african countries 24

Swiss police fired water cannon, tear gas and stun grenades at Cameroonian protesters outside UN headquarters in Geneva Saturday as the crowd surged towards a luxury hotel hosting Cameroon’s president.

Parts of the “city of peace” resembled a war zone, with police wearing gas masks and black riot gear chasing demonstrators through Geneva’s international neighbourhood, shooting tear gas canisters into the gardens of high-end residences where some tried to hide.

About 250 demonstrators, many dressed in military-style garb and draped in Cameroonian flags, initially gathered on a square outside the UN, with laughter and loud music creating a festive atmosphere.

But things turned violent when the crowd suddenly began running towards Biya’s hotel, about 500 metres (1,600 feet) away, chanting “Biya Assassin!” and “Switzerland Complicit” as they attempted to break through tight lines of police backed up by armoured vehicles.

Police used pepper spray and turned a water cannon, mounted on top of a tank, on the demonstrators.

An AFP reporter witnessed police beating and kicking a protester on the ground.

‘Ultimatum’

Biya, 86, “has run his dictatorship for nearly half a century,” said rally co-organiser Robert Wanto, a Cameroonian national who has lived in exile for three decades.

“We are here to demand that Cameroon be allowed to enter the modern democratic era,” he told AFP.

Cameroonian nationals exiled in a range of countries, including France, Italy, Spain, Britain and Denmark were said to have come to take part in the demonstration.

Police had to intervene to rescue a Biya supporter, who walked into the crowd wearing a dress with pictures of the president and shouting insults at the protestors, prompting a large group to attack her.

Geneva police told AFP the demonstration was authorised, but limited to the square outside the UN.

They were not granted permission to march to the five-star Intercontinental Hotel where Biya, who has ruled Cameroon since 1982, is believed to have been staying since Sunday.

But Wanto told AFP before the protest the demonstrators had given Biya an “ultimatum” to leave, and would march on the hotel if he remained there.

‘Complicit’

He pointed out that Biya had made it a habit to stay at the pricy Intercontinental during long visits to Switzerland, where he reportedly comes for medical treatment.

“He thinks it is OK to come here and spend billions of our money when our country is economically sick,” Wanto said.

Another protestor, 43-year-old Axille Fofou who is exiled in France, said she had come to voice her “indignation” at the man who has “taken the Cameroonian people hostage”.

“In Cameroon, people have nothing, and he is here, spending tens of thousands of euros (dollars) each day. It is unacceptable,” she told AFP.

“Switzerland should not support this dictator. By letting him stay here, they are complicit in horrible crimes,” she added.

Outside the hotel, dozens of suit-clad men believed to be part of the president’s security detail stood guard.

Over the past week, there have already been several scuffles with small numbers of demonstrators outside the hotel and even inside the lobby.

An attack on a Swiss journalist by Biya’s supposed security staff sparked a diplomatic incident, prompting the Swiss government to summon Cameroon’s ambassador in Bern on Thursday.

“The dictator must be senile to want to transport the violence he unleashes on his country on a daily basis to the soil of a democratic country,” Wanto said.

Cameroon, a former French colony, has faced a succession of crises and is wracked by a deadly conflict between separatists and government forces in its English-speaking west.

Opposition leaders have faced mass arrests, and rights groups claim detainees are tortured and many disappear.

It’s good news for motorists. The price of 93 unleaded petrol (ULP) will decrease by 96 cents a litre on July 3. That’s according to the Department of Energy. The price of 95 ULP will also decrease by 95 cents a litre.

Diesel will decrease by 79 cents per litre.

#FuelPriceAdjustment #TeamEnergy #GrowSouthAfrica pic.twitter.com/ATpCzwlWD7

— Department of Energy (@Energy_ZA) June 28, 2019

The 14th summit of the Group of 20 (G20) concluded in Osaka, Japan on Saturday.  Addressing the keynote speech at close session, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the leaders have agreed in principle to govern the global economy.

Amid the reform of the World Trade Organization, Abe said the reform is necessary to bring the organization to a new era by involving digital technologies to enhance its effectiveness.

He also attached the importance of free data flow across borders among major G20 economies, of which new rulemaking is in progress.

Besides, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Saturday that China supports the concept that high-quality infrastructure should be the foundation of inclusive development. He called for an open, green economy and transparent government.

Xi also invited other countries to join the effort of building a sustainable and inclusive economy.

World leaders discussed issues such as trade, the environment and innovation at the two-day event from June 28 to 29, marking the first-ever G20 summit hosted by Japan.

G20 leaders and delegates attended the closing session of the summit amid the ongoing trade wars and tides of protectionism riding high in the global economic scenario, Abe to drew attention towards finding common grounds rather than differences in opinions.

“In an age where various concerns are being raised regarding the outlook for the world economy and sustainability, our responsibilities become even greater. Basing ourselves on the Osaka Leaders Declaration and tenaciously identifying points of consensus and common ground rather than differences in views let us continue to cooperate towards the realization of an inclusive and sustainable future society,” said Abe while addressing the closing session of the summit.

Also, addressing a news conference later on Saturday, Abe said he had told US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping that it was extremely important to engage in constructive discussion to solve their trade tensions.

Tunisia’s 92-year-old president, Beji Caid Essebsi, a major player in the country’s transition to democracy since 2011, was taken to a military hospital on Thursday after suffering a “severe health crisis”, the Presidency said.

One of Essebsi’s advisers told Reuters he was in a “very critical” condition, but was alive.

Prime Minister Youssef Chahed said on Facebook that Essebsi was receiving the attention he needed and that people should stop spreading fake news about his condition, after some reports said the president had died.

The elderly head of state was hospitalised last week as well, for what the presidency described as non-serious treatment.

Essebsi has been a prominent figure in Tunisia since the overthrow of Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, which was followed by uprisings against autocratic leaders across the Middle East, including in nearby Libya and Egypt.

Eastern Cape Arts and Culture MEC Fezeka Bayeni says they anticipate good economic returns from the Makhanda National Arts festival, as it contributes R324-million to the national GDP and R94-million of that to the town.

The Festival is officially underway.

Over 700 artists will take to the stage this year.

Bayeni says the festival brings many benefits.

“There are a lot of economic benefits whether you look at visitors that will be coming. More than 10 000 visitors projected and obviously they’ll be seeping here, buying here, that on its own is a generation of income. Also for those who will be performing, it’s some form of a take home and economic development.”

Welcome to #NAFday2! An update on extra shows, cancellations & changes. We’re loving the raving reviews of last night’s shows that had standing ovations from audiences 🤩Day 2 of #11DaysOfAmazing! 🥳#allroadsleadtoNAF #nationalartsfestivalhttps://t.co/Nl3Nv2sCkJ

— NationalArtsFestival (@artsfestival) June 28, 2019

We had a good one too! And now for #NAFday2! https://t.co/3Oq8MbD3tu

— NationalArtsFestival (@artsfestival) June 28, 2019

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Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris confronted front-runner Joe Biden on race during a debate on Thursday, calling his remarks about working with segregationist senators “hurtful” and questioning his 1970s opposition to school bussing.

In a Democratic contest where racial issues have figured prominently, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, also faced pointed questions about accusations of racism within the city’s predominantly white police force in the aftermath of a fatal police shooting of a black man.

Harris, the daughter of a black father from Jamaica and an Indian mother, was at the centre of several heated exchanges during the second night of debates among Democrats vying for the right to challenge Republican President Donald Trump in the November 2020 election.

Harris said the issue of race was deeply personal for her, noting she was bussed to school as classes were integrated in California.

She looked straight at Biden and challenged him to explain himself.

“I do not believe you are a racist. And I agree with you when you commit yourself to the importance of finding common ground,” said Harris, 54, a US senator from California.

“But I also believe – and it’s personal and it was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country.”

Biden, who has faced heavy criticism for his recent comments saying he worked with segregationists decades ago to get things done in the U.S. Senate, defended his record on civil rights.

“It’s a mischaracterization of my position across the board: I did not praise racists. That is not true,” he said. “If we want to have this campaign litigated on who supports civil rights and whether I did or not, I’m happy to do that.”

“Everything I have done in my career, I ran because of civil rights and continue to think we have to make fundamental changes and those civil rights, by the way, include not just African-Americans, but the LGBT community,” he said.

Going after Trump 

During the debate, the contenders frequently attacked Trump and sharply disagreed over the best way to boost access to healthcare insurance coverage.

One of the lesser-known candidates, US Representative Eric Swalwell, 38, also trained his sights on Biden, urging the 76-year-old to pass the torch to younger candidates.

“I was 6 years old when a presidential candidate came to the California Democratic convention and said it’s time to pass the torch to a new generation of Americans,” Swalwell said. “That candidate was then-Senator Joe Biden.”

“He was right when he said that 32 years ago. He is still right today,” Swalwell said.

Biden responded: “I’m still holding onto that torch. I want to make it clear.”

Biden and the candidate running second in polls among Democrats, Bernie Sanders, turned their fire on Trump repeatedly.

“The American people understand that Trump is a phony, that Trump is a pathological liar and a racist and that he lied to the American people during his campaign,” said Sanders.

Biden, the former vice president making his third run for the White House, said Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthy and other economic policies were increasing economic inequality in the United States.

Ethiopian security forces on Thursday rounded up scores of suspects believed to have links to a coup bid in northern Amhara state and the murder of the army chief in attacks which have highlighted the political crisis in the nation.

The weekend attacks have heaped pressure on Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, already facing waves of ethnic violence which have displaced over two million people, as he pushes forward with democratic and economic reforms.

An ethno-nationalist party in Amhara, one of several political groupings gaining ground as political space opens up, said more than 56 of its members and supporters had been arrested.

“In Addis Ababa alone, 56 of our members and sympathisers have been arrested while dozens other NaMA (National Amhara Movement) sympathisers and members in Oromia have also been arrested,” said party spokesman Christian Tadele.

“The campaign of arrests against NaMa members and sympathisers isn’t just directed against a party, but is also an identity-based attack,” Christian told AFP.

The National Amhara Movement was formed around a year ago as a hardline ethno-nationalist challenger to the Amhara Democratic Party (ADP) — one of the four alliance members in the national ruling party, the EPRDF.

“It is pressing territorial claims on neighbouring Tigray region and asserting that it would stop the ‘persecution’ of Amharas living outside Amhara state,” the International Crisis Group (ICG) said of the party.

The security chief, Asaminew Tsige, who is accused of orchestrating the two attacks at the weekend, was seen as being appointed to his post in the ADP to appeal to the more hardline residents of the region.

In 2018 he was released from almost a decade in prison over a 2009 coup plot.

He espoused similar views to the NaMa, observers say, and was likely facing dismissal over his fiery rhetoric and efforts to form militia.

Elias Gebru, a civil society activist based in Addis Ababa, said three of his colleagues had been arrested and appeared in court Tuesday on accusations they assisted in the coup bid.

“The Ethiopian government is reverting to its old practices of persecuting peaceful people as an excuse for its internal strife,” said the activist.

Civilians massacred

Meanwhile, details emerged Thursday of a bloody attack in neighbouring Benishangul Gumuz state at the hands of what local officials believe are men trained by Asaminew.

Abera Bayeta, head of Benishangul Gumuz regional state peace and security bureau, told AFP that around 100 heavily-armed men had attacked a village at dawn on Monday, “killing more than 50 civilians most of them women and children.”

AFP could not independently verify his claim.

Abera said the perpetrators of Monday’s attack managed to escape, but that 85 others believed to be planning a similar assault were arrested on Thursday.

“We believe the Monday attackers and the 85 armed men we apprehended were both trained by Asaminew Tsige, with the aim to eventually attack neighbouring communities” he said.

Dozens of people have been killed in recent months in clashes between residents of northern Benishangul Gumuz and Amhara states — one of the many hotspots in the country pitting communities against each other, often over land and resources.

Asaminew, who was shot dead on Monday while on the run, is also believed to have co-ordinated the assassination of army chief Seare Mekonnen who was shot dead by his bodyguard on Saturday night.

The violence is seen as a backlash to Abiy’s efforts to lead democratic reforms in Africa’s second-most populous nation.

Observers say the prime minister’s breakneck reforms have severely weakened the unity of the once all-powerful EPRDF.

His loosening of the reins in the long-authoritarian state has stirred up ethno-nationalist sentiment in Ethiopia’s nine autonomous regions, which are divided along ethnic lines, and fuelled jockeying for power ahead of 2020 elections.

Internet services were partially restored across Ethiopia on Thursday after a near-total blackout for the past five days.

BNP Capital Director Daniel Mahlangu told the State Capture Commission on Thursday that he was approached by Dudu Myeni’s alleged adviser Masotsha Mngadi and also senior Nedbank employee.

Mngadi’s Inline Trading and BNP Capital entered into a partnership to bid for a transaction advisory services tender at SAA in 2016.

The state-owned airline was looking to consolidate its debt of R15 billion.

Mahlangu testified that Mngadi introduced his company Inline Trading during a meeting they had in 2016. In the meeting, Mahlangu alleges that Mngadi claimed SAA was a client of his and wanted them to respond to a bid.

At the time, SAA had issued a request for information on transaction advisory services for its R15 billion loan consolidation.

The BNP Capital Director told the commission that Mngadi asked for his name to be removed from all documents to SAA. According to Mahlangu, Mngadi asked for his name to be replaced with Brendan King’s name.

Last week, former SAA CFO, Phumeza Nhantsi testified, saying she cancelled the agreement with BNP Capital when she discovered the consultancy’s FSB certificate had expired while Mahlangu testified it was not his intention to mislead SAA about his company’s license.

However, Justice Zondo questioned Mahlangu on why he signed the declaration of interest without checking if Inline’s director had a conflict of interest with SAA.

“I agree with you chair and Ms Hofmeyr that, perhaps, we could have asked that particular question, but in our engagements at that point in time, we didn’t suspect anything. As I said, time was of the essence and perhaps, it’s a question that needs to be asked on constant basis and when we engaged with Mngadi. He didn’t give us any indication that he is involved or has any relationships.”

The commission continues on Friday. – Additional reporting by Amina Accram

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US President Donald Trump renewed his criticism of the US-Japan security alliance, the linchpin of Tokyo’s security policies, ahead of talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit in Osaka this week.

Trump was responding to a question in a Fox television interview in Washington on Wednesday about what bilateral deal she would like to see with various countries including Japan. Tokyo and Washington are engaged in difficult trade talks as Trump’s administration seeks to lower the US trade deficit. “Almost all countries in this world take tremendous advantage of the United States … Like even Japan on the treaty, we have a treaty with Japan. If Japan is attacked, we will fight World War Three,” Trump said.

“We will go in and we will protect them and we will fight with our lives and with our treasure. We will fight at all costs, right? But if we’re attacked, Japan doesn’t have to help us at all.

They can watch it on a Sony television, the attack.” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, asked about the remarks, said the two governments had not discussed revising the treaty and dismissed the notion that the pact was unfair.

“The obligations of the United States and Japan … are balanced between both countries,” he told a news conference. Under the decades-old U.S.-Japan security treaty, the United States has committed to defending Japan, which renounced the right to wage war after its defeat in World War Two. Japan in return provides military bases that Washington uses to project power deep into Asia, including the biggest concentration of U.S. Marines outside the United States on Okinawa, and the forward deployment of an aircraft carrier strike group at the Yokosuka naval base near Tokyo.

Trump is scheduled to hold nine bilateral meetings, with nations such as Japan, China and Russia, at the June 28-29 G20 summit. Deterioration in US-Japan ties that resulted in an end to the security pact, which puts Japan under the US nuclear umbrella, could force Washington to withdraw a major portion of its military forces from Asia at a time when China’s military power is growing.

It would also force Japan to seek new alliances in the region and bolster its own defences, raising concern about nuclear proliferation in the tense region. On a visit to Japan in May, Trump said he expected Japan’s military to reinforce U.S. forces throughout Asia and else whereas Tokyo bolsters the ability of its forces to operate further from its shores.

Abe, who has cultivated warm ties with Trump since the US leader took office, has pledged to strengthen Japan’s defences. He also wants to revise the nation’s post-war, pacifist constitution to clarify the ambiguous status of its military.

Malawi’s constitutional court on Wednesday heard opening arguments in a case over alleged election irregularities as opposition parties battle to have the result of last month’s vote nullified.

The court did not allow public or media access to the hearing, which comes after the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and the United Transformation Movement (UTM) lodged complaints of alleged fraud in the election.

President Peter Mutharika, leader of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), held onto power in the May 21 vote, narrowly defeating Lazarus Chakwera of the MCP.

Briefing reporters outside court, MCP spokesman Eisenhower Mkaka said the court was deliberating on how the case would proceed.

Judges heard applications on media access, disclosure of financial documents and where ballot papers should be securely stored.

When the court met last week, police used tear gas to disperse opposition supporters gathered outside.

Security forces were deployed around the court on Wednesday, but there were no protests. Chakwera alleges he was the rightful winner of the election, which he lost by 159,000 votes.

After the result was announced, he described it as “daylight robbery.” Further protests are scheduled for next week.

The US Federal Aviation Administration has identified a new risk that Boeing Co must address on its 737 MAX before the grounded jet can return to service, the agency said on Wednesday.

The FAA did not elaborate on the latest setback for Boeing, which has been working to get its best-selling airplane back in the air following a worldwide grounding in March in the wake of two deadly crashes within five months.

Last month, FAA representatives told members of the aviation industry that approval of the 737 MAX jets could happen as early as late June.

The world’s largest planemaker has been working on the upgrade for a stall-prevention system known as MCAS since a Lion Air crash in Indonesia in October, when pilots were believed to have lost a tug of war with software that repeatedly pushed the nose down. A second deadly crash in March in Ethiopia also involved MCAS. The two accidents killed a total of 346 people.

“On the most recent issue, the FAA’s process is designed to discover and highlight potential risks. The FAA recently found a potential risk that Boeing must mitigate,” the FAA said in the statement emailed to Reuters. “The FAA will lift the aircraft’s prohibition order when we deem it is safe to do so.”

Boeing said in a securities filing late on Wednesday that the FAA has asked it to address through software changes a specific flight condition not covered in the company’s already-unveiled software changes.

The U.S. planemaker also said it agreed with the FAA’s decision and request, and was working on a fix to address the problem.

Boeing’s aircraft are being subjected to intense scrutiny and testing designed to catch flaws even after a years-long certification process.

Two people briefed on the matter told Reuters that an FAA test pilot during a simulator test last week was running scenarios seeking to intentionally activate the MCAS stall-prevention system. During one activation it took an extended period to recover the stabilizer trim system that is used to control the aircraft, the people said.

In a separate statement, Boeing said addressing the new problem would remove a potential source of uncommanded movement by the plane’s stabilizer.

A hardware fix could add new delays to the plane’s return to service.

The FAA also said on Wednesday that it continues “to evaluate Boeing’s software modification to the MCAS and we are still developing necessary training requirements. We also are responding to recommendations received from the Technical Advisory Board. The TAB is an independent review panel we have asked to review our work regarding 737 Max return to service.”

American Airlines Group Inc and Southwest Airlines Co earlier canceled flights through early September as a result of the grounding. On Wednesday, United Airlines said it also was removing MAX flights from its schedule through Sept. 3.

Iran “never seeks war” with the United States, President Hassan Rouhani said as he sought to rein in soaring tensions on Wednesday between the two countries.

“Iran has no interest to increase tension in the region and it never seeks war with any country, including (the) US,” the president said, quoted by state news agency IRNA.

Rouhani was speaking by phone to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, as Tehran and Washington engaged in an escalating war of words following Iran shooting down a US drone last week.

“We have always been committed to regional peace and stability and will make efforts in this respect,” the Iranian president told Macron.

US President Donald Trump said he pulled back from retaliatory strikes on Iran at the last minute, rejecting Tehran’s claim that the aircraft was in its airspace.

But pressure mounted this week with Trump announcing sanctions on Iran’s supreme leader and top officials.

The new measures are the latest against Tehran since Trump pulled out of a landmark nuclear accord between Iran and world powers.

Rouhani blamed the United States for regional tensions and said if Washington had stuck to the deal “we would have witnessed positive developments in the region”.

Iran announced in May it would suspend two of its pledges under the 2015 deal, giving the agreement’s remaining supporters two months to help it circumvent US sanctions.

On Tuesday Tehran’s top security official, Ali Shamkhani said Iran would “forcefully” reduce further commitments from July 7.

This was so “countries who interpreted Iran’s ‘patience’ with weakness and inaction realise that Iran’s answer to the American drone’s violation of its airspace will be no different than its reaction to devious political efforts to limit Iranian people’s absolute rights,” he said, quoted by Fars news agency.

Tehran’s compliance had been based on European promises to support Iran’s economy – which have failed to bear fruit – Rouhani told Macron.

Iran previously announced it would stop observing restrictions on its stocks of enriched uranium and heavy water agreed under the deal.

Tehran accuses Washington of waging economic warfare through its crippling sanctions regime, which on Monday saw Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blacklisted.

The Trump administration says it is open to talks with Tehran, an offer flatly rejected by Rouhani after the US said it would also sanction his top diplomat.

“At the same time as you call for negotiations, you seek to sanction the foreign minister? It’s obvious that you’re lying,” Rouhani said Tuesday, raising fears of conflict despite both sides saying they are not looking for war.

Washington’s national security advisor, John Bolton, on Tuesday accused Iran of being behind “a long series of unprovoked and unjustifiable attacks.”

The US has blamed Tehran for attacks earlier this month on tankers close to the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which most Gulf oil exports pass.

Iran has vehemently denied involvement, despite it previously threatening to close the vital waterway.

Trump said Tuesday he is not seeking conflict while warning Iran against hitting US interests.

“Any attack by Iran on anything American will be met with great and overwhelming force. In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration,” he tweeted.

Iran and the US broke off diplomatic relations in 1980 over the hostage crisis at the US embassy in Tehran following Iran’s Islamic revolution.

Trump’s comments came after a flurry of diplomatic activity, which saw the UN Security Council issue a unanimous call Monday for dialogue to address the bilateral standoff.

With no sign of calm on Tuesday, China urged “calm and restraint”.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has told the United Nations wildlife summit currently underway in Victoria Falls, that the lifting of the ban will enable his country to sell $600-million worth of stockpiled tusks.

Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, and Zambia have all cited the growing number of elephants in some areas in their bid to have the ban lifted, angering many conservationists.

“We call upon the institution to resist the temptation of being a policy institution and instead be a developmental one which promotes the intricate balance between conservation and sustainable utilisation of all wildlife resources.”

Namibia president Hage Geingob says it’s concerning that it seems that the west is more worried of the right of animals versus the rights of human beings, especially in developing countries.

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Minister of Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan says progress has been made in terms of unbundling Eskom as announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa during the February State of the Nation Address (SONA).

Gordhan was addressing the joint sitting of Parliament debating last week’s State of the Nation Address.

He has added that the power utility has reached 94 days without load shedding and he wishes that the situation continues.

“In terms of restructuring of Eskom, good progress has been made in relation to working out a road map to implement the proposals in the February 2019 SONA, to separate generation transmission and distribution functions into three separate business entities wholly owned by the state. There is no deviation from the strategic path,” says Gordhan.

US National Security Advisor John Bolton on Tuesday described as “deafening” Iran’s apparent silence on an offer to negotiate with Washington.

“The president has held the door open to real negotiations,” Bolton said in a statement.

“In response, Iran’s silence has been deafening,” he added during a visit to Jerusalem.

The United States imposed sanctions Monday on Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and others, which the Iranian foreign ministry said meant a “permanent closure of the path to diplomacy” with the US administration.

Tensions are running high after Iran shot down a US spy drone last week and Trump considered, then cancelled, a retaliatory strike.

Bolton said Tuesday the US remains open to negotiations, more than a year after Washington pulled out of a landmark nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.

“All that Iran needs to do is to walk though that open door,” he said.

But Iran’s president said Washington’s decision to impose sanctions on senior officials including its top diplomat proved the US was “lying” about talks.

“At the same time as you call for negotiations you seek to sanction the foreign minister? It’s obvious that you’re lying,” President Hassan Rouhani said in a meeting with ministers broadcast live on TV.

A Sudanese court ordered telecoms operator Zain Sudan on Sunday to restore internet services, a lawyer said, after they were severed nearly three weeks ago when security forces dispersed protesters camping in central Khartoum.

Sudan’s military rulers ordered the internet blackout as a security measure but it is harming the economy and humanitarian operations in the African nation of 40 million. The protesters are demanding the military hand power to a civilian authority.

Abdel-Adheem Hassan, a lawyer who filed his own case against Zain Sudan over the blackout, told Reuters the Khartoum District Court had ordered Zain to “immediately restore internet services to the country”.

Sudanese courts do not confirm or deny their rulings to the media. Zain Sudan, a subsidiary of Zain Kuwait and the largest operator in Sudan, was not immediately able to comment on the matter on Sunday.

Hassan said a Zain representative had told the court in response to the petition that the company had been ordered verbally by “high authorities” to cut the internet.

Sudanese officials could not be reached for comment and it was unclear what impact Sunday’s court order would have. Authorities also restricted access to popular social media sites during 16 weeks of protests against veteran leader Omar al-Bashir earlier this year. Bashir was finally ousted on April11.

“SEVERE” RESTRICTIONS

The current blackout, which began on June 3, has resulted in a “near-total loss of access” for mobile and fixed line connections for most ordinary users, though connectivity had improved from 2% to 10% of normal levels by last Thursday, said Alp Toker of NetBlocks, a digital rights NGO.

“Data indicate that Sudan’s current internet restrictions remain more severe than those observed during the rule of Omar al-Bashir, including those applied in the final days of the regime,” Toker said in an email.

The blackout has hampered the speed and effectiveness of humanitarian operations, said Rick Brennan, regional emergencies director at the World Health Organization (WHO). Protesters have been demanding that authorities restore internet services as one of their conditions for returning to talks on forming a transitional administration comprising both civilians and military officers.

General Salah Abdel-Khaleq, a member of Sudan’s Transitional Military Council, told the BBC Arabic service in an interview this month that internet services would be restored once those talks resumed.

The talks were suspended after security forces stormed the protest camp outside the Defence Ministry in central Khartoum on June 3. Protesters put the number of dead from that raid and ensuing violence at 128, and the health ministry at 61.

The protesters responded to the break-up of the sit-in by declaring a state of civil disobedience, instructing supporters in various sectors of the economy to stay away from work in a move that has partially paralysed Sudan.

DENEL says it cannot guarantee its workers a future at the state arms manufacturing company because of its worsening cash-flow problems.

The company has however assured the workers that it will pay the balance of their June salaries in about a week’s time.

In an internal memorandum leaked to the media, the company says employees will only receive 85% of their salaries on Tuesday.

Liquidity challenges at DENEL started in September last year when senior management only received 80% of their salaries.

DENEL Group Chief Executive Officer Daniel du Toit says:

“We have quite a challenging liquidity crisis, most months over the last six months since I came on board we have finalised salary payments in the last days up to the 25th of the month. In this month unfortunately we could not secure all the funding we need, I think we will have it in the next 2-3 days so in principle we can pay full salaries but it will be late and we thought it’s better to communicate it with the staff.”

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Belgian counter-terror police have arrested a man suspected of plotting an attack against the US embassy in Brussels, federal prosecutors said Monday.

Security forces on Saturday arrested a man following “converging signs raising fears of an attack against the US embassy,” the prosecutor’s office said.

“The suspect has been detained for an alleged attempted attack within a terrorist context and preparation of a terrorist offence,” it said in a statement.

The suspect identified only as M.G. appeared on Monday morning before an investigating judge who ordered him held in the case, it added.

The suspect denies any involvement in the alleged plot.

A source close to the investigation told AFP the suspect is a Belgian man of around 40 years old who had “raised suspicion because of his behaviour.”

He had been seen “scouting” the embassy area before he was arrested, the source added.

Jihadists have staged a number of attacks in Brussels, which hosts the headquarters of the European Union and NATO.

The worst was on March 22, 2016, when suicide bombers killed 32 people and wounded hundreds of others at Brussels airport and a metro station near EU buildings.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the twin attacks.

Several other attacks, some of them claimed by IS, have also targeted Belgian police or soldiers.

The US embassy was not immediately available for comment.

Early poll results put Mauritania ruling party candidate Mohamed Ould Ghazouani comfortably ahead after Saturday’s presidential election, taking 50.41% of the ballot with more than half votes counted, data from the electoral commission showed. His nearest rival, Biram Dah Abeid, a prominent black Mauritanian slavery campaigner, has got 18.72% so far, the figures showed on Sunday.

Mohamed Ould Boubacar, who is backed by Mauritania’s biggest Islamist party, has 18.13%, with support for the other two candidates in single figures.

About 850,000 votes out of 1.5 million have been counted.

The election was the first in the sparsely populated Saharan nation’s history since independence from France in 1960 to choose a successor to a democratically elected president. Outgoing President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz surprised many of his compatriots and international observers by stepping aside after serving the maximum two five-year elected terms in Mauritania, a country of fewer than 5 million people comprising a large chunk of the western Sahara Desert.

His decision bucked a trend in which African leaders, including in Rwanda and Congo Republic, have changed or abolished term limits to cling to power.

Ghazouani, insider, former general and defence minister, has been heavily tipped to win from the beginning.

SLAVERY CAMPAIGNER

Ghazouani has campaigned on continuing economic and security progress made under Abdel Aziz, who since taking the helm in a2008 coup, positioned Mauritania as an ally of the West against Islamist militants.

Under the leadership of the 62-year-old president, the economy has grown and will receive an extra boost when a large offshore gas field starts producing early next decade.

But President Aziz has been criticised for not facing up to the country’s most searing injustice: the persistence of slavery.

Tens of thousands of black Mauritanians still live as domestic slaves, rights groups say, usually to lighter-skinned masters of Arab or Berber descent.

That is despite the practice being abolished in 1981 and criminalised in 2007, the year before Aziz took power. Aziz has made pronouncements denying slavery is widespread. Abeid, himself a descendent of slaves, has campaigned partly on this platform.

He and other opposition leaders also sought to tap into youth anger at high unemployment. Unlike some other regional Western allies, Mauritania has largely been spared reprisals by jihadist militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State, who have devastated neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso.

This, together with the fact that the region’s jihadists tend to make announcements through Mauritanian media, have prompted critics to conclude a tacit peace pact between them — a charge the government denies. Documents seized from Osama bin Laden’s Pakistan hideout in2011 indicated al Qaeda’s leaders had discussed among themselves the previous year a possible peace deal with Mauritania’s government that would involve prisoner releases and payments.

The government denied any such deal existed and has credited its success preventing Islamist attacks to intelligence work and rehabilitation of imprisoned jihadists.

Huawei Technologies Co Inc filed a lawsuit against the US Commerce Department on Friday challenging whether telecommunications equipment it sent from China to the United States, and then back to China, is covered by Export Administration Regulations, according to a court filing.

The lawsuit is the latest salvo in a battle between the United States government and Huawei. Washington says the Chinese company’s telecommunications gear could be used by Beijing to spy. Huawei denies that is the case.

In the lawsuit, Huawei said that it shipped telecommunications equipment from China, including a computer server and Ethernet switch, to a testing laboratory in California.

After the testing was done, the equipment was shipped back to China.

No application for a license was made because none was needed, the lawsuit claims.

But the equipment was seized in Alaska by the US government, and no decision has been made about whether a license is required to ship it, the filing said.

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South Africa’s candidate to serve on the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Pansy Tlakula, has been elected to a four-year term.

The Information Regulator Chair is among the nine new members chosen to serve on the 18-person Geneva-based Committee.

It requires members of high moral standing and acknowledged impartiality.

Members are elected by the 181 States who are party to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

The committee is responsible for monitoring implementation of the convention.

“The first thing that I have to say is to thank my government for supporting my nomination. I also have to thank the officials here, Lyle Davidos and Motumisi Tawana. They did a great job… the mission and the Ambassador Jerry Matjila, not even forgetting Dr Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, they all lobbied very hard for me.”

“This is important for South Africa as you know the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was inspired by us as a country, taking into consideration our history. So I am very thrilled that we are back on the Committee.”

“I am very excited to be on the committee. I am also very humbled, I must say, that I have made it and I hope that even if I am there in my personal capacity, but I will be flying the flag of the country.”

Just in: Pansy Tlakula has been elected to CERD #sabcnews

— Sherwin Bryce-Pease (@sherwiebp) June 21, 2019

Italian prosecutors have complained to Switzerland about lengthy delays in obtaining evidence they have requested in an international corruption case involving oil firms Shell and Eni, a source familiar with the matter said.

Milan prosecutors wrote in April to the Geneva prosecutors ‘office in a previously undisclosed letter, describing their three-year wait for documents to be handed over by Swiss authorities as “unprecedented”, the source said.

Swiss police found the documents in a briefcase they seized in April 2016 in an inquiry unrelated to the corruption case,and the source said Milan prosecutors believed the documents could be vital to their prosecution of Eni and Shell.

But Italy’s request for the documents to be handed over has been blocked by Swiss courts after repeated legal challenges by the owner of the briefcase, Nigerian lawyer Emeka Obi, who was charged alongside Eni and Shell executives in the graft case.

In September 2018, Obi was convicted of corruption and sentenced to four years in jail by a Milan judge in a fast-track trial, though he has appealed, remains outside Italy and his lawyer continues to pursue legal action in Switzerland to block Italy’s request.

Obi’s Italian lawyer, Roberto Pisano, did not reply to an email requesting a comment.

A separate trial continues in Milan against Eni, Shell and executives of both firms on charges they paid $1.1 billion in bribes to secure the purchase of a Nigerian oil field in 2011.All defendants deny wrongdoing.

The Geneva prosecutors’ office said in a statement to Reuters that it had spared no effort to cooperate with Italy over its request, adding the Swiss judicial process was long and involved delays that it admitted could cost precious time.

Milan prosecutors have an understanding of the contents of the documents and believe they would strengthen their case against defendants in the Nigeria graft trial, the source said.

They hope their letter will be passed onto the Swiss Federal Penal Tribunal in Bellinzona which is considering which documents can be passed to Milan prosecutors. The tribunal’s eventual ruling is also subject to appeal.

SAA Express executive Brian Van Wyk has asked the State Capture Commission to postpone his testimony.

Van Wyk’s council Nqabayethu Buthelezi says his client did not received the rule three-three notices where he has been implicated by certain witnesses.

On Thursday the commission heard how the North West government signed a deal with SA Express which was signed off by the airline’s executives, Van Wyk and Inati Ntshanga.

The North West department of transport paid SA Express inflated rates to operate the province’s Mafikeng and Pilanesberg airports.

This was higher than industry standards.

The deal signed in 2015 alleged to have failed procurement irregularities. SA Express commercial manager, Arson Phiri told the commission money paid by the North West government to SA express were “excessive” and “overstated”.

The commission’s legal team says they did all they could to contact Van Wyk and notified him that he has been implicated at the commission.

Judge Raymond Zondo has allowed the evidence to continue saying that the commission has a set date to complete its hearings.

Judge Zondo told the council for Van Wyk to apply for leave to cross examine.

He is also disputing evidence of a tape recording where he has been implicated in corrupt activities.

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Philippine’s former foreign minister Albert del Rosario, a critic of Beijing’s claims to the disputed South China Sea, was denied entry to Hong Kong on Friday and deported, his lawyer said.

Del Rosario was behind two prominent initiatives against China, including a 2013 case at an international arbitral tribunal which eventually ruled against Beijing’s claim over most of the resource-rich waterway.

His deportation comes as anger is still bubbling in Hong Kong over a proposed bill that would have allowed extraditions to the mainland, raising fears of people being ensnared in China’s opaque court system.

Del Rosario said he flew to Hong Kong early on Friday using a Philippine diplomatic passport, but was taken to an immigration holding area on arrival, where he remained “for nearly three and a half hours”.

Del Rosario’s lawyer Anne Marie Corominas subsequently told AFP: “He’s been excluded and deported.”

She said he was already aboard a plane back to the Philippines and added that authorities had given no reason for denying him entry.

Hong Kong immigration officials had no immediate statement on the deportation but routinely decline to comment on individual cases.

Although Hong Kong was returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997, it is still administered separately under an arrangement known as “One country, two systems”.

But activists have been alarmed in recent years by what they feel is a tighter grip by Beijing, though Hong Kong still retains freedoms unseen on the mainland.

Earlier Del Rosario had told local Manila television network ABS-CBN that he was given “no rational explanation” for his detention.

In March, Del Rosario filed a complaint against Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the International Criminal Court, alleging “crimes against humanity” over the supposed environmental fallout of Beijing’s activities in the disputed waters.

Hong Kong immigration authorities briefly held another Philippine critic of China, former Supreme Court justice and special anti-graft prosecutor Conchita Carpio Morales on May 21 when she made a private visit to the territory with her family.

Morales, who was also a party in the complaint filed by del Rosario at the ICC, was released hours later but chose to return to Manila instead.

Del Rosario said he had been in Hong Kong to attend a board and shareholders’ meeting of a private company and had asked the Philippine foreign department to inform the territory’s authorities about his trip.

The former foreign secretary, who served under previous Philippine president Benigno Aquino, accused airport immigration authorities of acting “in violation of the Vienna Convention” on diplomatic privileges.

Africa has over six million refugees and is one of the regions with the most displaced people in the world, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

To commemoration World Refugee Day, the Department of Home Affairs together with the Pan African Parliament and the African Peer Review Mechanism will host a panel discussion at the Pan-African Parliament in Midrand, north of Johannesburg.

The discussion will focus on the positive contribution that refugees are able to make in their new societies if they receive initial support from various stakeholders.

UNHCR representative for Southern Africa, Markku Aikomus, says South Africa is doing well notwithstanding some of the attacks against foreign nationals.

“South Africa is generously hosting around 280 000 refugees and asylum seekers from a variety of countries – and South Africa in many ways has been an example in the region. Refugees and asylum seekers have free movement; they have access to the services and to the labour market and employment,” says Aikomus.

Minister of Communications, Telecommunications and Postal Services, Stella Ndabeni- Abrahams, has assured the nation and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) that there is no blackout that’s going to befall the public broadcaster.

Ndabeni-Abrahams’ comment follows recent media reports that suggest that the SABC might not be able to pay its employees come month-end.

Speaking outside Parliament, before the sitting of the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Thursday, Ndabeni-Abrahams says processes are under way to ensure that the SABC gets the much-needed bailout.

“Rest assured, as soon as the Treasury finalises their processes, the SABC will continue with what it is doing. You are not going to get any blackout, that we promise.”

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Hamas leader Ismail Haniya said Thursday his Palestinian movement rejected next week’s US-sponsored Middle East economic conference in Bahrain as it would amount to Arab “normalisation” of ties with Israel. In a rare briefing with international journalists, Haniya also accused Israel of failing to abide by agreements meant to ensure calm in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

“We clearly express our rejection and non-acceptance of any Arab or Islamic country holding such a conference, which constitutes normalisation with the occupation,” Haniya said, referring to Israel.

US President Donald Trump’s administration organised the conference, which is to be held on 25 and 26 June in Manama for the unveiling of the economic component of a US Israeli-Palestinian peace plan. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has been drafting the long-awaited plan, but it has been rejected in advance by the Palestinians, who accuse the Trump administration of pro-Israel bias.

The political part of the conference is likely to be delayed until at least after the Israeli elections in September.

Palestinians have also accused the US of trying to use the potential offer of billions of dollars in investment to avoid dealing with political causes of their suffering, including Israel’s occupation.

“We reject the Manama conference and the transformation of the Palestinian cause from a political cause to an economic cause,” Haniya said.

Haniya also appealed to Bahrain’s King Hamad “not to hold this workshop,” vowing protests “in all the Palestinian lands and beyond.”

Hamas and Israel have fought three wars since 2008 and fears of a fourth remain.

An agreement reached in November is supposed to ensure calm in exchange for Israel easing its blockade of the Gaza Strip. The Jewish state has never publicly confirmed the deal, but has allowed Qatar to bring millions in cash and investments into the Palestinian enclave since then.

In May the two sides came close to a new conflict, with Hamas and Islamic Jihad firing hundreds of rockets from Gaza and the Israeli military striking dozens of targets in response. Haniya accused Israel of not implementing the agreements reached.

“The understandings today are in the danger zone, due to the failure of the (Israeli) occupation to implement what was agreed upon.”

He highlighted the distance Israel allows fishermen from Gaza to operate off the coast, saying Israel had pledged to allow it up to 18 nautical miles off the coast. Last week Israel banned all fishing off the coast, though it has since resumed to six miles.

“The Israeli occupation uses this range as a form of blackmail,” said Haniya. “We are not against a just peace (with Israel) based on just rights but we are against surrender,” he added.

Israel says the restrictions are necessary to isolate Hamas, saying the group often seeks to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip.

Hamas is considered a terrorist organisation by the US, European Union and others.

Unidentified gunmen on motorbikes attacked two villages in central Mali, killing at least 41 people in a part of the country where ethnic reprisal attacks have surged in recent months, a local mayor said on Tuesday.

Issiaka Ganame, the mayor of Yoro, said 24 people had been killed on Monday evening in Yoro and 17 more in the village of Gangafani 2.

The victims were mostly ethnic Dogons, Ganame said.

Dozens of Dogon civilians have been killed in recent months in tit-for-tat clashes with the rival Fulani community.

South African Express Commercial General Manager, Arson Phiri, will testify before the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture in Parktown in Johannesburg on Thursday morning.

The Commission is also expected to hear aviation-related testimony from North West Community Safety and Transport Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Kutlwano Phatudi and Koroneka Trading and Projects Director Babadi Tlatsana.

On Wednesday, divisional and security manager at South African Express, Timothy Ngwenya, testified about alleged corruption between the airline and the North West Transport Department.

He shed light on an arrangement entered into between SA Express by the North West Transport Department to fly routes to Pilanesberg and Mafikeng airports.

The agreement was envisaged to move R400 million out of the North West government into SA Express and a third party that SA Express nominated to conduct ground-handling services at those airports named Koroneka.

R97 million of that amount was paid out of the North West government and siphoned off through a “detailed scheme of money laundering”.

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Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other senior Saudi officials should be investigated over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi since there is credible evidence they are liable for his death, a UN rights investigator said on Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia’s minister of state for foreign affairs, Adelal-Jubeir, rejected the investigator’s report as “nothing new.”

He added in a tweet: “The report of the rapporteur in the human rights council contains clear contradictions and baseless allegations which challenge its credibility.”

Khashoggi’s killing provoked widespread disgust and damaged the image of the crown prince, previously admired in the West for pushing deep changes including tax reform, infrastructure projects and allowing women to drive.

Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, called on countries to invoke universal jurisdiction for what she called the international crime and make arrests if individuals’ responsibility is proven.

In a report based on a six-month investigation, she also urged countries to widen sanctions to include the crown prince, who many consider the kingdom’s de facto ruler, and his personal assets abroad, until and unless he can prove he has no responsibility.

Khashoggi, a critic of the prince and a Washington Post columnist, was last seen at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October where he was to receive papers ahead of his wedding. His body was dismembered and removed from the building, the Saudi prosecutor has said, and his remains have not been found.

“What needs to be investigated is the extent to which the crown prince knew or should have known of what would have happened to Mr Khashoggi, whether he directly or indirectly incited the killing…whether he could have prevented the execution when the mission started and failed to do so,”Callamard told reporters. “It is the conclusion of the Special Rapporteur that Mr Khashoggi has been the victim of a deliberate, premeditated execution, an extrajudicial killing for which the state of Saudi Arabia is responsible under international human rights law,”Callamard said in her report.

PROSECUTOR
The Saudi public prosecutor indicted 11 unnamed suspects in November, including five who could face the death penalty on charges of ordering and committing the crime. Callamard said the Saudi trial should be suspended, citing concerns over secret hearings and a potential miscarriage of justice.

Instead, a follow-up international criminal probe should be launched, she said, adding: “Of course there are a range of options, an ad hoc tribunal, a hybrid tribunal, anytype of mechanism that will deliver a credible process and a credible outcome.”

The CIA and some Western countries believe the crown prince ordered the killing, which Saudi officials deny.

The UN report publishes excerpts from what it calls conversations inside the consulate shortly before Khashoggi arrived at the building and during his final moments, in which a Saudi official is heard discussing cutting a body into pieces. The material relies on recordings and forensic work by Turkish investigators and information from the trials of the suspects in Saudi Arabia, the report said.

Callamard said that she could not reach firm conclusions about what the team was told was the sound of a “saw” in the operation.

“Assessments of the recordings by intelligence officers in Turkey and other countries suggest that Mr Khashoggi could have been injected with a sedative and then suffocated using aplastic bag,” the report said.

Callamard went to Turkey earlier this year with a team of forensic and legal experts and said she received evidence from Turkish authorities.

“There is credible evidence, warranting further investigation of high-level Saudi officials’ individual liability, including the crown prince’s,” she said. “Indeed, this human rights inquiry has shown that there is sufficient credible evidence regarding the responsibility of the crown prince demanding further investigation,” she added, urging UN Secretary-General to establish an international probe.

Asked if universal jurisdiction meant potential arrests of suspects abroad, Callamard said: “If and when the responsibility of those individuals has been proven, including the responsibilities of a level that warrant arrest, absolutely.”

Judicial authorities in countries that recognise universal jurisdiction for serious offences can investigate and prosecute those crimes no matter where they were committed.

An exiled Rwandan opposition leader claimed Tuesday that President Paul Kagame’s government had used torture to coerce a terrorism confession from a rebel chief. In May, Callixte Nsabimana, a spokesperson for the insurgent National Liberation Front (FLN), pleaded guilty at trial to charges of terrorism and acting as a spy for Burundi and Uganda.

Kagame has accused these states of sponsoring armed movements against his government. In February, he closed the border with Uganda and ties with Burundi have long been sour.

The FLN is the armed wing of an opposition group founded by Paul Rusesabagina, the hotelier whose heroic actions during the 1994 genocide were depicted in the movie Hotel Rwanda. Rusesabagina, chairperson of the Rwandan Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD), now lives in Belgium and on Tuesday denounced Nsabimana’s trial at a news conference.

“If you’d been in his place, tortured for a month or more, what would you have done? Anything they demanded” he said when asked about Nsabimana’s public confession.

Nsabimana is yet to be sentenced.

Rusesabagina went on to insist that Kagame’s government has killed several opposition figures and said detained activists “at home and abroad” are routinely tortured. Fellow exile and former Prime Minister, Faustin Twagiramungu, said his Rwandan Dream Initiative would become a new partner of the MRCD opposition platform.

“We should unite as a people and as political parties,” he said.

Kagame has been in power since 1994, when his forces overthrew a genocidal regime and has been an elected leader since 2003, twice winning lengthy new mandates. Once championed in western capitals as a reformer, he has been criticised for overseeing constitutional changes to prolong his rule and cracking down on opposition voices.

Former South African Airways (SAA) Chief Financial Officer Phumeza Nhantsi has defended the decision to appoint BnP Capital to source a R15 billion consolidated loan for the national airline in 2015.

Testifying before the Zondo Commission that’s probing alleged state capture in Parktown, Johannesburg, Nhantsi outlined, what she claims, were the difficult choices the airline had to make in securing the money.

She disputed the testimony of SAA’s former Head of Financial Risk Management Cynthia Stimpel, who last week told the commission that banks were the safest option for part of the proposed loan.

Nhantsi says they opted for the little known company because banks were concerned about SAA’s financial performance and gave many conditions for the credit.

“They even said in the letter to National Treasury that they are now feeling as if they are shareholders of SAA, and they want shareholders to come to the party. The second issue was related to corporate governance where they said there are so many people in acting positions, and the third issue that the banks consistently raised at that time is the board members, there were only three board members. The banks at the time told us that until these are resolved, they will not extend and roll over the loans beyond three months,” says Nhantsi.

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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has blocked the inclusion of Saudi Arabia on a US list of countries that recruit child soldiers, dismissing his experts’ findings that a Saudi-led coalition has been using under-age fighters in Yemen’s civil war, according to four people familiar with the matter. The decision, which came after a fierce internal debate, could prompt new accusations by human rights advocates and some lawmakers that US President Donald Trump’s administration is prioritising security and economic interests in relations with oil-rich Saudi Arabia, a major US ally and arms customer.

Pompeo’s move comes amid heightened tensions between the US and Iran, the Saudi’s bitter regional rival.

State Department experts recommended adding Saudi Arabia to the soon-to-be released list based in part on news reports and human rights groups’ assessments that the desert kingdom has hired child fighters from Sudan to fight for the US-backed coalition in Yemen, the four sources said.

The Saudi government, Saudi embassy in Washington and Saudi-led coalition did not respond to requests for comment. The coalition has previously said it was upholding international human rights standards and denied the use of child soldiers.

The experts’ recommendation faced resistance from some other State Department officials who, according to three of the sources, argued that it was not clear whether the Sudanese forces were under the control of Sudanese officers or directed by the Saudi-led coalition. A New York Times report in December cited Sudanese fighters saying their Saudi and United Arab Emirates commanders directed them at a safe distance from the fighting against the coalition’s foes, Iran-aligned Houthi militias.

Pompeo rejected the recommendation from the experts, who are from the State Department’s anti-human trafficking office, said the four sources who spoke on condition of anonymity. The office has a key role in investigating the use of child soldiers worldwide.

“The United States condemns the unlawful recruitment and use of child soldiers. We place great importance on ending the practice wherever it occurs,” a State Department official said in response to Reuters’ questions. The official, however, did not specifically address the Saudi decision or whether any consideration was given to Riyadh’s security ties to Washington.

Instead of adding Saudi Arabia to the list, Sudan will be reinstated after being removed in 2018, three of the sources said. A spokesperson for Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which has contributed fighters to the Yemen war, said the force is affiliated with Sudan’s military.

“Based on Sudanese laws, it does not recruit minors,” he said. He did not directly respond to a question on who controlled Sudanese forces in Yemen.

The UAE government did not respond to a request for comment.

The child soldiers list will be part of the State Department’s annual global Trafficking in Persons report, which the sources said is expected to be released as early as Thursday.

BAN ON US AID
The Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 requires the State Department to report annually on countries using child fighters, defined as “any person under 18 years of age who takes a direct part in hostilities as a member of governmental armed forces.”

Foreign militaries on the list cannot receive US aid, training and weapons unless the president issues full or partial waivers of those sanctions based on “national interest.” Trump and his predecessors have done this in the past for countries with close security ties to the US.

While internal debates over issues like child soldier violations often take place ahead of the release of the annual State Department list, this one was especially heated, several of the sources said.

Since the end of 2016, the Saudi-led coalition has deployed as many as 14 000 Sudanese at any given time, including children as young as 14, to fight in Yemen, offering payments of up to $10 000 per recruit, according to the New York Times. The article cited Sudanese fighters who had returned home and Sudanese lawmakers.

In Washington, the Yemen conflict is a contentious issue well beyond the State Department. Republican and Democratic lawmakers, citing evidence of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s role in the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and angered by the civilian toll from the Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen, have ramped up efforts to block Trump’s multibillion-dollar arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

Congressmen Tom Malinowski and Ted Lieu organized a letter to Pompeo from more than a dozen lawmakers in March that said they were “gravely concerned by credible reports “of the Saudi-led coalition deploying Sudanese child fighters in Yemen. They called for a US investigation, including into whether they had been armed with US-made weapons, and also asked for an inquiry into “credible evidence of Houthi forces forcibly conscripting minors into combat.”

BLOODY CONFLICT
Sudan sent thousands of troops to Yemen with the Saudi-led coalition that intervened in the civil war in 2015 against the Houthis, who had captured most of the main populated areas of the country and forced President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile. Almost from the start, accusations of the use of child soldiers have dogged the parties to the bloody conflict.

A report by an independent group of experts to the UN Human Rights Council in August 2018 found that all sides in Yemen “conscripted or enlisted children into armed forces or groups and used them to participate actively in hostilities.”

The Trump administration has faced controversy in the past over its handling of the child soldier issue. Reuters reported in 2017 that then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson opted to remove Iraq and Myanmar from the child soldiers list and rejected a recommendation to add Afghanistan to it, despite the department publicly acknowledging that children were still being conscripted in those countries.

The State Department said at the time that while the use of child soldiers was “abhorrent,” it was still in “technical compliance with the law.” Pompeo, who succeeded Tillerson, reinstated Iraq and Myanmar on the list in 2018.

Media Monitoring Africa has urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to spell out solutions to the financial crisis faced by the SABC, as he prepares for Thursday’s State of the Nation Address.

This after SABC Chief Financial Officer Yolande van Biljon, on Monday warned of the possibility of a communication blackout amid the public broadcaster’s dire financial situation.

She says the cash-strapped public broadcaster is stuck with large debts including to the City of Johannesburg municipality.

Van Biljon says executives are doing their best to avoid Day-Zero scenarios and that salaries are expected to be paid at the end of June.

Media Monitoring Africa’s Director William Bird says government’s refusal to respond to the SABC’s R3.2-billion loan guarantee may be an attempt to crash the public broadcaster.

He has urged President Ramaphosa to take seriously the SABC’s situation.

“We have to hope that he does. The irony of it being that one of the biggest services that will be bringing his State of the Nation Address to the public is the SABC. This is something that they are deliberately allowing to get to that point is an absolute crisis. I think South Africans must use whatever type of social media capabilities they have to write to the President and Department of Communications and Treasury and demand that they get their guarantee and show their support for the SABC – and if necessary call for a blackout to demonstrate the actual impact of what would happen if the SABC were to go off air.”

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British Prime Minister Theresa May is considering a face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at this month’s G20 summit in Japan in an effort to begin a thaw in relations before a new British leader comes to power, The Times newspaper reported.

Britain’s relations with Russia fell to a post-Cold War low after the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a former colonel in Russian military intelligence, and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury in March 2018 with the Novichok nerve agent.

May blamed Russia which denied any involvement. Allies in Europe and the United States sided with May’s view and ordered the biggest expulsion of Russian diplomats since the height of the Cold War. Russia expelled Western diplomats in return.

The Times said a meeting with Putin would only take place if there was a purpose to the meeting. May last met Putin at the Group of 20 summit in Argentina in November when the Russian president approached her informally.

Boris Johnson‘s Brexit strategy would collapse under scrutiny, one of his rivals to become Britain’s prime minister said ahead of the first televised debate Sunday  which the front-runner is skipping.

Five of the six rivals seeking the leadership of the governing Conservative Party were to go head to head in a 90-minute broadcast from 1730 GMT, with Johnson set to be given an empty podium.

The former foreign secretary has come under fire from his rivals for giving few interviews and public appearances and for avoiding the Channel 4 TV debate.

Ex-London mayor Johnson claims direct bickering between them will be counter-productive.

The contenders have different strategies on how to deliver Brexit.

Britain is due to leave the European Union on the twice-postponed deadline of October 31.

Rival Rory Stewart said Johnson’s plans for Brexit would come “off the rails” once subject to detailed examination.

“How is Boris going to deliver Brexit? He keeps saying ‘I am going to deliver it’. I don’t even know what he believes. He won’t talk to me. He won’t talk to you. He won’t talk to the public.”

Conservative MPs whittle the contenders down to two through successive rounds of voting next week from Tuesday, before the 160,000 grassroots party members pick the winner in a postal ballot.

Johnson topped Thursday’s first round with 114 votes, ahead of Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt on 43 and Environment Secretary Michael Gove on 37.

Former Brexit secretary Raab got 27, interior minister Sajid Javid got 23 and International Development Secretary Stewart was on 19.

There are 50 votes to play for that went to candidates who have dropped out and contenders need 33 votes to get through Tuesday’s second round, when at least one more candidate will be eliminated.

The survivors will face a BBC television debate later Tuesday, which Johnson will attend.

Raab said the centre-right Conservatives would be unable to win a general election if they do not take Britain out of the EU by the deadline.

“The Tory Party will be toast unless we are out by the end of October. The Conservatives cannot win an election unless we have delivered Brexit,” he told Sky News television.

Three years on from the referendum on the UK’s EU membership, Raab said lawmakers opposed to Britain leaving the bloc were trying to block Brexit from ever taking place.

“What is really scandalous here is the way that people are trying to sabotage the will of the people,” he said.

“We gave people a decision. Now parliament is trying to steal it back away from them.”

Meanwhile, Hunt said Johnson was effectively committing to taking Britain out of the EU without a divorce deal, by insisting the UK must leave by the deadline.

He said he believed he could negotiate a new deal.

“It’s not impossible to do it before October 31 but it will be difficult,” Hunt told BBC television.

“If there is no prospect of getting a deal that can get through parliament on October 31, then I would be prepared to leave without a deal, because, in the end, the democratic risk of no Brexit is far worse than the risk of no deal.”

The winner of the members’ vote will be announced in the week beginning July 22 and then take over from Theresa May as prime minister.

Tens of thousands are expected to take to the streets in Hong Kong on Sunday to demand the city’s leader steps down, a day after she suspended an extradition bill following the most violent protests in decades.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Saturday indefinitely delayed the bill that could send people to mainland China to face trial, expressing “deep sorrow and regret”.

The about-face was one of the most significant political turnarounds by the Hong Kong government since Britain returned the territory to China in 1997, and it threw into question Lam’s ability to continue to lead the city.

Organisers of Sunday’s protest said they hope more than a million people will turn up for the rally, similar to numbers they estimated for a demonstration against the proposed extradition bill last Sunday. Police put that count at 240,000.

Violent clashes on Wednesday when police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters grabbed global headlines and forced some banks to shut branches.

Some Hong Kong tycoons have started moving personal wealth offshore over concerns about the proposed extradition law, which critics warn could erode the city’s international status.

The city’s independent legal system was guaranteed under laws governing Hong Kong’s return from British to Chinese rule 22 years ago, and is seen by business and diplomatic communities as its strong remaining asset amid encroachments from Beijing.

Hong Kong has been governed under a “one country, two systems” formula since its return to Beijing, allowing freedoms not enjoyed on mainland China but not a fully democratic vote.

Many accuse Beijing of extensive meddling since then, including obstruction of democratic reforms, interference with elections and of being behind the disappearance of five Hong Kong-based booksellers, starting in 2015, who specialized in works critical of Chinese leaders.

Some opponents of the extradition bill said a suspension was not enough and want it scrapped and Lam to go.

“If she refuses to scrap this controversial bill altogether, it would mean we wouldn’t retreat. She stays on, we stay on,” said pro-democracy lawmaker Claudia Mo.

Asked repeatedly on Saturday if she would step down, Lam avoided answering directly and appealed to the public to “give us another chance.” Lam said she had been a civil servant for decades and still had work she wanted to do.

She added that she felt “deep sorrow and regret that the deficiencies in our work and various other factors have stirred up substantial controversies and disputes in society”.

Lam’s reversal was hailed by business groups and overseas governments.

“AmCham is relieved by the government decision to suspend the extradition bill and that it listened to the Hong Kong people and international business community,” said Tara Joseph, President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.

The UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Twitter: “Well done HK Government for heeding concerns of the brave citizens who have stood up for their human rights”.

China’s top newspaper on Sunday condemned “anti-China lackeys” of foreign forces in Hong Kong.

“Certain people in Hong Kong have been relying on foreigners or relying on young people to build themselves up, serving as the pawns and lackeys of foreign anti-China forces,” the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily said in a commentary.

“This is resolutely opposed by the whole of the Chinese people including the vast majority of Hong Kong compatriots.”

The Hong Kong protests have been the largest in the city since crowds came out against the bloody suppression of pro-democracy demonstrations centered around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.

Officials said 72 people were admitted to hospitals from the Wednesday protest, while a man died on Saturday after plunging from construction scaffolding where he unfurled a banner denouncing Hong Kong’s extradition bill, local media reported.

Lam had said the extradition law was necessary to prevent criminals using Hong Kong as a place to hide and that human rights would be protected by the city’s court which would decide on the extraditions on a case-by-case basis.

Critics, including leading lawyers and rights groups, note China’s justice system is controlled by the Communist Party, and say it is marked by torture and forced confessions, arbitrary detention and poor access to lawyers.