Ethiopia fears ‘dangers’ of new Somalia peace mission

Ethiopia fears ‘dangers’ of new Somalia peace mission
African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) peacekeepers travel in an armored vehicle as they leave Jaale Siad Military academy, Mogadishu, Somalia, Feb. 28, 2019. (Reuters)
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Updated 28 August 2024
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Ethiopia fears ‘dangers’ of new Somalia peace mission

Ethiopia fears ‘dangers’ of new Somalia peace mission
  • New mission, known as AUSSOM, is due to replace in January an AU peacekeeping force that is deployed in Somalia to fight the Al-Shabab extremist group
  • Addis Ababa warned it was ‘fraught with dangers’ and accused Somalia of colluding with unnamed actors seeking to destabilize the volatile Horn of Africa

NAIROBI: Ethiopia on Wednesday warned that a new African Union-led mission for Somalia could worsen tensions in volatile East Africa, after Egypt said it sent military aid to the conflict-ridden nation.
The new mission, known as AUSSOM, is due to replace in January an AU peacekeeping force that is deployed in Somalia to fight the Al-Shabab extremist group.
Addis Ababa warned it was “fraught with dangers” and accused Somalia of colluding with unnamed actors seeking to destabilize the volatile Horn of Africa.
The concern came after Egypt — which has long been at odds with Ethiopia — sent military equipment to Somalia in a move likely to escalate tensions between Cairo and Addis Ababa.
“The region is entering into uncharted waters,” Ethiopia’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
“Ethiopia cannot stand idle while other actors are taking measures to destabilize the region,” it said, adding that it was monitoring the developments.
Cairo and Addis Ababa have been at loggerheads for years, trading incendiary words over Ethiopia’s mega-dam project on the Blue Nile, which Egypt says threatens its fragile water security.
Egypt has long viewed the massive $4.2-billion dam as an existential threat, as it relies on the Nile for 97 percent of its water needs.
Protracted negotiations over the dam since 2011 have thus far failed to bring about an agreement between Ethiopia and its downstream neighbors.
Relations between Mogadishu and Addis Ababa also nosedived after Ethiopia in January struck a controversial maritime deal with the breakaway Somali region of Somaliland.
Somaliland, a former British protectorate of 4.5 million people, has not had its independence claim recognized by the international community.
Egypt and Somalia have meanwhile drawn closer together and signed a military cooperation agreement this month.
It was not immediately clear what Egypt had sent to Somalia but Somali ambassador to Egypt Ali Abdi on Wednesday lauded the consignment as important.
“It is the first practical step to implement the outcomes of the Egyptian-Somali summit held recently in Cairo between President Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud and President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi,” the statement quoted Abdi as saying.
He added that Egypt will be the first country to deploy forces to support the Somali security after the withdrawal of the current AU force, known as ATMIS, according to a statement published by local media.
ATMIS, which operates with a mandate from the AU but is also mandated by the UN Security Council, is due to fully withdraw and hand over security responsibilities to the Somali army and police by the end of 2024.
The mission comprises troops from Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.


Britain withdraws family members of embassy staff from Israel

Britain withdraws family members of embassy staff from Israel
Updated 34 sec ago
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Britain withdraws family members of embassy staff from Israel

Britain withdraws family members of embassy staff from Israel
LONDON: Britain has withdrawn the families of its embassy staff working in Israel due to the escalation in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah and the risk of a wider regional conflict.
The decision comes in the wake of Israel sending troops into southern Lebanon, the killing of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and an Iranian missile attack on Israel.
“As a precautionary measure following escalation in the region, family members of British Embassy staff have been temporarily withdrawn,” the Foreign Office travel advice web page for Israel read. “Our staff members remain.”
Hezbollah rockets hit Israel’s third-largest city Haifa early on Monday as the country looked poised to expand its ground incursions into Lebanon.
Britain advises citizens against all travel to the area close to the border with Gaza and “all but essential travel” to other parts of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories due to the yearlong conflict between Israel and Hamas.
But British citizens living in Israel are not being told to leave. Instead, they are being advised that consular assistance is “severely limited.”
“We recognize this is a fast-moving situation that poses significant risks,” the advice reads. “We strongly encourage you to check you and your dependents have the required documentation to travel at short notice.”

Philippines, South Korea upgrade ties to strategic partnership

Philippines, South Korea upgrade ties to strategic partnership
Updated 22 min 24 sec ago
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Philippines, South Korea upgrade ties to strategic partnership

Philippines, South Korea upgrade ties to strategic partnership
  • Yoon’s visit to the Philippines is the first by a South Korean president since 2011
  • New agreements also covered security, economy and nuclear energy cooperation

MANILA: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol agreed to elevate bilateral ties to a strategic partnership on Monday, including closer maritime cooperation amid growing security challenges in the Asia-Pacific region.

Yoon was on a visit to the Philippines, marking the first such trip by a South Korean president since 2011, as the two nations celebrated their 75-year diplomatic relations this year.

The two leaders discussed a range of issues during their bilateral meeting in Manila, including tensions in the disputed South China Sea and the Korean peninsula, and later signed new cooperation agreements that also covered security, the economy and nuclear energy.

“Today, I am pleased to announce that the Philippines and the Republic of Korea have formally elevated our relations to a Strategic Partnership, adding further impetus to the strengthening and deepening of our cooperation in an increasingly complex geopolitical and economic environment,” Marcos said during a joint press conference.

The Philippines and South Korea also signed a preliminary agreement on maritime cooperation between their coast guards to promote, preserve and protect “maritime order and safety in the Asia-Pacific region,” he said.

Under a joint declaration on their strategic partnership, both countries expressed concern about actions in the South China Sea that “are inconsistent with the rules-based international order,” and said they “oppose militarization of reclaimed features, the dangerous use of coast guard and maritime militia vessels, and coercive activities.”

Philippine and Chinese coast guard vessels have repeatedly clashed in the strategic, resource-rich waterway that Beijing claims almost in its entirety, which has been dismissed by an international tribunal ruling in 2016.

Seoul has recently grown more vocal in speaking out on tensions in the disputed waters, including in March, when it expressed “grave concern” over China’s “repeated use of water cannons against the Philippine vessels” in the area.

South Korea will also actively take part in the Philippines’ ongoing military modernization efforts, Yoon said at the joint press conference, as his country has been working to ramp up global defense exports to become the world’s fourth-largest arms exporter by 2027.

The Philippines has so far bought FA-50 fighter jets, corvettes and frigates from South Korea, as Manila is looking to buy advanced assets, such as fighter jets, submarines and missile systems, to scale up territorial defense and maritime security.

Prof. Renato De Castro, an international studies expert and professor at Manila-based De La Salle University, said South Korea was “very important in enabling the Philippines to acquire weapon systems” required to implement Manila’s new Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept.

He is referring to a strategic doctrine that was launched earlier this year in March to boost protection and security in the Philippine part of the South China Sea.

“South Korea is there to assist us in terms, of course, providing us the necessary naval platforms like the frigate, and, more importantly, probably supporting our shipbuilding industry so that we could be in a position to build ships that might be used by the Philippine Navy and the Philippines Coast Guard,” De Castro said.

Marcos and Yoon also signed an agreement to conduct a feasibility study on Philippines’ Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, as Manila seeks to tap nuclear power as a viable alternative to generate energy amid efforts to retire coal plants, boost energy security and meet its climate goals.

Under Yoon, who became president in 2022, South Korea has been ramping up nuclear energy production. The East Asian nation has exported its technology widely and was involved in the development of UAE’s first nuclear plant Barakah, which began its full commercial operation last month.

“We need it, we need renewable energy. We have started to decarbonize renewable energy. And the best option, of course, is nuclear energy. It’s high time,” De Castro said.


Swedish woman faces trial for war crimes, accused of abusing Yazidis in Syria

Swedish woman faces trial for war crimes, accused of abusing Yazidis in Syria
Updated 07 October 2024
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Swedish woman faces trial for war crimes, accused of abusing Yazidis in Syria

Swedish woman faces trial for war crimes, accused of abusing Yazidis in Syria
  • The trial marks the first time that Deash attacks against the Yazidis, one of Iraq’s oldest religious minorities, have been tried in Sweden

COPENHAGEN: A 52-year-old woman associated with the Daesh group went on trial on Monday in Sweden on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against Yazidi women and children in Syria.
Lina Laina Ishaq, who is a Swedish citizen, is accused of committing the crimes during the period from August 2014 to December 2016 in the Syrian city of Raqqa, which at the time was the seat of the militant group’s self-proclaimed caliphate and home to about 300,000 people.
The trial marks the first time that Deash attacks against the Yazidis, one of Iraq’s oldest religious minorities, have been tried in Sweden. The hearings are expected to last about two months, most of them behind closed doors.
The crimes took place under Daesh rule in Raqqa, where Ishaq was living at the time.
Under Daesh rule, Yazidi women and children were “regarded as property and subjected to being traded as slaves, sexual slavery, forced labor, deprivation of liberty and extrajudicial executions,” prosecutor Reena Devgun said when the charges were made public last month.
The prosecution says that at her home in Raqqa, Ishaq abused Yazidis with the aim to ”completely or partially annihilate the Yazidi ethnic group,” Devgun said as the trial opened at the Stockholm District Court, the Swedish TT news agency said.
The charge sheet, obtained by The Associated Press, says Ishaq is suspected of holding nine people, including children, for up to seven months, treated them as slaves and also abused several of those she held captive.
Ishaq, who denies wrongdoing, is also accused of having molested a baby, said to have been 1 month old at the time, by holding a hand over the child’s mouth when he screamed to silence him. She is also suspected of having sold people to Daesh, knowing they risked being killed or subjected to serious sexual abuse.
The Daesh group abducted Yazidi women and children and brought them to Syria in 2014, when Daesh militants stormed Yazidi towns and villages in Iraq’s Sinjar region. Women were forced into sexual slavery, and boys were taken to be indoctrinated in jihadi ideology.
Three years later, when Daesh’s reign began to collapse, Ishaq fled from Raqqa and was captured by Syrian Kurdish troops.
She managed to escape to Turkiye where she was arrested with her son and two other children she had given birth to in the meantime with a Daesh foreign fighter from Tunisia. She was later extradited to Sweden.
Ishaq was earlier convicted in Sweden and sentenced to three years in prison for taking her 2-year-old son to Syria in 2014, to an area then controlled by Daesh. She had claimed that at the time, she had told the child’s father that she and the boy were only going on a holiday to Turkiye. However, once in Turkiye, the two crossed into Syria and into Daesh-run territory.
Ishaq who already is in prison, was identified through information from a UN team investigating atrocities in Iraq, known as UNITAD.


New blast near Israeli embassy in Denmark

New blast near Israeli embassy in Denmark
Updated 07 October 2024
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New blast near Israeli embassy in Denmark

New blast near Israeli embassy in Denmark
  • The blast occurred some 500 meters (yards) from the embassy in Copenhagen

COPENHAGEN: A new blast went off near the Israeli embassy in Denmark, police said on Monday as the world marked the one-year anniversary of the Hamas October 7 attack on Israel.
The blast occurred some 500 meters (yards) from the embassy in Copenhagen and came five days after two explosions near the building for which two Swedish nationals have been remanded in custody.
“We are of course looking into whether there could be a connection to the (earlier) incident at the Israeli embassy,” Copenhagen police inspector Trine Moller told reporters.
“There is no indication that this is the case,” she added, adding that the explosion was probably caused by gunfire.
Images on local media showed traces of a blast in front of a residential building some 500 meters away from the Israeli embassy.
The incident occurred on the one-year anniversary of the October 7 attacks, which were followed by Israel’s assaults on Gaza and Lebanon and protests against the wars across the world.
Sweden’s intelligence agency Sapo said that Iran may have been involved in the October 2 explosions in Denmark, as well as a shooting near Israel’s embassy in Stockholm the day earlier.
In May, Sapo said that Iran was recruiting members of Swedish criminal gangs to commit “acts of violence” against Israeli and other interests in Sweden — a claim Iran denied.
Denmark detained three Swedish nationals last week over the explosions and a Danish court on Thursday remanded two of them — aged 16 and 19 — in custody for 27 days.
Copenhagen police said the third Swede, arrested near the crime scene, had been released.


Floods in Bangladesh leave five dead

Floods in Bangladesh leave five dead
Updated 07 October 2024
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Floods in Bangladesh leave five dead

Floods in Bangladesh leave five dead
  • Over 100,000 remain stranded as floods continue to ravage northern Bangladesh 
  • Collapsed bridges, submerged roads make it difficult for authorities to reach affected areas

DHAKA: At least five people have died and more than 100,000 remain stranded as devastating floods, triggered by heavy rains and upstream torrents, continue to ravage northern Bangladesh, officials said on Sunday.
In Sherpur, one of the hardest-hit northern districts, the water levels of major rivers have surged, submerging new areas and displacing thousands of families.
Local authorities fear widespread damage to agriculture, with crops and farmlands, particularly rice fields, facing potential devastation. Many homes and roads are under several feet of water, cutting off villages and leaving residents in desperate need of rescue.
“I have never seen such flooding in my life,” said Abu Taher, a resident of the district.
Army personnel, using boats and helicopters, have joined rescue efforts, delivering emergency supplies and evacuating those trapped by the floods.
Bridges have collapsed, and roads have been submerged, making it difficult for local authorities to reach affected areas.
“Our priority is to evacuate people to safe shelters and provide them with essential supplies,” said Sherpur district administrator Torofdar Mahmudur Rahman.
He said another decomposed body, suspected to have floated from India, had been found.
The low-lying nation of 170 million has experienced multiple floods this year, underscoring its vulnerability to climate change. A 2015 World Bank Institute analysis estimated that 3.5 million people in Bangladesh are at risk of annual river flooding, a risk scientists say is worsening due to global climate change.
As water levels continue to rise, concerns grow about the long-term impact on the region’s agriculture, particularly rice crops. If the floodwaters do not recede soon, the economic toll on farmers could be severe.
Adding to the worries, the weather office has predicted more rain in the coming days, raising fears of further inundation.