Day: April 23, 2023

Türkiye's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has discussed the evacuation of Turkish nationals with his acting counterpart in Sudan, which should take place in the coming hours, according to an announcement by the ministry.

“The issue of ensuring that our citizens in Sudan can safely leave the country and return to their homeland was brought to the agenda by our President and Minister, in their contacts with their Sudanese counterparts and in meetings with some third countries,” the ministry said earlier

“The necessary preparations were carried out in coordination by our Khartoum Embassy and our Ministry.”

According to Anadolu news agency, Cavusoglu held a phone call with his acting counterpart from Sudan, Ali al-Sadiq, to address the evacuation of Turkish nationals.

In a separate social media post, the Turkish embassy in Khartoum advised citizens of Türkiye to gather at three designated locations for the possible evacuation.

As of Sunday, the clashes between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary group, RSF - which just entered their second week - have killed more than 400 people and left thousands wounded, according to the World Health Organization.

Those who are trapped in the capital are coping with shortages of electricity and food, as well as a reported internet outage.

Fighting also raged in Omdurman, the city across the Nile from Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, residents reported on Sunday. The violence came despite a declared truce that was to coincide with the three-day Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

“We did not see such a truce,” said Amin al-Tayed from his home near state television headquarters in Omdurman.

He said heavy gunfire and thundering explosions rocked the city. “The battles did not stop,” he said.

Thick black smoke also filled the sky over Khartoum's airport. The paramilitary group battling the Sudanese armed forces claimed the military unleashed airstrikes on the upscale neighbourhood of Kafouri, north of Khartoum. There was no immediate comment from the army.

The development comes after the US troops announced they are carrying out a precarious evacuation of American embassy staffers in the African nation of Sudan, shuttering the US embassy there as fighting rages for a ninth day, according to a senior Biden administration official.

US troops safely left Sudanese airspace after airlifting American embassy personnel out of the capital, Khartoum, a second US official confirmed.

President Joe Biden ordered American troops to evacuate embassy personnel after receiving a recommendation earlier on Saturday from his national security team with no end in sight to the fighting, according to the official who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the mission.

The evacuation order was believed to apply to about 70 Americans.

The US State Department has suspended operations at the embassy due to the dire security situation.

Meanwhile, Pope Francis on Sunday called for dialogue between the warring military factions as the bloody outbreak of violence entered a second week.

"Unfortunately the situation remains grave in Sudan.

"That is why I am renewing my call for the violence to stop as quickly as possible and for dialogue to resume," the pontiff said during traditional Sunday prayers in Saint Peter's Square in Rome.

"I invite everyone to pray for our Sudanese brothers and sisters," he added.

Deadly conflict

Fighting in Sudan between forces loyal to two top generals, Abdel Fattah al Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, has put that nation at risk of collapse and could have consequences far beyond its borders.

The fighting, which began as Sudan attempted to transition to democracy, already has left millions trapped in urban areas, sheltering from gunfire, explosions and looters.

Army chief General Burhan said on Saturday he would facilitate the evacuation of American, British, Chinese and French citizens and diplomats from Sudan after speaking with the leaders of several countries that had requested help.

The rival Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, in a Twitter posting said it cooperated with US forces.

The US evacuation planning got underway in earnest on Monday after the embassy convoy was attacked in Khartoum. The Pentagon confirmed on Friday that US troops were being moved to Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti ahead of a possible evacuation.

Saudi Arabia announced the successful repatriation of some of its citizens on Saturday, sharing footage of Saudi nationals and other foreigners welcomed with chocolate and flowers as they stepped off an apparent evacuation ship at the Saudi port of Jeddah.

Source: TRTworld.com

Trkiye on Sunday started repatriation operations in Sudan for its citizens after the conflict erupted between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the country, according to diplomatic sources.

Nearly 1,000 Turkish citizens set out for home from two points in the capital Khartoum and another point from Wad Madani city, the sources said.

The Turkish nationals will travel overland to reach the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, and then take a flight from there to Istanbul.

In addition to Turkish citizens, citizens of many countries such as Azerbaijan, Japan, China, Mexico, and Yemen were evacuated from Sudan.

Clashes between rival Sudanese military factions continued on Sunday despite a 72-hour cease-fire declared for the Muslim holiday of Eid.

There have been reports of explosions and fighting, particularly around the military headquarters and presidential palace in Khartoum.

At least 413 people have died and more than 3,500 injured in Sudan since the fighting erupted on April 15 between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Voices raised against the Kremlin are increasingly being silenced as Russia this week handed jail sentences to two prominent opponents of the current regime: Russian-British national Vladimir Kara-Murza was handed a 25-year prison sentence on Monday and a Moscow court on Wednesday dismissed Ilya Yashin’s appeal.

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Russian political activist and former journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza, 41, was sentenced on Monday to 25 years in prison for publicly condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He was convicted of treason and spreading "false" information about the Russian military among other charges. According to the Moscow Times, Kara-Murza's defence attorney has fled the country over fears of imprisonment.

Kremlin critic Ilya Yashin, 39, lost his appeal on Wednesday against an eight-and-a-half-year prison sentence that was handed down last year. The longtime ally of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny was also found guilty of spreading "false information" regarding the war in Ukraine.

Both men will soon join Navalny – as well as another 527 political prisoners jailed since February 2022, according to the OVD-Info rights monitor – behind bars. Meanwhile, US journalist Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested on espionage charges, remains in pre-trial detention after his appeal was rejected on Tuesday.

As the Kremlin’s crackdown on dissenting voices intensifies, Russian lawmakers on Tuesday approved a bill that would see life sentences handed to those convicted of treason amid a wave of toughened censorship laws.

A law criminalising “discrediting Russian armed forces” was adopted on March 4 last year; in the three days that followed, more than 60 cases were opened against those accused of violating the new law, “the vast majority” of them peaceful anti-war protesters, according to Human Rights Watch.

The Russian opposition, weakened by a recent series of imprisonments and forced exile, is on the verge of extinction. There are almost “no options for expressing criticism" in Russia, where repression has reached a scale "unequalled since the end of World War II", according to Russia expert Cécile Vaissié of Rennes-II University. But she says a few voices remain, whose presence in Russia carries "symbolic weight".

Last remaining voices

One of those last voices belongs to Yashin’s lawyer, Maria Eismont, who also worked as part of Kara-Murza's defence team. Eismont, 47, is one of the last liberal lawyers left in Russia willing to defend opponents of Vladimir Putin’s regime. Decrying the harshness of the court decision on Kara-Murza's case, Eismont vowed to appeal the 25-year sentence, the longest ever handed to a political opponent.

Russian human rights activist and former chairman of the now-disbanded Memorial Human Rights Centre, Yan Rachinsky, called the sentence “monstrous”, adding that it reflected the authorities’ fear of criticism and “marked a difference between today’s Russia and civilised countries”.

In late March, an investigation was launched into Rachinsky’s colleague and Memorial co-founder Oleg Orlov over accusations of discrediting Russian forces in Ukraine. A March 21 statement from Memorial said Orlov was detained and questioned after police searched his home before subsequently being released.

Although Memorial was shut down by the authorities in December 2021, Rachinsky and Orlov remain in the country. Hailing them as “Russian heroes”, Vaissié said they offer a courageous example at the risk of “being arrested at any moment”.

Meanwhile, others are also facing imprisonment. The former mayor of Yekaterinburg, Yevgeny Vadimovich Roizman, spent 14 days behind bars in March over a social media post relating to Alexei Navalny. Currently under surveillance, Roizman is awaiting trial on charges of "discrediting" the Russian army, for which he could face at least three years in prison. Despite the looming threat, Roizman remains active on social media and continues to participate in the drugs treatment programme that he helped expand during his time in office.

When artists speak out

Dissenting voices are also being heard in artistic circles. The frontman of the 1980s rock band DDT, Yuri Shevchuk, has also spoken out against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

During the band’s concert in May last year, Shevchuk told a crowd of 8,000 fans that “the motherland, my friends, is not the president’s ass that has to be slobbered and kissed all the time. The motherland is an impoverished babushka at the train station selling potatoes”.

The outspoken Kremlin critic’s continued presence in the country alone “sends a clear signal to Russians opposing the war, which reminds us that love for one’s country doesn’t equate to support for the ruling power”, Vaissié said.

After a police interrogation, Shevchuk was subsequently fined 50,000 rubles ($815) for his on-stage protest, according to the Moscow Times.

Other artists have also chosen to remain in Russia to protest the current regime, including rights activist and poet Elena Sannikova, who publicly recited a poem evoking Soviet-era repressions on Monday at the Sakharov Center. Labeled as a foreign agent by Russian authorities, the centre is being forced to vacate its premises by the end of the month after nearly 30 years in operation. At the centre’s last event, Sannikova told Muscovites that "David will defeat Goliath, and a new dawn will break."

Not quite silenced yet

While most independent organisations have left Russia since the Ukraine war broke out, human rights defence and media group OVD-Info continues to operate in the country. Founded in 2011 by journalists Grigory Okhotin and programmer Daniil Beilinson, the organisation continues to collect data on local political repression despite part of its team fleeing the country.

Even Navalny continues to speak out against Putin’s regime from his prison cell, thanks to messages passed on by his lawyers. Denouncing Kara-Murza's 25-year prison sentence as "shameless and simply fascist", Nalvany said in an audio recording released by his team that he was “deeply outraged” by the court’s decision.

Citing speeches made by Kara-Murza and Yashin during their respective trials, Vaissié said “ethical” statements like these represent a “way of setting an example”. Before his sentencing, Yashin addressed Putin directly as he urged the Russian president to “stop this madness immediately”.

“You must admit that your policies regarding Ukraine have been an error,” he implored. “You must get the Russian troops out of Ukraine and start working on a diplomatic resolution of this conflict. Remember that every new day at war means new casualties. Enough!”

Kara-Murza, meanwhile, remained hopeful in his last statement to the court before the verdict, when defendants usually ask for acquittal. Kara-Murza said his fate had already been decided, but that “the day will come when the darkness over our country will dissipate”.

“This day will come as inevitably as spring follows even the coldest winter. And then our society will open its eyes and be horrified by what terrible crimes were committed on its behalf. From this realization, from this reflection, the long, difficult but vital path toward the recovery and restoration of Russia, its return to the community of civilized countries, will begin.”

Source: France24.com

Anadolu Agency is here with a rundown of the latest developments around the world.

Trkiye's foreign minister and his acting counterpart from Sudan discussed the latest situation in the North African country and evacuation plans for Turkish citizens in a telephone call.

Israelis continued to protest the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Riza Kayaalp became European Champion for the 12th time in the Greco-Roman 130-kilogram weight class at the 2023 European Wrestling Championship in Croatia.

Azerbaijan said three of its soldiers had been wounded by mines laid by Armenian forces in the region of Karabakh.

US-led coalition forces against the Daesh/ISIS terror group said one of its drones crashed in northern Iraq.

Some Muslim nations started to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, a religious festival marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, one day after others held celebrations due to differences in moon-sighting methods based on the Islamic calendar.

Turkish scientists carried out atmospheric research in and around Horseshoe Island in Antarctica as part of the 7th National Antarctic Science Expedition.

Moscow said it will give a "mirror response" to Germany's decision to expel Russian diplomats in Berlin.

The foreign ministers of Iran and the United Arab Emirates discussed bilateral and regional ties on the telephone, according to the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

A 72-hour truce has been broken in Sudan as fighting continued between the army and a paramilitary group, a local doctors association announced

Source: Anadolu Agency

Around 100 people were evacuated from Sudan on the first French flight out of the war-hit country after a "complicated" rescue operation, French officials said on Sunday. FRANCE 24's Bastien Renouil reports from Djibouti, where the rescue flight landed.

Source: France24.com

Israelis continued protest Saturday against the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu concerning proposed judicial reforms.

Demonstrators protested for the 16th week in a row in cities such as Tel Aviv, West Jerusalem and Haifa against the right-wing coalition government that has proposed judicial regulations.

Police closed roads in various cities, especially in Tel Aviv.

In recent weeks, hundreds of Israeli reservist soldiers, including reservist pilots, refused to join training or show up for duty in protest against plans for judicial overhaul.

While the government argues that the plans would enhance democracy and restore the balance between the legislative, executive and judicial powers, the opposition views them as an attempt to reduce the powers of the judicial authority in favor of the executive.

Last month, Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption, bowed to pressure and announced a temporary halt to the judicial overhaul plans.

Source: Anadolu Agency

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock described her recent visit to China as “more than shocking,” arguing that while Germany should not “decouple” from Beijing, it should no longer be Berlin’s most important trading partner.

Baerbock was in Beijing on an apparent damage-control visit, following Emmanuel Macron’s widely publicized trip to the country and subsequent criticism of the US. Her critical remarks on China came on Wednesday, as she spoke to the Bundestag.

The Green Party of Germany, which is part of a governing coalition with the larger Social Democratic Party (SPD), are known for hawkish Atlanticist foreign policies. Having started out as an anti-war environmentalist party in 1980, its views have now changed into supporting NATO and its expansion eastward, seeing the military alliance as crucial to Europe's defense, and pushing against making deals with Russia and China.

Now, having seized control of the country’s foreign ministry, the Greens are seeking to dismantle Berlin’s highly favorable geopolitical relationship with China while also going full-throttle in their confrontation with Moscow. Gone are the days of pragmatism, prudence and common sense, and here are the days of divisive liberal fundamentalism, which has allowed the US to readily dismantle the foundations of Germany’s prosperity and economic strength. Baerbock is a disaster, and she’s taking Germany down with her.

Despite being the largest and most powerful economy in Europe, which has shaped the direction and integration of a whole continent, Germany’s future now looks bleak. The escalation of the Ukraine conflict, combined with Washington’s likely but vehemently denied destruction of Nord Stream 2, has destroyed the foundations of the country’s energy security and its industrial competitiveness. The damage done is evidenced by the fact that it’s forecasted to scrape a 0.3% GDP growth rate in 2023, while year-on-year inflation stood at 8.7% in February.

Baerbock now seems content to swing the demolition ball at her country’s relationship with China, its largest trading partner. She has sought to unveil new rules to discourage the expansion of German businesses in the country, using the talking point of “reducing dependence.” Germany’s trade with China was worth €245 billion ($270.8 billion) in 2021. But the question is, if not China, then who? Because look at the consequences of this ‘reduced dependence’ on Russia. The Greens are subserviating Germany to the US agenda and are actively dismantling everything that has made Germany successful, in exchange for practically nothing.

The fanatical environmental policies of the Greens, mixed with their foreign policy, are making the situation even worse. Despite the fact that the country has suffered an energy crisis, having lost its partnership with Russia, the Greens have always pursued one foundational pillar of their politics – the opposition to nuclear energy. This has forced the country to stay on the self-destructive route of abandoning nuclear power, despite overwhelming consensus that it is cheap, safe, and of course strategically important in the environment they are creating. Germany shut down its last nuclear power plants last week in a move that baffled international commentators and energy experts.

Because of these policies, Germany is under threat of national decline. The legacy of the influence of the Green Party in Olaf Scholz’s government has been to dismantle the foundations of its economic growth, expand the influence of the US over Germany wholesale, and of course rip up geopolitical partnerships that were built on realism and self-interest. Under Merkel, Germany was a powerful and influential player because it acted as a maverick, without deviating from the values it deemed important. The price of ripping up these legacies, cheered on by US-sponsored think-tankers targeting Berlin relentlessly, has been to create a Germany which will be weaker, poorer and less relevant – an American vassal. Who needs multipolarity when you can put a Green Party in charge of your foreign ministry? Germany is thus experiencing a slow death at the hands of the Greens.

Source: Russia Today