Deaths mount in Armenia-Azerbaijan clashes amid truce calls

October 13, 2020

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Death and injury tolls rose Tuesday as fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces raged for a third week over the separatist territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, and the United States urged both sides to adhere to a Russia-brokered cease-fire reached over the weekend.

Nagorno-Karabakh military officials said 16 servicemen were killed, bringing the total number of dead among troops to 532 since Sept. 27, when the latest outburst of fighting flared up in the decades-old conflict.

Azerbaijan hasn't disclosed its military losses, and the overall toll is likely to be much higher with both sides regularly claiming to have inflicted significant military casualties. Azerbaijani authorities said 42 civilians have been killed on their side since the start of the fighting. Nagorno-Karabakh human rights ombudsman Artak Beglaryan late Monday reported at least 31 civilian deaths in the breakaway region in the past two weeks. Hundreds have been wounded.

The deadly clashes marked the biggest escalation of the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which lies in Azerbaijan but has been under control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since the end of a separatist war in 1994.

After more than 10 hours of marathon talks in Moscow, foreign ministers from Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a cease-fire deal that took effect Saturday. Russia has a security pact with Armenia, but it also has cultivated warm ties with Azerbaijan, allowing it to play mediator.

But immediately after the deal took effect, both Armenia and Azerbaijan have accused each other of breaching it with continued attacks. On Tuesday, Azerbaijani officials said Armenian forces shelled some of its regions, and Nagorno-Karabakh officials said Azerbaijan launched “large-scale military operations” along the front line. Each party customarily denies the other side's claims.

Ali Rastgou, a deputy governor of the Iranian province of Eastern Azerbaijan, said a missile hit farmland 70 kilometers (some 43 miles) northeast of Tabriz, Iran's third-largest city, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. He said there were no casualties.

IRNA said that since the clashes started, more than 50 rockets hit the border areas of Eastern Azerbaijan. The fighting has taken a severe toll on residents of Nagorno-Karabakh. In Stepanakert, the capital of the separatist territory that came under intense shelling last week, people huddle in the basements of apartment buildings or other shelters, fearing new attacks.

Several believers in the town of Shusha prayed Tuesday in the Holy Savior Cathedral, which last week had its dome pierced by a shell. “We never shoot their temples or ambulances, while they shoot ours. How can we be with them without a cease-fire?" said Artak, a resident who did not give his last name.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted that both countries must “implement their commitments” to a cease-fire and stop targeting civilian areas. A similar statement came from the so-called Minsk Group, which is working under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and is co-chaired by Russia, France and the U.S. The group's co-chairs urged the sides to implement a humanitarian cease-fire immediately "to allow the return of remains, prisoners of war, and detainees” and agree to terms of a cease-fire verification process.

Turkey, which has taken a highly visible role during the current hostilities to support its ally Azerbaijan, has criticized other nations for failing to demand the withdrawal of Armenian forces from Nagorno-Karabakh.

“We have said countless times that the only solution to this problem is for Armenia to withdraw from Azerbaijani territory,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said after talks with his Swedish counterpart, Ann Linde, who urged an immediate cease-fire.

Associated Press writers Daria Litvinova in Moscow, Aida Sultanova in Baku, Azerbaijan, Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, Geir Moulson in Berlin and Amir Vahdat in Tehran contributed.

Armenia, Azerbaijan say Nagorno-Karabakh truce fails to hold

October 10, 2020

MOSCOW (AP) — Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a Russia-brokered cease-fire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting Saturday, but immediately accused each other of derailing the deal intended to end the worst outbreak of hostilities in the separatist region in more than a quarter-century.

The two sides traded blame for breaking the truce that took effect at noon (0800 GMT) with new attacks, and Azerbaijan's top diplomat said the truce never entered force. The cease-fire announcement came overnight after 10 hours of talks in Moscow sponsored by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The deal stipulated that the cease-fire should pave the way for talks on settling the conflict.

If the truce holds, it would mark a major diplomatic coup for Russia, which has a security pact with Armenia but also cultivated warm ties with Azerbaijan. But the agreement was immediately challenged by mutual claims of violations.

Minutes after the truce took force, the Armenian military accused Azerbaijan of shelling the area near the town of Kapan in southeastern Armenia, killing one civilian. Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry rejected the Armenian accusations as a “provocation.”

The Azerbaijani military, in turn, accused Armenia of striking the Terter and Agdam regions of Azerbaijan with missiles and then attempting to launch offensives in the Agdere-Terter and the Fizuli-Jabrail areas. Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov charged that “conditions for implementing the humanitarian cease-fire are currently missing” amid the continuing Armenian shelling.

Armenia’s Defense Ministry denied any truce violations by the Armenian forces. The latest outburst of fighting between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces began Sept. 27 and left hundreds of people dead in the biggest escalation of the decades-old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh since a separatist war there ended in 1994. The region lies in Azerbaijan but has been under control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia.

Since the start of the latest fighting, Armenia said it was open to a cease-fire, while Azerbaijan insisted that it should be conditional on the Armenian forces’ withdrawal from Nagorno-Karabakh, arguing that the failure of international efforts to negotiate a political settlement left it no other choice but to resort to force.

The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan signed the truce in Moscow after Russian President Vladimir Putin had brokered it in a series of calls with President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.

Russia has co-sponsored peace talks on Nagorno-Karabakh together with the United States and France as co-chairs of the so-called Minsk Group, which is working under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. They haven't produced any deal, leaving Azerbaijan increasingly exasperated.

Speaking in an address to the nation Friday hours before the cease-fire deal was reached, Aliyev insisted on Azerbaijan's right to reclaim its territory by force after nearly three decades of international talks that “haven’t yielded an inch of progress."

His aide, Hikmat Hajiyev, said that the Minsk Group must offer a concrete plan for the Armenian forces' withdrawal from Nagorno-Karabakh. “There will be no peace in the South Caucasus until the Armenian troops pull out from the occupied territories,” he said.

Fighting with heavy artillery, warplanes and drones has engulfed Nagorno-Karabakh, with both sides accusing each other of targeting residential areas and civilian infrastructure. According to the Nagorno-Karabakh military, 404 of its servicemen have been killed since Sept. 27. Azerbaijan hasn’t provided details on its military losses. Scores of civilians on both sides also have been killed.

The current escalation marked the first time that Azerbaijan's ally Turkey took a high profile in the conflict, offering strong political support. Over the past few years, Turkey provided Azerbaijan with state-of-the-art weapons, including drones and rocket systems that helped the Azerbaijani military outgun the Nagorno-Karabakh separatist forces in the latest fighting.

Armenian officials say Turkey is involved in the conflict and is sending Syrian mercenaries to fight on Azerbaijan’s side. Turkey has denied deploying combatants to the region, but a Syrian war monitor and three Syria-based opposition activists have confirmed that Turkey has sent hundreds of Syrian opposition fighters to fight in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Turkey's involvement in the conflict raised painful memories in Armenia, where an estimated 1.5 million died in massacres, deportations and forced marches that began in 1915. The event is widely viewed by historians as genocide, but Turkey denies that.

Turkey's highly visible role in the confrontation worried Russia, which has a military base in Armenia. Russia and Armenia are linked by a security treaty obliging Moscow to offer support to its ally if it comes under aggression.

But at the same time, Russia has sought to maintain strong economic and political ties with oil-rich Azerbaijan and ward off Turkey's attempt to increase its influence in the South Caucasus without ruining its delicate relations with Ankara.

Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have negotiated a series of deals to coordinate their conflicting interests in Syria and Libya and expanded their economic ties. Last year, NATO member Turkey took the delivery of the Russian S-400 air defense missiles, a move that angered Washington.

A lasting cease-fire in Nagorno-Karabakh would allow the Kremlin to stem Turkey's bid to expand its clout in Russia's backyard without ruining its strategic relationship with Ankara. The Turkish Foreign Ministry said the deal was “an important first step, but cannot replace a lasting solution.”

“Since the beginning, Turkey has always underlined that it would only support those solutions which were acceptable to Azerbaijan,” it said. While Turkey has aspired to join the Minsk Group talks as a co-chair, the statement issued by Armenia and Azerbaijan contained their pledge to maintain the current format of the peace talks.

Speaking in televised remarks after the talks, Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan emphasized that “no other country, in particular Turkey, can play any role.” The French Foreign Ministry hailed the truce announcement, adding that “now it must be put into practice and strictly respected to create conditions for a permanent end to hostilities between the two countries.”

Associated Press writers Avet Demourian in Yerevan, Armenia, Aida Sultanova in Baku, Azerbaijan and Elaine Ganley in Paris contributed to this report.

Denmark wants to cull 15 million minks over COVID fears

November 04, 2020

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Denmark's prime minister said Wednesday that the government wants to cull all 15 million minks in Danish farms, to minimize the risk of them re-transmitting the new coronavirus to humans.

Mette Frederiksen said a report from a government agency that maps the coronavirus in Denmark has shown a mutation in the virus found in 12 people in the northern part of the country who got infected by minks. Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said half the 783 human COVID-19 cases in northern Denmark ”are related” to mink.

“It is very, very serious,” Frederiksen said. “Thus, the mutated virus in minks can have devastating consequences worldwide.” Denmark is one of the world's main mink fur exporters, producing an estimated 17 million furs per year. Kopenhagen Fur, a cooperative of 1,500 Danish breeders, accounts for 40% of the global mink production. Most of its exports go to China and Hong Kong.

According to government estimates, culling the country's 15 million minks could cost up to 5 billion kroner ($785 million). National police head Thorkild Fogde said “it should happen as soon as possible.”

Denmark’s minister for food, Mogens Jensen, said 207 farms were now infected, up from 41 last month, and the disease has spread to all of the western peninsula of Jutland. Last month, Denmark started culling millions of minks in the north of the country. The government has promised to compensate farmers.

The country has registered 50,530 confirmed COVID-19 infections and 729 deaths. A total of 207 out of the 1,139 fur farms in Denmark has been infected with COVID-19, which prompted the announcement. Millions of mink will be killed as a result.

Animal welfare group Humane Society International applauded the prime minister for taking “such an essential and science-based step to protect Danish citizens,” and said it hoped that losing so many mink to the coronavirus causes fur farms to get out of the business.

“Although the death of millions of mink — whether culled for COVID-19 or killed for fur — is an animal welfare tragedy, fur farmers will now have a clear opportunity to pivot away from this cruel and dying industry and choose a more humane and sustainable livelihood instead,” Humane Society International-Europe spokesperson Joanna Swabe said.

US formally exits Paris pact aiming to curb climate change

November 04, 2020

BERLIN (AP) — The United States on Wednesday formally left the Paris Agreement, a global pact it helped forge five years ago to avert the threat of catastrophic climate change. The move, long threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump and triggered by his administration a year ago, further isolates Washington in the world but has no immediate impact on international efforts to curb global warming.

Still, the U.N. agency that oversees the treaty, France as the host of the 2015 Paris talks and three countries currently chairing the body that organizes them — Chile, Britain and Italy — issued a joint statement expressing regret at the U.S. withdrawal.

“There is no greater responsibility than protecting our planet and people from the threat of climate change,” the statement said. “The science is clear that we must urgently scale up action and work together to reduce the impacts of global warming and to ensure a greener, more resilient future for us all. The Paris Agreement provides the right framework to achieve this.”

“We remain committed to working with all U.S. stakeholders and partners around the world to accelerate climate action, and with all signatories to ensure the full implementation of the Paris Agreement,” they added.

The next planned round of U.N. climate talks takes place in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2021. At present, 189 countries have ratified the accord, which aims to keep the increase in average temperatures worldwide “well below” 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), ideally no more than 1.5C (2.7 F), compared to pre-industrial levels. A further six countries have signed, but not ratified the pact.

Scientists say that any rise beyond 2 degrees Celsius could have a devastating impact on large parts of the world, raising sea levels, stoking tropical storms and worsening droughts and floods. The world has already warmed 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.2 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial time, so the efforts are really about preventing another 0.3 to 0.7 degrees Celsius (0.5 to 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit) warming from now.

“Having the U.S. pull out of Paris is likely to reduce efforts to mitigate, and therefore increase the number of people who are put into a life-or-death situation because of the impacts of climate change: this is clear from the science,” said Cornell University climate scientist Natalie Mahowald, a co-author of U.N. science reports on global warming.

The Paris accord requires countries to set their own voluntary targets for reducing greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, and to steadily increase those goals every few years. The only binding requirement is that nations have to accurately report on their efforts.

“The beauty of this system is that nobody can claim they were bullied into some sort of plan,” said Nigel Purvis, a former U.S. climate negotiator in the administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. “They’re not negotiated. They’re accepted.”

The United States is the world’s second biggest emitter after China of heat-trapping gases such as carbon dioxide and its contribution to cutting emissions is seen as important, but it's not alone in the effort. In recent weeks, China, Japan and South Korea have joined the European Union and several other countries in setting national deadlines to stop pumping more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than can be removed from the air with trees and other methods.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has said he favors signing the U.S. back up to the Paris accord. Because it was set up as an executive agreement, not a treaty, congressional approval is not required, Purvis said.

White House spokesman Judd Deere said the accord “shackles economies and has done nothing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” Should the U.S. continue to remain outside the pact, it's likely that other countries will try to impose tariffs on U.S. imports — paving the way for fresh trade wars.

The European Union is currently debating a package of proposals, known as the EU New Green Deal, that would include a so-called carbon border adjustment, aimed at preventing companies from dodging emissions reduction efforts in the 27-nation bloc by manufacturing goods in places without stringent measures.

Germany, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, said it was important for Europe to lead by example now that the United States had left the pact. German government spokesman Steffen Seibert noted Wednesday that the EU aims to became the first climate neutral continent by 2050.

Mahowald said she worries that with the U.S. out, China which initially agreed to emission curbs in a two-nation agreement with the Obama administrations, and other nations may decide they don't have to do as much to cut carbon pollution.

While the Trump administration has shunned federal measures to cut emissions, Seibert noted that U.S. states, cities and businesses have pressed ahead with their own efforts. In addition to condemnation from abroad, environmental and public health groups in the United States criticized Wednesday’s withdrawal.

Seth Borenstein reported from Kensington, Maryland.

Algeria Passes Constitutional Changes After Historically Low Turnout

2 November 2020

The referendum includes a limit on presidential terms, new powers for the parliament and a clause to let the army intervene outside Algeria's borders. Less than a quarter of the electorate turned out to vote.

Algerians approved a referendum on a revised constitution, the country's electoral commission said on Monday. The changes were touted as pro-democratic for imposing term limits and promising new civic freedoms.

Polls opened on Sunday, and after a historically low turnout, the referendum was passed with 66.8% of the votes cast, National Independent Elections Authority chief Mohamed Charfi told a press conference.

He had earlier announced a turnout of just 23.7% of the electorate -- a historic low for a major vote.

The changes approved in the referendum include presidential term limits, new powers for the parliament and judiciary and a clause to let the army intervene outside Algeria's borders.

Around 3.3 million voters backed the changes, while 1.6 million voted against them. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who is hospitalized in Germany following reported cases of COVID-19 among his staff, touted the reform process as a way to satisfy the demands of members of the Hirak street protest movement. However, the group had called for a boycott of the referendum, which they said did not go far enough.

Tebboune had been elected in December in a poll with a turnout of just under 40%, the lowest in a presidential election since Algeria gained independence in 1962. The referendum comes almost 19 months after mass protests rocked Algeria and forced long-time president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to step down.

A flawed referendum, say critics

Mass demonstrations led by the Hirak movement were carried out for months, demanding deep reforms to the ruling system. Protests were suspended in March due to the spread of coronavirus.

"The fact that the people were able to express themselves in total independence was another step in the construction of the new Algeria which began with the blessed Hirak," said Charfi.

However, the document was written by a committee of experts chosen by the regime, and maintains key appointments in the hands of the president. Additionally, critics and experts say that the new freedoms enshrined in the reform are not guaranteed.

The run-up to the vote also saw a string of arrests and court rulings against pro-Hirak activists, socail media users and journalists, according to the CNLD, a prisoners' support group.

Source: allAfrica.

Link: https://allafrica.com/stories/202011030018.html.

Somalia: Parliament Passes Bill to Establish National Identification System

2 November 2020

The Somali parliament has on Monday approved a bill that aims to establish Somali National Registration and Recognition Agency.

143 members who were present at voted for the bill.

The legislation still needs to be signed by the president before it can come into effect.

Currently, the ministry of interior and respective federal member states issue IDs on small scale but are not based on sufficiently verifiable data.

Former prime minister Hassan Ali Khaire appointed Mukhtar Mohamed Hussein to serve as the first Director-General of the National Identification Authority in July this year.

In 2018, Somalia and Pakistan signed a pact worth $10.5 million for technical assistance on the development of systems to enable the registration of persons and issuance of IDs.

According to the agreement, Pakistan's National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) will develop and supply technology, software, and equipment to enable the Government of Somalia to have a state-of-the-art national data and citizen registration system.

Source: allAfrica.

Link: https://allafrica.com/stories/202011030273.html.