At least 20 nursery-school children died in Niger on Tuesday in a fire that trapped them in straw-hut classrooms in a school in a poor neighborhood of the west African nation’s capital, government officials said. “There were 20 deaths, most of them young children,” said the head of Niger’s fire service, Colonel Bako Boubacar. He said the origin of the fire in Niamey was unknown. An official of a Niger’s teachers union said the school in the popular Pays Bas neighborhood had around 800 students, including children in the nursery section. “The fire apparently started around the school gate. Without an emergency exit, many were trapped and students were forced to scale the wall to escape. Those that died were mostly children in the preschool,” Mounkaila Halidou said. Another fire service official said 21 straw hut classes caught fire during the blaze and the children were trapped inside them.
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Month: April 2021
Taliban Shun Afghanistan Talks Until Foreign Forces Go
The Taliban said on Tuesday they would not attend a summit on Afghanistan’s future in Turkey this month until all foreign forces leave their country.”Until all foreign forces completely withdraw from our homeland, (we) will not participate in any conference that shall make decisions about Afghanistan,” tweeted Mohammad Naeem, spokesman for the Taliban office in Qatar.His intervention came just hours after it emerged that the U.S. would withdraw its forces from Afghanistan about five months later than Washington had originally agreed with the insurgents.U.S. officials said President Joe Biden would withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan before this year’s 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.FILE – U.S. troops patrol at an Afghan National Army Base in Logar province, Afghanistan, Aug. 7, 2018.The drawdown, finally ending America’s longest war despite mounting fears of a Taliban victory, delays by around five months an agreement with the Taliban inked by former President Donald Trump to pull troops.There is a growing consensus in Washington that little more can be achieved in the conflict-torn nation.The decision came as Turkey announced an international peace conference on Afghanistan that the hosts hope could pave the way to a power-sharing arrangement.The conference, due to be held in Istanbul from April 24 to May 4, will seek to revive long-stalled peace talks that are being hosted in the Qatari capital Doha.
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Biden Warns Putin on Russian Troop Buildup Near Ukraine
U.S. President Joe Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call Tuesday that the United States is concerned about Moscow’s “sudden … military buildup” along Ukraine’s border and in occupied Crimea. He called on Russia to “deescalate tensions,” the White House said in a summary of the conversation.”President Biden emphasized the United States’ unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the White House said, but gave no assessment of Putin’s reaction to the U.S. leader’s remarks.Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014, with the U.S. and Western allies condemning the takeover but doing nothing to block it. Since then, Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region have fought Kyiv’s troops, with skirmishes flaring periodically, sometimes intensely.FILE – Joe Biden (left), then vice president of the United States, shakes hands with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Moscow, March 10, 2011.Washington initiated the call, according to the Kremlin, with both sides saying that Biden expressed the hope that the two countries could normalize relations.It is the second time the two leaders have talked by phone since Biden assumed power in late January.The White House readout of the call said Biden and Putin “discussed a number of regional and global issues, including the intent of the United States and Russia to pursue a strategic stability dialogue on a range of arms control and emerging security issues, building on the (five-year) extension of the New START Treaty.”It also said the U.S. president “made clear that the United States will act firmly in defense of its national interests in response to Russia’s actions, such as cyber intrusions and election interference.””President Biden reaffirmed his goal of building a stable and predictable relationship with Russia consistent with U.S. interests,” the White House said.
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Turkey Plans Afghanistan Peace Summit in Late April
Turkey will host a peace summit for Afghanistan from April 24 to May 4 meant to jump-start efforts to end the war and sketch out a possible political settlement, Turkish authorities said on Tuesday.The meeting would include the United Nations and Qatar as part of a U.S.-backed push to advance talks ahead of a May 1 deadline for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.Turkey’s foreign ministry said the Afghan government and the Taliban insurgent group would attend. However, the Taliban said they had not yet committed to those dates. “Our internal discussions regarding this have not completed yet, the date can’t be specified until our discussions are completed,” said Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem.FILE – U.S. troops patrol at an Afghan National Army Base in Logar province, Afghanistan, Aug. 7, 2018.On Monday the Taliban had said it was unwilling, based on timing, to attend talks in Turkey initially scheduled for April 16.”Participation in the conference and its agenda have been the subject of extensive consultations with the Afghan parties,” Turkey’s foreign ministry said.U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York that “we very much hope” the Taliban will attend.More than 20 countries have been invited, said a diplomatic source, including Iran and Afghanistan’s other neighbors.U.S. President Joe Biden has decided to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 2021, three sources familiar with the decision told Reuters on Tuesday. The date is the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks that led the United States to oust the Taliban from power and then establish its presence there with allies.It was not immediately clear how the Taliban would respond to foreign troops staying past next month, after signing a deal with the Trump administration in February 2020 that stipulated May 2021 for departure.The Turkey summit is meant to end the conflict, pave the way to a “just and durable” political settlement and “accelerate and complement” intra-Afghan negotiations in Doha, a Turkish foreign ministry statement said.
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Turkey Caught in Russia-Ukraine Tensions
With tensions escalating between Russia and Ukraine, Turkey is finding itself caught in the middle. Ankara — anxious to get Russian COVID vaccines and tourist revenue — faces a difficult choice as Kyiv seeks to purchase Turkish-made military drones. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.Produced by: Henry Hernandez
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Rights Groups Say Villagers Not Compensated for East Africa Oil Pipeline
Chinese and French oil companies involved in the East African Crude Oil Pipeline project, to be built from Uganda to Tanzania, say affected villagers are being compensated. But rights groups representing hundreds of families who will be displaced by the project tell a different story. The $3.5 billion project is projected to run 1,450 kilometers from the southwestern Homia district of Uganda to the Port of Tanga in Tanzania. On Sunday, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and President Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania signed three agreements paving the way for construction of the pipeline, expected to be completed in 2025. FILE – Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, right, and Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan meet at the Statehouse in Entebbe, Uganda, in this handout picture taken and released on April 11, 2021, by Presidential Press Unit of Uganda.Kitutu Mary Goretti, Uganda’s minister for energy and mineral development, says the agreements will be a significant boost to Uganda’s economy and its people. “Other processes are already ongoing, including the acquisition of land for the pipeline and (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) EPC Management activities,” Goretti said. “It is important for the people of Uganda to take note of and position themselves to benefit from the extensive activities already going on.” However, human rights organizations say pipeline construction will displace up to 10,000 people, who are not being adequately compensated. Sewanyana Livingstone, the head of the Foundation for Human Rights organization, says locals are not being heard. “Of course, the population along the pipeline are interested in compensation. Because they were displaced; they were not heard; they are not party to the negotiation. We are trying in our follow-up activities to see how (French energy company) Total can bring them on board. But at the moment, they seem to be excluded,” Livingstone said. According to the agreements signed Sunday, Total will hold the largest stake in the pipeline with 62 percent. The Uganda National Oil Company and Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation will each hold 15 percent, and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, or CNOOC, will own the other 8 percent. Pierre Jessua, Total’s general manager, says the company has not voluntarily delayed the compensation to the affected families. “It was, I would say, due to the stop-and-go of the project that we had to interrupt the process,” Jessua said. “But we never actually took the lands and deprive the people from the land. We have evaluated the land, evacuated the crops from the land, evaluated the buildings which were on the land.” Chen Zhugobia, president of CNOOC’s Uganda branch, says very few people in their areas of jurisdiction are yet to be compensated. “We have already compensated most of the people related to the land. And from my memory, only about 6 households are not compensated,” Zhugobia said. Upon completion, the East Africa Crude Oil Pipepline will be the longest in the world, carrying 230,000 barrels of oil per day from Ugandan oil fields to Africa’s east coast.
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Biden Will Pull US Troops Out of Afghanistan by September 11, Official Says
President Joe Biden has decided to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 2021, 20 years to the day after al Qaida’s attacks triggered America’s longest war, three sources familiar with the decision told Reuters.US to drawdown troops in #Afghanistan from May with goal of having all of them out by 9/11 of this year — the 20th anniversary of the Al Qaeda attacks, announces a senior US official.— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) April 13, 2021A clear-eyed assessment of the best path forward is to focus on the ongoing peace process between the Taliban and the Afghan peace process and US troops won’t be a bargaining chip in those talks, says the official.— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) April 13, 2021″This is not condition-based,” says the senior administration official of the 9/11 2021 deadline.— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) April 13, 2021However, the withdrawal would be based on certain security and human rights guarantees, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the formalization of the decision. The sources did not provide further details.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are expected to brief the decision to NATO allies in Brussels on Wednesday. Biden may also publicly announce his decision, the sources said.Biden’s decision, should it be confirmed, would miss a May 1 deadline for withdrawal agreed with Taliban insurgents by his predecessor Donald Trump’s administration. In a statement last month, the Taliban threatened to resume hostilities against foreign troops in Afghanistan if they did not meet the May 1 deadline.If Taliban attack US or allied forces “we will hit back hard,” says the senior official.— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) April 13, 2021But it would still set a near-term date with withdrawal, potentially allaying Taliban concerns that Biden would drag out the process.The May 1 deadline had already started to appear less and less likely in recent weeks, given the lack of preparations on the ground to ensure it could be done in a safe and responsible way. U.S. officials have also blamed the Taliban for failing to live up to commitments to reduce violence and some have warned about persistent Taliban links to al Qaida.It was those ties that triggered U.S. military intervention in 2001 following al Qaida’s Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington because the Taliban had harbored al Qaida leaders.
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Northern Mozambique Faces Extended Humanitarian Crisis, UN Warns
U.N. agencies warn northern Mozambique is facing a long-lasting humanitarian and protection crisis as conflict, hunger and disease grip hundreds of thousands of people in the region.
People are still fleeing in droves from the impact of the violence that erupted in northern Mozambique’s coastal town of Palma. Many of the thousands of people who have fled to Pemba, the capital of Cabo Delgado, tell stories of the horrific attacks by Islamist militants, who reportedly killed dozens of people and committed other atrocities. Speaking on a video link from Pemba, director of emergencies for the U.N. children’s fund Manuel Fontaine says people relate how they have had to flee in the middle of the night. They speak in sorrow of families being separated while running for their lives. “I heard about this young woman who was pregnant and… her husband was just killed in front of her. And these are constant stories. Stories of people being kidnapped and stories of gender-based violence, horrific stories of lots of people walking for days and days, kids arriving with their feet swollen and injured and having to be taken care of,” he said.FILE – Families wait outside the port of Pemba for a boat to be evacuated from Palma, April 1, 2021.UNICEF says malnutrition rates among displaced children in Cabo Delgado are alarmingly high, with at least 33,000 in need of lifesaving specialized nutritional feeding. It says cholera and COVID-19 are of growing concern. The agency has appealed for $52.8 million for Mozambique this year, $30 million of that amount targeted for Cabo Delgado. It says only 37 percent of the appeal is funded and international support for its humanitarian operation is urgently needed. In a separate appeal, the World Food Program is seeking $82 million to ramp up food aid in northern Mozambique. WFP spokesman Tomson Phiri says in the wake of the heinous attacks in Palma, families and individuals have had to abandon their homes, their belongings and livelihoods to flee for safety. “WFP teams on the ground have spoken to these families that are on the move — their stories illustrate horrific violence and deepening despair… As the security situation continues to deteriorate, more than 950,000 people in the north of Mozambique are now facing severe hunger,” he said. Phiri say the WFP plans to assist 750,000 internally displaced people and vulnerable members of the host communities in Cabo Delgado and three other northern provinces. He says WFP is organizing emergency food distribution for families who have fled the violence in Palma.
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In Latest Salvo Against Media, Belarus Takes Euronews Off Air
Belarusian authorities have stopped the European news network Euronews from broadcasting inside the country amid a campaign to muzzle independent media and journalists as part of the government’s crackdown on dissent following a disputed presidential election that returned strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka to power.The Information Ministry said in a Police officers detain a demonstrator as they prevent an opposition action to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus, March 27, 2021.The demonstrators are demanding that Lukashenka leave and new elections be held, but Belarus’s strongman has been defiant. Security officials have arrested thousands and forced Tsikhanouskaya and other top opposition figures out of the country.Several protesters have been killed in the violence and some rights organizations say there is credible evidence of torture being used against some of those detained.Meanwhile, Barys Haretski, deputy chairman of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, says the government has embarked on the largest crackdown on journalists and rights activists Europe has ever seen.”Since last summer, the authorities have systematically created, let us say, ‘a Great Wall of China’ around Belarusian society. They have repressed journalists and shut down media outlets,” said Haretski.Lukashenka, who has run Belarus since 1994, and other top officials have been slapped with sanctions by the West, which refuses to recognize him as the legitimate leader of the country.Minsk-based media expert Paulyuk Bykouski said the move to ban Euronews cuts off a main point of access to fair and unfiltered news for Belarusians, who “do not have access to such information projects as CNN, Fox News, and any other channels that could be a possible alternative to what is being broadcast by Belarusian state media and Russian television channels.”
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Democracy Under Threat in Benin
As Benin awaits results from Sunday’s election, many hoped the small, West African country would continue its tradition as a beacon of democracy in the region. But analysts worry Benin is following the path of neighbors like Chad, which held elections the same day and is expected to extend President Idriss Deby’s 30-year rule. Benin made history in 1991 when it became the first mainland sub-Saharan African country to peacefully vote out an incumbent leader. But critics and political analysts say Benin’s reputation as a stable democracy has begun to erode under President Patrice Talon. Though he’s been praised for growing Benin’s economy and infrastructure, Talon has been widely panned for quashing critics. Benin’s President Patrice Talon talks to African Union observers after casting his ballot at a polling station in Cotonou, Benin, Apr. 11, 2021.After winning a five-year term in 2016, he broke a promise not to run again and pushed through election laws that sidelined opponents or forced them into exile. As a result, of the 19 candidates who planned to run against Talon on Sunday, just two largely unknown figures were deemed eligible. Gilles Yabi is a Beninese political analyst based in Senegal and the founder of West Africa Citizen Think Tank. “It’s possible to have a democratic regression and of course we cannot exclude that in a few years, if we continue in this trajectory of exclusion of political actors, of using the justice system to exclude political opposition, and to reduce the liberties, of course we can have Benin becoming a country like other countries in West Africa, or like others in Central Africa, where the realities are no longer a democratic system,” he said.Talon’s government used troops to violently crack down on election protesters last week, leaving at two people dead. Political analysts are worried the democratic decline in Benin is part of a larger trend. Over the last year, leaders of other West African nations such as Senegal, Guinea and Ivory Coast have also been accused of sidelining political opponents. FILE – Chad President Idriss Deby takes part in a working session during the G5 Sahel summit in Nouakchott, June 30, 2020, .Chad’s President Idriss Deby has clung to power for the last three decades and is expected to win a sixth term after also holding polls Sunday. Jeannine Ella Abatan, a senior researcher with the Institute for Security Studies in Dakar, says though Chad and Benin have very different political histories, she sees some worrisome similarities. “You have this blurring of lines between the executive and legislative and the judiciary in that all institutions that are supposed to provide checks and balances have either been weakened or are controlled by the president,” she said.Abatan says both Chad and Benin have restricted media and used security forces to attack protesters. A ballot box is emptied at the end of the voting operations at a roadside voting station in N’djamena, Apr. 11, 2021.Election results are expected as early as Tuesday in Benin and by Thursday in Chad.
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DR Congo’s Tshisekedi ‘In Full Control of New Government’
Felix Tshisekedi, president of the DR Congo, is in full control of a new government unveiled Monday after a four-month power struggle with predecessor Joseph Kabila, an official announcement indicated.The president had in February named the head of state-owned mining giant Gecamines, Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde Kyenge, as prime minister.Sama Lukonde succeeded Sylvestre Ilunga Ilunkamba, who was forced out after a coalition between supporters of Tshisekedi and Kabila broke down.The new government dubbed the “Sacred Union of the Nation” counts 57 members including 14 women, according to a presidential decree read out over state broadcaster RTNC by the presidential spokesman, Kasongo Mwema.Sama Lukonde said the new team’s priorities would include security, infrastructure and electoral reform in the poor but resource-rich country.”The size of the government has been reduced, women’s and young people’s participation has been taken into account. Principles of representation and inclusivity have been upheld,” he added.But the challenges are huge for the government of sub-Saharan Africa’s largest country by area, with repeated massacres of civilians in the restive East, intractable corruption and tax income dwarfed by massive expenditures — currently shored up by the country’s partners. While members of Tshisekedi’s inner circle have been given the defense, interior, finance and education portfolios, figures from the anti-Kabila opposition have been named to key posts, including environment minister and deputy prime minister Eve Bazaiba of the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC). The new foreign minister is Christophe Lutundula, close to Moise Katumbi, a former governor of Katanga province who himself attempted to challenge Kabila in a 2018 election. DR Congo’s leadership crisis arose from elections in December that year that led to the first peaceful transition of power in the former Belgian colony’s history. Tshisekedi, the son of a veteran opposition leader, was declared the winner but was forced into a governing coalition with Kabila supporters who at the time wielded a huge majority in parliament. Tensions boiled over last year when Tshisekedi declared that power-sharing was blocking his agenda for reform, vowing to seek a new majority in parliament.In a series of moves, he won over many Kabila legislators, gaining the perceived support of almost 400 out of 500 members of the National Assembly. The new majority enabled him to force out Ilunga as well as the pro-Kabila speakers of both houses of parliament. With backing from both the US and European Union, Tshisekedi, 57, has a free hand to work on his priorities of slashing corruption and the poverty that affects two-thirds of Congolese, as well as pacifying the more than 100 armed militias plaguing the country’s east.
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India Approves Russian Vaccine While Battling Devastating COVID Surge
India has approved Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine for emergency use against COVID-19 as the country battles a devastating second wave of the pandemic.The move will give India access to a third vaccine at a time when its race to ramp up its immunization drive is being hampered by shortages being reported from several parts of the country.India’s health ministry also said Tuesday it will fast-track approval for other shots that have been given an emergency nod by the World Health Organization or regulators in the United States, Europe, Britain and Japan to “expand the basket of vaccines for domestic use and hasten the pace and coverage of vaccination.”That could pave the way for possible imports of vaccines such as ones produced by Pfizer and Moderna, health experts said.The first doses of the Russian vaccine, which has shown as efficacy of 91.6 percent in studies and has been approved by about 60 countries, could arrive by the end of the month or early May.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.India has surpassed Brazil to become the world’s second worst hit nation as infections have soared to record highs in the past week, lending urgency to the need to scale up vaccinations that have reached less than ten percent of its vast population. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.Although India is the world’s largest vaccine producer, its manufacturers are struggling both to meet the massive domestic demand and their international commitments. The country was to be a major supplier to other developing countries but has put exports on a temporary hold.India has inoculated about 105 million people so far using the AstraZeneca vaccine which is being manufactured locally, and a domestically developed shot called Covaxin. But administering jabs to 1.4 billion people poses a huge challenge.In the past week, some local governments have said their stocks are dwindling although the federal government says it has an adequate amount.Meanwhile, calls are growing both from health experts and authorities in the country’s worst hit areas to make vaccinations more widely available to counter the second wave that has become more lethal than the first.The country’s inoculation drive, billed as the world’s largest, began in mid-January. After vaccinating health care workers and senior citizens, India expanded the jabs to those above the age of 45 year this month. But the government says vaccinations will not yet be extended to wider groups because of a “limited supply.”“We need to step up in a very aggressive manner our vaccination,” according to Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India. “The more people we can vaccinate across all age groups, the greater the chance of reducing the transmission of the virus.”India reported than 161,736 new cases on Tuesday, the seventh day in a row that more than 100,000 infections have been recorded.Health experts say a massive decline in cases earlier this year led to complacency both among the public and policy makers leading many to abandon COVID-19 protocols.Devotees gather for an evening prayer on the banks of the Ganges river during Kumbh Mela, or the Pitcher Festival in Haridwar, India, April 12, 2021.They are also pointing the finger at super spreader events such as a Hindu religious festival that is billed as the largest religious pilgrimage on Earth. At the event, tens of thousands congregate daily in the northern city of Haridwar to take a dip in the Ganges river.Reports of a shortage of hospital beds have come from the most impacted areas as cases rise — daily new infections have surpassed the numbers reported during the first wave.Five Indian companies will make 850 million doses a year of the Russian vaccine. “We believe by June, we will really be at good production capacity in India and will become a very meaningful player in vaccination program in India,” according to a statement by the Russian Direct Investment Fund.
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Britain Reopens as Rest of Europe Locks Down
Much of Europe has been forced back into lockdown amid a deadly third wave of the coronavirus. In Britain however, pubs, shops and services reopened Monday as the government hailed its vaccination program for cutting infections. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.Camera: Henry Ridgwell
Producer: Jason Godman
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Ukraine, Afghanistan in Spotlight as Blinken Visits Brussels
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed to Brussels on Tuesday to meet with European and NATO allies on a range of issues, including Russia’s buildup of forces along the border with Ukraine and coalition operations in Afghanistan.The visit comes three weeks after Blinken was in Brussels for a summit with his counterparts from NATO member states. Blinken spoke of the priority for the United States to focus on strengthening ties with allies during the previous meeting.“Glad to be heading back to Brussels. The United States is committed to rebuilding U.S. alliances, particularly with our NATO Allies,” Blinken Tweeted on Monday. “We remain steadfast in our support for NATO as the essential forum for Transatlantic security.”Glad to be heading back to Brussels. The United States is committed to rebuilding U.S. alliances, particularly with our @NATO Allies. We remain steadfast in our support for NATO as the essential forum for Transatlantic security. #USNATOpic.twitter.com/WSVjC7tSUk— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) April 13, 2021 Blinken’s schedule Tuesday includes talks with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.Russia’s recent movement of troops to the border area has raised concerns in the United States and elsewhere.Blinken spoke with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg about the situation Monday and said there was mutual agreement that “Russia must end its dangerous military buildup and ongoing aggression along Ukraine’s borders.”Philip Reeker, the U.S. acting assistant secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, told reporters in previewing Blinken’s meetings that NATO talks about Ukraine would bring calls for Russia to show restraint and refrain from “escalatory actions.”Joining Blinken in Brussels is U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.Another major topic of discussion will be the situation in Afghanistan just weeks before a May 1 deadline set an agreement between the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump and the Taliban for the withdrawal of the remaining 2,500 U.S. forces from the country.Reeker said those talks would be an opportunity to follow up on discussions about Afghanistan from the ministerial meetings last month. Blinken said during the March talks that the United States wanted to “listen and consult” with NATO allies, while pledging to “leave together” when the time is right.
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Early Results of Benin Presidential Election Expected to Favor Incumbent
The early results of the first round of Benin’s presidential election are expected Tuesday, with President Patrice Talon set to win a second five-year term amid accusations of election fraud.Opposition leaders in the West African nation had called for a boycott of Sunday’s election, accusing Talon of pushing through election laws which disqualified his rivals or forcing them to leave the country.Talon’s supporters deny the claim of election fraud, citing an election official’s comment that the vote was mostly peaceful, with no major incidents, despite some deadly clashes leading up to the election.Still, not all voters made it to the polls. Emmanuel Tiando, president of the country’s electoral commission, the Autonomous National Electoral Commission or CENA, said voting could not take place in 16 of the country’s 546 boroughs, without an explanation.An association of civil society groups said there were incidents of voters being threatened, harassed and intimated based on reports from hundreds of elections observers who spoke to Agence France Presse.To date, the government has not publicly responded to the allegations, saying only that it was satisfied with the election.
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Pentagon Chief Orders Review of Deadly 2020 Attack in Kenya
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday ordered an Army review of an investigation into a January 2020 militant assault on the Manda Bay military base in Kenya that killed three Americans and wounded three others.In a written statement announcing Austin’s decision, his press secretary, John Kirby, did not pinpoint what Austin found lacking in the initial investigation, which was conducted by U.S. Africa Command. By apparent coincidence, Austin plans to meet with Africa Command officials Tuesday in Stuttgart as part of a broader tour of Europe to consult with allies and talk to U.S. commanders. He will also meet separately with officials at U.S. European Command, also in Stuttgart.”An independent review will provide added insight, perspective, and the ability to assess the totality of this tragic event involving multiple military services and Department of Defense components,” Kirby said.NEW: @DeptofDefense withholding findings of investigation into the #alShabaab attack on the #MandaBay airfield in #Kenya -which killed 1 US servicemember & 2 US contractors- pending “an independent review” by “a 4-star general officer” https://t.co/nQLShUfcRM— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) April 12, 2021Kirby said that after considering the results of Africa Command’s investigation, which have not been released publicly, Austin decided to order the Army to pick a four-star general to conduct the review. The Army chose General Paul Funk, commander of Army Training and Doctrine Command. Funk is an experienced combat veteran who served six deployments in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”It is the secretary’s desire to ensure there is a full examination and consideration of the contributing factors that led to this tragic event and that appropriate action is taken to reduce the risk of future occurrence,” Kirby said. “The families impacted deserve nothing less.”The attack by al-Shabab militants at the Manda Bay base destroyed six aircraft in addition to killing three Americans and wounding three others.The base, in the Kenyan seaside resort, was overrun by 30 to 40 of the al-Qaida-linked insurgents on January 5, 2020, marking al-Shabab’s first attack against U.S. forces in the East African country.The base at Manda Bay has been used for years by the U.S. military, but it only became a full-time airfield in 2016, with increased personnel, aircraft and operations.The initial phase of the assault came near dawn, when 20 to 30 al-Shabab militants slipped through the forest and fired rocket-propelled grenades onto the airfield at the base. The opening rounds of grenades quickly killed a soldier in a truck, wounded another, and killed two contractors in an aircraft and wounded one other. About a mile down the road, other militants fired on Camp Simba, a section of the base where U.S. forces are stationed.Marines from Camp Simba initially responded to the attack site and begin to fight back against the militants, who had made it onto the airfield and into buildings. But it took all day for Kenyan and U.S. security forces to finally quash the attack, search the airfield and secure the area.Air Force Colonel Chris Karns, spokesperson for U.S. Africa Command, said a “great deal of rigor” was put into the investigation, resulting in a number of immediate improvements. He said the goal has been to reassure the families and the American public “that we did everything possible to understand the situation and take appropriate action.”The investigation team made “findings and recommendations that fall outside U.S. Africa Command purview and ability to effect; therefore, we fully support the additional independent review directed by the secretary of defense,” Karns said. “We are confident in the report’s findings and remain committed to ensuring fixes and improvements in Kenya and across the continent.”Kenya has been a key base for fighting al-Shabab, which is based in Somalia and is one of the world’s most resilient extremist organizations. Al-Shabab has launched a number of attacks inside Kenya, including against civilian targets on buses, at schools and at shopping malls.Al-Shabab had been the target of a growing number of U.S. airstrikes inside Somalia during President Donald Trump’s administration. But Trump late last year ordered the withdrawal of the roughly 700 American forces there, and the bulk of those troops were pulled out of the country by mid-January. According to officials, there are fewer than 100 U.S. troops in Somalia now.Austin has launched a review of America’s military posture around the world.
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