Author: Théophile Niyitegeka

US Senate approves Jeff Sessions as attorney general

{Trump’s choice, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, confirmed after accusations of racism and strong resistance.}

The US Senate has confirmed Senator Jeff Sessions as attorney general despite fierce debate over his civil rights record and a push by Democrats to block him.

President Donald Trump’s choice was given the greenlight on Wednesday by a vote of 52-47.

Sessions had faced accusations of racism, and a Senate panel rejected him for a federal judgeship in 1986 amid concerns over allegedly racist comments he had made.

“This caricature of me from 1986 was not correct,” Sessions said after his confirmation hearing last month.

“I deeply understand the history of civil rights … and the horrendous impact that relentless and systemic discrimination and the denial of voting rights has had on our African-American brothers and sisters”.

On Tuesday, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, a darling of the political left, was silenced in the Senate for reading a 1986 letter from Coretta Scott King, the widow of the Rev Martin Luther King Jr, that criticised Sessions for his civil rights record.

Democrats, civil rights and immigration groups have voiced alarm about Sessions’ record of controversial positions on race, immigration and criminal justice reform.

A known immigration hardliner, he will take over the Justice Department as its lawyers are defending Trump’s temporary entry ban on people from seven predominantly Muslim countries and all refugees, the most controversial executive order of the young administration.

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals is due to rule this week on whether to overrule a district court judge in Seattle who suspended the ban last week.

READ MORE: Who are Donald Trump’s cabinet picks?

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, praised Sessions as honest and fair.

“This is a well-qualified colleague with a deep reverence for the law. He believes strongly in the equal application of it to everyone,” he said.

Sessions, who is originally from Alabama, will serve as the 84th US attorney general. The 70-year-old was an early Trump supporter who became a pivotal figure in his campaign and transition team. He served as a prosecutor from 1981 to 1993, and won a seat in the Senate in 1996.

{{‘Uniquely ill-fitted’}}

Senate Democrat Chris Murphy said he was “scared” about changes Sessions could bring.

“[His ] history of opposing civil rights, anti-gun violence measures and immigration reform makes him uniquely ill-fitted to serve [as attorney general],” Murphy said.

“I want a chief law enforcement official that will be a champion of the disenfranchised and dispossessed, not a defender of discrimination and nativism.”

Former vice presidential candidate Timothy Kaine, also a Senate Democrat, said Sessions’ record raised doubts.

“Any attorney general must be able to stand firm for the rule of law even against the powerful executive that nominated him or her,” Kaine said. “In this administration I believe that independence is even more necessary.”

Trump was quick to congratulate Sessions on Twitter:

Sessions will assume office a week after acting Attorney General Sally Yates was removed by Trump for refusing to defend his travel ban.

With the attorney general in place, eight of Trump’s 22 Cabinet nominees have been confirmed.

Source:Al Jazeera

February 9, 2017
Donald Trump wants ‘constructive’ ties with China

{Uncertainty has prevailed after Trump accused Beijing of unfair trade practices and criticised China’s military buildup.}

US President Donald Trump has broken the ice with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a letter that said he looked forward to working with him to develop constructive relations, although the pair haven’t spoken directly since Trump took office.

Trump also issued belated well-wishes to China for the Lunar New Year, the most important holiday in the world’s most populous nation. He had been the only US president in recent years not to have issued greetings when the holiday fell on January 28, triggering speculation in China as to whether it was an oversight or an intentional slight.

A statement from the White House late on Wednesday said Trump wrote to Xi wishing the Chinese people greetings for the new year and the Lantern Festival that falls on Saturday.

“President Trump stated that he looks forward to working with President Xi to develop a constructive relationship that benefits both the United States and China,” the statement said.

The letter also thanked Xi for his congratulatory letter on Trump’s inauguration and wished the Chinese people a prosperous Year of the Rooster, it said.

{{China’s Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment.}}

Wang Yiwei, a professor of international relations at Beijing’s elite Renmin University, said the letter suggested the new US administration wanted to signal the importance it attached to the US-China relationship, without risking being confronted on specific issues.

“Trump has sent many messages that makes the world confused, like on the South China Sea and ‘One China’ policy, so if he makes a phone call President Xi will ask ‘what do you mean?’,” Wang said.

“He wants to avoid this, so he just sends a letter for the first step.”

Trump and Xi have yet to speak directly since Trump took office on January 20, although they did talk soon after Trump won the US presidential election in November.

The Foreign Ministry in Beijing said last week the two countries were remaining “in close touch”.

Trump has accused Beijing of unfair trade practices and currency manipulation, criticised China’s military buildup in the South China Sea, and accused Beijing of doing too little to pressure neighbour North Korea over its nuclear and missile programmes.

He also upended four decades of diplomatic protocol by speaking by phone with Tsai Ing-wen, the president of Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory.

Beijing decried the phone call with Tsai and has rejected the other accusations. China has in fact been spending heavily from its pile of foreign currency reserves to prop up the value of its currency, which would make its exports less competitive.

The prospect of a military confrontation over the South China Sea had also been raised by Trump’s chief strategist Steve Bannon when he hosted the conservative Breitbart News Daily radio show in 2015 and 2016.

Bannon said he envisioned the possibility of a US-China war over the strategic waterway within five to 10 years. China, which claims the sea virtually in its entirety, has been building man-made islands in the area and equipping them with airstrips and military installations.

Source:Al Jazeera

February 9, 2017
Syrian government jets target rebel-held area in Homs

{At least eight people killed in air attack on rebel-held al-Waer neighbourhood of Homs, according to monitoring group.}

Syrian government jets have bombed a rebel-held district of Homs city in the west of the country, killing several people, according to rescue workers and a monitoring group.

A pro-government media outlet said Syrian planes targeted rebels in al-Waer neighbourhood after the fighters fired at civilian areas in government-held Homs.

Al-Waer has for months been spared the intense bombardment by Syrian and Russian air forces suffered by other areas including Idlib province, controlled by President Bashar al-Assad’s opponents.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said at least eight people were killed in the government bombardment.

The Syrian Civil Defence, a rescue service operating in rebel-held territory, did not give a figure, but said on its Facebook page that its centre in al-Waer was hit, wounding a staff member, and that there were fatalities elsewhere including women and children.

An opposition media activist in al-Waer, who gave his name as Osama Abu-Zeid, said that it had been months since the last significant bombardment of the area.

“Yesterday it suddenly escalated,” he told Reuters news agency.

A military media unit run by Assad’s Lebanese ally, Hezbollah, said the army had fired rockets and that planes had carried out three strikes against rebels in al-Waer, who it said had violated a shaky ceasefire across parts of western Syria.

The SOHR reported at least one person wounded by rockets that landed in the government-controlled Abbasiya neighbourhood in Homs.

The Syrian government has tried to conclude a deal in al-Waer that would see rebel fighters and their families evacuate the district and the government take over.

Under similar local agreements in other parts of western Syria, rebels have left with light weapons and headed mostly for Idlib.

Assad said on Wednesday that local reconciliation agreements were the “most effective way to end the war and move towards a political solution”, state news agency SANA reported.

Government strategy

The opposition says such agreements are part of a government strategy to forcibly displace populations from opposition-held areas after years of siege and bombardment.

In September, some 120 opposition fighters and their families left al-Waer in agreement with the government, but there have been no further reports of rebels leaving the area.

The SOHR estimates several thousand rebels remain in the district.

The ceasefire brokered by Russia, which backs Assad, and Turkey, which supports rebels fighting to unseat him, took effect on December 30.

It has been fragile since the start, with the government side and rebels accusing the other of violations. The truce does not include the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group or al-Qaeda-linked fighters.

On Wednesday, shells fired by rebels into Aleppo city in northern Syria killed at least two people, SANA reported.

The Syrian Red Crescent said four of its volunteers were wounded, one critically, as they distributed aid in the Hamdaniya district.

Government forces drove rebels from their last remaining districts in Aleppo in December in a major victory for Assad. Shell fire has hit the city on several occasions since then.

Also on Wednesday, the Turkish news agency, Anadolu, reported that two Turkish soldiers died in a battle with ISIL, also known as ISIS, in northern Syria, citing the Turkish military.

{{ISIL fighters ‘neutralised’}}

The Turkish general staff had earlier confirmed that two other Turkish soldiers had been killed and 58 ISIL fighters “neutralised” during Operation Euphrates Shield.

Turkish authorities use the word “neutralised”, meaning either surrendered, captured or killed.

An operation was launched late on Tuesday to take control of Al-Bab. As a result of the operation, Free Syrian Army fighters supported by the Turkish military seized a number of strategic hills, the Turkish general staff statement said.

Operation Euphrates Shield began in late August 2016.

Source;Al Jazeera

February 9, 2017
Russia’s Alexei Navalny found guilty of fraud

{Kremlin critic gets five-year suspended sentence in retrial, which bars him from running for president in next election.}

A court in a provincial Russian city has found opposition politician Alexei Navalny guilty in a retrial of a 2013 fraud case, which means that he cannot run for president next year.

In a webcast hearing on Wednesday in Kirov, a city nearly 800km east of Moscow, Judge Alexei Vtyurin handed down a five-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of about $8,500 to Navalny for embezzling timber worth about $500,000.

Navalny, 40, pledged to appeal against the “politically motivated” ruling and continue with his plans of challenging President Vladimir Putin in the forthcoming presidential elections even though the Russian law bars anyone convicted of a crime from running for a public office for 10 years.

Igor Sutyagin, a senior research fellow in the Russian studies department at RUSI UK, says the verdict shows Putin’s weakness, “eliminating even tiny, but realistic” competition.

“He announced his plans to run for the presidential election, but he wouldn’t have more than 10 percent,” Sutyagin, speaking from Oxfordshire, told Al Jazeera.

“However, the Kremlin decided to get rid of any more or less realistic competition in this election, not risking even 10 percent. That is why Navalny was given this sentence.”

“Putin is weak because he is not sure whether he can win against even the weakest opposition.”

{{Room for Navalny}}

Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands, reporting from Moscow, said the constitution gives some room for Navalny to still try to run in the election.

“The constitution of the Russian Federation says that any citizen can stand for president as long as he is not in prison,” he said.

“Navalny said he will continue his presidential bid as the constitution allows him and he will be appealing this conviction.”

Authorities have accused Navalny of committing the crime while serving as an adviser to a governor of Russia’s central Kirov region.

The previous guilty verdict was overturned by the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled that Russia had violated Navalny’s right to a fair trial.

Navalny, the driving force behind massive anti-government protests in 2011 and 2012, had announced plans to run for the presidential office in December and had begun to raise funds.

Source:Al Jazeera

February 9, 2017
SDP-led government survives no-confidence vote

{Motion follows biggest protests in decades against decree that would have decriminalised some corruption offences.}

Romania’s Social Democrat-led government has survived a parliamentary vote of no-confidence after the country witnessed its largest protests in decades over a corruption decree.

Ioana Bran, the parliamentary secretary, said on Wednesday that 161 MPs voted in support of the motion, short of the 232 votes needed for it to pass.

The Social Democrats and their allies control nearly two thirds of the seats in parliament after winning a December election.

They abstained from Wednesday’s vote.

“The necessary majority has not been met, according to the constitution, for the vote to pass,” Bran said.

At least 5,000 protesters gathered outside government headquarters late on Wednesday to demand the cabinet’s resignation, despite a snowstorm, subzero temperatures and power blackouts. “We exist, we resist,” they chanted.

Catalin Predoiu, an opposition deputy, said of the motion: “This is a warning signal that we managed to gather the votes of the whole opposition and it also shows that whenever the new government derails we will gather and sanction it.”

For over a week, hundreds of thousands of people have protested against the government after it passed a decree to decriminalise some official corruption.

Critics decried the move as a major setback to the country’s anti-corruption drive.

Bowing to pressure, the government scrapped the ordinance on Sunday as some 500,000 people protested across the country.

The rallies were the largest protests since the fall of communist rule in 1989.

‘Ugly face of politics’

The motion will now be debated by the parliament.

Klaus Iohannis, Romania’s president, said the fight to contain corruption shows the “ugly face of politics”.

He told the Associated Press news agency that the massive street protests were successful in stopping the decree that would have eased up on public officials who abuse their power while in office.

He said he was pleased that protesters cared about the future of Romania and made their feelings known.

“I was surprised by the size of the crowd,” he said.

“Having over 200,000 people in Piata Victoriei [Victory Square] is something extraordinary.”

The Constitutional Court rejected challenges on procedural grounds brought against the rescinded decree by Iohannis and by the top magistrates’ council.

The court said it would reconvene on Thursday to consider a separate challenge brought by Romania’s ombudsman against the content of the decree.

Source:Al Jazeera

February 9, 2017
Four dead after armed robbers storm DRC gold mine

{An armed attack on the Twanziga gold mine in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Tuesday has resulted in four casualties.}

Among the dead are three policemen that were guarding the mine and one of the robbers, according to a statement on Banro Corp’s (TSX:BAA) website.

The incident occurred early Tuesday morning and involved an attempt by the seven-member raiding party to break through the gate. Police fired on the robbers, ending the assault. A security guard was also injured during the altercation. No items were stolen and the mine continues to operate normally, Banro said. The attempted break-in was recorded on security cameras and has been reported to authorities. An investigation is underway.

The open-pit mine, which started commercial production in 2012, is one of four gold mines operated by Banro in the DRC. It was expected to produce 110-120,000 ounces in 2016.

According to Reuters the mine has been “plagued by illegal miners squatting on the site and by armed groups, some of the dozens of militias that remain active despite the official end to a regional conflict in 2003.”

Banro’s stock, listed on the Toronto main board, lost 2.27% today to close at 21.5 cents a share.

Source:Mining

February 9, 2017
Equatorial Guinea government moves to new city in rainforest

{The government of Equatorial Guinea has moved its headquarters from the coastal capital of Malabo to an unfinished city deep in the rainforest.}

President Teodoro Obiang Nguema aims to use the country’s oil wealth to make Djibloho a “city of the future”.

Security, and safety from any attempt to overthrow the government was also a factor in the move.

It is understood that MPs will stay there initially for three months.

Chairing his first meeting in Djibloho, also known as Oyala, Prime Minister Francisco Pascual Obama Asue warned MPs not to treat the move as a holiday.

“Your relocation here does not mean that you are engaging in tourism,” said Mr Obama Asue.

{{A new city rises from the jungle}}

Djibloho is surrounded by several national parks and is not far from the eastern border with Gabon.

The city, which has been several years in the making, includes a five-star hotel, a championship golf course, a conference centre and a university.

When the project was first announced, President Obiang said security was also a reason for moving the capital.

He has been the target of attempted coups in the past, most famously by the British mercenary Simon Mann in 2004.

Mr Obiang said rebels had plotted a seaborne assault on his palace in the current capital, Malabo.

Although Equatorial Guinea is Africa’s third biggest oil producer, more than half the population lives below the poverty line.

Source:BBC

February 9, 2017
More than 52,000 South Sudan nationals enter Uganda in one month- UN

{More than 52,000 South Sudanese fled to Uganda in January alone as continued fighting risks creating a situation of mass atrocities, the UN’s special adviser on genocide prevention said Tuesday.}

The displaced, primarily from towns south of the capital Juba in Central Equatoria state, have given accounts of the killing of civilians, homes destroyed and sexual violence, said Adama Dieng.

“President Salva Kiir has made a commitment to end the violence and bring about peace, yet we still see ongoing clashes, and the risk that mass atrocities will be committed remains ever-present,” said the special adviser in a statement.

Dieng said he was particularly alarmed at the situation in Kajo-Keji where fleeing civilians have said they fear mass violence.

After several delays, a team from the UN peacekeeping mission arrived in Kajo-Keji on Sunday to report on the situation.

After gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan descended into war in December 2013, leaving tens of thousands dead and more than three million people displaced.

There is growing alarm over the humanitarian crisis in the country where more than six million people — half of South Sudan’s population — are in need of urgent aid.

Humanitarian organizations expect this number to rise by 20 to 30 percent in 2017.

Source:Daily Monitor

February 9, 2017
Somalia’s new leader Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo vows to rebuild failed state

{Supporters of Somalia’s new President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, a veteran diplomat and former prime minister, hope he can be the answer to corruption and extremism in the world’s most notorious failed state.}

The 55-year-old father of four, better known as Farmajo, holds both American and Somali citizenship, and was elected after a six-month voting process marred by widespread allegations of vote-buying and corruption.

Nevertheless, Farmajo, from the Darod clan, was welcomed with celebration by many Somalis who had looked forward to change after a series of Hawiye presidents.

In a country where clan divisions dominate politics, the administration of his predecessor, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, was widely seen as more corrupt than any that came before him.

{{Fight against Shabaab }}

As president, Farmajo inherits a country where Al-Shabaab extremists hold swathes of countryside and attack Mogadishu at will.

And after decades of unrest, hundreds of thousands of Somalis have been displaced internally, or else have fled the country.

“This is the beginning of unity for the Somali nation, the beginning of the fight against Shabaab and corruption,” a triumphant Farmajo said after being declared president.

Many Somalis fondly remember the eight months when Farmajo – whose nickname means “cheese” – was prime minister in 2010-11.

On his Facebook page, Farmajo says that while premier, he implemented the first monthly stipends for soldiers, worked on the country’s new constitution and sent delegations to defuse clan-related tensions in several regions.

The soldiers firing celebratory gunfire in the streets of Mogadishu on Wednesday have not been paid for months.

{{Forced out }}

And in a report this week, the Somali anti-corruption NGO Marqaati said civil servants had gone unpaid so the government could pay for lobbying during the elections.

In his time as prime minister, Farmajo also established an anti-corruption commission, prohibited unnecessary trips abroad by members of government and put in place an audit of government property and vehicles.

In 2011, after months of political infighting over the holding of presidential elections, a deal was struck to postpone the vote in exchange for Farmajo’s resignation.

He agreed to step down in “the interest of the Somali people and the current situation in Somalia”.

In early 2012 Farmajo and members of his former cabinet set up the Tayo (“Quality”) political party.

On his Facebook page, he says that the party’s priority was “encouraging the repatriation of Somali diasporans so as to assist in the post-conflict reconstruction process.”

{{Further studies }}

Farmajo was born in Mogadishu to activist parents from the southern Gedo region.

He has lived off and on for years in the United States, where he studied history and political science.

He worked at the foreign ministry before the overthrow of Siad Barre’s regime in 1991 ushered in decades of anarchy. He also worked at the Somali embassy in Washington.

Before being appointed prime minister he spent several years working in New York for the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority and the Erie County Division of Equal Employment Opportunity, as well as the New York State Department of Transportation.

Source:AFP

February 9, 2017
Militia chief among five killed in Central Africa clash

{A militia chief and a church pastor were among five people killed in a clash in Bangui, Central African Republic’s capital, the UN peacekeeping force said Wednesday.
}

The clash erupted Tuesday when Central African security forces backed by UN peacekeepers went into the flashpoint PK5 neighbourhood to question the leader of an armed group, known as “Big Man”, said Vladimir Monteiro, the spokesman of the UN mission MINUSCA.

“During the operation, Youssouf Malinga — also known as Big Man — and his men opened fire on the security forces and killed two passers-by, a man and a woman,” Monteiro told reporters.

“The security forces responded, killing Youssouf Malinga and one of his men. Three Central African security forces troops were also injured,” he added.

{{Sectarian conflict }}

Sporadic gunfire continued until nightfall, with militia members retaliating to the operation by surrounding a local apostolic church and killing the pastor, a police source said.

PK5, once a Muslim rebel bastion, is now home to several armed groups that have taken advantage of the weakness of the state since the end of a sectarian conflict pitting mainly Muslim against Christian militias.

Even though relative peace has returned following the civil war that erupted in 2013, inter-communal tensions remain.

As the church pastor tried to urge worshippers to leave, he was attacked and stabbed to death, a family member told AFP.

{{Church razed down }}

The information was confirmed by a local peace activist, who identified him as Jean-Paul Sankagui, a former government adviser.

“Jean-Paul Sankagui, pastor of my church in PK5, was killed and the church was torched,” Lazare Ndjadder told AFP.

Monteiro condemned the violence.

“It is unfortunate that the civilian population were the victims of these criminals’ indiscriminate fire,” he said, adding that Big Man and his militia had imposed a “reign of terror” in PK5.

“MINUSCA calls on the population to keep the peace and to avoid any action that might worsen inter-communal tensions,” he added.

One of the world’s poorest countries, Central African Republic was plunged into civil war in 2013 following the overthrow of former president Francois Bozize, a Christian, by Muslim rebels from the Seleka militia.

Source:AFP

February 9, 2017