12, July 2021

UK agonises after racial abuse of England football stars ⁰

Political leaders and footballing chiefs in Britain expressed disgust on Monday at racial abuse targeting England stars, including three black players who missed penalties in the Euro 2020 final against Italy.

But as Facebook vowed yet again to look into abuse on its Instagram platform, Prime Minister Boris Johnson himself came under stinging criticism for earlier refusing to condemn fans who had booed English players’ campaign against racism.

England manager Gareth Southgate said the online invective was “unforgivable”.

“Some of it has come from abroad, we have been told this, but some of it is from this country,” he told reporters.

“We have been a beacon of light to bring people together and the national team stands for everybody.”

Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, the three players whose penalty shootout misses handed victory to Italy at Wembley, were the victims of a stream of abuse on Instagram and Twitter — many apparently from foreign trolls and bots.

“This England team deserve to be lauded as heroes, not racially abused on social media,” Johnson wrote on Twitter.

“Those responsible for this appalling abuse should be ashamed of themselves.”

While some people identifying as England fans used racial slurs in blaming the trio for the defeat, other offensive messages were accompanied with “forza italia” hashtags.

England’s players have made a strong stand against racism at the tournament, taking a knee before their games including Sunday’s final.

Johnson and others in the Conservatives’ “anti-woke” government had initially defended the freedom of speech of England fans who booed the players, before backing the team later in the tournament.

Former Manchester United player Gary Neville accused the prime minister of having “promoted” racism, noting one notorious past comment by Johnson likening Muslim women who wear the veil to “letter-boxes”.

“It starts at the top. What do you think is going to happen underneath in life? The parents do something, the children follow,” the pundit told Sky News.

Neville joined others such as Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat who demanded tougher action from social media companies.

“Those who write are pathetic and deserve to be identified and face the public consequences, those who publish it are profiting from hate,” Tugendhat said.

– Prince William ‘sickened’ –

In a statement, Facebook said it had “quickly removed comments and accounts directing abuse at England’s footballers last night and we’ll continue to take action against those that break our rules”.

“No one thing will fix this challenge overnight, but we’re committed to keeping our community safe from abuse,” it said.

London’s police force said it was aware of “a number of offensive and racist social media comments” being directed towards the footballers.

“This abuse is totally unacceptable, it will not be tolerated and it will be investigated,” said the Metropolitan Police, who were also probing scenes of mayhem after some ticketless fans forced their way into Wembley Stadium.

England player Raheem Sterling also received a stream of racial abuse after social media users accused him of cheating to win a penalty in England’s semi-final win over Denmark.

“We’re disgusted that some of our squad –- who have given everything for the shirt this summer –- have been subjected to discriminatory abuse online after tonight’s game,” the English Football Association tweeted.

“We stand with our players.”

Prince William, the FA’s president who attended the final with his wife Kate and son George, said he was “sickened” by the abuse.

“It is totally unacceptable that players have to endure this abhorrent behaviour. It must stop now and all those involved should be held accountable,” he tweeted.

Despite the abuse, the overwhelming majority of messages were in support of the players, who have been praised throughout the tournament for helping bring together a nation hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Source: AFP

12, July 2021

Football: Italy explodes in joy upon winning Euro 2021 ⁰

Italians celebrated the European Championship football title as a new beginning not only for their youthful national team but for a country that’s been yearning to return to normalcy after being hit hard and long by the coronavirus pandemic.

A cacophony of honking cars, fireworks and singing fans filled the night in Rome as thousands of people took to the streets after Italy beat England in a penalty shootout Sunday to win its first major football trophy since the 2006 World Cup.

“We are coming out of a difficult year and a half which has left us exhausted, like other countries in the world,” said Fabrizio Galliano, a 29-year-old from Naples who watched the match on a big screen in downtown Rome. “This means so much. Sports is one of the things that unites us, among all the things that separate us. But to finally be able to feel that joy that we’ve been missing, it goes beyond sports.”

Many Italians saw the European Championship as a relaunch for a country that spent much of the past 16 months in various stages of lockdown. Italy was the first country outside Asia to get hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and suffered immensely, particularly in the spring of 2020 when hospitals in northern Italy were overwhelmed with patients and the death toll soared. Italy has recorded more than 127,000 Covid-19 deaths, the highest in the 27-nation European Union.

“It’s been a complicated year for everyone but especially for us who were one of the first countries hit. This is a signal of a new beginning,” said Michela Solfanelli, a 30-year-old event producer based in Milan.

Most virus restrictions have been lifted since the spring and those that remain were largely ignored by the mass of Italy fans who danced in the streets of the capital chanting “we are champions of Europe.”

David Bellomo, a 23-year-old from the southern city of Bari, pointed out that this was Italy’s second big victory this year, after Italian band Maneskin won the Eurovision Song Contest in May.

“Thanks to Eurovision and thanks to this game and (football) we’ve managed to come back this year,” he said. “We almost got a triple,” he added, referring to Matteo Berrettini, the Italian tennis player who lost the Wimbledon final to Novak Djokovic earlier in the day.

Shoulder to shoulder, fans nervously watched the penalty shootout on two big screens set up on Piazza del Popolo, an ellipitcal cobblestone square at the edge of Rome’s historic center. A deafening roar rose to the sky as Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma saved England’s last penalty.

Among the sea of blue Italy shirts was an immigrant family from Senegal, who came from the town of Zagarolo, an hour outside Rome, to experience the final with the crowd in the piazza.

“I am not Italian, but I can feel the emotions. I feel it, as if I were Italian,” said Falilou Ndao, 42. “We really love this country.”

His 13-year-old son Yankho, an Italy fan and football player, was impressed by the team.

“They showed courage. They never gave up, even when they were down by a goal,” he said. “It is so well-deserved. They have been playing great the entire tournament. Go Italy!”

Though people are still required to wear masks in crowded situations, police made no attempts to intervene as throngs of barefaced fans poured out of the piazza, singing the national anthem and lighting flares. Fireworks cracked overhead as fans cruised through the city waving Italian flags from their cars.

Dr. Annamaria Altomare, a 39-year-old gastroenterologist, watched the spectacle with a friend from a safe distance. They were among the few wearing masks.

“We want to avoid the delta variant in this mess,” she said, laughing.

(FRANCE 24 with AP)

12, July 2021

Six killed, scores arrested in S.Africa protests after Zuma jailing ⁰

A South African government intelligence body said on Monday that six people had been killed in violent protests in the KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces since last week, following the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma.

The unrest erupted shortly after Zuma started serving a 15-month sentence for contempt of court on Wednesday night.

11, July 2021

Biya Goes Back Home ⁰

For two years, Paul Biya, the consultant who rules Cameroon remotely has been stuck in Yaoundé because of the deadly Coronavirus which has a bone to pick with old people who do not want to bow out.

Mr. Biya finally left Cameroon today accompanied by his wife who was spotting her signature flaming red hair.

Mr. Biya’s office released a statement this morning announcing that the 88-year-old monarch, who has put Cameroon on auto pilot, will be spending some time somewhere in Europe.

His exact location was not released for fear that the Cameroon Diaspora that has been making his stay in Europe miserable could disrupt his stay.

But sources close to the Cameroon Diaspora in Europe have informed the Cameroon Concord News Group office in London that the notorious Brigade Anti-Sardinard (BAS) is aware of Mr. Biya’s reckless movement and has already taken necessary measures to ensure that Mr. Biya’s trip to Europe ends in confusion.

Mr. Biya who has been living in fear of death, especially when the virus attacked him, is leaving the country at a time when great leadership is required to steer the country to safer shores.

The country is currently dealing with a tough insurgency that might result in the division of the country and only great, realistic and determined leadership can bring about peace.

The English-speaking minority is determined to walk away from a hastily stitched union and if it succeeds, it will be walking away with 60% of the country’s wealth.

For now, the country is on edge. Southern Cameroonian fighters who started off with machetes now carry very sophisticated weapons which have greatly demoralized the country’s military.

The fighters have stepped up their game and pressure on the military and this has resulted in the death of some 2,000 soldiers since the war started some four years ago.

It is normal today to see explosives in the two English-speaking regions of the country and the primary victims have been the soldiers who are not only poorly trained, but poorly paid.

The Southern Cameroons crisis has already consumed more than 10,000 Cameroonians, with thousands of soldiers disabled and maimed because they do not know the terrain.

Mr. Biya’s trip to Europe will help take his mind off another issue – corruption – that has been robbing him of a good night’s sleep.

Cameroon has become a haven for corrupt officials and this is discouraging investors. The latest scandal is how the government has misused COVID-19 funds provided by the IMF for the containment of this deadly virus that has killed millions across the globe.

Despite this real threat from the virus, Cameroon government officials still place their personal interest above national interest and they have been stealing the money like rats dropped in a bag of peanuts.

Corruption has given Cameroon a bad name for more than three decades, but for years, many people have been thinking that this cankerworm will not reach certain institutions of the country like the Presidency of the Republic.

A country’s presidency is supposed to be a well respected institution and those who work there are supposed to be seen as reincarnations of decency and discipline.

But this image associated with the country’s highest institution has been slowing crumbling, especially as the country’s president, Paul Biya, and his wife, Chantal Biya who is noted for her flaming red hair, have engaged in many acts of corruption and dishonesty on many occasions.

Embezzling money is not an act of decency. Misusing taxpayers’ money cannot be considered as an act of responsibility even among lower animals. Rigging elections will never give anybody a good name and Biya has been charged with this crime on many occasions and he is guilty as charged.

If a leader sees corruption as the only means for him to sustain himself in power, then he has simply institutionalized this cancer and it will spread like wildfire.

And financial and moral cancer can affect anybody, especially when the victim lacks a will and discipline of steel and is financially insecure.

This explains why corruption has taken over the Presidency of the Republic. Poverty, especially moral poverty, can disarm even the strongest military in the world and this explains why workers at the Unity Palace have clearly lost their moral compass.

Sometimes, financial poverty might be to blame, but in many cases, moral recklessness and indiscipline may be the drivers.

Cameroon really needs help but there is no help on the way. When the core is rotten, the body polity will slowly crumble and this is the disease that has affected many if not all the employees of the Presidency of the Republic who are using indecent and irresponsible methods to line their pockets.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

10, July 2021

Yerima says Amba fighters have many powerful cards to play against La Republique ⁰

Vice President Dabney Yerima has said that Southern Cameroons Self Defense Groups have many strong options they can use to chase away the Biya French Cameroun army soldiers from the Ambazonian homeland.

Dabney Yerima made the remarks on Thursday in South Africa, where he arrived from Namibia at the head of a powerful Southern Cameroons delegation, Southern Cameroons Broadcasting Cooperation (SCBC) news agency reported. The Southern Cameroons’ official has taken the trip to hold meetings with senior Ambazonian officials and activists in Southern Africa.

Southern Cameroons Self Defense Forces have many powerful cards at their disposal that can create deterrence and send the occupying army packing out of Ambaland, Yerima said while meeting with the representatives of various Ambazonian groups in South Africa.

He addressed the issue of the Big Rubbergun Project launched for defensive campaign by the Southern Cameroons Interim Government.

Upwards of 70 explosive devices were denoted towards the occupied Cameroon government military convoys killing dozens and causing millions of FCFA in damage to the occupying French Cameroun regime’s various military vehicles.

Dabney Yerima said the Operation Big Rubbergun and “Kontry Sunday” have united the entire Ambazonian nation whether inside or outside Southern Cameroons territory.

He added that Southern Cameroons would eventually recover from the damage that the Francophone military has afflicted on it during this war of liberation.

The Southern Cameroons official, meanwhile, underlined, “The right of Southern Cameroons to exist as an independent state.

By Isong Asu

10, July 2021

Taliban says it controls ’85 percent’ of Afghanistan’s territory ⁰

The Taliban claimed Friday to be in control of 85 percent of Afghanistan after seizing key border crossings with Iran and Turkmenistan, part of a sweeping offensive launched as US troops pull out of the war-torn nation.

Hours after President Joe Biden issued a staunch defence of the US withdrawal, the Taliban said its fighters had seized the two vital crossings in western Afghanistan – completing an arc of territory from the Iranian border to the frontier with China.

In Moscow, a delegation of Taliban officials said they controlled about 250 of Afghanistan’s nearly 400 districts – a claim impossible to independently verify and disputed by the government.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid separately told AFP their fighters had captured the border town of Islam Qala on the Iranian frontier and the Torghundi crossing with Turkmenistan.

Afghanistan’s interior ministry spokesman Tareq Arian said efforts were under way to dislodge the insurgents from their positions.

The Afghan government has repeatedly dismissed the Taliban’s gains as having little strategic value, but the seizure of multiple border crossings along with mineral-rich areas will likely fill the group’s coffers with several sources of new revenue.

Hours earlier, Biden said the US military mission would end on August 31 – nearly 20 years after it began – having “achieved” its goals.

But he admitted it was “highly unlikely” Kabul would be able to control the entire country.

“The status quo is not an option,” Biden said of staying in the country. “I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan.”

With the Taliban having routed much of northern Afghanistan in recent weeks, the government holds little more than a constellation of provincial capitals that must largely be reinforced and resupplied by air.

The air force was under severe strain even before the Taliban’s lightning offensive overwhelmed the government’s northern and western positions, putting further pressure on the country’s limited aircraft and pilots.

Biden said the Afghan people alone should determine their future, but he acknowledged the uncertainty about what that would look like.

Asked if a Taliban takeover was inevitable, the president said: “No, it is not.”

But, he admitted, “the likelihood there is going to be one unified government in Afghanistan controlling the whole country is highly unlikely”.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday called for international pressure to force a deal between Kabul and the Taliban to end the conflict in the country.

“The security situation in Afghanistan only argues more for international pressure to have a negotiated political settlement to end this conflict, and give the Afghan people [the] government they want and they deserve,” Austin said in a tweet.

“The entire world can help by continuing this push,” Austin added.

US exit ‘positive step’

The Taliban, for their part, welcomed Biden’s statement.

“Any day or hour that US and foreign troops leave earlier is a positive step,” spokesperson Suhail Shaheen told AFP.

Afghan commandos clashed with the insurgents this week in a provincial capital, with thousands of people fleeing Qala-i-Naw in northwest Badghis province.

On Friday the Afghan defence ministry said government forces had “full control” of the city.

“They have retreated from the city and the fighting has stopped inside for now,” Badghis provincial council chief Abdul Aziz Bek told AFP.

Hours later a group of Taliban fighters attacked a prison on the edge of Kandahar city, the capital of their former bastion of Kandahar province.

“The Taliban … tried to get to the prison there. Fighting continues and we have deployed reinforcements including special forces to clear the area,” said Kandahar police spokesman Jamal Naser Barekza.

President Ashraf Ghani said the government could handle the situation, but admitted difficulties lay ahead.

“What we are witnessing is one of the most complicated stages of the transition,” he said in a speech in Kabul on Thursday.

Ismail Khan, a veteran warlord whose militia helped US forces topple the Taliban in 2001, vowed to back government forces in fighting against the insurgents.

“We will soon go to the front lines and with the help of God change the situation,” Khan told reporters in the western city of Herat.

As the Afghan military struggled to hold its ground against the Taliban, the country’s leadership also appeared to be enveloped in chaos.

In a leaked audio call published on social media, Vice President Amrullah Saleh could be heard issuing a death threat to a parliamentarian after accusing the official of encouraging security forces to surrender to the Taliban in Badghis.

The Taliban have been emboldened by the troop withdrawal and – with peace talks in Doha deadlocked – appear to be pressing for a full military victory.

Still, on Thursday, Shaheen, who is also a member of the Taliban negotiating team in Doha, insisted the insurgents were seeking a “negotiated settlement”.

In Moscow, a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman said the Taliban controlled about two-thirds of the Afghan-Tajik border as a delegation from the insurgents wound up a visit.

About “85 percent of Afghanistan’s territory” was under the group’s control, said Taliban delegate Shahabuddin Delawar, who added that the group was committed to preventing other jihadists from using Afghanistan as a base for their operations.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

10, July 2021

Biya regime dangerous than Boko Haram ⁰

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government Dabney Yerima says the Biya French Cameroun regime is a crime syndicate and a rogue entity that poses grave threats to peace and security in Sub Saharan Africa adding that the regime is danger than the Nigerian Islamic sect Boko Haram.

Vice President Yerima made the remarks during a press briefing on his recent tour of Namibia. The exiled leader warned about the threats posed by French Cameroun and its invading army against Southern Cameroons and called for international action.

“International civil servants deep within the African Union and the United Nations are all aware of the fact that the French Cameroun regime under Biya is a crime syndicate and a rogue entity for the Sub Saharan region, and it poses threats to peace as well as security, and it is dangerous than Boko Haram” Dabney Yerima highlighted.

Yerima urged the Southern African nations and the Commonwealth to shoulder their responsibilities within the framework of the UN Charter to oblige La Republique du Cameroun to fully respect the right of Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia to exist as an independent nation and to hold to account all Francophone army soldiers responsible for the genocide currently going on in Southern Cameroons.

The Ambazonian Vice President reiterated again that the French Cameroun regime’s repeated military attacks against Southern Cameroons which have escalated especially with the recent killing of a physics teacher in Kumba and innocent civilians in Bamenda, would have been impossible without support and protection of the French government of President Emmanuel Macron.

The War in Southern Cameroons has already claimed at least 40 000 lives, almost all of them civilian children, men and women, murdered by Cameroun troops in a series of targeted killings, organized massacres, and killings by fire in over 400 villages burnt down to ashes across Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia. Over half a million people have been forcibly displaced as refugees living in various countries and especially in refugee camps in Nigeria. Over another half a million people have become IDPs hiding in forests, caves and hills due to forced displacement. Additionally, over 1.5 million people are facing a humanitarian disaster.

La Republique du Cameroun uses not only arson and the destruction of food, livestock, and crops in the fields as weapons of war. It also uses rape. Rape of Ambazonian women and girls by Cameroun troops is systematic and widespread. This agonizing situation is compounded by the fact that a high percentage of Cameroun troops are HIV positive and also has other STDs. When they rape they infect the women and girls. This appears to be part of the genocide agenda of Cameroun. Reports are now emerging of scores of school girls raped, impregnated and infected by La Republique du Cameroun’s troops. This poses a nightmare not only of the HIV and STD infections but also of rampant teenage pregnancies. Cameroun troops have burnt down health facilities and killed health workers in rural and semi-urban areas. Accessing health facilities or health practitioners is a huge challenge for rural and semi-urban folks.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai on special assignment in Windhoek

9, July 2021

Haitian police arrest foreign commandos in Moïse assassination plot but masterminds still at large ⁰

A heavily armed commando unit that assassinated Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was composed of 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans, authorities said on Thursday, as the hunt went on for the masterminds of the killing.

Moïse, 53, was fatally shot early on Wednesday at his home by what officials said was a group of foreign, trained killers, pitching the poorest country in the Americas deeper into turmoil amid political divisions, hunger and widespread gang violence.

Authorities tracked the suspected assassins on Wednesday to a house near the scene of the crime in Pétionville, a northern, hillside suburb of the capital, Port-au-Prince. A firefight lasted late into the night and authorities detained a number of suspects on Thursday.

Police Chief Charles Leon paraded 17 men before journalists at a news conference late on Thursday, showing a number of Colombian passports, plus assault rifles, machetes, walkie-talkies and materials including bolt cutters and hammers.

“Foreigners came to our country to kill the president,” Charles said. “There were … 26 Colombians, identified by their passports … and two Haitian Americans as well.”

He said 15 Colombians were captured, as well as two Haitian Americans. Three of the assailants were killed and eight remained on the run, Charles said.

Colombian Defense Minister Diego Molano said in a statement that preliminary information indicated that Colombians involved in the attack were retired members of the country’s military. He said Bogota would cooperate in the investigation.

Haiti’s minister of elections and interparty relations, Mathias Pierre, identified the Haitian-American suspects as James Solages, 35, and Joseph Vincent, 55.

A State Department spokesman could not confirm if any U.S. citizens were among those detained, but U.S. authorities were in regular contact with Haitian officials, including investigative authorities, to discuss how the United States could provide assistance.

Officials in the mostly French- and Creole-speaking Caribbean nation had said on Wednesday the assassins appeared to have spoken in English and Spanish.

“It was a full, well-equipped commando, with more than six cars and a lot of equipment,” Pierre said.

Officials have not yet given a motive for the killing. Since taking office in 2017, Moïse had faced mass protests against his rule — first over corruption allegations and his management of the economy, then over his increasing grip on power.

An angry crowd gathered on Thursday morning to watch the police operation unfold, with some setting fire to the suspects’ cars and to the house where they had hunkered down. Bullets were strewn in the street.

“Burn them!” shouted some of the hundreds of people outside the police station where the suspects were being held.

Charles said the local population had helped police track down the suspects, but he implored residents in the sprawling seafront city of 1 million people not to take justice into their own hands.

Residents of Brooklyn’s ‘Little Haiti’ react to Moise assassination

A 15-day state of emergency was declared on Wednesday to help authorities apprehend the killers. But interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph said on Thursday it was time for the economy to reopen and that he had given instructions for the airport to restart operations.

Vacuum of power

Moïse’s death has generated confusion about who is the legitimate leader of the country of 11 million people, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic.

Haiti has struggled to achieve stability since the fall of the Duvalier family dictatorship in 1986, grappling with a series of coups and foreign interventions.

A U.N. peacekeeping mission – meant to restore order after a rebellion toppled then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004 – ended in 2019 with the country still in disarray.

“I can picture a scenario under which there are issues regarding to whom the armed forces and national police are loyal, in the case there are rival claims to being placeholder president of the country,” said Ryan Berg, an analyst with the Center for Strategic & International Studies.

Haiti’s 1987 constitution stipulates the head of the Supreme Court should take over. But amendments that are not unanimously recognized state that it be the prime minister, or, in the last year of a president’s mandate – the case with Moïse – that parliament should elect a president.

The head of the Supreme Court died last month due to COVID-19 amid a surge in infections in one of the few countries yet to start a vaccination campaign.

There is no sitting parliament as legislative elections scheduled for late 2019 were postponed amid political unrest.

Moïse just this week appointed a new prime minister, Ariel Henry, to take over from Joseph, although he had yet to be sworn in when the president was killed.

Joseph appeared on Wednesday to take charge of the situation, running the government response to the assassination, appealing to Washington for support and declaring a state of emergency.

Henry – considered more favorably by the opposition – told Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste that he did not consider Joseph the legitimate prime minister and he should revert to the role of foreign minister.

“I think we need to speak. Claude was supposed to stay in the government I was going to have,” Henry was quoted as saying.

The United Nations Special Envoy for Haiti said on Thursday Joseph would remain leader until an election was held, urging all parties to set aside their differences.

Moïse, backed by the international community, had been pushing to hold both elections and a constitutional referendum in September, efforts that were vehemently opposed by Haitian civil society, which had called first for a transitional government to guide the country to a vote.

Pierre told Reuters the Cabinet intended to guide the country to elections in two months’ time as planned.

“There are many unknowns about what happens next,” said Jake Johnston, a senior research associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington. “But it is important to remember that that was also the case before the assassination of Moïse.”

(REUTERS)

9, July 2021

South Africa: Jacob Zuma confirmed to be in jail at Estcourt prison facility ⁰

Former South African president Jacob Zuma has been confirmed to be in jail at the Estcourt Correctional Centre.

The embattled former president was brought to the fairly new correctional facility to start his 15-month sentence in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola told journalists that he had seen Zuma. “I have seen him, he is in very good spirit and he has taken his breakfast, he’s taking his medication. And then he is, as I said, we spoke and I also told him that I’m going to tell the nation that he is here in this facility. And he said it’s important that this country must know. So he’s in very good spirits.”- Lamola said.

The Estcourt Correctional Center is located in KwaZulu-Natal province about 200 kilometers (124 miles) from his rural home in Nkandla. The facility, which opened about two years ago, consists of two units, and has a capacity to accommodate 512 inmates.

It also has a hospital section, training centre, maintenance workshop, logistics and other support structures.

“If we wanted the former president to stay in a hotel and in a highly privileged area, we would have taken him to the hotel. In Carradine, there in the south coast, or we would have taken him to one of our beautiful guest houses, breathtaking in the Western Cape where you can even see the sea. But the policies and the Correctional Services Act is clear. He must be incarcerated where is declared and in a correctional facility, in terms of incarceration.” the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola explained.

79 year old Zuma was convicted and sentenced for defying a court order to testify before a judicial commission investigating widespread allegations of corruption during his 2009-2018 presidency.

Source: Africa News

9, July 2021

Biden says US military mission in Afghanistan will end August 31 ⁰

The US military mission in Afghanistan will end on August 31, President Joe Biden announced Thursday, as Afghan commandos battled the Taliban for control of a provincial capital in the most brazen assault by the militants since Washington stepped up its troop withdrawal.

Nearly 20 years after it invaded in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the US military has “achieved” its goals in the country, killing Osama bin Laden, degrading Al-Qaeda and preventing more attacks on the United States, Biden said in a White House speech.

“We are ending America’s longest war,” he said.

“The status quo is not an option,” Biden said of staying in the country. “I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan.”

“The United States cannot afford to remain tethered to policies created to respond to a world as it was 20 years ago,” he said. “We need to meet the threats where they are today.”

We are repositioning our resources to meet terror threats where they are now: across South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

But make no mistake: we have the capabilities to protect the homeland from any resurgent terrorist challenge emanating from Afghanistan.

Biden said the United States “did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build” and that the Afghan people alone should determine their future.

But he acknowledged the uncertainty about what that future would look like.

Asked if a Taliban takeover was “inevitable,” the president said: “No, it is not.”

But, he admitted, “the likelihood there is going to be one unified government in Afghanistan controlling the whole country is highly unlikely.”

“The Afghan government… has to come together,” the president said. “They clearly have the capacity to sustain the government in place. The question is, will they generate the kind of cohesion to do it?”

He expressed faith in Afghan forces, who for years have been trained by and received equipment from the United States, against the resurgent Taliban.

“I do not trust the Taliban,” Biden said, “but I trust the capacity of the Afghan military.”

And he flatly rejected comparisons with the US experience in Vietnam.

“The Taliban is not the North Vietnamese army,” Biden said. “They’re not remotely comparable in terms of capability.”

“There’s going to be no circumstance where you are going to see people being lifted off the roof of an embassy of the United States from Afghanistan,” he added. “It is not at all comparable.”

Fighting rages

Biden’s address came as fighting raged for a second straight day in the capital of Afghanistan’s Badghis province, with residents either fleeing the city or barricading themselves in their homes.

Plumes of smoke billowed over Qala-i-Naw, soundtracked by gunfire as the insurgents fought hundreds of Afghan commandos rushed to the city overnight.

Qala-i-Naw resident Aziz Tawakoli said Taliban fighters were still roaming the city.

“You can see them going up and down the streets on their motorcycles,” he said.

Badghis health official Abdul Latif Rostaee said at least 10 civilians had been taken to hospital since the fighting erupted.

“Our security forces are bravely fighting them and the enemy is being pushed back,” Badghis Governor Hessamuddin Shams told AFP on Thursday. “They are fleeing. We will give a hard blow to the enemy.”

Badghis provincial council member Zia Gul Habibi said the Taliban had suffered casualties, but also surrounded the city.

“All districts are under their control… People are really in fear,” she said. Afghan civilians have long paid an outsized price in the fighting.

Since the US ramped up its withdrawal—which the Pentagon has said is 90 percent complete—the Taliban have launched a blistering campaign to capture new territory, and fears are mounting that Afghan forces will collapse without vital American air support.

President Ashraf Ghani said the government had the capacity to handle the situation, but admitted difficulties lay ahead.

“What we are witnessing is one of the most complicated stages of the transition,” he said in a speech in Kabul.

“Legitimacy is ours; God is with us.”

Taliban victory?

In London, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said most British troops had left Afghanistan, as part of a NATO withdrawal in parallel to the US pullout.

The Taliban, meanwhile, appear to be pressing for a full military victory.

Supposed peace talks between the insurgents and the government in Doha have largely fizzled out after months of deadlock, and the Taliban have captured dozens of new districts since early May. Human Rights Watch said the insurgents were forcing people from their houses in northern areas that they had captured.

Biden pledged to continue supporting the Afghan government and security forces and said thousands of Afghan translators who worked for US forces and face threats from the Taliban would be able to find refuge in the United States.

“There is a home for you in the United States, if you choose,” he said. “We will stand with you, just as you stood with us.”

(AFP)