Senegal: 16 Killed In Clashes, Opposition Slams Police Brutality

In total, 78 seriously wounded people were taken to health centres

By Ignatius Igwe
Updated June 5, 2023

Senegalese Gendarmerie block a road after protests burned tires and blocked roads in Dakar, on June 3, 2023. 

JOHN WESSELS / AFP

Supporters of Senegal’s firebrand opposition leader Ousmane Sonko condemned police brutality on Sunday after clashes over his recent court conviction left at least 16 people dead and more than 350 demonstrators injured.

The violence erupted on Thursday when Sonko was sentenced to two years behind bars in a case he says was designed to stop him running for president next year.

The Red Cross said it has helped 357 injured demonstrators, including a pregnant woman, as well as 36 members of the defence and security forces who were hurt since the unrest broke out.

In total, 78 seriously wounded people were taken to health centres, it added.

Supporters of Sonko and President Macky Sall have traded blame for the violence and deaths.

On Sunday, Sonko’s PASTEF-Patriots party condemned “the murderous repression by defence and security forces”, accusing the government of deploying “private militias”.

It urged people to “defend themselves in any way they can and fight back”.

The official death toll is 16, but PASTEF-Patriots said 19 demonstrators had been killed.

The government accused Sonko’s supporters of “vandalism and banditry”.

The government has restricted access to social media and on Sunday decided to “temporarily” cut mobile data internet on phones, saying “hateful and subversive messages” were being shared.

There were more signs of a return to calm on Sunday, with fewer officers on the streets and quiet in several Dakar neighbourhoods that saw violence earlier in the week.

The interior ministry said there was a “clear drop in tension and arrests”.

On Saturday, Interior Minister Antionie Diome said around 500 people had been arrested since Thursday.

He said he suspects “foreign influence” is behind what he called an “attack” against Senegal, without elaborating.

Sonko, a 48-year-old former tax inspector, has spoken out against debt, poverty, food insecurity, under-funded health and education systems and corruption.

He was initially charged with rape but was convicted on a lesser charge of morally “corrupting” a young woman.

His conviction may take him out of the running for the 2024 poll.

He was tried in absentia and has yet to be taken into custody for his jail term, which is predicted to stoke further tensions.

He is presumed to be at his Dakar home, where he has been blocked in by security forces since last weekend. He previously alleged he was being “illegally held”.

Sonko’s ongoing legal woes have prompted rare flare-ups of violence in Senegal, typically a bastion of stability in West Africa, and foreign allies have urged a return to calm.

Senegal death toll rises as opposition protests continue

Tensions remain high in the West African country after violent protests in several cities killed six people on Friday, taking the total number killed this week to 15.

The unrest is the latest in a string of opposition protests in Senegal, long considered one of West Africa's most stable democracies. / Photo: AA

Tensions have remained high in Senegal after fresh overnight clashes brought the death toll to 15 in the two days since a court convicted opposition leader Ousmane Sonko.

Sonko's ongoing legal woes have prompted rare flare-ups of violence continuing into Saturday in Senegal, typically a bastion of stability in West Africa, and foreign allies have urged a return to calm.

Sonko, a 48-year-old former tax inspector, was initially charged with rape but was convicted on a lesser charge of morally "corrupting" a young woman and sentenced to two years in prison.

He claims the charges against him were a bid by the government to torpedo his political career ahead of the presidential election next year. His conviction may take him out of the running for the 2024 poll.

Clashes between Sonko's supporters and police broke out after the ruling on Thursday, leaving nine people dead. Shops and businesses were ransacked.

The army was deployed to the streets but fresh scuffles erupted on Friday night in parts of the capital, Dakar, and in Ziguinchor. They left another six dead, government spokesman Maham Katol.

The government has acknowledged that it has restricted access to social networks such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter in order to stop "the dissemination of hateful and subversive messages".

African Union, West African bloc urges restraint

The African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regional bloc has condemned the ongoing violence.

Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, "strongly" condemned the violence in a statement.

“Such acts tarnish the image of Senegalese democracy, of which Africa has always been proud," said Faki, urging all political actors to exercise restraint and dialogue.

The AU urged Senegalese authorities to respect the right to peaceful demonstration.

The ECOWAS deplored the loss of life and called “for restraint and the settlement of disputes by peaceful means.”

“ECOWAS strongly condemns the violence that has targeted security forces, public property, private property and disturbed public order,” it said in a statement.

On Friday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the violence and "urged all those involved to... exercise restraint".

The European Union and Senegal's former colonial power France also expressed concern over the violence.

111th International Labor Conference begins in Geneva

Technological, scientific progress generating thousands of jobs today, but 'deep-rooted’ inequalities persist, says ILO chief

Beyza Binnur Donmez |05.06.2023 


GENEVA

The 111th International Labor Conference began in Geneva on Monday.

The conference will run through June 16 with the participation of worker, employer and government delegates from the ILO's 187 member states.

It will tackle issues, including a just transition towards sustainable and inclusive economies, quality apprenticeships, and labor protection.

ILO Director-General Gilbert Houngbo said in his opening remarks that technological and scientific progress continues to shape new forms of work and are generating thousands of jobs today while providing gains in productivity.

At the same time, all countries, without exception, are working to recover the economic and social gains lost as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Houngbo said.

"It is clear that those efforts are being undermined by the many crises which are leaving the world in the state of upheaval at the moment," he said. "These structural changes on the labor market will, however, no doubt continue."

Assuring that the progress in the labor market will continue, the ILO chief drew attention to some "deep-rooted" inequalities.

"Even now, four billion of our fellow citizens have absolutely no access to social protection and the 214 million workers and some which put them below the poverty line," he said.

"How do we justify women earning on average even today?" he asked, saying women still earn 20% less per hour for equal work than their male counterparts do.

"I strongly feel that we cannot simply stand by and watch as child labor re-emerges and forced labor increases," he said. "We can't just watch the increasing risk of discrimination whatever type of discrimination it is that comes with these things and the exclusion, violence and harassment that they bring with them."

Qatar minister elected to head UN labor conference following World Cup scrutiny

Qatari Minister of Labour, Ali bin Samikh Al Marri, chair of the 111th session of the International Labour Conference, is pictured during the opening session in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, June 5, 2023. The labor minister of Qatar, which faced intense scrutiny over its treatment of migrant workers in the run-up to last year's soccer World Cup, was elected on Monday as the president of the United Nations labor agency's annual conference. (Pierre Albouy/Keystone via AP)


BERLIN (AP) — The labor minister of Qatar, which faced intense scrutiny over its treatment of migrant workers in the run-up to last year’s World Cup soccer tournament, was elected Monday as the president of the United Nations labor agency’s annual conference.

Asian and Pacific nations proposed Ali bin Samikh al-Marri to lead the International Labor Agency’s two-week conference in Geneva. Regional groups take turns nominating the meeting’s chair.

After Qatar was named host of the 2022 World Cup, the labor conditions in a country where over 2 million migrants work in everything from construction jobs to service industries came under a spotlight.

Rights groups said workers faced unsafe working conditions, including extreme heat that had caused deaths, as well as exploitation by employers, despite reforms instituted by Qatar.

Qatari officials say stronger regulations over work conditions have been imposed under the reforms. They have said three workers died in workplace accidents connected to the construction of new stadiums for the World Cup over the past decade, along with 37 other stadium workers who died outside the workplace during that time.

They argue that accident rates at the stadiums are comparable to others around the world.

The International Labor Conference brings together government, employer and worker delegates from the agency’s 187 member countries.

Al-Marri was elected without dissent to preside over the gathering. The head of delegates representing workers acknowledged Qatar’s reforms but also noted that after the World Cup, labor unions expressed had expressed doubts about “if there was sufficient commitment to the necessary further implementation to address the continuous plight of migrant workers.”

The head of the workers’ delegates, Catelene Passchier, said there had been “extensive conversations” in recent weeks, resulting in “a joint understanding that re-engagement and speeding-up of the reforms and their implementation are necessary” to address outstanding issues.

In light of that, she said, “the workers’ group can accept the nomination of Qatar as president of the conference.”

Al-Marri thanked delegates for their confidence and pointed to “fundamental” changes to labor protection in Qatar.

“We know that there is further work that we need to achieve, and we are committed to doing so,” he said, adding that his country had invited two global union federations to discuss “further labor protection.”

Hundreds of Thousands March in Poland to Protest Right-Wing Government

2023-June-5 15:26

TEHRAN (FNA)- Hundreds of thousands of Polish people marched through the nation's capital in protest of the country's right-wing, populist leadership.

An estimated 500,000 citizens gathered in Warsaw on Sunday to voice their anger at officials who they say are are eroding the rule of law, controlling state media and endorsing homophobia, The Associated Press reported.

The Law and Justice (PiS) party has been in power since 2015 and combines higher social spending with socially conservative policies.

They have also been criticised for a clamp down on abortion rights and current, high-inflation. Critics have warned for years that the party is reversing many of the achievements made since Poland emerged from communist rule in 1989.

It's reported the crowd chanted “Democracy!” and “Constitution!”

Forty-nine year old Radek Tusinski marched with his wife and two children. A handmade sign reading “I cannot give up freedom” was attached to their baby stroller.

He said he worried about the creeping return of an authoritarian system similar to what he remembers from his childhood. Barbara Dec, 26, and her grandmother travelled seven hours on a bus to protest. She held up a cardboard sign that read, “I am afraid to have children in Poland.”

“Women have lost the right to have an abortion even when the fetus is terminally ill, and some women have died,” she said, adding, “And I am also afraid I couldn't manage financially.”

Former President Lech Walesa, marched alongside the leader of the opposition Civic Platform party, ex-Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

Tusk had called on Poles to march with him for the sake of the nation’s future.

The rally started at Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki's office and ended up at the Royal Castle, where Tusk pledged to fight to win an autumn election.

“We are going to these elections to win and to right human wrongs," he told the crowd, adding, "I promise you victory, a settlement of evil, compensation for human wrongs and reconciliation among Poles."

Government spokesman, Piotr Mueller, accused Tusk and Walesa of “trying to overthrow the government.”

According to Reuters, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, denies subverting democratic norms and says the party's aim is to protect traditional Christian values against liberal pressures from the West.

Supporters of the march have warned the election might be the nation's last chance to stop the erosion of democracy under Law and Justice, amid growing fears that the fall election might not be fair.

The march was held on the 34th anniversary of Poland's first partly-free election, a major step toward the eventual topple of communism in the country.

Law and Justice sought to discourage participation in the rally with a video spot using Auschwitz as a theme.

This drew criticism from the state museum that preserves the site of the Nazi German death camp.

The protest was seen as a test for Tusk’s Civic Platform, a centrist and pro-European party which has trailed behind Law and Justice in polls.

Large crowds also gathered in Krakow and other cities across the nation.

"Nothing will stay the same in Polish politics in coming months". Donald Tusk sums up Sunday's march


TVN24 | TVN24 News in English
5 czerwca 2023, 
 Reuters

"Those who demand change have been filled with genuine hope," Civic Platform Donald Tusk said on Monday (June 5), summing up Sunday's anti-government march that went through the streets of Warsaw and other cities. "Nothing will stay the same in Polish politics in coming months," the former prime minister added.

At a press briefing on Monday morning, Donald Tusk summed up Sunday's march and thanked city services for their help in organizing the event. "I'd like to thank all those who were there yesterday. Some travelled hundreds of kilometers. I'd like to thank those who had more work because of that, including the police. Everything was on a top-notch, European level. I wanted to show that hundreds of thousands of us can be angry at what is happening, but at the same time be really peaceful," he said.

Tusk: I hope no one ignores this lesson again

The Civic Platform chairman added that "after yesterday nothing will stay the same in Polish politics in coming months". "I have no doubts. Everyone saw there is a big chance to change the situation in Poland. I have a feeling that PiS understood yesterday that impunity and lach of responsibility are out the question, and that they cannot do evil to so many people and go unpunished," Tusk said.

He also said "across whole Poland, those who demand change have been filled with genuine hope". "What's crucial is the sense of solidarity and community among the voters. I hope that everyone who saw that yesterday have received a certain message. Many of those who took part in yesterday's march would say firmly and openly they wanted solidarity and unity within the opposition. I hope no one ignores this lesson again," he stressed.

June 4 march in Warsaw

Hundreds of thousands of opposition supporters joined the march in Warsaw on the 34th anniversary of Poland's first democratic elections in 1989, while thousands more marched in other cities and towns.

The march stretched for at least one mile and people held banners reading "Free, European Poland", "European Union yes, PiS no", referring to the governing Law and Justice (PiS) party.

The opposition accuses the government headed by PiS of eroding the rule of law, turning state media into a government mouthpiece and endorsing homophobia.

The government, headed by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, denies subverting democratic norms and says its aim is to protect traditional Christian values against liberal pressures from the West and to make the economy more fair.

Opinion polls show an election due after the summer will be closely fought, with Russia's war in neighbouring Ukraine giving a boost to PiS which has emerged as a leading voice against the Kremlin in Europe.

Hundreds of thousands march in Poland anti-government protests to show support for democracy

Supporters of the march have warned that an autumn election might be the nation’s last chance to stop the erosion of democracy under the ruling Law and Justice party.

Huge crowds attended an anti-government demonstration in Warsaw, Poland, on Sunday.Wojtek Radwanski / AFP - Getty Images

June 5, 2023

 Source: Associated Press

Hundreds of thousands of people marched in an anti-government protest in Poland’s capital on Sunday, with citizens traveling from across the country to voice their anger at officials who they say have eroded democratic norms and created fears that the nation is following Hungary and Turkey down the path to autocracy.

Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, who belongs to the opposition party that led the march, estimated that 500,000 people took part. The Onet news portal estimated there there were at least 300,000 at the march’s culmination.

Large crowds also gathered in Krakow and other cities across the nation of 38 million people, showing frustration with a government that critics accuse of violating the constitution and eroding fundamental rights in Poland.

Former President Lech Walesa, the leader of the Solidarity movement that played a historic role in toppling communism in Poland, marched alongside the leader of the opposition Civic Platform party, ex-Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

Donald Tusk during the Freedom march in Warsaw, Poland, on Sunday.

Omar Marques / Getty Images

Walesa and Tusk are reviled by the ruling Law and Justice party led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, and the Warsaw crowd chanted “Democracy!” and “Constitution!”

The rally started at Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki’s office and ended up at the Royal Castle, where Tusk hailed the turnout and pledged to fight to win an autumn election.

“We are going to these elections to win and to right human wrongs. I promise you victory, a settlement of evil, compensation for human wrongs and reconciliation among Poles,” Tusk told the crowd.

The government spokesman, Piotr Mueller, accused Tusk and Walesa of “trying to overthrow the government.”

Tusk had called on Poles to march with him for the sake of the nation’s future — a message that resonated for Radek Tusinski, 49, who arrived with his wife and two children. A handmade sign reading “I cannot give up freedom” was attached to their baby stroller.

Tuskinski said that he worries about the creeping return of an authoritarian system similar to what he remembers from his childhood.

“We want a free country for our children,” he said.

Supporters of the march have warned that the election might be the nation’s last chance to stop the erosion of democracy under Law and Justice amid growing fears that the fall election might not be fair.

In power since 2015, Law and Justice has found a popular formula, combining higher social spending with socially conservative policies and support for the church in the mostly Catholic nation.

However, critics have warned for years that the party is reversing many of the achievements made since Poland emerged from communist rule in 1989.

The U.S. government has intervened at times when it felt the government was eroding media liberties and academic freedom in the area of Holocaust research.

Critics point mainly to the party’s step-by-step takeover of the judiciary and media, and fear that Law and Justice could eventually force Poland to leave the 27-member European Union.

A clampdown on abortion rights has triggered mass protests. Some also voiced anger at double-digit inflation in the country. Poland’s government blames Russia’s war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic, but economists say its spending policies have accelerated spiraling prices.

Barbara Dec, 26, and her grandmother left their hometown of Zielona Gora at 4:30 a.m. and traveled seven hours on a bus organized by Civic Platform to protest.

Dec held up a cardboard sign that read, “I am afraid to have children in Poland.”

“Women have lost the right to have an abortion even when the fetus is terminally ill, and some women have died,” she explained. “And I am also afraid I couldn’t manage financially.”

The march was held on the 34th anniversary of Poland’s first partly-free election. The protest was seen as a test for Tusk’s Civic Platform, a centrist and pro-European party which has trailed behind Law and Justice in polls.

People attend an anti-government demonstration in Warsaw, Poland, on June 4, 2023. 

Wojtek Radwanski / AFP - Getty Images

However, the passage of a contentious law last month seems to have mobilized greater support for Tusk. Poland is expected to hold a general election in October, though a date hasn’t been set.

The law allows for the creation of a commission to investigate Russian influence in Poland. Critics argue that it would have unconstitutional powers, including the capacity to exclude officials from public life for a decade. They fear it will be used by the ruling party to remove Tusk and other opponents from public life.

President Andrzej Duda, who signed the law on May 29, proposed amendments to it on Friday. In the meantime, the law will take effect with no guarantees that lawmakers in parliament will weaken the commission’s powers.

Some Poles say it could come to resemble the investigations of Joseph McCarthy, the U.S. senator whose anti-communist campaign in the early 1950s led to hysteria and political persecution.

That fear was underlined last weekend when Kaczynski was asked by a reporter if he still had trust in the defense minister in connection with a Russian missile that fell in Poland in December.

“I am forced ... to view you as a representative of the Kremlin,” he replied. “Because only the Kremlin wants this man to stop being the minister of national defense.”

The media freedom group Reporters Without Borders expressed concerns that the commission “could serve as a new weapon for this type of attack, in which doubt is cast on journalists’ probity in an attempt to smear their reputation.”

Tusk, who once served as European Council president, had called for the march weeks ago, urging people to demonstrate “against high prices, theft and lies, for free elections and a democratic, European Poland.”

Law and Justice sought to discourage participation in the rally with a video spot using Auschwitz as a theme — drawing criticism from the state museum that preserves the site of the Nazi German death camp.
Associated

Stellantis in talks for parts and material recycling JV with Galloo
Reuter

June 5, 2023

Le logo Stellantis. /Photo prise le 23 février/REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo
Companies

MILAN, June 5 (Reuters) - Carmaker Stellantis (STLAM.MI) and Belgian metals recycler Galloo have entered exclusive talks to create a joint venture focused on parts and material recycling from end-of-life vehicles, the two companies said on Monday.

The preliminary deal is part of the carmaker's strategy to expand its so-called "circular economy" business, which includes vehicle reconditioning and dismantling as well as reuse of parts and materials, amid industry fears of a prolonged shortage of raw materials.

A rush to electrification and global supply chain issues have made the sourcing of certain key materials and components (for batteries, but also steel, copper etc) far more difficult, on top of prices rising for most of them.

The Stellantis-Galloo JV will operate through selected treatment facilities to collect vehicles from their last owners, with a service expected to be launched at the end of this year in France, Belgium and Luxembourg and then expanding across Europe, they said in a joint statement.

The JV will offer its services to Stellantis and other automakers. Galloo specialises in the dismantling of cars and ships.

Stellantis Senior Vice President for Global Circular Economy Alison Jones said that returning parts and materials to the value chain "preserves scarce resources and helps our drive to reach carbon net zero by 2038".

"Use less (materials), use (them) for longer, and recycle them when possible," she said during a media briefing.

No financial details were provided.

Stellantis has set a goal to have 40% of green materials in its vehicles by 2030.

The world's third largest carmaker by sales has plans to boost recycling revenue ten-fold and parts revenue 4-fold by 2030, compared to 2021, targeting over 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion) in revenue from its circular economy business by that date.

Jones said the JV would also rely on Stellantis' main circular economy hub, which the group is setting-up in its Mirafiori complex in Turin, Italy.

Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari and Gilles Guillaume; editing by David Evans

Frontex Faces Potential Action Over Migrant Interview Violations, Warns EU Data Protection Supervisor

June 5, 2023

GrandWarszawski | Dreamstime.com

The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, is collecting information from migrants that could help identify vulnerable people seeking sanctuary from persecution in their homelands.

The new decision has been confirmed through a report of the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

Frontex stressed that it conducts debriefing interviews with migrants reaching European countries without holding authorisation on a voluntary and anonymous basis, adding that the interviews also aim to collect information about migratory routes as well as cross-border crime and also help to plan its operations, according to a report of Alarabya News.

However, in a report submitted to the agency last week, the EDPS emphasised that “some debriefings show “a combination of distinguishing features about that individual and their journey that would be sufficient to render those individuals identifiable.”

According to the European Data Protection Supervisor, it means the information gathered would amount to personal data following the European Union laws, and it has serious doubts about whether such debriefings respect the regulations relating to the data.

In addition, the EDPS stressed that Frontex’s interview process “does not take sufficient account of the high vulnerability of the individuals targeted for data collection.”

The authority within the European Union insisted that Frontex cannot guarantee the voluntary nature of the interview after they are conducted in a situation of deprivation of liberty. It also stressed that the agency is aimed at detecting suspects based on the testimony of the interviewees.

It emphasised that the debriefings can result in the interviewee providing a self-incriminating testimony.

Besides, the data protection supervisor is urging that the European Border and Coast Guard Agency address many of its concerns by the end of this year.

“The EDPS will carry out a close follow-up. If need be, enforcement powers may be exercised,” it emphasised based on an executive summary of the audit report published on its official website.

The agency has been in the spotlight of the media several times following reports of its involvement in illegal pushback of migrants and other similar abuses.

However, the new director of the agency, Hans Leijtens, promised a new era of transparency at the agency, adding that he would promote a “nothing-to-hide” approach and also abolish defensive attitudes.

Earlier this year, The European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), and the European Commission, together with Europol unfolded plans to introduce innovative technologies that would help to further strengthen the Schengen Zone.

In addition, in March this year, a new agreement between the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) Executive Director, Hans Leijtens, as well as the Greek Minister of Migration and Asylum, Notis Mitarachi, and the Minister of Citizens’ Protection, Panagiotis Theodorikakos was reached in order to further expand Frontex’s support to return migrants to their home states.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR)

Africa CDC Launches Groundbreaking Initiative to Tackle AMR Crisis: Strengthening Workforce and Implementing Homegrown Solutions for Enhanced Surveillance

June 03, 2023



Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a growing and urgent threat in Africa. With nearly 1.3 million deaths attributed to AMR in 2019, Inadequate monitoring and control measures by governments have worsened the situation, hindering the prevention of resistant micro-organisms. If immediate action is not taken, millions of Africans are estimated to lose their lives to antimicrobial resistance by 2050.

AMR stands as one of the leading public health challenges of the 21st century, with Africa having the world's highest mortality rate from AMR infections, resulting in 27.3 deaths per 100,000 attributable to AMR.

The Africa Union Framework for Antimicrobial Resistance Control, 2020-2025 describes strategies for Africa CDC to improve surveillance, delay emergence, limit transmission, and mitigate harm from AMR pathogens.

Recent findings, paints the dire reality of the AMR surveillance situation across the continent and the urgent need for improved AMR surveillance in AU member states. The findings of the multi-country study are particularly concerning as most laboratories across Africa do not have the resources for AMR testing and surveillance. The continuous lack of surveillance data has hindered our understanding of Antimicrobial Resistance, antimicrobial use (AMU) and drivers of resistance on the continent. In response to this growing public health threat, Africa CDC has launched an international exchange study visits between Africa Union Member States for sharing knowledge and best practices on Antimicrobial Resistance surveillance system implementation and AMR control.

This initiative kicked-off with an exchange visit between Ethiopia and South Africa, convening public health experts from the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) and South Africa National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), Centre for Health-Associated Infections, Antimicrobial Resistance and Mycoses (CHARM) for a collaborative learning experience on AMR surveillance implementation.

Participants shared their best practices for establishing and operationalising functional laboratory-based Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance systems particularly in resource-limited settings. This meeting took place in Johannesburg, South Africa from 22 – 26 May 2023.

“The Africa CDC is pleased to launch this initiative to strengthen workforce for improved AMR surveillance with homegrown solutions to implement AMR control”, said Yewande Alimi, Africa CDC’s Antimicrobial Resistance & One Health Program Coordinator.

Both countries have documented remarkable progress in AMR Surveillance, the Ethiopian National Public Health Institute begun its laboratory-based AMR surveillance system 2017 and has expanded the participating sentinel sites through strengthening detection and response capacity of priority pathogens guided by WHO/GLASS AMR data reporting, national AMR prevention and containment strategy, EPHI laboratory-based AMR surveillance system guide.

Speaking at meeting, Deputy Director General of the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI), Dr. Getachew Tollera highlighted the criticality and timeliness of the exercise, stating, "We need standardized approaches to address regional and global shared threats such as Antimicrobial Resistance. Collaboration, partnerships, and networking with institutions like NICD are crucial for EPHI to be prepared and respond effectively to emerging threats."

South Africa's leadership in AMR surveillance across the continent is commendable. the countries participation in key initiatives led by Africa CDC holds great promise. Initiatives such as continental genomic sequencing through the Pathogen Genomics Institute (PGI) and the EQAFRICA regional project, funded by the Fleming Fund, have already made significant contributions to AMR surveillance in 14 African Union countries, with the NICD leading regional EQA reference capacity to enhance laboratory capabilities in detecting and monitoring AMR. In collaboration with Africa CDC, NICD aims to support AMR surveillance capacity-building efforts across the continent. Collaborative efforts such as this, have great potential for advancing AMR surveillance and laboratory improvement in the continent.

“It is a great opportunity for any country on the African continent to get an understanding of how surveillance of AMR surveillance is performed and how we can learn from each other in different settings on implementation of surveillance as the global AMR surveillance system is changing”, says Professor Olga Perovic,, Principal Pathologist, Antimicrobial Resistance Laboratory and Culture Collection Centre for Healthcare-Associated Infections, Antimicrobial Resistance and Mycoses (CHARM) during the international exchange visit.

Africa CDC will continue to engage Member States on AMR surveillance and support similar learning opportunities for other countries with the aim of promoting and advocating for excellence in AMR prevention and containment intervention strategies in Africa.

The international exchange visits are part of Africa CDC’s effort to strengthen AMR surveillance in Africa by building capacity and providing technical assistance to support the development and implementation of surveillance systems while leveraging existing resources in AU Member States.

For media inquiry, please contact:

Ms. Ndahafa Nakwafila| Senior Communication Officer| Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention| African Union| email: NakwafilaN@africa-union.org| M: +251 92 99 79 820 | email: africacdc@africaunion.org| Website: www.africacdc.org| Addis Ababa| Ethiopia| Facebook | Twitter

For more information:

Ms. Liolisia Kariko| Risk Communication and Community Engagement(RCCE)| Africa Centres for Disease control and Prevention| Southern Regional Collaborating Centre| African Union| email: KarikoL@africa-union.org| M: +260 96 57 55 944 | email: africacdc@africaunion.org| Website: www.africacdc.org| Addis Ababa| Ethiopia| Facebook | Twitter

Information and Communication Directorate, African Union Commission I E-mail: DIC@africa-union.org

Web: www.au.int | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | Follow Us: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

RECOMMENDATIONS TO STATES TO FINANCE ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CLIMATE JUSTICE

June 5, 2023

Amnesty International

TO INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Multiple crises – including armed conflict, climate change, economic instability and inequality, and the enduring impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic – have had catastrophic consequences on people’s economic and social rights. These crises also highlight the importance of international cooperation and solidarity: no country can respond alone; collective action is needed. States that have adequate resources have a human rights obligation to provide international assistance and cooperation to other states who need it in order to guarantee economic and social rights.
The recommendations in this document are the basis of Amnesty International’s advocacy at multiple international, regional and national fora where these issues are being discussed, including during the G7 and G20 processes, the PACT Summit, and the 28th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28).

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TURKEY

 HDP co-chairs say they will not run as candidates at the party’s next congress

HDP co-chairs Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar announced that they will not run as candidates at the party’s next congress.

ANF
NEWS DESK
Monday, 5 Jun 2023

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-chairs Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar were guests of a live program on Medya Haber TV.

Speaking about the election results, Buldan said: “We could not reach our target. I want to express this very frankly. This is, of course, a matter for self-criticism. We found that we could not manage the campaign process very well. We could not reach circles outside ours, we could not grow. Not all different segments were represented. For example, the lack of representation of Armenians, Yazidis and disabled people were important shortcomings.”

Buldan said: “Our party will go to congress after the meetings with our committees, since our goals were not achieved. I am ready to do whatever is my duty at every stage of this struggle, and take into account all the criticisms. I would be honored to leave the post of co-chair to another friend of mine at this congress. I will not take part in any decision mechanism during the congress process. At this stage, we have a responsibility to respond. There is no leaving. We will be accountable to our people, to our base, to women. I think that's the most important thing."

Emphasizing that the Green Left Party could not achieve the votes they wanted, Sancar said: “We consider ourselves unsuccessful in this respect, but there was no defeat. The government did everything to liquidate democratic politics. The fact that we could even be elected is an important situation in itself. We broke that, we entered the election."

Regarding the statements of HDP former co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş, Sancar said: “Demirtaş is a very valuable friend and comrade. It is not something we consider right to question his intentions. We did not rely on any factor other than the concern of how we could strengthen our party in harmony with all our friends. We visited Demirtaş in prison. He said that he had a legal obstacle, and then he explained it to the press. Then we went to Kandıra to get ideas from Figen Yüksekdağ and Gültan Kışanak. They suggested that if a candidate was to be presented, it should be a woman. We discussed these proposals in our committees. There was a strong favour for female candidates. This was conveyed to Demirtaş as well, and he said that he supported this idea.”

Servile Western leaders queue up to congratulate Erdogan

June 5, 2023 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) flanked by his wife Emine Erdogan (L) greets the participants during the his inauguration ceremony at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, Turkiye on June 03, 2023. [Murat Kula - Anadolu Agency]


Yvonne Ridley
yvonneridley
June 5, 2023 

It has been a week of mixed blessings for Western leaders as Turkiye's Recep Tayyip Erdogan once again confounded his critics at the ballot box. Sporting more faces than the Big Ben clock in Westminster, servile Western leaders rushed to congratulate the Turkish president on his election victory last weekend.

US President Joe Biden and his equally obsequious French counterpart Emmanuel Macron headed the line-up. Despite their frequent, blistering criticism of Erdogan, they quickly put the past behind them to offer their congratulations.

It must have been a particularly satisfying moment for Turkiye's leader who has given the world a masterclass in global politics set against the savage backdrop of the war in Ukraine, because it is not so long ago that Macron and Erdogan were lobbing insults at each other after governments across Europe gave the French president their support as calls to boycott France intensified across the Muslim world.

That all started back in September 2020, when several EU officials lambasted Erdogan and accused him of trying to derail Europe's attempts to reopen dialogue with Ankara. President Erdogan called for the boycott of French products and even questioned Macron's mental health during a very public diplomatic tussle in response to Islamophobic statements that the French leader made about problems created by radical Muslims in France who practice what Macron called "Islamist separatism". Erdogan also railed against France for condoning caricatures of Prophet Muhammad — peace be upon him — which prompted Macron to recall his ambassador from Ankara.

READ: Unlike their media, Western nations recognise the necessity of Erdogan's Turkiye

Moreover, by October 2021, tension between Erdogan and Biden was escalating at the G20 summit in Rome. The context was created by Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, whose administration expelled Turkiye from its F-35 fighter jet programme in 2019 because Erdogan had bought a Russian S-400 air defence system. US lawmakers urged Biden not to sell the F-16 warplane to Turkiye, saying that Ankara "behaved like an adversary."

Undeterred, Erdogan continued with his strategic foreign policy, and by last weekend it appeared as if the wily Turkish leader had his French and American counterparts eating out of the palm of his hand. Both would no doubt have been peeved to discover that their congratulatory messages arrived after a message from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who didn't even bother to wait for the official results of the vote before praising Erdogan's "independent foreign policy" as the reason for his victory.

Throughout what has proved to be a challenging year for Ukraine and its allies, Erdogan has refused to ostracise the Kremlin following Putin's full-scale invasion of Russia's neighbour. His unwillingness to criticise Moscow attracted enormous pressure from Turkiye's European allies within NATO who imposed sanctions and reduced their energy reliance on Russia dramatically. Cranking up the pressure as they did, Erdogan not only continued to trade with Russia, but also increased it significantly.

Erdogan has shown that he will not tolerate bullying from his NATO colleagues, while ensuring that Ankara remains a key member of the military alliance. Turkiye's armed forces take part in all NATO missions, and its Incirlik Air Base plays a vital role in the organisation's defence strategy.

Maintaining close ties with Russia has, if anything, emboldened Erdogan and made him stronger as he keeps a foot in both camps. The balancing act is a testament to his ability to understand global politics. While keeping Russia close he has still given military aid to Ukraine and played a crucial role in brokering the deal to lift the Russian blockade on war-torn Ukraine's grain supplies.

Most leaders would have impaled themselves while sitting on the fence, but Erdogan has played both sides with the dexterity of a high wire act. It's a far cry from the days when he was hopeful of joining the European Union. Now his focus seems to be on turning his country into a major influence on the world stage.

READ: Erdogan's third term victory: Achievements and challenges ahead in completion of 'New Turkiye' Project

Playing on European fears of mass migration from war zones, Erdogan knew his enemies' Achilles heel during the 2015 migration crisis. More than a million refugees and asylum seekers — mainly from Syria — made the perilous journey across the Mediterranean to the EU in people-smugglers' boats. Brussels made a multi-million Euro deal with Turkiye, which included visa-free travel for Turks if the Turkish president would continue to do his best to prevent migrants without papers from leaving his country's territorial waters.

Now we can only guess what price Erdogan will demand in order to approve Sweden's application for NATO membership, which could provide important Baltic Sea cover against Russia for the alliance. The US is said to be increasingly impatient with Turkiye over the deal, which requires the approval of all NATO member states. I've no doubt that a newly emboldened Erdogan will exact a good price to allow Sweden to join the club.

Erdogan is now about to embark on his third decade in power and it's easy to see why millions of Muslims around the world are cheering on the man they liken to Sultan Muhammad Al-Fatih, who conquered Constantinople on 29 May, 1453. There can be no doubt that the Turkish president, a man with an impeccable knowledge of Islamic history, will have circled the 570th anniversary of the conquest by the Sultan and the Ottoman army of the last major centre and capital of the Byzantine Empire. Some things are too great and strong to be coincidences, but I do believe in calculated moves of the kind performed by Erdogan that are way beyond the comprehension of most greedy Western leaders.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

A Fetih Accompli: How Erdogan Married Religion and Nationalism

On the anniversary of Istanbul’s conquest, the Turkish president’s successful fusion of the secular and the divine may be his most potent legacy

Nicholas DanforthNicholas Danforth is the author of "The Remaking of Republican Turkey: Memory and Modernity Since the Fall of the Ottoman Empire"

May 28, 2023

Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia is illuminated on the 568th anniversary of the city’s conquest. (Directorate of Communications/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Victories are always a good time for gloating. Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, recently took the opportunity to taunt the Western press for imagining that Erdogan might lose, tweeting “Bye bye” at a collage of magazine front pages after the president came out ahead in the first round of presidential elections earlier this month. On previous occasions, Kalin and his colleagues have suggested that such Western hostility to Erdogan reflected residual bitterness from the fall of Constantinople, which took place 570 years ago on Monday.

Kalin may be projecting. Journalists have different motives and agendas, but I’ve never met any who looked haunted by the ghost of Constantine XI. Still, the fact is we’re talking about it. There has always been an elegant synergy between Erdogan’s fixation with Ottoman history and Western commentators’ fixation with his fixation with it. If nothing else, this has been a boon for those of us who would rather read dime store novels about Ottoman pirates than books about political economy. Indeed, writing about the politics of history in Turkey for the past decade and half, I’ve always felt slightly self-conscious: Symbols and narratives are certainly fascinating, but surely they weren’t the real story.

And yet, over the past two weeks, a significant number of Turkish voters seemed to confirm how effectively symbols and narratives can transcend financial realities. Running for reelection amid a rapidly collapsing economy, Erdogan concluded his campaign with prayers in Hagia Sophia, the church-turned-mosque, and now appears set to celebrate his victory on May 29, the 570th anniversary of the Ottoman conquest of Istanbul (referred to as the Fetih by the Ottomans).

For scholars and journalists who have watched Erdogan consolidate his power, this may finally be the moment to concede that he was always more sophisticated in his use of history than we gave him credit for. Where observers contrasted neo-Ottomanism with Kemalism, 1453 with 1923, and Mustafa Kemal Ataturk with Fatih Sultan Mehmet II, Erdogan understood that many voters wanted all of it, and gave it to them. Where observers focused on the divide between religion and nationalism, Erdogan grasped how effectively they could be wielded together. And he proceeded to do so, fusing these overlapping traditions together through a series of real and imagined battles against such common enemies as Western imperialism, Greeks and left-wing Kurds. The result is a potent ideological current that will continue to bedevil Turkey’s democratic aspirations and relations with the West long after Erdogan exits the scene.

It wasn’t always crazy to think Erdogan represented an alternative to traditional Turkish nationalism. Initially, his push for European Union membership and a political solution to Turkey’s long-running Kurdish insurgency put him at odds with secular and conservative nationalists. Thus, during his first decade in power in the 2000s, Erdogan was regularly attacked as being a Western stooge. Devlet Bahceli, head of Turkey’s aptly named Nationalist Action Party, invoked the Ottoman victory at Gallipoli to imply that Erdogan’s policies were tantamount to opening the straits to Western warships. In 2009, as part of its “Kurdish opening,” Erdogan’s government took the modest but radical step of referring to Kurdish villages by their Kurdish names. The backlash was swift. He was asked if he was planning to put up signs on the roads to Istanbul reading “Constantinople.”

The 2000s were the heyday of liberal, multicultural neo-Ottomanism. The rhetoric of Ottoman tolerance was in vogue in Ankara and Western capitals alike. At particularly romantic moments, the Ottoman Empire sounded like an American-style cultural melting pot or some sort of pre-modern EU. Many supporters of neo-Ottomanism noted that, whereas Ataturk’s nationalism had crushed ethnic and religious differences in the name of a homogenous and oppressive form of Turkish identity, the Ottoman state had fostered a much greater degree of pluralism.

This narrative had the benefit of being both politically convenient and pretty accurate, as far as history goes. But it neglected the ease with which the Ottoman Empire could also function as a nationalist symbol — a bigger, badder and, in Erdogan’s case, more pious version of modern Turkey. In other circumstances, glorifying a predecessor state for its benevolence and military might would have appeared, to historians more than anyone, as good old-fashioned jingoism. But in Turkey, Ataturk had supposedly rejected the Ottoman Empire wholesale, severing the people from their past as part of a campaign of hyper-Westernization and Jacobin secularism. As a result, it was possible to see Erdogan’s enthusiasm for the Ottoman past as something much more wholesome. Instead of inventing traditions, he was simply reconnecting Turks with “their” history.

Hints of a more complicated story could be found in a 2002 article by the political scientist Busra Ersanli, titled “The Ottoman Empire in the Historiography of the Kemalist Era: A Theory of Fatal Decline.” As Ersanli discovered, Ataturk and his associates had not really rejected everything Ottoman. Rather, they had done so selectively to advance their ideological agenda. During the empire’s golden age, they argued, it had been fundamentally Turkish and secular. Then, as it became increasingly religious and lost its ethnic character, decline set in. The implication, clearly, was that Ataturk, with his nationalist and secular reforms, was actually restoring the roots of Ottoman greatness.

But there were other hints that Ottoman tolerance wasn’t the full story as well. In 2011, Professor Ersanli herself was jailed for her Kurdish rights advocacy. In 2018, she was arrested again.

Peace, Erdogan eventually realized, was bad politics. His outreach to the Kurds cost him nationalist votes and alienated the military without winning him any corresponding influence among Kurdish voters. Moreover, as he gained power, he increasingly saw the state’s interests as identical to his own. By 2015, it seems to have become clear to Erdogan that making peace with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) would require a degree of power-sharing he was uncomfortable with, while also undermining his plans to gain influence in Syria through cooperating with Islamist rebels.

The resulting ideological pivot proved surprisingly easy for Erdogan. In the summer of 2015, he joined forces with Bahceli and the military to go back to war against the PKK. As the army cleared Kurdish fighters from cities across southeastern Turkey, a piece of graffiti on the wall of a destroyed home captured the terms of the alliance: “If you’re Turkish, be proud. If you aren’t, obey.” Ethnic pride was optional. Obedience, by contrast, was obligatory.

To make matters simpler, in 2014, the United States government had begun backing the Syrian branch of the PKK in its fight against the Islamic State group. ISIS being ISIS, this seemed like a reasonable policy, but no one in Turkey was convinced. For decades, even as Washington was selling Ankara the jets and helicopters it needed to raze Kurdish villages, Turkish conspiracy theories held that the U.S. was secretly supporting the PKK. When Washington actually began openly supporting them, Turkey’s sense of anger and betrayal spilled over.

Historical narratives quickly followed suit. In the opening episode of the Ottoman TV drama Resurrection Ertugrul, viewers learned that, in the 13th century, the actual Crusaders had adopted a policy of pitting Turks and Kurds against each other. Meanwhile, U.S. counter-ISIS envoy Brett McGurk was regularly characterized as a modern-day Lawrence of Arabia — not a compliment in Turkish political discourse.

Turkey’s July 15, 2016, coup attempt provided further opportunity to consolidate religious and nationalist rhetoric in the face of supposed Western perfidy. Erdogan declared that, in resisting the putsch, Turkish citizens drew on millennia of Turkish national tradition and 1,400 years of Islamic civilization. At one memorial, a young boy was brought on stage and asked what he would like to be a martyr for. “My people,” the boy replied. Then, asked “What else?” he added, “My nation” and, finally, prompted again, “God.”

In setting the coup in historical context, the government’s rhetoric repeatedly drew on traditional nationalist iconography infused with a new religious reading. The defeat of the coup attempt has been repeatedly compared to Manzikert, where Seljuk Turks defeated the Byzantine Empire in 1071, and to the battle of Gallipoli, where Ataturk defeated the British during World War I. As one journalist wrote, “The 15th of July treason was the greatest attack experienced in this era from the Crusader mentality that tried to stop us, even tried to destroy us, at Manzikert and at Gallipoli.”

Erdogan has a particular flair for mixing and matching political symbols. He has embraced the Rabaa sign — a Muslim Brotherhood symbol denoting the Egyptian government’s massacre of supporters of the movement in Cairo’s Rabaa Square in August 2013 — at his rallies, but also insisted its four fingers represent the ideals of “one people, one flag, one country, one state.” When Erdogan built a massive new mosque overlooking the Bosporus in 2019, he threw in a little more Manzikert by making the minarets precisely 107.1 meters tall. The government has also begun once again commemorating the Ottomans’ World War I humiliation of the British army at Kut al Amara. This victory was originally celebrated under Ataturk before being tactfully dropped when Turkey joined the British in NATO. Erdogan’s ever more irredentist rhetoric, in turn, incorporates both references to the Ottoman Empire’s spiritual borders and maps of the National Pact that Ataturk fought to uphold after World War I.

If Ataturk himself is noticeably absent in Erdogan’s rhetoric, he still has a place in Turkey’s new nationalism. A recent 12th-grade history textbook, for example, celebrates Ataturk’s role as an anti-imperialist hero for Muslims and the entire Third World. Students learn that “Turkey’s national struggle against imperialism in Anatolia struck the first great blow against imperialism in the 20th century,” while “Mustafa Kemal … served as an example for underdeveloped and colonized nations.” With reference to both Jawaharlal Nehru and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the book explains that “the success of the national struggle brought joy to the entire colonized Islamic world, and served as a source of inspiration to members of other faiths.”

When it comes to the Hagia Sophia, of course, Ataturk is on the distinctly wrong side of Turkey’s new nationalism. In opening the building as a mosque in 2020, Erdogan referred to the curse that Fatih Sultan Mehmet himself had supposedly put on anyone who sought to turn the building into anything else. And yet the rest of his speech, for all its religious rhetoric, was nothing if not nationalist. Specifically, Erdogan presented the reconversion of Hagia Sophia not simply as an act of piety or the rectification of a historic injustice but as a defense of Turkey’s sovereignty. He insisted that questioning his decision was an attack on Turkey’s sovereign rights, no different from questioning its flag or indeed its borders. More pointedly, his rhetoric reinforced the accusation that his opponents in the Republican People’s Party (CHP) were “internal Byzantines,” a disloyal fifth column working on behalf of modern-day Crusaders.

Tellingly, one of the people who defended Erdogan was Muharrem Ince, a man who ran against him as the CHP candidate in 2018, only to reconsider his opposition last Sunday. As he tweeted at the time: “Hagia Sophia is inside Turkey’s borders and opening it to prayer is Turkey’s sovereign right. Neither Greece, America, Russia nor any other country can decide this.”

History, like politicians, can be malleable. In 1953, when Turkey celebrated the 500th anniversary of Constantinople’s conquest, Fatih Sultan Mehmet was explicitly compared to Ataturk as a secular ruler who turned Turkey’s face to the West. Turkish intellectuals and politicians praised his modern worldview, shown by his fascination with Renaissance art, his knowledge of Greek and Latin and his embrace of cutting-edge military technology. Even Mehmet’s decision to convert the church of Hagia Sophia into a mosque rather than destroying it was touted as proof of his enlightenment, prefiguring Ataturk’s decision to turn the building into a museum. The government’s 10-day celebration featured balls, garden parties and soirees. There was opera, a fashion show and special government-issued cigarettes featuring the sultan. In New York, Turkish expats created a cocktail called Istanbul Magic, made of raki, lemon juice and creme de menthe. Yet, despite all this, some members of the CHP, then in opposition, had concerns. Critics accused the government of downplaying the quincentenary to appease the Americans and Greeks, suggesting that, by doing so, they were calling Istanbul’s Turkishness into question.

In 2019, when running to be mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu shared a video on Twitter in which he quoted Fatih as saying that he “came to conquer hearts, not land.” Doubling down on this more inclusive narrative, Imamoglu then promised that, like Fatih, he would again make Istanbul a city where residents of all faiths and languages lived together in peace and justice. Meanwhile, supporters of Erdogan’s AKP party spread accusations that Imamoglu was secretly Greek, calling on him to deny that he spoke the language in order to lead Fatih’s city. A year later, Imamoglu won widespread praise from his secular constituency for purchasing a Gentile Bellini painting of Fatih that went on sale in London. The pro-AKP press, in turn, condemned him for wasting money on a drawing done by an infidel.

Following their victory, Erdogan and his government will decide who the foreign and domestic Byzantines are in their evolving conquest narrative. They will decide which residents, of any faith or language, get to live in peace and justice. On Friday, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu declared that “after this, whoever pursues a pro-American policy in Turkey will be labeled a traitor.” There’s no reason to doubt him. Individuals like civil society leader Osman Kavala and former Kurdish presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtas, who fought for a more inclusive vision of Turkey’s past and present, are in jail. For many of Erdogan’s supporters, the election was a referendum on keeping them there. While Kalin was taunting the Western press, a Washington-based member of the Turkish press celebrated by mockingly asking Demirtas if he was out yet.

Eventually history will be re-written but, before that, another dark chapter awaits.