Day: November 14, 2021

More than 600 migrants, many of them Egyptians, arrived in southern Italy over the past 24 hours, officials said on Sunday, defying stormy winter seas in search of a better life in Europe.

Italy has seen a sharp increase in boat migrants in recent weeks and the latest mass arrivals will put further pressure on Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s government to secure an agreement with European Union partners over how to deal with the influx.

Coastguards rescued some 300 men and boys overnight who were packed on a fishing boat off the southern toe of Italy. The group, almost all Egyptians, were brought ashore to the nearby port of Roccella Jonica.

Hours later, some 212 mainly Egyptian and Syrian migrants were taken off a second boat and brought to Roccella Jonica.

Further to the south, 113 migrants, including at least eight women, reached the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa in two different landings. Local media said some of the newcomers were Tunisian.

As of Nov. 12, 57,833 migrants have reached Italy so far this year against 31,213 in the same period of 2020 and just 9,944 in 2019.

Right-wing parties have accused the Interior Ministry of not doing enough to stem the flow.

Speaking after a conference on Libya on Friday, Draghi urged greater coordination with Europe to resolve the problem.

“What is certain, however, is that these continuous landings in Italy are making the situation unsustainable,” he told reporters, standing alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Source: Voice of America

The son of late Libyan strongman Col. Moammar Gadhafi has registered his candidacy for president of Libya. Seif al-Islam Gadhafi submitted his paperwork Sunday in the southern oasis town of Sabha. The move comes ahead of elections set for December 24th.

Arab media showed video of Seif al-Islam Gadhafi formally registering to run for president of Libya in next month’s elections. Gadhafi wore traditional Libyan garb, covering most of his head, and was sporting an untrimmed beard. Gadhafi is thought to be living in the western town of Zintan.Gadhafi appeared to be fairly upbeat as he spoke to those around him after announcing his candidacy. Gadhafi has not been seen regularly in the nearly 10 years since his father was overthrown and killed during the 2011 revolution.

A spokesman for the International Court of Justice in The Hague told the news media that Sunday’s announcement does not change the court’s demand that Gadhafi be extradited and tried for crimes against humanity in connection with the uprising.

A Libyan court threw out a death sentence against Gadhafi last year.

Khattar Abou Diab teaches political science at the University of Paris. Abou Diab tells VOA that what remains unclear is whether Libya’s judicial system will ultimately accept Gadhafi’s candidacy.

He says that Seif al-Islam Gadhafi presented his candidacy in Sabha, a region controlled by (eastern military commander Gen. Khalifa) Hafter, adding that supporters of Gadhafi’s father have a strong presence in various parts of southern Libya as well … A major sticking point in the upcoming election, he goes on to say, is who is going to decide which candidates can run, and if the candidate who ultimately wins will be acceptable to all parties, including the militias across the country.

Libya has had two rival governments – one backed by the U.N. in Tripoli and one in the eastern part of the country. Currently, there is only one government, the U.N.-supported one.

Egyptian media have warned that the Islamist militias which control Tripoli are likely to support a candidate from the Muslim Brotherhood group, which is now outlawed in Egypt. Candidates from eastern Libya, including parliament speaker Aquilah Saleh and Gen. Khalifa Hafter, are not likely to be acceptable to the Islamists, either.

Paul Sullivan is a Washington-based Middle East analyst. He tells VOA that Libya needs to be free of what he calls “the dreadful Gadhafi rule.”

Sullivan says that if the choice comes down to Gadhafi and the Muslim Brotherhood, then this is an example of the idea in life that one has to choose between the lesser of a bad decision. He says it should up to Libyans to make that choice.

An international conference on Libya took place in Paris this past Friday with the topic of the coming elections on the agenda.

Source: Voice of America

The Qatar-based satellite news network Al-Jazeera said Sunday its bureau chief in Sudan was detained by security forces, a day after mass protests across the country against last month’s military coup.

The network said on Twitter that Sudanese forces raided the home of El Musalmi El Kabbashi and detained him.

The development comes after security forces fired live ammunition and tear gas Saturday to disperse protesters denouncing the military’s tightening grip on the country.

The Sudan Doctors Committee said a 15-year-old protester died Sunday of gunshot wounds to his stomach and thigh, raising the death toll to six people.

In a later statement, Al-Jazeera said El Kabbashi had been arrested at his home in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital. The broadcaster said it held the Sudanese military responsible for his safety.

“Al-Jazeera condemns in the strongest terms the reprehensible actions of the military and calls on the authorities to release El Kabbashi immediately and to allow its journalists to operate unhindered, free to practice their profession without fear or intimidation,” the channel said.

Sudanese officials could not be immediately reached for comment.

Thousands of pro-democracy protesters took to the streets across Sudan on Saturday to rally against the military coup last month. The takeover has drawn international criticism and massive protests in the streets of the capital of Khartoum and elsewhere in the country.

The killings Saturday took place in Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman. The dead included four people killed by gunshots and one who died from being hit by a tear gas canister. The 15-year-old who died of his wounds Sunday brought to six the number of fatalities, the doctors committee said. Several other protesters were wounded, including from gunshots, it said.

That brought the tally since the Oct. 26 coup to at least 21 protesters dead, according to the medical group.

Saturday’s rallies, called by the pro-democracy movement, came two days after coup leader Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan reappointed himself head of the Sovereign Council, Sudan’s interim governing body. Thursday’s move angered the pro-democracy alliance and frustrated the United States and other countries that have urged the generals to reverse their coup.

The newly appointed body held its first meeting, chaired by Gen. Burhan Sunday in Khartoum, the council said on its Facebook page.

The pro-democracy movement condemned “the excessive use of force” against the protesters Saturday. The Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change said their struggle to establish a full civilian government “will not stop” and called for mass demonstrations on Wednesday.

The Sudanese military seized power Oct. 25, dissolving the transitional government and arresting dozens of officials and politicians. The takeover upended a fragile planned transition to democratic rule, more than two years after a popular uprising forced the removal of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir and his Islamist government.

Source: Voice of America

Thousands of Tunisians protesting against President Kais Saied’s seizure of political power four months ago tried to march on the suspended parliament on Sunday, as hundreds of police blocked off the area.

Protesters briefly clashed with police as they tried to remove barriers near the chamber and demanded that Saied restore parliament and normal democratic rule.

“We will not accept a new dictator… we will not back down,” said Foued Ben Salem, a protester, raising Tunisia’s red-and-white national flag.

Increasingly vocal opposition, along with a looming crisis in public finances, may pose a new test of how Saied and the new government he has appointed will tackle threats to their authority.

“Shut down Kais Saied” and “Freedom! Freedom! End the police state!” protesters chanted as they pulled down barriers obstructing the roads leading to the parliament building at the capital’s Bardo palace.

“We are under one-man rule since July 25… we will stay here until they open the roads and end the siege,” said Jawher Ben Mbarek, a protest leader.

Rule by decree

Saied seized nearly all powers in July, suspending the parliament and dismissing the government in a move his critics called a coup, before installing a new prime minister and announcing he could rule by decree.

The president said his actions were needed to end governmental paralysis after years of political squabbling and economic stagnation, and has promised to uphold rights and freedoms won in the 2011 revolution that brought democracy.

His moves appeared to have widespread popularity and thousands of his supporters gathered for a rally to back him last month.

However, several prominent politicians have been arrested and hundreds have faced travel bans, while a former president living outside Tunisia, Moncef Marzouki, faces prosecution for his verbal attacks on Saied.

Sunday’s protest followed clashes last week between police and protesters in the southern town of Agareb in which one person was killed.

“Tunisia is isolated internationally now with the closing of parliament and the coup… we want to restore democracy,” said Abderrouf Betbaib, a former Saied adviser who was at the front of the protest.

Source: Voice of America

Human Rights Watch has urged the African Union to pledge its support for the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which opens a session Monday, the last meeting of the year.

Human Rights Watch, in a statement Sunday, also called for the AU to “urgently tackle the deepening human rights and democratic crises affecting the continent, including in Ethiopia,” at the Commission’s 69th ordinary session.

“In Ethiopia, in the face of intensifying and a widening field of fighting, with attendant abuses and impact beyond the Tigray region,” HRW said, “it is especially important for the AU to demonstrate a commitment to enforcing member states’ obligations under its strong human rights standards and norms.”

Carine Kaneza Nantulya, HRW’s African advocacy director, said, “The growing gap between the AU political organs and African human rights institutions is threatening to undo decades of developments in African human rights law.”

HRW also noted that the AU failed to consistently apply two of its legal instruments — the AU Constitutive Act and the Charter of Democracy, Elections and Governance when dealing with Sudan and Chad.

“This year, the AU promptly suspended Sudan after the October 25 military coup but did not take similar action after the Chadian military takeover in late April,” the statement said. “The ACHPR condemned Chadian security forces for using excessive force against peaceful protesters demanding a return to civilian rule and called for prompt, credible investigations, and accountability.”

Nantulya said in the statement, “In a context of intensifying crises, with wide-ranging regional human rights and humanitarian repercussions, AU member states should stop choosing politics over human rights and instead rally behind African-led conflict prevention and investigation mechanisms.”

Source: Voice of America

EASTERN CAPE – Two suspects aged 37 and 52 were arrested on 13 November 2021. They will be charged with trafficking in persons and will appear in the Zwelisha Magistrates’ Court on Monday, 15 November 2021.

Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation team received complaints in September last year about sexual abuse of vulnerable people, allegedly trafficked from different areas.

The investigation was conducted. It is alleged that sick and poverty-stricken women were brought into the church mission house as if they will be assisted instead they were sexually assaulted. The apostle (52) and his female accomplice (37) were arrested.

The investigation to thwart and apprehend the suspected syndicate is ongoing.

Source: South African Police Service