Category: Foreign

Our Reporter

Polls closed in Burkina Faso on Sunday after a presidential and parliamentary election dominated by the threat of Islamist violence that prevented voting in hundreds of villages.

President Roch Kabore is seeking a second five-year term, campaigning on achievements such as free healthcare for children under the age of five and paving some of the red dirt roads that snake across the arid West African country.

But a surge in attacks by groups with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State has eclipsed everything. The violence has cost more than 2,000 lives this year alone.

After voting in a school in Ouagadougou, Kabore told reporters: “I call on all Burkinabe to vote, whatever their leaning. It’s about the democracy of Burkina Faso, it’s about development, it’s about peace.”

The election went smoothly in the capital and there were no reports of large-scale violence elsewhere during the vote. But some polling stations in insecure eastern areas had to be closed because of threats, the electoral commission said.

“People were threatened. They told them: ‘those who put their fingers in the ink can say goodbye to their finger’,” the commission’s chief, Newton Ahmed Barry, said at a press conference, referring to the ink marks people are given to show they have voted.

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At least 400,000 people – nearly 7% of the electorate – are expected to have been unable to vote due to polling stations not opening for fear of violence, official data forecast ahead of the vote.

“Before we had peace, now we have none,” said 48-year-old security guard Gilbert Alalinga at nightfall outside a polling station in Ouagadougou.

“I didn’t hear of violence today, that was encouraging. I want to be able to travel to the north, the east, the south without problem,” he said as children raced on bicycles in a sandy field beyond.

Election officials began counting immediately after the polls closed, chalking up each vote on school blackboards across the city.

Kabore faces stiff opposition from former finance minister and 2015 runner-up Zephirin Diabre as well as Eddie Komboigo, head of Blaise Campaore’s party. Campaore was president for 27 years until a 2014 revolution.

Komboigo yesterday joined Diabre in claiming the vote had been marred by fraud. Both vowed to challenge the results by filing a formal complaint today. They have not provided evidence for their claims.

Analysts expect a tight race that could go to a second round if no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote.

Overall provisional results from the first round are expected by the middle of the week.

 

 

Our Reporter

 

THE U.S. has withdrawn from the Open Skies Treaty due to non-compliance by Russia, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said on Sunday, making good on a planned move by the outgoing Donald Trump administration.

The move was immediately criticised by a top Democrat, who urged President-elect Joe Biden to reverse the decision next year.

“Today, pursuant to earlier notice provided, the United States withdrawal from the Treaty on Open Skies is now effective,” Pompeo tweeted. “America is more secure because of it, as Russia remains in non-compliance with its obligations.”

The treaty, which was signed in 1992 and came into force in 2002, allows countries to fly over each other’s territory for unarmed reconnaissance flights. It was intended by its almost three dozen ratifiers to reduce the risk of war.

The Trump administration stated six months ago its plan to withdraw. At the time, Trump predicted that the U.S. plan to withdraw would get Russia to the negotiating table. “They’re going to want to make a deal,” he said.

Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the move reckless.

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“The administration’s decision to abandon the treaty fits into a broader pattern of discarding arms control and non-proliferation agreements, raising deep concerns among our allies about our commitment to their security,” Menendez said in a statement.

Menendez said Russia would still be able to fly over American assets in Europe, and that Trump’s actions ran counter to U.S. law.

“I urge the incoming Biden administration to rejoin the treaty in a manner consistent with our constitutional structure, and I expect the new administration to consult early and often with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on this and other treaty matters,” he said.

 

Our Reporter

 

ETHIOPIA’S military is warning civilians in the besieged Tigray regional capital that there will be “no mercy” if they don’t “save themselves” before a final offensive to flush out defiant regional leaders — a threat that Human Rights Watch on Sunday stated could violate international law.

“From now on, the fighting will be a tank battle,” spokesman Col. Dejene Tsegaye, said late Saturday, asserting that the army was marching on the Tigray capital, Mekele and would encircle it with tanks. “Our people in Mekele should be notified that they should protect themselves from heavy artillery.”

He accused the Tigray leaders of hiding among the population and warned civilians to “steer away” from them.

But “treating a whole city as a military target would not only unlawful, it could also be considered a form of collective punishment,” Human Rights Watch researcher Laetitia Bader tweeted Sunday.

“In other words, war crimes,” former U.S. national security adviser Susan Rice tweeted.

Ethiopia’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, in a new statement is giving the leaders of the Tigray People’s Liberation front 72 hours to surrender, saying that “you are at a point of no return.”

He accused the TPLF leaders of using religious sites, hotels, schools “and even cemeteries” as hideouts and using Mekele residents as human shields.

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For days, Abiy’s government has asserted it was marching to Mekele in a final push to end the deadly conflict that erupted on Nov. 4 between the federal government and the heavily armed Tigray regional government.

The TPLF dominated Ethiopia’s ruling coalition for a quarter of a century before Abiy took office and introduced dramatic political reforms and sidelined TPLF leaders.

With communications and transport to the Tigray region almost completely severed, it’s difficult to verify the warring sides’ claims. Meanwhile, a vast humanitarian crisis is unfolding, with the United Nations saying about 2 million people urgently need help as food, fuel, medical and other supplies run desperately short.

 

•President-elect plans scaled-down inauguration

•Putin: I’m ready to work with any U.S. leader

UNITED States (U.S.) President-elect Joe Biden will announce the first of his Cabinet appointments tomorrow and is planning for a scaled-down inauguration due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to aides.

He is laying the foundation for his new administration despite President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede.

Since Biden, a Democrat, was declared the winner of the Nov. 3 election two weeks ago, the Republican president has launched a barrage of lawsuits and mounted a pressure campaign to prevent state officials from certifying their vote totals, suffering another emphatic legal setback on Saturday in Pennsylvania.

Ron Klain, Biden’s choice as White House chief of staff, again urged that the Trump administration – specifically a federal agency called the General Services Administration (GSA) – formally recognise Biden’s victory to unlock resources for the transition process.

“I hope that the administrator of the GSA will do her job,” Klain added, referring to GSA chief Emily Murphy.

Biden is due to take office on Jan. 20.

“A record number of Americans rejected the Trump presidency, and since then Donald Trump’s been rejecting democracy,” Klain told ABC’s “This Week” programme.

Biden, working in his home state of Delaware, has announced a series of selections for White House posts. Klain said that “you’re going to see the first Cabinet picks this Tuesday,” but declined to reveal the choices or the posts to be filled.

Biden said on Thursday he had chosen a treasury secretary. Candidates on Biden’s short list include former Fed Chair Janet Yellen, current Fed Governor Lael Brainard, Sarah Bloom Raskin, a former Fed governor, and Raphael Bostic, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

Biden allies also indicated he could announce his selection for secretary of state as soon as this week, with former national security adviser Susan Rice and veteran diplomat Antony Blinken seen as among the candidates.

Klain said there will be “scaled-down versions of the existing traditions” for Biden’s inauguration. Inauguration ceremonies and related events typically draw huge crowds to Washington. COVID-19 cases and deaths are surging in many parts of the country amid a pandemic that has killed about 256,000 Americans.

“We know people want to celebrate. There is something here to celebrate,” Klain said. “We just want to try to find a way to do it as safely as possible.”

Critics of Trump, including Democrats and some Republicans, have accused him of trying to undermine faith in the American electoral system and delegitimize Biden’s victory by promoting false claims of widespread voter fraud.

Read Also: Boris Johnson woos Biden with defense plan

“Fight hard Republicans,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday morning as he pressed his unsubstantiated narrative of voter fraud.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said yesterday he was ready to work with any U.S. leader, and would congratulate whoever emerges the winner of the American presidential election once all the legal formalities are settled, Russian news agencies reported.

Putin has withheld comment, while President Donald Trump has been taking legal action to try to overturn his Nov. 3 election defeat to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden.

“We will work with anyone who has the trust of the American people,” Putin was quoted as saying on state television.

But the winner must be named either by the opposing party, which should acknowledge the victory of their opponents, or after the final results of the election are confirmed in a legitimate, legal way, Putin said.

That follows previous Kremlin comment that it would wait for the official results of the U.S. presidential election before commenting on its outcome.

 

 Bola Olajuwon, Foreign Affair Editor

 

THERE is disquiet in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over who is to act as the Permanent Secretary.

Foreign Affairs Minister Geoffrey Onyeama and Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF), Mrs. Folasade Yemi-Esan are locked ina tango, following the departure of Mrs. Anthonia Akpabio Ekpa, the Permanent Secretary.

She handed over to Ambassador Janet Olisa.

A circular was issued, directing all senior officials to attend a meeting with Ambassador Olisa.

The circular reads: “I am directed to inform that the Outgoing Permanent Secretary has handed over to Ambassador Janet Olisa. Consequently, I am further directed to kindly invite all Heads of Department to a meeting as follows: Date: Wednesday, 18 November, 2020. Venue: Conference Room of the Permanent Secretary. Time: 10.00am.

“All concerned are to note the above accordingly.”

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After the meeting, another circular, dated November 19, issued by the ministry’s Director of Administration, Mrs. W. A. Adedeji, indicated that the minister had directed that “the position of Acting Permanent Secretary be reversed and given to the most senior director in the headquarters being Ambassador Salisu Z. Umar.

“This is in consonance with the directive of the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation.

“The above is for general information and compliance in cooperating with the new Ag. Permanent Secretary,” the circular added.

But, the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation reversed the decision in a counter-circular, dated November 20, and titled: “Overseeing the office of the Permanent Secretary”.

The circular, signed by Director, Employ Mobility (CMO) Babura T. Inuwa, for Head of the Civil of the Federation, stated: “The attention of the OHCSF has been drawn to your internal circulation where you communicated the posting of Acting Permanent Secretary. You may wish to note the HCSF circular of February 16, 2017 has disapproved the position of the acting Permanent Secretary (copy attached).

“I am further to inform you that Ambassador Salisu Z. Umar is currently undergoing disciplinary process in the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation as such he cannot oversee the affairs of the Office of the Permanent Secretary until he is cleared.

“You are, therefore, requested to urgently reassign the responsibility of overseeing the Office of the Permanent Secretary to the next most senior director and inform the OHCSF.”

Before this time, the ministry and its agencies had been in the eye of the storm for a while.

The Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) was enmeshed in a similar controversy, following the expiration of the tenure of Prof Bukar Bukarambe as its Director General.

The Director of Foreign Service Academy in Lagos, Dr. Cyprian Heen, was thereafter appointed as the overseeing Director-General of the institute. The government appointed Heen from outside the institute “since two factions in the institute could not reconcile”.

Also on July 1, President Muhammadu Buhari requested the Senate to screen and confirm 41 non-career and one career ambassadors for appointment. The President’s letter of request was read on the floor at plenary by the Senate President Ahmad Lawan.

Some of those who made the cut are the immediate past Editor-in-Chief of The Guardian, Mr. Debo Adesina (Oyo), ex-Minister of State for Defence Ademola Seriki (Lagos), a former Deputy Editor with ThisDay, and a former commissioner in Delta State, Mr. Oma Djebah and Mr. Dare Sunday Awoniyi (Kogi).

On July 22, the nominees were confirmed by the Senate. While giving the Senate’s nod, Lawan advised the Federal Government to consider either closure or merger of some of its foreign missions, if there were no resources to properly fund them because there was no need to send an envoy to a foreign land to represent the country without making adequate provision for the embassy’s administration.

The nominees have not been posted since their confirmation on July 22.