The top brass of the Ugandan People’s Defense Forces played two friendly football (soccer) matches with members of the media fraternity. The Friday matches were aimed at improving army-media relations after some journalists were beaten by army troops in the run-up to the January elections. Halima Athumani reports from Kampala.Camera: Francis Mukasa
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Month: April 2021
Pakistan Opens Talks with Outlawed Islamists Behind Violent Anti-France Protests
Pakistan on Monday opened negotiations with radical Islamists after they freed 11 police abducted during week-long anti-blasphemy protests against France in which four officers were killed, the interior minister said.
Most main businesses, markets, shopping malls and public transport services were closed in major cities in response to a strike call by the Tehrik-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) and its affiliated groups.
Pakistan’s PSX 100 stock exchange opened 500 points down in the morning though recovered later in the day.
The police officers were abducted during clashes outside TLP headquarters in the eastern city of Lahore, which according to the group also killed its three members.
Photographs of the police officers, with their heads, legs and arms heavily bandaged, were posted on social media by their captors.
“They’ve released the 11 policemen they had held hostage,” Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said in a video statement.
He said negotiations with the TLP were under way.
“There have been two rounds of the talks and there will be another later in the evening,” Religious Affairs Minister Noor-ul-Haq Qadri told parliament. “We believe in negotiations and reconciliation to sort out issues.”
The government outlawed the TLP last week after it blocked main highways, railways and access routes to major cities, assaulting police and burning public property. Four police officers were killed and more than 500 wounded.
The violence erupted after the government detained TLP leader Saad Hussain Rizvi ahead of a planned countrywide anti-France campaign to pressure the Islamabad government to expel the French ambassador in response to the publication of cartoons in France last year depicting the Prophet Mohammad.
The TLP has presented four main demands in the talks with the government, officials from both sides said.
They included expulsion of the French ambassador, release of the TLP leader and around 1,400 arrested workers, lifting the ban on the group and the dismissal of the interior minister.
Prime Minister Imran Khan said expelling the French ambassador would only cause damage to Pakistan, and diplomatic engagement between the Muslim world and the West was the only way to resolve disputes.
“When we send the French ambassador back and break relations with them it means we break relations with the European Union,” he said in a televised address. “Half our textile exports go to the EU, so half our textile exports would be gone.”
Relations between Paris and Islamabad have worsened since the end of last year after President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to a French history teacher who was beheaded by an 18-year-old man of Chechen origin for showing cartoons of the Prophet in a class on freedom of speech.
Protests erupted in several Muslim countries over France’s response to the killing of the teacher. The Prophet cartoons were re-printed elsewhere as well.
At the time, Khan’s government signed a deal promising to present a resolution in parliament by April 20 to seek approval for the expulsion of the French envoy and to endorse a boycott of French products.
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India’s Capital Shuts Down as Pandemic Chokes Health Care System
India’s capital, New Delhi, has announced a six-day lockdown as the city’s health system became overwhelmed after a record spike in cases of COVID-19.As India reels under a second wave of the pandemic, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson cancelled a trip to New Delhi scheduled to take place next week.India’s Foreign Ministry said the two sides “will hold a virtual meeting in the coming days to launch plans for a transformed U.K.-India relationship.”New Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said at a virtual press briefing on Monday that there were fewer than 100 critical care beds left in the city’s hospitals and that medical oxygen and key drugs were in short supply.“I don’t say it has collapsed, but every health system has its limits, and if we don’t take tough steps now, it can collapse,” he said announcing the decision to shut down the city till next Monday.Pointing out that the city of 20 million has recorded about 25,000 cases daily in recent days, he said that hospitals are unable to take more patients in big numbers.The Indian capital is not the only one struggling to cope – in other cities too like the country’s financial capital Mumbai – people are scrambling for hospital beds and authorities are flagging shortages of medical oxygen and medicines.A patient with breathing problem is helped by a relative to enter a COVID-19 hospital for treatment in Ahmedabad, India, April 19, 2021.Mumbai has already shut down most industries, businesses, and public places until the end of the month.In recent days, social media platforms have been filled with appeals asking for help to secure beds, medicines, ventilators, and even tests for COVID-19. The pandemic’s second wave in India is proving far deadlier than the first with daily infections spiking to new record levels in recent days. The nationwide count on Monday was 273,810, taking the country past the 15 million number in total cases.The surge has caught the vast country unprepared. Just weeks ago, authorities were optimistic that the threat posed by the virus was passing. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said in early March that India was in the “endgame of the pandemic,” as daily infections plummeted.Workers arrange beds at a COVID-19 treatment facility newly set up at an indoor stadium in Gauhati, India, April 19, 2021.But by the start of this month, India was staring at the virus ravaging through the country at a pace not seen during the first wave.Epidemiologists say India let its guard down too soon and was not sufficiently prepared for a second wave or for more infectious variants, which many countries have witnessed.The economy opened fully, packed political rallies have been held as five states went to the polls and one of the world’s biggest religious festivals in the northern city of Haridwar has seen millions turn out daily to take a dip in the Ganges with little heed to COVID-19 protocols of social distancing and masking.Now sprawling cities like New Delhi are scrambling to deal with the fallout. As the Indian capital shuts down, Chief Minister Kejriwal appealed to millions of migrant workers not to worry – a lockdown last year had devastated migrant labor, prompting many to walk hundreds of kilometers to their villages.”I know when lockdowns are announced, daily-wage workers suffer and lose their jobs,” said Kejriwal. “But I appeal to them to not leave Delhi, it’s a short lockdown and we will take care of you.”
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‘Ultimate Betrayal’ – Premier League Fan Groups Unite to Condemn Super League
Fans of the Premier League clubs named as part of the breakaway Super League launched on Sunday have joined forces to condemn the move with Chelsea’s Supporters’ Trust describing it as the “ultimate betrayal.”
The Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust said it was “deeply concerned” at their club’s involvement while Arsenal’s Supporters’ Trust described it on Twitter as “the death of the club as a sporting institution.”
Manchester United’s Supporters’ Trust (MUST) also stood firm against the Super League which would have the club’s co-chairman, American Joel Glazer, as it’s vice-chairman.
“These proposals are completely unacceptable and will shock Manchester United fans, as well as those of many other clubs,” it said in a statement.
“When Sir Matt Busby led us into the European Cup in the 1950s, the modern Manchester United was founded in the tragedy and then triumph that followed. To even contemplate walking away from that competition would be a betrayal of everything this club has ever stood for.”
Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham were named as six of the 12 founders of the Super League which has been widely condemned across the game and beyond and is likely to spark a bitter battle for control of the game in Europe.
In statement the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust (CST) said: “Our members and football supporters across the world have experienced the ultimate betrayal.
“This is a decision of greed to line the pockets of those at the top and it has been made with no consideration for the loyal supporters, our history, our future and the future of football in this country.
“This is unforgivable. Enough is enough.”
Unlike Chelsea, Tottenham’s record of winning silverware has been lamentable over the past few decades and they have not won the English title since 1961.
Their last trophy was in 2008 and while they have a state-of-the-art 60,000-seater stadium regarded as one of the best in Europe, they are unlikely to qualify for the Champions League next season. On Monday they sacked manager Jose Mourinho.
“The Board of Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust is deeply concerned by rapidly escalating reports linking Tottenham Hotspur Football Club with a breakaway European Super League: a concept driven by avarice and self-interest at the expense of the intrinsic values of the game we hold so dear,” a statement on the THST website said.
“Along with fan groups at Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea, we wholeheartedly oppose the move to create a closed shop for Europe’s elite.”
“We call on (owners) ENIC, the temporary custodians of our great club, to distance themselves from any rebel group and to consider the implications fully before making decisions that will fundamentally change the course of history for Tottenham Hotspur forever,” it said.
“The future of our Club is at stake.”
Manchester City Official Supporter’s Club (OSC) also voiced its opposition.
“This proposed new competition has no sporting merit and would seem to be motivated by greed,” it said. “Those involved have zero regard for the game’s traditions.”
Responding to the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust post on Twitter, Liverpool’s Spirit of Shankly group replied: “Solidarity needed now more than ever.”
In a further Tweet SOS said: “Embarrassing as fan representatives we are appalled & completely oppose this decision. (Owners) Fenway Sports Group have ignored fans in their relentless and greedy pursuit of money.”
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Hunger-Striking Russian Opposition Leader Navalny Moved to Prison Hospital
Russian prison officials said Monday that hunger-striking, jailed opposition politician Alexey Navalny has been transferred to a prison hospital. “At the present time, Navalny’s health is assessed as satisfactory, and he is being examined daily by a physician,” the federal penitentiary service said in a statement. “With the patient’s consent, he was prescribed vitamin therapy.” Navalny’s allies did not have an immediate response to the opposition leader’s move to the hospital at a high security prison east of Moscow. Earlier Monday, a Navalny ally had warned that there was no hope of receiving good news about his health. FILE – Russian opposition activist Lyubov Sobol speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Moscow, Russia, Aug. 28, 2020.Lyubov Sobol told Ekho Moskvy radio on Monday that Navalny’s allies expect to receive an update about the politician’s health status later in the day, according to the Reuters news agency. Allies of Navalny announced nationwide protests after the opposition figure’s family and personal doctors released blood analysis results that suggested he was at high risk of cardiac arrest or kidney failure. The planned protests are scheduled for Wednesday and fall on the same day that President Vladimir Putin delivers his annual State of the Nation address from just outside the Kremlin — all but ensuring a tense standoff between Navalny supporters and police in the capital, Moscow. Over the weekend, Navalny’s doctors said that blood tests — provided by the opposition figure’s lawyers to his family — showed his potassium count had reached a “critical level.” “This means both impaired renal function and that serious heart rhythm problems can happen any minute,” said the letter, which was signed by Navalny’s personal physician, Anastasia Vasilyeva, and three other doctors. “If they don’t start treating Navalny, he will die within days,” warned his other physician, Alexander Polupan. FILE – A still image from CCTV footage published by Life.Ru shows what is said to be Alexey Navalny speaking with a prison guard at the IK-2 corrective penal colony in the town of Pokrov, Russia, in this image released Apr. 2, 2021.Navalny, 44, is currently on the third week of a hunger strike in an effort to gain access to medical treatment. He is serving a 2½-year sentence in a prison 100 kilometers from Moscow. On Friday, the opposition leader said prison authorities were threatening to force-feed him. Previously, he has detailed efforts by prison authorities to lure him out of his hunger strike — including slipping candy into his pockets and grilling chicken in the prison barracks. For several weeks, Navalny has described acute pain in his back that caused a loss of sensation in his legs and arms. Through his lawyers, he has also complained of a severe cough and dizziness. Navalny maintains that his ailments are linked to an August 2020 poisoning attack with a military-grade nerve agent that nearly took his life, and that he and Western governments blame on the Russian government. The Kremlin has denied any involvement but also refused to investigate the incident — saying that there is no definitive proof Navalny was ever poisoned. The government has also deployed state media to Navalny’s prison to film reports that portray conditions at the penal colony as near ideal, and Navalny as seeking special treatment by faking his symptoms. Yet the latest blood results suggested Navalny’s very survival was at stake, said his press secretary, Kira Yarmysh, on social media. A poisoned affair Navalny was sentenced to prison in February for violating parole obligations dating back to a 2014 fraud conviction he argues was politically motivated to disqualify him from taking part in Russia’s political space. The parole violation charges appeared only after Navalny had spent months recovering in a German hospital from the poison attack. The action was widely seen as an effort by the Kremlin to strongly encourage the opposition figure to remain in exile. Instead, Navalny announced he was returning home to Moscow, where he was promptly detained at the airport by police in January. FILE – Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is seen at the passport control point at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, Jan. 17, 2021.Following his conviction, it later emerged he would be serving out his sentence at the IK-2 facility in the town of Pokrov, a high-security prison known for imposing a strict regime of psychological pressure on prisoners, say former inmates. The United States and its European allies have demanded Navalny’s release and issued sanctions against top Russian government officials and state entities involved. The Kremlin has rebuffed Western demands and sanctions as attempts to interfere in Russia’s internal affairs. Fern Robinson contributed to this report.
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12 of Europe’s Top Football Clubs Form Breakaway League, Amid Criticism
Twelve of Europe’s top football clubs launched a breakaway Super League on Sunday, in what is certain to be a bitter battle for control of the game and its lucrative revenue.The move sets up a rival to UEFA’s established Champions League competition and was condemned by football authorities and political leaders.Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus are among the leading members of the new league, but UEFA has threatened to ban them from domestic and international competition and vowed to fight the move.French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson both issued statements condemning the breakaway and supporting UEFA’s position.Along with United, English Premier League clubs Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur have signed up to the plans.Barcelona and Atletico Madrid from Spain join Real. AC Milan and Inter Milan make up the trio from Italy along with Juventus.The Super League said they aimed to have 15 founding members and a 20-team league with five other clubs qualifying each season.The clubs would share a fund of 3.5 billion euros ($4.19 billion) to spend on infrastructure projects and to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.”We will help football at every level and take it to its rightful place in the world. Football is the only global sport in the world with more than 4 billion fans and our responsibility as big clubs is to respond to their desires,” said Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, the first chairman of the Super League.No German or French clubs have yet to be associated with the breakaway.World soccer’s governing body, FIFA, expressed its “disapproval to a ‘closed European breakaway league’ outside of the international football structures.”But there was no mention of a previous threat from FIFA to ban any players taking part in a breakaway from participating in World Cups.The announcement came just hours before UEFA is to sign off on its own plans for an expanded and restructured 36 team Champions League on Monday.UEFA issued a strong statement jointly with English, Spanish and Italian leagues and football federations, saying they were ready to use “all measures” to confront any breakaway and saying any participating clubs would be banned from domestic leagues, such as the Premier League.”The clubs concerned will be banned from playing in any other competition at domestic, European or world level, and their players could be denied the opportunity to represent their national teams,” UEFA said.”We thank those clubs in other countries, especially the French and German clubs, who have refused to sign up to this. We call on all lovers of football, supporters and politicians, to join us in fighting against such a project if it were to be announced. This persistent self-interest of a few has been going on for too long. Enough is enough.”The moves were condemned by football authorities across Europe and former players such as Manchester United’s ex-captain Gary Neville who called it “an absolute disgrace” and said the club owners were motivated by “pure greed.”France’s Macron raised his voice against the breakaway.”The president of the republic welcomes the position of French clubs to refuse to participate to a European football Super League project that threatens the principle of solidarity and sporting merit,” the French presidency said in a statement sent to Reuters.”The French state will support all the steps taken by the LFP, FFF, UEFA and FIFA to protect the integrity of federal competitions, whether national or European,” the Elysee added, citing the national, European and globally soccer governing bodies.Britain’s Johnson also opposed the move.”Plans for a European Super League would be very damaging for football and we support football authorities in taking action,” he tweeted.”They would strike at the heart of the domestic game and will concern fans across the country. The clubs involved must answer to their fans and the wider footballing community before taking any further steps.”There have been reports of a breakaway for several years and they returned in January with several media reported a document had been produced outlining the plans.In October, then Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu said the club had accepted a proposal to join a breakaway league.Those reports led FIFA and UEFA to warn that they would ban any players involved in a breakaway from playing in the World Cup or European Championship.
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India Reports a Record 273,810 COVID Cases in One Day
India’s Health Ministry Monday announced a record 273,810 new COVID cases in the previous 24-hour period. About 1 in 3 people tested for COVID-19 in the Indian capital of New Delhi recently returned a positive result, according to the city’s chief minister Sunday. “The bigger worry is that in last 24 hours positivity rate has increased to around 30% from 24%,” chief minister Arvind Kejriwal told a news briefing Sunday. “The cases are rising very rapidly. The beds are filling fast,” he said. People in Delhi have turned to social media to complain about the lack of oxygen cannisters and the shortages of hospital beds and drugs. With more than 15 million people with the infection, India is second to the U.S. which has 31.6 million infections. Just more than 1% of India’s population has been vaccinated, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Cases surge in Iran On Sunday, Iran reported its highest daily death toll from the coronavirus in months, as hospitals in the capital and elsewhere were filling to capacity. Iran’s Health Ministry reported 405 deaths from the virus and confirmed more than 21,000 infections Sunday. The country’s highest single-day death toll was 480 last November. People walk next to closed shops of Tehran Bazaar following the tightening of restrictions to curb the surge of COVID-19 cases, Tehran, Apr. 10, 2021. (Majid Asgaripour/(West Asia News Agency via Reuters)Iran has battled one of the worst outbreaks in the region but has said it cannot sustain long lockdowns to quell the virus for fear of too much economic damage. Iran’s vaccination campaign has been slow, dependent on a range of domestically made vaccines. About one-tenth of 1% of its population has been fully vaccinated, according to Johns Hopkins. Meanwhile Sunday, Israel lifted the requirement that masks be worn outdoors. Nearly 56% of its population is fully vaccinated against the virus, according to Johns Hopkins. The mask mandate remains in place, however, for enclosed spaces. Half US adult population vaccinatedThe United States reported Sunday that just over half of its adult population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. FILE – A woman receives the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a FEMA vaccination center at Miami Dade College, April 5, 2021.The United States halted use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine while it investigates rare incidents of blood clots, but Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, said he expects use of the shot to resume within a week. “I doubt very seriously if they just cancel it. I don’t think that’s going to happen. I do think that there will likely be some sort of warning or restriction or risk assessment,” Fauci said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Fauci, former President Barack Obama and several American celebrities appeared Sunday night on “Roll Up Your Sleeves,” a nationally televised special aimed at decreasing vaccine hesitancy in the United States. France to impose quarantinesBeginning April 24, France will require all travelers from Brazil, as well as Argentina, Chile and South Africa, to quarantine for 10 days over concerns of coronavirus variants coming in from those regions, the government announced Saturday. Police is tasked at monitoring arrivals to ensure compliance. Cemetery workers wearing protective gear lower the coffin of a person who died from complications related to COVID-19 into a gravesite at the Vila Formosa cemetery in Sao Paulo, Brazil, April 7, 2021.Brazil had 13.9 million COVID cases as of early Monday, according to Johns Hopkins. Only the U.S. and India have more cases. Flights from Brazil into France will remain suspended until the new rules take effect. More than 373,000 people have died in Brazil from COVID, according to data from Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The U.S. is the only country that has more COVID deaths, at more than 567,000. There have been more than 3 million global deaths from the coronavirus.
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India’s Capital to Lock Down as Nation’s Virus Cases Top 15M
New Delhi was being put under a weeklong lockdown Monday night as an explosive surge in coronavirus cases pushed the India’s capital’s health system to its limit. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said in a news conference the national capital was facing shortages of oxygen and some medicine. “I do not say that the system has collapsed, but it has reached its limits,” Kejriwal said, adding that harsh measures were necessary to “prevent a collapse of the health system.” According to India’s health ministry on Monday, Delhi reported 25,462 cases and 161 deaths in the past 24 hours.A health worker takes a nasal swab sample of a man to test for COVID-19 as others wait their turn to get tested at a hospital in Hyderabad, India, April 19, 2021.India overall reported 273,810 new infections on Monday, its highest daily rise since the start of the pandemic and now has reported more than 15 million infections, a total second only to the United States. The Health Ministry also reported 1,619 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, pushing the toll over 178,769. India has the fourth highest number of deaths after the U.S., Brazil and Mexico — though, with nearly 1.4 billion people, it has a much larger population than any of those countries. The soaring cases and deaths come just months after India thought it had seen the worst of the pandemic, but experts say even these figures are likely an undercount. Similar virus curbs already have been imposed in the worst-hit state of Maharashtra, home to India’s financial capital, Mumbai. The closure of most industries, businesses and public places Wednesday night is to last 15 days.
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Amid Criticism, 12 of Europe’s Top Football Clubs Form Breakaway League
Twelve of Europe’s top football clubs launched a breakaway Super League on Sunday, launching what is certain to be a bitter battle for control of the game and its lucrative revenue.The move sets up a rival to UEFA’s established Champions League competition and was condemned by football authorities and political leaders.Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus are among the leading members of the new league, but UEFA has threatened to ban them from domestic and international competition and vowed to fight the move.French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson both issued statements condemning the breakaway and supporting UEFA’s position.Along with United, English Premier League clubs Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur have signed up to the plans.Barcelona and Atletico Madrid from Spain join Real. AC Milan and Inter Milan make up the trio from Italy along with Juventus.The Super League said they aimed to have 15 founding members and a 20-team league with five other clubs qualifying each season.The clubs would share a fund of 3.5 billion euros ($4.19 billion) to spend on infrastructure projects and to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.”We will help football at every level and take it to its rightful place in the world. Football is the only global sport in the world with more than 4 billion fans and our responsibility as big clubs is to respond to their desires,” said Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, the first chairman of the Super League.No German or French clubs have yet to be associated with the breakaway.World soccer’s governing body, FIFA, expressed its “disapproval to a ‘closed European breakaway league’ outside of the international football structures.”But there was no mention of a previous threat from FIFA to ban any players taking part in a breakaway from participating in World Cups.The announcement came just hours before UEFA is to sign off on its own plans for an expanded and restructured 36 team Champions League on Monday.UEFA issued a strong statement jointly with English, Spanish and Italian leagues and football federations, saying they were ready to use “all measures” to confront any breakaway and saying any participating clubs would be banned from domestic leagues, such as the Premier League.”The clubs concerned will be banned from playing in any other competition at domestic, European or world level, and their players could be denied the opportunity to represent their national teams,” UEFA said.”We thank those clubs in other countries, especially the French and German clubs, who have refused to sign up to this. We call on all lovers of football, supporters and politicians, to join us in fighting against such a project if it were to be announced. This persistent self-interest of a few has been going on for too long. Enough is enough.”The moves were condemned by football authorities across Europe and former players such as Manchester United’s ex-captain Gary Neville who called it “an absolute disgrace” and said the club owners were motivated by “pure greed.”France’s Macron raised his voice against the breakaway.”The president of the republic welcomes the position of French clubs to refuse to participate to a European football Super League project that threatens the principle of solidarity and sporting merit,” the French presidency said in a statement sent to Reuters.”The French state will support all the steps taken by the LFP, FFF, UEFA and FIFA to protect the integrity of federal competitions, whether national or European,” the Elysee added, citing the national, European and globally soccer governing bodies.Britain’s Johnson also opposed the move.”Plans for a European Super League would be very damaging for football and we support football authorities in taking action,” he tweeted.”They would strike at the heart of the domestic game and will concern fans across the country. The clubs involved must answer to their fans and the wider footballing community before taking any further steps.”There have been reports of a breakaway for several years and they returned in January with several media reported a document had been produced outlining the plans.In October, then Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu said the club had accepted a proposal to join a breakaway league.Those reports led FIFA and UEFA to warn that they would ban any players involved in a breakaway from playing in the World Cup or European Championship.
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Chad Army Says It Has Stopped Rebel Advance Toward Capital
The Chadian military said it had halted an advance by rebels coming from neighboring Libya, but the rebel group said Sunday that it was pressing ahead after the American and British embassies warned of a possible assault on the capital in the coming days.Army spokesman Azim Bermandoa Agouna said that clashes had taken place late Saturday in the northern province of Kanem and that the rebel column from Libya was “totally decimated.””Congratulations to our valiant defense and security forces,” government spokesman Cherif Mahamat Zene tweeted, describing the rebel forces as “mercenaries coming from Libya.”It was not immediately possible to independently corroborate the claims given the remote location where the fighting took place. A warning issued to British citizens, though, said there were believed to be two rebel convoys — one moving from the town of Faya toward the capital, N’Djamena, and another seen headed toward the town of Mao.The rebel group known as the Front for Change and Concord in Chad issued a statement Sunday on its Facebook page stating that its forces had begun “the liberation of Kanem region.””We assure all residents of the city of N’Djamena, including diplomatic staff, United Nations agents, organizations, partners, and expats working in Chad to stay calm and avoid unnecessary travel outside the city of N’Djamena,” said the statement issued by spokesman Kingabe Ogouzeimi de Tabul.The rebels are believed to have crossed over into Chad a week ago on election day as President Idriss Deby sought to extend his three-decade-long grip on power. While the incumbent was all but certain to win another term, official results have not yet been released.The U.S. State Department on Saturday ordered nonessential diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Chad to leave along with the families of American personnel stationed there, saying armed groups appear to be moving on the capital.”Due to their growing proximity to N’Djamena, and the possibility for violence in the city, nonessential U.S. government employees have been ordered to leave Chad by commercial airline,” the department said in a travel alert.The central African nation has had a long history of rebellions during the 30-year reign of Deby. In 2019, French armed forces intervened in northern Chad and launched airstrikes at an armed group coming in from Libya.In 2008, clashes reached the gate of the presidential palace before Chad’s army repelled rebel forces and pursued them eastward toward the Sudanese border. Chad, a former French colony, is home to France’s military Operation Barkhane, which deploys troops across the continent to fight Islamic extremism. The Chadian military also has played a major role in that effort, contributing troops to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali.Chadian soldiers also have long battled militants from the extremist group Boko Haram, which started in northeastern Nigeria and spread to neighboring countries. About 330,000 Chadians are internally displaced, the majority in the volatile Lake Chad region where Boko Haram fighters are most active.
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Israel, Greece Sign Record Defense Deal
Israel and Greece have signed their biggest ever defense procurement deal, which Israel said Sunday would strengthen political and economic ties between the two countries as their air forces launched a joint exercise.The agreement includes a $1.65 billion contract for the establishment and operation of a training center for the Hellenic Air Force by Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems over 22 years, Israel’s defense ministry said.The training center will be modeled on Israel’s flight academy and will be equipped with 10 M-346 training aircraft produced by Italy’s Leonardo, the ministry said.Elbit will supply kits to upgrade and operate Greece’s T-6 aircraft and also provide training, simulators and logistical support.”I am certain that (this program) will upgrade the capabilities and strengthen the economies of Israel and Greece and thus the partnership between our two countries will deepen on the defense, economic and political levels,” said Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz.The announcement follows a meeting Friday in Cyprus between the UAE, Greek, Cypriot and Israeli foreign ministers, who agreed to deepen cooperation.The Israeli and Greek air forces on Sunday launched a joint exercise in Greece, the Israeli military said.In at least one past exercise over Greece, Israeli fighter planes practiced against an S-300 posted on Crete. The Russian-made air defense system is also deployed in Syria and Iran, Israel’s foes.A source in the Hellenic National Defense Command said the S-300 had not been activated in the joint exercise that began Sunday.
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UNHCR Voices Concern After Botswana Deports Zimbabwean Refugees
The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says it is concerned after Botswana deported 57 Zimbabwean refugees who had lived in the host country since 2008. The refugees reportedly failed to register for voluntary repatriation, which led to their forced removal late last week.
The UNHCR’s external relations officer, Kate Pond, says the refugees, irrespective of their status, have rights and could have been allowed to remain as permanent residents.
“UNHCR remains concerned that Zimbabweans who have been in Botswana for over a decade have been removed to Zimbabwe in less than voluntary circumstances. Irrespective of their status they still have certain rights, and UNHCR had aimed for alternative solutions, like those provided to Zimbabweans who have family links in Botswana and may be able to remain in the country as permanent residents,” Pond said.
One of the deported refugees, speaking on condition of anonymity, says they were rounded up Thursday and told to board a bus which took them to Zimbabwe’s border.
“We left Botswana on empty stomachs. We were deported to the border and we didn’t get any assistance. We wanted to remain in Botswana; that’s why we did not register [for repatriation]. We have nothing, we don’t know where to start. We had children going to school. It will be difficult without documents like passports and identity cards,” the refugee said.
The deportees had been living at the Dukwi refugee camp. Botswana’s government had warned that refugees who did not register would be deported.
Last month, Botswana sent back more than 200 other Zimbabweans who had registered for voluntary repatriation.
The repatriated refugees had initially refused to do so, citing fears of persecution in their homeland.
Most were opposition activists whose homes were burned down during a deadly presidential election campaign in 2008.
But one of the returnees, Bheki Weza, says they have surprisingly been well received in Zimbabwe despite their earlier safety concerns.
“We are very happy about the situation. As we speak, I am now home still trying to settle down and adjust to the difficult economic conditions here in Zimbabwe. But I am happy because there is still peace surrounding us. I have met with the chiefs and even met with people that we fought with before I left. So far so good,” Weza said.
The UNHCR says it will continue to assist refugees who were repatriated. Each person received $520 and a food package. But the agency says there will be no such assistance for the deported refugees.
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Russia Expels 20 Czechs After Blast Blamed on Skripal Suspects
Moscow expelled 20 Czech diplomats on Sunday in a confrontation over Czech allegations that two Russian spies accused of a nerve agent poisoning in Britain in 2018 were behind an earlier explosion at a Czech ammunition depot that killed two people.On Saturday, Prague ordered 18 Russian diplomats to leave the country, prompting Russia to vow Sunday to “force the authors of this provocation to fully understand their responsibility for destroying the foundation of normal ties between our countries.”Moscow gave the Czech diplomats just a day to leave, while Prague had given the Russians three days.The Czech Republic said it had informed NATO and European Union allies that it suspected Russia of causing the 2014 blast, and European Union foreign ministers were set to discuss the matter at their meeting Monday.The U.S. State Department commended Prague’s firm response to “Russia’s subversive actions on Czech soil.”The row is the biggest between Prague and Moscow since the end of decades of Soviet domination of eastern Europe in 1989.It also adds to growing tensions between Russia and the West in general, raised in part by Russia’s military buildup on its western borders and in Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, after a surge in fighting between government and pro-Russian forces in Ukraine’s east.Russia said Prague’s accusations were absurd as it had previously blamed the blast at Vrbetice, 300 kilometers (210 miles) east of the capital, on the depot’s owners.It called the expulsions “the continuation of a series of anti-Russian actions undertaken by the Czech Republic in recent years,” accusing Prague of “striving to please the United States against the backdrop of recent U.S. sanctions against Russia.”Arms shipmentCzech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said the attack had been aimed at a shipment to a Bulgarian arms trader.”This was an attack on ammunition that had already been paid for and was being stored for a Bulgarian arms trader,” he said on Czech Television.He said the arms trader, whom he did not name, had later been the target of an attempted murder.Bulgarian prosecutors charged three Russian men in 2020 with an attempt to kill arms trader Emilian Gebrev, who was identified by Czech media as the same individual. Reuters was unable to reach Gebrev for comment.Czech police said two men using the names Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov had traveled to the Czech Republic days before the arms depot blast.FILE – A still image taken from video footage and released by Russia’s RT international news channel Sept. 13, 2018, shows two Russian men identified as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov during an interview at an unnamed location.Those names were the aliases used by the two Russian GRU military intelligence officers wanted by Britain for the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok in the English city of Salisbury in 2018. The Skripals survived, but a member of the public died.The Kremlin denied involvement in that incident, and the attackers remain at large.Czech Interior and acting Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek said police knew about the two people from the beginning, “but only found out when the Salisbury attack happened that they are members of the GRU, that Unit 29155.”Hamacek said Prague would ask Moscow for assistance in questioning them but did not expect it to cooperate.‘Dangerous and malign’British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab tweeted that the Czechs “have exposed the lengths that the GRU will go to in their attempts to conduct dangerous and malign operations.”A NATO official said the alliance would support the Czech Republic as it investigated Russia’s “malign activities,” which were part of a pattern of “dangerous behavior.””Those responsible must be brought to justice,” added the official, who declined to be named.The United States imposed sanctions against Russia on Thursday for interfering in last year’s U.S. election, cyber hacking, bullying Ukraine and other actions, prompting Moscow to retaliate.On Sunday, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Washington had told Moscow “there will be consequences” if Alexey Navalny, the opposition figure who almost died last year after being given a toxin that Western experts say was Novichok, dies in prison, where he is on hunger strike.The 2014 incident has resurfaced at an awkward time for Prague and Moscow.The Czech Republic is planning to put the construction of a new nuclear power plant at its Dukovany complex out to bid.Security services have demanded that Russia’s Rosatom be excluded as a security risk, while President Milos Zeman and other senior officials have been supporting Russia’s case.In a text message, Industry Minister Karel Havlicek, who was previously in favor of including Russia, told Reuters: “The probability that Rosatom will participate in the expansion of Dukovany is very low.”
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Malawi’s Ex-President Says Government Politically Persecuting Him
Malawi’s former president, Peter Mutharika, has accused the government of politically persecuting him. During a televised news conference at his residence in Mangochi district Saturday, Mutharika cited the freezing of his bank accounts and arrests of his party officials over corruption allegations as examples. But authorities say they are only following the law.
Mutharika, who lost to President Lazarus Chakwera during last year’s elections, faces legal action for administrative blunders committed when he was in office.
The latest is the case in which he is expected to pay about $87,000 in legal fees by wrongly forcing Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda and Justice of Appeal Edward Twea on leave during his administration.
And in August, Malawi’s Anti-Corruption Bureau froze bank accounts of Mutharika and his wife, Gertrude, as part of investigations into his role in a scandal in which bags of cement worth about $6.6 million entered the country without being taxed.
Various efforts by Mutharika’s lawyers to have his bank accounts unfrozen have proven unsuccessful.
Mutharika told reporters the freezing of his accounts is persecution of the highest form.
“The aim is simply to create hardship on me. Even the account where my retirement package comes in, that account is closed. So, my retirement benefits cannot come in. The idea is to make me totally incompetent financially to make me impossible to support the DPP (Democratic Progressive Party), and therefore to destroy the DPP and make a one-party dictatorship,” he said.
Banging on a table as he spoke, Mutharika called on the government to end what he said was a tendency of persecuting former presidents.“Persecuting former heads of state should stop in this country. It doesn’t happen anywhere else. It doesn’t happen in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Rwanda, anywhere else. It’s only in this country where this kind of stupidity continues to go on. I want it to stop,” Mutharika said.
Latim Matenje, a political analyst with the Political Science Association of Malawi, says Mutharika is justified to think that the government is persecuting him, considering the time his accounts have been frozen.
“From my perspective, freezing the accounts of somebody right from August up to April, I mean, it’s inhumane. One would wonder what that person is eating. So, for him to claim that I am not surprised,” he said.
Matenje said the government can prove Mutharika is wrong by letting him access his bank accounts as the probe into the case progresses. Matenje, however, faulted Mutharika for making similar comparisons to a former president.“The call itself is justifiable but not from him. It is surprising it’s him doing so because he did the same to Dr. Joyce Banda because she left Malawi; she went outside because of persecution here,” Matenje said.In 2014, Banda, who was Mutharika’s predecessor, fled the country after being implicated in what became known as the Cashgate scandal, in which government officials siphoned off millions of dollars of public money.Reacting to Mutharika’s accusations, government spokesperson Gospel Kazako said Mutharika is wrong by alleging persecution.Kazako, who also serves as the minister of information, says the government is only following the laws of the country.
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No Guarantees on Afghanistan After Troop Pullout, Says Top Biden Aide
No one can say with any certainty what will happen in Afghanistan once U.S. President Joe Biden withdraws the remaining 2,500 to 3,500 U.S. troops by September 11 to end the country’s longest war, a top White House official said Sunday.”I can’t make any guarantees about what will happen inside the country. No one can,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told the “Fox News Sunday” show.”All the United States could do is provide the Afghan security forces, the Afghan government and the Afghan people resources and capabilities, training and equipping their forces, providing assistance to their government,” he said. “We have done that and now it is time for American troops to come home and the Afghan people to step up to defend their own country.”Biden’s decision to withdraw the remaining troops has drawn a mixed reaction in Washington. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called it a grave mistake and “a retreat in the face of an enemy.” Senator Lindsey Graham said it was “dumber than dirt and devilishly dangerous.” Even some Democrats were concerned by the decision, including Senator Robert Menendez, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, who worried the U.S. may “lost what we were seeking to achieve.”
But other lawmakers say it was long past time for the U.S. to withdraw the troops it sent to Afghanistan to defeat the al-Qaida terrorists who masterminded and carried out the September 11, 2001, attacks in the U.S. that killed nearly 3,000 people. But critics of Biden’s decision to withdraw troops 20 years later say it could lead to creation of a new terrorist haven in Afghanistan.Uncertainty Surrounds US Pullout From AfghanistanPentagon says that planners are still working out the details and a brief surge is possible to ensure a safe, orderly withdrawalAsked in a separate interview on CNN whether the U.S. “won the war” in Afghanistan, Sullivan replied that the U.S. had “achieved its objective” by degrading the presence of al-Qaida and killing al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in a 2011 mission in Pakistan.He said the U.S. troop withdrawal now was a recognition that the U.S. needs to “focus on the battle of the next 20 years, not the last 20 years.”Sullivan, in the Fox News interview, was asked whether the U.S. was risking a repeat of what happened in Iraq in 2011, where Islamic State militants seized territory after U.S. troops withdrew. Then-President Barack Obama sent troops back into Iraq, but Sullivan said Biden had no intention of sending American forces back to Afghanistan once they are withdrawn.As he announced his decision to withdraw U.S. troops, Biden said the United States would monitor any terrorist threats in Afghanistan and keep substantial assets in the region. “He has no intention of taking our eye off the ball,” Sullivan said. “We have the capacity, from repositioning our capabilities over the horizon, to continue to suppress the terrorist threat in Afghanistan.”But CIA Director William Burns told the Senate Intelligence Committee last week that with the departure of U.S. troops, America’s ability to collect intelligence and act against extremist threats in Afghanistan will be diminished.A United Nations report in January said there were as many as 500 al-Qaida fighters in Afghanistan.
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In Pakistan, Clashes Between Police, Islamists Reportedly Leave 2 Dead
Clashes between a recently banned Islamist party and police in Pakistan’s second-largest city, Lahore, reportedly left at least two people dead and scores of others wounded Sunday.Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) was demanding that Pakistan expel the French ambassador over the French president’s remarks defending freedom of expression regarding caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. Police from Punjab province said Sunday’s action was in response to the TLP attacking a police station, trapping officers and Rangers, members of a paramilitary force, inside, kidnapping a senior police officer, and stealing an oil tanker containing 50,000 liters of fuel. “The miscreants were armed and attacked Rangers/Police with patrol bombs,” a tweet from Punjab police’s official Twitter handle said. The entire episode unfolded on social media as the mainstream news outlets, especially the country’s dozens of 24/7 television channels, were ordered not to report it. “Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority banned coverage of TLP,” tweeted senior journalist Hamir Mir, the anchor of a prime-time current affairs show on Pakistani Geo News TV channel. Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority banned coverage of TLP TV channels are not covering the operation against TLP in Lahore but all information and videos are available on social media so PEMRA ban is now useless media will lose its credibility https://t.co/5Yi0ozVjhL
— Hamid Mir (@HamidMirPAK) FILE – The coffin of slain teacher Samuel Paty is carried away in the courtyard of the Sorbonne university during a national memorial event, Oct. 21, 2020 in Paris.The incident came days after Paty showed his class controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet in a discussion on freedom of expression. The cartoons had been published in satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which came under a terrorist attack in January 2015. Many Muslims considered the images blasphemous. The October incident took place less than a month after a Pakistani immigrant stabbed two people outside Charlie Hebdo’s old Paris headquarters. In both cases, the suspects appeared to retaliate against the publication of the cartoons, which originally inspired the 2015 attack. French President Emmanuel Macron called Paty a hero and vowed to defend the country’s liberal values and freedom of expression, including the right to mock religion. His statement caused an uproar in parts of the Muslim world, including Pakistan, where the TLP led the charge in demanding Pakistan boycott French products and sever diplomatic ties with the country. After banning the TLP in his country, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan Saturday demanded the Western nations criminalize insulting Islam’s prophet in the same way that some countries make it a crime to deny the Holocaust occurred. Those in the West, incl extreme right politicians, who deliberately indulge in such abuse & hate under guise of freedom of speech clearly lack moral sense & courage to apologise to the 1.3 bn Muslims for causing this hurt. We demand an apology from these extremists.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) April 17, 2021
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