Month: June 2018

The Syrian Kurdish YPG militia says its military advisers will withdraw from the northern Syrian city of Manbij, after the United States and Turkey agreed on a road map to resolve the future of the city, an issue that is a major source of tension between the NATO allies.

The agreement to ensure security and stability in Manbij came during a meeting Monday in Washington between U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

The U.S. State Department did not provide further details about the agreement, but a senior official said Tuesday, “We will continue to be there. We hope Turkey can help patrol,” while declining to specify how many troops would remain.

The official added: “We want locally rooted forces to continue to support stability.”

Monday, Cavusoglu told Turkish journalists in Washington that U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters will withdraw from Manbij under a plan that could be implemented within six months.He said U.S. and Turkish officials would temporarily ensure security in Manbij.

“The aim of this road map is the clearing of Manbij of all terror organizations and the permanent instatement (establishment) of safety and stability,” Cavusoglu said.

Washington’s support of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia in the war against the Islamic State group has angered Turkey. Ankara calls the YPG terrorists, accusing the militia of being linked to a Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey.

Ahead of Cavusoglu’s visit to Washington, the Turkish foreign minister said, “[The United States] has preferred to collaborate with a terrorist organization in Syria.That was a grave mistake, and we are trying to change their position.”

The Syrian town of Manbij was seized from Islamic State by mainly YPG forces.Ankara has claimed Washington reneged on an agreement the militia would withdraw after taking Manbij.

Former U.S. ambassador to Turkey James Jeffrey told VOA’s Turkish Service that although there are problems between the United States and Turkey, the ties between the countries would not break down.

“Because the U.S. and Turkey share basic interests — we are status quo powers, we are both major beneficiaries of the global order, and we see in similar terms a threat to that order in the region around Turkey, from Russia, from Iran and from extremist elements — the relationship will remain extremely important and will not break down.”

He acknowledged, “The relationship will also be fraught with problems because it is very complicated.”

Jeffrey said the most difficult problem between two countries is Turkey’s agreement to buy the S-400 anti-aircraft missile system from Russia, a non-NATO country.

Turkey’s move to buy the surface-to-air missile system, which is incompatible with NATO systems, has unnerved NATO member countries.In response, a U.S. Senate committee has threatened to prevent Turkey from purchasing U.S. Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets.
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The U.N. human rights office (UNHCR) is criticizing the United States’ new zero tolerance policy aimed at deterring migrants and refugees from coming to the country. Under this policy, people caught entering the U.S. irregularly are subject to criminal prosecution, and their children, some very young, are taken away.

The UNHCR calls this separation of family arbitrary and a serious violation of a child’s rights. The United States is the only country that has not ratified the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. Nevertheless, the agency said this does not absolve the U.S. from its responsibilities to adhere to and protect these rights.

Human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said the use of immigration detention and family separation as a deterrent runs counter to human rights standards and principles. She said children should never be detained because of their or their parents’ immigration status.

She told VOA there is no justification for detaining children.

“Detention is never in the best interest of the child and always constitutes a child rights violation,” she noted. “Entering a country without the relevant papers should not be a criminal offense. At most, it should be an administrative offense. So, these people should not be detained. Detention is never in the best interest of the child, and these children are effectively detained. They are separated and detained.”

The U.N. refugee agency also condemned the Trump administration’s immigration policy. It said preserving family unity is a fundamental tenet of refugee protection.

UNHCR spokesman William Spindler said the unity of the family is sacrosanct and should be preserved in the best interest of children and society as a whole. He said detention should be a measure of last resort.

“Most of the people attempting to enter the United States across the southern border are coming from three Central American countries: Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, which are experiencing high levels of violence and persecution, often targeting children and young people and forcing families to flee to protect their lives,” he said.

Spindler added that people fleeing countries of violence should be given international protection. He said the right to claim asylum is a fundamental human right.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the “zero tolerance” policy several weeks ago. Sessions said Congress has failed to pass legislation to fix the problem. The issue has sparked a political debate in the U.S. ahead of midterm congressional elections later this year.
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The EU’s top court, in a landmark ruling for gay rights in Europe, said on Tuesday that Romania must grant residence to the American husband of a local man even though Romania does not itself permit same-sex marriage.

In a case which has highlighted social differences between western Europe and a more conservative, ex-communist east, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that Romania must accept the validity of the mens’ 2010 Belgian marriage and treat American Clai Hamilton as Adrian Coman’s spouse under EU law.

The case did not touch on the freedom of member states to set their own matrimony laws, although campaigners have called on Brussels to push states to legalize same-sex marriage as a fundamental human right. Rather it upheld rights of EU citizens to move freely across the bloc along with their families.

“Although the member states have the freedom whether or not to authorize marriage between persons of the same sex,” the judges said, “They may not obstruct the freedom of residence of an EU citizen by refusing to grant his same-sex spouse, a

national of a country that is not an EU member state, a derived right of residence in their territory.”

The case arose because Hamilton’s right as a non-EU citizen to live in Romania permanently was dependent on his status as Coman’s spouse. Coman challenged a Romanian decision to limit Hamilton’s residence to a three-month visa and a Romanian court referred the matter to the ECJ in Luxembourg.

Coman welcomed the ruling: “We can now look in the eyes of any public official in Romania and across the EU with certainty that our relationship is equally valuable and equally relevant for the purpose of free movement within the EU,” he said.

The deputy leader of the liberal bloc in the European Parliament, Sophie in ‘t Veld, said: “This is fantastic news and a landmark opinion for rainbow families.

“Freedom of movement is a right of all EU citizens. It cannot be restricted because of whom they love.”

The European Commission insisted that the ruling was not part of a push from Brussels to force social change in the bloc.

“Member states are in charge — but this is a useful clarification in terms of avoiding discrimination,” spokesman Margaritis Schinas told reporters when asked about opposition to same-sex marriage in parts of eastern Europe, where governments have also clashed with the EU executive over other civil rights.
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Denmark’s government has announced that it will build a 68-kilometer fence along the country’s southern border to protect prime Danish pigs from swine fever.

The government says the fence will help keep out German wild boar that could be infected with a deadly African swine fever.

Officials say an outbreak of swine fever in Denmark would force the country to temporarily stop all pork exports. Denmark Minister for Environment and Food Esben Lunde Larsen says the country’s exports of pork outside the European Union are worth $1.8 billion annually.

African swine fever is harmless to humans but fatal to farm pigs.

Other countries in the region are also considering how to counter the spread of swine fever, with Germany allowing hunters to hunt wild boar year around.

Denmark’s government says the fence will be 1.5 meters tall and will be 50 centimeters deep to prevent boars from burrowing underneath. Officials say roads between Denmark and Germany will not be affected by the fence.

Critics say the fence will do little to keep wild boar out of Denmark and will harm other species of animals, such as foxes and deer. Advocates say the fence is a necessary precaution to protect Denmark’s billion-dollar pig industry from the catastrophic effects of an outbreak.
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French President Emmanuel Macron called on international donors to quickly make financing available for the Sahel regional counterterror force.

In a news conference in Paris with visiting Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou, Macron said money “now needs to be disbursed” to allow the five-nation regional force, known as the G5 Sahel, to keep functioning.

He said the European Union started financing the force last week and will provide equipment in coming weeks. He called on other donors like Saudi Arabia to meet their financial commitments. Issoufou expressed his concerns over the financial sustainability of the force.

Earlier this year, international donors pledged 414 million euros ($510 million) to help Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger set up a counterterror force to combat the deadly jihadist threat in the Sahel region.

In an interview to French television France 24, Issoufou said negotiations are ongoing for the release of two humanitarian workers who were kidnapped in Niger. He said Jeffery Woodke, an American abducted in 2016 and Jorg Lang, a German abducted in April this year, are alive.

Issoufou said “we have some news, we know they are alive. We keep working on creating conditions for their release.”

He said he couldn’t confirm their precise location but one probable hypothesis is that they are being detained in northern Mali.
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The United States and Turkey have agreed on a roadmap to resolve the future of the northern Syrian city of Manbij, an issue that has become a major source of tension between the NATO allies.

The agreement came during a meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Washington on Monday.

In a joint statement, Pompeo and Cavusoglu said their countries would take steps “to ensure the security and stability in Manbij.”

“They endorsed a roadmap to this end and underlined their mutual commitment to its implementation, reflecting agreement to closely follow developments on the ground,” the statement said, adding that the two sides agreed to hold further meetings to resolve outstanding issues.

​’Clearing of Manbij’

The U.S. State Department did not provide further details about the agreement. However, Cavusoglu told Turkish journalists in Washington Monday that U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters will withdraw from Manbij under a plan that could be implemented within six months. He said U.S. and Turkish officials would temporarily ensure security in Manbij.

“The aim of this roadmap is the clearing of Manbij of all terror organizations and the permanent instatement of safety and stability,” Cavusoglu said.

Washington’s support of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia in the war against the Islamic State group has angered Turkey. Ankara calls the YPG terrorists, accusing the militia of being linked to a Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey.

Ahead of Cavusoglu’s visit to Washington, the Turkish foreign minister said, “[The United States] has preferred to collaborate with a terrorist organization in Syria. That was a grave mistake, and we are trying to change their position.”

Center of US-Turkish tension

The Syrian town of Manbij, which was seized from Islamic State by mainly YPG forces, has become the epicenter of Turkish-U.S. tensions. Ankara claims Washington reneged on an agreement that the militia would withdraw after taking Manbij.

Former U.S. ambassador to Turkey James Jeffrey told VOA’s Turkish service that although there are problems between the United States and Turkey, the ties between the countries would not break down.

“Because the U.S. and Turkey share basic interests — we are status quo powers, we are both major beneficiaries of the global order, and we see in similar terms a threat to that order in the region around Turkey, from Russia, from Iran and from extremist elements — the relationship will remain extremely important and will not break down.”

However, he acknowledged there will be difficulties between the countries going forward. 

“The relationship will also be fraught with problems because it is very complicated,” he said.

Jeffrey said the most difficult problem between two countries is Turkey’s agreement to buy the S-400 anti-aircraft missile system from Russia, a non-NATO country.

Turkey’s move to buy the surface-to-air missile system, which is incompatible with NATO systems, has unnerved NATO member countries. In response, a U.S. Senate committee has threatened to prevent Turkey from purchasing U.S. Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets.

 Dorian Jones, Nike Ching, Serhan Akyildiz and Erhan Polat contributed to this report.

 
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The threat posed by Islamist militants to Britain is expected to remain high for the next two years and could even rise, the interior ministry said on Sunday, on the first anniversary of an attack that killed eight people in central London.

The current threat level to Britain is assessed as severe, meaning an attack is highly likely. The government said it had foiled 25 Islamist militant plots since June 2013 — 12 of those since March 2017 — and was currently handling over 500 live operations.

Britain will publish a revised counter-terrorism strategy on Monday designed to cope with what it said was a shift in the threats the country faces as militants of all ideologies adopt new tactics.

“In summary we expect the threat from Islamist terrorism to remain at its current, heightened level for at least the next two years, and that it may increase further,” the ministry said in a statement.

The threat level was raised to “critical,” its highest, twice in 2017.

A review found existing counter-terrorism policy was well-organized and comprehensive, but suggested ways it could be improved.

“The threat from terrorism is constantly evolving. Globally, terrorist groups and networks of all ideologies continue to develop organically, exploiting social media, technology and science to further their aims and ambitions,” the ministry said.

The statement said the threat from “extreme right-wing terrorism” was also growing and four plots had been disrupted since March last year.

Interior minister Sajid Javid will speak at a memorial service for those killed in the London Bridge attack when three men drove a van into pedestrians and then stabbed passers-by in the popular nightlife area.

“The government is absolutely committed to doing everything possible to tackle the terrorist threat. It is my first priority every day in this job,” he will say, according to the department.

The revised strategy will try to develop police and security services data analysis capability, coordinate more closely between intelligence agencies and police on specific suspects, and look in more detail at the activity of right wing groups.

It is due to be announced in full on Monday. 
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu begin a three-nation European tour Monday as he seeks support for altering the international nuclear agreement with Iran.

Netanyahu begins in Germany where is holding talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel before traveling on to meet with the leaders of France and Britain.

Britain, France and Germany agreed to the deal with Iran in 2015 along with Russia, China and the United States. 

U.S. President Donald Trump announced last month the U.S. was pulling out of what he called a “horrible, one-sided deal,” while saying he wants additional restrictions on Iran’s ballistic missile program and what he called its “destabilizing activities in the Middle East.”

The other signatories have expressed a desire to keep the nuclear deal in place, saying it is working. Britain, France and Germany have suggested addressing other concerns about Iran through a supplemental agreement.

Like Trump, Netanyahu has been a fierce critic of the nuclear deal, saying it agreement left Iran with the potential to quickly develop a nuclear weapon when the terms expire.

Iran, which won sanctions relief in exchange for limiting its nuclear program, has said repeatedly its nuclear activity was solely peaceful in nature.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Sunday the U.S. decision to withdraw from the agreement was illegal and he urged the other signatories not to follow suit.

State-run Iranian media said Zarif sent a letter to the foreign ministers of the remaining nations. He asked them to “make up” for the Iranian losses brought on by the U.S. withdrawal if they want to save the deal.

Zarif called the 2015 nuclear agreement the result of “accurate, sensitive and balanced multilateral talks.”

“The illegal withdrawal of the U.S. government … especially bullying methods used by this government to bring other governments in line, has discredited the rule of law while challenging the principles of the U.N. charter and efficiency of international bodies,” Zarif wrote.
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Parisians and tourists wearing seasonally appropriate all-white outfits enjoyed gourmet picnics Sunday in front of the French capital’s 19th century Les Invalides monument, a meal heightened by a preceding mystery. 

The location of the 30th anniversary staging of the international dining event known as “Diner en Blanc,” or “Dinner in White,” was revealed to participants in a series of text messages up until the last minute.

People gathered on green lawns with fabulous views of the gold-domed building that houses the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte and other prominent French figures.

They brought tables with white tablecloths and sipped champagne and wine. 

Organizers expected 20,000 to 30,000 participants, one-third of them from outside France. The Champs-Elysees avenue, the Louvre museum and the Eiffel Tower are among past sites.

Francois Pasquier, who launched the event in Paris in 1988, said more than two dozen orchestras were set to entertain guests.

Last year, over 110,000 people in 28 countries participated in “Dinner in White” events. 
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British civil servants have warned of shortages of food, fuel and medicines within weeks if the U.K. leaves the European Union without a trade deal, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The Sunday Times said government officials have modeled three potential scenarios for a “no deal” Brexit: mild, severe and “Armageddon.”

It said under the “severe” scenario, the English Channel ferry port of Dover would “collapse on day one” and supermarkets and hospitals would soon run short of supplies.

Britain wants to strike a deal on future trade relations with the EU before it officially leaves the bloc on March 29, 2019, but officials are also drawing up plans for negotiations ending without an agreement.

The U.K.’s Department for Exiting the European Union rejected the downbeat scenario, saying it was drawing up no-deal plans but was confident “none of this would come to pass.”

Britain and the EU are aiming to strike an overall Brexit agreement by October, so parliaments in other EU nations have time to ratify it before Britain leaves the bloc.

But British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative government is split between ministers who favor a clean-break “hard Brexit,” that would leave Britain freer to strike new trade deals around the world, and those who want to keep the country closely aligned to the EU, Britain’s biggest trading partner.

 EU leaders are frustrated with what they see as a lack of firm proposals from the U.K. over how to resolve major issues around customs arrangements and the status of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. That will be the U.K.’s only land border with the EU after Britain leaves the bloc.

Irish Deputy Prime Minister Simon Coveney said Saturday that the U.K. must produce “written proposals” for the border within two weeks, ahead of a June 28-29 EU summit.

 British Home Secretary Sajid Javid said Sunday that the British government would have “a good set of proposals” to submit to the bloc at its June meeting.

 
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A transport policeman was one of the first to intervene as three assailants armed with long ceramic knives went on a stabbing frenzy after driving their transit van at people near London Bridge.

Reacting to screams, he rushed to confront the attackers, who stabbed him several times, slicing and lunging at his head, legs and arms, leaving him temporarily blind and crippled.

A year on from the terror attack in the Borough district of London, Wayne Marques is still recovering and has only recently been able to walk independently. In a video released this week he said he hopes to return to work next month, but admitted he has some rehabilitation to go. He concedes his family has concerns about his desire to work but says: “It’s a job that I enjoy. It’s who I am, to be honest.”

On the first anniversary of the London Bridge attack that left eight people dead and 48 others injured, tales of heroism and loss were shared Sunday in newspaper articles, broadcast reports and at a memorial service to honor the victims of a stabbing rampage carried out by three young men in the name of jihad.

Mourning, remembering

The words London United were projected onto the bridge Sunday as British Prime Minister Theresa May noted that among the eight people killed, seven were foreign nationals, “a tragic reminder that the threat from terrorism transcends borders and impacts us all,” she said.

In a statement the British leader added: “My message to those who target our way of life or try to divide us is clear: Our resolve to stand firm and overcome this threat together has never been stronger.”

As Londoners marked the anniversary of the attack, mourning the dead and recalling acts of bravery like the intervention of PC Marques, senior counter-terror officers warned resolve will indeed be needed. The country, they said, is still facing a “very significant security threat,” and they revealed Britain’s security agencies have thwarted roughly a terror plot every month the past year.

​Vigilance urged

They said Britain can’t let its guard down and urged “all members of the public to remain vigilant.”

“The police and security services are working extremely hard, foiling and disrupting terrorist attacks all the time,” Dean Haydon, deputy assistant commissioner in London’s Metropolitan Police, told Britain’s Sky News.

Britain’s Interior Minister Sajid Javid is to unveil Monday new security measures including the hiring of an extra 1,000 intelligence officers to help keep suspected extremists under better surveillance. His officials say Britain’s police and security agencies are running at any one time more than 500 live operations focusing on 3,000 “subjects of interest.”

Under Javid’s proposals, British jihadists will be monitored more closely and given longer prison sentences on conviction. Technology companies will be required to do considerably more to tackle extremist content posted on their social-media sites. The package of measures includes plans to fast track extremists to prison even before they have finalized attacks plans.

The proposals stem from a yearlong review of Britain’s counterterror strategy, which found security lapses and a failure to join up intelligence data. 

The suicide bombing at the Manchester arena last year, which left 22 people dead, could have been averted the review concluded, if two pieces of crucial information about the bomber, Salman Abedi, had been linked. The strategy focuses on improving data sharing and on the need to spot the importance of suspected militants who may have been overlooked or have become re-radicalized after monitoring of them has ended.

The counterterror strategy to be published Monday concludes: “We expect the threat from Islamist terrorism to remain at its current, heightened level for at least the next two years, and that it may increase.”

Other terror groups

But it isn’t only Islamic extremism worrying Britain’s counterterror officers. The strategy also warns “the threat from extreme right-wing terrorism is growing.”

For the foreseeable future, though, counterterror analysts say that despite the defeat of the Islamic State group on the battlefield and the dismantling of its self-proclaimed state in Syria and Iraq, Islamist extremists remain the biggest threat to Britain and other European states.

Islamic State’s surviving leaders are desperate to be seen as a major force, say analysts, and continue to encourage and instruct followers to mount attacks in the West, like the recent attack by a “lone wolf” militant in the Belgian city of Liege that left three dead, including two female police officers.
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An Uzbek migrant living in Russia says life has not always been easy with locals often deriding him about where he comes from and accusing him of stealing Russian jobs. What keeps him going is what he does after work: playing soccer with other migrants from around the world. VOA’s Mariama Diallo reports.
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Member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization face an uncertain security environment as they prepare for July’s summit in Brussels. Among the challenges facing the 29 member countries: rising tensions with Russia, which has long opposed NATO expanding its membership in Eastern Europe. Ahead of the July 11th summit, four countries have declared their intent to join the alliance. VOA’s Jane Bojadzievski has more.
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