Category: Foreign

Iran said on Monday that the United States should provide guarantees that it will not abandon again Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers if talks to revive the agreement succeed.

Indirect talks between Iran and the U.S., which stalled in June after the election of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, are set to resume on Nov. 29 in Vienna.

The talk is to find ways to reinstate the deal.

READ ALSO: U.S. has Alzheimer’s disease’ when it comes to nuclear dispute- Iran

Former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the accord three years ago and re-imposed sanctions on Iran.

Echoing Iran’s official stance, Foreign Ministry spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said Washington must lift all sanctions imposed on Tehran in a verifiable process and “recognise its fault in ditching the pact’’.

Khatibzadeh said Ali Bagheri-Kani, who is Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, will travel this week as Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs to the capitals of three European parties to the nuclear pact.

German migrant rescue vessel carrying more than 800 people steamed into the Sicilian port of Trapani yesterday after being granted permission by Italian authorities following days of waiting in the Mediterranean Sea.

The humanitarian vessel was granted authorisation to dock just hours after Mission Lifeline’s Rise Above, a fellow charity ship, delivered urgently-needed food and blankets to the Sea-Eye 4.

The ship is carrying five pregnant women as well as over 200 minors — including “many children under the age of 10” — Sea-Eye 4 said in a statement.

On Saturday, the ship had cruised off the coast of Sicily as it awaited authorisation to disembark. Arrival in Trapani was expected later yesterday.

“We are relieved and overjoyed that the difficult hours for our crew and the rescued people will end on Sunday and that the people will finally be safe in Italy,” Gorden Isler from Sea-Eye said.

“Our crew is working at the limits of what is humanly possible,” French news agency AFP quoted Isler as saying.

Over 200 people had been treated at the onboard hospital.

“The ship must be allowed to dock immediately to ensure the safety of all those rescued and the crew,” he said, adding that “negotiations on the distribution of the rescued” should be conducted after the migrants land.

The charity ship had already been carrying nearly 400 people when on Thursday it raced to rescue another 400 people crowded onto a wooden boat that was filling with water.

Since then, the Sea-Eye 4, which is operated by the charity Sea-Eye, repeatedly appealed to the government in Rome to allow it to dock.

The first destination was the Italian island of Lampedusa. However, the ship was not permitted to dock there.

Malta also did not respond to emergency calls over the course of the week from the NGO, Isler said, adding that he was “appalled” by the country’s “failure to provide assistance.”

The ship then headed towards Sicily as chances there were considered better and the weather was worsening, Isler told German news agency dpa.

 

 

IRAQ’S Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi survived an assassination attempt with armed drones that targeted his residence early yesterday and officials said he was unharmed.

The attack was a major escalation amid tensions sparked by the refusal of Iran-backed militias to accept last month’s parliamentary election results.

Two Iraqi officials told The Associated Press that seven of al-Kadhimi’s security guards were injured in the attack with two armed drones which occurred in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone area.

They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to give official statements.

“I am fine and among my people. Thank God,” the prime minister tweeted shortly after the attack. He called for calm and restraint, for the sake of Iraq.

He later appeared on Iraqi television, seated behind a desk in a white shirt, looking calm and composed. Cowardly rocket and drone attacks don’t build homelands and don’t build a future, he said.

In a statement, the government said an explosives-laden drone tried to hit al-Kadhimi’s home. Residents of Baghdad heard the sound of an explosion followed by heavy gunfire from the direction of the Green Zone, which houses foreign embassies and government offices.

The statement released by state-run media said security forces were taking the necessary measures in connection with this failed attempt.

There was no immediate claim for the attack. It comes amid a stand-off between security forces and pro-Iran Shiite militias whose supporters have been camped outside the Green Zone for nearly a month after they rejected the results of Iraq’s parliamentary elections in which they lost around two-thirds of their seats.

The assassination attempt is a dramatic escalation, crossing a line in unprecedented fashion that may have violent reverberations, wrote Ranj Alaaldin, a non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution, in a post on Twitter.

Protests turned deadly Friday when the demonstrators tried to enter the Green Zone. Security forces used tear gas and live ammunition.

There was an exchange of fire in which one protester affiliated with the militias was killed. Dozens of security forces were injured. Al-Khadimi ordered an investigation to determine what sparked the clashes and who violated orders not to open fire.

 

 

Ethiopians yesterday vowed to defend the capital, Addis Ababa, from advancing rebels during a pro-military rally, where attendees dismissed diplomatic efforts to end the year-long war.

The rally in central Addis Ababa was the latest attempt to shore up public support for the conflict against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and allied groups.

It came five days after the government declared a nationwide state of emergency ostensibly to protect civilians from the TPLF, which has claimed key gains in recent days while floating a possible march on the capital.

U.S. official Jeffrey Feltman arrived in Ethiopia yesterday to try to broker an end to the hostilities.

The U.S. embassy announced on Saturday it was ordering the departure of non-emergency staff, days after countries, including Saudi Arabia, Norway, Sweden and Denmark urged their citizens to leave.

Rally-goers yesterday held signs blasting Western media for broadcasting “fake news” overstating rebel gains.

Other signs urged the U.S., one of the harshest international critics of the war, to “stop sucking our blood”.

Addis Ababa mayor Adanech Abebe said in a speech that Ethiopia’s foes were trying to “terrorise our population”.

“They say Addis Ababa is surrounded, but Addis Ababa is only surrounded by its incredible people, by its vigilant, heroic children,” she said.

She was particularly critical of the U.S. government, which last week announced plans to boot Ethiopia out of a vital trade pact because of rights abuses related to the war.

“If aid and loans will strip us of our freedom, if they will lead us to sacrifice our freedom, we won’t sacrifice our freedom,” Adanech said.

She also said the TPLF’s rightful place “is in hell”.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops into Tigray last November in response to a TPLF attack on federal troops based in the state.

In June, the rebels rejected a government ceasefire and attacked the neighbouring regions of Afar and Amhara.

Several Addis Ababa residents said yesterday they did not fear the TPLF.

But, the United States, the United Kingdom and 14 other countries have asked warring parties in Ethiopia to immediately cease hostilities and allow the delivery of life-saving assistance to the people impacted by the conflict in the Tigray region.

The 16 countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden  — made the demand following a joint investigation by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) into allegations of human rights violations and abuses said to have been committed by parties in the conflict.

According to a joint statement issued on Saturday, the countries said all parties involved in the conflict must enter into negotiations without preconditions on a ceasefire.

The countries said they support the stability, unity and territorial integrity of Ethiopia and will work with the United Nations for a lasting solution to the conflict.

The rebels have played down reports that they would face a hostile population or cause a “bloodbath” if they advanced into Addis Ababa.

 

AFRICAN and Western nations have called for an immediate ceasefire in Ethiopian conflict after Tigrayan forces from the country’s north said they made advances towards the capital this week.

The United States (U.S.) special envoy for the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman, arrived in Addis Ababa to press for a halt to military operations and a start to ceasefire talks, according to the Reuters.

African Union Commission Chair Moussa Faki Mahamat said he met Feltman to discuss efforts towards dialogue and political solutions to the conflict, which pits the central government against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and its allies.

The European Union and the East African bloc the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) joined the chorus of bodies calling for a ceasefire. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni announced an IGAD meeting on Nov. 16 to discuss the war.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta urged the rival parties to lay down their arms and find a path to peace.

“The fighting must stop!” he said in a statement.

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he had spoken to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Wednesday and offered to help create the conditions for a dialogue.

The government brushed off the calls for talks, said new recruits were heeding the call to fight on the government side and accused the Tigrayan forces of exaggerating their territorial gains.

“We are fighting an existential war,” it said in a statement issued by its communication service.

Abiy’s government declared a state of emergency on Tuesday as the Tigrayan forces threatened to push forward to Addis Ababa.

TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda said on Wednesday TPLF troops were in the town of Kemise in Amhara state, 325 km (200 miles) from the capital. Government and military spokespeople did not return calls seeking comment on his account.

The U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa authorised the voluntary departure of some staff and family members because of the intensifying hostilities. Washington said on Wednesday it was “gravely concerned” about the situation and called for ceasefire talks and a halt to military operations.

The year-long conflict has killed thousands of people, forced more than two million more from their homes and left 400,000 people in Tigray facing famine.

The United States, the European Union and the United Nations said a de facto government blockade in Tigray must end to avert a large-scale famine. The government had denied blocking aid.

No humanitarian convoys have entered Tigray since Oct. 18 and no fuel to aid the humanitarian response has entered since early August, according to the United Nations.

Streets and shops in Addis Ababa, a city of around five million people, were busy as usual yesterday morning, though some residents said there was a feeling of uneasy calm.

“There are rumours about the approach of the rebels. People debate about the conflict, most of the people accuse the government for what happened,” said one man, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Police had arrested “many people” in Addis Ababa since the government declared the state of emergency, police spokesperson Fasika Fanta said yesterday.

Residents told Reuters on Wednesday many Tigrayans had been arrested. Fasika said arrests were not based on ethnicity.

“We are only arresting those who are directly or indirectly supporting the illegal terrorist group,” Fasika said.

Ethiopian rebel and opposition groups are forging a political alliance against Abiy, according to a spokesman for the Oromo Liberation Army.

A signing ceremony will be held in Washington DC in the coming days to mark the formation of the group that will work toward establishing a transitional government should his administration fall, OLA spokesman Odaa Tarbii said by phone yesterday.

The so-called United Front of Ethiopian Federalist Forces will combine at least nine entities, including the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which has been at war with Abiy’s government for the past year, he said.

“There is this misconception that we are okay to let the country slip into chaos. We still take responsibility for the stability of the country,” Tarbii

Other members of the front include the Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front, the Gambella Peoples Liberation Army and the Somali State Resistance, Tarbii said.

The new group also wants to establish a new government that would allow Ethiopia to recognise the powers and rights of its various regions, according to Yohanees Abraha, a representative for the alliance.

“The ultimate goal is to remove the current government and we have outlined how we are going to achieve this,” Yohanees said by phone.

Billene Seyoum, a spokesperson for Abiy, did not reply to questions about the group’s formation.

“This includes moral, financial and propaganda support.”

He also said many people were registering weapons at police stations around the city in line with a government directive issued on Tuesday for people to prepare to defend their neighbourhoods.

“Some are even coming with bombs and heavy weapons. We are registering those too,” he said.

Government spokesperson Legesse Tulu did not respond to requests for comment.

The conflict started last November when forces loyal to the TPLF, including some soldiers, seized military bases in Tigray. In response, Abiy sent more troops to the northern region. The TPLF had dominated national politics for nearly three decades but lost much influence when Abiy took office in 2018.

The TPLF accused him of centralising power at the expense of regional states – which Abiy denies.

TPLF spokesman Getachew on Wednesday pledged to minimise casualties in any drive to take Addis Ababa.

“We don’t intend to shoot at civilians and we don’t want bloodshed. If possible we would like the process to be peaceful,” he said.

A regional analyst, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the TPLF was likely to hold off on any advance on Addis Ababa until they secured the highway running from neighbouring Djibouti to the capital.

Abiy’s spokesperson, Billene Seyoum, accused the international media of being “overly alarmist” in its coverage of Ethiopia.

Pope Francis has for the first time appointed a woman to a high office in the state administration of Vatican City.

Sister Raffaella Petrini was named secretary-general of the governorate of Vatican City, the Holy See announced on Thursday.

She is the first woman to hold the second-highest office in governorate.

She will oversees the Vatican Museums and other Vatican State services such as the mint and stamp office and the motor pool.

Petrinie, 52, from Rome was with the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, which carries out missionary work.

READ ALSO: Biden to meet Pope Francis, Macron in Rome

Francis has focused on women in his personnel decisions in recent months.

Earlier in the year he made theologian Nathalie Becquart the first woman in the history of the Catholic Church to serve as an under-secretary in the Synod of Bishops.

Then, in August, Francis named Sister Alessandra Smerilli as interim Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, which focusses on migration and poverty issues.

She was also named as a delegate of the Vatican Covid-19 Commission.(dpa/NAN)

DEMOCRATIC Party candidate Eric Adams, endorsed by the Nigerian community in New York, has been elected the Mayor of New York City.

Adams, who will be the second black Mayor of the City, defeated the Republican candidate, Curtis Sliwa.

Adams had polled 156,820 votes representing 74.6 per cent while Sliwa polled 42,403 votes representing 20.2 per cent, according to the Associated Press, which called the race after polls closed late on Tuesday.

NAN reports that Adams, who is presently the Brooklyn borough president, will be the 110th mayor of the largest city in the U.S. when he assumes office in January 2022.

In a tweet, Adams said: “It’s official – our five-boroughs, knock- every-door. reach-every-voter campaign was successful: We have won the race for Mayor of New York City!

“This is my dream come true, and I couldn’t be more proud to represent the City that we all love as your Mayor-elect.”

Sliwa conceded the race at an election night party before the final counting of votes.

“I am pledging my support to the new Mayor Eric Adams because we‘re all going to have to coalesce together in harmony and solidarity if we’re going to save this city that we love,” Sliwa said.

The Nigerian Community under the aegis of Nigerian Forum, co-convened by the Organisation for the Advancement of Nigerians (OAN) and the Nigerian-Americans Public Affairs Committee (NAPAC), had endorsed Adams in June before the primary election.

Adams, at a meeting with the Nigerian community after he won the primary, had pledged to include Nigerians in his administration.

Also, at a fundraising organised for him by the Nigerian Community in New York, he pledged to establish sister city agreements between New York and Lagos.

Chairman, Board of OAN, Mr. Yinka Dansalami, had also told NAN that the Nigerian community raised more than 33,000 dollars to support Adams.

Dansalami said the Nigerian community surpassed the minimum amount of 25,000 dollars set for communities.

Adams would succeed outgoing mayor Bill de Blasio, whose tenure ends in January 2022 after two terms in office.

 

 

All sides in the conflict in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region have committed atrocities that may amount to war crimes – including summary executions, torture and rape, according to a new report released by the United Nations.

“(There) are reasonable grounds to believe that gross violations and abuses of international human rights law, and serious violations of international humanitarian law, and international refugee law (have) been committed in the context of the Tigray conflict,” reads the report written jointly by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission.

Yesterday’s report comes a year after the conflict began and a day after President Biden said he has decided to shut out Ethiopia from a trade program that gives sub-Saharan African countries duty-free access to the United States.

The Ethiopian government and the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) have denied accusations of atrocities in the past.

The joint report, based on a four-month investigation that ended in August, also comes as fighting between government forces and Tigrayan rebels has escalated in recent weeks, with Ethiopian forces bombing targets in rebel-held territory. On Tuesday, Ethiopia declared a nationwide state of emergency over fears that Tigrayan rebels were closing in on the capital, Addis Ababa.

The violence — which began when Tigrayan rebels clashed with Ethiopian forces — has claimed thousands of lives, including many civilians. But there is no reliable death toll in the conflict, which has also drawn in neighboring Eritrea and Sudan.

The UN human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, said Wednesday that her office is receiving ongoing reports of violations of human rights in the region, including indiscriminate shelling and airstrikes on civilians.

“Civilians in Tigray have been subjected to brutal violence and suffering,” she said. “The gravity and seriousness of the violations and abuses we have documented underscore the need to hold perpetrators accountable on all sides.”

 

THE United Kingdom (UK) yesterday announced new funding to support African governments to roll-out critical adaptation projects aimed at-risk communities.

It’s also designed to adapt them to impact of extreme weather and changing climates.

COP26 President Alok Sharma announced the new UK support for the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Programme (AAAP).

AAAP is an initiative endorsed by the African Union (AU) leaders and led by the African Development Bank (AfBD), Global Centre on Adaptation and the Africa Adaptation Initiative  to back African-led plans to accelerate resilience-building across Africa.

Yesterday’s announcements came on the second day of COP26, the two-week UN Climate Change Conference, where world leaders are meeting with the aim to agree how to tackle the urgent threat of global climate change.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson also announced the UK is offering an ambitious new guarantee mechanism – the ‘Room to Run’ guarantee – to the AfDB.

This is expected to unlock up to £1.45 billion ($2 billion) worth of new financing for projects across the continent, half of which will help countries adapt to the impacts of climate change.

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: “More finance for African nations to develop and adapt to climate change is important as these countries find themselves on the frontline of impacts. It is a huge investment opportunity.

“By combining our cash with other donors and businesses, and working with partners such as the AfDB to direct funding into green projects, today we are delivering on our commitment to African-led climate adaptation.”

UK Minister for Africa Vicky Ford said: “For communities across Africa, the impact of climate change is being felt right now. From cyclones in Southern Africa to locusts in East Africa, changing weather patterns are already having catastrophic impacts for communities living across the continent, impacting lives and jobs. This is despite African nations being responsible for just 2-3% of global emissions.”

The UK is a long-standing supporter of Africa’s adaptation to climate change, with around half of the UK’s £2.7 billion ($3.7 billion) adaptation budget between 2016 and 2020 spent in Africa.

Speaking also, the UK’S Deputy High Commissioner in Lagos, Ben Llewellyn-Jones, said: “Africa is already bearing the brunt of climate impacts as a consequence of dangerous climate chance. The need to scale up adaptation finance to protect the people and economies from the impact of climate change is clear.”

 

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has urged developed nations to fulfill their pledge of helping developing countries with about $100 billion annually to meet their commitments to the global greenhouse gas emissions eradication target.

President Buhari stated this while delivering his national statement at the ongoing COP26 Leaders’ Summit, in Glasgow, Scotland, assuring the audience that Nigeria will cut its gas emissions to net zero by 2060.

According to a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, President Buhari told the summit that attaining national and global climate change goals will require adequate, sustained technical and financial support to such nations.

He noted that easier access to climate finance had become imperative in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, which really battered the economies of developing countries.

He said greater effort should be channelled towards assisting developing nations to meet their ‘‘Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) commitments through the pledges made by the developed countries to provide at least $100 billion yearly.

“I do not think anyone in Nigeria needs persuading of the need for urgent action on the environment. Desertification in the North, floods in the centre, pollution and erosion on the coast are enough evidence.

‘‘For Nigeria, climate change is not about the perils of tomorrow but what is happening today. Nigeria is committed to net zero by 2060,” he said.

Making a case for gas-based energy transition in Nigeria, President Buhari requested international partners to finance projects using transition fuels such as gas in Nigeria.

Acknowledging that net zero ambition can lead to economic transformation across all sectors, President Buhari said it would require critical infrastructure to be in place.

He also told the COP26 Leaders’ Summit that Nigeria has developed a detailed energy transition plan and roadmap, based on data and evidence.

The President explained that the plan has highlighted some key facts that force the difficult conversations.

On energy access, President Buhari declared that Nigeria’s commitment to a just transition is reflected in ‘‘our ambitious Energy Compact, which includes the government’s flagship project to electrify 5 million households and 25 million people using decentralised solar energy solutions.’’

He described the project as a major first step towards closing energy access deficit in the country by 2030.

World leaders yesterday made unprecedented commitments to protect forests, reduce methane emissions and accelerate green technology.

Amid powerful pleas heard in Glasgow yesterday, world leaders, young people and campaigners all stressed the urgency of taking tangible action to keep the prospect of holding back global temperature rises to 1.5C and building resilience to climate impacts.

About 114 leaders took a landmark step forward at a convening of world leaders on forests by committing to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030. The pledge is backed by $12bn in public and $7.2bn in private funding.

Countries from Canada to Russia to Brazil – which also increased its NDC yesterday – China, Colombia, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo all endorsed the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forest and Land Use.

Together, they support 85% of the world’s forests, an area of over 13 million square miles which absorbs around one third of global CO2 released from burning fossil fuels each year.

This announcement was bolstered with a commitment by CEOs from more than 30 financial institutions with over $8.7 trillion of global assets – including Aviva, Schroders and Axa – committing to eliminate investment in activities linked to deforestation.    Yesterday is also the first time a COP in recent history has hosted a major event on methane, with 105 countries, including 15 major emitters including Brazil, Nigeria and Canada, signing up to the Global Methane Pledge. This historic commitment, led by the US and EU alongside the UK COP26 presidency, equates to up to 40% of global methane emissions and 60% of global GDP.