It’s an open secret: the UAE is fuelling Sudan’s war – and there’ll be no peace until we call it out

The Emirates is arming and supporting one side in the conflict, but UK and US officials have shied from confronting it

Husam Mahjou

THE GUARDIAN

Fri 24 May 2024 

The war in Sudan has become one of the worst ongoing humanitarian crises in the world. In a little over a year of fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), there have been 6.8 million people internally displaced, 2 million fleeing the country, and 24.8 million, almost half the population, in dire need of humanitarian assistance.

The United Arab Emirates is the foreign player most invested in the war. In fact, without its direct and all-around supp]ort, t]]]]he RSF would not have been able to wage war to the same extent.

Sudan is key to the UAE’s strategy in Africa and the Middle East, aimed at achieving political and economic hegemony while curbing democratic aspirations. Since 2015, it has sourced fighters from both factions to join its conflict in Yemen. It is the primary importer of Sudan’s gold and has multibillion-dollar plans to develop ports along Sudan’s Red Sea coast. By supporting the RSF in Sudan, it has undermined the democratic transition that followed the 2019 ouster of Omar al-Bashir, Sudan’s dictator for 30 years.

Upon the outbreak of war, it reportedly established logistical operations to send weapons to the RSF through its networks in Libya, Chad, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Uganda and the Haftar and Wagner militias. It has reportedly disguised armament and supplies as humanitarian aid. In addition, RSF business, finance, logistics and PR operations are carried out from the UAE. Injured fighters are reportedly airlifted to be treated in an Abu Dhabi military hospital. And Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), the RSF commander, is said to have visited a few African countries on board an Emirati airplane belonging to a company owned by an Emirati royal and adviser to the president.

A UN report in January found the accusations of UAE military support to RSF credible. The UAE has denied this support, but many US lawmakers have publicly called it out. US and British officials have been more cautious, tending to focus on the “negative roles” of external actors or partners that support the RSF.

Nonetheless, the UAE has been bullish in rejecting the accusations, explicit or not. Last April, it furiously cancelled ministerial meetings with the UK because it did not leap to its defence at a UN meeting about Sudan.


What caused the civil war in Sudan and how has it become one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises?

Meanwhile, famine, diseases and fighting are closing in on civilians. Furthermore, the so-called international community has done little to stop it, with only 12% of the $2.7bn aid sought for Sudan having been raised. The pattern of targeting civilians, torching villages, and committing mass murders and sexual violence has been witnessed in all the areas that came under RSF control. Human Rights Watch suggested RSF has committed genocide, crimes against humanity, widespread war crimes and ethnic cleansing. SAF has committed its share of war crimes, bombing civilians indiscriminately, and arresting, torturing and killing civilians too. The US officially determined that both the SAF and RSF have committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.


Fighting for control of El Fasher, the last SAF stronghold in the western region of Darfur, escalated last week. Hundreds of thousands of people had taken refuge there after fleeing the atrocities committed by RSF in other parts of Darfur, an area twice the size of the UK. The battle for El Fasher may have significant implications for the region. A win for the RSF gives it effective control over most states to the west of the Nile River, which represents more than half the area, population and resources of Sudan.

Peace prospects are dim. The most recognised effort to achieve peace can be seen in the Jeddah platform: multiple rounds of talks organised by the US and Saudi Arabia, which began shortly after the war broke out. However, the SAF and RSF have consistently failed to honour the commitments set out in the May 2023 declaration to ensure civilians are protected and international humanitarian law is respected. Nor have they honoured several agreements for ceasefire, facilitation of the delivery of humanitarian assistance, or confidence-building measures, such as vacating civilian houses occupied by RSF combatants.

Tom Perriello, the US special envoy for Sudan, proposes reviving the Jeddah platform, focusing on building and aligning political will in the region to compel a peace deal, and enlisting the efforts of key African and Arab leaders in the talks.


Sudan had largest number of people facing extreme food shortages in 2023, UN report shows

However, Sudan has a history of prolonged wars and endless peace talks, and Jeddah risks becoming another entry in its list of “too many agreements dishonoured” unless the international community pivots away from its failed model of pressuring for peace deals that reproduce violence and authoritarianism. The generals of both the SAF and RSF must be held accountable for their numerous crimes against the Sudanese people, and should not be rewarded again by allowing them to be part of any arrangement sought to end the war.

Most crucially, the international community must confront the UAE’s detrimental role in the conflict, which it has carried out with impunity, leveraging its alliances with both the west and Russia. If not, Sudan risks descending into a state of perpetual war.

Husam Mahjoub is co-founder of Sudan Bukra, an independent nonprofit Sudanese TV channel

THE LAST COLONY VIVA INDEPENDENCE

 

‘Not our president’: after Macron’s visit, New Caledonia’s Kanak demand their own futur


Mathurin Derel in Nouméa and Ben Doherty

Fri 24 May 2024
THE GUARDIAN 

“I don’t know why our fate is being discussed by people who don’t even live here.”

The 52-year-old Indigenous Kanak – who gave his name as Mike – spoke from a roadblock just north of New Caledonia’s capital, in the hours before France’s president arrived in the Pacific territory that has been paralysed by violent protests.



‘We will fight until Kanaky is free’: how New Caledonia caught fire

The demonstrations began on 13 May sparked by voting reforms proposed by the French parliament. Looting, arson and clashes have left six people dead, hundreds injured and widespread damage. The unrest comes amid underlying concerns over inequality and longstanding efforts in New Caledonia to secure independence.

The voice of local Kanaks “is not being listened to”, Mike said.

Macron’s rushed visit was, even in the words of his own advisers, “double or quits … a bet”.

But while he sought meetings across the political divide and acknowledged that inequalities had widened, his language, too, was revealing.

“The return of republican order,” he said pointedly, “is the priority.”

He left New Caledonia after 18 hours on the ground, promising that the reforms that would give voting rights to tens of thousands of non-Indigenous residents would not be pushed through by force, but the situation would be reviewed again within a month.

On the roadblocks, protesters say a delay is not enough, and that the reforms should be withdrawn.

View image in fullscreenEmmanuel Macron arrives at the central police station in Noumea. Photograph: Marin Ludovic/ABACA/REX/Shutterstock


“The statements of president Macron are disappointing,” said a 51-year-old Kanak on Friday, from a roadblock.

“We are exactly at the same point. He continues to let the situation deteriorate without making a strong gesture to calm things down.”

“The solution won’t come from the state, it will come from the Caledonians,” activist Jean-Pierre Xowie, a member of pro-independence FLNKS, told French television from New Caledonia ahead of the presidential visit.

Macron said security forces would remain as long as necessary. But FLNKS spokesperson Jimmy Naouna insisted the presence of French security forces – more than 3,000 are now on the ground, mostly in and around Noumea – was inflaming the situation.

“You can’t keep sending in troops just to quell the protests, because that is just going to lead to more protests,” he told the ABC’s Pacific Beat.

“By deploying the army, what are we doing here? This is not a war-torn country. We are not terrorists, as they say” said Joseph, an activist posted at a checkpoint in Dumbéa, north of Nouméa.
View image in fullscreenProtesters wave Kanak flags at a roadblock in Noumea. Photograph: MMIIAS/ABACA/REX/Shutterstock

Naouna said New Caledonia’s current conflagration was a “political situation so there needs to be a political solution”.

But on the barricades that have shot up around the territory, blocking major roads and infrastructure, activists make clear that there are economic and social aspects to these protests too; anger at the state among Kanaks is not confined to the voting reform issue.
Young people say ‘they are ready to die’


Lélé, a 41-year-old activist, unaffiliated with a political party, is extremely active on social media, showing the world what is happening in New Caledonia.

“The Kanak are not being recognised for their true worth, they want a fair redistribution of wealth. What we ask of Macron is to recognise the legitimacy of the Kanak,” said Lélé.

While many Kanak do not condone the recent violence, just as many understand the anger of disillusioned youth.

“We hear young people saying they are ready to die at the checkpoints … That shows how deeply they are affected in their dignity,” said Djamil, who is married to a Kanak woman and sympathises with the independence movement.

“Macron is stuck in his opinions. He hasn’t really taken the true measure of what is happening … He made a big mistake by letting the country get bogged down.”
View image in fullscreenA patrol by gendarmes on Thursday secures the route taken by president Macron. Photograph: Chabaud Gill/ABACA/REX/Shutterstock

At immediate issue for France’s president was the proposed electoral reform bill, but the island territory is marked by deep disparities; the poverty rate among indigenous Kanaks, the largest community, is 32.5%, compared to 9% among non-Kanaks, according to the 2019 census.


Those disparities are even clearer within education and employment statistics. Only 8% of Kanaks hold a university degree and 46% hold no high school diploma. Meanwhile, 54% people of European background are university educated, with that proportion falling to 24% among people of mixed-heritage, the 2019 census shows.

Apparently referring to past efforts at widening opportunity, Macron said on Thursday that “rebalancing has not reduced economic and social inequalities, they have even grown”.

The broader impasse remains New Caledonia’s contested independence process.

Referendums between 2018 and 2021 saw a majority of voters choose to have New Caledonia remain part of France, instead of backing independence. The pro-independence movement rejected the results of the last referendum, held in 2021, which they had boycotted on the grounds that it was held at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. The movement had called on Kanaks not to participate in the vote, arguing that Covid had made pro-independence campaigning impossible, as entire villages observed customary mourning rites.

The three referendums were held under the Noumea accord struck with France in 1998, and the third referendum, in 2021, arguably brought that process to its conclusion. A previous referendum on independence, in 1987, had also failed.



Under the 1998 accord, new arrivals to New Caledonia were barred from enrolling to vote, in order to maximise Kanaks’ voting power. With the referendums concluded, the French government has moved to finally grant the vote to overseas-born, long-term residents voting rights.

Still, many Kanak people in New Caledonia continue to push for independence.
Drone footage of New Caledonia capital shows damaged buildings as Macron arrives – video

“Macron is welcome, but he is not our president,” said Axel, 21, who defines himself as a child of Kanaky, the name given to New Caledonia by the independence activists.

Protesters will finish the fight of 30 years ago, said Axel, referring to a period of violent unrest in the territory.

“Those who respect the Kanak people can live in peace with us,” the 51-year-old Kanak protester said on Friday.

“As long as there is no independence, there will be no security.”

With agencies

How is the violent unrest in New Caledonia impacting global nickel prices?



 Smoke rises during protests in Noumea, New Caledonia, on May 15, 2024. Global nickel prices have soared since deadly violence erupted in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia. (AP Photo/Nicolas Job, File)


Burnt cars are lined up after unrest in Noumea, New Caledonia, on May 15, 2024. Global nickel prices have soared since deadly violence erupted in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia. (AP Photo/Nicolas Job, File)


 A burnt car store is pictured in Noumea, New Caledonia, on May, 14, 2024. Global nickel prices have soared since deadly violence erupted in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia. (AP Photo/Cedric Jacquot, File)

 French gendarmes patrol the streets in Noumea, New Caledonia, on May, 16, 2024. Global nickel prices have soared since deadly violence erupted in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia. (AP Photo/Cedric Jacquot, File)

Residents stand in a blockade in Noumea, New Caledonia, on May, 15, 2024. Global nickel prices have soared since deadly violence erupted in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia. (AP Photo/Nicolas Job, File)

BY VICTORIA MILKO
May 22, 2024

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Global nickel prices have soared since deadly violence erupted in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia last week.

The overseas territory, which has been under French rule for over 170 years, is a major global producer of the critical material that is needed to make electric vehicle batteries, solar panels, steel and other everyday items.

Here’s a closer look at the global importance of New Caledonia’s nickel industry and why social unrest in the territory has impacted prices.

WHY ARE THERE PROTESTS IN NEW CALEDONIA?

Riots erupted after French lawmakers approved changes to the French Constitution that would allow residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years to vote in provincial elections.

Opponents fear the measure will benefit pro-France politicians in New Caledonia, where pro-independence Indigenous Kanaks have long pushed to be free of France.

Kanaks are seeking independence for the archipelago of 270,000 people, while many descendants of French and other non-Indigenous people who have settled on the island want to remain part of France.

On May 15, France declared a 12-day minimum state of emergency on the island . It rushed in 1,000 troops to reinforce security forces that lost control of some parts of the capital, Nouméa.

WHY DOES NEW CALEDONIA MATTER TO THE GLOBAL NICKEL MARKET?

New Caledonia holds between 20-30% of the world’s nickel reserves. It is a huge part of the archipelago’s economy, compromising up to 90% of its exports and employing around a quarter of its workforce.

The European Union has named nickel as a critical raw material, which means it is economically and strategically important for the European economy but is considered to have a high-risk associated with its supply.

“Some of the discussion around France wanting to maintain its control over New Caledonia is motivated by its hopes to secure the large nickel deposits there, perhaps with an eye to future electric vehicle production,” said Nicholas Ferns, a research fellow at Monash University in Australia.

The United States and EU members have worked to secure their own critical material supply chains to catch up with China, which controls or is invested in a large share of the world’s supplies.

In 2021, EV maker Tesla invested in the Goro nickel mine when it was sold to a local consortium majority owned by local stakeholders.

WHY HAVE GLOBAL NICKEL PRICES SOARED?

Concerns over disruptions of supplies from New Caledonia due to the unrest and sanctions on metals including nickel from Russia have pushed global prices above $20,000 per ton for the first time since September.

The price of nickel on the London Metal Exchange rose to $21,275 per metric ton as of Tuesday from $18,510 on May 8, heading straight up after the unrest began.

The jump in prices came at the same time the Paris-based International Energy Agency said in a report that there could be future supply shortages of critical materials— including nickel— driven by “rapid” EV demand growth, mine closures and slowing investment.

“The high price of nickel will have most profound all-round impacts on the consumer,” said Lawrence Loh, a professor of strategy and policy at the National University of Singapore Business School. “We expect a trickle-down effect on the price increases of many consumer items which will lead to broader inflationary pressures.”

HOW IS NICKEL RELATED TO THE VIOLENT UNREST?

Although sharp jumps in commodities prices are disruptive for industries, New Caledonia’s nickel industry was in trouble even before the political crisis due to a 45% drop in global nickel prices last year.

That slammed the nickel industry-reliant economy. New Caledonia’s mining industry is struggling to compete against Indonesia, the world’s largest nickel producer, due to decades of export restrictions and high energy costs that have made its nickel more expensive and less profitable to produce. “The nickel industry is inevitably intertwined with the independence debate in New Caledonia,” said Ferns. “A downturn in nickel prices in recent years has exacerbated the economic issues in New Caledonia, which can then be connected to some of the factors involved in the recent riots.”

The French government has pledged to help maintain the territory’s nickel industry operations with subsidies.
___

Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

VICTORIA MILKO
Milko is an Associated Press multimedia reporter covering the nexus of the energy transition, climate change and human rights across Asia-Pacific.

Pakistani poet was abducted because of human rights activism, says wife

Ahmad Farhad was pushed into vehicle hours after posting about threats from country’s spy agency, says Syeda Urooj Zainab

Shah Meer Baloch in Islamabad

THE GUARDIAN 

Fri 24 May 2024 

The wife of a Kashmiri poet and journalist who was abducted from outside his house last week has accused the country’s spy agency of responsibility, saying it acted because of his activism.

Ahmad Farhad was pushed into a vehicle in Islamabad after returning from a dinner in the early hours of Wednesday 15 May and driven away.


His wife, Syeda Urooj Zainab, said that hours before his abduction Farhad had posted on X about receiving threats from the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, using the euphemism “the company” to describe it.

“My husband has been abducted for writing and raising his voice against human rights violations across the country,” Zainab said. “He actively reported on the recent protests in his hometown in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Farhad has been receiving threats from the company for a long time, he was asked to keep silent which he refused.”

Hours after his disappearance, Farhad’s family petitioned the Islamabad high court to investigate what had happened. On Monday a defence ministry official told the court that Farhad was not in the custody of the ISI. The court was unconvinced, however, and on Tuesday it ordered security forces to produce Farhad within four days and threatened to summon the prime minister in the event he was not released.

The powerful ISI has long been accused of enforced disappearances of activists, political workers and students.

Zainab said that two days after the alleged abduction, Farhad contacted her through WhatsApp and asked her to withdraw her petition in the court in return for his recovery. She said the duration of each call was not more than 30 seconds.

“I could hear that he was forced to talk and send messages. He asked me to withdraw my petition and he would return home on Saturday as he was away for some private business,” she said. Zainab submitted an application to withdraw the petition but Farhad did not return on Saturday.

Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, the judge hearing the case, said the government needed to change people’s perception of state institutions that are accused of abducting people.

Zainab said she hoped that Farhad would be reunited with his family on Friday after the court interfered.

Harris Khalique, another poet and civil society activist, said: “Abducting artists or poets is not just a disappointing act on part of the state, it is a sign of intellectual decline in society at large.”

 

What is the pandemic accord and why have negotiations been so difficult?

The accord – conceived during Covid to prevent and respond to pandemics – will top the agenda at the World Health Assembly

Supported by

About this content

Kat Lay Global health correspondent

Thu 23 May 2024 17

Global health leaders will gather in Geneva on 27 May at the annual World Health Assembly, where a new agreement for countries to work together to prepare for, prevent, and respond to pandemics – known as the “pandemic accord” – will top the agenda.

It was first proposed by world leaders in early 2021, with a promise to avoid the mistakes of the Covid-19 pandemic next time around.


The negotiating process, involving almost 200 countries, has proved challenging, and the plan has been subject to what the World Health Organization’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, called “a torrent of fake news, lies and conspiracy theories”.

Talks are likely to go down to the wire, and a finished text may not be ready by the assembly deadline. But those involved say this is an opportunity to make the world safer – and fairer – that humanity cannot afford to miss.
What is the idea behind the accord?

The Covid-19 pandemic had a devastating impact globally. About 7 million deaths have been attributed directly to the virus, but indirect deaths are thought to be at least double that. The disruption caused by the virus saw poverty and hunger increase. Health systems were no longer able to reliably provide the regular care people needed, and people living in poorer countries were often the hardest hit.

The promise of the accord was to make sure that the world was better prepared for, and protected from, future pandemics – with equitable access to the tools needed to stop potential pandemic outbreaks in their tracks, as well as vaccines and treatments.

Announcing the plans, world leaders said a treaty would be “our legacy that protects our children and grandchildren” and promised to “be guided by solidarity, fairness, transparency, inclusiveness and equity”.
Has it worked out that way?

Many campaigners have expressed disappointment as details of the negotiations have emerged. This month, Global Justice Now accused rich countries of “refusing to learn the lessons of the Covid-19 pandemic” and of blocking moves to take on the vested interests of big pharma companies.

Others have questioned the need for a treaty at all, suggesting that it will not necessarily solve the problems that appeared during the Covid pandemic, with countries likely to ignore any elements of a treaty they disagree with during an emergency.

Dr Precious Matsoso from South Africa, the co-chair of the intergovernmental negotiating body overseeing the talks, said that progress was being made and promised “a meaningful, lasting agreement”.

And there is a sense it needs to be seen through. Michel Kazatchkine, a former member of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, said: “It is worthwhile, because it is providing a foundation. It’s highly unlikely that it will answer all of the challenges that are on the plate – but I think a failure would be really terrible for the multilateral system, for the world of solidarity that we all want to see in the future, for WHO, for the United Nations system. So we need to work very hard until the last minute to get something.”
What stage are negotiations at?

This week, negotiators have been meeting nearly every day from 9am to 9pm in a bid to finish negotiations in time for the assembly.

It follows multiple negotiating sessions that have seen draft texts put forward and pulled apart. The latest publicly available draft suggests there has been agreement in many areas, including around the need for countries to “strengthen science, public health and pandemic literacy in the population”. It includes plans to establish a “conference of the parties (Cop)” to regularly review the agreement’s implementation, and promises of additional financial resources for lower-income countries.

But there are still areas with real sticking points, including the issue of “pathogen access and benefit sharing”. If poorer countries grant richer nations – and their big pharmaceutical companies – access to materials and information on pathogens that could become a pandemic, can those poorer countries be guaranteed access to any resulting vaccines and medicines? More recent drafts of the accord have suggested such a system could be agreed in principle, but details have been pushed back for later discussion.

It is not yet clear whether the accord will be a treaty – giving it greater force in international law – or a regulation.
Does the accord take away countries’ sovereignty?

The accord has been the subject of vast amounts of misinformation and disinformation, including false claims that the agreement would give the WHO the power to impose lockdowns, or require countries to give away a fifth of their vaccines.

A WHO spokesperson responded to recent similar claims by the UK’s Nigel Farage by saying such claims were “false and have never been requested nor proposed. This agreement will not, and cannot, grant sovereignty to WHO.”

But in many countries, the discussion has become politicised and concerns about sovereignty have hit mainstream politics. This month, the UK health minister, Andrew Stephenson, told the Commons that the current text was “not acceptable” to the UK government, stressing that “protecting our sovereignty is a British red line”. In New Zealand, too, negotiators have been told to prioritise sovereignty.

The draft text of the agreement reaffirms “the principle of the sovereignty of states in addressing public health matters” and recognises “the sovereign right of states over their biological resources”.

Five key points in proposed pandemic agreement

By  AFP
May 23, 2024

The equitable distribution of pandemic-related products such as vaccines has been at the heart of the pandemic agreement negotiations - Copyright AFP AHMAD AL-RUBAYE

Countries are trying to finalise a global agreement on how to prepare for and avert pandemics by Friday evening, after two years of negotiations triggered by the horrors of Covid-19.

Here are five key sections of the draft agreement being discussed by national negotiators at the World Health Organization’s headquarters in Geneva, according to a draft seen by AFP:

– Pathogen access, benefit sharing –

The core of the agreement is the proposed Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing System (PABS) — a new platform allowing the swift sharing of pathogen data with pharmaceutical companies, enabling them to quickly start working on pandemic-fighting products.

This has been the trickiest part to negotiate.

Developing countries have expressed concerns about handing over data if there is a risk they might be cut off from accessing the resultant vaccines, as was largely the case at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Under PABS, countries would commit to rapidly sharing data on emerging problematic pathogens, and that the vaccines and other benefits derived from accessing that information would be shared on a more equitable footing.

But while the principle is widely supported, the detail is not.

Countries are debating whether PABS should involve pharmaceutical manufacturers giving 10 percent of their production to the WHO for free for global distribution — for example, to protect frontline health workers worldwide.

A further 10 percent could be given to the WHO at a not-for-profit price.

– Prevention and surveillance –

Under this section, countries would take steps to progressively strengthen their pandemic prevention and surveillance capacities.

Subject to resources, countries would develop, strengthen and implement comprehensive national pandemic prevention plans.

This would include things like routine immunisation, managing biological risks in labs, preventing antimicrobial resistance, and stopping transmission of diseases from animals to humans.

This section has largely been agreed upon by working groups, but is awaiting final sign-off.

Negotiators are also debating whether, or how, to broaden the scope of the agreement to include surveillance of animal and environmental health in the bid to spot pandemic threats.

But some worry this is stepping beyond the WHO’s remit.

– Financing –

Article 20 of the draft agreement deals with sustainable financing.

Some developing countries simply don’t have the resources to implement Western levels of pandemic preparedness and pathogen surveillance.

Developed nations meanwhile are reluctant to foot the bill for them without concrete commitments in return.

As the draft stands, countries would agree to maintain or increase domestic funding for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

They would also mobilise additional money to help developing countries implement the agreement, through grants and concessional loans.

– Supply chain and logistics –

In an attempt to smooth out the flaws exposed by Covid-19, a Global Supply Chain and Logistics Network would be set up for equitable, timely and affordable access to pandemic-related health products.

During pandemic emergencies, countries would prioritise sharing pandemic-related health products through the network so that they can be distributed equitably based on public health risk and need.

Each country would also be asked to avoid stockpiling pandemic-related health products that unnecessarily exceed the quantities needed.

Switzerland, for instance, destroyed more vaccines against the virus causing the Covid-19 pandemic than it ever administered during the crisis.

– Vaccine mandates, lockdowns, travel bans –

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has repeatedly warned of unprecedented misinformation and disinformation surrounding the pandemic agreement negotiations — notably over what the agreement would allow the WHO and its chief to do.

Amid accusations that the deal would enable the UN health agency to encroach on countries’ sovereignty over their health policies, the draft text specifies that “nothing” in the agreement should be interpreted as giving the WHO “any authority to direct, order, alter or otherwise prescribe” national or domestic laws, or impose other requirements such as banning travellers or imposing vaccination mandates.

Pandemic agreement talks come to the crunch

AFP
May 23, 2024


The talks are being held behind closed doors at the WHO's headquarters in Geneva - Copyright AFP Fabrice COFFRINI
Robin MILLARD

Countries trying to thrash out a global agreement on handling future pandemics are hoping to seal the deal Friday after weeks of creeping progress in exhausting talks.

Having ploughed past several previous deadlines, the hard stop of next week’s annual gathering of the World Health Organization’s 194 member states is now in clear sight.

Scarred by the devastation caused by Covid-19 — which killed millions, shredded economies and crippled health systems — WHO member countries have spent two years trying to hammer out binding commitments on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

The bureau steering the talks must report back to the World Health Assembly — the WHO’s supreme decision-making body — regardless of whether or not they have a finalised text for the assembly to consider.

Amid arm-twisting, horse-trading and 3:00 am finishes in recent weeks, the talks have gathered momentum.

However, with much ground left to cover, breaking the remaining logjams by the end of Friday seems a long shot.

“The fact that we’re still making progress shows people are willing to push further. And there’s a sense that even if we can’t conclude, we will reach the World Health Assembly with something concise,” one ambassador in the talks told AFP.



– Gradually going green –



The talks are being held behind closed doors at the WHO’s headquarters in Geneva.

One source in the room said negotiators were optimistic, and could see the finishing line and a way to get there.

“The mood in the room: you see it, you feel it, people wanting to get onto the next thing,” the source said.

But civil society groups following the talks from outside the hall seemed less positive.

“They are negotiating, enthusiastically fighting for a speedy conclusion — but it’s not happening,” K. M. Gopakumar, senior researcher with the Third World Network, told AFP.

Giving the talks very little chance of successfully concluding on time, he said he thought countries would likely press for discussions to continue.

Others suggested countries might opt to present the assembly with a skeleton deal and show agreement in principle.

The assembly could then call for the process to pick up and carry on later in the year.

The rolling draft agreement is not being made public, but a version as it stood on Thursday, seen by AFP, showed large sections have been approved.

In recent days, growing chunks of text have been highlighted in yellow — meaning the wording has been agreed to in small working groups — and then ultimately highlighted in green once approved by all countries.

The 32-page draft contains 34 articles, with 12 fully green and 18 partially green. The four others are almost all in yellow.

Gopakumar said negotiators had this week “greened a few non-contentious areas”, but on “all issues which are contentious, there is no consensus”.



– One more heave –



The main disputes revolve around issues of access and equity: access to pathogens detected within countries, and access to pandemic-fighting products such as vaccines derived from that knowledge.

Other tricky topics are sustainable financing, pathogen surveillance, supply chains, and the equitable distribution of not only tests, treatments and jabs, but also the means to produce them.

Ellen ‘t Hoen, a lawyer with the Medicines Law and Policy NGO, lamented that proper negotiations over the text’s wording had only started within the final round of talks.

“Perhaps the ambition of doing this in two years was a bridge too far, the fastest-ever negotiated UN treaty,” she said.

Going into the final phase, Precious Matsoso, co-chairing the talks, acknowledged that “the more we move towards the assembly, the more complex it becomes”.

Co-chair Roland Drice added: “The attempt is to get as far as we can get.”

“Without compromises, it will not work.”

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus this week urged negotiators to give it “one last big push to get it over the line”.

He has also urged wavering countries not to block the consensus needed to clinch an agreement.

But on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken dampened hopes of a deal, saying a conclusion this week seemed “very unlikely”.

Nonetheless, Washington was still working to ensure that “we’re better prepared for next time”, he said.

A citizen journalist imprisoned for ‘provoking trouble’ by reporting on COVID in China is released


A pro-democracy activist holds placards with a picture of Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan outside the Chinese central government’s liaison office in Hong Kong on Dec. 28, 2020. Zhang Zhan was released from prison after serving four years for charges related to reporting on the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, according to a video statement she released Tuesday, May 21, 2024, eight days after her sentence ended. 

(AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

BY HUIZHONG WU
May 22, 2024

BANGKOK (AP) — Zhang Zhan, a citizen journalist, was released from prison after serving four years for charges related to reporting on the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, China, according to a video statement she released Tuesday, eight days after her sentence ended, though there are concerns about how much freedom of movement she has.

Zhang was sentenced to four years in prison on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” a vaguely defined charge often used in political cases, and served her full term. Yet, on the day of her release, her former lawyers could not reach her or her family. Shanghai police had paid visits to activists and her former lawyers in the days leading up to her release.

In a short video, Zhang said she was taken by police to her brother Zhang Ju’s home on May 13, the day she finished her sentence.

“I want to thank everyone for their help and concern,” she said in a soft voice, standing in what appeared to be a hallway of an apartment building.

The video was posted by Jane Wang, an overseas activist who launched the Free Zhang Zhan campaign in the United Kingdom and is in contact with one of Zhang’s former lawyers. However, Wang said in a statement that Zhang still has limited freedom. They became concerned that Zhang would be kept under further control by police even if she was no longer in prison.

The United States Department of State also issued a statement of concern over Zhang’s status in the days after she was due to be released.

Ren Quanniu represented Zhang before being stripped of his license in February 2021. He said he confirmed the video was true by speaking with Zhang’s family.

“She’s not free, she’s relatively free,” he said in a message to the AP. “She’s still under the watch and care of the police.”

During her detention at Shanghai’s Women Prison, Zhang staged a hunger strike and was hospitalized at one point in 2021. Zhang’s family, who could often only speak to her by phone, faced police pressure during her incarceration, and her parents refused to speak to news outlets.

Zhang was among a handful of citizen journalists who traveled to the central Chinese city of Wuhan after the government put it under total lockdown in February 2020, in the early days of the pandemic. She walked around the city to document public life as fears grew about the novel coronavirus.

Others spent time in jail for documenting the early days of the pandemic, including Fang Bin, who published videos of overcrowded hospitals and bodies during the outbreak. Fang was sentenced to three years in prison and released in April 2023.

Chen Qiushi, another citizen journalist, disappeared in February 2020 while filming in Wuhan. Chen resurfaced in September 2021 on a friend’s live video feed on YouTube, saying he had suffered from depression. He did not provide details about his disappearance.

The coronavirus remains a sensitive topic in China. In the first week of May, the Chinese scientist who first published a sequence of the COVID-19 virus protested authorities barring him from his lab, after years of demotions and setbacks.

HUIZHONG WU
China correspondent based in Taiwan

Human rights experts urge FIFA to scrutinize Saudi Arabia before 2034 World Cup vote


 Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, left, and FIFA President Gianni Infantino, stand for the anthem prior to the match between Russia and Saudi Arabia which opened the 2018 soccer World Cup at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow, Russia, on June 14, 2018. World soccer body FIFA has deepened its ties to Saudi Arabia by confirming a sponsorship with the Middle East kingdom’s state oil firm Aramco. (Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

- Mark Pieth, Chairman of FIFA’s Independent Governance Committee, speaks during a press conference at the Home of FIFA in Zurich, Nov. 30, 2011. FIFA was urged by international lawyers Wednesday to uphold its own policy and scrutinize Saudi Arabia’s human rights record before picking the kingdom to host the men’s 2034 World Cup. (Walter Bieri/Keystone via AP, File)

FIFA President Gianni Infantino delivers his speech at the FIFA Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, May 17, 2024.(AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

BY GRAHAM DUNBAR
 May 22, 2024

DUBLIN (AP) — FIFA was urged by international lawyers Wednesday to uphold its own policy and scrutinize Saudi Arabia’s human rights record before picking the kingdom to host the men’s 2034 World Cup.

A 22-page document was delivered to FIFA headquarters in Zurich on behalf of Mark Pieth and Stefan Wehrenberg of Switzerland and British barrister Rodney Dixon. They offered to work with FIFA on an action plan and monitoring of Saudi Arabia by independent experts.

Their paper calls on FIFA to use its leverage now with Saudi Arabia to comply with international human rights standards that the world soccer body’s own policy since 2017 has required of tournament hosts.

“It is obvious that Saudi Arabia falls very far short of those requirements,” the document states. “Given this, as matters currently stand, FIFA simply cannot properly permit it to host the 2034 World Cup.”

They cite Saudi Arabia’s record on freedom of expression and assembly, treatment of prisoners and migrant workers, and male guardianship laws that limit personal freedoms for women.

Saudi Arabia has consistently said it is changing fast as part of the Vision 2030 program to modernize the kingdom’s economy and society driven by crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. Hosting more sports and entertainment events is key to the program to be less dependent on oil riches.

Saudi Arabia is the only candidate to host the 2034 World Cup in a fast-track process FIFA opened last October in a surprise move.

By brokering a three-continent, six nation co-hosting deal for the 2030 tournament, FIFA effectively cleared a path for Saudi Arabia to get the following edition without a rival bid.

The Saudi bid must be formally submitted by July and is set to be confirmed on Dec. 11 in an online vote by FIFA’s 211 member federations.

The lawyers want FIFA to use the leverage it has now with the bid to comply with the soccer body’s own policy drafted seven years by Harvard University professor John Ruggie. He previously shaped the United Nations guiding principles on business and human rights.

“Let’s give FIFA a chance,” Pieth told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “FIFA has written a very impressive document and I would be really happy to see FIFA live up to its standards.”

Pieth previously worked with FIFA between 2011 and 2014 advising on anti-corruption and good governance reforms after a bribery scandal in its presidential election held six months after Russia and Qatar were picked as future World Cup hosts. Key reforms such as term limits for senior officials are now in retreat across soccer and FIFA totally resisted putting independent outsiders on its ruling committee.

After controversy about lack of scrutiny of 2022 World Cup host Qatar — mostly over the treatment of migrant workers needed to build stadiums and infrastructure projects — FIFA acted seven years ago to embed human rights assessments of tournament bidders.

Since 2017, one year after Gianni Infantino was elected FIFA president in fallout from sweeping investigations of corrupt soccer officials, he has built close ties to Saudi Arabia and its crown prince.

Pieth, Wehrenberg and Dixon said their paper to FIFA was written “on behalf of persons who are suffering from serious violations of their basic human rights and freedoms by Saudi Arabia.”

“The authors of this submission are ready to engage constructively with FIFA to ensure that these minimum requirements, at least, are achieved,” they said.

FIFA was contacted for comment.

Bid rules for the 2030 and 2034 World Cups commit FIFA to respecting human rights in “activities in connection with the bidding for and hosting” of tournaments rather than in wider society.

Pieth told The AP any FIFA-backed monitoring group of Saudi Arabia must have “real, credible experts and independence.” The paper to FIFA said it should include “expert members from victims groups, NGOs, UN agencies, international unions and civil society organizations.”

The state-backed Saudi Human Rights Commission — whose leader met Infantino in Jeddah in December during the Club World Cup – was “not an appropriate alternative” to an independent group, the paper said.

Ruggie’s work with FIFA included a human rights advisory board that was closed after delivering a scheduled report early in 2021, removing a forum to oversee Qatar less than two years out from the World Cup.
___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

GRAHAM DUNBAR
Dunbar is an Associated Press sports news reporter in Geneva, Switzerland. He focuses on the governing bodies, institutions and politics of international sports.

Once a popular pastime in America, cricket is returning for the Twenty20 World Cup



Parmanand Sarju, founder of the Long Island Youth Cricket Academy, instructs players during practice at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, N.Y. on Saturday, May 11, 2024. " A temporary stadium for next month’s T20 Cricket World Cup -- the first major international cricket competition the U.S. is hosting -- is being built atop another ball field in the park where Sarju’s academy began more than a decade ago. (AP Photo/Phil Marcelo)


Work continues on a temporary stadium being constructed for the Cricket World Cup in East Meadow, N.Y., Wednesday, May 8, 2024. As the U.S. prepares to host its first Cricket World Cup across three states next month, a temporary stadium is rising in the NYC suburbs where the English sport has found fertile ground among waves of Caribbean and South Asian immigration. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)


 England celebrate with their trophy after defeating Pakistan in the final of the T20 World Cup cricket at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022. The return of fast bowler Jofra Archer has boosted England’s chances of becoming the first team to win consecutive Twenty20 World Cups.(AP Photo/Mark Baker, File)


Pakistan’s former cricketer Shoaib Akhtar poses for photo with the trophy of upcoming International Cricket Council’s T20 cricket World Cup, which display at Gaddafi stadium, in Lahore, Pakistan, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

BY STEVE DOUGLAS
May 22, 2024

Say “silly mid-off” or “deep backward square leg” or “a single to long leg” to the average American and it’ll trigger a quizzical look.

Cricket — the so-called “gentlemen’s game” with complex rules, funnily worded fielding positions and matches that go on for five days — is hardly high up in the national consciousness of the United States, adding to the fascination of the Twenty20 World Cup the country is co-hosting with the Caribbean next month.

Yet it wasn’t always this way.

In the mid-19th century, cricket was regarded as something of a popular pastime in the United States.

Brought over by immigrants, it flourished in New York and Philadelphia in particular. Indeed, the first ever international cricket match — between the United States and Canada — was played in the Big Apple in 1844, and touring teams from England crossed the Atlantic to play.

By the time of the Civil War in the 1860s, baseball had become the dominant bat-and-ball game in the States and cricket was tailing off, becoming instead a sport that took a deeper hold in British colonies in Asia and the Caribbean.

“Baseball — at that time called ‘the lightning sport,’ though it became, for many, too stodgy and slow — could be played in two to three hours, which suited the hasty American temperament,” John Thorn, the official historian for Major League Baseball, told The Associated Press. “Cricket continued as the preferred sport of gentleman, but baseball became the democratic ideal.”


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That cricket is making a comeback, of sorts, in the U.S. through its shortest format — in T20 — maybe makes sense.

Major League Cricket, a T20 competition, started up last year and now there’s a World Cup being staged as the International Cricket Council seeks to expand to a new market where, according to the sport’s global governing body, there are already 30 million cricket fans. It’s in the U.S. where cricket is making its return to the Olympic program for the Los Angeles Games in 2028.

“The commitment to grow cricket in the U.S. is real,” said Los Angeles organizing committee sports director Niccolo Campriani.

That could easily have been said 200 years ago, or maybe more.

According to USA Cricket, the first hard evidence of cricket being played in the U.S. came as early as 1709 when William Byrd, the owner of Westover Plantation in Virginia, wrote in his diary: “I rose about 6 o’clock and Colonel Ludwell, Nat Harrison, Mr. Edwards and myself played at cricket, and I won a bit.”

It is also noted by the governing body that Benjamin Franklin brought cricket’s official rule book — the 1744 Laws — back from England in 1754 and that there’s anecdotal evidence George Washington’s troops played what they called “wicket” in 1778, more than a decade before he became the first U.S. president.

Though anti-English sentiment hardened after the American Revolution in the late 18th century, cricket was still played in 22 states by up to a thousand clubs by the mid-1800s. A drop-off came during and after the Civil War, by which time baseball — a sport played in England earlier than in America, as documented by author David Block — took hold.

According to Thorn, there are “myriad assertions ... but no hard evidence” that baseball descended from cricket or even rounders, another bat-and-ball game.

“The theory of lineal descent of games is a mistaken idea, in my view: rather than an evolutionary tree, the story more resembles a bramble bush,” he told the AP.

There is, however, undoubted crossover between baseball and cricket, not least in the language used in the two sports, such as “pinch-hitter” or “innings.”

Thorn said baseball has tended to follow trends established in cricket, citing overarm throwing, the imparting of spin on the ball and the potential future use of Hawkeye technology, which cricket has deployed since 2001.

On the other hand, cricket’s move five-day tests to shorter, limited-overs formats, such as Twenty20 and the Hundred in England, has seen it become a sport where sluggers can thrive in an all-out-attack environment.

The “home run” in baseball is akin to the “six” in cricket as batters attempt to smash the ball over the boundary rope and into the crowd.

Spectators at Nassau County in New York, Grand Prairie outside Dallas and Broward County in Florida are likely to appreciate those shots more than any other in the coming weeks.
___

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

Biden administration canceling student loans for another 160,000 borrowers


Education Secretary Miguel Cardona testifies during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 30, 2024. The Biden administration is cancelling student loans for another 160,000 borrowers through a combination of existing programs. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

BY COLLIN BINKLEY
May 22, 2024Share


WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is canceling student loans for another 160,000 borrowers through a combination of existing programs.

The Education Department announced the latest round of cancellation on Wednesday, saying it will erase $7.7 billion in federal student loans. With the latest action, the administration said it has canceled $167 billion in student debt for nearly 5 million Americans through several programs.

“From day one of my administration, I promised to fight to ensure higher education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “I will never stop working to cancel student debt — no matter how many times Republican-elected officials try to stop us.”

The latest relief will go to borrowers in three categories who hit certain milestones that make them eligible for cancellation. It will go to 54,000 borrowers who are enrolled in Biden’s new income-driven repayment plan, along with 39,000 enrolled in earlier income-driven plans, and about 67,000 who are eligible through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.



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Biden’s new payment plan, known as the SAVE Plan, offers a faster path to forgiveness than earlier versions. More people are now becoming eligible for loan cancellation as they hit 10 years of payments, a new finish line that’s a decade sooner than what borrowers faced in the past.

The cancellation is moving forward even as Biden’s SAVE Plan faces legal challenges from Republican-led states. A group of 11 states led by Kansas sued to block the plan in March, followed by seven more led by Missouri in April. In two federal lawsuits, the states say Biden needed to go through Congress for his overhaul of federal repayment plans.

A separate action by the Biden administration aimed to correct previous mistakes that delayed cancellation for some borrowers enrolled in other repayment plans and through Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which forgives loans for people who make 10 years of payments while working in public service jobs.

The Biden administration has been announcing new batches of forgiveness each month as more people qualify under those three categories.

According to the Education Department, 1 in 10 federal student loan borrowers has now been approved for some form of loan relief.

“One out of every 10 federal student loan borrowers approved for debt relief means one out of every 10 borrowers now has financial breathing room and a burden lifted,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement.

The Biden administration has continued canceling loans through existing avenues while it also pushes for a new, one-time cancellation that would provide relief to more than 30 million borrowers in five categories.

Biden’s new plan aims to help borrowers with large sums of unpaid interest, those with older loans, those who attended low-value college programs, and those who face other hardships preventing them from repaying student loans. It would also cancel loans for people who are eligible through other programs but haven’t applied.

The proposal is going through a lengthy rulemaking process, but the administration said it will accelerate certain provisions, with plans to start waiving unpaid interest for millions of borrowers starting this fall.

Conservative opponents have threatened to challenge that plan too, calling it an unfair bonus for wealthy college graduates at the expense of taxpayers who didn’t attend college or already repaid their loans.

The Supreme Court rejected Biden’s earlier attempt at one-time cancellation, saying it overstepped the president’s authority. The new plan is being made with a different legal justification.
___

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Russia says Islamic State behind deadly Moscow concert hall attack

Russia on Friday said for the first time that the Islamic State group coordinated the March concert hall assault in Moscow, the country's deadliest terror attack in two decades.


Issued on: 24/05/2024

Police cars are parked outside of the Crocus City Hall in Moscow's northern suburb of Krasnogorsk on March 29, 2024, a week after a deadly attack by gunmen on the Moscow concert hall killed at least 143 people and wounded dozens more.

 © Natalia Kolesnikova, AFP

IS has claimed responsibility on multiple occasions for the March 22 attack which killed over 140 people, but Moscow has repeatedly tried to link Ukraine and the West to the attack.

FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency that "preparations, the financing, the attack and the retreat of the terrorists were coordinated via the internet by members of Khorasan Province (IS-K)," an IS branch active in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Bortnikov did not discard the Ukrainian angle in his statements on Friday, saying that "upon completing the attack, the terrorists received clear instructions to move toward the Ukrainian border, where from the other side a 'window' had been prepared for them".

"The investigation continues, but it can already be said with certainty that Ukrainian military intelligence is directly implicated in the attack", he said.

Ukraine has repeatedly denied involvement.

Worst terrorist attack in Russia since 2004

Gunmen in camouflage stormed the Crocus City Hall venue on the outskirts of Moscow before setting the building on fire.

More than a dozen suspects have been arrested including the four assailants, who are all from the Central Asian nation of Tajikistan, an impoverished former Soviet republic on Afghanistan's northern border.

The United States has said it had publicly and privately warned Russia in early March that extremists were planning an attack on a concert hall in Moscow.

Unnamed US intelligence officials told American media outlets after the massacre that they had told Moscow it was the Crocus City Hall specifically that IS was planning to attack.

Russia dismissed those warnings. Just three days before the attack, President Vladimir Putin accused Washington of "blackmail" and trying to "intimidate" Russians.

(AFP)