Month: November 2022

Wife of Jailed Belarusian Nobel Winner to Accept His Award

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The wife of jailed Belarusian activist Ales Bialiatski, one of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winners, will accept the award on his behalf at the upcoming ceremony, organizers said Friday.

Bialiatski, 60, won the prestigious prize in October together with Russian rights group Memorial and Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties, which is documenting “Russian war crimes” against the Ukrainian people.

The prize will be presented to the trio at a formal ceremony in Oslo on December 10.

Bialiatski was jailed after large-scale demonstrations against the regime in 2020, when Belarus’ authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, claimed victory in elections the international community deemed fraudulent.

His wife, Natalia Pinchuk, will represent him in Norway.

“We are very happy that she has gotten out of Belarus and everything is arranged for her to be able to participate in the (Nobel) ceremony at Oslo City Hall on December 10,” the head of the Nobel Institute, Olav Njolstad, told AFP in an email.

Memorial will be represented by its chairman, Yan Rachinsky, and the CCL by its director, Oleskandra Matviychuk, the institute said.

A highly symbolic choice for this year’s prize, the trio represent the three nations at the center of the war in Ukraine, which has plunged Europe into its worst security crisis since World War II.

The committee said it honored the three for their struggle for “human rights, democracy and peaceful co-existence in the neighbor countries Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.”
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India’s Adani Defends Media bid After Press Freedom Fears

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Indian tycoon Gautam Adani said Friday that media should have the “courage” to support the government when warranted, after his hostile takeover bid for one of the country’s top broadcasters sparked press freedom fears.

Adani, 60, is the world’s third-richest person, with an estimated net worth of $134 billion and interests ranging from Australian coal mines to India’s busiest ports.

He is also seen as a close acolyte of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, often publicly supporting his policies.

A company from his Adani Group revealed in August that it had indirectly bought 29 percent of NDTV, against the wishes of the broadcaster’s management, and is moving to buy a majority stake next month.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Financial Times, Adani said his foray into media was a “responsibility” rather than a business opportunity.

He added that it was time for India to have a global news conglomerate on par with Al Jazeera and said the channel should support the government when appropriate.

“Independence means if government has done something wrong, you say it’s wrong,” Adani told the British broadsheet.

“But at the same time, you should have courage when the government is doing the right thing every day. You have to also say that.”

NDTV’s two channels, one in Hindi and one in English, stand out among India’s myriad rolling news broadcasters for inviting on critics of the government as well as their hard-hitting reporting.

It has already been hit by a slew of lawsuits that its owners said stemmed from its reporting.

Under Modi, India has slipped 10 places in the Reporters Without Borders global press freedom ranking and is now 150 out of 180 surveyed countries.

Reporters who are critical of the government can find themselves behind bars and hounded on social media by supporters of Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Aggressive expansion

Self-made billionaire Adani, 60, this year overtook fellow Indian Mukesh Ambani to become Asia’s richest man.

Like Modi, Adani hails from western Gujarat state, and his conglomerate has expanded aggressively in recent years, including into new areas like airports and renewable energy.

But its growth into capital-intensive businesses has raised alarm, with analysts from Fitch Group’s CreditSights warning in August that the group was “deeply overleveraged”.

On Friday, the group’s Adani Enterprises approved plans to raise $2.45 billion through a follow-on public offer – set to be India’s biggest ever, subject to regulatory approval.

The fresh funds will be key to reducing debt and fueling further business expansion for the flagship entity, shares in which have surged nearly 1,000 percent over the past two years.
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France Takes First Step to Add Abortion Right to Constitution

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Lawmakers in France’s lower house of parliament on Thursday adopted a bill to enshrine abortion rights in the country’s constitution, the first step in a lengthy and uncertain legislative battle prompted by the rollback of abortion rights in the United States. 

The vote was 337-32 in the 557-member National Assembly. 

To be added into the constitution, any measure must be first approved by majorities in the National Assembly and the upper house, the Senate, and then in a nationwide referendum. 

Authors of the proposal, from a left-wing coalition, argued the measure was aimed at “protecting and guaranteeing the fundamental right to voluntary termination of pregnancy.” 

Abortion in France was decriminalized under a key 1975 law, but there is nothing in the constitution that would guarantee abortion rights. 

Mathilde Panot, head of the hard-left France Unbowed group at the National Assembly and co-signatory of the proposal, said that “our intent is clear: we want not to leave any chance to people opposed to the right to abortion.” 

French Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said the centrist government supports the initiative. 

He referred to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June, which eliminated the federal constitutional right to abortion and left the decision to the states. 

“The right to abortion we thought was acquired for 50 years [in the U.S.] was in reality not at all acquired,” he said. 

A recent poll showed that more than 80% of the French population supported the right to abortion. The results were consistent with those in previous surveys. The same poll also showed that a solid majority of people were in favor of enshrining it in the constitution. 

Centrists’ proposal dropped

French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance, Renaissance, on Thursday decided to withdraw a similar proposal that was meant to be debated Monday also in the National Assembly. Centrist and leftist lawmakers agreed instead on supporting a single bill saying that “the law guarantees the effectiveness and equal access to the right to voluntary termination of pregnancy.” 

Success isn’t guaranteed for supporters of the bill. The Senate, where the conservative party, the Republicans, has a majority, rejected a similar bill in September. The Republican senators argued the measure was not needed since the right to abortion was not under threat in France. 

Dupond-Moretti said he was “hopeful” that some senators could change their minds and form a majority in favor. 

He and other proponents of constitutional change argue that French lawmakers should not take any chances on fundamental rights, since it is easier to change the law than the constitution. 

The right to abortion enjoys broad support across the French political spectrum, including from Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally. Yet Le Pen in recent days said she was opposed to the leftist proposal because she thought it could lead to extending or abolishing the time limit at which a pregnancy can be terminated. 

Following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in June, Macron had tweeted that “abortion is a fundamental right for all women. It must be protected.”
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UK Nurses Join Other Striking Staff in 2 December Walkouts

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Nurses across most of Britain will next month hold the first strikes in their union’s 106-year history, joining a host of other U.K. workers taking industrial action over pay.

Staff in England, Wales and Northern Ireland — but not Scotland — will walk out on Dec. 15 and 20, after the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union said the government had turned down an offer of negotiations.

It will be the latest industrial action in Britain, where decades-high inflation and a cost-of-living crisis have prompted staff in various sectors to demand pay increases to keep up with soaring prices.

The nurses’ strike will be sandwiched between the first of a series of two-day walkouts by national railway workers, while postal service employees will stage fresh stoppages in the run-up to Christmas.

Numerous other public and private sector staff, from lawyers to airport ground personnel, have also held strikes this year.

“Nursing staff have had enough of being taken for granted, enough of low pay and unsafe staffing levels, enough of not being able to give our patients the care they deserve,” said RCN head Pat Cullen.

The union, which wants a pay raise significantly above inflation, announced earlier this month that a ballot of its more than 300,000 members had found a majority in favor of strikes.

“Ministers have had more than two weeks since we confirmed that our members felt such injustice that they would strike for the first time,” Cullen said, adding that an offer of formal negotiations was declined.

“They have the power and the means to stop this by opening serious talks that address our dispute.”

The RCN will next week announce which particular arms of Britain’s sprawling state-funded National Health Service (NHS) will be affected by the walkouts.

Amid the waves of industrial action, British inflation has continued its recent surge, reaching a 41-year high of 11.1% in October on jumps in energy and food costs.

Bosses in the NHS said in September that nurses were skipping meals to feed and clothe their children and struggling to afford rising transportation costs.

One in four hospitals had set up foodbanks to support staff, according to NHS Providers, which represents hospital groups in England.

The government says it has accepted independent pay recommendations and given over 1 million NHS workers a pay increase of at least $1,590 this year.

In Scotland, the union has paused announcing strike action after the devolved government in Edinburgh, which has responsibility for health policy, reopened pay talks.

Other U.K. health unions are also balloting workers for industrial action, while ambulance staff in Scotland are due to walk out Monday.

Meanwhile, across the wider economy, numerous sectors are set to continue their strikes into the new year. 
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Tanzania Starts Rationing Power Because of Drought 

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Tanzanian authorities have started rationing electricity because of a drop in hydropower generation brought on by drought, the national provider said Wednesday, with some areas set to suffer nine-hour outages. 

The East African nation has the capacity to generate nearly 1,695 megawatts through hydropower, natural gas and other means. 

But it is facing a shortage of 300 to 350 megawatts, Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (Tanesco) managing director Maharage Chande said. 

“There are two major reasons which have caused the shortages in generation: prolonged drought and ongoing maintenance in some of our plants,” Chande told reporters in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, on Wednesday. 

The affected plants include Kihansi in southeast Morogoro region, whose capacity has fallen from 180 megawatts to 17 megawatts, he said. 

“Water levels have decreased in most sources, forcing our plants to generate below their capacity,” Chande said. 

The country is trying to increase its hydropower capacity, including through the construction of the controversial Julius Nyerere dam project in the Selous Game Reserve, which is expected to produce 2,100 megawatts once operational. 

Tanzania, like its East African neighbors, has been experiencing poor rainfall and delayed monsoons, leading authorities to impose water rationing in Dar es Salaam last month because of a drought-induced fall in water levels. 

Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia are in the grip of the worst drought in four decades after four failed rainy seasons wiped out livestock and crops.
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Congolese Give Cautious Welcome to Deal on Rebel Violence 

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Congolese and security experts reacted cautiously Thursday to the announcement of an impending truce in an escalating conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

A militia called the M23 has been gaining ground since mounting an offensive in North Kivu province earlier this year. It’s within a few dozen kilometers of Goma, a city of about 1 million.

The fighting has sparked a surge in diplomatic tensions with neighboring Rwanda, which Congo accuses of abetting the rebels — a charge Kigali denies.

On Wednesday, though, talks between the two countries in the Angolan capital, Luanda, gave rise to an agreement for an “immediate cease-fire,” effective from 1600 GMT on Friday.

Both sides also agreed to demand “the immediate withdrawal” of the M23 “from the occupied areas.”

Onesphore Sematumba, an analyst with the International Crisis Group think tank, said the fact that the Angolan-brokered meeting had taken place was in itself good news, “given the rising tensions.”

But he questioned whether the deal, reached by Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta, would gain traction.

The rebels did not take part, and for reasons that remain unclear, Rwandan President Paul Kagame was also absent.

“The M23 can always say that it wasn’t included … and that it is not responsible for a document that it didn’t sign,” Sematumba said, adding that “it would have been better if President Kagame had been there.”

Kagame’s absence “is not a good sign,” said Congolese politician Patrick Mundeke.

Jean-Claude Bambaze, who heads civil society groups in Rutshuru territory, swaths of which have been captured by the M23, said he hoped the rebels would now withdraw.

But, he said, “we are worried, because it won’t have been the first time that [political] decisions are not put into practice.”

Congo and Rwanda agreed to a de-escalation plan in July, but clashes resumed the very next day.

“The Luanda summit is a strong message to the M23, and we salute it,” said Lumumba Kambere Muyisa, member of a campaign group called LUCHA (Fight for Change).

But, he said, the question was “practicability” — how the agreement would be implemented on the ground.

Resurgent militia

The M23, a largely Congolese Tutsi militia, leapt to prominence 10 years ago when it captured Goma, before being driven out and going to ground.

It reemerged late last year, claiming Congo had failed to honor a pledge to integrate its fighters into the army, among other grievances.

The M23 is one of an estimated 120 armed groups that have turned eastern Congo into one of Africa’s most violent regions.

Many of them are legacies of two wars before the turn of the century that sucked in countries around eastern and central Africa and left millions of people dead.

Rwanda denies Congo’s charges against it and accuses Kinshasa of colluding with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) — a former Rwandan Hutu rebel group that was established in Congo after the 1994 genocide.

The East African Community, of which Rwanda is a member, has also vowed to deploy a joint force to quell the violence.

Kenyan soldiers arrived in Congo earlier this month, and Uganda says it will shortly deploy around 1,000 troops.
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In Pennsylvania, Afghan Refugees Celebrate First Thanksgiving

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Judith Samkoff needed a bigger dinner table for Thanksgiving this year.

The 65-year-old Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, resident helped resettle an Afghan refugee family of eight, and because this is their first holiday in the United States, Samkoff invited them to her father and sister’s home for Thanksgiving.

“Because they have a larger dining room table and more dining chairs than I have,” she said, adding, “Our meal is not completely traditional in that we’re vegetarians.”

In different homes around the U.S., Jewish volunteers who helped resettle Afghans are welcoming them for their first Thanksgiving dinner on U.S. soil.

One of Samkoff’s guests is Hadia, a 24-year-old Afghan refugee whose family fled Afghanistan in November 2021.

“We got a call and they said we had to go to the airport right away,” Hadia said of her family’s escape from Kabul. Because of security and safety concerns, VOA is sharing only her first name.

In Afghanistan, Hadia had a bachelor’s degree in public administration from Balkh Province. She also volunteered to help displaced people from other countries.

When Kabul fell to the Taliban, her family had to quickly make plans.

The U.S. completed its withdrawal in August 2021 and helped evacuate more than 130,000 Afghans in a chaotic few weeks after nearly 20 years of war.

“We decided to leave our country because my father had a military background,” she said.

Hadia’s father served in the Afghan army and worked directly with U.S. forces.

She did not disclose who helped her family leave Afghanistan, but they were part of a group of people who were able to go to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

They lived there for four months before receiving authorization to travel to the United States in March 2022.

Pennsylvania was the place the U.S. government chose for the family to rebuild their lives.

“We [didn’t] know anyone here. We [were] worr[ied],” she said, adding, “It’s really hard when we [first arrived] … how can we manage, you know, it’s really hard to start from zero. You left everything behind in your country. When you come here you must start from zero.”

That is where Samkoff and the other volunteers come in. They help recently arrived Afghans like Hadia and her family settle in and give them the resources they need to be successful in their new homeland.

Samkoff said she became a volunteer after talking to a friend who was helping to resettle another Afghan family.

“And I said, ‘You know, sign me up. How do we do this?’” Samkoff told VOA.

Goodwill

Samkoff is one of 1,866 volunteers in the Jewish Federations of North America network, which in partnership with the Shapiro Foundation launched a $1 million refugee resettlement initiative to support local communities around the country, including the Jewish Family Service of Greater Harrisburg (JFS).

The network has resettled 19,163 Afghans across the country and is prepared to resettle more as they arrive.

Darcy Hirsh, associate vice president public affairs at Jewish Federations of North America, said volunteers play an important role in helping refugee families resettle.

“A lot of it is really goodwill. … Our model allows each community to respond in a way that makes the most sense to them. … I’ve been really proud of [the] engagement we’ve seen in communities,” Hirsh said.

Hirsh said volunteers help find apartments and homes for Afghans. They also work together to furnish the new place, help them enroll children in school, find transportation to job interviews and teach them English.

“The support services we have at the agencies will help any Afghan that walks through the doors, but we’re working very closely in coalition with many of the resettlement agencies … to pass the Afghan Adjustment Act that would not only help adjust status but provide an easier pathway for those that are remaining in Afghanistan,” she said.

The Afghan Adjustment Act is bipartisan legislation that would allow eligible Afghans to apply for lawful permanent residence in the United States. It was introduced in both chambers of Congress in August.

“So we’re hoping that bill will be attached to legislation that passes Congress by December,” Hirsh said.

First Thanksgiving

At the table, the family and friends had Tofurky, a plant-based, meat substitute made from tofu.

Hadia said she tried to explain to her mother what the national holiday day means to the United States.

“It’s like they meet [and] appreciate people with thanks. … So it’s really good. In our culture [it’s] also like that. We don’t have any specific date to say thanks but we say thanks [to] everyone,” she said.

Hadia said she looks forward to the future and hopes to one day work as a diplomat helping other refugees to find safety as she has. In Harrisburg, she is working as a social service worker and is volunteering to assist other refugee families.

She told VOA her family is still adjusting to the new country.

“The United States is very busy. … Everyone is busy here. … [But] we have lots of opportunities here. During the morning I can work and during the evening I can take my classes,” she said.

Samkoff said helping Hadia’s family is a blessing and makes her feel “really good.”

“I don’t have any grandchildren of my own. I feel like if anybody asks me if I have any grandchildren, I would say, ‘Yes, I have seven. One of them is in Germany. I haven’t met him in person yet, but he’s coming,” Samkoff told VOA. That is Hadia’s brother, who is waiting to resettle in the U.S.

“My family is always excited when Judith [Samkoff] invites us [to come over] or other volunteers. You know, when we came here, we didn’t have any family. Now they’re my family. I call Judith my grandmother,” Hadia said.
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Malawi Police Arrest Former President’s Stepson Over Mass Grave Discovery

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Police in Malawi have arrested the stepson of former President Peter Mutharika in connection with the discovery of a mass grave last month. Police say Tadikira Mafubza turned himself in to police Wednesday. The grave found in a forest contained 30 bodies believed to be those of illegal Ethiopian immigrants.

Tadikira Mafubza is a son of former President Peter Mutharika’s wife, Gertrude, whom he married in 2014.

Police say the arrest, the first since the discovery of the mass grave, is a result of the investigation they are conducting.

Peter Kalaya is the spokesperson for the Malawi Police Service.

“We have arrested him because we have evidence that he is connected to the case that we are investigating, which is to do with a mass grave that was found in Mzimba district, where 30 bodies of suspected victims of human trafficking, suspected to be Ethiopians, were exhumed.”

Some local media reports indicate police also impounded a vehicle used to transport suspected Ethiopian immigrants being trafficked to South Africa.

“At the moment I will not be able to confirm or deny that because any information to do with that, I am afraid, might jeopardize the stage of our investigation.”

In the preliminary police investigation, authorities found temporary travel documents with the names and nationalities of the deceased. Police also found SIM cards of Ethiopian mobile phone network providers.

Now, Malawians are waiting for results of autopsies conducted to establish the causes of death.

Earlier in November, Mutharika told a press conference at his residence in Mangochi district that he was shocked at the government’s silence on the cause of death of the migrants.

Mutharika said Malawians and the international community deserved to know what happened.

Police spokesperson Kalaya told VOA Thursday that police cannot release findings from pathologists on what caused the deaths. 

“At the moment, they have given us a preliminary report, but we are not in a position to give out to the public what’s in the preliminary report,” Mutharika said. “At an appropriate time, we are to inform Malawians and the rest of the world what’s in there. Because anything that we say at the moment, looking at the stage where we are with investigations, I am afraid it might affect our investigations of the case.”

Kalaya said Mafubza is expected to appear in court Friday to answer charges on human trafficking and that more arrests will follow soon.  

There was no immediate comment from Mutharika on the arrest.

Also, a spokesperson for Mutharika’s Democratic Progressive Party, Shadreck Namalomba, who sometimes speaks for Mutharika’s family, told VOA Thursday that he would not comment on the arrest of the former president’s stepson. 
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US Slams Taliban for Publicly Flogging Afghan Men, Women

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The U.S. special envoy for women, girls and human rights in Afghanistan has sharply criticized the ruling Islamist Taliban for organizing public floggings of people, including women, accused of “moral crimes” such as theft and adultery. 

 

“This is both appalling and a dangerous sign that the Taliban are becoming more defiant in showing the world that they are embracing the policies of the past,” Rina Amiri said on Twitter. 

 

Her reaction came a day after the Taliban Supreme Court said that 11 men and three women had been flogged “for different sins, including adultery, robbery and other forms of corruption,” in a football stadium in the country’s east. 

 

The announcement noted that the punishment was administered Wednesday morning “in the presence of respected scholars, security forces, tribal elders and local residents.” 

 

It was the latest sign of the Taliban’s application of their strict interpretation of Islamic law, known as Shariah, to criminal justice, and restoring policies of their rule from 1996 to 2001, when flogging took place in much of Afghanistan. 

 

“It didn’t end up well before, and it will once again take the country on a perilous path,” Amiri warned. 

 

Earlier this month, reclusive Taliban chief Hibatullah Akhundzada ordered senior judges to apply Shariah punishments in cases already concluded. Taliban authorities have since implemented public floggings in at least two provinces for crimes such as adultery, false accusations of adultery, theft, banditry, alcohol consumption, apostasy and sedition. 

 

The Supreme Court said about two weeks ago that 19 people, including nine women, had been lashed in northeastern Takhar province for adultery, theft and running away from home. Each was lashed 39 times, it said. 

 

The Shariah legal system is derived from Islam’s holy book, the Quran, and the deeds as well as sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. 

 

Amnesty International urged the Taliban to immediately and unconditionally end the “criminal practice” of public flogging and all other forms of corporal punishment. The rights watchdog stressed the need for putting in place a formal justice mechanism with fair trials and access to legal remedies. 

 

“The Taliban continue to ignore widespread criticism as they flagrantly flout basic human rights principles in an alarming slide into what looks like a grim reminder of their rule” of decades ago, Amnesty said.  

 

“These outrageous punishments are just another step in the legalization of inhuman practices by the Taliban’s cruel justice system and expose the de-facto authorities’ complete disregard for international human rights law.” 

 

The Taliban returned to power in August 2021 after almost 20 years of insurgency against U.S.-led NATO troops and their Afghan partners. The international troops withdrew from Afghanistan just days after the Taliban seized power. 

 

No country has yet to formally recognize the Taliban rule because of human rights and terrorism-related concerns. The international community has been pressing the Islamist rulers to reverse restrictions on Afghan women if they want legitimacy for their men-only government. 

 

Since they seized power in August 2021, the Taliban have ordered women to cover their faces in public and not undertake long road trips without a close male relative. They have also ordered many female government staff members to stay at home. Women are banned from visiting gyms, parks and public baths. 

 

While public and private universities are open to women across Afghanistan, teenage girls are not allowed to attend secondary schools from grades seven to 12. 

 

U.S. envoy Amiri also criticized the Taliban for dissolving the Afghan Independent Bar Association last November, saying it was a model of gender inclusion. 

 

“Now women are sidelined from practicing law & many women judges & lawyers are forced to beg for food for their children rather than use their skills. Such injustice,” she said in a separate tweet Thursday. 

 

The Taliban defend their governance, saying it is in line with Afghan culture and Islamic law.
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Namibia Removes Statue of German Colonial ‘Founder’ of Windhoek

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Namibian authorities have removed a controversial statue of a German colonial officer that was erected to mark the anniversary of the founding of the city of Windhoek, now the capital. Critics petitioned for the removal of the monument to a man who led German troops in a massacre of native people, and they dispute the idea that the city was founded by Germans.

Scores of Namibians celebrated as the statue of German colonial officer Curt von Francois was removed Wednesday from a pedestal in front of Windhoek’s city buildings, where it stood for more than half a century.

The monument was erected in 1965 to honor the 75th anniversary of the city’s founding, which was credited to von Francois.

Von Francois was governor of the area, then known as German South West Africa, from 1891 to 1894.

But historians and activists dispute the idea that Germans, who colonized Namibia from 1884 to 1915, founded the city.

Former Windhoek mayor Job Amupanda told VOA it’s well known that native people were living in the area decades before the Germans arrived.

“First of all, people think it is a process to decolonize our space,” Amupanda said. But before we even go there, we are simply saying the statue is a representation of the lie, historically. And because it represents a lie, so there is no argument about keeping, protecting, and sustaining a lie.”

Hildegarde Titus is with the A Curt Farewell movement that in 2020 petitioned for the statue’s removal.

She says its presence whitewashed atrocities by German colonial forces and South Africa’s apartheid government against native Namibians.

South Africa’s white minority government, which controlled Namibia until it won independence in 1990, forcibly removed black residents from an area of the city called the “Old Location” in 1959.

Titus says removing the statue corrects a historical wrong.

“I think it is important to say that the statue being put up is a distortion of history cause like was mentioned he wasn’t the founder of Windhoek. But also, when the statue was put up it was five years after the forced removals, of the Old Location, so it was very much a symbol of whitening the city.”

Critics say the statue of von Francois, who ordered attacks to subdue natives that saw scores massacred, should have been removed long ago.

Von Francois married an ethnic Damara woman, who gave birth to their daughter and still has descendants in Namibia.

One of them, Sharon Nangombe, told VOA she agreed it was in the interest of the country for the statue to be removed, though she felt the descendants should have been involved in the decision.

Nangombe said the family never talked about von Francois’s role in the atrocities and killings of native Herero and Nama people.

“What we got from the information is that.the good things that he did and what he did and what he made happen and now I’ve got another version of.. ‘you can’t put something up that killed people and then the victims, the family has to see him still standing there every single day.’ But it’s understandable. So, there’s always two sides of a story.”

Historians say German settlers in Namibia committed genocide by killing tens of thousands of native people.

Germany agreed last year to fund $1.3 billion in development projects in Namibia over 30 years in redress for the killings and land that was taken.

But some natives argue they were not sufficiently involved in the negotiations and in October Namibia asked Germany to renegotiate the terms of the deal, which Berlin has refused to do.

The statue of von Francois was moved to Namibia’s Independence Museum, where it is expected to be put on display.
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US Organizations Helping France Reconstruct Notre Dame Cathedral

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More than three years since a devastating fire burned parts of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, reconstruction is underway, and organizations from the United States are helping. Karina Bafradzhian has the story.
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Russian Duma Gives LGBTQ ‘Propaganda’ Bill Final Approval 

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Russian lawmakers on Thursday gave their final approval to a bill that significantly expands restrictions on activities seen as promoting gay rights in the country, another step in a years-long crackdown on the country’s embattled LGBTQ community.

The new bill expands a ban on what authorities call “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” to minors, established by legislation dubbed the “gay propaganda” law. It was adopted by the Kremlin in 2013 in an effort to promote “traditional values” in Russia.

This year, the lawmakers moved to ban spreading such information to people aged 18 and older.

The bill was approved in the third and final reading on Thursday by the State Duma, the lower house of parliament. It will go next to the upper house, the Federation Council, and then to President Vladimir Putin, whose signature will give it legal force.

The new bill outlaws all advertising, media and online resources books, films and theater productions deemed to contain such “propaganda,” a concept loosely defined in the bill. The 2013 ban was often enacted against any depictions of same-sex unions and used as a tool to crack down on LGBTQ rights groups and activists.

Violations are punishable by fines. If committed by non-residents, they can lead to their expulsion from Russia. The fines range from 100,000 to 2 million rubles ($1,660-$33,000). For some violations, foreigners could face 15 days’ detention prior to expulsion.

The bill does not make violations a criminal offense. Russian law stipulates that the criminal code can be amended only through an independent bill. Some lawmakers have suggested they favor such a measure.

Russia explicitly outlawed same-sex marriages in 2020 by adopting amendments to the country’s Constitution that, among other things, stipulated that the “institution of marriage is a union between a man and a woman.”
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Pakistan Names New Army Chief amid Political Turmoil

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Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Thursday nominated the former head of Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, the country’s main intelligence agency, as head of the powerful military amid deepening political turmoil in the country.

Officials said Sharif chaired a meeting of his cabinet to pick General Asim Munir from a list of six senior generals to replace General Qamar Jawed Bajwa, set to retire next week, as the new chief of army staff.

Defense Minister Khawaja Asif announced the decision in a post-meeting statement, saying it has already been sent to President Arif Alvi for his mandatory approval.

Munir will take command of Pakistan’s nuclear-armed military from Bajwa on Nov. 29 at a ceremony at the general headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, adjacent to the capital, Islamabad.

As well as heading the ISI, Munir has commanded Pakistani troops in areas bordering Afghanistan and arch-rival India.

The nomination of the new military chief comes amid an intensified debate over the even deepening interference of the institution in political affairs.

Bajwa’s leadership, in particular, has exposed the powerful military to severe public criticism lately, led by former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The 70-year-old politician alleges Sharif and Bajwa colluded with the United States to orchestrate the toppling of his government in April through a parliamentary no-confidence vote. The cricket-star-turned populist deposed leader has not offered any evidence to substantiate his claims.

However, Khan has lately toned down his anti-Bajwa rhetoric, saying that even if the general had not been involved in his removal he could still have saved his government.

On Wednesday, Bajwa formally rejected Khan’s allegations in his last nationally televised address to families of fallen soldiers at the Pakistan military headquarters.

“A fake and false narrative was concocted to create a state of hysteria in the country,” stated the 62-year-old general.

But Bajwa admitted his institution had been meddling in national politics for decades, occasionally exposing it to public criticism.

“I believe the major reason has been the military’s interference in politics for the past 70 years, which is unconstitutional,” the outgoing general said. “Therefore, in February last year the military decided after a lot of deliberation that it would never again interfere in any political matter in future.”

Bajwa did not, however, explain what prompted the military to disengage from politics, and critics swiftly questioned his claims.

Pakistan has experienced four military coups against elected governments since gaining independence in 1947, leading to more than three decades of dictatorial rule.

Bajwa became army chief in 2016 for a mandated three-year term and was given an extension for three years in 2019 by then-Prime Minister Khan.

“I would take Bajwa’s plea for the Army to get out of politics with many grains of salt,” said Michael Kugelman, the director of South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington, when asked for comments on claims by the incumbent military chief.

“The institution has been so entrenched in Pakistan’s political fabric for so long, that it would be well-nigh impossible to engineer such a sharp shift,” Kugelman said in written comments to VOA.

Pakistani politicians have long accused the military of orchestrating the removal of elected governments that do not fall into line with the powerful institution, particularly when it comes to making foreign and security policies or questioning the military’s commercial interests.

Khan remains the most popular leader in Pakistan and his popularity has skyrocketed since his removal, with his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party sweeping national and provincial by-elections in recent weeks.

Since his removal from office, he has been leading massive protest rallies across the country, with tens of thousands of party supporters attending them.

Khan is pressing Sharif to dissolve his coalition government and announce early general elections in the country. The government has rejected the demand, saying elections will be held only after it completes its constitutionally mandated term by next August.

The deposed prime minister has also accused  a senior ISI general along with Sharif and Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah of plotting a shooting attack on his rally earlier this month that left him wounded in the leg and killed one of his supporters. The government and ISI reject the allegations.

On Saturday, Khan plans to lead tens of thousands of supporters in Rawalpindi to push for his demand.
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Kashmiri Journalists Named on Militant ‘Traitor’ List Quit

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Collaborator. Stooge. Traitor. These are the terms a militant group used to describe a dozen journalists in Indian-controlled Kashmir, in a list published online.

The list published on a blog linked to the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and its affiliate, The Resistance Front (TRF), had an immediate effect. At least five of the journalists named publicly announced they are quitting their jobs.

Journalists and media analysts say the list underscores the dangers for Kashmiri media professionals, who risk being attacked or threatened from extremist groups on one side and accused by authorities of supporting or promoting terrorism on the other.

The pressure on journalists in the disputed region has only increased since India revoked Kashmir’s special status granting it autonomy in 2019.

“You have a situation where extra-territorial militant interests now find it easy to issue intimidatory threats to established newspapers based in the region and declare them as collaborators of the Indian government,” Pamela Philipose, public editor at the Indian news website The Wire, told VOA.

A female journalist in Kashmir, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told VOA, “It’s very tough to be honest. It consistently makes one overthink about the situation.”

The list of journalists was published on Kashmir Fight, a blog believed to be run or affiliated with Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is listed by India and others as a terrorist group.

Access to the blog is blocked in Kashmir, but screenshots have been shared widely online.

A version viewed by VOA shows the names and accusations leveled against 12 journalists, along with initials of their news outlet. The text reads, “They are already listed and their time/fate sealed.”

Since then, at least five journalists, including from the English-language daily Rising Kashmir and the ANN News media agency, have resigned.

Some posted their resignations via Twitter, including one who announced he was quitting as a cameraman and disassociating himself from his former media outlet.

Anuradha Bhasin, executive editor of Kashmir Times, said, “Journalists are certainly accountable to their readers, but not to a band of cowards cowering behind a shady blog and announcing death threats. This is pathetic and condemnable.”

Bhasin and the DIGIPUB News India Foundation, a trade body of digital media organizations, both said in social media posts that journalists in the region face pressure from both militants and authorities.

Police in the city of Srinagar are investigating the threat.

In a statement, the police said a case has been registered against suspected members of “LeT & its offshoot TRF for online publication & dissemination of a direct threat letter to journalists (and) reporters based in Kashmir.”

As part of that investigation, police on Saturday carried out raids, including at the homes of six journalists and of lawyers who represent people accused of militancy. One former journalist, Sajad Ahmad Kralyari, was detained for questioning and his cellphone and laptop seized, the Reuters news agency reported.

An unnamed police official told Reuters that police conducted searches at 10 locations “in connection with the investigation of the case related to recent threats to journalists.”

Police in Kashmir did not respond to a VOA email requesting further comment and detail on the investigation, including what led to the raid on journalists’ homes.

Philipose of The Wire said that the capacity of the Kashmiri media to stand up to the challenge of reporting difficult stories in a climate awash with mistrust, fear, and repression has been steadily undermined.

She said that journalists in the region have said they feel numb. “It is tragic the situation in which they are now forced to function,” she said.

Manoj Joshi, a fellow at the Delhi-based group the Observer Research Foundation, told VOA via email, “Militants have always posed risks to the media, but so does any over-reaction on the part of the authorities.”

Joshi said that the risks “have not been as high as in other conflict zones,” and that he found the police raids “troubling.”

Since the revocation of Article 370, which had granted the region autonomy, Kashmir has seen internet and communication blocks and restrictions, and journalists have been detained or questioned for alleged national security violations.

That environment and uncertainty makes working in media difficult, local journalists say.

“We have no idea what’s happening with journalists whose homes have been raided. There is absolutely no communication. Obviously, this all is very threatening and working around such pressures is not easy,” the anonymous female journalist said.

Speaking about the raids Saturday, Philipose said that the Kashmir police seemed less interested in creating a climate that enables journalists to do their work.

Instead, she said, they launched “raids on several local journalists, holding them responsible for these threats.”

The threat from militants led some in Kashmir to cite the need for the region’s press club to be reopened. The club closed in January when authorities revoked its license to operate.
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Senegal’s Women Gold Miners Carry Heavy Burden

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Every few minutes, 14-month-old Awa coughs, the phlegm rising from deep within her chest.

Her mother, Meta Ba, says Awa’s been coughing that way for as long as she can remember.

Ba, who suffers from chronic migraines, works as an artisanal gold miner in Senegal’s far eastern region of Kedougou, near the borders of Mali and Guinea.

Gold mining in Senegal plays a key role in the country’s economy, but the use of mercury during the treatment process is harming the environment and the health of the miners.

In Kedougou, home to 98% of Senegal’s gold mines, more than five tons of mercury are used annually.

Health experts say the heavy metal attacks the nervous, digestive and immune systems.

It can harm the lungs and kidneys and impair hearing, balance, vision, thinking and breathing. It can also cause birth defects.

Women make up half of the miners and are charged with treating the gold after it is mined, which involves mixing mercury with ore, then vaporizing the mercury to isolate the gold. They do so without gloves or masks.

Some of the female miners have visible health conditions, such large growths stemming from their throats and drooping red eyes.

They often carry their children with them to work, causing both to suffer the health consequences.

“She is still breastfeeding, so I can’t leave her at home,” Ba said. “If I don’t come here to work, how will I survive? How will I make a living?”

But Kedougou’s gold mines are no place for children.

Scores of open pits plunge 15 meters deep, without barriers or markers. There is no safety equipment, and miners say the dust they are being exposed to is toxic.

Still, Awa and other children play and nap just steps from the pits.

The metal also infiltrates the environment, damaging the ecosystem.

“When the mercury is separated from the gold, it creates a vapor that rises into the atmosphere and clings to the leaves,” said Mamadou Drame, president of the Gold Panning Federation of Kedougou. “Then with the rain or wind it leaches into the ground and gets washed into the rivers where the fish are exposed.”

Locals risk ingesting the toxic metal, not only when they consume the fish, but when they eat the crops grown from the contaminated soil or the livestock that graze there.

A 2018 study by Duke University found dangerously high levels of the neurotoxic form of mercury in soil and water ecosystems near artisanal gold mines in Senegal that far exceed World Health Organization guidelines.

Mercury can also seep into drinking water.

“The well is contaminated,” Ba said. “When you drink this water, you know you’ll get sick.”

The toxin does not break down over time. Once an ecosystem is contaminated, future generations will pay the price.

Gold mining in Kedougou is also causing soil degradation and deforestation.

Artisanal and small-scale miners work independently in the Kedougou region. The industry is critical to the miners’ ability to make a living.

Kedougou’s mines employed more than 30,000 people in 2018 and generated $136 million. The region draws miners from Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and other neighboring countries.

In 2016 Senegal ratified the Minamata Convention on Mercury, a multilateral agreement that seeks to reduce mercury pollution.

Senegal’s Ministry of Mines and Geology only created an artisanal and small-scale mining department last year and the sector is still largely unregulated.

Abou Sow, who heads the department, acknowledged the urgency of the health and environment crisis.

In 2020 he helped the ministry launch a project to install 400 mercury-free gold processing units in Kedougou.

“Everyone who comes to the center to process their gold will know that there will be no use of chemicals,” Sow said. “We will also establish regulations that will allow us to sanction those who are treating their gold outside the center using chemicals.”

Construction has yet to start, though, and is expected to take at least two years.

Until then, miners like Ba say they and their children will continue to be exposed to toxic elements.

“These women are breathing nothing but toxins all around them,” said Khady Camara, founder of environmental organization Vacances Vertes. “It’s high time the government start regulating this industry.”
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Chinese Refugees in Italy Wary of Beijing Outposts

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Chinese refugees in Italy, some of whom are dissidents, are increasingly wary of the presence of what appear to be four outposts of Beijing’s security apparatus operating without official diplomatic trappings, according to experts.

Beijing acknowledges the presence of the so-called “police stations” in Rome, Milan, Florence and Prato, which were first revealed by Safeguard Defenders, a human rights organization based in Spain, in September.

The 110 overseas offices, named after China’s emergency telephone line similar to 911 in the U.S., operate in cities with significant Chinese populations and are affiliated with civic associations in Chinese cities or provinces.

The Chinese government has denied the outposts are police stations, describing them more as service centers for Chinese citizens living overseas.

Italian police have conducted investigations into the offices but found no illegal activities, according to La Nazione, which reported on November 8 that the outposts in Italy were managed by civilians who provided Chinese expatriates with services such as drivers licenses or passport renewals.

The Italian government has not commented on the existence of the 110 offices overseas. In 2019, Italy signed a memorandum of understanding with China as part of its Belt and Road Initiative, a package of deals worth $2.8 billion at the time.

But for Chinese refugees carving out new lives in a country where they often don’t speak the language, the Chinese outposts are reminders of Beijing’s global reach.

“I know for sure that they are very scared about this,” said Marco Respinti, an Italian journalist who has written extensively on China’s human rights record. “There are two main reasons. One is some of them have families in China” who can be pressured by authorities there, so the outposts in Italy are “a very sensitive and dangerous development. Another thing is that technically they are illegal immigrants … so they are even more scared to speak out. They fled China for humanitarian reasons and don’t have all the documents. Many times (the refugees) don’t speak the language.”

The 110 overseas offices in Italy are among more than 50 such operations that China has established overseas in countries, including the U.S., according to Safeguard Defenders. On November 2, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian denied the outposts were “police stations” or “police service centers.” During a daily press briefing, he said the offices are to “assist overseas Chinese nationals who need help in accessing the online service platform to get their driver’s licenses renewed and receive physical check-ups for that purpose.”

Staff in the offices “are not police personnel from China. There is no need to make people nervous about this,” he added.

The 110 overseas offices represent “the latest iteration in [China’s] growing transnational repression, where it seeks to police and limit political expression far beyond its own borders,” said the Safeguard Defenders report.

Since the report’s release, at least 14 governments, including those of the U.S., Britain, Canada and Germany, have opened investigations into the operations, Safeguard Defenders research shows.

On October 26, Ireland ordered the closure of the 110 overseas office doing business in Dublin as the Fuzhou Police Service Overseas Station that opened earlier this year in an office building that had other Chinese organizations as tenants, according to the BBC. The Chinese embassy denied any wrongdoing in Dublin and the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs said no Chinese authority had sought its permission to set up the “police station,” according to the BBC report.

On November 1, the Dutch government ordered the 110 overseas offices in the Netherlands to be closed immediately. The outposts purported to offer diplomatic assistance, but they had not been declared to the Netherlands government, Dutch media reported last month.

On November 17, FBI Director Christopher Wray told a U.S. Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing that the FBI was investigating an unauthorized “police station” that China is running out of New York. The Chinese operation “violates sovereignty and circumvents standard judicial and law enforcement cooperation processes,” Wray said.

Jing-Jie Chen, a researcher at Safeguard Defenders, told VOA Mandarin that European countries have no clear concept of cross-border law enforcement by Chinese police.

Chen said, “Many countries in Europe have signed agreements on mutual criminal assistance or extradition with China, so they may begin to think that there is no big problem in this matter. Only after the report is published and the media follows up, do they feel that this matter involves the internal affairs” of any country with 110 overseas offices.

Daniele Brigadoi Cologna, associate professor of Chinese language and culture at the University of Insubria in Como, Italy, told VOA Mandarin these outposts have been helping Chinese expatriates maintain their Chinese residency renewals during the pandemic when people could not return home. The Chinese government issues to each citizen a permit that details their identity and address. It governs where they can live, attend school and work.

Cologna said, “I am confident that in the coming months, we will get to learn more about the outcome of such investigations, but I doubt that anything of interest will come of it, given that right now the media and the politicians are chasing nonexistent policemen and Chinese migrant spies that are unlikely to exist.”

Chen questioned why the ID renewal services are carried out by operations inside restaurants or grocery stores when the Chinese consulates should provide the same services.

“You don’t know whether the address (for the 110 office) is real, which is the weirdest thing. If you want to serve overseas expats, you should have an organization to run these businesses in an open and honest way. Why hide like this?” he said during a phone interview on November 16.

Respinti, the Italian journalist, said, “We know that bureaucracy and documents are one of the most important tools for controlling people and repressing people, because they have a partial recognition to prosecute people, to recognize them where they, when they move from one place to another.”

Members of the Italian Parliament have raised questions about the so-called police stations to the government.

La Nazione reported on October 29 that Italian Senator Mara Bizzotto wrote Matteo Piantedosi, Italy’s minister of the interior, to say, “Full light should be shed on the case of the Chinese police station in Prato known as Fuzhou Police Overseas Service Station, which turns out to be a real body of agents on duty for Beijing but hidden behind a façade of cultural association.”

According Bizzotto, “The affair presents dangerous profiles of a serious violation of our national sovereignty. And these overseas stations could hide a broader architecture of espionage and control located on Italian territory.”

According to Jiemian News, Chinese news media affiliated with the Chinese-government-owned Shanghai United Media Group, since 2016, China has sent several groups of police to Italy to conduct joint patrols with Italian police in major tourist cities.

A reciprocal arrangement had Italian police officers patrolling in four cities — Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Guangzhou — to help local officers address safety concerns of Italian tourists.

The project was suspended after the outbreak of COVID-19.

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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