Month: February 2024

Experts Doubt ECOWAS Easing Sanctions on Juntas Will Have Impact

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Abuja, Nigeria — The decision by West African regional bloc ECOWAS to suspend sanctions against Niger and to ease sanctions on Mali and Guinea has been mostly welcomed by regional political analysts. ECOWAS said its decision, announced Saturday, was based on humanitarian grounds and will pave the way for talks with the three countries’ military juntas. But some analysts are skeptical the decision will have much effect.

Forty-eight hours after ECOWAS announced its decision, there’s excitement over the development in Niger and parts of northern Nigeria affected by the measure.

ECOWAS unfroze Niger’s assets in West Africa, suspended border closures and ended the no-fly-zone for commercial flights to and from Niger.

Idayat Hassan, a senior associate for the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the decision should make life easier for average people in Niger.

“There’s actually expected to be like an improvement in the economy of this country. Particularly when it comes to Nigeria and Niger, we expect to see even the flow of food, goods and services. Beyond that citizens will have access to services more than they used to. We expect that the price of food will reduce in this country,” said Hassan.

The sanctions were the regional bloc’s response to the July ouster of Niger’s President Mohammed Bazoum by the military.

But the measure, considered the most stringent meted out on any member state, hit Niger hard. The extreme poverty rate in Niger has surpassed 40 percent, according to the World Bank.

The regional body said Saturday its decision to suspend sanctions was based on humanitarian considerations and to enable further dialogue with Niger’s military junta.

ECOWAS has been struggling to stop a wave of military takeovers and political crisis rocking West Africa.

Last month Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, all governed by juntas, announced withdrawal from ECOWAS, criticizing the bloc’s sanctions on military governments.

Political analyst Ahmed Buhari said it is unlikely that lifting sanctions will change those countries’ position.

“I think the real question is does Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali even care about the lifting of the sanctions? The thing is those guys have moved on, those guys have put their acts together, they have a direction. Our approach on foreign affairs relationships with those countries especially as headed by ECOWAS was flawed right from the beginning,” he said.

In September, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso created a bloc known as the Alliance of Sahel States.

Last week, the alliance announced it was creating a confederation and could launch a joint currency soon.

Buhari said if that happens, it will have “serious consequences for regional integration and development.”
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Uganda Authorities Say 30 Ugandans Stuck in Myanmar Scam Compounds

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The Ugandan government says about 30 Ugandans are stuck in Myanmar, being forced to work as online scammers. Officials say they were lured there by traffickers with the promise of a job and are now being held by gangs who run the scamming operations. Halima Athumani and Mukasa Francis have more from Kampala where they spoke with other Ugandans who managed to make it back home.
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Donations as Patriotism: Ukrainians Support Army During Two Years of War

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During two years of war, Ukrainians have supported their army financially. Despite the tough economic situation in the country, the level of donations remains high, and volunteers find new ways to raise funds. Lesia Bakalets has the story from Kyiv. Video: Evgenii Shynkar
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Taliban Execute Convicted Killer in Afghan Sports Stadium

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ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan’s Taliban Monday carried out another public execution of a man charged with murder, defying international calls to stop the “inhuman” punishments. It was the third public execution within a week.

The Taliban Supreme Court said in an announcement that the execution had taken place in a sports stadium in Sheberghan, the capital of the northern Afghan province of Jowzjan. It said that government and judicial officials, as well as residents, were among the spectators.  

The executed person was found guilty of stabbing to death a young man in 2022. The statement said he was tried in three Islamic courts and subsequent appellate tribunals before the judicial “order of retaliation was issued and approved” in line with Islamic law of Sharia.

The punishment was enforced after the Taliban supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, examined the ruling and endorsed it, the court said.

 

 

Last Thursday, the fundamentalist authorities carried out a double public execution at a football stadium in the southeast city of Ghazni, saying both men had been convicted of murder in separate cases.

That announcement outraged the United Nations and global human rights groups. They denounced the executions as against international law and called for ending them immediately,

“We oppose all executions as a violation of the right to life,” Amnesty International said in a statement in response to the double execution. It added that the protection of the right to a fair trial “remains seriously concerning” under the Taliban rule.

“It’s high time that the international community and the U.N. up the pressure on the blatant human rights violations by the Taliban and help ensure that international safeguards are respected in Afghanistan,” said Livia Saccardi, Amnesty International’s interim deputy regional director for South Asia.

The Taliban have executed five convicted murderers and flogged several hundred others, including women, in sports stadiums since regaining power in August 2021 and imposing their harsh interpretation of Islamic law on Afghanistan.

The de facto Afghan rulers have rejected criticism of their policies, saying the criminal justice system and governance at large are based on Islamic rules and guidelines.

The Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on women’s rights to education and public life, barring female visitors from parks and gyms and forbidding girls from attending schools beyond the sixth grade.

The international community has rejected the Taliban’s calls for granting their administration formal recognition, citing their treatment of Afghan women and other human rights concerns. 
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The Rise of Female Skateboarders in South Africa

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In South Africa, skateboarding is enjoying something of a revolution. The once predominantly male pursuit is attracting more and more women. VOA’s Zaheer Cassim reports from Johannesburg.
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Algeria Inaugurates Africa’s Largest Mosque After Years of Political Delays, Cost Overruns

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ALGIERS, Algeria — Algeria inaugurated a gigantic mosque on its Mediterranean coastline Sunday after years of political upheaval transformed the project from a symbol of state-sponsored strength and religiosity to one of delays and cost overruns.

Built by a Chinese construction firm throughout the 2010s, the Great Mosque of Algiers features the world’s tallest minaret, measuring at 265 meters (869 feet). The third-largest mosque in the world and largest outside Islam’s holiest cities, its prayer room accommodates 120,000 people. Its modernist design contains Arab and North African flourishes to honor Algerian tradition and culture as well as a helicopter landing pad and a library that can house up to 1 million books.

The inauguration would guide Muslims “toward goodness and moderation,” said Ali Mohamed Salabi, the General Secretary of world union of Muslim Ulemas.

Propagating a moderate brand of Islam has been a key priority in Algeria since government forces subdued an Islamist-led rebellion throughout the 1990s when a bloody civil war swept the country.

Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune inaugurated the mosque, fulfilling his promise to open it with great pomp and circumstance. The event, however, was mainly ceremonial. The mosque has been open to international tourists and state visitors to Algeria for roughly five years. An earlier ceremony was delayed.

The timing allows the mosque to officially open to the public in time to host nightly prayers during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins next month.

Beyond its gigantic dimensions, the mosque is also known for the delays and controversy that characterized the seven years it was under construction, including the choice of site, which experts warned was seismically risky. The state denied that in a news release Sunday posted on APS, the state news agency website. Throughout the delays and cost overruns, the project never stopped feeding Algerians’ anger, with many saying they’d rather have four hospitals built throughout the country.

The project’s official cost was $898 million.

The mosque was originally a project of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who designed it to be the largest in Africa. He wanted it to be his legacy and called “Abdelaziz Bouteflika Mosque” much like Mosque Hassan II in Casablanca, Morocco. That mosque, named after the former King of Morocco — Algeria’s neighbor and regional rival — was once marketed as Africa’s largest.

But the protests that swept Algeria in 2019 and led him to resign after 20 years in power prohibited Bouteflika from realizing his plans, naming the mosque after himself or inaugurating it in February 2019 as scheduled.

The mosque — along with a major national highway and a million new housing units — each were marred by suspicions of corruption during the Bouteflika era, with suspected kickbacks to contractors then paid to state officials.
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Sudan Authorities Block Cross-Border Aid to Stricken Darfur

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Port Sudan, Sudan — Authorities loyal to the army in war-ravaged Sudan have blocked cross-border aid to the western Darfur region, a move decried by aid workers and the United States.

The vast Darfur region, bordering Chad, has been one of the hardest hit parts of Sudan since war began 10 months ago between the Sudanese Armed Forces and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

RSF are descendants of the Janjaweed militia, which began a scorched earth campaign in Darfur more than two decades ago.

In their current battle against the army, which started last April, the RSF have taken over four out of the five Darfur state capitals.

More than 694,000 people have fled over the border to Chad, according to the International Organization for Migration, but many more remain trapped in Darfur and in need of assistance.

The United Nations has had to limit its work in Darfur to cross-border operations from Chad, but last week the U.N.’s World Food Program (WFP) country director Eddie Rowe told reporters that “authorities have restricted the Chad cross-border operation.”

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Friday the United States is deeply concerned by the army’s “recent decision to prohibit cross border humanitarian assistance from Chad and reports that the SAF is obstructing assistance from reaching communities in areas controlled by the RSF.”

Sudan’s foreign ministry, loyal to the army, expressed “confusion and rejection” of the “false accusations” by Washington.

The ministry said the Sudan-Chad border “is the main crossing point for weapons and equipment” used to commit “atrocities” against the Sudanese.

A United Nations experts’ report in January cited credible evidence that the United Arab Emirates was funneling “military support” through Chad to the RSF. The UAE has denied the allegations.

Miller, of the State Department, also expressed concern about RSF “looting homes, markets and humanitarian assistance warehouses.” 

In Brussels, Rowe said his agency was “engaging with the authorities to ensure this critical lifeline” from Chad remains operational.

It is essential, an international aid worker told AFP on Sunday from Darfur, requesting anonymity so as not to jeopardize their mission.

“Children and babies are already dying from hunger and malnutrition. There will be an immense human impact… and quite possibly large-scale mortality rates,” the aid worker said.

“The highest levels of diplomacy need to unblock this situation immediately because millions of lives hang in the balance,” the aid worker said, calling it “a huge region already facing an imminent and immense food security crisis on top of a civil war, ethnic violence and state service collapse.”

The war has killed thousands, including up to 15,000 in the West Darfur city of El Geneina alone, according to the U.N. experts.

Washington has accused both sides of war crimes and said the RSF also carried out ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.
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Belarus’ Lukashenko to Run for Seventh Presidential Term in 2025

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Moscow — Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko said he would run for president again in 2025, Belarusian state news agency BelTA reported Sunday.

Lukashenko made his comments after voting in parliamentary and local council elections, denounced by the United States as a sham. The ex-Soviet state’s top election official dismissed the criticism and told Washington to look after its own affairs.

BelTA said Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, told journalists: “Tell them (the exiled opposition) that I’ll run. No one, no responsible president would abandon his people who followed him into battle.”

Lukashenko, 69, is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies and allowed the Kremlin to use his country’s territory to launch its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

“We’re still a year away from the presidential election. A lot of things can change,” he said in response to a follow-up question, BelTA reported.

“Naturally, I and all of us, society, will react to the changes that will take place in our society and the situation in which we will approach the elections in a year’s time,” Lukashenko said.

The U.S. State Department condemned what it called the “sham” elections in Belarus Sunday.

“The elections were held in a climate of fear under which no electoral processes could be called democratic,” department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.

The chairman of Belarus’ Central Election Commission, in comments quoted by BelTA, said it was not up to the United States to comment on the election.

“We don’t denounce their elections. We make no statements, even if they had over  

there a lot of questions for all to see, even in their last presidential election,” Igor Karpenko was quoted as saying.

“They work according to the principle that we are bigger and can therefore tell everyone what to do. I think we can manage quite nicely conducting elections in our own country,” Karpenko said.

Election commission officials said voter turnout stood at just below 73% by mid-evening.

Lukashenko’s reelection to a sixth term in 2020 sparked unprecedented protests by opponents alleging mass vote-rigging. Putin offered support to Lukashenko and the demonstrations died out after mass roundups and detentions of protesters by police.

Lukashenko told reporters the role of parliament would be bolstered in his country.

“People are beginning to understand that in Belarus, for example, a president is not a tsar or a god. It is very hard work,” BelTA quoted him as saying. “Parliament’s role will be expanded, every month, every year.”
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Facing Chinese EV Rivals, Europe’s Automakers Squeeze Suppliers on Costs

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London — Europe’s automakers and their already-stretched suppliers face a tough year as they race to cut costs for electric models to counter leaner Chinese rivals which are bringing cheaper vehicles to challenge them on their home turf.

A big question is how much more Europe’s automakers can squeeze out of suppliers that have already started laying off workers, with many smaller companies hard hit by supply chain issues during the pandemic.

The difference between Europe’s legacy automakers and more EV-focused Chinese manufacturers will be on stark display this week at the Geneva car show, which is returning after a four-year hiatus due to the pandemic.

The only major companies holding media events are France’s Renault and China’s SAIC Motors and the BYD Company — two of several of the country’s automakers that have set their sights on Europe.

Renault is launching its electric R5 and SAIC’s MG brand will unveil its M3 hybrid. Meanwhile, BYD’s Seal sedan is shortlisted for the Car of the Year award. If it wins, it would be the first Chinese model to get the prestigious award.

“They really are like chalk and cheese,” Nick Parker, a partner and managing director at consulting firm AlixPartners, said of the legacy European automakers and their Chinese rivals.

Unlike European automakers that are reliant on external suppliers with separate supply chains for fossil-fuel and electric, their Chinese rivals are highly vertically integrated, producing almost everything in-house and keeping costs down.

That helps them undercut their European rivals. In Britain, BYD’s electric Dolphin hatchback starts at 25,490 pounds ($32,300), about 27% less than Volkswagen’s equivalent ID.3 model. Tesla works in the same way.

Chasing those rivals means European automakers’ profit margins could be “heavily challenged” moving forward because there is only so much they can squeeze out of external suppliers, AlixPartners’ Parker said.

The challenge has been made more difficult by a slower-than-expected shift to EVs, leaving legacy automakers stuck with their dual supply chains. Data this week showed EU fully-electric car sales in January fell 42.3% from December.

Both Renault and Stellantis have stressed their EV cost-cutting efforts this month while Mercedes toned down expectations for EV demand and said it will update its traditional lineup well into the next decade.

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares has gone further, telling suppliers that with 85% of EV costs related to purchased materials, they need to bear a proportionate burden in reducing costs.

“I am translating that reality to my partners: If you don’t do your part of the job, then you exclude yourself,” he said.

Nickel and aluminum prices have also risen this week as Western countries expanded sanctions lists against Moscow, highlighting the lingering risks to raw materials prices even though there was no mention of the two metals.

Job cuts

Many legacy suppliers are already feeling the strain of cost cuts with FORVIA, Continental and Bosch all recently announcing or warning of layoffs, with more expected.

To preserve their profits, automakers focused production on higher-margin models during the recent semi-conductor shortage, but that meant less revenue and less upside for their suppliers.

Now industry experts say well-capitalized larger suppliers can adapt to the new reality but warn that plenty of smaller ones are teetering on the edge, like Germany’s Allgaier which filed for insolvency in July.

That means Europe’s automakers face a delicate balancing act between cutting costs to fend off Chinese rivals and avoiding pushing their suppliers too far. Philip Nothard, insight director at dealer services firm Cox Automotive, says automakers may even have to step in to bailout struggling suppliers.

“The risk is if (European automakers) try and screw those suppliers down too much, they’ll either push them into administration or they’ll push them into seeking different markets,” he said.
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Taliban Release 84-Year-Old Austrian Man Detained in Afghanistan Last Year

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Vienna, Austria — An 84-year-old Austrian man who traveled to Afghanistan last year and was arrested there was released by the country’s Taliban rulers, the Austrian government said Sunday.

The Austrian Foreign Ministry in a statement identified the man as Herbert Fritz and said he arrived in Doha, Qatar from Afghanistan on Sunday afternoon. If necessary, he will be given medical treatment before continuing on to Austria, it said.

A spokeswoman for the Austrian Foreign Ministry told the Associated Press that the man had been held in a prison in Kabul.

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer thanked the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and his team for their “strong support in releasing one of our citizens from prison in Afghanistan.”

“It is only due to our trusted collaboration that this Austrian citizen will be able to return home to his daughter and grandchildren,” Nehammer said.

Qatar’s Foreign Affairs ministry released a statement on X expressing gratitude to the “caretaker government in Afghanistan” for releasing the Austrian.

“The State of Qatar has proven, regionally and globally, that it is a trusted international partner in various important issues, and it spares no effort in harnessing its energy and ability in the areas of mediation, preventive diplomacy, and settling disputes through peaceful means … ,” it said. 

Austrian newspaper Der Standard reported last year that an Austrian man had been arrested in Afghanistan and that he was a veteran far-right extremist and co-founder of a minor far-right party that was banned in 1988, the National Democratic Party. 

It said he had been in custody for a few weeks, since shortly after a far-right magazine published an article he wrote titled “Vacation with the Taliban” in which he gave a positive view of life in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. According to the report, he was accused of spying and Austrian neo-Nazis made his case public via Telegram channels. 

The Taliban have barred women from most areas of public life and stopped girls from going to school beyond the sixth grade as part of harsh measures they imposed after taking control of the country in 2021, despite initially promising more moderate rule. The Taliban seized Afghanistan as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final weeks of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war. 

According to Der Standard, the Austrian has been a keen traveler to dangerous locations, visiting Afghanistan in the 1980s and, a few years ago, visiting Kurds fighting against the Islamic State group in northern Syria. 

Austrian officials said Fritz arrived in Afghanistan last May but did not say where in the country he was detained. 
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Corruption Scandals Cast Shadow Over Portugal’s Early General Election 

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LISBON, Portugal — The official two-week campaign period before Portugal’s early general election began Sunday, with the country’s two moderate mainstream parties once again expected to collect the most votes but with the expected rise of a populist party potentially adding momentum to Europe’s drift to the right.

The center-left Socialist Party and center-right Social Democratic Party have alternated in power for decades. But they are unsure of how much support they might need from smaller rival parties for the parliamentary votes needed to form a government after the March 10 vote.

Corruption scandals have cast a shadow over the ballot. They have also fed public disenchantment with the country’s political class as Portugal prepares to celebrate 50 years of democracy, following the Carnation Revolution that toppled a rightist dictatorship on April 25, 1974.

The election is being held after a Socialist government collapsed last November following a corruption investigation. That case brought a police search of Prime Minister António Costa’s official residence and the arrest of his chief of staff. Costa hasn’t been accused of any crime.

Also in recent weeks, a Lisbon court decided that a former Socialist prime minister should stand trial for corruption. Prosecutors allege that José Sócrates, prime minister between 2005-2011, pocketed around 34 million euros ($36.7 million) during his time in power from graft, fraud and money laundering.

The Social Democratic Party has also been tainted by corruption allegations.

During the recent weeks of unofficial campaigning, a graft investigation in Portugal’s Madeira Islands triggered the resignation of two prominent Social Democrat officials.

The scandal erupted on the same day the Social Democratic Party unveiled an anti-corruption billboard in Lisbon that said, “It can’t go on like this.”

A housing crisis, persistent levels of low pay and unreliable public health services are other areas where the records of the two main parties are at issue.

Hot-button topics that have driven political debate and encouraged populist parties elsewhere in Europe, such as climate change, migration and religious differences, have largely been absent in Portugal’s campaign.

A five-year-old populist and nationalist party called Chega! (in English, Enough!) has made the fight against corruption one of its political banners. “Portugal needs cleaning out,” one of its billboards declares.

The party’s leader, 41-year-old lawyer André Ventura, has been riding in third place in opinion polls and could become a kingmaker if his political influence grows. His party got just 1.3% of votes in the 2019 election but jumped to 7.3% in 2022. It could collect more than double that this time, polls suggest, if a protest vote materializes.

A key question is whether the Social Democrats will end up needing the votes of Chega! to make up a parliamentary majority after eight years in opposition.

The Socialist Party could, as in the past, forge parliamentary alliances with the Portuguese Communist Party or Left Bloc party to take power.

Socialist leader Pedro Nuno Santos, his party’s candidate for prime minister, is a lawmaker and a former minister for housing and infrastructure. Santos, 46, quit the previous government under a cloud over his handling of bailed-out flag carrier TAP Air Portugal and a dispute over the site of a new Lisbon airport.

Luís Montenegro, the 51-year-old Social Democrat leader aiming to become prime minister, has been a lawmaker for more than 20 years. He heads the Democratic Alliance, a grouping with two smaller right-of-center parties formed for the election.
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9 Killed in South Africa Crash After Attending ANC Election Rally

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Cape Town — Nine people were killed in a road crash in South Africa on Sunday after attending an election rally by President Cyril Ramaphosa and his ruling African National Congress party.

The ANC supporters were traveling on a bus back to their home province of Mpumalanga the morning after Saturday’s rally in the eastern city of Durban, the ANC said in a statement. The bus left the road and overturned, police said.

Emergency services said 17 people were hurt in the crash near the small town of Paulpietersburg, around 360 kilometers (223 miles) north of Durban.

The ANC said that some of the injured were in critical condition. Provincial ANC officials were traveling to the crash scene and to the hospitals where the injured had been taken, the party said.

The ANC officially launched its election manifesto at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday in front of tens of thousands of supporters.

The May 29 national election could be the biggest threat yet to the ANC’s 30 years in government in South Africa, with opinion polls predicting the party could lose its majority for the first time since it came to power in 1994 following the end of apartheid. 
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