Bangladesh students step up protests to press PM’s resignation

Bangladesh students step up protests to press PM’s resignation
Anti-Discrimination Student Movement held a rally at Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka on August 3, 2024, to demand justice for the victims killed in the recent countrywide violence during anti-quota protests. (AFP)
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Updated 03 August 2024
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Bangladesh students step up protests to press PM’s resignation

Bangladesh students step up protests to press PM’s resignation
  • Students Against Discrimination have asked their compatriots to cease paying taxes and utility bills from Sunday to pile pressure on the government

DHAKA: Bangladeshi student leaders on Saturday said they would carry on a planned nationwide civil disobedience campaign until Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned following last month’s deadly police crackdown on protesters.
Rallies against civil service job quotas sparked days of mayhem in July that killed more than 200 people in some of the worst unrest of Hasina’s 15-year tenure.
Troop deployments briefly restored order but crowds returned to the streets in huge numbers this week ahead of an all-out non-cooperation movement aimed at paralysing the government planned to begin on Sunday.
Students Against Discrimination, the group responsible for organizing the initial protests, rebuffed an offer of talks with Hasina earlier in the day before announcing their campaign would continue until the premier and her government step down.
“She must resign and she must face trial,” Nahid Islam, the group’s leader, told a crowd of thousands at a monument to national heroes in the capital Dhaka to roars of approval.
Students Against Discrimination have asked their compatriots to cease paying taxes and utility bills from Sunday to pile pressure on the government.
They have also asked government workers and laborers in the country’s economically vital garment factories to strike.
“She must go because we don’t need this authoritarian government,” Nijhum Yasmin, 20, told AFP from one of many protests staged around Dhaka on Saturday.
“Did we liberate the country to see our brothers and sisters shot dead by this regime?“
The looming non-cooperation campaign deliberately evokes a historical civil disobedience campaign during Bangladesh’s 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.
That earlier movement was spearheaded by Hasina’s father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s independence leader, and is remembered by Bangladeshis as a part of a proud battle against tyranny.
“Now the tables have turned,” Illinois State University politics professor Ali Riaz told AFP.
“The regime’s foundation has been shaken, the aura of invincibility has disappeared,” he added. “The question is whether Hasina is ready to look for an exit or fight to the last.”
Hasina, 76, has ruled Bangladesh since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.
Her government is accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamp out dissent, including the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.
Demonstrations began in early July over the reintroduction of a quota scheme — since scaled back by Bangladesh’s top court — that reserved more than half of all government jobs for certain groups.
With around 18 million young Bangladeshis out of work, according to government figures, the move upset graduates facing an acute employment crisis.
The protests had remained largely peaceful until attacks on demonstrators by police and pro-government student groups.
Hasina’s government eventually imposed a nationwide curfew, deployed troops and shut down the nation’s mobile Internet network for 11 days to restore order.
But the clampdown provoked a torrent of criticism from abroad and failed to quell widespread rancour at home.
Crowds returned to the streets in huge numbers after Friday prayers in the Muslim-majority nation, heeding a call by student leaders to press the government for more concessions.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell this week called for an international probe into the “excessive and lethal force against protesters.”
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters last weekend that security forces had operated with restraint but were “forced to open fire” to defend government buildings.
At least 32 children were among those killed last month, the United Nations said Friday.


Sweden wants EU to brand Iran’s Revolutionary Guards ‘terror’ group: PM

Sweden wants EU to brand Iran’s Revolutionary Guards ‘terror’ group: PM
Updated 13 October 2024
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Sweden wants EU to brand Iran’s Revolutionary Guards ‘terror’ group: PM

Sweden wants EU to brand Iran’s Revolutionary Guards ‘terror’ group: PM
  • Sweden’s Sapo intelligence agency has accused Iran of recruiting members of Swedish criminal gangs to commit “acts of violence” against Israeli and other interests in Sweden, a claim Iran has denied

STOCKHOLM: Sweden wants the European Union to officially deem Iran’s Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization after several attacks on Israeli targets in Sweden, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Sunday.
Sweden’s Sapo intelligence agency has accused Iran of recruiting members of Swedish criminal gangs to commit “acts of violence” against Israeli and other interests in Sweden, a claim Iran has denied.
Three attacks have been carried out against the Israeli embassy in Stockholm in the past year, and two attacks have targeted an Israeli military technology firm in the past six months.
“We want Sweden to seriously address, with other EU countries, the incredibly problematic connection between the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and their destructive role in the (Middle East) region, but also their escalating actions around various European countries, including Sweden,” Kristersson told the Expressen newspaper.
“The only reasonable consequence ... is that we get a joint terror classification, so that we can act more broadly than (we can with) the sanctions that already exist,” he said.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps is a special branch of the Iranian armed forces whose officers hold key positions in Iran’s establishment
In May, Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter cited documents from Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad as saying that the head of the Swedish criminal network Foxtrot, Rawa Majid, and his archrival Ismail Abdo, head of the Rumba gang, had both been recruited by Iran.
Swedish public broadcaster SVT reported in early October that two recent attacks on the Israeli embassies in Stockholm and Copenhagen had been ordered by Foxtrot at the behest of Iran.
 

 


France’s ‘unhappy’ Macron seeks new role after government shakeup

France’s ‘unhappy’ Macron seeks new role after government shakeup
Updated 13 October 2024
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France’s ‘unhappy’ Macron seeks new role after government shakeup

France’s ‘unhappy’ Macron seeks new role after government shakeup
  • In public, the 46-year-old Macron is still all smiles, but in private, he has been seething

PARIS: President Emmanuel Macron weathered a turbulent political summer, but he feels isolated and is frustrated with his new right-wing government, according to people close to him.

Macron’s appointment of 73-year-old conservative Michel Barnier as prime minister ended two months of political chaos after snap legislative elections in July.

In line with his new role under the power-sharing arrangement, the center-rightpresident has taken a back seat on the domestic front, letting Barnier name a Cabinet and concentrating on foreign policy.

In public, the 46-year-old Macron is still all smiles, but in private, he has been seething.

“I did not choose this government,” Macron recently told a trusted confidante, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.

“They make me feel ashamed,” the president said of some of the most conservative ministers.

The most hard-line member of the new government, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, stirred controversy just days into the job, vowing to crack down on immigration and saying that “the rule of law is neither intangible nor sacred.”

After performing strongly in the snap election but failing to secure an outright victory, Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party is a potential kingmaker that could decide the fate of Barnier’s fragile minority government.


Comoros to hold parliamentary elections on Jan. 12

Comoros to hold parliamentary elections on Jan. 12
Updated 13 October 2024
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Comoros to hold parliamentary elections on Jan. 12

Comoros to hold parliamentary elections on Jan. 12
  • “We are not ready to take part in legislative elections until we know what is going to happen,” Salim Issa Abdillah, leader of the opposition JUWA party, who stood against Assoumani in the last election, said

MORONI: Comoros will hold elections to its 33-seat parliament on Jan. 12, according to a decree published on Saturday.
Opposition parties have said they will boycott the poll. The Indian Ocean archipelago, with a population of about 800,000, last had parliamentary polls in January 2020.
In January, incumbent President Azali Assoumani was reelected for another five-year term, but the opposition rejected the results, alleging instances of ballot stuffing and of voting being ended before the official closing time.
The government denied the claims.
“We are not ready to take part in legislative elections until we know what is going to happen,” Salim Issa Abdillah, leader of the opposition JUWA party, who stood against Assoumani in the last election, said.
“We do not trust Azali Assoumani because no matter what commitments he makes, he will not respect them.”
Orange, another opposition party, has also said it will not participate in the poll because the president had re-appointed the current head of the electoral body, Idrissa Said, whom they accuse of favoring the ruling Convention for the Renewal of the Comoros party.
Said denies the allegations.
Assoumani’s opponents suspect him of wanting to prepare his eldest son, Nour El-Fath, to replace him in 2029 when his current term ends.
Assoumani has been ruling Comoros since 1999 when he came to power through a coup. He has since won three elections.

 


Sri Lankan politicians urge cutting Israel ties after attack on UN peacekeepers

Sri Lankan politicians urge cutting Israel ties after attack on UN peacekeepers
Updated 13 October 2024
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Sri Lankan politicians urge cutting Israel ties after attack on UN peacekeepers

Sri Lankan politicians urge cutting Israel ties after attack on UN peacekeepers
  • Two Sri Lankan troops on UNIFIL mission were wounded by Israeli shelling on Friday
  • Politicians in Colombo want legal action against Tel Aviv, boycott of Israeli products

COLOMBO: Politicians from multiple Sri Lankan parties are calling for a break in diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv after Israeli attacks wounded two UN peacekeepers from the South Asian nation.

Sri Lankan troops are part of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, which is tasked with helping the Lebanese Army keep control over the south of the country, which borders Israel.

The Sri Lankan contingent consists of 125 personnel who are deployed to the UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura village. Israeli tanks that entered the area earlier this month have been firing on the peacekeeping forces and on Thursday wounded two Indonesian soldiers. On Friday, Israeli tank fire wounded two Sri Lankans.

Sri Lanka Army spokesperson Brig. Nilantha Premaratne told Arab News the country’s troops were securing the UNIFIL’s headquarters. Two of them — lance corporals from the Vijayabahu Infantry Regiment and from the Armored Corps — were hit by shrapnel and had to be hospitalized.

“One is treated in the hospital inside the base camp, and one was transferred to another hospital. He had to undergo surgery,” Premaratne said.

Another source familiar with the matter told Arab News the soldier was in “serious condition.”

The incident sent a shockwave through the South Asian nation, with its Ministry of Foreign Affairs issuing a statement condemning the attack, but politicians in Colombo say it is not enough.

Marjan Faleel from Sri Lanka People’s Front, the country’s largest party, called for diplomatic ties to be cut and Israeli products embargoed.

“Enough of Israeli atrocities. Now they are laying their hands on the peacekeeping mission,” he told Arab News.

“Sri Lanka should take up this matter at the International Court of Justice and also sever all diplomatic relations with Israel, and also boycott all its products.”

Sri Lanka has already cut ties with Israel two times — in 1971 and 1992 — each time for nearly a decade.

For Azath Salley, leader of the National Unity Alliance, it was time to do it again, as he vowed that his party would work toward a diplomatic break with Tel Aviv after next month’s parliamentary election.

“It is Israeli terrorism, and the world knows it well,” he said. “The first thing we are going to do is go to parliament and (call) to sever all ties with Israel. We don’t want any Israelis to come to Sri Lanka.”

The need for action on the international level is seen as necessary to put an end to Israel’s impunity in the wake of its deadly war on Gaza since October 2023 and the invasion of Lebanon, which began two weeks ago.

Hussein Mohamed, former diplomat and member of the United National Party expected Sri Lanka’s newly appointed government to “take up this matter at all international fora” and act.

“Israeli atrocities should not be tolerated. Sri Lanka should take legal action,” he told Arab News.

Inaction was affecting all the UN rights mechanisms and their applicability to others, according to Shreen Abdul Saroor, Sri Lankan rights advocate with the Women’s Action Network.

“Israel has been violating almost every human right and humanitarian international law and convention,” she said, adding that it may set different standards for all those in the Global South, who might abandon the UN and Western-set order.

“The recent attack is very problematic because the UN peacekeepers in Lebanon have been attacked by Israel and Western countries are (indifferent) about it. They are not criticizing anything.”


Tens of thousands flee Nigeria floods

Tens of thousands flee Nigeria floods
Updated 13 October 2024
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Tens of thousands flee Nigeria floods

Tens of thousands flee Nigeria floods
  • The floods have been mounting for the past month, hitting densely populated areas, including parts of the state capital Lokoja

LAGOS: Two major rivers have flooded across central Nigeria displacing tens of thousands of people, the Red Cross told AFP.
Rescue workers in Kogi State have been helping residents move away from the confluence of the Niger and Benue rivers to displacement camps or nearby villages.
Umar Y Mahmud, the Red Cross disaster management officer in Kogi, said Friday there were more than 60,000 people displaced and about 60,000 hectares (150,000 acres) of land under water.
“The situation is very bad now as the Niger river is increasing,” Mahmud said.
Kogi state’s information commissioner Kingsley Femi Fanwo said displacement camps were becoming “overwhelmed” and estimated that more than one million people could be in the affected areas.
The floods have been mounting for the past month, hitting densely populated areas, including parts of the state capital Lokoja.
In Ibaji district, more than three-quarters of the land has been inundated, Fanwo said.
Nigeria often sees floods during the May-to-November rainy season but there are fears this year’s could be worse than 2022 when more than 500 people died. No deaths have been reported this time.
Floods in Maiduguri, capital of the northeastern state of Borno, in September, left at least 37 dead.
Officials and residents often blame flood damage on climate change as well as poor planning, construction along riverbanks, and the release of water from dams