A report submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council blasts the Nicaraguan government’s harsh crackdown on opposition leaders in advance of November 7 Presidential and Parliamentary elections.Critics accuse Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega of systematically ridding himself of viable opposition candidates to secure a fourth consecutive term as President of the country.In her latest update to the Council, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michele Bachelet said increasing restrictions by Nicaraguan authorities on peoples’ right to vote are undermining free and fair elections. She said Nicaraguans should be able to exercise their right to vote without intimidation, violence, or administrative interference.Her report documents the arbitrary detention of 16 people between June 22 and September 6. They include political leaders, human rights defenders, businesspeople, journalists, as well as peasant and student leaders.She said these arrests are in addition to 20 other government opponents who have been detained since May 28. She spoke through an interpreter.“This group includes six men and one woman who have publicly stated that they were aspiring to the presidency…The large majority of these people remain deprived of their liberty and have been so for up to 90 days, being held incommunicado, some in isolation without any official confirmation as to their whereabouts from the authorities to their families,” she said.The Public Prosecutor’s Office says most of the people detained are accused of conspiracy to undermine national integrity and other crimes linked to the implementation of cooperation funds.U.N. rights chief Bachelet said attacks on freedom of expression and against the media and journalists have intensified. She said similar patterns of repression are being registered against human rights defenders, social and political leaders, among others. “Given this deteriorating situation in Nicaragua, it is essential that the government once again guarantee the full enjoyment of civil and political rights of all Nicaraguans, that they put an end to persecution of the opposition, press, and civil society, and that they immediately and unconditionally release the over 130 persons detained since April 2018, according to civil society sources,” said Bachelet.The Nicaraguan government has consistently brushed off U.N. and international criticism, claiming it is based on disinformation from North American and European countries seeking to maintain their colonial grip on the country.
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Month: September 2021
Blinken to Face Further Scrutiny Over US Withdrawal from Afghanistan
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will likely face another round of tough questioning from lawmakers over last month’s withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan when he appears Tuesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. During a five-hour appearance via videoconference before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Monday, Blinken staunchly defended the Biden administration’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan after 20 years, never wavering in the face of harsh and angry questioning from some lawmakers. The nation’s top diplomat told the panel that had U.S. President Joe Biden decided to extend the war, it “would have required sending substantially more U.S. forces into Afghanistan to defend ourselves and prevent a Taliban takeover, taking casualties – and with at best the prospect of restoring a stalemate and remaining stuck in Afghanistan, under fire, indefinitely.” “There’s no evidence that staying longer would have made the Afghan security forces or the Afghan government any more resilient or self-sustaining,” he said. “If 20 years and hundreds of billions of dollars in support, equipment, and training did not suffice, why would another year, or five, or 10, make a difference?” Taliban insurgents took over the country in mid-August as Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled to exile in the United Arab Emirates. The United States evacuated 124,000 people, most of them Afghans, along with about 5,500 Americans, from the Kabul airport in the last days of August, leaving behind about 100 Americans.An aircraft with Afghanistan’s flag is seen in front of Taliban flags fluttering on poles at the airport in Kabul on September 11, 2021.Some Americans have subsequently been able to leave the country, through overland exits or on a handful of flights, with the Taliban’s acquiescence. But Blinken said that as of the end of last week, about 100 Americans still remain.Blinken said U.S. officials did not foresee the downfall of the Afghan government so quickly, even as the Taliban advanced throughout the country. “Even the most pessimistic assessments did not predict that government forces in Kabul would collapse while U.S. forces remained,” he said. Even though the main evacuation has ended, the top U.S. diplomat said, “We’re continuing our relentless efforts to help any remaining Americans, as well as Afghans and citizens of allied and partner nations, leave Afghanistan if they choose.” “As we’ve done throughout our history, Americans are now welcoming families from Afghanistan into our communities and helping them resettle as they start their new lives,” Blinken said. “That’s something to be proud of, too.” Opposition Republican lawmakers and some Democratic colleagues of Biden have criticized the president’s handling of the withdrawal of troops, American citizens and thousands of Afghans who worked for U.S. forces as interpreters and advisers during the war. The House committee chairman, Congressman Gregory Meeks of New York, said, “Disengaging from Afghanistan was never going to be easy.” But he added, “This war should have ended 19 years ago,” after the United States successfully ousted the Taliban from power then and overran training grounds for al-Qaida terrorists who attacked the U.S. in 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people. Congressman Michael McCaul of Texas, the House panel’s lead Republican, characterized the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan “an unmitigated disaster of epic proportions” and “a betrayal” and noted that many interim officials now controlling Afghanistan were once terrorists the United States held at its Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba. Republican Congressman Steve Chabot of Ohio said Afghanistan was “once again a haven for terrorists.” “Yes, the majority of Americans wanted to leave Afghanistan, but not like this,” Chabot said, adding that the administration’s actions were “a disgrace.” South Carolina’s Joe Wilson was one of a handful of Republicans who demanded Blinken’s resignation. Another Republican member of the panel, Florida’s Bryan Mast, even went so far as to accuse Blinken of lying when he alleged the administration had manipulated intelligence, which Blinken strongly denied. One Democratic congressman, Brad Sherman of California, cast blame on former President Donald Trump for agreeing last year to a May 1, 2021, deadline for ending U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan without sufficient planning. Sherman asked Blinken whether the previous U.S. administration left details about how to carry out the withdrawal. “We inherited a deadline,” Blinken replied. “We did not inherit a plan” for a withdrawal. Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois placed the blame for the chaotic withdrawal on both Trump and Biden. “The Trump administration failed in the setup and the Biden administration failed in the execution,” Kinzinger said. The criticism of Biden’s withdrawal was especially pronounced after 13 U.S. service members died in a suicide bomb attack at the Kabul airport in the waning days of the exit. Islamic State-Khorasan, an Afghan offshoot of the terrorist group operating in the Middle East, claimed responsibility. National polls of U.S. voters show wide support for Biden’s decision to end what he has called a “forever war” in Afghanistan, but not the way the withdrawal unfolded. Over the two days of testimony, Blinken is likely to be asked why the United States did not start evacuating American citizens sooner, especially since Biden announced his intention in April to honor Trump’s agreement with the Taliban to end the war and withdraw American forces. Lawmakers have also taken aim at U.S. intelligence-gathering for failing to forecast the rapid takeover by the Taliban and the collapse of the Afghan government. Republicans say they want to focus their questioning on Biden’s performance in the final weeks and days of the war, while Democrats are hoping to examine the whole of the American war effort that was conducted under four presidents — Republicans George W. Bush and Trump, and Democrats Barack Obama and Biden. Bush launched the war in late 2001 to eradicate al-Qaida terrorist training grounds where the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States were spawned, with al-Qaida terrorists commandeering U.S. passenger airliners to crash into New York skyscrapers and the Pentagon outside Washington. The 20th anniversary of the attacks was commemorated last Saturday. Biden has called the withdrawal an “extraordinary success” and defended the decision to end the war in Afghanistan, saying he would not pass on responsibility for managing U.S. military involvement there to a fifth U.S. leader. Some information for this report came from the Associated Press.
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US Secretary of State Defends US Withdrawal from Afghanistan
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended the U.S. evacuation from Afghanistan for the first time before a congressional panel Monday. Lawmakers, Republicans as well as several Democrats, criticized the Biden administration’s handling of the chaotic August withdrawal that ended the longest war in U.S. history. VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more.Produced by: Katherine Gypson, Barry Unger
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Bachelet Says Tigray Conflict Risks Engulfing Whole Horn of Africa
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet warns the increasingly brutal conflict in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region threatens to spill over to the whole Horn of Africa.Preliminary findings of a joint investigation by the U.N. Human Rights Office and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission into alleged violations in Tigray have been submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council. Since her last update in June, fighting has continued unabated in Tigray and has expanded into neighboring Afar and Amhara regions. U.N. rights chief Bachelet said mass detentions, killings, systematic looting, and sexual violence have displaced nearly two million people in this region and created an atmosphere of fear. She said civilian suffering is widespread and impunity is pervasive. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet attends a session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Sept. 13, 2021.Bachelet said investigators have documented multiple allegations of human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, torture, and enforced disappearances. She says sexual and gender-based violence, including gang rapes, have been characterized by a pattern of extreme brutality and ethnically targeted. “From my last update to the Council to date, allegations of human rights violations have continued to implicate government forces and its allies,” Bachelet said. “We have received disturbing reports that local fishermen found dozens of bodies floating along the river crossing between Western Tigray and Sudan in July. Some allegedly had gunshot wounds and bound hands, indications that they might have been detained and tortured before being killed.” The Ethiopian government declared a unilateral ceasefire in Tigray at the end of June, nearly eight months after it began its military offensive in the region. Shortly after, Tigrayan rebels retook the capital Mekelle. Bachelet reports Tigrayan forces have perpetrated many human rights abuses since gaining control of parts of Tigray and expanding to neighboring regions, “During the period under review, the Tigrayan forces have allegedly been responsible for attacks on civilians, including indiscriminate killings resulting in nearly 76,500 people displaced in Afar and an estimated 200,000 in Amhara,” Bachelet said. “More than 200 individuals have reportedly been killed in the most recent clashes in these regions, and 88 individuals, including children, have been injured.” Bachelet said accountability for human rights abuses and a national reconciliation process are the only solution to the conflict in Tigray and to achieving a sustainable peace. The chief of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, Daniel Bekele, said all parties to the conflict have committed violence against civilians, including sexual violence and use of child soldiers. But he notes the situation in Tigray is complex. He said the Commission is still analyzing the information and evidence gathered and is not ready to share any findings and conclusions at this stage. He said the commission’s findings, conclusions and recommendations will be contained in the final report of the joint investigation, to be published November 1.
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Biden to Host Leaders of Australia, India, Japan at White House Next Week
U.S. President Joe Biden will host a first in-person summit of leaders of the “Quad” countries — Australia, India, Japan and the United States — which have been seeking to enhance cooperation to push back against China’s growing assertiveness. The summit will be held at the White House in Washington on September 24, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. The U.S. visits of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will coincide with the United Nations General Assembly in New York, which Biden will address on September 21. A virtual meeting of the Quad leaders was held in March, and they pledged to work closely on COVID-19 vaccines and climate change, and to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific in the face of challenges from Beijing. “Hosting the leaders of the Quad demonstrates the Biden-Harris administration’s priority of engaging in the Indo-Pacific, including through new multilateral configurations to meet the challenges of the 21st century,” Psaki said. Kurt Campbell, Biden’s Indo-Pacific coordinator, said in July the long-planned in-person meeting should bring “decisive” commitments on vaccine diplomacy and infrastructure. Biden, who is pushing big infrastructure spending at home, said in March he had suggested to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that democratic countries should have an infrastructure plan to rival China’s massive Belt and Road Initiative, which involves projects from East Asia to Europe. Psaki said the Quad leaders would “be focused on deepening our ties and advancing practical cooperation on areas such as combating COVID-19, addressing the climate crisis, partnering on emerging technologies and cyberspace, and promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific.” A senior U.S. official said infrastructure would be among a range of topics discussed at the summit. Withdrawal from AfghanistanThe Quad meeting will come after Biden’s image has taken a battering over the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. U.S. officials have said ending America’s longest war will allow the administration to divert resources and attention to tackling China-related issues. Republican Senator Bill Hagerty, a former U.S. ambassador to Japan, welcomed the plan to host the Quad leaders. “Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal debacle made India’s neighborhood more dangerous & raises legitimate questions for Japan and Australia as well, so it’s good we will be hosting Quad partners soon,” he said on Twitter. “We must repair & renew our alliances, and this one is key.” COVID vaccinesThe vaccines initiative from the first summit stalled after India, the world’s largest vaccine producer, was hit by a catastrophic wave of infections and halted vaccine exports. At the March summit, the four leaders agreed Indian drugmaker Biological E. Limited would produce at least a billion coronavirus vaccine doses by the end of 2022, mainly for Southeast Asian and Pacific countries. Japan’s Kyodo News reported last week that Suga would visit Washington this month for the Quad meeting even though his term as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party — and by default as Japan’s prime minister — ends September 30. Suga became the first leader to hold a face-to-face White House summit with Biden in April, underscoring Japan’s central role in U.S. efforts to face down China.
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Norway’s Center-left Heads to Victory in General Elections
The center-left bloc headed to a victory in Norway’s elections Monday as official projections pointed to the governing Conservatives losing power after a campaign dominated by climate change and the future of the country’s oil and gas exploration industry. With a projection based on a preliminary count of nearly 93% of the votes, the Labor Party and its two allies — the Socialist Left and the euroskeptic Center Party — would hold 100 seats in the 169-seat Stortinget assembly while the current government would get 68. One seat was still unsure. As Norway’s largest party, Labor will try to form a coalition government and its chief, 61-year-old Jonas Gahr Stoere, is poised to become Norway’s next leader. The Scandinavian country is not a member of the European Union. “We will now give Norway a new government and a new course,” Gahr Stoere said on a election night before cheering party members who chanted “Stoere” and clapped. He added that he will in the coming days invite the parties “that want a new change” for talks. Labor has promised an industrial policy that will funnel support to new green industries, like wind power, “blue hydrogen” that uses natural gas to produce an alternative fuel, and carbon capture and storage, which seeks to bury carbon dioxide under the ocean. In the 2013 election, Labor was ousted from power, enabling the Conservatives’ Erna Solberg to become prime minister and Norway’s longest-serving leader. Gahr Stoere said Monday that he wanted to thank Solberg for having been “a good prime minister.” Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, leader of the Conservative Party, casts her vote in the 2021 parliamentary election at Skjold School in her home town, in Bergen, Norway, September 13, 2021. (NTB/Hakon Mosvold Larsen via Reuters)”We knew we needed a miracle — the Conservatives’ work session is over,” Solberg said. “I congratulate Jonas Gahr Stoere with what looks like a clear majority.” Her Conservatives suffered a setback, losing 4.7 percentage points, which was dubbed by Norwegian broadcaster NRK as “the election’s biggest loser.” Its former coalition partner, the Progress Party lost 3.4 percentage points, according to a preliminary counting of more than 93% of the votes by Norway’s election commission. Thanks to her long tenure, as well as her commitment to economic liberalism, the 60-year-old Solberg became known at home as “Iron Erna,” inspired by the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who was nicknamed “The Iron Lady” for her firm style. Solberg was hoping to become the first prime minister to win a third consecutive four-year term. During her eight-year tenure, she has expanded oil exploration, cut taxes and sought to make public administration more efficient. Any post-election horse trading is likely to be fraught for the Labor Party and Gahr Stoere. The Socialist Left won’t offer its support lightly and the Center Party is also demanding a more aggressive approach toward shifting to renewable energy. The campaign focused on the North Sea oil and gas that has helped make Norway one of the world’s wealthiest countries. But fears about climate change have put the future of the industry in doubt. The country’s biggest industry is responsible for more than 40% of exports and directly employs more than 5% of the workforce. On the other hand, Norwegians are among the most climate-conscious consumers in the world, with most new car purchases now being electric. Most of Norway’s oil and gas still comes from mature areas in the North Sea, but most of the country’s untapped reserves are in the Barents Sea, above the Arctic Circle. That is a red line for environmentalists, who could play a crucial role in securing a majority government. Stoere also served as foreign minister from 2005-2013 under then-Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and took over the reins of the party when Stoltenberg became NATO’s secretary general. Nearly 3.9 million Norwegians were eligible to vote and more than 1.6 million of them voted in advance, according to Norway’s election commission. Turnout was 76.3%, down from more than 78% in this nation of 5.3 million voted.
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Aid Group Implores Burkina Faso Government to Accept Assistance in Registering Newly Displaced
International aid groups are calling on Burkina Faso’s government to let them help register the country’s internally displaced people. The Norwegian Refugee Council says the government is taking weeks to register IDPs for food and other aid, forcing some back into dangerous areas. Henry Wilkins reports from Ouahigouya, Burkina Faso. Camera: Henry Wilkins
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Benin Named Fastest Place to Start Business Online — Thanks to COVID
Benin set up a service early in the COVID-19 pandemic to allow people to register their business online, and now the West African country is the world’s fastest place to start a business, according to a U.N. agency. Sandra Idossou, owner of a store selling art in Cotonou, Benin, submitted her business application online and received approval and legal documents within three hours. She said if the e-registration system did not exist and she instead had to go stand in line to start a business, she never would have done it. To create her business, Idossou went online to monentreprise.bj, a platform in Benin to create and formally start a business. The site was launched in February 2020 by the country’s Investment and Export Promotion Agency, which did not want people to come into their offices during the pandemic. Applicants fill out the required information, download the required documents and make a payment online. The documents arrive at the agency’s headquarters, where staff verify the information and mail business certificates to those who are approved. Laurent Gangbes, general manager of the Investment and Export Promotion Agency, said in 2019 the agency was at 28,000 businesses created. In 2020, the figure went to over 41,000. He said the agency now processes an application in about three hours. The online service helped make Benin the fastest place in the world to start a company, according to the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development. The businesses must be located in Benin; however, people abroad can use the service if they are in the process of setting up a business inside the country. Economists like Albert Honlonkou see big benefits for entrepreneurs. He said the online service reduces costs, reduces delays and avoids corruption. It also avoids carrying papers around and, in the COVID period, it avoids contacts. The Investment and Export Promotion Agency said it will continue to review the procedures and work with the private sector to further improve the process.
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Britain to Offer COVID-19 Vaccines to 12-to-15-year-Olds
Britain’s chief medical officer (CMO), Professor Chris Whitty, recommended Monday that children between the ages of 12 and 15 be offered the COVID-19 vaccine, saying they would benefit from reduced disruption to their education. More than a week ago, Britain’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, the panel that advises British health departments on immunization policies, issued a statement saying the “margin of benefit” to inoculating children of those ages was too small for them to recommend the government do so. Britain’s Chief Medical Officer for England Chris Whitty attends a remote press conference to update the nation on the COVID-19 pandemic, inside 10 Downing Street in central London on June 10, 2020.But Monday, Whitty, along with his counterparts from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, told reporters they are recommending to their respective health ministers that the age group be given a single dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. They have yet to decide on whether to give the students a second dose. Whitty stressed the vaccinations should be “an offer,” not a mandate, adding, “We do not think this is a panacea. This is not a silver bullet … but we think it is an important and potentially useful additional tool to help reduce the public health impacts that come through educational disruption.” Whitty said the CMOs have shared their recommendations with their ministers, and it is now up to the ministers to decide how to respond. The United States, Israel and some European countries have rolled out vaccinations to children more broadly, putting pressure on the British government to follow suit. Britain has experienced more than 134,000 deaths from COVID-19, and a rapid start to its immunization rollout has slowed, with 81% of those over 16 receiving two vaccine doses. Some information in this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse.
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UN Chief: Aid ‘Lifeline’ Needed in Afghanistan
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged nations on Monday to show their solidarity with the people of Afghanistan and contribute hundreds of millions of dollars for an urgent and expansive humanitarian response in the country.“The people of Afghanistan need a lifeline,” Guterres told nations gathered in Geneva.“This conference is not simply about what we will give to the people of Afghanistan, it is about what we owe,” he added. The U.N. is appealing for $606 million for the remainder of this year for food, health care, shelter and other vital needs to assist 11 million people.Initial contributions were generous and exceeded $1 billion, but the U.N. chief said that a full tally of what pledges are specifically for the flash appeal and what is designated for other purposes was yet to come.Guterres said that in addition to immediate funding, humanitarians need safe and unimpeded access across the country. He also appealed for the safeguarding of the rights of women and girls and the protection of people’s livelihoods in order to prevent a total collapse of the economy.Marching to the Brink of StarvationAfghanistan was already in a dire humanitarian situation before the Taliban swept into the capital, Kabul, on August 15, and took control of the government. Years of conflict, severe drought and COVID-19 have pushed the country to the brink. The poverty rate is spiraling, public services are close to collapse, and the U.N. says many people could run out of food by the end of this month as prices climb and salaries and savings dry up. With winter approaching, humanitarians urgently need to preposition food and other supplies in areas where access will become difficult due to bad weather.“Fourteen million people — one out of three — are marching to the brink of starvation,” World Food Program Executive Director David Beasley told the conference. “They don’t know where their next meal is.”He said that an additional 14 million people are a step behind them “knocking on that same door.”“If we are not very careful, we could truly, truly enter into the abyss into catastrophic conditions — worse than what we see now,” Beasley warned.The situation of children is especially grim.“Nearly 10 million girls and boys depend on humanitarian assistance just to survive,” UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore told the meeting. “At least one million children will suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year and could die without treatment.”The United Nations announced that it is releasing $20 million from its own emergency fund.The U.N. also fears a growing displacement crisis in the country. There are already 3.5 million internally displaced persons — including a half a million people who have moved from their homes in recent months. Neighbors fear an exodus out of Afghanistan. The U.N. high commissioner for refugees landed in Kabul on Monday to assess the situation.“I fear that the collapse of services and the economy — that has already been described as a risk — coupled perhaps with increased violence and tension could lead to a much greater displacement — internal and external — and this may happen very soon,” Filippo Grandi told the conference via a video link.This morning I have landed in Kabul. During my visit I will assess the country’s acute humanitarian needs and the situation of 3.5 million displaced Afghans.I am grateful to all UN, NGO and other humanitarian workers who are working hard on the ground to meet those needs. pic.twitter.com/8i8FDuVHoa— Filippo Grandi (@FilippoGrandi) September 13, 2021Despite an uncertain operating environment, humanitarian assistance is continuing and is being scaled up. On Sunday, the essential U.N.-run humanitarian air service, which moves aid workers and cargo — resumed flights from neighboring Islamabad, Pakistan into Kabul. Flights into Kandahar, Mazar-i-Sharif and Herat have been running since the end of August.Taliban assurancesU.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths traveled to Kabul last week and met with Taliban leadership. He said they pledged to cooperate to ensure aid deliveries and protect humanitarian workers. On Monday, he read from a letter they subsequently sent him, laying out their assurances in writing.“We assure you that we will remove previous and current impediments in front of your assistance and all related projects working under supervision of U.N. and other international organizations in Afghanistan, and all partners will be fully allowed to help the vulnerable people in Afghanistan in the current situation,” Griffiths quoted from the letter.The letter included guarantees from the Taliban, reiterating their public commitments on the rights of women and minorities.Griffiths said the Taliban asked for international support in reconstruction, countering narcotics, economic assistance, and in helping Afghans safely return home.Some donors expressed skepticism about dealing with the new authorities in Kabul.“We will not give aid directly to the Taliban, and therefore, it is going to be absolutely crucial that aid agencies are going to be able to operate securely and freely in Afghanistan,” British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told the meeting.
Members of the Taliban’s Haqqani network are designated as terrorists on U.N. sanctions lists, worrying humanitarians that many in the international community may not be eager to be perceived as dealing with or supporting the new government.“The lives of millions of Afghan civilians are at stake, so any sanctions or counter-terrorism measures applied by member states must always exclude, exempt impartial humanitarian activities from their scope,” Griffiths reminded participants.
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Nigerian Security Forces Rescue Kidnapped Students
Nearly 70 students kidnapped in northern Nigeria two weeks ago are free, authorities said Monday. Zamfara state Governor Bello Matawalle said security forces freed the students from the Government Day Secondary School. He said no ransom was paid. Heavily armed gunmen kidnapped them on September 1, continuing a wave of similar attacks in Zamfara that prompted the state government to shut all schools. UNICEF said there have been 10 similar attacks in Nigeria over the past year, leading to 1,436 kidnappings and 16 deaths. In this incident, 73 students were initially taken, but five were rescued the day after the attack. “Using some of the bandits that repented, we were able to know where they were keeping these children. We worked closely with them for about 10 days, and yesterday at about 2 a.m., the commissioner of police, alongside others, took off to the location where these children were rescued,” Matawalle said. Authorities blame the abductions on bandits seeking ransom, but some are fearful the bandits are linked to the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram. Some information in this report comes from The Associated Press.
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UN: Environmental Crises Threaten Human Rights Globally
The U.N. Human Rights Council has begun its annual session in Geneva, and in an opening address Monday, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet warned that climate change and pollution pose grave threats to human rights and humanity itself.The U.N. rights chief says human inaction in the face of planetary disasters is having a severe impact on a broad range of rights, including the rights to adequate food, water, education, health and even life itself.Michele Bachelet says extreme and murderous climate events have been unleashed on people in every region in recent months.“Monumental fires in Siberia and California; huge sudden floods in China, Germany and Turkey; Arctic heatwaves leading to unprecedented methane emissions; and the persistence of interminable drought, from Morocco and Senegal to Siberia, potentially forcing millions of people into misery, hunger, and displacement,” Bachelet said.Bachelet warns intensifying environmental threats constitute the single greatest challenge to human rights. She says environmental disasters amplify conflicts, tensions, increase vulnerabilities, and structural inequalities around the world.For example, she notes the humanitarian emergency in Africa’s Sahel countries is being fueled by climate change. She says long droughts followed by flash floods, unequal access to natural resources, and high rates of youth unemployment are plaguing the region.“These trends compel people into displacement, aggravate conflicts and political instability, and fuel recruitment by violent extremist groups,” Bachelet said. “In such a situation it should be clear that there can be no purely military solution to the conflicts in the region. To date, four million people across the Sahel have been displaced, according to UNHCR estimates.”Bachelet says similar trends and challenges exist in different forms and to varying degrees in all regions of the world. For example, Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa are gripped by water shortages causing tensions to rise over this scarce resource.She reports climate change is having a striking impact on poverty, displacement and fundamental human rights in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. She says environmental and human rights defenders are being threatened, harassed, and even killed, often with complete impunity, in Latin America, South-East Asia and other regions.The U.N. rights chief says a safe, clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is the foundation of human life. She adds the future of humanity depends on governments acting to preserve the world’s precious resources.
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What Happened to Germany’s Greens?
Four months ago, Germany’s Green Party was riding high in the opinion polls and at one point even overtook Angela Merkel’s storied Christian Democrats and its Bavarian affiliate, the Christian Social Union, to briefly become the country’s most popular party in Germany.
As the country headed into the campaign for September 26th federal elections there was much talk that 40-year-old party leader Annalena Baerbock, a fresh face, could become Europe’s first Green head-of-government. Germany’s media described her as the “superior candidate” to succeed longtime Chancellor Angela Merkel, who’s retiring from politics.
Stern magazine put her on the cover and announced, “At Last, Something Different.”
But now, two weeks away from voting, and Baerbock seems unlikely to pull off the political equivalent of what British sports-star Emma Raducanu managed this week in winning the U.S. Open tennis tournament. The Greens have slipped to third place according to pollsters, losing around 10 percent since highs in April and May.
Popularity waningBaerbock’s star has waned with voters worrying how climate-action policies will impact their livelihoods and lifestyles, dashing the party’s hopes of repeating its success in May when it surged past the Social Democrats to capture second place in European parliamentary elections.
The precipitous slump is partly due to the impact of an old political tactic employed by their establishment opponents — labeling the Greens as nagging, didactic and keen to ban things, say pollsters. Baerbock has argued on the campaign trail that there should be a super-ministry with environmental veto powers over other Cabinet departments. Armin Laschet, chairman of the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the party’s top candidate for the federal election, addresses the media during a press conference at the party’s headquarters in Berlin, Germany, Sept. 13, 2021.Earlier in the campaign, Christian Democrat leader Armin Laschet was quick to seize on the Greens call for a hike in gas prices, accusing them of wanting to punish working-class motorists and of being too ready to ignore the needs of less-well-off Germans living in rural areas and small towns where public transport is less available. A Green plan to ban short-haul flights also appeared to go down badly with voters and the fall in their support started to be seen in the opinion polling.
On Sunday during a three-way televised debate with Laschet and the leader of the Social Democrats, Olaf Scholz, currently Germany’s finance minister, Baerbock was unable to revive her flagging campaign. She said Germany faced a stark choice between a new start or getting bogged down in “more of the same.”
But snap polling after the debate by broadcaster ARD showed that 41% of those asked thought Scholz was the most compelling performer, compared to 27% for Laschet and 25% for Baerbock.
Part of the Green dip can be blamed on Baerbock, say analysts. While widely seen as tough, talented and highly ambitious, she has come under fire after the discovery of several exaggerations on her official resumé, lapses that undermined her party’s commitment to transparency and integrity. And she faced calls to quit over plagiarism claims after it emerged, she copied dozens of passages from other works for a book she published this year.
Baerbock has also had to acknowledge during the campaign to break parliamentary rules by failing to declare thousands of euros she received from her party in addition to her salary as a federal lawmaker. The lapses have allowed critics to cast doubt on whether the 40-year-old is ready for the highest office after serving just eight years as a federal lawmaker.
“The number of unforced errors on the part of Baerbock, from embellishing her resumé to publishing an ill-conceived book, has sown doubts about her suitability. It has become obvious that the Green candidate and those around her may not yet have reached the level of professionalism required to aim at the highest office,” according to Henning Hoff, editor of the Internationale Politik Quarterly, which is published by the German Council on Foreign Relations.Olaf Scholz Another key factor has been the surprising campaigning success of Germany’s center-left Social Democrats under the leadership of the candidate for the chancellorship, Olaf Scholz. The story so far of this year’s German election campaign has been the unexpected rise in the fortunes of the Social Democrats. “
With great strategic foresight and remarkable focus, the Social Democrats’ candidate Olaf Scholz is now leading the race to replace Angela Merkel,” according to Hoff.
In April, the SPD was only attracting around 13% support in opinion polls. An Insa poll Monday put the SPD on 26% ahead of Laschet, whose CDU is on 20%. “With the German election campaign entering its final stretch, Scholz’ popularity — always much greater than Baerbock’s and Laschet’s — has finally morphed into support for his party,” says Hoff. “With only two more weeks to go, there is now much to suggest that Germany’s next government will be led by Olaf Scholz,” he adds.
Merkel announced in October 2018 that she would be stepping down as chancellor in 2021. She has held the office since 2005. Part of the reason for Scholz’s rise has been success in presenting himself as a safe pair of hands and a natural successor to Merkel, say pollsters. His climate-policy proposals are more cautious — suggesting Germans may not be ready to be as green as the Greens.
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Crews in Southern Spain Face ‘Complex’ Wildfire for 5th Day
Firefighting crews in southern Spain are looking at the sky for much-needed rainfall expected on Monday and that they hope can help extinguish a major wildfire that has ravaged 7,700 hectares in five days and displaced around 2,600 people from their homes. Authorities are describing the blaze in Sierra Bermeja, a mountain range in the Malaga province, as a sixth-generation fire of the extreme kind brought by the shifting climate on the planet. The “mega fires” are catastrophic events that kill, blacken large areas and are difficult to stop. In Spain, that is paired with an increasing dynamic of rural areas losing population, leading to poorer management of forests and accumulation of burnable material. “We are facing the most complex fire known by the forestry extinction services in recent years,’ Juan Sanchez, director of the southern Andalusia region’s anti-fire service, told reporters late Sunday. “We have been talking a lot about the consequences of the abandonment of the rural environment and climate change,” Sanchez added. “We are seeing them today.” The affected area has doubled since Saturday, when authorities said that the flames were contained within a perimeter of around 40 kilometers. An ember cloud led to a new fire hot spot soon after, causing a new wildfire that eventually joined the previous blaze, experts said Sunday. By Monday morning, the perimeter had reached 85 kilometers. Spain’s weather agency, AEMET, had forecasted rain in the area for later Monday, but it was unclear if the rainfall would be sufficient to quell the flames. About 500 firefighters were working in shifts on the ground, assisted by 50 water-dropping airplanes and helicopters from the air. They were joined on Sunday by 260 members of a military emergency unit. A 44-year-old firefighter died Thursday while trying to extinguish the blaze. Around 2,600 residents have been relocated in total. Most of those evacuated from parts of the resort town of Estepona, had been able to return home by Monday, but 1,700 people remained displaced from six villages and hosted in other towns, including in a pavilion in the city of Ronda. Climate scientists say there is little doubt that climate change from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas is driving more extreme events, such as heat waves, droughts, wildfires, floods and storms. In Spain, official data showed that the country had experienced fewer fires so far this year than the average during the past decade, but the number of big forest fires — those affecting more than 500 hectares — was 19 in the first eight months of 2021 compared to 14 on average for the same period since 2011. That has also led to a greater bush and forest area burned: 75,000 hectares as of Sept. 5, compared to an average of 71,000 hectares on average in the previous years, data from the Ministry of Ecological Transition showed.
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Afghans Find Themselves Unable to Work or Attend School in US
After undergoing the traumatic experience of leaving their home country, thousands of Afghans are relieved to be in the United States. Many are finding, however, that they have been granted temporary status, forbidding them to work or attend school. VOA’s Carolyn Presutti takes a look at how evacuees are coping with the lack of benefits and opportunity in a foreign country.Camera: Mike Burke
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Armed Groups Killing, Recruiting More Children in Niger, Report Says
Increasing numbers of children are being killed or targeted for recruitment by armed groups in conflicts raging at Niger’s borders with Mali and Burkina Faso, Amnesty International said in a report published Monday. “In Niger’s Tillaberi region, an entire generation is growing up surrounded by death and destruction,” said Matt Wells, Amnesty’s deputy director for crisis response. “Armed groups have repeatedly attacked schools and reserves, and are targeting children for recruitment,” he added in a statement. Amnesty blamed the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) and the al-Qaida-affiliated Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), for causing the “devastating impact on children” in the region. The rights group released a 57-page report documenting the impact on children of the conflict in Niger’s western Tillaberi, an area of 100,000 square kilometers (38,000 square miles) on the borders of Mali and Burkina Faso that is home to different ethnic groups such as Djerma, Fulani, Tuareg and Hausa. According to conflict tracking organization ACLED, cited by Amnesty, violence against civilians has led to 544 conflict-related deaths from January to July 23 this year, already exceeding the 397 people killed in the whole of 2020. “Armed groups have killed more than 60 children in Niger’s tri-border area in 2021,” the report said, adding that the ISGS, which operates primarily on the border with Mali, appears responsible for most of the large-scale killing. During the research for the report, Amnesty spoke to 16 boys who had narrowly survived ISGS attacks on their villages. “We all are used to hearing gunshots and to seeing [dead] people layered on top of [dead] people,” one boy, age 13 or 14, said. Another boy, who witnessed the killing of his 12-year-old friend Wahab in March, told the researchers: “I think of Wahab and how he was killed. “Sometimes I have nightmares of being chased by people on motorbikes or seeing Wahab pleading with the [attackers] again,” he said. According to Amnesty, both “ISGS and JNIM have committed war crimes and other abuses in the conflict, including the murder of civilians and targeting of schools. “Many children are experiencing trauma after witnessing deadly attacks on their villages. In some areas, women and girls have been barred from activities outside the home, and risk abduction or forced marriage to fighters,” the report said. Witnesses said JNIM has picked out males ages 15 to 17, and possibly younger, as recruits, offering bribes of food, money and clothes. “The Nigerien government and its international partners must urgently take action to monitor and prevent further abuses and protect the basic rights of all those affected by this deadly conflict — especially children,” Wells said. Amnesty International said it had interviewed 119 people, including 22 children, three young adults between 18 and 20, and 36 parents for the study. Others interviewed included staff from NGOs and humanitarian agencies, United Nations officials and government officials.
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