Category: Foreign

THE United States (U.S.) and a host of other countries “are deeply concerned by reports of summary killings and enforced disappearances” of former members of Afghanistan’s security forces, they said in a joint statement at the weekend.

“We underline that the alleged actions constitute serious human rights abuses and contradict the Taliban’s announced amnesty,” the statement said.

“We call on the Taliban to effectively enforce the amnesty for former members of the Afghan security forces and former government officials to ensure that it is upheld across the country and throughout their ranks,” it added.

The statement, released by 22 governments including those from the U.S., the European Union, Britain, Australia and Japan, as well as several other nations, including, Germany and Ukraine, also called for quick and transparent investigations into reported abductions.

“Those responsible must be held accountable,” it said.

When the Taliban seized control of the country in August, the group announced a “general amnesty” and promised safety to all Afghans — including former soldiers and police.

But a report released Tuesday by Human Rights Watch documented the summary execution or abduction of 47 former members of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF).

Military personnel, police, intelligence service members and paramilitary militia, who had surrendered to or were apprehended by Taliban forces between Aug. 15 and Oct. 31, were among those taken or killed, the report said.

Human Rights Watch said its report was based on a total of 67 interviews, including 40 in-person interviews conducted in Afghanistan’s Ghazni, Helmand, Kunduz and Kandahar provinces.

Investigators spoke with witnesses and the families of victims, as well as former government and Taliban officials before drawing its conclusions, it added.

The Taliban did not comment on the joint statement or the report from Human Rights Watch when approached by NBC News.

But, Human Rights Watch said the group told it they had removed from their ranks 755 members found to have committed such acts and had established a military tribunal for those accused of murder, torture and illegal detention.

 

 

Pope Francis yesterday returned to Lesbos, the Greek island that has come to symbolise the continent’s migration crisis, in a visit aimed at pricking Europe’s conscience.

“We are in the age of walls and barbed wire,” the pope said in a tent set up at the waterfront Mavrovouni refugee camp, a cluster of white containers surrounded by barbed wire.

“Let us stop this shipwreck of civilisation!”

The 84-year-old pontiff travelled to the island as part of a trip to Greece and Cyprus that has focused on drawing attention to the plight of asylum-seekers as European countries take a harder line to prevent a new migrant influx.

“It is distressing to hear of proposals that common funds be used to build walls and barbed wire as a solution,” he said in a speech to camp residents and visiting dignitaries.

“Problems are not resolved, and coexistence improved by building walls higher, but by joining forces to care for others according to the concrete possibilities of each and in respect for the law.”

Since 2015, Lesbos has been one of the main entry points into the European Union for migrants and refugees fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

The numbers of those arriving on the island have receded significantly since the EU struck a deal with Turkey in 2016 to manage refugee flows. But, migrants continue trying to reach Europe by boat across the Mediterranean, frequently with fatal results.

“The Mediterranean, which for millennia has brought different peoples and distant lands together, is now becoming a grim cemetery without tombstones,” Pope Francis said. “This great basin of water, the cradle of so many civilizations, now looks like a mirror of death.”

His audience included Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas and Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi, as well as dozens of camp residents mainly from Afghanistan, Iraq and Central Africa.

Pope Francis first visited Lesbos in 2016, helping draw international attention to the island amid the crisis triggered by refugees fleeing the civil war in Syria.

“At that time, the situation was a humanitarian emergency, with more than a million new arrivals to Greece between 2015 and 2016,” said Louise Donovan, a spokesperson for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. “The situation has drastically changed since then, and while it is no longer an emergency, shared responsibility, humanity and solidarity are needed now more than ever.”

Yesterday’s papal visit “is an opportunity to focus and reflect on the common values of solidarity, of humanity and of respect for human life and dignity,” Donovan added.

During an emotional meeting with migrants in Cyprus on Friday, the pope departed from a prepared speech, insisting he had a responsibility to tell the truth about the suffering of refugees, and comparing their conditions to Nazi and Soviet camps.

Three opposition candidates have rejected the partial results of Gambia’s election that show President Adama Barrow heading for a resounding victory.

Barrow had won about 54 per cent of votes from 50 of 53 constituencies, leaving the West African nation of 2.5 million people on the verge of a result that was expected to draw a line under a difficult political past.

“A simple majority is enough for any of the six candidates to win,” Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris reported earlier from the capital Banjul.

Saturday’s vote was the first in 27 years without disgraced former president Yahya Jammeh, who lives in exile in Equatorial Guinea after refusing to accept defeat to Barrow in 2016.

Jammeh, whose 22-year rule over the tiny nation of 2.5 million people was characterised by killings and torture of political opponents, had tried to persuade supporters to vote for an opposition coalition in telephoned speeches that were relayed to campaign rallies.

Official results suggested he had failed to dent Barrow’s following, and representatives from all opposition parties signed off on the tally sheets already read to the election commission on Sunday.

But late yesterday, Barrow’s nearest rival, veteran politician Ousainou Darboe, and two other candidates, Mama Kandeh and Essa Mbye Faal, said they would not accept the results.

“We are concerned that there had been an inordinate delay in the announcement of results,” their statement said. “A number of issues have been raised by our party agents and representatives at the polling stations.”

The election is being closely watched as a test of the democratic transition in The Gambia, where Jammeh ruled after seizing power in a bloodless coup in 1994.

Barrow, 56, faces five challengers in his re-election bid.

Several factors slowed the tally, including The Gambia’s scarce financial resources, high turnout and the country’s unusual voting system.

Illiteracy is widespread in The Gambia, so voters cast their ballot by dropping a marble into a tub marked with their candidate’s colour and photo – a practice dating back to the country’s past as a British colony.

Many of the roughly one million eligible voters in the nation of more than two million people are hoping for an improvement in their living standards.

 

The desire by the Ethiopian government to seal off external access routes for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has attracted Middle East rivals to the Tigray war, adding outside influence to the year-long conflict.

This week, the TPLF, once a ruling party in Ethiopia, but now considered a terrorist group in Addis Ababa, wrote an open letter to the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, accusing three Middle Eastern powers of supplying arms to the Ethiopian government.

TPLF leader, Debretsion Gebremichael, said UAE, Iran and Turkey were party to the conflict by arming Addis with weapons and drones.

He demanded that the three be advised to “cease supplying weapons to the federal government of Ethiopia” because “these weapons are used to attack civilians and civilian targets in total violation of international humanitarian law and their use is escalating war and further destabilising Ethiopia.”

The accusation was the first direct finger pointed at an external entity contributing to the war.

But, the trio denies fuelling the war, although Turkey has in the recent past offered to mediate in the conflict, even though it also reached various bilateral agreements with Ethiopia on defence and security cooperation.

The three countries, plus other Middle East countries have in the past been biggest donors to humanitarian aid to conflict regions in the Horn of Africa, including Sudan.

For the TPLF, supply of arms constitutes fuelling the war, regardless of whether the supply has been under formal arrangements.

“Their readiness to provide arms to belligerents and to intervene in a partisan manner to internal political issues including armed conflicts has proven profoundly destablising.”

There has been no independent confirmation of drone usage, although various reports have indicated Ethiopia has shelled parts of western Tigray and the capital, Makelle, as well as other nearby territories initially held by TPLF in Amhara and Afar regions.

clared a series of victories against the TPLF, a week after he personally joined the frontline. Abiy asked those still fighting to surrender and help end the war.

The unity of Middle East countries — traditionally rivals themselves — in buttressing Ethiopia’s fight against TPLF is seen as a convergence of interests, not renewed friendship between them.

 

 

Paris Archbishop, Michel Aupetit, has resigned from his position following reports of an alleged romantic relationship with a woman.

Pope Francis accepted the archbishop’s request to resign, the Vatican announced on Thursday.

Aupetit, 70, explained that he had wanted to prevent a split in the diocese and a loss of confidence in the Church, adding that the attacks against his person had affected him.

A local newspaper reported that the archbishop had a romantic relationship with a woman in 2012.

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Aupetit confirmed a relationship with the woman during his time as vicar general but said it had not been romantic or sexual.

A romantic relationship would be a violation of celibacy, a vow made by all Catholic clergymen.

Aupetit had been Archbishop of Paris since 2017 and was thus a high-ranking representative of the Catholic Church in France.

He studied medicine and worked as a doctor before finding his way to the Church.

 

(dpa/NAN)

 

Cambodian Prime Minister, Samdech Techo Hun Sen revealed on Thursday that his eldest son Hun Manet will be one of the prime ministerial candidates after his retirement in 2030.

The prime minister said during an inauguration ceremony of road infrastructure in southwestern Preah Sihanouk province broadcast live on the National Television of Cambodia.

Hun Sen, 69, said he would stay in power until 2030 and after that he would name Manet to be a prime ministerial candidate in general elections.

READ ALSO: American jailed in Cambodian for raping boy

“I would like to announce today that Hun Manet will be one of the prime ministerial candidates and I fully support him for this post,” he said.

Manet, 44, is currently a member of the Permanent Committee of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.

He is also a deputy commander-in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces and the commander of the Royal Cambodian Army.

 

(Xinhua/NAN)

Prosecutors on Wednesday demanded a death penalty for a man charged with raping and killing the 20-month-old daughter of his live-in girlfriend.

The 29-year-old man, surnamed Yang, allegedly killed the baby girl for not stopping crying on the night of June 15.

Yang killed the girl by covering her with a blanket punching and stomping on her for about an hour while drunk at his home in Daejeon, about 165 kilometers south of Seoul.

He was also charged with raping the toddler before beating her to death.

Yang and his girlfriend surnamed Jeong hid the victim’s body in an icebox in their bathroom.

He was also charged with committing theft while on the run from the police.

READ ALSO: French prosecutors probe ‘slavery’ claims against Saudi prince

Meanwhile, the Prosecutors requested capital punishment for Yang, saying he committed an act that cannot be done even to animals and showed extreme contempt for life.

They, however, also asked the court to order him to go through 15 years of chemical castration treatment and wear a tracking device for 45 years, ban him from working at child-related facilities for 10 years and disclose his identity.

“The victim had her life ended at such an early age and cannot be brought back to life no matter what punishment the accused receives,’’ they said.

For Jeong, prosecutors sought five years of imprisonment on charges of hiding her daughter’s body, asking the court to consider the fact that she was also Yang’s victim and in a mental state in which it was difficult for her to reject his orders.

In the final statement, Yang said he apologizes to the baby and her bereaved family and repents for his behavior.

The court will deliver its ruling on the case on Dec. 22.

 

(Yonhap/NAN)

The staff of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow living in Russia for over three years must leave the country by January 31, 2022.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said on Wednesday following the U.S. move to order Russian diplomats out of the country.

Russian Ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, said on Sunday that 27 Russian diplomats would leave the country on Jan. 30.
The Department of State said that the order for diplomats to leave is not an expulsion.
It said that Moscow can assign other diplomatic members instead of those departing ones.

“We regard the American demand precisely as expulsion and intend to react accordingly.
“By Jan. 31, 2022, U.S. embassy officials who have been in Moscow for over three years must leave Russia if the U.S. does not compromise on Russian diplomats, another group of their diplomats will leave Russia by July 1,’’ Zakharova said during a press conference. (Sputnik/NAN)

Japan Foreign Minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, called on Japanese citizens in Ethiopia to leave amid arising military tensions, adding that there had been no reports about Japanese casualties so far.

 

“It is true that Japan has sent experts from the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Defense to assess the situation in Ethiopia and collect data.

 

“Currently, commercial flights continue to fly. We urge Japanese citizens to leave this country,” Hayashi said.

READ ALSO: Save Ethiopia

 

He said to date, no data about “physical damage” inflicted on Japanese nationals in Ethiopia had been confirmed.

 

Ethiopia is currently facing an outbreak of violence linked to the advance of Tigray People’s Liberation Front rebels, who have been in a military conflict with the central government since 2020, toward the capital of Addis Ababa.

 

The situation prompted several countries to start evacuating their diplomatic missions from Ethiopia, while the government declared a six-month state of emergency in November.

(Sputnik/NAN)

Jack Dorsey is expected to step down as the boss of social media giant Twitter, according to reports on Monday.

 

Dorsey is currently both the chief executive of Twitter, which he co-founded in 2006 and his payment business Square.

 

Shares in the social media platform company rose more than 10 per cent after CNBC reported the chief executive is set to step down.

 

Dorsey had previously left Twitter in 2008, before rejoining the company in 2011 and then becoming a chief executive for the second time in 2015.

 

He has since come under pressure from Paul Singer, the billionaire founder of hedge fund Elliott, to step down again as the company’s chief executive.

READ ALSO: Twitter boss, Jack Dorsey sells first tweet for $2.9m

 

In 2020, Elliott and Singer said that Dorsey should not be chief executive of both Square and Twitter, before reaching a deal with the technology firm.

 

The social media giant, along with the wider sector, had also faced continuing scrutiny over its moderation of harmful content online, including how it handles misinformation as well as racist and other abusive posts.

 

Many campaigners have called for more regulation of the sector and greater accountability of senior managers at internet companies.

 

Dorsey last tweeted on Sunday, saying simply: “I love Twitter.’’

 

 

 

It is unclear who is likely to replace Dorsey, according to the reports.

 

(dpa/NAN)