Ethiopia(CeelWaaqNews): pulled back thousands of troops who’ve been helping Somalia’s government fight an Islamist insurgency, according to three people familiar with the matter, raising concerns of a security vacuum in the war-torn nation.

Their departure from Somalia comes as federal soldiers continue to battle forces loyal to the ruling party in the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray. Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump told top advisers he’s also considering extracting U.S. troops from Somalia.

Ethiopia is redeploying about 3,000 troops to help with the Tigray offensive, the people said, asking not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak to the media. The troops being withdrawn are Ethiopian National Defence Force soldiers and don’t fall under the command of the 5,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia, they said.

• Trump Demands a Plan to Withdraw U.S. Troops From Somalia
• Massacre in North Ethiopia Leaves Scores Dead, Amnesty Says
• Why Ethiopia’s Tensions Are Boiling Over in Tigray:

A spokesman for the Office of the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission for Somalia referred all questions to Ethiopian authorities. Redwan Hussein, state foreign minister and spokesperson for the Emergency Task Force in charge of the conflict, did not respond to questions on Ethiopia’s bilateral troops with Somalia.

Al-Qaeda-linked militants have waged an insurgency in Somalia since 2006 in a bid to impose their version of Islamic law. The group continues to carry out suicide bombings and other attacks in the Horn of Africa country despite being the target of frequent U.S. drone strikes, and the Somali government retains a weak grip on power.

The U.S. has 650 to 800 troops in Somalia, according to the U.S. Africa Command, including special forces that are helping train Somalia’s army.

CEELWAAQNEWS: Small bottles labelled with ”Vaccine” stickers stand near a medical syringe in front of displayed ”Coronavirus COVID-19” words in this illustration taken.

Public resistance to vaccines has been much discussed this year, but the issue became very real on Monday when Pfizer and BioNTech announced their candidate was more than 90% effective in large trials – hoisting an actual shot onto the horizon.

Numerous opinion polls carried out before and during the pandemic showed confidence is volatile, and that political polarization and online misinformation threatens uptake. Many people have concerns about the accelerated speed of COVID-19 vaccine development.

The World Health Organization estimates about 70% of people must be inoculated to break transmission of the virus. Since it is unlikely a vaccine, once approved, will be immediately available for the masses, experts said getting medical workers on board will be critical.

“We should have really targeted discussions and engagement with healthcare providers,” Heidi Larson, director of the global Vaccine Confidence Project, told CeelWaaqNews.

“Not only are they going to be the first ones expected to get a vaccine – if not required to – they’re also going to be the ones on the frontlines facing the onslaught of questions from the public.”

FIRST IN LINE?

While about 200 COVID-19 vaccine candidates are in development globally, with dozens in human clinical trials, no shot has actually crossed the finish line and been approved, though the one from Pfizer-BioNTech appears to be on track.

The high rate of efficacy in the Pfizer-BioNTech interim results could help boost confidence, Cornell University government Professors Douglas Kriner and Sarah Kreps said.

Their recently published research showed that if an initial COVID-19 vaccine was about as effective as a flu shot, uptake by the American public may fall far short of the 70% level needed to achieve “herd immunity”.

“However, if the vaccine was 90% effective it would significantly increase Americans’ willingness to vaccinate by more than 10%, critical to ensuring enough public acceptance to help the U.S. eventually get closer to herd immunity,” said Kreps.

Experts are also cautioning any conversation over a vaccine’s risks and rewards must be frank. A return to normal life will still take time, with no one shot likely to be a silver bullet. And many questions are likely to remain, including how long a vaccine will provide protection.

The Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA, a non-profit that supports the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has been holding focus groups to gauge the public mood and is now crafting campaign messages to help tackle concerns.

Its chief executive, Susan Winckler, said more than a dozen focus groups of 150 people in total held since August – some in person, some by video – had unearthed numerous concerns.

“We heard distrust of both government and the healthcare system,” Winckler said. “Many didn’t want to be first in line for the shot.”

It’s a global phenomenon; a survey from early November, carried out by the World Economic Forum and covering 18,526 people in 15 countries, showed 73% of people willing to get a COVID-19 vaccine, a four-point fall since August.

EARLY BATTLE

Regulators and the drug industry have taken pains to reassure the public they won’t cut corners on safety, with a top U.S. drug agency official saying he would quit if an unproven vaccine were rubber stamped.

The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations, a drug industry group, also plans a campaign by 2021, while the U.S. Council for International Business, with 300 multinational corporations as members, is also getting behind a campaign pushing for workforce take-up of eventual COVID-19 vaccines.

Some studies show government and employer recommendations will help convince people to get vaccinated.

Scott Ratzan, co-leader with Larson of ‘CONVINCE’, an initiative supporting communication and engagement for vaccine uptake globally, stressed the importance of medical workers getting inoculated, saying others would then be more likely to follow suit.

“If we don’t have the medical folks signed on … we’ll lose the early battle,” he added. “The only way to get back to normal is if we can get enough workers or employees covered.”

(CeelWaaqNews) President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to reassert the United States’ leadership role on the global stage through a series of day-one executive actions that would mark a drastic turn from outgoing President Donald Trump’s policies.

Now that Biden has defeated Trump, his transition team is beginning to turn his campaign-trail promises into plans he can implement early in his presidency.Biden’s first focus is likely to be the worsening coronavirus pandemic. He is set to name a 12-person coronavirus task force on Monday, two sources with knowledge of his plans said. Biden also said during the campaign that he will speak with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious diseases expert, before taking office.He is also poised to enact a series of executive actions that would undo many of Trump’s foreign policy actions and seek to rapidly return the United States to its status at the end of former President Barack Obama’s administration four years earlier.

Biden repeatedly promised on his first day in office to rejoin the Paris climate accord, a landmark international deal to combat climate change that Trump exited in 2017. He has also said he would rejoin the World Health Organization, which Trump moved to withdraw from this year.

Biden moves ahead with transition as Trump fights election results Both actions underscore a major difference between Biden and Trump:

Biden has long believed in the multilateral organizations and pacts that Trump distrusts.Biden has also said he will repeal Trump’s ban on travel from some Muslim-majority countries and reinstate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allows “dreamers” — undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children — to remain in the country.The outcome of the election — with Republicans still holding a narrow Senate majority, though Democrats would gain control of the chamber if they win what could be two Senate runoffs in Georgia in early January — underscores the difficulty Biden will have winning legislative victories, heightening the importance of his administration’s executive actions.The transition team Biden assembled has quietly been preparing since Labor Day, and has ramped up its activities in recent weeks -The Biden-Harris transition Twitter account tweeted that the incoming administration will take on the “most urgent” challenges facing the nation, listing, “protecting and preserving our nation’s health, renewing our opportunity to succeed, advancing racial equity, and fighting the climate crisis.”  Biden listed a number of other priorities on the campaign trail and in the policies his campaign released throughout the primary and in the general election, including addressing systemic racism, climate change and expanding protections for union employees.

Biden has pledged to take steps to reform the government, including expanding on and codifying into law an ethics pledge instituted by Obama’s administration that addresses lobbying issues and also “any improper or inappropriate influence from personal, financial, and other interests.”He also promised to reinstate guidance instituted during Obama’s administration that would restore transgender students’ access to sports, bathrooms, and locker rooms in accordance with their gender identity.

FILE PHOTO: Debretsion Gebremichael, Tigray Regional President, attends the funeral ceremony of Ethiopia’s Army Chief of Staff Seare Mekonnen in Mekele, Tigray Region, Ethiopia.

(CeelWaaqNews) – Ethiopia’s Tigray region president, Debretsion Gebremichael, said on Sunday it would be good to try to stop the fighting with federal troops and negotiate.

The region will keep on defending itself until federal authorities agree to negotiate, Debretsion told CeelWaaqNews, adding that the federal government has lost authority there, and it was still pounding some targets with air strikes.

ETHIOPIA

The Ethiopian government says operations by its defence forces are underway in Tigray its northern region

The move comes after the government of prime minister Abiy Ahmed declared an “unexpected war” on it’s northern state, threatening the stability of one of the world’s most strategic regions, the Horn of Africa.

Birhanu Jula Gelalcha, Deputy Chief of the Ethiopian Army described the war a shameful one. “Our country has entered into a war that it did not want. This war is a shameful war. It does not have a point. The people of Tigray and its youth and its security forces should not die for this pointless war. Ethiopia is their country.” the army chief explained.null

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) are accused of an unprovoked attack on the Ethiopian army’s northern command, and of trying to loot its weapons .

Tensions between the government and TPLF, which used to be part of the governing coalition before falling out with Mr Abiy, have escalated in recent months.

The TPLF has accused Abiy’s administration of trying to destroy Tigray’s right to self-determination and conspiring with Ethiopia’s northern neighbour Eritrea to stage a military attack.

(Tigrinya) Debretsion Gebremichael, President of the Tigray Regional State. berated the government’s move.

“In the regions around Tigray there is a massing of military forces. Consequently I have announced at a news conference to say that they are surrounding us with their forces. I stated that they have decided to go to war and we should all prepare to foil it. This is our proclamation, so let it be clear”. Gebremicheal said.

He stressed there was no reason for this because the people of Tigray held an election. “There was nothing new that happened. This is the action of a self-loving government that is trying to resolve, albeit though not possible, political differences through force, weapons, and war. That is why they have declared war on the people of Tigray.”

On Tuesday, the federal parliament proposed that the TPLF be designated as a “terrorist organisation.”

NAIROBI- CEELWAQ NEWS: Britain has backed Kenya’s cautious stance on withdrawal of Kenya Defence Forces troops from Somalia, saying exit will be dependent on the country’s stability.

This comes as the UK and Kenyan soldiers started joint training under a newly established military partnership agreed upon earlier this year.

Deputy British High Commissioner Julius Court said Britain is closely monitoring the situation in Somalia.null

Like Kenya, Britain has remained coy over the timelines of withdrawal of foreign troops from Somalia with the 2021 deadline fast approaching.

“The UK continues to monitor the situation in Somalia. Our concern is for the country to achieve stability,” Mr Court said at the KDF School of Infantry (SOI) in Isiolo.

The envoy, alongside British and KDF army officials, on Wednesday witnessed joint military exercises at Archer’s Post and SOI training facilities in Samburu and Isiolo counties.

600 KDF personnel

More than 600 KDF personnel are taking part in the training ahead of deployment to the Africa Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom).

Kenya and other countries contributing soldiers to Amisom are expected to leave Somalia by December 2021. This is based on the UN Security Council Resolution 2472 of May 31, 2019.

In the meantime, the timelines of Kenya’s withdrawal remain unknown, with the next contingent of troops expected to deploy in January.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has constantly steered away from the topic of when KDF will exit Somalia, saying it depends on the country’s stability.

KDF officials have lauded the joint training, saying the newly acquired skill-sets will be a game-changer in the war against terror. “Of course this is a game-changer and an opportunity to improve on the gaps we have identified in the past during our mission. This will improve our military capabilities and also reduce the number of casualties,” KDF School of Infantry Commandant Brigadier Joakim Mwamburi said.null

The training is provided by UK and KDF instructors.

At the same time, Britain will redeploy its troops back into Kenya in January to continue with its training programme under the British Army Training Unit in Kenya (Batuk).

The unit based in Nanyuki had been recalled to the UK earlier in March following the Covid-19 outbreak. “Some of the staffers are already back…we are ready to resume training with our Kenya Defence Forces partners,” Mr Court said on Wednesday.

According to Brigadier Mark Thornhill, Defence adviser to the British High Commission, Batuk training in Nanyuki will officially resume in January when the troops are expected to jet into the country.

(Nairobi) 05 Okt 2020 – Xili uu qarka soo saaran yahay sanadka 2021 oo ah midka loo asteeyey inay Somalia ka baxaan Ciidanka AMISOM, Kenya waxaa horyaalla laba-labayn ku aaddan inay sii joogto iyo inay ka baxdo dalka ay dagaalladu la degeen ee Somalia, waxaa sidaa qoraal dheer oo uu Daily Nation ku qoray ku bilaabay Oscar Obonyo.

Maadaama ay Kenya u dhowdahay Somalia oo ay ka qoowlaystaan kooxda gaangiska ah ee argagixisada ah oo weerara rayidka iyo hay’adaha muhimka ah, ayuu daba dhigay.

Haatan waxaa jira walaac cusub oo ku saabsan Ciidanka Xoogga Dalka Somalia ee SNA oo loo arko kuwo aan xirfadleey ahayn isla markaana aanay askartoodu dishibiliin lahayn.

Waxay si aan kala sooc lahayn u xabadeeyeen dad rayid ah oo Kenyan ah oo joogen xadka Buulo Xaawo maalmo yar kahor, taasoo calan cas u taagtey awoodda ay SNA u leeyihiin inay amaanka si madax bannaan oo wax u ool ah kaligood uga soo bixi karaan kaddib marka ay baxdo AMISOM oo ay ka mid yihiin kuwa KDF, ayuu yiri isagoo soo jeediyey in ay khalad tahay inay AMISOM hadda baxdo.

KENYA & GOLAHA AMAANKA – Kenya oo lagu wado inay la wareegaan kursi ka mid ah Golaha Amaanka (UNSC) horraanta sanadka soo aaddan iyagoo ka mid ah 10 dal oo aan rigli ahayn, waxay taas u adeegsan kartaa fursad ay ku riixdo kiiskeeda Somalia kala dhexeeya, ayuu qoray.

“Ma lahaan doonto awoodda qayaxan ee VETO balse waxay Kenya awood u yeelan doontaa inay la fariisato qaar ka mid ah dalalka dunida ugu xoogga iyo saamaynta badan, taasoo ka dhigan inaan haysato fursad ballaaran oo aan qalqaalo ugu galno kiiskeenan ka dhanka ah Somalia iyo SNA,” ayuu yiri Dr George Katete, oo ah khabiir bartay xiriirka caalamiga ah oo muujinaya sida ay Kenya u diiddan tahay dhismaha Ciidanka Somalia oo ay durba hadda usii sawirayso kuwo gobolka halis ku ah, taasoo ay kala shaqaynayaan dalal ka tirsan kuwa VETO-ga leh sida Faransiiska.

”Inay KDF soo baxaan iyo inay joogaan waxay ku xiran tahay qodobbo dhowr ah oo ay ka mid tahay xiisaha awoodaha caalama iyo moowqifka dalalka gobolka iyo siyaasadda caalamka,” ayuu daba dhigay Dr George Katete.

Kenya ayaa marar badan muujisay inaysan raalli ka ahayn dhismaha dowladnimada Somalia, iyadoo soo gelitaankeeda Somalia uu taa uun daba socdo, waana dalka ka dambeeya inuu Axmed Madoobe ku gorgortamo in Ciidanka SNA laga saaro gobolka GEDO, waxaa sidoo kale ku raacsanaa siyaasiyiin badan oo ay ku jiraan kuwo xisbiyo hal nin ah Xamar ku haysta, taasoo ay dad badani la yaabban yihiin inuu qof siyaasi Soomaaliyeed ihi lasoo gole istaago.

Madaxa AMISOM, Francisco Madeira, oo bishii Maajo 22 sanadkan la hadlayey Golaha Amaanka ee QM ayaa walaac ka muujiyey inay Somalia si deggan ula wareegi karto amaankeeda iyadoo fulinaysa Qorshaha Kalaguurka Qaran (STN).

A 26-year-old man has been seriously wounded after being attacked outside a synagogue in the northern German city of Hamburg.

A police spokesperson said on Sunday the 29-year-old perpetrator struck his victim – who is expected to survive – on the head with a shovel.

German police arrested the attacker, and a police spokesman said he was accused of causing grievous bodily harm. The attacker seemed to have acted alone so there was no further threat.null

The motive was unclear, the police spokesman said.

Sources close to the investigation told the DPA news agency the attacker was wearing military-style camouflage clothing and had a piece of paper with a swastika in his trouser pocket.

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported the victim was a Jewish student.

‘Disgusting’

According to several German media outlets, those inside the synagogue were taken to safety. They were celebrating the Sukkot holiday at the time.null

German Minister of Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas denounced the attack as anti-Semitic.

“This is not an isolated incident, this is disgusting anti-Semitism and we must all oppose it!” Maas said in a tweet.

The assault in Hamburg revived memories of the attack on a synagogue in the city of Halle almost a year ago.

In that case, the attacker made a failed attempt to enter the synagogue by force as a full congregation marked the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur and subsequently shot dead two people nearby. Several people were wounded.

Jubba, Oktoobar 03, 2020; Madaxweynaha Jamhuuriyadda Federaalka Soomaaliya Mudane Maxamed Cabdullaahi Farmaajo oo Khudbad ka jeediyey munaasabadda Dhaqan-gelinta Heshiiska nabadeed ee u dhaxeeya Dowladda Suudaan iyo Kooxaha hubeysan ee Galbeedka iyo Koonfurta dalkaas ayaa soo bandhigay garab-istaagga shacabka iyo dowladda Soomaaliyeed ee ku aaddan xaqiijinta nabadda, xasilloonida iyo midnimada walaalahooda dalka Suudaan.

Madaxweynaha ayaa tilmaamay in Shacabka iyo dowladda Soomaaliyeed ay khibrad weyn u leeyihiin dhibaatada laga dhaxlo colaadaha sokeeye, waxa uuna ka warbixiyey murugada iyo dib u dhicii xanuunka badnaa ee dalkeenna ka soo gaaray dagaalkii sokeeye oo maanta shacabka Soomaaliyeed ay gacmaha is-heystaan sidii ay uga gudbi lahaayeen saameyntiisa.

“Dabcan maanta ma ahan maalin u wanaagsan shacabka iyo dowladda Suudaan oo qura ee waa mid sidoo kale u wanaagsan dowladaha walaalaha ah ee dhiirrigeliyey heshiiskan, islamarkaasna taageeray nabadda iyo wadajirka sida dalkeyga oo kale. Haddii aanu nahay dowladaha xubnaha ka ah Urur Goboleedka IGAD iyo Bahda Qaramada Adduunka, waxaa mas’uuliyad wadareed naga saaran in nabad lagu dhammeeyo dagaalkii ka jirey qeyb ka mid ah Suudaan”.

Madaxweyne Maxamed Cabdullahi Farmaajo ayaa dul istaagay sida nabadda ay door weyn uga qaadan karto horumarka bulshada,koboca dhaqaale iyo xasillooni siyaasadeed oo dhab ah,taas oo dani ugu jirto Suudaan iyo guud ahaan gobolka.

“Waxaa nasiib iyo sharaf weyn ii ah in aan goobjoog ka ahaado saxiixa heshiiskan nabadeed ee maanta dhacay. Waxaan u hambalyeynayaa dowladda iyo shacabka Suudaan iyo dhammaan dhinacyada garwadeenada ka ah in heshiisku dhoco. Waa guul taariikhi ah oo u soo hoyatay dadka reer Suudaan iyo guud ahaan kuwa gobolka.”

Madaxweynaha ayaa kula dardaarmay dhinacyada heshiiskan in si rasmi ah loo fuliyo heshiiska nabadeed ee Jubba, kaas oo yeelan doona saamayn mug leh oo lagu gaaro nabad waarta, xasillooni iyo rajo ay hesho Suudaan, isaga oo xusay marxaladihii iyo dadaalladii loo soo maray in la soo gaaro heshiiskan wadajirka ah.

DHAMMAAD

Muqdisho, Sebteembar 17, 2020: Madaxweynaha Jamhuuriyadda Federaalka Soomaaliya Mudane Maxamed Cabdullaahi Farmaajo ayaa si waafaqsan qodobka 90-aad ee Dastuurka Kumeelgaarka ah waxa uu magacaabay Wasiirka Koowaad ee Xukuumadda Federaalka Soomaaliya, kaddib markii Golaha Shacabku ay kala laabteen kalsoonida Xukuumaddii hore 25-kii bishan Luuliyo 2020.

Madaxweynaha oo la-tashiyo badan ka sameeyey ayaa maanta oo ay taariikhdu that 17ka Sebteembar 2020, Xeer Madaxweyne ku magacaabay Mudane Maxamed Xuseen Rooble xilka Raiisul Wasaaraha Xukuumadda Federaalka Soomaaliya, isaga oo ku soo xushay aqoonta, waayo aragnimada iyo kartida uu u leeyahay inuu sii ambaqaado dadaallada dowlad dhiska iyo horumarinta qorsheyaasha Qaran.

Madaxweyne Maxamed Cabdullaahi Farmaajo ayaa faray Raiisul Wasaare Rooble In uu deg-deg ku soo dhiso Xukuumad tayo leh oo dalka horseedda in ay ka dhaqan geilso doorasho , dadaal muuqdana gelisa sidii loo xoojin lahaa guulaha laga gaaray amniga, dib u dhiska Ciidamada Qalabka sida, horumarinta kaabeyaasha dhaqaalaha, baahinta adeegyada aas-aasiga ah, kamiro dhalinta dagaalka ka dhanka ah argagixisada iyo musuqmaasuqa.

Madaxweynaha Jamhuuriyadda ayaa ku adkeeyey shacabka Soomaliyeed, hay’adaha Dowladda iyo indheer garadka dalka in ay ku garab istaagaan Raiisul Wasaaraha cusub gudashada waajibaadka Dastuuriga ah ee horyaalla, isaga oo ugu duceeyey in uu ka soo dhalaalo masuuliyadda adag ee ku aaddan u adeegidda dalka iyo dadka.

DHAMMAAD

CEELWAAQ NEWS- Leaders of ECOWAS met heads of Mali’s military in the latest attempt to quicken the transition from military leadership.

West African mediators have failed to persuade leaders of a military coup in Mali to immediately hand over power to a civilian government.

On Tuesday, leaders of the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) met the heads of a military government that, on August 18, overthrew President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, in the bloc’s latest attempt to quicken the transition from military leadership.

MORE ON MALI

ECOWAS imposed economic sanctions after the coup, and said a new president should be appointed by Tuesday.READ MORE

Mali military backs 18-month transition government as talks close

But those actions, and multiple diplomatic interventions, appear to have had little effect, reinforcing the difficulty regional powers face in shaping events inside the turbulent country.

“We have not reached any agreement with the military junta,” said Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo, acting ECOWAS chair, after the talks.

He said that a mediating mission would return to Mali next week to try to resolve outstanding issues.

“We need a civilian leadership of the transition and we have also made it clear that the minute that leadership input is in place … the sanctions … would be lifted,” he said.

Regional leaders fear the coup could set a dangerous precedent in West Africa and undermine a fight in Mali and neighbouring countries in the Sahel region against armed fighters with links to al Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS).

On Saturday, the military governors pushed through a charter that said the interim president can be a soldier or a civilian and has not yet indicated when the new government would be named.

West African leaders have not said what the consequences would be for failing to meet the deadline. The sanctions include border closures and the suspension of financial flows, though these were eased so they did not hit civilians.

The leaders said they would be willing to allow a transitional government to stand for 18 months, longer than the original year it asked for, Akufo-Addo said.

CEELWAAQ NEWS- Statement by dozens of countries highlighted a wide range of serious human rights violations in the kingdom.4 hours ago

Dozens of nations condemned Saudi Arabia before the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday over serious violations and demanded accountability for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

In a relatively rare rebuke of the oil-rich kingdom before the UN’s top rights body, Denmark’s Ambassador Carsten Staur read a statement on behalf of 29 states demanding justice for Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018 by an assassination team.

MORE ON SAUDI ARABIA

In the third joint statement to the council targeting Riyadh since the killing, the mainly European countries renewed a call for “transparency and holding all those responsible accountable”

“We stress the need for full accountability and transparent prosecution of those involved in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi,” said Germany’s Ambassador Michael Freiherr von Ungern-Sternberg.

The Saudi journalist was lured into the Saudi consulate to handle marriage paperwork. Within minutes, the one-time royal insider turned critic was strangled and his body dismembered, according to Turkish and US officials.null

A Saudi court this month handed lengthy jail terms to eight unnamed defendants and overturned five death sentences, in a ruling harshly condemned by Khashoggi’s fiancee and UN rights expert Agnes Callamard, the special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings.

Callamard, who like the CIA had previously linked Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) to the killing, decried that top officials who allegedly ordered the murder walked free.

Torture, disappearances

Tuesday’s statement, which was hailed by several human rights groups, also highlighted a wide range of other serious rights violations in Saudi Arabia.

“We remain deeply concerned by reports of torture, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, and detainees being denied access to essential medical treatment and contact with their families,” it said.

Staur said the countries welcomed recent reforms such as restricting flogging and the death penalty against minors, but stressed journalists, activists, and others still face persecution, detention and intimidation.

The statement also echoed the criticism voiced by UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet over the “arbitrary detention” of a number of women human rights activists in the country.

She told the opening of the council session on Monday the detained women simply requested to “be empowered to make their own choices, as equals to men”, insisting “they should be released without delay”.

Saudi Arabia’s representative hit back on Tuesday insisting “the detention of any women has nothing to do with their right to exercise the freedom of expression, but for violations of the standing laws”.

“Their rights are fully respected as detainees,” he said, adding they were guaranteed a fair trial.

Tortured and sexually harassed

Saudi Arabia has detained and put on trial a dozen female activists who long campaigned for the right to drive, which was finally granted in the kingdom two years ago.

Some of the activists allege they were tortured and sexually harassed by interrogators. Staur highlighted that at least five women’s human rights defenders arrested in 2018 remain in detention.

“We reiterate our call for the release of all political detainees and are particularly concerned about the use of the counterterrorism law and other security provisions against individuals peacefully exercising their rights,” he said.

Tuesday’s statement also urged dramatic improvements as Saudi Arabia strives to obtain a seat on the 47-member Human Rights Council.

“Council membership comes with an expectation of upholding the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights,” Staur said.

Germany, speaking on behalf of the European Union at the United Nations Human Rights Council, decried Saudi Arabia’s “prolonged detentions of women rights defenders”, including Loujain al-Hathloul.

John Fisher of Human Rights Watch denounced Saudi Arabia’s “brutal targeting of defenders and dissidents” and urged the release of the female activists and “others arbitrarily detained”.

CEELWAAQ NEWS– Report says world went from ‘at risk’ to ‘disorder’ because too few governments prepared effectively for a pandemic.7 hours ago

A collective failure by political leaders to heed warnings and prepare for an infectious disease pandemic has transformed “a world at risk” into a “world in disorder”, according to a new report on international epidemic preparedness.

“Financial and political investments in preparedness have been insufficient, and we are all paying the price,” said the report by The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB).

“It is not as if the world has lacked the opportunity to take these steps,” it added. “There have been numerous calls for action … over the last decade, yet none has generated the changes needed.”

The GPMB, co-convened by the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), is chaired by former WHO director-general Gro Harlem Brundtland, who now also chairs an independent watchdog that monitors the WHO.

The board’s 2019 report, released a few months before the novel coronavirus emerged in China, said there was a real threat of “a rapidly spreading pandemic due to a lethal respiratory pathogen” and warned such an event could kill millions and wreak havoc on the global economy.

This year’s report – entitled “A World in Disorder” – said world leaders had never before “been so clearly forewarned of the dangers of a devastating pandemic”, and yet they had failed to take adequate action.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed “a collective failure to take pandemic prevention, preparedness and response seriously and prioritize it accordingly”, it said.

“Pathogens thrive in disruption and disorder. COVID-19 has proven the point.”

The report noted that despite calling a year ago for heads of government to commit and invest in pandemic preparedness, for health systems to be strengthened and for financial risk planning to take seriously the threat of a devastating pandemic, little progress was made.

A lack of leadership, it said, is exacerbating the current pandemic.

“Failure to learn the lessons of COVID-19 or to act on them with the necessary resources and commitment will mean that the next pandemic, which is sure to come, will be even more damaging,” it said.

A clause in the UAE-Bahrain accords with Israel leaves ‘door wide open’ to Jewish prayer at holy site, analysts say.by Mersiha Gadzo

A statement embedded in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain normalisation agreements with Israel, brokered by the United States, may lead to the division of the Al-Aqsa compound because it violates the status quo, analysts say.

According to a report by NGO Terrestrial Jerusalem (TJ), the statements mark a “radical change in the status quo” and have “far-reaching and potentially explosive ramifications”.

MORE ON AL-AQSA MOSQUE

Under the status quo affirmed in 1967, only Muslims can pray within al-Haram al-Sharif, also known as the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which consists of 14 hectares (35 acres).

Non-Muslims can visit but cannot pray at the site. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affirmed this status quo in a formal declaration in 2015.

However, a clause included in the recent accords between Israel and Gulf Arab states indicates this may no longer be the case.

According to the joint statement between the US, Israel, and the UAE released on August 13 by US President Donald Trump: “As set forth in the Vision of Peace, all Muslims who come in peace may visit and pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem’s other holy sites should remain open for peaceful worshippers of all faiths.”https://players.brightcove.net/665003303001/4k5gFJHRe_default/index.html?videoId=6190156791001&usrPersonaAds=0Bahrain follows UAE to normalise ties with Israel

But Israel defines Al-Aqsa as the structure of the one mosque, as does the statement, the TJ report clarified.null

“According to Israel [and apparently to the United States], anything on the Mount that is not the structure of the mosque is defined as ‘one of Jerusalem’s other holy sites’ and open to prayer by all – including Jews,” the report said.

“This choice of terminology is neither random nor a misstep, and cannot [be] seen as anything but an intentional albeit surreptitious attempt to leave the door wide open to Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, thereby radically changing the status quo.”

The same statement was repeated in the accord with Bahrain, announced on Friday.

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Khaled Zabarqa, a Palestinian lawyer specialising in Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem affairs, told Al Jazeera the statement “very clearly says the mosque is not under Muslim sovereignty”.

“When the UAE accepted such a clause, it agrees and gives a green light for Israeli sovereignty over Al-Aqsa Mosque,” Zabarqa said.

“It’s a clear and massive violation for the international and legal status quo of Al-Aqsa Mosque [conceived] after the occupation of Jerusalem in 1967, which says everything inside the walls is under Jordanian custody.”

‘This is not innocent’

Palestinians have long been concerned over possible attempts to partition the holy mosque, as was the case with Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque.

Over the years, there has been a growing Temple Movement, mostly led by “the extreme nationalistic religious Jewish right” that seeks to change the status quo, the report by TJ said.

Some call for Jewish prayer on the holy compound, while others aim to build the Third Temple over the ruins of the Dome of the Rock, which according to messianic belief would usher the coming of the messiah.

The Israeli NGO Ir Amim has published numerous reports over the years warning of this once-fringe group, which today is part of the political and religious mainstream and benefits from close ties with Israeli authorities.

These activists believe allowing Jewish prayer at the compound and dividing the holy site between Muslims and Jews would be a step towards asserting sovereignty, and eventually attaining their ultimate goal of building the temple.

In recent years, an increasing number of Jewish visitors have been attempting to pray at the site in violation of the status quo.

https://players.brightcove.net/665003303001/SJg0bzqkZ_default/index.html?videoId=4605113831001&usrPersonaAds=0Al Jazeera World – Jerusalem: Dividing al-Aqsa

Daniel Seidemann, an Israeli attorney specialising in the geopolitics of Jerusalem, told Al Jazeera he is “deeply concerned about what is happening”.

“What we’re witnessing in Jerusalem is the ascendency of the religious factions that weaponise religion. We’re on a trajectory that will lead us to a conflagration.

“We know these clauses are worked out together, every single word in a joint team of US and Israel. The transition from the term Haram al-Sharif to the term Al-Aqsa Mosque is not an accident,” Seidemann said.

‘Written with malice’

A more blatant statement was included in Trump’s “deal of the century” plan for the Middle East, unveiled in late January alongside Netanyahu at the White House.

Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, has been the main point person on the proposal, and Ron Dermer, Israel’s ambassador to the US, has been linked to the wording of the deal.  

The plan stipulated “the status quo at the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif should be continued”, but in the following sentence it also said: “People of every faith should be permitted to pray on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif.”

The clause was met with controversy, prompting US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman to walk it back at a press briefing on January 28. “There’s nothing in the plan that would impose any alteration of the status quo that’s not subject to agreement of all parties,” he said.

A senior US official – familiar with both the parties and the issues – told Al Jazeera he had “no doubts that the language in the Israel-UAE statement was written with malice of forethought by the Israeli side, without a clear understanding from the Emirates, and with the complicity of a clueless American team”.

“The rapid walk-back by Friedman of what was in the Trump plan attests to this: Dermer likely inserted it, Kushner didn’t have a clue,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“The fact that it was Friedman who walked it back, rather than the White House, also means the Trump plan language is still official and determining if push comes to shove… Even if the Kushner-Friedman dolts understand the ramifications, it is clear they don’t care.”

https://players.brightcove.net/665003303001/4k5gFJHRe_default/index.html?videoId=6071680835001&usrPersonaAds=0Tension at Al-Aqsa compound as Muslim, Jewish festivals overlap

Eddie Vasquez, senior adviser and spokesperson at the US Department of State, in an email to Al Jazeera referred to a fact sheet published after the “deal of the century” was released, which said the status quo will be preserved.

“All Muslims are welcome to peacefully visit Al-Aqsa Mosque,” one of the points said. But there was no clarification as to why the term Al-Aqsa Mosque was used instead of Haram al-Sharif in the accords with the UAE and Bahrain.

‘Israeli sovereignty over Al-Aqsa’

The normalisation agreements come as Israeli authorities recently installed loudspeakers on the eastern and western side of the Al-Aqsa compound last week, without the permission of the Waqf.

The holy compound is administered by the Islamic Waqf, seated in Jordan. According to the status quo, Israel is only responsible for security outside of the gates.

A clause embedded in the normalisation agreements marks a ‘radical change in the status quo’ at the holy Al-Aqsa compound in occupied East Jerusalem, observers say [File: Mersiha Gadzo/Al Jazeera] 

“The Israel police said it’s for security reasons, but we don’t really see this security reason,” Omar Kiswani, director of the Al-Aqsa compound, told Al Jazeera.

“We consider this action an attempt to impose control over the Al-Aqsa Mosque and to undermine the Waqf’s role in the mosque,” Kiswani said.

Zabarqa said Jordan, as the custodian of the site, has “no power to deal with the occupation [authorities]”.

“I believe Jordan needs to make a change and make new allies such as with Turkey. It has to use the financial and diplomatic relations with Israel as a card to put pressure, but it seems it’s weak enough to stand beside the Americans,” Zabarqa said.

TJ noted in its report that there was no mention in the accord of the Waqf and its autonomous role.

“The Muslim claims to Haram al-Sharif/Al-Aqsa are being transformed from one of proprietorship to that of ‘welcome guest’ with the right to visit and pray at Al-Aqsa,” it said.

‘A landmine’

Zabarqa said the clause is “groundbreaking for the Israeli-American narrative” and believes “the UAE accepted to be the spearhead of it”.

Zabarqa noted in 2014 that the UAE was involved in the transfer of more than 30 buildings to illegal Israeli settlers in Silwan in occupied East Jerusalem.

“This shows us the clear role the Emirates play in changing the status quo term to another one that recognises Israel sovereignty over Al-Aqsa,” Zabarqa said.

Seidemann said when the Emiratis and Bahrainis take part in the ceremony on Tuesday hosted by Trump at the White House to sign a “historic declaration of peace” with Israel, they should demand clarification to be assured the status quo is intact.

“All you would need is for Kushner and Netanyahu to say: ‘I continue to believe what I said in 2015.’ They’ve been asked to do that for the last two weeks, they haven’t done that. This is not innocent,” Seidemann said.

“This is a landmine the Trump administration and Netanyahu are leaving for the next administration, the next Israeli government. They’re tinkering with Haram al-Sharif/Al-Aqsa/Temple Mount. It will light a fuse,” Seidemann said.

“The fuse may be a long fuse, but it will blow up and it’s not too late to prevent it from blowing up.”

CEELWAAQ NEWS 14/9/2020- Iran based Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim says the people of Bahrain and the region ‘have to resist this defeat’

Bahraini opposition groups have rejected a decision by the Gulf state to normalise relations with Israel with a leading Shia Muslim leader calling on the people of the region to resist.

Muslim scholar Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim, who lives in Iran, said on Sunday he was against normalisation between Arab countries and Israel, in a statement published by dissolved Bahraini opposition party al-Wefaq, a group close to Qassim.

MORE ON ISRAELI–PALESTINIAN CONFLICT

• What is behind Bahrain’s normalisation deal with Israel?today
• Palestinians rally against Bahrain-Israel normalisationyesterday
• ‘Stab in the back’: Palestinians condemn Israel-Bahrain deal2 days ago
• Arab League: Ministers agree not to condemn UAE-Israel deal4 days ago

The accords struck between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last month, and between Israel and Bahrain on Friday, go against the will of the people, he said.

“There is a great divergence between the rulers and the ruled in thought, mind, aims and interests. Governments are experiencing a psychological defeat and want to impose it on the people, and the people have to resist this defeat,” Qassim said.

A group of Bahraini political and civil society associations, including the Bahrain Bar Association, on Sunday voiced their opposition to the deal in a joint statement.

“What results from normalisation will not enjoy popular backing, in line with what generations of Bahrainis have been brought up on in terms of adherence to the Palestinian cause,” the statement said.

‘Finding solutions’

The head of Bahrain’s highest court ordered judiciary employees not to criticise government policy or express opinions harming national unity, al-Bilad newspaper reported on Sunday.

Bahrain’s foreign minister said Palestinian rights remained a priority for the kingdom.

Bahrainis have previously criticised their government’s engagements with Israel, including last June’s conference in Manama to launch a US-led $50bn economic formula for Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Parliament last April joined social media calls to stop Israeli business and government officials attending an international entrepreneurship conference. The delegation did not attend.

Bahrain has had a Jewish population for decades, although emigration means it is small today.

A television period drama released this year by a Gulf network about the trials of a Jewish midwife in a multireligious community took inspiration from real-life Jewish midwife Umm Jan who lived in Bahrain.

Ebrahim Noonoo, the head of Bahrain’s Jewish community, said the agreement would enable Israelis to come to Bahrain to visit its synagogue and cemetery, where family members may be buried.

“With this understanding comes new and open ideas that help us in finding solutions for any problems between Jews and Muslims,” he said.

Bahraini worker Ali Abdallah said he hoped the deal would help regional peace and stability and would facilitate all Muslims being able to pray at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque

CEELWAAQ NEWS 13/9/2020- France, UK, and Austria among those struggling as new coronavirus cases continue to spike on the continent.

https://players.brightcove.net/665003303001/4k5gFJHRe_default/index.html?videoId=6189855257001&usrPersonaAds=0

Austria and the United Kingdom were among European nations grappling with mounting coronavirus infections on Sunday, while restrictions were eased in the South Korean capital Seoul and work resumed on a much-hyped potential vaccine.

New cases in the UK reached more than 3,000 in 24 hours for the second day in a row on Saturday, with the Sunday Times newspaper reporting that about one-third of those were at elderly care homes where the virus has roared back.

“I think one would have to say that we’re on the edge of losing control,” Mark Walport, the British government’s former chief scientific adviser, told BBC radio.

After a spate of local lockdowns this month, new government restrictions come into force across England on Monday, limiting social gatherings to no more than six people.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told citizens the country was already facing “the beginning of the second wave” as new daily infections climbed towards 1,000.https://players.brightcove.net/665003303001/BkyLdqdhZ_default/index.html?videoId=6189495970001&usrPersonaAds=0 

Kurz said the government would further restrict events and extend the areas where mask-wearing is mandatory to include all shops and public buildings.

Meanwhile, France reported 10,000 new infections on Saturday, close to the peak of the first wave in April.null

Prime Minister Jean Castex declined to announce any new major restrictions on Friday despite noting a “clear worsening” in the country’s outbreak.

Around the world, 921,219 people had died of the virus from among 28.8 million cases on Sunday.

‘More respect’

About 4,000 health workers demonstrated in Brussels on Sunday, calling for more spending on the healthcare system in a country that was badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

With political parties in Belgium still struggling to form a permanent government more than a year after a national election, the workers – who wore masks and carried banners with slogans such as “take care of the careworkers” – called on politicians to increase pay and healthcare funding.

“We came here in Brussels to demonstrate and demand more respect for our job and a pay rise,” said one protester who gave her name only as Marie-Stella and who has worked as a nurse since 1988.

“I would like to be given the means to give high-quality and humane care. And for that, we need financial means,” said Claudine, a psychiatric nurse.

The event was organised by health workers group La Sante en Lutte, who demand an end to the “commodification of care” and say the coronavirus crisis has exposed the fragility of Belgium’s healthcare system, including a lack of adequate protection for staff and enough testing for the virus.

Belgium has reported 9,923 fatalities from COVID-19, which puts it the third-highest in the world for deaths per 100,000 people – behind the tiny city-state of San Marino and Peru. The government has said the high rate is explained by its decision to include in its tally deaths where COVID-19 is only suspected, not confirmed.

Soldiers sanitise in a care home for elderly where more than 200 people were infected with coronavirus and 18 died in Budapest, Hungary, in April [Marton Monus/EPA-EFE]

Peacekeepers infected

In the Middle East, 90 UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon tested positive for the novel coronavirus, a spokesman for the United Nations forces said on Sunday.

The confirmed cases were transferred to a special UNIFIL facility equipped to deal with COVID-19 cases, UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti said in a statement.

He said 88 of those infected belonged to the same contingent, but he did not specify the nationalities of the 90 peacekeepers.

“We have undertaken robust contact tracing, and applied a thorough regime of testing and isolation” to prevent a larger outbreak, he said.

Some 45 countries contribute peacekeepers to UNIFIL, which was set up in 1978 to patrol the border between Lebanon and Israel, which are technically at war.

Tenenti said UNIFIL’s operations along the Lebanon-Israel border were not affected by the new virus cases.

‘Aggressive’ lockdown protest

https://players.brightcove.net/665003303001/BkyLdqdhZ_default/index.html?videoId=6189350631001&usrPersonaAds=0

AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine trial on hold over safety issue (2:14)

In South Korea, authorities in Seoul said they would ease some infection control measures introduced in recent weeks after a spike in cases in the capital region, home to half the country’s 52 million population.

Coffee shops, restaurants and bakeries will return to normal service, while gyms and private cram schools can reopen.

While the country largely overcame an early COVID-19 surge with extensive tracing and testing, it has seen triple-digit daily new cases since mid-August after weeks with numbers in the 30s and 40s.

Police arrested dozens of participants in an anti-lockdown demonstration in the southern Australian city Melbourne on Sunday that drew about 250 people.

Defying stay-at-home orders, the crowd gathered at the central Queen Victoria Market where they were met by a heavy police presence.

“Many protesters were aggressive and threatened violence towards officers,” the Melbourne police said.

The Australian event followed a number of demonstrations in Germany and Poland on Saturday at which people protested against anti-coronavirus measures and defied mask-wearing rules.

Meanwhile, Democratic US presidential candidate Joe Biden slammed incumbent Donald Trump as “reckless” for holding a packed rally on Saturday in Reno, Nevada, where many attendees did not wear masks.

The Republican president is under pressure as the US toll continues to rise, nearing 6.5 million cases on Saturday, with more than 193,000 deaths – by far the most in either measure in the world.

In Latin America, which this week passed the milestone of eight million virus cases, worst-hit Brazil charted more than 131,000 deaths from COVID-19 as of Saturday, the second-highest in the world behind the United States. https://players.brightcove.net/665003303001/BkyLdqdhZ_default/index.html?videoId=6186567578001&usrPersonaAds=0 

Vaccine trials resume

In the UK, regulators gave pharma company AstraZeneca and Oxford University the all-clear for clinical trials to resume on one of the most advanced experimental COVID-19 vaccines.

Researchers had “voluntarily paused” their vaccine trial after a UK volunteer developed an unexplained illness.

Even during the pause, AstraZeneca said it remained hopeful the vaccine could still be available “by the end of this year, early next year”.

Vaccine development has turned into a political football in the US, where Biden has accused Trump of “undermining public confidence” by regularly raising the possibility that a jab will be ready before November’s election.

CEELWAAQ NEWS 13/9/2020- Reports say at least five air attacks hit near Sanaa airport, while others target northern and central parts of city.

The Saudi-led coalition has launched 11 air raids on the positions of Houthi rebels in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, according to the Houthi-run Saba news agency.

Five of Sunday’s attacks hit the vicinity of the Sanaa airport, while others targeted the northern and central parts of the city, Saba reported, citing a security source.

It was unclear whether there were any casualties.

According to Saudi-owned Al Arabiya media network, the coalition forces attacked Houthi barracks and military sites in Sanaa and destroyed four Houthi drones at al-Delmi airbase north of Sanaa.

There was no immediate official confirmation from the coalition, which had launched air raids on two sites in Sanaa a day earlier.

Houthi claim

The attacks followed a Houthi claim it had hit an “important target” in the Saudi capital on Thursday, using a ballistic missile and drones.

The coalition did not confirm an attack on Riyadh but said it had intercepted and destroyed ballistic missiles and explosive drones launched towards the kingdom on Thursday.

Bombings in Sanaa city have been relatively rare since September 2019, when Saudi Arabia launched indirect talks with the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, which it has been at war with since 2015.

The conflict has killed 100,000 people and led to what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The Houthis took over Sanaa and most other cities in 2014 after removing the Saudi-backed government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The coalition that Saudi Arabia leads intervened in 2015 to try to restore Hadi to power.

Delhi assembly’s panel on peace and harmony to seek Ajit Mohan’s response over allegations of ‘incriminating material’.4 hours ago

The administration in India’s capital has summoned Facebook’s country chief to answer allegations that it failed to remove hateful content on its platform.

The Delhi state assembly’s panel on peace and harmony on Saturday said it would investigate evidence – described by the committee as “incriminating material on record” – submitted by four prominent journalists and digital rights activists.

The committee has asked Ajit Mohan, the managing director of Facebook India, to appear before it on September 15 to determine the “veracity of allegations” made by the group.

Facebook has been embroiled in a huge dispute in India after the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported in August that the site failed to take down anti-Muslim comments by a politician from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in order to protect its business interests.

Following the WSJ report, an Indian parliamentary committee also grilled Mohan last week over the company’s pro-BJP bias.

Meanwhile, Facebook blocked T Raja Singh, a BJP legislator who had called India’s Muslims traitors, threatened to demolish mosques and said Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar should be shot.

Singh told AFP news agency he would fight the ban and that Facebook’s action was an attack on the BJP.

Facebook has denied any political bias but admitted it has to do better to curb hate speech.

India is the United States-based Facebook and its messaging service WhatsApp’s biggest market in terms of users, and the company is under pressure worldwide over the policing of hate speech.

The Delhi government’s move follows US civil rights groups claiming this week that the social media giant failed to address hateful content in India and demanded that its India policy chief, Ankhi Das, be removed.

The panel – headed by Raghav Chadha, a legislator with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) party that rivals Prime Minister’s Narendra Modi’s BJP – also said the firm should be probed over its “alleged role and complicity” in the Delhi riots in February.

Around 50 people, most of them Muslims, were killed in the capital’s worst unrest in decades, which erupted as thousands were protesting against a controversial citizenship law passed by Modi’s BJP last year.

Muqdisho, Sebteembar 11, 2020; Madaxweynaha Jamhuuriyadda Federaalka Soomaaliya Mudane Maxamed Cabdullaahi Farmaajo ayaa tacsi u diray qoysaska iyo ehelada muwaadiniinta Soomaaliyeed ee ku naf waayey qarixii argagixisanimo ee ka dhacay magaalada Kismaayo.

Madaxweynaha ayaa si gaar ah ugu tacsiyeeyey Ganacsatada Soomaaliyeed geerida Xoghayihii Rugta Ganacsiga Soomaaliyeed, Alle ha u naxariistee, Shaafi Raabi Kaahin oo u geeriyooday dhaawac ka soo gaaray qaraxan, waxa uuna xusay doorkii wanaagsanaa ee uu ku lahaa isku xirnaanta ganacsatadeenna Soomaaliyeed iyo dhiirrigelinta maalgashiga dalka.

“Innaa Lillaahi wa innaa Ilayhi raajicuun. Qaraxan argagixisanimo ee ka dhacay magaalada Kismaayo waxa uu muujinayaa yoolka cadawga dadka Soomaaliyeed oo salka ku haya in ay meel kasta ku gumaadaan haldoorkeenna iyo guud ahaan dadkeenna.”

Madaxweynaha Jamhuuriyadda ayaa u rajeeyey Muwaadiniinta dhaawacyadu ay ka soo gaareen qaraxan bahalnimada ah in uu Eebbe u boogo dhayo, waxa uuna xusay in shacabka Soomaaliyeed oo isku duuban ay ka guuleysan doonaan cadawgan arxan laawaha ah, maantana la joogo xilligii loo midoobi lahaa in laga xoreeyo guud ahaan dalkeenna.

DHAMMAAD

حريق في ولاية أوريغونقالت كيت براون، حاكمة ولاية أوريغون الأمريكية اليوم الأربعاء، إن حرائق الغابات التي تستعر في الولاية وصلت إلى ديترويت وبلو ريفر وفيدا وفينكس وتالنت.

وأضافت براون في إفادة صحفية أن الحرائق، التي أجبرت السلطات على إجلاء السكان من معظم منطقة مدفورد في جنوب أوريغون، قد تتسبب في “خسائر فادحة في الأرواح والممتلكات”.

وتوقع المركز الوطني لمكافحة الحرائق استمرار الحرائق الكثيفة خلال شهر سبتمبر في أغلب مناطق الغرب، وخلال شهر أكتوبر في أجزاء من جبال روكي الشمالية وولاية كاليفورنيا، كما أشار إلى أن الأجواء الحارة والجافة هي السبب الرئيسي للحرائق.

NYT, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and rights group say two soldiers taken to The Hague over 2017 crackdown.

Two Myanmar soldiers have been taken to The Hague after confessing to murdering Rohingya minority during a 2017 crackdown, two news organisations and a rights group have reported.

The two men admitted to killing dozens of villagers in northern Rakhine state and burying them in mass graves, according to the New York Times, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the non-profit Fortify Rights, citing statements the men made on videos filmed in Myanmar this year.

Reuters news agency on Tuesday said it has not seen the videos cited by the news organisations.

The New York Times said it could not independently confirm that the two soldiers committed the crimes to which they confessed.

Advertisement

Myanmar government and military spokesmen did not answer calls seeking comment. https://players.brightcove.net/665003303001/4k5gFJHRe_default/index.html?videoId=5975163298001&usrPersonaAds=0 US law firm says Myanmar committed genocide against Rohingya

The reports said the men had been in the custody of the Arakan Army group, which is now fighting Myanmar government troops in Rakhine state, when they made the admissions and were later taken to The Hague in the Netherlands, where they could appear as witnesses or face trial.

It was not clear from the reports how the men fell into the hands of the Arakan Army, why they were speaking, or how they were transported to The Hague and under whose authority.

A spokesman for the International Criminal Court (ICC), based in The Hague, said it did not have the men in custody.READ MORE

Exclusive: ‘Strong evidence’ of genocide in Myanmar

“No. These reports are not correct. We don’t have these persons in the ICC custody,” said the spokesman, Fadi el Abdallah.

Payam Akhavan, a Canadian lawyer representing Bangladesh in a filing against Myanmar at the ICC, said the two men had appeared at a border post requesting the protection of the government and had confessed to the mass murder and rape of Rohingya civilians in 2017.

“All I can say is that those two individuals are no longer in Bangladesh,” he said.

A spokesman for the Arakan Army, Khine Thu Kha, said the two men were deserters and were not held as prisoners of war.

He did not comment further on where the men were now but said the group was “committed to justice” for all victims of the Myanmar military.

Myanmar has repeatedly denied allegations of genocide, saying its military operations in 2017 were targeting Rohingya rebels who attacked police border posts.

The ICC is investigating the crime against humanity of forced deportation of Rohingya to Bangladesh, as well as persecution and other human rights violations.

“The office does not publicly comment on speculation or reports regarding its ongoing investigations, neither does the office discuss specifics of any aspect of its investigative activities,” a statement from the ICC prosecutor’s office said.READ MORE

Exclusive: ‘Strong evidence’ of genocide in Myanmar

Myanmar is also facing charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice, also in The Hague, though that body does not bring cases against individuals or hear witnesses.

In 2015, before the alleged 2017 genocide, Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit revealed the inner workings of the Myanmar regime, drawing on documents from the Myanmar military, an unpublished United Nations report and other government paperwork.

Those documents, assessed by Yale University Law School and the International State Crime Initiative at Queen Mary University of London, constituted “strong evidence” of a state-led genocide according to experts.

بيروت 20 محرم 1442 هـ – الموافق 8 سبتمبر 2020) (CeelWaaq)– استقبل الرئيس اللبناني العماد ميشال عون، اليوم الثلاثاء، في القصر الجمهوري في بعبدا، رئيس الوزراء الإيطالي جوزيبي كونتي على رأس وفد، لتنسيق عمليات الإغاثة بعد الانفجار في مرفأ بيروت.

ومن المقرر أن يلتقي كونتي، خلال الزيارة، رئيس مجلس النواب نبيه بري، ورئيس حكومة تصريف الأعمال حسان دياب، ورئيس الحكومة المكلف مصطفى أديب، بالإضافة إلى ممثلين عن المجتمع المدني.

وسيزور كونتي أيضا موقع الانفجار في مرفأ بيروت والسفينة التابعة للبحرية الإيطالية “سان دجوستو” الراسية في المرفأ، قبل أن يتوجه إلى المستشفى الميداني العسكري الإيطالي في حرم الجامعة اللبنانية.

وكان رئيس الوزراء الإيطالي قد وصل بعيد منتصف ليل الاثنين إلى مطار رفيق الحريري الدولي، في زيارة رسمية إلى لبنان.

المصدر:- يونا.

EU warns Serbia over Jerusalem embassy move

EU voices ‘concern’, casting shadow over Serbia-Kosovo talks, as Kosovo president attempts to calm Muslims’ fears.6 hours ago

The EU has voiced “serious concern and regret” over Belgrade’s commitment to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, casting a shadow over the resumption of Serbia-Kosovo talks.

President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia and Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti are to meet in Brussels for a second round of EU-brokered, face-to-face talks to resolve two decades of disputes after clashing in war.

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• Luxembourg raises $1.77bn in 1st sustainability gov’t bondtoday
• UK-EU tensions mount ahead of fresh Brexit talkstoday
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The meeting follows a high-profile summit at the White House where Vucic and Hoti agreed to improve economic relations – and in Serbia’s case, following in the US’s footsteps, committing to moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

But the EU remains committed to the so-called “two state solution” in which Jerusalem will be the capital of both Israel and a future Palestinian state, with its own diplomatic mission is in Tel Aviv.

The bloc expects prospective members such as Serbia to align with its foreign policy positions.

“In this context, any diplomatic steps that could call into question the EU’s common position on Jerusalem are a matter of serious concern and regret,” EU foreign affairs spokesman Peter Stano told reporters in Brussels.

Breaking with long-standing diplomatic practice, US President Donald Trump’s administration in December 2017 recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moved the US embassy to the city.

‘Now, we shall have more powerful allies’

Washington touted the agreements signed by Vucic and Hoti on Friday as a major breakthrough, but on Monday the two leaders issued a joint statement giving a far more cautious read.

“The recently agreed documents in Washington DC, building on previous dialogue-related commitments undertaken by the two parties, could provide a useful contribution to reaching a comprehensive, legally binding agreement on normalisation of relations,” the statement said.What’s behind the agreement between UAE and Israel? (7:19)

In one of Europe’s most intractable disputes, Serbia has refused to recognise Kosovo’s declaration of independence since the province broke away in the bloody 1998-99 war that was ended only by a NATO bombing campaign against Serb troops.

Both Kosovo and Serbia are facing mounting pressure from the West to resolve the impasse which is seen as crucial to either side joining the EU.

One key question is diplomatic recognition for Kosovo – five of the EU’s 27 countries do not acknowledge its independence.

At a news conference in Pristina, Kosovo’s capital, President Hashim Thaci tried to calm the fears of Muslim nations that its decision to recognise Israel could damage ties with the Islamic world.

Thaci hailed the deal with Serbia signed at the White House in Washington, which included mutual recognition between Israel and Kosovo.

But he added that he had received messages of concern from the Arab League and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “regarding the mutual recognition of Israel-Kosovo”.

“I am in contact with President Erdogan. I spoke to him on the phone and this recognition of Kosovo-Israel will not jeopardise in any way the friendly and strategic partnership with Turkey. Now, we shall have more powerful allies (Israel) in our efforts to globally strengthen the state of Kosovo.”

Kosovo, a predominantly Muslim country, has never recognised Israel, nor has Israel recognised Kosovo.

Meeting comes after August’s agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates to normalise diplomatic relations

Leaders of Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement and the Palestinian Hamas group met to discuss diplomatic normalisation between Israel and Arab countries, the movement said.

On Sunday, Hamas chief Ismail Haniya was given a hero’s welcome at Ain al-Helweh, Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp.

MORE ON HEZBOLLAH

• Israel launches air attacks at Hezbollah posts on Lebanon borderlast week
• UN tribunal: Hezbollah member guilty in Rafik Hariri killing2 weeks ago
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• Lebanon’s Hezbollah: ‘Not concerned’ with Hariri killing verdict3 weeks ago

Hezbollah-run Al-Manar television reported earlier that Hassan Nasrallah, head of the Iran-backed Shia Hezbollah movement, and Haniya stressed the “stability” of the “axis of resistance” against Israel.

They discussed “political and military developments in Palestine, Lebanon and the region” and “the dangers to the Palestinian cause”, including “Arab plans for normalisation” with Israel, Al-Manar said.null

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The meeting comes after an August 13 announcement that Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have agreed to normalise ties.

While the United States-backed diplomatic drive aims to boost a regional alliance against Iran, Palestinians have condemned it as a “stab in the back” as they remain under occupation and do not have their own state.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his country is in talks with other Arab and Muslim leaders now about normalising relations, following the deals with the UAE and, decades ago, Egypt and Jordan.

First visit in 30 years

Haniya arrived in Lebanon on Wednesday, on his first visit to the country in nearly 30 years, for direct and video-conference talks with other Palestinian groups that oppose Israel’s diplomatic initiative.

Before a cheering crowd of hundreds in Ain al-Helweh, near the southern coastal city of Sidon, including refugees who travelled to see him from other camps, Haniya praised his movement’s military capacity and shrugged off the UAE-Israel normalisation deal.

“Not long ago, our rockets only reached [targets] metres from Gaza’s borders. Today, the resistance in Gaza possesses rockets that can reach Tel Aviv and beyond Tel Aviv,” he said.

As for normalisation between Israel and Arab countries, that “does not represent the people, neither their conscience, nor their history nor their heritage”, Haniya said, quoted in a Hamas statement.

Israel’s military has in recent weeks targeted Hamas in the Gaza Strip and what it says have been Hezbollah gunmen along its northern border with Lebanon.

It also regularly launches air attacks in war-torn Syria against what it says are Hezbollah and other pro-Iranian fighters fighting on the side of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Nasrallah has been living in secret locations since Hezbollah’s devastating 2006 war with Israel and only makes rare public appearances. He said in 2014 that he often changes his place of residence.

Bosniak minority has been targeted in series of attacks after election ends in a new majority dominated by nationalists.by Mersiha Gadzo

Bosniak citizens of Montenegro say fear and anxiety pervades their communities after a series of attacks and vandalism targeted the minority population following the country’s parliamentary election, which ushered in a new majority government dominated by right-wing nationalists.

The intense election campaign pitted President Milo Djukanovic’s pro-Western Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) against the right-wing “For the Future of Montenegro” (ZBCG) bloc, comprised mainly of Serb nationalist parties that seek closer ties with Belgrade and Moscow.

MORE ON MONTENEGRO

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ZBCG, combined with two other opposition alliances, achieved a razor-thin majority grabbing 41 out of 81 seats in parliament, bringing the DPS rule to an end after leading the NATO-member country for 30 years.

The campaign largely focused on a dispute over a law on religious rights introduced in late 2019, staunchly opposed by the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC).

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The SPC argued the law allows the state to confiscate its property in order to set up a separate church, sparking protests over the last 10 months supported by the opposition. The government has denied the allegation.

Attacks and provocations against Bosniaks began as soon as exit poll results were released last Sunday and opposition supporters began celebrating on the streets.

Bosniaks are the third largest ethnic group in the small Adriatic nation of 622,000 after Montenegrins and Serbs.

An opposition supporter holds up a flag reading Russia after general elections in Podgorica, Montenegro [Savo Prelevic/AFP]

Two Bosniaks, a young man and his father, were attacked at a cafe in the city centre of Pljevlja on Sunday evening.

Abid Sabanovic, 22, from the town of Pljevlja told Al Jazeera some far-right supporters drove through Bosniak neighbourhoods with the sole aim of provoking residents there.

“These parts of the city aren’t situated on the main roads so there was no reason to go there,” Sabanovic said, adding the supporters were singing ultranationalist Chetnik songs about Draza Mihajlovic – a World War II-era Chetnik Serb figure .

“Such lyrics have nothing to do with the election, rather they represent an expression of nationalism,” Sabanovic said, adding there is “fear, anxiety” among Bosniaks.

OPINION

How the use of ethnonationalism backfired in Montenegro

by Ermin Sinanovic

Mihajlovic was the leader of the Serb nationalist Chetnik movement, many members of which collaborated with Nazi forces. According to historians, Chetnik forces killed tens of thousands of Bosniaks, Croats and other non-Serbs in the former Yugoslavia.

History repeated itself in the early 1990s when Serb forces identifying with the Chetnik movement committed genocide and war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, killing Bosniaks and Croats to make way for a Greater Serbia.

Bosniaks in neighbouring Pljevelja, situated 40km east of the Bosnian border, were not exempt from violence either. In 1992, with the outbreak of war in neighbouring Bosnia, authorities persecuted and killed Bosniaks in and around Pljevlja.

By July of that year, more than a dozen Bosniak villages near Pljevlja were “ethnically-cleansed”, and in September a series of 27 explosions targeted Bosniak stores and homes. Mosques were destroyed.

“It’s not surprising [they were singing ultranationalist songs] considering that both the SPC and the leading opposition party nurture ultranationalism and the Chetnikism,” Sabanovic said.

Threats of genocide

On Tuesday, unknown assailants broke the windows of the Islamic community’s local office in Pljevlja and left a note reading: “Plevlja will be Srebrenica”, referring to the genocide against Bosniaks committed by Serb forces in July 1995 in Srebrenica, Bosnia.

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The attacks continued until Thursday when the head imam in Pljevlja posted photos on Facebook showing graffiti scrawled on the brick wall and windows of a property reading “Turks” and “Srebrenica”.

Also drawn was the 4S cross, an old Serbian symbol used by Serbian far-right nationalists.

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Photos were shared on social media of messages written on roads and signs in a village near Pljevlja reading: “Move out Turks”, “Srebrenica”, 4S and “92”.

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“Some are really afraid. We often hear from elders how this all reminds them of 1992 when the terror against the Bosniak population of Pljevlja reached its peak,” Sabanovic said.

“Some are avoiding going out on the streets, which is understandable because there were a few instances where security for Bosniaks or their properties were threatened. It’s purely an expression of power.”

Policy analyst Ljubomir Filipovic from Budva told Al Jazeera the violence makes not only Bosniaks, but all progressive people worried about the future of Montenegro.

“The biggest group in the opposition is a xenophobic and Islamophobic community, which was supported by a 10-months long campaign that was portraying ethnic and religious minorities as the ‘regime collaborators’, thus creating a prelude to the violence that is taking place in the Montenegrin streets these days,” Filipovic said.

Defending mosques?

On Wednesday, leader of ZBCG Zdravko Krivokapic stood with priests of the SPC in front of Pljevlja’s main mosque and site of attacks, holding a banner reading: “We don’t give up holy sites!” in support of the mosque, regional media reported.

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Regarding the attack on Pljevlja’s mosque, Krivokapic said at a news conference the same day, “We will defend mosques just as we defended monasteries.”

He added the opposition was not behind the Islamophobic attacks, rather it was “the result of the work of the regime system”, referring to Djukanovic’s DPS, Serbian media reported.READ MORE

Russian spies found guilty of Montenegro coup attempt

But Sabanovic said as long as pro-Serb leaders do not distance themselves from Chetniks and their ideology – which aims for a homogenous Serbia without minorities – their “defence” of Islamic holy sites cannot be taken seriously.

“An MP of the Democratic Front [part of the ZBCG bloc] has the title of a Chetnik ruler … We know [the SPC’s most senior bishop in Montenegro] Amfilohije spoke publicly about friendship with [Bosnian Serb convicted war criminal] Radovan Karadzic, the executioner of Bosniaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Sabanovic said.

“In 2014, [Amfilohije] spoke about how Islam is a false religion and Muslims are false people [and] that Montenegrins are a creation of communism.

“For the SPC, their banner in front of the mosque has no significance if the genocidal ideology which nearly exterminated the Bosniaks of Pljevlja villages and other parts of Sandzak and eastern Bosnia … is not condemned,” Sabanovic said.

“They only turn out to be hypocrites who obviously only care about scoring cheap political points.”

PEOPLE & POWER

A Very Montenegrin Coup

SOURCE: CEELWAAQ NEWS

Turkish president warns Greece to enter talks over disputed Mediterranean Sea claims or face ‘painful experiences’.3 hours ago

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Greece to enter talks over disputed eastern Mediterranean territorial claims or face the consequences.

“They’re either going to understand the language of politics and diplomacy, or in the field with painful experiences,” he said on Saturday at a hospital’s opening ceremony in Istanbul.

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The two NATO allies have been locked for weeks in a tense standoff in the eastern Mediterranean, where Turkey is prospecting the seabed for energy reserves in an area Greece claims as its own continental shelf.

Cyprus has also accused Turkey of breaching its sovereignty by drilling in their waters. All sides have deployed naval and air forces to assert their competing claims in the region.

“They are going to understand that Turkey has the political, economic and military power to tear up the immoral maps and documents imposed,” Erdogan added, referring to areas marked by Greece and Cyprus as their economic maritime zones.

He said Turkey was “ready for every eventuality and result”.

NATO said this week Greek and Turkish leaders had agreed to take part in technical talks to avoid accidents between their navies.

https://players.brightcove.net/665003303001/SJg0bzqkZ_default/index.html?videoId=6185423226001&usrPersonaAds=0

COUNTING THE COST: What is behind the Eastern Mediterranean oil and gas rush? (26:01)

But Greece later said it had not agreed to the talks, leading to accusations from Turkey that the European Union country was shunning dialogue.null

Tanks to the border?

On Saturday, a Turkish news report said Ankara redeployed armoured personnel carriers from the Syrian border to the one it shares with Greece. 

The Cumhuriyet newspaper said 40 tanks were being transported from the Syrian border to Edirne in northwest Turkey and carried photographs of armoured vehicles loaded on trucks.

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A military official speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government regulations said the deployment was a regular movement of forces and unconnected to tension with Greece.

Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker, reporting from Istanbul, said officials have only said, “This is within the planned activity, the responsibility of the second army, [which is] responsible for the areas of Syria, Iraq and Iran.”

If the convoy is indeed heading to the border with Greece, then it is a part of the “diplomatic military arm wrestling in what is a tense situation between the two countries”, Dekker said.

“We just heard from Turkey’s president that … they won’t hesitate even going to a full-on military confrontation when it comes to defending what they say are their legitimate rights.”

Al Jazeera’s John Psaropoulos, reporting from Athens, said he does not believe the Greeks are concerned about the narrow land border they share with Turkey, as they have 1,300 tanks in their arsenal, most of which are “parked right there in the 130-kilometre-long stretch”.

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INSIDE STORY: Will Greece and Turkey fight over energy? (24:31)

“There is overwhelming armour opposite the Turkish border and that’s the only part of the Greek-Turkish theatre that the Greeks feel confident about,” Psaropoulos said.

“What they’re less confident about is the vast swath of the Aegean sea and now eastern Mediterranean sea.”

He added after eight years of recession and austerity measures imposed by its eurozone partners, Greece has cut its defence budget by about half, now amounting to roughly 3 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP).

“The Greeks have traditionally spent very highly on defence. They are now unable to keep up with Turkey, which has almost triple the defence budget of Greece,” Psaropoulos said.

Practicing dogfights

Turkey on August 10 deployed the Oruc Reis research vessel and an escorting flotilla of warships to the waters between Cyprus and the Greek islands of Kastellorizo and Crete. The vessel’s stay in the contested waters has been extended three times.

Greece responded by staging naval exercises with several EU allies and the United Arab Emirates, not far from smaller manoeuvres Turkey conducted between Cyprus and Crete last week.

Ankara said it has every right to prospect the region and accuses Athens of trying to grab an unfair share of maritime resources.

Simulated dogfights between Greek and Turkish fighter pilots have multiplied over the Aegean Sea and the eastern Mediterranean.

A Turkish and a Greek frigate collided last month, reportedly causing minor damage to the Turkish frigate but no injuries.

Erdogan said Turkey has repeatedly expressed its willingness to come to a just agreement.

“Our word is sincere,” he said. “The problem is those before us disregard our rights and try to situate themselves above us.”

The crisis is the most serious in the two countries’ relations in decades. The neighbours have come to the brink of war three times since the mid-1970s, including once over maritime resources in the Aegean.

Earlier, Ankara announced joint military exercises with northern Cypriot forces from Sunday to September 10. The air, land, and sea drills are held every year.

What’s behind rising tensions in Eastern Mediterranean?

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

• Turkey
• Greece
• Europe
• Middle East

Uproar grows over reports Trump called US war dead ‘losers’

Joe Biden declares Donald Trump ‘unfit’ for presidency as anger grows over media reports he disparaged fallen soldiers.05 Sep 2020 18:10 GMT

US President Donald Trump has come under fire over reports he mocked the country’s war dead as “suckers” and “losers”, with Joe Biden, his main opponent in the upcoming presidential election, declaring him “unfit” for the commander-in-chief role.

Biden’s comments on Friday came as Trump again sought to dismiss as “false” the alleged comments, first reported on by The Atlantic magazine and then by The Associated Press news agency.

Voice cracking, Biden told reporters in Delaware that “you know in your gut” Trump’s comments, if true, are “deplorable”.

“I’ve just never been as disappointed, in my whole career, with a leader that I’ve worked with, president or otherwise,” Biden added. “If the article is true – and it appears to be, based on other things he’s said – it is absolutely damning. It is a disgrace.”

Trump, in the Oval Office, said no apology was necessary, because it was a “fake story”.

The allegations, sourced anonymously, describe multiple offensive comments by the president towards killed and captured US service members during a trip to France in November 2018.

In the morning of a scheduled visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, Trump reportedly told senior staff, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” The White House later said the visit was cancelled because foggy weather made the helicopter trip from Paris too risky and a 90-minute drive was deemed infeasible.

The Atlantic also said Trump, in a separate conversation on the same trip, referred to more than 1,800 US soldiers who died during the consequential 1918 battle at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.

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Trump backtracks on comments suggesting Americans vote twice (2:31)

Speaking in the Oval Office on Friday, Trump denied ever uttering such comments. “It was a terrible thing that somebody could say the kind of things – and especially to me, ’cause I’ve done more for the military than almost anyone anybody else.”

Later, in a news briefing, Trump suggested the source of the story was his former chief of staff, retired Marine General John Kelly. “It could have been a guy like John Kelly,” Trump told reporters, saying his former top aide “was unable to handle the pressure of this job”.

‘You’re no patriot’

But that denial was met with scepticism, with critics seizing on the media reports to shine a fresh light on Trump’s previous public disparagement of US troops and military families.

That includes his criticism of the late Arizona Senator John McCain, a decorated Navy officer who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam. “He’s not a war hero,” Trump said of McCain in 2015. He had also said at the time: “I like people who weren’t captured.”

On a call with reporters hosted by the Biden campaign on Friday, Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth lambasted Trump for “belittling the sacrifices of those who have shown more bravery than he’s capable of”.

Duckworth, a retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel who lost both of her legs in the Iraq War, has been a prominent critic of Trump’s handling of military issues. Knocking Trump for allegedly inventing an injury to avoid serving in the Vietnam War, Duckworth said she would “take my wheelchair and my titanium legs over Donald Trump’s supposed bone spurs any day”.

Khizr Khan, whose son, Humayun, was killed in action in Iraq in 2004, joined Duckworth on the call and said Trump’s “life is a testament to selfishness”.

Khan, who drew national attention after criticising Trump during the 2016 Democratic National Convention, added: “Words we say are windows into our souls. So, when Donald Trump calls anyone who places their lives in service of others a loser, we understand Trump’s soul.”

https://players.brightcove.net/665003303001/4k5gFJHRe_default/index.html?videoId=6186799915001&usrPersonaAds=0

Trump denies systemic racism, pushes ‘law and order’ in Kenosha (7:13)

Veterans also condemned the president’s alleged remarks.

Paul Eaton, a retired major general, in a Twitter video said Trump had shown “disrespect to the military in countless occasions”, adding: “You’re no patriot.”

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VoteVets posted online a video, in which six families of US soldiers who died while on duty criticised Trump, each one declaring their children were not losers or suckers. “You don’t know what it is to sacrifice,” one father said.

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Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan, reporting from Alexandria in the US state of Virginia, said Trump’s alleged comments had been confirmed by multiple news outlets.

“This story isn’t going away, because now, a number of news outlets here in Washington have confirmed the same scope and the same quotes that were in that story. That includes Fox News, which has been the president’s go-to television news network.”

Jordan was referring to reporting by Jennifer Griffin, Fox News’s national security correspondent, who said two former Trump administration officials had confirmed The Atlantic’s reporting.

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‘This never happened’

Trump’s supporters, meanwhile, took to television networks and social media to defend the president, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo telling the programme, Fox and Friends, on Friday that he was with the president for a good part of the trip to France.

“I never heard him use the words that are described in that article,” Pompeo said.

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper issued a statement saying “Trump has the highest respect and admiration for our nation’s military members, veterans and families” and “has fought for greater pay and more funding” for the armed forces. 

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who was the White House press secretary at the time of Trump’s visit, said of The Atlantic report: “I was actually there and one of the people part of the discussion – this never happened.”

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First Lady Melania Trump also defended her husband, issuing a rare public statement, calling Trump’s alleged mockery of US war dead “not true” and blasting The Atlantic’s reliance on anonymous sources.

Mike Pence, the vice president, said he was not in Paris but “it never happened”.

He told CNBC: “American people just roll their eyes at these late-hit, anonymous-source media coming from The Atlantic or anywhere else. It’s just politics as usual.”

By Sabir 

Waajir(CEELWAQ NEWS):Kenya’s North Eastern Regional Commissioner Nicodemus Ndalana has issued a stern warning to area residents collaborating with the the Al-Shabaab militia.

Speaking in the newly created Khorofharar sub-county headquarters in Wajir, Ndalana said the  Government will soon catch up with al shabaab sympathizers.

“Anyone working with the Al-Shabaab is our enemy. We shall treat him as such and the punishment meted on Al-Shabaab suspects when caught will be meted on them,” Ndalana said.

The regional commissioner at the same time thanked residents who have been closely working with the security agencies by volunteering information that has helped in stopping terror attacks in the region.

He said Khorofharar has constantly face attacks from the Al-Shabaab in the last three months but has remained peaceful, thanks to the cooperation between the area residents and security agencies.

Ndalana who was accompanied by his security team and area MP Rashid Kassim also hailed area legislator for putting up a police station, sub-county office and residence for the new deputy county commissioner.

“The area MP has done a commendable job. I must thank him because he is part of the security we are witnessing here today,” he said.

Kassim said the region’s leadership will continue to closely work with the National Government to not only improve the security in the region but the well being of area residents.

Kassim said the elaborate security concerns that have been undertaken by the National Government are finally bearing fruit.

The constituency that borders Somalia is among those that have been raided by terrorists on several occasions leading to deaths of both security officers and civilians.

The Kenyan government has since set up a KDF camp in Konton and special forces camp in Kharsa.

“My constituency has faced the wrath of Al-Shabaab. We have lost gallant officers and KPR in the line of duty. That is not only a great loss to our country but to their families. It is for this reason that we need to continue engaging the Government to improve things,” he said.

مزقت المجاعة والحرب الأهلية الصومال لعقود من الزمن، وساهمت المعاناة في إبراز دور ناشطي السلام وأصحاب الأحلام الوطنية، ومن بين أشهرهم في الصومال عائلة ناشطَي السلام “إلمان” و”فارتوان عدن”، وهما زوجان عملا في إحلال عمليات السلام حتى شعرا بالخوف على بناتهما، فقررت العائلة الهجرة إلى كندا، ومكث الأب في الصومال حرصا على استكمال نشاطه، ولكنه اغتيل هناك.

زرع مقتل الأب في قلوب بناته رغبة شديدة في العودة إلى الصومال واستكمال مسيرته، وبرزت أدوارهن حتى إن الابنة الكبرى إيلوود ترشحت لجائزة نوبل للسلام عام 2019. أما ألماس التي التحقت بالعمل الدبلوماسي بجانب الإنساني، فقد لحقت بأبيها إثر حادث إطلاق نار، وهو ما دفع العائلة لاستكمال مسيرة إحلال السلام خاصة إيمان التي أصبحت تتولى أعلى رتبة عسكرية لامرأة في الصومال.https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?dnt=true&embedId=twitter-widget-0&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1225009490828955650&lang=ar&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aljazeera.net%2Fnews%2Fwomen%2F2020%2F9%2F4%2F%25D8%25A5%25D9%258A%25D9%2585%25D8%25A7%25D9%2586-%25D8%25A5%25D9%2584%25D9%2585%25D8%25A7%25D9%2586-%25D9%2582%25D8%25B5%25D8%25A9-%25D8%25A7%25D9%2584%25D9%2584%25D8%25A7%25D8%25AC%25D8%25A6%25D8%25A9-%25D8%25A7%25D9%2584%25D8%25B5%25D9%2588%25D9%2585%25D8%25A7%25D9%2584%25D9%258A%25D8%25A9&theme=light&widgetsVersion=219d021%3A1598982042171&width=550px

نشأة إيمان

ولدت إيمان في مقديشو يوم 10 ديسمبر/كانون الأول 1992، وهي الأخت الأصغر بين شقيقاتها الثلاث. وفي 9 مارس/آذار 1996، دشن والدها شعار “انزع سلاحك وأمسك قلمك”، وكان ذلك عقب تأسيسه مركزا لإعادة تأهيل الأطفال المنخرطين في أعمال العنف.

في هذا الوقت حصلت العائلة على حق اللجوء في كندا، وانتقلت الأسرة إليها دون الأب، لتنشأ البنات الثلاث في أونتاريو دون أن ينسوا جذورهم الصومالية وهدف والدهم في إحلال السلام في بلادهم.

تخرجت إيمان من كلية الفنون العامة في جامعة أوتاوا بكندا، وقررت الانضمام إلى الجيش الصومالي عام 2011 بعد زيارتها إلى مقديشو قادمة من كندا، وهي ذات 19 ربيعا.

اتهمها البعض بأنها لا تتبع خطوات أبيها لإحلال السلام، إلا أنها أعلنت أن الالتحاق بالعمل العسكري لا يتعارض مع آمال والدها، وصرحت لصحيفة إندبندنت البريطانية “أنها وأبيها يعملان في نفس الاتجاه، كلاهما يعمل في إحلال السلام، لكن بمجال مختلف”، ورغم محاولة كثير من المقاتلين تثبيط رغبتها في الالتحاق بالجيش، فإنها لم تستسلم.

في مواجهة العنصرية

تعرضت إيمان في بدايات التحاقها بالجيش للعديد من العبارات والمواقف العنصرية، أبرزها عند توزيع الزي العسكري. فقد تم توزيع  بدلتين للجميع كل منهما مكونة من قميصين وبنطال، إلا هي كان نصيبها أقل في قطع الملابس العسكرية، وعندما تساءلت عن السبب قيل لها لعلك تخيطين تنورة تليق بك.اعلان

تسرد إيمان تلك القصة على منصات تديكس، وتتناولها كسخرية من الماضي بعد أن أصبحت قائدة عسكرية تقود فرقة من 90 رجلا، لكن لا شك أنها وقت حدوث الموقف كانت تعاني من الضغوط العنصرية التي مورست ضدها.https://www.youtube.com/embed/AcBv62zoITU?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&autohide=2&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent

تم تفكيك وتسريح القوات المسلحة الصومالية عقب اندلاع الحرب الأهلية، وحال ذلك دون وجود جيش نظامي بالمعنى المتعارف عليه دوليا، وبدأت الحكومة الصومالية تأسيس قوات مسلحة وصل تعدادها إلى 25 ألف مقاتل من بينهم 900 من النساء، منهن إيمان فقط هي التي تقلدت منصبا قياديا.

تسعى إيمان لرفع كفاءة البرامج التدريبية للنساء في الجيش الصومالي، وتحرص على تنظيم دورات تدريبية في حقوق الإنسان ومكافحة الاغتصاب والاعتداءات الجنسية، كما تعمل على إعادة تأهيل الأطفال المنضمين للجماعات المسلحة لإبعادهم عن دائرة العنف.

كما تعمل على تأسيس وتعزيز الإصلاحات التي تهدف إلى إنشاء جيش يمثل المصالح الحقيقية للدولة، بدلا من الولاءات العشائرية.

تقلدت إيمان منصب عقيد في قسم التخطيط والإستراتيجيات، وهي المرأة الوحيدة بالقسم، وفي مقابلة أجرتها مع نيويورك تايمز عقب تقلدها المنصب الجديد، قالت إن الطريق ما زال طويلا وأمامها عقبة تغيير النظرة السائدة في الصومال تجاه النساء اللاتي يشغلن مناصب عليا في الجيش”.

وأضافت أنها ليست متأكدة من تقبل البلاد لوجود امرأة في منصب قيادي في الجيش، ولكن بغض النظر عن ذلك فهي سعيدة بالخطوات التي اتخذتها، فهي مهمة جدا بالنسبة لها”.