Year: 2021

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At UN, Climate and COVID Top Leaders’ Concerns

Tackling the threat of climate change and COVID-19 were the dominant themes of leaders’ speeches Wednesday at the U.N. General Assembly annual debate.

“While the world was fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis also struck at full force,” said President Andry Rajoelina of the African island nation of Madagascar.

Successive years of climate change-driven droughts have ravaged parts of his country. This year, swarms of locusts and armyworms have wiped out crops. The U.N. says more than 1 million Malagasy people in the country’s south are “marching toward starvation” with thousands already in famine-like conditions.

“If we do not act, the crisis will continue and get worse,” Rajoelina said of the consequences of global warming. “Madagascar calls upon each state to act in an equitable fashion and commensurate with their polluting activities.”

In six weeks, nations will meet in Glasgow, Scotland, for a progress report on the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. All signs point to the planet falling short of keeping global warming to a cap of 1.5 degrees Celsius. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has focused much of his engagement this week on getting the robust commitments needed to reach that target.

Rich nations have benefited from growth that resulted in pollution, and now “have a duty to help developing countries grow their economies in a green and sustainable way,” Johnson said in a Twitter post Monday. He is due to deliver his address late Wednesday.

Combating climate change was among the topics of discussion in separate meetings U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres held Tuesday with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei and Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez ahead of their remarks to the assembly.

Fighting COVID-19

After the coronavirus pandemic kept heads of state from attending last year’s General Assembly meetings, about 100 are attending this year’s session in New York. Others are choosing to stay home and deliver recorded remarks.

U.S. President Joe Biden delivered his remarks in person on Tuesday and then returned to Washington, where he convened a virtual summit Wednesday on ending the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re not going to solve this crisis with half-measures or middle-of-the-road ambitions, we need to go big,” he said. “And we need to do our part: governments, the private sector, civil society leaders, philanthropists. This is an all-hands-on-deck crisis.”

He announced that the United States — which has already donated some 600 million vaccine doses to developing countries — is buying another 500 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine to give to low- and middle-income countries. They will start shipping out in January 2022.

Unresolved issues

Entrenched geopolitical issues also came up.

In video remarks, Jordan’s King Abdullah reiterated the need for a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians, while Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud chastised Iran over its nuclear activities.

“We support international efforts aimed at preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon,” King Salman said. “We are very concerned at Iranian steps that go counter to its commitments, as well as daily declarations from Iran that its nuclear program is peaceful.”

Only three female leaders were scheduled to speak Wednesday in a field of 30, highlighting the obstacles women still face in reaching the highest levels of government.

Meanwhile, it is mostly on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly debate that the real diplomacy takes place.

Wednesday evening the foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — were to meet.

Britain’s newly appointed foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said the group shares an interest in maintaining stability in volatile regions and in preventing terrorism.

“If we want to avoid Afghanistan becoming a haven for global terror then the international community — including Russia and China — needs to act as one in its engagement with the Taliban,” she said.

G-20 foreign ministers also were to meet Wednesday to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.

Source: Voice of America

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Report: Drugmakers Fall Short on Offering COVID Vaccines to Poorer Nations

Amnesty International is accusing the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies of creating an “unprecedented human rights crisis” by failing to provide enough COVID-19 vaccines for the world’s poorest nations.

In a report issued Wednesday, the human rights advocacy group says AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Novavax and the partnership of Pfizer and BioNTech have “failed to meet their human rights responsibilities” by refusing to participate in global vaccine sharing initiatives and share vaccine technology by waiving their intellectual property rights.

Amnesty says only a “paltry” 0.3% of the 5.76 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines distributed around the world have gone to low-income countries, while 79% have gone to upper-middle and high-income countries. It says the disparity is “pushing weakened health systems to the very brink and causing tens of thousands of preventable deaths every week,” especially in parts of Latin America, Africa and Asia.

The organization says Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna alone are set to make $130 billion combined by the end of 2022.

“Profits should never come before lives,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary general.

Amnesty is calling on governments and pharmaceutical companies to immediately deliver 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to low and lower-middle income countries to meet the World Health Organization’s goal of vaccinating 40% of the population of such countries by the end of the year.

COVID Summit

The report was issued ahead of U.S. President Joe Biden’s virtual COVID Summit, held in conjunction with this week’s United Nations General Assembly. Biden is expected to announce a global vaccination target of 70% along with an additional purchase of 500 million doses of the two-shot Pfizer vaccine, bringing the United States’ overall donations to more than 1.1 billion doses.

“America is committed to beating COVID-19. Today, the United States is doubling our total number of global donated vaccines to more than 1.1 billion. For every shot we’ve put in an American arm to date, we are donating three shots globally,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday on Twitter.

Extreme poverty

The Asian Development Bank says the pandemic likely pushed as many as 80 million people in Asia’s developing nations into extreme poverty last year. A report issued Tuesday by the Manila-based institution said the region’s developing economies will likely grow at a slower-than-expected pace in 2021 due to lingering COVID-19 outbreaks and the slow pace of vaccination efforts

The ADB is predicting Southeast Asian economies to grow by just 3.1 percent this year, a drop from the 4.4 percent rate forecast in its economic outlook back in April.

Source: Voice of America

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Detained Malaysian Man In Somalia Receiving Fair Trial – Embassy

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 22 (NNN-Bernama) — A Malaysian man known as Ahmad Mustakim Abdul Hamid, who is currently under detention for allegedly entering Somalia to engage in the activities of the Al-Shabaab terrorist group, is receiving a fair trial, said Somalia’s embassy in Malaysia.

The embassy’s press attaché Abdimajit M. Osman – in a phone interview with Bernama – said that Ahmad was charged in Somalia’s military court and the court proceedings began in 2019 after his arrest that year.

“Ahmad is being treated well and is receiving a fair trial according to Somalia’s law and justice system. We would like to assure the Malaysian people that he is receiving a fair hearing,” he said.

Replying to a question, Abdimajit said Ahmad Mustakim was the first Malaysian to be charged with terrorism-related activities and supporting the Al-Shabaab in Somalia.

“Ahmad has already served more than two years in prison in Somalia. He claims to have come to Somalia to visit a friend he met in Yemen and that he has no connection to Al-Shabaab,” Abdimajit further said.

On Saturday, Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah was reported as saying that the Foreign Ministry was closely monitoring the detention and legal process imposed on Ahmad Mustakim.

The minister said Malaysian Embassy officials in Khartoum, Sudan, had made a consular visit to ensure the welfare and health of Ahmad Mustakim were taken care of.

“The ministry will continue to monitor developments in the case and will provide the necessary assistance to him by ensuring his rights and welfare are always protected and that he gets a fair trial in accordance with the law.

“We must respect the laws of the respective country, and we may ask for our embassy representatives to attend his court proceedings,” Saifuddin said.

Abdimajit also pointed out that Ahmad, 34, was arrested along with another foreign national.

He said Ahmad Mustakim is believed to have entered Somalia around 2009 or 2010.

Abdimajit explained that the Somali government had charged both of them with “assisting Al -Shabaab with their technical capabilities”.

“(Allegations) They assisted with creating propaganda videos, social media and indoctrination of Somalis and other nationals in foreign countries and that they were captured while attempting to travel illegally to Yemen where they are accused of trying to join the ISIS (Daesh) in Yemen,” he said.

“Somalia is a 100-per cent Muslim country and the terrorism caused by Al-Shabaab in the name of religion is against Muslims. Malaysia is a country of diverse religions where the people live in peace. This is true Islam and should be an example to all Muslims,” Abdimajit said.

In Aug 2014, Bernama reported that the Home Ministry was closely monitoring the movements of three Somali males who were suspected to be involved with the Al-Shabaab terrorist group.

The three men were believed to be using student visas to enter the country.

The Al-Shabaab, al-Qaeda’s most dangerous affiliate in the African continent, was founded in 2004 in Somalia and is also known for its high profile attacks such as the 2013 attacks against Westgate Mall in Nairobi in Kenya and numerous assassinations of Somali politicians and military officers.

Although the Al-Shabaab continues to pose a security threat in East Africa and with its activities spreading beyond Somalia’s borders, the group is much weakened now after the killing of many of its key leaders and members.

The Al-Shabaab has killed, both inside and outside Somalia, thousands of civilians and security personnel in brutal attacks, and continues to launch attacks against civilian and military targets in Somalia despite the government’s intensive operations against them for the past couple of years.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

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Malians March Against ‘Foreign Meddling’ on Independence Day

An estimated 3,000 Malians marched Wednesday through the streets of Bamako on the country’s day of independence from France.

Protesters, many of whom were against what they perceive as “foreign meddling,” marched in support of the military government, as Colonel Assimi Goita, Mali’s interim president, faced pressure from Western governments to cancel a deal with Russian security firm Wagner.

Over the past week, Paris in particular has expressed concern over a reported deal between Bamako and Moscow to hire 1,000 mercenaries.

“Such a choice would be one of isolation,” French Defense Minister Florence Parly said Monday during a visit to Mali.

Germany and the European Union have also expressed concern about the deal.

But demonstrators throughout the country Wednesday seemed to support the deal, with some carrying Russian flags in addition to Malian flags and pro-military placards, Agence France-Presse reported.

France, the country’s former colonial ruler, has thousands of troops in Mali to help fight a jihadist resurgence throughout the country. But many in Mali consider the mission a failure, and protests against the French military presence have taken place before.

In addition to their worries about the deal with Russia, many Western powers and Malian neighbors have expressed concern that the military government may fail to hold elections early next year as promised.

Goita and his military government took power in a coup in May, just months after new leadership had been chosen. Goita, who also led a coup that overthrew the elected government last October, said the transitional government had violated an agreement to advise him on a cabinet reshuffle.

Source: Voice of America

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Ten passengers feared dead in lake Victoria after boat capsizes

NAIROBI, Sept 22 (NNN-KBC) — Two passengers were confirmed dead, while eight others are still missing after a boat they were sailing capsized in Lake Victoria.

Six people were rescued during the incident near Pier Beach within Homa-Bay town when travelling to Ndhuru beach in Mbita Sub County Tuesday evening.

The boat is said to have capsized 400 meters away from the beach due to suspected overloading.

According to Homa-Bay town Chief Joshua Ochogo, the two bodies include that of a woman and a one and half year old minor who were retrieved during the rescue mission by fishermen who responded to the passengers distress call.

Ochogo said the six passengers who were rescued were taken to Homa-Bay county Referral Hospital for treatment while the two bodies were moved to the mortuary at the same facility.

He called for calm saying a search mission for the eight other passengers is ongoing amid fears that they could have drowned.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

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Rights Groups Condemn Rwandan Court Conviction of Paul Rusesabagina

Rights groups in Africa have condemned the Rwandan High Court’s sentencing of Paul Rusesabagina, made famous in the Hollywood film Hotel Rwanda, to 25 years in prison. The court on Monday found Rusesabagina and 20 other suspects guilty of terrorism. Rusesabagina denies the charges, and critics say his arrest and trial did not meet international standards for justice.

Bahima Macumi fled to Kenya more than 20 years ago following Rwanda’s civil war, but has been following Rusesabagina’s trial closely.

He said Rusesabagina clearly did not get a fair trial.

He says this shows the Rwandan government does not want to be corrected, because if it did, they would have at least listened to this person who saved over 1,000 people. He says if the person who saved over 1,000 people can be called a terrorist, what would they call the one who did not save anybody?

To the world at large, Rusesabagina is a hero for sheltering at-risk Tutsis and Hutus in the Kigali hotel he managed during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

To the Rwandan government, he is a threat, a fierce critic of President Paul Kagame who allegedly supported a militia group that seeks to overthrow the Rwandan government.

Human rights advocates are condemning his conviction.

According to Amnesty International, the Monday court ruling puts in question the fairness of Rwanda’s judicial system when it comes to high-profile and sensitive cases.

Sarah Jackson is Amnesty’s deputy regional director for East Africa, the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes.

“We found many fair trial violations, including his unlawful rendition to Rwanda, his imposed disappearance at the beginning of the case and his initial inability to select a lawyer of his own choosing and all of these things during the pretrial period impact the fairness of the trial itself,” Jackson said.

Rusesabagina has 30 days to appeal his conviction, but rights groups doubt that judges can make an impartial decision on the case. Human Rights Watch’s Lewis Mudge explains.

“Unfortunately, this case has become an emblematic case in Rwanda so much that it really does highlight the lack of independence in the judiciary,” Mudge said. “It’s difficult for us to say that an appeal should happen or will happen because that will imply a degree of confidence in the judicial system that is currently in Rwanda.”

Rusesabagina says he was tricked into going to Rwanda in August of 2020. He had boarded a flight in Dubai that he believed was bound for Burundi, only for the flight to land in Kigali, where he was quickly arrested.

He went on trial along with 20 others in February. U.S State Department spokesman Ned Price Monday said the reported lack of fair trial in Rusesabagina’s case calls into question the fairness of the verdict. Rwandan prosecutors maintain the trial was fair.

Source: Voice of America

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Researchers Detect Malaria Resistant to Key Drug in Africa

Scientists have found evidence of a resistant form of malaria in Uganda, a worrying sign that the top drug used against the parasitic disease could ultimately be rendered useless without more action to stop its spread.

Researchers in Uganda analyzed blood samples from patients treated with artemisinin, the primary medicine used for malaria in Africa in combination with other drugs. They found that by 2019, nearly 20% of the samples had genetic mutations, suggesting the treatment was ineffective. Lab tests showed it took much longer for those patients to get rid of the parasites that cause malaria.

Drug-resistant forms of malaria were previously detected in Asia, and health officials have been nervously watching for any signs in Africa, which accounts for more than 90% of the world’s malaria cases. Some isolated drug-resistant strains of malaria have previously been seen in Rwanda.

“Our findings suggest a potential risk of cross-border spread across Africa,” the researchers wrote in The New England Journal of Medicine, which published the study Wednesday.

The drug-resistant strains emerged in Uganda rather than being imported from elsewhere, they reported. They examined 240 blood samples over three years.

Malaria is spread by mosquito bites and kills more than 400,000 people every year, mostly children under 5 and pregnant women.

Resistance has ‘a foothold’

Dr. Philip Rosenthal, a professor of medicine at the University of California- San Francisco, said that the new findings in Uganda, after past results in Rwanda, “prove that resistance really now has a foothold in Africa.”

Rosenthal, who was not involved in the new study, said it was likely there was undetected drug resistance elsewhere on the continent. He said drug-resistant versions of malaria emerged in Cambodia years ago and have now spread across Asia. He predicted a similar path for the disease in Africa, with deadlier consequences given the burden of malaria on the continent.

Dr. Nicholas White, a professor of tropical medicine at Mahidol University in Bangkok, described the new paper’s conclusions about emerging malaria resistance as “unequivocal.”

“We basically rely on one drug for malaria, and now it’s been hobbled,” said White, who also wrote an accompanying editorial in the Journal.

He suggested that instead of the standard approach, where one or two other drugs are used in combination with artemisinin, doctors should now use three, as is often done in treating tuberculosis and HIV.

White said public health officials need to act to stem drug-resistant malaria, by beefing up surveillance and supporting research into new drugs, among other measures.

“We shouldn’t wait until the fire is burning to do something, but that is not what generally happens in global health,” he said, citing the failures to stop the coronavirus pandemic as an example.

Source: Voice of America