Day: October 29, 2021

In a year of coups and attempted coups, Sudan is the latest country to see a military takeover. Thousands of protesters demonstrated in the streets following Lt. General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan’s announcement Monday that Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and other officials of the formerly ruling Sovereign Council had been arrested and a state of emergency declared. Latest on the situation here:

Climate summit opens Sunday in Glasgow:

The international community will meet in Glasgow, Scotland, for the next two weeks to try to stop the countdown to what U.N. chief Antonio Guterres warns is a “climate catastrophe.” Watch here:

The United Nations took a creative approach to raising the climate alarm, producing a short, special effects-filled video starring “Frankie the Dino” urging people to climate action so they won’t become “extinct” like him. Watch it here:

Africa faces a syringe shortage threatening COVID-19 vaccinations:

The World Health Organization says only 6% of Africa’s 1.2 billion people are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. Now, as vaccine shipments are increasing, the continent faces a new complication: a shortage of syringes to inject the vaccine.

News in brief

The U.N. Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran said Monday the death penalty continues “to be implemented at an alarming rate” in that country. Javaid Rehman told the U.N. General Assembly committee that deals with human rights issues that Tehran executed more than 250 people last year, and more than 230 so far this year. “I urge the government to initiate reforms in this area, starting most urgently with a moratorium on the death penalty against child offenders,” he said.

The United Nations said Wednesday that worldwide, 28 of its civilian staff died in 2020 and the first half of 2021 because of “acts of violence and safety-related incidents.” There also was an alarming rise in the number of staff who were abducted – 17 in 2020 – compared with six in 2019.

Good news:

Thousands of refugees return home:

The U.N. refugee agency reports it has restarted a voluntary repatriation operation for thousands of refugees from the Central African Republic who were living in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Quote of note:

“Many of the women I have spoken to as I have been out across the country in Mazar, Herat, areas of Kabul, tell me they haven’t eaten in days as they spare what they have for their children. I had women falling at my feet crying for food.” Mary-Ellen McGroarty, World Food Program Representative and Country Director in Afghanistan, to reporters Tuesday on the severe hunger conditions affecting millions in that country.

What we are watching next week:

An important report from the U.N. Human Rights Office and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) on their joint investigation into alleged human rights violations committed by all parties in the conflict in the northern Tigray region will be launched Wednesday by U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.

The COP26 climate summit gets underway Sunday in Glasgow, Scotland. The U.N. secretary-general says it may be the last chance for leaders to make ambitious and meaningful commitments to lower carbon emissions in order to keep global warming this century to below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Did you know?

The United Nations loves acronyms. COP stands for “Conference of the Parties.” The Glasgow meeting on climate is the 26th session, hence COP26. There is another COP on biodiversity, which takes place every two years — COP15 — which met this month in China. And next year, there will be a COP on desertification, which – this is where it gets tricky – also will be a COP15.

Source: Voice of America

A court in Zimbabwe Friday ordered the release of about 40 veterans of the nation’s 1970s independence war, four days after they tried to petition President Emmerson Mnangagwa about their low monthly pension.

Their lawyers accuse the government of infringing on citizens’ right to demonstrate, particularly those who opposed President Mnangagwa’s rule.

War veterans chatted outside the courtroom Friday after Magistrate Barbra Mateko ordered their release on about $40 bail. They were arrested Monday while trying to go to Mnangagwa’s office to ask for a review of their less than $100 monthly pension.

Paidamoyo Saurombe, from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, spoke to VOA after he secured the war veterans’ release on bail.

“It’s not a crime to demonstrate in Zimbabwe, it’s not a crime to petition. It’s actually provided for by the constitution," Saurombe said. "So in anything that has to be done, it has to be done in those ambits of the constitution or in those constitutional provisions. And our clients were following constitutional provisions, so to say they committed a crime it would rather be absurd.”

The veterans are expected to go on trial next month. The offense of “breaching the peace,” which they face, has an option of a fine if they are convicted.

Addressing senior members of the ruling ZANU-PF party Friday in Bindura, about 80 kilometers north of Harare, President Mnangagwa said the war veterans had broken protocol.

“Various initiatives have been implemented to improve the dignity, welfare and economic empowerment of veterans of the liberation struggle and dependence of the heroes," Mnangagwa said. "But I urge the war veterans to use procedures in the party, not outside the party.Their rich ideological grounding should galvanize the principle of patriotism in the hearts and minds of cadres and embolden them in their efforts to ensure that ZANU-PF remains the party of choice which wholeheartedly serves the people.”

At the court, one of the war veterans, who identified himself as Cde Tendai, said he was relieved his colleagues had been granted bail because some of them have chronic conditions.

“We were concerned by their health," Tendai said. "We feared that some of them may have died because most war veterans are stressed by so many things. We were surprised by their arrests. We were not violent, we respect the rule of law and our government. The only issue was: we want to petition since we are getting very little money considering how life is difficult.”

Zimbabwe’s war of liberation from the white minority-led rule of Ian Smith lasted for 16 years, from 1964 to 1980.The government still pays monthly pensions to about 30,000 veterans of the war.

Source: Voice of America

A Chinese national has filed a challenge at the Malawi High Court against a 14-year jail sentence, which a lower court gave him last month after he was convicted of three wildlife crimes.

Lin Yunhua is allegedly a leader of an African wildlife trafficking syndicate known as the Lin-Zhang gang, named after the husband-and-wife leaders. It has operated out of Malawi for at least a decade.

Malawi authorities arrested Lin in August 2019 following a three-month manhunt. Police said he was found with the horns of five rhinos chopped into 103 pieces.

Last month, the magistrate’s court in the capital, Lilongwe, handed down the prison sentence.

Chrispine Ndalama, Lin's attorney, said, "I can simply say that we have filed the notice of appeal, but we are still consulting with our client on how to move forward. But we haven’t yet filed any documentation; we just filed the notice of appeal, because you need to appeal within the period of 30 days after the judgment has been delivered.”

Ndalama said the appeal asks the court to reduce the 14-year sentence on the ground that Lin was a first-time offender, among other reasons.

In all, Malawian authorities have sent 14 people to prison in connection with the trafficking syndicate, including Lin’s wife and son-in-law.

Lin’s daughter was also arrested in December 2020 for alleged money laundering offenses. Her case is ongoing.

Sentence lauded

Wildlife campaigners have commended Lin’s sentence, saying it would help deter other would-be wildlife traffickers from committing similar crimes.

Mary Rice, executive director of the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency, an organization campaigning against environmental crimes and abuse, said the 14-year sentence was appropriate.

“I think to be honest the sentence is fair and commensurate with all charges filed against him," Rice said. "So I am sure the prosecution will counter the appeal, and I guess the case rumbles on.”

Brighton Kumchedwa, director of Malawi’s Department of National Parks & Wildlife, said the government was ready to face Lin again in court.

“In the first place, it is his right to appeal," Kumchedwa said, "but yeah, we are very ready for him, just as we did in a lower court. It is our hope and prayer that probably [we will] come be back victorious.”

Kumchedwa said the country is now experiencing a decline in wildlife trafficking.

“I think following the hefty sentences that are coming from the courts, we are seeing a reduction indeed of these cases related to ivory trafficking," Kumchedwa said. "I don’t have a figure on top of my head, but suffice to say that there is a decline.”

The High Court has yet to set a date to hear Lin’s appeal.

Source: Voice of America

New violence has wracked northwestern Cameroon, where the military said it killed some 40 separatist fighters over the past two weeks. The Catholic Church said some of those killed were civilians, and witnesses said many houses were burned to the ground.

Cameroon’s government is expressing frustration with the separatists but vows it will not allow the breakup of the country.

External Relations Minister Lejeune Mbella Mbella summoned ambassadors to a meeting Thursday where he laid out the government’s position on the separatist crisis.

Mbella Mbella said the separatists are again causing untold suffering in the English-speaking western towns and villages of the majority French-speaking nation.

He said Cameroon is surprised fighters continue to commit atrocities when much has been done to satisfy the needs of the minority English speakers who feel marginalized.

“The government of Cameroon has undertaken the most expensive and extensive structural and administrative reforms in its recent history," Mbella Mbella said. "As a key recommendation of the major national dialogue, the government tabled the bill to institute the special status. His excellency Paul Biya has also granted a general full amnesty to combatants who voluntarily drop their weapons."

None of the heads of diplomatic missions invited to the meeting would comment when contacted by VOA.

By “special status,” the minister is referring to political reforms that gave the largely English-speaking northwest and southwestern regions greater autonomy. The reforms were passed after Cameroon organized what it called a major national dialogue to solve the separatist crisis in 2019.

Mbella Mbella also declared the government will not allow any part of the country to secede.

The separatists have a different point of view. This week, an official from what the separatists call the Ambazonia Interim Government said on Facebook that their forces will never surrender, and that the English speakers will fight until freedom is achieved.

They also accuse government forces of being responsible for many killings and much of the destruction in the western regions.

Separatists blame the government for torching houses during recent operations in the northwestern town of Kumbo and areas nearby. The government said separatist forces were to blame.

The military also said about 40 fighters have been killed in raids on separatist camps in the past two weeks.

However, the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon's Catholic Bishops — a neutral party in the conflict — said some of those killed were civilians.

Kumbo Mayor Venatius Mborong said several hundred civilians had fled the renewed fighting.

"They left Kumbo because they have been kidnapped a couple of times and they have paid ransom and now they are frankless [poor]," Mborong said. "People have sold houses, they have sold their lands, and so they cannot continue staying there."

The United Nations says the separatist war has forced more than 500,000 people to flee their homes since the conflict erupted in late 2017.

Source: Voice of America

Ethiopia’s media authority on Friday ordered a local radio and TV broadcaster to cease sharing foreign news reports.

A letter from the Ethiopian Media Authority, issued to Ahadu Radio and TV (Ahadu RTV), said the station could no longer air coverage provided by international news agencies via satellite.

Ahadu RTV is an affiliate of Voice of America, which is the predominant source for its international coverage.

The letter, written in Amharic and viewed by VOA’s Africa Division, provided no specific reason for the ban or a timeframe for how long it would stay in place, saying only that the “station was acting outside its goals of establishment.”

Several other stations received the same order, according to Eskinder Frew, a journalist in Addis Ababa who contributes to VOA.

Ethiopia has issued orders or suspended licenses for various media groups and expelled at least one foreign journalist in the past year, often on accusations that the news outlets were legitimizing terrorist groups, a reference to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.

Ethiopian federal forces and the TPLF have been fighting in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region since November 2020.

In July, the media regulator suspended the license of the Addis Standard, which led to the news outlet's suspension of operations.

The regulator said it was investigating complaints that the Addis Standard was publishing content that posed a threat to national security, the Committee to Protect Journalists said at the time.

That same month, authorities arrested about 20 journalists from two independent broadcasters.

Media analysts including Reporters Without Borders told VOA in July that the arrests were likely connected to the media coverage of the federal government and the conflict in Tigray.

VOA sent requests for comment late Friday to Ethiopia’s embassy in Washington and to the Ethiopian Media Authority. As of publication, neither had responded.

The media regulator said in its letter Friday that broadcasters must operate “according to the terms and obligations they agreed upon ... to inform, educate and entertain the public.”

Ahadu RTV however, “has been rebroadcasting the Voice of America contents via satellite link, abandoning its objective.”

VOA expressed disappointment at the order Friday and called on the Ethiopian Media Authority to reconsider its decision.

“The Voice of America strictly adheres to the principles of accurate, balanced and comprehensive journalism. Our content addresses issues important to the people of Ethiopia,” acting director Yolanda L?pez said in a statement.

“The order restricts the free flow of information to the citizens of Ethiopia and undermines press freedom. It sends a chilling message to all journalists in the country.”

Source: Voice of America