A new quarterly U.S. report has documented a staggering 82% increase in “insider attacks” on Afghan government security forces in the first quarter of 2021, resulting in 115 personnel killed and 39 wounded.The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) reported Thursday to the U.S. Congress that overall Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) casualties also were substantially higher than during the same period last year.SIGAR is not allowed to include full ANDSF casualty data because U.S. forces in Afghanistan keep it classified at the request of the Afghan government.The report noted that ANDSF suffered a total of 31 insider attacks from Jan. 1 through April 1, and the number of casualties they caused were more than double compared to the same period in 2020.Taliban insurgents posing as Afghan police or military personnel are behind most of these insider attacks.SIGAR submitted its quarterly report as 2,500 or so U.S. troops are preparing to begin pulling out of Afghanistan beginning Saturday. The military drawdown is to end by Sept. 11 and intends to conclude America’s longest war.Nearly 17,000 U.S. Defense Department contractor personnel supporting the agency’s Afghan operations also will move out of the country along with the American troops. This includes 6,147 U.S. citizens, 6,399 third-country nationals, and 4,286 Afghan nationals, according to SIGAR.The agency noted it is unclear who, if anyone, will replace contractor personnel or perform their work after their withdrawal.“Without continued contractor support, none of the Afghan Air Force’s (AFF) airframes can be sustained as combat effective for more than a few months, depending on the stock of equipment parts in-country, the maintenance capability on each airframe, and when contractor support is withdrawn,” SIGAR said, citing U.S. military assessments.The quarterly report explained that DOD contractors provide for and maintain ANDSF ground vehicles and train local technicians. Although the ANDSF has “dramatically improved its share of the work, it is still falling well below benchmarks for its share of the maintenance work orders they — rather than contractors — are supposed to perform.”The withdrawal of American and NATO forces stems from a year-old agreement Washington negotiated with the Taliban, raising expectations at the time it also would encourage the insurgents and the Afghan government to agree on a power-sharing political deal to end the war.But talks between the Afghan adversaries, which started last September, have failed to produce the desired outcome; rather, they have remained largely deadlocked, raising fears the conflict could intensify and cause more bloodshed once all foreign troops depart.American military commanders have in recent statements admitted Afghan security forces “will certainly collapse” in the face of increased Taliban assaults if the U.S. is to stop all assistance.The Afghan war, which started with the October 2001 U.S.-led international military invasion of the country, is said to have killed an estimated 241,000 people to date.This includes at least 71,344 civilians; 2,442 American service members; 78,314 Afghan military and police; and 84,191 insurgents, said a private U.S. study released earlier this month.
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Month: April 2021
US Wants to Help India Produce Oxygen Fast
The United States, which has sent emergency aid to India, wants to quickly help the country increase its oxygen capacity to treat patients suffering from COVID-19, a U.S. official said Thursday.A first military plane loaded with equipment, including nearly 1 million rapid screening tests and 100,000 N95 masks, arrived early Friday in New Delhi. The shipment is part of a more than $100 million support plan, according to the White House.The priority “is to try to meet some of their immediate needs to deal with the serious challenges they face in their hospitals,” said Jeremy Konyndyk of the U.S. Agency for International Development.”We also need to help them address some of the underlying challenges, on the volume of oxygen the country can produce,” he told AFP.The United States is discussing with India how to develop its oxygen supply chain, including using technologies to convert industrial-grade oxygen into medical oxygen and improving its transport.Washington has also promised to help India by providing it with vaccines. But according to Konyndyk, for a country of more than a billion people facing skyrocketing cases, that is more of a medium-term measure.”Right now, there just aren’t enough vaccines in the world and not the ability to deliver them quickly enough to control this kind of outbreak,” he said.The United States announced Monday that it will provide other countries with 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is not authorized for use in the U.S.Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has said it is sending equipment to India to produce more than 20 million doses of Covishield, a cheaper version of the AstraZeneca vaccine developed in India.Biden has been criticized by those who believe he should have shared vaccine doses with the rest of the world more quickly.
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Brazil Tops 400,000 Virus Deaths Amid Fears of Renewed Surge
Brazil on Thursday became the second country to officially top 400,000 COVID-19 deaths, losing another 100,000 lives in just one month, as some health experts warn there may be gruesome days ahead when the Southern Hemisphere enters winter.April was Brazil’s deadliest month of the pandemic, with thousands of people losing their lives daily at crowded hospitals.The country’s Health Ministry registered more than 4,000 deaths on two days early in the month, and its seven-day average topped out at above 3,100. That figure has tilted downward in the last two weeks, to less than 2,400 deaths per day, though on Thursday, the Health Ministry announced another 3,001 deaths, bringing Brazil’s total to 401,186.Local health experts have celebrated the recent decline of cases and deaths, plus the eased pressure on the Brazilian health care system — but only modestly. They are apprehensive of another wave of the disease, like those seen in some European nations, due to a premature resumption of activity in states and cities combined with slow vaccination rollout.Fewer than 6% of Brazilians have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to Our World in Data, an online research site. President Jair Bolsonaro, who is now being investigated by a Senate panel over his administration’s handling of the crisis, has repeated he will be the last to get a shot, and he has attacked mayors and governors who enforce restrictions to control the virus’ spread.Shortly after the grim landmark was published, Bolsonaro said in a live broadcast on his social media channels that “a big number of deaths has been announced,” adding that he is “sorry for every death.” But he repeated his stance against social distancing measures.”I pray to God so there is not a third wave” of the coronavirus, the president said. “But if the lockdown policies continue, this country will be dragged to extreme poverty.”Epidemiologist Wanderson Oliveira, one of the Health Ministry’s top officials at the start of the pandemic, said he expects a third wave to hit by mid-June. He told radio station CBN on Tuesday that the country’s immunization effort won’t prevent a new surge because many people won’t receive shots before winter, when indoor gatherings and activities are more common even in the tropical nation.”Our vaccination is such that in 2022, maybe we will have a much less tragic summer than we did now,” he said, referring to the last few months.He added he expects limited help from local leaders’ partial shutdowns, which have yielded weaker results than European-style lockdowns. Many Brazilians flouted social distancing recommendations and partial shutdowns even in the throes of the pandemic’s peak.Brazil’s vaccination program, though a far cry from its triumphant campaigns of decades past, has slowed the pace of deaths among the nation’s elderly, according to death certificate data published on Monday. Younger people remain unprotected and have begun falling ill in far greater numbers as a more transmissible variant circulates in Brazil.Adding to concerns, Brazil’s Health Ministry has repeatedly cut its outlook for vaccines in the short term. The country’s two biggest laboratories are facing supply constraints for imports from producers in China and India, which has become the pandemic’s global epicenter.
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In France, Chauvin Conviction Has Not Brought Comfort
The trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin made headline news in France. But much of the reporting about the trial, and its underlying themes of police violence and racism, largely zoomed in on the United States.“I think it’s viewed as an American problem with some resonance in France,” said Steven Ekovich, a U.S. politics and foreign policy professor at the American University of Paris.American University of Paris professor Steven Ekovich says the French viewed the Derek Cauvin trial in the death of George Floyd as an American problem, but with some resonance in France. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)”It also feeds into a certain strain of French anti-Americanism, on the left and on the right, so that the French can moralize about the United States, and its difficulties and its flaws,” he said.That wasn’t the case last year, when George Floyd’s death caused many French to look inward. They joined spreading global protests for police accountability. Traore deathAlong with Floyd, many chanted the name of Frenchman Adama Traore, 24, whose family said he died under circumstances similar to Floyd’s, although that claim is disputed. The Black American’s death opened a broader spigot here of soul-searching about France’s colonial past and continuing injustices today.French authorities vowed zero tolerance of police racism and brutality and pledged to ban a controversial police chokehold. President Emmanuel Macron called racial profiling “unbearable.”Police representatives deny systemic racism. They say police are overworked and underappreciated as they tackle violence in tough neighborhoods, and they sometimes become targets of terrorism.David-Olivier Reverdy of the National Police Alliance union said the country’s police aren’t racist. To the contrary, he said, they’re Republican and diverse, from all ethnic origins and religions. There may be some problematic individuals, he added, but the force itself isn’t racist.Critics argue otherwise. A 2017 report by an independent citizens rights group found young Black or Arab-looking men here are five times more likely to be stopped for police identity checks than the rest of the population. Four Paris police officers were suspended last November after TV footage showed them punching a Black music producer. In January, six nongovernmental groups announced the country’s first class-action lawsuit on alleged racial profiling by police.’Struggling’ for a decade“We’ve been struggling with the state for 10 years,” said Slim Ben Achour, one of the lawyers representing the groups in the case.“The French Supreme Court convicted the state in November 2016 for discrimination, and after that we could have expected from the state … which should respect the rule of law — to do police reform. They have done nothing,” he said.Allegations of police violence and racism are an old story in France. In 2005, the deaths of two youngsters fleeing police sparked rioting in the banlieues — code word for the multicultural, working-class suburbs ringing cities here. Activists point to bigger, long-standing inequalities going far beyond policing.Some aren’t waiting for change from above. In the Paris suburb of Bobigny, youth group Nouvel Elan 93 is mentoring youngsters, helping them with schoolwork and giving them alternatives to hanging in the streets.Aboubacar N’diaye, left, helped launch a youth group in the Paris suburb of Bobigny. He says police profiling is something that could happen to him. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)One of Nouvel Elan’s founders, Aboubacar N’Diaye, said the group is trying to push youngsters to the maximum of their potential. They’re talented, he said, in sports, music, theater — everything.N’Diaye said Floyd’s death has resonated in this community and that it could happen to Blacks here like him. There’s a close relationship, he added, in the protests for Floyd and Traore.He and other activists said it would take time for the lessons from Floyd’s death — and France’s colorblind creed of liberty, equality and fraternity —to take hold.
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US, NATO Troops Leaving Afghanistan as Fighting Escalates
Troops and equipment are leaving Afghanistan, days ahead of the official start of the U.S. withdrawal, the White House said Thursday, marking the beginning of the end of America’s longest war.“A drawdown is under way,” White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One, as President Joe Biden headed to Georgia Thursday for a rally.“It will be deliberate and conducted in a safe and responsible manner that ensures the protection of our forces,” she said. “Potential adversaries, should they attack us, our withdrawal, we will defend ourselves, our partners, with all the tools at our disposal.”Also Thursday, a NATO official confirmed to VOA that some of the 7,000 troops sent to Afghanistan as part of the multinational Operation Resolute Support had also left the country.Afghan National Army soldiers search men at a road checkpoint on the outskirts of Kabul on April 29, 2021.“We plan to have our withdrawal completed within a few months,” the official said.Confirmation of the pullout came just a day after Biden defended the decision in a speech to a joint session of Congress.Biden said the war in Afghanistan, launched after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon near Washington, “were never meant to be multigenerational undertakings.”“We went to Afghanistan to get terrorists, the terrorists who attacked us,” Biden said, adding that justice was served. “After 20 years of valiant valor and sacrifice, it’s time to bring those troops home.”But the White House also confirmed Thursday that the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan would soon be going up, as additional safety measures are put in place.”Elements of an Army Ranger task force will temporarily deploy to Afghanistan to assist with force protection,” Jean-Pierre said.The U.S. has also sent four B-52 long-range bombers to Qatar to provide air cover for the withdrawal, while the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group is also staying in the region until July to provide additional capabilities.All for one and one for all. ⚔️ The Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group – guided-missile destroyers USS Thomas Hudner and USS Laboon, and aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower – sails in the Arabian Sea supporting naval ops for maritime security in the 5th Fleet. pic.twitter.com/XSbTDvErZM— U.S. Navy (@USNavy) April 27, 2021 The commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, General Scott Miller, told reporters in Kabul that elements of the withdrawal had begun and that U.S. troops were in the process of turning facilities and equipment over to the Afghan security forces.US #Afghanistan withdrawal – “I now have a set of orders” the commander of @ResoluteSupport, Gen Austin “Scott” Miller, to reporters in #Kabul Sunday”We’ve already begun…”— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) April 25, 2021But the departure of the first of the 2,500 to 3,500 U.S. troops still in Afghanistan came as Afghan officials said their forces were engaged in heavy fighting against insurgent Taliban fighters across the country.Ministry of Defense spokesman Fawad Aman, in an interview with VOA’s Afghan Service, described it as a widespread campaign by the Taliban to challenge Afghan security forces on multiple fronts.In the meantime, #Afghan officials indicate heavy fighting between gvt forces & the #Talibanvia @VOADariAfghan, Afghan Defense Ministry spox Fawad Aman has said security forces killed 118 #Taliban today (Thursday) & 135 on Tuesday— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) April 29, 2021 Top U.S. military officials, while defending the drawdown, have voiced concern about the escalating violence and the ability of Afghan forces to withstand the mounting pressure.“It will be a difficult time for the Afghan military,” General Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie told Alhurra Television on Thursday.”We will still continue to support from what we call ‘over the horizon,’ and we’re working out the details of that right now,” he said. “But now is the time when they’re going to actually have to do it.”Steve Herman and the VOA Afghan Service contributed to this report.
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In France, Derek Chauvin Verdict Brings No Comfort
Reports of police violence and racial injustice resonate especially strongly in France, with its large population of ethnic Africans and Arabs. Yet cautious optimism by some in the United States and elsewhere that the guilty verdict in American former police officer Derek Chauvin’s murder trial might trigger societal change is less shared in France. From the Paris suburb of Bobigny, Lisa Bryant reports for VOA. Camera: Lisa Bryant, Agencies
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Biden’s First 100 Days See Few Big Moves on Africa
U.S. President Joe Biden is touting a range of accomplishments as he hits the milestone of 100 days in office. But has he made any impact in the African continent? VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Johannesburg.Camera: Zaheer Cassim.
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Zimbabweans Take Stock of Abuses During COVID-19 Lockdowns
Human rights groups in Zimbabwe say the government has frequently violated people’s basic rights since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The groups presented their findings at a partially virtual meeting with officials in the capital Thursday. At the meeting, rights groups presented a report they call “The Impact of COVID-19 on Socio-Economic Rights.” The report chronicles how Zimbabwe’s government has violated human rights since COVID-19 lockdowns started in March 2020.Calvin Fambirai, executive director of Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights, was one of the speakers. He said the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the gap in medical care between the haves and have-nots in the country.“The haves were able to secure that equipment and the bedding facilities in private hospitals whose pricing was far beyond the majority of poor Zimbabweans. The right to health is also another component that relates to torture and inhumane and degrading treatment,” said Fambirai.On a number of occasions, Zimbabwe’s doctors and nurses have gone on strike, demanding adequate protective equipment and decent salaries during the coronavirus pandemic.FILE – Senior doctors at Parirenyatwa General Hospital, Zimbabwe’s biggest medical center, hold placards during a demonstration to protest a lack of medicines, gloves and bandages in Harare, March 13, 2019.Naome Chakanya, a researcher at the Labor and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe, said the government must increase salaries of all its employees to motivate them.“If the government is not doing a good service in terms of providing living wages, it is also increasing its own burden in terms of filling the gap of decent work deficit by providing social protection. So, it is in the best interest of the government to ensure that the majority of workers in the public sector enjoy decent work,” said Chakanya.The government pleaded bankruptcy whenever its workers asked for a review of its salaries. An average civil servant in Zimbabwe earns less than $200 per month. The workers’ salaries increased to at least $500 per month to climb above the poverty line.Also Thursday, Sibongile Mauye of the Zimbabwe Gender Commission said cases of teenage pregnancies have increased because children are not going to school and are restricted to their homes.“We are worried about this, and we are working with other partners to ensure there is targeted support for girls who are mostly affected. Because we have seen that a number of girls have been inducted into child prostitution … because of poverty in the urban areas. That is a dent on gender equality, because these girls will never be able to rise to be leaders, even in the public and private space,” said Mauye.Rights groups in Zimbabwe have previously accused the government of taking advantage of COVID-19 restrictions to stifle citizens’ rights.A number of activists were arrested on charges of flouting lockdown regulations after they protested against the government’s failure to provide for those affected by the lockdowns.Erick Mukutiri, secretary of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, said his organization was aware of the complaints raised by rights groups during the lockdown.“I must say from our point of view as a commission, based on the assessment that we also carried out, as well as the feedback we have been receiving from our stakeholders, including complaints on human rights violations that we received, I can confirm that the findings (in the report) are credible,” he said.Mukutiri promised no action Thursday, saying the commission is monitoring the situation.Zimbabwe has 38,191 confirmed coronavirus infections and 1,565 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University, which tracks the global outbreak.
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Sudan Ratifies Women’s Rights Convention — With Exceptions
Sudan’s Ministers Council this week ratified the United Nations’ 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). However, the majority-male council declined to endorse the notion that women are equal with men at all political and social levels and have equal rights in marriage, divorce and parenting. Women’s rights groups criticized those reservations, saying they will not accept them. Ihsan Fagiri, the chief of the initiative No for Women’s Repression, said the transitional government tends to lower the ambitions of Sudanese people, and women in particular. She said ratifying the convention with reservations of acts like those in Article 2 contradicts the goal of the convention, as that article concerns equality. The government, she stressed, does not want women to have equality with men in the local legislations.In late 2018 and early 2019, Sudanese women took prominent roles in public demonstrations against longtime President Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted in April 2019. FILE – Sudanese from various women’s groups take part in a march through the streets of the capital Khartoum to call for the best outcome for women in the period of political transition, May 30, 2019.Last year, some Sudanese women received international awards for their involvement in the democratic change in Sudan. The post-Bashir transitional government endorsed some principles of human rights and women’s rights last year, but female activists such as Einas Muzamil are doubtful the government is willing to enact real reforms. Muzamil said ratifying the CEDAW Convention with reservations of three fundamental articles caused anger among women and activist communities. The move fueled skepticism about the government’s willingness to make real change in Sudanese women’s situations, especially given that the women have equally participated with men in the great December revolution. Some other Muslim-majority countries such as Saudi Arabia have reserved some acts when ratifying the 1979 convention. The convention gives joining countries the right to carve out some exceptions to the rights spelled out in the document — although not the fundamental rights that Sudan reserved. Political analyst Waleed Zakaria thinks the transitional government of Sudan is between a rock and a hard place on women’s issues. The transitional government ratified the convention and made reservations on some articles following some other Islamic countries’ approach, Zakaria said, as it might be fearing the reaction of the conservative and extremist streams, yet want to improve its image for the international community at the same time. Meanwhile, the Sudanese government this week also ratified a 2005 protocol on the rights of women in Africa, known as the Maputo Protocol. The two conventions are expected to be approved by the sovereign council that serves as the current top authority in Sudan.
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India Struggles with COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign Amid New Infection, Death Rates
India set new records again Thursday in COVID-19 deaths and infections as its new vaccination registration program stumbled while millions of voters nonetheless turned out for an election in the state of West Bengal.Under the weight of a disastrous second surge of the disease, India’s efforts to begin registering its 1.4 billion people for inoculations stumbled Wednesday when the government launched a website for all Indians 18 and older to sign up for a vaccination drive that is set to begin Saturday.Many people flooded social media with complaints, however, that either the website had crashed or they were unable to make an appointment.The problems with the website come as the health ministry reported a record 379,257 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, including 3,645 fatalities, marking yet another one-day record for fatalities. The new figures have pushed India’s coronavirus casualty numbers well over 18.3 million total confirmed cases and 204,832 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.Manika Goel, sits next to her husband who is suffering from the COVID-19 inside the emergency ward at Holy Family hospital in New Delhi, India, April 29, 2021.The second wave of the coronavirus has pushed India’s health care system to the brink of collapse, with hospitals at full capacity and an acute shortage of oxygen aggravating an already desperate situation. Many parks and parking lots have been converted into makeshift crematories that are working day and night to burn dead bodies.Public health experts have blamed the spread on more contagious variants of the virus, plus the easing of restrictions on large crowds when the outbreak appeared to be under control earlier this year.West Bengal votingDespite the worsening crisis and soaring temperatures, many of the more than 8 million eligible voters in West Bengal state formed long lines at some of the more 11,800 polling stations Thursday to vote in the eighth and final phase of state elections.Indian women voters wearing face masks as a precaution against the coronavirus wait outside a polling station to cast their votes during the last phase of West Bengal state elections in Kolkata, April 29, 2021.Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party were criticized over the last few weeks for holding massive election rallies in West Bengal. Health experts have suggested the rallies may have contributed to a record surge in the state, which recorded more than 17,000 new cases over the last day, its highest since the pandemic began.Other political parties also held rallies in the state.India’s vaccination drive has dragged at a slow pace since it was launched in January, with only 1.7% of the population fully vaccinated. The country has a shortage of COVID-19 vaccines as it struggles with a lack of raw materials needed to manufacture doses.The international community has responded by shipping critical supplies to India, including ventilators, oxygen concentrators, drug treatments and the raw materials necessary to develop vaccines.This photograph released by Indian External Affairs Ministry shows a shipment of oxygen concentrators, ventilators and other medical supplies arrived from Russia to India, April 29, 2021.The White House says an initial shipment of medical supplies worth $100 million will begin arriving in India on Thursday, including 1,000 oxygen cylinders, 15 million N95 face masks and 1 million rapid diagnostic tests, along with the raw materials that will allow India to manufacture 20 million doses of the AstraZeneca two-dose vaccine.The U.S. State Department issued a travel advisory Wednesday urging Americans not to travel to India, becoming the latest country to impose a warning or outright prohibition on visiting the country.Meanwhile, the head of Australia’s drug regulatory agency said Thursday there is no evidence the AstraZeneca vaccine was responsible for the deaths of two people shortly after their inoculations.Two men in North South Wales state, including one in his 70s, died within days after receiving the vaccine.John Skerritt, the head of the government’s Therapeutic Goods Administration, told reporters the men’s deaths are being investigated, but said “the current evidence does not suggest a likely association” between the deaths and the vaccination.The AstraZeneca vaccine has had a troubled rollout across the world, with many nations suspending its use after reports first surfaced of a severe side effect that combines blood clots with low platelet counts following inoculation, including a handful of deaths.
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WHO Europe Reports First Drop in COVID Cases in 2 Months
The World Health Organization’s Europe Regional Director Hans Kluge reported Thursday the number of new COVID-19 infections in the region dropped significantly in the last week for the first time in two months. Speaking from WHO regional headquarters in Copenhagen, Kluge said hospitalizations and deaths were also down in the past week. He also said as of Thursday, 7% of Europeans have been totally vaccinated, more than the 5.5% of the population that has contracted COVID-19. Kluge cautioned that while that is good news, the virus remains a threat, as infection rates remain high in several areas. He said individual and collective public health and social measures remain dominant factors in shaping the pandemic’s course. A man receives his first dose of the of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, at a vaccination center in Piraeus, near Athens, April 29, 2021.But he also noted that in those areas where high-risk groups such as health and other frontline workers were prioritized with vaccines, admissions to hospitals and death rates are falling. Kluge said in the context of the pandemic, it is a combination of vaccines and strong public health measures that offer the clearest path back to normal. But noting it is European Immunization Week, the WHO regional director said he wanted to send a message beyond COVID-19 and pressed the value of vaccines in general. He said before the pandemic, vaccines had protected the world against life-threatening diseases for more than 200 years. While vaccines bring the world closer to ending the pandemic, he said they could also end measles, cervical cancer and other vaccine-preventable diseases. He said when COVID-19 interrupted routine vaccine programs around the world, the results can be other severe infectious disease outbreaks just down the line. He urged public health systems to maintain routine primary health care while continuing to control the pandemic. “Once again, vaccines are about to change the course of history — but only if we act responsibly and get vaccinated when offered the opportunity to do so,” Kluge said.
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Displaced Children in Central African Republic Risk Forced Recruitment, Gender-Based Violence
Conflict and violence have displaced 370,000 children throughout the Central African Republic. The U.N. children’s fund says among them are at least 163,000 children who were forced to flee widespread violence in the run-up to and following December’s contested general election.Protection is one of the most urgent needs as internally displaced children face many dangers from violence, armed groups, COVID-19 and associated risks.
Speaking from the C.A.R. capital, Bangui, UNICEF Representative Fran Equiza tells VOA insecurity in the country is increasing as armed groups become ever more violent. One of his major concerns, he says, is the risk of children being forcibly recruited by armed groups.”The uprooted kids are limited and sometimes, some of them absolutely with no parents around makes them extremely vulnerable to these movements that we have seen in the last few months to be increasing in the country,” Equiza said.Since 2014, Equiza says UNICEF has been able to secure the release of more than 15,500 children from armed groups. He says 30 percent are girls. He says the children are given psycho-social support, taught job skills and helped to reintegrate into the communities from which they were taken.
He says the coronavirus pandemic is having serious indirect impacts on children’s well-being. He says health services are disrupted and more children are at risk of dying from vaccine-preventable diseases because of a decrease in routine immunizations. He says malnutrition has risen significantly among displaced children.”Around 24,000 children under five are at risk of acute malnutrition right as we are speaking and this can reach up to 62,000 children under five expected to suffer severe acute malnutrition, which is an increase of 25 percent from 2020,” Equiza said.UNICEF says the conflict has robbed half of the country’s children of education. Escalating fighting and violence have forced the closure of many schools. Others have been damaged or are occupied by militants and are no longer functional.
The United Nations reports 53 percent of the C.A.R.’s population, half of them children, need humanitarian aid. Equiza says UNICEF continues to provide protection, nutritional and other essential aid to tens of thousands of displaced children, despite the many security risks and lack of money.
Last year, he says, UNICEF’s operations were only 50 percent funded. He says he hopes donors will respond more generously to this year’s $8.2 million appeal so it can scale up its relief activities.
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A Gaunt Navalny Appears in Court After Hunger Strike
In his first court appearance since ending a three-week hunger strike, Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “naked, thieving king.” Navalny appeared Thursday in a video link from prison to a Moscow courtroom where he was appealing a guilty verdict for defaming a World War 2 veteran. According to news reports, Navalny appeared thin, and his head was shaved. “I looked in the mirror. Of course, I’m just a dreadful skeleton,” he said. Yulia Navalnaya, wife of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, is seen in a courtroom, in Moscow, Russia, April 29, 2021, in this still image taken from video. (Press Service of Babushkinsky District Court of Moscow/Handout via Reuters)Navalny began his hunger strike March 3 and ended it April 23. Later in Thursday’s hearing, he took the opportunity to attack Putin. “I want to tell the dear court that your king is naked,” he said of Putin. “Millions of people are already shouting about it, because it is obvious. … His crown is hanging and slipping.” He also reiterated his claim of innocence on the embezzlement allegations that ostensibly landed him in prison. “Your naked, thieving king wants to continue to rule until the end. … Another 10 years will come, a stolen decade will come,” Navalny said referring to Putin. Last week, authorities in Russia disbanded several regional offices of Navalny’s anti-corruption group, the Anti-Corruption Foundation. A Russian court is considering branding the group extremist. FILE – Demonstrators march during a rally in support of jailed Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny, in Saint Petersburg, Russia, April 21, 2021.Last week, more than 1,900 Navalny supporters were detained during protests in cities across the country. From his Instagram account, he said he felt “pride and hope” after learning about the protests. Navalny survived a near-fatal poisoning last year and was arrested when he returned to Moscow in January following lifesaving treatment in Germany. The Kremlin denies any role in the poisoning. He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison in February on an embezzlement charge and was being held at the Pokrov correctional colony, which he described as “a real concentration camp.” The United States and other countries have sanctioned Kremlin officials over the poisoning, and many are calling for Navalny’s release.
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Clashes Erupt as Colombians Protest Tax Hikes
Tens of thousands of protesters across Colombia took to the streets Wednesday in a nationwide strike that ended in violent clashes between riot police and demonstrators.The protests came at a time of soaring COVID infection rates in the South American country, where a third wave of the virus has threatened to overwhelm hospital intensive care units. Despite a court order to postpone the strike over concerns of the potential consequences on health systems, masses filled the streets of some of Colombia’s major cities.The strike, known as the Paro Nacional, was a reaction to proposed tax hikes by the administration of embattled Colombian President Iván Duque, but the marches soon became a backlash to tensions and economic turmoil caused by the pandemic. Demonstrators escape from tear gas during a national protest against President Duque’s proposed tax reform in Bogotá, Colombia, April 28, 2021. (Pu Ying Huang/VOA)Alicia Prieto, 59, walked among those crowds touting a surgical mask and a sign reading “the power of the people is growing.”“We’re more scared to stay at home and go hungry than of the pandemic, Prieto said. “We’re not scared of the pandemic anymore, we’re scared of the government.”More than 2.8 million cases of the virus have been reported and 72,000 people have died from the virus in the country of 50 million people.The widely unpopular tax reform would add a 19% tax on things like Internet service, gasoline, electricity, water, among other things, and impose income taxes on people who earn more than $700 a month.The money raised would go toward covering deficits caused by the pandemic, and providing small cash payments to households living in poverty and extreme poverty.Critics like Prieto are quick to say that at a time of surging poverty and when workers have been crippled by government-imposed lockdowns, corporations are the ones who should take on the brunt of the taxes instead of citizens. Small payments do little to tackle the depth of the crisis, she said.“We are already struggling to make ends meet. We’ve already been affected,” Prieto, a member of the middle class, said. “They keep us in our homes, but we don’t know how to economically survive. I’m talking about people like us in the middle class. Poorer people simply go hungry.”The pandemic has generated rising inequalities and poverty rates across the world. Though for Latin America, a region already grappling with such problems before the pandemic, the fallout has been devastating.Colombia saw its economy shrink an estimated 7% last year.Sergio Guzmán, director of Colombia Risk Analysis, said the protest was less about one specific policy and more about a general feeling of inequality that has permeated the country, especially since the onset of the pandemic.“I think there’s a lot of frustration. There’s been a year of lockdowns, a year of COVID,” Guzmán said. “People are fed up, people are tired. People need outlets to vent their frustration and outrage about the status quo.”Instability threatOthers, like 26-year-old Lorena Vasquez, came out to call against a surge of violence in Colombia. She and other protesters place the blame on right-wing Duque’s failures to follow through on key promises in Colombia’s peace pact with guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC.The 2016 peace accords ended more than a half century of war with the rebel group, and offered the nation a chance at peace. But power vacuums left by the government and failures to implement the accords have led to a surge of violence in large swathes of the country as rivaling armed groups fight for power. Massacres and targeted assassinations of human rights defenders and social leaders –people who often challenge the power of armed groups – have also risen across the country during the pandemic.“The number of social leaders being killed goes up every day, and they don’t do anything,” Vasquez said. “What they do is keep quiet about the reality that we’re living through: a huge massacre in our country.”Similar violence was what spurred on months of protest during the country’s first Paro Nacional in 2019.ClashesAs protests wound on Wednesday, violent clashes between police and protesters broke out in Bogotá, Cali and other major cities. Tear gas hovered over much of downtown Bogotá Wednesday night. Demonstrators run away from tear gas during a national protest against tax reform in Bogotá, Colombia, April 28, 2021. (Pu Ying Huang/VOA)In the country’s third biggest city of Cali, public buses were burnt, and across the country windows were shattered, with reports saying rioters had broken into into stores and banks. In Bogotá, local officials reported that vandalism left 11% of the city’s transport system affected or in disrepair. By early Thursday, police and protesters reported nearly a hundred injured between officers and civilians, and officials confirmed that at least two protesters died during demonstrations.Organizers vowed to continue the protests. Duque responded to the strike, refusing to withdraw the proposal from Colombia’s Congress, but saying he hopes to open dialogues with protest leaders.“With us listening to everyone’s positions, we can find a solution and set goals,” the president said Wednesday night.While Guzmán said he thinks protests will continue to stretch on, fueled by festering discontent in the Latin American nation, he also said he doubts marches will end in any significant change.Meanwhile, 29-year-old Vasquez continued to hold onto hope that the marches would spark change.“I hope they hear us, I hope there’s no attacks or injuries,” she said as protesters milled by her. “And more than anything, I hope there’s justice in Colombia,” she said.
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Greek and Turkish Cypriots Remain Far Apart on Reunification
U.N. efforts to restart talks on reunifying the divided island of Cyprus have hit an impasse as Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders remain apart on the key issues. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres convened three days of informal meetings seeking a pathway to revive the dormant Cyprus reunification talks. The Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders as well as the foreign ministers of Greece, Turkey and Britain shared their views. Despite great efforts, Guterres acknowledged not enough common ground was found to allow for the resumption of formal negotiations to resolve the Cyprus problem. “As you can imagine, this was not an easy meeting. And we conducted extensive consultations in a succession of bilateral meetings and plenary meetings in order to try to reach common ground,” he said. Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded the Mediterranean island, following a Greek-backed military coup aimed at uniting Cyprus with Greece. Three U.N.-mediated negotiations to reunite the island since 2004 have failed. Guterres says the positions of the Turkish and Greek Cypriots remain far apart. He says the Turkish Cypriots oppose reviving past efforts to set up a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation in Cyprus. Instead, he says they want Cyprus to have two separate, equal states cooperating with each other. The Greek Cypriots, he says, remain steadfast in their demand for a federation. While these contrary positions pose obvious difficulties, Guterres says he is not giving up efforts to reconcile the two sides. “My agenda is strictly to fight for the security and well-being of the Cypriots, of the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots, that deserve to live in peace and prosperity together,” he said. The U.N. chief says he got the parties to agree to meet again in the near future. In the meantime, he says, the U.N. will consult with the parties, in hopes of creating a better environment for the next meeting. That process, he says, is likely to take two to three months.
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Turkey in New Lockdown as Its COVID Numbers Surge
Turkey on Thursday starts a strict new three-week lockdown as COVID-19 infections surge. Initially, Turkish authorities claimed success in curbing the pandemic, but the country could be paying the price for a premature easing of restrictions.
It is the country’s most severe lockdown since the onset of the COVID pandemic, with schools closing, alcohol sales banned, and only essential businesses like food shops being allowed to remain open.
For this Istanbul shoe shop, owner who asked to remain anonymous, there is fear for the future.
He said he does not want to call the 18-day shutdown unjust but he really sees it as “the end.” He said Turks are in a state of complete hopelessness. “We are finished,” he said, adding one can endure this “only up to a point.”
Compounding the economic pain for Turks is that the government has not announced any financial assistance for those suffering losses.
Already Turkish media report unofficial levels of unemployment exceed 25%, while aid groups report a surge in poverty and warn that large sections of society are struggling to find enough to eat.
Intercity travel will only be permitted with special permission. Already there was chaos, as those in other parts of the country scrambled to return home this week before the restrictions came into force late Thursday.
The draconian measures are in response to an enormous surge in COVID infections. Turkey reported 40,000 on Wednesday – the highest daily count in Europe.
Sebnem Korur Fincanci, chair of the Turkish Medical Association, says Turkey’s hospitals are struggling.
“The hospital beds are already full, particularly the intensive care units. They have to open new COVID clinics. And, also, the health professionals will burn out. They [are] already burned out and with this new situation this will overburden the health system,” Fincanci said.
The surge in infections comes after the government eased restrictions in March.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan even toured the country, holding party rallies in packed indoor stadiums – actions that drew strong condemnation from opposition parties.
Erdogan announced the new restrictions Monday, warning Turkey could pay a heavy price if they fail.
At a time when Europe is entering a phase of reopening, Erdogan said, Turkey must rapidly reduce the number of cases to fewer than 5,000 a day and is not, he said, to be left behind. Otherwise, the Erdogan said, Turkey will face consequences in every field, from tourism to trade and education.
Tourism is vital for the Turkish economy, providing an essential source of foreign income and providing millions of urgently needed jobs.
With hospitals filling up and the peak tourism period fast approaching, analysts see the latest lockdown as a sign that Ankara is aware time is running out.
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