Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists in the country’s east have completed an exchange of about 200 prisoners. Ukrainian officials say Ukraine received 76 captives while the separatists say they took 124 of theirs. The swap carried out on Sunday was brokered earlier this month at a summit of the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France in Paris. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
…
Month: December 2019
Mexico City Zoo Welcomes Second Baby Giraffe of the Year
The Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City is celebrating its second baby giraffe of the year, already as tall as a full-grown human.The female giraffe was unveiled last week after a mandatory quarantine period following her Oct. 23 birth. She will be named via a public vote to generate empathy with the little cow, zoo director Juan Carlos Sanchez Olmos said Sunday.The 96-year-old zoo on the grounds of the capital’s central park has a knack for breeding creatures in captivity: This year it welcomed 170 baby animals, including six Mexican gray wolves, which are in danger of extinction.”A new birth of a character as unique, as charismatic as a giraffe becomes emblematic – a flag for conservation, for the prestige of the zoo,” said Sanchez Olmos while four grown giraffes happily munched branches and leaves behind him.Giraffes are considered “vulnerable” because the species faces significant habitat loss in the 17 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, where they reside.Unlike the wolves, which will be released into the Sierra de San Pedro Martir National Park in Baja California, the giraffes are expected to spend their lives under observation in a dusty patch of the Chapultepec Zoo.A team of professionals – including nutritionists, veterinarians and biologists like Sanchez Olmos_ takes care of more than 1,000 animals in the zoo, which sits under the flight path of jetliners that roar overhead.As Sanchez Olmos detailed the zoo’s mission to not just educate and amuse, but also conserve species, caretaker Alejandro Gonzalez offered long branches from a pomegranate tree to four hungry giraffes. The tallest of the pack eagerly yanked the branches from Gonzalez’s hands.”What did I tell you?” the caretaker said, looking the tall giraffe square in the eyes. “Take it easy, please.”If Gonzalez had his way, the new addition to the herd of giraffes would be called Sarita. At least, that’s what he calls her.The long-necked creatures are a favorite fixture at the zoo. The public voted in April to name the first baby giraffe of the year Jirafifita, which translates as Uppity Little Giraffe – a play on the president’s favorite word for dismissing critics.”Fifi” is slang for uppity or posh. Populist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador frequently uses the word to describe opposition politicians and others who question his decisions.
…
Putin Thanks Trump for Helping Foil Terrorist Acts in Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with President Donald Trump on Sunday to thank him for information that Putin said helped Russia foil terrorist attacks over the New Year’s holiday, the Kremlin said.Putin thanked Trump “for information transmitted through the special services that helped prevent the completion of terrorist acts in Russia,” the Kremlin said in a brief statement posted on its website.Based on the U.S. information, the Russian security forces detained two Russians suspected of preparing to carry out terrorist acts in St. Petersburg during the upcoming holiday, state news agency Tass reported, citing the Federal Security Service.The security service said it obtained the information from its “American partners.” It said it seized material from the suspects that confirms they were preparing terrorist acts, with no further details.There was no immediate comment from the White House.
…
After Algeria’s Leadership Shakeup, Observers Look for Break With Past
Amid sudden changes in the upper echelons of Algeria’s government, the new President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is looking to establish stability and put his stamp on the country’s future.On Saturday, Tebboune appointed Abdelaziz Djerad as the country’s prime minister, FILE – Algerian chief of staff Gen. Ahmed Gaid Salah arrives to preside over a military parade in Algiers, July 1, 2018.Throughout this time, the street protests that swept longtime leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika from power have continued. The opposition boycotted the December elections and denounced Tebboune as a continuation of the past regime and a puppet of Lt. Gen. Gaid Salah. Less than 40% of eligible voters took part in the election.William Lawrence, a professor of political science at George Washington University, said the current president has work to do to win over the general Algerian public and protesting crowds. “He has an opportunity to make good with the protesters, for example, he could release all the leaders that have been arrested in recent months or lift other controls on freedom of expression or freedom to protest,” he said speaking to VOA’s Daybreak Africa radio program. “But so far, the gestures made by the new president have been fairly symbolic. For example, he’s asking the population to call him ‘Mr. President’ rather than ‘your excellency’ as if that was a major concession to the protesting crowd.”Lawrence also said the appointment of General Said Chengriha as acting Army Chief could mark a break from the past. He is from the east of the country, not a traditional power center, and does not have a connection to some of the corruption past Army officials have been associated with.”It will be interesting to see whether the new army chief has a little bit of a honeymoon period,” Lawrence said. “He’s sort of a strategy guy, an infantryman and not really connected to, let’s say, the army deals and other aspects of the military which tend to provoke the protesters.”Lawrence said future concessions from the current government may involve bringing back some older figures who were associated with earlier democratic movements in Algeria. Much will depend on how strong and sustained the protest movement is in the coming months. “If you’re still getting a million people in the streets of various cities, that means the protest movement still has a lot of legs,” Lawrence said. “But if that starts to wane, if the crackdown seems to be working, if the protest crowds are smaller, then we’re probably seeing the beginning of the end of this round of protests.”
…
Polish PM Condemns Putin for World War II ‘Lies’
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Sunday condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin for blaming Poland for the outbreak of World War II, saying Moscow was lying to deflect attention from recent failures.Poland’s foreign ministry had already summoned the Russian ambassador in protest on Friday, recalling that the war began with a Soviet-German alliance and that Poland lost around six million citizens in the conflict.”President Putin has lied about Poland on numerous occasions, and he has always done it deliberately,” Morawiecki said in a statement.”This usually happens when Russian authorities feel international pressure related to their activities…. In recent weeks Russia has suffered several significant defeats,” he added.As examples, Morawiecki mentioned that the European Union had prolonged sanctions against Russia over its annexation of Crimea, Russian athletes were suspended for four years for doping, and Russia “failed in its attempt to take complete control over Belarus.”FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures during his annual end-of-year news conference in Moscow, Russia Dec. 19, 2019.”I consider President Putin’s words as an attempt to cover up these problems. The Russian leader is well aware that his accusations have nothing to do with reality — and that in Poland there are no monuments of Hitler or Stalin,” Morawiecki said.”Such monuments stood here only when they were erected by the aggressors and perpetrators — the Third Reich and Soviet Russia.”Ahead of the German invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union agreed to carve up eastern Europe between them in a secret clause of the infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.The Soviets attacked Poland on Sept. 17, 1939, and occupied part of its territory before Hitler launched a surprise attack against the USSR in 1941.Earlier this month, Putin blamed the Western powers and Poland for World War II, pointing to various treaties signed with Nazi Germany before the conflict began in 1939.He later also accused Poland of anti-Semitism, claiming a pre-war Polish ambassador promised to put up a statue of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in Warsaw for his pledge to send Jews to Africa.The row comes as bilateral tensions are running high, with NATO and EU member Poland fearing what has been described as Russian military adventurism and imperialist tendencies.
…
After Somalia Truck Bombing, US Airstrikes Target Militants
U.S. military officials say three airstrikes conducted Sunday against al-Shabab militants in Somalia have killed four militants.The officials say the airstrikes in coordination with the Somali government targeted al-Shabab militants responsible for terrorist acts against innocent Somali citizens.The airstrikes came a day after a truck bombing in Somalia’s capital killed at least 78 people. While no group has yet claimed responsibility for the bombing, Somalia’s president has blamed the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab.U.S. Africa Command says an initial assessment concluded that two airstrikes killed two militants and destroyed two vehicles in Qunyo Barrow, and that one airstrike killed two militants in Caliyoow Barrow.
In a statement Sunday, the director of operations for U.S. Africa Command, Army Maj. Gen. William Gayler, says al-Shabaab is “a global menace and their sights are set on exporting violence regionally and eventually attacking the U.S. homeland.”
…
Dozens in Belarus Rally Against Closer Relations With Russia
Around 100 Belarusians protested in downtown Minsk Sunday against the prospect of deeper relations with Russia, the fifth such demonstration in the past month.The protesters held a noontime march from October Square to Independence Square and formed a human chain near the main post office.Uniformed police were deployed but did not intervene against the demonstrators.A previous demonstration in December saw multiple arrests.The gathering, in subfreezing temperatures, appeared to attract slightly fewer participants than the previous demonstrations, one of which attracted upward of 1,000 people.The unsanctioned rallies were prompted by a fresh round of talks early this month between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko that coincided with the 20th anniversary of a 1999 union treaty that was supposed to create a unified state.The talks hit a snag that Lukashenko explained by saying he was merely seeking “equal terms” in mutual relations.Minsk is heavily reliant on Moscow for cheap oil and billions in annual subsidies to prop up its Soviet-era economy.Moscow has pressured Minsk to accelerate military and economic integration.There have been signs that Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and its subsequent backing of armed separatists in eastern Ukraine spooked Lukashenko and spurred his government to scale back its dependence on Russia.
…
Taliban Council Agrees to Cease-Fire in Afghanistan
The Taliban’s ruling council agreed Sunday to a temporary cease-fire in Afghanistan, providing a window in which a peace agreement with the United States can be signed, officials from the insurgent group said. They didn’t say when it would begin.A cease-fire had been demanded by Washington before any peace agreement could be signed. A peace deal would allow the U.S. to bring home its troops from Afghanistan and end its 18-year military engagement there, America’s longest.There was no immediate response from Washington.The U.S. wants any deal to include a promise from the Taliban that Afghanistan would not be used as a base by terrorist groups. The U.S. currently has an estimated 12,000 troops in Afghanistan.The Taliban chief must approve the cease-fire decision but that was expected. The duration of the cease-fire was not specified but it was suggested it would last for 10 days. It was also not specified when the cease-fire would begin.Four members of the Taliban negotiating team met for a week with the ruling council before they agreed on the brief cease-fire. The negotiating team returned Sunday to Qatar where the Taliban maintain their political office and where U.S. special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has been holding peace talks with the religious militia since September 2018.FILE – U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad attends the Intra Afghan Dialogue talks in the Qatari capital, Doha, July 8, 2019.Talks were suspended in September when both sides seemed on the verge of signing a peace pact. However, a surge in violence in the capital Kabul killed a U.S. soldier, prompting President Donald Trump to declare the deal “dead.” Talks resumed after Trump made a surprise visit to Afghanistan at the end of November announcing the Taliban were ready to talk and agree to a reduction in violence.Khalilzad returned to Doha at the beginning of December. It was then that he proposed a temporary halt to hostilities to pave the way to an agreement being signed, according to Taliban officials.Taliban officials familiar with the negotiations spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media outlets.A key pillar of the agreement, which the U.S. and Taliban have been hammering out for more than a year, is direct negotiations between Afghans on both sides of the conflict.Those intra-Afghan talks were expected to be held within two weeks of the signing of a U.S.-Taliban peace deal. They will decide what a post-war Afghanistan will look like.FILE – Members of the Taliban delegation are seen at the Sheraton Doha, before the start of the Intra-Afghan dialogue, in Doha, Qatar, July 7, 2019. (Ayesha Tanzeem/VOA)The first item on the agenda is expected to address how to implement a cease-fire between the Taliban and Afghanistan’s National Security Forces. The negotiations, however, were expected to be prickly and will cover a variety of thorny issues, including rights of women, free speech, and changes to the country’s constitution.The intra-Afghan talks would also lay out the fate of tens of thousands of Taliban fighters and the heavily armed militias belonging to Afghanistan’s warlords. Those warlords have amassed wealth and power since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001 by the U.S.-led coalition. They were removed after Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida carried out the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States. The Taliban had harbored bin Laden, although there was no indication they were aware of al-Qaida’s plans to attack the United States.Even as the Taliban were talking about ceasing hostilities, insurgents carried out an attack in northern Afghanistan on Sunday that killed at least 17 local militiamen.The attack apparently targeted a local militia commander who escaped unharmed, said Jawad Hajri, a spokesman for the governor of Takhar province, where the attack took place late Saturday.Local Afghan militias commonly operate in remote areas, and are under the command of either the defense or interior ministries.Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack.Last week, a U.S. soldier was killed in combat in the northern Kunduz province. The Taliban claimed they were behind a fatal roadside bombing that targeted American and Afghan forces in Kunduz. The U.S. military said the soldier was not killed in an IED attack but died seizing a Taliban weapon’s cache.The U.S. military in its daily report of military activity said airstrikes overnight Sunday killed 13 Taliban in attacks throughout the country.Taliban as well as Afghan National Security Forces aided by U.S. air power have carried out daily attacks against each otherThe Taliban frequently target Afghan and U.S. forces, as well as government officials. But scores of Afghan civilians are also killed in the cross-fire or by roadside bombs planted by militants. The United Nations has called on all sides in the conflict to reduce civilian casualties. The world body said increased U.S. airstrikes and ground operations by Afghan National Security Forces, as well as relentless Taliban attacks, have contributed to an increase in civilian casualties.Last year, Afghanistan was the world’s deadliest conflict.
…
Wounded Victims of Somali Truck Bomb Attack Airlifted to Turkey
Hassan Kafi Qoyste has contributed this report from Mogadishu.At least 16 of the most severely wounded people from Saturday’s truck bomb attack that killed at least 90 people in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, have been airlifted to Turkey for treatment, Somali government officials said.”Turkish military cargo airplane has taken 16 injured people to Ankara for treatment,” Somalia’s Minister of Internal Security, Mohamed Abukar Islow Duale, told VOA.Two Turkish nationals were among those killed in the truck bombing that also left 125 other people were wounded.Before taking the wounded, the Turkish cargo plane off-loaded large supplies of medicine and medical equipment to help overwhelmed Mogadishu hospitals in order to handle the large number of the wounded.Medical personnel carry wounded children to be airlifted to the Turkish capital for treatment after they were injured in Saturday’s car bomb blast in Mogadishu, Dec. 29, 2019.”Turkey has also sent doctors and medical supplies to Mogadishu to treat the large number of the wounded people in Mogadishu hospitals” said a statement from Somalia’s presidential office.Saturday’s explosion — one of the worst in the East African country’s history — occurred at a busy checkpoint on a road leading to Afgoye District.The checkpoint, known as Ex-Control checkpoint, is one of the main road tax collection government posts in Mogadishu.At the time of the blast, nearly 100 vehicles and rickshaws carrying passengers were in line at the checkpoint for routine security inspections.No one claimed responsibility for the attack but analyst Abdihakim Aynte with the Mogadishu-based heritage research organization said it had all the hallmarks of the al-Shabab militant group.A general view shows the scene of a car bomb explosion at a checkpoint in Mogadishu, Dec. 28, 2019.Mohamed Yusuf, the director of Medina hospital in Mogadishu told VOA Somali that they have been struggling with the treatment of at least 75 wounded people since Saturday.More than 30 of the dead were school and university students who were traveling on public buses during morning rush hour.Deeqo Osman, a student and one the survivors of the attack, who was being treated at the hospital has shared her recounts about the blast with VOA.”We were returning to our classes. We were traveling on a mini passenger bus, when we arrived at the checkpoint something huge exploded and the next thing I found out was being under burning rubble of our mini-bus. I could see a lot of dead students and the bodies of other civilians strewn across the check-point. I immediately became unconscious and the next thing, I saw myself in a hospital bed with injuries on legs, chest, and shoulders.” said Osman.ReactionSomalis across the world reacted Saturday’s deadly attack.”These deadly blasts continue to hurt us. I would say May Allah defeat those who think they achieve something by killing moms and innocent children,” said Fadumo Abdullahi, a resident in Nairobi’s East Leigh Somali neighborhood.”Such attacks only amplify the brutality of the terrorists and huge task that lies ahead, for Somalis with the help of the international community, to defeat terrorists and push back this wicked ideology,” Ibrahim Nur, a Mogadishu traditional elder said.Abdirahman Sharif, leader of the Dar-Al-Hijra mosque in Minneapolis, was among dozens of Somali influential clerics who have strongly condemned the attack. He links Wahhabism, a puritanical form of Sunni Islam, which is practiced in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to the deadly terrorist attacks in Somalia.”Wahabism that spread to Somalia from Saudi Arabia has to be blamed for what is going on,” said Sharif. “Together, Somali religious leaders, politicians, and people must fight against the extremist views being taught in schools and universities, because that is the only effective way to stop the killers.”Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has has also condemned the attack and expressed his nation’s sympathy for Somalis.Deputy U.N. Representative in Somalia Adam Abdelmoula said the world body stands with the people of Somalia during such difficult moments.Previous attacksIn October 2017, a truck bombing in a busy junction in Mogadishu killed more than 500 people, the worst and the deadliest single explosion so far. The Somali government blamed al-Shabab. In October 2011, a similar truck bomb in the city killed more than 100 people, mainly students taking exams for Turkish scholarships.
Al-Shabab was also linked to a 2009 attack in which a suicide bomber attacked a graduation ceremony at the Shamo Hotel, killing 30 people including government ministers.
…
Kremlin: Putin Thanks Trump for Help Thwarting Terrorist Act
The Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a telephone conversation initiated by the Russian side, has thanked U.S. President Donald Trump “for information transmitted via the special services that helped prevent the commission of terrorist acts in Russia.”There was no immediate confirmation from the U.S. side.The call also reportedly included discussion of “a set of issues of mutual interest,” according to the official Kremlin website.Both leaders, Putin’s office said, agreed “to continue bilateral cooperation in the fight against terrorism.”No other details were provided.
…
Monitoring Agency: DRC Ebola Death Toll 2,231 to Date
A total of 2,231 people have died out of 3,373 declared cases of Ebola in the current epidemic in the DR Congo, according to the agency overseeing the response, health officials said Sunday.Deadly unrest in the fragile state has hampered the fight against the disease during the latest epidemic, which broke out on August 1, 2018, with the eastern provinces of North Kivu and Ituri particularly badly hit.Both areas, beset by violence for two decades, have seen repeated attacks on Ebola health workers by dozens of armed groups as well as on health sites set up to treat victims.More than 200 civilians have been killed in the troubled east since November in clashes blamed on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a militia group of Ugandan origin which officials blame for a string of massacres in recent weeks.Health authorities meanwhile said Sunday that 341 suspected Ebola cases were being investigated, a day after the Multisectoral Committee for Epidemic Response (CMRE) monitoring the disease unveiled its latest batch of data Saturday.The current epidemic is the tenth overall and the second deadliest on record since a 2014-16 outbreak struck west Africa, killing more than 11,300.
…
French Coastguards Rescue 31 Migrants Attempting Channel Crossing
French coastguards rescued 31 migrants trying to cross the English Channel overnight after the engine of one small boat cut out and the other dinghy began to take in water, local authorities in France said on Sunday.Border and coast guards in Britain and France have recently intercepted several attempted crossings, including on Dec. 26 when 49 suspected migrants were escorted to British shores after a rescue and search operation.
In the early hours of Sunday, French coast guards picked up 11 migrants, including two young children, in one boat off the coast near the port city of Calais.
Another 20, including a pregnant woman, were later rescued by the same patrol boat further along the French coast near Dunkirk, the local authorities said in a statement.
Some of the people rescued suffered from hypothermia, they added.
…
Turkish Military Plane Arrives to Evacuate Somalia Bomb Victims
A Turkish military plane arrived in Mogadishu on Sunday to evacuate those gravely wounded in a devastating bombing that killed 79 people and overwhelmed local health services, in the latest attack on a city dogged by insecurity.The aircraft also brought doctors to help treat the some 125 people injured in Saturday’s blast, which happened when a vehicle packed with explosives detonated at a busy security checkpoint.No group has claimed the bloody attack, however Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo has blamed Islamist group Al-Shabaab which regularly carries out car bombings and other attacks on the capital, in their decade-long bid to topple the internationally-backed government.Saturday’s bombing was the deadliest since truck exploded in 2017 near a fuel tanker, creating a fireball that killed over 500 people.A general view shows the scene of a car bomb explosion at a checkpoint in Mogadishu, Somalia, Dec. 28, 2019.Farmaajo pinned the attack on the “terrorist organization Al-Shabaab” in a televised message and slammed it as an attempt to “intimidate and terrorist the Somali public and to massacre them at every opportunity available”.At least 16 of those killed were students from the capital’s private Banadir University, who had been traveling on a bus when the car bomb detonated at a busy intersection southwest of the Somali capital.The director of the private Aamin Ambulance service, Abdukadir Abdirahman Haji, told AFP around 125 people were injured, a number which has overwhelmed health services in the capital.Somali police chief Abdi Hassan Mohamed said Saturday that 79 had died, but the toll could increase.”There are still rescue operations going on to assist those who have been massacred by the terrorists while going about their business,” Somalia’s Information Minister Mohamed Abdi Heyr told journalists.”We have received this morning doctors and medicine sent by the Turkish government and we are working to separate people seriously wounded from others in order to send them outside the country and the rest will be treated by the doctors,” he added.The minister said about 24 doctors specializing in trauma had arrived from Turkey — a key ally of Somalia — while Qatar was sending a similar aircraft on Monday to assist.”At 5:30am this morning the first flight to evacuate the wounded from yesterday’s… bombing arrived from Turkey. Along with it came Turkish medical doctors and emergency medical supplies,” Somalia’s deputy police chief Zakia Hussein said in a tweet.She said the plane would evacuate about 15 people who had been seriously wounded in the blast.’Life-threatening injuries’Dozens of ambulances were carrying wounded people from various hospitals in the city to the Turkish-run Recep Tayyip Erdogan Hospital from where they would be taken to the airport.Abdukadir Moalim, a Mogadishu resident, said his family was feeling desperate because his cousin had sustained serious head wounds in the blast.”The problem with the blast is that even if you escape death, you can sustain life-threatening injuries like my cousin, who has injuries in the head and medical doctors here could not treat him inside the country,” he said.”Thank God, he will be taken to Turkey now and we are expecting that with time he gets well.”Two Turkish citizens were killed in the blast and according to medical sources, another two who were wounded will be among those airlifted home.Since 2015, there have been 13 attacks in Somalia with death tolls above 20. Eleven of these have been in Mogadishu, according to a tally of AFP figures. All of them involved car bombs.
…
French Government, Unions Exchange Barbs in Strike Deadlock
The French government and a key trade union on Sunday exchanged bitter accusations over who was to blame for France’s over three-week transport strike against pension reforms, as the stalemate showed little sign of relenting.Deputy Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari accused the hardline CGT union of a “systematic opposition to any reform” while the union’s chief Philippe Martinez charged the government with strewing “chaos” in the conflict.People stand in the hall of the Gare du Nord railway station, in Paris, Dec. 22, 2019.The strike — now longer than the notorious 22-day strike of winter 1995 — has now lasted 25 days and is on course to surpass the longest transport strike in France which lasted for 28 days in 1986 and early 1987.Aside from two driverless lines, the Paris metro was again almost completely shut down on Sunday while only a fraction of high-speed TGV trains were running.The government and unions are only due to hold their next talks on January 7, two days ahead of a new day of mass demonstrations against the reform which is championed by President Emmanuel Macron.In an interview with the Journal de Dimanche newspaper, Djebbari angrily accused the CGT of “attitudes of intimidation, harassment and even aggression” against railway workers who had opted not to down tools.He accused the CGT of showing a “systematic opposition to any reform, of blocking and sometimes intimidation”.”The CGT wants to make its mark through media stunts. But the French are not going to be duped by the extreme-left politicisation of this movement,” he added.’Like Thatcher’ But in an interview with the same newspaper, Martinez accused the government of trying to ensure the conflict deteriorated further.”Emmanuel Macron presents himself as a man of a new world but he is imitating Margaret Thatcher,” he said, referring to the late British prime minister who sought to break the power of the unions in 1980s standoffs.”There is real anger. Of course, not being paid for 24 days is tough. But the conflict is the result of two-and-a-half years of suffering,” Martinez added.FILE – French President Emmanuel Macron speaks at a press conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, July 12, 2018.He said he was awaiting concessions from Macron in a New Year’s address Tuesday evening as well as recognition that “most people are not happy and that he [the president] was wrong”.The French president, elected in 2017 on pledges to reform France, has remained virtually silent on the standoff, save for a call for a Christmas truce that went unheeded and a vow not to take a presidential pension.This will intensify attention on December 31 address, with all eyes on whether Macron offers steps to defuse the conflict or indicates he is ready for a long, grinding standoff.The unions are demanding that the government drops a plan to merge 42 existing pension schemes into a single, points-based system.The overhaul would see workers in certain sectors — including the railways — lose early retirement benefits. The government says the pension overhaul is needed to create a fairer system.But workers object to the inclusion of a so-called pivot age of 64 until which people would have to work to earn a full pension — two years beyond the official retirement age.
…
PM: Greece ‘Wants A Say’ in Libya Peace Process
Greece wants to be included in U.N.-sponsored talks in January on the Libya conflict, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Sunday, as tensions escalate with neighbors Turkey over the issue.Libya has become another diplomatic front for Greece and Turkey as the traditional rivals jostle over Mediterranean maritime rights and the competing camps in the North African country’s conflict.”We do not want a source of instability in our neighborhood. Therefore we want a say in developments in Libya,” Mitsotakis told To Vima weekly in an interview.”We want to be part of the solution in Libya, as it concerns us too,” he said.The U.N. has said an international conference will be held next month in Berlin to pave the way for a political solution to Libya’s ongoing conflict.Libya has been beset by chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, with rival administrations in the east and the west vying for power.”I have requested, and will do so again with greater insistence, that we participate in the Berlin process,” Mitsotakis said.In November, Ankara signed a contentious maritime and military deal with the embattled U.N.-recognized government in Tripoli.Greece immediately rejected it as baseless, arguing that Turkey and Libya share no maritime border.”[Libya] is our natural maritime neighbor, not Turkey’s,” Mitsotakis said on Sunday.The Turkish deal lays claim to much of the Mediterranean for energy exploration, conflicting with rival claims by Greece and Cyprus.At the same time, Turkey is stepping up military aid to Tripoli, which is battling the forces of military strongman Khalifa Haftar for control of the capital.
…
Ukraine Begins Prisoner Swap With Separatists
Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine have started an all-for-all prisoner swap, after which all remaining prisoners of the five-year conflict should return home, the office of Ukraine’s president said on Sunday.The agreement was concluded by Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Paris in December.The swap is taking place at a check point near the industrial town of Horlivka in the Donetsk region.Russia’s RIA news agency, citing a local official from the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, said Kiev would hand over 87 separatists, while Donetsk would return 55 pro-central government fighters.Kiev’s forces have been battling separatists in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine since 2014 in a conflict that has claimed more than 13,000 lives. Sporadic fighting continues despite a ceasefire agreement.There have been several prisoner exchanges between Kiev and the rebels. In the last swap, conducted in December 2017, Ukraine handed over about 300 captives to pro-Russian separatists and took back around 70.Relations between Ukraine and Russia collapsed following Moscow’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014, and its subsequent support for separatists in the eastern Donbass region.President Zelenskiy won a landslide election victory in April promising to end the conflict.Widely criticized domestically for his plan to grant special status to Donbass to help end the five-year conflict, Zelenskiy’s latest actions have given rise to cautious optimism.In September, after a carefully negotiated rapprochement, Russia and Ukraine swapped dozens of prisoners. The move brought Western praise and hopes that relations between Moscow and Kiev could thaw.The released Ukrainians included sailors detained by Russia during a clash in waters off Crimea last year, and filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, jailed in Russia.The meeting of Ukrainian, Russian, German and French leaders earlier this month in Paris renewed optimism for a resolution to the conflict, and confirmed the relevance of an early peace agreement signed in Belarusian capital Minsk in 2015.Relations between the two countries are also unlikely to be aggravated by a dispute in the gas sector, where Kiev and Moscow are arguing about a new transit contract to replace the current agreement which expires at the end of the year.Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of using natural gas supplies to put pressure on the neighboring state, but last week the parties managed to agree on the main points of a new deal.
…