A team of archeologists has unearthed a city buried under the sands of Egypt that has lain “untouched for thousands of years, left by the ancient residents as if it were yesterday,” the team said in a statement Thursday.The team said after weeks of removing sand they found “a large city in a good condition of preservation, with almost complete walls, and with rooms filled with tools of daily life.”The discovery of the lost city of Aten, near Luxor, home to the Valley of the Kings, is the “second most important archeological discovery since the tomb of Tutankhamun,” Betsy Bryan, a Johns Hopkins University professor of Egyptian art and archaeology, said in the statement.Aten “will give us a rare glimpse into the life of the Ancient Egyptians at the time where the empire was at . . . (its) wealthiest,” Bryan said.Renowned Egyptian archaeologist and former antiquities minister Zahi Hawass led the excavation team. “Many foreign missions searched for this city and never found it,” he said.The archaeologists believe the city was an administrative and industrial settlement, dating back to the reign of Amenhotep III, who ruled the country from 1391 to 1353 B.C. The team also believe that Aten was eventually used by Tutankhamen and his successor, King Ay.
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Month: April 2021
Kenya Court Suspends Move to Close 2 Refugee Camps
Kenya’s high court on Thursday suspended the government move to shut down two camps that hold hundreds of thousands of refugees from war-torn neighboring countries.Justice Antony Mrima issued the temporary order, which will run for 30 days, after former presidential aspirant Peter Gichira filed a legal challenge seeking to block closure of the two camps.Kenya’s interior ministry had given the U.N. refugee agency 14 days, which ended Wednesday, to come up with a plan for closing the camps, saying that “there is no room for further negotiations.”The Dadaab camp in Kenya’s east holds more than 200,000 refugees mainly from Somalia, which has not known peace since the 1991 ouster of long-time dictator Siad Barre. The Kakuma camp in northern Kenya hosts nearly 200,000 refugees and asylum seekers, the majority from South Sudan’s civil war.Gichira, who is lawyer, argues that the directive to close the two camps violates Kenya’s constitution as well as international laws and treaties regarding protection of refugee rights.”The threatened closure of camps and forced repatriation offends all those international legal instruments protecting refugees as well as those prohibiting torture, cruelty, degrading and inhuman treatment,” Gichira said in his court filing.Any repatriation of refugees should be based on the principle that such people “return to their places of origin voluntarily and without any undue influence or pressure,” he added.Kenya’s government has been saying for years that it would like to close the Dadaab camp near the Somalia border, calling it a source of insecurity. Some officials have described it as a recruiting ground for the jihadist rebels of the al-Shabab extremist group and a base for launching violent attacks inside Kenya.A Kenyan court in 2017 blocked the closure of Dadaab, saying it was not safe for refugees to return to Somalia.The government’s latest demand to the U.N. refugee agency is seen as retaliation against Somalia for insisting on pursuing a case at the International Court of Justice over a disputed maritime border between the two countries. Kenya wants the case settled out of court.
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‘Security Threat’ Prompts Afghans to Turn Back Plane Carrying Pakistan Lawmakers
Officials in Afghanistan said a plane carrying a high-profile Pakistan parliamentary delegation was turned back Thursday as it was about to land in Kabul after explosives were found at the airport.The large Pakistani delegation was to stay in the Afghan capital for three days under the leadership of Asad Qaiser, speaker of the lower house of Parliament, or the National Assembly.Qaisar and his delegation were invited by his Afghan counterpart, Mir Rahman Rahmani.Abdul Qadir Zazai, a spokesperson for the Afghan Parliament, said that during construction work, a digging team found old “unexploded ordnance” in part of the airport. The discovery prompted the control tower to refuse landing permission to several planes, including the one carrying the Pakistani guests, he explained.NATO helps with detonationZazai said NATO-led military personnel later helped the Afghan partners carry out a controlled detonation of the ordnance to defuse the threat. It was not immediately known who planted the explosives.Both Rahmani and Qaiser agreed to reschedule the visit, Zazai said.Pakistani special envoy to Afghanistan, Mohammed Sadiq, who was also part of the delegation, tweeted that a “security threat” prompted the postponement of their visit.As the plane was about to descend, the control tower informed them that the airport had been closed. Sadiq wrote. “New dates for the visit will be decided after mutual consultations.”Islamabad has lately stepped up its diplomatic outreach to improve traditionally strained relations with Kabul, which blames Pakistan for sheltering leaders of the Taliban who are waging a deadly insurgency to dislodge the Afghan government.Pakistani officials reject the charges and in turn allege that fugitive anti-state militants have established sanctuaries in Afghan border areas where they plot attacks against Pakistan.Drone strikes kill militantsU.S. drone strikes have in recent years killed important Pakistani militant commanders in Afghanistan.Pakistan and Afghanistan share a 2,600-kilometer border. The traditionally porous frontier has long encouraged militants to move in both directions and undertake subversive acts in both countries.Islamabad has in the past few years unilaterally erected a robust fence along most of the Afghan border. Officials say the work on the remaining portion is expected to be completed later this year.Pakistani military officials insist the fencing effort has significantly deterred all illegal crossings, leading to improved security in Pakistan.Afghan students allowed to study in PakistanIslamabad also has relaxed visa restrictions for Afghans and recently increased the number of scholarships for Afghan students keen to study in Pakistani institutions.Pakistan is also credited with arranging peace talks between Taliban leaders and the United States that led to the signing of a landmark agreement between the two adversaries in February 2020, setting the stage for U.S. troops to begin a phased withdrawal from Afghanistan.The U.S.-Taliban deal also encouraged the insurgents to open direct peace talks last September with representatives of the Afghan government to negotiate a permanent end to years of war. But the dialogue, being hosted by Qatar, has since stalled.
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US ‘Monitoring’ as Iran Sends Fuel Tankers to Venezuela in Defiance of Sanctions
As Iran sent three gasoline shipments to fuel-starved Venezuela in recent months in defiance of U.S. sanctions, the Biden administration apparently did nothing to stop the tankers, signaling a reticence to enforce the sanctions and a savviness by the anti-U.S. allies in evading them.Two National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC)-owned vessels, the Faxon and the Fortune, delivered several hundred thousand barrels of Iranian gasoline to the Venezuelan city of Puerto La Cruz at the end of January and beginning of February. The third NITC tanker, the Forest, delivered another 270,000 barrels of gasoline to the city of Puerto Cabello on February 20.BREAKING: A shipment of around 44 million liters of gasoline has secretly arrived at El Palito, Venezuela from Iran aboard handysize tanker FOREST. This is according to our 6 week long tracking investigation. FOREST is the 3rd tanker we were expecting after FORTUNE & FAXON. #OOTT
— TankerTrackers.com, Inc.⚓️🛢 (@TankerTrackers) February 20, 2021The deliveries were confirmed by a variety of nongovernmental sources, including TankerTrackers.com, an online service that tracks global energy shipments using satellite imagery and maritime data and London-based energy markets news service Argus Media, which said it obtained shipping data and documents related to the Iranian tankers.Further confirmation came from the Reuters news agency, which cited several unnamed people with knowledge of the Iranian shipments.Iran began sending irregular gasoline shipments to Venezuela, its longtime anti-U.S. ally, last May to help Caracas manage domestic fuel shortages stemming from dilapidated refineries and government mismanagement in the major oil-producing nation. In exchange for the deliveries, Caracas has provided Tehran with gold, surplus Venezuelan jet fuel and other commodities, according to U.S. and Venezuelan officials and reports by Argus Media and Reuters citing shipping documents and knowledgeable sources, respectively.FILE – The Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Javad Zarif, left, bumps elbows with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza at the Casa Amarilla palace in Caracas, Nov. 5, 2020.The administration of former president Donald Trump, which had sanctioned both Iran and Venezuela, responded to Iran’s May and June gasoline shipments by seizing in August four tankers that U.S. officials said also were carrying Iranian gasoline to Venezuela, albeit under non-Iranian flags. But reports citing tanker-tracking services later showed that Iran managed to send three more gasoline shipments to Venezuela using NITC tankers in late September and early October, apparently without U.S. interference.The U.S. Justice Department on August 14, 2020, confirmed it had seized the fuel cargo aboard four tankers — including the Bering, pictured here in an undated photo — sent by Iran to crisis-wracked Venezuela.Asked by VOA Persian for its response to the three Iranian gasoline shipments to Venezuela in late January and early February, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said on March 24, “We are aware of reports of a Venezuelan-Iranian petroleum exchange and continue to monitor the situation.”The spokesperson made no reference to any U.S. sanctions enforcement action in relation to the illicit shipments and made no direct response to a question about whether the Biden administration will follow Trump’s example by seizing future similar shipments.The State Department spokesperson also referred questions about sanctions to the Treasury Department, which did not respond to a VOA Persian email requesting comment on the issue.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 11 MB480p | 16 MB540p | 19 MB720p | 35 MB1080p | 71 MBOriginal | 251 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioIn an earlier March 8 phone briefing with reporters, a senior Biden administration official responded to a VOA question by acknowledging that Venezuelan authorities have adapted to unilateral U.S. sanctions on their energy sector by “sustain(ing) themselves through illicit flows.”The official expressed skepticism about the wisdom of maintaining those unilateral sanctions on Venezuela and said they are being reviewed to ensure that they punish President Nicolas Maduro’s government, which the U.S. considers to be illegitimate, and not the Venezuelan people. There is “no rush” to lift the sanctions while the review is under way, the official added. The Biden administration also has expressed a willingness to ease unilateral U.S. sanctions on Iran as part of a diplomatic process to revive a 2015 deal in which Tehran promised world powers to curtail nuclear activities that could be weaponized in return for global sanctions relief.Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018, saying it was not tough enough on Iran, and started toughening U.S. sanctions to pressure Tehran to end objectionable behaviors. Iran retaliated a year later by starting an ongoing series of violations of the agreement’s nuclear activity limits. The Biden administration has said it will keep Trump’s sanctions in place until Tehran agrees to coordinate with Washington on a joint return to compliance with the nuclear agreement.In addition to signaling a willingness to ease unilateral U.S. sanctions on Iran and Venezuela, the Biden administration has signaled a reluctance to aggressively enforce those sanctions in the case of the Iran-Venezuela fuel transfers.Bogota-based analyst James Bosworth, whose company, Hxagon, provides political risk analysis on emerging markets, recently told VOA Persian that the Biden administration has shown that it wants to avoid escalating tensions with Iran and Venezuela. He noted that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned last May that if the U.S. interferes with Iranian tankers bringing gasoline to Venezuela, U.S. tankers will have a “reciprocal problem.”FILE – Iranian oil tanker Fortune is anchored at the dock of the El Palito refinery near Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, May 25, 2020.“Blocking tankers from reaching Venezuelan shores — that really escalates tensions beyond basic sanctions enforcement,” Bosworth said. “You don’t want enforcement to be this high stakes game that could lead you to military action.”Iran’s success in shipping gasoline to Venezuela also can be attributed to its decades of experience in evading U.S. sanctions, said Emanuele Ottolenghi, an Iran analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, in a recent VOA Persian interview. Besides Iran having its tankers switch off their transponders for much of their journeys to and from Venezuela, it has developed new ways to disguise the shipments, he said.”One of the recent techniques has been to disguise vessels as ships that are not owned by the Iranian fleet and do not have the Iranian flag. Part of the reason that further seizures of Iranian tankers have not happened since August is that it has taken some time for the U.S. government to figure out these techniques,” Ottolenghi said.The FDD analyst says one factor driving Iran and Venezuela to develop the new techniques for evading U.S. sanctions is the financial gain reaped by those involved in the illicit fuel shipments.“The industry of sanctions evasion that facilitates these costly and circuitous deals makes a lot of money for the regime figures in Tehran and in Caracas who pull the strings, and it incentivizes them to continue creating ever more ingenious ways to break free of the sanctions,” Ottolenghi said.This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service. Cristina Caicedo Smit and Rafael Salido of VOA’s Latin America Division contributed to this report.
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Jovan Divjak, Defender of Sarajevo, Dies at Age 84
Former Bosnian army general Jovan Divjak, who defended Sarajevo during a 44-month siege of the city, died Thursday in the Bosnian capital at the age of 84, his organization said. Divjak was one of the very few ethnic Serbs to fight for the Bosnian army during the devastating 1990s inter-communal conflict that ripped the former Yugoslavia apart. A champion of a multi-ethnic Bosnia, Divjak died after a “long illness,” according to his organization, Obrazovanje Gradi BiH, which means “education builds Bosnia and Herzegovina.” When the conflict broke out in Sarajevo in April 1992, Divjak, a retired Yugoslav army officer, was a member of Bosnia’s territorial defense forces. He immediately joined the ranks of those defending Sarajevo, which was besieged for nearly four years. At least 10,000 residents of the city were killed during the war. “It was natural to be with those who were attacked, who did not have weapons,” Divjak told AFP in 2017, rejecting the “good Serb” label. “The idea of a multi-ethnic Bosnian army had won me over,” he added. FILE – Citizens of Sarajevo protest in front of the building of the EU Special Representative office building in Sarajevo, to show support for retired General Jovan Divjak, March 5, 2011.After the conflict, Divjak renounced his rank of general and devoted himself entirely to his association, which granted thousands of scholarships to orphans and also to children from poor families. He was awarded the Legion of Honour by France in 2001 for “his civic sense, his refusal of prejudice and ethnic discrimination.” To his death, Divjak remained fiercely anti-nationalist. His role in the war was badly viewed by most Bosnian Serbs who considered him a traitor. Serbia demanded Divjak’s extradition over a 1992 attack on a retreating Yugoslav army convoy in Sarajevo. The ex-general denied the allegations and insisted that he ordered the shooting to stop, a claim that seems to be backed up by television footage from the time.
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Commercial Trucks Refusing to Enter South Sudan Because of Insecurity
Hundreds of commercial trucks carrying goods bound for South Sudan have stopped at the borders this week, with drivers refusing to complete deliveries because of insecurity. A series of armed attacks on vehicles in South Sudan last month left at least 15 people dead. The truckers say they won’t leave Uganda and Kenya until their safety can be guaranteed.David Kirotho Mathinde, chairman of the Kenyan Drivers Association, said attacks on roads linking Juba to the towns of Nimule and Yei have claimed the lives of several foreign truckers in recent months.He said no truck will leave for South Sudan if the government does not provide security along the roads.”You see, these guys have been hijacking people — not only hijacking people, but killing drivers,” Mathinde said. ” . . . If the government of (South) Sudan is not going to take any action … we are going to discuss this issue with our government and make sure that no person will enter that country.”Mathinde said that drivers often put their lives on the line to deliver food to countries such as South Sudan and Congo, which struggle with food insecurity, and that it’s not fair that they are being targeted.He said the association has asked South Sudan’s government several times to boost security, but nothing much has ever been done.All the drivers want, he said, is protection.”Let them make sure that we have full support of security,” Mathinde said. “No driver should be killed, no goods should be stolen.”Colonel Santo Domic, deputy spokesperson for South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF), said the chief of staff has implemented plans to provide security on the major roads leading to Juba.Domic said that it was resolved in a SSPDF strategic security meeting that the forces along the road from Juba to Nimule and from Juba to Yei had to be reinforced. The security forces have been reinforcing since Friday, he said.”We are going to locate a lot of detachments along those roads,” he said. “Of course, it is impossible to close all the roads with the military, but we are going to close all those gaps either by foot patrol or mechanized patrol.”Domic said the army will make sure that the roads are safe for the movement of all commercial trucks, and for humanitarian operations.Daniel Deng, an official in charge of border agents in the town of Nimule, said there are about 3,000 trucks parked on the Uganda side of the border. He said if the standoff continues, prices of fuel and food in South Sudan may start to rise because the landlocked country is dependent on goods transported through its neighbors.
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Strasbourg Mosque a Lightning Rod for Broader French-Turkish Tensions
The cement skeleton of the unfinished Eyyub Sultan mosque in France’s eastern city of Strasbourg has become a repository for myriad grievances, ranging from local partisan wrangling to longstanding friction between Islam and this country’s staunchly secular creed.The grievances also reflect mounting fears within the European Union about Turkey’s growing international influence.Claiming concern over foreign — and specifically Turkish — meddling, a top French official launched legal proceedings this week against a decision by Strasbourg’s leftist government to subsidize the construction of the mosque, designed to be Europe’s largest.The move coincided with a rare visit by EU leaders to Ankara, where efforts to patch up longstanding differences were overshadowed by a seating spat.Underpinning both issues, analysts say, is the EU’s reliance on Turkey as a bulwark against another massive refugee influx — a reality underpinning a multibillion-dollar migrant deal with Turkey in 2016 which limits the bloc’s muscle-flexing options today.The EU nations “need Turkey — if Turkey opens its borders what will happen?” asked Muslim specialist Erkan Toguslu, a lecturer at KU Leuven University, even as he warned about Ankara’s growing influence in the region, spread through its nationalist brand of Islam.FILE – French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a press conference, in Paris, France, Feb. 25, 2021.That warning appears to resonate with French President Emmanuel Macron. He has racked up an especially bitter and personal feud with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, wrangling over issues from the conflicts in Libya and Syria, to Turkey’s exploration for oil and gas in the eastern Mediterranean.More recently Macron’s focus has shifted closer to home. He warned Ankara last month against interfering in next year’s French presidential elections, and his government takes aim at Turkish groups it considers suspect.Foreign meddling or partisan politics?Last year, for example, France moved to ban a Turkish ultra-nationalist group called Grey Wolves, after its members were accused of defacing an Armenian genocide memorial near Lyon. Other European countries, including Germany, are considering similar steps.French lawmakers are also debating legislation against extremism, which would ban foreign funding of religious groups. Among those potentially in its crosshairs: Turkish association Milli Gorus, the main backer of the Strasbourg mosque.In an interview with French radio Tuesday, Macron’s hard-line interior minister Gerald Darmanin threatened to dissolve Milli Gorus and others he deemed “enemies of the Republic,” noting the Turkish association’s refusal to sign a new government charter against extremism.Newly appointed French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin arrives to attend the weekly Cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, July 7, 2020.Darmanin also took aim at Strasbourg’s Greens Mayor Jeanne Barseghian, finding it regrettable she supported providing nearly $3 million in financing for the mosque, roughly one-tenth of the total cost, “given what we know about political Islam and sometimes foreign meddling on our soil.”Berseghian has rejected Darmanin’s suggestions. Another leading Greens Party mayor said he was scandalized by Macron’s suggestion of Turkish meddling. Strasbourg city council must still vote again to release the construction funds, a move that may be compromised by the new legal proceedings launched against the financing.Milli Gorus officials did not reply to a request for comment. But in a recent statement, the group denied being fundamentalist and described itself as a staunchly French association “that has always acted with total transparency, in respect of the republic’s values.” The Strasbourg mosque, with a total price tag of about $38 million, has been in the works for several years, but was halted for lack of funding.For some analysts, the mosque financing spat, and Macron’s warning of possible foreign election interference, may be aimed mostly at French voters, as critics point to the president’s rightward shift ahead of next year’s vote.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks in Ankara, Turkey, March 2, 2021.”That Mr. Erdogan today supports Islamist fundamentalism and acts like the enemy of French security today is certain,” far-right leader and leading opposition candidate Marine Le Pen told the Anglo-American Press Association in a recent interview. “But does he have the capacity to interfere with (French) elections? Not more than any other countries that are influential within their own diaspora.”Longstanding fearsStill the controversy digs up longstanding fears about the role of Islam in France, home to Western Europe’s largest Muslim community and battered by a series of terrorist attacks, as well as newer concerns about Turkey’s influence here.”The Green Mayor of Strasbourg is Subsidizing Political Islam,” right-wing magazine Valeurs Actuelle titled a recent headline. “Collaboration or Submission?””Should we be afraid of Turkish Islam?” France’s La Croix newspaper ask in an analysis of the evolving controversy.“The Turkish government wants to use this (Strasbourg) mosque and Milli Gorus as a kind of soft power,” said KU Leuven University’s Erkan Toguslu, describing Ankara’s aim as nationalist rather than religious. “It uses Turkish mosques, Turkish associations and the Turkish diaspora in Europe for its own policy, not to defend Muslim interests.”The quandary of foreign financing of local mosques is a longstanding one in France, where many local Muslim communities are too poor to bankroll construction and a 1905 law separating church and state prevents public financing of places of worship. The Strasbourg mosque doesn’t fall under these strictures because the larger Alsace region where it is located has a different set of rules.Past funding questions, and fears of foreign influence, have often centered on North African or Middle Eastern countries with sizable ethnic populations in France, and less on Turkey. The estimated 700,000 Muslims with Turkish roots here account for a fraction of France’s roughly 6-million-member Muslim community, and its geographically diverse factions are often at odds with each other. Like several other countries, Turkey also sponsors imams in France, making up for a dearth of local-born ones.Moreover, the Turkish religious community here is fragmented, experts say. Milli Gorus counts among several Muslim groups in France, including those sharply critical of the Erdogan government.Still, observers say, France’s Turkish community is increasingly influential and ambitious. Last year, its representatives captured the majority of seats on the French Council of the Muslim Faith, the main representative body, for the first time since its creation in 2003.”The threat is not about religion,” analyst Toguslu said. “The threat is about nationalism. Turkish nationalism.”
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Pakistani Prime Minister Under Fire for Rape Remarks
Human rights and women’s rights groups in Pakistan are demanding a public apology from Prime Minister Imran Khan for his statement linking women’s clothing to causes of rape.“This entire concept of veil in our religion (Islam) is to avoid temptation in the society. Not everyone in the society has the will power to control (himself). The more you raise the level of obscenity in a society, the more it’ll have an impact,” Khan said Sunday in a live television broadcast during which he was answering callers’ questions.In a protest held Thursday outside the National Press Club in capital Islamabad, activists expressed outrage and demanded a public apology.“I feel that it is not just the women of Pakistan, it is also the men of Pakistan who have been slapped in the face by the prime minister because he said that men are unable to control themselves, they can’t control the temptation of seeing women in public without being veiled,” said activist Tahira Abdullah.Earlier in the week, a statement of condemnation signed by hundreds including several rights groups, and circulated on social media, demanded not just an apology but also urgent gender sensitization training for the prime minister, his entire cabinet, and all members of the government.“It is rape apologia to link the crime of rape, which is a crime of power and control, with “temptation” and “obscenity”. This reflects a lack of understanding of the causes of sexual violence, provides justification and further emboldens those who perpetrate this heinous crime,” the statement said.A government spokesman said Khan’s comments were distorted.“[W]hile expressing deep concern about it, the prime minister spoke about the societal responses and the need to put our efforts together to eliminate the menace of rape completely,” the spokesman said in a written statement sent to media Wednesday.It also said the prime minister remained committed to “utilize all avenues at the government’s disposal to tackle the incidence of rape.”However, individuals and rights groups continued to demand an apology and said Khan showed a lack of understanding of the issue.“If vulgarity was the reason for rape, Mr. PM, why would young boys in madrassah’s get raped? What about the very young girls . . . and dead women, who are pulled out of their graves to rape. What vulgarity do they spread?” questioned Islamabad resident Fatima Atif at Thursday’s protest.Activist Safir Ullah demanded Khan educate himself on gender issues.“He needs to understand gender discrimination. Only then he will understand the severity of his statement. I think he does not understand what he has said and its repercussions on the society,” he said.FILE – Members of civil society groups take part in a rally to condemn the incident of rape on a deserted highway, in Karachi, Pakistan, Sept. 12, 2020.The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, a non-profit entity, said it was “appalled” by the remarks and said it showed a “baffling ignorance of where, why, and how rape occurs.”Khan, who was a cricketer of international fame, had a reputation as a womanizer before he turned to politics and became devoutly religious. He has since blamed sexual content and obscenity for an increase in rapes and a breakdown in family units.“When I went (to Britain at 18 years of age), they used to have one divorce in 17 marriages. Today, they have a 70% divorce rate and increasing,” he said.In India, he said, the film industry was partly responsible for New Delhi being called the rape capital of the world.Rights groups said his statements were equivalent to victim blaming.“Rape is perpetrated by rapists and it’s culture is strengthened by rape apologists. PM @ImranKhanPTI must apologize for this callous and damaging remarks and desist from blaming the victims,” rights group Women’s Action Forum wrote in its statement on Twitter.Rape is perpetrated by rapists and it’s culture is strengthened by rape apologists. PM @ImranKhanPTI must apologize for this callous and damaging remarks and desist from blaming the victims .
Read full statement of condemnation here :https://t.co/GoQsgmgkHPpic.twitter.com/MrFoBRR5QL
— Women’s Action Forum – Karachi Chapter (@WAFKarachi) April 7, 2021One activist at Thursday’s protest said it was time for Khan’s supporters to step up.“His voters need to hold him to account,” said William Pervez. “Our voters have turned into blind supporters of their leaders.”Khan’s British ex-wife, Jemima Goldsmith, hoped the remarks were a mistranslation of his words.“The Imran I knew used to say, ‘Put a veil on the man’s eyes not on the woman’,” she tweeted.She also recounted an incident in Saudi Arabia years ago when an elderly woman told her she was harassed by young men while in her abaya and niqab (face covering) until she revealed her face.“The problem is not how women dress!” Goldsmith said.
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Somali Elections Remain on Hold After Latest Political Talks Collapse
Somalia’s federal government said Wednesday that efforts to resolve the stalemate on elections collapsed after leaders from the states of Puntland and Jubbaland failed to agree on the way forward.But leaders from both states rejected that claim from the information minister, Osman Dubbe, saying in a joint statement that the administration of President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo is not ready for polls.Residents of the capital, Mogadishu, seem frustrated by the continued disagreement among the political stakeholders in the country.Bukhari Amin remains hopeful the crisis can be resolved.Amin said the interest of the general public rests on the urgent end of the ongoing talks on the polls and conducting transparent, peaceful elections in the Horn of Africa nation.He adds that the continued differences between political leaders on holding democratic elections will jeopardize the hard-earned stability in the country.The presidential and parliamentary elections were originally scheduled to begin late last year. Farmajo’s term officially expired in February and some opposition leaders insist he is no longer president, further complicating the talks.Political science teacher at Somali National University Anwar Abdulfatah said lack of trust among the Somali leaders is the main obstacle to holding the elections.“There are several reasons which caused this fiasco,” Abdulfatah said. “Lack of good will is one of them because both sides were engaged on defeating each other instead of focusing on the gist of the issue. Secondly, there is a degree of recklessness among the Somali politicians because, all the Somali people were waiting the results from the talks but yesterday both sides were delivering wealth of information and started demonizing each other.”The international community has repeatedly urged Somali leaders to resolve their issues but diplomacy analyst Mohamed Dugow said the ball is now in the global partners’ court to take necessary action against stubborn leaders.Dugow said Somali citizens expect the international community to take a decisive role through intervention since leaders failed to agree on the polls. He added that in order to safeguard the progress made in the democracy and stability of the country the international community intervention in Somalia’s ongoing talks on polls is inevitable.The U.N. office in Somalia, the U.S. and European Union have all appealed to Somali leaders to resolve their differences in the spirit of the holy month of Ramadan.
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About 24 Monkeys Escape From Zoo in Southwestern Germany
About 24 monkeys escaped from a zoo in the town of Loffingen, Germany, and eluded recapture for several hours, local police said Thursday. The Barbary macaques broke out of their enclosure at the Tatzmania wildlife park, police and local media said, about 140 kilometers southwest of Stuttgart, near the border with Switzerland. People initially spotted the macaques roaming in a pack in part of Loffingen, and while the monkeys are not large or considered dangerous, the public was warned not to approach or attempt to capture them. Zoo workers finally caught up with the fugitives later in the day as they basked in the sun. “The animals apparently took advantage of the nice weather and spent the afternoon on the edge of a forest near the zoo,” police said. While it was unclear exactly how the macaques escaped, police think construction work at the zoo created an opportunity for the monkeys to slip away. Barbary macaques are native to mountainous areas of North Africa, zoo officials said, and a small but famous population of them live in the British territory of Gibraltar, where they are known as Barbary apes. They are considered endangered because of severe habitat loss.
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Venezuela, Iran Strengthen Alliance to Evade Sanctions
Iran and Venezuela have managed to maintain their commercial relationship, despite U.S. sanctions. Cristina Caicedo Smit reports.
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Kenyan Charity Makes Vegetable Soap for Poor
Checking the spread of the coronavirus through handwashing is a challenge in Kenya, where many people can’t afford soap. To help, a Kenyan charity is making soap out of vegetables to hand out in city slums. Victoria Amunga reports from Nairobi.Camera: Robert Lutta
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Southern African Leaders Step Up Response to Mozambique Insurgency
Leaders from six Southern African nations met this week to figure out how to address a rise in violent extremist attacks in Mozambique’s volatile north, including a sophisticated attack last month that threatened the nation’s gas reserves.Here is the puzzle the presidents of Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe are trying to solve: A shadowy insurgency has taken a stranglehold over northern Mozambique, increasing their violent attacks in recent months and endangering the nation’s large gas reserves. On Thursday, after two days of meetings between regional military and security officials and heads of state, the Southern African Development Community’s top six leaders called for “an immediate technical deployment” to Mozambique ahead of another high-level meeting at the end of April. Legally, the body can intervene militarily in cases of intrastate conflict, like this one. But Mozambique has so far been unreceptive. The latest chapter in this violent, three-year saga — an attack last month by Islamic State-linked insurgents on the city of Palma, close to a multibillion dollar French gas project — appears to have been the final straw that motivated leaders to convene. In that highly organized attack, militants laid waste to the small seaside town and committed horrific atrocities, according to rights groups. It is a complex story, but rights groups say leaders need to focus on one issue: fundamentally, they argue, this is a human rights crisis. FILE – Families wait outside the port of Pemba on April 1, 2021, for the boat of evacuees from Palma.“What we have here is a human rights and humanitarian crisis that has left hundreds of thousands displaced, insecure and unable to return to their homes because of the attacks that have been ongoing,” said Dewa Mavhinga, the Southern Africa director for Human Rights Watch. “So, the lack of security then spills over to affect everything else, including in terms of stability and economic programs that might be taking place in Cabo Delgado. As we have seen with the attack on Palma town that disrupted all socioeconomic activities. But at the core of it is a lack of protection in terms of the rights of the citizens who were then forced to flee to Tanzania and southwards to Pemba.” The United Nations estimates 1.3 million people need urgent humanitarian assistance, and that 670,000 have been pushed out of their homes by the violence. Last year saw more than 570 violent incidents in the nation’s three northern provinces. Historian Yussuf Adam, a retired professor at Maputo’s Eduardo Mondlane University, told VOA the problems in this region go back way beyond the start of the insurgency in 2017. He’s been studying the region since the 1970s, and says he’s documented growing animus in the last two decades between local landowners who were mostly Muslim and farmers who were mostly Christian. He believes Mozambique’s government waited too long to try to address these divides, and perhaps more importantly, to tackle the area’s systemic poverty and inequality. And for that reason, he says, a military solution is no solution. “There is no military solution. People have to be heard, and things have to be negotiated, and also people’s right to land,” he said. “People have to benefit also from whatever it is will come out, is coming out, from this mining, oil, petrol and gas operations. That’s something which has to be seen and done.” And, Mavhinga says, the government needs to take responsibility for its own failures. While militants have committed grievous acts — including rapes and beheadings — rights groups have also documented abuses by Mozambican security forces, including torture and extrajudicial killings. Security expert Jasmine Opperman, director of the Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium, says the militants’ tactics show their aim clearly: they’re trying to sow distrust in the government. That’s why the Palma attack — which grabbed headlines around the world and forced French energy giant Total to suspend its local operations — actually matters. FILE – This handout picture from the World Food Program (WFP) taken on March 18, 2021 shows an aerial view of the Afungi Liquified Natural Gas Camp, in Afungi, 20 km from Palma.“There is nothing for them in seizing the gas. Disruption is the important thing,” she said. “Exposing the government for inability to protect the LNG sector is an important aspect. And with that, we are seeing the insurgents just gaining massive momentum. … It is important to make a distinction. The LNG sector, I want to argue, has never been a primary attack. But disruption remains central.” In their communique, Southern African leaders did not say what exactly “an immediate technical deployment” means, what exactly it would do — or even how soon they could get their feet on the ground. Nor did they elaborate on their statement that “such heinous attacks cannot be allowed to continue without a proportionate regional response.” SADC will meet again in Maputo on April 28.
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Tanzania Government Trims Back President’s Order to Reopen Media Outlets
Earlier this week, new Tanzanian President Samia Hassan announced that media outlets shut down under her predecessor could reopen. But the chief government spokesman said Wednesday that Hassan was only referring to online television. Journalists are confused and not happy with the new administration.This week, Tanzanian journalists applauded an announcement from President Samia Hassan that media organizations suspended under the late president John Magufuli would be allowed to reopen.But a day later the mood has changed, as the newly appointed government spokesperson clarified that Hassan’s announcement applied only to online television outlets.Neville Meena is a secretary of the Tanzania Editors Forum. He said it appears that the ministry of information is disobeying the president’s order. He said that earlier, in his press release about the president’s event, the government spokesperson wrote that among the directives that the president made was to reopen all suspended media outlets. Later he comes out and reversed what he has written. In my opinion, Meena said, this contradiction was created by the same people who were there in the ministry of information for a long time under the leadership of the late John Magufuli. He said these are the same people who participated in denying licenses to media outlets.Issa Mbura is an assistant lecturer in the school of journalism at the University of Dar es Salaam.He said, the first question I asked myself was that what do we fear? Why were the statement and the order given out by the person in the top position later being clarified by someone with a lower position?Information Minister Innocent Bashungwa said the government is willing to meet with owners of still-suspended media outlets and discuss the path to reopening.FILE – A man reads the local English-written daily newspaper “The Citizen” in Arusha, northern Tanzania, March 23, 2017.Bashungwa said if there are case by case situations with other media outlets, they should go to his office to discuss the issue. He said that if there is another media outlet that wants to reopen besides online television, there were reasons for their suspension, the laws were used to come up with the decision and I believe the law has also given out guidelines to what should be done if those media outlets need to return to work.Rights activists say there is no partial freedom of the press and it should be granted fully. Anna Henga is the executive director of the Legal and Human Rights Centre in Tanzania.Henga said if one media outlet is free and the other is not free that is not freedom. Freedom means all people are free and this is the actual meaning of freedom. We take this as the refusal of authorities to implement the president’s instructions. A president gives out instructions and you give them another interpretation — I think this is not something good for civil servants, she said.As things stand now, Kwanza TV, an outlet owned by government critic Maria Sarungi, will be allowed to reopen, while four newspapers closed by Magufuli’s government remain closed.
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French Open Delayed Due to COVID-19
The French Open has been delayed by one week because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the governing body of the tennis tournament said Thursday.The French Tennis Federation said first-round matches will now begin on May 30 instead of May 23 because of sharp spikes in coronavirus infections in France. The postponement marks the second year in a row the French Open has been disrupted by the pandemic.The federation postponed last year’s tournament to September and limited daily attendance to 1,000 people.This year’s delay came as hospitals in France struggle to handle the surge in coronavirus cases. The government recently imposed new lockdown restrictions to contain the spikes, including a month-long domestic travel ban and a three-week school closure.The federation said the decision to delay was aimed at ensuring that “as many spectators as possible” would be able to safely attend the event.Federation president Gilles Moreton said public authorities, the governing bodies of global tennis events, broadcasters and other partners were first consulted before announcing the delay.The federation was roundly criticized for postponing last year’s French Open without first consulting with the top men’s and women’s events.
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Uzbek Opposition Party Tests Limits of Political Reform
Khidirnazar Allakulov, 65, is a man with a mission: He aims to change the Uzbek political landscape with his new movement called the “Truth and Development” Social Democratic Party. But before Allakulov and his party can begin to reform a system he says is “evil” and “does not value its citizens and does not serve them in any way,” he’s going to have to get his party recognized. “Truth and Development” proclaimed itself a party on March 8, 2021, and applied to be registered on April 7 with about 20,000 signatures from its supporters. The Justice Ministry has a month to consider and respond. Campaigning for Uzbekistan’s October 24, 2021, presidential election starts in July. Allakulov could be his party’s candidate — if it actually gets on the ballot. “I’m not against the current constitutional system or aim to overthrow it,” he said. “But I’m against the current leadership and oppose the way Uzbekistan is run now.” Khidirnazar Allakulov, leader of the new political group the “Truth and Development” Social Democratic Party, talks with VOA’s Navbahor Imamova in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. (VOA)Since its independence in 1991, like other countries in Central Asia, Uzbekistan has struggled to overcome its legacy of Soviet rule. Islam Karimov ruled with an iron fist for 27 years from 1989 to 2016. His successor, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, launched reforms aimed at rebalancing elements of Uzbek politics, devolving some powers from the executive to parliament, the Oliy Majlis. Currently, Uzbekistan has five political parties. They are vocal about their platforms and introduce initiatives in parliament. Senate chairperson Tanzila Narbayeva even argues that the Oliy Majlis is now independent. “We don’t take orders even from the president’s office,” Narbayeva told VOA. But none of these lawmakers dares to oppose the president, and all five are integral to the ruling elite. FILE – The members of the Uzbekistan Senate are seen during their session in Tashkent, Aug. 26, 2005.Talking to VOA in Tashkent, Allakulov says he is the only man in Uzbekistan who has a track record of standing against what he calls a corrupt Uzbek government. He victoriously fought the dictatorship through 14 court cases — and took his grievances to the United Nations, which sided with him and reminded the Uzbek government of its legal obligations. Following graduation from what is now Tashkent State University of Economics, he worked his way up to head Termez State University. Allakulov says he always stood against corruption, mostly losing to the system, because stealing and bribery are ways of life in Uzbekistan. But Allakulov was fired as university rector and faced suits accusing him of corruption. By 2016, he had been indicted and seemed to have been just another part of the system he claims to want to change. Allakulov rose through established institutions and, in that sense, also represents Uzbekistan’s old guard. To his critics, he belongs to the same generation of arrogant, egoistic, self-righteous men who already run Uzbekistan.”How different are you really?” VOA asked. Allakulov agreed he does not represent new blood. “But I’m honest and said ‘no’ when the government pushed me to be corrupt, lie, steal, and violate rights. “I suffered for years to clear my name, protect my wife and children from the hate my court cases created. It cost me my career. As an economics professor and holder of the highest academic degrees, I could have written books, shared knowledge and educated generations of Uzbeks. But instead,” he said, “I fought for my honor and family.” But even as he has opposed the system, Allakulov has done well from it economically through his family construction business in southern Uzbekistan. Allakulov attributes his success not to the Uzbek system but to his training in Washington. Because of what he learned in a 1990s exchange program, he says, he was able to put his money in the right places. He maintains it was that business savvy that allowed him to keep his wealth even as he battled Tashkent, local authorities, and the courts. “I’m no angel! Not everything I have done has been correct or honorable. But I’m here openly discussing my commitment to change the country.” If he can create a true opposition party, it would be a significant change for a country that has never held free or fair elections, according to international observers such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. One consistent criticism has been that Uzbek elections always lack competition and real choices for voters. And its neighbors fare little better. Kyrgyzstan is the only Central Asian country that earns relatively higher marks for its elections; Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan – like Uzbekistan – have always lacked basic freedoms and fall short of the requirements for democratic elections. Allakulov says his party can fill that void, but complains about harassment and barriers to political entry. Allakulov says he has not gone to the General Prosecutor’s Office because he does not trust it, or any part of the government. But the authorities deny those claims. Avazbek Madaminov, head of the Justice Ministry’s NGO Department, tells VOA that his office maintains a neutral position, and is a responsible body for applicants to register as a nongovernmental organization or political party. Avazbek Madaminov heads Uzbek Justice Ministry’s department dealing with the civil society, including NGOs and political parties. (VOA)”If these allegations have any basis, this group should file a formal complaint. If we receive them, we will pass them to the relevant entities to investigate.” Allakulov accuses the ministry of sharing confidential information with the security services, who, he says, have bullied him and his followers for months. “The government has done everything it can to block our way and try to distract us from our mission.” Madaminov dismisses these assertions. “Truth and Development,” Allakulov says, wants separation of powers and rule of law. But all five existing parties more or less say the same thing. And Mirziyoyev himself claims that he is committed to ensuring Uzbekistan will be “a true democratic and just society.” The more VOA pushed Allakulov for clarity on his program and ideas, the more his responses suggested that these things are a work in progress. He was often vague, mostly rhetorical, and offered few coherent ideas that were not much different from those espoused by existing parties. Allakulov says he will tackle corruption, human rights and rule of law, Central Asian unity, and economic development. Mirziyoyev’s agenda looks similar but Allakulov argues his party’s strategy and tactics would differ dramatically. Once registered, he said, “we will disclose our concrete plans.” Senate Chairperson Narbayeva tells VOA that public pressure for fairness should guide the system to hold proper presidential elections. She said new parties should “follow the procedures. That’s the way to get registered.” If that happens, Allakulov’s party may have an opportunity to make good on its promises of reform.
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