Month: October 2024

Russian strikes on Ukraine’s Odesa region kill 4, governor says

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kyiv, Ukraine — A Russian missile slammed into a commercial building in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region overnight, killing four people including a 16-year-old girl, regional governor Oleh Kiper said on Friday.

It was the fourth Russian attack on the Black Sea port of Odesa and the nearby region in the last five days. Kiper said a day of mourning had been announced for Friday in the region to remember people killed in a Russian drone attack on October 9.

“In two days Russian terrorists killed 13 civilian people in the Odesa region and most of them are youth,” Kiper said on the Telegram messaging app.

The ability to maintain exports through the Black Sea ports is vital for the Ukrainian economy which has been hit hard by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The Prosecutor General’s office said Russian forces had struck civilian infrastructure with a ballistic Iskander missile at about 22:35 (19:35 GMT) on Thursday night.

A two-story commercial building hosting food production facilities where civilians worked was hit and 10 more people were wounded, officials said.

Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said the Russian attacks targeted civilian infrastructure and strived to create impossible living conditions for millions of Ukrainians.

The Ukrainian air force said it had shot down 29 out of 66 Russian drones launched at Ukraine overnight. Moscow also fired two missiles, it said, and 31 drones were “locationally lost,” an apparent reference to electronic warfare, while two drones returned towards Russian territory.

Zelenskyy meets foreign leaders

The new wave of strikes on Ukrainian Black Sea ports has coincided with visits by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this week to meet leaders in London, Paris, Rome and Berlin to discuss his proposed “victory plan.”

There was no immediate comment from Moscow on the strike on Odesa. Russia, which invaded in February 2022, denies targeting civilians. It says it targets only military infrastructure and other military targets although towns and cities across Ukraine have been struck repeatedly.

A Russian missile hit a Palau-flagged vessel in Odesa port Monday, while on Sunday, another Russian missile damaged a civilian Saint Kitts and Nevis-flagged vessel loaded with corn in the port of Pivdennyi.

Ukrainian officials said Russia had carried out almost 60 attacks on ports over the past three months, resulting in the damage and destruction of almost 300 port infrastructure facilities, 177 vehicles and 22 civilian vessels.

“They are trying from all sides to suppress our intentions to develop, maintain our economy,” Kiper said.
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Gunmen kill 20 miners, wound others in attack in southwest Pakistan

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QUETTA, Pakistan — Gunmen killed 20 miners and wounded another seven in Pakistan’s southwest, a police official said Friday, drawing condemnation from authorities who have ordered police to trace and arrest those who are behind the killings.

It’s the latest attack in restive Balochistan province and comes days ahead of a major security summit being hosted in the capital.

Police official Hamayun Khan Nasir said the gunmen stormed the accommodations at the coal mine in Duki district late Thursday night, rounded up the men and opened fire.

Most of the men were from Pashtun-speaking areas of Balochistan. Three of the dead and four of the wounded were Afghan.

No group claimed immediate responsibility for the attack, but the suspicion is likely to fall on the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, which often targets civilians and security forces.

The group committed multiple attacks in August that killed more than 50 people, while authorities responded by killing 21 insurgents in the province. Those killed included 23 passengers, mostly from eastern Punjab province, who were fatally shot after being taken from buses, vehicles and trucks in Musakhail district in Baluchistan.

The latest attack drew a strong condemnation from Sarfraz Bugti, the chief minister in Balochistan, who said the “terrorists have once again targeted poor laborers.”

He said the attackers were cruel and had an agenda to destabilize Pakistan. “The killing of these innocent laborers would be avenged,” he said in a statement.

The province is home to several separatist groups who want independence. They accuse the federal government in Islamabad of unfairly exploiting oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan at the expense of locals.

On Monday, a group called the Baloch Liberation Army said it carried out an attack on Chinese nationals outside Pakistan’s biggest airport. There are thousands of Chinese working in the country, most of them involved in Beijing’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative.

The explosion, which the BLA said was the work of a suicide bomber, also raised questions about the ability of Pakistani forces to protect high-profile events or foreigners in the country.

Islamabad is hosting a summit next week of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a grouping founded by China and Russia to counter Western alliances.

Authorities have beefed up security in the capital by deploying troops to prevent any acts of terrorism.

The Ministry of Interior this week had alerted the country’s four provinces to take additional measures to enhance security as the separatist groups and Pakistani Taliban could launch attacks at public places and government installation. 
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Russian propagandists push fake story that Zelenskyy bought Hitler’s car

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washington — The article in the Seattle Tribune had everything: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Adolf Hitler and a $15 million classic car. Unsurprisingly, it spread like wildfire across Russia’s state and pro-Kremlin media.

But the subject was a strange one for a news site about a U.S. city; such outlets usually cover only local stories.

In fact, the article with headline “Hitler’s parade car bought by Ukraine’s Zelensky” was another fake spread by Russian propaganda.

There is no such media outlet as the Seattle Tribune, just a website masquerading as a full-fledged publication. And the article itself was a compilation of Russia’s disinformation “greatest hits” about Ukraine — “Nazism,” “unrestrained corruption” and “wasting American aid.”

According to the phony news article, Zelenskyy was spotted in Kyiv exiting a Mercedes-Benz 770K Grosser Offener Tourenwagen, Adolf Hitler’s parade car. The sighting supposedly occurred just days after the Ukrainian leader returned from Washington, where the U.S. government had allocated an $8 billion aid package to his country.

The article featured a screenshot of a post by the Ukrainian Telegram messenger channel Realna Viyna (“Real War” in Ukrainian) featuring a photo of the vehicle parked in front of the Ukrainian presidential administration building in Kyiv.

However, beyond the Seattle Tribune news site not actually existing, the article had several other glaring problems.

First, Realna Viyna did not publish the post in the screenshot. Second, the image of “Hitler’s car” was stolen from a photo widely available on the internet that was digitally edited into an image of the Ukrainian presidential administration building.

VOA found that the angle of photo in the screenshot, a black spot on the asphalt under the car’s running board, and the reflection on the front windshield completely match the image of the Mercedes-Benz 770K found across the internet.

Third, the Seattle Tribune website was registered on October 3, 2024, just six days before the fake article was published. And the registration was set for only one year.

The Seattle Tribune appears to belong to a network of disinformation websites controlled by John Mark Dougan, an American living in Russia, according to Shayan Sardarizadeh, a journalist who fact checks and debunks disinformation at the BBC.

He noted on social network X that creating fake local American news sites is Dougan’s standard approach. That conclusion matches VOA’s observations about Dougan’s network.

A former deputy sheriff in Florida, Dougan was charged with extortion and wiretapping in the United States. In 2016, he fled to Russia and later received political asylum there.

He now operates at least 167 disinformation sites that often publish narratives serving Russian interests, according to a May 2024 investigation by NewsGuard.

Dougan’s sites previously attracted widespread attention for spreading a fake story claiming that Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, had purchased a $4.8 million Bugatti supercar during a visit to France for commemorations of the D-Day landing.

That story seemed to be aimed at a Western audience. The fake “Hitler car” story, however, is mostly spreading in the Russian information space. In a message on the Telegram messenger, Dougan told VOA that he was unaware of the Seattle Tribune.

“Never heard of it. But I looked it up [and] heard there’s lots of great information on there. A real pillar of journalistic integrity, on par with the NYT, CNN and MSNBC,” he wrote, referring to The New York Times and two major U.S. TV news channels.

As is often the case with higher-quality fakes, the phony story about Hitler’s parade car combines a fictitious narrative about Zelenskyy with real facts about the sale of a former Nazi parade car in the United States.

The factual information comes from an article in a real American newspaper: The Seattle Times, which reported in February 2018 that the Mercedes-Benz 770K had briefly appeared in the Seattle area after having been put up for auction in Scottsdale, Arizona, a month earlier.

While the vehicle did not sell at the auction, it soon found a buyer. After that, the “Hitler car” was briefly unloaded from a truck in the wealthy Seattle suburb of Medina, where it attracted the attention of a local resident, who told The Seattle Times about it. Later, the car was likely reloaded onto the truck and taken way.

The director of the auction company Worldwide Auctioneers, Rod Egan (his name was also mentioned in the fake Seattle Tribune story), refused to tell The Seattle Times the buyer of the car, citing a non-disclosure agreement.

However, Egan said the car’s ultimate destination was “very, very far away” outside the United States.

The Seattle Times article also cited a German media report that six such cars were bought by a Russian billionaire in 2009. Among them was the vehicle mentioned in the fake article.

The fake story about Zelenskyy and the “Hitler car” also recalled a scene from the 2001 American comedy film “Rat Race,” in which actor Jon Lovitz steals Hitler’s parade car from a fictional museum of Nazi SS officer Klaus Barbie and then crashes it into a gathering of American World War II veterans.

Asked whether he was familiar with the film and scene, Dougan replied, “Comedy gold right there.”
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Kenya’s national airline produces diesel fuel from plastic waste

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Kenya’s national airline is producing diesel fuel made from plastic waste. Authorities say the goal is to provide cheaper fuel and to reduce plastic waste pollution. Victoria Amunga reports from Nairobi. Camera: Jimmy Makhulo.
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Pakistan’s banned PTM: A movement for Pashtun rights

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washington — This week, Pakistan banned a grassroots protest movement advocating for the rights of Pashtuns, an ethnic minority inhabiting the country’s northwestern region.

The government in Islamabad contends the movement, known as PTM, poses a threat to national sovereignty and security, but human rights groups view the move as part of a larger crackdown on dissent.

The ban, enacted Sunday under Pakistan’s anti-terror law, comes as tensions are mounting ahead of a PTM-planned jirga, or council of elders, on Friday.

Here is what you need to know about PTM:

What is it?

The Pashtun Tahafuz (Protection) Movement grew out of the turmoil of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s counterterrorism operations in the tribal region.

With the 2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan driving the Taliban and al-Qaida into the region, the Pakistani military launched a series of operations over the next two decades to hunt down the militants.

The consequences were devastating for the local population. Tens of thousands were killed, thousands were forcibly disappeared and millions more were displaced. These experiences fueled a growing sense of resentment and injustice among the Pashtuns.

In response to the alleged human rights abuses by the army and extremists, a group of eight university students from the Mehsud tribe formed the Mehsud Tahafuz Movement in 2014.

The movement gained national attention in 2018 after leading a 300-kilometer march to the capital to protest the killing of a Pashtun man by Pakistani police. The group then rebranded as the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement, or PTM, giving fellow Pashtuns a cause to rally around.

PTM co-founder Manzoor Pashteen, known for his charismatic personality and oratorical skills, has become the face of the movement. Other key leaders include Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar, both of whom served as independent lawmakers in Pakistan’s parliament. Along with other PTM leaders and activists, they’ve been repeatedly arrested on a variety of charges.

How large is PTM?

While there are no figures on PTM membership, it has emerged as a formidable grassroots movement in recent years. Its rallies routinely attract tens of thousands of people.

What does PTM want?

PTM began with a narrow set of demands, including the removal of military checkpoints, clearance of landmines and recovery of missing persons. But its campaign has evolved over the years into a broader struggle for justice, even as the government has met some of its demands.

What methods does it use?

Modeling itself on a British-era Pashtun civil disobedience movement, PTM uses a variety of peaceful methods such as marches, protests, processions through bazaars and open-air meetings known as jalsas. The groups have reportedly formed study circles to promote nonviolence and have called for a peace-and-reconciliation commission for justice.

How does the Pakistani government view PTM?

Though the movement has drawn support from other Pashtun groups, as well as progressive Pakistani activists and politicians, it has become, as one expert said, a “thorn in the side” of Pakistan’s powerful army.

The army, which rejects accusations that it has committed egregious human rights abuses, views PTM as a threat to its legitimacy. As Madiha Afzal, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, noted in a 2020 report, by “calling the army to account” and questioning its integrity, PTM effectively undermines the authority of an institution that sees itself as the guardian of the nation.

But the army’s hostility stems from a deeper fear: Pashtun nationalism. Pakistan, created in 1947 out of several ethnolinguistic parts of then-British India, has long been wary of “strong ethnic loyalties,” according to Afzal.

While PTM has remained peaceful, it is seen by the army as a potential threat to Pakistani sovereignty, as is a violent Baluch insurgency the army has been battling for decades.

Since the early days of the movement, the army has used a variety of tactics to try to shut it down, censoring media coverage of its activities, arresting and jailing PTM leaders, and launching a disinformation campaign to brand PTM activists as traitors and terrorists supported by India and Afghanistan.

But PTM has shown few signs of faltering, combining peaceful protests with legal battles and political activism while resisting the urge to turn violent.

As one activist told researcher Qamar Jafri, “We defend against attacks through resistance driven by legal activism and remaining resilient.”

What is next?

Human rights groups such as Amnesty International have called on Pakistan to revoke its ban on PTM. But Pakistani officials say PTM has ties to both the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, a charge the group denies.

Meanwhile, the government says PTM’s planned three-day jirga will not be allowed to proceed. At least three people were killed and several others injured as police clashed with activists near the site of the gathering on Wednesday.

VOA’s Deewa Service contributed to this report.
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Russian opposition politician Kara-Murza: ‘Putin must lose in Ukraine’ 

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WASHINGTON — Russian opposition politician and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza was released from a Russian prison on August 1 as part of a wide-ranging exchange of prisoners between Russia and several Western countries. He had been jailed in April 2022 on charges of treason for criticizing Russia’s war in Ukraine. He was almost fatally poisoned twice, in 2015 and 2017.

Since his release, Kara-Murza has been actively involved in the Russian opposition’s diplomatic efforts, meeting with the U.S. and French presidents and the German chancellor. During a recent visit to Washington, he sat down for interviews with Voice of America journalists. Speaking to VOA’s Ukrainian Service, he discussed the agenda that the Russian opposition is promoting in the West.

The following interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

VOA: After your release, you met with [U.S.] President [Joe] Biden, [French] President [Emmanuel] Macron and [German] Chancellor [Olaf] Scholz. What was your main message to them about policy toward Russia?

Vladimir Kara-Murza, Russian opposition politician: There are two main messages. The first message is that [Russian President] Vladimir Putin must lose the war in Ukraine, because if he does win, that means that in a year or a year and a half, we will be talking about another war or another Russian invasion, because this is what this man does.

The second message is that the democratic nations of the free world must have a strategy. We know from the last couple of centuries of Russian history that failed wars of aggression always lead to political changes at home. Once Putin is defeated in Ukraine, there must be a prepared strategy for reintegrating a new, changed, post-Putin democratic Russia back into Europe, back into the civilized world, and back into what we call the international rules-based order.

VOA: If Putin loses power, how can democratization possibly happen? Someone from his inner circle would most likely grab power.

Kara-Murza: I hope he doesn’t die in office and that’s how it ends. I’m a Christian, and I know that everybody gets a trial up there, and so will he. But I really want that man to get a trial in this life, too.

On the question of change, this is a personalistic dictatorship. It is not an ideological dictatorship like in Soviet times, with the collective Politburo, when you could replace the person at the top without replacing the regime. This system is going to collapse very quickly, as we saw in 1953 after [Josef] Stalin’s death.

VOA: But [Nikita] Khrushchev, who replaced Stalin, was from his inner circle; he wasn’t an outsider.

Kara-Murza: Even if the next leader comes from the same circle, they always base their rule on a complete denial of everything that happened before. Khrushchev was one of Stalin’s closest entourage. He was the one who released millions of people from the gulag and engaged in a very incomplete, very imperfect but nevertheless de-Stalinization process that we had in the late 1950s, early 1960s — the so-called “Thaw.”

VOA: What kind of preparations should be made? How could democratic forces seize power?

Kara-Murza: The domestic aspect concerns reflection and accountability, which I call a truth-and-reconciliation process. That is necessary for any society that has undergone the trauma of totalitarian rule. All the people who are responsible for the crimes against Russian citizens, like the assassination of Boris Nemtsov, the assassination of Alexei Navalny and the persecution of hundreds and hundreds of political prisoners, have to be brought to justice. All the archives and the documents of all the crimes committed must be made public.

VOA: What about confronting the Russian imperialist mentality? Should Russia also confront all the crimes it has committed toward other people throughout its history?

Kara-Murza: It is part of the totalitarian past, because for years and years, for decades, the regime in the Kremlin has been committing crimes against our people in Russia and against other countries, other people and other nations. Look at the aggression and the wars this regime has conducted against the Chechens, against the Georgians, against Ukraine — let’s not forget, starting in 2014. Then, in Syria, of course, let’s not forget [Sergei] Shoigu, [Putin’s] defense minister, boasted about new armaments they had tested — tested! — on people, on civilians in residential areas.

VOA: I want to address your main argument about integrating Russia into the West after democratization and liberalization. The main argument against this would be that the West already tried that in the 1990s. Russia was part of the G8. NATO and the EU engaged with Russia. It received assistance. However, as Russia became richer, it became more aggressive. The more it became integrated with the West, the more efficient its malicious activities against the West became.

Kara-Murza: Here is where I fundamentally disagree, because the whole problem is that the West did not do that in the 1990s. Yes, there were some symbolic steps, like the G8, which is just a summit meeting. But, unlike other countries of the former Warsaw Pact, Russia in the 1990s was never offered a prospect of what I would call first-tier European or Atlantic integration with tangible benefits like free trade, visa-free travel and common security guarantees.

VOA: But it requires time. Ukraine still hasn’t been offered NATO membership …

Kara-Murza: But the problem is that these windows of opportunity are, by definition, short and brief. They last a few months at best, and the West lost that window of opportunity in Russia in the early 1990s. We cannot allow that to happen again.

In 1943, as WWII was ongoing, the U.S. government developed the Morgenthau Plan for postwar Germany. It was about dismembering, de-industrializing, humiliating and basically destroying Germany as a functioning state. Given the horrors committed at the time of the war, it was emotionally very understandable. However, leaders of Western-allied nations realized that they could not base long-term strategic policy on emotion. So, the Morgenthau Plan was abandoned in favor of the Marshall Plan, which was the exact opposite: to rebuild and reconstruct Germany after the war, to make it a successful market economy and a functioning liberal democracy.

VOA: Should this happen before or after Russia pays reparations for the destruction of Ukraine?

Kara-Murza: It should be simultaneous. The only way we can ensure long-term peace, stability, security and democracy on the European continent is with a democratic Russia. It’s not going to happen any other way.
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2 Pakistani police, 4 insurgents killed ahead of Asian security summit

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PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Militants opened fire on a police vehicle and killed two officers on Thursday in restive northwest Pakistan before fleeing the scene, police said, a sign of increasing violence ahead of a summit of an Asian security grouping in the capital, Islamabad. 

Hours later, the military said it killed four militants in North Waziristan, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan.

The latest attack on police happened in the city of Tank, also in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, local police official Sher Afzal said. 

No group has claimed responsibility, but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, who often target security forces. 

The TTP are outlawed in Pakistan. They are separate from but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban who control neighboring Afghanistan. 

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant violence in recent months. 

On Wednesday, a suicide bomber dispatched by the Baloch Liberation Army, an outlawed separatist group, struck a convoy carrying Chinese nationals outside an airport in Karachi on Sunday, killing two engineers and wounding another. 

The latest violence comes ahead of the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which will take place in Islamabad on October 15. 

The Asian group was established in 2001 by China and Russia to discuss security concerns in Central Asia. Its other members are Iran, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. 

The killing of the Chinese has drawn condemnation from Pakistan’s leaders. 

On Thursday, President Asif Ali Zardari visited the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad, where he met with Ambassador Jiang Zaidong to offer condolences. Zardari denounced the attack and promised that those behind it would be punished, a government statement said. 

Also on Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a news conference in Beijing that “China will work with Pakistan to protect the safety and security of Chinese personnel, projects and institutions in Pakistan.” 

But she said she didn’t know if the movement of the Chinese nationals was being restricted because of the summit. Security in Islamabad was beefed up, with the authorities deploying troops, shutting schools and closing two restaurants on the road that will take guests from the airport to the summit venue. 

Thursday’s developments came a day after at least three people were killed in clashes in the northwestern town of Jamrud between police and supporters of a banned organization, the Pashtun Protection Movement, or PTM, which authorities say supports TTP. 

The government has also barred PTM from holding rallies in the northwest, allegedly because the demonstrations are against the interests of Pakistan. PTM denies backing the Pakistani Taliban, and tension was growing Thursday after the group vowed to resist the ban on its rallies. 
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Police investigate shooting near Israeli target in Sweden; no injuries reported

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STOCKHOLM — Swedish police said on Thursday they were investigating a shooting near an Israeli target in the city of Gothenburg, which the national broadcaster said was a unit of Israeli defense electronics firm Elbit Systems. 

Police said in a statement it had apprehended a young suspect at the scene and launched a probe into suspected attempted murder and serious weapons crimes. 

They did not identify the company, but Elbit Systems Sweden CEO Tobias Wennberg told Reuters there had been a serious incident outside its premises on Thursday, adding that no one was injured in the incident. 

“Elbit Systems Sweden otherwise has no knowledge of the incident. Our operations continue as usual,” he said in an email. 

A police spokesperson said there was only one suspect, and investigators were not aware of any concrete threats against other Israeli targets in the city on Sweden’s west coast. 

The suspect is under 15 years of age, public broadcaster SVT and other Swedish media reported, without identifying their sources. 

The Israeli Embassy in Stockholm did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Swedish police in May said they had stepped up security around Israeli and Jewish interests in the Nordic country after officers on patrol heard suspected gunshots near Israel’s embassy in Stockholm. 

Sweden has seen an epidemic of gun violence in recent years, driven by criminal gangs feuding over drugs and other illicit activities. 
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Cameroonians wait for news on president, said to be alive in Geneva

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Yaounde, Cameroon — The condition and exact whereabouts of Cameroon’s President Paul Biya remain unclear Thursday, two days after the government was forced to announce Biya was alive in Geneva, Switzerland, in response to rumors on social media that he had died.

Biya has not been seen in public for more than five weeks, since he attended the Africa-China forum in Beijing in early September. 

Cameroon’s Territorial Administration minister Paul Atanga Nji told residents of Massock, a village near the Atlantic coast, that Biya dispatched him to provide humanitarian assistance to victims of floods sweeping across the central African state.  

Nji, like many Cameroon senior state functionaries, told civilians that Biya is in good health, and that information circulating on social and mainstream media about the 91-year-old president’s death is being spread by people who want to see Cameroon devolve into chaos. 

“The president of our nation Cameroon cannot be dead,” Gregory Mewano, a member of Biya’s Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement party, said Thursday on Cameroon state radio. “And you find the prime minister in Germany with a whole entourage, the minister of interior taking care of internal politics and the minister of public works inspecting projects.” 

Officials say Biya will return to Cameroon soon, but they have not said when. There was no indication he was unwell in Beijing. He was scheduled to attend a meeting of French and African leaders in Paris afterward, but he did not appear, and no reason was given for his absence.  

Cameroon opposition and civil society groups say they are concerned about Biya’s absence and health, and ask government officials to present Biya to civilians instead of simply saying he is alive. 

With elections only a year away, some groups say it is time to begin thinking about a new, much younger candidate who could take the country forward. 

“We have had to make it clear to both national and international opinions that a number of opposition political parties are … consulting with regards to the happenings of Cameroon, and this rumor [about Biya’s death] is not an exception,” said Michael Ngwese Eke Ekosso, president of the opposition United Socialist Democratic Party. “Decisions will be arrived at with regards to the upcoming presidential elections.” 

Some opposition political parties have proposed uniting behind Akere Muna, an English-speaking anti-corruption lawyer and good governance crusader, as a candidate in the October 2025 presidential election.  

Muna, who is 72, said if elected, he would launch a three-year transitional period to lift Cameroon from Biya’s iron-fisted 42-year rule.   

“Our profound reflection is that a non-renewable transition is essential,” Muna said. “The vision we are proposing is to strengthen democracy and governance, adopt a new constitution that incarnates the present and future aspirations of the people of Cameroon, and promote free and fair elections.”  

If elected, Muna would be Cameroon’s first leader from the western regions where English is the primary language.  

His supporters say having a president from that area may help end a seven-year insurgency by English-speaking armed groups, who say English-speakers in Cameroon are marginalized by the French-speaking majority.  

Opposition parties blame Biya for not being able to solve the crisis. 

Meanwhile, Cameroonians of all parties wait anxiously for concrete signs that Biya is alive and will be returning to his country.
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Bangladeshi Hindus voice fear, anxiety as Durga Puja begins

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WASHINGTON — Sharadiya Durga Puja, the largest Hindu festival in Bangladesh, started Wednesday under a cloud of concern following recent acts of vandalism. Reports of idol desecration in various regions have raised concerns about the safety of religious minorities.

On Tuesday, vandals damaged five idols at the Sajjankanda District Road Transport Owner Oikya Parishad temple in Rajbari. This is the latest incident of vandalism of Durga idols reported in the media.

Ranadash Dasgupta, the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council’s general secretary, told VOA, “In the last 15 days, idols of Durga Puja have been damaged in 19 Puja [ritual prayer] pavilions in 14 districts of the country.”

Dasgupta said Hindu minorities are worshipping in fear of attacks.

“The minority community is in a sense of trauma. While they want to celebrate Puja, they also feel the risk of attack,’ he said.

Longtime lawyer Subrata Chowdhury said attacks on Hindu minorities have been taking place since the country became independent.

“The first attacks on Durga idols took place in Chattogram and Dhaka in 1972. Since then, hundreds of such attacks have taken place. Justice was not ensured in any of these incidents and perpetrators not identified,” Chowdhury told VOA.

According to a report by Ain O Salish Kendro, a Dhaka-based human rights organization, there were 12 attacks on religious minorities, 17 temples set on fire, five people injured and three homes attacked in 2022. In 2023, there were 22 incidents of violence, 43 idols vandalized, five reported home invasions and 19 people injured.

“Law enforcers have failed miserably here,” Chowdhurry said, “and we saw the judiciary’s reluctance to ensure fair trial over such incidents.”

Dasgupta said that violence against Hindu minorities continues because attackers face no consequences.

Heightened security in Puja pavilions

Army Chief General Waker-uz-Zaman announced on October 5 that the Bangladeshi Army has made extensive preparations to ensure security during Durga Puja.

The interim government has issued directives to maintain order, including deploying police, the Rapid Action Battalion and all local forces.

Inspector General of Police Mohammad Moinul Islam confirmed increased security at 31,000 festivals. Several arrests have been made, and police officials in Barisal, Pabna and Kishoreganj have been removed following vandalism incidents.

Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser Mahfuz Alam said Tuesday that action would be taken on complaints and that financial assistance would be provided to those affected.

But recent reports of vandalism have left many unsatisfied with the security measures.

Moni Mitra, who works for an online news outlet in Dhaka, said, “Every year before the start of Puja, we get reports of attacks in different parts of the country. This time too was no exception. We want to perform the Puja without fear. This is what we as a citizen of the country want from the government.”

Concern in India over safety of minorities

India has voiced concerns about idol vandalism and the safety of Hindus in Bangladesh. Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on October 4 that concerns for minority safety include Durga Puja and Vijayadashami. He urged the Bangladeshi government to ensure security for minority communities.

In response, Bangladeshi Foreign Adviser Md Touhid Hosasin said Bangladesh will address any attacks on puja mandaps without foreign interference.

The Indian government on several other occasions expressed concerns over the safety and security of minorities in Bangladesh since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led government on August 5.

At a news conference on September 18, the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council reported 2,010 incidents of communal violence across the country from August 4 to 20.

They included nine deaths, four rapes or gang rapes, and attacks on 69 places of worship, which were vandalized or set on fire.

Additionally, 953 businesses were attacked, vandalized, looted, or burned. The organization also reported 38 cases of physical assault and 21 instances of illegal land and business seizures.

US concerned, too

Concerns about the safety of religious minorities in Bangladesh were also raised by the United States.

On September 20, the chairs of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee — Senators Ben Cardin, Chris Murphy, Chris Van Hollen and Jeff Merkley — wrote to the chief adviser of the interim government, urging stronger law enforcement and prompt action against those responsible for attacks on vulnerable communities, including Hindus.

On September 26, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met with Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus. They discussed strengthening the partnership between the countries and highlighted the need to protect human rights for all Bangladeshis, particularly minority communities.

This story originated in VOA’s Bangla Service.
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Prayer camps in Nigeria attract ‘miracle seekers’

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The power of simple prayer to heal illness is not clear, according to scientists, and is difficult to study. Whatever your faith, when you’re sick, you should seek treatment from a doctor. But in Nigeria, some people choose spiritual healers and miracle cures over orthodox medicine and hospitals. That creates some dangerous situations. Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja.
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Uzbekistan accepts ambassador from Taliban-led Afghanistan

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Islamabad, Pakistan — Afghanistan’s Taliban said Thursday that Uzbekistan had accepted their appointed ambassador, and both sides marked the action as an important advancement in strengthening diplomatic ties between the neighboring countries.

The action is seen as a rare diplomatic achievement for the internationally isolated Taliban leaders since they regained control of the country three years ago.

Until now, China and the United Arab Emirates were the only two countries that had formally accredited a Taliban-appointed ambassador since Afghan insurgents regained power in Kabul.

None of the three nations has recognized the Taliban as the official government of Afghanistan, and neither has the rest of the world, citing concerns about inclusivity, terrorism, and restrictions on women’s access to education and work.

The Taliban’s foreign ministry identified its diplomat to Tashkent as Sheikh Abdul Ghafar Bahr, saying he formally presented a copy of his credentials to Uzbek Minister of Foreign Affairs Bakhtiyor Saidov on Wednesday.

“Bahr described the upgradation of bilateral relations as a pivotal phase, hoping for further progress,” the Taliban quoted their ambassador as saying at Wednesday’s ceremony to welcome him in the Uzbek capital.

The statement quoted Saidov as noting that “both countries enjoy shared interests and have achieved substantial economic growth over the past three years.” The Taliban said that Bahr “is expected to present his original letter of credence” to President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan.

“Our countries share a common history and interests of prosperity that serve as an impetus for the development of cooperation ties in all areas,” Saidov said on his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, after Wednesday’s ceremony. “We also discussed the acute topics on bilateral, regional, and global agendas,” the Uzbek foreign minister wrote.

 The Taliban separately stated Thursday that their Ministry of Mines and Petroleum had signed a 10-year contract with an Uzbek company for the exploration and extraction of gas in Afghanistan.

The announcement said the agreement requires the Uzbek company to invest $100 million in the first year and $1 billion over the next 10 years. The investment will target the gas reserves of the Totimaidan field in the northern Afghan province of Faryab, which spans an area of about 7,000 square kilometers.

Russia reported last week that a “principal decision” had already been made to remove the Taliban from its list of transnational terrorist organizations, saying relevant Russian agencies were “putting finishing touches” on the delisting in line with federal law.

U.S.-led Western countries have been pressing the Taliban to reverse restrictions on women’s freedoms and their right to education as well as employment before they could consider engaging diplomatically with Kabul. Washington also wants the de facto Afghan rulers to address regional and international terrorism concerns.

“We have not changed our designation of the Taliban as a specially designated global terrorist organization, and we continue to make clear that any significant steps towards normalization of relations is contingent upon a profound shift in the Taliban’s human rights conduct,” Matthew Miller, the U.S. State Department spokesperson said on Tuesday.

“We continue to work with our allies and partners to press the Taliban to reverse their discriminatory edicts, and we make sure that any significant steps toward normalization of relations are contingent upon profound improvements in their treatment of women and girls, including but not limited to allowing women and girls back in school and lifting the restrictions on women’s employment,” Miller explained.

Taliban leaders defend their governance, arguing that it is in line with their interpretation of the Islamic law of Sharia. They also rejected criticism of their curbs on Afghan women’s access to education, employment, and public life at large.

Abdul Kabir, the Taliban’s deputy prime minister for political affairs, reportedly said Thursday that their government aims to maintain positive relations with all countries. However, he emphasized that “they will not sacrifice Islamic principles or values to please others.”

Kabir asserted in his remarks that the Taliban are currently in control of “40 diplomatic missions in different countries and engagement with the world is moving in a positive direction.”
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