Allies of jailed Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny announced nationwide protests for this Wednesday — after the opposition figure’s family and personal doctors released blood analysis results that suggested Navalny was at high risk of cardiac arrest or kidney failure barring immediate care. The planned protests 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. Navalny’s chief strategist, Leonid Volkov, announced the protests in a post to YouTube — arguing there was no time to lose. “They’re murdering Alexey Navalny — in a terrifying way right before our eyes,” said Volkov. Over the weekend, Navalny’s doctors said that blood tests — provided by the opposition figure’s lawyers to his family — showed Navalny’s 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. As of Sunday afternoon, prison authorities had yet to respond to their appeal for emergency medical care. A still image from CCTV footage published by Life.Ru shows what is said to be jailed Kremlin critic 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.Also sounding the alarm is a group of leading western academics and cultural figures — including Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, Hollywood director J.J. Abrams, award-winning author Salmon Rushdie, and Radiohead singer Thom Yorke — who published an appealFILE – National security adviser Jake Sullivan speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington.On Sunday, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program that “there will be consequences” if Navalny dies. On Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden called the Kremlin’s treatment of Navalny “totally unfair and totally inappropriate.” The Kremlin has rebuffed Western demands and sanctions as attempts to interfere in Russia’s internal affairs. Authorities in Moscow also maintain that any questions regarding Navalny’s treatment are to be directed to the prison authorities but said that his basic needs will be met.
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Month: April 2021
India’s Resurgent COVID-19 Pandemic Deals a Second Blow to Migrant Workers
For a second time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, rural migrants in India are packing buses and trains to head back to their villages as cities such as Delhi and Mumbai reimpose restrictions to control an unprecedented surge in infections. Just months ago, millions of migrant workers had returned from their villages to pick up work in factories, restaurants and markets that had begun humming again after a stringent nationwide lockdown imposed in March of last year. Once again, though, they have been hit with widespread job losses amid the new round of curbs in cities as India reels under a second wave of the pandemic. After returning to New Delhi in November from his village in India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state, Ashish Kumar found a job at a garment export factory, but he was laid off last month as his company did not get sufficient orders. His hopes of finding other employment receded as businesses slumped again amid a massive surge in infections. Fearful of a strict lockdown that had abruptly shut off transport and forced migrants to walk hundreds of kilometers home or stay shut in, in tiny city tenements last year, Kumar took no chances. Last week, he returned to his village. “I could not risk what happened last time. I was stranded in Delhi for two months and had to take out a 25,000 rupee [about $350] loan to buy food and pay rent,” a dispirited Kumar said. “I had barely repaid half of it when I lost my job again.” “There is no way to make a living in the village, but at least I don’t have to pay rent,” he said. A hospital staff tries to calm down an impatient crowd during the registration process for getting tested for COVID-19 at a government hospital in Noida, a suburb of New Delhi, India, April 13, 2021.In recent days, daily infections in India have gone past the 200,000 mark — the highest in the world and more than double the numbers counted at the peak of the first wave last September. On Sunday, the health ministry reported 261,394 cases, a record for a spike in a day. Cities such as Delhi and Mumbai, home to millions of rural migrants, are the worst-hit. The pendulum has swung completely since the start of the year, when plummeting cases triggered optimism the pandemic had waned in India and hopes rose that the economy, battered by a long lockdown, was getting back on its feet. Its megacities wore a look of normalcy as customers flocked to malls and restaurants, people packed holiday destinations and businesses saw a revival. Those cities have now again fallen quiet. Delhi has imposed a night and weekend curfew through the end of the month. Mumbai has closed down most industries and markets, and halted construction activity. FILE – Migrant laborers wearing masks as a precaution against the coronavirus wait for transportation in Jammu, India, April 16, 2021.Poonam Singh, who spoke with VOA last year after he was stranded in Mumbai, rushed to take a bus to his village in northern Rajasthan state 10 days ago after authorities began warning of strict measures to control soaring infections. He had returned from his rural home three months ago to work at a diamond processing unit. A train ride would have been cheaper, but he could not get a ticket amid the rush by migrants’ home. “I was worried when talk of a lockdown started. Last time we had to pay 30,000 rupees to a taxi to bring five others and me and five others back,” said Singh, who spent six weeks in a tiny room with three others with little money to buy food. About 100 million rural migrants work in India’s populous cities in the country’s vast informal sector. “The past year has been an unprecedented ordeal in the history of migrant labor. Work was not easily available or the number of working days each worker managed to get reduced, so earnings dropped. That has been the perpetual issue since COVID hit,” according to Anhad Imaan, at Aajeevika Bureau, a nonprofit that works with migrant labor in three Western cities — Mumbai, Surat and Ahmedabad, whose thriving industries have long been a magnet for migrant workers from poorer states in the north. Imaan said his organization doesn’t, know the scale of the exodus yet, but migrants face a tough choice with the pandemic’s resurgence. “If they go back, there is nothing in the villages. If they stay, they don’t know what is going to close, for how long and how it will impact their work,” he said. FILE – Impoverished Indians stand in queues to receive free food in Hyderabad, India, March 27, 2020.The number of poor people in India or those living on less than $2 a day is estimated to have increased by 75 million because of the COVID-19 recession, according to a recent analysis by Pew Research Center. That accounts for almost 60% of the global increase in poverty, according to the study. Raghav Malhotra of Aajeevika Bureau, who works among migrants employed by small manufacturers in Mumbai said distress is widespread. “A lot of people were just about recovering from last year when the restrictions began shutting down businesses again,” he said. “Even those who have stayed back in cities and not returned to their villages are languishing without any work.” He said government relief measures for the poor remain a severe problem for migrants. “These cater to domicile workers. Those who don’t have identity papers in the city cannot take advantage of subsidized food announced by the local authorities,” Malhotra said. The economic hardship is being exacerbated by fears that the migrants could carry the virus to their rural homes, where a creaky health infrastructure is not equipped to cope with the pandemic.
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Germany Calls for Unity as it Mourns COVID Dead
Germany held a national memorial service on Sunday for its nearly 80,000 victims of the coronavirus pandemic, with the president urging the country to put aside deep divisions over COVID restrictions to share the pain of grieving families. Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier joined an ecumenical service in the morning at Berlin’s Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, a memorial against war and destruction, before attending a ceremony later at the capital’s Konzerthaus concert hall. “Today, as a society, we want to remember those who died a lonely and often agonizing death during this dark time,” said Steinmeier. “I have the impression that we as a society do not make ourselves aware that behind all the numbers there are human fates, people. Their suffering and their deaths have often remained invisible to the public,” he said. With pandemic curbs still in force restricting the number of people who can attend, the ceremonies were being broadcast live on public television. As debate raged in Germany over measures put in place by Merkel’s government, including the limitation of social contact to halt contagion, Steinmeier said it was a “bitter truth” that such COVID restrictions had “also brought about suffering.” Besides the pain of losing a loved one, restrictions in place mean that relatives are often unable to even hold their family members’ hands as they lay dying. Others have been left grieving on their own, as funerals or memorials are curtailed. “We have restricted our lives to save lives. That is a conflict where there can be no way out without contradiction,” admitted Steinmeier. But he also defended the actions, saying that “politicians must make difficult, sometimes tragic decisions to prevent an even greater catastrophe.” “My request today is this: let us speak about pain and suffering and anger. But let us not lose ourselves in recriminations, in looking back, but let us once again gather strength for the way forward.” Candles of hope
Anita Schedel, the widow of a 59-year-old doctor who died from the virus, spoke of the ordeal of watching her husband first be hospitalized and then succumb to the disease. “After he arrived in hospital, my husband phoned me to say ‘Don’t worry, I’m in good hands. We’ll see each other again’. Those were his last words,” she said at the ceremony. “Until today, my memory is haunted by those long hospital corridors, the beeping machines and my husband marked by the illness,” she said. Regional leaders had urged citizens to join in the remembrance including by lighting candles by their windows from Friday to Sunday. “We want to be aware of what we lost, but we also want to find hope and strength together,” the premiers of Germany’s 16 states said in a statement. ‘Only makes it worse’ Sunday’s ceremony comes as health authorities warn that many more will succumb to the virus. Europe’s biggest economy had come out of the first wave relatively unscathed but has struggled to take decisive action to end the current one fueled mainly by the more contagious British variant. Another 19,185 new infections were recorded in the last 24 hours, according to the disease control agency RKI, with the numbers of deaths also rising by 67 to 79,914. Merkel’s government is seeking greater powers to impose tougher measures such as night-time curfews, in a bid to circumvent Germany’s powerful regional authorities, some of whom have resisted implementing tough restrictions. But the amendment still has to be approved by parliament, where opposition parties like the pro-business FDP have vowed to vote against it. Even junior coalition partner SPD is still seeking modifications, including for people to be allowed to go on walks during curfew hours. Merkel urged swift and decisive action. “The virus doesn’t let you negotiate with it — it only understands one language, the language of resolve,” she told the Bundestag lower house on Friday at the start of a debate on the law amendment.
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Pope Calls on Russia, Ukraine to Seek Reconciliation
Pope Francis on Sunday voiced apprehension over a recent Russian troop buildup near the border with Ukraine and called for efforts to ease tensions in the 7-year conflict in eastern Ukraine pitting Ukrainian forces against Russia-backed rebels.Ukrainian authorities say cease-fire violations have become more frequent in recent weeks, with nearly 30 troops killed this year. They accused Russia of fueling tensions by deploying 41,000 troops near the border with eastern Ukraine and 42,000 to Crimea, where Russia maintains a large naval base.”I observe with great apprehension the increase of military activities,” Francis said in remarks to the public gathered in St. Peter’s Square.”Please, I strongly hope that an increase of tensions is avoided, and, on the contrary, gestures are made capable of promoting reciprocal trust and favoring the reconciliation and the peace which are so necessary and so desired,” Francis said.”Take to heart the grave humanitarian situation facing the population, to whom I express my closeness and for whom I invite prayers,” the pope said before praying aloud for his intentions.Ukraine accuses Russia of fueling tensions with its troop deployment, while Russia has sought to justify the buildup as part of readiness drills organized in response to what it claims are NATO threats.The United States and NATO say the concentration of Russian troops is the largest since 2014, when Russia seized Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula and fighting broke out between Ukrainian forces and the separatists in eastern Ukraine. Beside contending there are threats from NATO, Russia has cast the buildup as a necessary security precaution amid what it described as Ukraine’s provocations along the line of control.
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Chad’s President Poised to Extend his 30 Years in Power
Partial provisional results in Chad’s April 11 election released Saturday show President Idriss Deby leading and appearing to be headed for another term in office, extending his three-decade rule.Preliminary results are expected April 25.Deby is viewed in Europe and the U.S. as a key ally in the fight against terrorism in West and Central Africa. Within the country, though, there have been signs of growing discontent over his handling of Chad’s oil wealth.Opposition leaders had called on supporters to boycott the vote.In addition, a group of Libya-based rebels, the Front for Change and Concord in Chad, has been launching attacks. The group attacked a Chadian border post in the north on election day.Chad’s army said Saturday that it had “completely destroyed” the convoy of rebels that attacked the country.The British government said that two of the rebel group’s convoys were approaching the capital, N’Djamena, Saturday.The U.S. Embassy in Chad issued a security alert Saturday, ordering nonessential staff to leave the country because of potential violence in the city.Britain also told its citizens to leave the country as soon as possible.
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Nearly 700 Patients Evacuated in Johannesburg Hospital Fire
Nearly 700 patients were evacuated Saturday from Johannesburg’s Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, where a fire blazed through parts of the facility in South Africa’s largest city.No injuries or casualties have been reported. The fire has been contained but the hospital has been closed for seven days, said David Makhura, premier of Gauteng province where Johannesburg is located.Early Saturday morning the fire caused the third floor of the hospital’s parking garage to collapse.Sixty firefighters battled the blaze through the night. The fire started Friday morning and had been doused by the afternoon but then it reignited in the evening and continued burning overnight.The fire has caused extensive damage to the hospital, which has more than 1,000 beds and serves Johannesburg, a city of 6 million people, and the surrounding Gauteng province. It is one of the biggest public hospitals in the country.It is also a designated treatment center for COVID-19 in Gauteng. According to Makhura, the hospital had 13 COVID-19 patients, two in ICU and 11 in general wards at the time of the fire. They have all been transferred to other hospitals.”The fire has been contained into some areas. We are shutting down the hospital as a precautionary measure because there is a lot of smoke that went into other areas, including wards,” said Makhura.The fire started in a storeroom for dry surgical supplies, according to officials.Firefighters reported that the blaze re-started from smoldering medical supplies, including supplies of personal protective equipment used by staff treating patients with COVID-19, Makhura said. An investigation into the fire will be launched, he said.”Our firefighters have been receiving help from others in neighboring municipalities. It has been a tedious process trying to move patients. At first, we moved them to wards that were far away from the fire but we started to evacuate them,” said Gauteng health spokesperson Kwara Kekana. “That is still a process that is ongoing, we are now referring all patients to other hospitals.”
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Chad’s Deby Takes Early Election Lead, Partial Results Show
Chad President Idriss Deby has taken a strong early lead and appeared poised to extend his three-decade rule, partial provisional results of the April 11 presidential election released by the election commission showed.Deby has won a majority in all but one of the 51 departments announced so far, and he secured a plurality in the other, with 61 departments remaining, according to the Independent National Election Commission (CENI).Kilmapone Larme, head of logistics at the CENI, said they had still not received more than 30% of results.A group of Libya-based rebels, the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), attacked a Chadian border post in the north of the country on election day.The U.K. government said two FACT convoys were heading toward the capital, N’Djamena, on Saturday. One convoy had passed the town of Faya, 770 kilometers (478 miles) northeast of N’Djamena, and another was seen approaching the town of Mao, around 220 kilometers to the north, the U.K. government said on its travel advisory website, advising its citizens to leave the country.The Associated Press reported that the U.S. State Department ordered nonessential diplomats at the U.S. Embassy and families of American personnel stationed in Chad to leave the African nation because of potential insurgent attacks on the capital. The department said in a travel alert issued Saturday that it had taken the step because armed groups from the northern part of the country had moved south and appeared headed toward the city.Chad’s army said in a statement that it had destroyed a rebel convoy in the north of Kanem province on Saturday afternoon.An ally of Western powers in the fight against Islamist militants in West and Central Africa, Deby is one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, but there are signs of growing discontent over his handling of the nation’s oil wealth.Chad’s government has been forced to cut public spending in recent years because of the low price of oil, its main export, sparking labor strikes.Opposition leaders called on their supporters to boycott last week’s polls.”Until midday, the polling stations were almost empty in almost all towns in the country, but CENI has just concocted fictitious results to deceive Chadians,” Yacine Abderaman Sakine, the head of the opposition Reform Party, told Reuters. “We do not recognize this result.”
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Italy’s Salvini to Stand Trial for 2019 Migrant Standoff
A judge on Saturday ordered former Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini to stand trial on kidnapping charges for having refused to let a Spanish migrant rescue ship dock in an Italian port in 2019, keeping the people onboard at sea for days.Judge Lorenzo Iannelli set September 15 as the trial date during a hearing in the Palermo bunker courtroom in Sicily.Salvini, who attended the hearing, insisted that he was only doing his job and his duty by refusing entry to the Open Arms rescue ship and the 147 people it had saved in the Mediterranean Sea.”I’m going on trial for this, for having defended my country?” he tweeted after the decision. “I’ll go with my head held high, also in your name.”FILE – Former Interior Minister Matteo Salvini leaves the Senate prior to a vote on lifting his immunity for a trial on the August 2019 Open Arms case, in Rome, July 30, 2020.Palermo prosecutors have accused Salvini of dereliction of duty and kidnapping for having kept the migrants at sea off the Italian island of Lampedusa for days in August 2019. During the standoff, some migrants threw themselves overboard in desperation as the captain pleaded for a safe, close port. Eventually after a 19-day ordeal, the remaining 83 migrants still on board were allowed to disembark in Lampedusa.Salvini, leader of the right-wing League party, had maintained a hard line on migration as interior minister during the first government of Premier Giuseppe Conte, in 2018-19. While demanding that European Union nations do more to take in migrants arriving in Italy, Salvini argued that humanitarian rescue ships were only encouraging Libyan-based human traffickers. He claimed that his policy of refusing them port actually saved lives by discouraging the risky trips across the Mediterranean from North Africa to Europe.His lawyer, Giulia Bongiorno, said she was serene despite the decision, saying she was certain the court would eventually determine that there was no kidnapping.”There was no limitation on their freedom,” she told reporters after the indictment was handed down. “The ship had the possibility of going anywhere. There was just a prohibition of going into port. But it had 100,000 options.”‘Historic’ decisionOpen Arms, for its part, hailed the decision to put Salvini on trial and confirmed it has registered as a civil party in the case, along with some survivors of the rescue, the city of Barcelona where Open Arms is based, and other humanitarian aid groups.The group’s founder, Oscar Camps, said the decision to prosecute Salvini for actions taken when he was interior minister was “historic,” showing that European political leaders can be held accountable for failing to respect the human rights of migrants.”This trial is a reminder to Europe and the world that there are principles of individual responsibility in politics,” Camps told a press conference Saturday. The decision to prosecute shows “it’s possible to identify the responsibility of the protagonists of this tragedy at sea.”Salvini is also under investigation for another, similar migrant standoff involving the Italian coast guard ship Gregoretti that he refused to let dock in the summer of 2019.The prosecutor in that case in Catania, Sicily, Andrea Bonomo, recommended last week that Salvini not be put on trial, arguing that he was only carrying out government policy when he kept the 116 migrants at sea for five days.Italy and other southern EU nations like Spain and Greece have long argued that other members of the 27-nation bloc must do more to help them cope with an influx of migrants.
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Russia Arrests Two Alleged Belarus Coup Plotters
Russia’s main security agency says it has arrested two Belarusians who it said were preparing a plot to overthrow Belarus’ government and kill authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko.One of the men arrested, Aleksandr Feduta, is a former Lukahsenko spokesman who later joined the opposition. The other, lawyer Yuras Zyankovich, has dual Belarusian-U.S. citizenship.The Federal Security Service said Saturday that the two had been handed over to Belarus. Russian authorities were alerted to information about the men’s plans by the Belarusian security service, the KGB.The Russian agency said the two suspects came to Moscow to meet with opposition-minded Belarusian generals, whom they told that “for the successful implementation of their plan, it was necessary to physically eliminate practically the entire top leadership of the republic.”Alleged details”They detailed the plan for a military coup, in particular, including the seizure of radio and television centers to broadcast their appeal to the people, blocking the internal troops and riot police units loyal to the current government,” the Russian agency said.Lukashenko told Belarusian television Saturday that investigators found evidence of foreign involvement in the alleged plot, “most likely the FBI, the CIA.”When nationwide protests against Lukashenko broke out last year after his disputed election win, he repeatedly alleged that Western countries were plotting his downfall or even preparing for a military intervention.The protests, some of which attracted as many as 200,000 people, started in August after an election that official results say gave Lukashenko a sixth term in office. Opposition members and even some poll workers said the results were fraudulent.Security forces then cracked down hard on the demonstrations, arresting more than 34,000 people, many of whom were beaten. Most prominent opposition figures have fled Belarus or have since been jailed.
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Navalny’s Doctor: Putin Critic ‘Could Die at Any Moment’
A doctor for imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who is in the third week of a hunger strike, says his health is deteriorating rapidly and the 44-year-old Kremlin critic could be on the verge of death.Physician Yaroslav Ashikhmin said Saturday that test results he received from Navalny’s family showed him with sharply elevated levels of potassium, which can bring on cardiac arrest, and heightened creatinine levels that indicate impaired kidneys.”Our patient could die at any moment,” he said in a Facebook post.Anastasia Vasilyeva, head of the Navalny-backed Alliance of Doctors union, said on Twitter that “action must be taken immediately.”Navalny is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most visible and adamant opponent.His personal physicians have not been allowed to see him in prison. He went on a hunger strike to protest the refusal to let them visit when he began experiencing severe back pain and a loss of feeling in his legs. Russia’s state penitentiary service has said that Navalny is receiving all the medical help he needs.Navalny was arrested on January 17 when he returned to Russia from Germany, where had spent five months recovering from Soviet nerve-agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin. Russian officials denied any involvement and even questioned whether Navalny had been poisoned, though it was confirmed by several European laboratories.He was ordered to serve 2½ years in prison on the ground that his long recovery in Germany violated a suspended sentence he had been given for a fraud conviction. Navalny said that case was politically motivated.
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Pakistan PM: Insulting Islam’s Prophet Should Be Same as Denying Holocaust
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is urging Western governments to criminalize any insulting remarks against Islam’s Prophet Muhammad and treat offenders the same way they do those who deny the Holocaust.Khan spoke Saturday after violent nationwide protests this week by a radical Islamist party demanding expulsion of the French ambassador over the publication of cartoons in France depicting the prophet, an act condemned as blasphemous.Khan tweeted: “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 apologize to the 1.3 bn Muslims for causing this hurt.”He also called on Western governments that have outlawed negative comments about the Holocaust “to use the same standards to penalize those deliberately spreading their message of hate against Muslims by abusing our Prophet.”I also call on Western govts who have outlawed any negative comment on the holocaust to use the same standards to penalise those deliberately spreading their message of hate against Muslims by abusing our Prophet PBUH.— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) FILE – A supporter of the Tehreek-i-Labaik Pakistan Islamist political party hurls stones toward police during a protest against the arrest of its leader in Lahore, Pakistan, April 13, 2021.Khan on Saturday defended the ban on TLP and vehemently dismissed suggestions the move had stemmed from international pressure on Pakistan.“Let me make clear to people here & abroad: Our govt only took action against TLP under our anti-terrorist law when they challenged the writ of the state and used street violence & attacking the public & law enforcers,” the prime minister wrote on Twitter. “No one can be above the law and the Constitution.”TLP leaders have recently organized several major street protests, disrupting routine life and business in the country.Along with demonstrations against France, the extremist group has pressured the Pakistani government into not repealing or reforming the country’s harsh blasphemy laws, which critics say often are used to intimidate religious minorities and settle personal disputes.French urged to leaveOn Thursday, France advised citizens and companies to temporarily leave Pakistan, citing “serious threats to French interests” in the South Asian nation.Most of the French nationals are said to have ignored the advisory, however, and have chosen to stay in Pakistan, the AFP news agency reported Saturday.Pakistani officials insisted there were no safety concerns for foreign nationals in the country.“We are aware of the advice, which appears to be based on their own assessment of the situation,” Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said. “For its part, the government is taking enhanced measures for the maintenance of law and order and preventing any damage to life and property.”
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US Deports Woman Who Lied About Role in Rwandan Genocide
A woman who served a 10-year sentence in U.S. prison for lying about her role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide to obtain American citizenship and lost her bid for a new trial has been deported to Rwanda, her lawyer said Saturday.Beatrice Munyenyezi was convicted and sentenced in 2013 in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. She served a 10-year sentence in the state of Alabama and had faced deportation.She lost her latest court battle in March, when the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal district judge’s rejection of her petition challenging how the jury was instructed during her trial in federal court in New Hampshire.”Yes, that did happen,” her lawyer, Richard Guerriero, wrote in an email Saturday when asked whether Munyenyezi had been deported to Rwanda. He said he believed she arrived in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, on Friday.Munyenyezi was convicted of lying about her role as a commander of one of the notorious roadblocks where Tutsis were singled out for slaughter. She denied affiliation with any political party, despite her husband’s leadership role in the extremist Hutu militia party.She requested a new trial based on a 2017 U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting the government’s ability to strip citizenship from immigrants who lied during the naturalization process.Munyenyezi alleged that the jury was given inaccurate instructions on her criminal liability. A judge denied her request, saying that even if the instruction fell short, the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.As part of her appeal, Munyenyezi’s trial lawyers, who are now New Hampshire superior court judges, said in court documents that they would have presented Munyenyezi’s case differently if the U.S. Supreme Court decision had been law during her trial.They added that they believe if the jury had instructed based on the court decision, “the verdict may have been different.”At the time, her lawyers portrayed her as the victim of lies by Rwandan witnesses who had never before implicated her through nearly two decades of investigations and trials, even when testifying against her husband and his mother before the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda.U.S. prosecutors said that Munyenyezi wasn’t entitled to a new trial and could have raised a similar legal argument at the time because it had come up in other cases. But her defense lawyers said they were not aware that other lawyers had raised the issue.In the 2017 U.S. Supreme Court case, a Serb who emigrated from Bosnia to the United States lied about the reasons she feared persecution, her husband’s service in the Bosnian Army, and his role in the slaughter of thousands of Bosnian Muslim civilians.She asked that the jury be instructed that her citizenship could be stripped if the government proved that her lies had influenced the decision to grant her citizenship. A court declined to do that, but the Supreme Court reversed that decision.
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Malawi Orders All Refugees Back Into Camp Within 14 Days
Malawi’s government has given refugees and asylum seekers who have left the country’s only refugee camp, Dzaleka, 14 days to return to the camp or face eviction.
Malawi’s homeland security minister made the announcement Friday at a news conference in the capital, Lilongwe. He said about 2,000 refugees who currently are living among the communities outside the camp pose a danger to national security. But rights campaigners warn the government must implement the order while being careful to avoid stirring up resentment in communities against the refugees.
A Burundian refugee, Jean Nduwimana, who asked her real name not be used, left the Dzaleka refugee camp five years ago to start a shop in the Ntcheu district, where she sells handmade goods.
She said the decision followed pressure from her Malawian customers, who would travel long distances to the refugee camp to buy baskets, bags, necklaces and jewelry from her.
She said, “Almost 100% of my customers were Malawians. So, customers asked me to open a shop in their area because there was no shop like mine in there.”
Nduwimana, a single mother of three, said a return to the refugee camp would negatively affect her livelihood and would not be good for those who rely on her shop.
Nduwimana is among 2,000 refugees who have settled elsewhere and are operating businesses in various part of Malawi.
Homeland Security Minister Richard Chimwendo Banda told a press conference Friday that is against the government’s Encampment Policy, which prohibits refugees from operating business outside a refugee camp.
He also said by living outside the camp, the refugees threaten national security.
“We have given them notifications and we are working hand in have with all departments, including UNHCR, just to make sure that there is a peaceful transition and that they understand what is happening,” Chimwendo Banda said.A woman receives food aid at Dzaleka refugee camp. (Lameck Masina/VOA)Raphael Ndabaga, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo and director for the Volunteer Social Workers organization at the Dzaleka refugee camp, says the refugees cannot object to the government’s decision, but he is worried about overcrowding at the already-congested camp.
“At first Dzaleka was a place to only 10,000 to 15,000 people, but currently as we are talking, Dzaleka accommodates more than 48,000 people. It is already congested. So, bringing those people back again, its alike [to] congesting the camp in another aspect,” Ndabaga said.
The government decision follows complaints from local businesspeople against stiff competition from foreign nationals they say attract more customers by offering lower prices.
Michael Kayiyatsa, the executive director for Center for Human Rights and Rehabilitation, says the government decision is likely to trigger violence against the foreigners.
“And we have seen before that there have been conflicts between local communities and refugees especially from Burundi who are doing business in the cities. So, this will embolden them to say, ‘OK, now this is time to get rid of our business competitors,'” he said.
Kayiyatsa has asked the government to rescind the decision because he says there is no proof the refugees living outside the camp are posing a threat to national security.
“We think government should ratify the refugee protocol so that refugees in Malawi should be able to work [outside the camp], seek employment as in other countries, because currently, the law in Malawi bars refugees from working,” Kayiyatsa said.
The spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Malawi, Rumbani Msiska, says the agency has no immediate comment on the matter.
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Iran Nuclear Talks Resume in Vienna
Iran’s top negotiator at talks to rescue a nuclear deal said Saturday progress had been made but that much work remains to be done before a final agreement is reached.
Iran and world powers resumed talks in Vienna that began earlier this month to revive a 2015 nuclear deal the U.S. abandoned three years ago.
“A new understanding appears to be emerging and there is a common ground between the parties on the ultimate goal,” Iranian negotiator Abbas Araqchi told state media. “But the path ahead is not an easy one and there are some serious disagreements.”
China’s representative at the negotiations said the other parties to the 2015 deal agreed to accelerate efforts to resolve issues, such as which sanctions against Tehran the U.S. will lift, and actions Iran must take to regain compliance with the deal.
Reaching an agreement was potentially complicated by Iran’s announcement this week it would enrich uranium at 60% purity, three times higher than before.
Tehran’s announcement to ramp up its enrichment program came in response to last week’s attack on its Natanz nuclear facility that it blames on Israel, a longtime foe that says Iran poses an existential threat.
As talks resumed in Vienna, Iranian state television named 43-year-old Reza Karimi as a suspect in the attack and said he fled the country “hours before” the incident.
State television showed a passport-style photograph of a man identified as Karimi that said he was born in the Iranian city of Kashan.
“Necessary steps are underway for his arrest and return to the country through legal channels,” the state television report said.
The European Union said Saturday’s negotiations would involve EU officials and envoys from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and Iran.
The 2015 agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, provided Iran relief from sanctions in exchange for limits on its nuclear program. The deal was reached in Vienna between Iran, Germany and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council: China, France, Russia, Britain and the U.S.
The U.S. withdrew in 2018 and began unilaterally ratcheting up sanctions on Iran under then-President Donald Trump, who criticized the deal negotiated by his predecessor as not doing enough to stop objectionable Iranian behavior. Iran retaliated a year later by exceeding the JCPOA’s nuclear activity limits.
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Prince Philip’s Funeral Underway at Britain’s Windsor Castle
Hundreds of servicemen and servicewomen marched into place Saturday at Windsor Castle, where Prince Philip was being remembered as a man of “courage, fortitude and faith” at a funeral that salutes both his service in the Royal Navy and his support for Queen Elizabeth II over three quarters of a century.Philip, who died April 9 at the age of 99 after 73 years of marriage, will be laid to rest in the Royal Vault at Windsor Castle after a funeral service steeped in military and royal tradition — but also pared down and infused with his own personality.Coronavirus restrictions mean that instead of the 800 mourners included in the longstanding plans for his funeral, there will be only 30 inside the castle’s St. George’s Chapel, including the widowed queen, her four children and her eight grandchildren.Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II takes her seat for the funeral of Britain’s Prince Philip, at St. George’s Chapel, in Windsor, Britain, April 17, 2021.Under spring sunshine, some locals stopped outside the castle to leave flowers on Saturday, but people largely heeded requests by police and the palace not to gather because of the coronavirus pandemic. The entire procession and funeral will take place out of public view within the grounds of the castle, a 950-year-old royal residence 20 miles (30 kilometers) west of London. It will be shown live on television.Philip’s coffin was moved from the royal family’s private chapel to the castle’s Inner Hall on Saturday morning to rest until the mid-afternoon funeral procession. The coffin was draped in Philip’s personal standard, and topped with his Royal Navy cap and sword and a wreath of flowers.The funeral will reflect Philip’s military ties, both as a ceremonial commander of many units and as a veteran of war. More than 700 military personnel are taking part, including army bands, Royal Marine buglers and an honor guard drawn from across the armed forces.A hearse, a specially modified Land Rover, carrying the coffin of Britain’s Prince Philip, is seen on the grounds of Windsor Castle, in Windsor, Britain, April 17, 2021.Those marching into place included soldiers of the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, who were firing a gun salute, Guards regiments in scarlet tunics and bearskin hats, Highlanders in kilts and sailors in white naval hats.Philip was deeply involved in the funeral planning, and aspects of it reflect his personality, including his love of the rugged Land Rover. Philip drove several versions of the four-wheel drive vehicle for decades until he was forced to give up his license at 97 after a crash. His body will be carried to the chapel on a modified Land Rover Defender that he designed himself.The children of Philip and the queen — heir to the throne Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward — will walk behind the hearse, while the 94-year-old queen will travel to the chapel in a Bentley car.Grandsons Prince William and Prince Harry will also walk behind the coffin, although not side by side. The brothers, whose relationship has been strained amid Harry’s decision to quit royal duties and move to California, will flank their cousin Peter Phillips, the son of Princess Anne.Queen Elizabeth II watches as pallbearers carry the coffin of Britain’s Prince Philip during his funeral at St. George’s Chapel, at Windsor Castle, in Windsor, Britain, April 17, 2021.As Philip’s coffin is lowered into the Royal Vault, Royal Marine buglers will sound “Action Stations,” an alarm that alerts sailors to prepare for battle — a personal request from Philip.Former Bishop of London Richard Chartres, who knew Philip well, said the prince was a man of faith, but liked things kept succinct.“He was at home with broad church, high church and low church, but what he really liked was short church,” Chartres told the BBC. “I always remember preaching on occasions which he was principal actor that the instruction would always come down: ‘No more than four minutes.’”Along with Philip’s children and grandchildren, the 30 funeral guests include other senior royals and several of his German relatives. Philip was born a prince of Greece and Denmark and, like the queen, is related to a thicket of European royal families.Mourners have been instructed to wear masks and observe social distancing inside the chapel, and not to join in when a four-person choir sings hymns. The queen, who has spent much of the past year isolating with her husband at Windsor Castle, will sit alone.Ahead of the funeral, Buckingham Palace released a photo of the queen and Philip, smiling and relaxing on blankets in the grass in the Scottish Highlands in 2003. The palace said the casual photo was a favorite of the queen.Handout image released by Buckingham Palace of a personal photograph of the Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, at the top of the Coyles of Muick, taken by the Countess of Wessex in 2003 and obtained by Reuters April 16, 2021.For decades, Philip was a fixture of British life, renowned for his founding of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards youth program and for a blunt-spoken manner that at times included downright offensive remarks. He lived in his wife’s shadow, but his death has sparked a reflection about his role, and new appreciation from many in Britain.“He was a character, an absolute character,” said Jenny Jeeves as she looked at the floral tributes in Windsor. “He was fun, he was funny. Yes, he made quite a few gaffes, but it depends which way you took it really. Just a wonderful husband, father, and grandfather, and a good example to all of us, really.”
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UN Fears Resurging Violence in DRC’s Kasai Region Will Spark Mass Displacement
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is calling for restoration of peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Greater Kasai region, as renewed violence threatens another mass movement of people.Local authorities estimate 21,000 people have fled their homes since March 28. That is when land disputes between Luba and Kuba ethnic groups triggered renewed clashes, killing at least 13 people and injuring many more.
This resurgence of violence follows a relatively long period of calm. Babar Balloch, spokesman for the UNHCR, says U.N. officials fear this new outbreak could lead to another large-scale displacement if it is not quickly addressed.
“We are calling for a renewed focus on restoring peace and defusing tensions in Kasai to prevent another wave of mass displacement in the country. So, there have to be efforts in terms of negotiations and also bringing those two communities together but also restoring law and order in the Greater Kasai region as well,” Balloch said.
Intercommunal violence in 2017 displaced 1.4 million people inside the DRC and forced 35,000 to flee to neighboring Angola. Sporadic outbursts of violence have occurred since then.
Tensions between the two ethnic groups over mineral and timber resources have been rising since August and have displaced some 40,000 people.
As in the past, most of those fleeing the current crisis are women and children. The UNHCR says most have fled without any belongings and that people need shelter, food and medical care.
The agency is providing emergency supplies, including plastic tarpaulins for shelter, mosquito nets, jerry cans and kitchen sets, but says it needs more money for its work in the region. It has received just 12% of the $205 million it says it needs for DRC humanitarian operations this year.
Conflict and violence in the DRC have displaced 5.5 million people, the largest internally displaced population in Africa.
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