The suspensions come as both houses saw repeated adjournments amid calls from opposition MPs for a statement from Union home minister Amit Shah on the security breach in Parliament on December 13. Opposition MPs protest in Lok Sabha. Photo: Screengrab via X/@HibiEden Bulldozing Opposition': 78 MPs Suspended From Parliament On Monday, 92 In Total By Sravasti Dasgupta The Wire New Delhi: A total of 78 opposition MPs were suspended from both houses of parliament on Monday, December 18, taking the total of suspended MPs since December 15 to 92. While 33 MPs were suspended in the Lok Sabha, 45 were suspended in the Rajya Sabha. On December 14, a total of 14 MPs (13 in Lok Sabha and one in Rajya Sabha) were suspended. The suspensions come as both houses of parliament saw repeated adjournments amid calls from opposition MPs for a statement from Union home minister Amit Shah on the security breach in parliament on December 13, when two men jumped from the public gallery into the Lok Sabha hall and opened smoke canisters. Earlier on Monday, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla said that a high-level probe is already looking into the security breach and some of the suggestions given by opposition MPs have been implemented while others will also be looked into. “It is sad that politics is being done on this. To enter the well of the house and do sloganeering and disrupt the proceedings is against the dignity of the house,” he said. 33 MPs suspended in Lok Sabha on Monday When the house resumed proceedings in the afternoon, parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi moved a motion to suspend 30 opposition MPs for “misconduct” and “utter disregard” to the chair. Three other Congress MPs’ suspension has been referred to the Privileges Committee. The MPs who were suspended in Lok Sabha on Monday for the remainder of the session on Monday include Kalyan Banerjee (TMC), A. Raja (DMK), Dayanidhi Maran (DMK), Aparupa Poddar (TMC), Prasun Banerjee (TMC), E.T. Mohammed Basheer (IUML), G. Selvam (DMK), C.N. Annadurai (DMK), Adhir Ranjan Choudhary (Congress), T. Sumathy (DMK), K. Navaskani (IUML), K. Veeraswamy (DMK), N.K. Premchandran (RSP), Saugata Roy (TMC), Satabdi Roy (TMC), Asit Kumar Mal (TMC), Kaushelendra Kumar (JDU), Anto Antony (Congress), S.S. Palanimanickam (DMK), Thirunavukkarasar (Congress), Pratima Mondal (TMC), Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar (TMC), K. Muraleedharan (Congress), Sunil Kumar Mandal (TMC), S. Ramalingam (DMK), K. Suresh (Congress), Amar Singh (Congress), Rajmohan Unnithan (Congress), Gaurav Gogoi (Congress), T.R. Baalu (DMK). In addition, the duration of suspension of three other MPs from the Congress – K. Jayakumar, Abdul Khaleque, and Vijay Vasanth – will be determined by the Privileges Committee. Parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi. Photo: Screengrab via YouTube/Sansad TV 45 MPs Suspended in Rajya Sabha on Monday In the Rajya Sabha leader of the house Piyush Goyal moved a motion to suspend 34 members of the opposition for “misconduct” and “continuously shouting slogans and even entered the well of the house during the course of the day thereby violating the rules of the house.” These members included Pramod Tiwari (Congress), Jairam Ramesh (Congress), Amee Yajnik (Congress), Naranbhai (Congress), Syed Nasir Hussain (Congress),  Phulo Devi Netam (Congress), Shakti Sinh Gohil (Congress), K.C. Venugopal (Congress), Rajani Patil (Congress), Ranjeet Ranjan (Congress), Imran Pratapgarhi (Congress), Randeep Singh Surjewala (Congress), Sukhendu Sekhar Roy (TMC), Mohammed Nadimul Haq (TMC), Abir Ranjan Biswas (TMC), Shantanu Sen (TMC), Mausam Noor (TMC), Prakash Chik Baraik (TMC), Samirul Islam (TMC), M. Shanmugam (DMK),  N.R. Elango, Kanimozhi N.V.N. Somu (DMK), R. Girirajan (DMK), Manoj Kumar Jha (RJD), Faiyaz Ahmed (RJD), V. Sivadasan (CPI-M), Ram Nath Thakur (JDU), Aneel Prasad Hegde (JDU), Vandana Chavan (NCP), Ram Gopal Yadav (SP), Javed Ali Khan (SP), Mahua Maji (JMM), Jose K. Mani (Kerala Congress M), Ajit Kumar Bhuyan (Independent). In addition, eleven other MPs’ suspension was referred to the Privileges Committee by Goyal to determine the duration of their suspension. These include Jebi Mather Hisham (Congress), L. Hanumanthaiah (Congress), Neeraj Dangi (Congress), Rajmani Patel (Congress), Kumar Ketkar (congress), G.C. Chandrashekar, Binoy Viswam (CPI), Santosh Kumar (JDU), John Brittas (CPIM), M. Mohammad Abdulla (DMK), A.A. Rahim (CPI-M) be referred to the committee of privileges. Including TMC’s Derek O’Brien on December 14, a total of 46 MPs have now been suspended from the Rajya Sabha. “Democratic norms thrown into dustbin” Following the suspensions on Monday, opposition MPs have lashed out at the Modi government for being “autocratic.” Rajya Sabha MP and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that “democratic norms are being thrown into the dustbin by an autocratic Modi Govt by suspending 47 MPs.” “With an Opposition-Less Parliament, the Modi Govt can now bulldoze important pending legislations, crush any dissent, without any debate.” he wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter). He added that the opposition’s demands include a statement from Shah on the security breach and a discussion in both houses. After the suspensions in the Rajya Sabha, Congress’s Jairam Ramesh who was also suspended said that it was “a bloodbath in the Rajya Sabha with 45 INDIA party MPs getting suspended for demanding a statement by the Home Minister.” “Incidentally, I too figure in this Roll of Honour — for the first time in my parliamentary career of 19 years,” he wrote on X. “This is Murder of Democracy in India(MODI) at work!” Gogoi, one of the MPs suspended on Monday, accused the Modi government of depriving the rights of the people of the country. “They are bulldozing the opposition and crushing the moral rights of people in the House. It makes evident that they don’t have the intention to run the House,” he told the news agency PTI. “In order to hide Shah’s failure in protecting parliament they are stooping to these measures.” Congress Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor said that it is “shocking” to see MPs “suspended for demanding accountability from the government in a parliamentary system.” “What is the point of a Parliament if Ministers do not wish to address it on issues of prime concern? Just to serve as a notice-board and rubber-stamp? RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha said that he takes his suspension as a matter of pride. “When there are dark times then dictators want such a parliament. … We are asking you questions, the issue is only about the security of the country and not about the Parliament building. Can’t you give an official statement? What do you want? You have formed an opposition-free parliament. Those who are left should vote tomorrow ( Suspended). This period will be remembered that ever since Prime Minister Modi’s second term, he has become very weak. Only a weak person encourages and gets such activities done by the parliamentary affairs minister,” he told the news agency ANI in Hindi. In a statement, the TMC said that the move to suspend over 46 MPs was a “masterstroke in silencing dissent” and that Shah can now “effortlessly and comfortably make a statement.” Shah: Opposition politicising security breach While Shah is yet to make a statement in the house on the incident, he has accused the opposition of politicising the issue in an interview with a television news channel. On Friday Shah in an interview with India Today said that the security breach was a “serious issue” and a “security lapse” but accused opposition parties of doing politics over the incident. “Everyone knows that parliament security is the responsibility of the Lok Sabha speaker,” he said. He added that a high-level probe has already started and a report will be sent to the speaker in the coming days. “There have been around 40 incidents in the past and in all such cases the Lok Sabha speaker has handled the matter. The probe report will come in the next 15-20 days and an FIR has also been lodged. The probe committee will also look into strengthening parliament security in future. I urge everyone to not make this a political issue,” he said. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an interview with Hindi daily Dainik Jagran said that the security breach was serious and cannot be underestimated. “Efforts should also be made to look for a solution with collective spirit. Everyone should avoid squabbling over such an issue,” he said. “The gravity of the incident which happened in Parliament should not be underestimated.” While the Modi government has suspended opposition MPs, action is yet to be taken against BJP MP Pratap Simha who facilitated passes to those who breached parliament security last week. © The Wire 2023

Uganda's LGBTQ rights activists regard the law as draconian, and want it scrapped credit: BBC One of the world's harshest anti-homosexuality laws is being challenged in the Ugandan courts by rights groups. The law has caused global outrage, with the World Bank halting new loans to Uganda and the US imposing visa restrictions on key officials. Anyone convicted of being involved in homosexual acts face life imprisonment under the law which was enacted in May. Rights groups have asked judges to annul the law, arguing that it violated the right to equality and dignity. The government is defending the case in the Constitutional Court, saying the law protects traditional family values. Known as the Anti-Homosexuality Act, the law imposes the death penalty for so-called "aggravated" cases, which include having gay sex with someone below the age of 18 or where someone is infected with a life-long illness such as HIV. An overwhelming majority of lawmakers voted for it in parliament, and it came into effect after President Yoweri Museveni approved it. In August, a 20-year-old was the first to be charged with "aggravated homosexuality" after being accused of unlawful sexual intercourse with a 41-year-old. No further details were given of the case, which was expected to be heard in the High Court as it involved an alleged capital offence. Uganda has not carried out an execution since 2005. A recent report by rights groups said that more than 300 human rights abuses have been recorded against LGBTQ+ people in Uganda in the first eight months of this year - including beatings, torture, arrests and evictions from homes. The US has responded to the legislation by saying that Ugandan goods will stop receiving preferential access to its markets from next year because of its human rights record. Uganda's government has remained defiant, saying it will not bow to foreign pressure. Many people in Uganda are socially conservative, and support the legislation. © 2023 BBC

More than 180 officials and experts from around the globe submit the nomination for Ilham Tohti. Ilham Tohti speaks during an interview at his home in Beijing, China, Feb. 4, 2013. [Credit: Andy Wong/AP] Nur'iman Abdureshid December 11, 2023 More than 180 high-level officials and experts have nominated jailed Uyghur academic and blogger Ilham Tohti to receive the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize, citing his role as “the true symbol of the Uyghur people's fight for freedom” under Chinese rule in Xinjiang. The nomination includes signatures from ministers, parliamentarians, university rectors and professors from countries including Canada, Japan, Rwanda, Australia, Paraguay, Turkey and France – a “broad international coalition” which initiative leaders Vanessa Frangville of the Free University of Brussels, Belgium, and Belgian MP Samuel Cogolati believe will bolster the 53-year-old Tohti’s chances at securing the award. “At a time when the U.N. is denouncing 'crimes against humanity' in Xinjiang, it is our duty to break the silence towards Xi Jinping's totalitarian regime and support the true symbol of the Uyghur people's fight for freedom,” they said in a statement on Monday. Supporters nominated Tohti days after the anniversary of a Dec. 9, 2021, ruling by an independent Uyghur Tribunal – composed of international legal experts, scholars, and NGO representatives – that China has perpetrated genocide against the Uyghur people. An outspoken economics professor who regularly highlighted the religious and cultural persecution of the mostly Muslim Uyghur ethnic minority in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Tohti was sentenced to life in prison on Sept. 23, 2014, following a two-day show trial on charges of promoting separatism. The court decision cited Tohti’s criticism of Beijing’s ethnic policies, his interviews with overseas media outlets, and his work founding and running the Chinese-language website Uighurbiz.net, which was shut down by Chinese authorities in 2014. But while Beijing has denounced the academic as a “separatist,” others have highlighted what they say is his commitment to peaceful interethnic dialogue between members of his ethnic group and China’s Han Chinese majority. Tohti was shortlisted for the Peace Prize in 2020 and 2023. Supporters of this year’s nomination include Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997, and U.S. Congressman Chris Smith, who is also chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. Two members of the Belgian federal government, the speaker of the Belgian senate, two political party leaders from France, the first member of Japan’s parliament of Uyghur origin, and a member of the U.K. House of Lords also lent their names to the nomination. ‘Unprecedented’ nomination In an interview with RFA Uyghur, Cogolati called the initiative to nominate Tohti “unprecedented” because of the breadth of political views, backgrounds and global perspectives represented. “This time, we really decided to mark the occasion by joining forces between the academic and political worlds,” he said. “Ilham Tohti has always been cited as a possible favorite for the next Nobel Peace Prize. This time, what's really different is that we were able to join forces between not only members of parliament all around the world, but also with universities, with rectors, university directors and professors.” Cogolati said that the international community has a “duty to raise their voice and to condemn the atrocities altogether” when China is working to “silence public intellectuals like Ilham Tohti.” “He's really a symbol of the fight of the people for freedom, but also for reconciliation, for peace and dialogue with Chinese people,” he said. “So that's why, for us, it's not only a fight for the recognition of the amazing academic talents and of the work of Ilham Tohti. But it is also a recognition of the fight of all Uyghurs around the world who are being persecuted by the totalitarian regime of [Chinese President] Xi Jinping.” The Belgian lawmaker said the outsize influence China can exert on international institutions was not lost on him, noting that in 2010, after Norway’s Nobel committee awarded the Peace Prize to then-jailed Chinese democracy activist Liu Xiaobo, Beijing imposed trade sanctions on Oslo. Liu died from late-stage liver cancer in 2017 while serving an 11-year jail term for subversion. “We really recognize the implications and the impact,” he said. “But what we say is that peace is more important. Life, dignity, and freedom for your people are more important.” Withstanding Chinese pressure Tohti’s daughter, Jewher Ilham, told RFA that a win for her father next year would “send a message to the Chinese government that my father has not been forgotten” and force Beijing to demonstrate proof of life for the long-jailed scholar. Additionally, she said, awarding Tohti the Peace Prize would “prove to the Chinese government and the international community that the Nobel Peace Committee is a separate entity that would not be influenced by political pressure – whether it is from China or Norway.” Human Rights Watch China Director Sophie Richardson agreed that the Nobel Committee is “capable of withstanding [the] kind of pressure” China exerted on it after Liu’s win. “When Liu Xiabo won the Nobel Peace Prize. I think it was understood and felt not just as a win for him, but indeed for peaceful critics of the Chinese government all across the country and the world,” she said. “And I think it would probably have the same effect, not just for Uyghurs, but for all people who have suffered oppression at the hands of the Chinese government.” “It would be an enormous boost to Uyghurs worldwide to have their community and somebody who's a longtime leader of it be recognized for his extraordinary contributions to peaceful debate, to the idea of equality, to the preservation of a distinct Uyghur identity.” Tohti has received more than 10 international human rights awards since his sentencing, including the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders in 2016 and the Sakharov Award for “Freedom of Thought” in 2019. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster. © 2023 Radio Free Asia

Military confrontation appears unlikely for now, but several countries have echoed Guyana’s concerns over an annexation by its neighbor to the west. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro displays a map showing an oil-rich region it disputes with Guyana. [© Zurimar Campos / Venezuelan Presidency/AFP] Associated Press December 10, 2023 CARACAS, Venezuela — A century-old territorial dispute deepened by the discovery of oil is boiling over between neighbors Guyana and Venezuela. Steeped in patriotism, the Venezuelan government is seizing on the fight to boost support ahead of a presidential election among a population fed up with a decadelong crisis that has pushed many into poverty. Venezuelans on Sunday approved a referendum to claim sovereignty over Essequibo, a mineral-rich territory that accounts for two-thirds of Guyana and lies near big offshore oil deposits. Military confrontation appears unlikely for now, but several countries have echoed Guyana’s concerns over an annexation by its neighbor to the west. These are some of the key aspects of the growing dispute: Why is the border under dispute? Venezuela says it was the victim of a land theft conspiracy in 1899, when Guyana was a British colony and arbitrators from Britain, Russia and the United States decided the boundary. The U.S. represented Venezuela in part because the Venezuelan government had broken off diplomatic relations with Britain. Venezuelan officials contends Americans and Europeans colluded to cheat their country out of the land. They also argue that an agreement among Venezuela, Britain and the colony of British Guiana signed in 1966 to resolve the dispute effectively nullified the original arbitration. Guyana maintains the initial accord is legal and binding and asked the United Nations’ top court in 2018 to rule it as such, but a decision is years away. What is oil's role? In 2015, major oil deposits were first discovered off Essequibo’s shore by an ExxonMobil-led consortium, piquing the interest of Venezuela, whose commitment to pursuing the territorial claim has fluctuated over the years. The consortium began pumping oil in December 2019, converting largely agrarian Guyana into the world’s fourth-largest offshore oil producer. Operations generate some $1 billion a year for the impoverished country of nearly 800,000 people that saw its economy expand by nearly 60% in the first half of this year. The current daily production of some 380,000 barrels is expected to hit 800,000 barrels in upcoming years. Guyana’s crude exports were heading largely to the Netherlands and Panama last month, with much of the oil from Panama then re-exported to the U.S. West Coast, according to S&P Global. In September, Guyana opened bids for 14 additional offshore oil blocks available for exploration and development, with six companies and groups submitting bids. Among them were ExxonMobil, which teamed up again with U.S.-owned Hess Corp. and China National Offshore Oil Corp., and French-owned Total Energies, which partnered with companies in Qatar and Malaysia. While Guyana’s oil industry has boomed, Venezuela’s has plummeted. Venezuela has the world’s largest proven crude reserves, but its oil industry has been crippled by years of mismanagement and economic sanctions imposed on the state-owned oil company following President Nicolás Maduro’s re-election in 2018, which was widely considered fraudulent. Venezuela’s National Assembly has not released the text of the law it will use to try to enforce the referendum results. But a portion lawmakers discussed Thursday would ban local and foreign companies from operating in Venezuela if they also do business in Guyana. Why is Maduro interested in Essequibo now? For Maduro and his ruling party, the Essequibo dispute is an opportunity to drum up internal support and to distract Venezuelans from U.S. pressure to release political prisoners and wrongfully detained Americans as well as to guarantee free and fair conditions in next year’s presidential election. Before the Dec. 3 referendum, Venezuelans were bombarded for weeks with Essequibo-themed music, nationally televised history lessons, murals, rallies and social media content. That appears to have backfired. The government claims about 10.5 million people — just over half of eligible voters — cast ballots. It says voters approved rejecting “by all means” the 1899 boundary, turning Essequibo into a state, giving area residents Venezuelan citizenship and rejecting the U.N. court’s jurisdiction over the dispute. But Associated Press journalists and witnesses at voting centers said the long lines typical of Venezuelan elections never formed. What's next? Maduro’s government on Saturday announced in a statement it had accepted a proposal “to hold a high-level meeting” with Guyana to preserve its “aspiration to maintain Latin America and the Caribbean as a zone of peace, without interference from external actors.” Maduro “received” the proposal in conversations with Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, according to the statement. Gonsalves in a letter to Maduro and Guyana President Irfaan Ali expressed an “urgent need to de-escalate the conflict” and said both presidents have agreed to meet Thursday in his Caribbean country. Meanwhile, international security firm Global Guardian expects Venezuela to gradually ramp up tensions and go as far as conducting naval exercises near Guyana, said Zev Faintuch, a senior intelligence analyst at the firm. “We might even see some sort of very small scale, cross-border activity,” he said, adding that he expects activities to escalate until elections are held in Venezuela. “Maduro’s interest is to get himself reelected and get some more of his oil onto oil markets.” He said that it would be nearly impossible to invade the entire Essequibo region, which is vast, lacks roads and is sparsely populated. Guyanan Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday urged oil companies that have concessions near the Essequibo region to ignore Maduro’s comments and actions and warned Guyana would take any necessary steps to protect its sovereignty. “Any attempts by his state oil firms or state corporations to explore for petroleum in our area will be viewed as an intrusion by Guyana,” Jagdeo said. “If (Maduro) believes that belligerence and threatening Guyana will lead to the desired bilateral conversations, he is profoundly incorrect.” The U.N. Security Council held an emergency, private meeting on the issue Friday as world leaders and international organizations backed Guyana. Separately, members of a regional trade bloc known as Caricom also called a closed-door meeting Friday to talk about the dispute. The Organization of American States said in a statement that the 1899 boundary is “in force and legally binding on all parties under international law.” It also accused Maduro’s government of taking an “aggressive stance” and of “continuing to take and promote unlawful actions against Guyana.” The organization added that it was profoundly worried about the situation, “which has escalated to a point of significant concern for regional security and constitutes a matter that threatens the stability and territorial sovereignty within our hemisphere.” © 2023 Associated Press © 2023 NBC News

Jihadist Attackers in Mali. credit: Agenzia Fides By AFP - Agence France Presse December 14, 2023 An attack in central Mali this week, blamed on jihadists, left dozens of soldiers and civilians dead, local sources said Thursday. However the Malian army reported only that it had repelled a "terrorist" attack on the Farabougou camp on Tuesday, without mentioning casualties. Central Mali is a hotbed of the violence that is plaguing the Sahel region. As elsewhere in the country, gathering and verifying information is complicated by the difficulty in accessing remote sites or independent sources. The Mali authorities, dominated by the colonels who took power by force in 2020, are reluctant to talk about losses suffered and claim to have the upper hand over the armed groups. A local politician, speaking on condition of anonymity for his own safety, told AFP that "the jihadist attack on Farabougou left around sixty soldiers and civilians dead". He also reported that some people were missing since the attack. The army camp fell into the hands of the jihadists who, following their usual modus operandi, then quickly left the scene, he added. "If we count the military and civilian dead and the people we haven't heard from, that's at least 62 people," said another resident who also insisted on remaining anonymous. He himself said he had no news of two of his brothers. "I don't know if they have been killed or if they are on the run or in hiding." A government employee also spoke of "dozens and dozens of victims" and reported that Farabougou, a town of a few thousand inhabitants, had been emptied. The army acknowledged on Thursday that an attack had taken place, saying in a brief statement that it had delivered "a vigorous response that repelled a terrorist attack targeting the Farabougou camp". Since 2012, Mali has been battling an Islamist insurgency that erupted in the north of the vast West African state, claiming thousands of military and civilian lives. Violence has subsequently swept the country while spilling over into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger -- inflaming ethnic tensions along the way. After seizing power three years ago, Mali's junta ditched the country's alliance with former colonial power France, preferring rapprochement with Moscow. The junta has also ordered out the UN's Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), which had for the past decade maintained around 15,000 soldiers and police in the country. The withdrawal, which is due to be completed this month, has exacerbated tensions between the military and rebel groups. Farabougou is in the Niono Cercle region, which has been hard hit for years by violence from the Al-Qaeda-linked coalition Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), as well as from self-defence groups based on traditional Dozo hunters. In 2020, the town became a symbol of the unrest when it was besieged by jihadists. Mali's new strongman, Colonel Assimi Goïia, who had come to power in a putsch a few weeks earlier, visited the area to test the authorities' ability to restore security. The army later returned to Farabougou. © 2023 Agence France-Presse

By Rédaction Africanews with AFP Last updated:13/12 - 12:47 Sierra Leone's former president, Ernest Bai Koroma, smiles in the village of Massessehbeh  -  Copyright © africanews | Sunday Alamba/Copyright 2023 The AP. All rights reserved. Sierra Leone's police chief said on Tuesday that ex-president Ernest Bai Koroma was a "suspect" in the organization of the November 26 events, described by the government as an "attempted coup". "Given the statement he voluntarily made to the police, he is one of the suspects," said Fayia Sellu, answering a question from Information Minister Chernor A. Bah, at a press conference. "The Inspector General of Police has confirmed that former president Ernest Bai Koroma is a suspect in the ongoing investigations" into the November 26 coup attempt, the government then said in a message on social networks. Mr. Koroma, who led Sierra Leone from 2007 to 2018, was questioned for the fourth time on Tuesday by police in Freetown. The government had announced on Saturday that he had been placed under a regime akin to house arrest. According to the Sierra Leonean authorities, some of Mr. Koroma's former guards are suspected of involvement in the unrest of November 26. They have published a new list of 54 wanted persons, including ex-president Koroma's daughter, in connection with these events. According to the Minister of Information, the security forces also recovered 29 of the 47 assault rifles and five of the seven rocket launchers belonging to the suspected coup plotters. In the early hours of November 26, men had attacked a military armory, two barracks, two prisons, and two police stations. The fighting left 21 people dead, 18 members of the security services, and three assailants, according to the Minister of Information. Eighty people were arrested in connection with these events, most of them soldiers, according to the authorities. A curfew, introduced by the authorities from 21:00 to 06:00 (local and GMT), was extended on Monday from 00:00 to 06:00, due to the "improved security situation", according to the government. Since 2020, the West African region has been marked by a series of coups d'état in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Guinea. Copyright © africanews

Three held in Germany and one in Netherlands over plans for possible attacks on Jewish institutions, prosecutor says. The federal prosecutor said a cache of weapons was due to be taken to Berlin in readiness for potential terrorist attacks. [Photograph: Oleksandr Prykhodko/Alamy] Dan Sabbagh December 14, 2023 Four people have been arrested in Germany and the Netherlands on suspicion of being part of a cross-border Hamas terror plot that German prosecutors said aimed to obtain weapons to target Jewish institutions in Europe. Three others were arrested in Denmark on separate terrorism offences, and the country’s politicians indicated they were also Hamas related, while the prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said the threat was “as serious as it gets”. The office of Germany’s federal prosecutor said three men had been detained in Berlin and the fourth in Rotterdam on Thursday and they were described as “longstanding members of Hamas” who had links to its military wing and “have participated in Hamas operations abroad”. One of the group, named only as Abdelhamid Al A, was accused by the prosecutor of having “started searching for an underground weapons cache in Europe no later than spring 2023” on the orders of Hamas leaders based in Lebanon. The cache had been “created in the past in a conspiratorial manner” by Hamas, the prosecutor’s office added. “The weapons were due to be taken to Berlin and kept in a state of readiness in view of potential terrorist attacks against Jewish institutions in Europe.” During October, the month of Hamas’s deadly assault on Israel, three of the four men “travelled repeatedly from Berlin to look for the weapons”, the prosecutor continued, with the fourth man accused of providing assistance. The initial account suggests any terror plot was not particularly advanced, although it comes after counter-terror officials across Europe warned that attacks could increase as a consequence of the war in Gaza, which began on 7 October after Hamas fighters launched a cross-border raid into Israel, killing 1,200 people. Earlier this month, the European commissioner for home affairs, Ylva Johansson, warned there was “huge risk of terrorist attacks in the European Union” over the holiday season, saying the Israel-Hamas war was increasing the risk of violence elsewhere. A similar warning was made by the British MI5 chief, Ken McCallum, in October. A German tourist was killed in Paris and two others injured in a knife and hammer attack near the Eiffel Tower at the beginning of December. A 26-year-old French man was arrested and charged, and prosecutors said he had sworn allegiance to Islamic State and was under psychological surveillance for mental health problems. However, the publicly-voiced warnings have been largely about lone actor terrorism, violent attacks conducted by an individual radicalised by the war in the Middle East, rather than a plot directed from abroad, as indicated by the German prosecutor’s statement, released in German and English on Thursday afternoon. The German authorities gave the first names and the initials of the surnames of the four arrested: Abdelhamid Al A, born in Lebanon; Mohamed B, an Egyptian national; Nazih R, a Dutch national who police in the Netherlands said was aged 57; and Ibrahim El-R, born in Lebanon. All three who were arrested in Germany will be brought before a judge on Friday, who will also decide in the case of Ibrahim El-R whether to issue a full arrest warrant. They have been accused by the German federal prosecutor of being members of a foreign terrorist organisation. One of the Hamas leaders they were said to be linked to was named as Khalil Hamed al-Kharraz, the second in command at the Izz ad-Din al-Qassem brigades, the military wing of Hamas, who was killed in southern Lebanon by Israeli bombing in late November. Hamas has ruled Gaza since 2006 but its military and political wings are designated as terror organisations by the EU, UK and US. Founded in 1987, it rose to prominence through a series of suicide bomb attacks in Israel, beginning in 1993, but the group is not noted for conducting terrorist activities farther afield. Danish police said their investigation revealed “a network of people has been preparing a terrorist act” that ran across international borders and involved criminal gangs, according to Flemming Drejer, a police chief superintendent. But officers later clarified the arrests in Denmark and Germany were not directly connected. At a meeting with EU leaders in Brussels, Frederiksen offered more context. “It is of course – in relation to Israel and Gaza – completely unacceptable for someone to bring a conflict elsewhere in the world into Danish society,” she said. Danish police said they would increase their public presence in coming days, in particular in Copenhagen and around Jewish localities. A planned Hanukkah celebration at Copenhagen’s city hall square was cancelled as a precaution. The Mossad Israeli intelligence agency said police in Denmark had “arrested seven terrorists acting on behalf of the Hamas terrorist organisation” and had “thwarted an attack, the goal of which was to kill innocent civilians on European soil”. It accused Hamas of striving to expand its activities in Europe, although its statement made no mention of Germany or the Netherlands. © 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited

By Shaun Walker Grzegorz Braun, far-right Polish lawmaker from Confederation party, walks after using a fire extinguisher to put out Hanukah candles at the parliament in Warsaw. Photograph: Sławomir Kamiński/Agencja Wyborcza.pl/Reuters A far-right Polish MP has extinguished candles on a menorah lit for Hanukah in Poland’s parliament, disrupting proceedings before a vote of confidence in the new government. Grzegorz Braun, a fringe far-right MP, was shown on television spraying the menorah with a fire extinguisher. Haze filled the area. The parliament took a break in proceedings to deal with the incident and Braun was suspended for the rest of the day. Donald Tusk, whose new government won a vote of confidence on Tuesday, had earlier delivered a keynote speech to parliament outlining his plans for office, described the incident as “a disgrace”. “This is unacceptable. This can’t happen again,” he said. Rabbi Sholom Ber Stambler, who has lit the menorah in parliament for the last 17 years, said Braun was “an antisemite who wanted to attract attention”, but suggested the stunt had in fact had the opposite intended effect. “I’ve had so many phone calls and messages from Polish MPs, people who live in Poland; everyone sends me so much solidarity and care, feeling sorry and apologising for this,” said Ber Stambler in a telephone interview. Ber Stambler had been in the next room when Braun launched the attack, he said, but his children were still around the menorah, and got foam from the fire extinguisher in their mouths. “He wanted to destroy a very uplifting atmosphere of tolerance and freedom of religion,” said Ber Stambler, who is from the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. “We’ve been doing it for 17 years, and … every time it was easy to arrange and MPs from different parties would join and respect,” he said. Asked just after the incident if he was ashamed, Braun replied: “Those who take part in acts of satanic worship should be ashamed.” He left the chamber, shaking hands with other far-right lawmakers. The speaker of the parliament, Szymon Hołownia, denounced Braun’s actions. “There will be no tolerance for racism, xenophobia, antisemitism … as long as I am the speaker of parliament,” Hołownia told reporters. Israel’s ambassador to Poland, Yacov Livne, posted on X: “SHAME. A Polish parliament member just did this. Few minutes after we celebrated Chanukah there.” The US ambassador to Poland, Mark Brzezinski, also condemned the attack on X: “Poland has experienced the atrocities of the Holocaust, and this disgusting act of hatred reminds us all why we must remain vigilant and fight anti-Semitism every minute of every day,” he wrote. Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś of Poland’s Catholic church said in a statement that he was ashamed of Braun’s actions. “[I] apologise to the entire Jewish community in Poland,” he wrote. Braun, a pro-Russian member of the far-right Confederation party, has in the past falsely claimed that there is a plot to turn Poland into “a Jewish state”. Earlier this year, he disrupted a planned lecture by Holocaust scholar Jan Grabowski, who has researched instances of Polish complicity in the Holocaust, causing the lecture to be cancelled. Ber Stambler said Braun was “antisemitic but also anti-Polish”, as he had disrupted an important political day, with the swearing in of the new government. “It was very important for me to relight the menorah after, which I did,” he added. © 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

Nicholás Maduro. credit: GZERO media Venezuela Country Report December 2023 By Nahla Curran In 2013 Nicolás Maduro became President of Venezuela following Hugo Chávez’s death. Maduro’s party has gained control of most governmental institutions, moving Venezuela away from democracy toward authoritarian rule. Venezuela is a petrostate – a country dependent on oil extraction and export. In 2014, due to a drop in global oil prices, Venezuela entered a deep recession. Inflation topped 65,300% in 2018, making food and other necessities unaffordable. The murder rate increased from 25 per 100,000 in 1999 (when Chávez was elected) to 82 per 100,000 in 2014., the second highest murder rate in the world. Maduro’s Special Action Forces (FAES) detain, torture, and kill political opponents. From 2016 to 2019, police, army, and armed militias killed 18,000 people in communities that do not support Maduro. On 5 July 2019 the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, released a report documenting the murders of 6,800 Venezuelans from 2018 to 2019 by security forces including the FAES. The report included evidence of crimes against humanity committed with the knowledge of high-ranking officials. The crimes included forced disappearances, arbitrary detention, torture, extrajudicial executions, and sexual and gender-based violence. In 2023 Maduro’s government increased its crackdown on dissidents before the upcoming presidential election. The government has issued an arrest warrant for the exiled US-based opposition leader, Juan Guaidó. Civilians who remain in Venezuela have been forced to endure a severe humanitarian emergency, including lack of access to health care, medicine and food. Maduro’s health ministry censors health statistics and refuses to admit Venezuela’s state of emergency despite accepting aid from the Red Cross in 2019. In the decade since Maduro’s accession to power, approximately 7.7 million people have fled from Venezuela. Since 2015, on the Colombia side of the Venezuela-Colombia border approximately 1,500 refugees have disappeared. The top ten destinations for Venezuelan emigrants are Colombia, Peru, the United States, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Argentina, Canada, France, and Panama. In December 2023 Maduro announced his intention to annex two thirds of the territory of neighboring Guyana. This invasion would allow Venezuela to exploit offshore oil reserves in Guyana territorial waters. It would nullify a border settlement reached in 1899 after international arbitration. The invasion would violate the U.N. and O.A.S. Charters. The U.S. and other nations in the Americas have expressed opposition to Maduro’s proposed annexation. Observers consider Maduro’s announcement to be a nationalist ploy to gain support in the upcoming Venezuelan elections. Venezuela with area of Guyana Esquiba that Venezuela intends to invade and annex Because of Maduro’s repression of dissidents and political opponents – including forced disappearances, torture, and murder, Venezuela is at Stage 5: Organization, Stage 6: Polarization, and Stage 8: Persecution. Genocide Watch recommends that: ● The United States and other countries that host Venezuelan refugees should not deport them back to Venezuela. ● The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights should push for release of unlawfully detained prisoners. ● As a state-party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the 2024 Venezuelan elections must be free and fair. ● UNHCR and Colombian authorities should investigate disappearances of refugees as a priority.

A local resident looks at a crater at the site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kherson, Ukraine December 5, 2023. REUTERS/Ivan Antypenko LONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Britain warned that Russia was trying to circumvent sanctions as it announced 46 new measures against individuals and groups from other countries it said were involved in Russia's military supply chains. The latest entities to be sanctioned included businesses operating in China, Turkey, Serbia, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan, Britain's foreign ministry said. The Russian embassy in London described the sanctions as "futile" and an "act of poorly staged drama", coming as British Foreign Secretary David Cameron visits the United States to reaffirm London's continued support for Ukraine against Russia's invasion. The Chinese embassy in London said it condemned the move and would counter anything that undermined its interests. Britain has staunchly supported Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022, and said it was targeting third-country suppliers in order to limit Russia's ability to get around sanctions to obtain restricted goods. "We will continue to ratchet up pressure on Putin and crack down on third parties providing restricted goods and technology to Russia, wherever they may be," junior foreign minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said. Britain sanctioned 31 people and entities it said were linked to the design and manufacture of drones and missile parts and the import of electronic components, four UAE-based entities it said were involved in trading Russian oil, and others linked to the Wagner mercenary group. The designations also included a Belarusian defence organisation Britain said had manufactured military technology used by Minsk to support Russia's war effort. China said it was firmly opposed to the sanctions. "We urge the UK government to immediately correct its mistake and lift sanctions on Chinese companies," the embassy said. "The Chinese government will take firm and effective measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises." Meanwhile, Britain's National Crime Agency said it had issued a warning to banks and other financial institutions and members of the UK regulated sector about Russia seeking to obtain sanctioned goods through intermediary countries. "Sanctions imposed on Russia as a result of its invasion of Ukraine have had a significant impact on its ability to purchase products, including military supplies, on international markets," the NCA said. "However, in an effort to circumvent these controls, Russia is using complex supply chains and alternative supply routes to acquire sanctioned products." Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Britain has sanctioned more than 1,600 individuals and about 250 entities. © 2023 Reuters. All rights reserved

By Rédaction Africanews and AFP Burundi's Supreme Court sentenced former prime minister Alain-Guillaume Bunyoni to life in prison on Friday (Dec. 08). He was convicted on charges including attempting to overthrow the government, illicit enrichment and destabilizing the economy, a judicial source said. The former general was named PM in July 2020 then dismissed in September 2022. His ouster came just days after President Evariste Ndayishimiye warned of a "coup" plot against him. The court sitting in session at the prison where Bunyoni was detained followed the prosecution's requests. It also ordered the authorities to confiscate four houses and buildings as well as a land parcel and 14 vehicles belonging to Bunyoni. Five others in the dock including the two main co-defendants, a police colonel and a senior intelligence agent, received "sentences ranging from three years to 15 years," . The seventh defendant, a driver, was acquitted, the judicial source added. 51-year-old Bunyoni pleaded not guilty to all charges at the start of the trail. At the time, he said he should be acquitted because of a lack of evidence. A close ally of former president Pierre Nkurunziza, Bunyoni was an influential figure in the ruling CNDD-FDD party. Copyright © africanews 2023

Nearly a decade after 43 students went missing in Mexico, families are still searching for answers. During a drug war that has infiltrated every level of society and led to the disappearances of 110,000 people, can they ever find the truth? Luz María Telumbre says she still hopes to be reunited with her son, nine years after he disappeared with 42 other students. Oliver Englehart, Mark Casebow, & Laura Gaynor December 7, 2023 "It's not like when a person dies and you say, well, at least I know where they are," says Luz María Telumbre about her only son, Christian. She and her husband Clemente were given a two-gram fragment of bone from his right foot in 2020, six years after he disappeared. It was seemingly all that remained of him, but Christian's family have not given up hope that they will one day be reunited. "While I don't have a whole body, my struggle continues," Clemente tells the BBC documentary Disappeared: Mexico's Missing 43. On the evening of 26 September 2014, Christian was part of a group of male students from poor rural areas who were travelling from the Ayotzinapa teacher training college, which has a strong history of activism, to an annual protest in Mexico City. More than 60 students gathered in the city of Iguala and took over buses at the station, asking the drivers to divert their destination - a tacitly accepted tradition in these parts of Mexico, where public transport is scarce. But as they left, they saw roadblocks had been set up and shots were fired. Police surrounded the buses and, in the chaotic scenes that followed, 43 students disappeared. In 2019, after years had passed without finding the students or bringing anyone to justice, human rights lawyer Omar Gómez Trejo was appointed to lead a new investigation. Now living in Washington DC because he fears Mexico is no longer safe for him, he tells the BBC: "We needed to work on the disappearance, but we also needed to work on the cover-up." The previous investigation, led by Mexico's attorney general and the chief of the Criminal Investigation Agency, Tomás Zerón, had produced its answer within three months of the disappearances. The investigators declared it "the historical truth". They claimed that corrupt police working for the former Iguala city mayor and a local drug cartel, the ​​Guerreros Unidos, had detained the students. Cartel members then murdered them, burned their bodies in a local dump and threw the ashes in the San Juan river. Families of the missing were incensed that the investigators could present the case as solved without finding their loved ones. Cristina Bautista Salvador, mother of Benjamín, one of the missing students, tells the BBC the government thought its announcement would "shut them up" and "send the peasants away". But soon cracks began to appear in this "historical truth". Independent forensic anthropology experts, brought in by the lawyers representing the families, cast doubt on the discovery of a bone with DNA that tested as a match for one of the missing students. The Mexican government said the students had been on four buses when they were attacked - but CCTV evidence revealed students on a fifth bus that had never been mentioned. Fresh hope for the families of the missing arrived when a new Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, was elected in 2018. The following year, he announced a new investigation, to be led by Mr Gómez Trejo. "It has been the most important job I have ever had in my professional career," Mr Gómez Trejo tells the BBC. Soon after he began work, a video of the former investigator, Mr Zerón, was leaked. It shows a blindfolded man with his hands tied behind his back. "The first time you bullshit me, I'll kill you, man," Mr Zerón tells him. Mr Gómez Trejo's team discovered more than 60 videos of unlawful interrogations carried out during the original government investigation, led by Mr Zerón. The suspect in the leaked video has no defence lawyer with him and is being "held captive, handcuffed", Mr Gómez Trejo points out. "This is a scene of torture," he says. "To torture someone is to ruin an investigation." With this and other evidence, Mr Zerón was accused of torture, forced disappearance and obstruction of justice. But before he could be arrested, he fled to Israel, which has no extradition treaty with Mexico. The BBC found him in Tel Aviv, where he denied torture. "It's probably something that I shouldn't have said, it was out of line. You can see I threatened him," Mr Zerón says. "But I never tortured him." He says he did not receive instructions to cover up anything done by federal forces and was not responsible for the students' disappearance. Mr Zerón says he was "important enough to be blamed but not so important anyone would come to my defence". After the discovery of unlawful practices in the original investigation, former suspects were released from prison and began to reveal information to Mr Gómez Trejo's new inquiry. That led Mr Gómez Trejo to a new search site, about 1km (0.6 miles) from the rubbish dump where the original investigation claimed the bodies had been burned. In a criminal investigation, says the special prosecutor, "every millimetre, every centimetre" matters. At the new search location, called the Butcher's Ravine, they uncovered remains that could be traced to two more students - one of them named as Christian Rodríguez Telumbre. Mr Gómez Trejo told a press conference in 2020 that the fact these remains were not found in either of the places identified by the first investigation - the dump or the San Juan river - meant "the 'historical truth' is over". Meanwhile, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had been watching the Guerreros Unidos drug cartel since 2013, the year before the students disappeared. Former DEA special agent Mark Giuffre tells the BBC the cartel, described merely as a local gang by the Mexican government, had been smuggling heroin worth about $122m a year into the US via Chicago - "an absolutely unprecedented amount of heroin coming in the United States by a single organisation". Surveillance showed that the cartel was using buses leaving from the Iguala station to smuggle their drugs. "It seemed to us that it was clear as could be - that the students unknowingly hijacked the wrong bus," says Mr Giuffre. In 2022, Mr Gómez Trejo's investigation was given access to the DEA's tapped telephone calls and investigative case file on the Guerreros Unidos. The phone calls "talk about the corruption existing between certain authorities and the Guerreros Unidos cartel - payments, having parties, jobs they've done together," Mr Gómez Trejo says. "What you have is the participation of federal authorities such as the army, working hand in hand with criminal groups. The proof we had was convincing and strong." The investigation had already raised questions about the role of the military. It was operating the camera surveillance system in Iguala on the night of the disappearance. Investigators also say the army was monitoring communications of the Guerreros Unidos cartel in real time. But if the army was aware of cartel operations before, during and after the attacks, why did it not intervene to rescue the students? The government had even revealed that the army had planted undercover agents in the teacher training college to spy on the students. Investigators say that despite an order from the Mexican president to hand over all their information, the army has not complied. "What we have received is a refusal, a lack of collaboration and obstruction in the search for the truth," says Carlos Beristain, part of an international group of independent experts (known as GIEI) who had been investigating since 2014 and worked alongside Mr Gómez Trejo's inquiry. The army says it has handed over all the information in its archives and President López Obrador has said: "If progress has been made, it's precisely because of the co-operation of the army and navy." On the night of the disappearance, investigators say there are moment-by-moment reports from the army, except between 21:15 and 22:30 local time. Mr Gómez Trejo told the BBC this blank space is "part of the disappearance" and "a result of erasing all the evidence, leaving no trace of what was done to disappear the 43 students". Armed with the telephone tap evidence, in August last year the investigation team obtained arrest warrants for the former attorney general - who conducted the first investigation with Mr Zerón - and 83 others, including 20 soldiers on duty in Iguala on the night of the disappearances. But days later, 21 of the warrants were withdrawn by the office of the current attorney general, including most of those for the soldiers. Mr Gómez Trejo says he was told by the attorney general he could no longer investigate the case. He decided to resign. "The rules of the game, the rules by which I came to the prosecutor's office, have changed," the special prosecutor says. He fled to the US, fearing for his safety and facing a criminal investigation for his handling of the case. "They told me 'Hey, you overdid it regarding the number of military personnel'," he says. "It has that kind of stench, to criminalise, to undermine, to shoot the messenger." Mr Gómez Trejo says 16 of the arrest warrants were reissued earlier this year, under pressure from the families and the GIEI group. There are now more than 100 people in custody, including two army generals, 12 soldiers and a navy officer. The former attorney general remains in custody and denies the charges against him. The former Iguala mayor, accused in the first investigation, is in prison for other offences. He was cleared of some charges relating to the disappearance of the students but the government says he is still under investigation. Nearly a decade on, however, there has not been a single conviction for crimes committed against the missing 43 students. On the 28th birthday of her son Benjamín, Cristina promises him: "I will keep looking for you until the last beat of my heart." The investigation still remains open, Mr Gómez Trejo says. But while the full truth about the missing students of Ayotzinapa may never be known, Mexico's organised crime violence continues to claim more victims. Forensic anthropologist Mercedes Doretti, who worked for the families of the students, tells the BBC that across Mexico, with limited state support, relatives of the missing are out searching for their loved ones' remains with shovels and picks. More than 110,000 people have now disappeared in the country's drug war, and the number continues to rise. "From where do we start to change the country? The ringleaders don't get caught," says Luz María, Christian's mother. "They are untouchable. This system cannot be changed, it cannot be changed. And if you meddle, they kill you." © 2023 BBC