UK threatens Afghan pilot with deportation to Rwanda

An Afghan pilot walks near a military helicopter in Kunar province. (File/AFP)
An Afghan pilot walks near a military helicopter in Kunar province. (File/AFP)
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Updated 26 March 2023

UK threatens Afghan pilot with deportation to Rwanda

An Afghan pilot walks near a military helicopter in Kunar province. (File/AFP)
  • Refugee served alongside coalition forces, flying 30-plus missions against Taliban
  • Ex-head of British forces in Afghanistan: Former comrades ‘suffered and died’ after being left behind

LONDON: The UK is threatening an Afghan war veteran who served alongside coalition forces against the Taliban with deportation to Rwanda.

The unnamed former lieutenant in the Afghan Air Force arrived in the UK on a small boat that crossed the English Channel because, he said, there were no safe routes for him to use.

He added that he is one of many former service personnel from Afghanistan now facing deportation, and that he and his comrades have been “forgotten” by their allies.

The pilot, who flew over 30 combat missions against the Taliban, is currently being housed in a UK Home Office-administered hotel for asylum-seekers, where he was told via email that his asylum application may be negatively affected because he traveled from Afghanistan via Italy, Switzerland and France, all of which are designated safe countries.

“(You) may also be removable to Rwanda under the terms of the Migration and Economic Development Partnership between Rwanda and UK,” the email added.

He told The Independent: “What safe and legal way was there after the fall of Afghanistan? You (the UK) entered Afghanistan on the first day as a friendly and brotherly country, and now this bad day has come upon us.”

The UK government, he said, should “keep the promise of friendship and cooperation that you made, and fulfil it.

“The American and British forces have forgotten us. We worked with them and we helped them like they were our brothers. We are not (Taliban), we are not ISIS (Daesh), so why are they leaving us like this?

“Every day they threaten to send us to Rwanda or our original country. I don’t know what we should do.”

Rodney Liberato, who works at the US State Department and supervised the pilot while in Afghanistan, has written to the UK government on his behalf, telling The Independent that the lieutenant is a “fine young man, a superb son, brother, husband, father, friend and a patriot for his nation” who “risked his life to support his nation’s development and coalition forces in Afghanistan.”

Another pilot from the same squadron, currently in hiding in Iran, told The Independent: “The British were part of the coalition forces and we had several mutual missions with them. Our training program was also supported by the coalition. 

“I wish to come to the UK because I deserve to be there and to save my life. We, as the Afghanistan fighter pilots, played a big role in the war against the Taliban and other terrorist groups.”

Afghans currently make up the largest national cohort crossing the English Channel illegally in small boats, with over 9,000 making the journey in 2022.

There are two legal schemes for Afghans to apply to come to the UK. The largest — the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme, for those who helped British forces — has relocated 11,000 people.

An additional 4,300 eligible people, though, remain trapped in Afghanistan. A recent investigation showed that some had been put in danger after UK officials requested paperwork from them only obtainable from the Afghan government, currently under Taliban control. 

The other legal scheme, the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme, has resettled just 22 people since 2021.

In response to the number of Channel crossings, the government recently approved legislation that would allow for the deportation and permanent banning from ever entering the UK of people making the trip.

Col. Rich Kemp, former head of UK forces in Afghanistan, told The Independent that many people who had worked with the coalition had been abandoned.

“It must be very difficult for them, and we should — I believe — be doing everything we can to help them out. If we can do it, whatever we can do,” he said.

“There was a success (in evacuating people) to an extent, but obviously there are many people who haven’t (been helped) and have suffered and died as a consequence.

“Once you decide to withdraw everything from the country, you don’t have much leverage in helping people to get out.”

Clare Moseley, founder of charity Care4Calais, which is supporting the Afghan pilot’s asylum claim, told The Independent: “Our client worked with UK forces, but rather than being provided with a safe route to escape the Taliban, he had to make a dangerous crossing across the Channel.

“Now our government plans to ban people like him from claiming asylum altogether, and subject them to indefinite detention and forced deportation to places where we can’t guarantee their safety.

“We should be giving safe passage to these brave refugees. This would stop small boat crossings, put people-smugglers out of business overnight, and, more importantly, save lives.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We remain committed to providing protection for vulnerable and at-risk people fleeing Afghanistan, and so far have brought around 24,500 people impacted by the situation back to the UK.

“We continue to work with like-minded partners and countries neighbouring Afghanistan on resettlement issues, and to support safe passage for eligible Afghans.”


China rejects US request for a meeting between defense chiefs -WSJ

China rejects US request for a meeting between defense chiefs -WSJ
Updated 30 May 2023

China rejects US request for a meeting between defense chiefs -WSJ

China rejects US request for a meeting between defense chiefs -WSJ
  • Kirby said there was the possibility of a meeting between US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and her Chinese counterpart during the Asia-Pacific-Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Detroit

WASHINGTON: China has rejected a request by the United States for a meeting between their defense chiefs on the sidelines of an annual security forum in Singapore this coming weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
“Overnight, the PRC informed the US that they have declined our early May invitation for Secretary (Lloyd) Austin to meet with PRC Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu in Singapore this week,” the Pentagon said in a statement to the Journal, adding the department believes in open communication “to ensure that competition does not veer into conflict.”
Last week, White House spokesman John Kirby said there were discussions by the Defense Department to get a conversation going between Lloyd and his Chinese counterpart.
Kirby also said there was the possibility of a meeting between US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and her Chinese counterpart during the Asia-Pacific-Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Detroit.

 

 


NATO soldiers injured in Kosovo clashes with Serb protesters

NATO soldiers injured in Kosovo clashes with Serb protesters
Updated 29 May 2023

NATO soldiers injured in Kosovo clashes with Serb protesters

NATO soldiers injured in Kosovo clashes with Serb protesters
  • KFOR: ‘Several soldiers of the Italian and Hungarian KFOR contingent were the subject of unprovoked attacks and sustained trauma wounds with fractures and burns’
  • Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that 52 Serbs were injured, three of them seriously

LEPOSAVIC, Kosovo: Around 25 NATO peacekeeping soldiers defending three town halls in northern Kosovo were injured in clashes with Serb protesters on Monday, while Serbia’s president put the army on the highest level of combat alert.
KFOR, the NATO-led peacekeeping mission to Kosovo, condemned the violence.
“While countering the most active fringes of the crowd, several soldiers of the Italian and Hungarian KFOR contingent were the subject of unprovoked attacks and sustained trauma wounds with fractures and burns due to the explosion of incendiary devices,” it said in a statement.
Hungary’s defense minister Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky said that 7 Hungarian soldiers were seriously injured and that they will be taken to Hungary for treatment. He said 20 soldiers were injured. Italian soldiers were also injured in clashes.
“What is happening is absolutely unacceptable and irresponsible,” Italy’s Giorgia Meloni said in a statement. “It is vital to avoid further unilateral actions on the part of the Kosovar authorities and that all the parties in question immediately take a step back to ease the tensions.”
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that 52 Serbs were injured, three of them seriously.
Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani accused Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic of destabilising Kosovo.
“Serb illegal structures turned into criminal gangs have attacked Kosovo police, KFOR (peacekeeping) officers & journalists. Those who carry out Vucic’s orders to destabilize the north of Kosovo, must face justice,” Osmani tweeted.
Vucic accused Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti of creating tensions. He called on Serbs in Kosovo to avoid clashes with NATO soldiers.
The tense situation developed after ethnic Albanian mayors took office in northern Kosovo’s Serb majority area after elections the Serbs boycotted — a move that led the US and its allies to rebuke Pristina on Friday.
In Zvecan, one of the towns, Kosovo police — staffed by ethnic Albanians after Serbs quit the force last year — sprayed pepper gas to repel a crowd of Serbs who broke through a security barricade and tried to force their way into the municipality building, witnesses said.
Serb protesters in Zvecan threw tear gas and stun grenades at NATO soldiers. Serbs also clashed with police in Zvecan and spray-painted NATO vehicles with the letter “Z,” referring to a Russian sign used in war in Ukraine.
In Leposavic, close to the border with Serbia, US peacekeeping troops in riot gear placed barbed wire around the town hall to protect it from hundreds of angry Serbs.
Later in the day protesters threw eggs at a parked car belonging to the new Leposavic mayor.
Vucic, who is the commander-in-chief of the Serbian armed forces, raised the army’s combat readiness to the highest level, Defense Minister Milos Vucevic told reporters.
“This implies that immediately before 2:00 p.m. (1200 GMT), the Serbian Armed Forces’ Chief of the General Staff issued additional instructions for the deployment of the army’s units in specific, designated positions,” Vucevic said, without elaborating.
NATO peacekeepers also blocked off the town hall in Zubin Potok to protect it from angry local Serbs, witnesses said.
Igor Simic, deputy head of the Serb List, the biggest Belgrade-backed Kosovo Serb party, accused Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti of fueling tensions in the north.
“We are interested in peace. Albanians who live here are interested in peace, and only he (Kurti) wants to make chaos,” Simic told reporters in Zvecan.
Serbs, who comprise a majority in Kosovo’s north, have never accepted its 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia and still see Belgrade as their capital more than two decades after the Kosovo Albanian uprising against repressive Serbian rule.
Ethnic Albanians make up more than 90 percent of the population in Kosovo as a whole, but northern Serbs have long demanded the implementation of an EU-brokered 2013 deal for the creation of an association of autonomous municipalities in their area.
Serbs refused to take part in local elections in April and ethnic Albanian candidates won the mayoralties in four Serb-majority municipalities — including North Mitrovica, where no incidents were reported on Monday — with a 3.5 percent turnout.
Serbs demand that the Kosovo government remove ethnic Albanian mayors from town halls and allow local administrations financed by Belgrade resume their work.
On Friday, three out of the four ethnic Albanian mayors were escorted into their offices by police, who were pelted with rocks and responded with tear gas and water cannon to disperse the protesters.
The United States and its allies, which have strongly backed Kosovo’s independence, rebuked Pristina on Friday, saying imposing mayors in Serb-majority areas without popular support undercut efforts to normalize relations.
Kurti defended Pristina’s position, tweeting after a weekend phone call with the European Union’s foreign policy chief: “Emphasized that elected mayors will provide services to all citizens.”
Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic told RTS it was “not possible to have mayors who have not been elected by Serbs in Serb-majority municipalities.”
After meeting Kurti, US ambassador to Kosovo Jeffrey Hovenier told reporters: “We are concerned about reports today about violence against official property.”
“We’ve seen pictures of graffiti against KFOR cars and police cars, we’ve heard about attacks on journalists, we condemn that, that is not appropriate response.”


Rohingya remain ‘top priority’ for OIC as chief visits refugee camp in Bangladesh

Rohingya remain ‘top priority’ for OIC as chief visits refugee camp in Bangladesh
Updated 29 May 2023

Rohingya remain ‘top priority’ for OIC as chief visits refugee camp in Bangladesh

Rohingya remain ‘top priority’ for OIC as chief visits refugee camp in Bangladesh
  • OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha in Bangladesh until May 31
  • Islamic body been leading advocacy for Rohingya, says nation’s FM

DHAKA: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which has said that the Rohingya remain a top priority for the body, saw its chief official visit the refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar on Monday as part of a five-day trip to the country.

OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha arrived in Bangladesh on Saturday and met with the country’s top officials, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The Rohingya situation was discussed in Taha’s meetings with Bangladeshi officials, as the South Asian nation is hosting more than 1 million refugees from the persecuted minority, most of whom fled from Myanmar’s Rakhine State in 2017 to escape a deadly military crackdown.

“(The) Rohingya is one of the top priority issues for (the) OIC … These Rohingya people are suffering. They deserve peace, security and a better life,” Taha told reporters after meeting Bangladesh’s Foreign Affairs Minister A.K. Abdul Momen on Sunday.

The OIC chief also called on the organization’s member states to support Gambia’s case at the International Court of Justice, which alleges that Myanmar has violated the Genocide Convention with its actions against the Rohingya in Rakhine State.

During his meeting with Hasina, Taha thanked the Bangladeshi government and people “for their relentless efforts to provide shelters, protection, hospitality, and necessary assistance to Rohingya refugees,” the OIC said in a statement.

Bangladesh is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, and has spent an estimated $1.2 billion a year to support the refugees.

“For a long time, we have had them (the OIC) beside us on the Rohingya issue. They have taken a leading role in removing the plight of the Rohingya,” Momen told reporters.

Bangladesh’s Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Mizanur Rahman said Taha spoke with members of the Rohingya community in Cox’s Bazar during his visit on Monday.

“(The) OIC secretary-general exchanged views with the Rohingya and listened to their plight,” he said. “Taha promised to do the best on (the) OIC’s part to resolve the Rohingya crisis.”

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are facing compounding issues, including a further decrease of their rations from the World Food Programme, which said a lack of funding has forced it to cut food aid per person from $10 to $8 a month starting June 1.


Russia hits base in Ukraine in new wave of strikes, Zelensky praises Patriots

Russia hits base in Ukraine in new wave of strikes, Zelensky praises Patriots
Updated 30 May 2023

Russia hits base in Ukraine in new wave of strikes, Zelensky praises Patriots

Russia hits base in Ukraine in new wave of strikes, Zelensky praises Patriots
  • Kyiv comes under heavy attack for second successive night
  • Moscow says Ukraine has stepped up drone and sabotage attacks against targets inside Russia as Kyiv prepares for the counter offensive

KYIV: Russia said on Monday its military hit Ukrainian air bases in overnight strikes and Ukrainian forces shelled industrial facilities inside Russia as both sides sought the upper hand ahead of what Kyiv hopes will be a decisive counter-offensive.
In a rare acknowledgement of damage to a military “target,” Ukraine said that work was under way to restore a runway and that five aircraft were taken out of service in the western region of Khmelnitskiy, though it did not name the sites.
A military airfield was sited in the region before the war.
“At the moment, work is continuing to contain fires in storage facilities for fuel and lubricants and munitions,” the Khmelnitskiy regional governor’s office said.
Russian state-owned news agency RIA cited the defense ministry as saying more than one air base had been hit. There was no confirmation from Ukraine of damage to other air bases.
The Ukrainian capital came under attack for the 16th time this month after a second successive night of bombardment. But officials said most of the drones and missiles fired overnight had been shot down and no targets were hit in the morning.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised US-supplied Patriot anti-missile defenses.
“When Patriots in the hands of Ukrainians ensure a 100 percent interception rate of any Russian missile, terror will be defeated,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address.
The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said that all 11 missiles used in the daytime attacks had been destroyed. But it made no mention of the Patriot systems.
PATRIOTS AND INTERCEPTING TARGETS
Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s air force, suggested the Patriot was behind the latest results against incoming Iskander ballistic missiles.
“I think you can guess,” Ihnat told Ukrainian television. “If Iskander-M missiles are intercepted, you can draw conclusions about the means that specifically targeted the objectives — ballistic targets.”
The attacks, which sent Kyiv residents running for shelter in metro stations, were part of a new wave of Russian air strikes this month as Ukraine, armed with new Western weapons, prepares a push to try to take back territory Russia has seized in the “special military operation” launched in February 2022.
“With these constant attacks, the enemy seeks to keep the civilian population in deep psychological tension,” said Serhiy Popko, the head of the city’s military administration.
Two people were killed and eight wounded in a Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Toretsk in the eastern region of Donetsk on Monday, regional Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.
Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the eastern group of Ukrainian Forces, told Ukrainian television there had been three military clashes in his region in the past 24 hours.
“But the enemy has maintained its fire on our positions. There were 373 shelling hits of various types in the past 24 hours and six air strikes on our positions,” he said.
Reuters was not able to confirm the battlefield accounts.
Cherevatyi also said that Wagner mercenary units were being replaced in the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut by Russian paratroops and motorized units.
Russia’s Wagner private army began handing over positions to regular troops this week after declaring full control of Bakhmut following the longest and bloodiest battle of the war.
He said Ukraine’s military was conducting “a reorganization and other military moves ... so that further movement can be even more successful in terms of hitting the enemy.”
Moscow said it invaded Ukraine to “denazify” its neighbor and protect Russian speakers. Western opponents say the invasion is an imperialist land grab in which tens of thousands have been killed, millions uprooted and cities reduced to ruins.
Russia says it is open to resuming stalled peace talks with Kyiv and has welcomed mediation efforts from Brazil and China.
But a top aide to Zelensky said Kyiv’s peace plan, envisaging the full withdrawal of Russian troops, was the only way to end the war.
“There cannot be a Brazilian peace plan, a Chinese peace plan, a South African peace plan when you are talking about the war in Ukraine,” chief diplomatic adviser Ihor Zhovkva told Reuters in an interview late on Friday.

CALL FOR A DMZ
Another Zelensky aide, Mykhailo Podolyak, wrote on Twitter that any post-war settlement should include a demilitarised zone of 100-120 km (62-75 miles) inside Russia along the border.
The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said he believed Russia would not want to negotiate while it was still trying to win the war.
Ukraine’s military said an attack on Odesa port had caused a fire and damaged infrastructure but did not specify whether the damage threatened grain exports.
Ukraine is an key global grain supplier and the port is vital for shipping. It is also one of three countries in a UN-brokered deal on the safe export of grain via the Black Sea.
Russia said on Monday that the grain deal would no longer be operational unless a UN agreement with Moscow to overcome obstacles to Russian grain and fertilizer exports was fulfilled.
This month Moscow reluctantly agreed to extend the grain deal until July 17.
After months of attacks on energy facilities, Russia is now targeting military facilities and supplies to try to disrupt Ukraine’s preparations for its counterattack, Kyiv says.
Moscow says Ukraine has stepped up drone and sabotage attacks on targets inside Russia as it readies the offensive.

 


Thousands of Albanians breaching immigration bail in UK

Thousands of Albanians breaching immigration bail in UK
Updated 29 May 2023

Thousands of Albanians breaching immigration bail in UK

Thousands of Albanians breaching immigration bail in UK
  • 12,842 Albanians released from immigration detention centers failed to report to bail officials at their scheduled time

LONDON: Nearly 13,000 Albanians who entered the UK without valid visas breached the terms of their immigration bail, it was reported on Monday.

Home Office data shows that in the 15 months to this March, 12,842 Albanians released from immigration detention centers failed to report to bail officials at their scheduled time. They accounted for just over a quarter of the 44,957 people who violated their immigration bail in that period.

Many people released into the community are monitored by electronic tags. The Daily Telegraph reported on Monday that videos on TikTok show Albanians using scissors or wire cutters to remove them. 

The Telegraph said that TikTok users in Albania were also offering to act as guarantors for up to £3,000 ($3,700), so that compatriots entering the UK could skip being held at a detention center.

Immigration lawyers in London told Top Channel that Albanians were breaching their bail because they were afraid of being deported to their home country following the signing of an agreement between Tirana and London that fast-tracks their removal. 

“We take further steps if the person does not comply with the conditions of their bail,” A Home Office spokesman told the Telegraph. “There are further bail conditions, home visits, arrests and obtaining financial guarantees,” they added.