3 Arrested in NYC After Driver Strikes Pro-Palestinian Protester Following Demonstration

6:27 PM EDT, May 7, 2024

NEW YORK (AP) — Three people have been arrested after a driver hit a pro-Palestinian protester on a Manhattan street Tuesday, police said.

New York Police Detective Melissa Delacruz said the incident happened around 8:45 a.m. near the intersection of 72nd Street and Park Avenue on the Upper East Side.

About 25 protesters had been wrapping up a demonstration outside a building and were walking away when two of them got into an argument with a driver. The 57-year-old driver then struck a 55-year-old protester with his vehicle.

The demonstrator was treated at a hospital for minor injuries. The motorist, the demonstrator and another demonstrator were taken into custody, Delacruz said. Police aren’t releasing their names as the charges are still pending, she said.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office said it could not provide any information about the incident until the defendants were arraigned.

The demonstration was one of three protests Tuesday morning in front of the homes of university trustees, according to members of the student group Columbia University Apartheid Divest. The group organized a protest encampment on campus that sparked similar demonstrations at other colleges across the U.S. in recent weeks.

Civil Suit Settled in Shooting of Native American Activist at Protest of Spanish Conquistador Statue

FILE - Rio Arriba County workers remove the bronze statue of Spanish conquerer Juan de Onate from its pedestal in front of a cultural center in Alcalde, N.M., June 15, 2020. A settlement has been reached in a civil lawsuit seeking damages from a 23-year-old man and his parents in the shooting of a Native American activist in northern New Mexico amid confrontations about the statue and aborted plans to reinstall it in public. The settlement was disclosed Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in court documents. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, File)

BY MORGAN LEE

12:53 AM EDT, May 8, 2024

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A settlement has been reached in a civil lawsuit seeking damages from three relatives in the shooting of a Native American activist in northern New Mexico amid confrontations about a statue of a Spanish conquistador and aborted plans to reinstall it in public, according to court documents published Tuesday.

The shooting, in September 2023, severely wounded Jacob Johns, of Spokane, Washington, a well-traveled activist for environmental causes and an advocate for Native American rights who is of Hopi and Akimel O’odham tribal descent. His attorney, John Day, confirmed the settlement and said the terms were confidential.

A single gunshot set off chaos at an outdoor gathering in Española over canceled plans to install a bronze likeness of conquistador Juan de Oñate, who is both revered and reviled for his role in establishing early settlements along the Upper Rio Grande starting in 1598.

In January Johns filed a lawsuit asking for damages from 23-year-old Ryan Martinez of Sandia Park, who is being held without bail on charges of attempted murder as well as assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly pointing a gun at a woman at the protest. The civil suit also accused Martinez’s parents of negligence and callous indifference for ignoring their live-at-home son’s “dangerous and exceptionally disturbing behavior” with guns.

An attorney for the Martinez family did not immediately respond to messages.

The family has denied it was at fault or liable, while Martinez has pleaded not guilty in state court to criminal charges as prosecutors seek sentence enhancements by attempting to prove that the shooting was motivated by bias against a particular social group.

An array of Native American leaders in New Mexico and beyond have condemned the shooting on public property where advocates for Native American rights had gathered to celebrate with song, prayer and speeches about the county’s decision not to install the statue that day.

A defense attorney has said Martinez feared for his life after being shoved to the ground as he pulled out a permitted concealed handgun. But a judge found sufficient cause for trial after reviewing surveillance and cellphone video of the confrontation and noting that Martinez arrived with loaded guns and should have known he was provoking a crowd with contrary views.

Martinez is scheduled for trial in July, with Johns listed among dozens of potential witnesses by prosecutors. District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies is directly prosecuting the case as she competes against Democratic challenger Marco Serna in a June 4 primary election, with no general election challengers.

Oñate, who arrived in present-day New Mexico in 1598, is celebrated as a cultural father figure in communities along the Upper Rio Grande that trace their ancestry to Spanish settlers. But he is also reviled for his brutality.

To Native Americans, Oñate is known for having ordered the right foot cut off of 24 captive tribal warriors after his soldiers stormed the Acoma Pueblo’s mesa-top “sky city.” That attack was precipitated by the killing of Oñate’s nephew.

Police Clear Pro-Palestinian Protest Camp and Arrest 33 at DC Campus as Mayor’s Hearing is Canceled

Police cleared a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at George Washington University Wednesday and arrested demonstrators, hours after dozens marched to the school president’s home

BY ASHRAF KHALIL

9:05 PM EDT, May 8, 2024

WASHINGTON (AP) — Police used pepper spray to clear a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at George Washington University and arrested dozens of demonstrators on Wednesday just as city officials were set to appear before hostile lawmakers in Congress to account for their handling of the 2-week-old protest.

The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability canceled the hearing after the crackdown, with its chairman and other Republicans welcoming the police action. House Speaker Mike Johnson said, “it should not require threatening to haul D.C.’s mayor before Congress to keep Jewish students at George Washington University safe.”

Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, said she and Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith decided to clear the camp because of signs that “the protest was becoming more volatile and less stable.” Among them were indications that protesters had “gathered improvised weapons” and were “casing” university buildings with the possible intention of occupying them, police said.

But Moataz Salim, a Palestinian student at George Washington who has family in Gaza, said the authorities merely “destroyed a beautiful community space that was all about love.”

“Less than 10 hours ago, I was pepper sprayed and assaulted by police,” he told a news conference held by organizers. “And why? Because we decided to pitch some tents, hold community activities and learn from each other. We built something incredible. We built something game-changing.”

Tensions have ratcheted up in standoffs with protesters of the Israel-Hamas war on campuses across the United States and increasingly in Europe. Some colleges cracked down immediately. Others have tolerated the demonstrations. Some have begun to lose patience and call in the police over concerns about disruptions to campus life and safety.

Police also moved in Tuesday night to break up an encampment at the University of Massachusetts. Video from the scene in Amherst showed an hourslong operation as dozens of officers in riot gear systematically tore down tents and took protesters into custody. The operation continued into early Wednesday. Police said about 130 people were arrested after protesters refused orders to disperse.

“I found it to be a complete overreaction,” said Lucas Ruud, editor-in-chief of The Massachusetts Daily Collegian. “It was a completely unnecessary show of force.” The staff of the college newspaper counted more than 100 police vehicles on campus for the crackdown.

In Washington, police said they arrested 33 people at the George Washington protest, including for assault on a police officer and unlawful entry. They confirmed they used pepper spray outside the encampment against protesters who were trying to break police lines and enter.

Two Democratic lawmakers appeared at a news conference with five of the students who had been arrested. “I want all Republicans and Democrats to know that they cannot arrest their way out of this growing dissent,” said Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. “This was an explicit attempt to repress students exercising their First Amendment rights.”

Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri said that “those who refuse to stop the genocide in Gaza think they can arrest and brutalize their way out of this.”

The school said in a statement that while it is committed to free expression, “the encampment had evolved into an unlawful activity, with participants in direct violation of multiple university policies and city regulations.” It said later that normal operations had resumed after the “orderly and safe operation” to disperse the demonstrators.

President Joe Biden’s press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said the president believes the right to dissent is “fundamental to who we are, but it cannot lead to disorder and violence, threats, vandalism, trespassing and/or shutting down campuses. Students have the right to be safe, and antisemitism is repugnant, and we’ve been very clear about that.”

Throughout the roughly two weeks of the encampment, the scene had been largely tranquil.

The tightly organized demonstrators and pro-Israeli counterprotesters who stood along the edges interacted without serious conflict. Some of the most charged confrontations involved people objecting to the treatment of a George Washington statue, wrapped with Palestinian scarves and flags with “Genocidal Warmonger University” spray-painted on its base.

Since April 18, about 2,800 people have been arrested on 50 campuses — figures based on Associated Press reporting and statements from universities and law enforcement agencies after this latest anti-war movement was launched by a protest at Columbia University in New York.

At other U.S. schools:

— Student protesters at the University of Vermont ended their nine-day encampment Wednesday. Among their demands, protesters wanted the school to cancel Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, as commencement speaker because of U.S. votes blocking cease-fire resolutions. The school said Friday that Thomas-Greenfield would not give the address.

— A pro-Palestinian tent encampment was cleared by officers in riot gear at the University of Chicago on Tuesday after administrators who initially adopted a permissive approach said the protesters had crossed a line. Hundreds of protesters had gathered for at least eight days until administrators warned them Friday to leave or face removal.

— The president of Wesleyan University, a liberal arts school in Connecticut, commended the on-campus demonstration, which includes a pro-Palestinian tent encampment, as an act of political expression. The camp there has grown from about 20 tents a week ago to more than 100. “The protesters’ cause is important — bringing attention to the killing of innocent people,” university President Michael Roth wrote to the campus community. “And we continue to make space for them to do so, as long as that space is not disruptive to campus operations.”

— The Rhode Island School of Design’s president, Crystal Williams, spent more than five hours with protesters discussing their demands after students started occupying a building Monday. On Tuesday the school announced it was relocating classes from the building.

— New York City police arrested 50 people outside the Fashion Institute of Technology on Tuesday evening after protesters who had been rallying nearby arrived to support a student encampment.

In Amherst, school Chancellor Javier Reyes said he ordered the sweep after talks over a wide range of demands failed to yield an agreement to dismantle the encampment and engage in “constructive discussions.”

A week ago, the George Washington encampment was host to a somewhat chaotic visit from several Republican members of the House oversight panel who criticized the protests and condemned Bowser’s refusal at that point to send in police.

“We did not have any violence to interrupt on the GW campus,” she said then.

But in the early hours of Wednesday, hundreds of Metropolitan Police Department officers descended on the scene, reported The GW Hatchet, the university’s student newspaper.

At least two officers deployed pepper spray on protesters, who then set up an impromptu medical area at a nearby market, the paper said. Organizers ran to a convenience store to buy water to rinse their eyes.

The oversight hearing, now scrapped, was another pressure point in the fraught relationship between Republicans in Congress and officials in the heavily Democratic district. Former President Donald Trump has threatened a federal “takeover” of the city, to control crime, if he wins back the White House.

The district is already a federal enclave, though with a measure of self-government and its own police department, over which the federal government can exert control in some emergencies.

___

Associated Press journalists around the U.S. and the world contributed, including Charles Rex Arbogast, Pat Eaton-Robb, Steve LeBlanc, Jeff Amy, Christopher Weber, Mike Corder, Barbara Surk, Rick Callahan, Sarah Brumfield and Pietro de Cristofaro.

ASHRAF KHALIL

Khalil writes about local issues in Washington, D.C., for The Associated Press and covers the social safety net around the country.

Florida Deputies Who Fatally Shot US Airman Burst into Wrong Apartment, Attorney Says

BY DAVID FISCHER

7:51 PM EDT, May 8, 2024

MIAMI (AP) — Deputies responding to a disturbance call at a Florida apartment complex burst into the wrong unit and fatally shot a Black U.S. Air Force airman who was home alone when they saw he was armed with a gun, an attorney for the man’s family said Wednesday.

Senior Airman Roger Fortson, 23, who was based at the Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, was in his off-base apartment in Fort Walton Beach when the shooting happened on May 3.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said in a statement that Fortson was on a Facetime call with a woman at the time of the encounter.

According to Crump, the woman, whom Crump didn’t identify, said Fortson was alone in his apartment when he heard a knock at the door. He asked who was there but didn’t get a response. A few minutes later, Fortson heard a louder knock but didn’t see anyone when he looked through the peephole, Crump said, citing the woman’s account.

The woman said Fortson was concerned and went to retrieve his gun, which Crump said was legally owned.

As Fortson walked back through his living room, deputies burst through the door, saw that Fortson was armed and shot him six times, according to Crump’s statement. The woman said Fortson was on the ground, saying, “I can’t breathe,” after he was shot, Crump said.

Fortson died at a hospital, officials said. The deputy involved in the shooting was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.

The woman said Fortson wasn’t causing a disturbance during their Facetime call and believes that the deputies must have had the wrong apartment, Crump’s statement said.

“The circumstances surrounding Roger’s death raise serious questions that demand immediate answers from authorities, especially considering the alarming witness statement that the police entered the wrong apartment,” Crump said.

“We are calling for transparency in the investigation into Roger’s death and the immediate release of body cam video to the family,” Crump said. “His family and the public deserve to know what occurred in the moments leading up to this tragedy.”

Crump is a nationally known attorney based in Tallahassee, Florida. He has been involved in multiple high-profile law enforcement shooting cases involving Black people, including those of Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, Tyre Nichols and George Floyd.

Crump and Fortson’s family plan to speak at a news conference in Fort Walton Beach on Thursday morning.

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office didn’t immediately respond to an email or voicemail from The Associated Press seeking comment about Crump’s claims. But Sheriff Eric Aden posted a statement on Facebook Wednesday afternoon expressing sadness about the shooting.

“At this time, we humbly ask for our community’s patience as we work to understand the facts that resulted in this tragic event,” Aden said.

The sheriff’s office said in a statement last week that a deputy responding to a call of a disturbance in progress at the apartment complex reacted in self-defense after encountering an armed man. The office did not offer details on what kind of disturbance deputies were responding to or who called them.

The sheriff’s office also declined to immediately identify the responding deputies or their races. Officials said earlier this week that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the local State Attorney’s Office will investigate the shooting.

FDLE spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger told The Associated Press on Wednesday that it is highly unlikely the agency will have any further comment until the investigation is complete.

Fortson was assigned to the 4th Special Operations Squadron as a special missions aviator, where one of his roles as a member of the squadron’s AC-130J Ghostrider aircrew was to load the gunship’s 30mm and 105mm cannons during missions.

Fortson’s death draws striking similarities to other Black people killed in recent years by police in their homes, in circumstances that involved officers responding to the wrong address or responding to service calls with wanton uses of deadly force.

In 2018, a white former Dallas police offer fatally shot Botham Jean, an unarmed Black man, after mistaking his apartment for her own. Amber Guyger, the former officer, was found guilty of murder the following year and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

In 2019, a white former Fort Worth, Texas, officer fatally shot Atatiana Jefferson through a rear window of her home after responding to a nonemergency call reporting that Jefferson’s front door was open. Aaron Dean, the former officer, was found guilty of manslaughter in 2022 and was sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison.

Crump has represented families in both cases as part of his ongoing effort to force accountability for the killings of Black people at the hands of police.

“What I’m trying to do, as much as I can, even sometimes singlehandedly, is increase the value of Black life,” Crump told The Associated Press in 2021 following the conviction a former Minneapolis officer in the murder of George Floyd.

Fort Walton Beach is between Panama City Beach and Pensacola in the Florida Panhandle.

____

Associated Press reporters Curt Anderson in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Aaron Morrison in New York contributed to this story.

Georgia Appeals Court Agrees to Review Ruling Allowing Fani Willis to Stay on Trump Election Case

BY KATE BRUMBACK

12:57 PM EDT, May 8, 2024

ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia appeals court on Wednesday agreed to review a lower court ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to continue to prosecute the election interference case she brought against former President Donald Trump.

The move seems likely to delay the case and is the second time in as many days that the former president has gotten a favorable ruling that could push any future trials beyond the November election, when he is expected to be the Republican nominee for president. A day earlier, the judge in his Florida classified documents case indefinitely postponed that trial date.

Trump and some other defendants in Georgia had tried to get Willis and her office removed the case, saying her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade created a conflict of interest. Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee in March found that no conflict of interest existed that should force Willis off the case, but he granted a request from Trump and the other defendants to seek an appeal of his ruling from the Georgia Court of Appeals.

Donald Trump squirmed and scowled, shook his head and muttered as Stormy Daniels described the unexpected sex she says they had in a hotel nearly two decades ago.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ testimony about her relationship with a special prosecutor in Georgia’s election interference case against former President Donald Trump was a familiar scene for many Black women.

That intermediate appeals court agreed on Wednesday to take up the case. Once it rules, the losing side could ask the Georgia Supreme Court to consider an appeal.

Trump’s lead attorney in Georgia, Steve Sadow, said in an email that the former president looks forward to presenting arguments to the appeals court as to why the case should be dismissed and why Willis “should be disqualified for her misconduct in this unjustified, unwarranted political persecution.”

A spokesperson for Willis declined to comment on the Court of Appeals decision to take up the matter.

In his order, McAfee said he planned to continue to address other pretrial motions “regardless of whether the petition is granted ... and even if any subsequent appeal is expedited by the appellate court.” But Trump and the others could ask the Court of Appeals to stay the case while the appeal is pending.

McAfee wrote in his order in March that the prosecution was “encumbered by an appearance of impropriety.” He said Willis could remain on the case only if Wade left, and the special prosecutor submitted his resignation hours later.

The allegations that Willis had improperly benefited from her romance with Wade resulted in a tumultuous couple of months in the case as intimate details of Willis and Wade’s personal lives were aired in court in mid-February. The serious charges in one of four criminal cases against the Republican former president were largely overshadowed by the love lives of the prosecutors.

Trump and 18 others were indicted in August, accused of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to illegally try to overturn his narrow 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden in Georgia.

All of the defendants were charged with violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, law, an expansive anti-racketeering statute. Four people charged in the case have pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors. Trump and the others have pleaded not guilty.

Trump and other defendants had argued in their appeal application that McAfee was wrong not to remove both Willis and Wade, writing that “providing DA Willis with the option to simply remove Wade confounds logic and is contrary to Georgia law.”

The allegations against Willis first surfaced in a motion filed in early January by Ashleigh Merchant, a lawyer for former Trump campaign staffer and onetime White House aide Michael Roman. The motion alleged that Willis and Wade were involved in an inappropriate romantic relationship and that Willis paid Wade large sums for his work and then benefitted when he paid for lavish vacations.

Willis and Wade acknowledged the relationship but said they didn’t begin dating until the spring of 2022, after Wade was hired in November 2021, and their romance ended last summer. They also testified that they split travel costs roughly evenly, with Willis often paying expenses or reimbursing Wade in cash.

Southern Brazil is Still Reeling from Massive Flooding as it Faces Risk from New Storms

Cars sit on a submerged road in an area flooded by heavy rain in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

BY MAURICIO SAVARESE AND GABRIELA SÁ PESSOA

8:09 PM EDT, May 8, 2024

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (AP) — As major floods engulfed entire cities in the northern part of the Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul state last week, meteorologist Estael Sias knew the water would drain into capital Porto Alegre’s metropolitan region and that she would need to find a safe place.

So she, her husband, three children, and two dogs left everything behind. Less than 24 hours later, water started filling her neighborhood in Canoas, now one of the state’s most affected cities.

“My house was inundated,” Sias recalled, her voice cracking. “And it was very hard to leave my house, to make my family leave.” She said she could protect her close family, but not others who insisted on staying put. “It has been very distressing and still is. I don’t know how it will be when I return home.”

Authorities in southern Brazil rushed Wednesday to rescue survivors of massive flooding that has killed at least 100 people, but some residents refused to leave belongings behind while others returned to evacuated homes despite the risk of new storms.

Heavy rains and flooding in Rio Grande do Sul since last week also have left 130 people missing, authorities said. More than 230,000 have been displaced, and much of the region has been isolated by the floodwaters.

On Wednesday authorities in southern Brazil rushed to rescue survivors of massive flooding that has killed at least 100 people. (08 May) (Ap/Lucas Dumphreys)

Storms were expected in the state on Wednesday evening, with hail and wind gusts reaching up to 60 kilometers per hour (37 mph), according to the national meteorology institute’s afternoon bulletin. And the institute forecasts a cold front this weekend with additional rains, to be particularly intense in the state’s north and east.

In Porto Alegre, about 300 people were sheltering at the local club Gremio Nautico Uniao, based in the upscale, little-harmed neighborhood of Moinhos de Vento. Dozens lay on mattresses as volunteers brought boxes filled with feijoada — a typical Brazilian bean-and-pork stew.

Heitor da Silva was among them, having heeded authorities’ warnings. Still, he’s anxious about his future.

“I only took my documents, three shirts, two pieces of underwear and my flip-flops. All the rest is gone,” said da Silva, 68. “I already had very little, but that stayed there. When I go home, there will be nothing. Then what?”

Staffers of the state’s civil defense agency told The Associated Press they have been struggling to persuade residents of the city of Eldorado do Sul, one of the hardest hit by the floods, to leave their homes. It is located beside Porto Alegre, near the center of the state’s coastline. At least four people declined to evacuate.

A boat navigates through a flooded street after heavy rain in Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Carlos Macedo)

A flyover of Eldorado do Sul in a military helicopter showed hundreds of houses submerged, with only their roofs visible. Residents were using small boards, surfboards and personal watercraft to move around. Mayor Ernani de Freitas told local journalists that the city “will be totally evacuated.”

“It will take at least a year to recover,” he said.

Rio Grande do Sul’s Gov. Eduardo Leite, speaking at a news conference late Tuesday, appealed to residents to stay out of harm’s way, as the anticipated downpour may cause more severe flooding across the state.

“It isn’t the time to return home,” he said.

The civil defense agency’s own urgent warning asking displaced residents not to return to flooded areas also stressed the risk of disease transmission.

Army Gen. Marcelo Zucco, one of the coordinators of rescue operations, told the AP his team is working at full speed before heavy rains that are forecast to hit the Porto Alegre area this weekend. Moderate rain was falling Wednesday afternoon in the city.

“We hope the next rains are not like those we saw, but there’s no way to be sure there won’t be trouble ahead of us,” Zucco said.

“At this moment we are focusing on finishing rescue operations and starting logistical support to the population. That’s bringing water, medication, food and transportation for the sick to some hospital,” the general added.

He also said some improvement in conditions for the day helped his men finally access some areas by land.

Unusually heavy rains have also inundated parts of Uruguay, causing rivers to overflow in the country’s east and displacing nearly 1,000 people, authorities said, with rescuers reporting that they had evacuated 200 stranded people, helped by the army. There were no immediate reports of casualties, but the rescue service said flash floods had damaged over a dozen roads and left thousands of people without electricity.

Over the weekend, rain in northern Rio Grande do Sul could prompt renewed swelling of rivers that are already causing widespread flooding around the Patos lagoon, where the Porto Alegre municipal region is located, said Sias, the meteorologist in Rio Grande do Sul, who works for a forecasting service based there.

“We will remain on this level of alert at least until the end of the month,” she said.

A report by the National Confederation of Municipalities estimates damages at 4.6 billion reais ($930 million) in nearly 80% of Rio Grande do Sul’s municipalities.

Gov. Leite has said that the enormous impact will require something akin to the Marshall Plan for Europe’s post-WWII recovery. Already the state has asked the federal government to suspend debt payments and create a fund for the southern region.

On Tuesday, Congress passed a decree declaring a state of calamity in Rio Grande do Sul until the end of the year, allowing the federal government to quickly allocate money to mitigate the catastrophe and rebuild regions affected by the floods, bypassing a spending cap. The vote united supporters and opponents of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government.

“There is no limit to the public spending necessary to resolve the problem of the calamity that today is ravaging Rio Grande do Sul state,” Planning and Budget Minister Simone Tebet told Radio Gaucha in an interview.

____

Sá Pessoa reported from Sao Paulo. AP videojournalist Lucas Dumphreys contributed from Porto Alegre and writer Isabel DeBre from Buenos Aires..

An Extremist Group and Ethnic Militias Committed Atrocities in Mali, Human Rights Watch Says

BY BABA AHMED

6:53 AM EDT, May 8, 2024

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — An extremist group linked to al-Qaida carried out mass killings in two villages in central Mali in January, Human Rights Watch said in a report Wednesday, in an apparent war crime that caused thousands to flee their homes.

The group known as JNIM killed at least 32 people, including three children, during attacks on Jan. 27 on the villages of Ogota and Ouémbé, and set fire to over 350 homes, the report said, quoting villagers who described the carnage as ethnically motivated.

The report also documented a separate incident in which an ethnic armed group killed 13 people and abducted 24 civilians in two other villages in central Mali on Jan. 6.

“Islamist armed groups and ethnic militias are brutally attacking civilians without fear of prosecution,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities need to act to end the deadly cycles of violence and revenge killings and better protect threatened civilians.”

The attacks are part of a cycle of retaliatory killings in central Mali, where extremists and ethnic armed groups operate, Human Rights Watch said. Some ethnic groups like the Fulani have been targeted by Dogon and Bambara militias, who accuse them of backing extremist groups such as JNIM.

Survivors of the attacks told Human Rights Watch they were targeted because of their ethnicity and called on the government to do more to protect them.

Mali, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, has battled an insurgency by armed groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Following military coups in all three nations in recent years, the ruling juntas have expelled French forces and turned to Russia’s mercenary units for security assistance.

In December 2023, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali pulled out of the country at the request of the junta.

“We have continuously asked for a military presence but the government says that the army does not have the manpower to ensure one,” a resident of Segue, a village in central Mali, told The Associated Press. He did not want to be named out of fear of reprisal from local armed groups.

Malian authorities declined to comment.

Algeria’s Leader Demands Justice Over French Colonial-era Wrongdoing

2:42 PM EDT, May 8, 2024

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — While France celebrated the anniversary of victory over the Nazis on Wednesday, Algeria commemorated a more somber anniversary: The crackdown by French colonial forces on Algerian independence activists the same day 79 years ago.

Both events took place on May 8, 1945.

In Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron lay a wreath Wednesday at the eternal flame beneath the Napoleon-era Arc de Triomphe, honoring those killed fighting the Nazis and marking the end of World War II in Europe.

At the time of the war, Algeria was the crown jewel in France’s colonial empire, and Algerian soldiers were among those sent to fight for France in Europe. The end of World War II unleashed independence movements across the former French and British empires.

In Algiers on Wednesday, ceremonies were being held to honor demonstrators who took to the streets in the towns of Guelma, Sétif and Kherrata to call for freedom from French rule.

“On this day we are remembering the massacres of May 8, 1945, committed by the colonizer with extreme brutality and cruelty, to repress a growing national activist movement that had resulted in massive demonstrations expressing the revolt of the Algerian people and its aspiration to freedom and emancipation,’’ Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said in a statement.

They were unusually strong remarks from the Algerian leader, and a reminder of the lingering tensions with France more than 60 years after Algeria won its independence in a painful 1954-1962 war.

Algeria and France today have close economic, security and energy ties, but the question of historical justice remains a sore spot.

Tebboune is expected to raise it on a trip to France later this year. The issue of historical memory ‘’will remain at the center of our concerns until it enjoys an objective treatment that pays justice to historical truth,’’ Tebboune said in his statement this week.

During a visit to Algeria in 2022, Macron struck a chummy rapport with Tebboune and agreed to create a commission of historians from both countries to make proposals for reconciliation. The commission released proposals this year, including returning documents and artifacts from French archives to Algeria.

Algerian politicians have also sought financial reparations over French nuclear tests in the Sahara — and, most importantly, an official apology from France for colonial-era crimes.

As France’s first leader born after that era, Macron has sought to confront his country’s past wrongdoing while pivoting to a new era of relations with former colonies. But he has faced criticism at home, amid growing public support for far-right nationalists who champion the grievances of some French descendants of colonizers.

Families of the Victims of Attacks on Displaced People in Congo Mourn Their Dead

People gather in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Monday, May 6, 2024, to mourn the victims of the Mugunga Camp attack three days earlier. The signs read: ‘Yes to peace, No to war’ and ‘Attacking civilians is a war crime.’ (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

BY RUTH ALONGA AND MARK BANCHEREAU

11:46 AM EDT, May 8, 2024

GOMA, Congo (AP) — Families of the victims of last week’s bomb attacks on two camps of displaced people in eastern Congo gathered to mourn their loved ones at a ceremony on Monday evening. During the ceremony in the city of Goma in the North Kivu Province, mourners sang and lit candles in tribute to the deceased.

The bombings at the Mugunga and Lac Vert displacement camps killed at least 18 people and injured another 32, according to the United Nations. It wasn’t clear which type of explosives were used in the attacks. Most of the victims were women and children.

Alimeti Kigiho, who survived the attack, had sought shelter from eastern Congo’s long war at the Mugunga displacement camp in February, only to be shaken by explosions while going to fetch water. He ran back to his tent, where he found the bodies of his wife and two young children, aged 6 and 2, in pieces.

“War has taken everything from me,” Kigiho, 45, told the Associated Press.

The Congolese army and a rebel group known as M23 have blamed each other for the bombings. The March 23 Movement, or M23, is a rebel military group mainly made up of ethnic Tutsis that broke away from the Congolese army 12 years ago.

The decades long conflict in eastern Congo has produced one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with over 100 armed groups fighting in the region, most for land and control of mines with valuable minerals. Some are fighting to try to protect their communities. Many groups are accused of carrying out mass killings, rapes and other human rights violations.

The violence has displaced about 7 million people, including thousands living in temporary camps like the ones attacked last week. Many others are beyond the reach of aid.

Justine Joza Bushashire, lost her 19-year-old son, Daudi, in the bombings. Before the attacks, he used to sell phone charging units in the camp to help support his family.

”He wanted to join the army, I opposed it because I relied heavily on him, but today he is gone,” said Justine, 37, in tears.

The attacks have driven some residents in the camp to consider returning to their homes, despite the dangers that caused them to flee in the first place.

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi accuses neighboring Rwanda of destabilizing Congo by backing the M23 rebels. U.N. experts, along with the U.S. State Department, have also accused Rwanda of backing the rebels. Rwanda denies the claims.

Some of the mourners at the ceremony on Monday criticized President Tshisekedi along with the international community for failing to end the long-running conflict.

“If he is unable to end this war, he should resign,” Bienfait Bonane, a youth from Goma, told the Associated Press.

Kenya’s Public Hospital Doctors Sign Agreement to End National Strike After Almost 2 Months

FILE - Doctors and other medical staff take part in a protest, in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Kenya’s public hospital doctors union on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, signed a return to work agreement with the government, ending a national strike that began in mid-March and had left patients in limbo. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga, File)

BY EVELYNE MUSAMBI

8:24 PM EDT, May 8, 2024

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya’s public hospital doctors union on Wednesday signed a return to work agreement with the government, ending a national strike that began in mid-March and had left patients in limbo.

Davji Atellah, the union secretary general, said the doctors agreed to trust the government to implement an agreement to ensure the labor issues that caused the strike, including poor remuneration and working conditions, are resolved.

A labor court on Tuesday had given doctors and the government 48 hours to sign a return to work agreement, failure to which the matter would be determined by the court.

Kenya’s Health Minister Susan Nakhumicha said the doctors had proved to be better negotiators than the government side, adding that they had put up “quite a fight.”

The end of the strike comes as a relief to millions of Kenyans seeking health services from public hospitals that had been crippled by the strike.

Some hospitals had decided to hire temporary doctors for emergency services.

In 2017, doctors at Kenya’s public hospitals held a 100-day strike — the longest ever held in the country — to demand better wages and for the government to restore the country’s dilapidated public-health facilities.

Kenya is currently dealing with the devastating effects of flooding that has affected 235,000 people since mid-March when the rainy season started.

Kenya Declares Public Holiday to Mourn Flood Victims

As heavy rains persist in Kenya, the nation grapples with the catastrophic consequences of flooding triggered by the incessant downpour wreaking havoc on livelihoods. In Kiambu, Charles Otieno, owner of a car repair shop, wades through pools of water to attend to customers in a determined effort to provide for his family of two. (AP Video/Desmond Tiro)

BY EVELYNE MUSAMBI

7:00 AM EDT, May 8, 2024

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya’s President William Ruto has declared Friday a public holiday to mourn the 238 people who have died due to ongoing flooding.

The president on Wednesday said the day will be observed by national tree planting activities to help mitigate the effects of climate change.

Kenya, along with other parts of East Africa, have been overwhelmed by floods. More than 235,000 people are displaced and living in dozens of camps.

President Ruto also announced the reopening of schools countrywide, after two weeks delay due to heavy rains that have destroyed hundreds of schools.

The government had said more than 1,000 schools were affected by the heavy rains and flooding and set aside funds for renovations.

The metrology department in its daily weather forecast has continued to predict moderate to heavy rainfall in most parts of the country.

The government is in the process of forcefully evacuating people living in flood prone areas and those near rivers and dams as water levels in the country’s major hydroelectric dams rise to “historic levels”.

This week, the government bulldozed houses in informal settlements of Mathare and Mukuru in the capital Nairobi and the president promised evicted families the equivalent of $75 to relocate after a deadline passed to evacuate amid deadly rains.

Dozens Still Missing After South African Building Collapse; 7 Confirmed Dead

Rescue teams made contact with workers trapped under the rubble of concrete after a multi-story apartment complex collapsed in a coastal city in South Africa.

BY NQOBILE NTSHANGASE AND GERALD IMRAY

1:45 PM EDT, May 8, 2024

GEORGE, South Africa (AP) — Rescue teams used underground cameras and sniffer dogs Wednesday to search for nearly 40 construction workers still missing in rubble two days after the collapse of an apartment building under construction in coastal South Africa.

Seven workers have been confirmed dead, while 16 of the 29 people rescued from the debris were in critical condition in hospitals and an additional six had life-threatening injuries, authorities said. They said 39 workers were still unaccounted for and buried in the rubble of concrete and mangled metal scaffolding.

The unfinished five-story apartment complex collapsed Monday in George, a city on South Africa’s south coast around 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Cape Town. It sparked a desperate rescue effort that has drawn disaster response teams from other towns and cities. A total of 75 construction workers were at the building site when it came down, the George municipality said.

More than 200 rescue personnel continued to search for survivors. Cranes and other heavy lifting equipment were brought in to lift some of the huge concrete slabs that came crashing down on workers, while rescuers formed lines to remove the smaller rubble by hand.

Rescuers said some of the survivors had used their cell phones while trapped under the debris to contact family members and that had helped emergency responders find them.

There were cheers and applause when some survivors were brought out Tuesday night.

Colin Deiner, the head of the rescue effort, said it was a “very successful night” but there was less progress Wednesday. Rescuers had been speaking with those survivors through the rubble before bringing them out, but they were not hearing anything from beneath the debris anymore, Deiner said.

The operation was now moving into a new phase, where rescuers would rely more on heavy equipment to lift concrete so they could get access to deeper areas in the hope there were more survivors in voids — gaps in the collapsed debris.

“We will remain in rescue mode,” Deiner said. “Our crew is working in difficult conditions and work will continue in various areas we can get access to. Large equipment will be brought in.”

The George municipality continued to call for donations of water, energy drinks and food for the rescue personnel, who had been working in shifts for more than 48 hours. The provincial Western Cape government has sent emergency response teams from Cape Town and other cities to help with a rescue effort that officials said would likely last at least until Friday.

George is a city of around 150,000 people on South Africa’s picturesque coastal Garden Route and is more renowned as a vacation and golfing destination.

Authorities have announced multiple investigations into the cause of the building collapse, including by police, the provincial government and the national department of labor.

“There will be consequences,” said Anton Bredell, the Provincial Minister of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning.

___

Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa.

Survivors Rescued, Dozens Still Trapped After a Deadly Building Collapse in South Africa

Rescue teams made contact with workers trapped under the rubble of concrete after a multi-story apartment complex collapsed in a coastal city in South Africa.

BY GERALD IMRAY

10:32 PM EDT, May 7, 2024

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Rescue teams searching for dozens of construction workers missing after an apartment complex collapsed in South Africa brought out more survivors Tuesday as they entered a second night of desperate work to find anyone alive in the wreckage. At least seven people have been confirmed dead.

Authorities said 26 workers had now been rescued from the site where the five-story building collapsed Monday while under construction in George, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Cape Town on South Africa’s south coast. An additional 42 people are believed to be still buried in the debris of concrete and metal scaffolding.

Rescuers were hopeful of more people being found alive after saying earlier that they had made contact with at least 11 workers trapped in the rubble and were communicating with them.

It wasn’t immediately clear how many of those had been rescued but five survivors were brought out on Tuesday, adding to the 21 found on Monday, according to a count provided by city authorities. There were 75 construction workers on the site when the building collapsed.

Rescuers erupted in applause as one of the survivors was brought to the surface. They yelled at the man to “stay with us!” as he was pulled out of a gap in the wreckage and put on a stretcher. They then shouted to him, “you are outside now!”

Authorities haven’t given updated details on the extent of the injuries but said in the first few hours after the collapse that at least 11 of the workers rescued had severe injuries.

Colin Deiner, head of the provincial Western Cape disaster management services, said the search-and-rescue operation would likely take at least three days. He said it would take at least the rest of Tuesday to bring out all 11 of the survivors they had located, which included a group of four workers trapped in what was the basement of the building.

Some of those workers had limbs under concrete slabs and couldn’t move, Deiner said.

“We are going to give it the absolute maximum time to see how many people we can rescue,” Deiner said at a news conference. “It is very, very difficult if you are working with concrete breakers and drillers close to people.”

“Our big concern is entrapment for many hours, when a person’s body parts are compressed. So, you need to get medical help to them. We got our medics in as soon as we possibly could.”

Deiner said it was possible that there were more survivors deeper in the wreckage and a process of removing layers of concrete would begin in time.

More than 100 emergency services and other personnel had been working on the site in shifts and the rescue operation had passed the 30-hour mark since the building collapsed. Rescuers were using sniffer dogs to try to locate workers. Large cranes and other heavy lifting equipment were brought in to help and tall spotlights were erected to allow the rescuers to work in the dark.

Deiner said a critical part of the rescue operation came when they had ordered everyone to remain quiet and shut off machinery so they could listen for any survivors. That’s when they located some of them, he said.

“We were actually hearing people through the rubble,” Deiner said.

Several local hospitals were making space in their trauma units in anticipation that more people might be brought out alive. More than 50 emergency responders had also been brought in from other towns and cities to help, including a specialized team that deals with rescue operations in collapsed structures.

Family and friends of the workers had gathered at the nearby municipal offices and were being supported by social workers, the George municipality said.

Authorities were starting investigations into what caused the tragedy, and a criminal case was opened by police, but there was no immediate information on why the building collapsed. CCTV footage from a nearby home showed the concrete structure and metal scaffolding suddenly collapsing, causing a plume of dust to rise over the neighborhood.

People came streaming out of other buildings after the collapse, with some of them screaming and shouting.

Alan Winde, the premier of the Western Cape province, said there would be investigations by both the provincial government and the police.

Authorities said that under city law the private construction company’s engineers were responsible for the safety of the building site until its completion, when it would be handed over to the city to check and clear.

Winde said the priority was the rescue effort and investigations would unfold after that.

“At the moment, officials are focused on saving lives. This is our top priority at this stage,” Winde said.

The national government was being briefed on the rescue operation, Winde said. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa released a statement offering his condolences to families of the victims and also called for investigations into the cause of the collapse.

South Africa: 5 Workers Dead, 49 Still Missing After a Building Collapsed

The scene of a collapsed building in George, South Africa, Tuesday, May 7, 2024.

By Africa News

Rescue teams worked through the night searching for dozens of construction workers buried for more than 12 hours under the rubble of concrete after a multi-story apartment complex that was being built collapsed in a coastal city in South Africa.

Authorities said early Tuesday (May. 7) that the death toll had risen to five, while 49 workers remained buried in the mangled wreckage of the building, which collapsed on Monday afternoon. Authorities said a further 21 workers had been rescued from the rubble and taken to various hospitals, with at least 11 of them suffering severe injuries.

The collapse happened in the city of George, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Cape Town on South Africa's south coast.

More than 100 emergency personnel and other responders were on the scene, using sniffer dogs to try to locate workers, some of whom were trapped under huge slabs of concrete that fell on them when the five-story building came down.

Large cranes and other heavy lifting equipment were brought to the site to help with the rescue effort and tall spotlights were erected to allow search and rescue personnel to work through the night.

Rescuers made contact with 11 workers trapped in the rubble and were hopeful of bringing them out, said Colin Deiner, the chief director of the provincial Western Cape Disaster Management and Fire and Rescue Services. He said some of them were talking to rescuers but couldn't move because they had limbs trapped under concrete.

"It's a very tough operation," said Deiner, who was at the scene. "There's a lot of concrete ... so we think it will still take quite a while. The search operation will continue all day. We've got a lot of people on the scene but it's really, really hard work."

"So many people trapped in a building like that is like searching for a needle in a haystack. You literally have to break through the concrete and cut through the reinforcing."

Ongoing rescue operation

There were 75 workers on the construction site when the building collapsed, the George municipality said. It said three teams of rescuers were working at separate sites around the collapsed building where they believed construction workers were likely to be.

Family and friends of the workers gathered at the nearby municipal offices.

"Our thoughts are with the families and all those affected who continue to wait on word of their loved ones," George Executive Mayor Leon Van Wyk said.

Authorities were investigating what caused the tragedy and a case was opened by police, but there was no immediate information on why the building suddenly collapsed. CCTV footage from a nearby home showed the concrete structure and metal scaffolding around it come crashing down at 2.09 p.m. on Monday afternoon, causing a plume of dust to rise over the neighborhood.

People came streaming out of other buildings after the collapse, with some of them screaming and shouting.

Marco Ferreira, a local representative of the Gift of the Givers nongovernmental organization, was at the site with a team to offer support and food and drink to the rescuers on Monday. Gift of the Givers is a charity that often helps during disasters in South Africa. It also provided three sniffer dogs and handlers to help with the search, Ferreira said.

"The situation at this stage is still very much in the rescue stages," Ferreira told the eNCA TV news channel. "We don't know, it's probably going to carry on for days. There are some cranes there to help lift some concrete. But it's not a pretty sight."

The provincial Western Cape government sent Deiner, the head of its disaster response unit, from Cape Town to George to oversee the rescue operation and Western Cape Premier Alan Winde, the head of the provincial government, was also at the scene.

Winde said the provincial government had also sent extra resources to assist.

"All the necessary support has been offered to emergency personnel to expedite their response. At the moment, officials are focused on saving lives. This is our top priority at this stage," Winde said in a statement.

The national government was being briefed on the rescue operation, Winde said.

Italy PM in Libya to Sign Deals Part of "Mattei Plan" for Africa

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni meets Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, a prime minister of Libya under the Government of National Unity, in Tripoli, Libya,on May. 7, 2024.

By Africa News

The Prime minister of the UN-backed government in Libya hosted his Italian counterpart, in Tripoli Tuesday (May. 7)

Abdul Hamid Dbeibah and Giorgia Meloni held bilateral talks.

Meloni was accompanied by the Minister of University and Research, the Minister of Health, and the Minister of Sport and Youth who signed declarations of intent to step up cooperation.

The declarations on university cooperation and research, health, sports and youth are part of the Mattei Plan framework.

A plan sponsored by the Italian government which seeks to reduce illegal migration from Africa to Italy through economic prosperity. The plan also aims to transform Italy into a key energy supply hub.

Libya’s location on the Mediterranean, and the political chaos that followed the killing of Muammar Kadafi, have made the country a major route for migrants trying to reach Europe.

In the instability context, the country split, with rival administrations in the east and west backed by rogue militias and foreign governments.

The Libya to Italy crossing is nwo one of the most-used and dangerous routes for sea migration.

According to Italian news Agency, Agenzia Nova, Meloni will also meet with Khalifa Haftar. Libya's other strongman who virtually controls the eastern part of the country.

Before Libya and most recenty Albania, Italy, a coastal European country, sought more solidarity from fellow EU nations, mainly in vain.

Additional sources • Agenzia Nova

Kenya Continues Forceful Demolition of Nairobi Informal Settlements Near Rivers

A bulldozer demolishes houses on land near a river in the Mukuru area of Nairobi

By Africa News

Kenya's government has continued the forceful eviction of people living in most of the informal settlements in Nairobi that are next to rivers.

Last Tuesday, President William Ruto ordered the evacuation of all homes along the nation’s waterways.

The announcement came a day after a torrent of water swept away scores of people in an area some 50 kilometres east of the capital.

Tensions were high in Nairobi’s settlements on Tuesday with residents saying they were caught unawares, despite the 48-hour directive to move lapsing five days ago.

As anguished residents watched the demolition of their homes, many directed their pain at President William Ruto saying his government had failed them.

"Ruto we voted for because you said you will safeguard the poor, now are you helping the poor or you are actually finishing them. If you plan to finish poor people then just bomb us all and get it done with," said resident Elizabeth Katana.

As excavators and bulldozers pulled down structures, some residents watched helplessly as others tried to grab iron sheets, timber, and anything of value they could get their hands on.

The death toll in weeks of flooding and landslides caused by torrential rain has risen to over 200.

The Interior Ministry said earlier this week that 164 people are still missing, with a total of 42,526 households displaced by the ongoing flooding, affecting over 210,000 people.

It also said it has begun setting up camps in various parts of the country to host those displaced by the flooding.

Congo Military Releases 2 Kenya Airways Staffers Held for 2 Weeks over Cargo Dispute

BY EVELYNE MUSAMBI

2:28 AM EDT, May 7, 2024

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Republic of Congo’s military has released two Kenya Airways staffers who were detained for two weeks in a cargo dispute, Kenya’s foreign ministry said Monday.

The staffers’ detention had led Kenya Airways to suspend flights to Congo, but the state-owned airline said flights would resume Wednesday.

The airline said it had rejected the cargo because it didn’t have the required documentation. The nature of the cargo, described as “valuable,” hasn’t been disclosed.

Congo’s military had arrested the staffers from the airline’s offices in the main airport in the capital, Kinshasa.

A military court granted the airline’s application for their release but the military continued to hold them.

Kenya and Congo have cordial relations, with Kenya participating in U.N-backed peacekeeping missions in Congo.

The Kenyan Embassy in Congo negotiated for the release of the staffers, Foreign Ministry Principal Secretary Korir Singoei had said.

Colleagues and embassy officials were only granted a few minutes with the two.

Singoei met the family of one of the detained staffers and assured them that their kin would be safe and “fairly treated” by the authorities in Congo.

EVELYNE MUSAMBI

Musambi is an Associated Press reporter based in Nairobi, Kenya. She covers regional security, geopolitics, trade relations and foreign policy across East Africa.

New Liberia Forest Boss Plans to Increase Exports, Denies Working with War Criminal Charles Taylor

(AP Illustration/Peter Hamlin)

BY ED DAVEY

9:55 AM EDT, May 6, 2024

Liberia, West Africa’s most forested country, has a long history of illegal logging, which the country’s regulator, the Forestry Development Authority, has repeatedly struggled to confront.

So it raised eyebrows when Rudolph Merab, whose companies were twice found to have engaged in illegal logging, was recently appointed to lead the FDA. One of Merab’s companies was also mentioned in the trial of Charles Taylor, a former Liberia president who was convicted of war crimes during the civil war in neighboring country Sierra Leone.

In an interview with The Associated Press, for the first time Merab answered questions about his past and detailed his plans for managing Liberia’s forests, promising to increase timber exports and cut regulations.

“Commercial logging has always helped the country,” said Merab, interviewed by phone in late April, adding that more sawmills were needed so freshly cut trees could be processed within Liberia before being exported.

Liberia, a country of more than 5 million people, is bordered by Sierra Leone, Guinea and Ivory Coast, and has a long coastline along the Atlantic Ocean. Despite a recent past that includes civil war and chronic problems with illegal logging, much of its tropical forests remain lush and intact.

Merab implied that twice as many trees could be felled compared to Liberia’s previous peak without endangering its rainforests, which are home to West African chimpanzees and endangered forest elephants. The highest previous annual timber exports from Liberia were 1.4 million cubic meters (1.83 cubic yards), he said, whereas 3 million cubic meters (3.92 million cubic yards) would be sustainable. That would be the equivalent of about 1,200 Olympic-sized swimming pools filled with wood.

Last year, the AP revealed $3 million of timber had been illegally logged under the FDA’s then managing director Mike Doryen. He presided over a shadow system for illegal log exports in which up to 70% of timber was exported off-the-books, a dossier compiled by the U.K. Foreign Office said. Doryen has denied wrongdoing.

The United Kingdom and European Union, both major donors to Liberian forest conservation, hoped a change in government would bring about a new era. Ex-president and former footballer George Weah, who appointed Doryen and refused to sack him despite sustained diplomatic pressure, was voted out of office last year. That meant a new boss of the FDA.

President Joseph Boakai’s February appointment of Merab has been met with criticism by environmentalists. Requests to the president’s office seeking comment on Merab’s appointment were not answered.

“Fifteen years ago, there was real hope that a newly reformed Liberian forest sector could become a shining example of how to manage tropical forests legally and sustainably,” said Sam Lawson, founding director of nonprofit Earthsight and a timber expert who trained new FDA staff when the organization was reformed in the 2000s. “This latest news is the nail in the coffin of those hopes.”

As president a trade group, the Liberia Timber Association, Merab strongly criticized a $150 million deal between Liberia and Norway that aimed to protect remaining forests. He argued it threatened the logging industry and said he would leave “no stone unturned” in challenging it.

A logger since the 1980s, one of Merab’s companies, Liberia Wood Management Corporation, came up in the trial of Taylor, convicted for aiding rebels during Sierra Leone’s civil war. Taylor’s activities were part-funded through the sale of what was dubbed “blood timber.”

While being tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity, Taylor was accused by prosecutors of channeling support through LWMC to the rebels, something the former president denied. A 2001 U.N. report said LWMC was attacked by opposing rebels “to discourage them from doing business with Charles Taylor.”

Merab told the AP that he had “engaged” with the Taylor but gave no details. LWMC did business with the Republic of Liberia, not with Taylor, Merab said.

“I never engaged in arms trafficking. I was one of those who was affected by this,” said Merab. “We never participated in the war, we never supported any members of the war.”

Merab also took issue with determinations by previous governments that his companies had been involved in illegal logging. In 2005, a Liberia government review found LWMC’s sizable logging concessions were illegal. The company’s contract didn’t comply with the rule of law or labor laws and had tax arrears of $1.4 million, the review found. The company’s concessions were subsequently canceled.

The findings were “completely incorrect,” said Merab. “From the time I started logging, I worked within the confines of the law.”

Merab said there was no court judgement finding illegality, but rather an executive order from then President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf made without proof. Merab said some taxes were owed but it was a smaller amount than alleged.

In 2012, a scandal hit another of Merab’s companies, Bodeco. A government investigation found its contract had “many inconsistencies” and was “void for illegality.” Bodeco had more than 90,000 hectares (347 square miles) worth of logging permits revoked.

The company “knew or should have known that they were executing a contract with material falsehoods,” the review found.

Merab said that Bodeco’s concessions were awarded by the government, which then backtracked, and due process was not followed in cancelling them.

“If the government of Liberia gives something,” he said, “and later on because they felt under pressure they said ‘No, (they) were illegal,’ who’s at fault?”

As forest chief, Merab said he would work to scale back regulations.

“Sometimes regulations become too cumbersome and it stifles productivity,” he said. “Same thing with laws. Sometimes the law becomes very repressive.”

Chad Holds a Presidential Election After Years of Military Rule

Voters in Chad headed to the polls on Monday to cast their ballot in a long delayed presidential election that is set to end three years of military rule under interim president, Mahamat Deby Itno. Deby Itno seized power after his father who ran the country for more than three decades was killed fighting rebels in 2021. Last year, the government announced it was extending the 18-month transition for two more years, provoking protests.

BY EDOUARD TAKADJI AND MOUTA ALI

4:02 PM EDT, May 6, 2024

N’DJAMENA, Chad (AP) — Chad held its long delayed presidential election on Monday following three years of military rule under the interim president, Mahamat Deby Itno, a vote that analysts widely expected the incumbent to win.

Deby Itno seized power after his father, who spent three decades in power, was killed fighting rebels in 2021. His government announced it was extending the 18-month transition for two more years, which provoked protests across the country.

The oil-exporting country of nearly 18 million people hasn’t had a free-and-fair transfer of power since it became independent in 1960 after decades of French colonial rule. There were 10 candidates on the ballot, including a woman. More than 8 million people are registered to vote, in a country of more than 17 million people, one of the poorest in the world.

Analysts say Deby Itno is likely to win the vote. A leading opposition figure, Yaya Dillo, the current president’s cousin, was killed in February in circumstances that remain unclear. The main other front-runner in the race is a former opposition leader who recently returned from exile to serve as prime minister in January, Succès Masra.

Chad is seen by the U.S. and France as one of the last remaining stable allies in the vast Sahel region following military coups in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in recent years. The ruling juntas in all three nations have expelled French forces and turned to Russia’s mercenary units for security assistance instead.

Earlier this year, Niger’s junta ordered all U.S. troops out, meaning Washington will lose access to its key base in Agadez, the center of its counterterrorism operations in the region. The U.S. and France still have a military presence in Chad, which consider it to be an especially critical partner.

The West also fears that any instability in Chad, which has absorbed more than a half-million refugees from Sudan, could increase the number of migrants moving north towards Europe.

“These are all the reasons the West is staying relatively quiet about the democratic transition in Chad,” said Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. “Everybody just wants this vote to pass so Deby Itno gets elected so they continue to work with him and preserve the stability of the region,” he added.

The vote, which began Sunday for the military and nomads, was marred by a number of incidents of violence that led to at least two deaths, according to local journalists. In Moundou, a major city to the south of the capital, a voter was shot dead by security forces for reasons that were unclear. In the country’s eastern city of Abeche, a civilian fatally stabbed a soldier, also according to local journalists there.

Over the weekend, several civil society groups issued a joint statement to say that many of the 2,900 observers that had requested accreditation to monitor the vote had been denied.

Along with the arrival of refugees from Sudan, Chad is also dealing with high food prices partly caused by the war in Ukraine and a renewed threat from the Boko Haram insurgency spilling over from its southwestern border with Nigeria.

In March, an attack the government blamed on Boko Haram killed seven soldiers, reviving fears of violence in the Lake Chad area after a period of peace following a successful operation launched in 2020 by the Chadian army to destroy the extremist group’s bases there. Schools, mosques and churches reopened and humanitarian organizations returned.

“For years now, we’ve had to cope with the high cost of living, without any solution,” Adoumadji Jean, a teacher at a state secondary school in Moyen-Chari province, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We want a change this year through this election.”

Boko Haram, which launched an insurgency more than a decade ago against Western education, seeks to establish Islamic law in Nigeria’s northeast. The insurgency has spread to West African neighbors including Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

Human rights groups have called for an investigation into the killing of Chad’s main opposition figure, Dillo. The government has said Dillo was killed during an attack on the the National State Security Agency by his group, known as The Socialist Party Without Borders. But a photo of Dillo showed that he was killed by a single bullet wound to the head.

Human Rights Watch said the killing raised serious concerns about the environment for the election.

According to the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, known as ACLED, Chad experienced almost 270 incidents of political violence, leading to the deaths of more than 1,000 people.

“With his most significant opponents either co-opted or eliminated, and critical electoral institutions stacked with his supporters, Déby Itno’s victory is all but certain,” wrote Michelle Gavin for the Council of Foreign Relations, a Washington- based think tank.

Votes will be first counted at polling stations, but preliminary results will be announced three weeks later on May 21. If no candidate wins outright, a runoff will be held on June 5.

___

Jessica Donati contributed to this report from Dakar, Senegal.

Togo’s Longtime Leader Signs a New Constitution that Eliminates Presidential Elections

FILE - Togo's President Faure Gnassingbe waves before a working lunch at the Elysee Palace in Paris on April 9, 2021. Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe has signed a controversial new constitution that eliminates presidential elections, a statement from his office said late Monday, April 6, 2024. It's a move that opponents say will allow him to extend his family's six-decade-long rule. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly, File)

BY ERICK KAGLAN

9:13 AM EDT, May 7, 2024

LOME, Togo (AP) — Togo’s president has signed a new constitution eliminating presidential elections, his office said late Monday, a move that opponents say will allow him to extend his family’s six-decade rule. Civil society groups in the West African nation have called for protests.

Parliament will now choose the president. The new constitution comes days after the election commission on Saturday announced that President Faure Gnassingbe’s ruling party had won a majority of parliament seats.

There was a crackdown on civic and media freedoms ahead of the vote. The government banned protests against the proposed new constitution and arrested opposition figures. The electoral commission banned the Catholic Church from deploying election observers. Togo’s media regulator suspended the accreditation process for foreign journalists.

The new constitution also increases presidential terms from five to six years and introduces a single-term limit. But the nearly 20 years that Gnassingbe has served in office would not count, and the political opposition, religious leaders and civil society say it’s likely that Gnassingbe will stay in power when his mandate expires in 2025.

Togo has been ruled by the same family for 57 years, first by Eyadema Gnassingbe and then by his son. Faure Gnassingbe took office after elections that the opposition described as a sham.

A voter casts her ballot in Togo's regional elections in the capital Lome, Monday April 29, 2024. Togolese voters headed to the polls on Monday to vote in the country's parliamentary elections, which will test support for a proposed new constitution that would scrap future presidential elections and give lawmakers the power to choose the president instead. (AP Photo/Erick Kaglan

The new constitution also creates a figure similar to a prime minister, to be selected by the ruling party. Critics fear that could become another way for Gnassingbe to extend his grip on power.

A group of about 20 civil society organizations in Togo have called for protests to reinstate the previous constitution.

“We will never accept this new constitution, even after its promulgation,” David Dosseh, a spokesperson for the civil society groups, told The Associated Press, calling the 2025 election “absolutely necessary for the people to choose a new president and finally achieve a democratic transition in Togo.”

Ramaphosa Touts Israel Court Win in South African Votes Drive

S'thembile Cele, Bloomberg News

Ramaphosa said that ordinary South Africans had encouraged the government to file its case against Israel.

(Bloomberg) -- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is capitalizing on his administration’s efforts to bring an end to Israel’s war on Hamas as he seeks to draw votes in the only province that isn’t controlled by the ruling African National Congress.

Pretoria has been outspoken against the war in Gaza, filing a lawsuit in the International Court of Justice on Dec. 29 that accused Israel of genocide during its campaign against Hamas. The United Nations court ruled in January that Israel must act to prevent Palestinians from being killed or injured, but stopped short of demanding an immediate cease-fire. 

“People are appreciative of the stance taken by the ANC” and will take it into consideration, Ramaphosa said in an interview during a weekend campaign stop in the Kayamandi suburb of Stellenbosch, near Cape Town.

The streets of several predominantly Muslim neighborhoods in Cape Town, the capital of the Western Cape province and the nation’s tourism hub, have been adorned with murals in support of the Palestinian cause. 

The main opposition Democratic Alliance wrested control of the Western Cape from the ANC in 2008, and has ruled the country’s third-most populous region ever since — though some opinion poll suggest it may lose its majority there in elections on May 29. The DA won 52% support in the province in 2019, and the ANC 31%.

The polls also suggest that the ANC risks losing its national majority for the first time since it first took power under Nelson Mandela in 1994, and that its grip on several of the eight provinces it controls is also under threat.

Muslims account for just 1.2% of South Africa’s 62 million people. The biggest concentration is in the Western Cape, where they make up 5.6% of the population, and could potentially tip the balance of power. 

Ramaphosa said that ordinary South Africans had encouraged the government to file its case against Israel, and that it was intent on perpetuating Mandela’s backing for an independent Palestine. 

“It is you that ensured that we took that position, and it was Nelson Mandela who inspired us to adopt that very strong position, and we are never going to turn back from supporting the cause of the Palestinians,” he said in Cape Town’s Rylands suburb, where residents applauded him for taking Israel to task. 

Fighting has dragged on for seven months since Hamas attacked southern Israel from Gaza, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 hostage. Israel’s bombardment and ground attack on the Palestinian territory have killed almost 35,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Muddying the Water on US Student Protests

Alastair Crooke

Seyed Hassan Nasrallah, as the spokesman for the unity of Resistance Fronts, has made clear that the aim of the Resistance is to exhaust "Israel".

Many of the incumbents of the leadership posts in Institutional America are either liberal Zionists or Evangelicals. Such a situation should be no surprise. The Washington Post, for example, asked Matthew Brooks, the CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), whether he planned to fund electoral challengers to the twenty House Republicans that voted against the Bill giving aid to the Israelis:

“The RJC is gearing up to spend upward of $15 million in what will be the largest targeted effort toward the Jewish community in critical battleground states across the country … We have a long-standing history of speaking out against folks who are anti-Israel, whether they be Democrats like “the Squad” and the progressives on the left, but also against folks who voice anti-Israel sentiments on the Right”. 

“We were the group that was responsible for defeating Congressman Steve King. We’re spending over a million dollars in Indiana this election cycle, to beat former congressman John Hostettler, who was one of the most anti-Israel voices in Congress during his tenure”. 

“Question: Twenty other House Republicans voted against the Israel bill. Do you plan to endorse challengers running against any of them?”

“Brooks: If there’s a credible challenger [on the ballot] to any of those people - we absolutely will be involved”.

Against this background, it should not surprise that as Edward Luce writes in the Financial Times, the US Institutional leaders are tied in knots over the campus protests. The angst in no small part hinges around the undoubted power of AIPAC and the RJC to make -- or break -- Congressional aspirants:  

“In practice”, Luce says, “adults from all walks — Republicans, Democrats, the media, and university administrations — are exhibiting the traits of hysteria and dogmatism they deplore in the young. It should come as no surprise that the protests are getting angrier. Students have every right to protest even with speech that many of their peers find abhorrent”.

Luce asks:

“At what point does anti-Zionism become antisemitism? The line is blurry. But most people — except to those in charge, apparently — can tell the difference between lawful protest, and calls to violence”.

But just to blur the distinction further: 

The US ‘House’ is advancing a Bill to codify the contentious International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism. The definition is contentious because most of its examples of antisemitism involve criticism of t"Israel", including calling "Israel" a “racist endeavour”. The Bill’s passage would mean the definition would apply when officials adjudicate Title VI complaints alleging campus antisemitism. The Bill passed 320 – 91 in the House.

“There is however another factor behind the Congressional hysteria: the protests have sparked fears of a repeat of 1968. Like then, the unrest began at Columbia University. As in 1968, this year’s Democratic convention will be held in Chicago. The 1968 convention was also a disaster because Chicago’s mayor, Richard Daley, sent his police into pitched combat with the protesters. The street battle dominated the media’s attention”. 

Luce however, draws a sharp distinction with 1968: “The chief driver of these protests is humanitarian” (as was not the case in the VietNam war).

But then, Luce resorts to the old canard: 

“Some of the demonstrators consciously subscribe to a Hamas worldview that would wipe Israel off the map. At what point does anti-Zionism become antisemitism ...?” 

This is where the issue is being muddied. Wiping "Israel", qua Zionism, off the map does not imply wiping it away by violence (though there is a legal right of resistance for those living under occupation).

Seyed Hassan Nasrallah (as the spokesman for the unity of Resistance Fronts) has made clear that the aim of the Resistance is to exhaust "Israel" -- and to drive it to a state of defeat and despair -- such that Israelis begin to recant the claim of special rights and exceptionalism, and become content to live ‘between the River and the Sea’ with others  (Palestinians), sharing in a parity of rights. That is, with Jews, Muslims and Christians living on a common territory. There would then be no Zionism.

Seyed Nasrallah explicitly foresaw the possibility of such an outcome emerging -- without major war. 

It is ‘sleight of hand’ therefore to cast the Hamas ‘worldview’ to be one of ‘wiping Israel off the map’ as if that implies ‘exterminating’ or killing Jews. "Israel" would be ‘off the map’ in the sense that a future state would not be exclusively Jewish in nature -- but multi-faith.

The Hamas ‘worldview’ sly imputation of antisemitism is  a calumny almost on a par with the slogan ‘Hamas is ISIS’. (ISIS had Hamas officials on their death list).  Hamas’ worldview cannot be stripped from the context of the hatreds ignited by the war in Gaza.

Most of Luce’s article relates to the issue of antisemitism -- but Islamophobia is growing at an accelerated pace, too.  It is important to de-bunk the ‘Hamas is ISIS’ meme in the West, lest such falsities slide us into yet another ‘war on terror’.