The US and Turkey have resumed security cooperation talks, and analysts say Turkish forces are poised to fill a vacuum should American forces pull out of Syria. Pentagon officials say there are no plans for a withdrawal, but analysts point to signs it may happen. Meanwhile, the speculation is causing concern among Kurdish forces in Syria. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
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Month: May 2024
Mozambique’s ruling party nominates presidential candidate
Maputo — Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo party picked Daniel Francisco Chapo, the 47-year-old governor of a southern province, to be its candidate for October’s presidential election, after heated internal debates that lasted three days.
Sunday’s selection of Chapo halted speculation that President Filipe Nyusi planned to cling to power at the conclusion of his term through an amendment to the constitution.
Nyusi said the endorsement puts an end to a soap opera of rumors, including talk of a possible third term. Frelimo respects the laws, he added, so there was no reason to speculate about new term limits.
Nyusi also encouraged party members to support Chapo in the upcoming elections.
Since Mozambique’s independence in 1975, all heads of state have been nominated by Frelimo.
The party has won all elections since multi-party democracy was introduced 30 years ago at the end of a crippling 16-year civil war which left over one million people dead and five million others internally displaced.
Chapo has been governor of Inhambane province since 2016. He holds a master’s degree in development management from a university in Mozambique. Prior to entering politics, he taught constitutional law and political science at the Universidade Catolica in the port city of Beira, and worked as an announcer at a private radio station in the same city.
After being confirmed as Frelimo’s candidate, Chapo promised to work to promote the country’s economic development.
If elected, Chapo will become Mozambique’s fourth democratically elected head of state.
Chapo is viewed by analysts as a leader who may be able to restore security in the troubled oil- and gas-rich province of Cabo Delgado, where Islamic State-linked insurgents have been terrorizing civilians and destroying public infrastructure since 2017, forcing the interruption of multibillion-dollar projects.
The violence has continued despite support by troops from other countries of the Southern African Development Community, and soldiers from Rwanda.
Economic analyst and university lecturer Alcidio Bachita has high hopes for Chapo.
“He is an individual who has not been accused of any corruption schemes,” Bachita said. “And I believe that this change of leadership will open a new page in the history of Mozambique, given that he is a young man and was born after [the] independence period of the country. So I believe that the economy of Mozambique will witness a great performance in the coming years.”
Mozambique will hold its seventh presidential and legislative elections on October 9.
The deadline for presenting lists of candidates for president to the Constitutional Council is June 10.
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Taiwan renews debate over removal of Chiang Kai-shek statues
He was once the most powerful man in Taiwan. But today, the statues of Taiwan’s late President Chiang Kai-shek are at the center of the island’s heated debate about how to reflect on its authoritarian past. VOA’s William Yang has more on this story from Taipei.
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Russia bans US-funded rights group Freedom House
Moscow — Russia on Tuesday said it had declared U.S.-funded rights group Freedom House an “undesirable organization”, effectively banning anyone from working for or having links with the group.
Authorities in Russia have declared dozens of media outlets, think tanks and non-profit organizations “undesirable” since 2015, a label rights groups say is designed to deter dissent.
In a statement, Russia’s Prosecutor General said Freedom House had called for “comprehensive assistance to Ukraine to defeat Russia” and had “discredited” the Russian army.
“The organization provides information, financial, legal and other support to Russian opposition structures, pro-Western and LGBT activists, communities defending their interests, and persons convicted of terrorist crimes,” it said.
Freedom House says it supports and provides funding to local democracy activists and civil liberty groups in more than 30 countries, receiving much of its financing from the U.S. State Department.
It is best known for its “Freedom in the World” index that measures each country’s civil liberties and labels them “Free” or “Not Free”. Russia is labelled “Not Free”.
Since launching its offensive in Ukraine, Moscow has waged an unprecedented crackdown on dissent that rights groups have likened to Soviet-era mass repression.
Among other organizations labelled as “undesirable” in Russia are the World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace, Transparency International and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
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Heavy metal music finds a home in Indonesia
Heavy metal music is controversial in some conservative societies but quite popular in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country. As VOA’s Dave Grunebaum reports, heavy metal has a home in Indonesia.
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Specialty surgery hospital opens in Ghana
Limited medical resources in Africa force some patients to travel abroad for specialized surgeries. Now, a new special surgery institute has opened in Ghana to try and help. Senanu Tord reports from Accra, Ghana.
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US repatriates 11 citizens from camp for relatives of Islamic State militants
BEIRUT — The United States has repatriated 11 of its citizens from sprawling camps in northeastern Syria that house tens of thousands of family members of suspected Islamic State militants, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday.
The repatriation was the largest Washington has carried out from the camps to date, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. Five of the 11 citizens brought back were children, and one non-U.S. citizen child — the 9-year-old sibling of one of the other children — was also brought with them.
As part of the same operation, the U.S. facilitated the repatriation of 11 other camp residents, eight of them children, to Canada, the Netherlands and Finland, the statement said.
Although the pace of repatriations has picked up — neighboring Iraq recently returned hundreds of its citizens — many countries remain reluctant to bring back citizens from the al Hol and al Roj camps, which now hold about 30,000 people from more than 60 countries, most of them children.
The camps are run by local authorities affiliated with the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. The SDF and its allies, including U.S.-led coalition forces, defeated the Islamic State group in Syria in 2019, ending its self-proclaimed Islamic “caliphate” that had ruled over a large swath of territory straddling Iraq and Syria.
Human rights groups have regularly reported on what they describe as inhumane living conditions and abuses in the camps and in detention centers where suspected Islamic State members are housed.
“The only durable solution to the humanitarian and security crisis” in the facilities “is for countries to repatriate, rehabilitate, reintegrate, and where appropriate, ensure accountability for wrongdoing,” Blinken said in the statement.
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Police break up pro-Palestinian student protest in Berlin as demonstrations spread across Europe
Amsterdam — German police on Tuesday broke up a protest by several hundred pro-Palestinian activists who had occupied a courtyard at Berlin’s Free University earlier in the day, the latest such action by authorities as protests that have roiled campuses in the United States spread across Europe.
The protesters had put up about 20 tents and formed a human chain around the tents. Most had covered their faces with medical masks and had draped kufiyah scarves around their heads, shouting slogans such as “Viva, viva Palestina.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Dutch police arrested about 125 activists as they broke up a similar pro-Palestinian demonstration camp at the University of Amsterdam.
In Berlin, police called on the students via loudspeakers to leave the campus. Police could also be seen carrying some students away and some scuffles erupted between police officers and protesters.
Police used pepper spray against some of the protesters. The school’s administrators said in a statement that the protesters had rejected any kind of dialogue and they had therefore called in police to clear the campus.
“This form of protest is not geared towards dialogue. An occupation is not acceptable on the FU Berlin campus,” university president Guenter Ziegler said. FU is the abbreviation for Free University. “We are available for academic dialog — but not in this way.”
The administrators said some protesters attempted to enter rooms and lecture halls at Free University in order to occupy them. The protest organizers, which say they are made up of students from various Berlin universities and other individuals, had called on other students and professors to take part in the action, the university statement said.
In recent days, students have held protests or set up encampments in Finland, Denmark, Italy, Spain, France and Britain, following earlier protests at U.S. campuses.
Amsterdam police said on the social media platform X that their action was “necessary to restore order” after protests turned violent. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Video from the scene aired by national broadcaster NOS shows police using a mechanical digger to push down barricades and officers with batons and shields moving in, beating some of the protesters and pulling down tents. Protesters had formed barricades from wooden pallets and bicycles, NOS reported.
The demonstrators occupied a small island at the university son Monday, calling for a break in academic ties with Israel over the war in Gaza.
After clearing the Amsterdam protest by early afternoon Tuesday, police closed off the area by metal fences. Students sat along the banks of a nearby canal. The school said in a statement that police ended the demonstration at its Roeterseiland campus overnight Tuesday “due to public order and safety concerns.”
“The war between Israel and Hamas is having a major impact on individual students and staff,” it said. “We share the anger and bewilderment over the war, and we understand that there are protests over it. We stress that within the university, dialogue about it is the only answer.”
In Finland, dozens of protesters from the Students for Palestine solidarity group set up an encampment outside the main building at the University of Helsinki, saying they would stay there until the university, which is Finland’s largest academic institution, cuts academic ties with Israeli universities.
In Denmark, students set up a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Copenhagen, erecting about 45 tents outside the campus of the Faculty of Social Sciences. The university said students can protest but called on them to respect the rules on campus grounds.
“Seek dialogue, not conflict and make room for perspectives other than your own,” the administrators said on X.
The administration “cannot and must not express an opinion on behalf of university employees and students about political matters, including about the ongoing conflict” in Israel and the Palestinian territories, the statement said.
On their Facebook page, members of the activist group Students Against the Occupation said their attempts to talk to the administration over the past two years about withdrawing the school’s investments from companies with ties to activities in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories have been in vain.
“We can no longer be satisfied with cautious dialogue that does not lead to concrete action,” the group said.
In Italy, students at the University of Bologna, one of the world’s oldest universities, set up a tent encampment over the weekend to demand an end to the war in Gaza as Israel prepared an offensive in Rafah, despite pleas from its Western allies against it. Groups of students organized similar protests in Rome and Naples, which were largely peaceful.
More than a dozen tents were set up in a piazza named for a university student who fought against fascist rule during World War II. Some were decorated with Palestinian flags and a banner read “Student Intefadeh,” or “Student Uprising.”
In Spain, dozens of students have spent over a week at a pro-Palestinian encampment on the University of Valencia campus. Similar camps were set up Monday at the University of Barcelona and at the University of the Basque Country. A group representing students at Madrid’s public universities announced it would step up protests against the war in the coming days.
In Paris, student groups called for gatherings in solidarity with Palestinians later Tuesday.
On Friday, French police peacefully removed dozens of students from a building at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, known as Sciences Po, after they had gathered in support of Palestinians.
On Tuesday, students at the prestigious institution, which counts French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and President Emmanuel Macron among its alumni, were seen entering the campus unobstructed to take exams as police stood at the entrances.
Protests took place last week at some other universities in France, including in Lille and Lyon. Macron’s office said police had been requested to remove students from 23 sites on French campuses.
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Heavy metal music has a home in Indonesia
Jakarta, Indonesia — The sounds from guitars strumming and drums beating sears through the air. Crowds dance in circles while thumping their heads back and forth.
Some 38,000 fans attended Hammersonic this past weekend, according to organizers of Southeast Asia’s largest annual heavy metal music festival. Featuring 55 bands, the event is held in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim majority country.
One of the groups performing, Lamb of God, was barred from performing in neighboring Malaysia in 2013 after Islamic leaders there said some of the band’s songs were blasphemous. Interestingly, the current president of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, talks openly about his passion for heavy metal and says he’s a fan of Lamb of God.
“We’re a moderate Muslim country and that’s why we’re more open to foreign influence including heavy metal music than some more conservative countries” said Pri Ario Damar, dean of the performing arts faculty at the Jakarta Institute of Arts.
Damar, 49, was a bass guitarist in a local heavy metal band back in the 1990s and currently plays with his students from time to time. “Heavy metal has been popular here for decades,” he says. “So there are several generations of listeners here who appreciate it as an outlet to comment on society, politics and the environment.”
At 6 p.m. local time, during a break in the live performances at Hammersonic, many fans went to the designated prayer area. Some of them prayed wearing heavy metal t-shirts simultaneously showing their Muslim faith and favorite music.
While bands from around the world took the stage, Dian Ranidita, a 40-year-old Indonesian mother of three, tapped her feet to the rhythms while her husband Yanuardi gently bobbed his head up and down.
“The stereotype of heavy music is always dark, violent, aggressive and also like a devil, but actually heavy metal is not like that,” Dian said, adding that she’s been a heavy metal fan since high school because of the different themes in the music that she relates to.
“For instance, romantic themes when you have a broken heart or feeling like fall in love with someone. And also if you’re feeling depressed, there are also depression themes, and when you’re feeling like you want to release your adrenaline,” she said. “Those are some of the many themes in heavy metal.”
Sisi Selatan is a heavy metal band from the Indonesian city of Solo. The group performed songs about love and social activism while fans in front of the stage jumped up and down. Band members say Indonesia is a country that embraces foreign cultural influences.
“We [Indonesians] absorb foreign cultures,” said guitarist Adi Wibowo. “Not only metal music, but also Korean, Japanese, Indian music and more. We embrace these types of music.”
Denisa Dhaniswara is a 24-year-old heavy metal vocalist from Jakarta. Like many singers, she writes songs based on her own personal experiences in life.
“A lot of my lyrics are filled with grief and greed. So, I really want people to feel unsettled when you listen to my music,” she said. “It’s a way of saying: I’ve been feeling like this, do you relate? If you relate that’s good. I mean I’m not alone here.”
Dhaniswara says Indonesia’s heavy metal fanbase is growing as performers get better and better.
“Indonesia has a lot of newer heavy metal bands and that makes me very happy because we’re always emerging,” she said. “Always finding out new stuff. Everybody’s so creative.”
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Putin begins his fifth term as president, more in control of Russia than ever
Moscow — Vladimir Putin began his fifth term Tuesday as Russian leader at a glittering Kremlin inauguration, setting out on another six years in office after destroying his political opponents, launching a devastating war in Ukraine and concentrating all power in his hands.
Already in office for nearly a quarter-century and the longest-serving Kremlin leader since Josef Stalin, Putin’s new term doesn’t expire until 2030, when he will be constitutionally eligible to run again.
At the ceremony inside the gilded Grand Kremlin Palace, Putin placed his hand on the Russian Constitution and vowed to defend it as a crowd of hand-picked dignitaries looked on.
Since succeeding President Boris Yeltsin in the waning hours of 1999, Putin has transformed Russia from a country emerging from economic collapse to a pariah state that threatens global security. Following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine that has become Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II, Russia has been heavily sanctioned by the West and is turning to other regimes like China, Iran and North Korea for support.
The question now is what the 71-year-old Putin will do over the course of another six years, both at home and abroad.
Russian forces are gaining ground in Ukraine, deploying scorched-earth tactics as Kyiv grapples with shortages of men and ammunition. Both sides are taking heavy casualties.
Ukraine has brought the battle to Russian soil through drone and missile attacks, especially in border regions. In a speech in February, Putin vowed to fulfill Moscow’s goals in Ukraine, and do what is needed to “defend our sovereignty and security of our citizens.”
Shortly after his orchestrated reelection in March, Putin suggested that a confrontation between NATO and Russia is possible, and he declared he wanted to carve out a buffer zone in Ukraine to protect his country from cross-border attacks.
At home, Putin’s popularity is closely tied to improving living standards for ordinary Russians.
He began his term in 2018 by promising to get Russia into the top five global economies, vowing it should be “modern and dynamic.” Instead, Russia’s economy has pivoted to a war footing, and authorities are spending record amounts on defense.
Analysts say now that Putin has secured another six years in power, the government could take the unpopular steps of raising taxes to fund the war and pressure more men to join the military.
At the start of a new term, the Russian government is routinely dissolved so that Putin can name a new prime minister and Cabinet.
One key area to watch is the Defense Ministry.
Last year, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu came under pressure over his conduct of the war, with mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin launching withering criticism against him for shortages of ammunition for his private contractors fighting in Ukraine. Prigozhin’s brief uprising in June against the Defense Ministry represented the biggest threat to Putin’s rule.
After Prigozhin was killed two months later in a mysterious plane crash, Shoigu appeared to have survived the infighting. But last month, his protege, Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, was detained on charges of bribery amid reports of rampant corruption.
Some analysts have suggested Shoigu could become a victim of the government reshuffle but that would be a bold move as the war is still raging in Ukraine.
In the years following the invasion, authorities have cracked down on any form of dissent with a ferocity not seen since Soviet times. There is no sign that this repression will ease in Putin’s new term.
His greatest political foe, opposition leader Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic penal colony in February. Other prominent critics have either been imprisoned or have fled the country, and even some of his opponents abroad fear for their security.
Laws have been enacted that threaten long prison terms for anyone who discredits the military. The Kremlin also targets independent media, rights groups, LGBTQ+ activists and others who don’t hew to what Putin has emphasized as Russia’s “traditional family values.”
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Australia condemns Chinese interception of Seahawk helicopter over international waters
SYDNEY — Analysts say China continues to undertake “incredibly aggressive’” military actions after an Australian navy helicopter in international waters was targeted by flares dropped by a Chinese fighter jet.
The Canberra government has condemned the incident as dangerous and unprofessional.
The Australian Seahawk helicopter was taking part in a United Nations mission to enforce sanctions against North Korea when it was intercepted by the Chinese air force.
Officials in Canberra say the Chinese fighter jet detonated flares close to the Australian helicopter, forcing its pilot to take evasive action.
The incident took place over international waters in the Yellow Sea off the coast of South Korea during the weekend.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that his government had made “very strong representations at every level to China” about the incident.
Since coming to power in May 2022, the Albanese government has made concerted efforts to improve relations with China, Australia’s biggest trading partner.
Analysts say that while Australia’s diplomatic and economic relationships with China are stabilizing, bilateral military ties remain unpredictable.
Jennifer Parker, an adjunct fellow at the University of New South Wales and an expert associate at the Australian National University’s National Security College, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Tuesday that the Canberra government must contend with growing military tensions in the Indo-Pacific.
“Whilst the diplomatic and economic relationship may have stabilized from where it was, from a military perspective, China is still being incredibly aggressive in the region and not just towards Australia,” she said. “We saw last week Chinese vessels water cannoning Philippines government vessels in the vicinity of Scarborough Shoal, which sits right within the Philippines exclusive economic zone. So, we do know that China’s aggressive behavior in the region has not changed.”
Last week, the Philippines accused China of “dangerous maneuvers” and “harassment” after its use of water cannons against two Philippine vessels during a patrol in the South China Sea.
In response, Beijing urged the Philippines government not to “challenge China’s resolve” to defend China’s sovereignty in the region.
Beijing has sweeping claims in the South China Sea, which is a major international shipping route.
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Pro-Palestinian protesters break through barricades to retake MIT encampment
NEW YORK — Pro-Palestinian protesters who had been blocked by police from accessing an encampment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Monday broke through fencing, linked arms and encircled tents that remained there, as Columbia University canceled its university-wide commencement ceremony following weeks of pro-Palestinian protests.
Sam Ihns, a graduate student at MIT studying mechanical engineering and a member of MIT Jews for a Ceasefire, said the group has been at the encampment for the past two weeks and that they were calling for an end to the killing of thousands of people in Gaza.
“Specifically, our encampment is protesting MIT’s direct research ties to the Israeli Ministry of Defense,” he said.
Protesters also sat in the middle of Massachusetts Avenue, blocking the street during rush hour in the Boston area.
The demonstrations at Columbia have roiled its campus and officials said Monday that while it won’t hold it’s main ceremony, students will be able to celebrate at a series of smaller, school-based ceremonies this week and next.
The decision comes as universities around the country wrangle with how to handle commencements for students whose high school graduations were derailed by COVID-19 in 2020. Another campus shaken by protests, Emory University, announced Monday that it would move its commencement from its Atlanta campus to a suburban arena. Others, including the University of Michigan, Indiana University and Northeastern, have pulled off ceremonies with few disruptions.
Columbia’s decision to cancel its main ceremonies scheduled for May 15 saves its president, Minouche Shafik, from having to deliver a commencement address in the same part of campus where police dismantled a protest encampment last week. The Ivy League school in upper Manhattan said it made the decision after discussions with students.
“Our students emphasized that these smaller-scale, school-based celebrations are most meaningful to them and their families,” officials said.
Most of the ceremonies that had been scheduled for the south lawn of the main campus, where encampments were taken down last week, will take place about 8 kilometers (5 miles) north at Columbia’s sports complex, officials said.
Speakers at some of Columbia’s still-scheduled graduation ceremonies include Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright James Ijames and Dr. Monica Bertagnolli, director of the National Institutes of Health.
Columbia had already canceled in-person classes. More than 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had camped out on Columbia’s green or occupied an academic building were arrested in recent weeks.
Similar encampments sprouted up elsewhere as universities struggled with where to draw the line between allowing free expression while maintaining safe and inclusive campuses.
The University of Southern California earlier canceled its main graduation ceremony. Students abandoned their camp at USC on Sunday after being surrounded by police and threatened with arrest.
Other universities have held graduation ceremonies with beefed-up security. The University of Michigan’s ceremony was interrupted by chanting a few times Saturday. In Boston on Sunday, some students waved small Palestinian or Israeli flags at Northeastern University’s commencement in Fenway Park.
Emory’s ceremonies scheduled for May 13 will be held at the GasSouth Arena and Convocation Center in Duluth, almost 20 miles (30 kilometers) northeast of the university’s Atlanta campus, President Gregory Fenves said in an open letter.
“Please know that this decision was not taken lightly,” Fenves wrote. “It was made in close consultation with the Emory Police Department, security advisors and other agencies — each of which advised against holding commencement events on our campuses.”
The 16,000-student university is one of many that has seen repeated protests stemming from the conflict that started Oct. 7 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking roughly 250 hostages. Student protesters are calling on their schools to divest from companies that do business with Israel or otherwise contribute to the war effort.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. Israeli strikes have devastated the enclave and displaced most of its inhabitants.
Hamas on Monday announced its acceptance of an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but Israel said the deal did not meet its “core demands” and that it was pushing ahead with an assault on the southern Gaza town of Rafah.
“Cease-fires are temporary,” said Selina Al-Shihabi, a Georgetown University sophomore who was taking part in a protest at George Washington. “There can be a cease-fire, but the U.S. government will continue to arm the Israeli military. We plan to be here until the university divests or until they drag us out of here.”
At the University of California, San Diego, police cleared an encampment and arrested more than 64 people, including 40 students.
The University of California, Los Angeles, moved all classes online for the entire week due to ongoing disruptions following the dismantling of an encampment last week. The university police force reported 44 arrests but there were no specific details, UCLA spokesperson Eddie North-Hager said in an email to The Associated Press.
Schools are trying various tactics from appeasement to threats of disciplinary action to get protestors to take down encampments or move to campus areas where demonstrations would be less intrusive.
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago said in a Facebook post Sunday that it offered protesters “amnesty from academic sanction and trespassing charges” if they moved.
“Many protesters left the premises of their own accord after being notified by the police that they were trespassing and subject to arrest,” the school said. “Those that remained were arrested after multiple warnings to leave, including some of whom we recognized as SAIC students.”
A group of faculty and staff members at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill asked the administration for amnesty for any students who were arrested and suspended during recent protests. UNC Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine said in a media advisory that it would deliver a letter on behalf of more than 500 faculty who support the student activists.
Other universities took a different approach.
Harvard University’s interim president, Alan Garber, warned students that those participating in a pro-Palestinian encampment in Harvard Yard could face “involuntary leave.” That means they would not be allowed on campus, could lose their student housing and may not be able to take exams, Garber said.
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Nigerian coalition warns against possible defense pacts with US, France
Abuja, Nigeria — The warning notice, signed by five civil society groups and a former chairman of Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission, came in an open letter Friday to Nigeria’s president and the National Assembly
The coalition, without providing evidence, accused the United States and France of lobbying authorities in the Gulf of Guinea countries, especially Nigeria, to redeploy troops expelled from the Sahel states.
It said the alleged move could have “wide ranging implications for defense and internal security” and that hosting a military base in Nigeria could potentially divert state funds and resources away from important local projects like education, health care and infrastructure development.
Kabiru Adamu, founder of Beacon Security and Intelligence Limited, said the letter has a political undertone.
“It looked like it was just based on the desire to create a political outcome,” Adamu said. “There’s no fact supporting the allegation that either the U.S. or France has approached Nigeria for the establishment of a base anywhere in Nigeria, even though that is likely to happen. Of course, because we’ve seen the influence of both countries reducing in the Sahel region, Nigeria will offer a likely fallback option for both countries, especially the U.S.”
The coalition also said the alleged plan to set up a U.S. military base in northern Nigeria could aggravate regional tensions with neighbors, cause a notable environmental impact and worsen the high cost of living for the local population.
Nigerian authorities have yet to respond to the letter.
Political affairs analyst, Ahmed Buhari, said authorities must heed the caution.
“It’s what I call interfering in people’s spaces. As it is right now, we need our neighbors more than we need any foreigner whatsoever from any part of the world,” Buhari said. “I rather we live side by side with our neighbors more peacefully and with trust than for us to be frolicking at this moment with the United States or France for that matter. All the places you will find the United States military base — you can do your findings — there’s no peace around the region.”
The U.S and French militaries have been operating in Africa’s Sahel for many years, helping the region in its fight against terrorism.
But a wave of coups in recent years has strained that relationship, with military juntas accusing foreign powers of being overbearing without significant progress against jihadist militants.
Some juntas have instead turned toward Russia for help fighting the armed groups.
Adamu cautions the letter might be an example of Russian propaganda.
“There’s also the possibility that we’re seeing the propaganda mercenaries by Russia and Niger playing out in this regard,” Adamu said. “We know that since the coup in Niger, the putschists and Russia have been engaged in massive propaganda and they have used the prominent individuals from the Nigerien and Northern Nigeria extraction to achieve political objectives.”
Despite counterterrorism interventions in Africa, a 2023 Global Terrorism Index report shows deaths from terrorism in the Sahel increased by an alarming 2,000% over the last 15 years.
Burkina Faso ranked first among countries most impacted by terrorism, Mali was third, Nigeria eighth and Niger was 10th.
Last month, African leaders met in Nigeria and pledged to collaborate against terrorism. But experts say with troops leaving the region, armed groups could intensify attacks on targets.
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Zimbabwean Parliament consults citizens on abolishing death penalty
Zimbabwe’s parliament has started nationwide consultations after the Cabinet in February agreed to abolish the death penalty to conform with international standards. Columbus Mavhunga has the story from a public hearing in Bindura, Zimbabwe.
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Hungary, Serbia to roll out red carpet for China’s Xi
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Chinese leader Xi Jinping will spend most of his five-day tour in Europe this week in two small countries in the continent’s eastern half, a region that Beijing has used as a foothold for its expanding economic ambitions in Europe.
Following a stop in Paris on Monday to kick off his first European trip in five years, Xi will travel to Hungary and Serbia, two nations with autocratic leaders that are seen as China-friendly and close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
As mainstream European leaders have pursued more protectionist policies to limit Beijing’s and Moscow’s reach on the continent, the governments of nationalist conservative leaders Viktor Orban of Hungary and Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia have courted economic ties with China, inviting major investments in infrastructure, manufacturing, energy and technology.
As the first European Union country to participate in Xi’s signature Belt and Road Initiative, Hungary has straddled a middle ground with its membership in the EU and NATO and an unusual openness to diplomatic and trade relationships with eastern autocracies.
Tamas Matura, a China expert and associate professor at Corvinus University in Budapest, said Hungary’s hosting of major Chinese investments and production sites — and its agnosticism on doing business with countries with spotty democratic and human rights records — has opened a crucial door to China within the EU.
‘Last true friend’ in EU
“The Hungarian government is the last true friend of China in the whole EU,” Matura said. “It is very important now to the Chinese to settle down in a country that is within the boundaries of the EU … and is friendly to the Chinese political system.”
One of the major benefits to China of establishing bases within the EU is avoiding costly tariffs. The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, is considering raising duties on the import of Chinese electric vehicles from its current 10% to protect the European auto manufacturing market — a mainstay for Germany, the 27-member bloc’s largest economy.
Yet in December, Hungary announced that one of the world’s largest EV manufacturers, China’s BYD, would open its first European EV production factory in the south of the country — an inroad that could upend the competitiveness of the continent’s auto industry.
That shift is visible in Budapest, where one car dealership has begun scaling down its supply of European vehicles and introducing models produced by BYD.
Mark Schiller, the strategy and marketing director for the family-owned Schiller Auto Group, said he thought European carmakers were “already behind” China in transitioning to EV production. His company recently stopped selling cars made by German carmaker Opel and switched to BYD.
“This was a huge shift,” Schiller said.
Another investment
Hungarian state television Monday appeared to confirm earlier reports that Xi and Orban would travel to the southern city of Pecs to announce another EV manufacturing investment there involving China’s Great Wall Motor.
In a news conference later, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto castigated journalists for reporting on the potential deal, saying that those who mention specific companies before agreements are finalized are “clearly acting against Hungary’s national interests.”
The report on Xi’s potential trip to Pecs was later removed from the state television’s website. Orban’s office didn’t respond to multiple requests for information on Xi’s schedule.
In Serbia, to Hungary’s south, China runs mines and factories across the Balkan country, while billions more in infrastructure loans have funded roads, bridges and new facilities.
Hungary and Serbia have an agreement with Beijing to modernize the railway between the countries’ capitals of Budapest and Belgrade, part of a Belt and Road plan to connect with the Chinese-controlled port of Piraeus in Greece as an entry point for Chinese goods to Central and Eastern Europe.
The bulk of the project, which after numerous delays is expected to be completed in 2026, is financed through loans from Chinese banks — the kind of capital that Hungary and Serbia have been eager to utilize.
According to the AidData research lab at the College of William & Mary in Virginia, Chinese lenders have issued loans worth more than $22 billion to nine countries in Central and Eastern Europe between 2000 and 2021.
Of that sum, $9.4 billion has gone to Hungary and $5.7 billion to Serbia, dwarfing the totals of other regional countries.
Vucic has said he is “honored” that Xi — whom he often describes as a “friend” — is visiting Tuesday. He said before the visit that Serbia would seek further Chinese investment, particularly in advanced technologies.
But economic analyst Mijat Lakicevic said he didn’t expect any major new investment deals, because “everything that Serbia does with China has already been agreed.”
Hungarian incentives
Hungary, too, has created a favorable investment environment for China, providing generous tax breaks, subsidies and infrastructural assistance to Chinese companies, as well as helping them navigate Hungarian bureaucracy.
“They get the red carpets rolled out and they get everything tailor-made by the government. And that is a huge advantage,” said Matura, the China analyst.
Near Debrecen, Hungary’s second-largest city, construction is underway of a nearly 550-acre (222-hectare), 7.3 billion-euro ($7.9 billion) EV battery plant, Hungary’s largest-ever foreign direct investment.
Orban’s government hopes the factory, run by Chinese battery giant CATL, will make the country a global hub of lithium-ion battery manufacturing in an era where governments are increasingly seeking to limit greenhouse gas emissions by switching to electric cars.
Such investments are coming at a time when Hungary’s sluggish economy has been further hindered by record-setting inflation and the freezing of billions in EU funding that has been withheld over Orban’s track record on democracy standards and the rule of law.
With EU money at a standstill, Matura said, China has been willing to fill in the gaps in Hungary’s budget.
EU funds have almost stopped flowing into the Hungarian economy, “so now there is a desperate need in Hungary to turn towards other alternatives, other sources of financial capital,” he said.
Orban has been open about why he has prioritized Chinese investment: his belief that Western economies are declining, and that China is on the rise.
During a recent speech at the CPAC Hungary conservative conference, Orban outlined a vision of a “global economy that will be organized according to the principle of mutual benefit, free of ideology.”
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