On rare Haiti trip, Blinken pledges aid and calls for more support

On rare Haiti trip, Blinken pledges aid and calls for more support
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken walks with the Commander of the Multinational Security Support Mission Commander Godfrey Otunge and the Haitian National Police General Director Rameau Normal (L) at the MSS base in Port Au Prince, Haiti on September 05, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 06 September 2024
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On rare Haiti trip, Blinken pledges aid and calls for more support

On rare Haiti trip, Blinken pledges aid and calls for more support

PORT-AU-PRINCE: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on a rare visit to violence-ravaged Haiti on Thursday heard guarded optimism as he promised $45 million in aid, urged greater international support for a new security mission and sought concrete action toward elections.

Blinken was the highest-ranking US official in nearly a decade to visit the country, which has been plagued by instability and whose capital had virtually been taken over by criminal gangs.

On Thursday, Blinken promised $45 million in humanitarian aid, but voiced concern about the long-term future of a Kenya-led police force that has been tasked with stabilizing Port-au-Prince and beyond.

He said he would convene talks at the United Nations later this month to raise support for the force, which arrived two months ago and is known as the Multinational Security Support Mission.

“At this critical moment, we do need more funding, we do need more personnel, to sustain and carry out the objectives of this mission,” he said.

Meeting Blinken, interim Prime Minister Garry Conille acknowledged that Haiti faced an “extremely complex” situation but voiced hope.

“If our partners bear with us, commit to us, we will achieve the goals. Progress we’ve achieved so far is actually quite remarkable,” he said.

The top US diplomat, too, saw reason for optimism.

“What I am seeing is tremendous resilience and the emergence — the reemergence — of hope,” Blinken said.

Speaking in French, Blinken addressed Haitians at a news conference: “We are with you.”

The senior US official zipped in an armored motorcade through crowded, pothole-ridden streets strewn with garbage for meetings in the safety of the US ambassador’s residence, after arriving at an airport where limited commercial flights only recently resumed.

Haiti has not held elections since 2016, widening a political vacuum that has worsened existing security and health crises.

In hopes of moving toward a more legitimate government, the United States and Caribbean nations recently worked to establish a transitional council representing key stakeholders, with Conille as interim prime minister.

“The critical next step that we talked about is setting up an electoral council. We hope to see that stood up soon,” Blinken told the coordinator of the transitional council.

Blinken acknowledged that greater security would be the “foundation” for all progress, including on elections.

The coordinator of the transitional council, Edgard Leblanc Fils, said he hoped to move toward the electoral council next week with a goal of elections in November 2025 and a transfer of power in February 2026.

“Progress has been made on security but there remains much to do,” Leblanc Fils said.

Gangs in recent years have taken over about 80 percent of the capital Port-au-Prince as any semblance of government evaporated.

US President Joe Biden’s administration has committed $360 million to the multinational mission meant to stabilize the country, including logistical support and equipment, but has also made clear it will not send US troops.

The mission is expected to include about 2,500 police officers, including from Bangladesh, Benin and Jamaica.

But its establishment was repeatedly set back both by a court in Kenya questioning the legality of the mission and by struggles to complete financing for the force, which is estimated to cost about $600 million per year.

To secure funding, the Biden administration has voiced willingness to make the mission a UN peacekeeping operation, after deliberately not putting the force under the UN flag due to grim past memories in Haiti.

The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, which deployed from 2004 to 2017, was tarnished by accusations of sexual abuse by peacekeepers and the force’s accidental introduction of cholera, which killed some 10,000 people.

As Blinken visited, Port-au-Prince was also facing a new energy challenge, with a key power plant going dark after being stormed by demonstrators angered by recurring blackouts.

Blinken also pressed Haitian leaders to take action against corruption, a serious concern in the country.

The last secretary of state to visit Haiti, John Kerry, met then-president Michel Martelly in 2015.

Last month, US authorities slapped sanctions on Martelly, who mostly lives in Miami, for allegedly trafficking drugs destined for the United States.

Blinken said that the action against Martelly showed that “we will use every tool that we have to hold accountable those who facilitate violence, drug trafficking, instability.”

The US secretary of state did not stay overnight in Haiti, landing in Santo Domingo on Thursday for meetings with leaders of the Dominican Republic.


Over 100 former senior officials warn against planned staff cuts at US State Department

Over 100 former senior officials warn against planned staff cuts at US State Department
Updated 04 July 2025
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Over 100 former senior officials warn against planned staff cuts at US State Department

Over 100 former senior officials warn against planned staff cuts at US State Department
  • State Secretary Rubio faulted for recklessness in amid "unprecedented challenges from strategic competitors, ongoing conflicts, and emerging security threats"

WASHINGTON: More than 130 retired diplomats and other former senior US officials issued an open letter on Thursday criticizing a planned overhaul of the State Department that could see thousands of employees laid off.

“We strongly condemn Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s announced decision to implement sweeping staff reductions and reorganization at the US Department of State,” the officials said in the letter.

The signatories included dozens of former ambassadors and senior officials, including Susan Rice, who served as national security adviser under President Barack Obama, a Democrat.

The timing of the cuts remains unclear, with the US Supreme Court expected to weigh in at any moment on a bid by US President Donald Trump’s administration to halt a judicial order blocking the firings.

The administration in late May notified Congress of a plan to overhaul its diplomatic corps that could cut thousands of jobs, including hundreds of members of its elite Foreign Service who advocate for US interests in the face of growing assertiveness from adversaries such as China and Russia.

Initial plans to send the notices last month were halted after a federal judge on June 13 temporarily blocked the State Department from implementing the reorganization plan.

The shake-up forms part of a push by Trump to shrink the federal bureaucracy, cut what he says is wasteful spending and align what remains with his “America First” priorities.

“At a time when the United States faces unprecedented challenges from strategic competitors, ongoing conflicts, and emerging security threats, Secretary Rubio’s decision to gut the State Department’s institutional knowledge and operational capacity is reckless,” the former officials wrote. 

 

 

 


US Supreme Court sides with Trump in South Sudan deportation fight

US Supreme Court sides with Trump in South Sudan deportation fight
Updated 04 July 2025
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US Supreme Court sides with Trump in South Sudan deportation fight

US Supreme Court sides with Trump in South Sudan deportation fight
  • Trump administration has sought to deport 8 migrants to unstable South Sudan
  • District judge had said the deportation attempt violated his injunction

WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court again sided with President Donald Trump’s administration in a legal fight over deporting migrants to countries other than their own, lifting on Thursday limits a judge had imposed to protect eight men who the government sought to send to politically unstable South Sudan.

The court on June 23 put on hold Boston-based US District Judge Brian Murphy’s April 18 injunction requiring migrants set for removal to so-called “third countries” where they have no ties to get a chance to tell officials they are at risk of torture there, while a legal challenge plays out.

The court on Thursday granted a Justice Department request to clarify that its June 23 decision also extended to Murphy’s separate May 21 ruling that the administration had violated his injunction in attempting to send a group of migrants to South Sudan. The US State Department has urged Americans to avoid the African nation “due to crime, kidnapping and armed conflict.”

Two liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissented from the decision.

The court said that Murphy should now “cease enforcing the April 18 injunction through the May 21 remedial order.”

Murphy’s May 21 order mandating further procedures for the South Sudan-destined migrants prompted the US government to keep the migrants at a military base in Djibouti. Murphy also clarified at the time that non-US citizens must be given at least 10 days to raise a claim that they fear for their safety.

After the Supreme Court lifted Murphy’s April injunction on June 23, the judge promptly ruled that his May 21 order “remains in full force and effect.” Calling that ruling by the judge a “lawless act of defiance,” the Justice Department the next day urged the Supreme Court to clarify that its action applied to Murphy’s May 21 decision as well.

Murphy’s ruling, the Justice Department said in court filings, has stalled its “lawful attempts to finalize the long-delayed removal of those aliens to South Sudan,” and disrupted diplomatic relations. Its agents are being “forced to house dangerous criminal aliens at a military base in the Horn of Africa that now lies on the borders of a regional conflict,” it added.

Even as it accused the judge of defying the Supreme Court, the administration itself has been accused of violating judicial orders including in the third-country deportation litigation.

The administration has said its third-country policy is critical for removing migrants who commit crimes because their countries of origin are often unwilling to take them back. The Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority. Its three liberal members dissented from the June 23 decision pausing Murphy’s injunction, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor calling it a “gross abuse” of the court’s power that now exposes “thousands to the risk of torture or death.”

After the Department of Homeland Security moved in February to step up rapid deportations to third countries, immigrant rights groups filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of a group of migrants seeking to prevent their removal to such places without notice and a chance to assert the harms they could face.

In March, the administration issued guidance providing that if a third country has given credible diplomatic assurance that it will not persecute or torture migrants, individuals may be deported there “without the need for further procedures.”

Murphy found that the administration’s policy of “executing third-country removals without providing notice and a meaningful opportunity to present fear-based claims” likely violates due process requirements under the US Constitution. Due process generally requires the government to provide notice and an opportunity for a hearing before taking certain adverse actions.

The Justice Department on Tuesday noted in a filing that the administration has received credible diplomatic assurances from South Sudan that the aliens at issue will not be subject to torture.”

The Supreme Court has let Trump implement some contentious immigration policies while the fight over their legality continues to play out. In two decisions in May, it let Trump end humanitarian programs for hundreds of thousands of migrants to live and work in the United States temporarily. The justices, however, faulted the administration’s treatment of some migrants as inadequate under constitutional due process protections.

 


Russian shelling kills five in and near eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk

Russian shelling kills five in and near eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk
Updated 03 July 2025
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Russian shelling kills five in and near eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk

Russian shelling kills five in and near eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk
  • Two people had been killed in Pokrovsk, a key logistics hub

KYIV: Russian shelling killed five people on Thursday in and near the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, the regional governor said, a key target under Russian attack for months.

Vadym Filashkin, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said two people had been killed in Pokrovsk, a key logistics hub, where local authorities have been urging residents to evacuate.

Two died in Bylitske, northwest of Pokrovsk, and another in Illinivka, between Pokrovsk and Kramatorsk, another frequent target in Russia’s slow westward advance through Donetsk region.


University of California reiterates ban on student government boycotts of Israel

University of California reiterates ban on student government boycotts of Israel
Updated 03 July 2025
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University of California reiterates ban on student government boycotts of Israel

University of California reiterates ban on student government boycotts of Israel

SAN FRANCISCO: The president of the University of California this week reiterated that student governments are prohibited from financial boycotts of companies associated with any particular country, including Israel, as the Trump administration continues its probe of alleged antisemitism on college campuses.

Michael Drake did not mention Israel by name, but he did single out student governments in a letter he sent to chancellors of the university system. He said that while freedom of speech and inquiry are core commitments of the university, its policies also require that financial decisions be grounded in sound business practices, such as competitive bidding.

“This principle also applies to student governments,” he wrote. “Actions by University entities to implement boycotts of companies based on their association with a particular country would not align with these sound business practices.”

UC spokesperson Rachel Zaentz said in a statement that the letter is in keeping with the university’s opposition to financial boycotts of companies associated with a particular country.

“While our community members have the right to express their viewpoints, financial boycotts are inconsistent with UC’s commitment to sound business practices, academic freedom and the free exchange of ideas,” she said.

College campuses exploded with pro-Palestinian protests in the wake of the war in Gaza, including a particularly brutal clash involving police at the University of California, Los Angeles last year. At the start of his term this year, President Donald Trump launched antisemitism probes at several universities, including the University of California, Berkeley.

The US Department of Health and Human Services and National Science Foundation are requiring research grantees to certify they will not engage in boycotts of Israel or promote diversity, inclusion and equity or risk federal funding.

The UC Student Association, which represents students across the campuses, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But its president, Aditi Hariharan, told the Los Angeles Times that she disagreed with the ban.

“Students already have little influence on how the university works, and student government is one of the few places where they can really get involved and have their voices heard,” she said in an interview before the letter was released.


Trump says ‘didn’t make any progress’ on Ukraine during Putin call

Trump says ‘didn’t make any progress’ on Ukraine during Putin call
Updated 04 July 2025
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Trump says ‘didn’t make any progress’ on Ukraine during Putin call

Trump says ‘didn’t make any progress’ on Ukraine during Putin call
  • Putin told Trump Russia will not ‘give up’ aims in Ukraine: Kremlin
  • Ukraine’s Zelensky hopes for Friday call with US president

WASHINGTON/MOSCOW: US President Donald Trump said he had made no progress with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin toward a ceasefire in Ukraine after the two leaders spoke by phone on Thursday.

“No, I didn’t make any progress with him at all,” Trump told reporters when asked if he had moved closer toward a deal to end Russia’s invasion, adding that he was “not happy” about the ongoing war.

The Kremlin earlier said Putin told Trump that Moscow will not “give up” on its aims in Ukraine.

The pair spoke as US-led peace talks on ending the more than three-year-old conflict in Ukraine have stalled and after Washington paused some weapons shipments to Kyiv.

The Kremlin said the call lasted almost an hour.

Trump has been frustrated with both Moscow and Kyiv as US efforts to end fighting have yielded no breakthrough.

“Our president said that Russia will achieve the aims it set, that is to say the elimination of the root causes that led to the current state of affairs,” Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.

“Russia will not give up on these aims.”

Moscow has long described its maximalist aims in Ukraine as getting rid of the “root causes” of the conflict, demanding that Kyiv give up its NATO ambitions.

Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine has killed hundreds of thousands of people and Russia now controls large swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine.

Even so, Putin told Trump that Moscow would continue to take part in negotiations.

“He also spoke of the readiness of the Russian side to continue the negotiation process,” Ushakov added.

“Vladimir Putin said that we are continuing to look for a political, negotiated solution to the conflict,” Ushakov said.

Moscow has for months refused to agree to a US-proposed ceasefire in Ukraine.

Kyiv and its Western allies have accused Putin of dragging out the process while pushing on with Russia’s advance in Ukraine.

The Kremlin said that Putin had also “stressed” to Trump that all conflicts in the Middle East should be solved “diplomatically,” after the US struck nuclear sites in Russia’s ally Iran.

Putin and Trump spoke as Kyiv said that Russian strikes on Thursday killed at least eight people in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was visiting ally Denmark on Thursday.

A senior Ukrainian official told AFP that Trump and Zelensky planned to speak to each other on Friday.

The US deciding to pause some weapons shipments has severely hampered Kyiv, which has been reliant on Western military support since Moscow launched its offensive in 2022.

Zelensky told EU allies in Denmark that doubts over US military aid reinforced the need for greater cooperation with Brussels and NATO.

He stressed again that Kyiv had always supported Trump’s “unconditional ceasefire.”

On Wednesday, Kyiv scrambled to clarify with the US what a White House announcement on pausing some weapons shipments meant.

“Continued American support for Ukraine, for our defense, for our people is in our common interest,” Zelensky had said on Wednesday.

Russia has consistently called for Western countries to stop sending weapons to Kyiv.