LatAm food crisis on the table at Ibero-American summit

Issued on: 24/03/2023 

Santo Domingo (AFP) – Addressing a food crisis affecting a fifth of Latin America's population featured high on the agenda of an Ibero-American leaders summit that started in the Dominican Republic on Friday.

According to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, Latin America and the Caribbean is the region of the world where eating a basic healthy diet is most expensive -- at $3.89 per person per day in 2020, compared to $3.19 in North America and Europe.

It is a price that 22.5 percent of the region's population cannot afford, according to the UN -- more than 130 million people in 2020.

Heads of state and government from 14 of the 22 Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries of Latin America and Europe, were due to attend the two-day summit.

Spain's King Felipe VI and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa are among those gathered in Santo Domingo with the leaders of Chile, Uruguay, Honduras and others.

Latin America, which faces a "difficult" 2023 according to predictions by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), will be hoping the meeting results in more support for its struggling economies.

Fairer, more inclusive

Financing will be "a central point," the Dominican Republic's deputy minister of multilateral foreign policy, Ruben Silie, said at a press conference this week.

Much current financing "does not take into account the crisis situation that our countries are experiencing," he added.

"They do not respond adequately to the indebtedness of the countries and... the burden of the health crisis and later the crisis in Europe," Silie said, referring to the Ukraine war.

The Ibero-American group's secretary general, Andres Allamand, said the summit should approve "a roadmap that marks the path towards food security" and charters dealing with technological threats and environmental protection.

It should also adopt "a proposal for a fairer and more inclusive international financial architecture that allows financing the post-pandemic recovery," he said in a statement.

The meeting will also serve as preparation for a July summit of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the European Union, according to Mariano de Alba, an analyst with the Crisis Group think tank.

"Many issues on the agenda of this Ibero-American summit will be the main ones of the July summit," he told AFP.

These include to "strengthen ties and coordination between Europe and the region to address three issues: food security, environmental challenges and how to cooperate to increase access to technology."

The IDB had forecast economic growth of 1.0 percent for Latin America and the Caribbean. The International Monetary Fund has put the figure at 1.8 percent.

Among the notable summit absentees is Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador who also did not send his foreign minister but an under-secretary.

According to De Alba, this reflected tensions between Spain and Mexico after Lopez Obrador accused Spanish firms of having paid bribes in his country in the past in exchange for contracts.

© 2023 AFP

China says does not ask firms for foreign data as TikTok row grows

Issued on: 24/03/2023

01:36

China insisted Friday it does not ask companies to hand over data gathered overseas, as the Chinese-owned TikTok faces mounting calls for a ban in the United States. FRANCE 24's Yena Lee tells us more.

Moscow trip seen as a win for 'big brother' Xi

Issued on: 24/03/2023 

Russian President Vladimir Putin and China's President Xi Jinping make a toast during a reception following their talks at the Kremlin © Pavel Byrkin / SPUTNIK/AFP

Beijing (AFP) – Xi Jinping's pomp-filled visit to Moscow underscored a burgeoning but unequal alliance between the two countries, cementing China's status as a "big brother" to Vladimir Putin's Russia.

Recently indicted for war crimes, Russia's KGB spook-turned-president is grateful for any diplomatic support he can get.

So when the Chinese president embarked on a bells-and-whistles three-day visit to Moscow, that was a win in itself.

After all, it is difficult to be painted as an international pariah when hosting one of the world's most powerful men.

But Putin -- bogged down in Ukraine, his economy groaning under the strain of Western sanctions and forecast to shrink by about 2.5 percent this year -- needed more than a diplomatic grip and grin.

What happened behind closed doors is difficult to know. But in public, Xi delivered very few of the big-ticket items on Putin's wish list.

China's leader pledged a trade lifeline and some moral support, but more conspicuous was that he did not commit to providing arms for Russia's depleted forces in Ukraine, a move that would have invited Western sanctions on China.

There was also no long-term Chinese commitment to buy vast quantities of Russian gas that is no longer flowing to Europe.

European imports of Russian gas have dropped by about 60-80 billion cubic metres a year, according to the International Energy Agency, leaving a gaping hole in Russia's finances.

Xi has taken advantage of this, snapping up some of that supply on the cheap.

But he has also shied away from Putin's request to build a pipeline bringing gas from vast Siberian fields to China, with a non-committal Beijing insisting more study is needed.

Having seen Russia's ability to pull the plug on Europe, Beijing appears in no hurry to create long-term dependence on Russian gas that the so-called "Power of Siberia 2" pipeline would bring.

That lack of commitment "clearly shows (the) unsentimental and interests-driven nature of China's 'friendship' with Russia," said Asia Society expert Philipp Ivanov.
'Junior partner'

As far as Xi is concerned, the visit required few concessions in exchange for achieving important strategic and symbolic goals -- presenting a united front against the United States, amplifying Xi's statesman status, and deepening the perception of Russian dependence on China.

"Xi's meetings with Putin may have taken place on the Russian president's home turf, but it was clear as day just exactly who was in charge," said Brian Whitmore, a Russia expert at the Atlantic Council.

Recently indicted for war crimes, Russia's KGB-spook-turned-president is grateful for any diplomatic support he can get © Pavel Byrkin / SPUTNIK/AFP

"The body language said it all. In one joint public appearance this week, Xi confidently leaned back in his chair, relaxed, and smiled. Putin in contrast, appeared nervous and anxious as he bent forward and fidgeted."

Chinese state TV helped burnish Xi's statesman credentials at home, airing lengthy clips of him being greeted on the airport tarmac by an honour guard and by flag-waving Muscovites along his motorcade's route.

Xi's visit appeared to be part of a concerted effort to amplify China's diplomatic clout.

Recent decades have seen Beijing flex its economic muscle from Asia to Africa, and push its security presence far beyond the Chinese mainland -- from a military base in Djibouti to naval facilities in the South China Sea to small-scale security deployments to the Solomon Islands.

Until now, China's diplomatic power has lagged behind its economic and military power.

But that is starting to change, with China floating a Ukraine peace plan, brokering a detente between arch-rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia, and through Xi's high-profile visit to Moscow.

According to Whitmore, the visit also took advantage of Putin's current weak position.

Xi's trip "illustrated just how dependent on China that Russia has become since being cut off from the global financial system, Western markets, and Western technology," said Whitmore.

That is a significant role reversal from the Cold War when the Soviet Union was considered China's "big brother".

"The Sino-Russian relationship is developing on Beijing's terms and Putin has no choice but to accept that. He is now Xi's junior partner," he said.

But experts are quick to caution that Putin -- a wily operator who has survived for decades in the cutthroat world of Kremlin politics -- may be dependent, but that does not make him subservient.

"While the relationship is clearly unequal -- the Chinese economy is 10 times larger than Russia's -- and Moscow's dependency on China is rapidly growing, it's too early to call Russia a vassal state," said Ivanov.

Chad nationalises former ExxonMobil firm after disputed sale

Issued on: 24/03/2023 

The 1,000-kilometre (600-mile) pipeline from Chad to Cameroon was launched in 2003 by then-president Idriss Deby Itno, centre 

© DESIREY MINKOH / AFP


N'Djamena (AFP) – Chad has announced it has nationalised a former subsidiary of US oil and gas giant ExxonMobil, whose sale to a British company last year it had contested.

A decree signed by President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno on Thursday declared that all the assets, prospection rights, operating permits and oil-transport authorisations held by Esso Exploration and Production Chad Inc. "are nationalised".

The firm's sale to Savannah Energy plc had been announced by the UK firm on December 9.

Chad had immediately contested the sale, saying it had gone ahead despite the government's "express objections" and in violation of its right of first refusal.

The company holds concessions in a number of productive fields, as well as rights over oil extracted there and a share in a pipeline transporting crude to neighbouring Cameroon for export via the port of Kribi.

The dispute was taken to arbitration at the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris, which ruled in favour of Savannah Energy on January 7.

In a statement on Friday, Savannah said Chad actions were in "direct breach" of commercial conventions to which Chad was a party.

It said that under Savannah Chad Inc. -- as the company has been renamed -- "the historic production decline (of oil) was immediately reversed".

Since December 9, daily production averaged 29,349 barrels per day, an increase of around nine percent compared to the equivalent period prior to Savannah taking control, it said.

"The company intends to pursue all of its legal rights," Savannah said.

Oil Minister Djerassem Le Bemadjiel did not immediately respond to AFP questions as to the reasons for the nationalisation.

In December, his ministry said the government was concerned about the "vital and sovereign assets" of the Doba oil fields and the pipeline in the event of any "irregular operation".

The vast semi-desert country, lying at the crossroads of eastern and western Africa, is one of the poorest countries in the world.

It became an oil producer and exporter in 2003 and has since become heavily dependent on the sector. Sales account for more than 11 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), according to the World Bank.

© 2023 AFP

ISIS WAR ON TRUFFLE HUNTERS
Islamic State group kills 15 truffle hunters in Syria: monitor

Issued on: 24/03/2023 -

Between February and April, hundreds of impoverished Syrians search for valuble truffles in Syria: here a merchant presents desert truffles in Hama in March 6, 2023

Beirut (AFP) – The Islamic State group killed 15 people foraging for desert truffles in conflict-ravaged central Syria by cutting their throats, while 40 others are missing, a war monitor said Friday.

Since February, at least 150 people -- most of them civilians -- have been killed by IS attacks targeting truffle hunters or by landmines left by the extremists, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Syria's desert truffles fetch high prices in a country battered by 12 years of war and a crushing economic crisis.

"At least 15 people, including seven civilians and eight local pro-regime fighters, were killed by IS fighters who slit their throats while they were collecting truffles on Thursday," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

Forty others are missing following the attack in Hama province, he added.

Syrian state media did not immediately report the incident.

Between February and April each year, hundreds of impoverished Syrians search for truffles in the vast Syrian Desert, or Badia -- a known hideout for jihadists that is also littered with landmines.

Prized fungus

The monitor said that IS was taking advantage of the annual harvest of the desert fungus delicacy to carry out attacks in remote locations.

Merchants present their desert truffles at a market in the city of Hama in Syria on March 6, 2023: a kilo can sell for up to $25 in a country where the average monthly wage is around $18 

Foragers risk their lives to collect the delicacies, despite repeated warnings about landmines and IS fighters.

The Syrian Desert is renowned for producing some of the best quality truffles in the world.

The prized fungus can sell for up to $25 per kilo ($11 per pound) depending on size and grade -- in a country where the average monthly wage is around $18.

Earlier this month, IS fighters killed three truffle hunters and kidnapped at least 26 others in northern Syria, according to the monitor, which relies on a vast network of sources inside Syria.

That attack happened near positions held by pro-Iran forces, said the Britain-based Observatory.

In February, IS fighters on motorcycles opened fire on truffle hunters, killing at least 68 people, the war monitor said at the time.

After IS lost their last scraps of territory in March 2019 following a military onslaught backed by a US-led coalition, IS remnants in Syria mostly retreated to hideouts in the desert.

They have since used such hideouts to ambush civilians, Kurdish-led forces, Syrian government troops and pro-Iranian fighters, while also mounting attacks in neighbouring Iraq.

Syria's war has claimed the lives of around half a million people and displaced millions since it erupted in March 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.

© 2023 AFP

PHOTOS © LOUAI BESHARA / AFP/File

Several pro-Iran fighters killed in US retaliatory strikes in Syria

Issued on: 24/03/2023

An MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) seen at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada. © Isaac Brekken, 

Text by: NEWS WIRES

US airstrikes killed eight pro-Iran fighters in eastern Syria following a drone attack that killed one American contractor and wounded five US service personnel, a war monitor said Friday.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday that at the direction of President Joe Biden, he had authorised “precision airstrikes tonight in eastern Syria against facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.”

The IRGC is a wing of the Iranian military and is blacklisted as a terrorist group by the United States.

“The airstrikes were conducted in response to today’s attack as well as a series of recent attacks against Coalition forces in Syria by groups affiliated with the IRGC,” Austin added.

A Department of Defense statement said the US contractor had been killed and the others wounded “after a one-way unmanned aerial vehicle struck a maintenance facility on a Coalition base near Hasakeh in northeast Syria”.

Another US contractor was also injured in the UAV attack, the Pentagon said, adding that the US intelligence community “assess the UAV to be of Iranian origin”.

On Friday, Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor with a wide network of sources on the ground in the war-torn country, said eight people had been killed by US strikes.

“US strikes targeted a weapons depots inside Deir Ezzor city, killing six pro-Iran fighters, and two other fighters were killed by strikes targeting the desert of Mayadine and near Albu Kamal,” he said.

‘Always respond’

Hundreds of US troops are in Syria as part of a coalition fighting against remnants of the Islamic State (IS) group and have frequently been targeted in attacks by militia groups.

The US troops support the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Kurds’ de facto army in the area, which led the battle that dislodged the IS group from the last scraps of their Syrian territory in 2019.

Two of the US service members wounded on Thursday were treated on-site, while the three other troops and one US contractor were medically evacuated to Iraq, the Pentagon said.

“We will always take all necessary measures to defend our people and will always respond at a time and place of our choosing,” said General Michael Kurilla, commander of US Central Command.

When the strikes were announced, Biden had already travelled to Canada, where he is set to meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Last August, Biden ordered similar retaliatory strikes in the oil-rich Syrian province of Deir Ezzor after several drones targeted a coalition outpost, without causing any casualties.

That attack came the same day that Iranian state media announced a Revolutionary Guard general had been killed days earlier while “on a mission in Syria as a military adviser”.

Iran says it has deployed its forces in Syria at the invitation of Damascus and only as advisers.

(AFP)

SOCIAL DEMORATS ARE SOCIAL FASCISTS

Spanish government under attack over undercover police tactics

Issued on: 24/03/2023 -

Barcelona (AFP) – The Spanish government is under fire over allegations police officers infiltrated far-left and green groups and had sex with activists to win their trust and gain information.

The scandal broke when Catalan media La Directa reported in January that a police officer going by the name of Daniel Hernandez had sexual relations with various members of a Barcelona squat and far-left movements since 2020.

The intimate relations in one case lasted nearly a year, according to the alternative publication based in the Catalan capital.

Six women have filed a complaint against the officer, accusing him of sexual abuse. They argue their sexual consent was obtained on the basis of lies.

One of the women's lawyers, Mireia Salazar, told AFP the goal of the complaint was "to know how far these practices go, which in our opinion, have no legal justification."

The scandal deepened after the Madrid branch of climate activist group Extinction Rebellion said last week it had been infiltrated by a female police officer who "had sexual relations with at least one of its members".

The affair recalls the case in Britain of Kate Wilson, an environmental activist who was tricked into a sexual relationship with an undercover officer for nearly two years.

In a landmark ruling in 2021, a tribunal concluded that the police had violated her human rights.

'Moral limit?'

In Spain the Hernandez case has sparked outrage, especially in the northeastern region of Catalonia which sparked the country's worst political crisis in decades in 2017 with a failed independence push.

It comes after Spain's central government admitted last year that it spied on the mobile phones of 18 Catalan separatist leaders using Israeli spyware Pegasus.

"Where is your moral limit, where is your ethical limit?" Gabriel Rufian, a top lawmaker with Catalan separatist party ERC, asked Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez last month during a debate in the assembly.

"It is not just a threat to political freedoms, ideological freedoms, but also -- it seems -- sexual freedoms", he added in a reference to the case of the undercover Barcelona police officer.

Sanchez's minority leftist coalition government regularly relies on the ERC to pass legislation in parliament.

Criticism has also come from far-left party Podemos, the junior coalition partners of Sanchez's Socialists.

"It is violence against women," secretary of state of equality, Angela Rodriguez of Podemos, told Catalan radio station Rac1.

"And I think that the sooner that we know what happened and justice can be done, the better it will be for the reputation of security agencies," she added.
'It was a shock'

The scandal comes as Sanchez's government grapples with waning support ahead of regional elections in May and a year-end general election.

Contacted by AFP, both the interior ministry and the police declined to comment on the allegations.

But during a recent debate in parliament, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska dismissed the ERC's accusations of "illegal activities" by police as "a lie".

Undercover police also reportedly infiltrated a far-left group in the Mediterranean port of Valencia, and a Barcelona housing rights group called "Resistim al Gotic", although in these cases there are no allegations of improper sexual relations.

According to La Directa, a police officer calling himself Marc Hernandez pretended to be a "Resistim al Gotic" activist for nearly two years before the publication unmasked him in June.

"When the information was revealed, it was a shock," Marti Cuso, a member of the group, told AFP.

"We did not suspect anything, we had no clues that his person could be a police officer," he added.

© 2023 AFP

'Sea change': disruptive Saudi prince shows new pragmatism with Iran

Issued on: 24/03/2023 

Riyadh (AFP) – Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman once compared Iran's supreme leader to Hitler, but has now green-lit a reconciliation deal intended to usher in a new era of regional prosperity.

As a 29-year-old defence minister, he launched a ferocious assault on Huthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen, but is now pursuing back-channel talks that could ultimately remove Saudi forces from the conflict.

He has also worked to mend bitter rifts with regional rivals like Qatar and Turkey, and even offered up the Gulf kingdom as a possible mediator for the war in Ukraine.

Analysts say it points to an evolution of Prince Mohammed, now 37, from erratic disruptor to pragmatic power player.

The deal with Iran in particular "marks a sea change in his political approach", signalling "maturity and a more realistic understanding of regional power politics", said Umar Karim, an expert on Saudi foreign policy at the University of Birmingham.

Yet it's too soon to know whether such de-escalatory measures will succeed -- and how far they will go.

The Iran deal still needs to be implemented, with embassies due to reopen by the second week of May after seven years of severed bilateral ties.

Saudi Arabia and Syria are also in talks on resuming consular services, state media in the kingdom said Thursday, more than a decade after the Gulf kingdom cut ties with President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Riyadh had long openly championed Assad's ouster.

Regardless of what happens next, Riyadh's agenda is clear: minimising turbulence abroad to keep the focus on a raft of economic and social reforms at home.

"Our vision is a prosperous Middle East," one Saudi official said, "because without your region developing with you, there are limits to what you can achieve."
'Vision' under threat

It was domestic reforms that initially helped burnish Prince Mohammed's reputation on the world stage.

On his watch, the formerly closed-off kingdom sidelined the notorious religious police, allowed women to drive, opened cinemas and started granting tourist visas.

Its deep-pocketed sovereign wealth fund inked a series of high-profile investments in everything from Newcastle United to Nintendo, hinting at how his "Vision 2030" reform agenda might transition the world's largest crude exporter away from fossil fuels.

Hanging over all this were concerns about ramped-up repression, especially following the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom's Istanbul consulate.

But Saudi officials also recognised how security threats, especially from Iran, endangered Prince Mohammed's big plans.

This point was driven home with attacks in 2019, claimed by the Iran-backed Huthis, on Saudi oil facilities that temporarily halved crude output.

Riyadh and Washington charged that Tehran was behind the operation, which the Iranians denied.

The incident was a game-changer, spurring Saudi Arabia to pursue a more conciliatory path, analysts and diplomats say.

Saudi officials were deeply disappointed by the tepid response of then-US president Donald Trump's administration, which they believed undermined the oil-for-security trade-off that has underpinned the two countries' partnership for decades.

"The Saudis were shocked that the Americans did nothing to protect them," said an Arab diplomat based in Riyadh.

"Saudi officials told us, 'We need to focus on the megaprojects,'" the diplomat added, citing a futuristic megacity known as NEOM and a budding arts hub in the northern city of AlUla.

"If one missile hits NEOM or AlUla, there will be no investment or tourism. The vision will collapse."

'Lowering the temperature'

In making up with Iran, Prince Mohammed has not gone it alone.

Neighbouring Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates restored full diplomatic ties with the Islamic republic last year.

But the Saudi-Iranian deal is seen as more significant because the two Middle East heavyweights have often found themselves on opposite sides of conflicts -- not just in Yemen but also in places including Lebanon and Iraq.

"The kingdom is pursuing a calibrated geopolitic reset that attempts to holistically improve the broader regional security environment," said Ayham Kamel of Eurasia Group.

Anna Jacobs of the International Crisis Group added: "Lowering the temperature with Iran is a smart way to lower tensions across the region and mitigate some of the proxy battles surrounding Saudi Arabia."

The next step for implementing the deal is a meeting between the two countries' foreign ministers, though it has not yet been scheduled.

Earlier this week, an Iranian official said President Ebrahim Raisi had favourably received an invitation to visit Saudi Arabia from King Salman, Prince Mohammed's father, though Riyadh has yet to confirm.

These expected encounters will be closely watched as worries persist that the rapprochement remains fragile.

"Mistrust is deep between Saudi Arabia and Iran," Jacobs said, "and both sides will need to see positive signals from the other very soon to proceed with the deal."

© 2023 AFP

UN's global disaster alert systems goal faces uphill climb

by Amélie BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS

Early warning systems can help communities prepare for weather emergencies including

 storms and floods, such as this one that hit the town of Parys, South Africa in February 2023.

How can anyone seek shelter from a natural disaster they don't even know is coming? Last year the United Nations called for every person on the planet to be covered by early warning systems by 2027—but months into the effort it is becoming clear that the project will require more data and expertise.

With a relatively low price tag of $3.1 billion, the UN's plan hopes to implement the simple principle of early warning systems: assess risks using meteorological data, forecast impending problems using modelling, prepare populations ahead of time, and send out alerts to those expected to be impacted.

But building out those steps poses unique issues at each turn, according to those involved in the effort, many of whom are gathered this week in New York for a historic UN conference on water-related crises.

In Tajikistan, 100 years of weather data exist only on paper, chair of the country's environmental protection committee, Bahodur Sheralizoda said.

Digitizing this data could provide "more precise weather forecasts" or be applied to climate modeling, he added.

"With the small investments, we can have really big impact in the long run."

To help fill the data gap, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is also hoping to deploy weather stations made from 3D printers around the world, said the agency's chief scientist Sarah Kapnick.

When it comes to analyzing the meteorological data and predicting future weather events, there is also a lack of local expertise, said Stefan Uhlenbrook, director of hydrology, water and cryosphere at the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

"You need local capacity to run the local models," he told AFP.

Some help should be coming from NOAA, which Kapnick said has plans to "train local climate forecasters and leaders."

After risks are identified, getting those alerts to remote populations poses possibly the biggest hurdle.

"To reach the last mile... and then to get them acting and prepared is a big challenge," said Uhlenbrook.

This is where the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), a WMO partner in the field, comes in.

Regular training and drills

For IFRC Secretary General Jagan Chapagain, the country of Bangladesh should be viewed as a model to replicate.

Scarred by the horrific 1970 cyclone that killed hundreds of thousands, the South Asian country has for decades built up storm-resistant shelters and warns residents of upcoming dangers, by bicycle if necessary, Chapagain told AFP.

While church bells, loudspeakers and sirens are still used as warning systems in many isolated places, alerts sent via radio, TV and SMS have become the norm.

"In 2022, 95 percent of the world's population had access to mobile broadband networks and close to 75 percent of the population owned a mobile phone," said Ursula Wynhoven with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

That makes mobile networks "powerful communication channels" for alerts, especially because "SMS warnings can be targeted to reach only those located in an at-risk area," she added.

Few developing countries have installed such systems, she said, noting a "relatively low cost."

WMO chief Petteri Taalas also highlighted the cost effectiveness of setting up early warning programs, saying that "you'll get the money back at least tenfold that you invest."

He pledged at the UN Water conference to speed up implementation of the UN's 2027 goal, beginning with water-related disasters.

Floods and droughts account for 75 percent of climate-related disasters, which are expected to increase further due to global warming.

But simply alerting a population is not enough—there must also be "regular training and drills," warns IFRC chief Chapagain.

People must practice the processes of interpreting different signals and finding the nearest escape routes or shelter.

"Once people understand the logic, they manage these things better," he said.

While climate change is expected to intensify storms, at the opposite extreme, it is also expected to increase the severity of droughts.

Though the potential for drought-induced disaster happens more slowly, Uhlenbrook said, warnings are still important to protect livelihoods.

For example, "we had in Europe a very dry, warm winter, so the (water) reservoir levels are very low," Uhlenbrook said.

Farmers near Italy's Po River who plan to plant rice, which need lots of irrigation, should take that into consideration, he explained.

NOAA's Kapnick highlighted that drought predictions, based off advanced climate modeling, are of particular importance in "developing nations with heavily agriculturally based economies."

"Early warning systems based on seasonal predictions are critical for planning for food security and macro-economic forecasts," she said.

© 2023 AFP

UN unveils global 'early warning' system for disasters at $3 billion

Indonesia fuel depot fire death toll rises to 33

Issued on: 24/03/2023 

Criticism over the blast has forced the government to consider relocating the facility or the residents who live next to it 

© ADITYA AJI / AFP/File

Jakarta (AFP) – The death toll from a fire at an Indonesian fuel storage depot run by state energy firm Pertamina has risen to 33 with nearly a dozen more in critical condition, health authorities said Friday.

Top officials called for an audit of Indonesia's energy facilities after the March 3 blaze ripped through a nearby residential area, gutting houses and burning cars next to the depot in capital Jakarta.

"As of today, 33 people in total have died and 11 are still being treated. They are in the ICU and their condition is serious," Jakarta health agency spokesman Luigi, who like many Indonesians has one name, told AFP Friday.

Authorities previously gave a death toll of 18 the day after the explosion.

Thousands of people were forced to evacuate when the fire broke out but the local disaster mitigation agency said all evacuees have since left shelters.

Witnesses likened the fire to a bomb blast after an initial explosion sent panicked locals screaming and fleeing through narrow roads with the fireball lighting up the Jakarta skyline behind them.

In response, Pertamina apologised and one of its directors was removed from his post.

The state-owned firm said a pipe leak had been detected before the fire started.

But criticism over the blast has forced the government to consider relocating the facility or the residents who live next to it.

President Joko Widodo visited survivors and called on Jakarta's governor and ministers to find a solution to fuel depots located near residential areas to avoid a repeat disaster.

Pertamina's director Nicke Widyawati told reporters last week the depot could not be relocated immediately as it may disrupt the national fuel supply.

The fire was one of several that have broken out at the company's facilities in recent years.

A massive blaze broke out in 2021 at the Balongan refinery in West Java, also owned by Pertamina and one of Indonesia's biggest such facilities.

That same depot saw fires in 2009 and again in 2014, when the flames spread to 40 houses nearby. No casualties were reported in either of those cases.

© 2023 AFP

EU governments sued for violating human rights through climate inaction

Issued on: 24/03/2023 - 

This photo shows emissions pouring from the Borealis chemical plant in Ottmarsheim, eastern France, November 8, 2022. © Jean-Francois Badias, AP/ File picture

Citizens affected by climate change are suing the governments of more than 30 European countries in three separate cases before the European Court of Human Rights, alleging that state inaction has violated their human rights.

They are the first such cases to be heard before the Court in Strasbourg, France, and could result in orders for the governments involved to cut carbon dioxide emissions much faster than currently planned.

Here’s what you need to know.

What are the three cases?

The first case being heard next Wednesday focuses on the health impact of climate change-induced heatwaves, in a case brought by thousands of elderly Swiss women against the Swiss government as part of a six-year legal battle.

Also on Wednesday, the court will hear a case brought by Damien Carême, a member of the European Parliament for the French Green party, who is challenging France’s refusal to take more ambitious climate measures.

The third case, due to be heard after the summer concerns six Portuguese youths, who are taking on 33 countries - including all 27 European Union member states, Britain, Norway, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine.

They, too, argue those countries have violated their rights and should be ordered to take more ambitious action to address climate change. Six other climate cases are pending.
What rights may have been violated?

The cases will be the first time the Court considers whether climate change policies, if they are too weak, can infringe people’s human rights enshrined in the European Convention.

The Swiss women argue that by failing to cut emissions in line with a pathway that limits global warming to 1.5C, Bern violated, among others, their right to life.

The case cites the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—which found with very high confidence that women and older adults are among those at highest risk of temperature-related mortality during heatwaves—and uses the applicants’ medical records to show their vulnerability.

Carême’s application, made in 2019 when he was mayor of the municipality of Grande-Synthe in northern France, will assess whether insufficient government action can amount to a violation of the right to life, by exposing people’s homes to climate risk.

In his case, the French Council of State already ordered Paris to take additional measures to cut emissions by 40% from 1990 levels by 2030.

Carême will now ask the Strasbourg court to assess whether the government’s failure to do more to address climate change violated his right to private and family life.

The Portuguese youths - whose ages range from pre-teens to early 20s - also argue that the 33 countries have failed to agree to curb emissions fast enough to limit global warming to 1.5C. They argue that their right to life is being threatened by climate change-fuelled impacts like wildfires, and that failure to tackle climate change discriminates against young people who will be hit hardest.

One of the youths was prevented from attending school for days because of the amount of smoke in the air from wildfires, while another of the group’s garden was covered in ash.

What’s at stake for governments?

The outcome of the cases at the European Court of Human Rights could have wider ripple effects, by either supporting or undermining the prospects of similar cases being won in future - both in national courts, or at the Strasbourg court.

A win could also embolden more activists and citizens to bring similar cases against governments - or, equally, a loss for the claimants could have a chilling effect on potential similar claims.

Some eight countries have piled into the Swiss proceedings as third parties in a move which shows how important the cases are for them.

The 33 governments in the Portuguese case also tried, unsuccessfully, to stop the court fast-tracking their case.

Some of the countries involved argue that the cases are inadmissible, saying it is not Strasbourg’s job to be “supreme court” on environmental matters or enforce climate treaties, in Switzerland’s words.

What could the court decide?

The fact that the three cases are all being referred directly to the court’s top bench—the ‘Grand Chamber’—is seen as significant since only cases that raise serious questions about the Convention’s interpretation are sent there.

There have already been some cases where national courts have upheld citizens’ rights in relation to climate change, most notably the 2019 “Urgenda” case in the Netherlands. In that case the Dutch High Court ordered the government to speed up plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions, saying it hadn’t done enough to protect its citizens from the dangerous effects of climate change.

The European Court of Human Rights typically deals with cases within three years although it could be faster since at least the Swiss case has priority status.

The Swiss case asks for the court to prescribe deep emissions cuts within three years that would ensure the levels are “net negative” versus 1990 levels by 2030.

A panel of 17 judges will decide on the cases and the outcomes cannot be appealed.

(Reuters)

Dissident Selek says won't return to Turkey to stand trial

Issued on: 24/03/2023 - 

'I can't go to Turkey,' says Pinar Selek, who faces a March 31 court date

 © Valery HACHE / AFP

Nice (France) (AFP) – Pinar Selek, a Turkish-French dissident sociologist living in France, will not go to Turkey to face trial, the latest twist in 25-year legal battle with the authorities, she told AFP.

Turkey has accused Selek over a 1998 explosion that killed seven people and, even after four acquittals, wants her in the dock again after issuing an international arrest warrant in January.

In an interview with AFP in the southern French city of Nice where she teaches sociology, Selek said: "You never get used to injustice".

Although the successive trials, acquittals and retrials started well before President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to power, she said they "are an illustration of both the continuity of the repressive regime, and the new tools of the regime".

Selek, now 51 and known for her critical studies of the Kurdish conflict in Turkey and her work with street children, was first arrested in 1998 and accused of belonging to the PKK, a Kurdish militant organisation considered by Turkey and its western allies -- including the United States and the European Union -- to be a terrorist organisation.

She was then accused of bombing a spice market popular among tourists in Istanbul, a charge she was informed of only "when I was already in my prison cell".

But then a witness, who had testified that she had been part of the plot, withdrew his statement. An expert report concluded that the explosion had been an accident. Selek was freed in 2000 with the court citing lack of evidence, but the trial was not over.

She moved to France and pursued her sociology research, first in the eastern city of Strasbourg and then in Nice in the south, and obtained the French nationality in 2017.
'Safe in France'

But back home, the judicial process against her ground on. She was acquitted in 2006, then again in 2008 and again in 2011. But each time, the supreme court cancelled the acquittals.

In 2012 a court in Istanbul decided on a retrial and, a year later, sentenced her to life imprisonment.

The supreme court overturned that verdict, too, and ordered another retrial which ended with yet another acquittal, in 2014.

Then, in June of last year, the supreme court intervened again, annulling all previous acquittals.

An international arrest warrant was issued, and a new court date set for March 31.

"I'm not going to my trial, I can't go to Turkey," she said in the interview. "I feel safe in France, my lawyers have advised me not to leave the territory."

But, she said, there would be "around a hundred people" to represent her. "Parliamentarians, academic colleagues and activists from several countries. There is an incredible mobilisation," she said.

Selek said she hoped to win her own fight against the judiciary, and also wished for Turkey to "enter a process of justice for everybody", including prisoners.

"That country has become a huge prison. People who were untouchable before are now behind bars, great filmmakers, writers, activists, Kurds and many women. I try to do what I can to be their voice," she said.

Her defence in the upcoming trial will be handled by her father, a 93-year-old lawyer, and her sister, a lawyer and former economist.

"She's a feminist, and very active in the social movements for democracy and freedom," Selek said of her sister. "Like my father, she doesn't want to leave Turkey because they want to change things from within."

Would she herself return home if Turkey had a different president? "I don't think the question of my return depends entirely on Erdogan," she replied.

She said her ordeal started because of the Grey Wolves, an ultra-nationalist organisation, which she said preceded Erdogan and is still influential in government.

© 2023 AFP