Month: March 2019

Pope Francis turned his attention Sunday to ministering to Morocco’s small Christian community after reaching out to the kingdom’s Muslim majority and calling for a greater welcome for its growing number of migrants.

On the second day of a 27-hour visit to Morocco, Francis visited a church-run social services center and met with Catholic priests and other Christian representatives in the cathedral of the capital, Rabat. He is scheduled to wrap up his trip with a Mass in the city’s sports stadium.

Francis thanked Morocco on Saturday for protecting migrants and warned that walls and fear-mongering would not stop people from leaving their home countries in search of opportunities and safety. Morocco has become the main departure point in Africa for migrants attempting to reach Europe after Italy essentially closed its borders to asylum-seekers leaving from Libya.

The pope’s comments had additional resonance in the region he was visiting since Spain has a border fence at its Northern African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla to try to keep out migrants.

“The issue of migration will never be resolved by raising barriers, fomenting fear of others or denying assistance to those who legitimately aspire to a better life for themselves and their families,” Francis said.

Francis met with migrants from Nigeria, Guinea, Cameroon and other countries, telling them they deserved to be welcomed. He called for expanded legal channels for migration and protections for the most vulnerable.

“You are not the marginalized. You are at the center of the church’s heart,” he assured them.   

Francis has made the plight of refugees a hallmark of his papacy and used many of his foreign visits to insist on the moral imperative for countries to protect and integrate them.

Upon his arrival Saturday, Francis also praised Morocco’s tradition of interfaith coexistence and its efforts to promote a moderate form of Islam.

Muslims, Christians and Jews have long lived peacefully in Morocco. Catholics are tiny minority of about 23,000.

Morocco, a Sunni Muslim kingdom of 36 million, reformed its religious policies and education to limit the spread of fundamentalism in 2004, following terrorist bombings in Casablanca in 2003 that killed 43 people.

 
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North Korea said Sunday it wants an investigation into a raid on its embassy in Spain last month, calling it a “grave terrorist attack” and an act of extortion that violates international law.

The incident occurred ahead of President Donald Trump’s second summit with leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi on Feb. 27-28. A mysterious group calling for the overthrow of the North Korean regime has claimed responsibility. 

The North’s official media quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying that an illegal intrusion into and occupation of a diplomatic mission and an act of extortion are a grave breach of the state sovereignty and a flagrant violation of international law, “and this kind of act should never be tolerated.”

He claimed an armed group tortured the staff and suggested they stole communications gear.

The 10 people who allegedly raided the embassy in Madrid belong to a mysterious dissident organization that styles itself as a government-in-exile dedicated to toppling the ruling Kim family dynasty. The leader of the alleged intruders appears to be a Yale-educated human rights activist who was once jailed in China while trying to rescue North Korean defectors living in hiding, according to activists and defectors.

Details have begun trickling out about the raid after a Spanish judge lifted a secrecy order last week and said an investigation of what happened Feb. 22 uncovered evidence that “a criminal organization” shackled and gagged embassy staff before escaping with computers, hard drives and documents. A U.S. official said the group is named Cheollima Civil Defense, a little-known organization that recently called for international solidarity in the fight against North Korea’s government.

Spain has issued at least two international arrest warrants for members of the group.
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Turks are going to the polls in Sunday’s nationwide local elections. The vote is expected to be the toughest Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has faced, with the control of the capital Ankara and Istanbul at risk.

With the economy in recession and soaring inflation, economic concerns are first and foremost on many voters’ minds.  

“Our economy is getting worse and worse because of their [government] bad management,” said Erdem, an engineer, speaking before voting in Istanbul, “most of my friends are now looking for a job and some my friends lose their job because of economic crisis.”

Istanbul is Turkey’s largest city and the country’s financial capital. According to opinion polls the election there is too close to call. Erdogan’s AK Party has controlled the city for more than fifteen years.

“My expectation is there will be good things coming out of this election, we will win with a big difference,” said Sinan, an AKP supporter speaking after voting in Istanbul.

Even though Erdogan is not on the ballot, he took personal control of the local election campaign. In a sign of what analysts suggest are fears of losing Istanbul, Erdogan in the last few days held more than a dozen rallies across the city in a bid to consolidate his party’s support.

Refocus

Throughout the campaign Erdogan sought to move the agenda away from economic woes, instead focusing on security concerns, and the threat posed by Kurdish separatists, along with a religious agenda.

Erdogan repeatedly played videos of a massacre of Muslims praying in New Zealand mosques at his rallies. The Turkish president likes to present himself as as a protector of Muslims around the world; a stance analysts say plays well with his religious and nationalist base.

In another move aimed at his base, Erdogan, days before Sunday’s poll, promised to turn Istanbul’s Hagia Sofia museum, once one of Christendom most important churches, into a mosque.

However, analysts say Erdogan struggled to change the agenda away from the economy. With Turkey in the grip of soaring food prices, over 30 percent, “The key issue for the next local elections in Turkey is the economy,” said Professor Baris Doster of Istanbul’s Marmara University.

“I think that the most powerful and effective opposition parties are not the classical parties, like the Republican People’s Party or the Good party. However, the key issue for the elections is the increasing prices of vegetables. Let’s say the prices of cucumbers or tomatoes. These are the most effective oppositions of Turkey,” added Doster.

In a bid alleviate public anger over rising prices, in the run-up to the local elections state-subsidized food was sold in Ankara, Istanbul and other major cities. However, analysts say the images of people queuing up for food appears to have only underlined opposition claims the country is in crisis.

Erdogan appears to have also been wrong-footed by the surprise move of the pro-Kurdish HD Party’s decision not to contest the main cities outside of Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast region.

“Our strategy is based on winning in the East and making them lose in the west,” said Gul Demir co-head of HDP in Istanbul’s Kadikoy district.

Demir says her party is calling on its supporters to vote for the main opposition CHP party. The HDP, Turkey’s second largest opposition party, accounts for nearly 10% of the electorate in cities like Istanbul and Ankara.

While courting Turkish nationalist voters Erdogan has targeted the HDP, calling the party terrorists partly linked to Kurdish insurgents the PKK. Thousands of its officials have been jailed in a crackdown, including elected mayors and parliamentary deputies.

Kurdish vote

The HDP is seeking to win in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish region, in towns and cities which its mayors have been removed from office and jailed by the state, accused of supporting Kurdish insurgents.

However, analysts say HDP voters could play a decisive role in Turkey’s western cities where polls indicate close contests, especially Istanbul where the HDP has a strong base. On Saturday dozens of HDP local officials were detained in police raids in Istanbul.

In Malatya province in Eastern Anatolia, a polling station volunteer and a party observer from the small Islamist Felicity Party (SP) were killed.  Turkey’s official Andolu news agency reported the incident in the otherwise largely peaceful vote.

Attention is focusing on the outcome of the election in Istanbul.  Erdogan’s home town remains his power base and has significant symbolic value, being the city where he launched his political career by winning the mayorship back in 1994.

Control of Istanbul and other major cities is one source power outside of Erdogan’s direct control since he turned Turkey into a presidential system. The old Turkish political adage “who controls Istanbul, control’s Turkey,” for many still holds true.

The loss of Ankara and Istanbul would also deal a mighty blow to Erdogan’s reputation of electoral invincibility.

 
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Pope Francis is in Morocco as part of his ongoing effort to advance inter-religious dialogue.  It is the first visit by a pope to the predominantly Muslim country in 34 years. Just last month the pope visited the predominantly Muslim United Arab Emirates.

Pope John Paul II was the last head of the Catholic Church to visit Morocco in August 1985. Moroccans are seeing the current visit in a positive way and the message that Pope Francis has for them is that Muslims and Christians can peacefully co-exist.

Ahead of the two-day visit, Pope Francis issued a video message for the Moroccan people. He thanked King Mohammed VI for inviting him and Moroccan authorities for their collaboration in making this visit possible.

Francis said that, following in the footsteps of his holy predecessor, John Paul II, he is coming as a pilgrim of peace and brotherhood, in a world that greatly needs it. Francis added that both Christians and Muslims believe in God “who created men and women, and placed them in the world so that they might live as brothers and sisters, respecting each other’s diversity and helping each other in their needs.”

Morocco’s population is almost all Muslim, with the local Catholic community consisting of some 23,000 faithful. The majority of them are immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa. The pope will spend only 27 hours in Morocco but he has a busy schedule. On his first day in Rabat, the pope focuses on inter-faith dialogue and on solidarity with migrants.

He will be visiting the Mohammed VI Institute for the training of imams in what is expected to be a significant moment of his visit. It is the first time a pope is welcomed in a school for imams. This is part of the Moroccan king’s effort against fundamentalism while promoting a moderate approach to Islam.

On Saturday, Pope Francis also will be meeting with migrants at a center run by the Catholic charity Caritas. There are some 50,000 migrants in Morocco and about 4,000 are looked after by Caritas. The issue of migrants is an important one, as Morocco’s proximity to Spain has led many migrants to travel this route to enter Europe.

On Sunday, Pope Francis will visit the Center for Social Services at Temara, just south of Rabat, which used to be a rural school run by Jesuits and is now an important care center for children. The pope will then hold a meeting with religious men and women in Rabat cathedral and lunch with the country’s bishops.

Before returning to the Vatican, Pope Francis will celebrate mass at the city’s Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium. The mass is expected to be attended by at least half the Catholic population in the country.

 
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A comedian who’s never held political office tops the public opinion polls ahead of Ukraine’s presidential election, but even he appears to be falling far short of enough support to win in the first round.

Ukrainians on Sunday will choose from among 39 candidates for a president they hope can guide the country of more than 42 million out of troubles including endemic corruption, a seemingly intractable war with Russia-backed separatists in the country’s east and a struggling economy.

Incumbent President Petro Poroshenko is running for another term but a poll released Friday by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology showed him with support of just 13.7 percent of the voters.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who shot to national prominence by playing the role of president in a television comedy series, topped the poll at 20.9 percent.

Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister making her third run at the presidency, was in third with 9.7 percent.

If no candidate gets an absolute majority of the votes on Sunday, a runoff between the top two will be held April 21. Nearly a quarter of those who intend to vote say they remain undecided, according to the survey.

All the leading candidates advocate Ukraine eventually joining NATO and the European Union, and the election will be closely watched by those organizations for indications of whether Ukraine is developing democratic processes.

Concern about the election’s freedom and fairness spiked this week after the country’s interior minister said he was looking into hundreds of claims that campaigners for Poroshenko and Tymoshenko were offering money to voters to support their candidates.

Zelenskiy, 41, is famous for his TV portrayal of a schoolteacher who becomes president after a video of him denouncing corruption goes viral. Even before he announced his candidacy, Zelenskiy’s name was turning up high in pre-election public opinion polls, with potential voters seemingly encouraged by his “Servant of the People” TV series (which became the name of his party).

Like his TV character, Zelenskiy the candidate has focused strongly on corruption. He proposes a lifetime ban on holding public office for anyone convicted of corruption and calls for a tax amnesty under which someone holding hidden assets would declare them, be taxed at 5 percent and face no other measures. He also calls for direct negotiation with Russia on ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

“We are tired of the old politicians who give out new promises, while they themselves only steal and increase corruption,” Zelenskiy supporter Oleg Derun said Saturday.

Poroshenko, 53, came to power in 2014 with the image of a “good oligarch.” The bulk of his fortune came from the Roshen confectionery company, hence his nickname “The Chocolate King.”

Critics denounce him for having done little to combat Ukraine’s endemic corruption and for failing to end the war in the east. He has made economic reforms that pleased international lenders, but that burdened Ukrainians with higher utility bills.  He did, however, score significant goals for Ukraine’s national identity and its desire to move out of Russia’s influence. He signed an association agreement with the European Union so Ukrainians now can travel visa-free to the European Union. He pushed successfully for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to be recognized as self-standing rather than just a branch of the Russian church.

Poroshenko reinforced the latter issue on Saturday, even though campaigning is not allowed on the day prior to elections, by holding public prayers with the head of the new Ukrainian church.

Poroshenko “needs time to complete reforms, which are moving, but slowly,” said soldier Ihor Shumeiko, who attended the prayer service.

Tymoshenko is playing heavily to the economic distress of millions of Ukrainians. She has promised to reduce prices for household gas by 50 percent within a month of taking office, calling the price hikes introduced by Poroshenko “economic genocide.” She also promises to take away constitutional immunity for the president, the judiciary and lawmakers.

She was named prime minister after the 2004 Orange Revolution protests in which she was a major figure.  But her image darkened as she and President Viktor Yushchenko quarreled chronically, and she lost to Moscow-leaning Viktor Yanukovych in the 2010 presidential election.

In 2011, she was arrested and charged with abusing power as premier in a natural gas deal with Russia. Tymoshenko said the proceedings were politically motivated revenge, and Western governments voiced concern about her incarceration. She was released amid the disorder of the 2014 overthrow of Yanukovych, and lost a presidential election to Poroshenko three months later.

 
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Three teenage migrants have been charged in Malta with seizing control of a merchant ship and using force and intimidation, a crime considered a terrorist activity under Maltese law.

One of the accused was identified by the court during the arraignment Saturday as Abdalla Bari, a 19-year-old from Guinea. The other two are 15 and 16, and as minors could not be named. One is also from Guinea and the other from Ivory Coast.

They are suspects in the hijacking in the Mediterranean this week of the El Hiblu 1, an oil tanker. The captain has said that migrants that his crew had rescued began rioting and took control of his ship when they saw it was returning to Libya, forcing it to turn north toward Europe.

 
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While Britain remains entangled in a promise to leave the European Union without a workable plan to do so, the White House says President Donald Trump is “eager to cut a bilateral trade deal with an independent Britain.”

Hours after British lawmakers rejected a Brexit plan for a third time Friday, U.S. national security adviser John Bolton told reporters that when Britain extricates itself from the European Union, the United States will “be standing right there waiting for them.”

He said Trump empathized with embattled British Prime Minister Theresa May, and that he would like to “reassure the people of the United Kingdom how strongly we feel that we want to be there for them.”

Friday marked the third time Britain’s House of Commons rejected a withdrawal plan backed by May in a vote on the day Britain originally was scheduled to leave the European Union. The vote was 344-286.

In response, Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, has called a European Council meeting for April 10. The EU has given Britain until April 12 to let members know what it plans to do.

Britons voted nearly three years ago to leave the EU. But as last week’s scheduled departure date grew near, so did turmoil over terms of the deal May negotiated with EU leaders. 
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U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is urging the international community to step up its commitment to the organization’s peacekeeping operations, particularly in improving its specialized equipment and troop needs. 

“As conflicts become more complex and high-risk, our operations must keep pace,” Guterres on Friday told more than 100 defense ministers, foreign ministers and diplomats. 

The U.N. chief appealed for critical capabilities, including armored personnel carriers to protect peacekeepers in Mali and medical evacuation helicopters for its mission in the Central African Republic. 

“Elsewhere, we need armed utility helicopters; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance units; quick reaction forces, and air medical evacuation teams,” Guterres said. “I urge you to consider contributing these high-value and critical capabilities, and I assure you that they will be utilized effectively and efficiently, in accordance with our command-and-control policy.”

U.N. troops and police have had to adjust to asymmetrical threats, including from armed groups and terrorists. Last year, 27 peacekeepers were killed in the line of duty. New kinds of technology and equipment are needed to better prepare and protect them from these threats. 

The world body has nearly 100,000 troops and police from 127 countries working in 14 missions in Haiti, Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. The peacekeeping department has a budget of nearly $7 billion a year. 

As the U.N. looks to achieve gender parity throughout the organization, the secretary-general noted that it is “unacceptable” that only 4 percent of peacekeepers are women. He said his staff will present a strategy to increase their numbers to the Security Council next month. 

“Beyond better equipment and readiness, we must increase local engagement,” Guterres said. “Women peacekeepers and civilian staff are essential to improve those efforts.”

“If we want to substantially increase the number of women in peacekeeping operations, we need to increase the numbers of women in our respective militaries,” Canada’s Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan pointed out to the assembly. 

Ethiopia’s female defense minister said her country is both the leading troop contributing country with 8,000 troops in U.N. missions, and it has the most women (800) deployed. 

“However, while it may be the highest number from a single country, it is still barely representative of the possibilities,” said Aisha Mohammed Mussa.

U.N. peacekeeping has also struggled with allegations against some of its blue helmets — as the peacekeepers are known — of raping or sexually exploiting the civilians they are sent to protect. After a “zero tolerance” campaign started under the previous secretary-general, the numbers of such cases are starting to come down. A report earlier this month said the number of cases in peacekeeping and political missions dropped to 54 in 2018 from 62 in 2017 and 104 in 2016. 

Ministers also made new pledges of troops, equipment or other capacities at Friday’s meeting. 

Nepal’s defense minister said his country is ready to double its peacekeeping presence to 10,000 blue helmets if the U.N. requests the additional personnel.  Brazilian Defense Minister Fernando Azevedo e Silva said his government would deploy a jungle-experts warfare team to the U.N. mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mongolia’s minister said his country was adding a rapid deployment battalion to its existing peacekeeping contribution. 

The United States, which is the top funder of U.N. peacekeeping, providing a quarter of its annual budget, said it is focused on the development of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, which are critical to improving the effectiveness of U.N. peacekeeping operations.
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Russia is trying to influence the outcome of the upcoming presidential election in Ukraine by stirring up division and amplifying negative news stories, according to several analysts who have been monitoring Kremlin propaganda surrounding the March 31 poll. 

The first round of voting is set for Sunday, with 39 candidates on the ballot. The second-round runoff will be held three weeks later.

With no overtly pro-Russian candidates taking part in the poll, analysts warn the Kremlin has resorted to using social media and covert influence on Ukrainian media outlets to try to disrupt the election. 

Since the revolution of 2014, Ukraine has turned decisively to the West, as Kyiv seeks European Union and NATO membership. However, Moscow isn’t giving up and sees the election as just the latest in a series of strategic battles, said analyst Vladislav Inozemtsev, director of the Moscow Center for Post-Industrial Studies and author of a recent report, Kremlin-linked Forces in Ukraine’s 2019 Elections.

‘Second revenge’

“In 2004, in 2005, it was the first defeat,” Inozemtsev told VOA in a recent interview. “They got some kind of revenge in 2010 when [Viktor] Yanukovich was elected. Then of course there was nothing to do actually in 2014, because it was absolutely sure that the pro-European forces will win. And now we have a kind of second revenge which can be achieved if the Kremlin’s politics is quite wise and comprehensive.” 

Ukraine has ejected many Russian television channels and Kremlin-linked political figures, and has blocked pro-Moscow propaganda sites on the internet and social media. Yevgen Fedchenko, co-founder of the organization Stopfake.org, which was set up to highlight disinformation coming from Russia, said the Kremlin has looked for new channels of influence. 

“They are looking more and more to find new outlets that can be used, including Facebook, as one of the platforms, but also trying to influence the Ukrainian media, through just buying them or influencing their editorial policies or influencing just individual journalists,” he said. 

The head of Information Security at Ukraine’s Security Service, Oleksandr Klymchuk, said the government has been proactive in countering that influence.

“We provided Facebook with information about 2,000 fake accounts and bots. They have already been blocked. Within the last two weeks we have provided information about 40,000 more bots,” Klymchuk said. 

Objective seen as division

Fedchenko said Moscow’s strategy was no longer to support a single candidate, but to sow division.

“For them, the most important thing is that anyone but [Petro] Poroshenko can be president,” he said. “So they used to endorse some candidates, including those who will be running against Poroshenko — the closest ones, like [Yulia] Tymoshenko, like [Volodymyr] Zelenskiy — during different periods of time. But also they try to create the atmosphere of chaos, and try to portray Ukraine as a kind of chaotic place where you just cannot have elections.”  

The rise of comedian-turned-politician Volodymyr Zelenskiy has taken Russia by surprise, Inozemtsev said. 

“[The] Zelenskiy factor shows that Ukrainian politics now asks for new names,” he said. “And on the Kremlin side there is none, because the people in Moscow used to work and collaborate only with the existing politicians.” 

The Kremlin denies trying to interfere in the election and says the accusations are part of a political campaign designed to win votes.
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The city of Mariupol lies on the Azov Sea, next to the front lines of Ukraine’s war against Russian-backed rebels. The conflict has touched everyone’s lives as the danger of an escalation looms over the city. Moscow’s continued detention of 24 Ukrainian sailors seized just offshore in November underlines the threat. Faced with such challenges, how do the people here view Sunday’s presidential election, and who holds the key to ending the conflict? Henry Ridgwell reports from the city.
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At the height of the conflict in 2014, the people of Mariupol, Ukraine, feared their city would be the next to fall to Russian-backed rebel forces.

The threat of annexation by Moscow has subsided for now. But the front line lies just six kilometers (3.7 miles) to the east — and the conflict continues to have a big impact on everyday life in the city. 

Moscow’s detention of two dozen Ukrainian sailors seized in a naval clash just offshore in November underlines the continued threat. 

Faced with such challenges, how do the people of Mariupol view Sunday’s presidential election? And who holds the key to ending the conflict? Amid the election campaigns, frustration and exhaustion are palpable.

“I like any of the candidates, but not the one who is in power now. We need more authority for us to have peace, for our economy to grow, for us to be prosperous,” Mariupol resident Tatyana told VOA.

Aleksandr Sidorov, a soldier on leave from the front line, believes the next president can do little about the war with Russia. He’s focused on domestic issues. 

“The main issue for me is for all the corrupt people to be imprisoned,” he said.

Young mother Alina Arabadzhi plans to vote for comedian-turned-presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Why Zelensky? Because it is a new face. Because he has no vested interests. He hasn’t been in politics a single day,” she said.

The war is having a huge effect on the local economy. Mariupol used to be an export hub for the Donbas region, Ukraine’s former industrial powerhouse. Most of that region is now controlled by Russian-backed separatists and has been all but cut off. 

Two giant steel plants still dominate Mariupol’s skyline, bringing prosperity but also choking pollution. The products are shipped around the world from the nearby port. However, since its forceful seizure of Crimea in 2014, Russia controls shipping access to the Sea of Azov via the Kerch Strait — effectively giving it a stranglehold on a key artery of Mariupol’s economy.

The director of the port, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich, said he is losing over $7.5 million a year in business.

“Starting in April 2018, Russia started to search all the ships which enter the Azov Sea to reach Ukrainian ports. Then after loading, they check them again when they return back to the Black Sea. The waiting time, the route time, has increased, and it’s had a great financial impact on our export clients,” Aleksandrovich told VOA.

Amid the upheaval, there has been progress in some areas. The organization, Halabuda, began as a group of volunteers taking supplies to soldiers on the front line. It has now morphed into an advice group for residents and businesses.

“A question that concerns every single citizen of Ukraine is corruption. Compared to the corruption in law enforcement that we had five years ago, now after the reforms, we nearly eradicated corruption at the level of the traffic police,” said Halabuda founder Dmitry Chichera.

Corruption and conflict: generational challenges with no easy answers. The people of Mariupol are desperate for change and for the war to end. They know that whoever becomes president, the threat from the east is unlikely to end anytime soon.
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The U.N. Security Council Thursday unanimously passed the first-ever resolution ordering members to enforce laws against terror financing. 

Experts believe as many as two-thirds of U.N. members are not adequately prosecuting those who aid terrorists in acquiring money.

Thursday’s resolution demands all states “ensure that their domestic laws and regulations establish serious criminal offenses” to collect funds or financial resources to terrorist groups or individual criminals.

It also calls on members to create financial intelligence units. 

Nations that fail to carry out the resolution would face U.N. sanctions.

U.N. counterterrorism chief Vladimir Voronkov said the resolution comes at a “critical time,” saying terrorists have gotten their hands on cash through both illegal and legal channels, including drug trafficking, the construction trade and used car sales.

The U.N. resolution would also urge members to stop paying ransom to kidnappers, saying such payments have become a major source of financing for Islamic State and others. 
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