Sunday’s legislative and local elections in El Salvador are seen as a referendum on whether to break the congressional deadlock that has tied the hands of upstart populist President Nayib Bukele. El Salvador’s established political parties — the conservative National Republican Alliance party and the leftist Farabundo Marti Liberation Front — are trying to retain their hold on congress and other key positions, a continuation of their control since the end of the country’s civil war in 1992.Anger with the parties that ruled El Salvador for nearly three decades swept the youthful Bukele into office in 2019, and frustration remains. “I’ve come to vote for a change, to get rid of the corrupt ones and so our president can make a new country,” said Estela Jiménez, who arrived early at a polling place wearing a T-shirt with an “N” for Nayib.Bukele, 39, has blamed congress for blocking his efforts in everything from controlling crime to managing the coronavirus pandemic. His New Ideas party was favored in polls to pick up congressional seats and municipal councils.While popular with voters tired of the scandals associated with the two old-guard parties, Bukele has shown an authoritarian streak. Two years ago, Bukele sent heavily armed soldiers to surround the congress during a standoff over security funding, earning rebukes internationally.Bukele’s party complained Sunday that the country’s electoral tribunal had not issued the ID cards needed for the party’s poll watchers to participate.”This always happens. Now they say there are problems because the Supreme Electoral Council hasn’t allowed the New Ideas people in. I hope they solve this so I can vote, I’m not going to leave here without voting,” said Esteban Castellón, who was among the first in line to vote at a polling place in San Salvador, the capital.A total of 5.3 million eligible voters were electing all 84 seats in the unicameral Legislative Assembly, along with 262 municipal councils. Most polling places opened at 7 a.m., though some were delayed by as much as an hour and will close at 5 p.m. (2300 GMT).The conservative party known as ARENA holds 37 of the 84 seats in congress and controls 138 of the 262 municipal councils, while the leftist FMLN holds 23 congressional seats and 64 townships.With a majority in the Legislative Assembly, Bukele’s party would not only be able to advance the president’s agenda, but also name justices to the Supreme Court — another Bukele obstacle — as well as magistrates to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the attorney general, the prosecutor for the defense of human rights and others. Essentially his party could replace his loudest critics.Eduardo Escobar, executive director of the nongovernmental organization Citizen Action, said that if New Ideas wins a congressional majority, El Salvador would lose “that brake on the exercise of power from the legislature when legality or constitutionality is exceeded, (and) that brakes any attempted abuse, any arbitrary act that the executive wants to commit.””It would deepen the authoritarianism of the government Bukele leads,” Escobar said, though he acknowledged that Bukele’s popularity remains at stratospheric levels and the rejection of the traditional parties is nearly as high. New Ideas’ popularity is because “in the 30 years of government under these parties, the people have not seen improvements in their lives,” said Escobar.
…
Month: February 2021
Nigeria: Parents Anxiously Await Return of 300 Abducted Girls
Nigerian parents waited anxiously Sunday outside the school their daughters were taken from, amid rumors of their release and heavy security.The 317 schoolgirls, ages 12-16, were kidnapped Friday from the Government Girls Science Secondary School in the town of Jangebe by armed men.The state government has called the rumors a “falsehood.” Nigeria’s army has been working through the weekend alongside Zamfara state police in a search and rescue operation.Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said his priority is ensuring the safe return of all hostages. Buhari urged state governments Friday not to negotiate with bandits by paying ransom with money or vehicles.Hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls were infamously kidnapped by the extremist group Boko Haram in 2014. Known as the Chibok girls, they were taken from their boarding school. In the seven years since, many of the 276 girls have escaped, been rescued or released, but more than 100 remain missing. Since then, Nigeria has seen several such kidnappings. As recently as Saturday, 24 students were released after having been abducted February 17 from the neighboring nation of Niger.The U.N. condemned the abduction over the weekend, calling it a “heinous violation of human rights.”“The girls must be released to their families immediately & unconditionally,” Secretary General Antonio Guterres wrote on Twitter.I am appalled by the abduction of more than 300 girls during an attack on a secondary school in Nigeria today.Attacks on schools are a heinous violation of human rights.The girls must be released to their families immediately & unconditionally.— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) February 26, 2021Kidnappings have been carried out by Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West Africa, but other militant groups with unclear motivations have also adopted the practice as a way to raise money. Boko Haram opposes Western education and has frequently targeted schools.
…
Militia Raids in Eastern DR Congo Kill 10 Civilians, Says Army
Fighters thought to belong to the notorious Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) militia killed 10 civilians in two overnight attacks in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the army said Sunday. ADF fighters decapitated eight villagers in the village of Boyo, in the northeast Ituri province, and shot dead two civilians in Kainama, army spokesman Lieutenant Jules Ngongo said. Soldiers were in pursuit of the attackers, he added. Local officials confirmed the two attacks, adding that houses were also burned in the violence. Kainama lies at the extreme north of North Kivu province, where it borders with Ituri. It is just five kilometres (three miles) from Boyo. Both provinces sit on DR Congo’s eastern border with Uganda. The ADF militia are Ugandan Islamic fighters who have made their base in eastern DR Congo since 1995. While they have not launched raids into Uganda for several years, the militia has been blamed for the killings of more than 800 civilians over the past year in both North Kivu and South Kivu provinces. While the army has conducted operations against them in the region since October 2019, they have not been able to put a stop to the massacres of civilians. After a relative calm period in January, its fighters have stepped up attacks on civilians since February in Beni, North Kivu province, and Irumu, in Ituri. But they are just one of dozens of armed groups that have been operating in the mineral-rich border region of eastern DR Congo for decades now. One recent report by analysts the Kivu Security Tracker estimated there were at least 122 armed groups active in DR Congo’s four eastern border provinces, from north to south: Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu and Tanganyika.
…
‘Not a Good Idea:’ Experts Concerned about Pope Trip to Iraq
Infectious disease experts are expressing concern about Pope Francis’ upcoming trip to Iraq, given a sharp rise in coronavirus infections there, a fragile health care system and the unavoidable likelihood that Iraqis will crowd to see him.No one wants to tell Francis to call it off, and the Iraqi government has every interest in showing off its relative stability by welcoming the first pope to the birthplace of Abraham. The March 5-8 trip is expected to provide a sorely-needed spiritual boost to Iraq’s beleaguered Christians while furthering the Vatican’s bridge-building efforts with the Muslim world.But from a purely epidemiological standpoint, as well as the public health message it sends, a papal trip to Iraq amid a global pandemic is not advisable, health experts say.Their concerns were reinforced with the news Sunday that the Vatican ambassador to Iraq, the main point person for the trip who would have escorted Francis to all his appointments, tested positive for COVID-19 and was self-isolating.In an email to The Associated Press, the embassy said Archbishop Mitja Leskovar’s symptoms were mild and that he was continuing to prepare for Francis’ visit.Beyond his case, experts note that wars, economic crises and an exodus of Iraqi professionals have devastated the country’s hospital system, while studies show most of Iraq’s new COVID-19 infections are the highly-contagious variant first identified in Britain.“I just don’t think it’s a good idea,” said Dr. Navid Madani, virologist and founding director of the Center for Science Health Education in the Middle East and North Africa at Harvard Medical School’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.The Iranian-born Madani co-authored an article in The Lancet last year on the region’s uneven response to COVID-19, noting that Iraq, Syria and Yemen were poorly placed to cope, given they are still struggling with extremist insurgencies and have 40 million people who need humanitarian aid.Christians volunteers decorate streets with the pictures of Pope Francis, ahead of his planned visit to to Iraq, in Qaraqosh, Iraq, Feb. 22, 2021.In a telephone interview, Madani said Middle Easterners are known for their hospitality, and cautioned that the enthusiasm among Iraqis of welcoming a peace-maker like Francis to a neglected, war-torn part of the world might lead to inadvertent violations of virus control measures.“This could potentially lead to unsafe or superspreading risks,” she said.Dr. Bharat Pankhania, an infectious disease control expert at the University of Exeter College of Medicine, concurred.“It’s a perfect storm for generating lots of cases which you won’t be able to deal with,” he said.Organizers promise to enforce mask mandates, social distancing and crowd limits, as well as the possibility of increased testing sites, two Iraqi government officials said.The health care protocols are “critical but can be managed,” one government official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity.And the Vatican has taken its own precautions, with the 84-year-old pope, his 20-member Vatican entourage and the 70-plus journalists on the papal plane all vaccinated.But the Iraqis gathering in the north, center and south of the country to attend Francis’ indoor and outdoor Masses, hear his speeches and participate in his prayer meetings are not vaccinated.And that, scientists say, is the problem.“We are in the middle of a global pandemic. And it is important to get the correct messages out,” Pankhania said. “The correct messages are: the less interactions with fellow human beings, the better.”He questioned the optics of the Vatican delegation being inoculated while the Iraqis are not, and noted that Iraqis would only take such risks to go to those events because the pope was there.In words addressed to Vatican officials and the media, he said: “You are all protected from severe disease. So if you get infected, you’re not going to die. But the people coming to see you may get infected and may die.”“Is it wise under that circumstance for you to just turn up? And because you turn up, people turn up to see you and they get infected?” he asked.The World Health Organization was diplomatic when asked about the wisdom of a papal trip to Iraq, saying countries should evaluate the risk of an event against the infection situation, and then decide if it should be postponed. “It’s all about managing that risk,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19. “It’s about looking at the epidemiologic situation in the country and then making sure that if that event is to take place, that it can take place as safely as possible.”Francis has said he intends to go even if most Iraqis have to watch him on television to avoid infection. The important thing, he told Catholic News Service, is “they will see that the pope is there in their country.”Francis has frequently called for an equitable distribution of vaccines and respect for government health measures, though he tends to not wear face masks. Francis for months has eschewed even socially distanced public audiences at the Vatican to limit the chance of contagion.Dr. Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton’s Faculty of Medicine, said the number of new daily cases in Iraq is “increasing significantly at the moment” with the Health Ministry reporting around 4,000 a day, close to the height of its first wave in September.Head said for any trip to Iraq, there must be infection control practices in force, including mask-wearing, hand-washing, social distancing and good ventilation in indoor spaces.“Hopefully we will see proactive approaches to infection control in place during the pope’s visit to Baghdad,” he said.The Iraqi government imposed a modified lockdown and curfew in mid-February amid a new surge in cases, closing schools and mosques and leaving restaurants and cafes only open for takeout. But the government decided against a full shutdown because of the difficulty of enforcing it and the financial impact on Iraq’s battered economy, the Iraqi officials told AP.Many Iraqis remain lax in using masks and some doubt the severity of the virus.Madani, the Harvard virologist, urged trip organizers to let science and data guide their decision-making.A decision to reschedule or postpone the papal trip, or move it to a virtual format, would “be quite impactful from a global leadership standpoint” because “it would signal prioritizing the safety of Iraq’s public,” she said.
…
Taliban Warn Turning Away from Afghan Peace Deal ‘Doomed to Failure’
The Taliban demanded Sunday that the United States and its foreign military allies leave Afghanistan by May 1, in line with a peace agreement the insurgent group signed with Washington a year ago, warning any attempt to change the path “is already doomed to failure.”
In a statement released to journalists and on its website marking the first anniversary of the February 2020 accord sealed in Doha, Qatar, the Taliban claimed they have fully adhered to, and remain committed to, the understanding aimed at ending two decades of Afghan war. It called on Washington to honor its part of what the group described as a “historic” deal. FILE – In this Feb. 29, 2020, U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, left, and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban group’s top political leader sign a peace agreement between Taliban and US officials in Doha, Qatar.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is currently reviewing the deal his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, sealed with the Afghan insurgency and deciding whether to pull the remaining 2,500 American soldiers from Afghanistan to close America’s longest war. NATO-led U.S. allies have fewer than 10,000 troops left in the country.
The U.S. review process has stemmed from widespread allegations the Taliban have not lived up to their commitments, including those of cutting ties with al-Qaida and other terrorist groups that threaten the U.S. and the security of its allies.
“The Doha agreement has created a practical framework for bringing peace and security to Afghanistan. If any other pathway is pursued as a replacement, then it is already doomed to failure,” the Taliban statement warned.
It said that Washington has committed itself in the agreement that within 14 months of signing, all U.S.-led international forces and their nondiplomatic personnel, private contractors, advisers, trainers and service providers will withdraw from Afghanistan.
“In line with this agreement, a large part of foreign forces specifically American forces have withdrawn from our country, while the rest must also withdraw within the specified date,” the statement stressed.
The Taliban said Qatar and the United Nations Security Council, along with all other countries and international observers that attended the Doha signing ceremony, “have an obligation in the complete implementation of the agreement that must be fulfilled.”
The insurgents, under the deal, agreed to stop attacking international forces in Afghanistan and to open direct peace talks with representatives of the U.S.-backed Afghan government to try to negotiate a political settlement to the country’s long conflict.
Washington acknowledges the U.S. military has not suffered any casualties since signing the Doha agreement. Before then, the Afghan military mission had claimed the lives of more than 2,400 American soldiers and injured thousands of others.
The Taliban rejected terror link charges and allegations they have intensified the conflict as propaganda by some Afghan and “foreign actors” who the group said are attempting to disrupt the peace process.
Edmund Fitton-Brown, coordinator of the United Nations monitoring team for Islamic State, al-Qaida and the Taliban, told an online event at the Middle East Institute on Thursday that the Taliban have failed to cut ties with al-Qaida.
“As yet, we have not seen any evidence,” he said.
The so-called intra-Afghan negotiations started in September, six months later than scheduled in the U.S.-Taliban deal because of a rift between the Afghan government and the Taliban over the release of 5,000 insurgent prisoners. FILE – Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, bottom right, speaks at the opening session of peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, Sept. 12, 2020.Kabul was unhappy with the Doha accord because it was kept out of it.
Meanwhile, the United Nations has reported the Afghan violence has also intensified since the start of the talks, with civilians bearing the brunt of it.
More than 3,000 civilians were killed and 5,800 were injured in Afghanistan in 2020, the U.N office in Kabul said last week. The annual report said civilian casualties rose 45% after the start of the intra-Afghan negotiations.
Afghan leaders allege the Trump administration’s decision to leave Kabul out of the February 2020 agreement has only emboldened the Taliban to intensify military assaults and drag their feet in the peace talks.
The insurgents dismiss Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s government as an illegitimate entity they say stemmed from the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan.
Ghani’s special envoy for neighboring Pakistan, Mohammed Umer Daudzai, said Biden’s review of Afghan peace deal with the Taliban has ended the “unpredictability” that was plaguing the process from the outset about whether the arrangement will promote peace in Afghanistan.
“Now with the Biden administration, we see an increase in predictability,” Daudzai told VOA in an interview.
The Afghan presidential envoy said his government has left it entirely for Washington to decide whether they withdraw or leave some troops in Afghanistan while reviewing the document.
“We don’t seek that Americans should get back into the war, should get involved in the war. What we are seeking from them is that the process of state building that they together with us started 19 years ago they continue with that,” said Daudzai. The Taliban say their deal with the U.S. required the release of another 7,500 insurgent prisoners from Afghan jails and the removal of names of top Taliban leaders from a U.N. sanctions list by now, but those terms have not been fulfilled by the opposing side. The insurgents also dismiss Kabul’s demand for a ceasefire, saying they have reduced battlefield attacks as part of the deal with Washington, but a complete cessation of hostilities, they insist, is linked to a political agreement the warring parties intend to reach in the ongoing intra-Afghan negotiations.
…
US Report Documents Atrocities, Ethnic Cleansing in Tigray, NY Times Says
An internal U.S. government report obtained by The New York Times says that Ethiopia is conducting “a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing” under the cover of war in the Tigray region, an area largely controlled by Amhara militias in the northern part of the country.The Times says the report, written earlier in February, describes “in stark terms a land of looted houses and deserted villages where tens of thousands of people are unaccounted for.”According to the Times, the report finds that Ethiopian officials and allied militia fighters from the neighboring Amhara region, who moved into Tigray in support of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, are “deliberately and efficiently rendering Western Tigray ethnically homogeneous through the organized use of force and intimidation.”The report says some people fled into the bush or crossed illegally into Sudan, while others were rounded up and forcibly relocated to other parts of Tigray, according to the newspaper.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Saturday that the United States is “gravely concerned by reports of atrocities and the overall deteriorating situation in the Tigray.”The U.S. “has repeatedly engaged the Ethiopian government on the importance of ending the violence, ensuring unhindered humanitarian access to Tigray, and allowing a full, independent, international investigation into all reports of human rights violations, abuses, and atrocities,” Blinken said, adding that those responsible for them “must be held accountable.”Blinken called on the African Union, and regional and international partners to work with the U.S. to “address the crisis in Tigray, including through action at the UN and other relevant bodies.”Blinken also addressed the activity of Eritrean soldiers in Tigray.”The immediate withdrawal of Eritrean forces and Amhara regional forces from Tigray are essential first steps,” Blinken said. “They should be accompanied by unilateral declarations of cessation of hostilities by all parties to the conflict and a commitment to permit unhindered delivery of assistance to those in Tigray.”The lead Republican in U.S. House of Representative Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael McCaul, also issued a statement Saturday, urging the Biden administration “to take decisive action to hold those accountable for any atrocities committed” in the Tigray region.“This must be a high priority as the U.S. takes on the role of U.N. Security Council Chair next month,” McCaul said.The armed conflict in Tigray has taken thousands of people’s lives. Hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee their homes as a result. The region of more than 5 million people is facing shortages of food, water and medicine.
…
US Calls on African Union to Exert Pressure Over Worsening Crisis in Tigray
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday called on the African Union and other international partners to help address a deepening crisis in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region as he condemned alleged atrocities in fighting there.Blinken’s statement suggested growing frustration with the response so far from Ethiopia and neighboring Eritrea to what America’s top diplomat described as a “worsening humanitarian crisis.”His remarks came a day after Amnesty International released a report accusing Eritrean forces of killing hundreds of civilians in Tigray in a 24-hour period last year, an incident it described as a potential crime against humanity.Eritrea rejected the accusations.”The United States is gravely concerned by reported atrocities and the overall deteriorating situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia,” Blinken said.”We ask international partners, especially the African Union and regional partners, to work with us to address the crisis in Tigray, including through action at the U.N. and other relevant bodies.”Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s federal army ousted the former local ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), from the regional capital Mekelle in November, but low-level fighting has continued.Thousands of people have died, hundreds of thousands have been forced from homes and there are shortages of food, water and medicine around the region of more than 5 million people.Ethiopia and Eritrea have denied that Eritrean troops participated in the conflict, though dozens of witnesses, diplomats and an Ethiopian general have reported their presence.Still, the state-run Ethiopian Human Rights Commission released a statement on Friday timed to coincide with the Amnesty report, saying preliminary investigations indicated that Eritrean soldiers had killed an unknown number of civilians in Axum, an ancient city in northern Ethiopia. It said the killings were in retaliation for an earlier attack by TPLF soldiers.Amnesty said Eritrean soldiers executed men and boys in the streets and engaged in extensive looting.Blinken noted Ethiopian commitments to full accountability, including international support for investigations into human rights abuses and to allowing unhindered humanitarian access.”The immediate withdrawal of Eritrean forces and Amhara regional forces from Tigray are essential first steps,” Blinken said.”They should be accompanied by unilateral declarations of cessation of hostilities by all parties to the conflict and a commitment to permit unhindered delivery of assistance to those in Tigray.”
…
Nigerian Bandits Blame Crime on Government Neglect
In Nigeria, Friday’s predawn abduction of 317 female students from a government school in Zamfara state was the latest in a surge of kidnappings in the country’s north.It’s not yet clear who was responsible for the girls’ abduction. But members of an armed gang who met with a VOA Hausa reporter and another journalist at their Sububu Forest hideout in Zamfara earlier this week contend they – and others like them – have turned to hostage-taking and other crimes because they have little choice to survive.They said these “bandits” are mostly ethnic Fulanis like they are, traditionally nomadic herders who have seen public grazing lands shrink and their cattle and sheep stolen by soldiers and rustlers. They said various governments have neglected and even harassed them – and failed to protect their way of life.“Everyone knows we are herders. This country is blessed with oil and other natural resources,” but that bounty doesn’t filter down, Shehu Rekep, the group’s deputy, said in justifying its crimes. “We have not been educated, we don’t have security, and the government is not doing anything for us. We are being killed, but we are always reported as the killers.”The bandits’ campArmed men on motorcycles fetched the journalists from an appointed meeting place to visit the gang’s forest hideout in the far northern part of Zamfara state for an interview last Monday. Someone fired a gun skyward, announcing their arrival. Roughly 30 men milled about the clearing, soon joined by at least 20 others, including several women. Most wore scarves that covered their faces, and they carried assault rifles. Some had rifles equipped with rocket-propelled grenade launchers.They gathered near a man sitting on a carpet beneath a shade tree. Rekep introduced him.“Kachalla Halilu Sububu Seno, leader of all terrorists,” Rekep said, using a courtesy title. Kachalla means gang leader in Fulani.Halilu commands a network of about 1,000 bandits in Zamfara state, his deputy said. The leader also claims to control some gangs in southern Nigeria. Rekep also wields influence, citing connections to bandits in the French-speaking countries of Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Central African Republic.Rekep said that, in a peace deal negotiated two years ago between his gang and communities in the Shinkafi government area, the gang provides protection in exchange for a relatively undisturbed base of operations.Traditional herders took up arms out of desperation, the group’s leaders said.They said central and state governments in the last 20 years have abandoned herding communities, failing to provide academic or religious education or other social services, with limitations on grazing rights – particularly in Nigeria’s south – leaving them illiterate, jobless and hopeless. They also said herders face excessive taxes when trying to sell their livestock at market, and sometimes encounter extortion or brutality by military and police personnel.Shehu Rekep, deputy of an armed group of “bandits” in Nigeria’s northwestern Zamfara state, contends they have taken up crime because government hasn’t protected their livelihood as herders.The bandit leaders told VOA that many of their members have lost relatives in clashes with security agents and rival groups.”Security forces and vigilantes kill us,” Rekep said. “We also kill every day.”He also said that captives are released when ransom is paid – but that bandits will shoot anyone who resists them. He did not disclose how many people had been killed because ransom demands went unmet.FILE – In this photo released by the Nigeria State House, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari addresses the nation on a live telecast, Oct. 22, 2020.Won’t ‘succumb to blackmail’Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari denounced Friday’s kidnapping at the Government Girls Science Secondary School in Zamfara’s town of Jangebe, saying his administration “will not succumb to blackmail by bandits” seeking ransom payments.But authorities in federal and state governments have been criticized for paying large ransoms.“Between 2011 and 2020, Nigerians paid more than $18 million to liberate themselves or loved ones,” The Washington Post reported this week, citing data from the consulting firm SB Morgen.To deter abductions, at least two northwestern states – Kebbi and Jigawa – have passed laws prescribing death sentences for convicted kidnappers.This report originated in VOA’s Hausa Service, with Sani Shu’aibu Malumfashi reporting from Nigeria’s Zamfara state and Hassan Maina Kaina from the Nigerian capital, Abuja. Haruna Shehu, Murtala Sanyinna and Lawal Isah Ikara also contributed.
…
WWII Plane Flyby Honors Britain’s ‘Captain Tom’ at Funeral
Church bells rang and a World War II-era plane flew Saturday over the funeral for Captain Tom Moore, the veteran who single-handedly raised millions of pounds for Britain’s health workers by walking laps in his backyard.Soldiers performed ceremonial duties at the private service for Moore, who died February 2 at age 100 after testing positive for COVID-19. Captain Tom, as he became known, inspired the U.K. during the first months of the coronavirus pandemic with his humble endeavor that raised almost 33 million pounds ($46 million) for Britain’s National Health Service last year.The funeral cortege of Captain Tom Moore arrives at Bedford Crematorium, in Bedford, England, Feb. 27, 2021.The service was small, attended by eight members of the veteran’s immediate family. But soldiers carried his coffin, draped in the Union flag, and formed a ceremonial guard. Others performed a gun salute before a C-47 Dakota military transport plane flew past.A Dakota performs a flyby at the funeral of Captain Tom Moore, in Bedford, England, Feb. 27, 2021.”Daddy, you always told us, ‘Best foot forward,’ and true to your word, that’s what you did last year,” Moore’s daughter Lucy Teixeira said at the service. “I know you will be watching us, chuckling, saying, ‘Don’t be too sad as something has to get you in the end.’ “His other daughter, Hannah Ingram-Moore, said the world was “enthralled” by her father’s “spirit of hope, positivity and resilience.””They, too, saw your belief in kindness and the fundamental goodness of the human spirit,” she said.The service featured music that reflected the man being honored, opening with the rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone that Moore recorded for charity with Michael Ball and the NHS Voices of Care Choir. The song topped the U.K. singles charts last April.Singer Michael Bublé recorded a version of Smile for the funeral, and as requested by Moore, Frank Sinatra’s My Way was played. A bugler sounded The Last Post to close the service.A church in Bedfordshire, England, where the family is based, rang its bell 100 times in Moore’s honor. A post on Moore’s Twitter account invited his admirers to remember him Saturday with a cup of tea and a slice of Victoria sponge cake.Moore, who served in India, Burma and Sumatra during World War II, set out to raise a modest 1,000 pounds for Britain’s NHS by walking 100 laps of his backyard by his 100th birthday last year. But donations poured in from across Britain and beyond as his quest went viral, catching the imagination of millions stuck at home during the first wave of the pandemic.FILE – In this July 17, 2020, photo, Captain Tom Moore poses for the media after receiving his knighthood from Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, during a ceremony at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England.His positive attitude — “Please remember, tomorrow will be a good day” became his trademark phrase — inspired the nation at a time of crisis. Prime Minister Boris Johnson described him as a “hero in the truest sense of the word.”He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in July in a socially distanced ceremony at Windsor Castle, west of London.
…
Tunisians Protest Amid Political Standoff
Tunisia’s main parliamentary bloc Ennahdha rallied thousands of people Saturday in a demonstration of support for the government amid a tug-of-war with President Kais Saied.The Islamist-inspired Ennahdha and liberal Qalb Tounes parties pushed for a reshuffling of the government by Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi in mid-January, introducing 11 new ministers.Saied has strongly criticized the reshuffle — confirmed by parliament — saying he wasn’t consulted, and he charged that some ministers were suspected of corruption and conflicts of interest.He also refused to confirm the new ministers, including interior, justice and health, leaving the government paralyzed, in a country reeling from economic hardship and the coronavirus pandemic.Unity, democracySaturday’s protest in the capital, Tunis, was called by Ennahdha, and several protesters said they rallied in support of the moderate Islamist party as well as for unity and democracy.”We have a parliamentary system, and it is not up to the president to decide who will govern,” said protester Mohamed Khlif, who traveled from the coastal city of Sfax to take part in the rally.”Democracy and the constitution must be respected,” he added.Around him protesters, who came to the capital from across the country, chanted, “The people want national unity.”The political standoff comes as Tunisia has been hit hard by the pandemic and its social and economic repercussions.This “weakening governance” led international ratings agency Moody’s this week to downgrade Tunisia’s sovereign debt rating, complicating the country’s borrowing power while it has not finalized its 2021 budget.The International Monetary Fund, too, warned in a report published Friday that the “COVID-19 crisis is exacerbating Tunisia’s socioeconomic fragilities” and “led to an unprecedented economic downturn.”The IMF called for urgent reforms to reduce the fiscal deficit, which it said was estimated to have reached 11.5% of GDP in 2020.It also made a series of recommendations, including for limits on energy subsidies and lowering the wage bill.The leader of Tunisia’s Islamist Ennahda party, House Speaker Rached Ghannouchi, waves a Tunisian flag during a rally in Tunis, Tunisia, Feb. 27, 2021.‘Strengthened by visible support’Ennahdha head Rached Ghannouchi addressed the protesters Saturday, calling for dialogue and unity among political forces.His party dominated the political scene after the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali but has seen its base erode, now controlling only a quarter of the parliament.Saied called the protest “a waste of money.””We are not reacting according to their calculations and arrangements, but according to our principles and commitments to the people,” Saied said on Saturday.Saied, an independent academic and constitutional law expert, has castigated the procedure for naming the new ministers, saying it was unconstitutional.Tunisia’s constitution does not require parliamentary approval for regular reshuffles.But in the absence of a constitutional court in Tunisia, the political crisis has dragged on for six weeks with no solution in sight to ease tensions between the president, parliament and the government.
…
Archaeologists Find Intact Ceremonial Chariot Near Pompeii
Officials at the Pompeii archaeological site in Italy announced Saturday the discovery of an intact ceremonial chariot, one of several important discoveries made in the same area outside the park near Naples following an investigation into an illegal dig.The chariot, with its iron elements, bronze decorations and mineralized wooden remains, was found in the ruins of a settlement north of Pompeii, beyond the walls of the ancient city, parked in the portico of a stable where the remains of three horses previously were discovered.The Archaeological Park of Pompeii called the chariot “an exceptional discovery” and said “it represents a unique find — which has no parallel in Italy thus far — in an excellent state of preservation.”A detail of the decoration of a chariot that was found in Civita Giuliana, north of Pompeii. Officials at the Pompeii archaeological site near Naples announced its discovery Feb. 27, 2021.The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD destroyed Pompeii. The chariot was spared when the walls and roof of the structure it was in collapsed, and also survived looting by modern-day antiquities thieves, who had dug tunnels through to the site, grazing but not damaging the four-wheeled cart, according to park officials.The chariot was found on the grounds of what is one of the most significant ancient villas in the area around Vesuvius, with a panoramic view of the Mediterranean Sea, on the outskirts of the ancient Roman city.Archaeologists last year found in the same area on the outskirts of Pompeii, Civita Giulian, the skeletal remains of what are believed to have been a wealthy man and his male slave, attempting to escape death.The chariot’s first iron element emerged January 7 from the blanket of volcanic material filling the two-story portico. Archaeologists believe the cart was used for festivities and parades, perhaps also to carry brides to their new homes.While chariots for daily life or the transport of agricultural products have been previously found at Pompeii, officials said the new find is the first ceremonial chariot unearthed in its entirety.The villa was discovered after police came across the illegal tunnels in 2017, officials said. Two people who live in the houses atop the site are on trial for allegedly digging more than 80 meters of tunnels at the site.
…
Somalia Issues First License to Mobile Money Service
Somali officials on Saturday issued the country’s first license to a mobile money service, bringing regulation to the widely used digital payment process for the first time.The Central Bank of Somalia awarded the license to the country’s largest telecommunications provider, Hormuud Telecom, which runs the Electronic Voucher Card or EVCPlus, a free mobile money service used by 3 million of its 3.6 million subscribers in the Horn of Africa country.The use and circulation of Somali banknotes has been dwindling because of the absence of central monetary policies and because little new paper currency has been printed. But private businesses have nonetheless flourished in Somalia, where unregulated mobile money is extensively used for most buying, selling and transfers.Mobile money services emerged 10 years ago but were never regulated. The new regulation formalizes digital transactions as the primary payment method within the country and will enable further integration of the Somali financial system with the international financial system, officials said.The license was issued by the governor of the Central Bank of Somalia, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, on Saturday in Mogadishu.“We have developed a robust regulation, and based on that we have issued the first license of its kind in the country today,” Abdullahi told VOA Somali.“This has huge significance. I cannot express in words how important this is.”Easy to accessAbdullahi said the mobile money service is the preferred choice of Somalis because there is a low bar for accessing it.“For the mobile money, you can actually buy a mobile phone, SIM card and then register yourself and start using right away, starting from one dollar or half a dollar or whatever amount you want, whether you want to deposit it, make payments from the convenience of your home or transfer money,” he said.Hormuud Telecom said it was delighted to receive the first license.“The news today cements what we’ve known for a long time — that Somalia is moving towards being the world’s first truly cashless economy,” said company CEO Ahmed Mohamud Yusuf. “This issuing of a mobile money license for the first time is arguably one of the most important steps taken by Somalia since the end of the war.”An estimated 155 million mobile money transactions, amounting to about $2.7 billion a month in Somalia, were reported by the World Bank in 2018. At the time, the World Bank praised mobile money platforms for “immensely” easing transactions and providing opportunities for economic growth but raised red flags about “plausible fiscal risks” in the event of disruption to mobile money platforms. It also said the platform’s lack of regulation caused serious macroeconomic effects.The Somali shilling has had severe devaluation over past decades because administrations and businesses increasingly preferred using U.S. dollars. Today, one U.S. dollar is worth 25,000 Somali shillings, about the value of one kilogram of rice.EVCPlus recognizes both Somali and U.S. dollars but operates on dollars only because the economy of Somalia is being dollarized due to devaluation. This devaluation hits the poorest Somalis hardest, particularly those who don’t receive dollar earnings or remittances from relatives living abroad.
…
As Mexico’s Largest Migrant Camp Empties, New Tents Spring Up Along US Border
Mexican authorities hope most of the asylum seekers living in a major encampment on the border will be allowed to enter the United States by the end of next week, according to a Mexican government source.
The migrant camp in Matamoros, Mexico, just across the river from Brownsville, Texas, is currently home to just under 700 migrants, according to the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR). The majority are asylum seekers who have been waiting in Mexico as their cases wind through U.S. courts under a program implemented by former President Donald Trump.
One week ago, President Joe Biden’s administration began permitting members of the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program to enter the United States to pursue their court cases. UNHCR spokeswoman Silvia Garduno said 27 people crossed the border from Mexico Thursday and 100 did so Friday, and that the agency hopes to continue this pace in the coming days.
The agency, along with the International Organization for Migration, is in charge of the logistics of registering and transporting migrants from the camp to the United States.
The Mexican government source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the goal was for 500 migrants in the Matamoros camp to enter the United States by the end of next week.
Mexican authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) referred Reuters to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) statement that said the registration process “will be done as quickly as possible.”
In Matamoros, asylum seekers expressed optimism. “We’ve just received news that tomorrow we’re leaving!” said Honduran asylum seeker Josue Cornejo in a video recorded inside the camp Friday evening, which also shows his wife and daughters wiping away tears.
But as one tent city begins to empty in northeastern Mexico, another has sprung up on the other side of the country. In Tijuana, migrants encouraged by the news that some asylum seekers were being allowed to enter the United States have begun to camp out near the El Chaparral port of entry, across the border from San Diego, California.
Advocates say about 50 tents have been put up in recent days.
Biden, a Democrat, is balancing pressure from immigration advocates to unwind the hardline immigration policies of his predecessor with concerns about rising numbers of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
To handle an anticipated rise in crossings, CBP said in a statement on Friday that it planned to open a facility in Eagle Pass, Texas. Plans for the new facility come after CBP announced on February 9 the opening of another temporary facility in Donna, Texas, to handle border processing while the agency’s permanent center in McAllen is renovated.
Under U.S. law, children who arrive at the border without parents or legal guardians have to be transferred quickly out of border patrol facilities and into government-run shelters overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Separately, HHS is also scrambling to cope with the influx of new arrivals by opening emergency shelters and trying to speed releases of migrant kids to sponsors in the United States.
“There are no good choices here,” Biden told reporters Friday. “The only other options are to send kids back, which is what the prior administration did.”
Most migrants caught at the border, including families and individual adult asylum seekers, are still being rapidly expelled at the border under a Trump-era health rule in place since last March.
…
Botswana Eases COVID Restrictions Despite Rising Death Toll
Botswana, which saw COVID-19 deaths surpass 300 this week, has lifted a ban on alcohol sales and eased curfew restrictions. But President Mokgweetsi Masisi extended an existing curfew.In a televised address, Masisi said rising COVID-19 cases mean the curfew will continue until the end of March. Botswana introduced a nine-hour curfew in December, but Masisi announced Friday the hours have been reduced to six.”The curfew period restricting the movement of people will be extended from the 1st to the 31st of March 2021 and will begin at 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. daily. The government has decided to lift the suspension of the sale of alcohol with effect from 1st March, 2021. Alcohol will be sold to consumers on weekdays only,” he said.Masisi said in lifting the alcohol ban, the government took into consideration the impact on the economy.”Studies both scientific and anecdotal, have shown that alcohol consumption impairs judgment making it difficult in some cases to adhere to set health protocols. Although necessary at the time, the government has nonetheless been worried by the effect of the temporary ban on the sale of alcohol on the industry, and by extension, the country’s economy,” Masisi said.The country’s alcohol industry employs more than 50,000 people.Botswana Alcohol Industry Association president Masegonyana Madisa welcomed the decision to lift the ban.”As the alcohol industry, we have always maintained a certain position, that is government should find a more sustainable approach to this problem that we have, which involves curbing the spread of the virus, which we have in Botswana, and at the same time balancing it with protecting the lives and livelihoods of those in the alcohol industry, including its extensive value chain.”Meanwhile, the country’s COVID-19 Task Force team vice chairperson, Mosepele Mosepele, expressed concern over the rising death toll.“The unfortunate report that we would like to share is the sharp increase in the number of COVID-19 fatalities. The last time we reported we stood at 254, and unfortunately today we report cumulative 300 total number of COVID-19-associated fatalities, Mosepele said.The southern African country has recorded 28,371 COVID-19 cases and 310 deaths.President Masisi has urged the nation to adhere to COVID-19 protocols as the country awaits the arrival of the first batch of vaccine doses in March.
…
UN Launches Multimillion Dollar Appeal for Uprooted Central Africans
The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, is appealing for $164 million to assistance and protect nearly 1.5 million Central Africans uprooted by conflict and violence.
Civil conflict in the Central African Republic has uprooted about one-third of the country’s population of 4.7 million, most now refugees in neighboring countries.
A new wave of violence triggered by December’s disputed presidential election in the CAR. has added to the nearly 1.3 million refugees in the region. The U.N. Refugee Agency says 100,000 more people are newly displaced inside the CAR. It says another 111,000 people have joined the exodus to neighboring countries.
UNHCR spokesman Boris Cheshirkov says most of the refugees have gone to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The rest have sought refuge in Cameroon, Chad, and the Republic of the Congo.
“New arrivals are reporting grave human rights abuses inside CAR. Our colleagues in Gore, in Chad, are caring for a 26-year-old refugee mother who was beaten and raped by a rebel with her six-month-old baby by her side after fleeing her home. She is now pregnant as a result of the assault and is receiving medical and psychosocial support from our teams,” Cheshirkov said.
The CAR is one of the poorest countries and one of the most underfunded emergencies in the world. The UNHCR says it urgently needs financial contributions to deliver protection and assistance to the rising number of vulnerable people inside the CAR and in host countries.
Despite limited resources, Cheshirkov said the UNHCR has scaled up border and protection monitoring. He said it also is supporting survivors of sexual violence and helping to mitigate the risk of further gender-based violence.
“We are also working to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infections by building and equipping quarantine centers and areas for treatment and isolation, as well as testing, distributing masks, raising awareness on COVID-19 prevention and social distancing, by improving water, sanitation and health resources,” Cheshirkov said.
The UNHCR says the situation is particularly challenging in the DRC. It reports many of the 92,000 newly-arrived refugees are spread among 40 remote places close to the volatile border. It notes the new arrivals now outnumber the local population, adding that refugees are living in makeshift shelters, without access to vital services such as education and health care.
…
UN Rights Chief Cites Growing Human Rights Crisis in Nicaragua
The U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Michele Bachelet, is warning that new laws adopted by Nicaragua’s government are undermining fundamental freedoms and leading to a further erosion of the rule of law in the country.
In a report submitted this week to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Bachelet said damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and hurricanes Eta and Iota have worsened the socio-political and human rights crisis facing Nicaragua. Furthermore, she said the passage of new restrictive laws is strangling peoples’ rights to freedom of association and expression.
Bachelet said the laws also are inhibiting political participation and due process, which is especially troubling as Nicaragua approaches general elections in November. She noted that earlier this month two prominent organizations promoting freedom of expression were forced to suspend operations because of a new “foreign agents” law.
“My Office has documented 117 cases of harassment, intimidation and threats by police officers or pro-government elements against students, peasants, political activists, human rights defenders and organizations of victims and of women,” Bachelet said.
The report also documents 34 cases of intimidation, threats, criminalization and campaigns to discredit media and journalists considered to represent the opposition. Bachelet said arbitrary detentions of political opponents continue and Indigenous communities continue to face land invasions and violent attacks by settlers.
“Human rights violations perpetrated during the social protests of 2018 continue in all impunity. We have also received information as to a rise in femicides and high levels of pregnancy among young girls,” Bachelet said.
The high commissioner said the government must undertake necessary reforms to ensure free, fair and transparent elections. She urged the government to allow members of her staff to enter the country so they can monitor the human rights situation in the lead-up to November’s elections.
Nicaragua’s Attorney General Wendy Carolina Morales Urbina rejected the high commissioner’s report, calling it a throwback to the interventionist policies of former colonial powers. She said the report was biased and lacking in objectivity.
Morales Urbina added that the government of Nicaragua denounces the report as yet another manifestation of imperial aggressions that have promoted crimes of hate, terrorism and destruction.
…