Foreign News
Niger’s junta refuses entry to negotiators, allies appeal to UN
Niger’s junta refuses entry to negotiators, allies appeal to UN
Tensions remain high in the aftermath of a coup in Niger Republic as the military junta refused entry to a negotiating mission planned for Tuesday by the United Nations, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU).
The military governments of Mali and Burkina Faso have called on the UN Security Council to prevent military action against the putschists in their neighbouring country Niger.
ECOWAS threatened this as a possible reaction to the coup d’état at the end of July in which the military seized power in Niger, suspended the constitution, and imprisoned the president.
In Tuesday’s letter, Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop and Burkinese Foreign Minister Olivia Rouamba addressed the UN’s most powerful body as well as the African Union.
“The transitional governments of Burkina Faso and the Republic of Mali appeal to the primary responsibility of the (UN) Security Council as guarantor of international peace and security to prevent, by all means at its disposal, armed action against a sovereign state, the consequences of which would be unforeseeable in their magnitude,” the letter reads.
The aim is “to avoid, in addition to the deterioration of the security situation with the multiplication and spread of terrorist groups, a humanitarian tragedy, which would add to the difficulties of a population legitimately waiting for support.”
Both Mali and Burkina Faso are currently suspended from ECOWAS following coups and have clearly sided with the military rulers in Niger.
Read Also: CSO urges further dialogue with Niger military junta
They declared that they would not support the ECOWAS sanctions and that any military action would be seen as a “declaration of war” against their own states.
Mali’s Diop caused a stir at the UN Security Council in New York in June when he called for the immediate withdrawal of the UN peacekeeping mission that has been stationed in Mali for a decade.
Coming from Libya and northern Mali, Islamist terrorist groups have been spreading in the three bordering countries since 2012.
The U.S. government said it continues to hope for a diplomatic solution after the coup in Niger but at the same time it is realistic, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in Washington on Tuesday.
U.S. diplomat Victoria Nuland spoke with members of the junta in the capital Niamey on Monday, but was not allowed to meet either the detained President Mohamed Bazoum or the military ruler General Abdourahamane Tchiani.
Tchiani received a delegation from Mali and Burkina Faso on Monday, who assured him of their support.
The junta announced a prime minister and other posts late on Monday night.
Ahead of the special ECOWAS summit on the coup in Niger, Nigeria has underscored its hope for a negotiated solution.
President Bola Tinubu believes “diplomacy is the best way forward” to resolve the crisis, his spokesman Ajuri Ngelale said on Tuesday.
“This represents “the consensus position of the ECOWAS heads of states,” he said.
Tinubu is currently ECOWAS chair. At the summit, “far-reaching decisions will be taken concerning the next steps the regional bloc will take,” the spokesman said.
He added that “no options have been taken off the table.”
The federation of currently 11 states plans to meet in Nigeria’s capital Abuja on Thursday.
The military chiefs of the ECOWAS countries had presented a plan for a possible intervention last week.
Besides Nigeria, Benin, Senegal, and Ivory Coast have declared their readiness for military intervention.
The French broadcaster RFI reported on Tuesday that the plans included a force of 25,000 soldiers.
The military governments of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea, which were suspended by ECOWAS after coups, support the putschists in Niger.
Malian Minister of Territorial Administration Abdoulaye Maïga reaffirmed after his meeting with General Tchiani in Niger on Monday “the active, effective and full participation of Mali and Burkina Faso in legitimate defence operations in the event of an ECOWAS attack on Niger.”
On July 26, officers of the presidential guard in Niger ousted the democratically elected Bazoum.
The commander of the elite unit, Tchiani, subsequently appointed himself the new ruler, then the putschists suspended the constitution and dissolved all constitutional institutions. (dpa/NAN)
Brad Smith, the president of technology giant Microsoft has issued a stark warning regarding foreign attempts to influence the U.S. presidential election in November.
“The most perilous moment will come, I think, 48 hours before the election,” Smith told a U.S. Senate hearing on Wednesday.
“That’s the lesson to be learned from, say, the Slovakian election last fall,” he added.
Smith said two days ahead of the parliamentary election vote in the European country “a Russian group” released and pushed, including by amplifying the story with a top Russian official, a deep fake audio purporting to reveal a vote-stealing plot.
“The Russian government is very capable, very sophisticated, not just in technology but in social science,” Smith said.
The Microsoft boss stressed that “there are real and serious threats,” including in the upcoming U.S. presidential election set to take place on Nov. 5.
The race for the White House may be between Republican candidate Donald Trump and the Democrats’ Kamala Harris, “but this is also becoming an election of Iran versus Trump and Russia versus Harris,” the Microsoft boss said.
“It is an election where Russia, Iran, and China are united with the common interest in discrediting democracy in the eyes of our voters,” Smith warned.
Just a few days ago, U.S. authorities exposed a Russian-sponsored campaign that deployed right-wing influencers.
Accounts masquerading as the websites of news outlets like conservative channel Fox News and newspaper The Washington Post posted fake stories.
On Wednesday, a Russian group published a video of Harris, manipulated with the help of artificial intelligence, in which words were put into her mouth that she never said, said Smith.
The administration in Washington has accused Russia of interfering in the U.S. presidential election campaign.
Similar accusations had been made in previous elections.
Smith testified alongside Meta’s Nick Clegg and Kent Walker, president and chief legal officer for Google’s Alphabet. (dpa/NAN)
Six staff members with the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees (UNRWA) were killed in Gaza on Wednesday when two Israeli airstrikes hit a school-turned-shelter and its surroundings.“This is the highest death toll among our staff in a single incident,” UNRWA said in a post on the social media platform, X.
At least 34 people were killed in the strikes, according to media reports. UNRWA said the shelter manager and other team members were among the victims. UN Secretary-General António Guterres deplored the bloodshed.“What’s happening in Gaza is totally unacceptable,” he wrote on X.“These dramatic violations of international humanitarian law need to stop now.”The UNRWA school in Nuseirat, located in the Middle Area of the Gaza Strip, was sheltering around 12,000 displaced people, mainly women and children.This marked the fifth time that it had been hit since the conflict began 11 months ago.Earlier on Wednesday the UN said the site had been previously deconflicted with the Israeli forces.UNRWA called on all parties to the conflict to never use schools or the areas around them for military or fighting purposes.“No one is safe in Gaza. No one is spared. Schools and other civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times, they are not a target,” the tweet said.UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini lamented the “endless and senseless killing, day after day” in Gaza.Writing on X, he said at least 220 agency staff have lost their lives since the war began.“Humanitarian staff, premises and operations have been blatantly and unabatedly disregarded since the beginning of the war,” he said.He warned that “the longer impunity prevails, the more international humanitarian law and the Geneva conventions will become irrelevant.”In a related development, the UN reported that health workers continue efforts to vaccinate young children in northern Gaza against polio, part of a wider campaign to defeat the disease, which can cause paralysis.More than 81,600 boys and girls were vaccinated as of Tuesday, according to preliminary data from the World Health Organisation (WHO).Polio was detected in Gaza in June and UN agencies and partners launched a two-round campaign this month to provide over 640,000 children with two doses of novel oral polio vaccine type 2.So far, nearly 528,000 children have been reached in the first round. (NAN)
An Israeli drone on Tuesday fired several missiles at a flat in a five-story building in the market town of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon.Eight people were injured, according to an initial toll announced by the Lebanese Health Ministry.It was not immediately clear whether there were any Hezbollah members were in the targeted building.
Earlier, an Israeli drone assassinated a Hezbollah fighter riding a motorbike on the Bab Mareaa-Saghbine road in Western Bekaa and wounded two passersby. Hezbollah said that one of its fighters, Mohammad Qassem al-Shaer, was killed but did not specify where and when he was killed.The Israeli army confirmed it “struck and eliminated” the terrorist Mohammad Qassem al-Shaer, who served as a Hezbollah Radwan Force commander, in the area of Qaraoun,It added that the Israeli artillery struck the areas of Sawaneh and Aita al-Shaab.Since the war began between Israel and the Palestinian militant organisation Hamas in Gaza last October, there have been clashes between the Israeli army and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah in Lebanon in the border area.There have been casualties on both sides, most of them members of Hezbollah, which says it is acting in solidarity with Hamas. (dpa/NAN)
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