Bangladesh security forces opened fire and used tear gas Sunday to disperse thousands of protesters who were enforcing a nationwide general strike they called to denounce violence at a previous protest over a visit by India’s prime minister.At least one man was shot in Sanarpara in Narayanganj district after thousands of protesters, mostly students from Islamic schools, blocked a major highway connecting Dhaka with the southeastern port city of Chattogram, said Mohamamed Zayedul Alam, the area’s police superintendent.The man was rushed to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment, he said.Witnesses said scores of people were hurt in clashes with police, which started after protesters set fire to a number of vehicles.Mohammed Russel, a duty official at the control room of the Fire Service and Civil Defense, said by phone that they dispatched several units of the fire fighters after information that some passenger buses and a truck were torched. “But our teams could not reach the scene as the protesters blocked the approaching roads,” he said.Similar clashes also took place in Sarail in the eastern district of Brahmanbaria when protesters attacked the security officials, the Bengali-language Prothom Alo daily reported. It said after the clash two bullet-ridden bodies were recovered from the scene. Local police did not answer calls from AP to confirm the deaths.Security was tight during Sunday’s strike and traffic was thin on Dhaka’s usually clogged streets. Authorities deployed paramilitary border guards to Dhaka to keep order.Sunday’s violence followed days of tension and clashes over a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that began Friday and ended as scheduled on Saturday. At least four people were killed and scores injured Friday in clashes between protesters and security officials. The clashes continued Saturday.Critics accuse Modi’s Hindu-nationalist party of stoking religious polarization in India and discriminating against minorities, particularly Muslims. In recent weeks, demonstrators in Muslim-majority Bangladesh had urged the Indian leader not to visit and criticized Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for inviting him.The Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam, which has a network of Islamic schools across Bangladesh, announced the nationwide general strike for Sunday, to protest Friday’s events, in which its members were blamed for attacking government structures.The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party headed by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, an archrival of Hasina, did not support Sunday’s strike directly, but said the call for it was logical.
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Month: March 2021
Pope Leads Scaled-down Palm Sunday Service
Pope Francis led Palm Sunday services in an almost empty St. Peter’s Basilica because of coronavirus restrictions for the second consecutive year and he urged people to be close to the poor and suffering. In pre-COVID times, Palm Sunday, which marks the start of Holy Week and leads to Easter, tens of thousands of people would pack St. Peter’s Square holding olive branches and intricately weaved palm fronds in an outdoor ceremony. Instead, only about 120 members of the faithful participated in Sunday’s Mass, joining the pope and about 30 cardinals in a secondary wing of the huge basilica. Italy is in the midst of another national lockdown, which is due to end after Easter. The Vatican, a sovereign city-state surrounded by Rome, has applied similar measures. Nearly everyone who took part in the Mass, except the pope and the choir, wore masks. The Vatican re-created the traditional Palm Sunday service, albeit on a much smaller scale, with the 84-year-old pope and the cardinals processing to the altar holding palm fronds. Palm Sunday commemorates the day the gospels say Jesus rode into Jerusalem and was hailed by the people, only to be crucified five days later. During the Mass, the pope had a pronounced limp. He suffers from sciatica, which causes pain in his legs when it flares up. In his homily during the Mass, televised and streamed worldwide, Francis encouraged people to keep their faith from growing dull from habit and to let themselves be amazed by God and by good. “With the grace of amazement we come to realize that in welcoming the dismissed and discarded, in drawing close to those ill-treated by life, we are loving Jesus. For that is where he is: in the least of our brothers and sisters, in the rejected and discarded,” he said. The remainder of the pope’s Holy Week services – Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter next Sunday, also will take place with a limited number of participants. Italy has registered 107,636 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain.
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Expelled from US at Night, Migrant Families Weigh Next Steps
In one of Mexico’s most notorious cities for organized crime, migrants are expelled from the United States throughout the night, exhausted from the journey, disillusioned about not getting a chance to seek asylum and at a crossroads about where to go next. Marisela Ramirez, who was returned to Reynosa about 4 a.m. Thursday, brought her 14-year-old son and left five other children — one only 8 months old — in Guatemala because she could not afford to pay smugglers more money. Now, facing another agonizing choice, she leaned toward sending her son across the border alone to settle with a sister in Missouri, aware that the United States is allowing unaccompanied children to pursue asylum. “We’re in God’s hands,” Ramirez, 30, said in a barren park with dying grass and a large gazebo in the center that serves as shelter for migrants. Lesdny Suyapa Castillo, 35, said through tears that she would return to Honduras with her 8-year-old daughter, who lay under the gazebo breathing heavily with her eyes partly open and flies circling her face. After not getting paid for three months’ work as a nurse in Honduras during the pandemic, she wants steady work in the U.S. to send an older daughter to medical school. A friend in New York encouraged her to try again. “I would love to go, but a mother doesn’t want to see her child in this condition,” she said after being dropped in Reynosa at 10 p.m. The decisions unfold amid what Border Patrol officials say is an extraordinarily high 30-day average of 5,000 daily encounters with migrants. Children traveling alone are allowed to remain in the U.S. to pursue asylum while nearly all single adults are expelled to Mexico under pandemic-era rules that deny them a chance to seek humanitarian protection. Families with children younger than 7 are being allowed to remain in the U.S. to pursue asylum, according to a Border Patrol official speaking to reporters Friday on condition of anonymity. Others in families — only 300 out of 2,200 on Thursday — are expelled. Reynosa, a city of 700,000 people, is where many migrants are returned after being expelled from Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, the busiest corridor for illegal crossings. The Border Patrol has said the vast majority of migrants are expelled to Mexico after less than two hours in the United States to limit the spread of COVID-19, which means many arrive when it is dark. Migrants recently expelled from the U.S. after trying to seek asylum sit next to the international bridge in the Mexican border city of Reynosa, March 27, 2021.In normal times, migrants are returned to Mexico under bilateral agreements that limit deportations to daytime hours and the largest crossings. But under pandemic authority, Mexicans and citizens of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras can be expelled to Mexico throughout the night and in smaller towns. Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott acknowledged in an interview last year that agreements limiting hours and locations for deportations are suspended “on paper” but said U.S. authorities try to accommodate wishes of Mexican officials. The U.S. also coordinates with nongovernmental organizations. “I would never sit here and look at you and say Tijuana is not dangerous, Juarez is not dangerous, Tamaulipas (state) is not dangerous,” Scott said. “However, a lot of it is like any other U.S. city. There are certain U.S. cities that there are pockets of it that are very dangerous and there are pockets of it that aren’t.” Tamaulipas, which includes Reynosa, is among five Mexican states that the U.S. State Department says American citizens should not visit. A U.S. travel advisory says heavily armed criminal groups patrol Reynosa in marked and unmarked vehicles. More than 100 fathers, mothers and children who were expelled overnight waited in a plaza outside the Mexican border crossing at sunrise Saturday, many bitter about the experience and scared to venture into the city. Several said they left Central American in the past two months because they could finally afford it, but information about President Joe Biden’s more immigrant-friendly policies contributed to their decisions. Some reported paying smugglers as much as $10,000 a person to reach U.S. soil. Michel Maeco, who sold his land in Guatemala to pay smugglers $35,000 to bring his family of five, including children aged 15, 11 and 7, said he was going home after a 25-day journey. He left Guatemala after hearing “on the news” that Biden would allow families to enter the United States. Maeco’s family was expelled to the streets of Reynosa at 3 a.m. Saturday. “Supposedly (Biden) was going to help migrants, but I see nothing,” said Maeco, 36. A Honduran woman who declined to give her name said she left two months ago because her home was destroyed in Tropical Storm Eta and she heard Biden would “open the border” for 100 days — unaware that the president’s 100-day moratorium on deportations, suspended by courts, does not cover new arrivals. She planned to send her 9-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son across alone to live with their aunt in Alabama while she returns to Honduras. Underscoring the dangers, the Border Patrol said Friday that a 9-year-old Mexican girl died crossing the Rio Grande near the city of Eagle Pass. Mexico’s migrant protection agency, Grupos Beta, persuaded many overnight arrivals to be bused to a distant shelter. Crowds at the nearby park had thinned from a few hundred migrants days earlier. Felicia Rangel, founder of the Sidewalk School, which gives educational opportunities to asylum-seeking children in Mexican border cities, sees the makings of a squalid migrant camp like in nearby Matamoros, which recently closed. “If they get a foothold in this gazebo, this is going to turn into an encampment,” she said as a church distributed chicken soup, bread and water to migrants for breakfast. “They do not want another encampment in their country.” Martin Vasquez is among the migrants staying for now. The 19-year-old was expelled after being separated from his 12-year-old brother, who was considered an unaccompanied child and will almost certainly be released to a grandfather in Florida. He said he was inclined to return to Guatemala, where he worked for a moving company, but wanted to wait a while “to see what the news says.”
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Facebook Freezes Venezuelan President’s Page Over COVID Misinformation
Facebook has frozen Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s page, according to a spokesperson for the social media giant, because the page contained misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic.Maduro violated Facebook policy when he posted a video without any medical evidence, promoting Carvativir, a drink made with the herb thyme, as a cure for the coronavirus, a company spokesperson told Reuters. He described the drink as a “miracle” medication capable of neutralizing the coronavirus without any side effects.“We follow guidance from the WHO [World Health Organization] that says there is currently no medication to cure the virus,” Facebook’s spokesperson told Reuters.The company said it is taking action to limit use of Maduro’s Facebook page. “Due to repeated violations of our rules, we are also freezing the page for 30 days,” the company spokesperson said, “during which it will be read-only.”Brazil is averaging nearly 2,400 deaths a day from COVID-19, about one-fourth of the world’s daily tally, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.The South American nation is on pace to reach 4,000 deaths a day, six experts told The Associated Press, a level that would rival the worst seen in the U.S., which has about one-third more people. The U.S. set a record of 4,477 deaths on Jan. 12, according to Johns Hopkins data.“Four thousand deaths a day seems to be right around the corner,” Dr. José Antônio Curiati, a supervisor at Sao Paulo’s Hospital das Clinicas, the biggest hospital complex in Latin America, told the AP.President Jair Bolsonaro remains unconvinced that restrictions on activity are needed. At this point, they may be too late.Miguel Nicolelis, a professor of neurobiology at Duke University who advised several Brazilian governors and mayors on pandemic control, anticipates the total death toll reaching 500,000 by July and exceeding that of the U.S. by year-end, according to the AP.“We have surpassed levels never imagined for a country with a public health care system, a history of efficient immunization campaigns and health workers who are second to none in the world,” Nicolelis said. “The next stage is the health system collapse.”Spain tests mass-gathering limitsIn Spain, an experiment is under way to find a pandemic-safe way to hold mass events indoors. The setting is an arena in Barcelona filled with 5,000 fans Saturday night for a live concert.The morning of the show, those looking to attend came to one of three field hospitals set up in closed nightclubs. They were given COVID-19 and antigen tests, tests introduced to the body to induce an immune response. If they tested negative, they received a pass to the show and were told to wear a surgical mask. The arena was equipped with a ventilation system.“Over the next 14 days we will look at how many of the audience test positive for COVID and will report back,” Josep Maria Llibre, a doctor at the Germans Trias i Pujol hospital just north of Barcelona, told Agence France-Presse.The aim is “to discover a way in which we can coexist with COVID and hold concerts which are completely safe,” Ventura Barba, executive director of Barcelona’s Sonar festival, one of the organizers, told AFP.WHO seeks COVAX donationsThe head of the World Health Organization on Friday urged the global community to donate COVID-19 vaccines to lower-income countries, citing the urgent need for 10 million doses for a WHO-backed vaccine distribution program.“COVAX is ready to deliver but we can’t deliver vaccines we don’t have,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a virtual news conference in Geneva.COVAX, an abbreviation for the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access initiative, aims to provide equitable access to vaccines worldwide to low- and middle-income countries.“Bilateral deals, export bans, and vaccine nationalism have caused distortions in the market with gross inequities in supply and demand,” Tedros said. “Ten million doses are not much, and it’s not nearly enough.”Tedros’ appeal comes after India, a key supplier to the agency’s COVAX vaccine-sharing program, said it was prioritizing local needs.The WHO chief said India’s move was “understandable” given the rising number of infections in India. He said talks were in progress with India to find a balance between local and international needs.India said Friday it set a record with a tally of more than 59,000 new cases from the previous 24-hour period.UN demands fair vaccine accessAt the United Nations in New York, 181 nations signed onto a political declaration that calls for COVID-19 vaccinations to be treated as a global public good, ensuring affordable, equitable and fair access to vaccines for all.“We can see the end of the crisis, but to reach it, we need to work together with a deeper sense of collaboration,” part of the declaration states.Among the appeals are calls on nations to fully fund the COVAX facility to distribute vaccines to low-income and developing countries, scale up vaccine production through the distribution of technology and licenses and launch public information campaigns on the importance and safety of COVID-19 vaccines.COVAX has so far distributed more than 31 million doses of vaccines to 57 countries.“There is a race everywhere between the vaccines and the pandemic,” said Lebanon’s Ambassador Amal Mudallali, on behalf of the countries that drafted the document. “This race will be won before the start by the ‘haves,’ if there is no equitable, affordable sharing of vaccines.”The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Sunday there are more 126 million global COVID-19 infections. The research center updates its data constantly and provides expert input.The United States has more cases than any other country, with more than 30.2 million infections, followed by Brazil, with 12.5 million, and India, with almost 12 million, according to the center.
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Britain’s Johnson Criticizes ‘Disgraceful’ Attacks on Police at Protest
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday criticized what he called “disgraceful attacks” on police officers after protests over a new policing bill in the city of Bristol turned violent, resulting in 10 arrests.Local police said a demonstration involving more than 1,000 people Friday afternoon had been largely peaceful, but a minority had shown hostility to police later in the evening.”Last night saw disgraceful attacks against police officers in Bristol. Our officers should not have to face having bricks, bottles and fireworks being thrown at them by a mob intent on violence and causing damage to property,” Johnson tweeted.”The police and the city have my full support.”Police in riot gear had beaten back crowds of protesters with shields and batons.Large demonstrations are not allowed because of coronavirus restrictions, and police have urged people not to attend even peaceful protests.On Saturday, a peaceful demonstration against the policing bill in Manchester, where protesters lay down on tram tracks, was ended by police, who made 18 arrests, citing disruption to the transport network.But Bristol has seen the most dramatic protests. Last Sunday, two police officers were seriously injured and at least two police vehicles set on fire in the city after a peaceful protest turned violent.The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts bill would give police new powers to impose time and noise limits on street protests.That has angered activists, and scrutiny of police tactics has increased since a heavy-handed response to a London vigil for murder victim Sarah Everard.Matthew Dresch, a journalist for the Daily Mirror newspaper, on Friday filmed a policeman hitting him as he shouted “What are you doing? I’m press.”In a tweet accompanying the video, Dresch said: “Police assaulted me at the Bristol protest even though I told them I was from the press. I was respectfully observing what was happening and posed no threat to any of the officers.”Police said they were aware of the video and were trying to contact the journalist.
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Death Toll from Egypt Building Collapse Climbs to 18
The death toll from the collapse of a nine-story apartment building in Cairo has climbed to 18 people, according to Egyptian state media.The building collapsed in the Egyptian capital early Saturday. State newspaper Al-Ahram said that search and rescue workers recovered the bodies over the course of the day.Excavators could be seen digging through the debris in the el-Salam neighborhood Saturday morning. Police cordoned off the area, keeping back the curious and people apparently looking for relatives in the building.”They took four people out in front of me, who looked like they were almost gone,” said Mohamamed Mostafa, a resident of the neighborhood.At least 24 others were injured and taken to hospitals, according to a morning statement by Khalid Abdel-Al, the administrative head of Cairo governorate. The tally of those killed by his office stayed at nine as of Saturday evening.It was not immediately clear what caused the building’s collapse. An engineering committee was formed to examine the structural integrity of neighboring buildings, Abdel-Al said.Building collapses are not uncommon in Egypt, where shoddy construction is widespread in shantytowns, poor city neighborhoods and rural areas.With real estate at a premium in big cities like Cairo and the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, developers seeking bigger profits frequently violate building permits. Extra floors often are added without proper permits.The government has recently launched a crackdown on illegal building across the country, jailing violators and in many cases destroying the buildings.
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Convoy of Fleeing Civilians Ambushed in Besieged Mozambique Town
Suspected Islamist insurgents attacked a convoy of fleeing civilians, including foreign workers, as fighting continued in a northern Mozambique town that is near a number of gas projects, security and diplomatic sources said.At least one person was killed and a number wounded in Friday’s attack, according to three sources and three organizations with employees inside a hotel where people have been taking refuge in the town of Palma.On Saturday, French energy group Total said it has postponed the restart of work at its site near Palma, a logistics hub adjacent to gas projects worth $60 billion. No project staff were among the victims of the fighting, it said.The attack on Palma began just hours after Total said Wednesday that it would resume work at its $20 billion project after halting operations in January because of security concerns.Nearly 200 people had been sheltering in the Amarula Palma hotel during the attack, according to three diplomats and one of the organizations with people inside.They included a Spanish resident and other foreigners who locked themselves in a protected room in the hotel, a Spanish diplomatic source told Reuters. Spain’s foreign ministry confirmed there had been a Spanish citizen in Palma who managed to flee the town.Before the ambush, rescue efforts had been under way with at least 20 people flown to safety in helicopters, said Lionel Dyck, who runs Dyck Advisory Group, a South African private security company that works with Mozambique’s government.On Friday afternoon, some people attempted to escape in a convoy of vehicles but were ambushed just outside the hotel, according to Dyck, two diplomats and the organizations with people inside.Dyck said his helicopters evacuated more than 20 survivors on Saturday.Reuters could not independently verify the accounts. Most communications with Palma are down. Officials at Mozambique’s foreign ministry, defense ministry and provincial government did not immediately respond to calls or their phones were switched off Saturday. The national police said they were evaluating the situation, without providing further details.Mozambique’s government said Thursday that security forces were working to restore order in Palma.The province of Cabo Delgado, where the town is located, has since 2017 been the target of a simmering Islamist insurgency linked to Islamic State.It was not immediately clear how many people, if any, remained in the Amarula Palma hotel on Saturday and how many were missing. Contacted via Facebook, the hotel said it could not give any information.Beheadings have been a hallmark of attacks by the insurgents, whose rebellion is rooted in local issues from poverty and unemployment to perceived corruption and religious discrimination.
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Poland Plans Pensions for Dogs, Horses in State Employment
They locate survivors in collapsed buildings, track down fugitives, foil drugs and explosives smugglers and help control rowdy crowds. All in exchange for food and lodging — and an occasional pat on the head.But when retirement time comes, state care ends for the dogs and horses that serve in Poland’s Police, Border Guard and Fire Service. They are given away, with no safeguards for their future welfare.Following appeals from concerned service members, the Interior Ministry has proposed new legislation that would give these animals an official status, and paid retirement to help cover the often-costly care bills their new owners face.Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski described the draft law as a “moral obligation” that should get unanimous backing when presented in Parliament for approval later this year.”More than one human life has been saved, more than one dangerous criminal caught thanks to the animals in service,” he said in February.The new law would affect about 1,200 dogs and more than 60 horses currently in service.Each year, about 10% of the animals are retired, according to the Interior Ministry. Most of the dogs are German or Belgian shepherds.Pawel Kuchnio, handler of Warsaw police sniffer dog Orbita, says retired dogs almost always require expensive medical care, to deal with complaints such as strained hind joints.Police officer Pawel Kuchnio trains with patrol dog Orbita in Warsaw, Poland, on March 19, 2021.The pension money “will certainly be a great help and will make things easier,” he said.The bill would confirm the unwritten rule that the animals’ handlers have priority in keeping them before they’re offered up for adoption.But more importantly, it would extend state responsibility for the animals into their retirement time and secure financial support for the owners.Slawomir Walkowiak, 50, a former police officer caring for retired service dogs and horses at Poland’s only dedicated shelter, named The Veterans’ Corner, says regular state payments would ease concern over bills that reach into thousands of zlotys [dollars] monthly.The privately run, farm-like shelter in Gierlatowo, west-central Poland, houses 10 dogs, and five retired police horses in a spacious paddock.The oldest horse there, Hipol, is in his late 20s and almost blind. Walkowiak says he would have a slim chance of surviving at a regular stable.Walkowiak says many service dogs end up chained to posts or being given unsuitable tasks, as people think they would make good guardians for farms or other properties. This isn’t always the case.”The dog may suddenly remember that it was trained to bite and it will start biting, and when left alone at home it may demolish the couch because it needs to have something in its mouth,” Walkowiak said.In Warsaw, mounted police officer Dariusz Malkowski says he would have to pay the stabling fees for his 13-year-old black gelding, Rywal, if he were to keep him after retirement.Mounted police patrol in a park in Warsaw, Poland, on March 5, 2021.A stall near Warsaw can cost some 2,500 zlotys ($650) a month. The average pre-tax monthly salary in Poland is some 5,500 zlotys ($1,400).On patrol with Malkowski was Sgt. Katarzyna Kuczynska, riding 13-year-old Romeo II, or Romek, who can identify Kuczynska by her voice.”These animals have worked for the state, they have done their jobs well and they should be entitled to health care and proper retirement — on green pastures in the case of horses,” Kuczynska said.
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Five Killed, Dozens Injured in Anti-Modi Protests in Bangladesh
At least five people were killed and dozens injured Saturday by police gunfire in eastern Bangladesh, a hospital doctor said, as security forces tried to quell protests against the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Hundreds of students from Islamic religious schools clashed with police and border troops in the eastern Brahmanbaria district. Police said they had to open fire to control the violence.Many Islamist groups in Bangladesh accuse Modi of alienating minority Muslims in Hindu-majority India. The two countries issued a joint statement celebrating their cooperation and partnership, but the Bangladesh government made no comment about the protests.”We received three bullet-hit dead bodies and two others succumbed to their injuries later,” Abdullah Al Mamun, a doctor at the government-owned Brahmanbaria General Hospital, told Reuters.A local police officer confirmed five had died but declined to be named as he was not authorized to speak to reporters. Bangladeshi police did not officially confirm the death toll.Fatalities on FridayProtests raged across Bangladesh against Modi but also over the police killing of Islamists who had demonstrated against his two-day visit.Four supporters of the Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam were killed Friday when police opened fire at protesters who allegedly attacked a police station in the southeastern town of Chittagong.Dozens were also hurt in the capital, Dhaka, on Friday when police used rubber bullets and tear gas in clashes with protesters.On Saturday, hundreds of members of Hefazat-e-Islam and other Islamist groups marched through Chittagong and Dhaka, protesting the deaths of their supporters.”Police opened fire on our peaceful supporters,” the group’s organizing secretary, Azizul Haque, told a rally in Chittagong. “We will not let the blood of our brothers go in vain.”Strike called for SundayHefazat-e-Islam, which translates as Protection of Islam, has called for a nationwide strike Sunday to protest the killings.Amnesty International also criticized the police action in Chittagong.”The right to peaceful protest has come under concerted attack, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic, culminating in this type of bloody repression,” Sultan Mohammed Zakaria, Amnesty’s South Asia researcher, said in a statement.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gives the Gandhi Peace Prize, awarded posthumously to Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, to his daughters, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, center, and Sheikh Rehana, in Dhaka, March 26, 2021.Modi arrived in Dhaka on Friday, his first international trip since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic last year, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s independence.He left the country Saturday after holding talks with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and giving the country 1.2 million COVID-19 vaccine shots.Facebook services were unavailable in Bangladesh on Saturday, the social network said, adding it had serious concerns about the manner in which it was being restricted at a time when effective communication was necessary to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.”We’re aware that our services have been restricted in Bangladesh,” Facebook said in a statement. “We’re working to understand more and hope to have full access restored as soon as possible.”The Bangladesh government did not comment on whether it had blocked Facebook and its Messenger app, but it has previously used internet shutdowns as a tool to curb the spread of protests.
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China Sanctions US, Canadian Citizens in Xinjiang Row
China on Saturday announced tit-for-tat sanctions against two Americans, a Canadian and a rights advocacy body in response to sanctions imposed this week by the two countries over Beijing’s treatment of Uyghurs.Two members of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Gayle Manchin and Tony Perkins; Canadian Member of Parliament Michael Chong; and a Canadian parliamentary committee on human rights are prohibited from entering mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, the Chinese foreign ministry said.Chong reacted by calling the sanctions a “badge of honor.””We’ve got a duty to call out China for its crackdown in #HongKong & its genocide of #Uyghurs,” Chong wrote on Twitter. “We who live freely in democracies under the rule of law must speak for the voiceless.”At least 1 million Uyghurs and people from other mostly Muslim groups have been held in camps in northwestern Xinjiang, according to rights groups, who accuse authorities of forcibly sterilizing women and using forced labor.The European Union, Britain, Canada and the United States sanctioned several members of Xinjiang’s political and economic hierarchy this week in coordinated action over the allegations, prompting retaliation from Beijing in the form of sanctions on individuals from the EU and Britain. China’s foreign ministry on Saturday accused the U.S. and Canada of imposing sanctions “based on rumors and disinformation.” The sanctioned officials, who are also banned from conducting business with Chinese citizens and institutions, “must stop political manipulation on Xinjiang-related issues, stop interfering in China’s internal affairs in any form,” the ministry said. “Otherwise, they will get their fingers burnt,” the foreign ministry statement warned.FILE – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a COVID-19 pandemic briefing from Rideau Cottage in Ottawa, Nov. 20, 2020.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the sanctions were “an attack on transparency and freedom of expression.””We will continue to defend human rights around the world with our international partners,” he said on Twitter.Trudeau’s comments came after top Canadian diplomat Marc Garneau accused Beijing of deploying heavy-handed tactics.”Bullies don’t change unless you send very clear messages to them,” Garneau told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. in an interview recorded shortly before Beijing announced its retaliatory sanctions.Consumer boycottsThe diplomatic standoff spilled over into the fashion world this week when pledges made last year by several companies to boycott Xinjiang cotton resurfaced this week on Chinese-owned social network Weibo, triggering additional controversy.The resurfacing of the pledges, made by the likes of Sweden’s H&M, American sportswear giant Nike, Germany’s Adidas and Japan’s Uniqlo, was denounced Friday by the United States, which implied the timely reappearance was a calculated move by Beijing. “The U.S. condemns the PRC … social media campaign and corporate and consumer boycott against companies, including American, European and Japanese businesses,” U.S. State Department deputy spokeswoman Jalina Porter said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.Chinese celebrities and tech firms have pulled partnerships with companies ranging from Nike and H&M to Adidas, Burberry and Calvin Klein.Beijing, which insists Xinjiang is an “internal affair,” announced sanctions Friday against nine British individuals and four entities, saying they had “maliciously spread lies and disinformation” over the treatment of Uyghurs.China flatly denies any abuses in the region, describing detention centers there as work camps intended to boost incomes and deter extremism in a region made restive by central control.China previously sanctioned dozens of U.S. officials including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for “crazy moves” against Beijing under the Trump administration.Meanwhile, Canada-China relations are at their lowest point in decades, with China trying two Canadians for alleged espionage this month while an extradition hearing in Vancouver for Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou enters its final months.
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Sudan Normalizes Relations With World Bank
Sudan is celebrating the normalization of its relations with the World Bank Group after significantly reducing its debt with the help of a U.S. bridge loan. A virtual celebration was broadcast Friday on national TV, featuring officials of the World Bank and the Sudanese government welcoming Sudan’s re-engagement in the international financial institution.The executive boards of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) declared Sudan eligible for debt relief under the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative.Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok welcomed the beginning of the debt relief and praised the transitional government’s economic reforms.He congratulated the Sudanese people, the transitional government and the partners of the development for the achievement. Hamdok said this was the real beginning of removing the weight of the external debt from the Sudanese people and returning Sudan to the global financial markets. He said the debt had halted the growth and potential of a giant economy that suffered from corruption, mismanagement, wars and suppression of the Sudanese people.Sudan’s debt had mushroomed to $56 billion under three decades of the autocratic role of Omar al-Bashir.A transitional government supplanted al-Bashir, making concerted efforts to alleviate Sudan’s isolation brought on by his iron-fisted rule.Economic reformsSince 2019, the Sudanese government has made economic reforms to relieve its debt and meet IMF and World Bank Group requirements to access the international funds.The U.S. Treasury provided a same-day bridge loan of $1.15 billion to help Sudan clear its arrears.Sudan’s debt to the International Development Agency (IDA) had blocked the country’s access to international financial institutions like the World Bank Group.Sudanese Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim praised the U.S. role in helping Sudan clear its unpaid debt. He also thanked the World Bank for the unlimited support of the transitional government, including the grant of $1.3 billion to help with debt relief. Ibrahim said the strong partnership showed that the international community stoof with the nation after the December 2018 revolution in which al-Bashir was deposed.The executive director of the World Bank, Axel Van Trotsenberg, confirmed the International Development Association’s willingness to support Sudan’s transition.”This is a historic day,” Van Trotsenberg said. “After nearly three decades, the Republic of Sudan has now officially normalized relations with the World Bank Group. This will allow us to open an exciting new chapter in our partnership. The bank stands ready and is willing to step up its support to Sudan and we would like to make available about $2 billion in IDA grants for poverty reduction and sustainable economic recovery.”Clearing arrears with the IDA is a key step toward meeting the requirements needed to assist Sudan with the HIPC Initiative, which is scheduled to make a formal assessment in June.
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Somalia Parliament Session Called Off
Somalia’s parliamentary session was called off Saturday after pro-government and opposition members could not agree on the agenda. The House was expected to discuss COVID-19, but opposition members complained the agenda also included a proposed term extension for President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, popularly known as Farmajo.The parliament speaker, Mohamed Mursal Sheikh Abdurahman, called off the meeting after members of the opposition disrupted his attempt to chair the session.Somali parliament meeting ends in disarray after disagreement between MPs over the “intentions” behind a quickly arranged session. MPs were told Covid19 to be the agenda but some MPs argue they feared the Lower House may force “unilateral” term extension for the executive. pic.twitter.com/l5lbXRR4FB— Harun Maruf (@HarunMaruf) March 27, 2021Opposition lawmakers claimed the speaker and pro-government members of parliament were planning to pass a term extension for the president’s administration, a claim denied by pro-government members, including Hani Mohamed Adan.She said some members of parliament tried to cause chaos in the parliament, which was against the standing orders. She said the speaker must take action against the legislators who broke House rules.Later, the speaker issued a letter suspending 15 lawmakers from attending the next five sessions of the parliament, according to government media. The lawmakers were accused of obstructing Saturday’s planned session of the parliament.Somalia’s Speaker of Parliament suspends 15 lawmakers from attending next 5 sessions of the Lower House of Parliament. The MPs rioted and obstructed Saturday’s Parliament session on Covid-19. pic.twitter.com/GiMo4dZABq— SNTV News (@sntvnews1) March 27, 2021One suspended MP said the speaker’s move violated House rules.The terms of parliament and the president have expired, and elections, once planned for February, have been delayed while the country’s leaders work out differences about how to conduct the vote.Sadik Warfa, a former cabinet minister and member of parliament, stressed the need to wait for the outcome of election talks between federal and regional leaders in the capital, Mogadishu.Warfa said they were warning against term extensions for the government by the parliament and were supporting talks among the leaders to resolve the election standoff.Warfa added that they were confident about the prospect of transparent, peaceful elections in the country, underscoring the challenges facing ordinary citizens in the Horn of Africa nation.International partners, including the United Nations, the United States and the European Union, are pressuring Somalia to hold an election, and they reiterated this week their opposition to parallel electoral processes or term extensions for the incumbent government.VOA’s Harun Maruf contributed to this report.
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Pakistan Struggles to Contain Third COVID-19 Wave
Pakistan is struggling to contain a third wave of coronavirus infections, reporting close to 4,500 new cases in the last 24 hours, the highest number of daily infections in nine months.Officials said Saturday that the rate of people testing positive for COVID-19 had alarmingly risen to more than 10% from a low of about 3% a couple weeks ago, suggesting the actual number of infections is likely much higher than the reported cases.The overall number of infections and deaths from COVID-19, however, remains under control in Pakistan, a country of about 220 million people.Since the pandemic hit the South Asian nation a year ago, officials have documented around 650,000 infections and about 14,200 deaths, including 67 fatalities recorded Friday.British variantAsad Umar, the minister who heads the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) overseeing the government’s COVID-19 response, insisted Saturday that a British variant of the virus, detected in Pakistan early last month, was likely behind the flare-up in infections.“This relatively more contagious and deadlier variant seems to be a major cause for the sudden and sharp increase in the spread of the disease,” Umar told reporters after chairing an emergency meeting of the NCOC in Islamabad.FILE – An elderly resident receives his first dose of the coronavirus disease vaccine, at a vaccination center in Karachi, Pakistan, March 10, 2021.He added that public “disregard” for safety guidelines outlined by the government was contributing to the spread.The minister said his office had already started receiving messages that hospitals across Pakistan were nearing capacity and that finding enough beds for coronavirus patients was becoming a challenge.Call for public supportUmar urged people to strictly follow health and safety guidelines to help the government contain the infection, saying that bringing this “very dangerous situation” under control was impossible without public support.The third coronavirus wave is largely being driven by a high number of cases reported in Punjab, the country’s most populous province, and the northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.The Pakistani government earlier this week ordered educational institutions in high-risk districts across the two provinces and the national capital, Islamabad, to remain closed until April 11, tightening restrictions on public gatherings in those areas.FILE – People gather for COVID-19 vaccine doses at a vaccination center in Karachi, Pakistan, March 22, 2021.Meanwhile, Pakistan is struggling to keep the national COVID-19 vaccination campaign going because of supply challenges and vaccine hesitance.Last month, the government began inoculating frontline health care workers and citizens age 60 and over after receiving a donation of 1 million doses of China’s Sinopharm vaccine. Beijing announced a donation of another 500,000 doses and Islamabad is awaiting the delivery.Umar said this week that the national campaign had already vaccinated more than 700,000 people across Pakistan, raising concerns the government will soon run out of the drug.Officials said Pakistan was supposed to receive several million doses of coronavirus vaccine from the World Health Organization’s COVAX program in the first week of March.But the vaccine did not come because of supply issues, and the delay has forced Islamabad to explore other options to fill the gap and try to ramp up the national vaccination drive.COVAX aims to vaccinate people in low- and middle-income countries against COVID-19.Purchases from ChinaFederal Health Minister Faisal Sultan said this week that his government had purchased just over a million doses of the Chinese vaccine and that the consignment would arrive in the country later this month. He added Pakistan was also planning to buy additional Chinese vaccine to ensure its citizens are inoculated against COVID-19.WHO’s chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, urged the global community on Friday to donate COVID-19 vaccines to lower-income countries, citing the urgent need for 10 million doses for the COVAX vaccine distribution program.“COVAX is ready to deliver but we can’t deliver vaccines we don’t have,” Tedros told a virtual news conference in Geneva.“Bilateral deals, export bans and vaccine nationalism have caused distortions in the market with gross inequities in supply and demand,” Tedros said. “Ten million doses are not much and it’s not nearly enough.”
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Ukrainian President Dismisses Head of Constitutional Court
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has dismissed the head of the constitutional court, who has opposed some anti-corruption reforms, calling his actions a threat to national security, Zelenskiy’s office said Saturday.
Zelenskiy and the court under Oleksandr Tupytskyi have been locked in a stand-off since last year over anti-corruption legislation, hobbling Ukraine’s chances of securing more foreign loans.
Zelenskiy signed a decree canceling the appointment of Tupytskyi as a judge of the court. Tupytskyi was appointed in 2013 by former President Viktor Yanukovych.
“Certain judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine appointed by Viktor Yanukovych, continuing to exercise their powers, pose a threat to the state independence and national security of Ukraine,” said the document published Saturday on the presidential website.
The constitutional court did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
The court ruled in October against some anti-corruption laws, citing as excessive the punishment for false information on officials’ asset declarations, and also struck down some powers of the main NAZK anti-graft agency.
Following that, Zelenskiy temporarily suspended Tupytskyi. Tupytskyi has previously accused Zelenskiy of trying to engineer a “constitutional coup” by removing him. Tupytskyi is under investigation in a witness-tampering case that he has called falsified and politically motivated.
Restoring all anti-corruption measures is a key condition of unlocking more loans under a $5 billion stand-by approved by the IMF last June. Ukraine has received only one tranche since then.
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Cameroon Prisoners Blame Overcrowding, Poor Hygiene for COVID Spread
Prisoners in Cameroon’s overcrowded prisons are protesting what they say is neglect in prison centers, leading to a rapid spread of the coronavirus. Over the past month, protests were reported in several locations, including the Kondengui Maximum Security Prison in the capital, Yaounde, the New Bell prison in the coastal city of Douala, and the central prison in the English-speaking western town of Bamenda, according to authorities.
A Kondengui prison inmate told VOA that prisoners have been holding ‘prayer protests’ for 30 minutes every day for the past two weeks. During these protests, prisoners say they have been crying out for help, pleading for protection against the spread of the virus. The prisoner, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, was able to speak to VOA via the WhatsApp messaging platform.
“The COVID-19 is ravaging our country. We need to be able to have proper hygiene. At times they cut water for two to three days. To wash hands is very very difficult. Government should come and look for solutions so that together we can help to fight this COVID-19 and ensure that we have proper hygiene,” the prisoner said.The prisoner said sanitation at the facility is poor and it is overcrowded. About 4,500 inmates are being held there, he said, even though it was built to hold fewer than 1,500 prisoners. Lack of sanitation and face masks add to the difficulties prisoners face in conditions where access to health workers is limited.
Authorities say the country has about 30,000 inmates in 78 detention facilities built to accommodate a maximum of 9,000. The government says close to 700 of the 16,250 inmates tested within the past three months in 21 prisons were COVID-positive. Fewer than 300 tested COVID-positive last year.FILE – Prisoners are seen being moved into a truck for transport, at Kondengui Central Prison, in Yaounde, Cameroon, July 23, 2019. (Moki Edwin Kindzeka/VOA)Justice Minister Laurent Esso said there was a spike in COVID cases among inmates, but he rejects prisoners’ claims that inmates get very little assistance, saying the claims are unfounded.
He said a few inmates whose health conditions were already critical died while being rushed to hospital. There is lack of awareness among inmates about the virus and many inmates don’t come forward once they do test positive, he said.Additionally, following precautions to keep a 1.5-meter distance from one another is difficult, due to the overcrowding of these centers, Esso admitted. However, he added that inmates are required to wash their hands regularly and face mask requirement are enforced. Also, the government has reduced the number of visitors and suspended all social gatherings and activities at prison yards to limit the spread of COVID, he said.
Esso said all inmates will be tested for COVID, and those infected with the virus will get free treatment. He said the government will administer anti-COVID vaccines to prisoners who will accept vaccinations.
Fabrice Vavemi Lena, coordinator of the nongovernmental group Prison Watch Cameroon, which works to improve living and health conditions for inmates, said that to reduce the spread of COVID among inmates, the government should release pretrial detainees who have been held for long periods with no evidence of wrongdoing.
“The prisons are overcrowded. This is largely due to the number of persons that were from the Anglophone crisis (conflict in southern Cameroon’s regions), some whose cases have not been opened at the military tribunal and some who have already been condemned. With the new variant of the COVID-19, the government had to take measures because the procedures of law are very cumbersome. If the spread continues at the magnitude in which it is, it might also affect the prison guards,” he said.
Lena said the government could also grant freedom to prisoners, incarcerated for misdemeanors, if they have served half of their sentences.
Esso said he had given instructions to judges to speed the trial of suspects in tribunals all over Cameroon.
In April 2020, President Paul Biya announced that thousands of the country’s prisoners would be released in an effort to lessen prison crowding and to prevent the spread of COVID.Inmates have been among the groups with the highest level of exposure, according to the government.
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US Envoy for Afghanistan Heads to Turkey, Region to Push Talks to End Conflict
The U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad has departed for Turkey and the region, the U.S. State Department said Saturday, in a push to encourage Afghan parties to accelerate negotiations to end conflict in the country.
President Joe Biden is deciding whether to meet a May 1 deadline for the withdrawal of the last 3,500 American troops in Afghanistan that was set in a February 2020 accord struck with the Taliban under former President Donald Trump.
Biden’s administration has sought to build international pressure on the Taliban and U.S.-backed Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s government to reach a peace agreement and a cease-fire before the deadline.
“He will engage the two sides on their preparatory efforts for talks on a political settlement that produces a permanent cease-fire and a durable and just peace,” the State Department said in a statement, adding that Khalilzad departed Thursday for the talks.
The Taliban said Friday it would resume hostilities against foreign forces – which ended under the U.S.-Taliban deal – if they remain beyond the deadline.
Biden said Thursday it would be hard to comply with the deadline, which also requires the departure of some 7,000 allied forces.
The Taliban has said it was committed to the agreement, which it has termed the “most sensible and shortest path” to end 20 years of war in Afghanistan – America’s longest foreign conflict.
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