IGIHE

Category: Politics

  • The Kigali Principles on the Protection of Civilians and the Responsibility to Protect

    On 21 September, the Republic of Rwanda, Italy and the Kingdom of the Netherlands co-hosted the 9th Annual Ministerial Roundtable Discussion on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), “The Kigali Principles on the Protection of Civilians and the Responsibility to Protect,” in association with the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect.

    A cross-regional group of ministers representing seven governments contributed to the discussion. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Republic of Rwanda, H.E. Ms. Louise Mushikiwabo, the Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs of Italy, H.E. Mr. Vincenzo Amendola, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, H.E. Mr. Bert Koenders, and the Executive Director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, Dr. Simon Adams, opened the meeting before an interactive discussion among participants.

    The event served as a platform for participants to reaffirm their support for the Kigali Principles, to announce and encourage new endorsements, and to discuss how the application of the Kigali Principles in current mass atrocity situations can help improve the response to populations at risk. H.E. Mr. Bert Koenders, emphasized the importance of the Kigali Principles, noting, “The increase in civilian casualties, displacement, and human suffering we see in today’s conflicts cannot become the new normal. We need to take action to improve UN peacekeeping. The Kigali Principles bring together political commitment to protect civilians from atrocities including the use of force, accountable and well-prepared military and civilian leadership, well-trained and disciplined troops, and a zero tolerance approach to sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers.

    H.E. Ms. Louise Mushikiwabo, noting the difficult decisions that were made regarding sending troops into situations experiencing ongoing mass atrocity crimes, including Darfur, South Sudan and Central African Republic, asserted that “we decided to act so we could make a difference” and commended the Kigali Principles as providing “practical and prudent ways to protect civilians today.”

    H.E. Mr. Vincenzo Amendola discussed the significance of R2P in addressing the causes of the refugee crisis in Italy’s region, noting, “Italy has supported since its initial formulation the principle that Governments in the first place must answer to a Responsibility to Protect their own civilian population, that the international community must commit to internationally mandated efforts to supplant Governments when they are unable or unwilling to step in. This is what Italy is doing on a daily basis in the Mediterranean. Since the beginning of 2016, we have rescued over 60.000 desperate women, children and men from near-certain death as they were fleeing from war and truly unfathomable sufferance and desperation.”

    Dr. Simon Adams, Executive Director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, remarked: “Peacekeepers are often at the frontlines of protecting civilians and stabilizing conflicts in the world today, sometimes paying the greatest sacrifice as they do so. However, despite the presence of sizeable peacekeeping operations, the UN continues to struggle to protect civilians from mass atrocity crimes in the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and South Sudan.”

    The main objective of the discussion was for UN Member States to identify concrete ways of implementing the Kigali Principles, both individually and jointly, and to exchange best practices and identify challenges in improving Protection of Civilians by UN peacekeeping missions. Participants were also encouraged to examine the role of the Kigali Principles in effectively upholding the responsibility of the international community to protect populations from mass atrocity crimes.

    The UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for the Rule of Law and Security Institutions, the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, and the President of International Crisis Group also participated in the discussion.

    {{Background on the Kigali Principles:}}

    The Kigali Principles on the Protection of Civilians are a set of eighteen pledges for the effective implementation of the protection of civilians in UN peacekeeping. The principles emanated from the High-level International Conference on the Protection of Civilians held in Rwanda on 28 and 29 May 2015. The Kigali Principles address the most relevant aspects of peacekeeping, including assessment and planning, force generation, training and equipping personnel, performance and accountability. While they are framed around the protection of civilians, the principles address broader deficiencies that undermine the effectiveness of peacekeeping operations conducted in volatile situations, including peacekeeper abuse.

    The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Republic of Rwanda, H.E. Ms. Louise Mushikiwabo was among attendants of the 9th Annual Ministerial Roundtable Discussion on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P)

    [The Kigali Principles on the Protection of Civilians and the Responsibility to Protect->http://reliefweb.int/report/world/kigali-principles-protection-civilians-and-responsibility-protect]

  • Philippines’ Duterte unleashes more profanity at the EU

    {Angry at European denunciations over his bloody drug crackdown, Philippine president tells the Union where to go.}

    Manila, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte has unleashed a series of expletives against the European Union after its parliament called on the Philippine government to “put an end” to the killings of drug suspects.

    Member countries of the European Union last week called for strict monitoring of human rights abuses in the Philippines following public statements by Duterte on his “war on drugs”.

    Since June 30 when Duterte took office, more than 3,500 people have been killed in police operations and attacks by unidentified assailants.

    “I have read the condemnation of the European Union. I’m telling them, ‘F**k you,’” Duterte said in a mix of Filipino and English during a speech to local businessmen in his hometown of Davao City on Tuesday.

    Describing the EU as hypocrites, Duterte said the grouping “has the gall to condemn me” despite historical records showing what member countries, such as France and Britain, have done in the Middle East.

    He said the EU is trying to “atone” for its sins and “guilt feelings” over occupying other countries in the past.

    “I repeat it, ‘F**k you!’,” Duterte said as he raised his right hand and gave a middle finger to applause from the audience.

    The EU had urged the Philippine government to investigate abuses “in full compliance with national and international obligations and respect for human rights”.

    “President Duterte repeatedly urged law enforcement agencies and the public to kill suspected drug traffickers who did not surrender, as well as drug users,” the EU politicians said in a resolution.

    “President Duterte publicly stated he would not pursue law enforcement officers and citizens who killed drug dealers who resisted arrest.”

    Earlier this month, Duterte directed profanities at UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and US President Barack Obama, after they made similar comments about the mounting death toll in the Philippines.

    Duterte later apologised for calling Obama “a son of a whore”.

    Duterte 'flips the bird' at the EU during a speech televised on state TV on Tuesday

  • Congo protesters fight police for second day

    {Conflict results in deaths as opponents of President Joseph Kabila fear he is trying to extend his rule.}

    Thousands of Congolese protesters ransacked shops and battled police for a second day on Tuesday, as anger over fears the president plans to extend his 15-year rule rattled the fragile stability of the resource-rich nation.

    In several cities across the Democratic Republic of Congo, rock-wielding demonstrators faced off against police, torching vehicles and gas stations to protest President Joseph Kabila’s perceived plan to extend his tenure in office by delaying elections slated for November.

    The second day of conflict came after more than a dozen people, including three policemen, were killed in protests on Monday. Supporters of Mr. Kabila torched the party headquarters of opposition leader Étienne Tshisekedi.

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    The government condemned that action, but activists and opposition groups vowed to continue nationwide protests, raising the prospect of further violence and increasing pressure on Mr. Kabila to step down at the end of his constitutional mandate in December.

    “We can expect further instability and violence ahead as Mr. Kabila sticks to his plan to keep a grip on power,” said Jared Jeffery, an analyst with NKC African Economics.

    Monday’s clashes were the deadliest since January 2015, when 38 people were killed in a crackdown against antigovernment protesters. Congolese Information Minister Lambert Mende put the death toll at 17, but Joseph Olengankoy, a protest organizer, said as many as 25 people were killed in clashes that spread from Kinshasa to eastern mining cities of Goma, Bukavu and Beni.

    New York-based Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday that it had credible reports that at least 44 people had been killed during the two days of unrest.

    Air France on Tuesday cancelled two flights to Kinshasa from Paris, citing “the degradation of local security situation.”

    The company operates the flight four times a week, with the next one scheduled for Thursday.

    The unrest is a jolt for Mr. Kabila, one of several entrenched leaders in central and eastern Africa facing increasingly angered opposition. Leaders in neighboring Uganda and Rwanda have successfully scrapped constitutional term limits, but in Burundi, protests against the president’s decision to revise term limits last year sparked months of clashes that left nearly 500 people dead.

    For Congo, the protests cap a reversal of fortune after decades of war gave way to a commodity-price boom that looked set to vault the country back to its place as world’s leading source of cobalt, and Africa’s top producer of copper. With mounting regional instability, the fear is there will be a repeat of previous conflict, which drew in neighboring countries’ armies—notably those of Rwanda and Uganda.

    Mr. Kabila’s term officially expires in December and he is prohibited by the constitution from seeking re-election. The opposition accuses Mr. Kabila of plotting to extend his tenure by delaying the vote, a charge denied by his supporters. These fears were reinforced on Saturday after the election commission, known as CENI, formally petitioned the Constitutional Court to have the elections scheduled for November postponed, citing the need to update the voter register.

    Mr. Mende said on Tuesday that the situation was slowly coming under control, after police arrested several opposition leaders following Monday’s protests.

    “Opposition members are luring young people on the streets with alcohol and drugs to cause anarchy,” Mr. Mende told The Wall Street Journal. “We cannot accept this situation.”

    Protesters have accused police of firing indiscriminately on demonstrators, a charge authorities denied. United Nations-sponsored radio station Okapi reported that protesters on Monday lynched a police officer and burned his body.

    The U.N.’s peacekeeping mission in Kinshasa on Tuesday urged Congo’s security forces to exercise restraint in dealing with protesters.

    The U.S. threatened to impose additional sanctions on Congolese security officials perpetuating violence in the crackdown.

    But there is little sign that mounting local and international pressure is having any impact.

    Over the past two years, Congo’s security forces have intensified a crackdown on the opposition, analysts and rights groups said. Security officials have repeatedly banned opposition demonstrations and fired tear gas and live bullets at peaceful protesters, Human Rights Watch said.

    Congo’s security operatives assaulted Tom Perriello, the U.S. envoy in the region, as he departed the airport over the weekend, drawing condemnation from Washington. Mr. Mende said the government is investigating the incident.

    Mr. Kabila has been in power since 2001, when his father Laurent Kabila was assassinated. Congo has posted impressive growth rates, fueled in part by a commodity boom that has now faded. The commodity-price crash is having a devastating effect on a country that depends on minerals and oil for 90% of its export earnings. Kinshasa has slashed 2016 budget spending by 22% and announced social-spending cuts, citing low metal and oil prices, helping fuel the protests.

    “This is a struggle we must commit to,” said 25-year-old Pierre Mbonimpa, a youth activist in Goma. “We are not ready to give up.”

    Demonstrators in front of a burning car during an opposition rally in Kinshasa on Sept. 19. More than a dozen people including three policemen were killed in protests on Monday.

  • 2017 presidential election preparations kick off with training stakeholders

    {As Rwanda gets ready for next year’s presidential polls, early preparations are underway according to National Electoral Commission (NEC), with Rwf 5.5 billion already secured for facilitating the exercise, an amount that is Rwf500 million lower than the 2010 budget.}

    The executive secretary of NEC, Charles Munyaneza has told IGIHE that early preparations are meant to create awareness on elections process among citizens to foster their participation.

    “We have started with several activities. Last week we trained various partners on national level on elections preparations, basics in laws guiding elections and the briefing of elections programs,” he said.

    Trained individuals include representatives of 11 political parties, representatives of non-governmental organizations, women and youth representatives among others.

    Charles Munyaneza explained that materials to be used in elections are being procured to be followed by voters’ register cleaning; adding new voters and removing the dead, an exercise that will run up to November 2016.

    He explained that elections may take place next year in August on the same date of previous presidential elections.

    Rwf 5.5 billion has been secured for the budget of next year’s presidential elections, down by Rwf 500 million from the budget of 2010 elections.

    The executive secretary of NEC, Charles Munyaneza

  • Jordan set for ‘historic’ vote

    {New electoral law aims to fix a political system with which many voters have grown disenchanted.}

    Amman – Throughout Jordan, street signs have been replaced by beaming campaign posters and car parks filled with rows of seats for rallies.

    Campaigning reached its peak on Sunday night before lapsing into an enforced silence in preparation for Tuesday’s polls, which will be different from other elections in the kingdom’s recent past.

    Jordan made significant changes to its electoral law this year, replacing a controversial one-person-one-vote system with a list-based system designed to encourage political parties. As a result, key opposition groups that previously boycotted the election, including the Muslim Brotherhood, are back.

    It is a major development at a time when regional wars, an ever-growing refugee crisis and a struggling economy have all converged to threaten Jordan’s stability. Government spokesman Mohammad Momani has said the 2016 vote would be “historic by all means”.

    On the streets, however, the response has been muted. For decades, Jordan’s elections have been greeted with apathy, as parliament’s failure to challenge government policies has fostered frustration among voters.

    Most recently, representatives passed a motion increasing the powers of the king, and in 2013 they failed to select a prime minister despite the king’s request that they do so. In past elections, voter turnout has hovered around 55 percent.

    “Most people don’t care about the elections,” Maha Oudat, an independent candidate running in the southern Maan governorate, told Al Jazeera. “I reached out to a lot of people, and most of them don’t care. They don’t trust in the performance of parliament.”

    A survey by the International Republican Institute (IRI) think-tank conducted this June found that 87 percent of Jordanians believed the most recent parliament had accomplished nothing worthy of commendation, while only 29 percent considered the legislative branch to be effective. More than half of the respondents said they were unlikely to vote.

    “Parliament is a form of theatre, and people know this,” political risk analyst Kirk Sowell told Al Jazeera. “It cannot choose the government, cannot originate legislation, and although it can amend it, this power is meaningless since the senate can amend its amendments, and the king can also veto.”

    Jordan is often described as a tribal society, where ties to large family groups are crucial in defining who holds power. Citizens are among the first to admit that family and personal loyalties are an important driver for political choices; that sense is echoed by polls and pundits, some of whom have urged citizens to pay attention to policies rather than personal loyalties.

    Campaigning often involves networking or securing votes through personal assurances, while party programmes or “visions for change” play a less important role.

    The one-person-one-vote law, scrapped earlier this year, entrenched that culture by encouraging voting for individuals. It was introduced by King Hussein in response to major Islamist gains after the 1989 election, with subsequent parliaments consisting of individuals rather than parties with a shared programme.

    Supporters say that they hope the new electoral law will help to revive the political system. It requires voters to pick from among pre-set lists of candidates – a system that could encourage stronger organising between candidates on ideological or party-based grounds.

    How this will work in practice, however, remains to be seen. Of 1,293 candidates competing for 130 seats in Jordan’s parliament, 82 percent are non-partisan. The Muslim Brotherhood and Islamist parties, while making a strong showing, have been fractured into smaller groups.

    But Khaled Kalaldeh, a former political affairs minister who has since become president of Jordan’s Independent Electoral Commission, said he was confident in the new system.

    “There is not a single party boycotting this election,” he told Al Jazeera. “Some didn’t present candidates, but all of them they agreed to participate in the election for parliament … Our mandate is to run this election with integrity, trust and in an impartial way. We have to regain the trust of the people through our electoral process. This is our goal and this is what we are going to do.”

    In Maan, Oudat said that reaching out to residents and giving people a reason to engage in politics was crucial to encouraging Jordanian democracy. The region she represents is relatively rural and conservative, outside of the wealthy bubble of West Amman. Economic issues are a top priority for voters in her area, she said, with average unemployment across Jordan reaching nearly 15 percent – and double that among young people.

    “We have to increase people’s trust,” Oudat said. “We need to talk to people, to reach people and to talk about programmes. And I think, hopefully, we can change things.”

    Still, it will be a tough road ahead. Studies by the IRI and the University of Jordan have suggested that the troubled economy is a key cause of voter apathy, while 58 percent of Jordanians were unaware of the new electoral law, the IRI found.

    In Amman, many voters told Al Jazeera that they did not trust politicians to make decisions that represented their communities. Tim Naser, a business owner in the city’s downtown, said he was optimistic about the potential of parliament to bring positive change – but major hurdles remain.

    “I know they made many changes, but to be honest I don’t know what the changes are,” Naser said. “Two of my family members are running for seats, so I need to support them. This is Jordan – it’s just how these things work here.”

    More than half of the respondents to a recent survey said they were unlikely to vote

  • Congo anti-government march turns violent in capital, 17 dead

    {Congolese police on Monday clashed with protesters marching against what they claim is a bid by President Joseph Kabila to extend his mandate, killing at least 17 people and prompting a threat of further sanctions from the United States.}

    The protest, attended by thousands, came at a time of growing local and international pressure on Kabila to step down when his term of office legally ends in December.

    The opposition accuses him of plotting to extend his tenure in the central African copper producer by delaying elections that were supposed to be held in November until at least next year. His supporters deny this.

    “The sad and painful death toll from these barbaric and extremely savage acts is as follows: 17 dead of which three were policemen,” said Interior Minister Evariste Boshab, condemning “the use of violence to incite disorder and chaos”.

    United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon confirmed the death toll and urged Congolese national security forces to exercise restraint.

    The president of opposition party Reformist Forces for Union and Solidarity (FONUS) Joseph Olenga Nkoy said 53 people were killed in the clashes while a local rights official said 25 protesters were shot.

    Earlier on Monday, a Reuters witness saw a crowd burning the body of a police officer in the Kinshasa suburb of Limete in an apparent act of retaliation for police gunfire.

    Angry crowds torched the offices of politicians loyal to Kabila and tore down giant posters of the president, chanting in French: “It’s over for you” and “We don’t want you”.

    Rights groups reported dozens of arrests of protesters and journalists in the capital as well as in Goma and Kisangani, where anti-government marches also took place.

    A government spokesman confirmed the detention of opposition leader Martin Fayulu, who suffered a head injury during the march.

    By mid-afternoon, most protesters had been dispersed and the streets in the normally bustling city center were quiet.

    But in a sign that further unrest could be ahead, opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi called for further protests in a statement late on Monday.

    “(The opposition coalition) calls upon the Congolese population from this day forth to intensify and amplify the popular mobilisation every day until December 19,” said a spokesman for Tshisekedi’s UDPS party, referring to the day Kabila is officially due to step down.

    Kabila’s supporters also plan a loyalty march this weekend, according to a statement released on Sunday.

    {{“VERY DANGEROUS”}}

    Monday’s march was sparked by anger over a decision by the election commission last week to petition the constitutional court to postpone the next presidential vote.

    The vast, mineral-rich central African state has never seen a peaceful transition of power. Western observers and donors fear that growing political instability could mushroom into armed conflict in a country plagued by militias, especially in its lawless eastern regions.

    Millions of people died in regional wars in Congo between 1996 and 2003 that drew in armies from half a dozen countries.

    The United States on Monday threatened to impose additional sanctions on those responsible for violence and repression — an outcome Kabila is seeking to avoid.

    It imposed targeted sanctions on a Kinshasa police chief in June. Dozens of people died in similar protests against Kabila last year.

    Police said in a statement that officers had been warned to use restraint ahead of Monday’s march, adding that it would punish those who did not comply. But Human Rights Watch said government repression has intensified in the period leading up to the clash.

    “Today’s march shows that the security forces have not switched their tactics and are still clamping down on anyone opposed to Kabila,” said Ida Sawyer, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. She added that three children were shot in Goma during the clashes.

    In another sign of growing scrutiny of Kabila’s government, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Monday described the situation in Congo as “extremely worrying and very dangerous”, adding that European nations will discuss the possibility of imposing sanctions.

    The African Union urged parties in Congo to seek a solution to the current political impasse through talks.

    In a further sign of growing tensions between Washington and Kinshasa, the U.S. embassy said on its Twitter feed that it was “outraged” by the harassment of its special envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa, Thomas Perriello, at Kinshasa’s airport.

    Congo’s “Presidential Majority”, as Kabila’s supporters call themselves, had accused Perriello, in a Sunday statement, of jeopardizing talks aimed at resolving the political impasse.

    Congolese opposition activists gesture during a march to press President Joseph Kabila to step down in the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital Kinshasa, September 19, 2016.

  • ICC judges put Kenya on the spot over Uhuru’s election violence case

    {International Criminal Court judges on Monday found Kenya guilty of failing to cooperate with the court in the collapsed case against President Uhuru Kenyatta.}

    They have now referred the country to the Assembly of State Parties (ASP) for action.

    The ASP can impose sanctions against the country for failing to comply with its obligations.

    The ruling also means that Kenya will be discussed as a separate agenda at the next meeting of the State Parties.

    The action might now lead to Kenya being discussed at an open plenary session of the ASP, as well as the body making a resolution against the country.

    The resolution by the ASP- which may decide as it “deems fit”- is final.

    However, it can also make a decision to pursue non-judicial means to get the country to cooperate with the court.

    Any action by the ASP is likely to be binding on Kenya even in future cases with the court.

    ICC judges agreed with Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda that the government had sabotaged and frustrated investigations and refused to surrender material that would have aided in prosecuting the case, including the President’s bank and phone records.

    Although the court had earlier left open the possibility of the case being revived, the act of referring a case to the ASP is mainly a diplomatic and political one.

    Kenya has been more successful in lobbying and arguing its case at the assembly, also sometimes referred to as the countries, which make up the Rome Statute.

    African countries are the majority of the assembly members.

    It was here that Kenya lobbied for a change of the rules to allow the cases against President Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto to continue in their absence as long as the two were represented by their lawyers.

    Kenya also successfully lobbied the ASP to change rules to allow change of venue for trial, a move that allowed part of the evidence in the preliminary case against President Kenyatta to be taken by video link.

    {{CASE REVISIT}}

    This lobbying was sometimes accompanied by threats of withdrawal from the ICC by African countries.

    Ms Bensouda lodged the non-cooperation case, accusing Kenya of sabotaging her bid by not providing relevant materials that included President Kenyatta’s records.

    She argued that the failure to provide the records had severely injured the case.

    The court, in December 2014, had left the window open for the re-introduction of the case should new evidence emerge.

    Yesterday, the ICC said: “The Republic of Kenya failed to take all reasonable steps to execute a request for cooperation from the court, including by not providing clear, relevant and timely responses or taking any meaningful steps to compel production of requested information.”

    President Kenyatta had been charged, together with five other Kenyans, with bearing the greatest responsibility for the 2007/2008 post-election violence that led to the deaths of 1,133 people and the displacement of more than 650,000.

    When the case opened, he was a Deputy Prime Minister in the Grand Coalition government.

    The others were Mr Ruto, Mr Henry Kosgey, then Cabinet minister, Mr Francis Muthaura, who was the head of the civil service and Secretary to the Cabinet and Maj-Gen Hussein Ali, who was the Police Commissioner.

    Also charged alongside them was radio journalist Joshua arap Sang.

    The cases the four were dismissed.

    Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto were later discharged but the court said the cases could be re-opened should new evidence emerge.

    {{COOPERTATION}}

    Ms Elizabeth Evenson, the associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch, welcomed Monday’s ruling.

    “The ICC has squarely called out Kenya’s breach of its cooperation obligations. ICC member countries should make sure the message is heard in Nairobi that they will not turn a blind eye to the government’s obstruction of justice,” Ms Evenson said.

    The ruling brings a new dynamic to the 2017 elections because President Kenyatta and Mr Ruto had both shaken off the ICC tag.

    The international community had ran an active campaign to dissuade Kenya from electing the Jubilee leaders in 2013, with a US representative warning at the time that choices at the ballot box, would have consequences.

    Now, Kenya will have to argue its case before the 124-member assembly in November.

    The ASP is the law-making and supervisory arm of the ICC.

    “The assembly may certainly support the effectiveness of the Rome Statute by deploying political and diplomatic efforts to promote cooperation and to respond to non-cooperation,” the ASP Rules of Procedure on non-cooperation states.

    President Uhuru Kenyatta addresses wananchi at Muthurwa Market in Nairobi on September 19, 2016. The ASP can impose sanctions against the country for failing to comply with its obligations.

  • Clinton, Trump to both meet with Egyptian president at U.N.

    {An adviser to U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign said on Sunday that Trump will meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday during the United Nations General Assembly, just as Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, is also scheduled to do.}

    Clinton, who faces Trump in the Nov. 8 election, announced last week that she would meet both with Sisi and Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko in bilateral sessions expected to take place late on Monday. A foreign policy advisor to Trump, Walid Phares, told Reuters on Sunday that Trump would also have talks with Sisi on the same day.

    For Trump, a New York real estate magnate and reality-TV show host who has never held political office, it marks the second time in recent weeks he has tried to burnish his foreign-policy credentials to compete with Clinton, the former Secretary of State under President Barack Obama and a U.S. Senator from New York.

    Trump ventured to Mexico late last month to meet with President Enrique Pena Nieto to discuss border security between the two nations.

    But afterward, both sides quickly accused the other of not accurately representing the scope of the conversations, with Trump insisting that the subject of which country would pay for a proposed wall between the two nations never came up, and Pena Nieto saying that his country would never agree to finance it.

    Egypt remains in flux after the country’s chaotic revolution in 2011 that deposed President Hosni Mubarak, a movement that the Obama administration supported. Then-Secretary Clinton has since written that she advised a more conservative approach than the White House ultimately took toward Mubarak’s exit.

    Egypt’s Islamist President, Mohamad Morsi, was eventually supplanted by Sisi, the nation’s former defense minister and a secularist, in 2013.

    Some Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have since accused the Obama administration of abandoning its support of Egypt’s government in its battle against Islamic militants.

    Trump has called for aggressive measures in combating the threat of Islamic State forces in Iraq and Syria and has proposed blocking immigrants from countries that he says pose a threat to the United States. Earlier in his campaign, he suggested banning all Muslims from entering the country.

    Clinton’s meeting with Ukraine President Poroshenko also is likely to be provocative given the reportedly close ties between Trump’s campaign and the administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula, considered part of Ukraine, in 2014.

    Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi speaks during the opening of the first and second phases of the housing project ''Long Live Egypt'', which focuses on development in the country's slums, at Al-Asmarat district in Al Mokattam area, east of Cairo, Egypt May 30, 2016

  • Donald Trump finally admits Obama was born in US

    {After years of casting doubt on President Barack Obama’s place of birth, Trump changes his mind – though no apology yet.}

    The Republican Party’s presidential candidate Donald Trump has finally acknowledged that US President Barack Obama was born in the United States, and his admission quickly drew criticism for perpetuating a racist conspiracy.

    “President Barack Obama was born in the United States. Period,” said Trump on Friday, reversing his long-held position casting doubt on the veracity of Obama’s birthplace, which was known as the “birther” controversy.

    Trump had for years promoted the birther movement against Obama, who was born in Hawaii to an American mother and a Kenyan father, questioning his birthplace and, by association, the legality of his presidency.

    In 2012, the New York businessman turned presidential candidate wrote on Twitter that Obama’s birth certificate was “a fraud”.

    Without offering evidence, Trump on Friday also accused his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton of starting the birther allegations during her 2008 presidential primary campaign.

    “She is the one that started it, and she was unable or incapable of finishing it. That’s the way it worked out,” Trump said.

    Clinton was quick to respond, saying that Trump’s news conference about Obama’s birthplace was a “disgrace”, and her Republican rival had expressed “zero regret” for years of “pushing a racist conspiracy theory”.

    Clinton said in a series of tweets that when Trump tries to “deflect blame” for denying that Obama was born in the US, her Republican opponent was “lying”.

    “He had the audacity to spout a new lie about the birther movement that he helped to build,” the Democratic National Committee said.

    Bernie Sanders, who was Hillary Clinton’s rival in the Democratic presidential nomination race, said in a tweet: “The birther movement was about delegitimising the first African-American president in our history.”

    The head of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), Democratic Representative G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina, called Trump a “disgusting fraud”. Other members of the CBC told reporters that Trump has tried to delegitimise Obama, the first African-American president.

    Civil rights activist Jesse James pointed out that Trump now owes Obama an apology.

    Members of the CBC also held a news conference later on Friday to urge African-American voters to “resist any temptation to support Trump”.

    Celebrities also voiced their criticism of Trump’s latest stunt. Actress Mia Farrow said: “Listen now to the Members of Congressional Black Caucus and understand the pain Trump is inflicting on our fellow Americans.”

    Obama declined to comment on Trump, telling reporters he had better things to do.

    “I’m shocked that a question like that would come up at a time when we’ve got so many other things to do – well, I’m not that shocked actually,” Obama said.

    In 2011, Obama, released a long-form version of his birth certificate showing he was born in Hawaii.

  • Democratic Republic of Congo adviser on ‘pleading mission’ to U.S. not to impose sanctions

    {A senior adviser to Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila said on Friday he was on a “pleading mission” to Washington to press U.S. officials to support talks between the government and opposition on setting up new elections and not to impose sanctions that could hurt the process.}

    In an interview with Reuters, Barnabe Kikaya said he had updated U.S. officials and lawmakers on talks under way to form an interim government in Congo and insisted that Kabila was not seeking to extend his term.

    “I’m in a pleading mission because there are two resolutions that were pending in the House to impose sanctions on Congolese officials,” Kikaya said. “My mission is to plead with American officials and to prove to them that sanctions are not a solution to help us resolve our problems.”

    Washington has threatened sanctions against political figures over delays in the vote that had been set for November. The mining-rich country has never had a peaceful transition of power and the delay has led to protests and arrests.

    Most major opposition parties are boycotting the talks, saying they are part of a plan by Kabila to justify staying in power beyond the end of his mandate in December, when he is due to step down under the constitution.

    The opposition has insisted that presidential elections should be held first, but the government has argued for local elections to take place before.

    Under a compromise worked out between the sides, presidential and legislative elections would occur simultaneously provided there was funding for it, Kikaya said.

    A senior State Department official said the United States supported talks that included the opposition and civil society, but there was still a lack of clarity over precisely what the agreement would include.

    “We want to see what it would say,” the official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We want to make sure that the Congolese government includes political opposition, civil society in these discussions.”

    The United States insisted again on Friday it was ready to consider additional targeted sanctions against individuals who sought to undermine Congo’s democratic institutions and the election process.

    “We’re ready to consider targeted sanctions under those circumstances,” the official said, adding: “It is something we’re exploring and looking at.”

    Kikaya denied that Kabila was seeking to stay in power and pushed back at accusations that the delay in the election was “purposefully engineered.”

    The constitution “means a lot to him and he will not violate it,” said Kikaya, “And he has said it time and again.”

    Asked why Kabila had not publicly stated he was not seeking to extend his term, Kikaya said: “He has made it clear at every opportunity. It is written in the constitution that he can’t and the constitution hasn’t changed.”

    Kikaya added: “He cannot say it. We are in Africa … where if Kabila had to say that … from that time on he loses all authority.”

    Washington had made it clear to Congo’s leaders that the election process had to be inclusive and in keeping with the constitution and agreements among political parties, the State Department official said.