BARCELONA, Spain: The EU on Thursday announced $225.9 million (210 million euros) to help Mauritania crack down on people smugglers and deter migrant boats from taking off, as the number of people attempting the dangerous Atlantic crossing from West Africa to Europe rises sharply.
Mauritania, during a meeting with European officials in its coastal capital of Nouakchott, also noted that it was itself increasingly struggling to cope with the growing number of migrants and refugees entering its borders as security in the Sahel region declines.
European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the extra funding for migration, but also for humanitarian aid and job creation, as she met with Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
“Insecurity and the lack of economic opportunity in the region are pushing many people to migrate,” Von der Leyen told journalists as she stood next to Ghazouani and Sánchez in a live-streamed statement. “This causes many to fall into the traps of cynical smugglers and puts their lives in danger.”
While Mauritania’s leader renewed his commitment to working with Spain and the EU to stop migrant departures he also highlighted the cost his country bore.
“Mauritania is paying a heavy price in the management of migratory flows,” Ghazouani said, adding that his nation already hosts 150,000 refugees from neighboring Mali and increasingly is not just a transit country but a destination for migrants.
One of the most stable countries in the Sahel, Mauritania has been hailed as a key partner in the fight against terrorism, and Von der Leyen announced an additional 22 million euros for a new anti-terrorism battalion in Mauritania that will patrol the border with restive Mali.
“We are witnessing the fall of democratic governments, rise of terrorist attacks, a spike in refugees and internally displaced people, and the worsening of an already acute food security crisis,” Sánchez said. “I am well aware that Mauritania is at the front line of all the consequences.”
Spain’s Canary Islands have increasingly become a stepping stone for migrants and refugees trying to reach continental Europe from West Africa. In January alone, some 7,270 migrants landed on the archipelago, about as many as in the first six months of 2023.
The Atlantic route to Europe is one of the deadliest in the world, Von der Leyen said. Indeed, it is not uncommon for entire boats to vanish in the Atlantic with a few sometimes reappearing months later on the other side of the ocean with no survivors.
The Canary Islands had already been struggling with a record number of arrivals last year with nearly 40,000 people arriving on its shores on boats mainly from Senegal. This year, departures from Mauritania, which had appeared to be under control for most of last year, have surged again.
Despite the presence of both Spanish and Mauritanian patrols of the coast, the majority of this year’s migrant arrivals to the Canaries have departed from the impoverished nation. While many of those arriving are citizens from Mali and Senegal, a growing number of young Mauritanians are also boarding boats.
Besides announcing more funds for migration and security, the two European leaders announced a series of financing and development projects for green hydrogen production in Mauritania as part of an EU energy transition initiative.
EU announces $225.9 million in aid to help Mauritania curb migration
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EU announces $225.9 million in aid to help Mauritania curb migration
- European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the extra funding for migration, but also for humanitarian aid and job creation
- “Insecurity and the lack of economic opportunity in the region are pushing many people to migrate,” Von der Leyen told journalists
Taliban in talks with Russia, China for trade transactions in local currencies
- Annual bilateral trade between Russia and Afghanistan is currently around $300 million
- Afghanistan’s financial sector has been largely cut off from the global banking system due to sanctions
The Afghan government has made similar proposals to China, the minister, Hajji Nooruddin Azizi, told Reuters on Thursday. Some discussions have been held with the Chinese embassy in Kabul, he said.
The proposal with Russia, Azizi said, was being worked on by technical teams from the two countries. The move comes as Moscow focuses on using national currencies to shift reliance away from the dollar and as Afghanistan faces a stark drop in the US currency entering the country due to aid cuts.
“We are currently engaged in specialized discussions on this matter, considering the regional and global economic perspectives, sanctions, and the challenges Afghanistan is currently facing, as well as those Russia is dealing with. Technical discussions are underway,” Azizi said in an interview at his office in Kabul.
The Chinese foreign ministry and the Russian central bank did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Azizi added that annual bilateral trade between Russia and Afghanistan was currently around $300 million and that was likely to grow substantially as the two sides boost investment. His administration expected Afghanistan to buy more petroleum products and plastics from Russia, he said.
“I am confident that this is a very good option...we can use this option for benefit and interests of our people and our country,’ Azizi said.
“We want to take steps in this area with China as well,” he said, adding Afghanistan had around $1 billion in trade with China each year. “A working team composed of members from the (Afghan) Ministry of Commerce and the Chinese embassy which is an authorized body representing China in economic programs has been formed, and talks are ongoing.”
Afghanistan’s financial sector has been largely cut off from the global banking system due to sanctions placed on some leaders of the ruling Taliban, which took over the country in 2021 as foreign forces withdrew.
Rivalry with China and fallout from Russia’s war in Ukraine have put the dollar’s status as the world’s dominant currency under fresh scrutiny in recent years. In December, Russian President Vladimir Putin questioned the need to hold state reserves in foreign currencies since they could easily be confiscated for political reasons, saying that domestic investment of such reserves was more attractive.
The dollar has had a lock on commodity trading, allowing Washington to hinder market access for producer nations from Russia to Venezuela and Iran.
Afghanistan since 2022 has imported gas, oil and wheat from Russia, the first major economic deal after the Taliban returned to power facing international isolation following 20 years of war against US-led forces.
Billions of dollars in cuts to aid to Afghanistan, accelerated this year by the United States, have meant far fewer dollars, which are flown in cash for humanitarian operations, are entering the country.
Development agencies and economists say the Afghani currency has so far remained relatively stable but may face challenges in future.
Azizi said that the stability of the currency and his administration’s efforts to boost international investment including with the Afghan diaspora, would prevent a shortage of US dollars in the country.
Philippines’ Marcos keeps economic team, replaces foreign minister in cabinet revamp
- Marcos had asked all his cabinet secretaries to resign following the government’s disappointing performance in midterm elections last week
- Cabinet shake-up is widely seen as Marcos’ attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his term
MANILA: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will retain his trade, finance, budget and economic planning ministers but will replace the foreign minister in an overhaul of his cabinet, his executive secretary said on Friday. Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin announced the changes after Marcos had asked all his cabinet secretaries to resign following the government’s disappointing performance in midterm elections last week. “The president decided to retain these five members of the economic team so that there will be no more problems of perception about where the country is going,” Bersamin told a briefing.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo will be replaced by his undersecretary, Theresa Lazaro, who will take the helm from July 31. Manalo was named as the country’s permanent representative to the United Nations.
The environment secretary will be replaced by the energy secretary, Bersamin said, adding the performance review was ongoing and decisions would be announced as they are made.
“More action will be coming,” he said.
The cabinet shake-up is widely seen as Marcos’ attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term after a bruising midterm election and in the wake of falling approval ratings.
In New Zealand’s Parliament, a battered cookie tin decides which new laws get debated
WELLINGTON: Under the scrutiny of a black-robed official and before a hushed audience, a decorative cookie tin rattles like a bingo drum. Inside: the future of New Zealand ‘s laws.
The ceremonial lottery at Parliament, where bills are drawn randomly from what’s known as “the biscuit tin” in local parlance, is a way to ensure every New Zealand legislator has the chance to advance a proposed law, no matter how unpopular their bid. When a rare empty slot opens on Parliament’s agenda, the battered metal cookie tin is produced from a glass case and its solemn and silly rite is hastily arranged.
Inside the faded vessel with a peeling label might be an ambitious social initiative considered too risky for partisan support, a sensible but dull measure to tweak a statute, or a lawmaker’s controversial hobby horse that their party wishes they’d stop talking about. The tin doesn’t judge.
A quirky tin becomes a democratic tool
The quaintly patterned container, bought from a Wellington department store by a Parliament staffer in the early 1990s, might seem like a gag but the ritual selection of bills from it is a serious affair. Where decisions governing which bills are debated by legislators in Parliament are often determined by backroom brokering and subject to political gatekeeping, the cookie tin strikes an egalitarian note.
“We ate the biscuits, got some bingo tokens numbered one through to 90, I think, and that is the way that the random numbers are drawn now, rather than any kind of computer system,” said David Wilson, the Clerk of New Zealand’s House of Representatives. “Which has become quite an iconic part of our democracy.”
An unusual public ritual
Most laws that pass through New Zealand’s Parliament need never enter the ballot. They’re part of the government’s legislative agenda, advanced by senior legislators from ruling parties who already know their proposals will succeed by vote.
But on one day each fortnight that Parliament sits, bills drawn from the cookie tin are debated. On Thursday, with spaces for three new bills suddenly available, Wilson presided over a ballot in Parliament’s library.
A small crowd of staffers and lawmakers watched as the clerk’s colleagues tipped numbered bingo tokens representing each bill into the cookie tin with a flourish, shook the vessel, and drew. Spectators could find out by email which bills had won the lottery, Wilson said.
“I just think they quite like the performance of it,” he said.
All lawmakers who aren’t ministers are permitted to enter one bill at a time into the ballot. It’s drawn by someone who isn’t affiliated to a political party including school students or visitors celebrating birthdays.
So-called members’ bills – and ballot or negotiation systems to select which will advance – are a feature of Westminster parliamentary democracies worldwide. But Wilson did not know of another country with such an unusual ceremony.
Tradition replaces overnight scramble
The ritual began pragmatically, a bid to end a practice that wearied officials before. Once, lawmakers would race to the clerk’s office to submit bills when a spot on the agenda became free, sometimes queuing overnight.
It prompted the purchase of the cookie tin and a tradition that blends dry procedural necessity and New Zealand’s cheerful cultural irreverence. Visitors to Parliament can buy mugs and socks printed with the tin’s distinctive blue pattern at the gift shop.
Cookie tin shapes major laws
The lottery has produced some of New Zealand’s most notable modern laws. Bills legalizing marriage equality and voluntary euthanasia were once drawn from the cookie tin and eventually enacted after their sponsors launched sweeping public campaigns to sway the opinions of their peers.
That was the hope of two lawmakers whose measures were selected from the ballot Thursday and who said they would campaign to rally cross-party support.
Arena Williams will seek a law change forcing greater transparency about the fees associated with international money transfers, which she said would especially benefit working people who send money to their families abroad. It was the second of her measures selected from the tin, improbably good luck for a lawmaker of fewer than five years.
Meanwhile, a “delighted” Tim van de Molen, whose law would prohibit the improper use or disposal of military decorations, was celebrating his first cookie tin victory after seven and a half years in Parliament.
“It’s a quirky part of our system that I think is typically Kiwi,” he said. “It’s a pretty basic sort of system, but she’ll be right. It does the job.”
Ugandan activist arrested in Tanzania found ‘tortured’ at border: rights group
- Ugandan activist and journalist Agather Atuhaire was arrested earlier this week alongside her Kenyan counterpart, Boniface Mwangi
- Atuhaire and Mwangi were among activists who went to Tanzania to show solidarity with opposition leader Tundu Lissu
Ugandan activist and journalist Agather Atuhaire was arrested earlier this week alongside her Kenyan counterpart, Boniface Mwangi, a prominent campaigner against corruption and police brutality in Kenya.
Atuhaire and Mwangi were among activists who went to Tanzania to show solidarity with opposition leader Tundu Lissu at the latest hearing of his treason trial on Monday.
Ugandan rights group Agora Discourse posted on X on Friday that Atuhaire had been found.
“She was abandoned at the border by Tanzanian authorities,” it said.
Its co-founder Spire Ssentongo said that “Agather is under the care of family and friends.”
“She was dumped at the border at night by the authorities and there are indications of torture,” Ssentongo added.
Police in Tanzania initially told a Tanzanian rights group that Mwangi and Atuhaire would be deported by air.
But Mwangi was also found abandoned on a roadside in northern Tanzania near the Kenyan border, according to the local newspaper Daily Nation.
“We were both treated worse than dogs, chained, blindfolded and underwent a very gruesome torture,” Mwangi told reporters on his return to Nairobi.
Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan said earlier this week that foreign activists would not be allowed to interfere in the country’s affairs.
She urged security services “not to allow ill-mannered individuals from other countries to cross the line here.”
North Korea denies warship was severely damaged as full investigation underway on its failed launch
- North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un expressed fury over an incident that he said was caused by criminal negligence
- Satellite imagery on the site showed vessel lying on its side and draped in blue covers, with parts of it submerged
SEOUL: North Korea is seeking to arrest those responsible for the failed launch of its second naval destroyer, as it denied the warship suffered major damage – a claim quickly met with outside skepticism.
A statement from North Korea on its handling of the botched launch came after leader Kim Jong Un expressed fury over an incident that he said was caused by criminal negligence. The main military committee said Friday that those responsible would be held responsible for an “unpardonable criminal act.”
Satellite imagery on the site showed vessel lying on its side and draped in blue covers, with parts of it submerged. North Korea says it’ll take about 10 days to repair its damage, but outside observers question that timeframe because damage to the ship appeared much worse than what North Korea claims.
Here is what you need to know about the failed ship launch:
How much damage was there to the ship
North Korea’s state news agency, KCNA, said Friday that the severity of the damage to the 5,000-ton-class destroyer was “not serious” as it canceled an earlier assessment that the bottom of the hull had been left with holes.
It said the hull on the starboard side was scratched and some seawater had flowed into the stern section. But it said it’ll take a total of 10 days to pump up the seawater, set the ship upright and fix the scratches.
It’s almost impossible to verify the assessment because of the extremely secretive nature of North Korea. It has a history of manipulating or covering up military-related setbacks, policy fiascoes and other mishaps, though it has periodically acknowledged some in recent years.
Lee Illwoo, an expert with the Korea Defense Network in South Korea, said the North Korean warship likely suffered much worse damage, including the flooding of its engine room located in the stern section, and holes in the starboard. He said North Korea could simply set the ship upright, paint it and claim the ship has been launched, but that repairs could take more than a year as the replacement of an engine requires cutting the hull.
Why the ship’s launch failed
According to the North Korean account, the destroyer was damaged when a transport cradle on the ship’s stern detached early during a launch ceremony at the northeastern port of Chongjin on Wednesday.
Moon Keun-sik, a navy expert who teaches at Seoul’s Hanyang University, said North Korean workers are probably not familiar with launching a 5,000-tonne-class warship, which is nearly three times heavier than its existing main navy ships.
Observers say North Korea tried to launch the destroyer sideways, a method it has never used for warships, although it has previously employed it with big cargo and passenger ships.
Compared with those non-military vessels, Lee sad it would be more difficult to maintain balance with the destroyer because it’s equipped with heavy weapons systems. He suspected North Korean scientists and workers likely did not factor that in.
How Kim has reacted
The damaged ship is assessed as the same class as North Korea’s first destroyer, launched with great fanfare last month with a floating dry dock at a western shipyard. It is North Korea’s biggest and most advanced warship to date, and Kim called its construction “a breakthrough” in modernizing North Korea’s naval forces to cope with what he calls US-led security threats.
Subsequently, a failure to launch the second destroyer was an embarrassment for Kim. But by disclosing it to both internally and externally, Kim could be trying to show his resolve in modernizing naval forces and boost discipline at home. He ordered officials to thoroughly investigate the case and repair the warship before a high-level ruling Workers’ Party meeting in late June.
North Korea said Friday the country’s Central Military Commission summoned Hong Kil Ho, manager of the Chongjin shipyard, as it begun its investigation of the failed launch.
“No matter how good the state of the warship is, the fact that the accident is an unpardonable criminal act remains unchanged, and those responsible for it can never evade their responsibility for the crime,” the commission said, according to state media.
Kim Dong-yub, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said North Korea appears to be using the failed launch as a chance to strengthen the ruling party’s control over science and technological sectors.
Lee Choon Geun, an honorary research fellow at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute, said that North Korea’s handling of the damaged warship could have long-term consequences for its defense science sector, especially if military scientists face harsh punishment.
“If scientists are held severely accountable, I would say the future of North Korea’s defense science doesn’t look very bright, as it would be a sign that political responsibility is being prioritized over technical accountability,” Lee wrote on Facebook.
