Eight members of religious group charged with forced labor of minors

The Justice Department announced Wednesday that eight leaders of the United Nation of Islam have been charged with operating a forced labor conspiracy for more than a decade. 

File Pool Photo by Win McNamee/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 28 (UPI) -- The Justice Department has announced an eight-count indictment against eight people affiliated with a religious organization on charges of operating a nationwide, decade-long forced labor conspiracy involving children.

The indictment announced by the Justice Department on Wednesday details how eight members of the United Nation of Islam, headquartered in Kansas City, Kan., coerced their victims, including minors, to work unpaid, sometimes up to 16 hours a day, at UNOI businesses from 2000 to 2012.

The charging document states the organization operated at least 10 businesses, mostly restaurants and bakeries, but also a gas station and a clothing store, located in Kansas City, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Georgia and North Carolina.

BLASPHAMEY, HERESY
The organization -- which was founded by Royall Jenkins who referred to himself as Allah, or God -- recruited hundreds of full-time members who lived in its housing and worked without pay at its businesses.

Among its forced workers were children who joined the organization with their parents, said the complaint, which identifies 10 minors.

The charging document said parents were enticed to send their children to the organization by the promise of an education and the development of life skills through working at its businesses. However, the organization did not inform the parents that their children would work extended hours without pay, sometimes in lieu of attending school, nor were they informed when their children were sent to work at businesses around the country.

The children, the document states, received no legitimate education in return.

Among the coercive practices the defendants employed were requiring the victims to ask permission to speak. They were also prohibited from uttering such words as "hello" and "say" while generally being barred from speaking to members of the opposite sex.

They were also forced to shower in a specific fashion and undergo colonics where an adult member would cleanse their colons by pouring water down a tube inserted into their rectums, the document said.

The victims were also restricted to eating only bean soup, salad and occasionally fruit during their two meals a day, prosecutors said, adding that those ordered to be "cleansed" only drank lemon juice for days.

"Jenkin's wives subjected female victims to weekly weigh-ins where they would humiliate the victims for their weight and subsequently make them fast," the document states.

The workers, the document said, lived in crowded dormitories called "temples" and followed "a very restricted diet," all while working at UNOI-operated businesses, while the accused and their families "resided in spacious accommodations, ate what they wanted and worked at their own discretion."

The eight organization leaders charged were identified as Kaaba Majeed, 47; Yunus Rassoul, 36; James Staton, 59; Daniel Aubrey Jenkins, 40; Randolph Rodney Hadley, 46; Jacelyn Greenwell, 42; Etenia Kinard, 46; and Dana Peach, 57.

If convicted they face up to 20 years each in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000 for forced labor and up to five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine for conspiracy to commit forced labor.

Hong Kong police raid 4 locations tied to protest group

By UPI Staff

Police attempt to disperse crowds at a rally in Hong Kong on September 15, 2019. Authorities raided four locations on Thursday linked to a group that officials say is behind dissident activity on the island. 

File Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Police in Hong Kong raided four locations on Thursday related to a human rights group that officials say is behind protest activity and failed to turn over information demanded by the government.

Authorities served search warrants at locations linked to the Civil Human Rights Front. One housed the office of another pro-opposition group, the League of Social Democrats.

Police demanded earlier this year that the Civil Human Rights Front turn over records relating to funding sources, expenses, bank accounts, a list of public marches and rallies and a reason for why it didn't register with the government.

Officials said they missed the deadline to turn over the records. The group disbanded in August.

Police also demanded that the group explain its involvement in a joint petition sent to a United Nations agency, which asked for the government to improve its record on human rights.

No arrests were made during Thursday's raids.

Chan Po-ying, head of the League of Social Democrats, said that the raids were designed to spread fear and insisted that her group had no connection to the CHRF.

"It is a form of political intimidation which is meant to create white terror," she told the South China Morning Post.

Justice Department to crack down on white-collar crime AKA CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco participates in a news conference at ATF headquarters in Washington, D.C. on July 22. Monaco announced new rules to toughen prosecution of white-collar crimes on Thursday. 

File Photos by Jim Lo Scalzo/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Thursday the Justice Department will adopt a series of policy changes to crack down more severely on white-collar crimes, including misconduct by powerful business leaders.

Monaco made the comments at the American Bar Association's National Institute on White Collar Crime conference in Washington, D.C

She said she hopes the changes involving access to non-privileged information, the way past conduct is considered in prosecution, and corporate monitoring will make a difference in going after corporate criminals.

"I recognize that cases against corporate executives are among some of the most difficult that the department brings, and that means the government may lose some of those cases," Monaco said in comments released by the Justice Department.

"I have and will continue to make clear to our prosecutors that, as long as we act consistent with the Principles of Federal Prosecution, the fear of losing should not deter them."

Monaco said a new squad of FBI agents will be embedded in the department's criminal fraud section with a proven track record in numerous high-profile cases.

"As I've seen personally, putting agents and prosecutors in the same foxhole can make all the difference, particularly in complex cases," she said.

She said companies being investigated must provide the department with all non-privileged information about individuals involved in or responsible for the misconduct at issue, regardless of their position, status or seniority.

"The department is making clear that all prior misconduct needs to be evaluated when it comes to decisions about the proper resolution with a company, whether or not that misconduct is similar to the conduct at issue in a particular investigation," Monaco said.

"That record of misconduct speaks directly to a company's overall commitment to compliance programs and the appropriate culture to disincentivize criminal activity."

She added that independent corporate monitors, something the Justice Department had shied away from except for the most extreme circumstances, will be used more frequently to make sure companies are in compliance and following their obligations to enforcement agreements.

"The changes I am announcing today are only the first steps to reinforce our commitment to combatting corporate crime," Monaco said. "In addition to the issue of monitorship selection, we have other issues to explore."

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M 

US sanctions Lebanese MP, tycoons for 'profiting from pervasive corruption'

Lebanon's former Major General Jamil Sayyed gestures in the court room at the special international tribunal for Lebanon in Leidschendam on January 14, 2011. 

© Jerry Lampen, AFP

Issued on: 28/10/2021 - 
Text by: NEWS WIRES

The US Treasury slapped sanctions on prominent Lebanese tycoons Jihad al-Arab and Dany Khoury and lawmaker Jamil Sayyed for allegedly benefitting from corruption and adding to the breakdown of the rule of law in the country.

The three "have each personally profited from the pervasive corruption and cronyism in Lebanon, enriching themselves at the expense of the Lebanese people and state institutions," the US Treasury said.

"While the Lebanese people face daily struggles to access basic public goods, including medicine, electricity, and food, during a historic and devastating economic crisis, members of the Lebanese political class and their cronies operate with impunity to enrich themselves and hide their wealth," the Treasury said in a statement.

The Treasury said al-Arab has used close political connections and kickback payments to win important public contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars in which he overbilled the government and, in an emergency deal to address Beirut's 2016 garbage crisis, did not resolve the problem.

The Treasury also said he won two government contracts worth $200 million after brokering a political deal in 2014 ahead of elections.

>> Hezbollah’s campaign against Beirut blast judge paralyses Lebanon’s government

Khoury, it said, used his ties to already-sanctioned politician Gibran Bassil to reap lucrative contracts "while failing to meaningfully fulfill the terms of those contracts."

"Khoury and his company have been accused of dumping toxic waste and refuse into the Mediterranean Sea, poisoning fisheries, and polluting Lebanon's beaches, all while failing to remedy the garbage crisis," it said.

Sayyed, meanwhile, was accused of skirting banking regulations to move $120 million offshore.

"During the 2019 protests, when demonstrators protested outside his home demanding his resignation and calling him corrupt, Sayyed called on officials to shoot and kill the protesters," the Treasury said.

The sanctions order the seizure of any property the three have under US jurisdiction, whether bank accounts or real estate or other assets.

>> Who is out to get the judge in charge of Lebanon port explosion probe?

They also forbid US individuals or businesses -- including financial institutions with a US presence -- from transactions with the three, effectively restricting their access to global financial and trade networks.

The Treasury justified the sanctions by saying that corruption has undermined the rule of law and governance in Lebanon, which is currently mired in a deep political and economic crisis.

Its currency has plummeted in value and people are struggling day to day, their savings locked in banks and inflation soaring. Even the central bank has come under suspicion for corruption that has fed the crisis.

Washington and global organizations like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are pressing for across-the-board reforms, but political wrangling continues to stall progress.

In June, the World Bank said Lebanon's economic collapse is likely to rank among the world's worst financial crises since the mid-19th century.

>> Lebanon’s political class ‘squabbling over a field of ruins’ as economic crisis rages

(AFP)

'Lives under threat': Plight of migrants sparks Polish solidarity

The Massini family from Syria has just spent a week in the cold, wet woods between Belarus and Poland, among thousands of migrants who have tried to cross into the European Union since the summer

 (AFP/Wojtek RADWANSKI)

Anna Maria Jakubek
Thu, October 28, 2021, 2:14 AM·4 min read

Huddled in a sleeping bag on the forest floor, a Syrian boy cracks a smile as a Polish rights activist walks a stuffed animal up his chest. She turns to his mother, leans in, clasps her hand and asks: "Everything okay?"

The family of four has just spent a week in the cold, wet woods between Belarus and Poland, among thousands of migrants who have tried to cross into the European Union since the summer.

Having embarked on the journey to seek treatment for their son with cerebral palsy, mother Ala Massini said they wound up caught between Belarus and Poland.

"They (Belarusian soldiers) told us we need to choose either death or Poland," the 25-year-old said under pine trees near the Polish town of Kleszczele.

"We went to the Polish border to seek the help of the army and asked to cross because the children were hungry, sick and cold, but they told us to go back to Syria."

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, the Massinis got in touch with the Polish activist network Grupa Granica (Border Group), whose contact info has been circulating among the migrants.

Volunteers arrived with dry clothes and food, and also provided legal help and served as a monitor when the guards came.

"It is very important to show them solidarity, human warmth, that they are not alone," said Marysia Zlonkiewicz, an activist with Grupa Granica.

NGO workers, doctors, politicians and regular citizens are all finding ways to help out.

"Lots of people have been reaching out. Many want to come and help search the woods for people needing our support, a warm meal, water, warm clothes," Zlonkiewicz told AFP.

- Deaths on the border -

The group estimates there are hundreds of migrants on the Polish side and thousands on the Belarus border -- most of them being sent back and forth "like soccer balls", said Zlonkiewicz.

Migrants say the Belarusian side refuses to let them return to Minsk and fly home, while the Poles refuse to let them cross and make asylum claims, instead pushing them back into Belarus.

Some migrants manage to evade the Polish guards and make it to neighbouring Germany, which has also seen an uptick in border crossings.

The EU believes the Belarusian regime is deliberately sending the unprecedented wave of migrants -- mainly from the Middle East -- across the border in retaliation against EU sanctions.

The Polish government has adopted a hardline approach with pushbacks and a state of emergency that bans journalists and charity workers from the immediate border area. It is also planning a border wall.

Several migrants have died trying to cross and border guards have reported incidents in which migrants threw sticks and stones at security forces.

- 'Humanitarian disaster' -

The volunteer group Medycy na granicy (Medics on the Border) has called the situation "dramatic".

Group coordinator Jakub Sieczko said they have found migrants suffering "exposure to the elements, dehydration, malnutrition".

"In several cases, people's lives were directly under threat," Sieczko said.

"Unfortunately, the exclusion zone status means we cannot enter even though the area is facing a humanitarian disaster."

Good Samaritans risk fines and arrests by venturing to the border area. A few residents of the restricted zone, who are exempt from the border ban, have also joined the effort.

One resident said it looked "a bit like war".

"In some places there are military posts every 100 metres. These are whole campsites, with tents, fires," she told AFP.

"Some guards are extremely aggressive," she said, but added that others did not like what was going on.

One guard near Kleszczele told AFP she and her colleagues saw "the tragedy" of the migrants and tried to help them.

"Never in a million years would we hurt anyone," she said close to tears.

"These claims that we're taking their SIM cards and beating them -- they're totally false."

- 'Winter is coming' -

The nearby town of Michalowo made headlines when border guards sent a group of mostly migrant children and women back into the woods despite pleas for asylum.

In response to the uproar, local officials set up a makeshift warehouse at the fire station, where rooms are now lined with bags and boxes full of jackets, blankets, nappies, canned food and other essentials.

"Winter is coming. If we don't do something, then it'll really lead to tragedy," mayor Marek Nazarko said at a protest against the pushbacks and border ban.

Pensioner Krystyna Luczewska drove to the fire station from the nearby city of Bialystok with five bags of winter clothes in her car.

"I feel for the kids especially. You see what's happening and..." the 66-year-old grandmother broke off in tears.

An owner of a bed-and-breakfast near the border said two Iraqi men arrived on her doorstep freezing, soaking wet and exhausted.

"I gave them tea. They wanted to pay for it, pulling out a $100 bill. I didn't take it," she told AFP.

bur-amj/dt/mas/jxb

DR Congo's former child soldiers face tough return to civilian life

Heritier Baraka MUNYAMPFURA and Annie THOMAS, with Ricky OMBENI in Bukavu
Thu, October 28, 


LIONEL HEALING/AFP PHOTO/
By Rédaction Africanews

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

Some of the DR Congo's former child soldiers have become traders, hairdressers and tailors, but many struggle to recover a normal life.

Dreams of becoming a farmer or teacher run up against tough conditions in a society deeply afflicted by unemployment and poverty.

Clement Kahindo, supervisor of a temporary shelter in Goma, capital of North Kivu province, goes through the list of problems.

His facility is managed by an NGO called Cajed, which works for underprivileged young people and currently accommodates around 40 children aged 10 to 17 recently extracted from armed groups.



"They are taught how to behave properly, to read and write. They do drawing, basket-making, gardening, the washing up," he told AFP.

What about teaching them a trade? "We do that sometimes, but not so much," Kahindo said. "We lack the funds."

But he proudly pointed to the success of a young man who had been given a sewing machine and has since regularly visited with reports of his progress. Another runs a hairdressing salon.

Kahindo said many former child combatants were overwhelmed by the horrors they had witnessed in a part of the country that has been ravaged by violence for more than 25 years.

"They have seen killings, some of them have carried out killings themselves, like the teenager who was forced to tie people up and bury them alive," Kahindo said.

The youngest children are "used for spying, cooking, water and firewood," said Faustin Busimba, Cajed's programme officer.

"A child who stays for two or three years in an armed group goes to the front."

But in eastern DRC's North and South Kivu, as well as Ituri province, the front line and the conflict itself can be volatile.

The causes of violence in this troubled region are often complex and overlapping, rooted sometimes in ancient grievances but also overlain with the activities of foreign rebel groups and ethnic militias.

Voluntary enrolment

In the 1990s, child soldiers known as "kadogos" were numerous in the rebel army of Laurent-Desire Kabila, who overthrew president Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997.

According to a task force on children and conflicts led by the child protection section of the UN mission in the country, MONUSCO, and by UNICEF, 13 armed groups still feature on a blacklist for enrolling children. The DRC's post-Mobutu army has been taken off the blacklist.

The number of child soldiers in the DRC is hard to estimate, although the tally runs into the thousands.

The causes of their enrolment vary, experts say.

Between 3,000 and 5,000 children become combatants each year, according to the MONUSCO estimate, and Cajed says that between five and 10 percent are girls.

Some of the children may be abducted by force, but others join voluntarily, sometimes to escape poverty, take revenge or bask in the supposed prestige that comes with their role, Cajed says.

The UN task force counted 2,253 children "separated" from armed groups in 2018, 3,107 in 2019, 2,101 in 2020 and 957 in the first nine months of 2021.

Some are recovered after a direct approach by MONUSCO to the commanders of the armed groups, others flee or are released during army operations against the rebel groups.

"In 2002, I was among the first children to be demobilised. I was 15 years old," said Papy Miruho, 36, in Bukavu, capital of South Kivu.

He had spent two years in an armed group that he had joined to defend his community.

"My father had been killed," he said, "and my mother went mad."

Miruho was taken in by the Office for Voluntary Work in the Service of Children and Health (BVES), an NGO, which paved the way to studies and a degree in sociology.

After marrying and becoming a father, Miruho took to selling flour in Panzi on the outskirts of Bukavu to help make ends meet. He does not complain but would rather have work that is in line with his education and hopes.

A former child soldier studies at a reintegration facility (AFP/JOHN WESSELS)


Former child soldier Joseph Bisole makes charcoal as part of a WWF (World Wildlife Fund) project (AFP/ALEXIS HUGUET)


Between 3,000 and 5,000 children become combatants each year, according to a MONUSCO estimate (AFP/MARCO LONGARI

'No standing'

At the age of 13, Christian Mulindwa was coming home from school when he was kidnapped by an armed group. He managed to get away two years later and was taken in by the BVES.

In 2010, he and two other young people created an association which supports and employs mostly former child soldiers.

The work includes hairdressing and fixing computers.

"We had no standing in the community. We joined forces to boost our morale," Mulindwa told AFP.

He admitted that his group had had many setbacks.

"People who were demobilised without getting the right support later took up arms again," he said.

At Cajed's base in Goma, four youngsters aged 14 to 17 are full of hope, preparing to rejoin their families in Masisi, farther north. Each has a "reintegration kit" consisting of a saucepan and a hoe.

Avril, whose name has been changed for the purposes of this article, is 12 years old. He fled the armed group that seized him.

While the four teenagers will leave, Avril will stay a while longer at the centre, where he likes to play football. One day, he said, he will be a farmer.

CEO details anti-harassment push at scandal-hit Activision Blizzard

Scandal-hit video game giant Activision Blizzard's CEO has pledged changes 

DAVID MCNEW AFP


Issued on: 28/10/2021 - 
New York (AFP)

Activision Blizzard's CEO announced on Thursday measures intended to strengthen anti-harassment protections at the video game giant -- including a cut to his salary -- following accusations of discrimination against women at the firm.

California-based Activision has been hit by employee protests and a state lawsuit alleging the company enabled toxic workplace conditions and sexual harassment against women.

Company CEO Bobby Kotick apologized and said he has asked the board to slash his pay to the California legal minimum of $62,500 until the panel "has determined that we have achieved the transformational gender-related goals".

Shareholders reportedly approved a roughly $154 million compensation package for him earlier this year.

The company is behind franchises such as "Call of Duty," "World of Warcraft" and "Candy Crush.

Kotick also announced a "zero tolerance" policy against harassment, which includes ensuring that employees who report such incidents are "encouraged, protected, and heard."

Several of the company's investigations have shown that employees who have reported harassment have been subject to retaliation.

He added that any employee found to have retaliated against a person who has filed a complaint "will be terminated immediately."

"Our goal is to have the strictest harassment and non-retaliation policies of any employer", Kotick wrote.

Activision Blizzard also announced that it will waive the requirement that alleged victims of harassment or discrimination go through arbitration, which means they will be able to take their case to civil court, a more transparent process.

The CEO also pledged on Thursday to increase by 50 percent the proportion of women and non-binary people, which is currently 23 percent at Activision.

The company will spend $250 million to promote diversity in its hiring.

Activision Blizzard has reached an agreement with a US federal discrimination watchdog to create an $18 million fund to settle claims alleging sexual harassment and gender discrimination.

In mid-October, the video game publisher revealed that "more than 20 people" had left the company in light of reports and accusations, and that more than 20 other employees had been disciplined while remaining employed by the company.

In early October, the governor of California signed into law a stricter framework for the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), which many companies use in disputes with one or more employees.

© 2021 AFP

China submits new climate plan days before COP26 summit



China is by far the largest polluter on Earth and his sidestepped calls to end new coal plant construction STR AFP/File



Issued on: 28/10/2021 

Paris (AFP)

China on Thursday submitted a renewed emissions cutting plan that promised to peak carbon pollution before 2030 but which experts said stopped short of the radical decarbonisation required of the world's largest polluter.

Beijing's new submission to the United Nations, just days before the COP26 climate summit, confirmed its goal to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060 and slash its emissions intensity -- the amount of emissions per unit of economic output -- by more than 65 percent.

Analysts said these amounted to minor improvements on China's existing plan and were far from sufficient from the country responsible for more than a quarter of all carbon pollution.

As part of the 2015 Paris Agreement, all countries agreed to slash emissions in order to limit temperature rises to "well below" two degrees Celsius and to strive for a safer 1.5-C warming cap.

Under the accord's "ratchet" mechanism, signatories agreed to submit new and more ambitious emissions cutting plans -- known as Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs -- every five years.

Last year, President Xi Jinping indicated that China would achieve carbon neutrality around 2060 and peak emissions around 2030.

But China had been a major NDC holdout, missing several submission deadlines during the year-long delay of COP26 due to the pandemic.

It was hoped its new plan could build momentum ahead of the summit in Glasgow, which begins on Sunday.

According to the document, published on the UN's climate change website, China will increase its share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to 25 percent, up from the 20 percent previously pledged.

It also plans to increase its forest stock by six billion cubic metres compared with 2005 levels and "bring its total installed capacity of wind and solar power to over 1.2 billion kilowatts by 2030".

However it was not immediately clear how Beijing plans to draw down its emissions in line with what science says is needed to avoid catastrophic levels of heating this century.
'Casts a shadow'

"China's new climate commitment under the Paris agreement turns the 2060 carbon neutrality target and CO2 emissions peak before 2030 into new formal pledges, but doesn't shed more light on the emissions trajectory over this decade," Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, said on Twitter.

Li Shuo, an analyst with Greenpeace Asia, said China's new NDC "missed an opportunity to demonstrate ambition".

"China's decision on its NDC casts a shadow on the global climate effort," he tweeted.

"The planet can't afford this being the last word. Beijing needs to come up with stronger implementation plans to ensure an emission peak before 2025."

China has been accused of sidestepping calls to stop building new coal-fired power plants, the single largest source of carbon pollution.

Nick Mabey, chief executive of the E3G environmental think tank, said China's new emissions plan was virtually "unchanged" from previous promises.

"This lowers other countries' confidence in the delivery of China's deep decarbonisation pathway," he said.

The UN says greenhouse gas emissions need to be cut nearly in half by 2030 to keep 1.5C within reach.

This week it said countries' latest pledges put Earth on course to warm 2.7C this century.

Its Emissions Gap report also called on countries to start slashing emissions immediately and to align their net-zero plans with the 1.5C pathway.

© 2021 AFP

Palestinian Authority unveils huge restored mosaic at Jericho desert castle

By AFP

One of the largest mosaic panels in the world has been unveiled following a multi-year restoration project at Hisham's Palace in the West Bank city of Jericho, on October 28, 2021. (Abbas Momani/AFP)

Palestinian authorities unveil one of the largest floor mosaics in the world, in the West Bank city of Jericho, after years of restoration.

Resembling a fine carpet, the vast mosaic covers 836 square meters (8,998 square feet) at the Hisham Palace, an Ummayad Islamic desert castle dating from the eighth century.

The images, seen on dozens of panels, include a lion attacking a deer to symbolize war and two gazelles which symbolize peace, as well as delicate floral and geometric designs.


One of the largest mosaic panels in the world has been unveiled following a multi-year restoration project at Hisham’s Palace in the West Bank city of Jericho, on October 28, 2021. 

(Abbas Momani/AFP)

Hisham Palace had lain forgotten for centuries until it was rediscovered in the 19th century and explored in the 1930s. It was then that the mosaic was uncovered beneath the dust.

One of the largest mosaic panels in the world has been unveiled following a multi-year restoration project at Hisham’s Palace in the West Bank city of Jericho, on October 28, 2021. 

(Abbas Momani/AFP)

But it still remained neglected until five years ago when the site was closed to visitors as a $12 million Japan-funded restoration effort was launched.

Coca growers capture 180 soldiers destroying crops in Colombia


Issued on: 28/10/2021 -
Raul ARBOLEDA AFP/File

Bogota (AFP)

Colombian coca growers have taken hostage about 180 soldiers who were eradicating crops of the cocaine-yielding plant near the Venezuelan border, a military official said Thursday.

General Omar Sepulveda told reporters six platoons under his command were "kidnapped" Tuesday in the municipality of Tibu in the northeast by communities resisting the destruction of the illegal plantations they rely on to make a living.

The soldiers were surrounded by farmers armed with sticks and machetes, Sepulveda said.

The troops are being held in a rural school.

In a video shown to AFP by the military, a group of soldiers in camouflage gear and armed with rifles are seen huddled together, with civilians keeping an eye on them.

A spokesman for the community, who identified himself as "Junior" told W Radio the kidnappers were willing to negotiate over the troop's release.

He said the coca growers had detained the soldiers in protest as they felt the government had not fulfilled a promise to help them replace coca leaf plantations with legal crops.

The office of Colombia's human rights ombudsman said on Twitter it was sending a delegation to Tibu to try and secure the soldiers' release.

Tibu is in the Catatumbo region known for being the world's largest area of drug cultivation, with more than 40,000 hectares of coca plantations, according to UN data.

Holdouts from the disbanded FARC rebel group, an active guerrilla group called the National Liberation Army (ELN), and other armed bands fight over drug trafficking revenues along the long and porous border with Venezuela.

President Ivan Duque, in office since 2018, has redoubled efforts to clamp down on the drug trade, with soldiers destroying coca plantations that are the only way of making a living for thousands of peasants and migrant laborers.

Clashes with coca growers are frequent.

With a record number of 1,010 tons in 2020, Colombia remains the world's largest cocaine exporter, and the United States its largest consumer.

Its economy hammered by the coronavirus outbreak, some 42 percent of Colombia's population now live in poverty, and more than 16 percent is unemployed.

© 2021 AFP