Year: 2019

A U.N. Human Rights Expert warns a host of natural and man-made disasters is impeding Somalia’s efforts to stabilize the country and improve conditions for its population.  The U.N. human rights council examined the expert’s report this past week. This is the independent expert’s last report to the Council before his mandate expires. Bahame Nyanduga said a number of changes have taken place in Somalia over the past six years, many for the better. He said there has been considerable progress in the security, political, socio-economic and human rights situation in the country. Unfortunately, he said during that period, the conflict with the militant al-Shabab group has continued. He said the clampdown on freedom of expression and other rights, and the failure to hold perpetrators of crimes accountable have continued. “Somalia has suffered grave human rights violations, in particular the endemic loss of lives due to improvised terrorist bombs by al-Shabab, inter clan violence, and the absence of the rule of law. Violations of the rights of women, through conflict related gender-based violence, and other sexual offenses such as rape…Violations of children’s rights, including abduction and forced recruitment by al-Shabab,” he said. Besides the man-made disasters, Nyanduga notes Somalia has had to contend with climatic and natural disasters, which have displaced 2.6 million people.  He said climate change has exacerbated the competition for pastures and water, which are critical for pastoralism in Somalia. “Access to water is a fundamental human right. Addressing the problem of water scarcity will contribute significantly …

Afghan election officials say only about 20% of the country’s more than nine million eligible voters cast ballots in the presidential election. Atta Noori, a political analyst, told the French news agency (AFP) that the turnout was low because of security threats and “the weak campaigning of the candidates.” The Taliban had warned voters to stay home or risk being hurt.   The insurgents did carry out some attacks, authorities say, but were blocked from conducting any major violence. Tens of thousands of Afghan security forces were deployed across the country to protect voters and the more than 4,000 polling stations. The results of the election are expected October 19.  If none of the candidates receives more than half of the votes, a second round will be held in November between the top two candidates.   …

Syria’s top diplomat on Saturday demanded the immediate withdrawal of American and Turkish forces from the country and said his government reserves the right to defend its territory in any way necessary if they remain. Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem’s remarks to the United Nations General Assembly were made as Turkey and the United States press ahead with a deal to create a safe zone along Syria’s border with Turkey.  On the political front, he reaffirmed the government’s support for the recently agreed committee to draft a new constitution for the country. As has been the government’s tone since the start of the 2011 uprising in Syria, the foreign minister took a hard line, stressing there must be no interference from any country or timeline imposed on the process.  Al-Moallem’s speech highlighted the enormous challenges to achieve reconciliation in Syria, where over 400,000 people have been killed during the conflict and millions more have fled. The more than eight-year conflict has also drawn numerous foreign militaries and thousands of foreign fighters to Syria, many to support the now-defeated Islamic State extremist group and others still there backing the opposition and battling government forces.  “The United States and Turkey maintain an illegal military presence in northern Syria,” al-Moallem said. “Any foreign forces operating in our territories without our authorization are occupying forces and should withdraw immediately.” If they refuse, he said, “we have the right to take any and all countermeasures authorized under international law.” There are around 1,000 U.S. troops in …

The British-flagged oil tanker that was seized by Iran in July has docked in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates early Saturday, according to ship-tracking websites and pool reporters. The Stena Impero, which had been held off Bandar Abbas for more than two months, started moving out of the Iranian port Friday and reached the coast off Dubai early Saturday. The arrival was reported on several ship-tracking websites. Erik Hanell, CEO of the company that owns the vessel, Stena Bulk, told the media earlier that the tanker’s crew are “safe and in high spirits” following their release from Iran. He added that arrangements have been made for them to return to their families. “The crew will have a period of time to be with their families following 10 weeks of detainment on the vessel. Full support will be offered to the crew and families in the coming weeks to assist with their recovery,” he said. The company did not release the names of the crew. Following the release of the vessel, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said his country would cooperate with its overseas partners to protect shipping and uphold international laws. “The Stena Impero was unlawfully seized by Iran. It is part of a pattern of attempts to disrupt freedom of navigation. We are working with our international partners to protect shipping and uphold the international rule of law,” Raab said. Iranian authorities accused the Stena Impero and its crew of failing to observe international maritime law at the …

Seemingly low voter turnout marked presidential elections in Afghanistan Saturday, even as security forces managed to maintain relative calm across the country, despite dire warnings from the Taliban. At least four civilians and three security personnel were killed across the country and more than 50 civilians suffered injuries in election-related violence, mostly from small explosions. The figure is relatively small, keeping in mind past elections and the almost daily violence Afghanistan normally faces.   “At the moment we don’t have the exact number of voter turnout. But we have created a safe environment. We do believe quite a wide range of our compatriots were present,” General Khoshal Sadat, the Afghan deputy interior minister, told VOA before polls closed. Afghan incumbent president and presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani arrives to cast his vote in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sept. 28, 2019. Daryush Khan, who came to a Kabul polling center with his wife and two small children, one of them in his arms, said he was there to safeguard his kids’ future. “We know there are a lot of problems in Afghanistan, including security. But it’s our civil duty to come out and vote and choose our destiny,” he said. His wife, Gaity, holding up the other crying child, said they could not let threats get in the way of choosing their future.   The Taliban had threatened to attack any election related activity, block roads, and blow up communication towers, calling the elections a “fake process.” Taliban threats, however, were not the only …

ZWIMBA, ZIMBABWE — Zimbabwe’s former president, Robert Mugabe, was buried Saturday in a low-key ceremony in his rural village. The site was chosen after the 95-year-old former leader’s family refused to have him buried at the national shrine in Harare because he had been “ridiculed.” A Roman Catholic mass was held Saturday afternoon at Mugabe’s former home, about 100 kilometers northwest of Harare ahead of his burial. Only family members were allowed to witness the interment, which took place on the home’s grounds just before sunset. Junior Shuvai Gumbochuma, the sister of Grace Mugabe, said the former leader’s family was not worried about the low-key burial. Junior Shuvai Gumbochuma, sister of Zimbabwe’s former first lady Grace Mugabe, speaks behind a photo of the late president Robert Mugabe, at his burial in Zwimba, Zimbabwe, Sept. 28, 2019. (C. Mavhunga/VOA) “We might be surprised by the way Mugabe was a great man and then see the number of people who have gathered to bury him. I remember when he used to bury other heroes at the National Heroes Acre, buses were coming from all corners of the country, coming to bury other heroes but in our minds were expecting his burial to be more special than other heroes’ burials because of who he was. Let me tell you that what we have done today, was his wish because he said it with his own mouth that he does not what to be buried to be at National Heroes Acre. So we thank …

A U.S. judge on Friday blocked new Trump administration rules that would enable the government to keep immigrant children in detention facilities with their parents indefinitely. U.S. District Court Judge Dolly Gee in Los Angeles said the rules conflict with a 1997 settlement agreement that requires the government to release immigrant children caught on the border as quickly as possible to relatives in the U.S. and says they can only be held in facilities licensed by a state. Gee said the Flores agreement — named for a teenage plaintiff — will remain in place and govern the conditions for all immigrant children in U.S. custody, including those with their parents. “The agreement has been necessary, relevant, and critical to the public interest in maintaining standards for the detention and release of minors arriving at the United States’ borders,” the judge wrote in her decision. “Defendants willingly negotiated and bound themselves to these standards for all minors in its custody, and no final regulations or changed circumstances yet merit termination of the Flores agreement.” The Trump administration sought to end the agreement and issued the new rules with the hope of detaining immigrant children in facilities with their parents. The move came as part of a broader crackdown on asylum seekers arriving on the Southwest border, many of them families with children from Central America. America’s Shifting Asylum Policies Explained Trump administration overhauls rules for those seeking protection at US southern border The Flores agreement allows for the settlement to be …

The United States rejected a request by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to visit Iran’s United Nations ambassador in a New York hospital where he is being treated for cancer, the U.S. State Department and Iranian U.N. mission said on Friday. A U.S. State Department spokesperson said Zarif’s request would be granted if Iran released one of several American citizens it had detained. In July the United States imposed tight travel restrictions on Zarif before a visit that month to the United Nations, as well as on Iranian diplomats and their families living in New York, which Zarif described as “basically inhuman.” Unless they receive prior approval from Washington, they are only allowed to travel within a small area of Manhattan, Queens and to and from John F. Kennedy airport. FILE – Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Majid Takht Ravanchi speaks to the media outside Security Council chambers at the U.N. headquarters in New York, June 24, 2019. Iran’s U.N. mission spokesman Alireza Miryousefi said Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi was being treated for cancer in a hospital not far away in Manhattan’s Upper East Side neighborhood. Zarif is in New York for the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations. “Iran has wrongfully detained several U.S. citizens for years, to the pain of their families and friends they cannot freely visit,” the State Department spokesperson said. “We have relayed to the Iranian mission that the travel request will be granted if Iran releases a …

Joseph Wilson, the former ambassador who set off a political firestorm by disputing U.S. intelligence used to justify the 2003 Iraq invasion, died Friday, according to his ex-wife. He was 69.    Wilson’s died of organ failure in Santa Fe, said his former wife, Valerie Plame, whose identity as a CIA operative was exposed days after Wilson’s criticism of U.S. intelligence that Saddam Hussein was attempting to purchase uranium.    The leak of Plame’s covert identity was a scandal for the administration of President George W. Bush that led to the conviction of vice presidential aide Scooter B. Libby for lying to investigators and justice obstruction.    President Donald Trump pardoned Libby in 2018.    Plame, who is running as a Democrat for Congress — in part as a Trump adversary — called Wilson “a true American hero, a patriot, and had the heart of a lion.” Plame and Wilson moved to Santa Fe in 2007 to raise twin children and divorced in 2017.    In 2002, Wilson traveled as a diplomat to the African country of Niger to investigate allegations that Hussein was attempting to purchase uranium, which could have been used to make nuclear weapons.  Wife’s identity revealed Plame’s identity with the CIA was revealed in a newspaper column days after Wilson alleged in an opinion piece in The New York Times that the Bush administration twisted prewar intelligence on Iraq to justify going to war. Wilson later accused administration officials and political operatives of putting his family at risk.    A Connecticut …

Mourners gathered at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Friday to pay their respects to former President Jacques Chirac, whose death unleashed a flood of tributes to a charismatic but complex giant of French politics.    Chirac, president from 1995 to 2007, died Thursday at age 86 after years of deteriorating health since suffering a stroke in 2005.    Ahead of a national day of mourning announced for Monday, the French presidency threw open the doors of the Elysee Palace for people wanting to sign a book of condolences.    “I express my admiration and tenderness for the last of the great presidents,” read one tribute. “Thank you for fighting, thank you for this freedom and good spirits.”    In a televised address Thursday night, President Emmanuel Macron praised “a man whom we loved as much as he loved us.”    Chirac is also to be given the honor of a public memorial ceremony on Sunday as well as a mass on Monday, which will be attended by Macron and foreign dignitaries including German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.    A minute of silence will also be observed Monday at public institutions, schools and football matches.    Schools have also been urged to dedicate class time on Monday “to evoke the former head of state’s memory,” with the education ministry saying it will propose potential discussion themes for teachers.    And the Quai Branly museum of indigenous art founded by Chirac, who had a deep appreciation of Asian …

When California’s largest utility warned it would cut power to thousands to prevent its equipment from starting wildfires during warm, windy weather, officials in the wealthy wine region of Sonoma County sprang into action. They declared a state of emergency and called up additional first responders who could direct traffic or take vulnerable residents to places with electricity. Nearly 200 miles (275 kilometers) north, officials in rural Butte County simply posted Pacific Gas & Electric information online about which neighborhoods would be affected and what to do with perishable food. FILE – Pacific Gas & Electric crews work on restoring power lines in a fire-ravaged neighborhood in the aftermath of a wildfire in Santa Rosa, Calif., Oct. 14, 2017. Rich county, poor county Both counties had communities decimated in wildfires ignited by power lines in recent years. They face the long-term prospect of frequent power shutoffs during fire season as PG&E and other utilities try to prevent their equipment from sparking blazes like the one last year that killed 85 people and nearly destroyed the Butte County town of Paradise. More populated, wealthier counties have adapted their emergency plans to respond to the new reality of thousands of residents losing power for an undetermined amount of time. But the preventive outages are proving to be a burden to smaller, poorer counties without resources to set up places for people to cool off or mobilize staff to deal with emergencies if outages stretch past two days. “The outages are to avoid an …

Hundreds of thousands of people joined teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg for a march in Montreal Friday, part of a second wave of global protests demanding action on climate change. Thunberg responded to critics, including U.S. President Donald Trump, saying she doesn’t “understand why grown-ups would choose to mock children and teenagers for just communicating and acting on the science when they could do something good instead.” Without mentioning Trump by name, Thunberg said, “We’ve become too loud for people to handle so people want to silence us.” She called on world leaders to do more for the environment, following a meeting earlier Friday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “My message to all the politicians around the world is the same,” she said. “Just listen and act on the current best available science.” “He (Trudeau) is of course obviously not doing enough, but this is just a huge problem, this is a system that is wrong,” she said. Trudeau earlier praised Thunberg’s activism saying, “She is the voice of a generation.” Protests also took place Friday across Europe and Asia, with organizers saying 200,000 people, mainly youths, joined a march in Milan and another 100,000 in Rome. Protesters gathered in a host of countries, including India, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Austria and Germany. The demonstrations come a week after millions of youths and adults rallied worldwide ahead of the U.N. summit in New York. …

The head of Zimbabwe’s Doctors Association has left the country for urgent medical treatment in South Africa after being held captivity, during which his medical team says he was poisoned.  Police tried to block his departure even though he had a court order allowing him to leave.  Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare for VOA News. …

Losing a job is seldom a good thing.  Repeatedly losing that job on the same day sounds nightmarish. Get ready to feel sorry for a person who does not exist. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi plugs us in to an alternate reality created to help managers hone skills at performing an unpleasant but sometimes necessary task. …

Health experts warn we are due for a cataclysmic pandemic — they just don’t know when it will happen. The warning was delivered this week to world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly by a special global health monitoring group that said the next pandemic could traverse the world in 36 hours, killing up to 80 million and causing devastating economic loss. The group, the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, operates independently of the World Health Organization and the World Bank, the entities that created it last year with a mandate to issue an annual assessment. The first report was grim. A health worker vaccinates a child against malaria in Ndhiwa, Homabay County, western Kenya, Sept. 13, 2019, during the launch of a malaria vaccination campaign in the country. Lack of medical care a threat Despite remarkable gains in medicine, politics and social issues keep those in rich countries as well as poor ones from desperately needed medical care, and this threatens the entire world. Medical achievements of the past several decades are remarkable. AIDS once meant enduring a horrible death, but now treatment has changed that and research on a vaccine is promising. Moreover, there’s talk about ending malaria, a disease that kills half a million people each year, most of them children. Scientists are also closing in on Ebola. A vaccine and two new drugs to treat those infected are saving lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ebola used to kill up to 90% of its victims. Now, …

This week, world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly heard warnings about massive loss of life and diseases that could circle the global in just three days. VOA’s Carol Pearson reports that a special global preparedness monitoring group issued a report that says inaction will have grim consequences. The report said prevention heavily depends on political and social action as well as good medical care.   …

Every two years Democrats and Republicans come together for a charity Congressional Football Game. Together with former NFL professionals, lawmakers play against the U.S. Capitol Police and politics stays off the field. Daria Dieguts talked to some of the players after the game.  …