IGIHE

Author: Théophile Niyitegeka

  • Mexican president: We will not pay for a wall

    {President Pena Nieto condemns US President Donald Trump’s order that a wall be built along the US-Mexico border.}

    Mexico’s leader Enrique Pena Nieto has condemned US President Donald Trump’s move to build a border wall, and insisted that his country has no intention of paying for it.

    “I regret and condemn the decision of the United States to continue construction of a wall that, for years, has divided us instead of uniting us,” President Pena Nieto said in a brief televised message on Wednesday.

    “Mexico does not believe in walls. I have said it time and again: Mexico will not pay for any wall,” he said, referring to Trump’s vow to make his southern neighbour pay for the barrier.

    Trump’s plan has also been roundly condemned by other Latin American leaders.

    “Mexico gives and demands respect as the completely sovereign nation that we are,” Pena Nieto, who is due to meet with Trump at the White House next week, said.

    Without mentioning the trip, Pena Nieto said he would wait for a report from a high-level Mexican delegation holding meetings in the US capital this week and consult with governors and MPs before deciding on “the next steps to take.”

    Pena Nieto also said he had ordered Mexico’s 50 consulates in the US to act as legal counsel for the rights of Mexican migrants.

    “Our communities are not alone. The government of Mexico will offer legal counsel that will guarantee the protection they need,” he said.

    Al Jazeera’s John Holman, reporting from the Mexican side of the US border, said Pena Nieto was trying to be cautious in responding to Trump’s latest policy proposal.

    Earlier on Wednesday, Trump signed directives to order the building of the wall, and crack down on US cities that shield undocumented immigrants.

    “A nation without borders is not a nation. Starting today, the US gets back control of its borders,” he said.

    {{‘Rapists and drug dealers’}}

    The order, signed on Wednesday, will enable construction of “a large physical barrier on the southern border”, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.

    “Building this barrier is more than just a campaign promise, it’s a common sense first step to really securing our porous border,” Spicer added.

    In an interview with ABC News on Wednesday, Trump said construction of the wall would start within months, with planning starting immediately, and that Mexico would pay back to the US “100 percent” of the costs.

    “We’ll be reimbursed at a later date from whatever transaction we make from Mexico,” Trump said, repeating a campaign promise.

    During the campaign, Trump referred to Mexican migrants as “rapists and drug dealers”. He also visited Mexico, and later declared that Mexico will be paying for the construction of the wall.

    Reuters news agency reported Trump was also expected to take steps in the coming days to limit legal immigration, including executive orders restricting refugees and blocking the issuing of visas to people from several Muslim-majority Middle Eastern and North African countries including Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Iran, Libya and Yemen.

    A second executive order signed during an appearance at the Department of Homeland Security was aimed stripping federal grant money from “sanctuary” states and cities, often governed by Democrats, that harbour undocumented immigrants.

    Trump, though, said “illegal immigrants brought to US as children shouldn’t be very worried”.

    “I do have a big heart,” he said.

  • Latin America leaders condemn Trump’s Mexico wall at CELAC summit

    {Heads of state gathered at annual CELAC Latin America summit discuss ways to confront new regional reality.}

    Punta Cana, Dominican Republic – Outrageous. Disgusting. Nauseating. These are just a few of the long list of qualifiers against the Trump administration’s announcement to go ahead with building the infamous wall separating the United States from the rest of Latin America.

    “We have to protect ourselves from the aggressive policy of persecuting migrants. The attacks against human rights is one of the central topics that brought us to this Summit,” said Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa as he arrived in Punta Cana.

    “Our commitment is to defend the right to migrate, the most important form of movement. It is not the flow of capital or the flow of merchandise, but rather the mobility of human beings, which is a human right,” Correa added.

    Ten heads of state and 33 foreign ministers gathered at the annual CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Summit in the Dominican Republic were already preparing to debate ways to confront a new regional reality.

    “The phantom of protectionism and closure of borders would have grave consequences. We must de everything we can to prevent a return to the past … We are facing an adverse international scenario. We need to stick together to defend our alliance,” said host President Danilo Medina as he inaugurated the summit.

    But the speed with which the Trump administration has decided to go ahead with his electoral vow to build a wall along the US-Mexico border apparently caught everyone off guard.

    Tuesday night, as his plane was preparing to fly him to Punta Cana for the Summit, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto abruptly cancelled his trip, attributing it to reason of “internal agenda”.

    The announcement came after Pena Nieto got wind of President Trump’s plans to announce details of “the wall of infamy”, as it is called in much of Latin America.

    It is not just Mexico that would be affected, but tens of thousands of Central Americas and Caribbeans who for decades have used the US-Mexican border to enter the United States without visas.

    The CELAC Summit is due to end late on Wednesday with a strong condemnation of White House policy towards Latin American, including the renegotiation of free trade agreements with Mexico (NAFTA) and probably Central America (CAFTA).

    Nevertheless, for now, Trump’s counterparts south of the border seem hard pressed to respond with something more substantial than just words.

  • PA threatens to withdraw recognition of Israel

    {Senior official threatens to withdraw Palestinian Authority’s recognition of Israel if US embassy is moved to Jerusalem.}

    A senior member of President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party has threatened to withdraw the Palestinian Authority’s recognition of Israel in response to the planned relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

    During his electoral campaign, US President Donald Trump pledged to move the embassy to Jerusalem despite reluctance to do so by past administrations.

    Speaking to the Voice of Palestine radio station on Tuesday, Azzam al-Ahmad, a member of Fatah’s Central Committee, said the Palestinian Authority, or PA, planned to adopt a raft of retaliatory measures in the event of the embassy’s relocation.

    “One of these steps would be to withdraw recognition of the Israeli state,” said Ahmad.

    “[We would also] demand that Israel recognise Palestine as a state with Jerusalem as its capital.”

    The Fatah official went on to assert that Palestinians would “escalate their peaceful popular resistance” in response to any embassy move.

    Earlier in the day, Osama Hamdan, the spokesman for Hamas, a group that governs the Gaza Strip, told Al Jazeera that Trump should not add “oil to the fire” by moving the embassy to Jerusalem.

    Jerusalem remains at the core of long-standing disputes between Israel and the Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem – occupied by Israel for 50 years – as the capital of a future state.

    Although Israel has claimed the city as its “eternal capital” since occupying East Jerusalem in 1967, the international community has never recognised the assertion.

    Until now, most foreign diplomatic missions remain based in Tel Aviv.

    On Monday, the White House announced that “no decisions” had been made on the planned move, saying talks on the issue were still in the “very early stages”.

    Earlier this month, Republican politicians in the US introduced legislation, which is still winding its way through the Senate, to relocate the embassy and recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

    Palestinian demonstrated against Trump's promise to re-locate the US embassy to Jerusalem

  • US suit filed as journalists, lawyers face riot charges

    {Lawsuit against DC police alleges “indiscriminate” arrests after protests turned violent during Trump’s inauguration.}

    A civil lawsuit has been launched over alleged “indiscriminate” arrests of lawyers, legal observers, journalists and medics amid protests that turned violent in Washington DC during President Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony last week.

    Jeffrey Light, an attorney who filed the lawsuit on Friday – the same day that the inauguration was held – against police officials, told Al Jazeera that about six journalists, more than three lawyers and a number of medics were among more than 230 who are facing rioting charges.

    Rioting carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and $25,000 fine.

    At least three of the lawyers detained had been marked as legal observers – who are designated to protect the rights of activists at demonstrations, Light said.

    Light, who has been contacted by many of those arrested, accused officers of using “excessive force” after some protesters hurled rocks and bottles at police, who responded with volleys of tear gas, stun grenades and an “indiscriminate” mass arrest.

    During the demonstration, at least one car was set on fire and windows of some downtown businesses were damaged by protesters.

    “Everybody has been charged with felony rioting and they (police) have not given a reason. They arrested everyone in a particular area. Police have reported that unspecified people threw objects, but have not accused specific individuals of throwing objects,” Light said.

    “It is unconstitutional because people were arrested without any determination by police that they were doing something wrong.”

    The DC Police Department’s press office told Al Jazeera that they can not comment on the arrests due to the lawsuit.

    Interim Police Chief Peter Newsham, who has been named as a defendant in the lawsuit, has been quoted by local media as saying that it was “disappointing” that the clashes and arrests happened, but was “very, very pleased” at how his department handled the situation.

    Light’s comments to Al Jazeera on Wednesday came as the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a US-based media watchdog, issued a statement calling on DC authorities to drop rioting charges against the detained journalists.

    Evan Engel, a senior producer at the news website Vocativ, Aaron Cantu, a freelance journalist who has written for Al Jazeera and Truthout besides other news agencies, and Alex Rubinstein, a reporter for Russia-based TV network RT, were among the media members detained.

    Carlos Lauria, of the CPJ, told Al Jazeera that the “excessive” charges against the journalists have raised fears of press freedom being under threat in the country.

    “Journalists should be able to cover the inauguration without interference, especially because people have the right to recieve information about what is going on that important day … The crackdown sends a chilling message to reporters and the media who cover protests,” he said.

    A limousine was set on fire and some buildings were damaged during the protests in DC

  • UK report: Sexist dress codes common in some sectors

    {Women routinely forced to wear high heels in jobs where they are on their feet all day, British politicians find.}

    A British parliamentary inquiry has found that sexist dress codes were rife in some industries in Britain and women were routinely being forced to wear high heels in jobs where they were on their feet all day.

    The report published on Wednesday said women facing discriminatory dress codes tended to be young and in low-paid jobs with precarious contracts, making it difficult for them to challenge company practices.

    Under Britain’s equality law, company dress codes must make equivalent requirements for women and men, but the politicians said breaches of the law were widespread in sectors including hotels, travel, temporary work agencies, hospitality and retail.

    It called on the government to take urgent action, including raising financial penalties against employers found to be in breach of the law, and promotion of awareness campaigns targeted at companies, workers and students.

    The politicians set up an online forum for one week in June last year, and 730 people came forward with stories.

    While high heels were the most prominent issue, the politicians heard from women who had been required by companies to dye their hair blonde or wear revealing outfits.

    “I came in one morning and my manager was cracking down on uniform and informed me that I had to look ‘sexy’, which entailed wearing heels,” wrote one retail worker, who gave her name as Jasmine.

    Jasmine complied, but her job involved standing and walking all day and she found high heels extremely painful.

    “When I asked my manager if it would be OK if I changed to flats she replied saying ‘What girl can’t wear heels?’ and continued to tell me I was being pathetic,” she wrote.

    {{Petition}}

    The parliamentary investigation was prompted by the efforts of Nicola Thorp, 27, who refused to wear high heels one morning at work and was sent home without pay.

    Thorp started a petition against compulsory high heels on parliament’s website that garnered 152,420 signatures. Her rebellion became a national talking-point and prompted the inquiry.

    “This may have started over a pair of high heels, but what it has revealed about discrimination in the UK workplace is vital,” said Thorp, commenting on the report.

    A petition against compulsory high heels garnered 152,420 signatures

  • Islamists lose Benghazi district to Haftar’s forces

    {Jihadist fighters in Libya have lost one of their last remaining strongholds in the country’s second city.}

    Forces loyal to the military leader, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, said they had driven local Islamist militias out of the Ganfouda district of Benghazi.

    The area had been under siege for months and saw some of the worst fighting over control of the city.

    Some fighters were affiliated to the Islamic State group or Al Qaeda.

    The besieged district, nine miles west of the city centre, has been largely cut-off from the rest of Benghazi in blockades setup by Field Marshal Haftar’s forces.

    His forces are not being recognised by Libya’s UN-backed government.

    The spokesman for Field Marshal Haftar’s forces – known as the Eastern Libyan Army – said they had freed the neighbourhood, but some militants had fled to a nearby area known as the “12 blocks”.

    {{‘High cost’}}

    The BBC’s North Africa correspondent, Rana Jawad, said if it holds, the fall of Ganfouda district would be considered “a significant gain” for the forces, but locals had been hit hard.

    “More than two years of fighting in Libya’s second largest city has come at a high cost,” she said.

    “It has been deadly and it has internally displaced thousands of people.”

    Residents told the BBC that Islamist militias still control some parts of central Benghazi, though there have been no clashes there recently.

    {{String of setbacks}}

    Libya’s unrest since the 2011 ousting of Muammar Gaddafi saw extremist organisations, including the Islamic State group, gain a foothold in the country.

    Field Marshal Haftar’s forces and rival fighters loyal to the UN-backed Tripoli-based government inflicted a string of setbacks on the jihadists.

    But the jihadists still control the central Benghazi districts of Al-Saberi and Souq al-Hout, according to Field Marshal Haftar’s forces.

    The district has been under siege for months

  • Somali hotel bomb attack ‘kills 28’, say ambulance staff

    {Ambulance workers in the Somali capital Mogadishu have told the BBC they have counted 28 dead bodies at a hotel following a bomb attack by militants.}

    They said 43 others, including seven journalists, were injured after bombs exploded at the Dayah hotel – although there have been no official numbers.

    Somali security minister Abdirizak Omar Mohamed earlier said four attackers had been killed by security forces.

    The Islamist militant group al-Shabab has said it carried out the attack.

    Eyewitnesses said the attackers used a vehicle laden with explosives to blast their way into the hotel, where members of parliament were believed to be staying.

    Shortly after the first blast, another vehicle exploded, killing and wounding more people who had gathered in the area.

    Survivors described how hotel residents hid under beds and others jumped out of windows to escape from the attackers.

    Hassan Nur told the AP news agency: “They [the gunman] kicked down room doors and at some point posed themselves as rescue teams by telling those inside to come out, (only) to kill them.”

    Police officer Colonel Abdiqadir Hussein told Reuters that security forces had later managed to secure the building.

    “We have rescued the people and concluded the operation at Dayah hotel,” he said.
    “The security forces are now inside the hotel.”

    The hotel is located less than a mile from Somalia’s presidential palace and is popular with dignitaries.

    The attack comes at a time when the country is preparing for indirect elections where MPs are set to choose a president.

  • Anis Ben-Hatira: Darmstadt release player over Islamic charity link

    {Bundesliga club Darmstadt have released Tunisian midfielder Anis Ben-Hatira by mutual consent following criticism of his ties with an Islamic charity.}

    Ansaar International has been criticised in Germany with media reports alleging it was linked to the controversial Islamic Salafist sect.

    Salafism is an ultra-conservative branch of Islam.

    German authorities say “almost all” terror networks in the country have evolved out of the movement.

    However, there is an important distinction to be made between the vast majority of its followers, whose aim is simply to bring Muslims back to an earlier interpretation of their religion.

    German politicians have also spoken against Ansaar International.

    Peter Beuth, interior minister of the state of Hessen, where Darmstadt is located, said on Tuesday: “You cannot let a professional footballer like Ben-Hatira carry on when he’s in the vicinity of extremist organisations that are being observed by [Germany’s domestic security agency] the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.”

    Darmstadt’s president said the club felt Ben-Hatira’s involvement with the organisation was “wrong”.

    “Further co-operation makes no sense,” Rudiger Fritsch added. “We wish Mr Ben-Hatira, who has always behaved impeccably, every success in his future sporting career.”

    On Saturday, Darmstadt fans unfurled a banner calling on Ben-Hatira to distance himself from Ansaar International.

    The Berlin-born player responded the next day on Facebook, describing the fans’ actions as a “smear campaign”.

    Ben-Hatira defended his work with Ansaar, who have projects in Syria, Somalia, the Palestinian territories and Afghanistan.

    “Anyone who looks at my CV will quickly see that I am socially involved and fight for equal treatment between people of different skin colour, ethnicity or faith,” he wrote.

    He added: “Are you not ashamed? Do you really think I’ll let myself be intimidated by that?

    “I think the real scandal is that there is now an attempt to sabotage my sports career in Germany.”

    Ben-Hatira has made 11 appearances and scored once since joining from Eintracht Frankfurt in August

  • World Bank-funded education centers launched in Rwanda

    {Rwanda’s Kigali on Tuesday launched operation of four education centers of excellence financed by the World Bank with the hope of strengthening research and higher education in Rwanda and the region.}

    The centers of excellence are in the areas of Energy for sustainable development, Internet of Things, teaching and learning mathematics and science and data science, according to Nelson Ijumba, deputy vice chancellor of Academic Affairs and Research at the University of Rwanda.

    The centers are expected to enroll over 3,500 students mainly through scholarship to pursue post-graduate studies in regional development priority areas, including over 700 PhD students with more than 1,000 female students, according to officials.

    Rwanda was selected to host the centers after winning stiff competition against about nine countries.

    The World Bank committed 20-million-U.S.-dollar grant to run the centers for the next five years.

    Speaking at the launch, World Bank Country Manager for Rwanda Yasser El Gammal said the centers will be expected to raise revenue for self-sustainability in the future.

    The centers are expected to publish 1500 journal articles and 500 research papers in collaboration with the private sector and other academic institutions within and beyond the region, he said.

    It is believed that skills, capacities and research are needed to sustain rapid economic growth of the region.

    Permanent Secretary in Rwanda’s education ministry Celestin Ntivuguruzw, said the centers will strengthen the system of research and higher education in Rwanda and beyond.

    Headquarters of the University of Rwanda

  • UN: DRC Rights abuses spike

    {In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations says it recorded a significant increase in the number of human rights violations committed over the past year, and that state security forces were the main perpetrators.}

    The spike in violations has been recorded by the U.N. Joint Human Rights Office in its newly-released report for the Congo for 2016. The director of the human rights office, Jose Maria Aranaz, says there was marked deterioration.

    “We are particularly worried about the dramatic increase in human rights violations documented in the territory of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Our office has documented 5,190 human rights violations, which represents a 30 percent increase compared to 2015, which was already a year of increase compared to 2014,” Aranaz said.

    DRC government spokesman Lambert Mende told VOA the figures sound “exaggerated” but declined further comment as he said he has not seen the report.

    The U.N. says Congolese security forces committed most of the documented violations, while the rest were attributed to armed groups active in the east of the country.

    “It is a matter of particular concern the fact that state agents are responsible for the majority of these abuses,” said Aranaz. “They committed 64 percent of the violations and left behind 480 victims of extrajudicial killings and summary executions. The main perpetrator of human rights abuses in the country is the national police, followed by the army and the national intelligence services.”

    Restriction of political rights

    The report draws special attention to the restriction of political rights which Aranaz said quadrupled in the past year amid opposition to delayed elections.

    On New Year’s eve, President Joseph Kabila’s ruling alliance and most of the opposition signed an agreement. If implemented, this deal paves the way both for delayed elections to take place in late 2017 as well as a delayed departure for Kabila, whose second and final term expired last month.

    Aranaz says it is crucial to ensure political freedoms during this precarious transition.

    “There is also a specific part in the political agreement signed on 31 December which refers to confidence-building measures. This refers basically to the opening of democratic space, the release of political prisoners or prisoners of opinion,” Aranaz said.

    Aranaz added that his office has also been pushing for other rights.

    “We have been advocating that these confidence-building measures go beyond the political prisoners’ element and include lifting the ban on demonstrations for the opposition, stopping the instrumentalization of the judiciary, bringing the perpetrators of human rights abuses to justice, allowing media professionals to conduct their activities in a healthy environment and without threats, and for the police to refrain from using lethal weapons in crowd control,” Aranaz said.

    Earlier this week, Congolese authorities ejected a Human Rights Watch researcher from the country for the second time.

    People walk past a police truck in DRC's capital Kinshasa, Dec. 19, 2016. Military and police units were deployed across the city amid fears of unrest on the last official day of President Joseph Kabila's second term.