As Russia ramps up its offensive in eastern Ukraine, officials with the U.S. command in Eastern Europe say it’s urgent for NATO to be ready for a possible confrontation. VOA’s Eastern Europe bureau chief Myroslava Gongadze talked to the U.S. and Polish commanders during a U.S. Army transfer of authority ceremony in Boleslawiec, Poland. VOA footage and video editing by Daniil Batushchak.
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Month: May 2024
New study exposes gender bias in African family laws
Blantyre, Malawi — A new report finds that gaps in family laws in most African countries are fueling discrimination of women and girls. The report from the international NGO Equality Now says laws that favor men in matters of sex, marriage and inheritance, among other issues, leave many women in despair.
The study, released to coincide with the United Nations-declared International Day of the Family on Wednesday, highlights how legal frameworks and customary practices in 20 African countries have fueled discrimination in marriage, divorce, custody and property rights.
Esther Waweru is a senior legal adviser at Equality Now and co-author of the report.
She spoke with VOA from Kenya on how gaps in family laws have affected the lives of women in Africa.
“Take a case of Sudan for instance, where women cannot initiate divorce, unlike men. So, it therefore means that the woman will be trapped in a marriage that they don’t want to live [in], just because they can’t initiate a divorce,” she said.
Waweru said in some countries where women initiate a divorce, they are not allowed to take custody of the children from a previous marriage when they remarry.
In Malawi, the report notes that courts have ruled rape does not extend to marriage. It says customary law in Malawi presumes perpetual consent to sex within marriage and that a wife can deny her husband sex only when she is sick or legally separated.
While in Tanzania, the report says marital rape is only criminalized upon separation.
It also says customary and religious laws in countries like Algeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Nigeria undermine women and girls in matters of inheritance, as they receive less than men and boys.
Hala Alkarib is the executive director for Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa.
She told VOA from Ethiopia that the legal imbalance in many African countries leaves women feeling helpless.
“Imagine that you are not treated equally and discriminated against. It automatically goes without saying you are typically poor. You are exposed to violence systematically. You are dehumanized and undermined. You don’t have equal access to opportunities. You are subjected to different forms of sexual violence, and your dignity is compromised,” said Alkarib.
Francis Selasini is the executive director for Network Against Female Genital Mutilation in Tanzania. He said communities also play a role in undermining or sidestepping laws meant to protect women.
He cited issues of genital mutilation in northern parts of Tanzania, where he said communities have changed tactics to protect their traditional norms.
“For example, initially they were mutilating girls from 10 and above, for the reason of preparing her for marriage. But nowadays, they are mutilating even babies. They are doing so because they would like to defeat the legal process. Because they know if they mutilate babies, babies will not be able to take them to court. They will not be able to report,” he said.
Waweru of Equality Now says although many countries have ratified key international treaties that protect women’s rights, existing domestic laws make implementation and enforcement of these treaties difficult.
She calls upon African states to fully align their family laws and their practices with international human rights standards.
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New protests erupt in Georgia after parliament passes ‘foreign agent’ law
Tbilisi, Georgia — Hundreds of protesters donning gas masks and protective goggles shut down streets in Tbilisi on Tuesday after Georgia’s parliament passed a so-called “foreign influence” law that critics call a copy of Russia’s foreign agent law, heavily relied upon by the Kremlin to suppress dissent.
Ruling Georgian Dream party lawmakers approved the legislation despite warnings from Washington and Brussels that such a move might threaten Georgia’s partnership with the West.
For over a month, tens of thousands of Georgians have flooded the streets to protest the legislation in the largest rallies the country has seen since the nation’s independence from the Soviet Union.
Protester Giorgi Iashvili was just 20 when he was called up as a reservist in 2008 to fight in the war that Russian military and Moscow-backed-separatist forces launched against his country.
Sixteen years later he finds himself once again rallying against Russia’s ongoing efforts to subjugate his country, this time, he says, with tacit assistance of the Georgian government itself.
As a young cybersecurity professional, Iashvili firmly believes enactment of the foreign agent law is inexorably pushing the country, a fifth of which is already occupied by Russia, deeper into Russia’s orbit.
“In 2008, Russia attacked Georgia directly and conventionally. In recent years, however, it has resorted to hybrid methods — disinformation, influence operations, borderization [creeping annexation], infiltration, and cyber campaigns,” he told VOA’s Georgian Service. “Both this law and recent events are evidently part of this hybrid warfare.”
Like many of his young fellow protesters in Georgia’s capital Tuesday, Iashvili appeared hopeful amid unsettling circumstances.
“I believe that a significant part of our society remains vigilant against these threats and refuses to fall victim to these information operations,” he said. “The current wave of protests serves as confirmation.”
Targets foreign funding
Georgia’s foreign influence law requires civil society organizations, media and others that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as agents of foreign interests. The law primarily targets U.S. and European Union democracy assistance programs.
The public’s discontent with the government has been simmering gradually. The Georgian Dream-led government, now in its third term, is said to be controlled by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire who amassed his wealth in 1990s Moscow and has since strategically appointed loyalists to key government positions.
Ivanishvili rejects that accusation, as do the Georgian Dream officials who also deny that they’re quietly working to support Russian efforts to undermine Georgian democracy.
The government has long conducted a two-pronged foreign policy, working with Western partners to appease its overwhelmingly pro-European population while simultaneously warming up to Moscow under the pretext of preventing another conflict. It has claimed publicly to be moving the country in a westward direction while fomenting anti-Western sentiment domestically.
While Georgia’s ruling government has allowed a large number Russian men fleeing the military draft to enter the country, it has refused entry to members of Russia’s military opposition and failed to join Western countries imposing sanctions on Russia.
Georgian Dream leaders blame the war in Ukraine on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, putting their government at odds with the West. Georgian authorities have criticized their Ukrainian counterparts and repeatedly accused Ukraine and its Western supporters of attempting to embroil Georgia in the conflict, labeling them the “global war party.”
“The protests are not merely about a Russian law,” Helen Khoshtaria, the leader of the Droa opposition party, told VOA. “It’s about the survival of Georgia and its aspiration to remain a free, European nation, which Ivanishvili has jeopardized. He openly stated that the enemies of this country are not Russia, its actual enemy … but the U.S. and the EU, when the overwhelming majority of this country, the entire nation, holds the opposite belief.”
Giorgi Vashadze, the leader of the Strategy Agmashenebeli opposition party, told VOA: “We aspire to be part of the European Union. We envision a Georgia without Russia, without Russian oligarchs.”
U.S. anti-Nazi law cited
The Georgian government has staunchly defended the law, calling it similar to the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA — a comparison U.S. officials reject.
Enacted in 1938 to unmask Nazi propaganda in the United States, FARA requires people to disclose to the Justice Department when they advocate, lobby or perform public relations work in the United States on behalf of a foreign government or political entity.
“Our appeal to the U.S. is to think about partnership and not take counterproductive steps,” Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said after meeting with U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs James O’Brien in Tbilisi on Wednesday.
The protests have taken place almost every day since the beginning of April. For the first time in years, those taking to the streets are self-organized grassroots activists without a leader or political party behind them.
Georgian authorities have arrested dozens of demonstrators over the past few days. Dozens have been assaulted or intimidated by riot police, prompting widespread condemnation by local watchdogs and Georgia’s Western partners.
“They have detained scores of youth and representatives of civil society,” former State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Buka Petriashvili told VOA. “We are witnessing the establishment of Ivanishvili’s autocratic regime and obstruction of Georgia’s path toward the European Union. Georgia will never accept the blocking of its path toward the European Union and will fight until we prevail.”
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23 crew members reunited with families in Bangladesh after pirate captivity
Chattogram, Bangladesh — The 23 crew members of MV Abdullah, which was released on April 14 after 33 days of captivity by Somali pirates, met their families Tuesday afternoon as the vessel reached the Chattogram Port in Bangladesh.
The crew members received a warm welcome when vessel MV Jahan Moni-3, carrying them from Kutubdia in Cox’s Bazar, reached New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT)-1.
Relatives waiting for the sailors’ safe return had gathered at the port jetty with flowers.
Abdun Nur Khan Asif, younger brother of the chief officer, Atiqullah Khan, said, “I can’t express in words how happy we are that my elder brother is back. The whole family was waiting for this day.”
Ibrahim Khalilullah, a sailor, thanked the Bangladeshi people and the authorities for ensuring their safe return.
State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury told VOA that all the sailors on the ship are in sound health. “After being freed, they went to Dubai, from there they came to Bangladesh with the goods. The sailors are physically and mentally healthy and very well,” he said.
Mizanul Islam, media adviser of KSRM, owner of the hijacked vessel, said the crew members will go to their respective homes and that care was taken to send them to their destinations safely.
The ordeal began on March 12 when the MV Abdullah was seized by Somali pirates about 600 nautical miles off the Somali coast en route from Mozambique to Dubai.
The pirates took control of the vessel and its crew, holding them until a ransom of $5 million facilitated their release on the night of April 13.
The vessel, which was hijacked for 33 days, first arrived at the outer anchorage of the Al-Hamriya Port in the United Arab Emirates on April 21 and anchored at the UAE port on the evening of April 22.
It departed for Bangladesh on April 28 after unloading 55,000 metric tons of coal.
When asked about the process of rescuing the ship, Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury said, “We are an international maritime country. We have friendly relations with everyone, including the U.S. Coast Guard, the European Union. When a ship using an international route falls under the hands of pirates, all kinds of agencies and countries, including maritime, cooperate.”
The state minister added, “And the pirates of the country that hijacked it also have a security issue. So, the pressure that was created by combining everything was of great help in saving the ship. Our dialogues, the pressure of the international community contributed to the rescue of the ship.”
On behalf of Deputy Managing Director of KSRM Group Shahriar Jahan, Mizanul Islam told VOA, “It was a challenge for us to bring back the ship and the sailors safely and soundly. … We had past experience. In 2010, one of our ships was captured by Somali pirates. Using this experience, we were able to bring the sailors back unharmed.”
New crew members took charge of the MV Abdullah on Tuesday and sailed for the United Arab Emirates.
This story originated in VOA’s Bangla Service. Some information for this report came from UNB Wires.
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Slovakia prime minister shot, injured
Shrinking Caspian Sea worries environmental activists
French police hunt killers behind prison van ambush
Caen, France — French police Wednesday were hunting for a group of gunmen who killed two prison officers in an attack at a motorway toll booth that freed a convict linked to gangland drug killings.
The killings and dramatic getaway by the perpetrators have shocked France, with authorities under pressure to catch those responsible, who all remain at large.
“We have put a lot of resources into finding not only the person who escaped”, but also “the gang that released him under such despicable circumstances,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told the RTL broadcaster.
“We are putting in considerable resources, we are making a lot of progress,” he added.
On Tuesday, more than 450 police officers and gendarmes were mobilized just for the search in the northern department of Eure where the attack took place, he said.
‘We will be uncompromising’
Two prison officers were killed in the attack and three others wounded, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said late on Tuesday.
One of the injured men was fighting for his life in hospital and two more were receiving critical care, she said.
The incident took place late on Tuesday morning at a road toll in Incarville in the Eure region of northern France.
The inmate was being transported back to his prison in the town of Evreux after he was questioned by a judge in the regional center of Rouen in Normandy.
The prosecutor said the prison van was rammed head-on by a stolen Peugeot vehicle as it went through the toll crossing.
But the van and another vehicle in the prison convoy were also followed by an Audi.
Gunman emerged from the two cars and shot at both prison vehicles.
“We will be uncompromising,” President Emmanuel Macron said on X, describing the attack as a “shock.”
French television channels broadcast footage of the attack taken by surveillance cameras at the toll, showing the Peugeot colliding head on with the prison van.
In the video, several gunmen dressed in black emerge from both attack vehicles. A firefight ensues and one individual appears to be guided away from the van by the gunmen.
A vehicle believed to have been used by the attackers was later found as a burned-out wreck at a different location.
‘Never have imagined ‘
The prison officers who died, both men, were the first to be killed in the line of duty since 1992, according to Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti.
One of them was married and had twin children while the other “left a wife who is five months pregnant,” he said.
Prison officer unions announced a day of minimum service on Wednesday and asked for urgent measures to improve the safety of staff.
Dupond-Moretti said he would meet union representatives on Wednesday.
“We are in mourning,” Vanessa Lefaivre, of the FO union at the Fleury-Merogis prison outside Paris told AFP.
“We would never have imagined that prison staff would be killed like this.”
‘Kills more than terrorism’
Prosecutor Beccuau named the inmate as Mohamed Amra, born in 1994, saying that last week he had been convicted of aggravated robbery and charged in a case of abduction leading to death.
But a source close to the case said that Amra was suspected of involvement in drug trafficking and of ordering gangland killings.
Another source said he is suspected of being at the head of a criminal network. Some media said he had the nickname “La Mouche” (the fly).
His lawyer Hugues Vigier said Amra had already made an escape attempt at the weekend by sawing the bars of his cell and said he was shocked by the “inexcusable” and “insane” violence.
“This does not correspond to the impression that I had of him,” the lawyer told BFMTV.
The incident came on the same day as the French Senate published a damning report warning that government measures had been unable to prevent the flourishing of the narcotics industry in France.
“Narco-banditry kills many people, much more than terrorism,” said Darmanin, also pointing to the responsibility of drug users.
“One cannot at the same time cry for the widows and orphans of the Eure toll booth attack and then smoke a joint… this is called schizophrenia.”
Law and order is a major issue in French politics ahead of next month’s European elections and the prison van ambush sparked fierce reactions from politicians, especially the far right.
“It is real savagery that hits France every day,” said Jordan Bardella, the top candidate for the far-right National Rally (RN), which is leading opinion polls for the elections.
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Violence in French Pacific territory of New Caledonia turns deadly
Blinken reassures Ukrainians help is on the way
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has taken an unannounced trip to Ukraine to deliver what he called a strong message of reassurance, as Ukrainian forces face fierce attacks by Russia’s military in the east and await new weapons shipments from allies. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
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Seoul’s decision to attend Putin inauguration leaves door open for diplomatic relations
Washington — In a move that contrasts with the United States, South Korea had its ambassador in Moscow attend Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inauguration, seemingly leaving its options open for maintaining diplomatic relations with Russia amid Moscow’s deepening ties with Pyongyang.
Seoul said it based its decision for Ambassador Lee Do-hoon to attend Putin’s inauguration “after considering all circumstances surrounding South Korean-Russian bilateral relations.”
A South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson made the remark to VOA’s Korean Service on Friday.
The U.S. and most European Union countries boycotted Putin’s inauguration held May 7 at the Grand Kremlin Palace.
He was reelected in March for his fifth term in office as Russia’s war in Ukraine raged on for more than two years since its invasion in 2022. Moscow has turned to Pyongyang to replenish its stockpile of arms to fight Ukraine.
“The U.S. directed our embassy not to attend the inauguration in protest of Russia’s war against Ukraine,” a State Department spokesperson said Thursday in an email sent to VOA’s Korean Service.
Japan also did not send a representative to the ceremony. Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Kobayashi Maki said during a news briefing held in Tokyo the day after the inauguration that its decision was “based upon comprehensive consideration of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.”
VOA contacted the Russian Embassy in Seoul for comment on Lee’s attendance. Its spokesperson, Mira Dzhamalidinova, emailed that it has “no comments for VOA.”
Robert Rapson, who served as charge d’affaires and deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul from 2018 to 2021, said, “Ambassador Lee’s attendance at Putin’s inauguration was a small but symbolically significant step by Seoul to signal to Moscow its interest in improving, or at least more effectively managing, deteriorating bilateral relations.”
He continued, “It put [South] Korea clearly out of a public messaging step with the U.S. and its like-minded partners,” and demonstrated “adjustments to its ‘signature value-based’ foreign policy.”
Relations between South Korea and Russia have declined as military ties between Moscow and Pyongyang deepened since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited Russia in September.
In April, South Korea sanctioned two Russian vessels involved in delivering military supplies from North Korea to Russia. In response, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova called Seoul’s move “an unfriendly step” that “will affect South Korea-Russia relations in a negative way.” [[ https://www.voanews.com/a/us-pushes-back-at-russia-s-protest-over-south-korean-sanctions/7563881.html ]]
“Washington was likely displeased with South Korea’s decision to send a representative to Putin’s inauguration,” said Dan DePetris, a fellow at Defense Priorities, a Washington-based think tank.
“This is a subtle, low-cost way for the Yoon government [of South Korea] to signal to Moscow that differences over Ukraine and North Korea notwithstanding, it’s not going to mimic the U.S. policy of diplomatic isolation” toward Russia, he continued.
DePetris added that Seoul likely allowed its representative to attend Putin’s inauguration “precisely because North Korea-Russia bilateral ties have strengthened over the last two years” and wants to “keep all options on the table.”
Pyongyang-Moscow ties have expanded to include several visits to Russia by North Korean delegations recently. On Tuesday, North Korea sent a science and technology delegation to Russia to attend a meeting on trade, economy and science to be held in Moscow, according to North Korea’s state-run KCNA.
Also, passenger train services between the two countries resumed since they were suspended after the COVID-19 pandemic, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap, citing Oleg Kozhemyako, the governor of Russia’s northeastern region of Primorsky Krai, bordering North Korea.
Robert Manning, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center’s Reimagining U.S. Grand Strategy Project, said, “Moscow’s new partnership with North Korea may have been a factor” that prompted Seoul to make its representation at Putin’s inauguration.
He continued, however, “I doubt Seoul has illusions about its ability to restrain Russia’s ties with Pyongyang” but is “perhaps focused on maintaining economic ties” with Moscow.
South Korea’s exports to Russia totaled $6.33 billion in 2022, while its imports from Russia amounted to $12.8 billion in the same year, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, an online platform for data collection and distribution. South Korea’s investment in Russia reached $4.16 billion in the same year, according to the South Korean Foreign Ministry.
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US charity helps Kenyan communities build resilience to climate change
The U.N. environmental agency says Africa is the lowest contributor of global greenhouse emissions yet remains the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. A U.S. charity called GiveDirectly is helping some African communities build resilience. Juma Majanga reports from Baringo, Kenya.
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Iran accuses France of ‘interfering’ over detained nationals
tehran, iran — Iran Tuesday condemned as “interfering” a French Foreign Ministry statement accusing it of “state hostage-taking” and “blackmail” in the detention of four French nationals.
“We strongly condemn such unprofessional, interfering and inappropriate positions while resorting to false references,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani told state news agency IRNA.
“The people mentioned in the statement of the French Foreign Ministry were arrested based on solid evidence and witnesses, and the French government is well aware of their crimes.”
Teacher Cecile Kohler and her partner, Jacques Paris, were detained in Iran in May 2022. They are accused of seeking to stir up labor unrest, accusations their families vehemently deny.
“France condemns this policy of state hostage-taking and this constant blackmail by the Iranian authorities,” the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement on May 7, calling for the couple’s release.
Kanani called on the French “to avoid resorting to such statements and using words outside of diplomatic decency, which have negative consequences on relations between the two countries.”
Kohler and Paris both made televised confessions after their arrests that France described as “forced.”
Two other French citizens are held by Iran: a man identified only by his first name, Olivier, and Louis Arnaud, a banking consultant who was sentenced to five years in jail on national security charges last year.
The four are among at least a dozen European passport holders in Iranian custody, some of them dual nationals.
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Indian Kashmir records second-highest voter turnout in decades
Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir — Voter turnout in Indian Kashmir neared record highs Monday as residents swarmed polling stations across Srinagar in the first national election since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2019 nullification of the Himalayan region’s semi-autonomous status.
Marking the second-highest voting percentage in more than three decades, Monday’s turnout of at least 36% reverses a long-running trend of unusually low vote counts. More than double the 2019 election turnout of 14.43%, Monday’s turnout, according to regional election officials, remains lower than India’s national average of 62%.
“Overall, the polling process was peaceful, with no negative incidents occurring during the voting process as well as during the campaigning period,” said Jammu and Kashmir’s Chief Electoral Officer Pandurang Kundbarao Pole, who said none of Srinagar’s 2,135 polling booths went unused.
Roiled by a 35-year insurgency against Indian rule that has killed tens of thousands, turnout in past elections was impacted by boycotts and threats of militant attacks.
Pole said security throughout the Kashmir Valley, which Modi’s 2019 ruling bifurcated into two federally governed territories of Jammu-and-Kashmir and Ladakh, has improved, resulting in increased turnout.
“I arrived at 6 a.m. to cast my vote. This is the first time I have voted because I want to see the change,” Srinagar resident Muzamil Rashid Mir told VOA. “Our rights and dignity were snatched from us by the central government. I have shown faith in democracy by exercising my franchise. I want to see the rolling back of the special status.”
While some polling stations saw enormous and demographically diverse crowds waiting in long lines amid tight security, others had a picnic-like atmosphere with people serving tea, bread and biscuits.
With Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) skipping elections in Kashmir for the first time since 1996, saying it will support regional parties instead, the main players are the National Conference (NC) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which have focused on restoration of semi-autonomy in their campaigns.
Mir says he’s backing NC’s Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi and PDP’s Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra.
“Mehdi has been vocal about our special status while on the other hand, Parra has been vocal, too, about the rights people of Kashmir have been demanding for years,” Mir said. “I want one among the two to win the seat.”
Some locals, such as 80-year-old Fata Begum, say BJP’s style of governance has left voters no choice but to reject “forceful decisions imposed” upon them.
“Inflation has surged and smart meters have been installed in our homes even though the economic conditions are weak and our youth are unemployed. This is all because of Modi,” Begum told VOA.
NC Provincial President Nasir Aslam Wani told VOA that all prominent candidates are prepared take a tough stance in parliament to represent the will of Kashmir Valley voters.
“The outcome is the result of a 2019 decision taken by the BJP,” Wani said. “The candidates will fight for the rights that people have been demanding.”
Meanwhile, President Modi praised members of the Srinagar Parliamentary Constituency for the high turnout, which he called “significant and better than before.”
“The abrogation of Article 370,” the constitutional clause granting Jammu and Kashmir special status “has enabled the potential and aspirations of the people to find full expression,” Modi commented on the X social media platform. “Happening at the grassroots level, it is great for the people of J&K, in particular the youth.”
Kashmir is disputed by India, which rules the populous Kashmir Valley and the Hindu-dominated region of Jammu, and Pakistan, which controls a wedge of territory in the west. China holds a thinly populated high-altitude area in the north.
The highest Kashmir Valley voter turnout of 40.94% was recorded in 1996, according to regional election officials. Despite large-scale allegations of “coercive voting,” according to Indian journalist Anuradha Bhasin, that election cycle was largely touted by Indian government officials as “progress towards democracy after decades of separatist insurgency in Kashmir.”
Wasim Nabi contributed to this report. Some information came from Reuters.
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New TB vaccine being tested in South Africa holds hope for millions
A groundbreaking clinical trial is underway in South Africa, marking a pivotal moment in the fight against tuberculosis. The new vaccine could become the first to help prevent pulmonary TB, the most common form of the disease, in adolescents and adults. It would be the first new TB vaccine in more than a century. Zaheer Cassim has the story.
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International court reassures Uganda LRA victims on reparations
Kampala — An official of the International Criminal Court has promised victims of Uganda’s rebel Lord’s Resistance Army that the court will provide reparations that were promised after the conviction of a top LRA leader. However, the Tribunal Trust Fund does not have enough money to make the payments, and now some victims worry other world conflicts are drawing down donor funds.
ICC Registrar Osvaldo Zavala Giler, speaking to the media Tuesday in Uganda, assured victims of the violent, long-running LRA rebellion that the court would do as much as possible to ensure victims get their reparations.
In February, ICC judges ordered $56 million in reparations to recognize the harm suffered by 50,000 victims of war crimes for which Dominic Ongwen has been convicted. Those include murder, rape, forced marriage, and the recruitment of child soldiers.
Giler’s commitment comes despite Ongwen’s appeal of his conviction. Giler said while the appeal is still pending, the ICC will continue efforts to raise funds to pay the reparations and comply with the court order. He also indicated not all victims would receive payments at the same time.
“And that will depend on the fundraising efforts of the trust fund to do this. I am confident that there is enough interest in the international donor-based community to support the effort of the trust fund in trying to achieve its goals,” said Giler.
Speaking to VOA before meeting the ICC registrar, Bishop Nelson Onono-Onweng, a community leader from Gulu district, said what he is hearing from the ICC is worrying.
Bishop Onono said the promised $795 per person allocation for the 50,000 victims is too little, yet the ICC has no money.
“So, if it comes now it will be great. But, we are told they are still raising the money. Fundraising today as you know with the war in the world. I don’t know. But, personally I am worried. Because the international community is now overwhelmed with the needs in the world to support the suffering people,” he said.
Peter Labeja, a journalist from Gulu district, lost his father during the 20-year rebellion. He was also abducted but was lucky to escape.
Labeja told VOA victims still have questions on how the money will be shared.
“Who is going to take the money? Is it the head of the family taking the money or the entire group in the household taking the money? And, we were quick to calculate. We said this is about three-million shillings in Uganda. What can three-million shillings do? It can’t even send a child to the university for two semesters,” he said.
The community remains hopeful that the communal reparation will be used to build schools and health facilities and improve roads.
Victims will have to wait until September, not for the money, but for the ICC to prepare the implementation plan now being developed.
Dominic Ongwen is serving his 25-year prison sentence in Norway. The LRA fought the Ugandan government for 20 years resulting in the deaths of about 100,000 people.
Meanwhile, 19 years after an arrest warrant was issued for LRA leader Joseph Kony, the ICC pre-trial chamber has set October 15 to hold a hearing confirming charges against him. But according to ICC Mofficials, Kony qualifies as a person who cannot be found so no confirmation hearing can be held.
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New NATO member Sweden hosts alliance military exercise
The NATO Swift Response exercise began earlier this month in Sweden, where around 800 paratroopers from the United States, Spain, Hungary, and Italy are training together to deter any potential aggression. It is the first such exercise on Swedish soil since the country joined NATO in March. VOA’s Eastern Europe Chief Myroslava Gongadze reports from the training ground in Sweden. Video editor: Daniil Batushchak
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