Month: June 2019

Sudan’s protest movement accepted an Ethiopian roadmap for a civilian-led transitional government, a spokesman said on Sunday, after a months-long standoff with the country’s military rulers — who did not immediately commit to the plan. Ethiopia has led diplomatic efforts to bring the protest and military leaders back to the negotiating table, after a crackdown against the pro-democracy movement led to a collapse in talks. According to protest organizers, security forces killed at least 128 people across the country, after they violently dispersed the sit-in demonstration outside the military’s headquarters in the capital, Khartoum, earlier this month. Authorities have offered a lower death toll of 61, including three from the security forces. Yet it appeared that protest leaders, represented by the Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change, were open to the Ethiopian initiative as a way out of the political impasse. Ahmed Rabie, a spokesman for the Sudanese Professionals’ Association which is part of the FDFC, told The Associated Press that the proposal included a leadership council with eight civilian and seven military members, with a rotating chairmanship. All the civilians would come from the FDFC, except for one independent and “neutral” appointee, he said. According to a copy of the proposal obtained by the AP, the military would chair the council in the first 18 months, and the FDFC the second half of the transition. Rabie said that the roadmap would build on previous agreements with the military. These include a three-year transition period, a protester-appointed Cabinet …

Another Democrat has entered the 2020 race for the White House. Retired Navy admiral and former Pennsylvania congressman Joe Sestak announced his candidacy Sunday on his website. He introduced himself to voters by telling them “I wore the cloth of the nation for over 31 years in peace and war, from the Vietnam and Cold War eras to Afghanistan and Iran and the emergence of China.” He said he postponed announcing his candidacy to care for a daughter ill with brain cancer. Sestak was also part of former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s national security team, holds a doctorate in government from Harvard, and unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate twice. He embraces many positions popular with liberals, including abortion rights, gun control, and backs the nuclear deal with Iran. Sestak is the 24th Democrat to officially announce a challenge to President Donald Trump in 2020, with Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren leading the polls so far.   …

Syrian rebel groups have launched a major offensive this week against government troops in a Syrian province in what is seen by analysts as a new twist to the ongoing conflict in the northwestern part of the country. Rebel fighters affiliated with the Turkish-backed National Front for Liberation said Tuesday that they have begun targeting Syrian regime forces in the northern part of Hama, a province bordering the flashpoint province of Idlib, which is the last rebel stronghold in Syria. The new assault is primarily aimed at targeting villages from which government forces launch attacks on Idlib, according to a rebel source quoted by German news agency DPA. This “military operation that opposition groups have started positions belonging to regime troops came about after government forces deployed military reinforcements in the countryside of Hama and Idlib in order to launch a large military offensive,” the unidentified rebel source said.   Hama province has largely been under the control of the Syrian regime with parts of it briefly captured by rebel groups and Islamic State (IS) militants during different stages of Syria’s civil war. For weeks, Syrian government troops, backed by Russian warplanes and Iranian militias, have been trying to dislodge rebels from Idlib. Dozens of civilians have been killed in the recent escalation across Idlib, according to local media. Distraction strategy Assaulting areas like Hama at this point could be an attempt by the rebels to distract the regime from focusing on it, some analysts charge. “This offensive is to …

A Yemeni Houthi rebel attack on an airport in southern Saudi Arabia has killed one civilian and wounded seven others, the Saudi-led military coalition said Sunday. Coalition officials say the parking lot at the Abha airport, which services a resort, was hit. It gave no other details including whether it was struck by a missile or a drone. The Houthi rebels say they flew drones over the Abha and Jizan airports, but the Saudis did not confirm Jizan was also targeted. A Houthi missile struck Abha last week, wounding 26. Human Rights Watch condemned the attack as a possible “war crime” and the Saudis promised to take “stern action.” The Saudi coalition is helping the Yemeni government try to push the Iranian-backed Houthis out of the capital, Sana’a. While Iran admits support for the Houthis, it denies Saudi allegations of arming the rebels. A diplomatic quartet made up of Britain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and United States issued a statement Sunday condemning the Houthi attacks on the airports and what it calls Iranian “destabilizing activity” in Yemen and elsewhere in the Middle East. The statement demands Houthis end all restrictions on food and emergency aid deliveries in Yemen and allow the World Food Program to get back to work. While the quartet’s statement makes no mention of Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen, which have killed thousands of civilians, it urges all parties to accelerate implementation of the December ceasefire agreement. The statement says the quartet remains committed to the …

Chinese President Xi Jinping may have encouraged North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to renew talks with the U.S. during his recent visit to Pyongyang, but without a concrete road map for denuclearization, diplomacy is meaningless, experts say. “The international community hopes that North Korea and the United States can talk and for the talks to get results,” Xi told Kim on Thursday, according to Chinese media. Xi left Pyongyang early Friday afternoon. It was the first visit by a Chinese president in 14 years. Pyongyang’s denuclearization talks with Washington have been stalled ever since the Hanoi summit in February, which was cut short without producing any deals. ‘Didn’t get a positive response’ According to Chinese media, Kim told Xi that North Korea took many positive steps to reduce tensions but “didn’t get a positive response from the relevant side,” referring to the U.S. Kim added, “North Korea is willing to exercise patience and, at the same time, hopes the relevant side can meet North Korea halfway, seek a solution that accords with both side’s reasonable concerns, and promote results for the talks process of the peninsula issue.” Evans Revere, acting assistant secretary for East Asia and the Pacific at the State Department during the George W. Bush administration, said Xi’s meeting with Kim could have helped Pyongyang reconsider resuming its talks with Washington. “There have been signs that North Korea may be preparing to reengage diplomatically,” Revere said. “And the Xi-Kim summit is the latest indication that Pyongyang is …

During the 1969 series of riots that followed a police raid of the Stonewall Inn, the New York Daily News headlined a story that quickly became infamous: “Homo Nest Raided, Queen Bees are Stinging Mad.” Some of the coverage of rioting outside the gay bar — unimaginable today in mainstream publications for its mocking tone — was itself a source of the fury that led Stonewall to become a synonym for the fight for gay rights. Fifty years later, media treatment of the LGBTQ community has changed and is still changing. “The progress has been extraordinary, with the caveat that we still have a lot to do,” said Cathy Renna, a former executive for the media watchdog GLAAD who runs her own media consulting firm. FILE – A New York Police officer grabs a youth by the hair as another officer clubs a young man during a confrontation in Greenwich Village after a Gay Power march in New York, Aug. 31, 1970. Coverage nonexistent or negative Before Stonewall, mainstream media coverage of gays was generally nonexistent or consisted of negative, police blotter items. When a small group demonstrated against government treatment outside the White House in 1965, a newspaper headline said, “Protesters Call Government Unfair to Deviants,” noted Josh Howard, whose film “The Lavender Scare,” about an Eisenhower-era campaign against gays and lesbians in government, aired on PBS this week. A 1966 Time magazine article called homosexuality “a pathetic little second-rate substitute for reality, a pitiable flight from life. As …

Museums across the United States are striving to be more accessible to everyone. That includes touchable versions of photographs and paintings for people who may not be able to see them. At a recent expo by the American Alliance of Museums in New Orleans, new technology was used to help the visually impaired “see” art and pictures. VOA’s Deborah Block tells us more. …

Concrete military walls and police security checkpoints are seen on every corner of Afghanistan’s capital city, Kabul.  The robust security presence signals a major effort to protect civilians and government officials from terrorist attacks.  But the very real threat of violence, like a suicide attack, doesn’t stop Kabul residents from living and enjoying their daily lives.  VOA’s Ahmad Samir Rassoly gives us a unique view of a typical night in Kabul. …

The world may be moving toward renewable energy sources, but fossil fuels are still the fuel of choice for the transportation industry. Especially when it comes to moving big things like planes and cargo ships, it’s all about petroleum. But Swiss researchers are looking to at least make the creation of fuel a carbon neutral process. …

Eighteen people were killed when an under-construction building in Cambodia collapsed early Saturday, an official said, as rescuers struggled to reach missing workers feared trapped under a mountain of twisted steel and rubble. The seven-story steel and concrete structure in the coastal town of Sihanoukville, west of the capital Phnom Penh, was a Chinese-owned project. At least 24 people were injured and some workers had been trapped inside the building soon after it collapsed, according to the office of the spokesman for the local province of Preah Sihanouk. “The steel structure has collapsed on itself and we don’t dare move it,” the spokesman, Oar Saroeun, told Reuters Saturday. “We can only wait and listen for any signs of life. … We are afraid more of it will collapse on them. … We will work through the night to remove the steel.” A statement issued Sunday by Preah Sihanouk Province officials said 40% of the debris from the site had been cleared. It was not clear how many more people were missing. Photos of the scene shared on social media showed groups of rescuers working their way through a crumpled heap of steel girders and concrete. Preah Sihanouk province and its largest town, Sihanoukville, has seen a rush of investment in recent years from China, especially into the casino, property and tourism sectors. Home to Cambodia’s largest port and a Chinese Special Economic Zone connected to Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative, the town is also undergoing a construction boom to serve growing crowds …

A seven-story building under construction collapsed in Cambodia’s coastal city of Sihanoukville early Saturday, killing seven workers and injuring 21, authorities said.   Provincial authorities said in a statement that four Chinese nationals involved in the construction have been detained while an investigation into the collapse is carried out.   Rescue work at the site was underway to find out if any more workers were trapped in the rubble, said the city police chief, Maj. Thul Phorsda. Workers could be seen using saws to cut steel beams and excavators to move piles of rubble from the site.   The Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training said that 30 workers were at the site when the building tumbled around 4 a.m.  Police and provincial authorities said they were unsure how many people were working on the building.   It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the collapse.   Yun Min, the governor of Preah Sihanouk province, said the building was owned by a Chinese investor who leased land for a condominium – one of many Chinese projects in the thriving beach resort.   Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said on his official Facebook page that the Cambodian workers were using the unfinished structure as their sleeping quarters. The building was about 70% to 80% completed.   …

U.N. Human Rights chief Michelle Bachelet is urging the Venezuelan government to free hundreds of jailed dissidents who were arrested for participating in peaceful protests. Her request came at the end of a three-day visit Friday to Venezuela during which she met with President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido. Top UN Human Rights Chief Meets Venezuelan Opposition Leader Guaido The UN official is also scheduled to meet with President Maduro At a Caracas news conference before leaving the country, Bachelet called on the government “to release all those who are detained or deprived of their liberty for exercising their rights in a peaceful manner.” Rights groups have been pressuring Bachelet to advocate on behalf of more than 700 people they say have been jailed for political reasons, a claim Maduro denies. ‘Serious’ humanitarian crisis Bachelet, who said Venezuela faced a “serious” humanitarian crisis, also met with activists and victims of human rights violations, many of whom have been accused of conspiracy to overthrow the government. “It was deeply painful to hear the desire of the victims, of their families, to obtain justice in the face of serious human rights violations,” she sald. Maduro said that he will take the recommendations of Bachelet seriously. After meeting Bachelet, Maduro said, “There are always going to be different criteria in every country, but I told her that she can count on me, as president, to take her suggestions, her recommendations and her proposals seriously.” Earlier, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said …

VOA congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson and VOA Persian’s Katherine Ahn contributed to this report from Washington. WASHINGTON — Iran warned Saturday that it would react sharply to any perceived aggression against it. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi told the semi-official Tasnim  news agency that Iran would not allow any of its borders to be violated.  He said “Iran will firmly confront any aggression or threat by America.” Britain’s Middle East minister travels to Tehran Sunday for talks with Iranian officials.  Britain’s Foreign Office said Andrew Murrison will call for “urgent de-escalation in the region.”  Murrison will also discuss Iran’s threat to cease complying with the nuclear deal that the United States pulled out of last year.   Friday U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted that the United States was “cocked & loaded to retaliate last night on 3 different sights when I asked, how many will die. 150 people, sir, was the answer from a General. 10 minutes before the strike I stopped it,” Trump tweeted, saying the action would have been disproportionate. “I am in no hurry,” Trump added. President Obama made a desperate and terrible deal with Iran – Gave them 150 Billion Dollars plus I.8 Billion Dollars in CASH! Iran was in big trouble and he bailed them out. Gave them a free path to Nuclear Weapons, and SOON. Instead of saying thank you, Iran yelled….. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2019 The president also said that he authorized additional “biting” sanctions against Iran late …

The World Health Organization says millions of people with epilepsy are reluctant to seek treatment because of the stigma attached to their ailment, leading to the premature death of many.  WHO has released the first global report on epilepsy. Nearly 50 million people around the world suffer from epilepsy.  The World Health Organization reports this neurological disease affects people of all ages in all walks of life.  It says this brain disease can cause seizures and sometimes loss of awareness.   Program Manager in WHO’s Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Tarun Dua says people with epilepsy suffer widespread stigma and discrimination as a consequence of their unusual behavior. “So, in many settings, people with epilepsy they are embarrassed…children are not allowed to go to school, adults are not allowed to work, sometimes not even marry or the right to drive is also not there,” said Dua. “So, these stigma and human rights violations and sometimes also the death that is associated with epilepsy—so premature mortality in epilepsy is three times that of the general population.”  Causes of epilepsy include injury around the time of birth, brain infections from illnesses such meningitis or encephalitis and stroke.  WHO estimates 25 percent of cases are preventable. Dua says early death among people with epilepsy in low and middle-income countries is significantly higher than in wealthy countries.  She says the stigma associated with epilepsy is a main factor preventing people from seeking treatment.   She says low cost, effective medication to treat …

Mauritanian voters are headed to the polls in the country’s first election without an incumbent presidential candidate since the 2008 coup. Polling stations opened Saturday at 8am across the Sahara Desert nation and will remain open until 7pm local time. President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz is stepping down, as is mandated by the constitution, after his two five-year terms.  His ruling Union for the Republic (UPR) party has put forth former defense minister Mohamed Ould Ghazouani as its candidate. Opposition candidates say that Ghazouani would not affect any change from the last administration – change they say is desperately needed. “I think there needs to be a true changeover, because the state today of my country is catastrophic. The economic situation is extremely serious, as are our societal problems,” Sidi Mohammed Ould Boubacar, a former prime minister and leading opposition candidate supported by the Tewassoul party, told VOA. Boubacar is one of five opposition candidates running to replace the UPR. Other candidates include well-known anti-slavery activist Biram Dah Abeid, who has promised a national inquiry into the country’s cases of modern slavery. Though voters are mobilized by the wide range of candidates, many are wary that the National Electoral Commission, which earlier this year refused appeals to employ foreign observers, may not hold fair elections. According to a Gallup poll, 64% of Mauritanians do not have faith in the honesty of the elections. When asked who they believe will win the election, many voters VOA spoke with in Nouakchott preceded …

Delays in obtaining passports are making some Zimbabweans think of “jumping the border” to look for jobs and a better life. People are still applying for the documents so they can travel legally, but the wait is long and hopes are growing dim.  A line formed Thursday evening near midnight outside Harare’s only passport office. The people covered themselves in blankets or plastic. It was chilly, being winter in this part of the world. Some started a fire to keep the cold at bay.  Applicants outside a Harare passport office use fire to keep cold at bay, June 21, 2019. (C. Mavhunga/VOA) By 4 a.m. Friday there were about 20 people in line, and they were already worried. Passport office authorities are accepting between five and 15 applicants a day.  The people in line were reluctant to talk at first, but after agreeing on nicknames they opened up, starting with “Joe,” 34.    Joe said he wanted a passport because the economy has really collapsed. He said he wanted to leave the country because he couldn’t survive in Zimbabwe. He said he would try to leave even without a passport — that’s called “jumping the border” — because there was nothing else he could do in Zimbabwe.     Highly skilled and semiskilled Zimbabweans have been leaving the country for decades, moving to nearby South Africa or Botswana or far away to Britain and U.S. in search of greener pastures.     Now, even more Zimbabweans want to leave, unable to find jobs in the moribund economy.     Last …

Senior political figures from Afghanistan, including several presidential candidates, will attend a rare, unofficial meeting in neighboring Pakistan Saturday where they will hold discussions on how to promote “peace and reconciliation” efforts in their war-ravaged country. The conference will be held in the tourist resort of Bhurban, about 70 kilometers from the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. Around 30 Afghans, mostly opposition leaders, have been invited, organizers said. They say that the meeting is being held in support of ongoing U.S.-led efforts to bring an end to the 17-year-old war with the Taliban. No representatives of the Taliban insurgency will attend the conference. It comes ahead of the June 27 official visit to Pakistan by President Ashraf Ghani, who is also seeking re-election in the September presidential vote in Afghanistan. Ghani’s election rivals, Gulbadin Hekmatyar, Haneef Atmar and Abdul Latif Pedram are among the expected participants. Atmar’s spokesperson said, however, that Atmar has sent two representatives in his place because of prior commitments. Mohammad Karim Khalili, the head of government-appointed High Peace Council, two former governors, Atta Mohammad Noor and Mohammad Ismail, and the second deputy to the Afghan chief executive, Mohammad Mohaqiq, will also take part in Saturday’s meeting. “This is a high policy peace conference designed to give peace a chance. We stand for peace in Afghanistan and the time has come to hear solutions for peace, not war,” said Maria Sultan of the South Asian Strategic Stability Institute (SASSI), which is an organizer of Saturday’s conference. She emphasized the conference is …

Dozens of European citizens of Somali origin who joined the Islamic State terror group in Syria and Iraq want to go to Somalia due to European countries’ reluctance to take them back. Through their parents, the so-called Islamic State brides and their children have urged the Somali government to take them in. VOA Somali service’s Investigative Dossier program has obtained the list of 23 women and 34 children who are now being held at al-Hol camp in northern Syria. The relatives say the IS brides have expressed “regret” and accept they made a “mistake” in leaving Europe to travel to Syria. Some of the women have lost their European citizenship. Nasra Abdullahi Abukar is one of them. She left London’s Lewisham Borough on June 3, 2014 and travelled to Syria. In October 2017 the British government revoked her citizenship. Her mother, Kaha Gure Hassan, says her daughter was born in Somalia and wants to go there to live with her father. “I appeal to the (Somali) president, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, and Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire and the Somali people to get those children returned,” Hassan says. “If they rescue, we will take responsibility for her.” ‘She was groomed’ Hassan says her daughter was not a religious person. “She used to wear trousers and was not particularly connected to a mosque,” she told Investigative Dossier. “She was groomed [recruited] through the internet.” Seven days after leaving London, Abukar called her mother and told her she went to Syria to “help …

Six presidential hopefuls in Mauritania ended their campaigns on Thursday with hourslong rallies throughout the capital of Nouakchott. For the first time since a 2008 coup, President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz will not be up for re-election, leaving the polls wide open and voters newly energized for change. Among the opposition candidates are Sidi Mohamed Ould Boubacar of Tawassoul, the country’s main opposition party. Boubacar previously served the country as prime minister from 2005 to 2007. Though he is more established in politics than the other opposition candidates, Boubacar is running on the platform of change, and has said that electing the ruling party’s candidate would not affect necessary change in the country. “I think there needs to be a true changeover, because the state today of my country is catastrophic. The economic situation is extremely serious, as are our societal problems,” Boubacar told VOA. Another notable opposition candidate is Biram Dah Abeid, an independent politician running on an anti-slavery problem. Mauritania has consistently ranked as one of the worst countries in the world for modern slavery, a problem that Abeid has combatted in his work outside of politics. Abeid has gained popularity among poorer and rural communities, and he says it’s because despite his international travels, he has always been committed to the betterment of Mauritania. “I’ve devoted my life to the Mauritanian people, to fighting slavery, and to fighting racial discrimination,” Abeid told VOA. Biram Dah Abeid is running on an anti-slavery platform and plans to call for …

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet is set to meet separately Friday with in Caracas with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido. The meetings come as both men continue to struggle for control of the crisis-ridden, oil-rich country. Guaido’s five-month campaign to oust Maduro has not been successful, despite being recognized as Venezuela’s legitimate president by U.S. President Donald Trump and about other 50 other world leaders. Maduro has maintained that Guaido’s efforts have been part of a U.S.-backed coup attempt. Opposition leaders say protests would be held throughout the day to highlight the government’s human rights record. Protesters took to the streets Thursday to draw attention to political prisoners in the country. Venezuelans Flood Colombian City After Border Crossing Re-opened Bachelet said in March that Venezuelan security forces, backed by pro-government militias, suppressed peaceful protests with murders, torture and excessive force. Bachelet arrived in Venezuela on Wednesday for a two-day visit at the invitation of the government. Her visit precedes a three-week U.N. Human Rights Council session that begins on June 24. The U.S. and other Western states are expected to denounce Maduro’s government for its alleged use of excessive force and mismanagement, which has led to chronic shortages of essentials, such as food and medicine. Trump has urged Venezuela’s military to remove Maduro from power to allow humanitarian aid to enter the country. During a February speech in Miami, Florida, Trump said, “All options are on the table” to use military force …