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Month: July 2024
Suspected rebels kill 4 Indian soldiers in Indian-controlled Kashmir
In photos: Russia’s attack on Kyiv children’s hospital
Dark comedy exposes absurd reality of Kazakh state media
France’s Macron keeps prime minister in place for ‘stability of the country’ after chaotic election
Paris — French President Emmanuel Macron refused the resignation of the country’s prime minister, asking him on Monday to remain temporarily as the head of the government after chaotic election results left the government in limbo.
French voters split the legislature on the left, center and far right, leaving no faction even close to the majority needed to form a government. The results from Sunday’s vote raised the risk of paralysis for the European Union’s second-largest economy.
Macron gambled that his decision to call snap elections would give France a “moment of clarification,” but the outcome showed the opposite, less than three weeks before the start of the Paris Olympics, when the country will be under an international spotlight.
The French stock market fell on opening but quickly recovered, possibly because markets had feared an outright victory for the far right or the leftist coalition.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal had said he would remain in office if needed but offered his resignation Monday morning. Macron, who named him just seven months ago, immediately asked him to stay on “to ensure the stability of the country.” Macron’s top political allies joined the meeting with Attal at the presidential palace, which ended after about 90 minutes.
Attal on Sunday made clear that he disagreed with Macron’s decision to call the surprise elections. The results of two rounds of voting left no obvious path to form a government for either the leftist coalition that came in first, Macron’s centrist alliance, or the far right.
Newly elected and returning lawmakers were expected to gather at the National Assembly to begin negotiations in earnest.
Macron himself will leave midweek for a NATO summit in Washington.
Political deadlock could have far-ranging implications for the war in Ukraine, global diplomacy and Europe’s economic stability. Still, at least one leader said the results were a relief.
“In Paris enthusiasm, in Moscow disappointment, in Kyiv relief. Enough to be happy in Warsaw,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a former European Union Council head, wrote late Sunday on X.
According to official results released early Monday, all three main blocs fell far short of the 289 seats needed to control the 577-seat National Assembly, the more powerful of France’s two legislative chambers.
The results showed just over 180 seats for the New Popular Front leftist coalition, which placed first, ahead of Macron’s centrist alliance, with more than 160 seats. Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally and its allies were restricted to third place, although their more than 140 seats were still way ahead of the party’s previous best showing of 89 seats in 2022.
Macron has three years remaining on his presidential term.
Rather than rallying behind Macron as he’d hoped, millions took the vote as an opportunity to vent anger about inflation, crime, immigration and other grievances — including his style of government.
The New Popular Front’s leaders immediately pushed Macron to give them the first chance to form a government and propose a prime minister. The faction pledges to roll back many of Macron’s headline reforms, embark on a costly program of public spending, and take a tougher line against Israel because of its war with Hamas. But it’s not clear, even among the left, who could lead the government without alienating crucial allies.
“We need someone who offers consensus,” said Olivier Faure, head of the Socialist Party, which joined the leftist coalition and was still sorting out how many seats it won on Monday.
Macron warns that the left’s economic program of many tens of billions of euros in public spending, partly financed by taxes on wealth and hikes for high earners, could be ruinous for France, already criticized by EU watchdogs for its debt.
A hung parliament is unknown territory for modern France and many people reacted with a mix of relief and apprehension.
“What pollsters and the press were telling us made me very nervous so it’s a huge relief. Big expectations as well,” said Nadine Dupuis, a 60-year-old legal secretary in Paris. “What’s going to happen? How are they going to govern this country?”
The political agreement between the left and center to block the National Rally was largely successful. Many voters decided that keeping the far right from power was more important than anything else, backing its opponents in the runoff, even if they weren’t from the political camp they usually support.
“Disappointed, disappointed,” said far-right supporter Luc Doumont, 66. “Well, happy to see our progression, because for the past few years we’ve been doing better.”
National Rally leader Le Pen, who was expected to make a fourth run for the French presidency in 2027, said the elections laid the groundwork for “the victory of tomorrow.”
Racism and antisemitism marred the electoral campaign, along with Russian disinformation campaigns, and more than 50 candidates reported being physically attacked — highly unusual for France.
Unlike other countries in Europe that are more accustomed to coalition governments, France doesn’t have a tradition of lawmakers from rival political camps coming together to form a majority. France is also more centralized than many other European countries, with many more decisions made in Paris.
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Kenyan court rules police acted out of line in killing of Pakistani journalist
Islamabad — A court in Kenya said Monday that police acted unlawfully in using lethal force against a Pakistani journalist killed near the capital in October 2022, ordering thousands of dollars in compensation for his widow.
Arshad Sharif, 49, died when Kenyan police opened fire on his car at a roadblock outside Nairobi. Authorities said it was a case of mistaken identity.
On Monday, the court in Kajiado, where Sharif was killed, ruled the use of deadly force against the Pakistani journalist was “arbitrary, un-proportional, illegal and unconstitutional,” and ordered the state to pay over $77,000 to the family.
The payment was suspended for 30 days after the state’s attorney claimed lack of funds.
The court also ordered authorities to conclude their investigation and take action against the police officers involved.
Javeria Siddique, one of Sharif’s two wives, filed the lawsuit in Kenyan court last year on October 23 – exactly one year after her husband’s killing.
Speaking to VOA, Siddique said getting a verdict in this case in Kenya was a “big deal” for her.
“I was not very hopeful. This was a politically motivated murder,” Siddique said. “Of course, implementation will take time. For me, today’s victory will leave a huge mark on press freedom and freedom of expression.”
Sharif, a prominent news anchor, fled Pakistan in August 2022 while facing sedition charges. He had become a vocal critic of Pakistan’s powerful military establishment after former Prime Minister Imran Khan was removed from office in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence in April 2022.
In a letter to Pakistan’s Supreme Court in late 2022, Sharif’s mother Riffat Ara Alvi listed several members of the military’s top brass, including then-army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, who she said should be questioned about her son’s killing.
The Pakistani military and its spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) have denied playing any role in the killing.
Sharif’s family has been unable to lodge a police report in Pakistan for the crime. Speaking to VOA, Siddique rejected a report Islamabad police filed two years ago against three Pakistani nationals who hosted her late husband in Kenya as bogus.
A Pakistani fact-finding mission which visited Kenya in November 2022 concluded that the father of five was the victim of a targeted killing.
“Arshad Sharif’s death is not a case of mistaken identity – I can say, and on the evidence we have so far, this prima facie is a target killing,” then-Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah told reporters in Islamabad in December 2022. The minister said the journalist’s body had bruises and signs of torture.
In a statement marking the first anniversary of Sharif’s killing last year, journalists’ advocacy group Reporters without Borders accused authorities in Pakistan and Kenya of duplicity.
“Kenya is protecting its police officers and Pakistan is deliberately steering clear of the possibility that its security services were involved,” the watchdog’s head of investigation Arnaud Froger said in an online statement.
The country’s top court began scrutinizing the Pakistani government’s investigation in December 2022. Siddique told VOA she has been waiting for nearly a year for the court to set a date for a hearing.
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UK can improve ‘botched’ Brexit deal, says Starmer
Belfast — Britain’s new Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised on Monday to secure an improved agreement with the European Union on post-Brexit trading rules and revamp the “botched deal” signed by former premier Boris Johnson.
Speaking in Belfast after talks with the leaders of Northern Ireland, where post-Brexit trade rules have dominated politics for years, Starmer said his new government would first need to implement changes under the current agreement to build trust with the European Union.
“We think we can get a better deal than the botched deal that Boris Johnson brought home and we will work on that,” Starmer, who won a landslide victory last week, told reporters.
“We’re not going to be able to get a better relationship unless we’ve demonstrated commitment to the relationship and the agreements that have already been put in place,” he added.
Labour has ruled out rejoining the EU single market or customs union but has said it is possible to remove some trade barriers with the 27-nation bloc, which Britain left in 2020.
The largest pro-British party in Northern Ireland ended a boycott of the devolved assembly after tweaks to trading rules secured by former prime minister Rishi Sunak in February, but it has since called for more changes.
Asked about the prospect of a referendum on a United Ireland after Irish nationalists Sinn Fein became the province’s largest party in parliament, Starmer said he would “act in accordance with the Good Friday Agreement,” the 1998 peace deal that ended three decades of sectarian violence.
Under the deal, a referendum is at the discretion of the British government if “it appears likely” to the minister for Northern Ireland that a majority would favor cutting ties with London.
Starmer, who visited Edinburgh on Sunday, is to continue on a post-election tour of the four nations of the United Kingdom with a visit to Cardiff later on Monday.
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France’s allies relieved by Le Pen loss but wonder what’s next
LONDON/BRUSSELS — Many of France’s allies breathed a sigh of relief on Monday after Marine Le Pen’s far-right failed to win a snap election, but they noted that a messy coalition from a hung parliament could also pose headaches for Europe.
Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) had been favorite to top the polls, raising the risk of France’s first far-right government since World War II and threatening to upend economic and foreign policy in the euro zone’s second-largest economy.
In particular, Ukraine’s allies feared a Le Pen-led government could be soft on Moscow and pare back military aid that Kyiv has relied on since the Russian invasion in 2022, though her party has latterly said Russia was a threat.
The National Rally’s defeat signals at least a temporary pushback against a far-right surge in Europe, but could herald a period of instability with a new government in an uneasy “cohabitation” with President Emmanuel Macron.
“First of all I am quite relieved there was no right-wing landslide,” said Germany’s Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, lauding efforts to prevent a “drifting towards nationalism and thereby moving Europe into even more difficult waters.”
“But nevertheless the election result will now represent an enormous challenge, especially for France itself, but of course also for Europe, which is currently in the phase of reorganization after the European elections, and also for the German-French relationship,” he added.
Habeck’s government was using contacts with various parties to clarify the challenges ahead, he told reporters in Stuttgart.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk struck a positive tone.
“In Paris enthusiasm, in Moscow disappointment, in Kyiv relief. Enough to be happy in Warsaw,” Tusk said on X.
Le Pen’s party meanwhile was set to join a newly minted alliance in the European Parliament led by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban with the stated aims of fighting illegal immigration and taking powers back from Brussels.
Macron’s gamble
Macron had called the snap poll in an attempt to wrest the initiative back from Le Pen but his own party was left trailing behind an alliance of leftist parties that performed far better than expected to take first place.
A fragmented parliament is set to weaken France’s role in the European Union and further afield, and make it hard for anyone to push through a domestic agenda.
Several early reactions from overseas rejoiced that the immediate threat of a far-right government had been averted.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told the radio station RNE he was happy to see a defeat for the far right, which he described as “completely contrary to European values.”
Nikos Androulakis, the head of Greece’s Socialist PASOK party, said the French people had “raised a wall against the far right, racism and intolerance and guarded the timeless principles of the French Republic: Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.”
An EU official called it a “huge relief” but added: “what it means for Europe on a day to day basis remains to be seen though.” A senior EU diplomat also expressed relief that a lurch towards what they called the extreme right was not seen everywhere.
Le Pen has in the past expressed her admiration for President Vladimir Putin. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was watching the formation of a new French government with great interest, but added:
“The victory of political forces that would be supporters of efforts to restore our bilateral relations is definitely better for Russia, but so far we do not see such bright political will in anyone, so we do not harbor any special hopes or illusions in this regard.”
Deep divisions
The election left the French parliament split between three large groups – the left, the centrists, and the far right – with different platforms and no tradition of working together.
The left wants to cap prices of essential goods like fuel and food, raise the minimum wage and the salaries of public sector workers, at a time when France’s budget deficit is already at 5.5% of output, higher than EU rules permit.
“Bye-bye European deficit limits! (The government) will crash in no time. Poor France. It can console itself with (Kylian) Mbappé,” said Claudio Borghi, senator from Italy’s right-wing League party, referring to the French soccer star.
Other hard-right politicians expressed frustration.
Andre Ventura, leader of Portugal’s far-right party Chega, called the result a “disaster for the economy, tragedy for immigration and bad for the fight against corruption.”
A note by Capital Economics said France may have avoided the “worst possible outcomes” for investors, of an outright majority for either Le Pen or the leftists.
A fractious parliament means however it will be difficult for any government to pass the budget cuts that are necessary for France to comply with the EU’s budget rules, it said.
“Meanwhile, the chance of France’s government [and the governments of other countries] clashing with the EU over fiscal policy has increased now that the bloc’s budget rules have been re-introduced,” it said.
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Russia hits children’s hospital in Ukraine’s capital during widespread deadly missile attack
Hundreds gather for memorial concert after deadly Kenya protests
Nairobi, Kenya — Hundreds of Kenyans gathered Sunday in the capital Nairobi for a memorial concert following deadly protests over tax hikes that saw the country’s leader scrap a controversial finance bill.
The initially peaceful rallies mostly led by Gen-Z spiraled into violence that left 39 people dead, rights groups have said, and saw President William Ruto reject the bill containing the hikes and promise spending cuts.
On Sunday people streamed into Nairobi’s central Uhuru Park from around midday to listen to performers and commemorate those who had died.
Victor Waithaka, 29, told AFP he was attending to pay tribute to the “heroes who died during the protests on the rejected finance bill.”
“This is our country, and we have the right to fight for our rights,” he said.
Large crowds shouted, “Ruto must go,” echoing demands made by protesters in previous weeks, and waved Kenyan flags as they danced to a medley of singers and performers.
“The fight has just begun, the political awakening [is] just the beginning,” prominent demonstrator Hanifa Adan told AFP on the concert’s sidelines.
Early Sunday morning some roads in the city were blocked by police officers.
The concert fell on so-called “Saba Saba” (Seven Seven) — the seventh day of the seventh month, marking the moment in 1990 that the opposition rose up to demand the return of multi-party democracy — and a day when demonstrations have previously taken place.
It follows Ruto’s decision Friday to announce budget cuts and increased borrowing, to cover the projected shortfall from scrapping the finance bill.
Following his speech, the president also took part in a sometimes-fiery exchange of views on social media platform X, in a wide-ranging conversation with younger Kenyans on social media.
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US troops leave Niger base at Niamey
Niamey, Niger — U.S. troops have completed a withdrawal from their base in Niger’s capital of Niamey and will fully depart from Agadez in the north before a Sept. 15 deadline set by the country’s military rulers, both countries said Sunday.
Niger’s military leaders scrapped a military cooperation deal with Washington in March, after seizing power in a July 2023 coup.
The United States had around 650 soldiers in Niger as part of anti-jihadist missions in several Sahel nations of West Africa, including a major drone base near Agadez.
“The defense ministry of Niger and the U.S. Defense Department announce that the withdrawal of American forces and equipment from the Niamey base 101 is now completed,” the two countries said in a statement.
A final flight carrying U.S. troops was due to leave Niamey late Sunday.
The U.S. presence had stood at around 950 troops, and 766 soldiers have left Niger since the military ordered their departure, AFP learned at a ceremony at the base attended by Niger’s army chief of staff Maman Sani Kiaou and US General Kenneth Ekman.
“American forces are now going to focus on quitting airbase 201 in Agadez,” the statement said, insisting that the withdrawal would be completed by September 15 as planned.
Niger had already ordered the withdrawal of troops from France, the former colonial power and traditional security ally, and has strengthened ties with Russia which has provided instructors and equipment.
On Saturday, Germany’s defense ministry also said it would end operations at its airbase in Niger by August 31 following the breakdown of talks with military leaders.
A similar shift has taken place in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso, which are also ruled by military leaders and faced with violence from jihadist groups.
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Hungary PM Orban in Beijing for talks with Chinese President Xi
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrived in Beijing Monday for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Orban’s press chief told state news agency MTI.
“Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s peace mission continues,” Bertalan Havasi was quoted as saying.
This is Orban’s third surprise overseas trip since Hungary took over the European Union’s rotating presidency at the beginning of July, after he traveled to Ukraine and Russia last week on what he called a “peace mission.”
His trip to Moscow drew strong rebukes from his allies.
Hungary, under right-leaning Orban, has become an important trade and investment partner for China, in contrast with some other European Union nations seeking to become less dependent on the world’s second-largest economy.
Orban’s visit also came days before a NATO summit that will address further military aid for Ukraine against what the Western defense alliance has called Russia’s “unprovoked war of aggression.”
Hungary’s foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, was accompanying Orban on the China trip, according to photographs on Szijjarto’s Facebook page.
The foreign ministry canceled late last week a meeting for Monday in Budapest with Germany’s foreign minister and Szijjarto, a German foreign ministry official said Friday.
Orban, a critic of Western military aid to Ukraine who has the warmest relations of any EU leader with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said last week he recognized he had no EU mandate for the trip to Moscow, but that peace could not be made “from a comfortable armchair in Brussels.”
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Bangladeshi protesters demand end to civil service job quotas
Dhaka, Bangladesh — Thousands of Bangladeshi university students threw roadblocks across key highways Sunday, demanding the end of “discriminatory” quotas for coveted government jobs, including reserving posts for children of liberation heroes.
Students in almost all major universities took part, demanding a merit-based system for well-paid and massively over-subscribed civil service jobs.
“It’s a do-or-die situation for us,” protest coordinator Nahidul Islam told AFP, during marches at Dhaka University.
“Quotas are a discriminatory system,” the 26-year-old added. “The system has to be reformed.”
The current system reserves more than half of posts, totaling hundreds of thousands of government jobs.
That includes 30% reserved for children of those who fought to win Bangladeshi independence in 1971, 10% for women, and 10% percent set aside for specific districts.
Students said only those quotas supporting ethnic minorities and disabled people — 6% of jobs — should remain.
Critics say the system benefits children of pro-government groups, who back Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was Bangladesh’s founding leader.
Hasina, 76, won her fourth consecutive general election in January, in a vote without genuine opposition parties, with a widespread boycott and a major crackdown against her political opponents.
Critics accuse Bangladeshi courts of rubber-stamping decisions made by her government.
The system was initially abolished after weeks of student protests in 2018.
But in June, Dhaka’s High Court rolled that back, saying the cancellation had been invalid.
‘Wasting their time’
Hasina has condemned the protests, saying the matter had been settled by the court.
“Students are wasting their time,” Hasina told female activists from her party Sunday, Bangladeshi newspapers reported.
“After the court’s verdict, there is no justification for the anti-quota movement.”
Protests began earlier in July and have grown.
“We will bury the quota system,” students chanted Sunday in Bangladesh’s second city Chittagong, where hundreds of protesters marched.
In Dhaka, hundreds of students disrupted traffic for hours, police said.
At the elite Jahangirnagar University, at least 500 students blocked the highway connecting the capital with southeastern Bangladesh “for two hours,” local police chief A.F.M. Shahed told AFP.
Bin Yamin Molla, a protest leader, said at least 30,000 students participated in the protests, although the number could not be verified.
Bangladesh was one of the world’s poorest countries when it gained independence in 1971, but it has grown an average of more than 6% each year since 2009.
Hasina has presided over that breakneck economic growth, with per capita income in the country of 170 million people overtaking India in 2021.
But much of that growth has been on the back of the mostly female factory workforce powering its garment export industry, and economists say there is an acute crisis of jobs for millions of university students.
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Chinese Premier Li congratulates new British PM Starmer
Beijing — Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Sunday congratulated new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on his election, state media reported, the first senior leader in Beijing to do so publicly.
China is “willing to work with the new U.K. government to consolidate mutual political trust and expand mutually beneficial cooperation,” Li told Starmer, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Their call came after days of silence from top officials in Beijing, with the Chinese foreign ministry saying only that it noted the results of the U.K. election.
By comparison, Chinese leader Xi Jinping congratulated Iran’s incoming President Masoud Pezeshkian just hours after his election Saturday.
China was Britain’s fifth-largest trading partner as of 2023, according to the U.K. Department for Business and Trade.
But diplomatic relations between the two countries have been icy in recent years, with Beijing and London sparring over tightening communist control in former British colony Hong Kong.
The two sides have also traded accusations of espionage, with Beijing saying last month that MI6 had recruited Chinese state employees to spy for the U.K.
Xinhua reported Sunday that Li told Starmer that the “strengthening of bilateral coordination and cooperation was in the interests of both sides.”
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Italian expat brings pork cuisine to Burkina’s Ouagadougou
In Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, an Italian expatriate runs a rather unique business for a foreigner, selling grilled pork, a highly appreciated dish. Gildas Da has the story narrated by Arzouma Kampaore.
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In Senegal, French expat gains internet fame with Wolof language learning videos
A young Frenchman who settled in Senegal a little over a year ago decided to master the local Wolof language. Now he’s teaching it to other people on social media. Allison Fernandes has the story, narrated by Michelle Joseph.
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