Month: July 2021

The Ocean Viking on Saturday rescued 196 migrants off Libya, the humanitarian ship’s operator said.It first picked up 57 people in an inflatable dinghy struggling in international waters off the North African country, SOS Mediterranee said.In the afternoon, the ship’s crew carried out two additional rescues in the same area, plucking 54 people from a dinghy and 64 others from a wooden vessel.In their latest operation, they saved 21 people from a wooden vessel.The total rescued included at least two pregnant women and 33 minors, 22 of them unaccompanied.According to the International Organization for Migration, at least 1,146 people died at sea trying to reach Europe during the first half of 2021.SOS Mediterranee says it has rescued more than 30,000 people since February 2016, first with the ship Aquarius, then with Ocean Viking.SOS Mediterranee accuses European Union governments of neglecting coordinated search-and-rescue action to discourage migrants from attempting the crossing from war-torn Libya, where they are often victims of organized crime and militia violence.Libyan authorities are also accused of forcibly returning intercepted ships to Libya, even when they are in European waters.A U.N. Human Rights Office report in late May urged Libya and the EU to overhaul their rescue operations, saying existing policies “fail to prioritize the lives, safety and human rights” of people attempting to cross from Africa.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has led to cuts in foreign aid from donor nations such as Britain, which this month slashed its aid budget by $5.5 billion. The funding loss is being felt in Burkina Faso, where it could shut down a group that helps thousands of survivors of gender-based violence and rape.Britain has cut its annual aid budget, and so have other countries, such as Australia, Japan and Saudi Arabia.        The largest international nonprofits say the shockwaves of the cuts will be felt by people across Africa in all kinds of situations and will result in deaths.  “For countries like the U.K. and others to be cutting their aid budgets in a global pandemic is extremely shortsighted, and we know it will put the fight back against poverty by many decades. So, the U.N. secretary general, for example, has called these cuts a death sentence, and it really is that stark for many people,” said Nadel.MSI Reproductive Choices, a group offering family planning to countries in crisis, such as Burkina Faso, where over 1.3 million people have been displaced by conflict, is primarily supported by British aid money.    The cuts will affect large numbers of women, says the head of MSI-Burkina Faso, Dr. Toumbi Sissoko.     Overall, MSI has been able to assist more than 500,000 beneficiaries over two years, she says. She points to Burkina Faso’s context of insecurity, which she says makes women even more vulnerable.      “Alice,” whose name has been changed to protect her identity, received help from MSI after she fled her village in northern Burkina Faso when gunmen attacked.  She trekked through the bush for three days, seeking refuge, but then was seized by a group of terrorists.  Alice says they told her to put her daughter down before one of them hit her with the butt of his gun, knocking her to the ground. Six of them raped her, then discussed whether they should kill her but, she says, they concluded it was useless to kill a woman. They got on their motorbikes and left.      When she reached the relative safety of Kaya the next day, she was directed to MSI-Burkina Faso. Alice OK? says a woman from MSI immediately gave her morning-after pills and advice. She was still traumatized and could neither eat nor breast-feed her daughter. She said that the woman at MSI encouraged her to eat and told her that her life was still worth living.   Flora Guibere works for MSI. She thinks that with the aid cuts, beneficiaries will be left on their own, and the funding to support them won’t exist, and many of her organization’s workers will be out of a job.        For women who fall victim to gang rape, like Alice,OK? it will mean they may no longer receive emergency birth control or support.
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Uganda has lifted some COVID-19 restrictions after 42 days, while others stay in place.  The lockdown of schools remains until, the government says, some essential workers including health workers, security personnel, teachers, and those over 45 years old, are vaccinated.Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni Friday night announced the partial lifting of the COVID-19 lockdown after 42 days.Museveni says the decision was made by the National Task Force after considering a decrease in cases, positivity rates and hospital admissions.Among other factors, the task force also considered the degree of adherence to safety, procedures by the population and the effects of a continuous lockdown on the economy and on residents. However, there are still restrictions even with this partial lifting of the lockdown.”Curfew time is maintained at 7:00 p.m. Number two, boda bodas are now allowed to move up to 18:00 hours,” Museveni said. “They are now allowed to carry one passenger. Schools should remain closed until sufficient vaccination of the eligible population of children aged 12 to 18 years old has taken place.”Business centers are now required to clear pathways through rented kiosks and places of worship remain closed for another 60 days. In addition, outdoor sports events will be held without spectators, and bars and indoor sports activities remain closed until the population is sufficiently vaccinated.With this partial lifting of the lockdown, Museveni says the National Planning Authority and task force officials project that cases could be reduced to 85 per day by the third week and 66 cases per day by the 28th day.  Officials are urging the population to observe standard safety procedures to curb the spread of the coronavirus. As of July 29, Uganda had registered 252 new cases with 29 deaths in the previous 48 hours.  Cumulative confirmed cases stand at 93,927.Public transport has been allowed to resume with half the normal number of passengers and private vehicles are only allowed three occupants.Ugandan Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng says the COVID-19 mass vaccination program was slowed down by the global shortage of vaccine because the demand outweighs production. Aceng says the Ugandan government has issued a list of vaccines that can be used in the country including AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson, Pfizer-BioNtech, Sinopharm, Sinovac, Sputnik V, Sputnik Light and Moderna, adding that Health Ministry officials are doing everything possible to obtain vaccine.”Government of Uganda’s strategy is mass vaccination of the eligible population of 22 million people, representing 49.8% as a means of optimal control of the pandemic and full opening up of the economy,” Aceng said. “In addition, consideration will be given to children aged 12 to 15 years with comorbidities.”In his address, Museveni said schools should continue teaching online, something that has kept many schools and poor students out.Ismail Kisule, a private school teacher says the past year has been difficult since his income has been cut.”Since the first lockdown, we have not got any hope of going back to teach. Which means we have not been getting paid,” Kisule said. “So, when the government says they are going to wait until they vaccinate more people so as to allow us resume work, will worsen our situation and force us to drop teaching.”Uganda has concluded the legal requirements with the COVAX facility to acquire 9 million AstraZenca vaccine doses. Additionally, an order of 2 million doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been requested from the African Union and a downpayment of $3 million has been made.Uganda has received 1,725,280 doses of vaccine in the past week from China and Norway. It is still not clear when those vaccines will be distributed.
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Days of political turmoil in Tunisia over a crippled economy and surging coronavirus infections have unnerved allies in Europe and the United States, while garnering the support of key Mideast partners watching to see if Islamists and Tunisia’s fragile democracy will survive.European countries -– most notably nearby Italy — worry about a flood of migrants should Tunisia slide further into chaos.Autocratic leaders from Egypt to Saudi Arabia hope this week’s power grab by Tunisian President Kais Saied spells doom for the region’s Islamists. But they also fear a reignited Arab Spring, like the region-wide uprisings kindled by Tunisia a decade ago.And around the world, pro-democracy campaigners wonder if a country they held up as a beacon is losing its promise of democratic rule, as other nations roiled by Arab Spring protests have.”The ball is now in the people’s court,” said Egyptian activist el-Ghazaly Harb in a Facebook post. “They are able to correct the path without abandoning the peaceful democratic model that we all hope they can see to the end,” he said. “The answer will always be Tunisia.”Tunisia, with only 12 million of Africa’s 1.3 billion people, holds outsized symbolism as a nation that designed a democracy from scratch and earned a Nobel Peace Prize after its largely bloodless revolution.Next steps unclearWithout warning on Sunday, Saied froze the nation’s parliament, fired top ministers and took over executive powers and supervision of public prosecution, saying he had to save the country, which is suffering from its worst outbreak of the virus to date and a failing economy. While many Tunisians welcomed his move, critics called it a coup. Media and human rights groups expressed alarm at the closure of the Al-Jazeera news bureau in Tunis.In recent days, Saied has moved against allegedly corrupt lawmakers and tycoons and strengthened military oversight of the nation’s response to the coronavirus. He and his aides held a flurry of meetings with foreign allies, promising that his power grab is temporary.But his next steps are unclear.The main victim of his decision -– the Islamist party Ennahdha -– promises to resist, peacefully.Tunisian analysts don’t expect an army-driven takeover like that seen in Egypt, or a return to the autocratic past, thanks in part to a population that’s no longer afraid to speak out. But the situation is volatile, and new protests may occur Saturday.Pro-government voices in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are celebrating the moves as a victory over political Islam, which they see as a threat to their governing systems — notably in Gulf states where political parties are banned.A flower seller is pictured at the old market in Tunis, Tunisia, July 30, 2021.Egypt is watching carefully; It was the first to follow Tunisia in an outburst of mass protests in 2011. In the aftermath, the highly organized Muslim Brotherhood rose to power but was ousted in 2013 amid a military-backed popular uprising led by Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, who was supported by Saudi Arabia and the UAE.El-Sissi has embarked on economic reforms and brought some political stability to the Arab world’s most populous country, but his tenure has been marred by the jailing of tens of thousands of people.Leading Brotherhood figures now face death sentences or life in prison. The group has been outlawed and branded a “terrorist group” in Egypt and the UAE, which itself has detained dozens of Emirati Islamist figures.Some activists worry Tunisia could head down a similar path, despite Saied’s credentials as an independent technocrat.”Coups are not only started by the military; they can be started by a civilian and completed by officers,” said Shady Lewis Boutros, an Egyptian novelist and writer who lives in the U.K., in a Facebook post.Strategic importance to EuropeAbdelrahman al-Rashed, who runs a Saudi-owned media group and is close to the royal court, said Saied is saving the country from returning to the chaos sparked by the Arab Spring. In a column for the Arabic Ashraq al-Awsat newspaper, he wrote that political turmoil in Tunisia marks the “death of the Muslim Brotherhood’s authority.”Ennahdha itself has distanced itself from more militant Islamists, and its leader, Rachid Ghannouchi, told The Associated Press this week that its critics are using it as a scapegoat for Tunisia’s problems. He noted that his party has played a major role in parliament in the decade since the revolution, which opened the way for his return from 22 years of exile in London, and won the most seats in the last legislative elections.Some question whether the Gulf states had a role in Tunisia’s current tensions. But others argue that Tunisians are more focused on day-to-day concerns than the discourse around the Muslim Brotherhood.Meanwhile, Tunisia’s strategic importance to the European Union cannot be overstated.From 2014 to 2020, the bloc invested 1.6 billion euros ($1.9 billion) in Tunisia to build democracy and provide social and economic aid. It has given $392 million to help the country recover from the impact of coronavirus restrictions. Another $712 million in EU macro-financial assistance was agreed to in May.Most significantly, Tunisia is a key partner in limiting the flow of migrants from Africa to the EU. The 27 member states are hopelessly divided over how to manage the arrivals of those seeking a better life in Europe, so the bloc has resorted to outsourcing the challenge to other countries.However, Tunisians now make up one of the largest groups of people seeking asylum in Europe. And the “Tunisia corridor” is a growing concern for the EU’s border and coast guard agency Frontex.From 2019 to 2020, the number of people reaching Italy from Tunisia grew by almost 400%, to more than 13,000, according to some nongovernmental organizations. That includes a period when COVID-19 restrictions significantly reduced migrant movements.Saied had a “frank discussion on irregular migration” in Brussels last month with top EU officials, and they agreed to work more closely against smugglers and on border management. The latest turmoil adds to concern in Europe that things might get worse.Risk of new mass unrestOn Tuesday, the EU’s top diplomat called for Tunisia’s constitutional order to be restored, without directly apportioning any blame.The U.S. government also is watching closely. In addition to supporting its democracy, the U.S. has helped fund Tunisia’s efforts to tamp down violent Islamic extremism.Just hours after Saied’s announcement, he spoke with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who urged him to “adhere to the principles of democracy and human rights” and “maintain open dialogue with all political actors and the Tunisian people.”Tunisians themselves want jobs and opportunity, which have remained elusive since their revolution, and many support the president — at least for now.While there is a risk of new mass unrest, Tunisian political scientist Mohamed-Dhia Hammami said “there are strong political actors in Tunisia who can play the role of counterbalance,” including labor unions. And unlike in Egypt, Tunisia’s military has little control over the economy.Omar Oudherni, a retired Tunisian army brigadier and security expert, said the Tunisian people “will not be silent on any tyrant.””Doing what is good will receive support, and if (Saied) wants dictatorship, the people will sweep him up, as they swept others,” he added. 
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The COVID-19 pandemic has led to cuts in foreign aid from donor nations such as Britain — which cut its aid budget by $5.5 billion — Australia, Japan and Saudi Arabia. The funding loss is being felt in Burkina Faso, where it could shut down a group that helps thousands of survivors of gender-based violence and rape.      The largest international nonprofits say the shock waves of the cuts will be felt by people across Africa in all kinds of situations and will result in deaths.   “For countries like the [United Kingdom] and others to be cutting their aid budgets in a global pandemic is extremely shortsighted, and we know it will put the fight back against poverty by many decades,” said Sam Nadel, Oxfam government relations chief. “So, the U.N. secretary general, for example, has called these cuts a death sentence, and it really is that stark for many people.”   FILE – A woman carrying a baby arrives at the clinic of the NGO Marie Stopes in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Feb. 16, 2018.Marie Stopes, a group offering family planning to countries in crisis like Burkina Faso, is primarily supported by British aid money. The cuts will impact large numbers of women, according to the head of Marie Stopes-Burkina Faso, Dr. Toumbi Sissoko. The group has been able to assist more than 500,000 people over two years, she said.”Alice,” whose name has been changed to protect her identity, received help from Marie Stopes after she fled her village in northern Burkina Faso, when gunmen attacked. She trekked through the bush for three days, seeking refuge, but then was seized by a group of terrorists.   She says they told her to put her daughter down, before one of them hit her with the back of his gun, knocking her to the ground. Six of them raped her, then discussed whether they should kill her, but, she says, they concluded it was useless to kill a woman. They got on their motorbikes and left.  When she reached the relative safety of Kaya the next day, she was directed to Marie Stopes-Burkina Faso. Alice says a woman from Marie Stopes immediately gave her morning-after pills and advice. She was still traumatized and could neither eat nor breastfeed her daughter. She says that the woman at Marie Stopes encouraged her to eat and told her that her life was still worth living.  Flora Guibere, who works for Marie Stopes, fears that with the foreign aid cuts, beneficiaries will be left on their own, and many of her organization’s workers will be out of a job.     For women like Alice who fall victim to gang rape, it will mean they may no longer receive emergency birth control or support.
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