US Pulling Out From Uganda LRA Mission; AU Mulls Drawdown

The Ugandan military says an aide to Lord’s Resistance Army chief Joseph Kony has surrendered, a day after the United States said it will withdraw from the task force chasing the notorious rebel group.

Ugandan military officials said Thursday that Michael Omona, Kony’s chief communications officer, gave himself up in the Central African Republic.  Omona was part of the LRA for 23 years after being kidnapped by the group in 1994.

On Wednesday, the U.S. military said it will remove its forces from Operation Observant Compass, the task force established in 2013 to hunt down bands of LRA fighters roaming across Central Africa and bring Kony and other LRA leaders to justice.

In a statement, the U.S Africa Command said the task force has “dramatically weakened the LRA in numbers and overall effectiveness.”  It said the LRA has shrunk from 2,000 to under 100 fighters, and noted that four of the five key LRA leaders have been captured.

Kony, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, remains at large.  A former LRA senior commander, Dominic Ongwen, is currently on trial at the ICC in The Hague.

The African Union Peace and Security Council met in Addis Ababa Thursday to discuss the future of the anti-LRA task force.  The council said on Twitter that it may recommend the force be increased, decreased, shut down or left as is.

“Though weakened, LRA remains a security threat,” the council said.

A self-styled prophet, Kony launched a brutal rebellion in Uganda that displaced more than 1.5 million people before taking his group into Sudan, the CAR and the Democratic Republic of Congo.  

The United Nations estimated in 2013 that the LRA had killed more than 100,000 people and kidnapped more than 60,000 over the previous quarter-century.

Both numbers have likely increased since then, as the group has continued to attack villages in remote areas.

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Famed Lawyer Says Trump ‘Clearly’ Endorsed Palestinian State

Prominent U.S. lawyer Alan Dershowitz said in an interview Thursday that President Donald Trump spoke to him “clearly” about a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, suggesting a shift in Trump’s stance.

Trump broke with longtime U.S. policy last month when he withheld clear support for an independent Palestine, saying he could endorse a one-nation solution to the conflict. “I’m looking at two-state and one-state, and I like the one that both parties like,” Trump said in a February press conference at the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But Dershowitz, who is Jewish and close to the Israeli prime minister, told Israel Army Radio that he discussed the matter with Trump during a meeting on March 18, and that Trump endorsed two states in their conversation.

“Clearly he was talking about a two-state solution. He was not in any way suggesting, at least in his conversation with me, a one-state solution,” Dershowitz said. He said Trump is “anxious to convey the message that he really wanted to have a peace agreement” and believes that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas “is anxious to make a deal,” Dershowitz said.

Nabil Shaath, Abbas’ foreign affairs adviser, confirmed that Abbas is “anxious” to reach a peace agreement with Israel and said it was “important” that Trump reportedly lent his support to the two-state solution.

Netanyahu’s bureau and Israel’s Foreign Ministry declined comment on Dershowitz’s interview.

For nearly a half-century, the Israeli military has occupied the West Bank, land Palestinians want for an independent state. Over the past two decades, the international community has overwhelmingly backed the idea of a two-state solution as the best way of reaching peace in the region.

But Trump’s campaign platform made no mention of a Palestinian state, and his appointed ambassador to Israel has expressed skepticism about a two-state solution in the past. Trump’s inner circle includes aides with ties to the West Bank settler movement, which objects to the creation of an independent Palestine.

Netanyahu has not formally abandoned his stated support for the two-state solution, but has stopped mentioning it in his speeches since Trump was elected. Instead, he has made vague statements about seeking a region-wide peace agreement.

Dershowitz said he was “pleasantly surprised” by Trump’s knowledge of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying Trump spoke to him about the main issues that would need to be solved in a two-state approach: competing claims to Jerusalem, security concerns, demilitarization of a Palestinian state, and Palestinian refugees’ demands to return to land they fled or were expelled from during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that led to Israel’s independence.

The White House has been holding intensive talks with Israel in recent weeks about an agreement concerning Israel’s future settlement building policy, but the sides have not come to an agreement yet.

Netanyahu said reaching an understanding with Washington on the settlements would be “good for Israel.” But he has also pledged to honor a promise to build a new settlement to replace Amona, an illegal settlement outpost built on private Palestinian land that was dismantled following an Israeli Supreme Court ruling.

“I promised from the beginning that we would create a new settlement,” Netanyahu said Thursday. “I believe I gave the first commitment in December and we will fulfill (the commitments) today. There are a few more hours and you will know all of the details later.”

According to Israeli media, Netanyahu will convene his Security Cabinet late Thursday and is expected to hold a vote to approve a replacement settlement in the West Bank.

 

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Ethiopia Extends National State of Emergency by 4 Months

Ethiopian lawmakers on Thursday extended the country’s six-month state of emergency for an additional four months. The widely expected move came amid reports of continued violence and anti-government activities in some remote, restive areas.

The state of emergency, called after months of sometimes deadly protests demanding wider political freedoms, has hurt one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies.

“We still have some anti-peace elements that are active and want to capitalize on disputes that arise among regional states in the country,” Ethiopia’s defense minister, Siraj Fegessa, told lawmakers. “In addition, some leaders of the violent acts that we witnessed before are still at large.”

More than 25,000 people suspected of taking part in protests were detained under the state of emergency. Several thousand have been released. The government has indicated that a “few thousand” others will face justice for their role in organizing the protests.

Hundreds died in the protests that first ignited in the Oromia region in November 2015 and spread into the Amhara region, with people also demanding the release of political prisoners.

Ethiopia’s security has improved but the extension of the state of emergency is needed to bring a “lasting peace,” said the defense minister, who cited a government-conducted nationwide poll in which he said the public “significantly” demanded the extension.

Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn in a recent address to parliament said 82 percent of Ethiopians want a partial or full continuation of the state of emergency. However, opposition figures and parties say it is used to clamp down on their activities, especially in rural regions.

Ethiopia’s parliament is 100 percent controlled by the ruling EPRDF party.

Some parts of the state of emergency recently were removed, including arbitrary arrests without court orders and restrictions on radio, television and theater.

 

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Senate Panel to Focus on Russian Influence, Cyber Campaigns

The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee is focusing Thursday on Russia as it holds an open hearing as part of its probe into Russian meddling in the November presidential election and any possible collusion by President Donald Trump’s inner circle.

The committee described Thursday’s session as a primer on the history and characteristics of “Russian active measures and influence campaigns,” and the country’s cyber capabilities.

Ahead of the closely watched public hearings, the committee’s Republican chairman and top Democrat pledged an exhaustive and impartial probe of Russian efforts during last year’s campaign.

“This investigation’s scope will go wherever the intelligence leads it,” Chairman Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, said at a news conference Wednesday.

“We will get to the bottom of this,” concurred Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the committee’s ranking Democrat.

Burr said an “unprecedented amount of documents” have been received, and the committee is in “constant negotiation” with the intelligence community to gain access to additional material. He added that there will be at least 20 interviews to conduct, including with President Trump’s adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who volunteered to speak with the panel.

“The committee will conduct an interview with Mr. Kushner when the committee decides that it’s time for us to set a date,” the chairman said.

Neither Burr nor Warner revealed any conclusions reached so far, except Russia’s aims.

“Vladimir Putin’s goal is a weaker United States,” Warner said. “Weaker economically, weaker globally. And that should be a concern to all Americans regardless of party affiliation.”

House Intel probe in disarray

Until now, the House Intelligence Committee had taken the lead in the Russia probe. But that committee canceled open hearings this week amid a firestorm surrounding its chairman, Republican Congressman Devin Nunes, who personally briefed President Trump on classified material he had not yet shared with the committee.

With the House panel seemingly in disarray, its Senate counterpart is now in the spotlight. Burr said he cast his ballot for Trump last November, but he denied that party loyalty would color his work.

Even so, a growing number of Democrats say the full truth may never come to light in Republican controlled legislative committees.

“I believe we also should be open to an independent, non-partisan commission designed solely to investigate what happened,” said Democratic Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, who also serves on the Intelligence Committee. “We cannot allow political pressure or unsubstantiated distractions to get in the way of simply following the facts.”

Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona echoed the call.

“I think it’s reached a new level where it requires a select committee,” McCain said on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” television program. “There’s too many unanswered questions out there.”

Smear campaign

The White House has complained of a smear campaign against the president’s team, but acknowledged the need for investigations to proceed.

“We want this over as much as, I think, some of you. But we recognize that there’s a process that has to take place,” said White House spokesman Sean Spicer.

That process could resound far beyond Washington. Chairman Burr said Russia is “actively involved” in upcoming elections in France.

Congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson contributed to this report

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Chinese Tourism Ban Over THAAD Impacting South Korea

Beijing’s reported economic retaliation against South Korea for deploying the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system continues to target certain sectors, like imports of Korean cosmetics, cancelling K-pop concerts, and a ban on Chinese tour groups to South Korea.  VOA’s Brian Padden reports the sudden absence of Chinese visitors is being felt in Seoul’s main tourist districts.

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Trump to Host Chinese President at Mar-a-Lago Next Week

The White House confirmed Thursday that Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit the United States for talks with President Donald Trump on April 6.

President Trump will host Xi for two days at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

A White House statement said the agenda will include “global, regional, and bilateral issues of mutual concern,” without giving any specifics.

During his campaign for president, Trump complained frequently about China’s trade practices, threatening to impose tough import tariffs on Chinese goods and promising to label the country a currency manipulator.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited China earlier this month to lay the groundwork for Xi’s visit.  

In his own meeting with the Chinese president, Tillerson told Xi that President Trump looks forward to enhancing the understanding between the two countries.

In February, Trump reaffirmed Washington’s long-standing “One China” policy in a call with Xi, in an apparent move to ease concerns in China that he might use Taiwan as leverage in negotiations over trade, security and other sensitive issues. The policy in place since 1979 requires Washington to maintain only unofficial ties with Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory. 

 

Relations between China and the U.S. under President Barack Obama were strained by issues including China’s island-building in waters that straddle the international shipping lanes in the South China Sea, allegations of cyber hacking and a U.S. policy rebalance to Asia. 

 

One bright spot touted by both sides was their cooperation, as the world’s top emitters of greenhouse gases, on tackling climate change. Lu said Wednesday that China would stick to its climate commitments after Trump, who has called climate change a hoax, this week rescinded measures enacted by Obama to reduce coal and oil use. 

Information from AP was used in this report

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Basketball Gives Somali Youth in Minnesota a Positive Outlet

Somali groups in Minnesota are trying to give young people a positive outlet to keep them away from negative influences such as drugs, violence and extremism. One such effort is a basketball tournament that is bringing together several mosques from the Twin Cities. Abdi Mahamud attended the tournament and spoke with participants. Salem Solomon narrates his report.

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Congo, Sweden, UN to Investigate Deaths of UN Experts in Congo

Congo’s government said Wednesday it will investigate the deaths of an American and a Swedish expert for the United Nations and their interpreter, whose bodies were found in a shallow grave Monday after the team disappeared more than two weeks ago.

Sweden said it was opening a murder investigation, and the U.N. Security Council strongly condemned the killings.

American Michael Sharp, Swedish national Zaida Catalan and their interpreter Betu Tshintela went missing March 12 along with driver Isaac Kabuayi and two motorbike drivers in Central Kasai province while looking into recent large-scale violence and alleged human rights violations by the Congolese army and local militia groups.

A U.N. Security Council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the experts were investigating alleged mass graves.

Many deaths in Kasai provinces

It was the first recorded disappearance of international workers in the once-calm Kasai provinces, where the Kamwina Nsapu militia has been fighting security forces since last year. More than 400 people have been killed and more than 200,000 displaced since government troops killed the militia’s leader in August, according to the United Nations.

The U.N. Security Council issued a statement Wednesday night saying its members condemned the killings “in the strongest terms” and also expressed concern at “the unknown status of the Congolese nationals accompanying them.”

Council members called on the Congolese government “to swiftly and fully investigate these crimes and bring the still unidentified perpetrators to justice” and backed a U.N. inquiry, stressing that attacks targeting civilians “may constitute war crimes under international law.”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said the world body would conduct an inquiry into the deaths, saying the cause had not yet been determined. He called on Congo to do the same.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters the U.N. hopes the cause of death of the two experts “will be determined following a more thorough examination.”

“Given that they have been found dead, we believe that there’s likely grounds that this was a form of criminal act, but we need to determine cause of death,” he said.

Haq said the U.N. will look into “what their security conditions had been, what might have happened to them, as well as, of course, to the four Congolese nationals … for whom we are continuing to search.”

He said there were other remains found at the site that still need to be analyzed.

Other violence to be investigated

Sharp, from western Pennsylvania, and Catalan were “killed senselessly,” the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, said in a statement.

Sweden’s national police said it has initiated a murder investigation into Catalan’s death, and Sweden’s prime minister urged Congo to investigate.

Congo government spokesman Lambert Mende said authorities would look into the deaths and seek the U.N. experts’ missing Congolese colleagues.

Mende also said Congolese authorities also will look into other recent violence in Central Kasai province, including the deaths of 39 police officers who had been killed by militia forces.

The U.N. last week reported the discovery since January of more than two dozen mass graves in three Kasai provinces. And five videos have emerged in recent weeks that appear to show Congolese soldiers firing on militia members.

While the violence is linked to local power struggles, there are also clear ties to Congo’s current political crisis, according to Human Rights Watch.

Anger has been growing in the country at long-delayed presidential elections, and dozens were killed in December amid protests as President Joseph Kabila stayed on past the end of his mandate. A deal reached between the ruling party and opposition to hold elections by the end of this year, without Kabila, remains fragile as the U.N. urges its implementation.

Security forces have been known to back local leaders seen as loyal to Kabila, while militia groups support those who are believed to support the opposition, the rights group said.

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Meningitis Outbreak Kills 269 in Nigeria

Meningitis has killed 269 people in Nigeria in recent weeks, the country’s Center for Disease Control said, as Africa’s most populous country and aid organizations try to tackle the surge in infections.

As of Monday, 1,828 suspected cases of meningitis had been reported, with deaths recorded in 15 of the country’s 36 states, the center said late Tuesday on Twitter.

The center said on its website that 33 people died of meningitis in 2016.

More than 2,000 people died from an outbreak of the disease in Nigeria in 2009, with basic health care limited in rural parts of the country. Most rural residents live on less than $2 a day, despite the country’s huge oil resources.

Meningitis is the inflammation of tissue surrounding the brain and spinal cord, which can be caused by viral or bacterial infections. It spreads mainly through kisses, sneezes and coughs, and in close living quarters.

The center said it was working with the World Health Organization, the U.N. children’s fund and Doctors Without Borders to try to control the outbreak.

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Moody’s Sees Egypt’s Economy Growing but Reforms Slipping

The economic picture for Egypt is improving, ratings agency Moody’s said on Wednesday, but a public backlash will likely lead the Mideast country to slow reforms undertaken to secure a bailout from the international Monetary Fund.

The group forecasts that the Arab world’s most populous country will reduce its fiscal deficit to 11 percent of GDP for the fiscal year 2017, higher than the IMF’s forecast of 10 percent, because of lower growth forecasts and “potential fiscal slippage.”

The statement comes as the Cabinet released its draft budget for the upcoming year, targeting a deficit of only 9 percent. The budget now goes to a vote in parliament but will still require final approval by President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

“The implementation of the IMF program’s targets, including reductions in fiscal deficits and government debt levels, as well as improvements in Egypt’s external liquidity position, will help address Egypt’s key credit challenges,” said Steffen Dyck, a co-author of the report.

“However, ambitious fiscal consolidation targets will be challenging to achieve and could face implementation risks in a scenario of mounting public discontent,” he added.

Egypt secured a $12 billion loan from the IMF last November, for which it imposed a set of tough economic measures that included reduced subsidies and the devaluation and subsequent flotation of its local currency in order to qualify for the loan.

The moves were hailed by the IMF and economist but caused price hikes for an already frustrated cash-strapped population, with el-Sissi risking a serious political backlash.

The government expects a team from the IMF to visit Cairo for an evaluation at the end April to approve the payment of the loan’s second tranche.

Egyptians have been hit with the worst inflation in a decade, cutting spending as much as possible as prices surge by over 30 percent on basic food items, transport, housing, and even some essential medicines.

Nearly half of the country’s 92 million-strong population earns below or near the U.N. poverty line of $1.9 a day. While salaries have remained largely the same, the price hikes had a heavy impact on millions of Egyptians.

 

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US Formally Investigating Mosul Strike Amid Civilian Casualty Claims

The top general for U.S. military operations in the Middle East says the military has launched a formal investigation into the circumstances that caused estimates of about 100 civilian deaths in Mosul, Iraq, while the U.S. was conducting counter-Islamic State airstrikes in the area.

Army Gen. Joseph Votel, the commander of U.S. Central Command, told lawmakers Wednesday at a House Armed Services Committee meeting that Islamic State fighters have evolved their tactics in the densely urban terrain.

“They [Islamic State fighters] understand our sensitivities to civilian casualties, and they are exploiting that,” Votel said.

The investigation, led by Air Force Brigadier General Matthew Isler, will look at what all sides did to contribute to the deaths on March 17.

It will review more than 700 separate video feeds covering 10 days of airstrikes, information from rights groups, and intelligence provided by Iraqi forces.

The general said that while U.S. military leaders “at the tactical edge” now have additional authorities needed in the fight, the level of care for preventing civilian casualties has not changed.

“We have not relaxed the rules of engagement,” Votel said.

He blamed Islamic State for frequently using human shields and civilian casualty allegations as a tool to hinder coalition operations with “little regard for human life.”

The announcement comes a day after Army Gen. Stephen Townsend, Votel’s ground commander of American forces in Iraq and Syria, said the U.S. military likely played a role in the civilian deaths.

“Because we struck in that area, I think there is a fair chance that we did it,” Townsend told reporters in a conference call Tuesday from Baghdad.

Townsend said Iraqi military leaders “firmly believe” that civilians were gathered by Islamic State ahead of the strike, either to lure the coalition into a trap that would kill civilians or possibly for the extremists’ use as human shields.

Further questions of U.S. involvement have been raised that are based on the amount of damage in the area where civilian casualties were reported. According to Townsend, the munitions used during the U.S. airstrike should not have collapsed an entire building. Since the building did collapse, that “actually contradicts” the conclusion that the U.S. military was responsible, he said.

Townsend said U.S. personnel have inspected the site to conduct tests and gather information.

The United States has said at least 307 people were killed and 273 others wounded between February 17 and March 22 in western Mosul. It attributed the casualties to all sides involved in the fight for western Mosul: Iraqi and coalition airstrikes, Islamic State shellfire, and improvised explosive devices detonated by the militants.

The Islamic State strategy “of using children, men and women to shield themselves from attack is cowardly and disgraceful,” U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein Said on Tuesday. “It breaches the most basic standards of human dignity and morality.”

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Montenegro Welcomes US Senate NATO Approval

Montenegro officials on Wednesday welcomed the U.S. Senate’s decision to ratify its entry into NATO, calling it a great step for the tiny Balkan nation.

 

Montenegro is set to become NATO’s 29th member following the Senate’s overwhelming ratification on Tuesday.

 

Russia, though, strongly opposes the Western military alliance’s expansion in the Balkans. Russia has been accused by Montenegro of trying to stage an election day coup in October to try to keep the country out of the alliance.

 

Montenegro Prime Minister Dusko Markovic said that Montenegro never doubted U.S. support for the country.

 

He said Montenegro’s membership in NATO will be its biggest foreign policy success since it gained independence and split from much-bigger Serbia in a 2006 referendum.

 

Russia considers Montenegro and other western Balkan states part of its sphere of interest. Wary of Russian influence in the still-volatile region, NATO wants Montenegro to join the alliance.

 

The pro-Russian opposition parties in Montenegro reacted by saying they are demanding a referendum on NATO entry.

 

The NOVA party said in a statement that the membership would represent “a brutal occupation” of Montenegro, adding that the alliance’s soldiers would be treated as “occupiers.”

 

U.S. Senators voted 97-2 on Tuesday to admit Montenegro, with only Republican Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah voting “no.” Paul had suggested that adding Montenegro could lead to heightened tension with Moscow, possibly even war.

 

Under NATO’s principle of collective defense, an attack against one ally is considered an attack against them all.

 

Despite its size, Montenegro bears strategic importance. A former ally of Russia, the country is in the middle of a clash between the West and Moscow over influence in the Balkans. Montenegro’s membership gives NATO a contiguous border along the Adriatic coast.

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Report: Chinese Demand for Elephant Ivory Drops

The price of ivory in China has dropped sharply as the country plans to end the legal trade in ivory later this year, a leading elephant conservation group said in a new report Wednesday.

Chinese demand for tusks has been driving African elephants toward extinction, experts say. The Chinese government in recent years has taken steps to stop the trade in ivory, which is used for ornamentation and souvenirs. China’s ivory factories are to be shut down by Friday, followed by the closing of retail outlets by the end of this year.

The new report surveys the price of ivory in markets across China between 2014 and early this year. It found the price dropped from $2,100 per kilogram in early 2014 to $730 in February.

Conservationists say tens of thousands of elephants have been killed in Africa in recent years as demand for ivory in Asia, particularly China, increased. Past estimates of Africa’s elephant population have ranged from 420,000 to 650,000. Some conservationists estimate that up to 20,000 elephants are killed by poachers every year to meet demand.

“This is a critical period for elephants,” said Iain Douglas-Hamilton, president and founder of Save the Elephants, which carried out the research.

“With the end of the legal ivory trade in China, the survival chances for elephants have distinctly improved. We must give credit to China for having done the right thing by closing the ivory trade. There is still a long way to go to end the excessive killing of elephants for ivory, but there is now greater hope for the species.”

Other factors behind the drop in the price of ivory include an economic slowdown in China resulting in fewer people being able to afford luxury goods, and a crackdown on corruption that has dissuaded business people from buying expensive ivory items as “favors” for government officials, the new report says.

“Findings from 2015 and 2016 in China have shown that the legal ivory trade especially has been severely diminished,” said Lucy Vigne, a researcher with Save The Elephants. The 130 licensed outlets in China gradually have been reducing the quantity of ivory items on display for sale, and recently have been cutting prices to improve sales, the report says.

By 2015, some of China’s main licensed retail ivory outlets were closed at the time of the researchers’ visit due to slow sales. In other cases, vendors were replacing elephant ivory displays with mammoth ivory dug out of the Russian tundra.

China continues to be the largest consumer of mammoth ivory, whose price also has dropped from $1,900 per kilogram in 2014 to $730 this year, the report said.

Wildlife authorities in Kenya, the main conduit of ivory smuggling in the region, welcomed the news of a price reduction in China.

“Once they don’t have an appetite for ivory it will no longer be attractive to kill elephants. We are hopeful that China will meet this deadline (to ban the ivory trade) and we will see our elephant populations restored in the parks,” said Patrick Omondi, the deputy director in charge of species at the Kenya Wildlife Service.

 

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US Envoy: Tillerson Counting on Meeting Putin Soon

The U.S. ambassador to Russia says that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is counting on meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin during an upcoming visit to Moscow.

John Teft said Tillerson would likely meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Putin “in the near future,” according to Russian news agency Tass. It said Teft commented during a lecture in the northern Russian city of Arkhangelsk.

The U.S. State Department has said Tillerson plans to visit Russia in April after attending a G7 meeting in Italy. An exact date hasn’t been announced.

The Kremlin has repeatedly refused to comment on the visit and declined to say whether Putin would meet Tillerson.

Tillerson will attend a major NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Friday.

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Report: North Korea Increasing Activity at Nuclear Test Site

Increased activity at North Korea’s main nuclear test site during the past few days could mean the country is in final preparations for a sixth nuclear bomb test, according to a report from the U.S.-Korea Institute.

38 North, a website published by the U.S.-based think tank, released photos of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site taken March 28 that show vehicles moving around the area and water being pumped from a tunnel, likely to keep it dry for communications and monitoring equipment.

In a statement released with the photos, the group said the activity is “consistent with previous reports,” though it noted a large, new contingent of people “standing in formation” in the base’s administrative area.

The statement said, “Such a gathering has not been seen since January 4, 2013, which was followed by a nuclear test on February 12.”

According to 38 North, the North Koreans generally try to avoid activity when they know satellites are passing overhead, so for the satellites to capture images of them in formation “suggests that Pyongyang is sending a political message.”

During the weekend, the website reported the possibility of vehicles and trailers at the site being used to install a nuclear device for an underground test.

Despite United Nations sanctions forbidding North Korea from launching nuclear tests, the country has conducted five such tests and a series of missile launches. Last year, North Korea said it had gained the capability to mount a warhead on a ballistic missile.

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This Day in History: Last US Combat Troops Withdraw from Vietnam

On this day 47 years ago, the last remaining American combat troops pulled out of Vietnam, ending direct U.S. military involvement in the war following the signing of a peace accord.

Two months earlier in Paris, representatives of the United States, North and South Vietnam, and the Vietcong signed the accord, designed to allow Americans to withdraw “honorably” from the war, which killed more than 58,000 Americans and deeply divided the country.

Its key provisions included a cease-fire throughout Vietnam, the withdrawal of U.S. forces, the release of prisoners of war, and the reunification of North and South Vietnam through peaceful means. The South Vietnamese government was to remain in place until new elections were held, and North Vietnamese forces in the South were not to advance farther, nor be reinforced.

An exit strategy had been in place since 1969, President Richard Nixon’s famed “Vietnamization” policy, which he unveiled in a televised address to the nation.

​As the last American commander in Vietnam left, a force of 7,200 American civilians employed by the U.S. Department of Defense stayed behind to aid the South Vietnamese in their continuing battle with the Communist government in the North. 

The war spanned three American presidencies, starting with President John F. Kennedy, who first sent military advisors to aid the South Vietnamese, through the administration of President Lyndon Johnson, when American troop casualties spiked and the war became increasingly unpopular under the direction of then Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, all the way to the Nixon presidency.

President Nixon was accused of — and repeatedly denied — sabotaging Johnson’s efforts to end the war in 1968.  Just last year, notes from H.R. Haldeman, Nixon’s closest aide, revealed that the president in fact directed his campaign efforts to scuttle peace talks over fears it might grant his opponent, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, an edge in the 1968 election. 

In Vietnam, the peace deal quickly fell apart. Even before the last American troops departed on March 29, the communists violated the cease-fire, and by early 1974 full-scale war had resumed. 

At the end of 1974, South Vietnamese authorities reported that 80,000 of their soldiers and civilians had been killed in fighting, making that year the war’s deadliest.

On April 30, 1975, the last few Americans still in South Vietnam were airlifted out of the country as Saigon fell to communist forces.

 


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