Month: April 2024

Israel’s defense minister said Tuesday that Israel is operating “everywhere, every day” to deter its enemies, exacting a heavy toll against them.

Yoav Gallant spoke in Jerusalem a day after a strike widely attributed to Israel killed two Iranian generals and demolished Iran’s consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus.

Gallant also warned that any attack against Israel would exact a heavy price.

“Every day we gain further evidence that we find ourselves in a multi-front war. That is both offensively and defensively. We see evidence of this every day, including over the last few days. We operate everywhere, every day, in order to prevent our enemies from gaining strength and in order to make it clear to anyone who acts against us – all over the Middle East – that the price for action against Israel will be a heavy one.”

He did not refer directly to the Syria strike and Israel has not officially confirmed that it was behind the attack.

Israel has repeatedly targeted military officials from Iran, which supports militant groups in Gaza and along its border with Lebanon. Monday’s strike in Damascus signalled an escalation after it struck an Iranian diplomatic mission.

Iran has vowed to respond to the attack. “The Islamic Republic of Iran, while reserving its rights to take countermeasures, decides on the type of reaction and punishment of the aggressor,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanaani, in a statement quoted by the IRNA news agency.

Senegal inaugurated Africa’s youngest elected leader as president on Tuesday, as the 44-year-old and previously little-known Bassirou Diomaye Faye completed a dramatic ascent from prison to palace within weeks.

Last month’s election tested Senegal’s reputation as a stable democracy in West Africa, a region rocked in recent years by coups and attempted coups.

Faye was released from prison less than two weeks before the vote, along with mentor and popular opposition figure Ousmane Sonko, following a political amnesty announced by outgoing President Macky Sall.

Their arrests had sparked months of protests and concerns that Sall would seek a third term in office despite term limits.

Rights groups said dozens were killed and about 1,000 were jailed.

In his first speech as president, Faye remembered those killed and arrested during the protests and promised to deliver greater sovereignty for Senegal while working to build prosperity.

“I am aware that the results of the elections express a profound desire for systemic change,” he said.

This is the first elected office for Faye, a former tax inspector.

His rise has reflected wide spread frustration among Senegal’s youth with the country’s direction, a common sentiment across Africa, which has the world’s youngest population and a number of leaders widely accused of clinging to power for decades

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt was sworn in for a third six-year term on Tuesday after being re-elected in a December vote in which he faced no serious challengers.

El-Sissi took the oath of office before parliament, which convened in the new administrative capital in the desert outside Cairo.

Egypt which has recently reached a deal with the IMF, grapples with an economic crisis, and has seen its dollar revenues from Suez Canal are decline compared to last year after attacks on ships by Yemen’s Houthis rebels in the Red Sea.

El-Sissi won 89.6% of the vote in the December election, with turnout of 66.8% more than 67 million registered voters. He ran against three virtually unknown opponents.

The vote was overshadowed by the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza on Egypt’s eastern border, which has threatened to expand into wider regional turmoil.

El-Sissi overthrew democratically elected Islamist Mohamed Morsi in 2013 and proceeded to win his first election the following year.

He was reelected in 2018. A year later, constitutional amendments, passed in a general referendum, added two years to el-Sissi’s second term, and allowed him to run for a third, six-year term.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday (Apr. 1) vowed to shut down Al Jazeera’s operations in his country, calling it a “terror channel”, after parliament passed a law clearing the way for the closure.

Netanyahu’s pledge escalated Israel’s long-running feud against Al Jazeera. It also threatened to heighten tensions with Qatar, which owns the channel, at a time when the Doha government is playing a key role in mediation efforts to halt the war in Gaza.

The broadcaster condemned Netanyahu’s incitement claim as a “dangerous ludicrous lie.” Al Jazeera said late Monday that it holds Netanyahu responsible for the safety of its staff and offices, that it would continue what it described as its bold and professional coverage, and that it “reserves the right to pursue every legal step.”

Israel has long accusing Al Jazeera of bias against Israel. Relations took a major downturn nearly two years ago when Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh was killed during an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank and when Israeli forces attacked mourners at the slain journalist’s burial.

Shireen Abu Akleh’s death came nearly a year after an Israeli air strike destroyed a Gaza building that housed the offices of Al Jazeera and news agency AP.

The Palestinian-American journalist was well-known across the Arab world for her coverage of Israel, and the channel accused Israel of intentionally killing her. Israel denied the charge, saying she was likely killed by Israeli fire in an accidental shooting.

Those relations further deteriorated following the outbreak of Israel’s war against Hamas on Oct. 7, when the militant group carried out a cross-border attack in southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage.

Journalists killed in Israel’s operations

In December, an Israeli strike killed an Al Jazeera cameraman as he reported on the war in southern Gaza. The channel’s bureau chief in Gaza, Wael Dahdouh, was injured in the same attack.

The network also blamed Israel for killing Dahdouh’s son in a strike in January. Hamza Dahdouh was working for Al Jazeera when the strike hit a car in which he was traveling, it reported. The army later said that Hamza Dahdouh was a member of Islamic Jihad, a militant group that joined the Oct. 7 attack with Hamas.

Wael Dahdouh’s wife, daughter and another son were killed along with his grandson in another Israeli strike last October. The channel broadcast images of Dahdouh entering the hospital and giving way to grief as he peered over the body of his dead son. Israel has not said who the target of that strike was.

Al Jazeera is one of the few international media outlets to remain in Gaza throughout the war, broadcasting bloody scenes of airstrikes and overcrowded hospitals and accusing Israel of massacres. Israel accuses Al Jazeera of collaborating with Hamas.

“Al Jazeera harmed Israel’s security, actively participated in the Oct. 7 massacre, and incited against Israeli soldiers. It is time to remove the bullhorn of Hamas from our country,” Netanyahu said on X, formerly Twitter.

He said he planned on acting immediately under the authorities of the newly passed law. “The terror channel Al Jazeera will no longer broadcast from Israel,” he said.

Al Jazeera has been closed or blocked by other Mideast governments, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Egypt has banned Al Jazeera since 2013. It launched the crackdown after the 2013 military overthrow of an elected but government dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood group. Egypt considers the Brotherhood a terrorist group and accused both Qatar and Al Jazeera of supporting it.

Press freedom

In Washington, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the U.S. does not always agree with Al Jazeera’s coverage, but respects its work.

“We support the independent free press anywhere in the world,” he said. “And much of what we know about what has happened in Gaza is because of reporters who are there doing their jobs, including reporters from Al Jazeera.”

Israel has in the past threatened to shutter Al Jazeera but never did so. Monday’s law did not immediately close the station but it authorizes officials to do so after consultations and approval from legal and security officials. Any order would be valid only through July 31 or the end of the war in Gaza.

Israel’s communications minister, Shlomo Karhi, said he intended to move forward with the closure. He said Al Jazeera has been acting as a “propaganda arm of Hamas” by “encouraging armed struggle against Israel.”

“It is impossible to tolerate a media outlet, with press credentials from the Government Press Office and offices in Israel, would act from within against us, certainly during wartime,” he said.

His office said the order would seek to block the channel’s broadcasts in Israel and prevent it from operating in the country. The order would not apply to the West Bank or Gaza.

Al Jazeera’s local bureau chief, Walid Al-Omari, said late Monday that the station had not heard from Israeli authorities. “But it’s clear it’s a question of time and they will take the decision within days,” he told The Associated Press.

Qatar, a chief mediator between Israel and Hamas

But punishing the channel could be risky. Qatar has been acting as a chief mediator between Israel and Hamas. It helped broker and sponsor a weeklong cease-fire in November, and has been hosting weeks of on-and-off talks aimed at brokering another pause in fighting.

By targeting Al Jazeera, Israel could be trying to push Qatar to put additional pressure on Hamas to make concessions. Netanyahu has in the past accused Qatar of not doing enough. But it also risks alienating Qatar, a wealthy energy-rich Gulf state that is one of the few countries with influence over Hamas.

Israel has come under heavy criticism from press-freedom groups during the war. The Committee to Protect Journalists says 90 Palestinian journalists have been killed in the war, in addition to two Israeli journalists. Israel also has barred international journalists from entering Gaza independently to cover the war. The army has allowed small groups of journalists to enter Gaza on brief, highly controlled visits under military escort.

Hagar Shechter, an attorney with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, said the law violates “the right for free speech, freedom of the press, freedom of occupation, and undermines separation of powers.” She added that the group plans to file a petition with Israel’s Supreme Court against the law.

Oren Persico, a staff writer at the Seventh Eye, an independent media watchdog website in Israel, said the law was a watered-down version of legislation sought by the country’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, due to pushback from legal experts.

The closure needs an expert opinion from a top security official deeming the network “harming Israel’s security.” The order would then need Cabinet or parliamentary approval, and further approval from the courts.

Persico said most worrying was that other media, including Israeli outlets, could also be in the line of fire.

“What’s important here isn’t Al Jazeera, it’s about the authority that the government has to shut down media, it’s a slippery slope,” he said.

Senegal inaugurated Bassirou Diomaye Faye as its new president on Tuesday, completing the previously little-known opposition figure’s dramatic ascent from prison to the palace in recent weeks.

Faye was released from prison less than two weeks before the March 24 election, along with popular opposition figure and mentor Ousmane Sonko, following a political amnesty announced by outgoing President Macky Sall. It is the former tax inspector’s first time in elected office.

“It’s the culmination of a long struggle for democracy and the rule of law,” said Aissata Sagna, a 39-year-old factory worker who worked on Faye’s campaign. “This is a day of celebration for us, even if we have lost young people killed during the demonstrations.”

The election tested Senegal’s reputation as a stable democracy in West Africa, a region that has experienced coups and attempted coups. It followed months of unrest ignited by the arrests last year of Sonko and Faye and concerns that the president would seek a third term in office despite constitutional term limits. Rights groups said dozens were killed in the protests and about 1,000 were jailed.

Faye, 44, campaigned on promises to clean up corruption and better manage the country’s natural resources. His victory was seen as reflecting the will of young people frustrated with widespread unemployment and former colonial ruler France, seen by critics to be using its relationship with Senegal to enrich itself.

Such frustrations are common across many countries in Africa, home to the world’s youngest population, where a number of leaders have clung to power for decades.

In his first speech as president-elect, Faye promised to fight corruption and reform the economy.

A practicing Muslim from a small town, Faye has two wives, both of whom were present on Tuesday. Ahead of the election, he released a declaration of his assets to show transparency and called on other candidates to do the same. It listed a home in Dakar and land outside the capital and in his hometown. His bank accounts totaled roughly $6,600.

“I think the first challenge is the formation of his (Faye’s) government,” said Alioune Tine, founder of the Senegalese think tank Afrikajom Center. “This will be the first concrete message he sends to the Senegalese people. The size, diversity and profiles will be analyzed with a fine-tooth comb, to see if they meet the demand for a break with the past.”

The new president was little known until Sonko, a popular opposition figure who came third in the previous election in 2019, named him to run in his place after being barred from the election for a prior conviction. While Sonko’s future role in the new administration is unclear, he is expected to have a prominent role.

Faye was arrested for alleged defamation last year, while Sonko faced a number of charges, including a prolonged legal battle that started when he was accused of rape in 2021. He was acquitted of the rape charges but was convicted of corrupting youth and sentenced to two years in prison last summer. Sonko’s supporters say his legal troubles were part of a government effort to derail his candidacy.

While Sall eventually ruled out running for a third term, he then abruptly postponed the election in February with only weeks to go, triggering another wave of protests. That move was blocked by the country’s constitutional court and the election was eventually held weeks later in March.

Russian security services said Sunday (Mar. 31) they detained three men linked to the March 22, attack on Moscow.

The country’s anti-terrorist committee said the suspects were arrested during raids in the state of Dagestan, located in the Russian federation’s southwest.

The raids were conducted in the Dagestan’s capital Makhachkala and the city of Kaspiyisk.

The FSB released a video showing one of the suspects saying that they also planned an attack in Kaspiysk.

“The detained militants directly participated in financing the perpetrators of the March 22 terror attack on the Crocus City Hall in Moscow and providing them with terror means,” the FSB said in a statement.

It said one of the suspects detained in Dagestan had confessed to personally bringing weapons to the Moscow attackers.

State news agency Tass reported that “the criminals scouted the location, made an improvised explosive device and acquired automatic weapons” in Dagestan. Immediately after the terrorist attack, they planned to leave Russia.

Weapons and ammunition were found at their apartments.

There were no casualties during the raid, the governor of Dagestan said in the statement on Telegram.

Sergey Melikov added that suspects were found and detained after security measures in the region were enhanced following the ATTACK on a suburban Moscow concert hall that killed 144 people.

After the March 22 attack, 11 people were arrested.

After nearly a week of growing public discontent, the Togolese presidency announced that the controversial constitutional reform bill will be tabled again in Parliament.

In a statement unveiled on March 29, the office of President Faure Gnassingbé invokes the “interest aroused” by the adoption of the bill and the “perfectible nature of the law” to justify the request for a “second reading”.

The legislation, initially passed by parliament on March 25, has faced criticism from opposition parties who view it as a ploy to consolidate Gnassingbe’s domination over the structure of power in Togo.

Gnassingbé has ruled the country since 2005. Before that, he’s father was in charge.

The proposed Constitution grants parliament the power to choose the president, doing away with direct elections. This makes it likely that Gnassingbé would be re-elected when his mandate expires in 2025.

Instead of a renewable 5-year term, the proposed bill restricts the power of future presidents and introduces a one-term limit. Instead, it hands over greater power to a figure similar to a prime minister, officially called the president of the council of minister. But opposition fears the role could become another avenue for Gnassingbé to extend his grip on power.

Postponing not annulling

Activists and opposition leaders in Togo called on Wednesday (Mar. 27) for protests to stop the country’s president from signing off on a new constitution.

The Catholic Christian clergy has urged the president not to sign the bill into law. “Such an important subject which will profoundly change the political life of the country must give rise to broad consultation and a more inclusive national debate,” say the Conference of Togolese Catholic bishops said in a statement last week.

Togo’s presidency said the government received the proposed bill on Thursday (Mar. 28), from the “office of the National Assembly”.

President Faure Gnassingbé then asked to the president of the National Assembly to oversee a “second reading”.

Following the announcement, some Togolese took to social media to criticize the move arguing that “the will of the people [was] that the bill be dropped altogether.”

The vote of the controversial Constitution comes ahead of parliamentary and regional elections.

Some 4.2 million Togolese are registered to vote on April 20th.

It is unclear when lawmakers will start the second reading and if there will be amendments to the adopted bill.

The date on which the cosntitutional reform will take effect has not been communicated either.

Delicately and with intense concentration, Zanyiwe Ncube poured her small share of precious golden cooking oil into a plastic bottle at a food aid distribution site deep in rural Zimbabwe.

Her relief at the handout paid for by the U.S. government as her southern African country deals with a severe drought was tempered when aid workers gently broke the news that this would be their last visit.

Ncube and her 7-month-old son she carried on her back were among 2,000 people who received rations of cooking oil, sorghum, peas and other supplies in the Mangwe district in southwestern Zimbabwe.

The food distribution is part of a programme funded by American aid agency USAID and rolled out by the United Nations’ World Food Programme.

They’re aiming to help some of the 2.7 million people in rural Zimbabwe threatened with hunger because of the drought that has enveloped large parts of southern Africa since late last year.

It has scorched the crops that tens of millions of people grow themselves and rely on to survive, helped by what should be the rainy season.

They can rely on their crops and the weather less and less.

The drought in Zimbabwe, neighbouring Zambia and Malawi has reached crisis levels.

Zambia and Malawi have declared national disasters. Zimbabwe could be on the brink of doing the same.

It has reached Botswana and Angola to the west, and Mozambique and Madagascar to the east.

A year ago, much of this region was drenched by deadly tropical storms and floods.

It is in the midst of a vicious weather cycle: Damned by too much rain, then by not enough, it’s a story of the climatic extremes that scientists say are becoming more frequent and more damaging, especially for the world’s most vulnerable people.

In Mangwe, the young and the old lined up for food, some with donkey carts to carry home whatever they might get, others with wheelbarrows.

Those waiting their turn sat on the dusty ground.

Ncube, 39, would normally be harvesting her crops now, food for her, her two children and a niece she also looks after.

Maybe there would even be a little extra to sell. The driest February in Zimbabwe in her lifetime, according to the World Food Programme’s seasonal monitor, put an end to that.

“We have nothing in the fields, not a single grain. Everything has dried up,” she said.

The United Nations Children’s Fund says there are “overlapping crises” of extreme weather in eastern and southern Africa, with both regions lurching between storms and floods and heat and drought in the last year.

In southern Africa, an estimated 9 million people, half of them children, need help in Malawi.

More than 6 million in Zambia, 3 million of them children, are impacted by the drought, UNICEF said. That’s nearly half of Malawi’s population and 30% of Zambia’s.

While man-made climate change has spurred more erratic weather globally, there is something else parching southern Africa this year.

El Niño, the naturally occurring climatic phenomenon that warms parts of the Pacific Ocean every two to seven years, has varied effects on the world’s weather.

In southern Africa, it means below-average rainfall, sometimes drought, and is being blamed for the current situation.

The impact is more severe for people like those in Mangwe, where it’s notoriously arid and people grow the cereal grain sorghum and pearl millet, crops that are drought resistant and offer a chance at harvests.

This year, even they failed to withstand the conditions.

Francesca Erdelmann, the World Food Programme’s country director for Zimbabwe, said last year’s harvest was bad, but this season is even worse.

“This is not a normal circumstance,” she said.

The first few months of the year are traditionally the “lean months” when households run short as they wait for the new harvest.

However, there is little hope for replenishment this year.

Multiple aid agencies warned last year of the impending disaster.

Since then, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema has said that 1 million of the 2.2 million hectares of his country’s staple corn crop have been destroyed.

Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera has appealed for $200 million in humanitarian assistance.

The 2.7 million rural folk struggling in Zimbabwe is not even the full picture.

A nationwide crop assessment is underway and authorities are “dreading” the results, with the number needing help likely to skyrocket, said the WFP’s Erdelmann.

USAID’s Famine Early Warning System estimated that 20 million people would require food relief in southern Africa in the first few months of 2024.

With this year’s harvest a write-off, millions in Zimbabwe, southern Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar won’t be able to feed themselves well into 2025.

Many just won’t get that help as aid agencies also have limited resources amid a global hunger crisis and a cut in humanitarian funding by governments.

As the WFP officials made their last visit to Mangwe, Ncube was already calculating how long the food might last her.

She said she hoped it would be long enough to avert her greatest fear, that her youngest child would slip into malnutrition even before his first birthday.