World

KABUL — A well-known Afghan journalist was killed and at least four other people injured on Saturday when a suspected bomb destroyed a minibus near a Taliban checkpoint in Kabul, a media watchdog and officials said.

The incident happened in Dasht-e Barchi, a Kabul suburb dominated by members of the mostly Shiite Hazara community, who for years have been the target of violence by the Daesh  group.

“Unfortunately we lost another reporter,” the Afghan Journalists Center tweeted hours after the blast, saying Hamid Seighani, who worked for the Ariana television network, had died in the blast.

His wife, also a journalist, posted “I lost Hamid” on her Facebook page.

Since the Taliban returned to power on August 15, dozens of bombs have been set off in eastern Nangarhar province — a hotbed of Daesh activity — but the capital Kabul has largely escaped such violence.

“I was in my car and an explosion happened in the vehicle in front of us,” a witness told AFP.

“It was completely burnt.”

He said the explosion occurred near a Taliban checkpoint, and that gunfire could be heard briefly immediately afterwards.

A nearby hospital posted a notice saying it had admitted one dead and four injured.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted that one person had been killed and two injured.

The blast comes a day after at least three people were killed and 15 wounded by a bomb at a mosque in Nangarhar.

That bombing — for which no group has yet claimed responsibility — underscores the many challenges facing the new Taliban regime in Afghanistan, with the UN warning the country is also on the brink of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

In a statement, the Nangarhar governor’s office said officials had arrested two “perpetrators” in connection with the mosque blast, but provided no other details.

“Further investigation into the incident is ongoing and more actions will be taken,” it said.

While Kabul has largely been free of Daesh activity since the Taliban takeover, Daesh fighters recently raided the city’s National Military Hospital, killing at least 19 people and injuring more than 50 others.

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday denied claims Moscow is helping to orchestrate a crisis that has left hundreds of migrants from the Middle East trapped on the Belarus-Poland border.

Blaming Western policies in the Middle East for the crisis, Putin hit back at claims from Poland and others that Russia is working with Belarus to send migrants to the border of the European Union.

"I want everyone to know. We have nothing to do with it," he said in an interview with state television broadcast on Saturday.

Putin said European leaders needed to talk to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to resolve the crisis and that "as I understand it" German Chancellor Angela Merkel was ready to do so.

"We should not forget where these crises associated with migrants came from... Western countries themselves, including European countries," he said.

The migrants, mainly Kurds, have been stuck for days in a no-man's land on the border in near-freezing temperatures, setting up a tent camp and burning wood to keep warm.

Belarus says there are about 2,000 people in the camp, including pregnant women and children. Poland says there are between 3,000 to 4,000 migrants on the border, with more arriving every day.

Tents, heaters brought to camp

There is growing concern for their plight as temperatures fall, with Poland refusing to allow them to cross and accusing Belarus of preventing them from leaving the area.

Belarusian authorities said on Saturday they were delivering aid including tents and heaters to the migrant camp, a move that could make it a semi-permanent presence on the borders of the EU.

State news agency Belta reported that government bodies were erecting tents at the camp and that a generator had been delivered.

Migrants have been trying to cross the border for months, but the crisis came to a head when hundreds made a concerted effort on Monday and were pushed back by Polish border guards.

Sporadic attempts to cross have continued, and Polish police said Saturday that the body of a young Syrian man had been found in a forest close to the border.

Police said the cause of death could not be immediately determined and that a group of around 100 migrants had attempted to cross the border during the night in the area.

The death brings to 11 the number of migrants found dead on both sides since the crisis began in the summer, according to aid groups.

European leaders have accused Lukashenko, who has ruled ex-Soviet Belarus for nearly 30 years, of luring the migrants to his country to send across the border in revenge for sanctions imposed over a bloody crackdown on his opponents.

The EU is expected next week to widen the penalties to include new sanctions for “human trafficking”.

European Commission vice president Margaritis Schinas said in an interview in Saturday’s edition of French newspaper Le Figaro that the sanctions would be “approved and applied”.

He said they would apply among others to Belarusian state airline Belavia, which has been accused of ferrying groups of migrants from Turkey and elsewhere to Minsk.

Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya urged European leaders to reject talks with Lukashenko.

“There can’t be any dialogue with the dictator trying to blackmail democratic countries,” Tikhanovskaya, who fled Belarus after claiming victory in a disputed presidential election last year, said on Twitter.

The EU said on Friday it was having some success in efforts to stem the flow of migrants, after Ankara banned Iraqis, Syrians and Yemenis from flying to Belarus from Turkey.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s top foreign policy adviser told AFP on Saturday that Turkey was also not to blame.

“Travellers are going to Belarus and from there to Lithuania, Poland and other EU countries. Blaming Turkey for that, or Turkish Airlines, is simply so misguided, misplaced,” Ibrahim Kalin said.

Tensions remain high at the border, where thousands of troops have been deployed on both sides.

Belarus said on Friday it would “respond harshly to any attacks” and held joint drills with Russian paratroopers near the border.

Russia, Lukashenko’s main ally, sent planes including strategic bombers to patrol over Belarus this week.

But Moscow’s support for Minsk is often cautious, and Putin in the interview said Lukashenko was acting entirely on his own when he threatened this week to cut off Russian gas transit through Belarus to Europe.

“Honestly speaking, it was the first I heard about it,” Putin said.

“He never told me, did not even hint. Well, he can probably. But it would not be good and of course I will talk to him about this, if he didn’t simply say it out of irritation.”

GLASGOW — Britain on Saturday urged compromise among feuding COP26 delegates as it touted a "balanced" package to help avert the worst effects of climate change in what is meant to be the Glasgow summit's final hours.

COP26 President Alok Sharma told delegates from nearly 200 countries that a draft summit text attempted to reconcile yawning gaps between rich emitters and developing nations that have hobbled the fortnight's discussions.

"Everyone has had a chance to have their say. I hope that colleagues will appreciate what is on the table," he said, presenting a third draft text.

"While not every aspect will be welcomed by everyone, collectively, this is a package that really moves things forward for everyone," Sharma added.

He added "it is my intention that we will close this COP this afternoon" — while allowing more time for haggling over technical issues.

After three nights of all-night negotiations that have blown COP26 past its scheduled finish of Friday, delegates are still trying to agree a deal to deliver greater emissions cuts and vital finance for vulnerable states.

The new draft text released by Sharma's team urged nations to accelerate efforts to phase out unfiltered coal and "inefficient" fossil fuel subsidies.

Large emitters such as China, Saudi Arabia and Russia had tried to remove the mention of polluting fuels, according to delegates.

But after resistance from rich nations led by the United States and European Union, the draft text omitted any reference to a specific finance facility for "loss and damage", the mounting cost of global warming so far, which has been a key demand of poorer nations.

Do the right thing

The text noted "with deep regret" that wealthy nations had also failed to stump up a separate annual sum of $100 billion they promised over a decade ago. It urged countries to pay up "urgently and through 2025".

Greenpeace International chief Jennifer Morgan told AFP that the language on fossil fuels “is far from what is needed but sends a signal, I dare countries to take that out of the text right now”.

“The US has to support the most vulnerable on the issue of loss and damage. They cannot avoid this issue any longer. Nor can the European Union,” she added.

“I would call on President [Joe] Biden to do what’s right, and support the most vulnerable in helping them deal with their losses.”

There was no immediate comment from the US, but EU Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans denied that the rich world had turned its back on the countries most at risk.

“We have increased substantially our financial contribution, both in terms of the $100 billion but also in terms of the adaptation fund,” he told reporters.

“But if there is more we can do, we will certainly try and help.”

‘Bullied’

Saleemul Huq, director of the ICCCAD climate NGO, said the British COP26 presidency had been “bullied” overnight into rejecting specific loss and damage funding.

“The UK’s words to the vulnerable countries have been proven to be totally unreliable,” he said.

The delegates in Glasgow are trying to hammer out how to implement the 2015 Paris Agreement goals to limit temperature rises to 1.5-2ºC.

Countries already battered by climate disasters such as record-breaking drought, flooding and storms are demanding they be compensated separately for loss and damage, and have made it a red line issue.

However, a proposal to include the creation of a dedicated facility to administer financial support was quashed by the United States and EU, delegates said.

Amadou Sebory Toure, head of the G77+China negotiating bloc, told AFP the proposal was “put forward by the entire developing world, representing six of every seven people on Earth”.

Alden Meyer, senior associate at climate policy think tank E3G, said loss and damage talks were a “cliffhanger moment” that could jeopardise the UK’s goal of wrapping the summit up later Saturday.

Developing nations say it is unfair for the summit to produce an unbalanced agreement heavily weighted toward “mitigation”, how economies can ditch fossil fuels by 2050.

They want specific instruction on how they can meet the bill of decarbonising while also adapting to the natural disasters supercharged by global warming.

Another key sticking point are rules governing carbon markets. Countries that benefited from a global framework predating Paris want to be able to carry over credits into the new deal.

There is still disagreement over rules preventing double counting of carbon savings and to what extent the private sector is governed by guidelines agreed between nations.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's former chief of staff Mark Meadows refused on Friday to testify before a Congressional committee investigating the January 6 assault on the US Capitol, setting up possible contempt charges.

Meadows was subpoenaed to appear before the House Select Committee investigating the violent January 6 siege by Trump supporters, which shut down Congress.

The committee is seeking to understand how much Trump, his staff and political advisors may have been involved in the attack, and has summoned dozens of former officials to testify.

Meadows' attorney, George Terwilliger, said in a statement that his side was in a "sharp legal dispute" with the committee over Trump's claim of executive privilege to avoid providing testimony or records from the former president's White House operation.

Meadows has used that claim to say he cannot testify unless a court overrules Trump's privilege claim.

"It would be irresponsible for Mr Meadows to prematurely resolve that dispute by voluntarily waiving privileges that are at the heart of those legal issues," Terwilliger said.

The committee said in a statement on Thursday that President Joe Biden had already waived executive privilege with regard to the investigation, meaning Meadows was compelled to testify.

The committee warned that Meadows could be ruled in contempt of Congress and referred to the Justice Department for criminal charges, as was done with former Trump political adviser Steve Bannon, who refused to testify.

The Justice Department has yet to decide on whether the press charges on Bannon.

Meadows' case could hinge on a parallel fight over executive privilege being fought directly by the committee and Trump in federal court in Washington.

The committee has demanded Trump records linked to the January 6 unrest from the National Archives.

Trump invoked his presidential executive privilege to demand the records remain sealed, but Biden, as the current executive, also waived that privilege for the records.

The dispute has set up an unprecedented battle between a serving and former president over the bounds of privilege.

The committee won one battle Tuesday in the first round in the court.

But Trump has appealed, and the case is to be heard by the federal appeals court on November 30.

Whatever the appeals court rules, analysts say the case is likely to go to the US Supreme Court.

ADDIS ABABA — The United Nations said Wednesday that Ethiopia had detained 72 drivers working for the World Food Programme (WFP) in the country's conflict-torn north.

The news, which came a day after the UN reported the arrests of 22 employees in the capital Addis Ababa, is likely to further inflame tensions with the government following a decision in September to expel seven senior UN officials for "meddling" in the country's affairs.

A UN spokesperson said the latest detentions had occurred in the capital of Afar province, on the only functional road leading into famine-threatened Tigray.

"We confirm that 72 outsourced drivers contracted by WFP have been detained in Semera. We are liaising with the Government of Ethiopia to understand the reasons behind their detention," a UN spokesperson said.

"We are advocating with the government to ensure their safety and the full protection of their legal and human rights," the spokesperson added.

Officials last week announced a six-month nationwide emergency amid rising fears that fighters from the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) rebel groups could advance on the capital.

Lawyers say arbitrary detentions of ethnic Tigrayans, commonplace during the war, have surged since then, ensnaring thousands, with the new measures allowing the authorities to hold anyone suspected of supporting "terrorist groups" without a warrant.

Law enforcement officials describe such detentions as part of a legitimate crackdown on the TPLF and OLA.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Tuesday said that 22 Ethiopian staff had been detained in Addis Ababa. Six were freed while the remaining 16 were in custody Tuesday night, he added.

Information on the ethnicity of the drivers detained in Semera was not immediately available, though the UN has in the past hired ethnic Tigrayans to transport food and other aid into Tigray.

Famine fears

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops into Tigray last November to topple the TPLF, a move he said came in response to rebel attacks on army camps.

Though the 2019 Nobel Peace laureate vowed a swift victory, by late June the TPLF had retaken most of the region including its capital Mekele.

Since then Tigray has been under what the UN describes as a de-facto humanitarian blockade.

Only 15 per cent of necessary aid has been able to cross from Semera into Tigray since mid-July, with hundreds of thousands of people living in famine-like conditions, according to UN estimates.

Foreign envoys are scrambling to end the war and mitigate further suffering, hoping that an African Union-led push can bring about a cessation of hostilities before a new surge in fighting.

The US said this week there was a “small window” to reach a deal, though it’s far from clear how major divisions will be bridged.

TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda appeared to dismiss peace initiatives on Wednesday, saying on Twitter that they seemed “mainly about saving #Abiy”.

Mass rape

The fighting has extracted a huge humanitarian toll, with rights groups on Wednesday issuing new reports on sexual violence in the war.

Human Rights Watch  said the Abiy government’s “effective siege” of Tigray, where Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers are accused of mass rapes — was preventing survivors from getting healthcare and other critical services.

Amnesty International said Tigrayan rebels had raped, robbed and beat up women during an attack on a town in Amhara region, south of Tigray.

The Ethiopian government has said it is committed to investigating acts of sexual violence and other abuses.

However the first federal official to speak out about the scourge, former women’s minister Filsan Abdullahi Ahmed, has run afoul of the authorities, with a police official on Tuesday announcing the closure of a private media outlet founded by her.

The official, Mohamud Sheikh Ahmed, accused Nabad TV of violating the state of emergency by broadcasting content that “incites violence and bloodshed”.

Filsan told AFP on Wednesday that her parents as well as Nabad staff had been detained overnight by police.

“Basically they are just intimidating people with this lawless state of emergency,” she said.

Filsan resigned from her position late September, saying: “Any situation that compromises my ethics is contrary to my convictions and values.”

WARSAW — Poland said it blocked a bid by hundreds of migrants to illegally enter the country from Belarus on Monday, warning of an "armed" escalation as thousands more massed near the border.

As the latest grim chapter of Europe's migrant crisis unfolded, Washington and Brussels called on Minsk to stop what they described as an orchestrated influx.

NATO on Monday also hit out at Minsk, accusing the government there of using the migrants as political pawns, while the European Union called for fresh sanctions against Belarus.

Brussels says Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has encouraged the migrant flow in retaliation for existing EU sanctions imposed over its dismal human rights record.

Poland, a member of both the European Union and NATO, has drawn sharp criticism for its tough rhetoric on migration in recent years.

“Interior ministry forces and soldiers managed to stop the first mass attempt to breach the border,” Poland’s defence ministry tweeted.

“Migrants have set up a camp in the Kuznica region. They are constantly guarded by Belarusian services.”

Polish border guards posted video footage on Twitter showing migrants using wire cutters to breach a razor-wire border fence.

Many of the migrants seeking entry into Poland are desperately fleeing war and poverty-wracked countries in the Middle East.

They say they are stuck between a rock and a hard place, with the Belarusian side refusing to allow them to return to Minsk and fly home, while Poland does not let them cross and make asylum claims.

Polish government spokesman Piotr Muller told reporters that a further 3,000 to 4,000 migrants were massing near the border.

“We expect that there may be an escalation of this type of action on the Polish border in the near future, which will be of an armed nature,” he added.

Muller blamed “people linked to Belarusian special services” for organising the breach.

NATO accused Belarus of using migrants to put pressure on the EU, describing the actions as “unacceptable” and expressing concern about an escalation.

And in a statement on Monday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called on EU member states to impose new sanctions against Belarus.

The use “of migrants for political purposes is unacceptable”, she said in a statement. Brussels would also look at how to sanction “third-country airlines” that brought migrants to Belarus, she added.

Minsk has reportedly issued special visas allowing migrants to fly into Belarus from Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries.

Germany, which took in a million asylum seekers in 2015-2016 but has since seen a spike in anti-migrant sentiment, urged the EU to “take action” to help stem the flow of people from Belarus.

“Poland or Germany can’t handle this alone,” caretaker Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told the Bild daily, urging the EU to “stand together”.

“We must help the Polish government secure their external border. This would actually be the task of the European Commission. I’m now appealing to them to take action,” he said.

The US State Department also called on Belarus to “immediately halt its campaign of orchestrating and coercing irregular migrant flows across its borders into Europe”.

Lukashenko has denied the accusations levelled against his regime.

Belarus border official Anton Bychkovsky told the country’s BelTA news agency on Monday: “All these people, including women and children, do not pose a threat to security and do not behave aggressively.”

“According to the refugees, they gathered together in such a large group to prevent their forced expulsion by Poland, as well as to draw the attention of the international community to non-observance of human rights by Poland,” he added.

Poland has sent thousands of soldiers to the border area, enforced a state of emergency in the region complete with a media blackout, built a razor-wire fence and approved the construction of a wall.

At least 10 migrants have died in the region, seven of them on the Polish side of the border, according to the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza.

“We’re prepared for any scenario,” Poland’s Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski tweeted on Monday, adding that Warsaw had increased the numbers of police and soldiers in the area.

Videos published on Twitter by the Nexta Belarusian opposition media outlet, showed hundreds, if not thousands, of people in winter clothing carrying backpacks and walking along a road.

According to a geo-location check by AFP’s fact-checking service, one of the videos was taken near buildings in Bruzgi, Belarus, about 1.2 kilometres from Poland’s Kuznica border crossing. The signs along the road were in Belarusian.

NAIROBI — A rebel leader fighting Ethiopia's government says his troops are near the capital and preparing another attack, predicting the war would end "very soon" as diplomats rush to negotiate a ceasefire.

Jaal Marroo, commander of the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), warned Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed that pro-government fighters were defecting and the rebels were very close to victory.

"What I am sure [of] is that it is going to end very soon," Jaal, whose real name is Kumsa Diriba, told AFP in a phone interview Sunday.

"We are preparing to push for another launch, and for another attack. The government is just trying to buy time, and they are trying to instigate civil war in this country, so they are calling for the nation to fight."

The OLA and its allies, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), have claimed several victories in recent weeks, taking towns some 400 kilometres from the capital, and have not ruled out marching on Addis Ababa.

Jaal said his fighters were even closer, some 40km from Addis, and had "never moved (back) an inch" from territory they controlled.

AFP could not independently confirm this claim.

Much of the conflict-affected zone is under a communications blackout and access for journalists is restricted, making battlefield positions difficult to verify.

The government has rejected suggestions the rebels are within striking distance of Addis Ababa, but has ordered the capital to prepare to defend itself.

"While we are being tested on many fronts, our collective will to realise the path we have embarked upon has strengthened us," Abiy said on Twitter Monday, a day after tens of thousands marched in Addis Ababa in support of the government.

Sweeping arrests 

Ethiopia's Human Rights Commission on Monday expressed concern about a sweeping crackdown in Addis Ababa since a nationwide state of emergency was declared on November 2.

“The Commission... has verified that arrests are being conducted in a manner that seems to be based on identity and ethnicity” and included mothers with children and the elderly, it said.

A number of countries have urged citizens not to travel to Ethiopia, and the US embassy announced over the weekend it was pulling out non-essential staff.

The UN has suspended non-essential travel to Addis Ababa, citing the “deterioration of security conditions in parts of Ethiopia, including the potential for a very serious security impact” in the capital, according to an internal communique dated Saturday and seen by AFP Monday.

Jaal said the OLA posed “no threat” to ordinary civilians but that Abiy and his ruling Prosperity Party have to be “completely removed and cleared” for reconciliation to begin.

“We will make Ethiopia — not just Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa — a peaceful, very stable place to live in. I am very confident there is not going to be conflict after Abiy Ahmed’s regime,” he said.

The OLA has been accused of multiple massacres of ethnic Amhara civilians — charges it denies.

The threat of fresh rebel advances has spurred efforts by foreign envoys to broker a settlement to a conflict that has killed thousands, displaced around two million, and inflicted atrocities and starvation on civilians.

The African Union’s high representative for the Horn of Africa, Olusegun Obasanjo, on Monday told the bloc’s 15-member security body there could be an opening for a deal — but major obstacles remain.

Obasanjo, who on Sunday met TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael, did not discuss the sticking points during his briefings.

But diplomats familiar with the negotiations said the TPLF will not talk until aid restrictions on Tigray are lifted, while the government wants the rebels to withdraw from Amhara and Afar first.

“What we felt from [Obasanjo’s] briefing is everybody is somehow a little bit open to a political settlement, but it’s not clear” how gaps would be bridged, said a diplomat who attended Monday’s briefing.

Abiy, winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, sent troops into Tigray in November last year to topple the TPLF, accusing them of attacking military bases.

In August, the OLA and TPLF, both designated terrorist groups by the government, announced they had brokered an alliance to fight against a common enemy, despite the two groups holding historic grievances.