MAPUTO: Security forces prevented people from reaching the airport in Mozambique’s capital on Thursday as the opposition leader Venancio Mondlane was due to arrive home from exile to push his claim that he won presidential elections.
At one of several barriers erected around the airport, security forces shot and wounded one of hundreds of mostly young people wanting to reach the airport to welcome Mondlane home, an AFP reporter at the scene said.
Mondlane announced last week that he would land at Maputo’s international airport at around 8:00 a.m. (0600 GMT) in a bid to continue his demand for “electoral truth” after the October vote.
He claims that the election was rigged in favor of the candidate of the ruling Frelimo party, Daniel Chapo, who is due to be sworn in on January 15.
The election dispute has unleashed waves of violence that have left around 300 people dead, including protesters killed in a police crackdown, according to a tally by a local rights group.
Authorities say police have also been killed and there has been looting and vandalism.
There are fears that the charismatic Mondlane could be arrested on his return, including on charges related to the weeks of protests by his supporters, many of them young Mozambicans desperate for change after 50 years under Frelimo.
Any government action against Mondlane could send Mozambique — still scarred by years of civil war — into a major crisis, analysts said.
“If the government arrests Venancio, there will be an international outcry and potentially very dangerous demonstrations,” said Eric Morier-Genoud, an African history professor at Queen’s University Belfast.
“If they don’t arrest him, he will occupy the center and Frelimo will be weakened just a few days before the inauguration of the deputies and the president.”
Mondlane’s return gives people hope, said Fatima Pinto, 20, who trained as a general medical technician.
“We young people are here fighting for our tomorrow,” she said, echoing a key complaint among the youth about not being able to find work that matches their qualifications.
Chapo, 48, takes over from President Filipe Nyusi, who bows out at the end of his two-term limit. Official results gave him 65 percent of the vote compared to 24 percent for Mondlane.
But observers said they noted irregularities.
Since he went into hiding after the October 19 assassination of his lawyer, Mondlane has rallied his supporters via social media live addresses that have been joined by thousands.
By returning, Mondlane will “reclaim the political initiative,” Morier-Genoud said, with the population “more militant than ever.”
The unrest has caused major losses to Mozambique’s economy, stopping cross-border trade. Shipping, mining and industry has also been affected while thousands of people are reported to have fled to neighboring countries.
Mondlane’s return “will either destabilize or resolve the current political crisis,” said Tendai Mbanje, analyst at the Johannesburg-based African Center for Governance.
With tensions running high, there are even fears he could be assassinated, as some of his supporters have been, Mbanje said.
“He is the current hope and future of the youths: if his life is at risk or tampered with, that will be a source of unending instability,” he said.
“On the other hand, if Frelimo would like to unite the country, it is time that they take his return as an opportunity for dialogue.”
Any attempt to harm Mondlane would unleash a “big demonstration with unpredictable consequences,” said Mozambican sociologist Joao Feijo.
“We are talking about a population that has already tasted disobedience and is not afraid of anything else,” he said.
Tailor Americo Bulule, 52, said he hoped that the security forces would allow people to go to the airport to welcome Venancio.
“There’s already been a lot of bloodshed so I’d like his arrival not to be a problem and the police to give the population access and we can go there to receive him without weapons and tear gas,” he said.
Tensions high in Mozambique as opposition leader due home from exile
https://arab.news/mvwxj
Tensions high in Mozambique as opposition leader due home from exile
- Opposition leader Venancio Mondlane announced last week that he would continue his demand for ‘electoral truth’ after the October vote
- The election dispute has unleashed waves of violence that have left around 300 people dead, including protesters killed in a police crackdown
First Bangladeshi company enters Saudi startup ecosystem through $110m merger
- Backed by Saudi, US investment, ShopUp merges with Sary to form SILQ
- Merger prompts Bangladesh’s central bank to establish special startup fund
DHAKA: Bangladesh’s largest B2B commerce platform ShopUp has entered Saudi Arabia’s startup ecosystem through a merger with Riyadh-based services and marketplace platform Sary, backed by US and Saudi investors.
Both ShopUp and Sary help small businesses buy products in bulk from wholesalers or manufacturers with digital ordering platforms, delivery and financial services.
Together they have formed SILQ Group, backed by a $110 million funding led by Sanabil Investments — a company owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund and Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures.
The companies said in their merger announcement on Wednesday that they are “set to become one of the world’s largest trade corridors. It is projected to reach $682 billion.”
“We’re building infrastructure that helps small businesses move goods, access financing, and grow. A key part of this is the launch of SILQ Financial, our dedicated financing arm focused on driving innovation in SME funding. It allows us to offer embedded financial products — natively within our platforms,” ShopUp’s CEO Afeef Zaman told Arab News.
“There’s a $682 billion trade opportunity emerging right here between the Gulf and Emerging Asia. We want to go deep and serve this corridor well ... We’re laying the foundation to expand beyond this corridor in the long term.”
ShopUp was founded by Zaman, Ataur Rahim Chowdhury, and Navaneetha Krishnan J. in 2017, while Sary was founded in 2018 by Mohammed Aldossary and Khaled Alsiari.
Zaman will serve as the CEO of SILQ Group and Aldossary as CEO of SILQ Financial.
ShopUp and Sary have served more than 600,000 retailers, hotels, restaurants, cafes, and wholesalers, to date. The combined network has facilitated over $5 billion in transactions and disbursed more than $750 million in embedded financing.
Zaman believes that more Bangladeshi startups will follow in ShopUp’s footsteps, as the Saudi market offers not only scale, capital, and sophistication, but also a cultural overlap, a strong consumer base — including 3 million Bangladeshi expats — “and a hunger for innovation” across retail, finance, and logistics.
“Bangladeshi startups have a lot to offer in terms of resilience and operating in high-density, resource-constrained environments. In return, Saudi Arabia offers access to institutional partnerships, forward-thinking regulation, and the ability to test and scale products that can work globally,” he said.
“Saudi Arabia is writing one of the most exciting startup stories in the world right now. The pace of change, the vision, and the level of institutional support — especially for high-impact sectors like fintech, logistics, and B2B — make it one of the most promising markets for founders.”
The Bangladeshi government welcomed ShopUp’s merger as “a defining moment” in its digital journey and “one of the most significant global expansion milestones ever achieved by a startup from Bangladesh.”
It also announced the establishment of a dedicated fund to provide capital support to startup companies.
“This moment is more than a funding headline — it’s a clear signal that Bangladeshi startups are ready for the world stage,” the government’s press wing said in a statement.
“To accelerate this momentum, Bangladesh Bank has committed to a landmark startup funding initiative: TK 800 crore (about $66 million) in equity and TK 400 crore (about $33 million) in debt. This fund will serve as a catalytic boost for early and growth-stage startups, empowering local founders to innovate, scale, and compete globally.”
Taliban morality enforcers arrest men for having the wrong hairstyle or skipping mosque
- UN report says the morality police regularly detained people arbitrarily “without due process and legal protections”
- During month of Ramadan, men’s attendance at mandated congregational prayers was closely monitored
The Taliban morality police in Afghanistan have detained men and their barbers over hairstyles and others for missing prayers at mosques during the holy month of Ramadan, a UN report said Thursday, six months after laws regulating people’s conduct came into effect.
The Vice and Virtue Ministry published laws last August covering many aspects everyday life in Afghanistan, including public transport, music, shaving and celebrations. Most notably, the ministry issued a ban on women’s voices and bare faces in public.
That same month, a top UN official warned the laws provided a “distressing vision” for the country’s future by adding to existing employment, education, and dress code restrictions on women and girls. Taliban officials have rejected UN concerns about the morality laws.
Thursday’s report, from the UN mission in Afghanistan, said in the first 6 months of the laws’ implementation, over half of detentions made under it concerned “either men not having the compliant beard length or hairstyle, or barbers providing non-compliant beard trimming or haircuts.”
The report said that the morality police regularly detained people arbitrarily “without due process and legal protections.”
During the holy fasting month of Ramadan, men’s attendance at mandated congregational prayers was closely monitored, leading at times to arbitrary detention of those who didn’t show up, the report added.
The UN mission said that both sexes were negatively affected, particularly people with small businesses such as private education centers, barbers and hairdressers, tailors, wedding caterers and restaurants, leading to a reduction or total loss of income and employment opportunities.
The direct and indirect socio-economic effects of the laws’ implementation were likely to compound Afghanistan’s dire economic situation, it said. A World Bank study has assessed that authorities’ ban on women from education and work could cost the country over $1.4 billion per year.
But the Taliban leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, has emphasized the primacy of Islamic law and the role of the Ministry of Vice and Virtue in reforming Afghan society and its people.
In a message issued ahead of the religious Eid Al-Fitr festival that marks the end of Ramadan, Akhundzada said it was necessary “to establish a society free from corruption and trials, and to prevent future generations from becoming victims of misguided beliefs, harmful practices and bad morals.”
More than 3,300 mostly male inspectors are tasked with informing people about the law and enforcing it, according to the report.
The ministry has resolved thousands of people’s complaints and defended the rights of Afghan women, according to its spokesman Saif ur Rahman Khyber.
This was in addition to “implementing divine decrees in the fields of promoting virtue, preventing vice, establishing affirmations, preventing bad deeds, and eliminating bad customs.”
The ministry was committed to all Islamic and human rights and had proven this in practice, he said Thursday, rejecting attempts to “sabotage or spread rumors” about its activities.
Hamas urges UK govt to overturn terror designation
- Palestinian group submits legal filing to home secretary
- Official slams Britain’s ‘unwavering support for Zionism, apartheid, occupation, ethnic cleansing’
LONDON: Hamas has submitted a legal filing in Britain demanding it be removed from the government’s list of proscribed terror groups.
The organization is arguing that it is a “Palestinian Islamic liberation and resistance movement whose goal is to liberate Palestine and confront the Zionist project,” and not a terrorist group.
The claim includes a witness statement by Mousa Abu Marzouk, Hamas’s head of international relations and the applicant for the filing. It was submitted to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.
Abu Marzouk’s statement said: “The British government’s decision to proscribe Hamas is an unjust one that is symptomatic of its unwavering support for Zionism, apartheid, occupation and ethnic cleansing in Palestine for over a century.
“Hamas does not and never has posed a threat to Britain, despite the latter’s ongoing complicity in the genocide of our people.”
The UK proscribed Hamas’s military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, in 2001, and added its political wing to the list of terror organizations in 2021.
At the time, the government described the distinction between the two wings as “artificial” and said Hamas was a “complex but single terrorist organization.” Support for proscribed organizations is a criminal offense in Britain.
Hamas’s legal team at Riverway Law, which is representing the organization pro brono because it is illegal to receive funds from proscribed groups, sent a document to Drop Site News summarizing its arguments.
The team said: “Hamas does not deny that its actions fall within the wide definition of ‘terrorism’ under the Terrorism Act 2000.
“Instead, it notes that the definition also covers all groups and organizations around the world that use violence to achieve political objectives, including the Israeli armed forces, the Ukrainian army and indeed the British armed forces.”
The team added: “Rather than allow freedom of speech, police have embarked on a campaign of political intimidation and persecution of journalists, academics, peace activists and students over their perceived support for Hamas.
“People in Britain must be free to speak about Hamas and its struggle to restore to the Palestinian people the right to self-determination.”
Hamas is the “only effective military force resisting” Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories, the team said, highlighting Britain’s obligations under international law to prevent genocide and crimes against humanity.
The proscription is also disproportionate as Hamas “does not pose any threat to Britain or British citizens,” the team added.
Hamas’s presence on the list of terrorist organizations is hindering its ability to broker a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the lawyers said.
Riverway Law’s director, Fahad Ansari, is leading the legal challenge. He is being helped by Daniel Grutters, a barrister at One Pump Court Chambers, and Franck Magennis, a barrister at Garden Court Chambers.
In December 2020, Magennis said: “Zionism is a kind of racism. It is essentially colonial. It has manifested in an apartheid regime calling itself ‘the Jewish state’ that dominates non-Jews, and particularly Palestinians.”
The Home Office said it does not comment on proscription cases. Deproscription is rare in the UK, with just four groups having been removed from the list of terrorist organizations.
Grutters represented pro-Palestinian students who set up a camp at the London School of Economics last May, the Daily Telegraph reported. The students were barred by the university through a court order.
Cooper said the government will reject Hamas’s appeal, and “maintains its view” that the group is a “barbaric terrorist organization.”
Priti Patel, the former home secretary who expanded Hamas’s proscription on the terror list in 2021, said the “evil” group still poses an “ongoing threat” to British national security.
“Those campaigning to end the proscription of Hamas fail to understand the seriousness of the threats and danger this terrorist organization poses,” she added.
UAE to develop Indonesia’s new 100 MW floating solar power plant
- Country’s first floating solar plant was built with the help of UAE’s Masdar
- Renewables currently account for about 13 percent of Indonesia’s energy mix
JAKARTA: Indonesia has signed an agreement with the UAE to develop a 100 MW floating solar power plant in West Java, its second collaboration with Emirati giant Masdar after the Cirata project — Southeast Asia’s largest floating photovoltaic installation.
The project was announced by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s office following his meeting with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
Masdar will help Indonesia’s state utility company PLN to build a solar power infrastructure on West Java’s Jatigede reservoir, more than 200 km east of the capital Jakarta.
“Indonesia and the UAE, we have such close and friendly relations … Masdar is also one of the best companies in the world when it comes to renewable energy,” Husin Bagis, Indonesia’s ambassador to the UAE, told Arab News on Thursday.
The project will be Masdar’s second floating solar plant, after the 145 MW Cirata Floating Solar Photovoltaic Plant on a reservoir, also in West Java. It was inaugurated in November 2023 by then President Joko Widodo and cost $100 million.
Aside from being the biggest in Southeast Asia, the Cirata plant, which can power around 50,000 households, is the third-largest floating solar plant in the world.
During Subianto’s Abu Dhabi visit, Indonesia and the UAE also agreed to increase the capacity of the Cirata solar power plant.
“UAE is looking for joint ventures in Indonesia … There have been talks of more renewable energy projects in Indonesia to help us build at least a capacity of 2 GW in the near future,” Bagis said.
According to PLN, the plant’s maximum capacity could still be expanded, as the solar panels installed so far only occupied about 4 percent of the Cirata reservoir. Regulations permit up to 20 percent of the area to be utilized by the plant.
In 2023, renewables accounted for around 13 percent of Indonesia’s energy mix. The country of 270 million people has been working to increase its renewable energy sources to meet its pledge of achieving net-zero emissions by 2060.
Indonesia is one of the world’s largest producers and consumers of heavily polluting coal, and most of its power needs are met by burning fossil fuels. In 2023, renewables accounted for around 13 percent of its energy mix.
Taliban morality enforcers arrest men for having the wrong hairstyle or skipping mosque, UN says
- The Vice and Virtue Ministry published laws last August covering many aspects everyday life in Afghanistan
- The Taliban leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, has emphasized the primacy of Islamic law
The Taliban’s morality police have detained men and their barbers over hairstyles, and others for missing prayers at mosques during Ramadan, a UN report said Thursday, 6 months after laws regulating people’s conduct came into effect.
The Vice and Virtue Ministry published laws last August covering many aspects everyday life in Afghanistan, including public transport, music, shaving and celebrations. Most notably, the ministry issued a ban on women’s voices and bare faces in public.
That same month, a top UN official warned the laws provided a “distressing vision” for the country’s future by adding to existing employment, education, and dress code restrictions on women and girls. Taliban officials have rejected UN concerns about the morality laws.
Thursday’s report, from the UN mission in Afghanistan, said in the first 6 months of the laws’ implementation, over half of detentions made under it concerned “either men not having the compliant beard length or hairstyle, or barbers providing non-compliant beard trimming or haircuts.”
The report said that the morality police regularly detained people arbitrarily “without due process and legal protections.”
During the holy fasting month of Ramadan, men’s attendance at mandated congregational prayers was closely monitored, leading at times to arbitrary detention of those who didn’t show up, the report added.
The UN mission said that both sexes were negatively affected, particularly people with small businesses such as private education centers, barbers and hairdressers, tailors, wedding caterers and restaurants, leading to a reduction or total loss of income and employment opportunities.
The direct and indirect socio-economic effects of the laws’ implementation were likely to compound Afghanistan’s dire economic situation, it said. A World Bank study has assessed that authorities’ ban on women from education and work could cost the country over $1.4 billion per year.
The Taliban leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, has emphasized the primacy of Islamic law and the role of the Ministry of Vice and Virtue in reforming Afghan society and its people.
In a message issued ahead of the religious Eid Al-Fitr festival that marks the end of Ramadan, Akhundzada said it was necessary “to establish a society free from corruption and trials, and to prevent future generations from becoming victims of misguided beliefs, harmful practices and bad morals.”
More than 3,300 mostly male inspectors are tasked with informing people about the law and enforcing it, according to the report.
Nobody from the Vice and Virtue Ministry was immediately available for comment about the report.
