Month: June 2024

French protesters stand up to far right ahead of country’s snap elections

ITeuLeave a comment

PARIS — Antiracism groups will join French unions and a brand-new left-wing coalition in protests in Paris and across France on Saturday against the surging nationalist far right as frenzied campaigning is underway ahead of snap parliamentary elections.

In Paris, those who fear that the elections will produce France’s first far-right government since World War II, will gather at Place de la Republique before marching through eastern Paris.

Crowds have been gathering daily ever since Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration National Rally made historic gains in the European Parliament elections on Sunday, crushing President Emmanuel Macron’s pro-business moderates and prompting him to dissolve the National Assembly.

New elections for the lower house of parliament were set in two rounds, for June 30 and July 7. Macron remains president until 2027 and in charge of foreign policy and defense, but his presidency would be weakened if the National Rally wins and takes power of the government and domestic policy.

“We need a democratic and social upsurge — if not the extreme right will take power,” French unions said in a statement Friday. “Our Republic and our democracy are in danger.”

They noted that in Europe and across the world, extreme-right leaders have passed laws detrimental to women, the LGBTQ+ community, and people of color.

To prevent the National Rally party from winning the upcoming elections, left-wing parties finally agreed Friday to set aside differences over the wars in Gaza and Ukraine and form a coalition. They urged French citizens to defeat the far right.

French opinion polls suggest the National Rally — whose founder has been repeatedly convicted of racism and antisemitism — is expected to be ahead in the first round of the parliamentary elections. The party came out on top in the European elections, garnering more than 30% of the vote cast in France, almost twice as many votes as Macron’s party Renaissance.

Macron’s term is still on for three more years, and he would retain control over foreign affairs and defense regardless of the result of the French parliamentary elections.

But his presidency would be weakened if the National Rally wins, which could put its 28-year-old party leader Jordan Bardella on track to become the next prime minister, with authority over domestic and economic affairs.
…

your ad here

1 year later, migrants who survived wreck off Greece seek justice

ITeuLeave a comment

ATHENS, Greece — Desperate hands clutched at Ali Elwan’s arms, legs and neck, and screams misted his ears, as he spat out saltwater and fought for three hours to keep afloat in the night, dozens of miles from land. 

Although a poor swimmer, he lived — one of just 104 survivors from the wreck of a dilapidated old metal fishing boat smuggling up to 750 migrants from North Africa to Europe. 

“I was so, so lucky,” the 30-year-old Egyptian told The Associated Press in Athens, Greece, where he works odd jobs while he waits to hear the outcome of his asylum application. “I have two babies. Maybe I stay(ed) in this life for them.” 

Thousands have died in Mediterranean Sea shipwrecks in recent years as migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa seek a better life in the affluent European Union. 

But the sinking of the Adriana a year ago Friday in international waters 75 kilometers (45 miles) off Pylos in southern Greece was one of the worst. Only 82 bodies were recovered, so that hundreds of families still lack even the grim certitude that their relatives are dead. 

Travelers seek ‘best life’

Elwan, a cook whose wife and children are in Cairo, said he still gets phone calls from Egypt from mothers, brothers and wives of the missing. 

“We (left) home to get best life for family and until now (their families) know nothing about them,” he said. 

And after a year there are only hazy answers as to why so many lives were lost, what caused the shipwreck, and who can be held answerable. 

Migrant charities and human rights groups have strongly criticized Greece’s handling of the sinking and its aftermath. 

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said Thursday “a credible process for accountability” was needed. 

“It is unconscionable that one year since this horrific tragedy, the investigation into the potential liability of (Greece’s) Coast Guard has barely progressed,” HRW official Judith Sunderland said in the groups’ joint statement. 

The Greek coast guard, migration ministry and other officials did not respond to AP requests for comment ahead of the anniversary. 

Authorities had a coast guard boat on the scene and merchant ships in the vicinity during the trawler’s last hours. They blame smugglers who crammed hundreds of people into an unseaworthy vessel — most in an airless hold designed to store a catch of fish — for a nightmare voyage from Libya to Italy. 

They also say the Adriana capsized when its passengers — some of whom wanted to press on for Italy after five dreadful days at sea, others to seek safety in Greece — suddenly surged to one side, causing it to lurch and turn turtle. And they insist that offers to take the migrants off the ship were rebuffed by people set on reaching Italy. 

Elwan — who says he was on deck with a clear view of what happened — and other survivors say the lurching followed a botched coast guard attempt to tow the trawler. He claimed the coast guard hurriedly cut the towline when it became evident the Adriana would sink and drag their boat down with it. 

“If you find the ship (at the bottom of the sea), you will find this rope” still attached to it, he said. 

But the logistics make such a feat nigh-on impossible, Greek authorities say, as the ship rests some 5 kilometers (more than 3 miles) down, at one of the Mediterranean’s deepest points. 

The coast guard has denied any towing attempt, and allegations that its vessel tried to shift the trawler into neighboring Italy’s area of responsibility. 

A naval court began investigating last June, but has released no information on its progress or findings. 

Court drops charges

Separately, in November Greece’s state ombudsman started an independent probe into authorities’ handling of the tragedy, bemoaning the coast guard’s “express denial” to initiate a disciplinary investigation. 

Last month, a Greek court dropped charges against nine Egyptians accused of crewing the Adriana and causing the shipwreck. Without examining evidence for or against them, it determined that Greece lacked jurisdiction as the wreck occurred in international waters. 

Effie Doussi, one of the Egyptians’ defense lawyers, argued that the ruling was “politically convenient” for Greek authorities. 

“It saved the Greek state from being exposed over how the coast guard acted, given their responsibility for rescue,” she said. 

Doussi said a full hearing would have included testimony from survivors and other witnesses, and let defense lawyers seek additional evidence from the coast guard, such as potential mobile phone data. 

Zeeshan Sarwar, a 28-year-old Pakistani survivor, said he’s still waiting for justice, “but apparently there is nothing.” 

“I may be looking fine right now, but I am broken from the inside. We are not getting justice,” he told the AP. “We are not receiving any information about the people of coast guard … that the court has found them guilty or not.” 

Elwan, the Egyptian, said he can still only sleep for three or four hours a night. 

“I remember every second that happened to me,” he said. “I can’t forget anything because (I) lost friends in this ship.” 

A journey of life and death

The journey that preceded the wreck also was horrendous. 

Survivors said Pakistanis were confined in the hold and beaten by the crew if they tried to stir. But Arabic-speaking Egyptians and Syrians enjoyed the relative luxury of the deck. For many, that spelled the difference between life and death when the ship capsized. 

“Our condition was very bad on the first day because it was the first time in our life that we were traveling on the sea,” Sarwar said. 

“If a person … tried to vomit, then they used to say that you have to do it right here on your lap, you can’t get (outside),” he said. “On the fifth day, people were fainting because of hunger and thirst. One man died.” 

Elwan said he left for Europe secretly, telling his wife he would be away for months, working at an Egyptian Red Sea resort. 

He’s upset that he’s still to be granted asylum, unlike many Syrian survivors who, he said, have moved on to western Europe. 

“Only people from Egypt can’t get papers,” he said. “I’ve been working for 10 months to send money for my family … If someone says come and move rubbish, I will go and move this rubbish, no problem for me.” 

If he gets residence papers, Elwan wants to work in Greece and bring his family over. 

Otherwise, “I will go to Italy, maybe Germany. I don’t know.” 
…

your ad here

University of Cambridge returns 39 traditional artifacts to Uganda

ITafLeave a comment

Kampala, Uganda — The University of Cambridge has repatriated more than three dozen traditional artifacts to Uganda in a major act of restitution welcomed by the local officials who sought them. 

Some of the objects were shown exclusively to AP journalists on Wednesday. The British university returned the 39 items, which range from tribal regalia to delicate pottery, to the East African country on Saturday. 

The items remain the property of the collection of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at Cambridge, which is loaning them to Uganda for an initial period of three years, said Mark Elliott, the museum’s senior curator in anthropology. 

Elliott described it as “very much a museum-to-museum collaboration” that stems from years of talks about the possibility of returning objects deemed “exceptionally powerful and exceptionally sensitive to communities whose belongings they were.” 

The objects, selected by Ugandan curators, represent a small fraction of about 1,500 ethnographic objects from Uganda that Cambridge has owned for a century. Cambridge acquired most as donations from private collections, and many were given by an Anglican missionary active in Uganda in the 1890s and early 20th century. 

Uganda was declared a British protectorate in 1894. Independence came in 1962. 

“It’s about putting these objects back in the hands of the Ugandan people,” Elliott said. “These objects have been away from home for so long.” 

The next step is to “research their contemporary significance and to help make decisions about their future,” he said. 

The Uganda Museum in the capital, Kampala, is expected to put on a temporary exhibition of the objects next year. 

Uganda’s agreement with Cambridge is renewable, allowing for the possibility of a permanent loan and perhaps local ownership, said Jackline Nyiracyiza, Ugandan government commissioner in charge of museums and monuments. 

“Sixty years that have passed for us now to get 39 objects,” she said. “We are working now with the Cambridge team to … see that we talk to other museums and be able to repatriate others maybe next year or within the near future.” 

Ugandan officials, seeking such restitution, first traveled to Cambridge in 2022 as more African governments started to demand accountability over items of aesthetic or cultural value that were looted before and during the colonial era. 

Elsewhere in Africa, including the West African nation of Nigeria, there have been successful restitution events in recent years. 

Nelson Abiti, principal curator of the Uganda Museum, spoke of the Cambridge deal as a breakthrough that could prove exemplary for other museums with ethnographic items from Uganda. 

“This is the biggest single movement of objects returned to the African continent” in recent years, Abiti asserted. 

Still, restitution remains a struggle for African governments, and the African Union has put the return of looted cultural property on its agenda. The continental body aims to have a common policy on the issue.
…

your ad here

Report: Highly potent opioids now show up in drug users in Africa

ITafLeave a comment

ABUJA, Nigeria — Traces of highly potent opioids known as nitazenes have for the first time been found to be consumed by people who use drugs in Africa, according to a report released Wednesday by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, a nonprofit organization.

Nitazenes, powerful synthetic opioids, have long been in use in Western countries as well as in Asia where they have been associated with overdose deaths. Some of them can be up to 100 times more potent than heroin and up to 10 times more potent than fentanyl, meaning that users can get an effect from a much smaller amount, putting them at increased risk of overdose and death.

The report focused on Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau and is based on chemical testing of kush, a derivative of cannabis mixed with synthetic drugs like fentanyl and tramadol and chemicals like formaldehyde. Researchers found that in Sierra Leone, 83% of the samples were found to contain nitazenes, while in Guinea-Bissau it was identified in 55%.

“The GI-TOC ( Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime) believes that these results are the first indication that nitazenes have penetrated retail drug markets in Africa,” the report said.

Many young people in West and Central Africa have become addicted to drugs with between 5.2% and 13.5% using cannabis, the most widely used illicit substance on the continent, according to the World Health Organization.

In Sierra Leone where kush is one of the most widely consumed drugs, President Julius Maada Bio this year declared war on the substance, calling it an epidemic and a national threat.

Nitazenes have been detected repeatedly in substances sold to young people in the region such that users are most likely ingesting them “without knowing the risks they face,” Wednesday’s report said.

The authors said their findings suggest that nitazenes are being imported into Sierra Leone from elsewhere and that the substance being sold as kush in Guinea-Bissau was of similar chemical composition to that found in Freetown.

Officials in the two countries must deploy chemical testing equipment as a first step in tackling drug abuse, the report said. “Without this, it is impossible for the government of Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau and the wider subregion to accurately monitor the countries’ illicit drug markets and develop evidence-based responses,” it said.
…

your ad here

G7 leaders discuss economic threats from Chinese, AI ethics

ITeuLeave a comment

On Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden wrapped up meetings in Italy with leaders of the Group of Seven democracies. The leaders focused on threats they say China poses to the global economy and artificial intelligence ethics championed by Pope Francis. Patsy Widakuswara reports from Brindisi, Italy.
…

your ad here

UN experts say Sudan paramilitaries are recruiting in Central African Republic

ITafLeave a comment

United nations — Sudanese paramilitary forces are using the Central African Republic as a “supply chain,” including for recruitment of fighters, according to a report published Friday by U.N. experts who are concerned about a “spillover effect.” 

Sudan descended into war in April 2023 when the generals in charge of the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took up arms against each other in a fight for control, rejecting a plan to integrate. 

“The spillover effect of the conflict in the Sudan has significantly affected the situation in the Central African Republic,” said the expert committee, formed by the U.N. Security Council to monitor sanctions on C.A.R. 

They highlighted in particular the humanitarian situation, as the country sees an influx of millions of Sudanese refugees, as well as incursions by the two warring Sudanese parties – plus air raids by the Sudanese army in and around the Umm Dafog border post, where the RSF is present. 

This “continues to constitute a security threat to civilians and an impediment to humanitarian activities in the area,” the experts said. 

They insist the paramilitaries are also using the Am Dafok area in C.A.R. on the border “as a key logistical hub.” 

Because the RSF can “move between the two countries easily through a long-standing network,” they have been able to recruit “from among armed groups in the Central African Republic.” 

“Opposition armed groups from the Central African Republic have been reported to have actively recruited for, and sent members of their own groups to fight in, the Sudan under RSF,” the experts said. 

They noted in particular fighters in Sudan since as early as August 2023 from the Popular Front for the Rebirth of Central Africa, a C.A.R. rebel group.

The experts said they are aware that this armed group and others “are still able to cross between the Sudan and the Central African Republic at will and use Sudanese territory to launch attacks.” 

The experts thus called on C.A.R. authorities to “counteract the surge in arms trafficking from neighboring countries, particularly given the current conflict situation in the Sudan.” 

They also asked the leaders to combat “the infiltration of foreign fighters into the Central African Republic, which poses a significant long-term threat to the region.” 
…

your ad here

World Bank approves $2.25B loan to support economic reform in Nigeria

ITafLeave a comment

ABUJA, Nigeria — The World Bank has approved a $2.25 billion loan for Nigeria to shore up revenue and support economic reforms that have contributed to the worst cost-of-living crisis in many years for Africa’s most populous country. 

The bank said in a statement late Thursday that the bulk of the loan — $1.5 billion — will help protect millions who have faced growing poverty since a year ago when President Bola Tinubu came to power and took drastic steps to fix the country’s ailing economy. 

The remaining $750 million, the bank said, will support tax reforms and revenue and safeguard oil revenues threatened with limited production caused by chronic theft. 

President Tinubu’s economic reforms — including ending decadeslong but costly fuel subsidies and unifying the multiple exchange rates — have resulted in surging inflation that is at a 28-year high. 

Under growing pressure from citizens and workers protesting the hardship, Tinubu’s government said in May that it was seeking the loan to support its long-term economic plans. 

Mohamed Malick Fall, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, told a U.N. news conference in New York that about $800 million will go to a cash transfer program that will enable the number of households benefitting from social support to increase from 3 million to 15 million. That will help alleviate immediate suffering and could impact up to 70 million people, considering every household has five to seven people, he said. 

Fall said the government has put about $450 million into a social protection scheme, and to sustain the social safety net in the long term, the U.N. is advising it to develop a sustained investment program that isn’t dependent on foreign assistance as part of its poverty alleviation plan. 

The government said it was also taking steps to boost foreign investment inflows, which fell by 26.7% — from $5.3 billion in 2022 to $3.9 billion in 2023, according to the Nigerian Economic Summit Group think tank. 

Nigeria already has a high debt burden that has limited how much money the government can spend from its earnings. Its reliance on borrowing for public infrastructure and social welfare programs saw public debt surge by nearly 1,000% in the past decade. 

The World Bank, however, said it was “critical to sustain the reform momentum” under Tinubu. The government’s economic policies have placed the country “on a new path which can stabilize its economy and lift its people out of poverty,” according to Ousmane Diagana, the World Bank vice president for Western and Central Africa. 
…

your ad here

Pope meets 100 comedians at Vatican: ‘You also make God smile’

ITeuLeave a comment

VATICAN CITY — Before flying to Italy’s southern Puglia region to meet world leaders at the Group of Seven summit, Pope Francis hosted a very different audience at the Vatican on Friday celebrating the importance of humor.

The pontiff welcomed more than 100 comedians from 15 nations, including U.S. celebrities Whoopi Goldberg, Jimmy Fallon, Chris Rock, Stephen Colbert and Conan O’Brien.

“In the midst of so much gloomy news, immersed as we are in many social and even personal emergencies, you have the power to spread peace and smiles,” Francis told the comedians.

“You unite people, because laughter is contagious,” he continued, asking jokingly, “Please pray for me: for, not against!”

Francis pointed out that in the creation, “Divine wisdom practiced your art for the benefit of none other than God himself, the first spectator in history,” with God delighting in the works that he had made.

“Remember this,” he added. “When you manage to bring intelligent smiles to the lips of even a single spectator, you also make God smile.”

Francis also said it was OK to “laugh at God” in the same way “we play and joke with the people we love.”

After delivering his speech, Francis greeted all the comedians individually, sharing laughs and jokes with some of them.

“It was great, it was very fast and really loving, and made me happy,” Goldberg said afterward.

O’Brien noted that the pope “spoke in Italian, so I’m not quite sure what was said.”

“To be in that room and to be with all my fellow comedians, some of whom I’ve been good friends with for many years, in that environment, was quite strange,” the TV host added. “All of us were thinking, how did this happen? Why are we here, and when are they going to throw us out?”

Colbert admitted his Italian “is really bad, I would like to speak it better.” But he managed to remind the pope that he had done the audiobook for his memoir.

“It was wonderful, he’ll never forget me,” he joked.
…

your ad here

Report reveals high number of child worker deaths in Turkey

ITeuLeave a comment

Istanbul / Washington — A recent report on the state of child labor in Turkey said at least 695 child workers died in the country in the past 11 years.  

The report was published Tuesday by Health and Safety Labor Watch (ISIG), a civil society group in Turkey. The group compiled its dataset through open-source information and the families of the children who died while working. According to ISIG, at least 24 child workers died in the first five months of 2024.  

VOA sent a request for a comment to Turkey’s Ministry of Labor and Social Security, but it has not received a response yet.  

As of 2023, there were more than 22 million children in Turkey, which has a population of over 86 million, according to the state-run Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK).

Education in Turkey is compulsory until the end of the 12th grade and public education is free of charge. However, the high school completion rate was 80.3 percent in 2023, a relative increase compared with 2022’s figure of 65.1 percent. 

Vocational training 

Some experts think the state-run Vocational Education Centers (MESEM) are behind the increasing completion number, which they do not view as improving the education rate.  

“Turkey has given up fighting against child labor for a long time. There are many practices that legitimize child labor, and MESEM comes first among these practices,” Ezgi Koman, a child development expert at Turkey’s nongovernmental FISA Child Rights Center, told VOA. 

Turkey’s Ministry of National Education (MEB) introduced MESEMs to the education system in 2016. The apprenticeship program enables students to learn the skills of an entry-level job and choose to be professionalized in one of at least 193 sectors provided by MESEM’s curriculum.   

MEB’s website says the program’s goal is “to meet our country’s need for people with occupation.” 

The students enrolled in MESEMs go to school once a week for theoretical training and work at a job assigned by the MESEM for four days. The program takes four years to finish and counts as the student’s last four years of compulsory education.  

MESEM’s enrollment requirements include completing the eighth grade, being over 14 years of age, signing a contract with a workplace related to the profession the child wants to pursue, and being in good health.  

The students must be insured for job-related accidents and injuries. They are paid at least 30 percent of the minimum wage in the first three years and at least 50 percent of the minimum wage in the fourth year. The minimum wage in Turkey in 2024 is around US$520 a month.  

“Our research shows that children who want to receive vocational training do not enroll in MESEM. Children who are already working are enrolled there. So, now, through MESEM, some of the children working unregistered are being registered in the labor force. MESEM is presenting them as receiving education,” Koman said. 

“However, there is no education. There are children left at the mercy of the bosses and labor exploitation,” she added. 

VOA Turkish requested a comment from Turkey’s Ministry of National Education, which oversees MESEM, but has not received a response. 

Yusuf Tekin, Turkey’s minister of national education, responded to a parliamentary inquiry about the injuries and deaths of students enrolled in MESEMs in March 2024. 

In the inquiry, Turan Taskin Ozer, an Istanbul deputy of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), asked about the number of injuries and deaths that occurred in MESEM programs since 2016. 

“The sectors of workplaces where accidents and deaths occur are predominantly construction, metal, woodworking, engine and machinery,” Tekin responded in a written statement. 

“A total of 336 students, 316 males and 20 females, had an accident,” Tekin added without disclosing the number of deaths.   

The ISIG report shows that in the 2023-24 academic year, at least seven children died while working in jobs that were part of their MESEM training.  

Refugee children 

The ISIG report also indicates that since 2013, at least 80 migrant children have died while working – 71 from Syria, six from Afghanistan and one each from Iraq, Iran, and Turkmenistan.  

According to the U.N. refugee agency’s annual Global Trends report, released in June, Turkey hosts 3.3 million refugee populations, including 3.2 million Syrians.

Refugee children in Turkey have the right to education. Still, some experts point out that refugee children face peer bullying and xenophobia at school, which leads them to end their education and start work informally.  

Turkey-based humanitarian organization Support to Life focuses on child workers in seasonal agricultural jobs, including migrant children. 

“The living conditions of Turkish, Kurdish or migrant seasonal agricultural workers are far from humane living standards,” Leyla Ozer, Support to Life’s project manager, told VOA. 

“Access to clean drinking water, electricity and toilets is limited. Families mostly live in tent areas they set up themselves. Conditions on agricultural fields are extremely challenging for children. Pesticides are a big threat, and labor is also added to this. Preventing child labor is vitally urgent,” Ozer added.  
…

your ad here

VP Harris to address Ukraine summit, meet Zelenskyy

ITeuLeave a comment

WASHINGTON — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will attend the international Ukraine Peace Summit in Switzerland this weekend, where she will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and address world leaders.

She will underscore that the outcome of the war with Russia affects the entire world, a U.S. official said, and push for a maximum number of countries to back the notion that Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine is a violation of the U.N. Charter’s founding principles and that Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected.

Harris, who will spend less than 24 hours at the gathering in Lucerne, Switzerland, will be standing in for President Joe Biden at the event. The president will be just ending his participation at the G7 summit in Italy and returning to the United States to attend a fundraiser for his reelection campaign in Los Angeles.

Harris will meet with Zelenskyy and will address the summit’s plenary session. Biden met Zelenskyy at the G7 summit, where they signed a U.S.-Ukraine bilateral security agreement, and in France for events surrounding the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.

Harris was to depart for Switzerland on Friday night, arrive Saturday midday and spend several hours at the event before flying back to Washington.

Then, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan will represent the United States at the summit on Sunday and help establish working groups on returning Ukrainian children from Russia and energy security.

Russia was not invited to the event and has dismissed it as futile. China, a key Russian ally, says it will not attend the conference because it does not meet Beijing’s requirements, including the participation of Russia.

The senior U.S. official said Russia’s absence would not affect the summit but expressed regret at Beijing’s decision.

Ninety-two countries and eight organizations plan to attend.

The United States has contributed billions of dollars in weaponry to help Ukraine fight the war begun by Russian President Vladimir Putin, although the latest massive package of aid from Washington was delayed for months by disagreements in Congress.
…

your ad here

Pakistanis along Afghan border stuck between militants, military

ITasLeave a comment

ISLAMABAD — “We don’t need development. … We want to live in peace,” a frustrated Abdul Khaliq told VOA over the phone.

Khaliq is a resident of Pakistan’s tribal district Kurram, where locals held a consultative gathering, or jirga, earlier this month to discuss rising insecurity. The gathering was part of a recent wave of jirgas in Pakistani areas close to Afghanistan, where locals say they are caught between militant violence and military operations.

In recent weeks, along with Kurram, tribes gathered in large numbers in the Mohmand, Tank, Bannu and Lakki Marwat districts in the country’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The jirgas were held amid a spike in incidents involving targeted killings and extortion by militants.

“We are not afraid for ourselves, but we are scared for our children and families,” a resident of Mohmand who did not want to be identified for security reasons told VOA over the phone. Militants set his cousin’s marble factory on fire in May, after the businessman rebuffed extortion demands.

“Two days before the incident they warned the factory watchman to tell my cousin to resolve the problem. They used to send the messages through WhatsApp voice notes as well, and would call, too, but my cousin wouldn’t take the calls,” he said.

Mohmand is home to dozens of marble factories. After the incident, owners complaining of extortion calls and threats of violence from militants held a protest sit-in for five days. They ended it only after government officials promised more police presence in the industrial area.

Residents told VOA it’s not always clear if the threats are from Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan fighters, TTP affiliates or criminals posing as Islamist militants. However, they blame the rise in militant activity on the February 2020 deal between the United States and the Afghan Taliban that saw the insurgents return to power in August 2021. Many also hold responsible Pakistan’s controversial step to allow the return of thousands of TTP fighters who had been forced into Afghanistan by military operations.

Afghan Taliban-mediated talks between Pakistan and the TTP broke down in November 2022. Faced with frequent terror attacks, Islamabad accused the Afghan Taliban of providing sanctuary to the leaders of the TTP, a globally designated terrorist organization. Kabul denies the allegation.

Harassment by military

Residents in areas close to the Afghan border complain militants also frequently barge into homes and businesses, demanding food and tea. Obliging them, they say, gets them into trouble with security agencies deployed in heavy numbers in the region.

“Our problem is that at night armed men come to our homes, demanding food, and in the morning the military comes and takes the homeowner away [for interrogation],” said Pattu Lala Bittani, who took part in a massive jirga in district Tank this month. The gathering was held after a spate of militant attacks on ordinary citizens, government employees and security personnel.

“Talking to Taliban puts us in a bad position with them [security institutions], and if we go to state authorities, then we get on the bad side of the Taliban,” Bittani said.

State response

“When you do counterterrorist operations in civilian-friendly population, it has negative manifestations, one of which is this,” said Muhammad Ali Saif, adviser to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister on information, conceding that civilians face harsh treatment from security institutions for coming into contact with militants.

“It is difficult to do everything by the book. Mishaps occur, people get harassed, but there is a mechanism,” he told VOA. “Security agencies also don’t have some spiritual information on who is colluding with whom.”

He pointed out that monetary compensation is available for civilians in case of physical or financial harm during military operations.

Pakistani security forces are also coming under frequent, deadly attacks as they fight the militancy, which has spread from former tribal areas to settled areas, Saif said.

Dozens of military personnel, including officers, and at least 70 police have died in terror attacks and counterterrorism operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province so far this year. A midyear report of the provincial counterterrorism department released this month recorded at least 237 terrorism incidents. It said 299 terrorists were arrested, while 117 were killed.

Pakistani military spokesperson Major General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told the media last month that security forces had conducted more than 13,000 intelligence-based operations this year, mostly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

Fear of displacement

Locals worry the rise in military operations may force them to leave their homes. Hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis became internally displaced persons, or IDPs, when the military conducted massive operations against terrorists between 2009 and 2015.

“The security checks that happen, the check posts on the roads, it makes us feel that things are sliding back to how they were in 2009 when we all became IDPs,” said Abdul Khaliq, who had to leave his home in Kurram at the time. “The commotion we are seeing again, it makes us feel that we are again being pushed back into that era.”

Saif said such fears are unfounded because authorities are conducting limited operations. He said he was not aware of any plans for a massive operation that would require moving residents.

On Friday, residents of the Lakki Marwat district, which is around 300 kilometers (186 miles) southwest of the capital, Islamabad, blocked a highway to protest an ongoing counterterrorism operation. The security action came after seven soldiers, including an officer, were killed in a roadside bombing. Just days later, the Pakistani military claimed killing 11 terrorists in response.

The decline in security has Abdullah Nangiyal Bittani, who attended the jirga in Tank roughly 90 kilometers (56 miles) from Lakki Marwat, wondering if he should go to his village to celebrate Eid with extended family on Monday.

“I would be in my village for four or five days every month,” said Bittani, who lives in Islamabad. “But now it’s been two to three months since I last visited.

“We expect the state will protect us,” Bittani said. “We should have peace in our areas like there is peace in other parts of the country.”
…

your ad here

Italian activist elected to European Parliament freed in Hungary

ITeuLeave a comment

ROME — An Italian anti-fascist activist was released from house arrest in Hungary on Friday after being elected as a new member of the European Parliament for the Italian Green and Left Alliance, the party’s leaders said. 

Police in Budapest removed Ilaria Salis’ electronic bracelet in the Hungarian capital and her father said he will take her back to Italy by Monday, when she celebrates her 40th birthday, according to Italian news agency ANSA. 

Salis was elected to the European Parliament during her time under house arrest in Hungary, where she is on trial and faces charges for allegedly assaulting far-right demonstrators. European Parliament lawmakers enjoy substantial legal immunity from prosecution, even if the allegations relate to crimes committed prior to their election. 

More than 170,000 voters in Italy wrote Salis’ name onto the ballot in a bid to bring her home from Hungary, where she has been detained for more than a year. 

“Finally! We are happy with the news coming from Budapest, MEP Ilaria Salis can now return to Italy and will be able to perform her new function to which hundreds of thousands of voters have pointed her,” AVS lawmakers Angelo Bonelli and Nicola Fratoianni said in a statement. 

Salis became a hot-button political issue in Italy after images emerged of her handcuffed and shackled in a Hungarian courtroom where she faced trial. 

The Italian activist was charged in Hungary with attempted murder after being part of a group of anti-fascists accused of assaulting individuals they believed were linked to the far-right Day of Honor last year. 

The event, held annually on February 11, sees far-right activists mark the failed attempt by Nazi and allied Hungarian soldiers to break out of Budapest during the Red Army’s siege in 1945. 

The alleged victims of the attack reportedly didn’t complain to police. 

Before the European Parliament election earlier this month, Salis’ father repeatedly voiced concerns over his daughter’s trial, saying she faced up to 24 years in jail. The Hungarian prosecutor had asked for a prison term of 11 years. 
…

your ad here

600 US troops remain in Niger as withdrawal continues

ITafLeave a comment

Pentagon — About 600 U.S. military personnel remain in Niger, as American troops continue to withdraw from the country before a mid-September deadline, according to a senior U.S. defense official.

“We are on track to be done before the 15th of September,” the senior U.S. defense official told reporters Friday, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security issues. However, the official cautioned that the rainy season could potentially slow withdrawal efforts.

Last month, U.S. and Nigerien leaders agreed to a phased withdrawal of American forces from Niger after being in the country for more than a decade.

At that time, there were about 900 U.S. military personnel in Niger, including active duty, civilians and contractors, according to two U.S. officials, who spoke to VOA on the condition of anonymity ahead of the withdrawal agreement.

The withdrawal agreement between the U.S. and Niger confirmed protections and immunities for U.S. personnel and approved diplomatic clearances for withdrawal flights “to ensure smooth entries and exits.”

American forces were deployed in Niger to help local militaries combat Islamist terrorists in the Sahel.

The United States has used two military bases in the country — Air Base 101 in Niamey and Air Base 201 in Agadez — to monitor various terror groups. Most U.S. forces in Niger are currently based in the latter, which cost the U.S. $110 million to build, and began drone operations in 2019.

Niger’s natural resources have increased its importance to global powers, and its location had provided the U.S. with the ability to conduct counterterror operations throughout much of West Africa.

Countries in the region, including Niger, Mali, Nigeria and Burkina Faso, have seen an expansive rise in extremist movements.

According to the Global Terrorism Index, an annual report covering terrorist incidents worldwide, more than half of the deaths caused by terrorism last year were in the Sahel.

Niger’s neighbor, Burkina Faso, suffered the most, with 1,907 fatalities from terrorism in 2023.

Unless the U.S. can find another base to use in West Africa, counterterror drones will likely have to spend most of their fuel supply flying thousands of kilometers from U.S. bases in Italy or Djibouti, severely limiting their time over the targets and their ability to gather intelligence.

“That’s a significant policy matter that the U.S. is grappling with right now,” the senior U.S. defense official told reporters Friday.

Coup forced withdrawal 

Tensions between the U.S. and Niger began in 2023 when Niger’s military junta removed the democratically elected president from power.

After months of delay, the Biden administration formally declared in October 2023 that the military takeover in Niger was a coup, a determination that prevented Niger from receiving a significant amount of U.S. military and foreign assistance.

In March, after tense meetings between U.S. representatives and Niger’s governing military council, the junta called the U.S. military presence illegal and announced it was ending an agreement that allowed American forces to be based in the country.

During that meeting, the U.S. and Niger fundamentally disagreed about Niger’s desire to supply Iran with uranium and work more closely with Russian military forces.
…

your ad here

US announces $315 million in new aid for Sudan

ITafLeave a comment

New York — The United States announced Friday more than $315 million in additional humanitarian assistance to Sudan, where 14 months of war between rival generals has left nearly 25 million people in need of aid. 

“This is the single largest humanitarian crisis on the planet,” USAID administrator Samantha Power told reporters on a conference call announcing the funding. 

The United Nations warns that 5 million Sudanese are on the brink of famine. 

Power expressed concern that the situation could be as bad as or worse than the 2011 drought-induced famine in Somalia that killed around 250,000 people, half of them children. 

“The most worrying scenario would be that Sudan would become the deadliest famine since Ethiopia in the early 1980s,” she added. 

Around 1 million Ethiopians perished over a two-year period in that historic famine. Millions more were displaced, and hundreds of thousands left Ethiopia. 

Power said the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) which are fighting each other, are actively blocking aid deliveries. 

“It is obstruction, not insufficient stocks of food, that is the driving force behind the historic and deadly level of starvation in Sudan,” Power said. “That has to change immediately.” 

Of the 25 million Sudanese in need of humanitarian aid and protection, the United Nations says 18 million are facing acute hunger, and that number will likely grow with the onset of the lean season this month. 

The U.N. has been asking for months for both cross-border access from Chad and access across conflict front lines. It has also urged authorities to remove administrative barriers, including delays in travel authorizations for aid convoys. 

Access impediments have made it almost impossible to move humanitarian supplies to parts of Darfur and Khartoum. 

The situation in North Darfur’s capital city, El Fasher, is especially dire. The RSF has surrounded the city, burning and looting communities in its vicinity. They have advanced on the city, where an SAF infantry division is outnumbered and surrounded. 

On Thursday, the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution demanding the RSF halt its siege and de-escalate the fight for El Fasher — where more than 800,000 civilians are sheltering — and allow aid in. 

The World Food Program said Friday that a convoy carrying aid for about 160,000 people crossed into Darfur this week from Chad. It is only the third convoy to enter Sudan via the Tine border crossing from Chad in the past two months. The aid it is carrying is headed for people in Central, East and West Darfur. 

Battle for El Fasher 

Power said Washington is concerned about what will happen to the civilians in El Fasher, especially ethnically non-Arab communities, if the city falls to the RSF. 

“Clearly the RSF is on the march,” she said. “And where the RSF has gone in the Darfur area historically, and this conflict, mass atrocities have followed.” 

Arab Janjaweed fighters who carried out the genocide against African Zaghawa, Masalit, Fur and other non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur in the early 2000s, make up elements of today’s RSF. 

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters on the call that there is no military solution to this conflict, and she criticized countries that are supporting the rival generals with arms and ammunition. 

“We have been very, very clear with those actors, that they should cease their support for this war,” she said. “It is only exacerbating and prolonging the conflict, and it is making the situation more dire for the people of Sudan.” 

She said the U.S. has spoken with the United Arab Emirates, which was implicated for sending military support to the RSF in a U.N. expert report earlier this year. The UAE denies it, saying it sends only humanitarian aid. 

“We have engaged with the UAE; we have engaged with others,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “We know that the Russians and the Iranians are also providing support for the SAF. Both sides are getting this outside support, and we are pressuring all sides to discontinue.” 

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has also expressed his concern about the fighting in El Fasher and across Sudan, saying a cease-fire is urgently needed to alleviate civilian suffering.
…

your ad here