Month: November 2019

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that America now has its eye on a new Islamic State leader, telling the Economic Club of New York that “we know where he is.”

Trump didn’t mention the name of the new target, but he is likely referring to Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, the man who has been named to replace Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as head of the terror group. Al-Baghdadi took his own life last month as U.S. commandoes closed in on him in northern Syria.

In a speech Tuesday, Trump said the U.S. got al-Baghdadi, then got “his second” and now, “we have our eye on his third. His third has got a lot of problems because we know where he is, too.”

Little is publicly known about al-Qurayshi, and the group typically identifies its leaders using pseudonyms that refer to their tribal affiliation and lineage. The group does not have a clear hierarchy and few details are known about the remaining top leaders.

U.S. Army special operations forces chased al-Baghdadi into a dead-end tunnel on a compound where he had been hiding, and he set off a suicide vest he was wearing.

The “second” that Trump mentioned was likely Abu Hassan al-Muhajir, a close aide of al-Baghdadi and a spokesman for the group since 2016. He was killed in a joint U.S. and Kurdish military operation just hours after al-Baghdadi’s death. Another “second,” however, could be Fadhil Ahmad al-Hayali, who was described as the group’s No. 2 and was killed in August 2015 by a U.S. airstrike in Iraq.

This is also the second time in two days that Trump has warned about the U.S. targeting a leader of the group. Speaking in New York City on Monday at the opening of the 100th annual parade organized by the United War Veterans Council in Madison Square Park, Trump said “al-Baghdadi is dead. His second in charge is dead. We have our eyes on number 3.”

Al-Baghdadi led IS as it sought to establish an Islamic “caliphate” across Syria and Iraq. It’s unclear what impact his death may have on the group, but U.S. officials and military commanders have said repeatedly that pockets of insurgents remain in Iraq and Syria and are still intent on conducting attacks.

…

The most distant world ever explored 4 billion miles away finally has an official name: Arrokoth.

That means “sky” in the language of the Native American Powhatan people, NASA said Tuesday.

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flew past the snowman-shaped Arrokoth on New Year’s Day, 3 years after exploring Pluto. At the time, this small icy world 1 billion miles (1.6 billion kilometers) beyond Pluto was nicknamed Ultima Thule given its vast distance from us.

“The name ‘Arrokoth’ reflects the inspiration of looking to the skies,” lead scientist Alan Stern of Southwest Research Institute said in a statement, “and wondering about the stars and worlds beyond our own.”

The name was picked because of the Powhatan’s ties to the Chesapeake Bay region.

New Horizons is operated from Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Lab in Laurel, Maryland. The Hubble Space Telescope — which discovered Arrokoth in 2014 — has its science operations in Baltimore.

The New Horizons team got consent for the name from Powhatan Tribal elders and representatives, according to NASA. The International Astronomical Union and its Minor Planet Center approved the choice.

Arrokoth is among countless objects in the so-called Kuiper Belt, or vast Twilight Zone beyond the orbit of Neptune. New Horizons will observe some of these objects from afar as it makes its way deeper into space.

…

Venice was hit by the second highest tide recorded in the lagoon city on Tuesday, which flooded its historic basilica and left many of its squares and alleyways deep underwater.

Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said he would declare a state of disaster and warned of severe damage.

City officials said the tide peaked at 187 cm (6.14 ft) at 10.50 p.m. (2150 GMT), just short of the record 194 cm set in 1966.

“The situation is dramatic,” Brugnaro said on Twitter. “We ask the government to help us. The cost will be high. This is the result of climate change.”

Saint Mark’s Square was submerged by more than one meter (3.3 ft) of water, while the adjacent Saint Mark’s Basilica was flooded for the sixth time in 1,200 years.

Four of those inundations have now come in the last 20 years, most recently in October 2018. There was no immediate word on any damage inside the Church. In 2018, the administrator said the basilica had aged 20 years in a single day.

Video on social media showed deep waters flowing like a river along one of Venice’s main thoroughfares, while another showed large waves hammering boats moored alongside the Doge’s Palace and surging over the stone sidewalks.

“A high tide of 187 cm is going to leave an indelible wound,” Brugnaro said.

Much of Italy has been pummelled by torrential rains in recent days, with wide spreading flooding, especially in the southern heel and toe of the country.

In Matera, this year’s European Capital of Culture, rain water cascaded through the streets and inundated the city’s famous cave-dwelling district.

Further bad weather is forecast for the coming days.

…

A BASE IN EASTERN SYRIA — At a base in eastern Syria, a senior U.S. coalition commander said Monday that American troops who remain in Syria are redeploying to bases, including in some new locations, and working with the Kurdish-led forces to keep up the pressure on the Islamic State militants and prevent the extremists from resurging or breaking out of prisons.

The commander, Air Force Maj. Gen. Eric T. Hill, said even though Bradley armored vehicles have arrived in eastern Syria, the mission’s focus has not changed. He said the “force mix,” including the mechanized armored vehicles deployed in Syria for the first time since the war against IS, has an array of capabilities to deny IS the chance to regroup. 

“The mission still continues. And Daesh is trying to resurge wherever they can,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for the group. He said the forces have captured 700 IS fighters since its last territorial holding fell in March. “We’ve destroyed many and war remnants and we continue to do so as we find them.”

Speaking at a remote base in Syria where the Bradleys arrived last week, he said “our primary way that we do that” is through working with the U.S. partners, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. 
 
The deployment of the mechanized force comes after U.S. troops pulled out from northeastern Syria, making way for a Turkish offensive against Kurdish fighters that began last month. Only several miles away from the base, fighting between Turkish-allied fighters and the SDF was ongoing, despite a cease-fire that has so far curbed the Turkish invasion but didn’t end the violence.

Smoke billowed in the distance, visible from across a major highway that has become a de-facto frontier between Turkish-held areas and areas where U.S. troops are going to operate. An SDF official on the scene said Turkish shelling was continuing.

Further north, three car bombs went off Monday in the town of Qamishli, killing at least six people while a priest was shot dead. IS claimed responsibility for the attack that killed the Armenian Catholic priest and his father as they drove from Qamishli to the city of Hassakeh, in a sign that the extremists still have reach. 

The U.S. withdrawal from northern Syria was widely criticized, even by allies of President Donald Trump. The Kurdish-led force, deserted by Washington in the face of the threat of a military operation by NATO ally, leaned on the Syrian government and Russia for help. The cease-fire reached in late October left Turkey in control of a stretch of land along the border that is roughly 120 kilometers (70 miles) wide and 30 kilometers (20 miles) deep. But fighting south of that zone continued. Kurdish officials say Turkey is seeking to expand its area of control. 
 
Hill’s stress on the continued partnership with the Kurdish-led forces comes as U.S. troops sent reinforcements to bases in the oil-rich region of eastern Syria. 
 
Trump approved an expanded military mission which he said was to secure an expanse of oil fields across eastern Syria. The directive raised questions about how the troops will operate, particularly in an area where there are Russian-backed Syrian troops, who may try to take back oil facilities.

The decision was a partial win for those who were against the withdrawal from Syria. Pentagon officials said as many as 800 may stay in Syria, down from about 1,200 and including about 200 in a southern garrison. 
 
Hill said while some troops are going home or withdrawing to Iraq, others are redeploying to Qamishli area, Deir el-Zour and Derik, an area where no U.S. bases were before.

In a day visit to some of the bases where reinforcements were sent, Associated Press journalists spoke to some of the troops, many of them newly arrived. The military required that the names and exact locations of the bases not be identified.

First Lt. Jacob Moore said a group of his Bradley armored vehicles were asked to provide security for a U.S. convoy passing through the fighting area, Tal Tamr, setting up a security blockade to allow the forces to pass. 
 
“We were prepared for the worst,” said Moore, who arrived last week in Syria, “but we got the best. There was no fighting when we got there.” Instead, he said, locals were happy to see the new deployment. 
 
In the crowded terrain, U.S. officials say de-conflicting with Russia and Turkey is essential to avoid any friction. 
 
But the reality created on the ground by U.S. withdrawal and the Turkish invasion has made for a tense and, at times, surreal terrain, where Russian and Turkish troops patrol together, while Syrian government forces clash with Turkey-backed allies despite a cease-fire brokered by Moscow, a main ally of Damascus. An earlier cease-fire negotiated between Washington and Ankara ensured that the two NATO allies don’t come into confrontation. But it left the Kurdish forces, which were in control of 30 percent of Syria’s territory, pushed away from the borders and reliant on a new political agreement that would protect a five-year experiment in self-administration. 

If the U.S. insists its mission is still fighting IS, for the Kurds their priority has now shifted. It is time for the alliance with the U.S. to bear political fruit, said Mustafa Bali, a spokesman for the SDF, who was present at one of the bases.

He said keeping the oil in the hands of his forces was a good card for political negotiations.  
 
“Here in northeast Syria, we are part of the total picture that is dealing with a crisis and requires finding a track for a political resolution,” Bali said. “The presence of the U.S. forces, a military weight, will have a positive role in finding a political way out.” 
 
Pentagon officials have stressed that securing oil facilities was a way to ensure that the Kurdish fighters maintain control of an important source of revenue. 
 
One of the bases visited by journalists Monday was close to oil fields, but there was no way of telling if there was an increase of security around the facilities. While one base was provided with the Bradley vehicles, Apache helicopters had moved in to another, apparently from a base dismantled further north. 
 
U.S. officials say the enhanced presence of Apaches and artillery are a deterrent to any hostile forces in the area. 
 
Adding to the complicated terrain in Syria, Deir el-Zour province is divided between the Kurdish-led forces on one side of the Euphrates River and the Syrian government and their Iranian-backed militias on the other. In February 2018, U.S. forces responded firmly to an attempted advance on Kurdish-held areas by Syrian troops, at the time backed by Russian contractors. 
 
At the base, soldiers said the troop presence also secures other infrastructure, such as water facilities and major highways.
 
Hill said the continued U.S. presence is also to assist and train Kurdish-led forces, including in securing prisons where over 10,000 IS militants are held. The U.S. does not guard the facilities but helps the Kurdish forces do so. 
 
“One of the missions that we will continue to support with the Syrian Democratic Forces is to contain the prisons and make sure that all the prisoners that are under SDF control remain in those prisons and secure,” he said. 
 

…

Guinea President Alpha Conde announced on Monday that he was replacing his security minister following deadly protests against suspected efforts by Conde to extend his mandate.

Conde, 81, is due to step down next year when his second and final five-year term expires, but he has refused to rule out running again and asked his government in September to look into drafting a new constitution.

Conde’s opponents fear a new constitution could be used as a reset button on his presidency, allowing Conde to run again like other African leaders who have amended or changed constitutions in recent years to stay in power.

Protests in Conakry, the capital, and the bauxite-mining north against such a move have resulted in at least 13 deaths over the past month.

The presidential statement read on national television on Monday evening did not provide a reason for the sacking of Security Minister Alpha Ibrahima Keira, but a senior government official told Reuters it was related to Keira’s “difficulty managing the socio-political crisis.”

Government spokesman Damantang Albert Camara will replace Keira as security minister. Conde also announced that he was replacing his health and justice ministers.

The government has said it would investigate the deaths during the protests, which opposition leaders and residents said were caused by security forces’ opening fire on demonstrators.

Conde’s first election victory in 2010 raised hopes for democratic progress in Guinea after decades of authoritarian rule. But his critics accuse him of cracking down on dissent and violently repressing protests – charges he denies.

A dozen opposition and civil society leaders were sentenced to prison last month for their role in organising the protests.

…

Iraqi officials expressed “deep regret” on Monday at the death of protesters during weeks of unrest but defended Baghdad’s handling of the situation.

Nearly 300 people have been killed in Iraq since the protests against political corruption, unemployment and poor public services began on Oct. 1.

At a U.N. review of member states’ human rights records in Geneva, diplomats from several countries accused the Iraqi government of using excessive force.

Justice Minister Farooq Amin Othman acknowledged there had been “individual violations” by members of the law enforcement agencies but said they were being investigated.

“…We would like to express our deep regret for the number of people killed,” he told international diplomats gathered at what the U.N calls the Universal Periodic Review.

“Our constitution guarantees peaceful assembly and the objective of our authorities is to protect the protesters,” he said.

Other Iraqi officials said plans were under way to free detained protesters and for electoral reform, both of which were among a package of reforms urged by the United Nations.

‘Unlawful, Indiscriminate and Excessive’ Force

But diplomats from several countries including the United States issued stinging criticisms.

“We recommend that Iraq immediately cease using excessive force against peaceful demonstrators, particularly the unlawful use of tear gas canisters and live ammunition, and hold accountable, in a transparent manner, those responsible for this violence,” Daniel Kronenfeld, Human Rights Counselor at the U.S. Mission in Geneva.

The Netherlands called the use of force “unlawful, indiscriminate and excessive”. Germany expressed deep concern and urged immediate steps to prevent further loss of life.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq released a set of recommendations on Sunday, including the release of peaceful protesters and investigations into deaths.

Iraq’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Hussain Mahmood Alkhateeb, said the plan envisaged by Baghdad to address unrest was already being implemented and went “wider” than the U.N. proposals.

“No demonstrator will stay in prison unless there is a criminal investigation against them,” he told Reuters.

Asked whether Iraq would consider trying Islamic State fighters on their own soil, as France and the United States has urged, he said: “Iraq believes that countries should take their nationals and this is a policy we are committed to.”

…

Hong Kong police opened fire on protesters early on Monday, Cable TV reported, as chaos erupted across the city, a day after officers fired tear gas to break up rallies as activists blocked roads and trashed shopping malls in the financial hub.

<!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

Hong Kong Protesters Vandalize Subway Station, Storm Mall

Police made arrests across Hong Kong amid anger over demonstrator’s death and arrest of pro-democracy lawmakers

Police fired live rounds at protesters on the eastern side of Hong Kong island, local media reported.

Police declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.

…

Chancellor Angela Merkel led a series of commemorations in the German capital over weekend to mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which divided the city during the Cold War until 1989. The wall was built by Communist East Germany to prevent its citizens fleeing to the capitalist west. As Henry Ridgwell reports, the hope and optimism in the years following the wall’s destruction have been replaced with fears over the resurgent tensions between Russia and the West

…

Australian officials are warning of “catastrophic fire danger” as dozens of bushfires blazed in the state of New South Wales.

As of early Monday, 64 fires were burning the New South Wales Rural Fire Service said in a tweet. Of those, more than 40 were out of control. 

At 6am there’s 64 bush and grass fires across NSW, 40 not yet contained. Many of these fires won’t be contained ahead of tomorrow’s dangerous fire weather. Catastrophic fire danger has been declared for Tuesday in Sydney and Hunter areas. Use today to get ready. #nswrfspic.twitter.com/Qto5IF8PUH

— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) November 10, 2019

It warned residents in the area to expect conditions to get worse as high temperatures and gusting winds are forecast for Tuesday.

“Don’t wait for the last minute and ring for a firetruck because it may not get there,” said Jeremy Fewtrell, deputy commissioner of New South Wales Fire and Rescue. “We just don’t want to lose more people.”

Three people have been confirmed dead and more than 150 homes have been destroyed.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian declared a state of emergency Monday. It will stay in place for at least a week.  

…

President Donald Trump prepares to welcome Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the White House on November 13, just weeks after Turkey launched an assault in Syria on Kurdish fighters — longtime allies of the United States in the fight against Islamic State terrorists.

While the focus of the world last week shifted to the death of Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a U.S. operation in northwestern Syria, Turkey has continued its attacks on the Kurds.

Erdogan has voiced his country’s determination to continue the fight against terrorism in Syria in the aftermath of Baghdadi’s death.

“The killing of Daesh’s ringleader marks a turning point in our joint fight against terrorism,” Erdogan said in a tweet Sunday, referring to al-Baghdadi’s death.

“Turkey will continue to support anti-terror efforts — as it has done in the past. Having paid the dearest price in the fight against Daesh, PKK/YPG, and other terrorist organizations, Turkey welcomes this development,” he added, referring to the IS group by its  Arabic acronym.

Turkish police have detained more than 100 people suspected of links to IS since al-Baghdadi’s death was announced.

But despite these efforts, experts said, Kurdish armed groups remain Ankara’s main focus in its anti-terror campaign.

Turkey began a military offensive in northeast Syria on October 9 with a stated objective to clear the Turkey-Syria border area of a Kurdish armed group it views as terrorist.

The People’s Protection Units (YPG) is the main force within the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led alliance that has been an effective partner of the United States in its fight against the Islamic State (IS) terror group in Syria.

Turkish officials say the YPG is an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a group based in Turkey that for decades has been engaged in an armed struggle with Turkish security forces for greater Kurdish rights in Turkey.

The PKK is designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union.

Turkey vs. US priorities

Experts charge the multilayered Syrian conflict has led involved countries to prioritize their objectives and forge alliances based on their national interests.

“The root cause of this entire problem is that the PKK [and] YPG is a political problem for the U.S. It’s an alliance management problem, but it’s not a security threat,” said Aaron Stein, director of the Middle East Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.

“For Turkey, the PKK is a national security threat, and if you reverse that, IS is a national security threat for the U.S., and for Turkey, it’s a police problem,” he added.

Michael Reynolds, an associate professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, said there has been a growing fear in Turkey that “the PKK/YPG would use northern Syria as a base and or safe zone from which it could wage armed struggle to drive out the Turks.”

“This fear or concern is not a pet peeve or quirky obsession of Erdogan’s. It is shared across the Turkish political spectrum,” he told VOA.

‘Terror corridor’

Erdogan has often said that his country would not allow a “terror corridor” in northern Syria, referring to the region Syrian Kurdish fighters have carved up with the beginning of Syria’s civil war in 2011.

Ankara has opposed U.S. support for the YPG since the beginning of the war on IS in 2014. But in the early years of the Syrian war, Turkey had other priorities, experts said.

“Turkey was alarmed at the early U.S. support for the YPG, but were more focused on (Syrian President) Bashar al-Assad,” analyst Stein said.

Since the beginning of Syria’s civil war in 2011, Turkey has been a major backer of Syrian rebels seeking to topple the regime Assad.

But as Assad has managed to regain control of much of the war-torn country, with the help of Russia and Iran, Turkey’s priorities have allegedly shifted to accept Syrian regime forces on the northeast Syria border with Turkey if the YPG is removed.

Subsequently, Turkey launched an offensive in August 2016 to remove the YPG and IS from parts of the Turkey-Syria border region. It was the first time since the beginning of Syrian conflict that Turkey entered the country militarily.

Turkish forces and its allied Syrian rebels were able to capture several border towns from IS and YPG fighters.

As the war carried on, Turkey began another offensive against YPG fighters in the northwestern Syrian town of Afrin in January 2018, which had been under the YPG control since 2012.

Some analysts say the recent Turkish offensive in northeast Syria is a continuation of Ankara’s policy to remove YPG from all border areas in northern Syria.

Peace talks factor

In 2013, the PKK declared a cease-fire to its operations against Turkish forces, which was followed by negotiations between the Kurdish militant group and Turkish President Erdogan’s government.

Those talks had a direct impact on how Turkey viewed Syrian Kurdish groups that had ties with the PKK, experts said.

“When Turkey was holding peace talks with the PKK, Salih Muslim [a Syrian Kurdish leader linked with YPG] met with Turkish officials in Turkey, and the border was open,” said Aliza Marcus, author of the book “Blood and Belief: The PKK and the Kurdish Fight for Independence.”

But the YPG’s political arm, the PYD, “was formed by the PKK more than a decade ago. However, it was always supposed to be a group focused on the situation of Syrian Kurds specifically, and it was operating only within Syria and to build self-rule for Syrian Kurds and others,” she told VOA.

“The YPG has always been open about its desire for good relations with Turkey and had worked to ensure the border was quiet,” she said.

What is next?

Following U.S. troop withdrawal from parts of northeast Syria, Syrian Kurds reached out to Russia for help in a bid to stop Turkey’s military operations.

Russia was able to strike a deal with Turkey last week through which both sides will conduct joint patrols to ensure the removal of YPG from the border region.

“If the ostensible point of Peace Spring [Turkey’s ongoing offensive in northeast Syria] was to push YPG off the border, they didn’t really do that because the Russians took that to step in,” Stein said.

However, regardless of how the situation in northeastern Syria will unfold, Turkey is determined to continue combating Syrian Kurdish fighters, experts assert.

“The endgame for Ankara is knocking the YPG down and off balance and blocking the Kurds from establishing anything that might resemble the nucleus of an independent Kurdish state or a safe sanctuary,” analyst Reynolds said.
 
 VOA State Department correspondent Cindy Saine contributed to this report.

…

Former Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Saturday attacked right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro for impoverishing working Brazilians and vowed to unite the left to win the 2022 elections in a speech one day after being freed from jail. 

Lula’s wide-ranging, 45-minute speech to cheering supporters focused broadly on defeating Bolsonaro and improving the economic conditions of the working class. 

Lula, who was president from 2003 to 2010, also took aim at a long list of political enemies, including Bolsonaro, Economy Minister Paulo Guedes and Justice Minister Sergio Moro, a former judge who initially ruled to convict Lula. 

“I want to tell them, I’m back,” the 74-year-old told hundreds of supporters dressed in red, the color of his Workers Party, outside the metalworkers union where he got his political start. 

He said Guedes seeks to remake Brazil economically in the image of Chile, long seen as a model of financially conservative governance, but that those policies are the reason for the widespread street protests paralyzing its Latin American neighbor. 

Court ruling

A judge ordered that Lula be freed on Friday, a day after Brazil’s Supreme Court issued a broader ruling ending the mandatory imprisonment of convicted criminals after they lose their first appeal. Lula had been imprisoned on a corruption conviction carrying a nearly nine-year sentence. 

Bolsonaro told reporters in Brasilia, “Let’s not give space to compromise with a convict.”  

Earlier on Twitter, the president called for supporters to rally around his government’s agenda, which has included a severe tightening of public spending, saying that they must not allow Brazil’s next phase of recovery to be derailed. 

“Do not give ammunition to the scoundrel, who is momentarily free but full of guilt,” Bolsonaro said.  

While Bolsonaro did not mention Lula by name, his left-wing rival took direct aim at the president. 

“If we work hard, in 2022 the so-called left that Bolsonaro is so afraid of will defeat the ultra-right,” he said. 

Ineligible to run

Lula, who left the presidency with sky-high approval ratings, is ineligible to stand for office until 2025 under Brazil’s “Clean Record” law because of a conviction for taking bribes. But his release is expected to energize the left ahead of next year’s municipal elections. 

He was imprisoned in 2018 after being found guilty of receiving bribes from construction companies in return for public contracts. 

Lula has maintained his innocence. On Saturday he repeated that Justice Minister Moro, prosecutors and police were lying about his guilt for political reasons. 

“[I’m] not responding to criminals, jailed or freed. Some people deserve to be ignored,” Moro responded on Twitter. 

…

Bolivian President Evo Morales denounced the actions of “violent groups” early Saturday, hours after police forces were seen joining scattered protests, but the military weighed in later, saying it would not “confront the people” in a standoff over a disputed election. 

Morales, Latin America’s longest-standing leader, won the election on October 20, but a delay of nearly a day in the vote count has sparked allegations of fraud and led to protests, strikes and roadblocks. 

On Friday night, local television showed police in several Bolivian cities marching alongside protesters in apparent acts of disobedience and joining chants regularly used by the opposition. 

Adding to the pressure on Morales, the Armed Forces said in a statement on Saturday “that we will never confront the people to whom we have a duty and we will always ensure peace, co-existence and the development of our homeland.” 

Criticism from foreign ministry

In a tweet in the early hours of Saturday, Morales repeated accusations that “violent groups” were launching a coup against the state. The foreign ministry released a statement saying some police officers had “abandoned their constitutional role of ensuring the security of society and state institutions.” 

At a news conference later in the day, Morales called an urgent meeting with the four political parties represented in parliament. By Saturday afternoon, at least two opposition parties had rejected Morales’ invitation and one had accepted. 

Morales said he would also invite international organizations, including the Vatican, the United Nations and the Organization of American States, which is conducting an audit of the October vote. 

Luis Fernando Camacho, a civic leader from the eastern city of Santa Cruz who has become a symbol of the opposition, and Carlos Mesa, the runner-up in October, reiterated their calls for Morales — the country’s leader since 2006 — to step down.  

“What we want here is to unite all Bolivians in a single cause. We want President Evo Morales to leave,” Camacho told a news conference. 

March set for Monday

Camacho plans to lead a march to the government palace on Monday with a symbolic resignation letter for Morales to sign. 

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro tweeted his support for Morales on Saturday. 

“We denounce before the world the attempted coup d’etat in progress against the brother President Evo Morales,” said Maduro, who has been accused of corruption and human rights violations. 

…

A high-ranking North Korean diplomat says the window of opportunity for normalizing relations with the United States is getting smaller every day.

Cho Chol Su said Friday that North Korea expected the United States to take more steps to normalize relations by the end of the year.

“We’ve given the United States quite a lot of time and we’re waiting for an answer by the end of this year,” Cho said at an international conference on nuclear nonproliferation in Moscow.

He said if the United States “does not take steps to meet us, does not lessen the level of animosity, this will be a big mistake.’’

Cho is director of the North American affairs department for the North Korean Foreign Ministry.

‘Wet blanket’

His comments came a day after another North Korean official, Kwon Jong Gun, a roving ambassador for the North, said planned U.S.-South Korean military drills would amount to “throwing a wet blanket over the spark” of nuclear negotiations. Kwon said the nuclear talks between the North and the United States were “on the verge of extinction.”

The nuclear diplomacy has largely been deadlocked since a summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in February.

North Korea has demanded that the United States make new proposals to revive the diplomacy by the end of the year.

The United States and South Korea have canceled or scaled back their regular military drills since the start of nuclear talks last year.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry said adjusted drills involving the two countries would take place in the coming weeks. The ministry did not specify the scale of the new exercises.

…

Political tensions are simmering in Cambodia. While most people are going about their everyday lives, there is an undercurrent of apprehension. Saturday is the day longtime opposition leader Sam Rainsy pegged as the date he planned to return to Cambodia, potentially ending nearly four years of exile.

Sitting recently in the shade of his Indian-made tuktuk, Sam Nimol was worried that things were about to get worse. The 31-year-old resident of Phnom Penh’s Tuol Kork district expected two scenarios: Either Sam Rainsy would come peacefully or there would be a negotiated resolution.

But if the outspoken politician is arrested, Sam Nimol worried, a confrontational situation could get violent, directly affecting people’s livelihoods.

“For this issue, if he comes peacefully, meaning nobody makes arrest of him, the solutions could be found step by step,” Sam Nimol said.

“But if violence is used, meaning he is arrested, there will be no solutions, and it will make …. [it] difficult to earn money,” he said.

 In exile since 2015

Sam Rainsy has been in exile since 2015, when an arrest warrant was issued for him. Since then, Cambodian courts have found him guilty on multiple charges, which he says are trumped up.

In August, he announced his planned return to Cambodia on Independence Day, Nov. 9, to be accompanied by Cambodia National Rescue Party colleagues.

Since the announcement, there has been a significant escalation in political intimidation and arrests. Reports suggest more than 140 Cambodians have been convinced by authorities to admit they were involved in a plot to overthrow the government, and more than 40 have been charged for the same alleged crime.

The government has characterized Sam Rainsy’s return as a potential coup d’état, offering leniency to those who admit to an alleged plot to unseat the Hun Sen government.

Pocketbook politics

For Oeun Sovannary, a souvenir vendor in the capital, the politics of Sam Rainsy’s planned return were of no concern. However, she said she did care about the effects it could have on her business.

“I want to say that first I want to see more tourists coming, so that I sell out more things,” Oeun Sovannary said. “Second, I want to see smooth situation, meaning I don’t want to see interruptions.”

This is not an uncommon sentiment among Phnom Penh residents. Cambodians are acutely aware of the effects a turbulent political environment could have on their pocketbooks. There has been increased anxiety over economic prospects ever since the European Union said it was investigating potential suspension of the “Everything But Arms” trade preferences over systemic human rights violations in the country.

At the same time, many Cambodians are averse to violence on the streets, whatever may be the cause. The last time Phnom Penh saw large-scale violence was when garment workers and Cambodia National Rescue Party protests were violently dispersed by the government in early 2014, following the contested 2013 national election.

But despite the risks of a negative outcome, some Cambodians felt Sam Rainsy’s return was needed to strike a political deal. Several people interviewed by VOA Khmer said they hoped the two political parties could end the partisan bickering and find a solution to the current impasse.

Much-needed change

A young man selling coffee from a mobile cart in central Phnom Penh, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal, said Sam Rainsy’s return could usher in much-needed change. The streetside barista said he hoped that the opposition leader could have one electoral mandate to improve the economic situation.

“After one mandate is done for him, if the country is not developed to the level of [Hun Sen], he should resign on his own,” the vendor said. “Nobody would lend support to him again.”

 Long-standing issues

Sok San, 40, a vendor in southern Phnom Penh, said she believed Sam Rainsy could be relied upon to tackle long-standing issues facing the country, such as unresolved land disputes, which disproportionately affect those without steady income.

Political scientist Lao Mong Hay, the former director of the Khmer Institute for Democracy, said both sides needed to soften the rhetoric and give negotiations a chance.

“[People] want the politicians and leaders to reconcile,” Lao Mong Hay said. “So why don’t we solve this issue?”

This article originated in VOA’s Khmer service.

…

Michael Bloomberg plans to skip early voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire if he launches a presidential bid and instead focus his efforts on the crush of states that vote on Super Tuesday and beyond. It’s a strategy that acknowledges the limitations of entering the race at this late stage and the opportunities afforded by the billionaire’s vast personal wealth.

Bloomberg adviser Howard Wolfson says other candidates already have a big head start in the first four states to vote — Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina — and Bloomberg needs to be realistic about where he can make up ground.

“If we run, we are confident we can win in states voting on Super Tuesday and beyond, where we will start on an even footing,” Wolfson said. Fifteen states and American Samoa vote in the March 3 contests, with nearly a quarter of primary delegates up for grabs.

Bloomberg qualified Friday to get on the ballot in Alabama, one of the Super Tuesday states. His team is also making plans to file in Arkansas, which has a Tuesday deadline.

Bloomberg’s candidacy has the potential to upend the Democratic race less than three months before primary voting begins. The billionaire businessman initially ruled out a 2020 run, but began to reconsider in recent weeks, citing concerns about the ability of the current crop of contenders to defeat President Donald Trump.

Bloomberg himself has called prominent Democrats to alert them to his likely run, and his staff is scrambling to meet fast-approaching primary filing deadlines.

Among those Bloomberg has reached out to: Tom Vilsack, the former Iowa governor who remains popular in the state. Vilsack told The Associated Press that Bloomberg called him Thursday evening and left a voicemail indicating he plans to run.

“He is in,” Vilsack said of Bloomberg’s message.

Despite the outreach to Vilsack, advisers say Bloomberg would not make a serious play for votes in Iowa and the other early states. Other candidates in the crowded field have spent months courting voters there and building campaign operations.

The early states offer just a small percentage of the delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination. But victories there typically give candidates crucial momentum that helps carry them into bigger states with more delegates on the line.

Bloomberg is calculating that he could build an advantage in those states now with his ability to quickly pour money into staff, television advertising and other campaign operations while other candidates are competing elsewhere.

Bill Carrick, a veteran Democratic strategist based in Los Angeles, said he doesn’t think skipping the early voting states is ever a viable strategy.

“I don’t think you can just hopscotch around the calendar to suit your own political purposes,” Carrick said. “You skip the early states, you’re going to have a difficult time. I don’t see any evidence that strategy ever works.”

Bloomberg has spent the past few weeks talking with prominent Democrats about the state of the race, expressing concerns about the steadiness of former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign and the rise of liberal Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, according to people with knowledge of those discussions who spoke on condition of anonymity to relay details of private conversations.

Biden, campaigning in New Hampshire on Friday, welcomed Bloomberg to the race.

“Michael’s a solid guy, and let’s see where it goes,” he told reporters. “I have no problem with him getting in the race.”

Bloomberg’s moves come as the Democratic race enters a crucial phase. Biden’s front-runner status has been vigorously challenged by Warren and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who are flush with cash from small-dollar donors. But both are viewed by some Democrats as too liberal to win in a general election faceoff with Trump.

Trump told reporters Friday that Bloomberg might well spend “a lot of money” but “doesn’t have the magic to do well.” Trump suggested he’d easily beat the former mayor and fellow billionaire.

“Little Michael will fail,” Trump said at the White House, adding, “There is nobody I’d rather run against than Little Michael, that I can tell you.”

Despite a historically large field, some Democrats anxious about defeating Trump have been looking for other options. Former Attorney General Eric Holder and former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick have quietly had conversations with supporters urging them to consider a run, but neither appears likely to get in the race.

Bloomberg, a Republican-turned-independent who registered as a Democrat last year, has flirted with a presidential run before but ultimately backed down, including in 2016. He endorsed Hillary Clinton in that race and, in a speech at the Democratic Party convention, pummeled Trump as a con who has oversold his business successes.

Bloomberg instead plunged his efforts and his money into gun control advocacy and climate change initiatives. He again looked seriously at a presidential bid earlier this year, traveling to early voting states and conducting extensive polling, but decided not to run in part because of Biden’s perceived strength.  

…

A group of more than 100 black female activists is endorsing Elizabeth Warren for president, saying her stances on a range of issues speak directly to black voters.

In a letter released Thursday, the group Black Womxn For says its endorsement is an extension of activism that has helped shape a progressive agenda in the 2020 Democratic primary. The group calls Warren a “leader” and “partner” with a proven track record and understanding of structural racism and inequality who is willing to be held accountable.

The group’s director, Angela Peoples, says she hopes the letter will encourage other black women to support the Massachusetts senator publicly.

Warren is scheduled to visit the historically black college North Carolina A&T State University later Thursday.
 

…

President Donald Trump wanted Ukraine’s president to stand at a microphone and say three words: investigations, Biden and Clinton, a top State Department official testified.

Democrats looking into whether Trump should be impeached released a transcript of last month’s testimony by deputy assistant secretary of state George Kent.

Kent said the words Trump wanted to hear from Volodomyr Zelenskiy were relayed to Kent by others in the administration who dealt directly with Trump.

“That was the message — Zelenskiy needed to go to a microphone and basically there needed to be three words in the message, and that was the shorthand,” Kent was quoted as saying.

Why was military aid withheld

Democrats want to know if Trump withheld $400 million in military aid to Ukraine unless Zelenskiy publicly committed himself to investigating 2020 Democratic presidential rival Joe Biden for corruption. Trump also insists Ukraine meddled in the 2016 presidential election on behalf of Democrats and their candidate, Hillary Clinton.

Kent said he was concerned about “an effort to initiate politically motivated prosecutions that were injurious to the rule of law, both in Ukraine and the U.S.”

Giuliani attacks

Kent also testified that Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, carried out a “campaign of lies” against U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch before Trump fired her.

“His assertions and allegations against former Ambassador Yovanovitch were without basis, untrue. Period,” Kent testified. “Mr. Giuliani … had been carrying on a campaign for several months full of lies and incorrect information.”

Kent said he was also a target of Giuliani’s attacks and was told to “keep his head down” when it came to Ukraine.

“Giuliani was not consulting with the State Department about what he was doing in the first half of 2019. And to the best of my knowledge, he’s never suggested that he was promoting U.S. policy.”

Democrats and others in the administration have accused Giuliani of a “shadow foreign policy” behind the backs of the State Department by pressuring the Ukrainian government to investigate Biden, his son, Hunter, and Democrats.

No evidence of corruption against the Bidens has surfaced. Accusations that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election are based on unfounded conspiracy theories.

Kent, Yovanovitch and current U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor are scheduled to testify in public next week.

Pence adviser testifies

On Thursday, the impeachment inquiry heard testimony from Jennifer Williams, a special adviser to Vice President Mike Pence.

Williams reportedly testified that the July 25 phone call between Trump and Zelenskiy, in which Trump urged him to investigate the Bidens, was unusual because she said the gist was political, not diplomatic.

She reportedly said she never heard Pence mention anything about investigating the Bidens or Democrats.

Trump has described his telephone call with Zelenskiy as “perfect” and is accusing Democrats of conducting a witch hunt, calling the entire impeachment inquiry a hoax.

He fiercely denies any quid pro quo with Ukraine.

While some of Trump’s Republican supporters are finding it hard to defend his actions, they say they do not believe his request for an investigation into the Bidens is an impeachable offense that could lead to his removal from office.
 

…

North Korea on Thursday called Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe an “idiot and villain” who should not even dream of setting foot in Pyongyang, in a media commentary laden with insults in response to his criticism of a North Korean weapons test.

North Korea tested what it called “super-large multiple rocket launchers” on Oct. 31, but Japan said they were likely ballistic missiles that violated U.N. sanctions.

Abe condemned the test at an Asian summit this week, while saying he was eager to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “without conditions” to resolve the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by the isolated state, Kyodo news agency reported citing the Japanese government.

“Abe is an idiot and villain as he is making a fuss as if a nuclear bomb was dropped on the land of Japan, taking issue with the DPRK’s test-fire of super-large multiple rocket launchers,” the North’s KCNA state news agency said, citing a statement by Song Il Ho, its ambassador for ties with Japan.

DPRK stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.

“Abe would be well-advised not to dream forever of crossing the threshold of Pyongyang as he hurled a torrent of abuse at the just measures of the DPRK for self-defense.”

The commentary signals a setback for Abe’s hope of resolving the issue of the abducted Japanese citizens. He has vowed to bring back all of them and has said he was willing to meet Kim without conditions.

In 2002, North Korea admitted that its agents had kidnapped 13 Japanese from the 1960s to the 1980s. Japan says 17 of its citizens were abducted, five of whom were repatriated.

North Korea has said eight of them were dead and another four never entered the country.

Former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Pyongyang in 2002 and met the father of the current North Korean leader, but Abe has never met Kim.

U.S., North Korea

Late on Wednesday, a senior North Korean diplomat blamed a U.S. joint aerial drill with South Korea planned next month for “throwing cold water” over talks with Washington, the state-run KCNA news agency said. Pyongyang opposes U.S.-South Korean joint military exercises, viewing them as a rehearsal for invasion.

In Washington on Thursday, the Pentagon said the joint military exercise was reduced in scope from previous drills.

“It meets all the requirements of the ROK Air Force (and) the U.S. Air Force to ensure readiness,” Rear Admiral William Byrne, vice director of the Joint Staff, told reporters during a briefing.
 

…

Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions is expected to announce Thursday that he will run for his old Senate seat in Alabama.

Sessions held the Senate seat from 1997 until 2017, when he was named President Donald Trump’s first attorney general.

He was forced out of office last November after repeatedly clashing with Trump.

He was frequently mocked by Trump after he recused himself from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

If he wins the Republican primary set for March 3, he will face Democrat Doug Jones, who won the 2017 special election to fill Sessions’ seat.

…

Gunmen attacked a convoy near a Canadian mining site in Burkina Faso, killing at least 37 people and wounding 60 others, the regional governor said late Wednesday. 

Montreal-based Semafo said the bloodshed happened about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from its Boungou mine in Burkina Faso’s Eastern region and involved five buses of employees who were being accompanied by a military escort. 

Col. Saidou Sanou, the region’s governor, gave the provisional casualty toll in a statement. The mining company said only that it was aware of “several fatalities and injuries.” 

“Boungou mine site remains secured and our operations are not affected,” Semafo said in its statement. “We are actively working with all levels of authorities to ensure the ongoing safety and security of our employees, contractors and suppliers.” 

The area has become increasingly precarious for Semafo, which operates two gold mines in Burkina Faso. Last year, an employee and subcontractor were killed when a bus was targeted by bandits, according to Canadian Press. Later last year, five members of Burkina Faso’s security forces were killed in an attack near the Boungou mine. 

Sylvain Leclerc, spokeswoman for the Canadian foreign ministry, said there were no reports of any Canadian citizen among the casualties. She added that Canada’s government condemns the attack and supports efforts to bring peace to Burkina Faso. 

The violence underscores the rapidly deteriorating security situation in once-peaceful Burkina Faso, which has been infiltrated by jihadists who have been active for years in neighboring Mali. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Islamic extremists have staged dozens of attacks on churches and public officials across the north of Burkina Faso the last few years. 

Concerted military actions by five regional countries, along with a French operation, have failed to stem the growing violence. 

The country, which experienced its first major extremist attack in 2015, is a gateway south into coastal West Africa, and regional leaders worry the extremists could be moving into Togo and Benin. 

…

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan met Wednesday in Washington with President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to discuss the Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam (GERD) on Ethiopia’s Blue Nile.

In a joint statement issued after the meeting, the ministers — Sameh Hassan Shoukry of Egypt, Gedu Andargachew of Ethiopia and Asma Mohamed Abdalla of Sudan — noted the significance of the Nile to the development of the people of their countries, and “reaffirmed their joint commitment to reach a comprehensive, cooperative, adaptive, sustainable, and mutually beneficial agreement on the filling and operation” of the GERD.

The massive hydropower dam project has been the focus of an escalating feud between Addis Ababa and Cairo over water resources.

The unannounced meeting was not on Trump’s public schedule. The White House did not respond to VOA’s earlier request for clarification.

“The meeting went well and discussions will continue during the day!” the president tweeted on Wednesday.

Just had a meeting with top representatives from Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan to help solve their long running dispute on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, one of the largest in the world, currently being built. The meeting went well and discussions will continue during the day! pic.twitter.com/MsWuEBgZxK

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2019

The meeting, spearheaded by Mnuchin and also attended by World Bank Group President David Malpass, came about after Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi requested that Trump mediate the conflict over the dam.

Countries at odds

All three countries are vitally important to U.S. interests, and the Trump administration’s efforts to facilitate the negotiations over the dam are not at all surprising, said Bronwyn Bruton, director of programs and studies at the Africa Center of the Atlantic Council.

“Any armed or proxy conflict between these nations over the GERD would have a profoundly destabilizing effect on a region that is already facing ethnic unrest, political transition and a rising threat from jihadi extremist groups,” Bruton said.

Observers of international transboundary water conflicts say an ideal outcome would be a commitment by the countries to work together to get to an agreed-upon solution.

“If countries come out of this meeting with an agreement on a process to get to a cooperative outcome, I think that would be a positive development from everybody’s perspective,” said Aaron Salzberg, director of the Water Institute at the University of North Carolina. Salzberg is the State Department’s former special coordinator for water in the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, which deals with international transboundary water issues.

The ministers committed Wednesday to work toward completion of an agreement by Jan. 15, 2020.

In an Oct. 5 statement, the Ethiopian government condemned Egypt’s proposal for Nile water allocation, calling Egypt’s conditions for filling the massive reservoir of the GERD “unjustified” and disruptive to “the positive spirit of cooperation.”

Egypt and Ethiopia have disagreed for years about how to divert water from the Nile. Addis Ababa is proposing the reservoir behind the dam be filled over four to seven years. But Egypt wants to require Ethiopia to receive approval at various points of the filling process, a step Cairo said is necessary to avoid droughts.

“It’s possible that nothing changes,” said Salzberg. “It is also possible that those governments start to realize that this is a region that matters to the rest of the international community, and their approach to solving this problem could affect how partners work with them in the future.”

Sudan has a 1959 Nile Waters Agreement with Egypt, reached shortly before Egypt began constructing its own Aswan High Dam, but Ethiopia was not part of that agreement.

Egypt has long sought external mediation on the GERD, while Ethiopia wants to keep the negotiations on a tripartite level.

Prior to the meeting in Washington, the Ethiopian government said the talks “are not negotiations.”

Salem Solomon contributed to this report.

…

Voting in U.S. state and local elections on Tuesday showed no evidence of successful tampering by any foreign government, the Justice Department and six U.S. security agencies said.

But Russia, China, Iran and other adversaries of the United States will seek to meddle in U.S. elections moving forward, including through social media manipulation and cyberattacks, the agencies said.

“While at this time we have no evidence of a compromise or disruption to election infrastructure that would enable adversaries to prevent voting, change vote counts or disrupt the ability to tally votes, we continue to vigilantly monitor any threats to U.S. elections,” a joint statement, signed by the heads of each agency, said.

The agencies have increased efforts to protect elections and a new position was created within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to focus solely on U.S. election security.

A January 2017 assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies found that Russia had meddled in the 2016 presidential election and its goals included aiding President Donald Trump.

National security experts have said they believe foreign governments will again target the 2020 presidential election in an effort to influence U.S. voters.

In February 2018, the Justice Department created the first ever Cyber Digital Task Force with the mission of protecting future U.S. elections from foreign interference.

…

From ex-prostitutes making jewelry out of bullet casing to drones delivering blood, rising numbers of businesses with a mission to help address social problems are emerging in Ethiopia as the economy opens up.

An estimated 55,000 social enterprises operate in Ethiopia, the second-most populous country in Africa and fastest growing economy in the region where about a quarter of 109 million people live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.

But the number of ventures set up to do good is on the rise since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came in 18 months ago and vowed to open the economy to private investment, raising hopes of official recognition for the sector and easier access to funds.

Kibret Abebe, one of Ethiopia’s best-known social entrepreneurs, said the sector would be boosted as Ethiopia hosts the 12th annual Social Enterprise World Forum (SEWF) this week, the first developing country to do so.

“The economy is opening up and we are seeing more social enterprises in Ethiopia,” said Abebe, first president of Social Enterprise Ethiopia, which was set up last year to advance firms set up to do good that re-invest their profits into their work.

“Scaling up has been a nightmare in Ethiopia and it’s been hard to collaborate with the government but I’m optimistic this will change as we have a lot of social problems to fix.”

Ethiopia’s Education Minister Tilaye Gete said hosting SEWF, attended by more than 1,200 delegates from 50 or so countries, was a sign of change under Ahmed, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month.

“This is reflective of the overall change in leadership and mindset across the country,” said Gete as he officially opened the three-day conference.

Abebe, an anaesthetist, was a trailblazer for social enterprise in Ethiopia when he sold his house to set up TEBITA Ambulance more than a decade ago after seeing how many road accident victims struggled to get transport to medical help.

TEBITA now runs a fleet of 20 ambulances and a college training paramedics, funding its work by charging patients for journeys, offering training, as well as providing emergency services for the national football team.

Health to Housing

Abebe said TEBITA was one of thousands of social enterprises in Ethiopia aiming to help the most needy, with newcomers focused on agriculture, education, health, housing and IT.

For example Maisha Technologies PLC is a tech-based social enterprise testing advanced drones to deliver blood to health centers in rural areas where half of maternal deaths occur.

HelloSolar aims to provide rural communities without electricity with off-grid energy and affordable payment plans.

Abebe said young people – with 43% of the population aged 15 or under – were playing a key role in advancing new social enterprises, many with tech solutions and hoping to create jobs for the future.

A 2016 survey by the British Council – which co-hosts SEWF with local partners – estimated the number of social enterprises in Ethiopia and found about half were led by people aged under 35 while women led more than a quarter of social enterprises.

But these firms reported numerous challenges, including the lack of a policy framework with no distinct formal legal form or recognized means to register as social enterprises in Ethiopia.

The biggest barrier, however, was found to be financial – accessing capital or obtaining grants – so it was critical to find a revenue stream and one strong enough to support growth.

Ellilta Products, for example, was set up 2012 to support sister organization, Ellilta Women at Risk (EWAR), founded in 1995 to help break the generational cycle of prostitution.

Headquartered on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, Ellilta Products’ workforce of about 55 includes former prostitutes making jewelry from bullet casing and scarves and soaps that are sold locally and overseas to fund the work of EWAR.

EWAR workers visit red light areas in Addis Ababa to encourage women to join a year-long rehabilitation program of counselling and training while their children go to school.

Ellilta Products’ General Manager Emnet Mersha Seyoum said so far EWAR has rescued around 1,000 women, with a success rate of 90% not returning to prostitution.

Anchilu Alemu, aged about 50, said she was rescued nine years ago after 18 years as a prostitute and this has given her and her daughter a new life. She makes scarves at Ellilta and her daughter went to college and is now married with a child.

“Before prostitution was the only way I could make money. This saved me,” she said as she pulled at a spool of yarn.

Seyoum said it had been hard to get funding in Ethiopia as the government did not recognize or understand social enterprises but she hoped this would change under Ahmed and with the SEWF in Addis, attended by 1,200 people from 58 nations.

“Ideally in the future we want to scale up to grow tenfold so that we can provide jobs to all of the women that we rescue,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

…

Brazil’s mining regulator on Tuesday blasted iron ore miner Vale SA for failing to disclose problems with a mining dam before a deadly collapse in January, saying this kept the agency from taking actions that could have saved lives.

The dam in Brumadinho collapsed and flooded a nearby company cafeteria and the surrounding countryside with mining waste, killing more than 250 people. It was Vale’s second deadly dam collapse in less than four years.

The regulator’s report on its probe into the disaster is the latest blow to the reputation of Vale, which is under criminal investigation over accusations that top executives ignored warning signs about the dam.

Based on the report’s findings, ANM will now assess the iron ore miner with 24 new fines. Officials said that the amount of each fine is capped at around 6,000 reais ($1,500) under Brazilian law.

The report detailed several problems that it said Vale should have reported.

The first occurred in June 2018, seven months before the disaster, when the company installed horizontal drainage pipes and discovered sediment in the drainage water. This worrying sign should have been reported immediately, ANM officials told reporters in a briefing.

“The serious fact is that when there is sediment it must be reported. Period. It wasn’t. If it had been communicated, the area would immediately have been submitted to daily inspections,” said ANM head Victor Bicca. “But we didn’t know what was happening.”

Vale said in a statement it would analyze the report but it was unable to comment on technical decisions taken by its “geotechnical team” at the time.

The miner said it is providing all information on the history of the dam’s condition to authorities, adding that various investigations were pending into the cause of the dam burst.

Several ANM directors said if Vale had properly reported drainage, water pressure and other issues at the dam, it would have been classified as “emergency level 1,” bringing a higher level of scrutiny including daily inspections.

They said those inspections could have uncovered further problems, ultimately leading to evacuation, which would have saved lives.

Because problems were not disclosed, the dam was not given high priority, since it was not actively receiving more mining waste, director Tasso Mendonca said. He said the dam was “a bit forgotten.”

“It’s a kind of negligence, perhaps not intentional,” he said.

($1 = 3.9915 reais)

…

Two youths were shot dead and several other people were wounded in clashes between Guinean police and protesters at a funeral march for those killed in recent anti-government demonstrations, the authorities and the family of one of the victims said.

Violence erupted as hundreds marched in the capital Conakry carrying coffins of people killed in unrest since mid-October that has shaken the poor West African country.  

Demonstrators have taken to the streets over suspicions that President Alpha Conde is seeking to prolong his rule. 

According to an opposition toll, around 15 protesters have been killed during the weeks of bloody clashes with security forces, with dozens injured. The government has said one police officer was killed, but have not given an updated number of casualties. 

At Monday’s march, hundreds of people including relatives and opposition figures marched on foot or by motorbike through the Bambeto neighbourhood, bearing aloft the coffins of 11 of those killed since Oct. 24 draped in the national flag.

The marchers chanted “Justice for the dead” and “Alpha, killer” as they made their way from the hospital where victims’ remains had been held and a mosque where pre-burial prayers were planned.

Clashes broke out on the route, with youths hurling stones at riot police who responded with tear gas. Witnesses said they also fired live rounds into the crowd. 

Abdourahim Diallo, 17, was shot in the stomach at “point-blank” range when he went to attend the funeral of a friend who was killed two weeks ago, his sister Diariana told AFP. She said he died of his injuries in hospital. 

The security ministry subsequently said that a second youth had died.

…