Month: August 2024

Moscow, Kyiv exchange attacks as Ukraine marks Independence Day

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KYIV, Ukraine — Russia and Ukraine exchanged drone, missile and artillery attacks on Saturday as Kyiv marked its third Independence Day since Moscow’s full-scale invasion.

A woman was killed and a man wounded when Russian forces shelled the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, the capital of the partially occupied Kherson region, according to the regional prosecutor.

Ukraine’s air force said it had intercepted and destroyed seven drones over the country’s south. Russian long-range bombers also attacked the area of Zmiinyi (Snake) Island with four cruise missiles, while the wider Kherson region was also struck by aerial bombs.

In Russia, the Defense Ministry said Saturday that air defenses had shot down seven drones overnight.

Five drones were downed over the southwestern Voronezh region bordering Ukraine, wounding two people, regional Governor Aleksandr Gusev said. News outlet Astra published videos appearing to show explosions at an ammunition depot after being hit by a drone. The videos could not be independently verified.

Two people were wounded in a drone attack in the Belgorod region, also bordering Ukraine, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Local authorities did not report any casualties in the Bryansk region, where the fifth drone was intercepted.

In the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces launched their surprise offensive into Russia two weeks ago, regional Governor Alexei Smirnov said Saturday that three missiles were shot down overnight and another four on Saturday morning.

Russian air defenses shot down two more drones on Saturday morning, Russia’s Defense Ministry said — one over the Kursk region and one over the Bryansk region.
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Contracts with China need review, Pakistani minister says

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ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s Minister for Power Awais Leghari says contracts with Chinese power producers that built and run power plants in Pakistan need to be revised.

Islamabad owes more than $15 billion to Chinese power plant operators. It is seeking rescheduling of payments to gain financial breathing room in a bid to obtain a much-needed loan from the International Monetary Fund.

“I think the terms and conditions that we already have with the Chinese as far as their IPPs [independent power producers] are concerned, they need another look,” Leghari told VOA in an interview this week.

The power projects, set up mostly in the last decade, helped end hours-long blackouts. But contracts require that Pakistan pay for the entire generation capacity of each power plant, regardless of how much electricity is used. A failure to spur industrial growth that could help utilize additional power, and the inability to reduce transmission losses, has left Pakistan with huge bills to pay for unused and wasted power generation capacity in addition to repaying project loans.

Leghari and Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb went to Beijing late last month to discuss power sector debt relief.

The trip came days after Islamabad reached a staff-level agreement with the IMF for a three-year, $7 billion loan program. The bank’s board must still approve the deal.

Leghari said China, like the IMF, wants to see broader reforms from Pakistan.

China and the IMF “are wanting to look at the entire economic or power sector reform that we have already authored and embarked upon,” Leghari said. “I think the more the confidence they have in our economic reform agenda, the better would be the response.”

Leghari is leading a power sector reform task force created after his return from China. Reform efforts aimed at cutting power sector losses include auditing all independent power plants.

Independent power plants set up by Pakistani companies in the country also have contract terms similar to those of Chinese-run plants. Experts say across-the-board analysis shows Beijing does not want its companies to be singled out as problematic, nor does it want to be alone in offering concessions to Islamabad.

Beijing has not publicly addressed Islamabad’s request for rescheduling energy sector debt. However, Pakistan’s daily Express Tribune reported it has agreed to convert three Chinese-owned power plants in Pakistan from using imported to local coal.

Pakistan hopes to save hundreds of millions of dollars annually by switching to local coal for power generation.

The change may come at a high cost. Experts say Chinese investors struggling to recover payments may demand higher insurance premiums and profit margins if they are to expand mining operations, reducing savings for Pakistan.

“It’s going to be a win-win situation for everyone,” Leghari said, rejecting the concerns.

“Unless that isn’t there, people will not invest, lenders will not give money.”

Pakistan will also need infrastructure to transport local coal long distances and power plants may need to make technical design changes to use Pakistani coal, which is known to be dirtier and less efficient than imported coal.

“There has been an overwhelming response to have a look and run technical and financial feasibilities on all the aspects of coal conversion and reprofiling,” Leghari insisted, while rejecting environmental concerns about shifting to local coal.

Leghari played down the possibility of scaring Chinese investors as Pakistan seeks a review of past contracts, saying Islamabad holds relationships with investors “dear to our heart.”

“Whatever will happen, with whomever, will be with mutual consent,” he said.
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Attack at German festival kills 3, wounds at least 5

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SOLINGEN, Germany — An attacker with a knife killed three people and seriously wounded at least five late on Friday at a festival in the western German city of Solingen, authorities said.

Witnesses alerted police shortly after 9:30 p.m. local time to an unknown perpetrator who had wounded several people indiscriminately with a knife on a central square. Police said have no one in custody and had little information on the man.

They said they believe the stabbings were carried out by a lone attacker.

One of the festival organizers, Philipp Müller, appeared on stage and asked festivalgoers to “go calmly; please keep your eyes open, because unfortunately the perpetrator hasn’t been caught.”

He said many people had been wounded by “a knifeman.”

At least one helicopter was seen in the air, while many police and emergency vehicles with flashing blue lights were on the road and several streets were closed off.

Police put the number of seriously injured at five. The region’s top security official, Herbert Reul, gave a figure of six as he visited the scene in the early hours of Saturday.

“None of us knows why” the attack took place, said Reul, who is the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state.

“I can’t say anything about the motive now” and it isn’t clear who the assailant was, he said, adding that the attacker had left the scene “relatively quickly.”

The “Festival of Diversity,” marking the city’s 650th anniversary, began on Friday and was supposed to run through Sunday, with several stages in central streets offering attractions such as live music, cabaret and acrobatics.

The city canceled the rest of the festival after the attack. Solingen has about 160,000 residents and is near Cologne and Duesseldorf.

There has been concern about an increase in knife violence in Germany recently.

In May, a knife attack by an Afghan immigrant on members of a group that describes itself as opposing “political Islam” left a police officer dead.

Germany’s top security official, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, this month proposed toughening weapons laws to allow only knives with a blade measuring up to 6 centimeters to be carried in public, rather than the length of 12 centimeters that is allowed now. 
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Analysts: China-Russia financial cooperation raises red flag

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Washington — China and Russia agreed to expand their economic cooperation using a planned banking system, which analysts say is aimed at supporting their militaries and undermining U.S.-led global order.

The two countries issued a joint communiqué agreeing “to strengthen and develop the payment and settlement infrastructure,” including “opening corresponding accounts and establishing branches and subsidiary banks in two countries” to facilitate “smooth” payment in trade.

The communiqué was issued when Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in Moscow on Wednesday, Russian news agency Tass reported the following day.

At the meeting, Mishustin said, “Western countries are imposing illegitimate sanctions under far-fetched pretext, or, to put it simply, engaging in unfair competition,” according to a Russian government transcript.

Mishustin also noted the use of their national currencies “has also expanded, with the share of roubles and RMB in mutual payments exceeding 95%,” as the two have strengthened cooperation on investment, economy and trade.

Li and Mishustin signed more than a dozen agreements on Tuesday on economic, investment and transport cooperation. Li was making a state visit to Moscow at the invitation of Mishustin.

David Asher, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, said, “This meeting between the Russians and the Chinese is important because it’s getting into a much widening aperture of cooperation” that would have “a bigger military dimension,” threatening U.S. national security.

Asher added that their bilateral cooperation could lead to “Russia’s assistance to China in the Pacific and the South China Sea” in return for Beijing’s support for Moscow’s economy and industry that aid Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine, “in defiance of the U.S.”

A spokesperson for the State Department told VOA Korean on Thursday that the U.S. is “concerned about PRC [People’s Republic of China] support for rebuilding Russia’s defense industrial base, particularly the provision of dual-use goods like tools, microelectronics and other equipment.”

The spokesperson continued: “The PRC cannot claim to be a neutral party while at the same time rebuilding Russia’s defense industrial base and contributing to the greatest threat to European security.”

“China is Putin’s only lifeline,” said Edward Fishman, an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs who helped the State Department design international sanctions in response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.

“Chinese firms have taken advantage of Russia’s weak bargaining position and cut a slew of favorable deals,” Fishman said. “But these deals have more than just commercial significance. They keep Putin’s war machine going.”

The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday imposed sanctions on more than 400 entities and individuals that support Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine, including Chinese firms that it said were helping Moscow evade Western sanctions by shipping machine tools and microelectronics.

In response to a China-Russia plan to set up a financial system to facilitate trade, U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told the Financial Times that Washington “will go after the branch they’re setting up” and the countries that let them.

Analysts said China and Russia could increasingly turn to alternative methods of payments to evade sanctions.

Russia in June suspended trading in dollars and euros in the Moscow Exchange, in response to a round of sanctions the U.S. had issued targeting Russia’s largest stock exchange. The move by Russia prohibits banks, companies and investors from trading in either currency through a central exchange.

Shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine, the U.S. cut big Russian banks off from the U.S. dollar, the preferred currency in global business transactions.

“There is clearly a desire in both Moscow and Beijing to build financial and trade connections that operate beyond the reach of U.S.-led sanctions,” said Tom Keatinge, director of the Center for Finance and Security at the London-based Royal United Service Institute.

“This includes the development of non-U.S. dollar payment and settlement mechanisms and a wider ‘insulated’ payment system that allows other countries in their orbit to avoid U.S. sanctions,” he continued.

Other possible methods of payments could involve central bank digital currencies as well as cryptocurrencies and stable coins, Keatinge added.

The Chinese yuan replaced the dollar as Russia’s most traded currency in 2023, when the U.S. imposed sanctions on a few banks in Russia that could still trade across the border in dollars, according to Maia Nikoladze, an associate director of the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center, in a June report.

Nikoladze told VOA that transactions made in renminbi and in rubles allowed Moscow to mitigate the effects of sanctions until Washington in December 2023 created an authority to apply secondary sanctions on foreign banks that transacted with Russian entities.

“Since then, Russia has struggled to collect oil payments from China,” with some transactions delayed “up to six months,” even as Moscow found a way to process transactions through Russian bank branches in China, Nikoladze said.

According to an article this month from Newsweek, the Russian newspaper Izvestia reported that as many as 98% of Chinese banks are refusing Chinese yuan payments from Russia.

Hudson Institute’s Asher said even more critical than the Russian use of yuan is the use of U.S. dollars in Beijing-Moscow transactions through the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s Clearinghouse Automated Transfer Settlement System (CHATS), a payment system used by banks such as HSBC that trade “hundreds of billions of dollars a year.”

“It can settle transactions in a way that is not visible to the U.S. government,” Asher said. “I’m talking about U.S. dollar reserves that are not in the United States, that are not controlled by the U.S. government, that we don’t have good visibility on, and Hong Kong is providing that financial service.”

The Hong Kong government has said it does not implement unilateral sanctions but enforces U.N. sanctions at the urging of China, according to Reuters.

William Pomeranz, an expert on Russian political and economic developments at the Wilson Center, said that despite Beijing’s and Moscow’s talk this week about financial and economic cooperation, “China does not want to get onto the bad side of European and American markets” and will not risk its economic ties with the West “just to help Russia in a problem that, quite frankly, is of Russia’s own making.”
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Bangladesh floods claim 15 lives, affect more than 4.4 million

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Feni, Bangladesh — Continuing floods in Bangladesh have killed 15 people, and more than 4.4 million people have been affected across 11 districts, according to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief.  

Kamrul Hasan, secretary of the ministry, told a press conference Friday at the secretariat that the situation has deteriorated — notably in the eastern district of Feni — with other eastern districts also experiencing widespread flooding, including Chattogram, Cumilla, Noakhali, Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Brahmanbaria, Lakshmipur, Khagrachari and Cox’s Bazar. 

The floods have submerged 77 upazilas, or boroughs, impacting 584 unions and municipalities. More than 887,000 families are suffering from the devastation, the secretary said. 

The official confirmed that 13 people have lost their lives, including a pregnant woman who was swept away by fast running waters. The casualties include four from Cumilla, one from Feni, two from Chattogram, one from Noakhali, one from Brahmanbaria, one from Lakshmipur and three from Cox’s Bazar. 

The ministry official reports that 3,160 shelters have been set up by the government in response to the crisis, and 188,739 individuals have sought refuge in them. In addition, 637 medical teams have been dispatched to the flood-affected areas to offer crucial health care services.

To support those in need, the ministry has distributed 35.2 million BDT, roughly $300,000 in cash, 20,150 metric tons of rice, and 15,000 food packets. The official said adequate relief supplies are available across all districts to manage the ongoing disaster. 

The floods have devastated eastern Bangladesh at the same time the country is going through political turmoil after a lengthy and violent student protest that resulted in the country’s former prime minister resigning and going into exile. 

The Global Climate Risk Index has listed Bangladesh among the countries most vulnerable to disasters and climate change. 

Meanwhile, across the border in India, Tripura state also has been hit hard by floods that have reportedly taken 23 lives since Monday. 

Rescue operations are underway while locals say conditions are making it hard for rescue workers to reach those in need. 

This story originated in VOA’s Bangla service. Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse. 
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Sudan peace talks end with breakthrough on humanitarian aid

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geneva — U.S.-brokered peace talks on Sudan have failed to end the country’s 16-month conflict but have succeeded in gaining greater humanitarian access to millions of people who have been deprived of food, medicine and other essential relief for many months, according to a senior U.S. official.

In wrapping up a first round of peace negotiations Friday in Geneva, Tom Perriello, U.S. special envoy for Sudan, told journalists “it is extremely important that we have found breakthroughs on humanitarian access for millions and millions of people in Sudan.

“But this is just the beginning,” he said. “We need to see the results from the parties, whether that is on protection of civilians or humanitarian access and we need to continue to build where we can.”

Search for humanitarian corridors

Over the past two weeks, representatives from the United States, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, the United Nations, African Union, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates have focused on reopening three humanitarian corridors — the Western border crossing in Darfur at Adre, the northern Dabar Road from Port Sudan, and the southern access route through Sennar.

Perriello said the three routes combined “would open up food, medicine and lifesaving services for 20 million people in Sudan,” adding that negotiators got commitments from the two warring parties, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) to send aid through both the Adre and Dabar routes.

“We are in active negotiations with the parties on multiple potential routes for Sennar, which would open up another 11 million with access,” he said.

Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told journalists that United Nations and humanitarian partners continue to engage with the Sudanese authorities to ensure the sustained and scaled-up delivery of supplies into Sudan.

“This is crucial to meet people’s most urgent needs at the height of the rainy and lean seasons in Darfur,” he said, adding that the 15 trucks that crossed into Sudan from Chad via the Adre crossing this week “were a step in the right direction.”

“But the fighting and deepening hunger crisis in Sudan means there has to be a steady flow of food, nutrition, water, sanitation, hygiene and medical supplies for people at risk of famine in more than a dozen areas,” he said.

Hundreds of thousands on brink of famine

The World Food Program reports more than half of Sudan’s population, some 25.6 million people, face acute hunger, including more than 755,000 people on the brink of famine.

The RSF sent a delegation to the talks. However, Sudan’s military has stayed away because of the participation of the United Arab Emirates, which it accuses of supporting the RSF and of fueling war by sending arms to the paramilitary group.

While not responding to these accusations, Lana Nusseibeh, head of the UAE delegation, said that the position of her country has been clear.

“We see the future of Sudan as one that requires a peaceful civilian transition of power. We are dedicated and committed to engage in these talks and use all our efforts to bring about the cease-fire that the Sudanese people so desperately need and so desperately deserve,” she said.

While acknowledging the difficulties of negotiating a cease-fire with only one of the warring parties present, U.S. mediator Perriello said it has been possible to make progress in other areas because “we were able to engage with the SAF many, many times a day virtually by phone.”

The Geneva talks also have focused on implementing the Jeddah declaration, which calls for the protection of civilians and respect for international humanitarian law even in wartime. Both warring parties signed the agreement on May 11, 2023, but a week later they breached a subsequent agreement which called for a seven-day cease-fire.

Underscoring the importance of complying with the Jeddah declaration, Perriello said, “We have all seen the horrific atrocities of rape, sexual slavery, starvation used as a weapon of war, shelling, bombing and daily terrors that are realities of the Sudanese people.”

He said the delegations have been working hard to achieve a compliance mechanism that can work for the existing Jeddah declaration and have presented that to the parties for consideration.

In the meantime, he said, “We got agreement from the Rapid Support Forces for a code of conduct that will be issued to their soldiers.

“It will have many of the basics of international humanitarian law, including protections of women and protections related to farming and the harvest so we can look at the issues not only of the current famine, but how we begin to help the Sudanese grow out of this.”

The U.S. envoy said no formal date has been set for the next round of peace talks because “the urgency of this crisis is one in which we do not want to [be] constrained by the formal dates of when we can get on airplanes.”

“We know that there are decisions today that are going to be the difference between whether we start to see hundreds of trucks go across Adre or whether the brakes are thrown on. That is a today thing and that is a tomorrow thing,” he said. “We are very committed to seeing this as a 24/7 operation in the face of a famine that the world has largely ignored.”
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How simple eyeglasses help farmers boost profits

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London — As she grew older, Juliet Owusu Addai struggled to carry out essential tasks on her cocoa farm Ghana because of her blurred vision. 

Only 10% of cocoa flowers self-pollinate naturally. The farmers must hand-pollinate hundreds of flowers, transferring pollen using a small pair of tweezers. They also have to sort the cocoa beans ready for market. Increasingly, farmers and buyers use mobile phones to trade, another challenging task with blurred vision. 

“It was difficult to work around my farm — to do the pollination, to do the pruning, the weeding,” the 63-year-old told VOA. She suffered from crippling headaches and dizziness, which restricted her ability to work and earn money. 

In 2022, Addai managed to get a pair of eyeglasses. “Before I had the glasses, I could get eight to nine sacks of cocoa [a year]. But with the glasses I have, I was able to work on the farm and get 12 sacks. So, it has really improved my livelihood,” she said.  

Addai obtained the glasses following a screening done by the U.S.-based charity VisionSpring. Its latest research, done in collaboration with Britain’s Queen’s University Belfast and published in the journal PLOS ONE, suggests that eyeglasses can enable rural workers to boost their profits by a third, a potentially transformational rise in income. 

The study was conducted in rural parts of Bangladesh across a range of livelihoods and ages. “The monthly median income of an individual who received reading glasses increased from US$35.3 to US$47.1 within eight months, a difference of 33.4%, whereas the control group showed no increase,” the report said. The results also suggested that eyeglasses helped economically inactive people return to the workplace. 

In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that more than 1 billion people worldwide are living with vision impairment because they do not get the care they need for conditions like near- and farsightedness, glaucoma and cataracts. 

“Eye conditions and vision impairment are widespread, and far too often they still go untreated. People who need eye care must be able to receive quality interventions without suffering financial hardship,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director-general.  

VisionSpring’s research shows a vast global disparity in access to eye health care. 

“In high-income settings, 85% to 95% of the people who need eyeglasses have them. But in low-income settings, it’s as low as 3% to 15%,” Ella Gudwin, the CEO of VisionSpring, told VOA.  

The glasses themselves cost about $6, including associated screening and transport costs. 

“A very modest investment in vision correction for farmers and for artisans and skilled trades people yields a pretty massive return on investment in terms of the household income that they are able to continue to earn. It’s one of the few tools in the international development toolbox that can be deployed to increase income in farming communities that has yet to be used,” Gudwin said. 

VisionSpring conducted 3,500 vision screenings across seven cocoa districts in Ghana in 2022. Half of those screened required eyeglasses. Some 70% of them had never had glasses before. 

Ghanaian cocoa farmer Addai said the extra income she earns because of her improved vision has helped pay for her family’s education — in turn helping them to increase their future earnings.
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US will send $125M in new military aid to Ukraine, say officials

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WASHINGTON — The Biden administration will send about $125 million in new military aid to Ukraine, U.S. officials said Thursday, even as Washington works to get a better understanding of Kyiv’s incursion into Russia and how it advances the broader battlefield goals more than two years into the war. 

U.S. officials said the latest package of aid includes air defense missiles, munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), Javelins and an array of other anti-armor missiles, counter-drone and counter-electronic warfare systems and equipment, 155mm and 105mm artillery ammunition, vehicles and other equipment. 

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the aid has not been publicly announced. The formal announcement could come as soon as Friday, which is the eve of Ukraine’s Independence Day. 

The weapons are being provided through presidential drawdown authority, which means they are taken from Pentagon stockpiles and can be delivered more quickly. 

The aid comes as Ukrainian forces continue to broaden their surprise offensive into Russia, where officials say they have taken about 100 square kilometers (62 square miles) of territory around Kursk. Russian troops, meanwhile, are making gains in the east, around the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, a critical logistics hub. 

Pentagon officials have said repeatedly that the U.S. has been talking with Ukrainian leaders to get a better assessment of their longer-term goals for the Kursk operation, particularly as they see Russia advancing near Pokrovsk. 

If Pokrovsk falls, the defeat would imperil Ukraine’s defenses and bring Russia closer to its stated aim of capturing the Donetsk region. Russian soldiers are now just 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) away. 

Asked about the Kursk operation, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said Thursday that “we are still working with Ukraine on how that fits into their strategic objectives on the battlefield itself.” 

The U.S., she said, understands that Ukraine wants to build a buffer zone along the border, but the administration still has more questions about how it furthers Ukraine’s broader war effort. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made his first visit Thursday to the border area where his forces launched the offensive on August 6. He said Kyiv’s military had taken control of another Russian village and captured more prisoners of war. 

The latest package of aid brings the total amount of U.S. security assistance to Ukraine to more than $55.7 billion since Russia’s invasion in February 2022. 
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Eyeglasses help farmers boost profits

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New research suggests farmers could boost their profits significantly with a pair of eyeglasses to correct poor vision. But millions of people are unable to access eye care. Henry Ridgwell reports.
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Somalia: Ethiopian troops cannot be in AUSSOM, unless Somaliland deal nixed

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Washington — Somalia Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre said Thursday that Ethiopian forces would not be part of the upcoming African Union Support Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) unless Ethiopia withdraws from a controversial memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with Somaliland earlier this year. 

“If Ethiopia does not withdraw from its MoU agreement with Somaliland, its forces will not be part of the upcoming operation. If they remain, it will not be under the African Union mandate,” Barre said Thursday during a town hall meeting in Mogadishu. 

Answering questions from a town hall audience in Mogadishu, Barre said that the Somali government has effectively outmaneuvered Ethiopia concerning its intentions to implement the agreement with Somaliland. 

“Ethiopia is now in a precarious position regarding the MoU agreement. When we rejected it, they turned to Kenya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and eventually to our Turkish brothers. We accepted these agreements on the condition that if someone attempts to impose something on us, we will resist,” he said. 

“You are all aware that Somalis across the country, from Berbera to Hargeisa, Burao, and Borama, rejected the agreement. This (MoU) is not something Somalis anywhere can accept,” the prime minister emphasized. 

The MoU which triggered the ongoing dispute between the two neighboring countries grants Ethiopia access to 20 kilometers of the Red Sea coastline in exchange for the potential recognition of Somaliland’s independence, which Somalia views as a violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity. 

Due to its tensions with Ethiopia, Somalia postponed the next phase of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) troop withdrawal originally planned for July to September, citing security concerns stemming from Ethiopia’s actions as the main reason for the delay. 

Last week, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 2748, which allows ATMIS troops to stay in Somalia through December 2024. 

Somalia says all Ethiopian troops should be out of the country by the end of 2024, especially after the expiration of ATMIS. 

In response to Somali accusations, Ethiopia’s foreign ministry asserted its right to self-defense. 

“There is no power that can stop Ethiopia from taking necessary action without asking permission from anyone,” stated Nebiyu Tedla, Ethiopia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, during a news briefing last week. 

“Ethiopia has been contributing troops to Somalia for over a decade. Ethiopia has security concerns arising from al-Shabab; therefore, Ethiopia is following the issue closely,” Nebiyu added. 

Despite ongoing efforts to resolve the conflict, including two rounds of negotiations facilitated by Turkey this summer, no resolution has been achieved. The core issue remains Ethiopia’s refusal to annul the MoU with Somaliland, with a third round of talks scheduled for September in Turkey. 

The international community, including the United Nations, the African Union, and the Arab League, has expressed support for Somalia’s sovereignty and called for a peaceful resolution to the dispute. In the meantime, Somalia is coordinating with allies, including Egypt and Djibouti, to ensure that the new peacekeeping mission, AUSSOM, effectively addresses the nation’s security needs without Ethiopian involvement. 

At a news conference in Mogadishu on Thursday, Somalia’s minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, Ahmed Moallim Fiqi, accused Ethiopia of derailing Turkish mediation efforts to solve the dispute. 

“Ethiopian leaders’ recent remarks could exacerbate the existing situation and hinder progress towards Turkish diplomatic efforts to resolve the issue at stake,” Fiqi said. “I want to clarify that Somalia is only open to beneficial agreements with Ethiopia. We will not tolerate any military incursions or attempts to establish control over our waters or land, whether temporary or permanent,” he warned. 

Ethiopian military presence 

Ethiopia and Somalia have a long history of territorial and political disputes, which stem from the Ethiopian Empire’s expansions into the Somali-inhabited Ogaden region during the late 19th century. 

The Ogaden War, also known as the Ethio-Somali War, was a military conflict fought between Somalia and Ethiopia from July 1977 to March 1978. 

Somalia collapsed into anarchy following the overthrow of the military regime of President Siad Barre in 1991, creating fiefdoms controlled by clan militias and Islamic fundamentalist groups. 

Ethiopia’s first military border crossing into Somalia began in 1997, to support Somali militia allies in the country’s Gedo region to drive out Islamic fundamentalist group Al-Ittihad Al-Islamiya. 

They again invaded Somalia in 2006 during the rise of Union of Islamic Courts, which ruled large swathes of south and central Somalia for six months. 

Several thousand Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) troops, with tanks and heavy military hardware, went into Baidoa city located in the Bay region, southwest of Somalia, citing national security concerns aimed at preventing the creation of a hard-line Islamist state on its borders after Islamist insurgents had won control of most of the country. 

The troops then spread across the country and engaged in a deadly battle with Islamists and nationalist groups in the country’s capital, Mogadishu, before leaving the country on Jan. 2, 2009. 

Speaking in Addis Ababa at the time, then Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said that there would be no turning back. 

“There is no need to rush, and I suspect our troops would want to pull out without rushing,” said Zenawi. “That said, the withdrawal process has begun and there is no turning back.” 

The Ethiopian troops re-entered Somalia in January 2012 and became part of the AU mission, ATMIS.    

Under the mission, at least 3,000 Ethiopian soldiers officially operate as part of an African Union peacekeeping mission fighting al-Shabab, but another 5,000 to 7,000 Ethiopian soldiers are stationed in several regions under a bilateral agreement.
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Afghan Transgender people also face harassment in Pakistan

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Alina is an Afghan transgender person who fled Afghanistan to Peshawar, Pakistan, after the Taliban took over the country. Alina says her life would be in danger if she returned to Afghanistan, but she is also facing threats in Peshawar. Muska Safi has the report, narrated by Bezhan Hamdard.
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UN criticizes Pakistan’s mass eviction of Afghans lacking legal paperwork

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ISLAMABAD — A group of independent experts from the United Nations raised concerns Friday about Pakistan’s large-scale deportations of undocumented Afghan migrants and called for measures to minimize the dangers faced by vulnerable people among them.

The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination issued findings of its review of Pakistan at an online news conference in Geneva, saying it was “alarmed by the mass exodus” under the country’s Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan.

Michal Balcerzak, the chair of the committee, said that a staggering 700,000 people, including 101,000 between April and June, were deported or returned to Afghanistan as part of the plan.

Pakistani authorities launched the deportation campaign late last year, attributing a surge in nationwide militant attacks to “elements” residing among undocumented foreigners, primarily Afghans.

“The committee highlighted reports of harassment, forced evictions and the detention of 28,500 Afghans from September to December 2023, which have driven many to return to Afghanistan out of fear,” said Balcerzak.

He emphasized that Pakistan should assess “refoulement risks” and take measures to reduce dangers faced by vulnerable groups, such as the risk of unaccompanied children being trafficked or exploited.

VOA contacted but could not immediately receive a response from the Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesperson regarding the U.N. findings.

Islamabad rejects criticism of its deportations of foreigners lacking proper paperwork, stating that the campaign is not aimed at a specific nationality and asserting that most of the Afghan returnees departed voluntarily. However, the returnees and Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have questioned those claims.

Balcerzak stated that the U.N. committee “expressed regret for the lack of a legislative and institutional framework in line with international law” and recommended that Pakistan ratify the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Optional Protocol.

According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Pakistan is not a party to the global convention and has not enacted any national legislation to protect refugees nor has it established procedures to determine the refugee status of people seeking international protection within its territory.

Pakistan also hosts about 1.4 million official Afghan refugees fleeing years of war, persecution and economic hardship in poverty-stricken Afghanistan.

Moreover, nearly 900,000 Afghan citizenship card holders also live in the country. The migrant community received the identity documents several years ago after undergoing a registration process backed by the Pakistani and Afghan governments and financed by the International Organization for Migration.

Last month, Pakistan extended until June 2025 the stay of the 1.4 million Afghan refugees in the country legally.
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