Qatar’s ambassador to Afghanistan said a technical team was able to reopen Kabul airport to receive aid and that it would be prepared for civilian flights soon, Al Jazeera reported Saturday.
The runway at Kabul airport has been repaired in cooperation with authorities in Afghanistan, the ambassador said, according to Al Jazeera. The Qatari news channel also said two domestic flights were operating from Kabul to the cities of Mazar-i-Sharif and Kandahar.
…
Month: September 2021
Floating Dutch Cow Farm Aims to Curb Climate Impact
Among the cranes and containers of the port of Rotterdam is a surreal sight: a herd of cows peacefully feeding on board what calls itself the world’s first floating farm.In the low-lying Netherlands where land is scarce and climate change is a daily threat, the three-story glass and steel platform aims to show the “future of breeding”.The buoyant bovines live on the top floor, while their milk is turned into cheese, yogurt and butter on the middle level, and the cheese is matured at the bottom.”The world is under pressure,” says Minke van Wingerden, 60, who runs the farm with her husband Peter.”We want the farm to be as durable and self-sufficient as possible.”The cows are a sharp contrast to the huge ships and the smoke from the refineries of Europe’s biggest seaport, which accounts for 13.5 percent of the country’s emissions.With their floating farm, which opened in 2019, Peter and Minke say they wanted to “bring the countryside into the town”, boost consumer awareness and create agricultural space.The Dutch are no strangers to advanced farming methods, using a network of huge greenhouses in particular to become the world’s second biggest agricultural exporter after the United States.But that has come at a cost.The buoyant bovines live on the top floor, while their milk is turned into cheese, yogurt and butter on the middle level, and the cheese is matured at the bottom.’Moves with the tide’The Netherlands is one of Europe’s largest per capita emitters of climate change gases and faces a major problem with agricultural emissions, particularly in the dairy sector which produces large amounts of methane from cows.Those emissions in turn fuel the rising waters that threaten to swamp the country, a third of which lies below sea-level, and further reduce the land in one of the most densely populated nations on Earth.The floating farm therefore aims to keep its cows’ feet dry in both the long-term, by being sustainable, and the short-term, by, well, floating.”We are on the water, so the farm moves with the tide — we rise and fall up to two meters. So in case of flooding, we can continue to produce,” says Minke van Wingerden.In terms of sustainability, the farm’s cows are fed on a mixture of food including grapes from a foodbank, grain from a local brewery, and grass from local golf courses and from Rotterdam’s famed Feyenoord football club — saving on waste as well as the emissions that would be required to create commercial feed for the animals.Their manure is turned into garden pellets — a process that helps further cut emissions by reducing methane — and their urine is purified and recycled into drinking water for the cows, whose stable is lined with dozens of solar panels that produce enough electricity for the farm’s needs.’Cows don’t get seasick’The farm is run by a salaried farmer but the red and white cows, from the Dutch-German Meuse-Rhin-Yssel breed, are milked by robots.The cheeses, yogurts and pellets are sold at a roadside shop alongside fare from local producers.The products are also sold to restaurants in town by electric vehicles.”I was immediately seduced by the concept,” says Bram den Braber, 67, one of 40 volunteers at the farm, as he fills bottles of milk behind the counter of the store.”It’s not blood running through my veins, it’s milk.”The idea of the farm is also to make farming “more agreeable, interesting and sexy”, and not just to be environmentally friendly, says Minke van Wingerden.When she and her husband first approached port authorities with the idea to build a floating farm, they said “are you nuts?”, she recalls.But the farm is set to turn a profit for the first time at the end of 2021, with consumers apparently ready to pay the 1.80 euro ($2.12) a liter for milk produced there, compared to around one euro at a supermarket.They are also aiming to build a second floating farm to grow vegetables, and to export their idea, with a project already under way in the island nation of Singapore.Most importantly, while farming goes greener, the animals don’t.”No, the cows don’t get seasick,” says van Wingerden. “The water moves only a little bit, it’s like you were on a cruise ship.”
…
Brazil Starts Booster Shots While Many Still Await a 2nd Jab
Some cities in Brazil are providing booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine, even though most people have yet to receive their second jabs, in a sign of the concern in the country over the highly contagious delta variant.Rio de Janeiro, currently Brazil’s epicenter for the variant and home to one of its largest elderly populations, began administering the boosters Wednesday. Northeastern cities Salvador and Sao Luis started on Monday, and the most populous city of Sao Paulo will begin Sept. 6. The rest of the nation will follow the next week.France, Israel, China and Chile are among those countries giving boosters to some of their older citizens, but more people in those countries are fully vaccinated than the 30% who have gotten two shots in Brazil. A U.S. plan to start delivery of booster shots by Sept. 20 for most Americans is facing complications that could delay third doses for those who received the Moderna vaccine, administration officials said Friday.About nine out of 10 Brazilians have been vaccinated already or plan to be, according to pollster Datafolha. Most have gotten their first shot but not their second.Brazil’s cases and deaths have been falling for two months, with 621 deaths reported in the seven days through Sept. 2 — far below April’s peak of more than 3,000 reported deaths over a seven-day period. Older Brazilians have expressed concern about the efficacy of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine against the delta variant, prompting authorities to offer the booster shots.Diana dos Santos, 71, received two shots of the Sinovac vaccine even after President Jair Bolsonaro spent months publicly criticizing it. Dos Santos, who lives Rio’s low-income Maré neighborhood, is diabetic and was hospitalized for a heart condition. She refuses to leave home until she gets her booster.“I can’t go out like before and I’m still afraid of all of this,” dos Santos said. “I will feel safer (with a booster).”Because of the variant, some experts say the government should slow the rollout of boosters and focus on distributing second doses. Delta is the most contagious variant identified, and many studies have suggested that one dose doesn’t protect against it.Two shots provide strong protection, with nearly all hospitalizations and deaths among the unvaccinated.Ethel Maciel, an epidemiologist and professor at the Federal University of Espirito Santo, said pushing boosters at this early stage recalls the lack of concern given the gamma variant that overwhelmed Amazonian city Manaus earlier this year, only to feed a new wave nationwide. Brazil has seen more than 580,000 deaths from COVID-19, making it home to world’s eighth-highest toll on a per capita basis.Elderly residents wait for a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, during a booster shot campaign for the elderly in long-term care institutions, at Casa de Repouso Laco de Ouro nursing home, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sept. 2, 2021.“It seems we’re in the same movie, repeating the same errors,” Maciel said. “It’s only a matter of time until what’s happening in Rio leads to a greater number of more serious cases in the rest of the country.”The delta variant already is dominant in Rio de Janeiro state, detected in 86% of the samples collected from COVID-19 patients, according to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. Intensive care units have reached full capacity in eight municipalities, although only a small rise in deaths have been recorded so far.Authorities in Sao Paulo state expect a similar scenario within weeks. It registered its first confirmed death from the delta variant on Tuesday, a 74-year-old woman who had received two Sinovac shots.Globally, doubts have plagued Chinese vaccines, especially as the delta variant has gained hold in many countries. Chinese officials have maintained the vaccine protects against delta, particularly preventing hospitalizations and severe cases.Still, Brazil’s Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga said Aug. 25 that people aged 70 or older or who have a weak immune system will be eligible for a third dose, starting Sept. 15 — preferably with the Pfizer vaccine. He said that people over 18 will have received their first doses by then, although he didn’t address their vulnerability to the delta variant without a second shot.He also criticized governors and mayors who sought to deliver booster shots earlier, saying it could lead to vaccine shortages.Carla Domingues, former coordinator of Brazil’s national immunization program, agrees with the need to provide the elderly boosters, but not for people aged 70 and up right away. Shots should first go to nursing homes and people who are bed-ridden, she said, then people 80 and above, with the age slowly decreasing as supply allows.“Certainly, there will be problems with shortage, because there won’t be enough vaccine,” Domingues said.Japan and South Korea both wrestled with slow vaccine rollouts, and under half their populations are fully vaccinated; their governments are only planning booster shots in the fourth quarter of this year. Malaysia also is considering boosters, but Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the priority is those who haven’t received a first dose.Aloysio Zaluar, 84, is injected with a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine during a booster shot campaign for elderly residents in long-term care institutions in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sept. 1, 2021.Thailand began giving booster shots even as most people wait to be vaccinated — but only for health and front-line workers who received two Sinovac shots. The decision came after a nurse died of COVID-19 in July.Russia, Hungary and Serbia also are giving boosters, although there has been a lack of demand in those countries for the initial shots amid abundant supplies.In addition to doubts over boosters, the issue is sensitive due to implications for global vaccine distribution. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called for a moratorium on boosters “to allow those countries that are furthest behind to catch up.”Epidemiologist Denise Garrett, vice president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, which advocates for expanding global vaccine access, said in an interview there is no doubt about the need for two jabs, but she sees no scientific or moral justification for a third.“Authorities giving a third dose are prioritizing protection against light disease instead of shielding people in poor countries from death,” said Garrett, who is Brazilian. “That is shameful, immoral, and this vaccine inequity must end.”That doesn’t sway 97-year-old Maria Menezes, who wants to spend time outside her home where she has lived for the last seven decades in Rio’s western region. Her two daughters say Menezes wants to a booster shot.“She asked us to take her for the third vaccine,” said daughter Cristina França, 38. “It will be important to beef up her immunity to reduce her risks. Her life won’t change much after the third dose, because she is more frail now, but she would live with more calm.”
…
Cuba Starts Vaccinating Children in Order to Reopen Schools Amid COVID Surge
Cuban authorities on Friday launched a national campaign to vaccinate children ages 2-18 against COVID-19, a prerequisite set by the communist government for schools to reopen amid a spike in infections.Children 12 and older will be the first to receive one of the two domestically produced vaccines, Abdala and Soberana, followed by younger kids.Schools have mostly been closed in Cuba since March 2020, and students have been following lessons on television. With the school year starting Monday, they will continue learning remotely until all eligible children are vaccinated.Laura Lantigua, 17, got the first of three injections at Saul Delgado high school in the Cuban capital, Havana.”I always wanted to be vaccinated,” Lantigua told AFP. She said that doctors measured her blood pressure and temperature before giving her the shot, then told her to wait for an hour to ensure she didn’t have any side effects.”I felt normal, fine,” Lantigua said.Late Friday, the Medicines Regulatory Agency (Cecmed) announced that it authorized the emergency use of the Soberana 2 vaccine for minors between the ages of 2 and 18.The composition of Cuban vaccines, which are not recognized by the World Health Organization, is based on a recombinant protein, the same technique used by the U.S. company Novavax.With the delta variant spreading across the island of 11.2 million, the country’s health care system has been pushed to the brink.Of the 5,300 novel coronavirus deaths recorded since the outbreak started, nearly half were in August, as were almost a third of all reported cases.The government said it plans to gradually reopen schools for in-person instruction in October after the vaccination campaign among children is completed.
…
Mali Police March on Prison, Free Commander Held in Protest Deaths Inquiry
A special forces commander in Mali was freed on Friday after angry police officers marched to the prison where he was detained for allegedly using brute force to quash deadly protests last year. The head of the police counterterrorism unit, Oumar Samake, had been held in the Sahel state over lethal skirmishes between security forces and opponents of ex-President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. Anti-Keita protests rocked Mali last year and eventually culminated in the president’s ouster in a military coup. One such protest on July 10, 2020, sparked several days of deadly clashes with security forces. Mali’s political opposition said at the time that 23 people were killed during the unrest. The United Nations reported that 14 protesters were killed, including two children. FILE – Protesters demand the resignation of Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita at Independence Square in Bamako, Mali, June 5, 2020.An investigation was opened into the killings in December 2020. Police special-forces commander Samake was detained Friday for his alleged role in the violence, a senior legal official told AFP. But the move infuriated police officers, some of whom marched on the prison in the capital, Bamako, where he was held. Prison guard Yacouba Toure told AFP that large numbers of well-armed policemen turned up at the jail. “We did not resist,” he said, adding that police left with Samake “without incident.” A justice ministry official, who requested anonymity, said the government decided to free Samake “for the sake of peace.” “This is not a court decision,” the official said, adding that the investigation into Samake would continue. The dramatic events underscored the sensitivity of such investigations in chronically unstable Mali. The country’s military deposed Keita in August 2020 after weeks of protests fueled by grievances over alleged corruption and the president’s inability to stop the long-running jihadist conflict. Army officers then installed a civilian-led interim government to steer Mali back toward democratic rule. But military strongman Colonel Assimi Goita deposed these civilian leaders in May in a second coup. Goita has pledged to restore civilian rule and stage elections in February next year. However, there are doubts about whether the government will be able to hold elections within such a short time frame. Mali has been struggling to quell a brutal jihadist insurgency, which emerged in 2012 and left swaths of the vast nation outside government control.
…
VOA EXCLUSIVE: American Stuck in Afghanistan Shares Her Story
In a chaotic effort, the U.S. managed to evacuate more than 124,000 civilians from Afghanistan, including 6,000 Americans, by Aug. 30. However, Nasria is one of the 100 to 200 Americans who remain trapped there. She asked that we use only her first name for her safety. She spoke exclusively with VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb, describing her ordeal.
…
With US Troops Gone, Afghan Women Face New Reality
With the last U.S. service members leaving Kabul, ending a 20-year war, Afghanistan’s women and girls are facing the stark reality that the Taliban are back in control of their country. As VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports, there are already signs that their rights are in danger.
…
Amnesty International: South Sudan Facing ‘New Wave of Repression’
South Sudan is witnessing a “new wave of repression”, global rights group Amnesty International warned Friday, with many activists now in hiding after a string of arrests in the conflict-wracked country.The world’s newest nation has suffered from chronic instability since independence in 2011, with a coalition of civil society groups urging the government to step down, saying they have “had enough”.The authorities have taken a tough line against such demands in recent weeks, arresting eight activists as well as detaining three journalists and two employees of a pro-democracy non-profit, according to rights groups.”We are witnessing a new wave of repression emerging in South Sudan targeting the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly,” said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s regional director for East and Southern Africa.The clampdown followed a declaration last month by the People’s Coalition for Civil Action (PCCA) calling for a peaceful public uprising. The PCCA had urged the public to join its protest on Monday in the capital Juba but the city fell silent as the authorities branded the demonstration “illegal” and deployed heavily-armed security forces to monitor the streets for any sign of opposition.”Peaceful protests must be facilitated rather than cracked down upon or prevented with arrests, harassment, heavy security deployment or any other punitive measures,” Muchena said in a statement.The rights group noted that many activists had faced harassment since the aborted demonstration, “with some suspecting they were being surveilled by security forces”. The authorities have also shut down a radio station and a think tank in connection with the protests.’Undisguised hostility’Media rights group Reporters Without Borders, known by its French acronym RSF, on Friday condemned the closure of the radio station and called for “an immediate end to the harassment of South Sudanese reporters”.”The undisguised hostility of the authorities towards the media highlights how difficult it is for journalists to cover politics in South Sudan, where at least ten have been killed since 2014,” said Arnaud Froger, the head of RSF’s Africa desk.South Sudan is ranked 139th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2021 World Press Freedom Index.In a statement released on Friday, the United States, the European Union, Britain and Norway urged the South Sudan government to protect “the rights of citizens… to express their views in a peaceful manner, without fear of arrest”.Since achieving independence from Sudan in 2011, the young nation has been in the throes of a chronic economic and political crisis, and is struggling to recover from the aftermath of a five-year civil war that left nearly 400,000 people dead.Although a 2018 cease-fire and power-sharing deal between President Salva Kiir and his deputy Riek Machar still largely holds, it is being sorely tested, with little progress made in fulfilling the terms of the peace process.The PCCA — a broad-based coalition of activists, academics, lawyers and former government officials — has described the current regime as “a bankrupt political system that has become so dangerous and has subjected our people to immense suffering.”
…
India Restores Mobile Services in Kashmir Two Days After Death of Separatist Leader
Mobile services in Indian Kashmir were restored late on Friday, two days after they were suspended following the death of a veteran secessionist leader in the disputed Himalayan region, a police official told Reuters.However, curbs on mobile internet and restrictions on the movement of people in the Kashmir valley would continue, police chief Vijay Kumar said.India tightened curbs on movement of people in Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar and elsewhere, with scores of armed soldiers fanning out ahead of prayers on Friday, a day after Syed Ali Shah Geelani was laid to rest.Geelani, 91, died on Wednesday and was buried near his home in the city, where soldiers patrolled the streets to forestall any large-scale protests and gatherings at mosques.”More troops have been deployed in sensitive areas and more roads have been barricaded,” a government official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.Despite the curfew there was violence in at least a dozen places in Kashmir in which one paramilitary trooper was injured, the official said, adding that police had to use tear gas to disperse crowds.For years, Geelani, one of Kashmir’s most senior political leaders, had led a hardline faction of separatist groups that sought to secede from India following an armed revolt against New Delhi.Kashmir has long been a flashpoint between India and archrival Pakistan, which claim the region in full but rule only parts.Tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors were renewed in August 2019, when New Delhi scrapped the autonomy of its state of Jammu and Kashmir, splitting it into two federally administered territories.Shops were shut across parts of Srinagar, with many streets deserted and coils of barbed wire strung across them. Soldiers with assault rifles manned checkpoints.Health worker Shakeel Ahmad said he had to navigate more barricades on Friday to get to his hospital than a day ago.”I was stopped at around a dozen places,” he said.
…
Liberian Newspaper Receives Court Summons Over Reporting
A judge in Liberia’s capital, Monrovia, has ordered the arrest of a newspaper’s managers this week after FrontPage Africa allegedly failed to respond to a summons.The paper’s publisher and editor-in-chief, Rodney Sieh, told VOA that the summons was delivered Monday when no one was at the paper’s offices, and that it gave managers only 90 minutes’ notice that they were due to meet with a judge.The summons relates to the investigative outlet’s coverage of former defense minister Brownie Samukai’s conviction in a corruption case. A Supreme Court last month upheld a lower court’s verdict that found Samukai guilty of embezzling millions from the pension fund of Liberia’s armed forces.Circuit court judge Ousman Feika alleges that FrontPage Africa incorrectly reported his role in presiding over the case. “I think (Feika’s) issue was the initial case was submitted by his predecessor. That was the only discrepancy. But we did not print any false article against the judge,” Sieh told VOA.Liberia’s judiciary did not respond to a request for comment sent through its web portal. An email sent to the address listed on its website was returned as undeliverable.Sieh said that the judge wanted FrontPage Africa’s managers to meet with him to explain their coverage of the trial. Because of pandemic restrictions, the paper’s staff currently work from home. The first they heard of the summons was when they received the arrest order, Sieh said.“The only person (in) the office was the security,” Sieh said, adding that the time the meeting was scheduled made it “nearly impossible for anyone to appear in court.”“I think the judge was very excessive in this decision to have us arrested,” he said. The publisher added that the paper has not arranged legal representation because it has still not officially received the summons.In a letter to its readers, FrontPage Africa pleaded with Liberia’s chief justice “to ensure that the judicial branch use its power for those who need it the most, and not to muzzle, intimidate or instill fears in members of the Fourth Estate.”Media rights organizations criticized the court order. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said on social media it was dismayed by the order to arrest the management, and called on the judge to focus on criminals, not journalists who are exposing corruption.#Liberia: @CPJAfrica is dismayed that a court in #Monrovia today ordered that the management of @FPAfrica be arrested for their alleged failure to sign a summons to appear in court. https://t.co/vgWmU7H6tm— CPJ Africa (@CPJAfrica) August 30, 2021Liberia has a relatively stable media freedom record. The country ranks 98 out of 180 countries, where 1 is freest on the index published by Reporters Without Borders.The media watchdog has noted that Liberia moved to decriminalize defamation, but that some outlets, including FrontPage Africa, face legal harassment over investigative reporting.This story originated in VOA’s English to Africa Service.
…
‘Very Brutal’: In Ethiopia, Tigray Forces Accused of Abuses
As they bring war to other parts of Ethiopia, resurgent Tigray fighters face growing allegations that they are retaliating for the abuses their people suffered back home.In interviews with The Associated Press, more than a dozen witnesses offered the most widespread descriptions yet of Tigray forces striking communities and a religious site with artillery, killing civilians, looting health centers and schools and sending hundreds of thousands of people fleeing in the past two months.In the town of Nefas Mewucha in the Amhara region, a hospital’s medical equipment was smashed. The fighters looted medicines and other supplies, leaving more than a dozen patients to die.”It is a lie that they are not targeting civilians and infrastructures,” hospital manager Birhanu Mulu told the AP. He said his team had to transfer some 400 patients elsewhere for care. “Everyone can come and witness the destruction that they caused.”The war that began last November was confined at first to Ethiopia’s sealed-off northern Tigray region. Accounts of atrocities often emerged long after they occurred: Tigrayans described gang-rapes, massacres and forced starvation by federal forces and their allies from Amhara and neighboring Eritrea.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
New volunteer Mekdess Muluneh Asayehegn, right, and others receive training to become potential reinforcements for pro-government militias or military forces, in a school courtyard in Gondar, in the Amhara region of northern Ethiopia Aug. 24, 2021.But the consequences of the call to war are already coming home.”As we came here, there were lots of dead bodies (of defense forces and civilians) along the way,” said Khadija Firdu, who fled the advancing Tigray forces to a muddy camp for displaced people in Debark. “Even as we entered Debark, we stepped on a dead body. We thought it was the trunk of a tree. It was dark. We came here crying.”It is not clear how many people in Amhara have been killed; claims by the warring sides cannot be verified immediately. Each has accused the other of lying or carrying out atrocities against supporters.Shaken, the survivors are left to count bodies.In the town of Debre Tabor, Getasew Anteneh said he watched as Tigray forces shelled and destroyed a home, killing six people.Getasew helped carry away the dead. “I believe it was a deliberate revenge attack, and civilians are suffering.”In recent interviews with the AP, the spokesman for the Tigray forces Getachew Reda said they are avoiding civilian casualties. “They shouldn’t be scared,” he said last month. “Wherever we go in Amhara, people are extending a very warm welcome.”He did not respond to the AP about the new witness accounts, but tweeted in response to USAID that “we cannot vouch for every unacceptable behavior of off-grid fighters in such matters.”The Tigray forces say their offensive is an attempt to break the months-long blockade of their region of some 6 million people, as an estimated 400,000 face famine conditions in the world’s worst hunger crisis in a decade. The situation “is set to worsen dramatically,” the U.N. said Thursday.The fighters also say they are pressuring Ethiopia’s government to stop the war and the ethnic targeting that has seen thousands of Tigrayans detained, evicted or harassed while the prime minister, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has used words like “cancer” and “weeds” to describe the Tigray fighters.Ethnic Amhara, more than half a million now displaced, say innocent people have been killed as Tigray forces move in.”I’ve witnessed with my own eyes when the (Tigray forces) killed one person during our journey,” said Mesfin Tadesse, who fled his home in Kobo town in July. “His sister was pleading with them when they killed him for no reason.”Zewditu Tikuye, who also fled Kobo, said her 57-year-old husband was killed by Tigray fighters when he tried to stay behind to protect their home and cows. “He wasn’t armed,” she said. Now she shelters with her six children in a small house with 10 other people.Others seek shelter in schools, sleeping in classrooms as newcomers drenched from the rainy season arrive. They squat in muddy clearings, waiting for plastic plates of the spongy flatbread injera to be handed out for the latest meal.And as earlier in Tigray, people in Amhara now watch in horror as the war damages religious sites in one of the world’s most ancient Christian civilizations.On Monday, the fourth-century Checheho monastery was hit by artillery fire and partially collapsed.”This is very brutal,” said Mergeta Abraraw Meles, who works there as a cashier. He believes it was intentionally targeted by the Tigray forces. They had come peacefully, he said, but then lashed out after facing battlefield losses.In the rubble of the monastery was a young boy, dead.
…
Rights Body Raps Greece Over Migrant Rescue Crackdown
Europe’s top human rights body on Friday called on Greece’s parliament to withdraw articles included in draft legislation that would impose heavy penalties on nongovernmental organizations that carry out unsanctioned rescue operations of migrants at sea. The Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner, Dunja Mijatovic, said in a statement that the proposed changes would “seriously hinder the life-saving work” carried out by NGOs. Greece’s center-right government has toughened border controls since taking office two years ago and has promised additional restrictions in response to the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan. Under draft legislation currently being debated in parliament, members of charities involved in rescue operations conducted without coast guard permission could be jailed for up to a year and fined 1,000 euros ($1,190), with the NGOs facing additional fines. Lesbos and other Greek islands close to the coast of Turkey were the main entry point for refugees and migrants into the European Union during mass displacements in 2015 and 2016 largely caused by wars in Syria and Iraq. Speaking at a security summit in Slovenia earlier this week, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed support for a decision by EU home affairs ministers to seek cooperation with countries in the region “to prevent illegal migration from” Afghanistan. “I think what happened in 2015 was a mistake. We acknowledge it openly. We (must) address the need to support refugees closer to the source of the problem, which is Afghanistan,” Mitsotakis said.
…
Afghanistan Facing Internal Displacement Crisis as Refugee Exodus Remains Low
The U.N. refugee agency warns millions of Afghans displaced by conflict inside their country are teetering on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe and need international aid to survive.An estimated 3.5 million Afghans have been uprooted by conflict and insecurity, including more than half-a-million newly displaced people this year. Women and children account for most of the internally displaced.The UNHCR has predicted about 500,000 Afghans will likely flee to neighboring countries, attempting to seek asylum. However, U.N. observers at Pakistani and Iranian border points report that a large-scale refugee influx, so far, has not materialized.Speaking via video link from the Pakistan capital, Islamabad, UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch said his agency is trying to analyze why so few people are coming.“There could be many, many reasons but the reality is the displacement crisis is inside Afghanistan.… What we have seen, where the crisis has been, has been an internal displacement crisis and that is why we keep repeating that let us not allow it to become a humanitarian catastrophe, so we are able to support the Afghans inside their country with the support they need,” he said.Baloch said the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan remains open to commercial trade between the two countries. But he said a limited number of Afghan pedestrians cross every day.That flow, he said, is very regulated and managed at the border. He said people who have passports, visas or other documents they can show are allowed to enter.Baloch said an increasing number of Afghans who have arrived in Pakistan have been telling his colleagues their reasons for coming.“It is insecurity and their intention to seek asylum once they are here. But the movement, the back-and-forth movement is very mixed. A lot of trade going, commercial activities, many people come in terms of trying to seek medical attention on this side,” he said.Baloch said it is crucial Afghanistan not become a forgotten crisis, adding that the UNHCR is appealing to the world not to turn its attention away from the Afghan people.He said international support is needed to keep the Afghan people from leaving home. He appealed to the international community not to allow Afghanistan’s internal displacement crisis to become a humanitarian catastrophe.
…
How 30 Years of Ukraine Independence Started in UN
On August 24, 1991, Ukraine announced its independence from the Soviet Union, and in the next few months, the international community — country by country — recognized Ukraine as an independent sovereign state. But the foundation of this shift had been laid at the United Nations headquarters about a year earlier. Iryna Solomko has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Iryna Solomko
…
Taliban Say Proposed New Afghan Government To Seek Better Ties With US
The Taliban are close to announcing their proposed Afghanistan government, which they say will seek friendly diplomatic ties with the United States, and the world at large, based on “mutual respect.”A senior Taliban official, Bilal Karimi, a member of the Cultural Commission, told VOA no date has been fixed for the announcement, but that it will be made “very soon.” He was responding to reports the Islamist movement would unveil its government Friday.The Taliban are under international scrutiny for delivery on pledges their governance system will represent all Afghan ethnic groups and respect human rights, particularly those of women, unlike their previous exclusive hardline regime in Kabul.Taliban Warn Against Future Invasions of Afghanistan, Seek Global Legitimacy Germany cautions against using military intervention to export a specific form of government to other countries”It will be an inclusive strong central and sustainable system or government. We already have very good relations with a large number of countries and we don’t expect any problems,” Karimi told VOA when asked if their proposed ruling arrangement would win them much-need international recognition.Britain stressed Friday it will hold the Taliban to their assurances, making sure that “deeds follow words.”Speaking in Pakistan, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Britain was keeping up with the “new realities” in Afghanistan and does not want to see the social and economic fabric of the country broken.”The approach that we are taking is, we don’t recognize the Taliban as a government, but we do see the importance of being able to engage and having a direct line of communication,” Raab said. Karimi rejected as “incorrect” media reports that their political deputy, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a co-founder of the group, would be the leader of the new government and the proposed arrangement would be somewhat similar to that of neighboring Iran’s ruling system. The Taliban seized control of the Afghan capital last month following stunningly swift military victories, taking control of 33 of the country’s 34 provinces in about a week. The fundamentalist group regained power in Kabul nearly 20 years after the U.S.-led invasion of the country removed them from power for harboring al-Qaida leaders Washington blamed for the September 2001 terror strikes on America.The U.S. and other international lenders have suspended financial assistance programs for Afghanistan, linking resumption to the nature of the future Taliban government.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 11 MB480p | 15 MB540p | 19 MB720p | 42 MB1080p | 80 MBOriginal | 95 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioUS Reviewing Afghan Aid, Holding Off on Taliban RecognitionMultiple challenges face the war-ravaged and poverty-stricken South Asian nation, including growing humanitarian and economic crises. U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said Thursday Washington remains “unwavering” in its commitment to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan. Recognizing the Taliban, though, is linked to practical steps the future Afghan government would need to take.Price told reporters “the actions, especially vis-a-vis the areas we care profoundly about; that is: safe passage; respect for the rights of the people of Afghanistan, including women and girls and minorities; a government that is inclusive, a government that follows through on its counterterrorism commitments, and a government that respects the universal and international norms.”Karimi sounded upbeat about Kabul’s future ties with Washington.”The Islamic Emirate is keen to maintain good diplomatic, economic and trade relations with America on the basis of mutual respect and equality,” he said.Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters Friday that Beijing was closely following the government formation process in neighboring Afghanistan.“China sincerely hopes all parties of Afghanistan can echo the eager aspiration of the Afghan people and common expectation of the international community, build an open and inclusive political structure, adopt moderate and prudent domestic and foreign policies, make a clear break with terrorist organizations in all forms,” Wang said. Beijing and several other countries, including Russia, Pakistan, and Iran, continue to maintain their diplomatic presence in Kabul since the Taliban captured the city. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told an Italian newspaper this week that they will fight for an economic comeback with the help of China, calling the giant neighbor an “important partner of Afghanistan.”
…
Cameroon, Nigeria Investigate Arms Traffickers Accused of Supplying Weapons to Separatists
Authorities in Cameroon say weapons traffickers arrested last week in Nigeria have been arming Cameroon’s Anglophone separatists.Cameroon’s military said Thursday that some of the 40 arms traffickers arrested by police in Nigeria last week are regular suppliers of weapons to rebel groups in Cameroon. The 40 were arrested in the Nigerian border town of Ikom and charged with various crimes, including supplying guns, ammunition and explosives to separatists. Separatists have been fighting to create an English-speaking state in the western regions of Cameroon, a majority Francophone country, since 2017. Frank Mba, the Nigerian Police Force public relations officer, said some of the weapons intercepted were destined for the separatists.”The suspect, in this case Ntui Lambert, was arrested in Ikom in Cross River state while trying to smuggle or traffic these explosives to Cameroon. He is believed to be working with some secessionist groups in Cameroon. This is not his first time supplying them with dynamites and other arms-related items,” Mba said. In an interview broadcast by Cameroon state television, Mba said 13 AK-47 rifles, 750 rounds of AK-47 ammunition, and 58 packages of explosives suspected to be dynamite were seized.He said criminal gangs and separatist groups in Cameroon and Nigeria use dynamite to attack government troops. The 40 suspects have been charged with terrorism funding, arms trafficking, cybercrimes and abductions.Thirty-six-year old suspect Ntui Lambert told local media he is a trafficker. He said his father is Cameroonian and his mother Nigerian.”I was arrested in possession of dynamites, explosives and live ammunition of AK-47, with a Thuraya phone. They arrested me alongside three others. The people [police] that arrested me transferred me to Owerri and from Owerri, they [the police] sent me to Abuja,” he said. Lambert did not say whether the weapons were destined for Cameroonian separatist groups. Authorities suspect the arms were meant for the main separatist group, the Ambazonia Defense Forces.ADF deputy defense chief Capo Daniel said the group is not intimidated by the arrests.”If the Nigerian government and the Cameroonian government think that they are going to stop us from trafficking weapons and affect our ability to liberate and defend our people, this collaboration between Cameroon and Nigeria will fail woefully,” Daniel said.Cameroonian and Nigerian authorities who met in the Nigerian capital Abuja last week agreed to jointly fight armed separatists in both countries.Officials from the two countries said Anglophone separatists in Cameroon and the Indigenous People of Biafra, a group that wants a breakaway state in southeast Nigeria, are joining forces to fight for the independence of their respective regions.
…