A court in Burundi on Thursday sentenced four journalists to two and a half years in prison after they were convicted on charges of trying to undermine state security.One of their lawyers, Martin Ndayisaba, told journalists they will appeal the decision of the court in Bubanza Province. They have 30 days to do so.The journalists are with Iwacu, one of the few remaining private media organizations in the East African nation.They were arrested in October in Musigati district in the western province while covering the aftermath of clashes between the army and a rebel group from South Kivu in neighboring Congo.President Pierre Nkurunziza’s government has cracked down on the media ahead of this year’s election in May. Several local radio stations and media houses have been closed and many journalists have fled the country.The government suspended broadcasts in Burundi by Voice of America and the BBC. Jean Bigirimana, a journalist with Iwacu, has been missing since July 2016.Burundi has been plagued by political violence since 2015, when Nkurunziza announced he would seek a disputed third term. He won re-election despite widespread protests, and the United Nations says more than 1,200 people have been killed in the ensuing crackdown.Nkurunziza has said he will not run again and the ruling party recently named an army general as its candidate for the election.Amnesty International said the conviction and jail sentences for the journalists “on trumped-up charges marks a sad day for the right to freedom of expression and press freedom in Burundi,” said Seif Magango, Amnesty International’s deputy director for East Africa.”The authorities must quash the conviction and sentences, and the four journalists must be immediately and unconditionally released. … The Burundian authorities must ensure that every journalist in the country can work freely, without fear of arrest, harassment or intimidation, particularly ahead of upcoming elections.”
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Month: January 2020
EU: Russia, China Use ‘Digital War’ to Undermine Democracies
Russia and China are waging a “digital war” with fake news and disinformation to undermine democracy in Europe, and the European Union must develop tools to fight back, a top EU official said Thursday.European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova, who leads efforts to preserve democratic principles across the bloc, said the two countries have “weaponized information” and won’t back down until Europe stands up to them.”There are specific external actors, namely Russia and increasingly China, that are actively using disinformation and related interference tactics to undermine European democracy,” Jourova told a conference of disinformation experts and policymakers in Brussels.The two countries “will feel comfortable doing so until we demonstrate that we will not tolerate this aggression and interference,” she said.She said that “digital war” is a favored method of Russia and China because “they see that it’s efficient, it’s cheap, and I am not naive enough to believe that some talk will discourage them from doing that.”Jourova cited as examples the fake news reports from Russia surrounding the shooting down of a Malaysian airlines flight over eastern Ukraine in 2014 and in the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in Salisbury, England in 2018.Europe must find the best way to “defend ourselves and our territory and use the most efficient tools to do that,” including funding and new policies, she said.Experts at Thursday’s conference said Russia’s aim is to sow confusion and to undermine western organizations like the EU and NATO, while China uses more subtle methods, combined with a lot of money, to persuade decision-makers and influence policy.
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Amnesty: Human Rights Deteriorating in Pakistan
Human rights watchdog Amnesty International, in its Women protest demanding the release of human rights activist Manzoor Pashteen, in Karachi, Pakistan, Jan. 28, 2020.Manzoor Pashteen arrest
Days before the Amnesty report, police in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar detained a young firebrand leader of a relatively new movement called Pashtun Tahafuz Movement that campaigns against alleged human rights violations by the country’s powerful military. The arrest of 27-year-old Manzoor Pashteen led to demonstrations in various cities and more arrests in the capital Islamabad.While the demonstrations were peaceful, police charged the almost two dozen people it arrested with “sedition” among other charges.Pakistan’s independent and non-partisan body, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, called these arrests unconstitutional.”The arbitrary use of the charge of sedition under an archaic law to curb political dissent – that has in no way incited hatred or violence – indicates how little regard the state has for its citizens’ civil and political liberties,” an HRCP press release said.One of the issues PTM repeatedly raised was forced disappearances. Under pressure from PTM and other groups, many people who had disappeared and were believed to be in the custody of intelligence agencies returned home.”Even as hundreds of disappeared people were released throughout 2019, no one was held to account for even one of them,” Amnesty said in its report.
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Europe Evacuation Flight off to China, Cruise Ship Checked
European countries on Thursday stepped up efforts to contain the virus infecting central China, sending a plane to evacuate hundreds of Europeans from the country and halting even more flights to China. Italian authorities kept some 7,000 people on a cruise ship while they checked for a possible infection.An A380 plane took off from a former military airport at Beja, 200 kilometers (120 miles) southeast of Lisbon carrying just its pilots and crew.Captain Antonios Efthymiou said the flight was going first to Paris, to pick up a team of doctors and extra crew, before heading to Hanoi and then China. He told Portuguese media it would bring back about 350 Europeans. He said the crew would take special medical precautions but did not elaborate on them.Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva said the flight was coordinated between European Union countries and Chinese authorities.China has reported 170 deaths and at least 7,800 infections from the virus that emerged in the central city of Wuhan. More people have now been infected by this coronavirus in China than were sickened there during the 2002-2003 SARS epidemic. Sports, transport and cultural events have been cancelled across the country, and over 50 million people are under a government lockdown in central China.In Europe, there have been 10 confirmed cases of the virus: five in France, four in Germany and one in Finland.Italian health authorities, meanwhile, were screening 6,000 passengers and 1,000 crew aboard a cruise ship docked north of Rome after a passenger from Macao came down with flu-like symptoms, officials said Thursday.The Costa Crociere cruise line said the 54-year-old woman and her partner, who has no symptoms, were immediately put into isolation Wednesday and the case reported to Italian maritime authorities. Passengers of the Costa Smeralda were being kept on board Thursday pending checks to determine the type of virus.The ship had sailed from Mallorca, Spain, to Civitavecchia on a weeklong Mediterranean cruise but no passengers were allowed off for a planned walk in sunny Rome on Thursday.”All the planned mechanisms were activated. Health authorities are on board, doing checks,” Italian Coast Guard Cmdr. Vincenzo Leone said at the port of Civitavecchia. “The situation is under control. There’s a security cordon on the dock.”The Czech Republic, meanwhile, announced it was stopping issuing visas to Chinese citizens due to the outbreak. More than 600,000 Chinese tourists are estimated to have visited the Czech Republic last year, especially its old-world capital city of Prague.On the retail front, Swedish furniture and home goods retailer IKEA announced all its stores in mainland China would remain closed to protect its customers and staff from the outbreak. The stores are a favorite haunt of Chinese city dwellers both for shopping and for hanging out.Scandinavian Airlines announced it was halting all its flights to Beijing and Shanghai due to the virus beginning Friday until Feb. 9th. SAS, which has 12 regular weekly flights from Scandinavia to China, said Thursday that ”the safety of our passengers and employees is our highest priority.”Spain’s Iberia national airline halted the three return flights a week it runs between Madrid and Shanghai because of the virus, a move it said would continue through the month of February.Those announcements followed earlier moves to halt or reduce flights to China by other European airlines, including British Airways, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Swiss, Air France and KLM.
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China Counts 170 Virus Deaths, New Countries Find Infections
China counted 170 deaths from a new virus Thursday and more countries reported infections, including some spread locally, as foreign evacuees from China’s worst-hit region returned home to medical observation and even isolation.
India and the Philippines reported their first cases, in a traveler and a student who had both been in Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the new type of coronavirus first surfaced in December. South Korea confirmed a case that was locally spread, in a man who had contact with a patient diagnosed earlier.
Locally spread cases outside China have been a worrying concern among global health officials, as potential signs of the virus spreading more easily and the difficulty of containing it. The World Health Organization is reconvening experts on Thursday to assess whether the outbreak should be declared a global emergency.
The new virus has now infected more people in China than were sickened there during the 2002-2003 outbreak of SARS, another type of coronavirus.
Thursday’s figures for mainland China cover the previous 24 hours and represent an increase of 38 deaths and 1,737 cases for a total of 7,711. Of the new deaths, 37 were in Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital, and one was in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
Three of Japan’s confirmed cases were among a group of evacuees who returned on a government-chartered flight from Wuhan on Wednesday. Japan’s foreign ministry said a second flight carrying 210 Japanese evacuees landed Thursday at Tokyo’s Haneda airport. Reports said nine of those aboard the flight showed signs of cough and fever.
India’s health ministry said a student in Kerala state who had been studying in Wuhan was confirmed to have the virus after returning home during the Lunar New Year break. Philippine health officials say a woman who traveled to the country from Wuhan via Hong Kong had tested positive.
Passengers wear masks to prevent an outbreak of a new coronavirus in a subway station, in Hong Kong, Jan. 22, 2020.A flight arranged between the European Union and China departed Portugal en route to China to bring back 350 Europeans from the affected area. The U.S. said additional flights were being planned for around Monday, after it evacuated 195 Americans from Wuhan on Wednesday. They are being tested and monitored at a Southern California military base.
New Zealand, Australia, India, Singapore and other countries are also trying to get out their citizens. Taiwan, the self-governing republic China considers its own territory, has also asked to be able to repatriate its passport holders from Wuhan, but it and the United Kingdom said they were awaiting approval from Beijing.
Airlines reduce service
Israel’s El Al , Spain’s Iberia and Korean Air joined the growing list of airlines suspending or reducing service to China.
In South Korea, residents in two cities where quarantine facilities are being prepared threw eggs and water bottles at government officials to protest plans to isolate in their neighborhoods 700 South Koreans the government plans to evacuate from China.
Amid reports of shortages in food and daily necessities in hot-spot areas, Chinese authorities are “stepping up efforts to ensure continuous supply and stable prices,” the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
It cited Ministry of Commerce data showing current reserves in Wuhan can ensure a secure supply of rice and cooking oil for more than 15 days, pork and eggs for more than 10 days and vegetables for about five days.
China’s highly developed online shopping and home delivery businesses were important in ensuring those confined to home by choice or by order could get food and other essentials.
“I’d just like to ask that folks don’t order anything other than the daily necessities,” Hou Yanbo, deputy director of market supervision from the National Post Administration, told reporters at a daily briefing.
China extended its Lunar New Year holiday to Sunday to try to contain the virus, but the wave of returning travelers could potentially cause the virus to spread further.
Transport ministry spokesman Wu Chungeng outlined a series of rigorous temperature checks and other “severe measures” to detect possibly infectious passengers. Transport restrictions such as those isolating Wuhan and suspending inter-provincial bus services would remain in place, Wu said.
“It’s definitely very challenging, but we’re confident we can exert effective control,`”Wu told reporters at the briefing.
School closings in Hong Kong, Beijing and other regions have been extended by at least two weeks.
The WHO emergencies chief, Michael Ryan, spoke in Geneva after returning from Beijing. He said China was taking “extraordinary measures in the face of an extraordinary challenge’ posed by the outbreak.A man wearing a surgical mask makes a child wear one outside the government general hospital where a student who had been in Wuhan is kept in isolation in Thrissur, Kerala state, India, Jan. 30, 2020.Most cases in China To date, about 99% of the cases are in China. Ryan estimated the death rate of the new virus at 2%, but said the figure was very preliminary. With fluctuating numbers of cases and deaths, scientists are only able to produce a rough estimate of the fatality rate and it’s likely many milder cases of the virus are being missed.
In comparison, the SARS virus killed about 10% of people who caught it. The new virus is from the coronavirus family, which includes those that can cause the common cold as well as more serious illnesses such as SARS and MERS.
Scientists say there are many questions to be answered about the new virus, including just how easily it spreads and how severe it is.
Chinese authorities have demanded anyone who traveled from or through Wuhan report to health authorities and self-quarantine themselves for 14 days, the maximum incubation period during which patients can be infectious even if they don’t show symptoms.
China has been largely praised for a swift and effective response to the outbreak, although questions have been raised about the police suppression of what were early on considered mere rumors, a reflection of the one-party Communist state’s determination to maintain a monopoly on information in spite of smart phones and social media.
That stands in stark contrast to the initial response to SARS, when medical reports were hidden as state secrets. The delayed response was blamed for allowing the disease to spread worldwide, killing around 800 people.
This time, in addition to working with WHO, China’s health minister Ma Xiaowei has been in touch with foreign colleagues, including U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar.
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EU Parliament Votes Overwhelmingly in Favor of Brexit
The European Parliament gave the green light for Britain’s departure from the European Union Wednesday evening, hours before Brexit becomes reality. The vote was overwhelming, 621 to 49, but it was an emotional departure.After being part of some sort of a European union for nearly half a century, it took only a few seconds for Britain to see its departure overwhelmingly approved by the European Parliament.The next step promises to be difficult, as Britain negotiates its future relationship the EU, especially on trade matters. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had this message for London:“It’s very clear the tradeoff is simple: The more united the United Kingdom does commit to uphold our standards for social protection and workers’ rights, our guarantees for the environment and other standards and rules ensuring fair competition, the closer and better the access to the single market,” she said.Emotional splitBut many lawmakers stuck to the emotional part of the split.“To all of you, I will say that I will miss you,” a French lawmaker said. “The EU will not be the same without you. My deep feeling is there is no good Brexit.”“If the British people ever decide to come back, our arms will be open,” a Spanish lawmaker said.Others warned that Britain’s departure should spark soul-searching about what is broken with the EU.“We European decisionmakers must realize that an increasing number of fellow citizens have turned their backs against the European projects, it’s for a reason,” a Belgian lawmaker said. “It’s because many believe that too often policies adopted at the European level have served the few rather than the many.”Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage along with other MEPs wave British flags ahead of a vote on the Withdrawal Agreement at the European Parliament in Brussels, Jan. 29, 2020.Leave vs RemainFor British Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage and other populist lawmakers, it was a time for victory.“We love Europe, we just hate the European Union. … I’m hoping this begins the end of this project. It’s a bad project,” he said.But Britain’s Remain camp at the EU parliament vowed they would be back. Among them, Aileen McLeod, of the pro-independence Scottish National Party. “Scotland is a European nation,” she said. “And I look forward to an independent Scotland rejoining the EU, and we will, soon…”Britain’s last day as an EU member is Friday. The British flag will be lowered at EU institutions. But in many ways, the farewell — with EU lawmakers locking arms and singing an old Scottish song — has already happened.
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US Officials Say They Know True Identity of New IS Leader
U.S. defense officials believe they have unmasked the Islamic State terror group’s current leader, until now known by his nom de guerre, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi.IS announced the selection of Qurashi as its new caliph this past October, just days after the death of former leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a U.S. raid, but his true identity has been a question.FILE – The chief of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, purportedly appears for the first time in five years in a propaganda video in an undisclosed location, in this undated image from video released April 29, 2019, by Al-Furqan media.Now, the U.S. has determined with confidence Qurashi is actually Hajji ‘Abdallah, according to a defense official who spoke to VOA on the condition of anonymity.‘Abdallah, who also went by the name Amir Muhammad Said Abdal Rahman al-Mawla, is religious scholar who rose through the ranks of IS’ predecessor organization, al-Qaida in Iraq to eventually become, one of Baghdadi’s top deputies.According to U.S. intelligence officials, ‘Abdallah was also a key architect of the Islamic State’s slaughter of the Yazidi religious minority and was charged with overseeing some of the terror group’s global operations.U.S. defense and counterterrorism officials have long suspected Qurashi and ‘Abdallah were one and the same, describing him as a “logical choice” to lead IS, but until now have been reticent to say so definitively.As for who is #Qurashi? “We’re not at a point of having confirmation” says #NCTC acting Dir Travers, adding Hajji ‘Abdallah was seen as a “logical choice” to take over if/when Abu Bakr al #Baghdadi died— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) November 8, 2019The U.S. assessment of Qurashi’s true identity is in line with the assessments of other intelligence agencies, though some still have reservations because of his ethnic heritage.“His Turkmen ethnicity led some Member States to assess that he might only be a temporary choice,” according to a new U.N. report on the terror group, questioning whether he could truly claim descent from the Qurashi Hashemite tribe, a quality IS sees as a requirement for any caliph.IS quickly tried to quash any doubts or dissent, launching a social media campaign showing photos of IS fighters from Africa to the Philippines pledging bay’ah, or loyalty, to the new leader.Hajji Abdallah, leader of Islamic State, U.S. defense officials say.But some intelligence agencies are now expressing doubts about the credibility of the campaign and question whether the terror group’s new leadership will be able to keep its far-flung followers in line as time passes.The U.S. and its allies also note that IS, at least in Syria and Iraq, appears to be struggling, unable to take advantage of protests in Iraq and tensions between the U.S. and Iran.“I don’t think it’s an immediate threat of an immediate resurgence,” Major General Alex Grynkewich, deputy commander of the U.S.-led coalition to defeat IS, recently told Pentagon reporters.“ISIS hasn’t been able to exploit any of the gaps or seams that may have arisen,” he said, using an acronym for the terror group. “ISIS is a little bit more on the lack of capability and capacity side than strategically patient.”That has led to doubts about whether Qurashi will be able to position IS to reemerge, even over the long term, even as the group’s current efforts to maintain control and recruit additional followers appears to be steady.“It is unclear whether [Qurashi] will emerge as an effective organizing force,” the U.N. report states.But counterterrorism officials and analysts also caution it would be a mistake to underestimate IS.ISIS has proved that it is an opportunistic organization,” said Colin Clarke, a senior fellow at the Soufan Center, a global security research group. “Moreover, ISIS is actively working to rebuild its networks in Iraq, Syria and beyond, and is also looking to take advantage of operational spaces like Afghanistan and other weak states plagued by civil war and violence,” he said.Other analysts point out that Qurashi has seen the fortunes of IS rise and fall before, and is unlikely to be intimidated.Information compiled by the U.S.-based nonprofit Counter Extremism Project, which tracks terror organizations, indicates that, starting in 2004, Qurashi spent time at the now-infamous Camp Bucca, a U.S. prison near Basra, Iraq, where he first met with many other future IS officials, including Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
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Kobe Remembered for his Legacy in Africa
The death of American basketball great Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter in a Calabasas, California, helicopter crash, Jan. 26, 2020, sent shockwaves throughout the world, especially in Africa where many looked up to him. VOA spoke with fans in Kenya and a basketball official in Ivory Coast about the NBA star’s sudden death. Salem Solomon has the story.
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К какой революции и зачем готовят Россию
К какой революции и зачем готовят Россию
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Гробница путинхамона вместо обещанного рая
Гробница путинхамона вместо обещанного рая.
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Запущенная Путиным перестройка – это вызов для россиян: готовы ли они стать колоссальным домом престарелых, а затем и гробницей для одного человека?
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Кремль нервничает: поляки пригнали истребители F-35 “к порогу России”…
Кремль нервничает: поляки пригнали истребители F-35 “к порогу России”…
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Похоже, руководство России и представить себе не могло как расшевелит Запад…
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Nigeria’s Separated Conjoined Twins Live Normal Lives
Nigerian twin girls conjoined in the chest and abdominal regions are now living normal lives, weeks after being successfully separated at the state-owned National Hospital. Medical experts say the operation was the most complicated case of conjoined twins separation in Nigeria. Timothy Obiezu reports from Nassarawa, near Abuja.
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EU Envoy Pins Trade Progress With US to Geostrategic Concerns
European diplomats are sounding an upbeat note about coming trade talks with the United States, seemingly unfazed by President Donald Trump’s tough talk and tariff threats aimed at securing new concessions from the European Union.“When we fight, we make headlines,” said Stavros Lambrinidis, head of the EU delegation in the United States, at a reception at his Washington residence last week. “But when we work together, we make history.”Trump set an ominous tone for the negotiations, which the Americans hope to conclude this year, during his Jan. 21 appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Noting a hard-won trade deal that settled only some of his country’s trade issues with Beijing, Trump suggested it will be even “more difficult to do business [with the EU] than China.”In his public remarks on the issue, Trump has focused on traditional areas of trade, including agriculture and automobiles, with repeated threats to boost tariffs on European vehicles.But the Europeans appear to likely to try to convince the Americans that the key to progress for the two traditional allies lies in closer cooperation in areas of high tech and cybersecurity.At his reception, Lambrinidis said there is “no question” the development of Artificial Intelligence will change the world as we know it. But he said the Western democracies should work together to develop the technology in ways that ensure it cannot be used for authoritarian purposes, as China is doing to control the Muslim Uighurs in its Xinjiang province.”Will Americans and Europeans get together and work on that, or will we miss the opportunity?” he asked.FILE – EU commissioner for Trade Phil Hogan arrives for the inaugural meeting of the college of commissioners, Dec. 4, 2019, at the European commission headquarters in Brussels.Guarding new frontiersPhil Hogan, the EU’s newly-minted trade commissioner, sounded a similar note in remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington earlier this month.Calling the 2020s “a pivotal moment in time,” Hogan said the West faces “profound challenges, many of which are totally new,” and which could “shape, divide and diminish us” if the U.S. and the EU fail to address those challenges together.Trade politics has ceased to be “exclusively about trade,” Hogan said, arguing it has become “a proxy for security, technology, geopolitics and more.”“In particular,” he said, “trade has become a tool in the global struggle for technological supremacy.”Lambrinidis reminded his audience that the EU remains the largest source of foreign investment to the United States and that American companies place roughly 60% of their own foreign investment in Europe, reflecting their confidence in the EU’s open, free markets.FILE – U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he holds a news conference at the 50th World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 22, 2020.The European Green DealAddressing another potential sore point in U.S.-EU relations, Lambrinidis defended Europe’s efforts to deal with climate change, and in particular the so-called European Green Deal, an ambitious program aimed at making the continent carbon-neutral by 2050.Trump was largely dismissive of such efforts at Davos, saying, “We must reject the perennial prophets of doom … [who] always demand the same thing — absolute power to dominate, transform and control every aspect of our lives.”But Lambrinidis cited the example of a plastic spoon, which he said takes five seconds to make and is used on average for five minutes, but takes five centuries to decompose. “How can you say we’re crazy, that this doesn’t matter?” he asked.The EU’s green agenda “will – with certainty – pose an enormous challenge” to the global trading system, said Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, a native of Denmark and a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.”But I actually think that is a price worth paying for,” he wrote in response to emailed questions from VOA. While free trade is about “maximizing efficiency and wealth creation,” he wrote, “climate change is about living on the planet as we know it.”
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Nagy’s Visit Seen as Paving Way for Better US-Sudan Relations
A U.S. diplomat’s visit to Sudan this week, part of a six-nation African tour, was seen as a sign of thawing U.S.-Sudanese relations following the military’s ouster of Omar al-Bashir as president last April. In a phone briefing Tuesday in Khartoum, Tibor Nagy, U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said there were still obstacles to Sudan’s securing financial support from the international community, including its continued spot on the U.S. sponsors of terrorism list and the country’s foreign debt, now at $47 billion. Sudanese political analyst Tarig Othman said Nagy’s visit was important now, with the Sudanese government trying to get rid of the accumulated crises the ousted regime left. He said the expected role of the U.S. administration was big, given that issues such as sustaining peace and helping Sudan’s economy require effort and are linked to conditions the U.S. specified to enable the removal of Sudan from SST list. Sudan Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok has called on the eight-nation “Friends of Sudan” group to provide political and economic support to facilitate the transition. Under terms of last year’s political agreement, the joint military-civilian transitional government will rule the country for three years, then give way to an elected government. Political analyst Alfatih Mahmoud said he thought Sudan’s recovery would require political as well as financial contributions. Donors and the “Friends of Sudan” can take certain steps, including debt relief and rescheduling, “so the new government can put its feet on the ground,” he said. Survivors seek justiceAnother obstacle to Sudan’s recovery is the issue of justice. Families of people killed during last year’s revolution have urged the United States to pressure Sudan’s transitional government to investigate possible crimes against humanity committed during the uprising. Handing over al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court was one of the issues Sudan’s transitional authorities discussed with Nagy. Sudan’s attorney general, Tajelsir el-Hibir, has said that any transfer of al-Bashir depends on the stance of the victims’ families and the outcome of peace talks with the Darfur rebel movements in Juba.
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Minnesota Men Who Joined al-Shabab Now Remorseful
More than a decade ago, some 20 young Somali-Americans shocked their families when they left behind jobs and schools and returned to their native Somalia to join jihadist group al-Shabab. Now at least two of them have defected, and say their deadly adventure ruined their future.Ahmed Ali Omar and Abdulkadir Ali Abdi left al-Shabab 16 months ago, but are now hiding in the Somali capital, afraid of being hunted down by the group’s assassins.In an exclusive interview the two men gave to the VOA Somali program Investigative Dossier, Omar says he would have been killed or jailed if he stayed with the group.”They found out we were going against their extremist, rigid views and they were plotting to arrest us,” he said.Investigative Dossier confirmed Omar’s and Abdi’s defections with government officials and other defectors. The two men are now living in a house provided by the Somali government’s National Intelligence and Security Agency.Omar sounded remorseful in the over one-hour phone interview conducted last week. He said their future is ruined but wants to warn others from joining jihadist groups.”We are expressing our opinion so that the problem we faced doesn’t happen to other young Somali youth,” he said. “We can be an example, so that they don’t get brainwashed and their heads turned around in the same way they did to us, so that their future is not jeopardized, so that they take advantage of the opportunities they have.”Turning pointOmar said there were a series of incidents that turned him and Omar against al-Shabab.The last was the truck bomb explosion at a Mogadishu Zobe’s intersection on Oct. 14, 2017, that killed at least 587 people and injured hundreds more. The attack is the single largest terrorist attack in African history.FILE – Somalis gather and search for survivors near destroyed buildings at the scene of a blast in the capital Mogadishu, Somalia, Oct. 14, 2017.The attack was so indiscriminate that even some members of al-Shabab lost wives and relatives in the blast, Omar said.”It impacted me especially when I saw the pictures,” he told VOA. “We discussed, we asked, but there was no clear reason to convince the people [to accept what happened].”Omar said other reasons he and Abdi left the group were al-Shabab’s harsh treatment of Somalis, including the “senseless” killing of civilians, looting people’s wealth, and “apostatizing people,” meaning the group designated Muslims as non-believers in order to justify their killing.The two could not leave the group right away. “We have been planning to leave al-Shabab but the conditions didn’t permit,” Abdi said. “It was like you can’t leave them and you can’t live among them.” Omar and Abdi finally defected to the Somali government in September 2018. They were put into a rehabilitation program. They said they benefited from the program and have renounced violence, and they want to be placed in a position where they can support security programs.Abandoned lives Both Omar and Abdi were born in Somalia but moved to the United States with their families in the 1990s as Somalia sunk into chaos and violence after its civil war. They settled in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which has the largest Somali-American community in the U.S.Abdi, who arrived in the U.S. in 1998 as a refugee, had just finished high school when Ethiopia sent tens of thousands of troops into Somalia in 2006 to stop a takeover of the country by the Islamic Courts Union.”Most of the Somali community were against the Ethiopia intervention, they used to hold events condemning and fundraising and I participated,” he said. He said he also heard Friday sermons denouncing the Ethiopians and watched videos showing alleged Ethiopian atrocities in Somalia.”This produced young men who are being influenced by the situation,” Abdi said. “Youth is more like action, not talk, so we thought money is not enough, so we have to do action.”Recruiters for al-Shabab persuaded Abdi and Omar to return home and take up arms. Omar, who initially wanted to be a doctor after graduating high school, arrived in Somalia in late 2007 at age 19. Abdi came a year later, at age 17. Their departure and others put the community under a harsh spotlight, as the FBI and law enforcement agencies hunted for the recruiters. Some Minnesota Somalis described them as brainwashed young men, but others said pro-al-Shabab locals manipulated them.Community leaders say they are relieved young men are seeing the light even after such a long time and are turning their back on al-Shabab.”It affected the community negatively,” said Abdirahman Mukhtar, a community activist who knew many of the Minnesota men who traveled to join al-Shabab. “We attracted unwanted attention at airports during travels, in mosques and events.”Even [then-presidential candidate Donald] Trump came to Minnesota and put Somalis under the spotlight,” he said, referring to a 2016 campaign visit where the future president said Minnesotans had “suffered enough” from the influx of Somali refugees.FILE – Female members of Minnesota’s Somali community cover their faces as they arrive April 23, 2015, for a hearing in federal court in St. Paul, Minnesota, in the case of several Minnesotans accused of plotting to join jihadists.Other Minnesotans detained Omar and Abdi said several of their Minnesota colleagues are in al-Shabab detentions because the group accused them of having intentions to defect.They gave Investigative Dossier the names of seven people they say are now in al-Shabab prisons. The relatives of some of the men have separately confirmed their detention.Among the detained is Khalid Mohamud Abshir, known within al-Shabab as “Abdalla Qannas,” who left Minnesota in September 2007. Also detained are Abdullahi Ahmed Farah, aka “Adaki”; Mustafa Ali Salad, known as “Zubayr”; Abdisalaan Hussein Ali, known as “Uhud”; and Farhan Isse.Omar and Abdi have also given details of an incident in June 2009 where one of the Minnesota recruits, 17-year-old Burhan Ibrahim Hassan, was shot and killed by another al-Shabab fighter.Abdi said Hassan was walking near the house of a top al-Shabab commander, Yusuf Isse Kabakutukade, when he was shot dead by a bodyguard, who said Hassan had “compromised” the safety of an official.According to Omar and Abdi, who said they arrived at the scene of the shooting within minutes, Kabakutukade promised to pay blood money to Hassan’s family. But family members say they have never received any money, and say their choice was that the person who pulled the trigger is put to death by the group.”We heard he did not die in fighting, said Hassan’s uncle, Abdirizak Bihi. “He was ill and we heard he was killed by people within the group.” Point of no returnAt this point, it would be hard for either Omar or Abdi to return to the United States. U.S. federal prosecutors have charged them and other al-Shabab recruits with offenses that include conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and foreign terrorist organizations; conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim and injure people outside the United States; possessing and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence; and solicitation to commit a crime of violence.Omar’s brother Guled is already in a U.S. prison. He was convicted for conspiring to commit murder in Syria on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and to provide material support to the designated foreign terrorist organization. He is serving a 35-year sentence.Both Omar and Abdi have family members in the Minneapolis area, and said they would go back there if not for the charges against them. Omar said that after leaving al-Shabab, the first thing he would have done is return to the U.S, if there was no indictment.
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US Eyes Mechanical Failure as Cause of Military Plane Crash in Afghanistan
U.S. defense officials suspect some sort of mechanical failure is behind the crash of a military communications plane in a Taliban-controlled region of Afghanistan.The plane, a Bombardier E11-A equipped with a Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN), went down Monday in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province, killing the pilot and co-pilot.U.S. forces reached the crash site Tuesday, recovering the remains of the two U.S. service members, as well as what they believe to be the plane’s flight data recorder.That data recorder is still being examined but a defense official told VOA on Wednesday that it appears the plane suffered some sort of mechanical failure, causing it to crash.Word of the crash first spread Monday on social media in Afghanistan, and Taliban forces were among the first to arrive at the scene, posting video of the wreckage online.FILE – Afghan National Army forces are seen near the site of an airplane crash in Deh Yak district of Ghazni province, Afghanistan, Jan. 27, 2020.Taliban officials initially claimed their forces had shot down the specialized U.S. communications aircraft, and suggested a higher death toll.Both claims were rejected by U.S. officials.”There are no indications the crash was caused by enemy fire,” U.S. Forces-Afghanistan said in a statement issued late Tuesday, noting the cause was still under investigation.U.S. defense officials have also rejected allegations from some Iranian media outlets that a senior CIA officer involved in planning the airstrike that killed Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani had been onboard and was among those killed.A U.S. defense official, who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity, dismissed the claim, describing it as recycled Taliban propaganda.After the crash, as U.S. officials sought to get to the site, there were reports of skirmishes between Afghan government and Taliban forces.U.S. officials also said recovery efforts were hampered by weather conditions in the region, as well as the terrain.Officials said U.S. forces destroyed what was left of the plane following the removal of the remains of the two-man U.S. flight crew and the recovery of the flight data recorder to prevent any of it from falling into enemy hands.
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