mulanje, Mwanza, Neno, Nsanje and Zomba.

Shadrack Omol, UNICEF representative in Malawi, said experience has shown that parents and caregivers need to be supported with livelihoods and resources to support their children.

“That’s why this program is extremely important because through this program we will be working [with] parents,” Omol said, “to support them to have the right livelihoods and incomes to support their children to grow to their full potential.”

About $26 million is being spent to tackle challenges that would help give Malawi women access to economic opportunities and essential social services.

Besides cash transfers, the program will help promote access to social behavior change, nutrition, early childhood development, sexual reproductive health and prevention of gender-based violence.

Jean Sendenza, minister of gender, community development and social welfare, said in a statement that Malawi has previously made progress in expanding social protections to reach more vulnerable people. However, she says significant gender gaps remain.

Eneless Pemba, executive director for Chikondi Girls Project in southern Malawi, said she welcomes the program but says similar interventions haven’t yielded results in the past. That’s because there has been a tendency to impose solutions without asking what people really want, Pemba said.

“We sometimes feel like a girl-child just wants money while there are a lot of issues happening,” Pemba said. “For example when you talk about mental health issues, a girl-child, maybe her parents are sick or they don’t have food at home like hunger we are facing in Malawi now.”

Pemba, whose project teaches girls how to make sanitary pads and other skills, says there is a need to encourage girls’ entrepreneurship skills to help her find food for the whole family.

“There are other small businesses she can do while in school, which can be sustainable for a long time rather than a project which can be there for a year and phase out,” Pemba said.

Maggie Kathewera-Banda, executive director of the Women’s Legal Resources Centre, says there still are some people who need more than resources to help lift themselves up.

“Much as we have empowerment programs, where people are supposed to have the skills so that they can move out of poverty, we still have some section of population which are so vulnerable to the extent that they cannot move out of poverty on their own, they need a booster,” Kathewera-Banda said. “So as a starting point, cash transfers offer such kind of a thing.”

Kathewera-Banda says the impact of some projects may not be seen or felt because they focus on small groups out of thousands of people facing poverty.

However, EU Ambassador to Malawi Rune Skinnebach and Irish Ambassador to Malawi Séamus O’Grady said in a statement the program will help create an enabling environment for Malawi women and girls to contribute meaningfully to their communities.
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African leaders meet in Nigeria to discuss terrorism

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Abuja, Nigeria — A high-level Africa counterterrorism summit opened Monday in Nigeria with hundreds of delegates from around the world. Africa has become the world’s epicenter of terrorism. Leaders at the summit hope to change that through regional cooperation and partnerships.

The summit was jointly hosted by Nigeria and the United Nations Office of Counter Terrorism (UNOCT) with the aim of strengthening regional security response and cooperation against acts of terror.

“Terrorism snaps at the very fabric of the prosperous and just society we seek to build for ourselves and our children,” Nigerian President Bola Tinubu said during remarks at the two-day summit in Abuja. “This violent threat seeks to frighten the farmer from his field, children from their schools, women from the marketplace and families from their very homes. We must therefore fight this threat together, combining determined national effort with well-tailored and regional and international collaboration.”

The summit seeks to enhance intelligence sharing among African nations and promote African-led strategies on counterterrorism.

Authorities say it will also serve as a guide to the international community’s collective response to terrorism in Africa.

Terrorism and violent extremism are spreading at an alarming rate in Africa. According to a new study by the African Center for Strategic Studies, acts of terror increased by more than 100,000% in the last two decades despite local and foreign intervention.

The report says more than 23,000 people were killed in Africa last year — a 20% increase compared to 2022.

Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo says fighting terrorism goes beyond a country’s borders.

“The evolving nature of terrorism demands a dynamic and coordinated response that transcends national borders and individual efforts,” Akufo-Addo said. “These groups are exploiting grievances, vulnerabilities and are manipulating ideologies to spread fear, division and chaos. We recognize the urgent need to combat this menace that continues to threaten the peace, security and development of our continent.”

Authorities say the threat of terrorism in Africa is exacerbated by the illicit arms trade, unemployment, poverty, inadequate policing, marginalization and political instability.

For more than a decade, Nigeria has struggled to stem the violence by Boko Haram and its splinter, ISWAP in the northeast.

And more recently, armed gangs known as bandits have been making matters worse.

Nigeria’s security adviser Nuhu Ribadu said these factors need to be addressed.

“Effective strategies require comprehensive approaches that address these drivers, promotes socioeconomic development, enhance governance resolve conflict and strengthen regional and international cooperation,” Ribadu said.

But getting the funding to do this has been a major challenge in Africa.

Authorities hope to change the narrative for the better. Vladimir Voronkov, undersecretary-general of the UNOCT, stressed the important role African regional organizations have in effectively countering terrorism.

“The success of the United Nations in Africa hinges on our commitment to support Africa-led solutions to African challenges,” Voronkov said. “We recognize no single actor can resolve today’s threats to peace and security. Instead we need multiple actors working together with solutions grounded with strong national ownership and support of bi-funding partners.”

Acts of terror in Africa are largely concentrated in the Sahel, Somalia, the lake Chad basin, North Africa and Mozambique.

Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso were absent from the summit due to coup-related sanctions imposed by ECOWAS and the African Union.

Critics say for counterterrorism measures to be truly successful every country must be involved.
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Turkey arrests pro-Kurdish reporters in ‘terrorism’ probe, relative says

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Istanbul — Nine Turks working for pro-Kurdish media outlets were arrested Tuesday in Turkey, their employers and lawyers said, with a relative of one saying they were accused of “terrorist activities.”

Four women and five men were arrested at dawn in Istanbul, the capital Ankara, and the southeastern city of Urfa, lawyers from the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), a press freedom organization, said.

MLSA said those arrested work for news organizations including the Mezopotamia Agency and the newspaper Yeni Yasam and include several journalists and “press employees.”

The nine were denied access to their lawyers for 24 hours, MLSA said in a message on X.

“No declaration has been made about the reasons for the detention of the journalists” on Tuesday morning, it said.

Mezopotamia said one of its journalists was arrested in Ankara during “a police operation at his home.”

A relative of one of the journalists, who asked not to be named, told AFP the police showed up at the journalist’s home at dawn.

She said the families of the journalists had been informed that their arrests were “part of an investigation opened in 2022 for terrorist activities.”

The journalists based in Istanbul were being held on Tuesday in a police station in the city, she said.

The international press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders, contacted in Istanbul, said it was “monitoring the situation closely.”

Elsewhere, Belgian police searched the studios of two Kurdish channels, Sterk TV and Medya News, that broadcast from Belgium, the two media outlets said in a statement to AFP.

The Belgian public prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Tuesday that the searches were carried out “during the night” “at the request of the French judiciary,” which is seeking to “establish possible evidence of terrorist financing.

A source close to the police operation who asked not to be named told AFP those raids had “no link” to the arrests in Turkey.
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Myanmar junta slams US aid plan

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WASHINGTON — Myanmar’s ruling junta, the State Administrative Council, is criticizing a U.S. aid package that is being funneled through opponents of the regime, saying the United States should consider whether its actions amount to support for terrorism. 

The assistance marks the first implementation of the BURMA Act, part of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act aimed at helping pro-democracy forces battling the SAC. 

Under the act, the aid is intended to strengthen federalism in Myanmar by providing nonlethal assistance to armed groups, helping pro-democracy organizations, assisting aid organizations operating from Thailand, and financing investigations of junta human rights violations. The aid is restricted to ensure it does not benefit the SAC or any entity affiliated with the Myanmar military. 

“We believe the U.S. is manipulating Myanmar to counter China’s influence in the region,” the junta said in a statement provided to VOA on March 29. “Despite the U.S. presenting itself as a champion of democracy, the aid disproportionately benefits Myanmar’s opposition groups, particularly the National Unity Government (NUG) and the People’s Defense Force (PDF).” 

The NUG is the opposition’s shadow government; the PDF is made up of civilian armed groups battling the military. 

The junta statement calls on the United States to review its aid allocation “to reassess whether their actions, which some label as terrorism, represent a legitimate path to reclaiming power.” 

The junta, which has killed and imprisoned thousands of people since overthrowing the democratically elected government in February 2021, accuses the NUG and PDF of responsibility for the civilian deaths. The statement did not elaborate on the charge that U.S. support for resistance groups in Myanmar is linked to Myanmar’s adversarial relationship with China. 

The promise of the BURMA Act 

The Burma Unified Through Rigorous Military Accountability Act, commonly called the BURMA Act, says it aims to “continue to support the people of Burma in their struggle for democracy, human rights, and justice.” 

It identifies specific resistance groups as beneficiaries, including the NUG, and the National Unity Consultative Council, or NUCC, which comprises several opposition groups. 

Also named are the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, which is made up of members of the ousted Myanmar parliament; the civil disobedience movement; “and other entities in Burma and in other countries” that seek to “bring about an end to the military junta’s rule.” 

The act promises to “hold accountable perpetrators of human rights violations,” and to “hold accountable the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China.” 

It provides $75 million for refugee assistance programs, including in Thailand and India, and $25 million for “technical support and non-lethal assistance” to the NUG and PDF. Smaller amounts are earmarked for governance programs, documentation of atrocities, and assistance to political prisoners, Rohingya and deserters from the junta’s military. 

The Rohingya, a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority group, have faced persecution and discrimination in Myanmar for decades. In 2017, a military crackdown by the Myanmar army forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh, seeking refuge from the violence and persecution. 

The act authorizes appropriations to be allocated annually from fiscal years 2023 through 2027, with $121 million earmarked for FY 2024.  

Process of the funding 

During debate on the bill, the U.S. House of Representatives initially proposed a more limited $50 million aid package but agreed to the larger sum advocated by the Senate before final passage. 

“We are pleased with the $121 million proposed by the Senate, instead of the $50 million proposed by the House. However, we believe this amount is insufficient, and should be closer to $300 million to meet the humanitarian needs on the ground,” said James Shwe, from the Los Angeles Myanmar Movement, which works with Myanmar activists in the United States. 

In a Zoom call with VOA, Shwe also criticized what he sees as the high administrative costs of aid distribution. 

“Because of the lack of state-to-state cooperation in a case such as Myanmar, where the aid is meant for humanitarian assistance, but not for the ruling power, this leads to several layers of management,” he said. 

“The aid is funneled through USAID partners, the biggest of which is the U.N., which has to operate under the rules of the junta. In many cases, the U.N. will in turn deal with [non-governmental organizations]. The NGO then needs to distribute that aid to [civil society organizations] on the ground. This leads to ever-increasing administrative costs and less actual assistance to those in need.” 

Shwe said administration costs eat up around 45% of aid funds. 

“Only $75 million of the $121 million is allocated for cross-border aid, which we believe will be more effective than channeling funds through the U.N., the largest partner of USAID,” Shwe added. But he welcomed the lawmakers’ decision to specifically name the NUG and the NUCC in the act, ensuring that they will play a role in the allocation of the funds. 

Hopes for assistance amid U.S. engagement 

Hopes for continued humanitarian assistance to Myanmar are on the rise after U.S. State Department Counselor Derek Chollet and USAID Assistant Administrator Michael Schiffer met this month with representatives from the NUG. 

“The meeting underscores the ongoing commitment of the United States to engage with Myanmar’s NUG leadership and support their endeavors to promote democracy, peace, and stability in the region,” said an April 11 State Department press release. 

Chollet also met in late March with ethnic armed organizations allied with the NUG.

“Met today with leaders of Burma’s ‘K3C’ ethnic group alliance on their extraordinary efforts to pursue a federal democracy in Burma,” he wrote on X on March 28. “We discussed steps for the international community to expand assistance to those in need and secure a better future for the people of Burma.”

The K3C alliance, comprising the Kachin Independence Organization, Karen National Union, Karenni National Progressive Party, and Chin National Front, is politically aligned with the NUG and collaborates militarily with its armed wing, the People’s Defense Force. 

“We briefed them on the political and military situation in our state, as well as the humanitarian situation,” said Aung San Myint, secretary of the Karenni National Progressive Party, who shared details of the meeting with VOA by phone.  

“Following our presentation, they assured us of continued collaboration as the U.S. Department of State. … We have hope for increased humanitarian aid as discussions progress with U.S. officials.”
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Azerbaijan says ‘closer than ever’ to Armenia peace deal

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Baku, Azerbaijan — Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Tuesday a peace deal with Armenia was closer than ever before, as teams from both countries began demarcating the border in a bid to end decades of territorial disputes and clashes.

Aliyev’s optimism comes amid progress on marking the border despite protests in Armenia, still bruised after Baku seized control of the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region in a lightning offensive last year.

On Tuesday, teams from both countries installed the first border marker after officials had agreed to delimit a section based on Soviet-era maps.

“We are close as never before,” Aliyev said on Tuesday of an elusive peace deal.

“We now have a common understanding of how the peace agreement should look like. We only need to address details,” he said.

“Both sides need time… We both have political will to do it.”

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan last month agreed to return four border villages that were part of Azerbaijan when the two countries were republics of the Soviet Union.

Aliyev said Tuesday he had accepted a proposal by Kazakhstan to host a meeting of their foreign ministers.

Several countries have tried to play mediator — including Russia, Iran, the United States, France and Germany — but years of talks have failed.

Aliyev downplayed the need for third party intervention.

“We are not talking about any kind of mediation, because what happens now on our border demonstrates that when we are left alone… we can agree sooner than later,” he said.

Experts from both countries installed the first marker on Tuesday, they announced in identical statements.

Rallies had earlier erupted in Armenia, with protestors briefly blocking traffic at several points on the Armenia-Georgia highway, fearful of giving up more land.

Yerevan said Tuesday it would not transfer “Armenia’s sovereign territory.”

The four abandoned settlements that are to be returned to Azerbaijan — Lower Askipara, Baghanis Ayrum, Kheirimly and Gizilhajili — were taken over by Armenian forces in the 1990s, forcing their ethnic Azerbaijani residents to flee.

But Armenian residents of nearby villages worry they will end up isolated from the rest of the country and that some houses could fall into Azerbaijani territory.

The area has strategic importance for landlocked Armenia: Several small sections of the highway to Georgia — a vital trade artery — could be handed over.

The delimited border will run close to a major Russian gas pipeline, in an area that also offers advantageous military positions.

Pashinyan has insisted on the need to resolve the border dispute “to avoid a new war.”

On Saturday, he said Russian guards deployed in the area since 1992 would be replaced “and border guards of Armenia and Azerbaijan will cooperate to guard the state border on their own.”

Border delimitation was a “significant change,” he said, adding: “now have a border and not a line of contact, which is a sign of peace.”

Last autumn, Azerbaijani troops recaptured the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region from Armenian separatists in a one-day offensive that ended a bloody three-decade standoff over the region.

But lingering territorial claims have continued to threaten a fresh escalation.

Baku has claims over four more villages located in exclaves deeper in Armenian territory.

It is also demanding the creation of a land corridor through Armenia to connect the mainland to the Nakhichevan exclave and onwards to close ally Turkey.

Yerevan, in turn, points to its own exclave in Azerbaijan and pockets of land Baku has seized over the last three years outside of Karabakh.
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US sanctions four over ‘malicious cyber activity’ for Iran’s military

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Washington — The U.S. ramped up its sanctions against Iran on Tuesday, designating four people and two companies it says were “involved in malicious cyber activity” on behalf of the country’s military.  

“These actors targeted more than a dozen U.S. companies and government entities through cyber operations, including spear phishing and malware attacks,” the U..S Treasury Department said in a statement. 

The individuals and companies were working “on behalf of” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Cyber Electronic Command (IRGC-CEC), the Treasury said. 

“Iranian malicious cyber actors continue to target U.S. companies and government entities in a coordinated, multi-pronged campaign intended to destabilize our critical infrastructure and cause harm to our citizens,” the Treasury’s under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, Brian Nelson, said in a statement. 

“The United States will continue to leverage our whole-of-government approach to expose and disrupt these networks’ operations,” he added.  

Tuesday’s sanctions are the latest to be levied against Tehran by the United States and its allies for supporting anti-Israel proxies in the Middle East and for providing military support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.  

Last week, the U..S and Britain announced widespread sanctions against Iran’s military drone program in response to Tehran’s large-scale attack against Israel earlier this month.  

That attack came in response to an April 1 airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus — widely blamed on Israel — that killed seven members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including two generals. 

A day after those sanctions were unveiled, the U.S. fined a Thailand-based firm $20 million for more than 450 possible Iran sanctions violations. 

They included processing close to $300 million in wire transfers for a company jointly owned by the National Petroleum Company of Iran.  

Alongside Tuesday’s sanctions, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have indicted the four individuals in question “for their roles in cyber activity targeting U.S. entities,” the Treasury Department said.

 
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Taiwan President-elect: US military aid package strengthens deterrence against authoritarianism 

Posted on by SeeEA

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African beats entice China and US investors

Posted on by SeeAF

Africa’s entertainment industry is another stage where global competition between China and the U.S. is playing out. African artists see it as an opportunity. Kate Bartlett has the details from Johannesburg. Camera and video editing by Zaheer Cassim.
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UK announces $620 million in new military aid for Ukraine, plan to up own defense spending

Posted on by SeeEU

Warsaw, Poland — U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced Tuesday that the country is to increase defense spending to 2.5% of GDP by the end of the decade.

Sunak made the announcement during a visit to Warsaw, where he also described a new pledge to send arms to Ukraine.

He said the government is putting the U.K.’s defense industry “on a war footing,” describing it as the “biggest strengthening of our national defense for a generation.”

“In a world that is the most dangerous it has been since the end of the Cold War, we cannot be complacent,” he said at a news briefing in Warsaw alongside NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg. “As our adversaries align, we must do more to defend our country, our interests and our values.

The announce followed the U.K. pledging an additional $620 million in new military supplies for Ukraine, including long-range missiles and 4 million rounds of ammunition, at a time when Ukraine is struggling to hold off advancing Russian forces on the eastern front line of the war, now in its third year.

Sunak spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to confirm the assistance and “assure him of the U.K.’s steadfast support for Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s brutal and expansionist ambitions,” Sunak’s office said.

Ahead of the visit the U.K. government said Sunak would announce 500 million pounds ($620 million, 580 million euros) in new British military supplies, including 400 vehicles, 60 boats, 1,600 munitions and 4 million rounds of ammunition. The shipment will include British Storm Shadow long-range missiles, which have a range of some 150 miles (241 kilometers) and have proved effective at hitting Russian targets.

“President Zelenskyy thanked the prime minister for the U.K.’s continued support, saying the new military assistance would make a material difference to ordinary Ukrainians fighting on the front line to defend their country,” Downing Street said.

However, Downing Street did not indicate whether the aid would be immediately available for delivery. Zelenskyy has pleaded for greater international assistance, warning that his country will lose the war without it.

The announcement came three days after the U.S. House of Representatives approved $61 billion in aid for Ukraine, as American lawmakers raced to deliver a fresh round of U.S. support to the war-torn ally. The Senate was expected to vote on the package Tuesday.

Ammunition shortages over the past six months have led Ukrainian military commanders to ration shells, a disadvantage that Russia has seized on this year — taking the city of Avdiivka and currently inching towards the town of Chasiv Yar, also in the eastern Donetsk region.
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Taiwan attracting Southeast Asian tech students

Posted on by SeeEA

Taiwan is looking to Southeast Asia as a pipeline to fill its shortage of high-tech talent. The numbers of foreign students coming to the island has been growing, especially from Vietnam and Indonesia. VOA Mandarin’s Peh Hong Lim reports from Hsinchu, Taiwan. Adrianna Zhang contributed.
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Amid China tensions, India delivers supersonic cruise missiles to Philippines 

Posted on by SeeEA

New Delhi — India has begun delivery of supersonic cruise missiles to the Philippines as the two countries tighten defense and strategic ties amid rising tensions between the East Asian nation and China over maritime disputes in the South China Sea.

The BrahMos missiles are being acquired by the Philippines under a $ 375 million deal signed in 2022.

“Now we are also exporting BrahMos missiles. The first batch of this missile is going to the Philippines today,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Friday at an election rally.

India and Philippines have ramped up defense cooperation as concerns over an increasingly assertive China deepen in both countries.

Tensions between the Philippines and China have escalated over the past year as Beijing, citing historical rights, presses its claims to areas inside Manila’s exclusive economic zone. Efforts to resolve New Delhi’s four-year long military standoff with Beijing along its disputed Himalayan border have made little headway.

In New Delhi, analysts say India wants to be part of a larger pushback against China in the South China Sea as concerns rise over Beijing’s territorial ambitions.

“BrahMos missile delivery to the Philippines is in itself not a game changer. But the idea is that we are part of a broader coalition of countries including the U.S. trying to build up the muscle and shore up the security of smaller countries like the Philippines. It is what we call lattice work strategy,” according to Sreeram Chaulia, dean of the Jindal School of International Affairs.

Tensions between Philippines and Beijing have ratcheted up following recent confrontations between the coastguards and other vessels of the two countries.

China, which claims almost the entire South China Sea, deploys coastguard vessels to patrol what it deems are its waters – besides Philippines, Beijing also has maritime disputes with countries including Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia.

The missiles being supplied by India are produced under a joint venture with Russia. They are a shore-based, anti-ship system with a range of 290 kilometers. Under the deal, India will supply three versions of the missile system, according to domestic media reports in New Delhi.

Philippine National Security Council assistant director general, Jonathan Malaya, told reporters in Manila that the missiles will be deployed by the Philippine Marines.

“This adds an important and practical layer of deterrence for the Philippines amidst its limited military resources vis-a-vis China,” Don McLain Gill, a geopolitical analyst and lecturer at the Department of International Studies, De La Salle University, Manila told VOA in emailed comments. He said the missiles will “bolster its coastal defence to more effectively exercise its sovereignty and sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea at a time when China has been relentlessly pursuing its expansionist ambitions against international law.”

Analysts say building defense cooperation with the Philippines also signals that New Delhi is now moving beyond the Indian Ocean to contribute to maintaining stability in the Indo-Pacific region.

During a visit to Manila last month, Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar reiterated “India’s support to the Philippines for upholding its national sovereignty.”

Asserting that both countries have a “very deep interest” in ensuring a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific Ocean, his Philippine counterpart, Enrique Manalo, said that “it’s in this region and it is in this context that we are having extensive discussions regularly on defense cooperation, security cooperation.”

An Indian coast guard ship visited the Philippines during the Indian minister’s visit. The two countries are also expected to hold more joint naval drills.

“India is also a close security partner of Manila’s key strategic partners, such as the U.S, Japan, and Australia. This makes it even more practical for the Philippines to strengthen ties with India,” pointed out Don McLain Gill.

India had for many years been hesitant about exporting the BrahMos missiles, believing that advanced defense cooperation with countries like the Philippines with which China has disputes would rile Beijing, but analysts say New Delhi has reversed course. India has also been steadily building military ties with Vietnam, which is also embroiled in maritime disputes with China.

“As our dispute with the Chinese is not settling, there is a clear change of mind on the part of the Indian government and it has decided to assist the security needs of countries like the Philippines in a very concrete way,” said Chaulia. “From our point of view, this helps to send a clear signal to the Chinese that they cannot be arming our adversaries like Pakistan with advanced weapons and defense technology and expect that we will not reciprocate.”

The delivery of the missiles to the Philippines marks India’ s first export of the missile systems. India, which imports most of its own arms, is a marginal exporter of military equipment, but has been trying to build a defense industry.
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Russian media: Kremlin plans to deploy ballistic missiles on Finnish border

Posted on by SeeEU

LONDON — Russian media report that the Kremlin plans to deploy ballistic missiles close to its border with Finland. It’s the latest in a series of military and hybrid threats that Russia has made against the Nordic state since it joined NATO in April last year in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian newspaper Izvestia reported Monday that a new brigade will be deployed in the Karelia region bordering Finland, equipped with an Iskander-M ballistic missile system.

The Izvestia report quoted an ex-commander of Russia’s Baltic Fleet, Admiral Vladimir Valuev, who told the newspaper that “the formation of a missile brigade is a very timely decision. This is an adequate response to Finland’s accession to NATO.”

Despite the proximity to Finland, the potential deployment is not raising alarm bells in Helsinki, said security analyst Charly Salonius-Pasternak of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.

“This is really not news. And of course, announcing a thing and then doing something about it are two very different things when it comes from Russia. So overall, we really haven’t seen a lot other than rhetoric,” he told VOA.

Finland has warned that it is facing varied security and hybrid threats from Russia since it joined NATO.

In the second half of 2023, following Finland’s accession to the alliance, over 1,300 migrants from countries including Yemen, Syria and Somalia began to arrive at the Finnish-Russian border to try to claim asylum.

Helsinki closed all crossing points along the frontier in November, accusing the Kremlin of weaponizing migration. They were reopened briefly, but swiftly closed again after another surge in migrant arrivals. The closure was extended indefinitely earlier this month.

Finland wants the European Union to help in preventing any future migrant crisis.

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo hosted the European Union’s Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on a tour of the border region Friday.

“Now we have to find common solutions to stop this phenomenon when Russia uses illegal immigrants against us. We are preparing our own legislation, but we also need EU-level measures,” Orpo said.

Von der Leyen pledged the EU’s support. “This is a new phenomenon. It is a hybrid threat, and it has to be dealt (with) as a hybrid threat to national security. And what we see is that a state is instrumentalizing poor people to put pressure on another state. So that is a clear security issue, and we will certainly be dealing for quite a long time with that, and we will have to prepare for that,” she told reporters at the Imatra border crossing on the Russian frontier.

Finland is building a fence along part of the 1,340-kilometer (833-mile) border and increasing patrols. The government is debating legislation to block asylum-seekers entering from Russia. Von der Leyen said any such measures must strike a balance between protecting security and international obligations on the rights of refugees.

The threats go beyond a migrant crisis, said analyst Charly Salonius-Pasternak.

“The Russian security services, once some of these individuals have gotten to Finland, are seeking to recruit them to then cause further mayhem within Finland.”

It’s part of Russia’s hybrid campaign against Finland and other NATO allies, Salonius-Pasternak added.

“The Russian land forces are, of course, engaged in Ukraine, so we really haven’t seen a lot of (military threats), except some posturing. But there’s certainly an expectation from the Finnish authorities that cyber-attacks, maybe other attacks on infrastructure, as well as this weaponization of humans, will continue. Now that winter is slowly receding here, the long border becomes, of course, much more passable.”

Russia denies trying to create a migrant crisis on the Finnish border. Moscow has described Finland’s accession to NATO as a “historic mistake” that would force it to take what it called “countermeasures.”
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Queen of STEM: How one Eswatini monarch is breaking barriers with her STEM Sisters program

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In Eswatini, only 46% of girls complete secondary education, according to UNICEF, with pregnancy and poverty being major contributing factors. A new mentorship program for young rural girls, STEM Sisters, is designed to buck these trends by teaching coding, robotics, and engineering, opening doors to careers and opportunities they never knew existed. Nokukhanya Musi reports.
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DNA database to help fight against illegal wildlife trafficking

Posted on by SeeEA

SYDNEY — Scientists from Australia and the United Kingdom are developing genomic sequencing technology to save parrots caught in the illegal wildlife trade.  

They say their forensic methods are similar to a database used by INTERPOL, the international police organization.

Parrots are among the most trafficked birds in the illegal international wildlife trade.

By using samples from feathers or a speck of blood, researchers from the Australian National University and King’s Forensics in the United Kingdom are working to build a genetic database of threatened bird species.  

They hope to create a DNA library that would help authorities track illegal trade routes and reveal the origin of animals seized from smugglers.

The research team says the genomic techniques are like those of INTERPOL’s I-Familia database, which is used to identify people based on international genetic kinship matching.

George Olah of the Fenner School of Environment and Society at the Australian National University’s College of Science told that threatened species of parrots need urgent protection.

He said generally, the illegal wildlife trade is the fourth most lucrative crime in the world.

“Like organized crime after arms trafficking, drugs and human trafficking,” he said. “Parrots are really prevalent in that trade that is in numbers of live animals. They are the most traded bird.”

Olah said genetic databases will be able to identify the source of smuggled birds.

“This would help, you know, local law enforcement agencies to better focus their limited budgets to these hotspots,” he said. “So, if you could work out that most of the trade in animals are coming just from a few islands, or from a specific region, then they can focus on that to actually break the chain.”

Olah will travel to Indonesia next month to meet with local authorities and researchers. He says the illegal parrot trade is rife in the Indo-Pacific nation.

Scientists say that in addition to being a threat to biodiversity, wildlife trafficking is an international public health issue because of its role in spreading zoonotic diseases.

The National Institutes of Health in the United States says these are “a disease or infection that can be transmitted naturally from vertebrate animals to humans or from humans to vertebrate animals. More than 60% of human pathogens are zoonotic in origin.”

 
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